NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Week 18 Recap: Lions Roar, Bucs Survive and Pats Make a Change

Episode Date: January 6, 2025

Gregg Rosenthal is joined by Patrick Claybon and Nick Shook to recap all of the Week 18 action from around the NFL and take a look at how the playoff picture shaped up. The show starts with Vikings at Lions (04:59), followed by Saints at Buccaneers (16:20), Panthers at Falcons (24:45), Commanders at Cowboys (31:25), Bears at Packers (37:45), Seahawks at Rams (43:29), Giants at Eagles (48:00), Browns at Ravens (51:09), Bengals at Steelers (58:55), Chiefs at Broncos (01:08:45), Dolphins at Jets (01:14:50), Chargers at Raiders (01:22:18), Texans at Titans (01:28:52), Jaguars at Colts (01:34:35), 49ers at Cardinals (01:39:36), and Bills at Patriots (01:42:55).  Note: time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Welcome to NFL Daily, where we said goodbye to 18 NFL teams today. Just feel a little lighter. That's what happens this time of year in the Chris Wesleyan podcast studio. I'm Greg Rosenthal.

Alongside, my friend Patrick Claibon, Nick Shook, back in Cleveland. And we are back in the studio after watching a beatdown on Sunday night football. Yes, for the second time in three seasons, the Lions put a stamp on the very last regular season game of the year,

except this time, they're not just going home and saying we took you out with us, Packers. They're the number one seed in the NFC. We have our playoff schedule set. Let's just go over it first before we get into the games. We've got three days of games now on Wild Card Weekend. It is not super Wild Card Weekend anymore. It's very important.

Don't call it that. We've got the Texans and the Chargers in the west of his spot. And I have been told reliably the Houston Texans have literally never played outside of the Westivis spot. And when I searched Westivis and Texans, I found a tweet from our old friend, Chris Wesleyan, who yes,

we would celebrate every year. The first game on the NFL wildcard calendar was always that early wildcard game on Saturday afternoon. And it was always Andy Dalton and the Bengals. And sometimes the Texans were involved. And the tweet I found was from 2000, and 19, where he said, officially, the Texans have taken over that spot.

They've played the most times in that spot. And you want to know a fact? Nick Shook, they've literally never not played in that spot. Seven for seven before this year. This one makes it eight. They are five and two, by the way, in those games. They are hosting the Chargers as the five seed. Saturday night, we stay in the AFC.

We have the Ravens and the Steelers for the third time. I know that makes Patrick a little bit nervous. It makes me nervous, too. Sunday morning on the West Coast, 1 o'clock on the East Coast, bills and Broncos, followed by Packers and Eagles in what the NFL really kind of feels like,

oh, that's the best game of the weekend. We give it to that 4.30 spot on Sunday, Packers, Eagles. That is fun. Buccaneers, commanders on Sunday night football. And then Monday night, we've got the Rams hosting the Vikings. And we'll get into all the schedule of it. all, but just some like big picture thoughts, Nick, about what has transpired over these last

48 hours this season before we get into the Lions and the Vikings game. Honestly, I feel at peace. I feel like I got a new sense of clarity because the playoff picture is now set. I don't have to talk about it. This team loses and that team gets in. We know who's getting in. And now comes the best time of the year when we get to break down all these games, give our predictions and see how it all unfolds.

it's the same way for me just looking at these matchups and again like the way especially in the afc where everything was going to come down to the the chiefs and the broncos we'll get to that but to have some clarity over in the nfc finally it's it's it's a sense of like the plain lands and not that i'm not going to be that guy that stands up in the aisle but you can unbuckle your seatbelt you can take out your phone and you can start to do the things to prepare for the trip that is the NFL. And there is something about that just 18 teams that we're not going to watch those teams again. And we don't have to. Right. And a lot of them, it is a relief. And a lot of them we're going to be talking about, including on the show with some coaching changes. And, you know, the offseason is just starting for those teams. I think the slate is just about perfect. Because what I don't like to happen is to have two teams that I don't think have a realistic chance to make it to the Super Bowl playing each other in Wild Card weekend. I think maybe we have one of those games, commanders, although you could convince me that the bucks could make a magical run.

And then I don't want like two of the great teams to be stuck against each other, like picking each other off. But if you're going to do that, maybe just have one of those games. And I kind of think the Packers Eagles has settled in to that game. And the AFC, the quarterbacks in the AFC are just crazy. We're going to get into all that. So I think the way to structure this show, guys,

I hope you're okay with this because it's already laid out. It's going to be your call regardless. Eric behind the glass has a say here. We do a lot of conversation. Chris is in the mix. I'm not going to say he has this sort of decision-making capability yet, but he is in the mix. We're going to go NFC first because I think that's where the big action was on Sunday.

We'll go all through the NFC, and then we'll do the AFC and everything that happened, and then we'll wrap it in a nice, neat bow. Yes, let's start at the end. Let's go to Ford Field. Five and a half to go. Lions by 15. First and goal from the Minnesota 4.

golf is going to work out of the gun gives to his right jared leans him there's the snap gives it to tamir over the left side up the hash still fighting at the one did he get in yes he did touchdown detroit lions jimir with a boost from his offensive line he's in and the lions are three scores up can you smell it detroit yes we do can you smell it smells good it smells like the nfc north Oh, when Dan Miller's voice is cracking, you know that's when football is back. Lomas Brown, T.J. Lange on WX, Y, T. It's been a season. It's been three years worth of Dan Miller calls, and he always delivers. And the lions, they deliver to 15 and 2 on a regular season that put up a ton of obstacles in their way.

injuries, expectations, a difficult schedule, a brutal division. And they overcame it all to get that number one seed. They won this game 31 to 9. It didn't feel that decisive, Patrick. But I wanted that highlight versus the other three Jemir Gibbs touchdowns that also happened in this game. He ended up with four. He had some longer ones.

But I wanted that one because it felt emblematic of the way the second half went, literally and figuratively. figuratively, this is a team all working together and pushing each other. And then literally, there were multiple first downs where the offensive lineman pushed Jemir Gibbs to get that first down. That was for the touchdown and that embodies

just everything this Lions team has been about. You could make the case that Penae Sewell had more first downs in this game by pushing Jamir Gibbs than Jordan Addison and Justin Jefferson did over on the other side where Aaron Glenn's defense played spectacularly well. The Vikings played well in a spot where it felt like

both of these teams were competing to the same extent on the defensive side of the ball. But then it was Jamir Gibbs on an angle route on fourth and goal where he dices up Andrew Van Ginkle and goes in the end zone. The lions never really looked back after that point.

And it's, well, you know, we'll have time to get into this Darnold discussion. But truly, even if Sam Darnold played an A minus game, it wouldn't touch. Jared had the shot where you know, Ben Johnson kind of puts him in a tough spot throwing out of his own end zone.

Three receivers in the pattern. It's a deep ball. He's got to throw the ball. Otherwise, it's going to be two points for the Minnesota Vikings. He has the mistake there. Other than that, a pristine game played by Jared Gough, where even if Darnel played better, he wasn't touching 16. Yeah, it's one where you look at the box score.

You see the two picks from Gough, and there was the one that got, you know, tipped at the line of scrimmage earlier in the game. And you look at Darno, obviously, struggling, but there was such a big difference there. And yet the fourth downs, you don't want to boil it. just down to Minnesota struggled in the red zone, and they definitely did. They finished 0 for 4 in the red zone. Darnold's numbers inside the 10-yard line were grotesque.

At one point, he was one for nine for three yards inside the 10-yard line. But I do think, Nick, on some level, it does come back to those fourth downs that the Vikings go for the fourth down, as they should early in the second half. It's another one of those Darnold incompletions where he's just running around and the Darnold on the move just freestyling. Those plays were not working at all tonight, whereas the Lions stayed aggressive after a failed fourth down early in the game that got tipped. They go for it again, as Patrick mentioned, hit the angle route. And then after that, they are the better running team, ultimately.

And these are two teams that want to run the ball, but the Lions, they're built to do it. And they were better doing it. And it made it kind of a walk in the fourth quarter where at one point, Aaron Glenn is just sitting on the bench chilling. I don't know what he was doing over there. He'd earned that. He'd earned that, by the way, that he'd gotten in the head of Sam Donald, which we haven't really seen this year. But honestly, this game comes down to like three key takeaways. One of them is the lion's success on fourth down.

The other one is Jemir Gibbs, going back to the lion's identity of putting the game away on the ground, which he thought maybe they wouldn't be able to do that without David Montgomery. Oh, no, they can still do that because he can actually handle the ball in every down, which he proved there ripping off long runs, getting first down, sometimes of the assistance of his offensive linemen. And then the third thing was the Vikings missing their opportunities, not capitalizing. You had the Ivan Pace interception, and then they settle for a field goal. They're inside the 10.

They settle for a field goal there. You have the fourth and two that they didn't convert that you just mentioned. There's also the play where Andrew Van Ginkle reads the bubble perfectly. He gets a hand out there, it tips up in the air, and he doesn't catch it. So the Vikings are going to come away from this game, you know, pretty upset with the fact that, you know, in the margins. They could have made it a much tighter game, knowing that they didn't execute, but at the same time should feel good that if we clean that up, we're still going to have a really good shot. If they play that again, who knows, maybe there's a difference. the Lions, definitely the better team tonight.

It was very similar game plans from the two defenses. Both teams blitzed more than 50% of the time. Both teams had a very high pressure rate, although the Lions were even higher. The difference was Goff, who had his struggles early in the game. Certainly they were bothering. You hit someone that much, like, how can you not be bothered? But he got rid of the ball faster.

He only took six QB hits. Darnold took 10. And then he had a couple C&I types of third down throws that Darnold just didn't hit. I'm thinking early in the game too, he started eight for 18 for 89 yards. And there was a third and nine to Hawkinson where actually the pressure didn't get there. There was a third and eight up the seam, or third and 18 rather, to Hawkinson, also in the first half, where actually he had a chance. There was pressure, and it's a third and 18, but he's hit these crazy plays. And he just misses him by a yard.

there's another Hawkinson drop in the second half. Sometimes it was receivers, one that's a little behind Jefferson. It's not like a perfect throw, but it was a tough situation. And Jefferson doesn't make the catch. So on a night where like Aaron Jones is in and out, in the second half, it just wasn't close. But it's hard also, you know, to ignore that Darno goes 18 for 41 with four yards per attempt in the biggest game of the year.

It was two of 12 in passes 10 to 19 yards. or 20 plus. This is Sam Donald, who's over 45% of all of his throws were past the sticks in this regular season. Most of the attempts were short, and he was 8 of 18 between zero and nine yards today. Where clearly the strength of the Lions defense at this point, you know, during the stretch where everybody got hurt, I know they got Alex Anzolone back some of their pass rushers back. O'B. Milofandu returned. But Brian Branch and Kirby Joseph kind of formed the back.

of this defense right around that nine yards away from the line of scrimmage. So they're always good in that spot. They were even better today where Sam Donald has been great all season, actually bad today. Such a good game. I know it was like a blowout in the end, but I guess it got me going, Chuck, because like this was the first playoff game. And the great thing is we get to see the Vikings again. They'll be on Monday night football.

It wasn't, but it just felt like, okay, there's now, you know, before this game started, 14 games left in the season. And they're all going to be really high. stakes and you just felt you felt that and the final score lies just a little bit but I thought one of the key moments and it's why I really believe in golf and I believe in this offense to get it done was the drive before Gibbs hits the long touchdown in the second half which which is only their second touchdown is 10 to 6 at the time golf hits a third in really long while backpedaling against the Blitz

to set up a fourth and four that they go for and then he's backpedaling again against the Blitz and those are just little plays and then the next play Gibbs pops it and to me that was the difference

he's been in these situations so many times and it's huge because they are now at home for the NFC playoffs and they get a week off and there's actually not that many players I don't think can return

we saw Kevin Zitler their guard walk off at the end injured, so that's a little concerning. Patrick mentioned it. Melafonwu being back, I think the last couple weeks is a big deal for them. It's just another steady body there in the secondary, and Anzolone made a big difference.

Terriand Arnold looked like he had a serious injury unfortunately at cornerback tonight, so they get the rest, but more importantly, you're going to have to beat Detroit in Detroit, which is a tall order, and I think is the reward and the advantage they kind of needed after all these injuries.

