NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 127. What Matters Most From Every Game of Week 16 in the NFL

Episode Date: December 27, 2022

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers go through every game on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday slate of games form Week 16 in the NFL and tell you what really matters most beyond the final scores.

This episode is brought to you by our good friends at NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. I'm sure by now you've all got back into your Sunday routines, but they could be even better. With NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV, you get the most live NFL games all in one place, every game, every Sunday. And you can even watch up to four different games at once with MultiView, one of my favorite inventions of this decade. It's exactly what you need to catch all the action. Make your Sundays more magical. And also, YouTube TV is great. I got it this year.

It's awesome. Sign up now at youtube.com slash BS, device and content restrictions apply. Local and national games on YouTube TV NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital only games welcome to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast in this episode we're giving you what matters most from week 16 in the NFL a little bit of a delay in this podcast but that's okay because that means that we get the Monday night football takes as well we're taking you all the way back to Saturday and Sunday. Full slate of games.

We are giving you everything that we think mattered most beyond the box score. We're going to individual performances, long-term and short-term outlook, draft needs, playoff picture, everything. I'm Trevor Sycamore. With me as always is Connor Rogers. Let's ring the bell.

Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. I'm Trevor Sikama. That is Connor Rogers joining you for a little bit of a hiatus, a holiday hiatus. This podcast coming to you one day later than it normally does as we tell you what mattered most from the holiday slate of NFL games that we saw over the Christmas weekend but better late than never I always say right Connor we're gonna get to these takes we're gonna tell you what we saw from the games over the weekend but first of all my friend how was your holidays and how you doing it was great man a lot of running around but in a good way. Got to see all the family, the football. There was so much football and a lot and a lot of it was really good.

I know it's probably not sustainable throughout a full NFL season, but I really like having games Saturday and Sunday. And I know because of college and I get it. And obviously college is a big part of this pod. But the back to back days of NFL, and I get it. And obviously, college is a big part of this pod. But the back-to-back days of NFL football. And, you know, some people probably would not be a fan of that. Some significant others might not be a fan of that. But it made the holiday that much better, that Christmas Eve and Christmas. It was just always games on, dude.

It was awesome. And it was really, really good. So how was yours? Oh, it was great. I was down in Hilton head south carolina with my fiance's family and i gotta say this winter storm really threw us for a loop there because it was like 20 degrees in the south in this beach town of hilton head south carolina and and you're you're you're looking at all these establishments like we went to we went to you know like

restaurants or whatever and these places are built for summertime, at the beach. People walk in wearing bathing suits. It's just that vibe, and it was just so damn cold. And it was just funny to watch people try to operate in a beach town with cold weather. But I'm sure I really can't complain much because you're up in the Northeast. And I mean, what was the coldest it got to in the Northeast this past weekend? Oh, I think we hit single digits definitely at some point.

And it's one of those things where you're like, you know, we're used to the cold, but I've also not lived upstate for a long time. And that felt like upstate kind of cold where there's really not much you could do to protect that bone chilling on your face so it it gave it a little bit of like oh it's the holidays feel but i was also like it hasn't felt like this around the holidays here in like 20 years so it was it was brutal and i know some of these games uh weather was i don't

want to say a massive factor but it definitely was really really cold and made it hard for some offenses to really get going. And we know how hard that ground probably felt for some of these. So it was interesting to see, you know, there's like eight games that had to deal with this weather as well. We can start with one of them if you want to. Falcons-Ravens is the first one that I have on the list here. Ravens end up winning this game 17 to 9. And you talk about, you know, teams where the elements might affect you a lot.

Ravens-Falcons, there is contact every single play. These teams are ground and pound. They're looking for physicality in their identities every step of the way. So Ravens emerge victorious in this game. They go to 10-5 on the season. Really nice record. Still without Lamar Jackson. The Falcons now drop to the very bottom of the nfc south it is hilarious that a team that was uh five and nine before this game was still in the running for a playoff spot now not exactly

in the running for a playoff spot it would take it i think a miracle for them to get at the top even if they still have a chance with i'm not sure that they do but anyways connor what was your big takeaway from uh from Ravens Falcons? I think the Ravens one is kind of simple. The fact that they've been able to run the ball the way they have when Lamar is off the field to kind of grind out wins when they have to have them, right? Obviously you don't want to lose Lamar and go on this skid. And then you're on the fringe of the playoffs. Instead Baltimore has done enough to keep their head above water where they're

now sitting 10 and five and they're, they're comfortably fringe of the playoffs. Instead, Baltimore has done enough to keep their head above water where they're now sitting 10-5, and they're comfortably seated for the playoffs. That was the most important thing for this team during the stretch, and they've been able to accomplish that. And, you know, that's kind of a low-hanging fruit one, but it's just the only way to put it. I mean, they're not – Huntley's even banged up. They're not having him throw the ball 20-plus times a game.

