NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Week 15 recap

Episode Date: December 21, 2015

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling, Marc Sessler – break down all the Week 15 action including the Cardinals clinching their first NFC West division title since 2009 with a win over the Eagles, and the Panthers outlasting the Giants 38-35 to hang on to their undefeated record. Plus, Browns tight end Gary Barnidge speaks up about his true origins, and Dan’s British accent.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 won a Stitcher Award, I think. Where the hell is that thing? Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hanzas, and I'm joined by a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Roselow. What's up, boys? Hey, Dan.

What is happening? I can't say. It was a big day. The two best games deliver? Giants and Panthers, Steelers, and Broncos. And it had to have been the chippiest, scrumiest day of the season. Wes, all fired up. Plus, the afterglow from the Dan Hanses Christmas party is strong.

Everyone just in a happy, merry mood after that. Yes, yes. It was great to have all you guys at the party. Hey, by the way, Bob Costas just came up on the halftime show. I'm sure he had some heat about ODB. We're going to have to get into that. O'Dell Beckham, one of the main subplots. hoping that Bob would scale to the top of the soapbox and shout from the rooftops.

Well, it's very possible to happen. So, yeah, that was a major subplot of the game of the week. But the Panthers are still undefeated. Spoiler alert. I'm going to throw it out there out at the top of the show. So that is we're entering historic territory now. A lot coming up on today's show. We will talk about that game.

We will talk about the Kansas City Chiefs who are quietly. Maybe not so quietly anymore, but they are now heading towards their own big streak. They could roll into the playoffs on a 10-game winning streak. They've won now eight in a row. We'll talk about that. And, of course, Sunday night football, the team of around the NFL, the Arizona Cardinals, playing the Philadelphia Eagles with big playoff ramifications for both sides. A lot to talk about, Greg, in the National Football League.

Well, that's week 15, I should hope so. It didn't look like a great slate on paper. Maybe the worst all season. But you're right, Wes, the games themselves delivered. Does it bother you at all, Greg? Because you are the master of tiebreakers and playoff scenarios that the way things are shaking out in each conference, it's not too crazy. It's not as many teams in the mix where you can show off your skill set.

That sounds about it. The boss is no longer needed. I want a lot of, you're saying I want a lot of scenarios so that I can really show up. Yeah, the NFC is very simple. The AFC, you know, there's a couple different things. to explain a lot of possible ties. We'll get into all that. Greg asked me tonight to write the NFC playoff picture.

I could write it in the next 15 minutes if I needed to. That's challenging. During the show? Exactly mysterious, yeah. That would be actually fun if we just carry it on with a podcast as Mark banged away some copy and then we could read it at the end of the show. Do you want to do it?

No, pass. Just an idea. So, yeah, a lot of good stuff to get to a lot of football to talk about with the hero. So let's get into it. Why not? And we'll start with, of course, the Carolina Panthers, who, yes, spoiler alert.

I already let the cat out of the bag. They remain unbeaten. Ron Rivera's team blew a 28-point second half lead against the Giants. But a Graham Ganoe field goal in the final seconds secured a 3835 win. Carolina is now 14 at 0. Only the Falcons and Bucks left on that schedule, Greg. They stay perfect. And O'Dell Beckham lost his damn mind.

What a day. This was the change. for the Panthers to lose. The fact that you could somehow blow a 28-point lead out of nowhere through a variety of defensive letdowns and just bad luck, a blocked field goal. And yet, Cam Newton gets the ball with under two minutes to go

and he does the two things he's been doing all year. Just fireball slants over the middle and then two runs for first downs, sets up the game-winning field goal, clinch the MVP. It's all over. They're going 16 and 0, and he's getting the hardware.

I love the contrast between him and O'Dell Beckham, where Beckham acts like a full all game, scores a touchdown, does the Alan Iverson walk all over Josh Norman. Step over. And the camera pans over to Cam Newton shakes his head like, all right, I see you. Now go watch what I'm about to do with the game on the line. He said, Cam even said it in the post-game interview with Aaron Andrews,

that they were so ticked off with how Beckham carried on. And Beckham, it set him back. a long way in public opinion, I think, because he just handled himself poorly. But Newton was so ticked that he said the only thing he was upset about after the game is that they didn't score a touchdown to win because they really wanted to stick it to Beckham

after what he had done. I mean, Beckham, too, is, if you want to give him any credit, he gets into all these skirmishes with Josh Norman throughout the game. In theory, maybe Norman sort of went after him a little early on one play, and then Beckham kept going again and again. I blame the officials for not throwing penalties

in the first quarter. He should have had two personal fouls in the first quarter. He didn't have any. He ended up with four penalties in the game. That's the most for any receiver in 15 years. Three of them were personal fouls. I think that the official set the tone by not throwing the flag early. If you want to give Beckham any credit who had a really poor game, no catches in the first half, he did come up with the two monster catches in the drive that ties up the game to set up that big Camp Newton moment. That's true. I mean, he did show some resilience. But even after he scored the touchdown, like Wes said, the step over. It was like, calm down, Odell.

And when he launched himself into Josh Norman's helmet, I mean, how do you not get kicked out of the game? That was just, I mean, that was a terrible job I held up back. And you're supposed to be. He tackled him on another play. Yeah, the young shining son of New York sports, the successor to Jeter. And you're acting like a total. I can't even say it. Well, we're weeks removed from him kicking the ball in another game.

And I can't think of a player who is this talent. But this has been going on for all season. When you talk to people to deal with him, he is not well regarded by his peers. And we talk about this downstairs. Maybe there's the jealousy aspect of that, his quickly rising star. But he does not seem to be well respected. And a lot of people point to his toughness, too. Well, that's the thing.

I think it hurt his team on the field today. His lack of, I don't know if you want to call it toughness, but his sensitivity. They got into his head. And he heard his thing. Books out. He should have been. He's the best place. on the team and he should have been ejected many times.

So that would have hurt his team even more. He dropped an easy touchdown in the first half, dropped another pass. He was in his head. Let's not act like Josh Norman shut him down, as I saw on Twitter for most of the day. Even when he had no catches in the first half, he was getting open and should have had a long touch. He also wasn't against Josh Norman most of the day. I mean, most of his catches were from the slot.

He plays a lot from the slot. I don't know if this was more than usual, but Cortland Finnegan and the safety were on him. A lot of the game was 35 to 7. It was over. It is outrageous what happened. This is against a team. And you got to give the Giants credit for battling back in this game. Another heartbreaking loss for them is how it ends up.

But to come back against a team that's 13 and 0, tie it up. But then that's why, and I agree, now Newton to me is the clear-cut favorite for MVP that he, you know, once the game was tied, it could have gotten away with him. He just let him coolly right down the field and they win the game. MVP stuff. That was absolutely like a signature moment from Cam in a season where he's had 40, miniature moments. But are you concerned at all about the fact that they gave up that 28 unanswered points? Or is that at this, you're going to have to win games so many different

ways that we look past it and they move right on in the playoffs. They're the best team in the NFC. Aren't we picking nits on an undefeated team? No, I think so. I am not that concerned about it. I think each game has its own momentum. And when you get a big lead like that, there's always a dangling. Well, and it was a fluke, a blocked field goal. The game's over if it wasn't for a block field goal. There's another play that I'm forgetting by the Giants that was a little fluky in that comeback, but that's what you need. It was 35-7 late in the third. It wasn't like this was a comeback that started in the first half.

It's crazy how fast this all happened. I will say, though, the Panthers have done this three times this season where they gave up huge leads in the Colts game, in the week before the Colts game, and now this one. So it's something in the playoffs you would think that's going to be on their mind if they get a big lead that they got to keep the foot on the gas. But Newton wins the MVP, especially on a day where they couldn't run the ball, but he could, 100 yards rushing.

No Jonathan Stewart really hurt them. The Panthers are probably going to go 16 at 0. Yeah. It's pretty remarkable what's happening here. This is, it's historic, and I don't think anybody saw it coming. Even the Panthers fans that chirp, you know, coming after me and poor Conner changed his mind and picked against the Panthers again at the last moment. You know, I mean, you know, this is, nobody expected this to happen.

So the Panthers are two games away from joining some historic company. we move on to the Denver Broncos who... Can I say one last thing? Yes. We had a lot of people on Twitter ask if this was La Raville Magnifico about who O'Dell Beckham is. I lean more towards he's an immature kid

seems to be pretty spoiled. He's had everything go his way throughout life. He has to use this as an opportunity to grow as a person and reflect on why he acted that way. But I don't think it's like some character flaw. So West says no to... Magnifico.

And from what we've heard after the game, it didn't sound like he was totally contrite yet. So he's got to figure some stuff out. He's a very young man. Yeah, he's a tremendously talented player, but he's got a way to go. He's got to grow up, right, Mark? Yeah, he does.