Yeah, that was what was at stake tonight. was home field advantage. And I think that the Vikings, despite everything that they've done well this season, proved just how difficult it is to go win there. Because in that first half, they played tight. They coached tight.

That red zone situation after that interception, Justin Jefferson has an opportunity to catch a ball in the back of the end zone, and he bibles it. And then by the time he comes down with it, he's out of bounds. Those are mistakes, small things that they don't typically make, but I think the environment had a lot to do with that. And the other thing is, if the Lions have the home field advantage, that's great.

But they're also approved tonight that they are master, master's a preparation. They were prepared for anything that the Vikings brought after them, especially on those fourth down conversions. Double A gap blitz, we're going to throw the angle route right behind you for a touchdown. Like they had an answer for everything, and I think you combine those two factors.

It makes it extremely difficult to go in there and beat them, no matter how banged up they are, because they've taken a number of injuries. But they play, that defense played tonight, like they weren't hurt at all. So it's a tall task. Well, I, you know, I'm just wearing my biases on my sleeve. I think covering a line Super Bowl would be amazing.

I would. How can you not love this team? There would be other great stories out of the NFC if it happened, including the Vikings, if they found a way to win three straight road games. But it's a tougher road for them now. I'm also biased because I want to see my son and my daughter. I mean, my son and my wife dress up as Sonic and Knuckles for the Super Bowl, which she has promised Walker, who really loves Gibbs and Montgomery that she would do if they make it. So I just really want to see that. Man, this Vikings, the day started weird. From Walker. They started weird with a Jay Glazer report on Fox that multiple teams are interested in trading for Kevin O'Connell. I don't like this. I don't like Kevin O'Connell and his story being front and center

at this point in the season when it should be all about the team. I've got thoughts on this. I feel like I need to just let them simmer for now. We're going to talk about all the coaches stuff on our Black Monday show. But I just feel like it's an awkward situation and you wouldn't want anything kind of taking away from the team right now, a coaching contract situation.

Like that's not what the Vikings need right now. They need to start preparing for their wildcard game. They will have an extra day to do so. Now let's go to the early slate of games, which were a lot of fun, especially figuring out who would win the NFC South to Raymond James Stadium. Empty backfield look for Baker Mayfield now. Three receivers to his right. Good snap, belt high.

Looking up field, looking at first out of the pocket, dances outside, throws him all up here. He's got a receiver. Open caught. Touchdowns have a bay. Touchdowns have a bay. Jaylon McBellon. Fifth game in a row. He's come up with a touchdown.

Fire the cannons. Boxer oil tied at 201919. Ooh, Gene Deckerhoff on W. FUS. What a throw. Put that on the throws of the year list. I mean, seriously, just a peat on the run in the biggest of spots. At that point in the afternoon, if the standings held, the Falcons were going to the playoffs. Yes, the bucks were trailing in the fourth quarter against the Saints. they find a way to score two touchdowns, 14 points unanswered in the fourth to win 27 to 19. And yes, at that moment, Chuck,

the Falcons were tied in their game. The Bucks went into halftime down 10 points, knowing that the Falcons were ahead in their game staring their season, and maybe the Todd Bolzerra in the eye, and they come back and they win the game. how did they get it done? Down 10 points with only 116 yards

in total offense, one for four on third down when they got to the break. It sure looked bad. It sure looked like they were laying that egg at the worst possible time. But who rescues them

none other than the man where in number six, Baker Mayfield, with an impressive fourth quarter that I'm sure will upset you, Greg. No, no, he was the man. He scrambled, he converted, he threw that pass to Jalen McMillan.

And the reason that pass was, it was so important beyond the fact that they just scored a touchdown because he had already throw a dime to McMillan on fourth down to convert a key fourth down McMillan celebrates he signals first down doing a little finger guns thing

gets taunt flagged for taunting they get backed way up and then you think well there goes their opportunity to score the touchdown nope Baker Mayfield's out there he's going to let it rip and he's going to throw an absolute dot to his receiver in the corner of the end zone to give them the lead it was so impressive Gene Deckerhoff you heard on the call

wasn't even sure what the score was at the moment that's the type of day it was and the type of fourth quarter it was for the buccaneers who woke up with just enough time and then their defense finished it off. They got to Spencer Rattler and then they went on a long drive late in the game that ended, it was a 12 play 94 yard march,

took off almost six minutes off the clock. Bucky Irving gets in the end zone and that was basically it. And they're going to the playoffs triumphantly and they even got Mike Evans his incentive and his 11th straight thousand yard receiving season. This was not a clean comeback. No.

In the third quarter, Baker threw an interception. in Bucks territory, the Saints just kick a field goal. They go four and out. They kick a field goal. After that, the Bucks go three and out. Saints are winning at this point, late third. They shank the punt, right? And at that point, it really felt like this thing is going to happen.

But the Saints took a penalty. I think they took a sack on that drive. and suddenly it was like third and 26 and they end up just having to punt back and that to me was where it changed. And I give Baker a ton of credit because most of this comeback was just him having to wait until the last second.

Liam Cohen's screens and all his voodoo, nothing was working today. The Saints were all over it. They didn't have much of a pass-rarch, but no one was open. The little gimmick plays weren't working. The run game took a while to get going. And it was honestly just Baker's playmaking

that did it in the end. especially with his feet. Baker Mayfield ran for 68 yards in this one and I at some point in this game wondered if the bucks were somehow tipping plays. For those who watched the Sunday night football game where Alex Anzolone blast Jamir Gibbs

on a swing pass. The exact same thing happened to Bucky Irving where DeMario Davis was instantly there and that was the game like for you get to 1134 to go in the fourth quarter Hugo Amati gets a sack of Baker Mayfield and

And the Saints are winning the game at this point. Like they have to come back and make the plays like the ones that Shook was talking about were Mayfield is hitting McMillan. And they ultimately do it just in a gritty fashion. There was nothing pretty about this. The only thing pretty was when they had absolutely won the game. There's no reason other than to get Mike Evans $3 million and to have the best moment of the week. A top five moment of the season. But for me, when Mike Evans gets $1,000.

Evans now deploys to the right in the slot. Now in motion, Mike Evans drifts over to the left slot. Baker Mayfield's shotgun. They know what we're going to do. Baker Mayfield looks those of all the caught ball. Evans, he's got it to the 40-yard line. 1,000 plus Mike Evans, 11 seasons in a row. How about them buccaneers at number 13?

What a tremendous job. And we were talking off the air. We needed five yards. So they send him in motion, they push him up, they hit the quick out. Let him make the catch, get up the field, and he's fired up. He's not an emotional guy, or he was fired up as soon as he got that. You can see the tears welling up in the locker room video where he gets the game ball from Todd Bowles. Just the moment from the team executing, Baker Mayfield making the throw, Mike Evans getting the yards.

Todd Bowles allowing that situation to happen, just a, just a. great moment for all of Tampa Bay. Kind of incredible in so many different ways. One of them being, technically, the only way they could not go to the playoffs would be if they threw a ball to Mike Evans and it got tipped, or if he tipped it up and the Saints caught it, pick-sixthed it,

got the two, the game actually wasn't over. And yet, I completely agree with everything you said. That gave me goosebumps. That was one of the moments of the year. There's a shot taken from the sidelines, and if you're watching on YouTube, you can watch it. And credit to NFL Twitter here, if you're watching from the low angle

and the sound that you hear from the crowd, they had it on the scoreboard within seconds that he got his 1,000 yards, and congratulations on all the scoreboard. And that's given those fans and Mike Evans and everyone else, like a moment they literally will never forget. And that's sports. That's pretty cool.

And I'm excited, Chuck, to see your boy Baker in the playoffs. They were the worthy NFC South champions. I think they were the best team all season, even if today was a little bumpy. Yeah, I mean, both South divisions are pretty gross. They proved to be the best of this bunch. Even if it was ugly in the end, it's the right way to win it. You know what, though?

They did win 10 games. and they did have a top 10 offense and they are a game plan team where if they hit everything right and that's going to include needing a better defensive performance than they usually have they are to me that team you don't want to face

because I think their best game if they hit you at the right on the right day they could beat anyone. I mean anyone. There is no one in the NFL that I don't think the bucks could be. We know that they'll have the commanders. and so they are a fun team.

You know what's crazy? They could make the division round for the fourth time in five years. I mean, you think of that and you think, well, that must be a dynasty, right? I mean, they kind of are. It's a little bit.

An NFC South dynasty. With some different personnel, Jason Light, getting it done. Four straight. The only time in that run they didn't win the division, they won the Super Bowl. So they'll take that trade off

and they'll take the trade off of having to sweat out. Yes, a fourth quarter where they're trailing, and the Falcons were tied at the time. But ultimately, Falcons couldn't even get it done. Young is under center. Here's the snap. Sanders, up the middle, charging through the end zone. Touchdown, Carolina. The Panthers walk it off to end the season. That is right. Anise Schroff on WRFX.

The Bryce Young story somehow got better in week 18. The most improved player of the year. He's past Sam Darnold for me. I'm sorry. Recency bias. I just like watching this guy. He puts up a 40 burger in a must-win game for the Falcons, 44 to 38. Three touchdowns on the day for Bryce Young,

who gets a lot of help from Adam Thieland as he does each and every week, just making great catches. And Jalen Coker, who is a real-deal NFL player, they found something in this undrafted rookie. another great rookie wide receiver. Even Bryce Young's misses, I think this season have been good. Like they all are with the right intention. They're all the right decision.

And he did it all today. A couple big plays with his legs, 24 yards on the ground. And he was just on point. Every time the Falcons took a lead in this game, he had a response. And we had this discussion about Bryce Young and the way he moves in the pocket when Shook was here with us in studio earlier this week. And it showed today. the Falcons, even when they did get pressure to Bryce, he was stepping away.

When they didn't get pressure on Bryce, he was doing things like Steph Curry pre-celebrating before the shot goes in on a touchdown to Tommy Trimble today. Just everything that you would want to see from the quarterback. And then on the other side, the Falcons defense kind of reverting to their can't get pressure on the quarterback from earlier this. Yeah. While you bring it up, let's watch the Bryce Young. It's not quite a no look because he looked when he threw it.

But he didn't look when Coker caught it. So now a fourth down. Atlanta loses a timeout, fake the handoff. Young, step and throw, end zone. Touchdown! Tommy Tremble! And Carolina converts. Canthers have come to play.

You've got a rookie quarterback playing well in Atlanta. Second year quarterback continuing to grow and elevate his play in Carolina. He knew it before the ball even got there. So good. That was Steph Curry throwing up the three and retreating without even seeing it. That was one of the easier throws Bryce had to make there. Good job by Dave Canales. The deserves credit, too, here.

Look, he wouldn't have even gone to Bryce Young this season if Annie Dalton didn't get injured in a car accident, which is a weird sliding doors moment. I mean, he probably eventually would have gone back to him, but that week he was not planning to. But they got some open receivers today, but he also had some C and I throws that were just incredible. And so did Michael Pennix. As disappointing as the Falcons defense was, ultimately, Rahim Morris made some game management decisions with the clock again.

So that's something he's got to work on. And his defense improbably got worse this year than last year's Falcons defense. And they got older, too, by the numbers all around. Michael Pennix was awesome in this game. They dialed up 537 yards and 31 first down shookie. And he had a million great catches. Drake London to Pennix is going to be a combination. I'm looking forward to watching for a long time.

London ends up with 10 for 187 and 2. And Bajon Robinson goes for 170 yards on the ground and just a fantastic performance. So there was nothing. Drake London and Michael Pennix really could have done here. They were matching them shot for shot. And it was just that, yeah, the Panthers were the ones that got the ball

and scored the touchdown in overtime. Yeah, don't complain about overtime rules either. this was how this game was supposed to go for a team to get a stop wins and the Falcons did not get a stop because the Panthers were down the field we are going to see this matchup of quarterbacks for years to come.

They are division rivals. Michael Pennix has shown me enough in the limited amount of time that he's played this year for me to think he's going to be the guy for the long term. Bryce Young, I just think about where we were after week two when he got benched and there was a shot

of a fan trying to get an autograph of his outside of the facility and he looked so down. And to see him go from there to where he's so confident that he can turn around and signal touchdown before the ball even lands in his receiver's hands.

What a journey he has traveled over this season and a little bit of vindication for myself because I took a risk last year with the QB index. I moved him all the way up to 11. Got a lot of hate online for it. Wow. That is high. For people who aren't Panthers fans.