He had 17 pass attempts in this game and he was efficient enough, but the real important aspect is that they can run. I look at the Falcon side of this Trevor, and I think it's a really good sign to see Drake London having success this week with Desmond Ritter. And I'm not saying Desmond Ritter is the future of that franchise. I quite frankly don't believe that, but I think it's the fact that with

any kind of capable quarterback that can actually throw the ball, London could be a wide receiver one. And I think we saw him start out really hot to start the year. We know Mariota hit a, his roller coaster and London kind of everybody, every pass catcher on this team suffered with it. And then you saw a game here where Ritter actually got a chance to throw the ball a lot and London on nine targets, seven catches, 96 yards. I think that's a promising, promising aspect of the Falcons future is that we don't know who's going to be under center next year. And even if it is Ritter,

but I think the guy they use the top 10 pick on is for real. Yeah, no, I, I agree. You know, we, we like London a lot in the draft. Last year, he was my wide receiver one for certain points of the season. And I just, I really thought that he was that kind of a player that you can go to in any situation he could really deliver for you. Unfortunately, he had a fourth down fumble that ended up being very costly in this game. But I think to your point, I think if you look at the whole picture of it, start to finish, he's somebody that they consistently relied on and uh as they're moving forward as they are rounding out their pass catching group he is definitely going to be a cornerstone for him and

you've seen that already so far this season yeah did you agree it was a fumble i thought it was pretty close i think they called it on they called it on the field as one, though. As in, did he make a football move? It was almost like he was catching and transitioning. And I ultimately do think it was a fumble, but I found it to be one of those close ones where basically whatever they say on the field is how it's going to go. And the refs had a tough go of this game, specifically for the Falcons on a couple different calls. One that

was challenged that was absolutely a catch. I didn't think it was the cleanest game for them either. I thought it was a fumble. Yeah, I thought it was a fumble. As much as I love London, I did think that this one was a fumble. No, absolutely a tough moment for him, but as

a whole, I thought he certainly looked the part. My what matters most, and by the way, I did look it up while you were talking. Falcons are officially eliminated from the playoffs. Look, folks, I can't count anything else in the NFC South. I can't count anything out. A team that was 5-9 still was in playoff contention, which is hilarious. But my thing that mattered most is Desmond Rear looked a lot better this week.

Now, an interesting part of this is something that we talked about last week and something that we talked about throughout the draft process. Beginning of games, it just feels like Desmond Ritter looks jumpy. It just looks like he's too wound up. And that was, again, the case this week. But he really settled down, I felt like, especially in those second and third quarters, really hitting on specifically those third down passes he looked

really confident it's not just like the ball was going to where it needed to go it was the whole setup man whether it was play action or he was rolling out or he was going through a progression he just looked very confident there were a handful of times where i was watching some of his passes and i was like okay ritter like that's that's not accuracy. That's not just the ball going to the right receiver. That was ball placement. He was leading guys to get yards after the catch. He was floating that ball away from defenders. He was waiting the way that he needed to.

He was firing it into throwing windows, which looked great between zone coverage. Shoot, that London catch that ended up being a fumble, he had a very tight throwing window between the guy who was covering London and the linebacker who was retreating a little bit. And he didn't pull the trigger because the linebacker moved a certain way. And instead, he waited just a second and then instead hit it on the other side of the linebacker, which was just, I thought, a beautiful pause

from really nice throw. Poised from him. And it was those kinds of throws. And I think that kind of confidence that i was really uh really impressed with last week he had no big time throws he had two turnover really plays this time he had no turnover really plays and one big time throw the adjusted completion percentage went from 50 last week to 69 this week so a lot higher and i think that's kind of what you saw there don't know if desmond ritter is going to be the future of this team but he's got two more weeks to really

show his stuff and i thought this is a good step in the right direction and it's important and i think it does matter most for of course what this show is about because the falcons are going to get a top 10 pick looks like uh all signs point to that direction and that means that they're going to be in quarterback conversation how in they're going to be on that quarterback class depends on how Ritter finishes out the year but a really good step in the right direction uh for what could be mattering most for the Falcons future and for the 2023 NFL draft yeah I think most importantly Trevor can he play well enough to put himself in a camp battle next year right like I don't see the Falcons as a team that you know going into

year three with Arthur Smith, that they're going to sit on their hands and they're just going to go in with Ritter and that's that. But can he play well enough where whatever veteran they get, if they draft a guy, whoever it is, Ritter has a shot going into the year. And you're absolutely right. This was a game where he showed significant progress

from his first start, made some really, really nice throws, played with more confidence in that second half and i mean once yeah the london fumble is probably won't be remembered from him in this game but he went up and made some big catches that it felt like ridder's like oh i trust this guy like i get thrown into traffic and this guy's gonna make a play on the football uh next game let's go let's stick in the nfc south detroit lions faced off against the carolina panthers these were hotter hotter teams in the uh what would you say would you say whoa for the fact that the panthers ran for 320 yards okay all right hey look anytime you have any reaction like that because of what happened with tom brady coming out of retirement last year live on our show

that was live news anytime you have that kind of reaction, I go, what just happened? That's fair. I gotta save those. I gotta save those. If you guys haven't seen that clip, you gotta go back and look at it.

Connor literally breaks the news to me live on the podcast while I'm mid-rant that Tom Brady was coming back and it's one of my favorite moments here. Panthers though, you were right, rushing over 300 yards

and because of so, they got the victory 37 to 23 against the detroit lions these were two of the hotter teams in the nfl lions and one i believe six of seven coming in this game panthers had won three of five so these are two teams that were rolling in the right direction and i'm not gonna lie to you connor i didn't i didn't see this man i thought the panthers were going to keep it competitive i thought it was going to be a one score game but i thought the detroit lions were going to emerge victorious but uh when you looked at the stats when you look at the film of this one what was your what matters most from this game i mean just how the panthers are kind of playing as a unit right now is really really

impressive to me that i'm very anti or very pro never hire the interim coach, right? I really do believe in that. I think it's a dangerous game, and it often does not work out. There are a few examples that do. But how do you, like, Steve Wilks right now, seriously, Steve Wilks right now, how is he not the frontrunner or at least a front runner for this job? Because we're going to go through a situation where, you know, Sean Payton is going to be the bell to ball, right?