But, I mean, I agree with Wes that if people were interviewing me and I was showboating around, when I was 22, I probably have a few fixes as well. So he's very talented. He's been told he's a god for about 18 straight months, and I think it's starting to come up. unlike anything in our lives so we can't

yes exactly all right moving on let's talk about the Denver Broncos who built an 18 point lead against the Steelers and then they watched it all slip away Antonio Brown's fourth quarter touchdown one of 16 catches on the day was a difference a 3427 comeback win for the Steelers at

Heinzfield West the Steelers almost ruined their season on Sunday but in the end they retain the look at the AFC's most dangerous team I think they are the most dangerous team nobody wants to face the Steelers in January because I think, you know, you can point to the Seahawks or the Panthers. I think the Steelers are the hottest offense in the league right now. Nobody's stopping that wide receiver trio.

And Chris Harris had been one of the best cornerbacks in the league. Really specializes in stopping smaller, quicker, wide receivers like Antonio Brown. And Brown had won the best days of his career against Chris Harris. You cannot single cover him. 16 for 189. It was a game where you had the league's best wide receiver. core going against arguably the best cornerback trio and it lived up

to the billing. Chris Harris fought hard but Antonio Brown is just unstoppable. That's Griff Whalen and Connor Madden World production. Yeah. Antonio Brown. I mean, this is that's Madden production and I mean, when you look at his, can you even imagine if Ben,

if Rathusberger never got hurt this season? Oh, Brown would be closing in 150 catches. He'd be closing on 2,000 yards. Wow. And you might have a little competition for Cam and the MVP with Ben Rathusper. who's throwing the ball as well as anybody this year. I would like to look at wide receiver seasons like this and talk about it more as a duo than it is just their own production.

He's easily one of the best that we've seen in a long time. But he wasn't this guy when Big Ben wasn't in the lineup. And I really think that Pittsburgh, after all the years, with the consistency of quarterback and in the building up of the weapons around Big Ben, that you're exactly right. We've been saying it for weeks. If you have to deal with Pittsburgh early in the playoffs, if they sneak into this thing,

that is going to be a train wreck. if you're one of the top-seeded teams. This is not a fifth or sixth best team in the AFC. Yeah, by the way, Ben put up the same numbers against the Seahawks a few weeks ago, too. I mean, he's doing this against respected defenses. He can put 40 points on any team in the playoffs. Well, this score was 27 to 10 late in the third quarter.

What was it, West, you think, that made this comeback happen? I mean, was it Denver's offense? What does it take to beat that defense? Because as great as this Broncos' defenses, This is one of the performances of the year by any team to score 34. Yeah, I think we all hesitate to point to halftime adjustments, but the Steelers have blown so many coverages in assignments on defense in the first half, and they got that fixed at halftime.

And they gave the Broncos six straight punts to open up the second half. Osweiler had a non-throwing shoulder injury, which may have been a factor. But basically, the Steelers started communicating on defense and stopped blowing their assignments, and the Broncos didn't adjust. was going on, Steelers' offense ran wild. That's the thing about the Steelers. If you had a peaking Patriots or one of these NFC teams that has a powerhouse offense, you feel like you can score on the Steelers.

They didn't have much of a pass rush in the first half. You give up that many points to Brock Osweiler, who's just going through one read and basically throwing it, then that's not a good sign for your defense. But right now, the AFC doesn't really have a juggernaut offense with the Patriots not playing like the season. Well, except for Pittsburgh. Right. Here's Osweiler's numbers in this game.

It was the tale of two quarterbacks. 14 of 18 for 2.18 and three touches in the first half. Second half, 7 of 22 for 82 yards and an interception. And, you know, as you know, I'm a Jets fan. I think the listeners know that. I think you guys know that. This was a game the Jets needed because the way things are breaking it with the Steelers, Jets and Chiefs, somebody's got to lose for the Jets to get it.

And I thought this was money in the bank, 2710. And Brock Oswald, looking like a guy. it's never going to leave the starting lineup. So I have to do something that I did not want to do, guys. Whoa. What is that? Stick a fork in them? That would be weird.

It's way more serious. I declare vengeance on Brock Osweiler. The audit declared vengeance on... Oh, sorry. You're going to ask me... What is that? Why would you suggest that this needs to be done? Or what does it mean?

I'm sure there's a lot of questions. Yeah, we've got a lot of questions. about this? I don't know, but all I can tell you is this. I declare vengeance on Brock Osweiler. He let me down in a big spot. I will not forget it. But maybe when this whole story is said and done, what if it's Denver who gets bumped out of the playoffs spot with your Jets taking that would be vengeance? That is the most likely way for the Jets, I think, to get into the playoffs without a loss, is that the Broncos lose to Denver, I mean, lose to Cincinnati. next week and they're not you know that's certainly possible it's possible and uh all the teams

went out and the jets then win a tie break over the broncos for the sixth spot can you and denver's out of there our our boss downstairs john marvel big broncos fan can even imagine if they free fall from the number one scene to out of the tournament at 11 and 5 2 that would be fired as a jet's fan well yeah that's true at 11 and 5 2 that would be that would be heartbreaking for the broncos It's not like crazy things need to happen in this scenario. Denver can win their week 17 game, lose to Cincinnati, and if the Jets and everyone wins out, they would be out of luck. I think the Jets' toughest spot is really.

You do have two tough games. Yeah, there's nothing to assume with the Jets, but you hear the glee in Greg's voice when he starts digging in on those tiebreakers. Well, this is his thing. I'm so necessary. I know, you got this. This is a good spot. By the way, how about taking your vengeance out on Vernon Davis and Demarius Thomas,

who keep dropping pants in very big moments. Vernon Davis, this is not a good contract year for Vernon Davis. That's back-to-back weeks where he might have cost his team the game in both weeks. This is a team that was built around the idea of a dominant Peyton Manning, you know, taking this team deep into January. You make the quarterback switch. It is a coin flip. And in the best of worlds that Osweiler can come in and just keep him rolling.

And he is a young quarterback learning in a tough place to play in Pittsburgh. That is not easy to do. Well, you also, you do figure with that defense, they would have taken that scenario that their defense can close out that game. That's their signature side of the ball, not being able to close it. And we thought Brock Osweiler was helping the running game a lot. And yet last week, that was not the case. This week, C.J. Anderson was hurt again or was not really on the field almost at all. Ronnie Hillman didn't do much of anything. They're not running the ball well. All right. So let's move on. There's more to talk about the AFC playoff picture, Greg. You can keep on digging in and what's going on right now. Because let's talk about the Kansas City Chiefs who have now won. eight consecutive games after taking care of business a 34-14 win over the decimated Ravens in Baltimore

Casey clinch of the game on a 90-yard pick six late in the game their league leading sixth defensive touchdown of the year Kansas City now 9 and 5 they are owner of it is it the fifth seed right now yeah right now they are in the fifth seed

they are you know within striking distance now of the Broncos so you can start talking about that division is something that's a little wide open. But most importantly, for Kansas City, a team that hasn't had a playoff success in many years, they are now in really good position with a soft schedule to close this out and maybe even go into the playoffs on a 10-game winning streak.

Who saw that coming? Wes, other than Wes, not many. I did not see that. We stuck a fork in them, so no one saw that coming. It's one thing for, I'm trying to think of what are the chances the Chiefs win this division? It's got to be close to 50-50, right? I think it's probably about 30, 30% essentially.

It's got to be a little less than 50% because you give the Broncos at least a 50-50 chance of winning next week against Cincinnati and then Kansas City would have to take care of business. Broncos' defense played really well in the first half today. It's one thing for Ben Rathlisberger to kind of shred them as an experienced quarterback playing at home. It's another for A.J. McCarran to go into Denver

and beat them. I don't know. That defense is really good. Andy Reid's one of the best coaches in the NFL, and no one ever likes calling him that because he's... I thought you didn't like calling him that. No, I've always been in Andy Reid. Not in terms of game management or anything,

but that he's one of the coaches that I think has proven over the time, overtime that he's going to win more games than he lose. He's going to help your team win games. That your team is better with Andy Reid. There's only so many coaches that's true about. Yeah, I mean, I think probably around the horn here, none of us look at the chiefs and love the way they're built. really wanted to root for a team in today's

version of the NFL. Alex Smith is who he is, but bottom line, I mean, what they've done is pretty much unprecedented. Teams don't do this with the way they are built. And Kansas City right now, they go and they play Cleveland next week. That's pretty much a guaranteed victory. They've almost earned

a playoff spot at this point. And I don't see where it stops. Here's the thing. One thing I'll say, they don't have Justin. I've watched both of the last two weeks I've watched these games. And the Chargers, they barely hung on to beat the Chargers, 10-3 win, Chargers at the goal line.