And you know what? Backed me up. He backed me up. And I love how bright his future is. Yeah. This division is looking a lot more fun if the Saints can figure some things out. It's crazy how good,

Bajon Robinson is whether he's the third or fourth best running back in the league this year you know you have Sequin you have what Derek Henry did you have what Jemir Gibbs did and then Bajan like he might be the best fourth best

running back of all time I mean he he's just so pretty like just watching him set up these blocks getting inside outside like just an awesome season out of him so if there ever could be like a moral victory way to lose to the Panthers and we

18 with the playoffs online. I feel like this is close to it. It doesn't exist. At least they feel. It doesn't exist here. At least they got to feel a little better about their future. Imagine if they hadn't gone to pen it. It just they do feel it.

They should have good things to feel about. Although Rahim Morris, even you mentioned the end of the game. Like they got the ball back. I know they were on the 12 yard line, but they had 14 seconds and they had a timeout. It's like just try to score. Try. I don't know. I would have liked to see some effort there.

I know Riley Patterson missed a long field goal earlier. There's no young way coup. But hey, give Riley Patterson. another opportunity, but the, you know, we saw, you know, you're not watching if you're listening to the audio version, the dejected look on the Falcon sideline after that Tommy Trimble touchdown, but there was motion. There was somebody clapping on the sideline. It was Kirk Cousins trying to, trying to pick his team up. And it's just kind of a symbol for the way the season has gone in Atlanta in 2024. Yeah, they finish eight and nine. So ultimately two games

back of the Bucks, the Panthers at five and 12. Man, If I smoke cigarettes, I feel like I would need a cigarette right now. Let's take a quick break. We're going to roll through the rest of the NFC and all the seeding implications of how it broke down on Sunday. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks.

On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team-building philosophies, coaching trends and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights you won't find anywhere else. It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots, from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow.

We break down the draft, analyze matchups, and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a die-hard fan or just love understanding. finding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture. If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you. Don't miss it.

Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL cover zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that?

Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast.

Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet, we've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official. Automotive Partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Marriota in the gun,

Echler to his left, three wide receivers to the right. Here's the snap. He's looking left, one-on-one, throws him. Oh, that's right. It is. Terry McLaurin. Touchdown. Touchdown, Washington. They got it again.

Do you believe in miracles? Yes, I do. Terry McCart, Marcus Marriota, perfect ball, ball game. Washington. Man. All season. Fram Weinstein and London Fletcher just getting it done. They're kind of like Jaden Daniels and Marcus Mariotta on WBIG.

It doesn't matter who's in the game. They're both got to deliver. Mariota comes in there and just keeps delivering touchdowns. He's running scary Terry's in the game at the end. 23 to 19, Washington wins a fun one. This was earlier in the season. This would have been like, oh, this is game of the year. of stuff, but instead it was like backups on backups, and yet it was a fun professional

football game. Yeah, if you just go ahead and make it 120 minutes of the Washington commanders and Dallas Cowboys this season, it's still, regardless, comes down to the wire in the final moments this time with backups in as Dan Quinn saw Jaden Daniels on the opening series get sacked by Michael Parsons twice, a slow offense that couldn't really run the vault. Jaden took a few hits and Dan Quinn decided, okay, that's enough. Let's get Marcus Marrota in for the remainder of this, and they're able to still win with that. The Cowboys play Trey Lance in this game exclusively, you know, despite the fact that Cooper Rush could have hit some contract incentives by getting some more snaps,

much to his chagrin that did not ultimately happen. But it's the protection for Jaden Daniels that didn't work out. But then Marcus Marrota making plays with his feet, he almost had a long touchdown run that came on fourth down. 33 yards, yeah, just gets his ankles nipped. But then comes back with that touchdown pass to Scary Terry where this has been the commanders. This is their season. The last 10 seconds of the game, what insane play is the commander's offense going to make.

And they're the reverse Bengals this year and also one of those wins against the Bengals. That's a good call. Five lead changes in the final 20 minutes of this game just back and forth between Aubrey and Ertz and Mariotta. And yeah, I don't know whether to be just like a smidge. concern that, you know, Jane Daniels goes six for 12 for 38 yards in this game. Any concern? No. No. He didn't play a lot. Okay. It's whatever. There's familiarity. Um, you know, they're, they're going up against a team that they really just played a team that's gotten better on defense where, you know, Michael Parsons being back. And again, like, I don't know if you can make a case for Michael Parsons playing 13 games and having defensive player of the year. But it's up there in terms of pressures and the number of pass rush snaps. He's got 392. he's got 75 quarterback he's the best defensive player in the league he was my choice before the season he has been for three straight years I think and he wasn't healthy enough but ultimately

I think he was the best player I think you're absolutely right all right so the Cowboys lose and the commanders you know one of the teams who were they were just playing for seating just trying to get the six instead of the seven and they didn't even know if they would get the six until later in the day it turns out they did so they move up one spot instead of going to Philadelphia, they go to Tampa Bay. And I think, you know, just because they know the Eagles, I don't know which one they would prefer, but as a fan, I'd rather just not see that matchup for a third time.

So I'm glad that they played to win. In Dallas, the conversation turns into the coaching staff and what's going to happen. Let's listen to Jerry Jones after the game. Mike's one of the best coaches that I think there is. He was made the coach here because I thought that, and he's done absolutely nothing to diminish my opinion of him as a coach. And I am really impressed with the way the players identified

look or with him. They're inside with it. And that's important. I think they're going to bring McCarthy back. Let's listen to McCarthy after the game, too. I understand why I ask the questions. I don't like to talk about myself that way. But I'll just be clear.

I'm a winner. I know how to win. I've won a championship. I want a championship in this building. And that's who I am. So, and we'll see where it goes. Also coached up an Aaron Rogers lead team when he hit Jared Cookdown the sideline and Dax rookie year in that building.

I saw that game. That was a good one. Do you think he's back, Shook? What do you think? I think so. Do you think he should be back? How about that? I'm curious what you're debatable because what are you doing?

Are you spinning your wheels? Are you actually going to attack the office? offseason with intent because they didn't last year and they paid for it this year. I think that's what's most important. It's not even necessarily coaching staff because this offense went at full strength was pretty good. I mean, it was good with Mike McCarthy, you know, overseeing it. It's just that they lost guys.

They lacked guys. They lacked running backs. They had just CD Lamb at receiver for most of the year. So you get DAC back, you figure out your backfield because Rico Dattle has emerged. You maybe add another weapon at receiver because I love Jalen Tolbert, but, you know, I need something better alongside CD Lamb. Then, yeah, maybe it works out. You know what you have in your defensive coordinator.

You know what you have in your defensive personality. But you need to be more active in the office season to justify bringing this group back. I don't have a hot take here. My guess is McCarthy will be back. I think considering the ecosystem they're in, which is a very strange one and is maybe a bit of a problem, that McCarthy is probably better than they would do. Like I don't have confidence in them finding a better fit for Dallas Cowboys head coach. I'm not in love with it, but I'm fine.

if they bring McCarthy back, of course I'm fine. Why wouldn't that be fine? Yeah, it kind of fits the whole theme of this off-season for Dallas and season and then being all-in and then ultimately seeing like what all-in means, it's bringing back kind of what you got. And you know what that matchup, by the way, as we spin the mind forward into Wild Card Weekend, you know what that matchup means, Washington versus Tampa Bay. Marshawn Latimore.

We get it. Mike Evans. We get another one. We'll fight. Let's go to Green Bay, where, yeah, the Packers had their hands full. Taylor extends his hand, snap, placement made, Cairo Santos, kick is up, and the kick is good! And the Bears have walked off, and won in Green Bay,

putting to bed to nasty losing streaks. The in-season streak and the Packer streak. One ends at 11, the other ends as well, and the Bears win at 24-22. Yeah, that was their first win since 2018. That was also an 11-game streak, I believe. Jeff Joniak there, great job, kind of picking up what I didn't set up,

which is, yes, the Bears trying to end a streak, and the Packers trying to get that six-seed. They did not. They end up at 11-6 with a couple losses to end the season. The commanders were at 12-5, and yes, the Bears win their first game since, I was watching them in London against the Jaguars. That was forever ago.

Seems so long ago. 24 to 22, another Claibon banger. All your assigned games were fun this one. Yeah, it comes down to the wire in a game that unfortunately was a banger for the Packers injury-wise. As Christian Watson goes down, clutching his knee, carted off. Matt LaFleur says it does not look good. He's not overly optimistic for the playoff aspirations of Christian Watson. And then on top of that, Jordan Love,

leaves this game, which is a slug fest with the Chicago Bears who get a special team's touchdown Malik Willis has to leave the game. But the play of the game, which shout out to Johnny Knox and Devin Hester, who 10 years ago executed the fake punt fielding that the fake punt returned for the touchdown that the Bears got today where DJ Moore is back there, not necessarily really selling it that well because he's not even looking in the sky where the ball should be, but he fake fields the punt. Meanwhile, the cornerback, Josh Blackwell, runs back there, actually fields the punt. None of the bears are looking at him. And he just turns it, runs it down the sideline. That was the bear's first touchdown. And the Packers could never really

get going on offense. Malik Willis had to deal with a shot to his hand as well. Just injuries brutal here, but the bears execute down the stretch. They get a big completion. They get the timeout called when the timeout should be called and Cairo Santos kicks that game winning field goal and the Bears in the street. Yeah, I'm happy for Caleb Williams and this whole all these Bears players and coaches Thomas Brown, the interim who hadn't

won a game yet just to not finish the season on that note. That's great. Although they only had 224 yards of offense. A lot of the problems there. We're still there. I think moving forward, just my takeaways are that the Packers' offense isn't quite right right now. Both Jordan Love

and Matt Lafleur, expressed frustration with how the passing game operated today. So I think that is something to be a little concerned about. Jordan Love said he just wasn't as consistent and accurate enough as he wanted to be personally. And he also said as he was at the podium, that his elbow was still numb, which doesn't seem great, but that he thinks he'll be fine. They said he's going to play next week. And Matt LaFleur went as far to say as their offensive struggles were extremely frustrating.

Romeo Dobbs also did not play this game. It should be noted. an illness. They think he'll be fine for next week. So that was just a late scratch there. But kind of going into the playoffs shook the way you don't want to, you know, backwards really, this Packers team. And because of this loss, they got a much tougher draw now having to go to Philadelphia. You know, they went into the week thinking we're going to go to the Rams. Maybe we'll go to the Bucks and now going to Philadelphia. That is not ideal. Yeah. And if this is the Packers team that we

saw a blow out the Saints a few weeks ago, we'd feel pretty good about that. This is now a Packers team that basically got outclassed by the Vikings before mounting a late comeback attempt that fell short and then what happened today. I kind of don't put too much stock in the fact that their passing game wasn't working today when you lacked a lot of your top talent. I mean, Malik Heath and Don Tavian Wicks and Jane Reed and Tucker Kraft, those are your four top guys, which some of those guys are household names. Some of those guys don't get as many opportunities.

So you hope that they figure it out, but the Watson injury, I think, does bum me out. That's been something that's been kind of nagging him in recent weeks. It is concerning, but again, you know, we spent, God, we spent time two, three weeks ago, talking about how multiple they were. They could attack in so many different ways. You hope that they find that again before they had to go on the road against a very quality opponent in the Eagles with the good defense. Yeah, because we've seen, right, this team deal with injuries and manage them.

But when it all happens at once, when there's this collapse of, you know, ability here in week 18, you kind of feel like something got taken from you. in a team that had only lost, right, to these contenders in the NFC. And now this really woeful Bears team. And I mean, they played hard today. But think back to that the Thanksgiving matchup against the Miami Dolphins, where that was a team in contention that at the time had their quarterback. And they go into Green Bay.