Like we know that we're already hearing it, whether it's because Denver fired Hackett, you know, teams that are going to roll out the red carpet for Sean Payton and all that. But only one team gets Sean Payton, right? Like that's the thing. There's only one team that gets Sean Payton. And then the rest of this coaching cycle, like many coaching cycles, will have their dart throws that are a disaster. Some guys that end up being pretty good. And then some guys that hang around for a couple of years and just never get over the hump. It's just fascinating to watch what

Steve Wilkes is doing with this team, especially from a physicality standpoint. To me, the way they were able to run the ball in this game against a Lions team a Lions run defense that for about four to five weeks has been pretty dang good honestly and they couldn't stop a nosebleed in this game it's really that simple I mean they just ran at will they had two guys that are not household names in Deontay Foreman and Chuba Hubbard who they you know Foreman has had a really nice story this year since he took over that job but both those guys go well over 100 yards Darnold plays efficient football 15 to 22 250 touchdown no picks it's just it was simple that Carolina

absolutely ran them over in this game and it it just goes back to something that I think we also forgot a little bit because they had started to come together as a unit. The Lions still really do need help on this defense, right? They had such a horrific start to the year, and then for about a month, they did put it together where they were capable, and they have some young talent, whether it's Rodriguez in the middle, Ali McNeil, Aiden Hutchinson, all of that.

James Houston, of course, has been a nice story, but they still need. Did James Houston get a sack? I don't think so. Oh, no. Let me double check, though. I don't think he did. He didn't.

He didn't. The streak's over. The streak's over. Fun fact, the Lions did not have a sack in this game. No, they did not. I think what matters most

is that we are at the point where the where steve wilkes is a legitimate guy to keep this job and then the fact that the lions much like a lot of these teams that turn the corner and have had nice seasons but not great seasons still have holes in their building process and That will be a draft, unfortunately, for the Lions. They have an amazing opportunity to kind of just patch that thing up. They're picking seventh overall with the Rams pick. They have the 18th overall pick. They're going to figure that out.

They can get involved in free agency, of course, as well. So it's probably a really disappointing loss for Lions fans because the playoff picture starts to fade away as you go to seven and eight yeah but I think at least they know exactly what they need and the resources are all there for them to solve that Lions schedule remaining they host the Bears this week and then it's at Packers next week they went into this they went into week 16 versus Carolina Panthers with a um with a chance to really solidify their playoff odds if they would have won this game would have gone above 50 percent for the lions to make the playoffs which would have been pretty incredible the loss against the panthers

drops that below 20 it's right around 15 16 percent now for the lions to make the playoffs they're just probably going to be on the outside looking in after an incredible run here that we've seen in the second half of the season. And I do think that what matters most in this one, I've talked plenty and you obviously talked there about Steve Wilkes. I think that's a big thing that matters. And you look at how well they're running the ball, how well they're playing on defense, how well that offensive line has been able to bounce back.

Those are the things that you really look for. The skill positions, the quarterback to play calling, the points, those will come once you really solidify the next staff and get some extra juice, some new faces in those areas. But when you're talking about an interim turn and guys around in the middle of the season, that's really what you will look for and that they've done a great job. But back to the Lions, I think that what matters most here is that

it feels like you've just got to have almost a clean sweep of the coaches on the defensive side of the ball. And I hate saying that because I like Aaron Glenn. I like Todd Walsh. I like Kelvin Shepard. I like a lot of these guys that they have on the defensive staff. They just haven't been able to produce.

Do they have the horses to do that? I think a lot of those coaches, if you're sitting at a table, just between you and them sharing a beer, they'd probably tell you, hey, what are we supposed to do with this defensive group? This is a group that you mentioned. It still needs top tier defensive talent. Jeff Okuda got absolutely smoked this past week, right? He's had a couple of nice performances through the second half of the season,

through a bounce back year after a torn Achilles. But he has not been that number three overall pick type of a corner for you the things that you like but he got benched this past week because how unreliable he is the same this the secondary group overall needs a ton of work the defensive line still needs a ton of work i think the coaches would tell you that they don't have the players yet but it'd be hard to go into next year just saying yeah we're gonna roll with the same staff. I think you're going to see a lot of changes on the defensive staff there with the Lions. A lot of their top draft picks over this next draft season

has got to be on the defensive side of the ball. You got to figure it out on the defensive side of the ball because Jared Goff, I'll give him his props. Jared Goff played well. Again, this past week. Played really well. Played really well. Played really well. You give that guy a competent defense this week,

Lions probably win that game, right? Ain't nothing that the Panthers were really doing that was too dynamic. They were just whooping some ass up front. That's what they were doing. And if you give them a better defense, I think Jared Goff again comes away with the W. So we're going to talk plenty about quarterbacks from Detroit, and we're still going to be able to have that conversation.