Mike McCoy would have went for two if they would have scored two. He said later, that was a bummer. And then this week, if you watch this game, guys, you will see that despite the final score, this game was not a mismatched team. This is the Ravens hanging with him. What was the total yardage today? Ravens

outgained them by almost 90 yards. What happened was the Ravens, because they've been hit by so many injuries, they're a bad team this year. Because of that, they made some crucial mistakes, and because the Chiefs or have been so opportunistic this season. They banged them every time, and that led to the differential in scoring.

But the Chiefs aren't playing lights out football the last two weeks. And I am, even I know, Mark, you said that because the Browns are terrible, we know that. I don't look past the Browns. I think the Chiefs can get picked off either of these last two weeks. Well, all right. I don't look past the Browns, but the Chiefs are also taking care of business. And, I mean, Baltimore, Baltimore, like, despite their record,

is another very well-coached team. I know it's, they've, with all the injuries, John Harbaugh has done an excellent job this season, even though the record doesn't do it. I'll tell you one thing about John Harbaugh. John, come back to us. Fourth and nine on your own 17, and you call a fake punt run.

Early in the game, too, when they're down 14-7. He's operating with a JV team right now. And I know you're wearing yellow pants, mustard yellow pants. It's like, I don't even know what's going on in Baltimore right now. They're just like saying, what the hell and just, you know, pretending like it's a preseason game. What is up with the pants?

I don't know. I didn't see that until after the game. And I, you know, listen, Baltimore's uniform has never been the worst issue, but it became one today. Who's the best team of Chiefs have beaten on this street? Denver? That's a great question. So they beat Denver, who's the second best team?

They're not facing quality. Pittsburgh and Landry Jones. Nah, yeah. Pittsburgh with Landry Jones is not a good team. But it's Denver. That is a fair point. But to go, just to go reel off wins. Oh, that's impressive.

I don't want to take any, I'm thinking more about who am I going to pick once the playoffs. They were of 29-0-0 against Denver. Granted, that was Peyton Manning's, you know, disaster game. But that's a pretty impressive performance. These are their wins. Steelers, Lions, Broncos, Chargers, Bills, Raiders, Chargers, Ravens. Well, that's not a murderer. Yeah, they're taking care of business.

But it would be, if they ever bumped Pittsburgh, some tiebreaker scenario where we get the Chiefs instead of Pittsburgh, I think that that's disappointing. Well, we could get Pittsburgh at Kansas City. Very possible. Revenge game. All right. So the Steelers win, the Chiefs win. Let's now go back to Saturday night where the Jets flirted with disaster throughout their matchup against the Cowboys. But a 40-yard field goal from Randy Bullock was the difference. A 1916 win at Jera World for the Jets. Ryan Fitzpatrick led gangrene to 10 points in his final two possessions, salvaging a day for the Jets where they seem to be going into same old Jets mode. And Fitzmagic, that's the only reason they won this game.

He woke up, the offense woke up, and they took care of business despite the win. And Greg, I can say this. The Jets win Saturday night for the fourth straight week, but then we'll wake up Monday morning out of the playoffs because of the two wins that we just talked about. So the Jets 9-5 outside looking in, but they are lucky to be 9-5 because this game nearly got away with them. Wes, you wrote this game up for NFL. Jets did flirt with disaster, didn't they? They didn't look like a playoff team when they were committing penalties,

making special teams mistakes. Both lines are getting pushed around by Dallas's lines, and they can't stop Kellynne Moore with the game on the line for a game-tying field goal drive. But they did look like they had a playoff quarterback. You have to give Ryan Fitzpatrick credit for coming through with the game on the line. He didn't play a great three quarters, I would say, and he played an absolutely amazing fourth quarter,

And it's very similar to the game he had against the Giants where they were quiet. And when they absolutely needed him, he just led them right down the field. They, Rich Samini, ESPN's Jetbeat reporter, been covering the team forever. He made a good point in something he wrote yesterday that early in the season, this was an offense that was, you know, driving through Chris Ivory. But what's happened, Chan Gale is he's come to trust Fitzpatrick. He's panned the offense to the quarterback. and it's Fitzpatrick that's making the plays. You know, Ivory is still, you know, a threat in the backfield,

but he's come down to Earth a little bit. He should be thrilled with that, because that's how teams win is when the quarterback. Exactly. I mean, I don't think anybody, and just like the Panthers fans, never could have thought they would be 14 and 0 in late December. Jets fans would have never thought Fitzpatrick

could be anything more than a serviceable game manager. But instead, he is their best quarterback since Chad Pennington in 2003. Yeah, and I have no problem with New York winning a few games very ugly. down the stretch because we've seen that they've hung with teams week after week I really do think that they are playoff worthy at this point Fitzpatrick has been playing out of his mind three games in a row and that's usually the knock on the Jets is you're going to get there but it's going to

be with clunky quarterback play and you got to give and I know Greg earlier in the season Fitzpatrick wasn't maybe hitting it on all cylinders in your book but he is doing what's needed right now and the greatest thing about this game though was being on a group text message with Dan where the roller coaster, and I don't blame you because you're, the DNA of a Jets fan is expecting the worst, but then you've got to be proud of what they did. Yes, the tiebreaker thing tonight is not in your court. They have a chance if they beat the Patriots to really, really, you're the only guy in

the preseason that said they'd make the playoffs in this group. Yes, I thought they would win nine or ten games. Now they're at nine, I won sandwiches off it. Greg, we've got to talk about your sandwich situation. Grim. I was due. Yeah. But, yeah.

I really, I think what the Jets are in. position right now. I even wrote about it this weekend that the Jets, you know, you always think that same old Jets game is right around the corner and this one was perfectly set up and they did not let it get away. They let Rex Ryan come into their building on Thursday night and pull the same old Jets. But this team, four or five weeks later, is winning this type of game and that you feel good about that and you like what the coach. I thought the biggest moment of the game was Eric Decker going down in a heap, and right after that, I mean, and he fumble, he lost the fumble. And during that commercial break, you and many other Jets fans were saying that, you know,

I was watching Twitter, maybe you didn't tweet at that moment, but the season's over. Eric Decker's out. They come back from the commercial break. Eric Decker's fine. He didn't fumble the ball. It's Jets ball. Everything's going the Jets way. It's fine.

Two plays. That play, a split second. It was the right call when they, I guess, stuck with the call that he didn't fumble. And then on the go-ahead touchdown, or field goal at the end, Fitzpatrick nearly fumbled. Again, a split-second differential that replay showed that he did not fumble. He fumbled after his knee was down. So, yeah, make no mistake, the Jets were fortunate. If they would have lost the T.J. Yates and Kellynne Moore in the same season.

Well, then you don't deserve it. I'm out. I'm out of football. I quit. But now there is no bigger Browns fan in the room than Dan Hanses. Because the Jets' next two games are the Chiefs and the Steelers. There are some avenues here, but we need to... I'm going to do some coach speak here.

You can only worry about what's right in front of you. We've got the Patriots coming up this week. Well, that's a pretty big thing in front of you. Exactly. Do you want to notice when I was writing this recap? The white surrender flag going up at the Rosenthal household. On Matt Castle versus Darren McFadden. Oh, who got to get some flag at his house.

Rough time. It was a good run for Matt Castle. Seventh-round pick, who never played a lick in college, had a nice career. Made a lot of money. one year too long him getting starts. He would have been fine as a second or third string you never saw. Greg, you have a flagpole in your Santa Monica yard.

That's news to be. Yeah, we're not really. That's too common, man. There's no flag. We're not religious, but we all, we go to Castle every week. Wes, we saw something magical, too, with Matt Castle, didn't we? Never before seen it's new to the football cognizancey. Yes. The intentional grounding

interception. Love it. How could it be intentional grounding if it never hits the ground? There was no Dallas receiver within, what, 20 yards? You almost think, like, the official should have picked up the flag, because just not to embarrass Matt Castle. It's a turnover anyway. We don't have to

drop the hammer on it. I'm where Dan was a week ago, which is, you know what, it's not even fair to make fun of Matt Castle at this point, because at this point, he needs to seamlessly shift into a telemarketing job or something. He's done with this. It's over. I don't think he needs the money.

Well, he might need, you never know. Keep working. Crazyest stat from this game. Yes. Adrian Peterson is the only running back with more 100-yard rushing games than Darren McFadden who didn't start until about Halloween. It's kind of a weird year for running backs.

It is. A lot of guys that you wouldn't think are like second in the league in rushing, third in the league. I don't think there's going to be like a 1,600-yard rusher this year. Doug Martin's having a pretty monster all-pro team season. But it's Doug Martin, a guy who was practically out of the league, it felt like two years ago. All right, moving on.

Meanwhile, on the throne of ease, you know, how great is life of the page? The NFL gave them another buy week Sunday in the form of a home matchup. Literally the same team the Jets played a week. Don't dig in on logic. In the form of a home matchup against the lifeless Titans, Tom Brady threw two touchdowns. One of them to Grunk and New England trotted on their winning pony. Thoroughbred.