And the Packers were just a buzzsaw. That team wasn't out there today because some of those guys, a lot of them literally weren't out there. Yeah, no Jair Alexander returning. They're still dangerous. I think if I'm an Eagles fan or, player, a little more nervous with Green Bay coming into the building than I would have been with the commanders, for instance, a familiar opponent that they're just better than,

Green Bay on its best day, still very dangerous. Yes, the seating was decided between those two teams, Green Bay and Washington, early, but as we went into the late window, we did not know who was playing who. We knew the Rams weren't going to play their starters and go all out to win. Even though that could have helped their seating, they could have controlled their fate, they could have tried to play Washington. Instead, they played Jimmy G and a whole lot of backups, and they almost won anyways. First down and 10 from the Rams 16. Smith from the shotgun takes the snap. Blitz is coming. Throw to the middle. Ball is caught, upended. Fant, is he into the end zone? He is. Touchdown. Seahawks. Fan, lying flat on his back. Hang

on to the football, helped up by his teammates. He said, what happened? They said you scored from 16 out, and the Seahawks go back on top 30 to 25. They did it. Gino Smith

making a last bid for QB. Island. That's going to be an interesting one. The way Sam played. I'm just, you know, maybe poking the bear hair, but I'm just saying Gino gets four touchdowns. Uh, mostly against Ram's backups, but hey, he did what he had to do. He also had the craziest incentive day I've ever heard of.

He made $6 million in incentives today. Yep. It was huge. This is the story of the game. How nervous would you be? You got six million. Because he, he needed to keep his percentage, I think, above 69.2, which was crazy. He went into the day above it.

But if he had like a 50% day, he would have gone below. Got that. Needed to get over 185 yards. Actually, it took them till pretty late in the game to get over that, but got that, ended up at 223, and then needed to get a 10th win, $2 million a piece. That's tough. That almost like, I always say like mentally, tennis is a tough sport. When you're at a grand slam final, you might have like, you know, millions of dollars on the line,

and you're the only one out there. This is the closest thing to that in football where it's literally on your arm. He got it all done, although it was a lot harder than I would have expected Jimmy G and the Rams' offense. Nick actually moved the ball pretty well and made the Seahawks sweat it out. Yeah, other than one really, really ugly interception thrown by Jimmy G. Better than I thought he'd be. Like, he looked like the Jimmy G of old. The offense moved the ball.

They finished with 403 yards of offense. It was a back and forth affair. It was a fun game to watch. At one point, I was like, I know I'm not writing this game, but if I had to write this game, I don't even know what I'd say. It's other than that it's just fun. And it's one team with backups and one team with nothing to play for other than, you know, one more win.

It also kind of bums me out. I know it's not a perfect comparison, but do you know, man? He looked good today, and he'd been looking a little up and down over the last six weeks and I know it's against backups but I was like these Seahawks are going to finish with 10 wins

and not make the playoffs and if they just look like this a few more times recently they'd be in the playoffs. Yeah, I don't think this is some disastrous season for the CXU. You won 10 games.

You lost on the fifth tiebreaker which is a bizarre tiebreaker by the way. It used to be a different tiebreaker. It used to be point differential which I think is better than strength of victory which is just random but maybe you don't want teams

like trying to score late and endangering their players all season. I think that was the reasoning behind it. I don't know if we'd be playing 18 games if that was a... Well, that's a fair point. Ultimately, they get it done. The Rams did not care. And we'll never know what the Rams thought process was behind it.

Ultimately, I think the number one factor is they just thought rest was more important than anyone they could possibly play. They probably saw the writing on the wall that either way, they were going to play a team that they had played before, that they had prepared for before, and that it was going to be difficult. Let's listen to Sean McVeigh, talk about the thought process after the game. I'll have to get into this thing, and you can't worry about ducking people.

If you want to try to be able to advance and you really expect to try to be able to make some noise when you get in it, you're going to have to play people eventually. And so felt like it was the smart move for our football team. And really, we had an opportunity to be able to come away with the win. And so we know it's going to be a great football team coming in here. And, you know, we're excited about the challenge. That's what you love, Gary. Yeah, you know, and Sean's breaking out the first.

names as he did throughout that. He was kind of fiery when everyone was asking about it. Almost like, hey, we're the, we were the Super Bowl champs. We're not worried about anyone coming in here. Don't blame him. Unfortunately, they did have an injury today. Blake Corum broke his forearm. McVeigh revealed after the game, so they won't have their backup

running back for the place. But otherwise, they got out of this game healthy. They sat four of their five offensive line starters, and they finished the season at 10 and 7, just like the Seahawks. That brings us to Philadelphia, where there really wasn't anything tangible on the line, except for the

Giants, I guess, draft position, but Tanner McKee out there trying to make a career. Under center is McKee. Back, looking, fires, complete. Touchdown. E.J. Jenkins, the tight end.

Yes. Merrill Reese, keeping it quick, like this recap's going to be at WIP. to E.J. Jenkins for the touchdown. I mean, this was a game on the Eagle's side full of just like, oh, yeah, him. Who's that guy? They get the job done. Tanner McKee, 41 attempts.

I mean, they were slinging it. Kenneth Gainwell only had 14 yards on 11 rushes. They couldn't get anything going on the ground. And he ended up with 269 yards, McKee, and two touchdowns. Jehan Dodson, showcase game 7 for 94. And I guess we have proof. Patrick, the Eagles backups are better than the giant starters. Yeah, and which was something I...

20 to 13, I should say. Yeah, I was going to take Howie's backups versus, you know, all credit to Joe Shane and what he's been able to accomplish. Things that haven't gone that great personnel-wise. This is with Keeley Ringo and Avanti Maddox playing a whole bunch of snaps in the secondary. No Darius Slay today. No Quignan Mitchell.

Those guys played very sparingly today. Although to your point, like that might be the best. CB4, CB5 combo in the entire NFL. Yeah. And so that holds Malik neighbors under 80 yards receiving as the Giants really couldn't do a whole lot on offense. And, you know, Drew Locke kind of descends back to earth away from Gus Bradley's defense. But the Eagles and Tanner McKee threw the ball a whole lot. 41 attempts for Tanner McKee against the Giants defense. If you're going to throw 41 times,

it's the team to do it again. I like it because I talk about the records. I wanted to finish at the level they should. And it's funny with the Packers losing that game because they kind of do feel like an 11 and 6 team more than a 12 and 5 team to me personally. Maybe I'm wrong. The Eagles feel like a 14 and 3 team. I'm glad their backups didn't waste it for them.

And the Giants, yes, they are at 3 and 14. That feels about right as well. They actually move up a slot. We will talk about who lost it, but they are now going to be picking third in the NFL draft. We don't need to spend too much time on the Drew Locke era. We will see if Joe Shane and Brian Dable are back planning to do a show on the artist formerly known as Black Monday.

But I can't wait to get to the AFC action because it was fascinating, seeing how it all played out over the weekend. We're actually going to go in chronological order, come back from the break, and it'll suddenly be Saturday where the Ravens and the Steelers had some things to figure out. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters.

Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights you won't find anywhere else. It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow. We break down the draft, analyze matchups, and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a diehard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture. If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you.

Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game.

What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew. Franklin on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL, visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. I'm Marcus Grant, and I'm Michael F. Florio, and together we host the NFL fantasy football

podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL fantasy football podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft history. and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet, we've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Pistol formation on third down. To give us to Henry, sweeping to the left, breaks attack, hits in the 30, 20, Henry to the 10. He is gone. Touchdown.

Derek Henry. A 43-yard run. And Derek Henry continues to rewrite the NFL record book. Sad out to Rod Woodson with the he-gone. Jerry Sandusky on WB-B-A-L. Yes, Derek Henry. After having eight yards at halftime, tax on another 130 in the second half.

And by the time he hit that 43-yarder, the Ravens knew they were AFC North champions, 35 to 10 against a Cleveland Browns team that started Bailey Zappy in the year 2025. How about that? Your Ravens, Patrick Claibon, started off the weekend, taking all the pressure off and just clinch that three-seed nice and early. Yeah, nice and early. The trouble is it comes at the conference. cost of Zay Flowers are going to have to await the results and see if he could be available if they win this first game or if, you know, miracles happen and Zay Flowers is available

for this playoff matchup. But other than that, everything you could hope for. Defense making plays, again, albeit in a Bailey Zapi start. I'll also saw some DTR in this game, but it pretty much didn't matter. Baltimore looked very good. There were some drop passes, but Lamar, Mark Andrews, connected. Rashad Bateman left the game as well after Lamar kind of sent him on a sneaky mission. He quickly apologized after he got Bateman blasted by Thornhill.

Oh man. That was a bit. A scary moment there. But Baltimore able to come through and push forward and make this kind of a laugher at the end. But it was, it did feel like it was slightly, not in question, but closer than people might have thought earlier on. No, there

was a possession where the Browns had the ball. down 14-3, like late third quarter. There we go. And you're just thinking like, okay, it doesn't feel like they could ever get to the number 14 in this game, and they didn't. But let's get it going here, Ravens.

But that's what's special about this team is that if the passing game isn't quite clicking, then Derek Henry can finish him off at the end. They still almost doubled up the Browns in total yardage. This is just what Week 18 games look like shook, so I don't take any negatives out of it for the Ravens. And I thought it was interesting to me that I thought Lamar Jackson was looking to run in this game. You know, a lot of times if his first read was gone, he just took off. He went nine for 63.

I don't know if that was just like a warm up for the playoffs where he's just going to run when he absolutely needs to. And then those throws he had back to back to Andrews, one for the touchdown and one that got broken up, where he just had the accuracy and the touch and the anticipation, not that surprising out of, Lamar at this point, but it just shows what a next level passer he has been this season from the pocket. Yeah, I felt for Juan Thornhill because Lamar made two spectacular throws to Mark Andrews, one for the touchdown, like you said, there was another one in the second half down the sideline where Thorneill is essentially playing all but perfect coverage, and yet Lamar throws him open because that's what Lamar does.

And another knock on the people who say Lamar's not a good passer. Watch that tape that'll tell you everything you need to know about him as a quarterback. Okay, that's a little bit. Yes, they're still out there. I don't think they're out there. I promise you they're still out there. They've got them all in the drafts and they're waiting for things to go wrong here in the next couple of weeks.

And they will absolutely show up. Well, that's fair. They transitioned into he can't win in the playoffs guys, which, you know, Lamar has got to play his best down the stretch. But I think he's going to win MVP personally. I don't think we need to get into that today. We'll be responding when we find out the votes and everything. Although we'll find out earlier than usual.

because the all-pro votes come out way before the MVP votes and people sort of realize like oh, those are the exact same voters. So when you find out all-pro, you basically find out MVP unless Saquan somehow split the vote. Was not the AFC Pro Bowl starter? So there's perhaps...

Those are different voters. Different voters. That's players. 33% of them are fans. I thought, you know what else stuck out to me in this game? We don't need to spend like a crazy amount of time. Like the pocket movement.

He kept waiting until the very last second. It was like a little dump off to Henry at one point. It was another throw over the middle. And on a weekend where we saw Joe Burrow just electric from the pocket, like the combination of those two things, like the accuracy, the

anticipation, but also the pocket movement before making a last second throw. And then at the end, you just handed it off to Derek Henry. And it's just absolutely awesome to watch that in the fourth quarter. And since Justice Hill went down, we have seen more Henry on third down in passing situations. And nice to get him involved in the passing game.

And without Zay Flowers, in the playoffs, however things go, pending his return, Lamar will have to hold on to the ball to get separation as the play calling gets kind of limited without their guy that you get it out to quickly on the screen passes. Okay. Now, let's

not get out of this game, though, before throwing to one of the most important plays that happened in the NFL this season. Bailey Zappi will get the Browns to the line quickly. He snaps it in the shotgun. Patiently waits, his passes. He kicked off.

Michael Pierce has the interstate. And he slides down to end the play. Michael Pierce with an interception. Words I never thought I would string together in the same sentence. And you should see the celebration on the Ravens sideline. If he had given birth to a child, his teammates would not be more surprised at the moment. Oh, what a great call there by Jerry Sandusky.

And that was one of those. You remember where you were moments. At least it was for me. I brought the family around, like my daughter, my wife. They came and they're just laughing. That just made everyone happy, including Michael Pierce. Let's listen to him after the game. It was a thick pick.

Great job, Kevin Harlan, there. Let's listen to Michael Pierce. You don't want to try for six? So there's a long history of turning big guy interceptions and fumbles and all that stuff in the memes. So at the risk of ruining a career play like that for myself, it's time to go home. So it's a lot of gas. We're good.