But ultimately, Goff's been playing well. He played well again this weekend. with the W. So we're going to talk plenty about quarterbacks from Detroit, and we're still going to be able to have that conversation. But ultimately, Goff's been playing well. He played well again this weekend. But the defense, it was the reason why the beginning of the season they fell into the hole, and ultimately it's the reason why it feels like their Cinderella story struck midnight in Carolina this past week. So I think we're seeing wholesale changes from the Lions' defensive staff. And Sam Darnold gets to go into free agency with a little momentum. past week so i think we're seeing still wholesale changes from the lions defensive staff and and sam darnold gets to go into free agency with a little momentum a lot more leverage than we

thought he was gonna have from you know he started the last four games for them he's thrown one touchdown in all four of those games he has not thrown anception, which has always been his biggest problem. He's sprinkled in two rushing touchdowns. I mean, when you're a 25-year-old quarterback that shows some signs of life, somebody will give you a chance, and Sam is going to get that chance in a free agency that is going to be really, really interesting on the veteran quarterback market. Yeah, it's true. Hey, the Jets are looking for – sorry.

Stop. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. We'll go on to the next game bill let's bears this game in chicago bills come away big in this one 35 13 the final score speaking of good ground games man those really poured it on the chicago bears and that was supposed to be their thing right feels like chicago was on the other side saying whoa whoa that's our bread and butter and it absolutely wasn't against the Bills but Bills get another win but it didn't feel like just another win in this aspect it felt like a statement win it felt like a momentum win but Connor what was your what matters most here from this one that the Bills I don't ever want to say provided a blueprint but did show that you could

stop Justin Fields on the ground and force the bill the bears to play a different way because that is something that maybe that doesn't matter as much right now as the bears continue to lose but might matter a lot in the future is the fact of you know when fields was efficient as a passer in this game he was 15 to 23 he only threw for 119 yards but he didn't throw a pick he did get banged up again which is becoming a theme it's pretty tough way when you're getting hit that much as a quarterback you're going to get banged up here and there but the bills completely eliminated the ground game from justin fields and that's a lot easier said than done but i thought they contained the edges really well i thought they tackled really well which

has been a huge problem in stopping fields on the ground he's broken a ton of tackles um his scrambling and designed running has been a huge aspect this year but the bills have shown you a little bit of a blueprint of how to do it and they countered with their own ground game in a god a really really really cold uh cold game and you know when you look at it trevor what they did for a majority of the game they played quarters and cover three they flood they flooded the field with dbs that were really smart in their assignments and that's what the bills do the bills are traditionally not this man-to-man team where your backs are going to get turned and then fields can run upfield and destroy you.

They treat a lot of quarterbacks that way, not just Justin Fields. But I just found it interesting when diving into the database that, you know, they had 59 defensive snaps for, let's do a little math here, almost 40 of them, just about 40 of those 59, they sat in cover three or quarters and they tackled. And that's how the Bills, they tackled well. And that's really the bread and butter of the Bills, schematically, defensively, but it was interesting to see how effective that was against a guy that could beat you on any single play.

Yeah, Justin Fields is talented enough to where he could just be a scheme buster, right? You could do a lot of great things correct, and he could still make you pay for it, but it just felt like the B played such great discipline defense whether it was defending zone reads or you know when just field just getting to the outside matt milano coming up making a big tackle in space like whatever it was that like that feels like it's not like it's a brand new blueprint but it's almost like that the bills almost I'll kind of like flip that around a little bit. And I'm all almost say that like the Bills showed the rest of the NFL. This is how good our defense can be.

You know, everybody talks about Josh Allen and a lot of the passing weapons and how many points they can put up, all that stuff. But like this is how good this defense can really be when they really stick to the script, when they continue to play very sound, disciplined football. And that's my big takeaway, my what matters most for this game. And this is kind of, I'm calling myself out here, right? Over the last couple of weeks on our show that we do at PFF's YouTube, It's Just Football, Mike and I have this bracketology thing that we do on Fridays. And over the last couple of weeks, we have predicted,

we're like, eh, I can't see Chiefs. They're probably going to be the one seed. They got an easy schedule. We have put the chiefs at the number one seed every single time and i have consistently put the buffalo bills not even as the two seed i put them as a three seat because i think they're gonna i was saying that they were going to lose to the cincinnati bangles so the chiefs are going to run the table they were going to take the one bills are going to take three connor bills have the one seed right now. Bills control their own destiny.

Massive, massive, massive game in Cincinnati coming up this week. But if they defeat the Cincinnati Bengals, they're going to be the one seed. I don't really think that the Patriots are going to upset them in the last game of the season. I think they're going to take over the one seed. And the playoffs running through Buffalo is huge.

I have not given enough thought or credit to what that picture is like because i didn't think it was going to happen i was like ah chief schedule is too easy now bills are kind of a little bit more high variance than i thought they were going to be they're peaking at the right time the run game was fantastic over 200 yards rushing combined between devin singletary and j Cook this past week, which was key, right? A great rushing attack from the Bills that didn't have to be led by Josh Allen. And that's when I get a little bit worried about the Bills offense is how Josh Allen centric they can be.

Give them a little bit of help with the ground game. I think that's going to pay dividends as we get into the playoffs here. Bills control their own destiny. And the thing that that to me is what matters most. They're playing great football. They're playing disciplined football on the defensive side of things. And they're figuring it out on the ground game to really compliment what Josh Allen could do.