Trotted to a 3316 win. One problem for the Pats, though. Greg, injuries continue to be an issue. Patrick Chung, Dante Hightower. Who else am I forgetting it? Danny Amandola got knocked out of this game. I think there's real concern about the toll that the injuries are taking. And I think you saw it in a game where the Patriots only had, what, 340 yards of offense against Tennessee?

Yeah, but that was, they took their foot off the gas pedal at halftime with a 24 to 3 lead. Brandon LaFelle had his best game of the season if you want to take any positives away. and the backfield trio without Liguerre Blunt combined for 182 yards, and that doesn't even include a 70-yard catch-and-run that James White had called back on penalty. Can you name their leading rusher today? Joey Yuseppe? Came off the practice squad of fullback.

Joey Yosepha, 14 carries for 50 yards. Bowled over one Titans defender. Well, that leads credence to the idea that they could plug in anyone at this point, and he's suddenly an NFL contributor. The Patriots, I believe, Greg. The NFL record, sixth straight season now with a buy in the first round of the playoffs. Yes, that is a record. The previous one was four.

Congratulations. Thanks, and six straight years with 12 wins or more. And it points out something that I, that people don't seem to recognize that this era, the Gronk era Patriots, in terms of the regular season, are far and away better than any of the runs when they were winning the titles early on. Well, that makes sense, though, because you're a decade later in the team building process and there's not a more cohesive franchise in sports. and you want to look back to when they went nine and seven

or whatever it was after winning the first Super Bowl, they're not going to do that at this point, not the way they're built, not with Gronk on the team, sure. You know, and most of the injuries are coming in the secondary or on offense, but this front seven, what they did in the first half, they knocked the other team starting quarterback out of the game, they allow 58 yards, one third down conversion, and two yards per play in the first half of this game.

I don't think it's a big deal. Marriota, though, played his worst towards the end of the year. if this is all we see of him is a sprained knee. It looked like he could have maybe come back in. I think he could have. We don't know if he'll play again, but he has taken on a little bit of water late in the year. If all you had watched were his late season games,

you would have a different feel of him holding the ball too long, taking a lot of sacks and fumbling the ball a lot. I mean, it's not a shock, though, because I think it's an contribution of you haven't been healthy probably in months if you're Marcus Marriota. You talked about a Weston. There's not a lot of weapons. There's no run game.

The defense is starting to look at itself in a different way. as Dan mentioned last week. And what are you with the Titans at this point? I mean, you've also playing the longest season of your life if you're a first year pro. This was a pass protection issue. This was not a Mariota issue. And meanwhile, on the throne of slees,

this from the Boston Globe, the Patriots in an unusual departure from NFL practice have created a revenue stream for a private business owned by their franchise quarterback, Tom Brady, and a partner who faced federal sanctions after falsely presenting himself as a medical doctor and deceptively promoting nutritional supplements. Answer to it, Greg!

Answer to it! Wait, so you're saying the guy that makes Tom Brady's smoothies once said he was a doctor? Guys, like, oh, I got water that makes concussions go away, Tommy. What do I care? Whatever gets the job done, whatever makes Tommy believe he's Tom Brady? It's more an issue, apparently, that all this talk... Oh, Tom Brady signs these cat-friendly deals.

He only cares about winning. They got all this backroom deal. where he's getting money funneled in other places. Louphole Central. You know, Dan, I'm all on board with your idea to look for certain reasons to potentially have issues with the Patriots, but that is not working for me. By the way, since people do come to this podcast for tiebreak info, I've done some, I've done some work.

If the Patriots and Bengals tie, if the Jets, for instance, beat the Patriots next week, Patriots and Bengals tie at 13 and 3, most likely Patriots still get the one. seed. You're the best in the business. He'll get the smile in Greg's face. Yeah, the best in the business. Nothing puts a pounce in his step like playoff permutation. If it was up to you, it would be week 15 every day because every year, always something

to talk about, permutations. Greg's Groundhog Day, a disastrous film. All right. Let us move on to the Cincinnati Bengals, the aforementioned Bengals. AJ McCarran is off to a good start as a starter for Cincinnati, the second year quarterback. did not have a turnover and Cincinnati took advantage of San Francisco errors.

A 24-14 win clinching another playoff berth for Marvin Lewis. You know, he goes to January every year. Love him or hate him. Greg, with the Steelers, surging, this was a must win

for the Bengals. They got it done. They did, and A.J. McCarron, you know, by all accounts, look pretty good in the game. Look good enough to win. Yeah, I mean, and we talked last week that if you're A.J. McCarran

and you're the Bengals and you need a week to kind of get your rack together and find out where his boundaries are, what he can do. Perfect opponent. I mean, the 49ers are cooked at this point. They are absolutely cooked. And the Bengals, they came in and took care of business.

Nine yards per attempt? McCarran did fine. He looked fine. And this, what he had last week? Took a little while for them to get going. The run game didn't do a lot. But just the fact that he's the quarterback and they're up 21-0. nothing at halftime. It lends credence to what

Damashik was saying this week, which is what's, it's maybe not that big a difference. It's not that big a deal. We'll see when they start playing a better team like Denver next week. But it's not a big deal. I totally, I've seen that floated around that it might even be an upgrade to agent. No. No. No, that's a whole lot. I think Mike that on the side. I get the idea, though, that they're a good enough team with good enough coaches and McCarron's a good enough backup that they can coach around it and still be a really good team against the 49ers. Yeah. And we'll see you next week.

Hugh Jackson's a great schemer and play caller. He's got the right. help there. Like you said, the surrounding talent. But it's one thing to do against the 49ers is another thing to go into Denver next week and not face plan. Well, and last year in that game against the Broncos, when Cincinnati won on prime time, it had a lot to do with their defensive backfield. And their defense has to probably carry the way at this point for the passing game that's not going to be the same. I would absolutely dismiss the idea that Andy Dalton is not a factor in this offense and that A.J. McHareen can step right in and just do what he did. But Hugh Jackson showed confidence in what I love.

I think Hugh Jackson has got to be your number one coaching candidate at this point. If you're okay with what the rest of Hugh Jackson brings, it doesn't matter what's happened to this team. What does the rest of them bring? Where the rest of who? You say to it as long as you're okay with what he brings. He's not going to be given the green like a crazy first person.

Hugh Jackson, I think, is maybe not the probably the easiest personality for certain teams to take on if they want to hire a head coach. But whatever, that's not the main point here. One other thing with Cincinnati, and they need, McCarran is a limited guy, a young quarterback. The good thing about them is that they're such a good balanced team, so the defense can pick up the slack. They need better play from their running backs.

I know Jeremy Hill got in the end zone twice, but he went 19 for 31. Gio Bernard went 14 for 33. Neither of them had to run longer than 10 yards. So, you know, this is a team to me is going to be vulnerable as long as McCarren's there. Dalton is just a superior player. But this was such an important win because,

and we talked about this on Thursday, If you would have stubbed your toe here and, you know, things, he throws a pick six or something happens and somehow the Niners steal that. And the Steelers surging, a little sense of panic can come into that building. But now you're okay. You're going to the playoffs. Maybe win one more game. You should be fine. And away we go.

Yeah, to win the division. And next week's game, it's just massive against Denver. We said with the Broncos, they could fall right out of the playoffs. They could lose the division. If they lose that game, and for the Bengals, it's like getting that playoff win for the Bengals. I know it doesn't count as a playoff win, but it gets them to the final eight. and it gets them a home game in the final eight if they can beat Denver.

So that is just a massive game. Let's move on. Never, ever, ever, ever trust the Jaguars. Jacksonville got a free-falling Falcons team in their building on Sunday, and they could not take care of business. They lose 23 to 17, a Falcons victory. I think the Falcons had lost, what, five in a row?