Yeah, I'm going to be honest. I don't want to curse a lot on TV, but, oh, S word, you know what I'm saying? I said, oh, my God, he really threw this football. So, no, I got fairly deep in hands. I'm glad I called it. And, like I said, Coach Breach the Smart Football. And, like I said, I don't want to end up on a meme or Instagram, my wife,

and everybody laughing at me. So we did the right thing. We got down and kept a moving. Shout out to Michael Pierce. Like, one of the ravens. The power of the internet. I know. But now he's getting memed.

People are taking him going down on a knee, and it's being memed. How so? Like, in a bad way? Why? I mean, that's no, just to say like, hey, I'm not doing that. I'm done. Like, hey, summer Fridays. Who all going to be there?

It's just going to be me and Charlene. Michael Pierce. They should be. They should be meme in that jacket. I mean, his jacket game is strong. I remember going in there and covering them in training camp one year. And Michael Pierce was just one of those guys that's kind of a glue guy that everyone in that organization absolutely loves has had a sneaky great year.

So yes, they get out of there. They get the division title. They don't get out of their healthy because of the safe flower injuries. That's disappointing. but they did get a great defensive performance. I know it's against the Browns, but it's still nice to see Nate Wiggins and Adafay-O-A and this defense playing so well

towards the end of the scene. So they win early Saturday. They lock up the division title. That leaves the Steelers in a situation where they're just playing for seating and trying to get that losing taste out of their mouths. Could they do it against the Bengals? All right, fasten your seat belts.

Here we go. Fourth down and 12, 15 seconds to go. Wilson sends two receivers out to each side, of the formation. Russell has the ball. Short drop, fires a pass. Incomplete.

Friarmooth couldn't hold on. And with 11 seconds to go, that is Coffin'nell. Bam! Bam! Bam! Oh, I'm going to miss Dan Horde and Dave Lapham on WCKY. Bengals did their part.

They got their fifth straight win. The defense. stepped up. I thought it was fitting, even though they got a little lucky, kind of like they did at the end of the Broncos game where Bo Nick just missed a couple of throws. I thought it was fitting, at least on this night, that it was the defense that finished it off because they showed up in this game. They held the Steelers under 200 yards. And it wasn't one of those games where, oh, there's only like six possessions. No, they got the ball like 11 or 12 times in this game shook. And the Bengals defense stuffed the run pretty well. And they confused Russell Wilson,

where he wasn't seeing open receivers, wasn't connecting down the field, the weather certainly played a factor. But on a night where Burrow had, you know, an interception, a fumble and under five yards per pass play for the Bengals, the Bengals showed they could win ugly, even if, as we learned later Sunday, I guess it's what they call a Pyrrhic victory. Yeah, you know, you asked, where were you when you saw the Michael Pierce interception?

I was on a plane. I was in an airport watching this game. And the one takeaway I had was, this is gross. This is gross for week 18 for game with stakes. But that's the AFC North in a meaningful game late in the season. You know, I think that this probably signifies the low point in the Steelers season with Arthur Smith. So much that I have Steeler fan friends texting me, they got to fire Arthur Smith. And I was like, it was Matt Canada you wanted fired before.

It's all his fault that Russ is struggling to complete passes. His offense was a mess. It's been a mess for a while. They get pickings back and it's still a mess. And the Bengals, because of that and because of their defensive performance, come away with, like you said, a Pyrrhic victory. But a victory that ultimately will be just a little bittersweet. Shook, I think I led you into a fumble there. I don't think that's really the definition.

No, it's not. A Pyrrhic victory would come in fact, they know it. Great cost. I guess you could say the Ravens might have had one. No. If it was, if they made the playoffs but Jemar Chase had a serious injury, that would be like a Pyrrhic victory. So what is this then? This is a hollow victory.

Yeah, it was a little hollow. And it's a reminder. Let's stay on the Bengals first because I'm with you on everything you said, Chuk on the Steelers and we'll be talking about them over the next week. But first, like, Jamar Chase's season, just, it's nuts. It's freaking crazy. What do you end up with 127 catches, 1,700 yards? Like, you know, he gets the triple crown.

It's just outrageous. Burroughs pocket movement to the end of the season. just crazy. I think he's the closest thing to Brady. He reminds me so much of Brady just how methodical he's the decision making. It's all great. But I don't want to let Zach Taylor and the Bengals off the hook because of the way that they finish seasons. Because they lose early and win late. By the end of the year, it's like everyone just lets

Zach Taylor and the Bengals off the hook. They've got 14 and 13 in Joe Burrow starts over the last two seasons. And QB, you know, QB, you know, QB wins might not be a stat. Wins is a coaching stat. And so that's on the organization, and that's a failure. And it's still disappointing to me,

no matter how the wins, you know, happened that they finished 9 and 8. It wasn't a tiebreaker either. They just weren't good enough to make the playoffs. And that's, immediately after the game and the post game interview, he's talking to Lisa Salters, Joe Burrow said, you know,

it's going to be weird to sit there and pull for the chiefs. But we put ourselves in this situation, like collectively. And not just on Luana Rumo's defense, there were some games, especially late, where Joe Burrow and the offense were making mistakes. Now, those came in like 38 and 44 point games, but still, they were on the field with a chance to win and whether there were some bad coaching decisions from Zach Taylor down the stretch,

just fumbles, miscommunications, misfield goals. It all added up. They did everything they could during that stretch to lose those games, and they did it in so many different ways. Even this game, it's the weird thing. It's why I think it's okay to recognize that Burrow deserves to be on the MVP ballot, that if you made your all-pro team, whatever. But there's no way to me he deserves MVP. When they had the ball at the end of so many of these games and they didn't win it,

you can separate, yeah, well, if you had a good divot, yeah, that's all true. But you have to separate the quarterbacks somehow. And even in this game, their last two possessions were punts, where they had a chance to put away. They needed one first down to salt this game away. and instead they go three and out. He takes a sack and they give the Steelers another chance.

Okay, let's get to the Steelers part of it because, yeah, that last drive reminded me of the Bears except you have a 35-year-old quarterback who is cutting inside instead of going out of bounds to waste 20 seconds, who's throwing a negative three run on the very first play of that drive. That really clocked to me

because I know Tony Romo if he was doing that game would have been going crazy. Romo is at his best doing game management stuff, and he would say, you can't make that throw. He threw it short to a running back who had outside, you know, defenders on the outside with a minute 50 left, knowing they wasted 30 seconds there. They wasted more time on the next play. They spent 90 seconds on five plays. And then just so the blame could be spread around shook, like the play calling, yes, was a little weird. I didn't think they, you know, handled their timeouts well before that drive.

and then it ends where you can't blame it all on Russell Wilson because George Pickens is out but is open deep but I don't know where he's running and he's kind of going running around like in a circle and then Friermuth who's had a lot of little mistakes this year. It's kind of been on my

radar drops one at the end of the game too so it's like it's not just Russell Wilson but they didn't look like a well-coached team and they're one of the first teams in NFL history one of three to enter the playoffs having lost four straight. So I think it's safe to say they're one of the worst playoff teams. It reminds me so much of that

season four years ago where they started out well, 11 and 0, and then they finished losing, I believe, four out of five games there. Yeah, they ended the playoffs 12 and 4, and we all basically knew they were going to be one and done. And it kind of feels like that again, their offense is essentially bottomed out. The approach gameplay and wise in this game didn't make. They weren't able to run the ball effectively, but like in down-and-distance situations in which it's a one-score game and it's first in 10, they're still

trying to dump the ball off instead of just getting a few yards in the ground. And that was pervasive throughout this entire game, which made me just scratch my head and think, are they that lost offensively that they can't even get into a rhythm with the script? And if that's the case, oh my God, playoffs are not going to be good for you if that's what continues to go on. Right. Because who are they as a team? They want to be a team that runs the ball. And you mentioned it. They had 14 runs and four passes at one point. It just wasn't working at all. The Bengals actually out random. Like they were more efficient success rate wise by a lot with Cleo Herbert and then they want to be a team that gets after the quarterback and the Bengals

neither team pressured much in this game at all. Both both teams pressure rates were horrible. But Trey Hendrickson is the guy with three and a half sacks in this game in five QB hits and might just sneak his way into a defensive player of the year. I don't know who's going to win defensive player of the year. It might be Trey Hendrickson. You do that on a Saturday night and there's no great candidate and he won the sack total? I kind of think he's got to win, Pat. It's going to be tough because, I mean, voters are looking over at guys that had better defenses, right? There were a part

of better defenses. I think it'll be certain if I have to guess because someone will just give the Broncos, which is fine, I'm fine with that. Yeah, a solid season at corner, didn't get tried a lot. Gardner Minchu tried him on one of the worst throws of the year and he got a highlight on 99-yard pick six return, but Hendrickson

gets one of those sacks in the closing moments where the Steelers have to try to move the ball and save time as well. Russ 17 of already won in this game, but Pickens didn't just kind of meander on that one route. He had three drops in the

game as well. Like moment by moment, collectively, something was failing for the Pittsburgh Steelers on offense, and it all kind of got microcosms of that on the final drive where they all took turns. Yeah. Messing up. You know, T.J. Watt ends up with two

pressure in this game. You cannot give T.J. Watt a defensive player of the year award this year after the last month he had nothing against him. I think he he's playing through something, he played a lot of stuff. He just had a totally zero month. And so that's how these things work. So you just can't. I feel stronger about that than like any awards take I have.

Because I actually think there's still a chance that he gets it. Now, we'll talk about the Steelers throughout the week. That was the fewest yards they had since 2017. Russ was 5 for 12 for 51 yards with about 10 minutes left in this game. And they almost cranked it up enough at the end. But they didn't. You do wonder if the way this is, season ended could possibly save Lou Anna Rumo's job.

Guys like Cam Taylor Britt, who played well in this game, like I think they helped themselves, you know, get a starting job back for next year. So things did matter, but ultimately the Bengals season is over. And yeah, we don't need to play Koi with you. You know what happened on Sunday afternoon. We were waiting and we thought, oh, this could be fun. Maybe the Bengals could sneak in if the Chiefs backup and Carson Wentz

could just surprise those Broncos, but Bo Nix and Sean Payton, they weren't having any of it. Great eye formation. Nix with a play fake. Now rolls to his right. Bow looks in the end zone, throws a ball behind the antenna receiver,

bounced up into the air, bounced again, and then caught by Devon Valet. Touchdown, Denver. That ball was bounced, not once, but twice. Once by a Bronco the second time,

I believe, by a Kansas City, Chief Defender, and then Devon Valet makes the catch his third receiving touchdown of the year. That was Dave Logan of K-O-A. Yes. The Broncos are headed to the playoffs at 10 and 7. They won 38 to nothing against the Chiefs' backups. Chiefs, you're making all the other teams who played their backups and competed. You're making the teams that played against them look bad because this team looked like they just laid down. I don't know. I know there was like a motivation gap here, but, man.

It's just not good, Greg. They weren't good. They weren't good. I don't think it was that they were trying. Like Carson Winsk goes out and starts, Andy Reed gets shut out for the first time as the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs. You got to go back to 2012. Wow.

Last time the Chiefs got shut out, that's how bad they were on offense. Yeah, they were trying, but when you're leading receivers are Nick Remigio and Peyton Henderson shot and you're playing a perfect. legit Broncos team. Ultimately, I believe this was the just result, even though I wanted to see the Bengals make the playoffs. I really do think the Broncos were a better team overall all season. And yes, they kind of do look like the 12th to 14th team that gets into the playoffs every year. But I think they are that good. And Bo Necks played awesome today. We played the luckiest moment of his day, but Sean Payton was on one and maybe the Chief's defense was a little more

vanilla than they would have been normally. But every single play call he had, guys were open. When Cortland Sutton was trying to make a catch that was tightly contested, he made it. When Marvin Mims needed to get his feet down or Velae had to make that crazy catch, like they made it. And Nix was really on point. A lot of them were open receivers, but a couple really nice seam balls. He led the team in rushing to, certainly his best game in a month. And I don't care who was out there. There were NFL players. The final first down total, Nick, 29 to 5. The final yardage total, 479 to 98. It left a weird taste, you know, in terms of not enjoying the afternoon slate, but I think they are deserved playoff contributors here, and they will be headed to Buffalo.