So it's not a one man show anymore. The defense isn't kind of all over the place. They're coming together at the right time. And this Bill's team is absolutely dangerous. And if you thought of them as a potential Superbowl team at the beginning of the year, you gotta be happy with where they are right now as another potential Super Bowl team with a couple weeks ago really well said and I'll raise my hand and telling

myself there too I thought the Chiefs and the Bengals were just playing in a different tier than them recently and it feels like ever since I said that the Bills have figured it out almost all the way across the board we know Allen's been dealing with the uco he hasn't been the same since then but josh allen is still really really good and makes these plays that just not a lot of guys can but you're right trevor the ground game to supplement him the defense that only gave him three points in the second half i mean they're a really really scary team that has a lot to play for i know a lot of people are like, oh, what if they rest their starters against New England and New England can get in at the end?

Yeah, the Bills beat the Chiefs this year, but the Bills are playing for that one seed, I think, until the end here. And also, I don't think they want to take their foot off the gas. They have a good thing going right now. So really, really strong stuff from the Bills. You want to quickly move to Saints-Browns because I know there's... I don't have a big take on this one. I have one.

And it's not a big take. I'll get to that. I'll kind of give you the floor with it. But Saints won this game 17-10. Both these teams now 6-9 on the season. And even though the Saints aren't technically eliminated from the playoffs, they still only have a 4% chance to make the playoffs playoffs three percent chance to win that division

and it just it doesn't feel like something that would happen it would truly take a miracle so i didn't i just didn't really get a lot from this game it kind of was just like a game that happened and it felt like the weather the the weather the you mentioned at the top of the podcast that weather affected some of these games it felt like the bitter cold in cleveland ohio was just imposing its will on both of these teams and no one was really going to explode one way or the other and it was a close game till the end i think for that reason but what was your what matters most from this one i'm curious to. I know the cold was a factor. I know.

I get it. When is the $250 million quarterback going to actually look good? It wasn't going to be this year. It wasn't going to be this year. We've had four games from Deshaun Watson this year. Also a horrible summer, by the way, where he looked terrible. I know he's shaking off rust. 12 for 22 with 131 yards, no touchdowns in a pick against Houston.

26 of 42 for 276, a touchdown interception against the Bengals, where they lost 23 to 10. 18 for 28 for 161 yards and a touchdown against Baltimore, who injuries all over that secondary. They haven't been the same, but they won the game, the Browns. 15 to 31, 135 yards, no touchdowns and a pick against the Saints. Hasn't rushed for more than 33 yards in any game. I'm not judging Deshaun Watson on a standard of like, is that okay?

Is that average? Is that mediocre? You are paid $250 million guaranteed. Guaranteed. You are expected to be a top three quarterback in the NFL. You don't look like a top 20 quarterback in the NFL. I'm not saying it's panic time because there's going to be rust. He didn't play for a while.

This is with a team that has a lot going on. But if next year starts like this, it's going to be very interesting to see how we talk about this contract and that trade. Yeah. I mean, you're, you're told I'm obviously there's already a ton of reason why we have talked

about this contract and this trade about how the absurdity of really how we got to this point with Deshaun Watson being a $250 million quarterback on the Cleveland Browns. But that pressure is only going to mount more and more. I never really expected much from Deshaun Watson this year. Even when he came back, I'm with you. I felt like the rust, the, you know, everything that he has dealt with and had to hear,

deservingly so, getting to Cleveland, I figured that it was just going to be something that really brought down this team. And you know what? That is part of the decision that they made to bring Deshaun Watson, and now they are eating it. So we'll see what happens with the Cleveland Browns going into the offseason, what these last two games are going to bring, because you're right. There's no doubt about it.

Deshaun has been bad. Seahawks at Kansas City Chiefs. Seahawks lose this one 24-10. Another good win for the Chiefs is they, like the Buffalo Bills, look like they're firing on all cylinders for this one. Chiefs advance to 12-3 on the season. Seahawks now dropped to seven and eight.

I'll start with this one. Okay. I really like what I've seen from the Chiefs run defense. Like, I feel like we talk a lot about so many other aspects of the Chiefs game, right? We talk about Chris Jones in the pass rush. We talk about on the other side of the ball the interior offensive line the run game that they have with Isaiah Pacheco you know the weapons how Patrick Mahomes obviously is having an MVP type of campaign but I feel like how they were this past week at defending the run against the Seahawks again shows like it does for the Buffalo

Wills how complete of a defense this is becoming at the right time. This is from Nate Christensen on Twitter. He tweeted this out. Seattle's first down runs versus the Kansas City Chiefs, 12 carries, 38 yards. Like this is just like they were locking them down on the early downs. And Christensen also wrote about this. He said that Steve Spagnuolo, their defensive coordinator,

saying you have to earn the right to rush the passer. That is a Spags quote. You have to do the work on first and second downs in order to get that opportunity to really get after the passer on third down. And I feel like we've always highlighted what the Chiefs do on third down because they have some nice pass rushers, including Chris Jones, who's, of course, having an unbelievable season. But the run defense, man,

they had seven players that had a run defense grade over 70 this past week. That is a lot. That is significant. That means that your boys came to play. That means that they were disciplined. That means they were ready. That means that they were as excited about making plays and decisions on first and second down just as much as they were