255 in a row. 255 consecutive losses. That streak is over. West, the Falcons keep their faint playoff hopes alive and the jaguars inch darker to inch closer to another dark january they have no one to blame but themselves yeah their defense i mean as exciting as we think their offense is blake portals is making too many mistakes on a weekly basis game-changing mistakes and their defense can't stop anyone this falcons offense was reeling holio jones and matt ryan picked them

apart and i i think the falcons have a very they would need a miracle to get in the playoffs but the jaguars also need a miracle because it's blake mortals by the way the way buddy. I've seen this now at least three times this season. You can't throw the ball past the line of scrimmage. Once you pass the line of scrimmage, that's a rule, right? That call got overturned. Oh, did it? Yeah. Still, don't do it. I thought you were going to pick

on him for the throw he had the interception into the end zone going into halftime, which changed the entire complexion of the game. I saw it, and you're right up, Wes. You had a good tweet from Billick. Blake Bortles is like the power hitter in baseball that crush his home runs, but also strikes out way too many times. So he's a Rob Deer

at this point of his life. He is. He has more completions of 20 yards than any quarterback in the league, but he doesn't sustain drives long enough or consistently enough. It's disappointing. We were excited and we'll get to the rest of the AFC South championship game earlier today that was one of the worst games of the day and still was the most important in terms of the playoffs if you really want to get down to it. And the Jaguars had a golden opportunity. They've had a bunch here down the stretch that the game against the Titans they could have won. This game for sure. If they had just won this, game, their scenarios

to win the next two in the division were not crazy because you get to face the Texans right coming up and you could have just gotten into that first place but they couldn't do it. They couldn't be a team that hadn't won in two months. And we probably were more excited about the Jaguars a week ago than we were the Chiefs. And that's

really what's not fair because it's hard to go do what Kansas City's done when you look at an incomplete team like Jacksonville that cannot string two wins together when you, if you come into this season knowing what you're opportunity would be in week 15 in this crappy division and you can't get it done it is on you you know who's having quietly another monster statistical season is julio jones started out obviously

he started out really fast and then he kind of went into a lull and matt ryan was a big reason why but now you look up 118 catches almost 1,600 yards seven touchdowns is kind of pedestrian but this guy is monster got build around him and get matt ryan back on track he broke roddy white's single season franchise record for receptions this week, and next week he's going to break his record set last year for yards in his season. So, yeah, he's having a great year.

That was going to say, this Falcons team is 7 and 7 with two home games coming up. They basically, right where you would think they would be, it just has been a wayward way to get there. Well, if they somehow find themselves into the playoff picture at the end, I'm done. This is not going to happen. You're out.

I don't know what that means, but I would not be excited about having to watch. You should declare vengeance. Well, they'd have to beat Carolina next week to start. That would be one way. The only way to declare vengeance, though, is... Vengeance on the Falcons. Go, take it two weeks off. Yeah, you need to physically make it clear

because that puts it on the books. So just whenever you're ready for it. I might be. I mean, I think they're going to declare vengeance on themselves. They probably won't need me involved here. They're going to get it done. That sounds depressing, declaring vengeance on yourself. Let's move on.

We keep rolling. Yes, the AFC South. This really could have decided. And, you know, who knows how this division will end up shaking out. But Texans cults at, I was about to say the RCA Dome, which really showed my age. It's the Lucas Oil Stadium. But the Texans won in Indy for the first time in franchise history. And they have who to thank for it, Mark?

Weedon, comma, space, Brandon. Yes, really. The much maligned quarterback replaced an injured T.J. Yates and led Houston to all of their points as 16. 10 win over the cults. This is the Texans, a team without Arian Foster on its fourth quarterback. Leads the AFC South of two weeks to play.

Sizzler. Bill O'Brien for president? Well, I mean, of course he should be put in the presidential consideration after what he's done. You know, with Yates going out, were they just to get Jason Campbell off the street as a little Cuban insurance? They recreate that magical Brown's quarterback

room from 2013. So yes, B.O.B. for president. You're fired. Happy for Brain and Whedon. Maybe he gets another few years of employment out of it. I said the same thing to Mark downstairs because this guy for, you know, yes, he's bad. He's not a good quarterback. But he also seems like a decent guy.

And he just want him to have a couple moments where he can, you know, at least be somebody that's not remembered as a laughing stock, you know? Well, and who thought that he would, by years, outlasts potentially, Trent Richardson's career? But when you're a quarterback and you do what he does. What an achievement? Well, I don't know, but I'm saying when they were drafted, it would be ultra-depressing. That was a good draft, by the way, Mark. For who?

For who? Oh, yeah. That was just an amazing collection of talent they brought in. I watched a lot of this game, and this, we'd have to really search for a worse game and two worst teams that had such a major playoff implication. I know we're like, I know we're joking about it, but it's really a next-level thing when Charlie Whitehurst is in the game because Matt Hassel. Hasselbeck just keeps getting knocked around. Hasselbeck eventually finished the game. And then you have Whedon, who's replacing T.J. Yates.

And it's 106 because of a, you know, the Colts. It felt like the Colts 103 lead was insurmountable. And I think it was really set up by a defensive score or a turnover. And just watching, it's depressing, thinking one of these teams are going to be in there instead of the Jets or the Steelers or the Chiefs, one of those. Well, that is why you want to get that right seed that deals with the AFC. the five seed. It's the top wildcard spot. And right now, Kansas City's got it. And if they can win out, that really...

There's three by teams in the AFC. It's the two that are by teams and the team dealing with this trash. Whoa. Well, you know, Houston's a different team with Hoyer, and assuming he comes back, they don't know if he's going to be back next week. You know, Brian Hoyer...

Playing at home? Brian Hoyer in a playoff game at home, they could pull off something. We don't know that Hoyer's coming back, though. No, we don't. Reports that he may be doing. He's banged up. We don't.

We don't. Colts need to reboot. They have some materials to be an interesting team. But as Mark has pointed out and Dan has pointed out, it's a very boring team to watch this year. They're not out of it though. They're at Dolphins versus Titans, depending on which game they win. If they win the division game, you know, they might still get in because it wouldn't shock

you if the Texans lost out here either. It's just crazy that we're saying this about a team with Andrew Luck who will probably be in that playoff game when it comes around. Is he coming back? I don't know. We don't know, but at this point, you could, you have to roll like a 20-sided dice to figure out which quarterbacks

to play in this playoff game. Honestly. And it's injury luck beat the Broncos when the Broncos hadn't lost the game yet. That's Fad Dogg. Moving on, let's check in over at the NFC where the Green Bay Packers played, you know, far from a perfect game in Oakland on Sunday,

but they did enough. A 30 to 20 win that clinched a playoff birth and ended any hopes of the Raiders ending their long postseason drought Greg Rosenthal the Packers' offense still feels a little bit flawed to me but the magic this team didn't panic when things got a little hairy

in the black hole gross I had a really hard time coming up with a big takeaway from this game that was gross I mean our listeners have all they're all on pause so good luck for them hearing the point Greg but they're Wes is wild giggling

like a little child well I don't play them I was only half paying attention and then I had to backtrack through the words when you said gross. Yeah. I don't have some huge takeaway from this game. There was nothing that stood out.

The thing that stood out to me was that Aaron Rogers and the Packers team played their best the last 20 minutes after playing really a lousy first 40 minutes. They get a 14-0 lead because of two bad interceptions by Derrick Carr. Packers really got outplayed for most of the. the game, Oakland comes back.

But then Aaron Rogers did what he does. He gets James Jones involved. They had a couple long drives. Their defense played well down the stretch. Julius Pepper's played well enough. And they got a win that they needed to get. We were looking for them to stack some wins. There's the key phrasing your recap.

The Packers passing in was out of sync for much of the day. Yeah. We thought Mike McCarthy might be some magic elixir taking the play calling over again. Eddie Lacey doesn't do much on the ground. Lacey was running like an offensive guard again. Let's be honest. I mean, he's doing it again. Pitter-patter near the goal line, not moving quick.

This guy, he must be driving crazy. I know Mark Brady, who, you know, is one of our shadowy league figures, wants us to mention that the Packers are still in the hunt for the number two seats. Did you just name a shadowy league figure by name? Yes. Okay. Vasilry. Biscay business.

Yes. Well, I mean, we can talk about them still being eligible, but he's not back here. I didn't realize we were starting to name names, though. Yeah. The Cardinals are a much better team than the Packers. I'm sorry. I'm not worried about the Packers getting the number two seats. Well, I mean, are the Packers the most depressing team in the playoff picture

considering what we thought they would be a couple months ago in the NFC, not the AFC? Because they have Aaron Rogers and because there's legitimate talent on that defense, they can still get it together. I know it's getting late. They did win this game on the road against a frisky team by 10. Julius Peppers, like I said, Mike Neal, the defense played pretty well overall. They could still get it together. It wouldn't shock anyone if Aaron Rogers took out one of these teams like the Cardinals or the pants.

It shouldn't anyways. It would shock me if they beat the Panthers. I don't think, I don't view them as a depressing team, but I do think they'll be picked off in the NFC. I think going into the season, I thought this was their year. I think I picked them with the Super Bowl. Who remembers anymore? But now they seem like the team, it's just a matter of time whether they're going to go to Arizona or they ended up facing the Seahawks.

They'll get picked off because they're an inferior team when you get to that upper tier, that upper crust. I think Rogers played well in the second half. and it was in a driving rainstorm, which certainly did not help numbers. The other thing that stuck out was Amari Cooper. Still in the mix there for rookie of the year, you could make an argument. Went over 1,000 yards, big game, beat Demarius Randall, another first round pick up and down the field.

But then he did have, like you said, Mark, one key drop that killed a late third quarter drive. And just looking back, that was a key moment in the game, because that's right when the Packers scored on three straight drives. I think it's a three-man race for offensive rookie of the year with Cooper, Winston, and Gurley. I think that's true. I think Winston and Gurley are the leaders. But if Cooper had a monster couple games here down the stretch, he could too. Greg, your biggest or greatest or worst black hole experience.