Yeah, that's not a typo, that yardage difference. That's legit. That's the Chiefs finishing under 100 yards. So everybody who complained about their offense not looking spectacular with Patrick Bahomes, it could be much worse when Carson Wentz is in quarterback. Wentz didn't look good. At one point, Chris Oledoken was in there taking snaps, very ugly performance from the Chiefs,

who obviously didn't have much to play for, but still you thought they put up a better fight. But back on Knicks for a second, when you're throwing a swing pass to Marvin Mims, an Odrick Estime is out there, lead blocking you all the way to the end zone? You know it's your day. When Devon Bailey is catching a double-tipped touchdown pass,

That's when you know football is back. Yeah, let's go. Yes, exactly. We'll do it that way. We'll stick to the brand. The Broncos dominated and came through in a way. On a day that they absolutely had to in convincing fashion, it doesn't change my opinion of them,

but it's nice to see them finish the job. Bo Nix hit his first 18 passes. Yeah, that was one of them. The valet was absolutely going to be his first in completion, but the universe decided, hey, this is, the Chiefs will not be lucky here. We'll get rid of the Chief's luck for this meaningless week 18 game, save Hollywood Brown,

catching a ball off his toe in the Super Bowl here coming up in a few weeks. But there was never a point. Like the Broncos scored on all of their possessions in the first half. That last one they had a chance, they wound up kicking a field goal. And then they didn't have their first punt until the second half. And then after that, the only reason, Bo Nicks didn't really have to do anything. It was handoffs late. They scored a touchdown.

And then it was Jared Stiddem and Zach Wilson time. Sean Payton, who loves to run it up, didn't even really get a chance to do it with his rookie quarterback. Like, it was that nasty. No, he, I mean, he was coming out a half time doing the interview with Tracy Wolfson, kind of already knowing the game was over, just saying, like, they just got to, you know, keep focus. We know their starters aren't out there, but just don't pay attention to that. At the risk of taking anything out of this game, maybe it does point out that the Chiefs are

even more than most team extremely reliant on their very best players. Just because, like, the backups, it's a steep fall from. Chris Jones to what's going on there. It's a steep fall from Trent McDuffie. And some of their cornerbacks that were out there, like, Shamari Connor, like, will be starting in the playoffs. It wasn't, you can't bench everyone. But the wide receiver is, like,

it's not a great wide receiver room in terms of the backup. It's not a great room of backups. And that's why it feels like they're more vulnerable. I'm not worried about the fact they'll have 24 days off. I would be worried if any team out there, you know, signs Carson Wentz next year to be their starter. I can't believe people were seeing that that could have something that was happening. It's like, have you watched Wentz?

This is not... He just wanted to hide an obscurity, but no, the Chiefs had to be 15 and 1 and Carson Wentz got exposed. So, yes, a perfect day, if you were a Broncos fan, you got to get excited. This is a team with an over-under win total

of five and a half coming into this season. It is an incredible achievement to get to 10 wins and to get to the playoffs and we'll be talking about them throughout the course of the week. Okay. Let's go to the Meadowlands.

When the game started, the dolphins had a chance to make the playoffs. They were second in line, remember. The Bengals had won, so that prevented a scenario where everyone could lose and the Broncos would make it. But when the dolphins started, they thought they had a chance. It is time for the Sunday Drive presented by the all-new hybrid Toyota Camry. Rogers takes the snap, drops back, looks right, looks over the middle, Steps up in the pocket, dodges a sack, runs to the five.

Throws back in the end zone. Caught, Devante Adams, touchdown. Another touchdown pass for Aaron Rogers, his third of the day. I don't want to say Aaron Rogers is a troll, but he has some, like, trollish tendencies. Contrarian tendencies. Yeah. Contrarian does a disservice. to confirm you could say he's a troll okay if you were if you somehow could come up with like

a scenario to troll the jets and their fans it would be throwing for four touchdowns in your final we think game as a jet uh to knock the dolphins out of the playoffs and win 32 to 20 yes the offense was going up and down the field that was Bob was choosing for the last time this season the Let's finish at 5 and 12. And the Dolphins with Tyler Huntley at quarterback have one final disappointing performance. And they finish with a losing record, Nick, for the first time with Mike McDaniel.

Where do you want to start? I did not watch this game. So tell me about how the Jets offense at least got it done. I think you can hear it in Bob Housen's voice there. It was so satisfying. It's like he wanted to make that call all season long. And yet it came in a meaningless game that might be his last. They looked like we thought they should look

when he joined the Jets. And it didn't start pretty. He threw a pick on a deflected pass very early in this game. The Dolphins ended up getting just three points out of that. And then from there, they hit the ground running. They roll. He throws four touchdown passes. He's navigating the pocket like Aaron Rogers has long been known to do.

He's throwing, he's moving to his right in the pocket, then whipping a pass to his left to his old buddy Alan Lazard for a touchdown. That was the highlight that made me think, oh, wow, that's classic Rogers right there. Where has that been this whole season? The touchdown pass to Adams was another one. It's a shame. It's a shame that it happened in week 18 because it was fun to watch. For the first time all year, I was like,

these Jets can't be stopped, except for maybe that early season game against the Patriots, but it didn't matter. Ultimately, the other story of this game was the Jets' defense being opportunistic, forcing four turnovers out of the Dolphins who looked as if they figured out in about the third quarter that they were out of the playoffs once they saw that score because everything just went downhill. A complete team win for Jeff Ulbrick and the Jets, just as they go into the most uncertain offseason in, oh, I don't know, three or four years for New York.

Yeah, it's been a while. That touchdown that we heard, Bob Wushesland call to DeVante Adams was the 83rd time that Aaron Rogers has thrown a touchdown pass to Devante Adams. They passed Mark Clayton and Dan Marino for number three all time as units. And a great moment for that particular family, the family that Aaron Rogers still has. And there's no much, there's not much to celebrate or look forward to for the Jets.

but that was a nice moment for for two of the greats and john new smith said after the game it was human nature to look up at the scoreboard and see uh that the the dolphins had been eliminated i don't know how much of an impact uh that had but john who got in the end zone late but there was really the defense that seemed kind of listless against rogers and the jets right they also didn't score an offensive touchdown until the fourth quarter so even if they were affected by it i mean they had a six nothing lead early it was it was it was It was 7, 6 late in the first half before they gave up another touchdown. They weren't going to be good enough with Tyler Huntley and without their top two tackles to beat a playoff team, much less than New York Jets.

So we look towards the offseason and Tyreek Hill out here getting that offseason content machine cranked up. Appreciate you, Tyreek for that. And here he is after the game. He says, I have to do what's best for me and my family. If that's here or wherever the case may be, I'm about to open up that door for myself. And then a little later, as he was talking, he says, I'm out, brough.

It was great playing here. But at the end of the day, I have to do what's best for my career. So it looks like we have another thing to talk about as we lead up to the free agency. and the combine. He's out. Maybe he meant out of MetLife today? Right.

Maybe he meant he's out of continuing to talk about it here. But he also says, it was great playing here, but he has to do what's best for him for best it was great. And there was some bubbling, there was some whispers about this.

This might be a mutual thing where if they can find the right deal, it's best for both sides at the end of this. They did give him a new contract like right before this. this season, which in hindsight, they might not feel great about, but that's something to think about. I do think this build of the dolphins is going to need some reworking because it was all

about the timing between Tua and these receivers. And if Tyree Kill is not there, and he's getting older. It wasn't that great a year for him to begin with. He ended up with two catches for 20 yards today, by the way. You know, they didn't get the running game going. They're actually one of, if not, depending on how you measure it, the oldest teams in the entire NFL. Shook, we don't know for sure whether Chris Greer, their GM will be back. They've said Mike McDaniel,

I would assume that he's going to be safe. But I think this is a team that's going to have a lot of changes and that makes some sense. Give me a dolphin stop before we go, Shuck. Yeah, well, it's no knock on Clayas Campbell because he's kind of an ageless wonder, but when he's essentially your best front seven player,

that's a problem. And I know losing Jalen Phillips to an injury was, you know, it hurt, obviously. But I think it starts in the trenches on both sides of the ball for them. You've got to build inward and then outward. I also think they're a little too star dependent right now, which is why the Tyreek thing makes a lot of sense. But, I mean, even on a day where a team that couldn't run the ball consistently all year,

they get 121 yards from Devon A chain that they don't do anything with it. Like, there are issues that extend beyond the fact that Tyler Huntley was your quarterback that were pervasive throughout this entire season, especially on the defensive side. They had their brief highs, but they're going to need to make some changes in personnel in the offseason. And we'll see who's making those changes. It's definitely a weird feeling going to the off season for a Dolphins team that so many people thought

was going to be right there for really this year in the last few years. Not all eight and nines are equal. And this one's worse than most because of expectations, I think because that it's a little foundation shaking in terms of that they weren't able to run the ball. They didn't beat good teams essentially all season long. The win over the 49ers was like maybe the best win they had.

It's just crazy. These are two teams we'll be talking about plenty coming up. was the Sunday Drive presented by the all-new hybrid Toyota Camry. Whatever your vibe, it's a Camry vibe. Learn more at Toyota.com slash Camry. So we've talked about how the early slate of games on Sunday were exciting. It ended up being a little bit of a letdown late. But in Las Vegas, it was important if the Chargers won or not to help determine what their seating would be. And they were playing to win. Here we go. From the two. Dobbins in the backfield. Herbert to throw, looking left, now rolling to his right.

Going to use his beat, still trying to extend the play to the end zone. Caught McConkey! It's good, and he launches it into the stands and a sea of powder blue. Talk about a quarterback receiver connection. McConkey was in the middle of the end zone and started making his way to the corner as soon as he saw his quarterback on the run. I love that two-point conversion. I love me some Justin Herbert.

I love me some Matt Money Smith on KYSR. Chargers win 34 to 20 in a game that was tight that the Raiders led late in the second quarter. But ultimately, this Chargers offensive surge continues in Week 18. If you are a win probability believer, that touchdown before the Ladd-McConkey two-point conversion

that you just had Ladd just heard Matt Money Smith call. That was it. The win probability hovering around 48, 50%. And then it was all chargers pretty much after that. And it was a Ladd, two-point conversion. Ladd had a solid game. This was the Quentin Johnston game, guys. 14 targets.

He caught 13 of them for 186 yards, including a one-handed catch down the sideline to get to 186 when Harbaal says, that's it. Eventually, everybody gets a rest here. the Chargers get exactly what they want. They've fully changed our perception of who they are offensively. When the start of the season, it was Pound the Rock Chargers, Grit and Grind.

Here they almost went 50-50, run past, 37 attempts for Justin Herbert, 35 carries on the ground. A couple of those were huge Herbo runs. He had 60 yards on the ground, pulled away from a few Raiders, defenders, where you had a decent AOC game where the wheels kind of fell off late as the Chargers were able to get pressure. He had an interception as well, but this Chargers offense is really humming. And if Justin Herbert's playing like this, they will, I'm like considering as good as Baltimore looked out here playing against the Chargers, I'm comfortable playing the division rival as opposed

to the way Justin Herbert and this Chargers team looks right. Oh, no question. My son is a Texans fan and he was rooting for this result. And I was saying, no, bro, you don't want you don't want this. You don't want Hervo. And he's like, no, the Chargers aren't as good as the Steelers. I'm like, the Steelers have lost four straight. And this Chargers team, I didn't know this was going to happen. They just put up 26 first downs, 473 yards. And again, you can look at the opposition.

But good offenses put up those sort of numbers. And I'm rethinking this Chargers team in general. This is going to become a trendy take, I suspect, this week. But I've seen crazier Super Bowl teams than the Chargers. No, I'm not saying, like, they're fourth in line. Obviously. You have Lamar Jackson and you have Josh Allen and they're behind the one of the greatest teams of all time and the greatest quarterback I've ever seen. Those are your three favorites. But I've seen more surprising and less talented Super Bowl teams than this Chargers team who are peaking at the right time. Shook, they're getting, to me, just show what Harbaugh can do development-wise in his staff. Because Johnston, how about Disley comes back. from his injury has a really good game here. Dobbins is healthy again and the way

they've developed that defense. They're dangerous and I haven't looked at the numbers yet. I'm sure they're going to be favored in Houston and I like that because I like spreading out all the potential contenders. If the divisional round is Burrow, I mean

so see there's a Freudian slip there because we do love you Burrow. I mean you are you deserve it to be there. But if the divisional round is Mahomes v. Herbert and Lamar versus Josh Allen. I mean, that's pretty sweet. Ooh, ho-ho, saddle up. It's usually another work out like that, but that would be pretty sweet. Yeah, I agree. Because they're peaking at the right time, like you said. I mean, that's often what

gets teams like this that on paper don't quite have as many weapons as some of the other teams. That's what gets them in the deep playoff runs is that they peak at the right time. Now, that went over the Patriots, I was like, yeah, you're playing the Patriots. It's whatever. But Quentin Johnson has been a guy who has not lived up to his status as a first-round pick. Let's just face it. He's come together more this year than he did in his dreadful rookie year. But to have a game like this, and I don't care if it's against the Raiders, who sometimes gives some offenses more trouble than you think,

especially when Max Krause, who's out there, which he wasn't. But when you have him going off, then suddenly it's not just relying on Ladd-McConkey. Stone Smart doesn't even show up in the box score, and that's been one of their go-to targets the last few weeks. So they are starting to peak at the right time, and you never want to count out a Jim Harbaugh coach team in the playoffs. So I agree. It'll be really interesting.