when they got into the third and longs. That is a dangerous defense. That is something that when we talk about the Kansas City Chiefs, when we talk about how dangerous they are, we never really talk about run defense, right? When's the last time you talked about the Kansas City Chiefs and talked about run defense? Guess what you need to be a complete team to win a Super Bowl? You need run defense in some way shape or form do you have to be as good as the Seattle or the sorry the San Francisco 49ers have been

no you don't have to be number one but you got to be damn good and it feels like the Chiefs are getting to the point where that area of their team is just as formidable as some of the other areas that we praise week in and week out so wanted to say what matters most is that yes another Chiefs win. Yes. We could talk about Patrick Mahomes. We could talk about how great of a game Travis Kelsey had all that stuff,

but I wanted to highlight an area of the game where we don't talk about it a lot. That could mean all the difference in the world. Once we get into the playoffs and how well that defense is playing. I'm number one, fully agree. And I'm really happy you took the chief side. Cause I have a Seahawks take for this one.

Wonderful. A team, obviously, that's fighting for their life for the playoffs. And they will meet their similar foe in the New York Jets this weekend as both teams sit there fighting for their playoff lives. Trevor, I didn't realize what matters most to me is at least I didn't realize how vital Tyler Lockett is to this offense. I've known Tyler Lockett's a really good player. We've had our we've had our laughs on the contract. known Tyler Lockett's a really good player. We've had our laughs on the contract, but Tyler Lockett's a really, really good player. I didn't realize it was like this. Get this, right?

So Lockett had surgery on a fractured finger, missed this game. Seattle was 2 of 14 on third down. This against the Chiefs. Yikes. Lockett leads the team this year, counting that game, still leads the team on first down receptions

this year with 47. I think almost 20 of them have come on third or fourth down. It's a massive loss. It's a massive, massive loss for Geno Smith, for DK Metcalf, for the run game with how he could take the top off of the defense. That was it to me is, what matters most is Tyler Lockett means so much to this entire unit,

all the way down from Gino to the run game to Metcalf and overall the outcome of the game and Seattle's lack of ability to score points. They just, it felt like gino was pressing to dk metcalf this game without ty lockett and understandably so he just didn't feel as comfortable with the other weapons but you're right i mean that's that's certainly something to point out seattle seahawks just a 23 chance to make the playoffs now um sitting there at seven and eight new york giants minnesota vikings thriller took a 61 yard field goal for the vikings to win this game but they move on to eight and one at home in 2022 an impressive record they still stay within striking distance of that potential number one overall seed they win this one 27 to 24 against the giants connor what was your what matters most

from this one that they really let daniel jones down in this game they really really did play well in this one i'm gonna pull up the drops here in just a second for the giants but jones obviously in this game jones has not been consistently asked to throw the ball down the field throughout the season he hasn't been asked to do a ton with his arm. This was a game where he surpassed over 40 dropbacks. He threw for 340 yards. Yes, he threw the pick. I get it. Yes, he held onto the ball and was sacked three times. And, you know, I know he fumbled on one of them. I think they were, they recovered that one. That's still a little bit of an issue, but trevor richie james led the team in targets richie james had 12 targets isaiah hodgins they got off the scrap heap had 11 targets

i mean he's throwing to nobody out there and i just find the giant situation so fascinating in a sense of what do they do this offseason? I think what makes sense for both parties, unless Jones can get more money and good for him, is finding that bridge deal that gives Jones security beyond this year, because he's going to get that from someone. There's no way in this world Daniel Jones is stuck playing on a one-year prove-it deal next year. He's going to get guaranteed money into 2024. And the Giantsants are probably gonna have to be the team that gives it to him but you just look at this one so they had three drops Richie James had two of them um Bellinger

had the fumble I know he had his own struggles but Daniel Jones was just not the problem in this game and I think my mini what matters most is just that if I was voting coach of the year right now, I would vote for Brian Dable. I really would. And I understand why Sirianni has been a front runner. I understand, although it's going to be a lot tougher now, why McDaniel was in that picture. You know, Pete Carroll, I get all of it. I really do. But if I had a vote i will just publicly say right now my vote would go to brian dable in a game they lost on a 61 yard field goal to the vikings truthfully on the road talent wise giants had no business even being in this game. And it came down to a 61-yard field goal. It's hard to argue any type of Brian D'Abel Coach of the Year case.

Him or Doug, because of what Doug had to clean up with Urban Meyer. Yeah, yeah. But still, Jacksonville is still a significantly, probably more talented team than the Giants. Think about how much money they spent.

No, I do agree with you. But having Lawrence versus having Daniel Jones obviously goes a lot into it. But I do see what you're saying. Those guys are certainly up there. I'm not here to debate just little details of it. We're giving shout-outs to guys. Doug is worthy, no doubt. I'll throw my hands up there.

What matters most is actually for the Vikings, but giving shout outs to guys. Doug is worthy. No doubt. I'll throw my hands up there. My, what matters most is actually for the Vikings, but I do want to touch on the giants. They're in an interesting spot going into this off season because for as good as this team looks and as much as, you know, you are saying like Brian Dable is coach of the year. I think that that's the part that people need to remember about all this.

Like, yes, Daniel Jones looks better, but I think Daniel Jones looks better just because of Brian Dable. I agree. What would Brian Dable have if he had a more talented quarterback? I'm just, I'm not a, I'm not a big Daniel Jones believer. And I've gotten tweets. I've gotten messages from Giants fans who were like, when are you going to give David Jones props?