I'm not answering that question. I don't want Mark Brady to be mad at me. I've been to that stadium if it is the stadium. Oh, you mean the stadium? What do you think I'm talking about? I don't know. I went to a Browns game there and was wearing a flannel shirt because I didn't want to be killed on the high.

highway next to the you know that where they've never been i've never been have you i've never been and uh i may never go because this might have been the last uh you know we might be seeing the last of the raiders that's true that's really talking about you got that in so shows some respect to the people of oakland but you know what they don't think they're moving though that's the yeah i don't think they are i don't buy it at all and you know they also got the warriors so life's okay in the sports scene in oakland right now uh let's move on Seattle Seahawks Marong

They keep rolling Against the Browns Another big day For Russell Wilson A 30 to 13 win Is that correct Mark I meant to double check that That is correct

Thank you Over Johnny Manzel and the Browns The victory clinches another Playoff berth for Pete Carroll's team Mark Should the NFC be very afraid About what you're seeing With the Seattle Seahawks

Yeah I mean it mirrors What we've been talking about with Pittsburgh, where Seattle is going to roll in as some seed that, you know, whether you're Arizona or your Carolina, you're going to have to deal with the Seahawks team that is peaking hard at the right time. And it starts with Russell Wilson, who he didn't have to do much today. Because even without Marshawn Lynch and without Thomas Rawls, they rolled up like 158 yards on the ground at Will. And really, Russell Wilson still made a series of beautiful throws. You see one right there if you're watching YouTube. And it's, it's again, his streak over the last

month is historic in terms of its statistical nature. And they, you know, they played a lesser opponent that I thought played hard for Mike Patton today. But that really just wasn't enough. Johnny Mansell does not have enough weapons around them to hang with a team like this. Where, you know, with Seattle, it's role players right now. It's guys that are popping up at the right time. One guy goes down, someone else steps in, and they just, this seemed like a very casual victory. Nothing really massive to note other than the fact that it was easy in nature for Seattle. And it has a role player, a former role player who's now a star in Doug Baldwin. Anytime you're, when the stat says only you and Jerry Rice have done something, you're a star.

And that's what he is right now. He has as many touchdowns as any receiver. Well, their offense is right there with the Steelers and whatever other offense you want to put right now in terms of peeking as one of the best offense in the league. I would put the Panthers there too. They remind me a lot of the Panthers in that you don't think of them as an offensive team. but right now, with the way those quarterbacks are playing, the yardage they're rolling up every week. I mean, the Panthers had 480 today.

Seattle only punted once. They only had the ball eight times. I watched this game pretty closely, too, because I was curious about our little sandwich thing. Don't think I forgot about that, Sessler, after our last show. Well, you might as well tell them what it was. Well, we talked about whether it would be a close game and there was a certain barometer, whether that would be true or not.

I lost. It proved not to be true. They only punted once, and there was no turnovers. There was only eight drives in the whole. game, which is exceptionally low. I mean, that's amazing. Every drive was a success except for one for the Seahawks. Every time they got the ball, they went right down the field.

Yeah, and if you're Cleveland, I mean, they opened the game with a seven-minute drive where I thought it was the best drive they've had in months, and Mansell looked very capable, and threw a touchdown pass to our boy Gary Barnage, but it fizzled out from there. Gary? That's right. Guy Barnage had a touchdown. He did enough. I got nine touchdowns this year.

You said, I've got nine touchdowns. You're having a laugh. I am not laughing. You're not laughing. I have a laugh. Some either, because he tied Aussie Newsom's record. I'm quits in, mate. Dan, Dan, I got some.

I'm quizing. Wait, what brought him? That's Brandon behind the glass. What's up? I would do it in an accent, but mine's not as good as you. Are you having a laugh? Yeah, I am having a laugh. You want to hear something that might make you laugh?

What? Yeah, mate. You know what I'm me? Dan, this is Gary Barnage. That is probably the worst British accent I've ever heard. Oh, wow. Wow. Cheers to you, Gary.

If you're listening, you really should go to YouTube and check out the Brown Seahawks section because Gary Barnage live on video in an ugly sweater calling out Hanzas. Well, can I see that again? Because I don't know if I believe it. I think we can do that for you. You ready?

Yeah. Okay. Because I think he's faking the accent. Dan, this is Gary Barnage, and that is probably the worst British accent I've ever heard. I mean, Wes, he's from, he's from. in Kentucky, you hail from parts close by north of that in Ohio. I once delivered

mail in Kentucky. Sound like legit Kentucky accent to you? That sounds much more Kentucky than, you know, East Liverpool or something. That sounded phony to me. That's all I'm going to say. I don't know if that was an... Props to Gary Barnage. That's like handsome Hank downstairs. Whenever he tries to do an American accent,

he's from London, it always sounds like somebody from Texas and a made-up person. I don't know if I buy that. But, you know what? It was good to see Gary interact with the show. And part of the reason he did is all you listeners hitting up Gary Barnage constantly when... I think he gets annoyed by that. Yeah, so maybe leave him a lot.

He didn't know about it, though. But he was cool about it, and he did tell one of our producers, David Singer, who helped set that up, that, yeah, I get tweets all the time about, you know, something about a British accent or something. So I can only imagine how strange. I also asked to see if Gary could also try a British accident or maybe do his actual the way he's... speaks. He said, I don't have, he said, I don't do accents. He said, such a thing as Twitter restraining order, because one could be coming your way from a professional. Was Gary Barnett calling you out a career low light or a highlight? I would put it on the higher side. I mean, this guy could lead, you know, he could lead

the AFC and touchdowns for a tight end. He's having a nice little season. He is. I mean, I think that's what's so weird about this game is you see Cleveland season. You see little moments where maybe it's coming together and you just wish they had Ed Manzell. out there for longer because he needs more time. Forget it, not today. I thought he looked mostly pretty good in this game.

A lot of drops. Yeah, we could get into that another time, but I think that it was up and down and there's just not enough around him. Let us move on, guys. We will, and thank you, Gary Barnage, for that, even if you're not telling the truth. The Minnesota Vikings

didn't author a dominant performance against the Bears, but you know what? They didn't need to against a Chicago team that has been regressing since their Thanksgiving upset of the Packers. Teddy Bridgewater had four touchdowns on the day, just three incompletions, posted a passer rating north of 150, the most efficient game of his career. So this was the Bridgewater. The Vikings were hoping to see more of this season.

He entered this game, and I don't know if a lot of people have been tracking what Teddy Bridgewater has been doing this season, but he entered this game. And I think he started every game or close to it with nine passing touchdowns. And I know that this is a team that's an Adrian Peterson. it's a run-first operation. But you've got to be a little more dynamic as a passer. So what they saw today and him just putting the ball on the money all day, this is exactly what they need him to be

a little more dangerous with the ball in his hand, the ability to make plays. Find Stefan Diggs, who hadn't scored in six weeks, had two touchdowns today. Adrian Peterson turned his ankle on this game, missed about a half a quarter and only finished for 63 yards.

So on a day where Peterson was banged up and didn't have a big day, Teddy Bridgewater carried the office, offense and because of that at nine and five the Vikings are almost certainly going to the postseason. What I want to know about the Vikings offense is whether today is an aberration where suddenly everything went right for Teddy Bridgewater or if it's another it is or it is actually the beginning of something where Bridgewater starts to show more development and we get more of these games down the stretch which is not much longer and next season because this is clearly

a step back for Bridgewater with Adrian Peterson on this offense. Am I for wrong. And yet it sort of doesn't matter right now if they can close strong like you said, because we said, I think it started last week. I think that was Teddy Bridgewater's best game of the season. And I think they're often against the Cardinals. And I think they played well as a team overall. So that's two really positive performances for Bridgewater and the team to beat Chicago handily. This was not the type of game that they've been doing earlier in the season. Even when they were winning all those games, they weren't crushing opponents. So for them to take care of a bear's team at home and crush them that makes you think, okay, they get that six seed. You never know.

They can be a little frisky in that frisky. Yeah, especially if Bridgewater continues to grow. They could be a tough out. It's a tough conference. I mean, there's going to be some really good teams in the playoffs. But yeah, if he's carrying his weight, they could be sneaky, especially if they get healthy. Well, and they can win the division. They can go to Green Bay and try to win that week 17 game. They're not out of it. Or they could for the second time in a few years play Green Bay in week 17 and in the first round of the playoffs. That's a pretty solid chance that happened. Is Joe Webb this? They might be

a tough out. Is that it was Joe Webb? Oh my goodness. They're going to have to deal with an absolute rugged matchup no matter how it shakes out. I mean, their road couldn't be any tougher so we'll see what happens with this team. And the adventures of head scratching color guy talk at one point Adam Gase, who

we've heard a lot of talk about the Bears' offense quarter Adam Gase and his future is maybe a hot coaching candidate. Mark, I know you're humored by all the Gays talk that happens a lot. John Lynch said today that whatever team hires Adam Gase, and he has to be the most attractive guy in the market, will have a coach for the next 12 years. I found that funny.