We'll see. Yeah, shout out to AOC. the subject of my most medium warm take of all time that he's going to have an eight to 10 year career for throwing Brock Bowers a garbage time touchdown to get Bowers his fifth touchdown of the season. Bowers now has more receptions than any rookie. Brock Bowers, I love you, man.

He also got Jacoby Myers' first 1,000-yard season of his career. So yeah, AOC. That's what pros do. Keep him hope floating. One injury note on this game is that Roshan Slater didn't play. A little confusing. He's getting an MRI. He wasn't on the injury report.

Not sure what happened there, but he's the talented Pro Bowl left tackle for the Chargers. So obviously that is a big injury with a matchup against the good pass rushers in Houston coming up. Let's take a quick break. We're going to come back, finish out the games, and also talk about one coaching change. Maybe a little bit more. Antonio Pierce is someone

what we're going to be keeping an eye on. Back after this. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development

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Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a diehard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture. If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL cover zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts

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And I'm Michael Fiorio. And together we host. the NFL fantasy football podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL fantasy football podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents.

Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Pollard in the backfield, Levis, under center, and a fumble here as it's chased down by Barnett at the 30, 25, 2015, 10. Barnett's still going at the 5, taking people with him, all the way to the end zone. Barnett does it again. His second touchdown of the year, big guy running and scoring.

I wonder if you could have gotten the odds for Derek Barnett scoring two touchdowns in one. year. That is about one million to one. The former Eagle linemen scoops and scores. Yes, that's Mark Vandermere. Excited. The Texans mostly playing their backups after the first couple of drives beat the Titans in Tennessee, 23 to 14. The Titans remain winless when they wear those Oilers uniforms. Just bad vibes. Bad karma. just sticking it in their eye, I think it's untoward, and they were punished. I mean, you're, you're good enough to, like, put on the Oilers uniforms and send out these tweets, just trying to needle the team in the city that you stole the team from, and you can't even get anyone to go to

your games. I can't remember a game that had less fans at it than this one, and I don't blame them, to be clear, it is not the fan's fault. It is raining there, and it is pointless. But that that place was absolutely empty and the Texans just took care of business. The second saddest fan shot that I have seen this week. The saddest was the one Browns fan in Baltimore after the Michael Pierce interception just standing there while everybody went nuts. The second was the person sitting in the absolute top section 801 in Nissan Stadium in Nashville in the rain with an ocean of available seats in front of him watching the Titans turn

the ball over time after time against the Houston Texans. It was a miserable looking performance. And I don't know if it was the uniforms or maybe Will Levis and Mason Rudolph. Oh, my God. Combining to do absolutely nothing at the end of this game. Let's let Rudolph off the hook here. I went hard on the Titans here, you know, for game day view. I picked them.

I didn't know Levis was going to start. That actually would have changed my mind. Levis started, played most of the game. Rudolph actually went seven for nine for 70 yards and was moving the ball. They had like a fourth down stop. They couldn't run the ball on the goal line. And they're like, oh, we're trying to tank here. He's doing too well.

Let's put Levis back in. So Levis started was terrible. And then they put him back in. And he actually ended up with the lowest QBR of any player in any game all season. Oh, the title goes to Will Levis and week eight. This is the game for that? You mean not the game where he threw pick six against Chicago or? crazy. Shout out to QBR

because he like had a passing touchdown in deep garbage time and ended up with 175 yards and 17 attempts. So you wouldn't have thought that would have happened. But my eyes say QBR knows ball because it was that bad. The two play sequence of

him going absolutely crazy celebrating with like the money at the strip club, you know, celebration after he throws a dime to Calvin Ridley down the field to get a 39-yard catch to Ridley, and everyone there on the Titans knew that got Ridley over 1,000 yards that got Ridley in the center. Oh, that's why he was making it rain.

Okay. Cool. I love it. But he was celebrating that thing because I think he loves ball. He loves his teammates. He's going absolutely nuts. And then the whiplash for the very next play to be that fumble return was just like, Will Levis. And that wasn't really his fault. I don't think he put it in this, you know, the ball carrier's belly and it just was a fumble. It was just a bad. But that was kind of Titans in a nutshell this season. And so you did it. You got the number one overall pick.

I don't have much more to say. No. Shout out to Damian Pierce. He had a 92-yard touchdown run in this game that was a big part of the difference. I also watched this game thinking Davis Mills is definitely better than any Titans quarterback. I was kind of, I'm always moderately impressed by Davis Mills. Congratulations to a very tall man for clearing a very low bar

Yeah The one thing actually you should take from this game is that they played this perfectly This is the dream of what you want to do when you're resting some of your starters CJ Stroud played one drive He hit Nico Collins on a touchdown pass

He goes six for six Made a couple nice throws They were good on third down on that drive Then you got him out of there You kept the defensive starters in for a couple drives. You got some stops. And then the backups won the game for you and ended along losing streak. And so that was absolutely perfect for the Texans that at least get off the Schneid,

not join the Steelers as a team with a four-game losing streak heading into the playoffs. And not for nothing, keep my undefeated streak in the over-under draft that we do every season alive. Three straight seasons undefeated. I needed this Texans win to get over the top. Maybe we'll review some of these picks at some point. It's really not that important. That's very important. It was on my mind that I think it's now up to a combined 11 and O.

Look at that. It's bankable. And maybe the Texans, maybe they'll play their best next week. We'll be able to talk about that throughout the course of the week. I think they'll feel better about themselves after this. Let's stay in the AFC South. Let's go to Indianapolis. Second down and one for the Colts.

Flacco goes out of the pistol formation. Moves Michael Pitney Jr. in motion back in the throw as Flacco has time. Sent a rainbow down the right side lane. Underneath it is Alec Pierce. He's got a touchdown. 40 yards. Deep bomb to Alec Pierce, the Midwestern missile from Joe Flacko and put it right on the money. And the cold straw first blood with a huge play in the passing game.

It's six to nothing with just over a minute gone in the first quarter. Shout out to Alec Pierce. Sneaky candidate for most improved player of the season. That was an award. Sneaky candidate for surprise value ad of the season. He entered Sunday averaging 21.9 yards per catch. And because of that catch there, he just raised it even more. Yes, that is the last time you'll hear Matt Taylor on WF and I.

Colts win 26 to 23. Maybe the last time this Stuyken, Chris Bowler, combo is around, but the Colts did get a win in overtime. 60 minutes was not enough to decide this one, shook. When your first highlight and your highlight that's chosen for the show arrives in the first minute and 10 seconds of the game, you know the rest of the game's going to be kind of gross. And that's what this game was.

It was Joe Flacco dropping back and tossing prayers that may or may not have been caught. His receiving court did a great job of bailing him out a couple times today. Michael Pittman, Josh Downs, and Alec Pierce all did a great job. it's Mac Jones dropping back and trying to find guys downfield and missing them by five yards over their head. But then he finds Brian Thomas Jr. down the field for a big completion.

It's Jonathan Taylor running 34 times for 177 yards in a touchdown. And yet somehow that game makes it to overtime. It was a good way for Gus Bradley's defense. Surprisingly, I know it doesn't sound like it, to go out because he's basically guaranteed to be gone from there

because they got stops in overtime to be able to get them this victory. But then again, it is against the Jaguars who do a nice job. but fighting to the end for Doug Peterson, who we should also probably expect to be gone and still come up short because that is the way this entire season has gone.

Yeah, Brian Thomas with another big game gets to 87 catches and over 1,250 yards, incredible rookie season. As we're taping, we got some breaking news. Jim Ursay has announced there will be no changes for the Colts.

I believe in Chris Ballard and Shane. Steichen and our collective ability to make the improvements needed to take us to the next level in 2025. We're going to talk about the Patriots shortly. The length of this statement indicates to me he had made up his mind before Sunday and he just wanted to nip this in the bud and just let the fans kind of know this is going to be the plan. Do you think it's the right move, Patrick? I did notice a absence between I mean, Chris Ballard and Shane Steichen, no mention of Gus Bradley in that, and down the stretch, at least for the Colts playoff hopes, the defense led by Gus Bradley, probably the most glaring error, whether it was Anthony Richardson or Joe Flacco, down the stretch, to give up 33% again of the Giants points that they scored at MetLife this season in one game to the Colts to essentially doom their season a week after they were somehow getting.

Even another chance, as the AFC playoff race, teams kind of started to limp across the finish line. It's, I think, consistency in having that same staff be around as good for Anthony Richardson's development, which is kind of the most important part. Yep. They just got to figure out how they are going to build this roster and come with a different mindset to the value savings picks that they've tried to do. Yeah, and there could be some major changes on the offensive line.

know if Ryan Kelly is going to be back. There's some defensive decisions to make. Jim Mercy says I know fans who want an immediate change in leadership will be disappointed. That means we have a lot to prove. And I like this decision. Yeah. I actually think continuity's underrated. I just didn't like the idea of taking Ballard out and then adding a new GM. I think you do it all together. And it's not like you're setting them up to fail next year. You're just giving them a third year. of this Stuyken era and then evaluating. Obviously, if they don't make the playoffs next year, we know what's going to happen.

But with Richardson in mind, with continuity in terms of the coach and the GM being on the same page in mind, I also get the Colts frustrations and their fans. And if they're back in this same spot next year, they're going to be even angrier and say, I told you so. But I think in this moment, this makes sense to me. All right, let's go to one NFC game, which is kind of like a straggler,

but it's the one that didn't matter, so we didn't want to put it up at the top. Actually, it was kind of fun to watch today. Cardinals, 49ers, to Arizona. Harrison Y to the right on first and 10 at the San Francisco 12. Three tight end set, shotgun snap. Murray to throw a fade, right side in the end zone. On the money to Marvin Harrison Jr. touchdown. What a throw by Murray. That's his fourth touchdown pass, tying a career high.

You can see that coming a mile away. Marvin Harrison Jr. lined up to the right. of Kyla Murray one-on-one, and sure enough, Kyler Murray put it out there, and Marvin Harrison, Jr. went and got it. Kyler Murray with four touchdowns in 242 yards, as the Cardinals put up 47 on the 49ers, a 40-burger to finish the season at 8 and 9. 49ers fall to 6 and 11.

Trey McBride got another touchdown catch in this game. What is he? Derek Barnett, two touchdowns now. Although, to be fair to McBride, he did have a rushing one and a fumble recovery one. So he actually has four touchdowns total this season. Shout out to the Cardinals, who I think slightly beat expectations this season and were more fun to watch than most teams. Yeah, and the disappointment in how the season ended was because they exceeded those expectations to the point where you started to believe. And then they had the late closing seconds lost to Seattle, the one to the Minnesota Vikings who again are four.

Like, got 14 wins on the season. It was a spectacular run for the Cardinals for a stretch. And then we kind of got glimpses into what could have been. That Marvin Harrison Jr. Touchdown came after Keith Charles Clark had what we thought was a pick six before. But they said he did not catch it. And so it comes back out. Kyler throws the touchdown pass to Marvin.

As you mentioned, Trey McBride gets in the end zone. This is a game. They're playing without James Connor. And they're going up against a pastronaut. led 49ers offense where Sean Murphy Bunting and Joanne Jennings got into it to the point where they got two offsetting personal

foul on the same skirmish and Joanne Jennings got ran from this game with 975 receiving yards on the season. He was 15 yards away but he gets run from the game for fighting with Sean Murphy bunting. It was Josh Topps thrown for 326 yards up and down the field

they went but the 49ers couldn't make the plays down the stretch of the Cardinals because a fun week 18 finish the football. Which have some small takeaways that I think are meaningful. Pierceall finishes the season really strong, six for 69 and a touchdown. So two really good games from him. Yes, that was the ultimate pasturnaut games.