Daniel Jones had a great game this past week he was absolutely not the problem in fact he was a solution in a lot of ways this feels like his best year but is this his ceiling right that's the tricky part with the New York Giants because this offseason they have Daniel Jones an unrestricted free agent Sikwan Barkley is an unrestricted free agent Darius Slayton uh offensive lineman other defensive players like they have the chance to really reset a lot of what their offensive identity is right now if you think that you could get a ton out of daniel jones like that's fine i don't necessarily think that i feel like we're seeing the best of daniel jones right now and the, am I going to want to invest fully into the best version of a player

being a fringe playoff team? Probably not. So that's kind of what I, I, I, that's where I am with Daniel Jones. I just, I I've gotten,

I've gotten a bunch of messages about Daniel Jones. This is kind of a therapeutic moment for me because I haven't exactly addressed it with the people who are tweeting at me, but I'm not the biggest Daniel Jones believer. I'm not. I mean, I'm not either. Brian Dable means more to what you are seeing out there right now, means more to the 8-6-1 record that the Giants are,

means more to the competitive nature of being a one-score game down to the wire against a Vikings team that's 12-3 or whatever they are. Brian Dable matters the most, not Daniel Jones. Coach of the year, Brian Dable. You can take Daniel Jones off of this team and get a different quarterback on there and have a higher ceiling. If they have the opportunity

to do that do it that's my Giants rant about all that I didn't even think that I was going to go into that rant but that's kind of maybe that was out of place I don't know but whatever um anyways my what matters most is about the Minnesotaenezuela vikings this is a super close game between the two teams in the nfl that have the most one score games this season vikings i've said i said it already they're eight and one at home they have a shot at the one seed if they get the one seed i think they're an incredibly dangerous team um if you take the incredible collapse that they had at the beginning of last game or last week's game against the colts factor in the fact that they had at the beginning of last game, or last week's game against the Colts. Factor in the fact that they were able to bounce back mid-game and have the greatest comeback in NFL history. Then you pair that with this game, which is a back-and-forth battle.

They were down on the scoreboard once again. They had their backs against the wall. They were able to orchestrate key scoring drives. This is a, this feels like a complete team in Minnesota. Now, that's not to say that they're a perfect team. Those words are different. A complete team, to me, simply means that week in and week out, sometimes the offense is going to fall a little bit short. Can the defense pick them up? Do they have that ability? Do they have that execution? Do they have that whatever? Same thing for offense.

Sometimes the defense is going to fall short. Sometimes defense can allow a lot more yards, a lot more points than it normally do. Can the offense then pick them up on the other side of the ball? Can you still get wins even when one side of the ball falters? I think the Minnesota Vikings have the DNA to show that they can do that. To me, that's a complete football team. Not a perfect football team. These are different words. But I think the Vikings have what kevin o'connell has done with this

team has turned them into a complete football team so that's my what matters most is the vikings aren't just this team that you can write off especially if they're going to be at home this postseason listen i i like it i mean we were high on what we saw from the vikings earlier in the year we know everybody threw out the stats that said hey they actually stink like and I think that was a bit of an overreaction I think the numbers told you they were not as good as their record indicates but that doesn't mean they're a bad football team and you're right Trevor I mean it was kind of interesting to see we didn't know when the new regime came

in would they be out on kirk cousins right and they slapped on another year to his deal and that looks like a really good move right now like imagine if we were talking about kirk cousins entering free agency this year i know he'll be 35 next year but the vikings have him on a 36.2 million dollar cap hit there's void money in 2024 to kind of cover some of the contract as a whole but for cousins limitations cousins would be walking into free agency and get the bag from somebody or the Vikings. He'd have more leverage with the Vikings again. So you got to give him credit for some savvy moves of having this regime walked in and they acquired a good football team, right? That's what the Vikings were.

I think they were a desirable place to go because they're, they have the best wide receiver in football. They have pieces everywhere. They really do, but they have made some savvy tweaks all the way down to getting the coaching hire right that has led to this level of success and they deserve credit for that um bangles patriots do you have a take on this game bangles advanced to 11 and 4 on the season 22 to 18 this game really didn't feel that close bangles were up 22 to nothing at half. Bizarre game.

Patriots score 18. Kind of an improbable fashion a little bit there. Getting those 18 points at the end. Patriots drop to 7-8. You have a take for this one? I really don't have a take. I feel like I've said all I needed to say about the Patriots. The defense is good. You want my take? Sure.

Yeah, give it to me. Mack Jones is my least favorite player in the entire NFL. That's my take. And I don't know how anybody that is not a Patriots fan doesn't have the same take. I know it's harsh, and we don't do that a lot on this podcast. Man, it's insufferable. It's insufferable.

The whining to the refs the yelling at your coaches you're trying to take out a opposing player's legs it's enough enough i don't even really believe patriots fans deep down like this guy i really don't that's my take and he also missed a why i think it was myers the last the fourth and 15 the bengals are playing 10 yards off and the receiver ran right by the corner and he's short arm the throw is short it would have been a miracle play but the player did have a step but that's my that's my honest take sure i know it's not it's not a clean one but i should know i personally had an i personally like i know twitter there's a lot of hyperbole with clips of like, this guy is an asshole.