Well, that's ridiculous because 95% of coaching hires don't go even one fourth of that. So, come on. Exactly. Nicely said. And I don't know. How John Fox that? And you must be, and Greg, I know you do not like John Fox. So seeing the finish line, you've got to be feeling good.

That doesn't make me feel good. They've done a solid job this year about what you'd expect. Yeah? I mean, John Fox and Jeff Fisher are the co-presidents of the media kisses up to us because we forge relationships with them. And that's the part that I really don't like. They're probably nice people. Bears are five and nine.

I think we thought they could be, you know, one in 13 right now. Are you ready to talk about the sandwich situation? We'll take a little break here, Greg. Yeah. You went 0 and 9 today. One of those we've determined was I would have won because I didn't bet. I didn't say that the Patriots did not make the playoffs. But that's beside the point.

Either way, I'm handing out sandwiches to the whole crew. We've kind of each taken turns being the sandwich. This kills Greg. Don't let Greg think. Don't let it see. This is like he can't even do the picks with this anymore because this stuff means so much to him. I can't even eat that. To lose nine sandwiches in one day.

The sandwich thing is nonsense. You can't take too much pride or not. in the sandwich thing. It's fun. I don't blame a word of that. Let's see what you lost today. When it comes to predicting football, Greg takes a lot of pride in that. So you lost...

Or doesn't participate. Wait, what did he lose today? He lost the Ramsal finish in first or second place in NFC West. Was that clinch today? He lost some sandwiches to me for Kirk Cousins. Kirk Cousins. Austin Davis starts more games with Johnny Manzell. It's also about the mid-third quarter of all these wagers coming up.

So why don't we recap it at the end and just see... See what it's at. Some are sealed. You do care. Yeah, let's change the topic he's saying. Listen, I will not saying this maliciously, but when go get your, go get my lunch.org, an account run by Nick Fortier. Yeah. When he tweets out that you went 0 and 9, that's noteworthing.

He put you on blast. That's pretty bad. I had the best sandwich record by, not by far, but I had the best sandwich record going into this round. And I will know a longer app. And that's coming from someone who's not keeping track. Right. He doesn't care. What else do we got?

Well, Wes right now is 5 and 1. Yeah. And you're right. We will dig it on this after the scene. Well, half of them are still up in the air. Exactly. But right now, Sessler is 4 and 5. I like that work when like that?

Greg is 1 in 9. I am 7 and 2. 1 in 9. That's like Dan Hansis' his draft sandwich performance. And like I said, as everyone knows, famously, I said when the regular season starts, that's when the old Zucer starts winning sandwiches.

And that's what's happening here. And the Irishman, Brandon McGuinness, we will never forget you. He will lose three sandwiches. He said Tony Romo has more passing yards than Eli Manning. We'll dig into all that after the season. But if we ever see Brandon again, he'll be chomping. He's under pressure now because our old producer Gold Standard has been on the Twitter lines with us and is actually from a distant country sending us sandwiches tomorrow.

Not from a distant country from a local place. He's in a distant country. The gold standard. A gentleman. He's called that for a reason. The moving on, guys. So, yes, let's move on. The Chargers may have played their final game in San Diego on Sunday.

If so, they went out a winner, a 3014 victory over the dreadful Dolphins. Did you start Danny Woodhead in your fantasy playoffs? Anyone here? Anyone here going once, going twice? If so, congrats on your victory. Four touchdowns are Danny Woodhead. And the Chargers roll. Well, Andy Higman, one of our writers in,

desk editors, went down to San Diego and talked with some of the season ticket holders, and she wrote a good piece just about what a sad day it is down in San Diego. A lot of emotions. She said it was almost like, you know, just in their mind, you know, going to a funeral. And there's a lot of emotions, and you saw Philip Rivers after the game getting choked up when he spoke to the media. You saw Eric Weddle and other players spending a lot of time with the fans and taking pictures after the game. Unlike in Oakland and St. Louis,

there is a real palpable feeling this was it. And if nothing else, they went out with a big win, at least could have some fun in their last game. Well, if funeral makes sense, because both of these teams are a corpse at this point, but I feel for Chargers fans. Because this win doesn't have,

it's not attached to more meaning. It would be great. We thought this Chargers team could do more this season after what McCoy had operated with over the last two years. And instead, it's a hollow way to go out in your old building. That said, they gave They feel for the San Diego fans. It's not this side of the business.

Having been a Browns fan that went through this, you feel powerless and you just don't know what's next. The fans can, they can not like what's going on at a higher level and with politics in the area, but they like the players. They love Philip River. Yeah, it gives them something to be happy about. River said after 12 years, he recollected Peyton Manning leaving Indianapolis and said you kind of feel like the quarterback of the city.

And that's what he said he feels. And that's where he started getting a little motion. The only way this move is a little bit less harsh is the fact that if you're in San Diego and they move to L.A., you can still get to a bunch of games. It's still in your region. It's not your community anymore. I'm not, I'm not downsizing it at all, but I'm just saying. It could almost be worse, though, too, in some level, like, where it's, because there is an L.A. San Diego, I don't want to call a rivalry, but they are very different places. And then to lose your team to the Los Angeles market, that's a kick.

No, we're not, it sucks. We all think it sucks. But it's just like, it's, well, I don't know what you say at this point. Well, I'll tell you what. I think it does the occasion calls for it. Maybe there's something. San Diego Supercharges. San Diego Supercharges.

San Diego Supercharges. That just felt, I mean, it was important. I mean, to be attached to an earphone when you think that is a rugged way to go out. What a tribute by you. I mean, you think about... That's like Whitney, Houston, Star Spangled Banner, Dan Hansis Chargers. They're right there for me. You know, listen, I don't bring the falsetto out often, but that is, those are good people in San Diego.

And they deserve a team. They deserve the falsetto. Listen, I could use a break. If we could shut down the show and just like half hour reflect. Host the rest of the show, Mark. All right. Next up, a huge matchup in Buffalo. Dan, take it from here.

It actually was in Washington. All right, that's what I needed to get back in the saddle. Yes, the Washington Redskins. Did we talk about this game? No. Well, I actually seamlessly led you outside of getting the stadium wrong into our next matchup. Yeah, the Washington Redskins, they remain in the driver seat in the NFC East. They knocked off the bills 35, 25, 25 on Sunday.

This was a game that eliminated Buffalo from playoff contention, which is really sizzler Christmas comes early when Rex gets his comeuppance against his new favorite team, the Redskins, and Kirk Cousins, who had another big day. Kirk Cousins shredding Rex's. Could you think of a better scenario for you, Mark, and another loss year in Cleveland, but in December, five days before Christmas,

Cousins, your boy, shredding Rex and sending him home. Well, I said, you know, earlier in the week, I wanted to cover this game and it delivered. It really delivered. I thought that, you know, if you're on that side of the Kirk Cousins train where you feel like, you know, it's not just some game manager. There are moments from Kurt Cousins where he looks like he could grow and develop into something more. This is your tape that you just want to put on loop over and over. And it has a lot to do with Jay Gruden today, who I think put pedal to the medal the entire time.

aggressive, downfield passing. Jordan Reed, Deshawn Jackson, had the game of their lives. They came together. They fried this defense. It was an embarrassing showing. If you're a Bill's fan, you're not going to forget what happened here.

And I don't even know what Rex said after this game. There are no excuses for this. There was a lot of talk in the locker room, the Bill's locker room after this game. I know Sammy Watkins spoke up, among several other guys, that clearly that people are very unhappy that this season got away from them

because I think they all thought, If maybe they were coached better or were they executed better, that this was a playoff team, and obviously it's not meant to be. Yeah. Well, Mario Williams straight called out the coaching staff for too much substituting when the other team substituting late. So essentially saying they're calling defensive players off the field way too late after they see the offensive substitutions.

There's a lot of confusion. Put it on the coaches. He also called out insurgents. This is the type of thing I think Mark would be excited about. He called out the insurgents in the Bill's organization. organization who are talking to our guy, Ian Rappaport, about his own future. Insurgents. Because Ian Rappaport, before Sunday, reported that Mario Williams was going to be on his way out, too big of a salary, this and that. And Williams did not like

those insurgents. Not pretty. I mean, I, the bills are a team that they've got a lot of talent, and especially on defense. If you had given Rex Ryan this offense back when he had the 2009, 2010 Jets, they're in the Super Bowl. Well, we keep saying that, though, about the This isn't that defense anymore. They're missing about three or four of their best six players. It's just, it's worth pointing out. It's still where players are not playing up, indeed. With the exception of last year when John Idzig sabotaged him completely, in my opinion.