436 yards of 49ers' offense, but he did have three turnovers. And that was kind of the difference. The Cardinals take advantage. And, you know, I like the continuity here. The 49ers aren't making any changes in terms of, I don't think any part of their coaching staff, at least at the coordinator or above level, and certainly not at the GM level.

I think the Cardinals are going to come back. That is a loaded division, but I think these are four organizations that are run pretty well there in the NFC West. You cannot say the same about what's happening in New England. Let's go to Foxborough. Gibson off his left here. Two receivers stack at a high snap and a fake inside of gift. He's not wanted in, waltzing in untouched to the end zone. And they're a barrel flip from Joe Milton.

What the exclamation mark. Touchdown, Patriots. Good energy here to start this football game for the offense after Drake May comes out. And Bob Sosie with the call getting Milton outside off the play fake. That's a good first drive for Joe Milton, who hasn't played a snap all year, gets the week 18. And Goss is in with a perfect flip. Oh, Scott Zolak. Didn't hear from you much this year.

But we got you on the Joe Milton rushing touchdown with a flip celebration. Yeah, the Patriots won, 23 to 16 in a game with a lot of Joe Milton highlights. His best play was probably the one that was called back. It was so good we ran that highlight. The play didn't count. We ran the highlight on the show because it was so good. Who caught that one? Was that Douglas?

I think it was Pop Douglas. That's one of the throws of the year by Joe Milton. But he had plenty of other good throws. He got a touchdown in this game. Took Kashan booty. He had 241 yards. And yeah, the Patriots won. They will not pick first overall.

They beat the Bill's backups. And the bills, I don't know if they really cared about the Patriots getting the first overall pick. But if they did care, removing Mitch Trubisky, who started the game. Well, technically, actually, he came in for Josh Allen, who had played one snap, handed the ball off, and then Trubisky came in. Removing him for Mike White when you actually have a lead in the second half, it was 16 to 14 bills. That would be the way to prevent your division rival from getting the one pick.

I don't really think they cared that much, but that's what happened. Joe Milton led them to three more field goals after that and the Patriots won. I thought that would be the biggest item to come from this game. The bills were locked in at the two seed all along. As we said before, they're going to be playing the Broncos. but Bobcraft did not waste any time and he made an announcement that

Gerard Mayo is out after one season as Patriots head coach. I can get into the statement, but your thoughts, Patrick. We talked about this possibility coming. I heard from people who were closer to the situation from me that it wasn't going to happen. And yet I thought based on the evidence

of what happened this season, there was a strong chance and it happened. Maybe it's because they want to go get Mike Fable. Maybe not. We'll find out. Yeah. The maybe aspect, I think you make this change. Perhaps signals that you know what you want. You think you have an inside

shot at that. But the mystery, the consternation, the substrofuge coming out of Foxborough is not new to me. This has been happening the whole time. The problem is the Patriots had one of the best quarterbacks, the best quarterback to ever play the game, and they were winning Super Bowls.

And that winning is the ultimate deodorant to all of this chaos that is constantly happening. And we look back, and we've got stops of coaches interviews. We've got GMs leaving and then not leaving. And then Nick Casario goes, we have multiple investigations and lawsuits. All of this stuff, none of it is new. This stuff has always happened in New England. The problem is they were losing.

They lose the exact same number of games that they lost last year with the best coach. ever. And so now you go one and done with a coach. I just hope for the Patriots and for the coach that they hire that they want him to be there. And he wants to be. No, I want them to lose. No, I want them to lose every game. But that's, you know, that's just my relationship with the franchise. But, you know, just for the sake of the people on the staff and the players and the fans who, yes, you know, a lot of them are great people. I'm sitting next to one. I would just like everybody to want everybody to be there. It clearly wasn't the case this year. Yeah, this is the same. franchise that employed Jack Easterby for quite a while.

Let's look at craft statements. Now, he obviously wanted this to work out. It's not like he didn't want Drod Mayo to work out, but ultimately, when it became a situation, am I going to stand by this guy that I told everyone that I wanted as my coach for five years? He told that story to a lot of people. They did this trip to Israel at one point that Mayo was on and he saw this leadership in Mayo. and when Mayo was getting head coaching interviews a couple off seasons ago,

then he signed him to the contract that guaranteed he'd be the head coach in waiting. Let's look at the statement that Kraft made. He said he informed Mayo that he will not be returning. For me personally, this is one of the hardest decisions I've ever made. I've known Gerard for 17 years. It goes on from there, but he said when other teams started requesting an interview, I feared I would lose him and committed to making him

our next head coach. Winning our season opener on the road in Cincinnati only strengthened my convictions. He goes on and essentially says, I'm a steward of the team. I apologize for what's happened the last couple of years.

And I do think he knows Robert Kraft that this is a dent on how he's viewed publicly. I think he was telling he was at the Celtics game the other night. They didn't show him on the judge. Jumbotron, because they know at this point, Patriot's fans will boo him. Like, how much the fan, like, reaction to him matters.

Only he could say that. But I think people look at the Brady Belichick era differently already because of what's happened. And he saw the way this is going, and he maybe sees a life preserver in Mike Rable, whether that's a good idea or not, and thinks. I need to get out of this now to possibly save it because clearly he made a bad choice with Gerard Mayo. Like if he's making, if he's pulling the ripcord after one year, it speaks to organizational problems that go far beyond

Gerard Mayo who was put in a, even though I think he did a horrible job this year, and ultimately this was the right decision in a vacuum, that just gets to, he was put in a terrible spot shook and isn't at the, most fault of what's going on with the Patriots. Yeah, I was pretty convinced that they were going to hang on to him because of the one and done, because he was so convinced that this was the guy to succeed Belichick and everything that you just discussed about the lead-up and making him the head coach

and waiting. So the fact that he got fired was a shock to me, but the results also do speak to themselves. They were dysfunctional. They were disorganized. He mishandled a lot of certain different situations. He moved back to the Matthew Judon thing during camp and making it kind of a bit of a disagreement that happened in public. And obviously there's two parties involved in that.

But also, what did he have to work with? You know, what type of talent did he really have on either side of the ball? Their offensive line was a mess. They lacked weapons for most of this season. Kishon Booty's had a nice little spot, but, you know, Jalen Polk's been a no-show. And that's a guy that they drafted over Ladd McCocky, as Matt Money-Smith liked to highlight in a recent performance. And defensively, your best front seven guy, Christian Barmore, you know,

has to deal with blood clots and can't play for most of the season. So you lack talent back there, too. You have minimal pieces right now. What were you really going to do? And yet, if Mike Vrable wasn't out there, I don't know if they necessarily would have made this change even as ugly as it has been this year. Okay, so a couple points there.

I don't think this 4 and 13 was the same as last year's 4 and 13, because number one, you got really good quarterback play out of Drake May. Number two, their schedule was much harder last year. They faced one of the easiest schedules in the league this year. And then number three,

Mayo was a defensive coach and the defense, which was excellent last year, top 10, with, basically the same players who you gave a lot of money to. I know there were injuries, but there were a lot of injuries last year, too. The defense, which it was his side of the ball, fell off a cliff. So that's on the field. Off the field, I think is what got him fired, though, was that the way he handled the media and his players was a mess, that he wasn't consistent in terms of, I think, the leadership he had publicly and was just a little sloppy in front of

the microphone. It really reminded me of Freddie Kitchens and Nate Hackett more. than anyone in that I just think he was a little not ready for that part of the job. That's my opinion. And like, it's a bad situation because of what I said before that, yes, I think the antipathy towards Mayo and Boston was absolutely more because he was a black head coach. And so combining all that together is messy. And I don't think necessarily going back to the well, if that's what happens with like Mike Rable and Josh McDaniels, is a good idea. Maybe it gets you back up to a certain level, maybe not even. But I actually think everything that happened in the past, that's the past. You really think Vrable and McDaniels are the

ones thinking in the future of where the NFL is going. It's a little poisonous to me to go back to everything, like trying to recreate the old times. It shows to me that maybe they're out of ideas. And I think that was also part of what got Mayo fired is I think Vrable will be able to hire a better staff. Mayo could not hire this staff because I don't think he had contacts. He had never worked outside of that building. He didn't have an idea of how to do offense. He didn't know how to hire. Everyone on the inside was just like more Belichick kids and other guys who had been there. And it was tough. And he was on like the 12th pick of his coordinator. So it was just a lot that went into it. I don't know. It's just it's bad. This is a bad franchise. And yet they

have two franchise quarterbacks. We have the envy of the league, two young franchise quarterbacks under cheap contract control for three straight years. We got Drake May and Joe Milton. forget losing the one pick we can trade Joe Milton for a first yeah flip Joe Milton for a couple first rounders based on his performance make it three yeah why not get him in there I just

the chaos is going to be there the roster issues are there Mike Rable who famously likes to actually get in there and work with linemen during draft season like he's integral to that draft process how does he feel about the current front office staff

if he's the choice he might have have an option. Chicago may be able to make a very interesting... Or the Jets. He's already interviewed with the Jets, who are also interviewing Rex Ryan on Tuesday. One of those three places has a GM in place, though. The other two don't.

Yeah. Well, actually, no two of them do. And so it's like, how does the process work? What's the long-term plan? You just got rid of somebody who was tied to the previous regime. Vrable, while he had a great run in Nashville with opportunities, like, they were close. It's not like the Titans

just kind of flamed out all the time. The Titans had a lead over that Bengals team that was an Aaron Donald sack away from winning the Super Bowl. The Titans conceivably could have been there during the Rable era.

And it's, you know, he'll have his choice, but I just think everybody needs to go in and make sure that this is what they want. Because a lot of those I don't want any of it

are not changing. I want an offensive-minded head coach. I think you look at, What have I said all year? What matters about the Patriots? Drake May. It's all that matters. So if you're, and maybe Rabel has an idea of like, here's the offensive staff.

I'm going to hire and hear the names and it's a great idea. I don't know. All I know is he's recently gotten a chance to hire two different offensive coordinators. And his choices were Tim Kelly and Todd Downing. And so that doesn't give me a ton of confidence that he's the right guy to bring this great young quarterback into the future. We will see. And yes, Bill's fans, we'll be talking about your team, plenty. I think it's going to be a long playoff run.

Eric, I'm looking forward to it. Okay, now it's time, yes, to talk about the best teams. 14 teams remain. It's a tournament. It's single elimination, Nick. It's the greatest tournament known to Man. Forget the NCAA tournament. They got 68 teams.

There's a play in and all this nonsense. It's a tournament. And I, for one, I'm looking forward. to it. And I'm looking forward to previewing it. We've got our normal slate of shows. We're going to do a live show actually on Saturday night, recapping those games. But we'll be back here on

Sunday night with you. Appreciate you all season long, shook on these regular season games. You know, less games on upcoming Sundays. But we'll be doing that wild card game as well. How was a trip back, by the way, to Cleveland? Well, it was like a typical flight across the country

when you connect through one airport. But it was great. It's been a privilege to be here. And I'm glad that we're not done that the playoffs are just getting started where it's you know you said you called it a tournament if you're from western pennsylvania or somewhere along the east coast you might even call it a tournament which has always bothered me yes and we're going to have to try to get permission from the claybon family to stay to stay late these sunday nights let's let's do it moving for let's run it back the tournament is all that it is um the randomness uh the way the things go you can have a really really good team and done that's that's that's the the blessing you and the curse of a single elimination tournament and then after the fact everybody will pretend like the result

were dictated and we knew it all along but that's all the long I don't know anything all along but we will be making our predictions and spoiler I'm sticking with my preseason

one who was Bill's lines as we go along the path we'll have different ways to pick it but yeah we have a lot to get to before then like I said

I will be back on Monday hopefully got a little special guess. It's going to be kind of like a tight little news show on Monday. But yeah, for Patrick Claibon, for Chris behind the glass, Eric Roberts, Nick Shook. Congratulations to Kevin Patra on the Lions. Yes, when there's only 13 games left of the season, you know football is back. Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies.

To evaluate team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sundays. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL.

Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. This is an IHeart podcast.