But that's what this season has been so strange because he finally gets a quarterback. Tyrod Teller played poorly today, if I'm not mistaken. Better down the stretch, but yeah. Yeah. And, you know, and I know Sean McCoy got hurt. So there's issues with this team. But in general, the fact that the offense actually did some things this season, and it was the defense that let him down.

And you've never heard, in all the years, Rex, was in New York and he was beloved in Baltimore as well. You've never heard anyone complain about his scheme. So it's so strange to me that this would happen in Buffalo. Although you look at Cleveland, and that scheme, which is, in theory, a mirror of this scheme, is getting fried, and there are similar complaints and whispers that it's too complex.

It's overly complex for what it is, and it's not friendly for pass rushers. And so maybe the league catches. The league does catch up with stuff after a while. And either you adjust or everyone that's going to adjust and start to crush you. More disturbing to me is they're an unlikable team. And they have been all year. They talk too much.

They run their mouths. And then they go out and commit penalties and don't back up anything they or their coach says. And Mark, if you like this experience, how about I give you a little Christmas Eve present? Oh, no, wait. It's a day after Christmas. Even better. You're just, you know, you got all your presents. You've had a nice day.

Turn on the old TV. Watch Redskins Eagles on Saturday night football on NFL. NFL network. They win that game. It's about over. And the Redskins are going to the playoffs if they win that game. Are you starting to picture Jay Gruden at the podium? Well, they're the favorites right now. They are the favorites. Am I watching that game in my house? I still can't see it. I can't see it. Well, it's going to happen. I know. I might have to be while I have to see it. Well, we'll see it. If they lose that game, it's wide open. You mentioned Deshaun Jackson and Jordan Reed. I mean, Kirk Cousins, and we said this earlier

in the year, with all the injuries, the Redskins said, he averaged six and a half yards per attempt in the first seven games this season. He's averaging nine yards per attempt since Jackson and Reed got healthy over the last seven games. I think Gruden's getting some credit. Give him credit. Give him credit. Give him credit. I think they've done a really nice job with the offense. 15 touchdowns at home since his last pick, which is way back when. I mean, Cousin's, the second half of his season has been what they needed and they are right now the best team in this division because I can't trust the Giants. And they get to prove it. Next week, you take care of business against the Eagles and it's

yours, basically. Yeah, there's no, yeah, that's the one thing. They have now put themselves in the position to take this thing. Now they just got a close. It's the NFC, so there's no guarantee of that. Yeah, all right. Which takes us to Sunday night football. The Arizona Cardinals traveling to Philadelphia to take on the Eagles with a chance to clinch the NFC West. It looked like a mismatch on paper, and that's exactly what it turned out to be a 40 to 17 win for the Cardinals, a game where Carson Palmer has been doing MVP like things all season. This was not about Carson Palmer on the offensive side of ball. It was David Johnson who ran for 29 attempts, 187 yards, three touchdowns,

added 42 yards and four catches through the air. So a special career type of day for Johnson, who has really stepped in for Chris Johnson and has taken over that role. The Eagles, meanwhile, fall to six and eight dire straits in the NFC East race. They need to win out, most likely, and get help at this point. The Cardinals, 12 and 2, knock the Seahawks off and the NFC West. Wes, you love this team. We love this team.

They keep on pounded. David Johnson was as impressive as any rookie performance all season. And we said when he went down, he could be an upgrade on Chris Johnson. And you saw the physicality. He had that 47-yard touchdown run that looked like something out of Marchon Lynch's career. And then you also have Darren Fells dragging Byron and Maxwell for 20 yards. The Cardinals were the more physical. physical team in this game.

Yeah, I mean, if you're, you know, our boss is not here right now for this final segment of the night. He is not present. And that is true of the Eagles as well tonight. I mean, this is the third time in five games where they've given up 40 plus points on defense. And despite all the years of epic talk about Chip Kelly's innovative, crazy offense that no one can deal with, they don't have the offense or the players to keep up with this

team when you're getting bombed this way. All that's out the window. So it's clear now all the talk that Chip Kelly was this guy that was going to take the league by Storm and then people would be emulating what he was doing or imitating what he was doing. It's not going to happen. And it's certainly not, that's not going to be successful against a team like the Cardinals who are as well-rounded as any group in the league right now.

Yeah, I mean, forget Chip Kelly. Let's talk about the coach of the year and the NFC, and that's Bruce Ariens. Because no matter what's happened or Ron Rivera, fair enough. But Ariens, the argument for him is that no matter what's happened to Arizona the previous week, They get up for every single game. They've been the darlings of prime time this season. Big matchups, big critical situations. They show up.

Their offense is explosive and hard to contain. This had much more to do about Arizona than it did the Eagles. They're 7 and 1 on the road this year, which proves they're mentally tough. It's a franchise record for them. And I love that Bruce Ariens after the game, they win the NFC West. And, you know, Connor Orr, who's at this game, said Ariens, basically, the message he sent was there wasn't a whole lot of hooting and hollering. And we won a lot more than the NFC West this year. We expect to go further.

The one thing to really be concerned about, and we're taping this right after the game wraps up, is Tyron Matthew, their star safety, cornerback, secondary man, went down with a knee injury at the very end of the game. Ariens didn't really have a comment on it directly after the game, so we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves. But that's one of those guys, one of the core players on this team they could afford to lose less. I mean, more than just a core player.

He's an NFL defensive player of the year candidate, and outside of JJ Watt, he would get my vote. And so it's really impossible to describe what losing him for any amount of time would mean, not only for the secondary, but what they do as a defense as a whole. He's like no other defensive back in the NFL. He plays a slot corner, safety, and a little bit of linebacker at times, too. He's a blitzer and a run defender. They use him to cover tight ends. They're just no one else like that.

And Carson Palmer this week compared him to a mix between Ed Reed and Troy Palomalo. Praise doesn't get any higher than that. Do you guys want to know what Drew Stanton and DeMarco Murray had in common tonight? They both touched the ball once? They were both credited with two rushing attempts. Drew Stanton, two kneel downs to kill the clock at the end of the game. DeMarco Murray, two carries for three yards. He was obviously third in the pecking order.

So this seems like they're heading toward a divorce. at this point to Marker Murray and the Eagles, which is certainly incredible. It's easy to forget now because we're now almost all the way through the 2015 season. He is the reigning NFL rushing champion, has no part in their offensive attack. That goes on everyone on Philly. They botched that as bad as it gets. So the Eagles, when you look at all the things that have gone wrong for them, that's a big part of it. Bad job signing that guy.

The offensive player of the year last year, and now he's an afterthought like you said. And I think that's just, I've made this point several times. It's the perils of building your team through free agency, which they did. Chip Kelly knows that running backs with DeMarco Murray's workload do not play well next year. He emitted that in August, and yet they still signed him to a big money deal. It's crazy. So yes, the Cardinals are 12 and 2. The team around the NFL is now the NFC West champions with a very good chance.

Probably not going to get the one seed, but they have a good chance. chance now to lock up that two seed and roll into the playoffs got to like the chances of the team of a tn if they win the super bowl as a team of a tn we should just fold up shop because we've done it well at that point absolutely there's nothing left for us to do if that happens i like that i like their chances we have to hope that honey badger's injury is like a gronk deal where he's only going to miss a week or so it's possible we'll see or he might not miss any time yeah it's too early to say let's just hope that's what it is but uh yeah so there is the look the in-depth look at the NFL, the day that was December 20th, 2015, Mark.

We will be back on Tuesday with our, you know, it's Christmas week, but we will make sure, as we always do, it's going to be a three-show week. We'll have a show on Tuesday. We'll have another show we'll put together on Wednesday because we love you, audience. Maybe we broadcast for like 10 or 12, 14 hours on Christmas Day. Why not? It's an interesting thought. Maybe it's like a shout out to Balboa what he did in Moscow

on Christmas Day once upon a time against him. Yes, the parallels are there. Yeah, there you go. Anyway, so that's it. Thank you again for listening and watching on YouTube if you want to see what we look like. If you want to see what Gary Barnage looks like humiliating me by pretending to have an American accent, I'm offended.

You can do that. Check out YouTube also on NFL now. That's it. This is Dan Hansis, signing off. for quiet store the mailman in absentia

the boss Greg Rosenthal and Brandy behind the glass till Tuesday Hey, what's up? This is Nate Berlinson. I'm Real Mike Rob.

Yeah, check out the R&B podcast. Go to NFL.com slash ice. There it is. Podcast. Hey, look. Go to podcast and iTunes. All right. All right.

One more time. One more time. No, Tio said it. He just said it. It's a rap. That was perfect. I'm messing up sometimes. This is an I-Heart podcast.

Thank you.