But like that clip of him diving at someone's legs, we have now a full reel of Mac Jones things like that. It's not a good reputation to have in the NFL. The reason why I don't really have a take about this is because we've obviously already talked about a lot of these things with the Patriots. Defense, good. Matt Patricia, bad. Pass catchers, bad. Mack Jones, bad. Like how many, I don't, this is the story of the Patriots season.

They don't deserve to be a playoff team. They shouldn't be a playoff team. I hope they're not a playoff team because I don't really want to see them in the postseason. I don't know if they get eliminated. Did they get eliminated? I didn't think they did. No, they're not eliminated. If they win out,

obviously things change for them. They got a 20% chance. They got a 20% chance, but they have the second toughest schedule. They play the Dolphins, who will be without two of it, then they play the Bills. Dolphins and the Bills. Yeah, it's tough. My one real Patriots thing is I am fascinated to see their offseason because they're going to have a

boatload of money, a boatload of money, and massive question marks, starting at the offensive staff, going all the way down to the quarterback. And I'm fascinated to see how Belichick handles it. Bengals also feel like, we've said this a couple weeks in a row, but feel like it's even peaking at the right time. It was just another good game for the Bengals. They were on the road.

It was hella cold. Trentner wins the goat. Tee Higgins, another 100-yard game. That's, I mean, we've touched on this a little bit, but that feels like the what matters most, right? Jamar Chase, eight catches, 79 yards, no touchdowns. Okay, it's not, obviously, it's still a good game. He got 79 yards, but it wasn't like this takeover Jamar Chase performance.

Everybody else picked up. Joe Mixon, 16 carries, 65 yards, over 4.1 yards per carry average. Tee Higgins, eight catches, 128 yards and a touchdown. Trenton Irwin, I kind of joked about it there, but three catches, 45 yards, two touchdowns. The Bengals had become a team where last year it felt like it was this Joe Burrow-Jamar Chase connection that was going to lead them to the promised land. Now it is a Bengals offense kind of a thing.

It is a complete Bengals offense kind of a thing. Jamar Chase is there if he's going to go off, if he's going to be a superstar. But if he's not, if the other team can figure out how to allocate resources to really lock him down and really focus in on him, they can go elsewhere. And Joe Burrow is clearly not afraid to go elsewhere. And that makes the Bengals a very dangerous team. I cannot wait for Bengals' bills this upcoming week. It's going to be massive. It's going to be awesome.

All right, looking. Yeah, Texans, I would say. I feel like we're getting down to the wire for the Saturday. Yeah, Texas Titans. Texans come away with the massive dub. 19-14. Titans drop their fifth in a row.

Go to 7-8 on the season. Texans do still have the number one overall pick. But now it's getting a little squirrely. Squirrely is such an underutilized word. Let's get a little squirrely squirrely is such an underutilized word let's get a little squirrely only one game ahead in fact i think it's just a half game ahead right because it's in tie oh i with uh the chicago berries i have a take a ruski on this one okay what all right fired up what do we got i think that's i think the texans are going to be picking

second overall no no What's their schedule? They end the season with Nick Foles. Nick Foles against that secondary? Bro, they're going to squeak out a win. They're going to be 3-12-1, and the Bears are going to be... They play the Jags. You realize the Jags are their only other win. Which is hilarious. But it's a new Jags team, baby.

But what... New horizons. I'm just saying, I think the Texans are going to be picking second overall. No. I don't think the Bears beat the Lions or the Vikings. Barring resting players, which shouldn't be happening. No, I don't think you're going to get that in either situation. Oh, no.

Okay, hold on. We can't give away the Wednesday show. We can't give away the Wednesday show. No, I snuck it in there. There's your movie trailer. Yeah, watch the Wednesday show. We're going to dive very deep into that. Connor, I don't really know what to do with the Tennessee Titans. I don't think the

Titans know what to do with the Tennessee Titans. That's my what matters most. You fired John Robinson a couple weeks ago and you did so under the umbrella of we hold our organization to a higher standard. I assume that Mike Vrabel is now going to have

basically autonomous control over the roster and he's just going to consult with the owners i know they're gonna they're gonna hire a gm obviously but mike vrabel is now going to be in on those conversations of who's going to come in and be the gm so that's always a little bit strange of a dynamic just because the pyramid of nfl teams is often that the general manager is a step below the owner and a step above the head coach. And when you kind of flip that around, it gets a little bit interesting, especially since the Titans are on a five game losing streak.

And they're probably going to end the year on a seven game losing streak. This is a team that had the number one overall seed last year in the AFC. They're about to end the year seven and 10 on a seven game losing streak. Cause they play the Dallas Cowboys next week. And then they play the Jacksonville Jaguars the week after that. Maybe the Jags rest their starters. Cause they can clinch the South.

I don't know exactly what the mathematical scenario is for that there, but it's just, it's ugly, man. Yeah. Tana Hill is going to be 35 years old next season. You can save $ million dollars on the cap if you cut them they don't have a ton of free agents i think nate nate davis david long jr

demarcus walker those are the three ones that i noted when i was looking at the list wide receiver core is terrible even if you factor in trailing burks i just don't really know what to make of this team. Like, we knew the Tennessee Titans overachieved last year. Everyone knew that. Yeah, they were the hot decline team. This is catastrophic, man. This is absolute failure.

They've been decimated. For you to have already fired your GM, man, it just shows that, like, I feel like we're at dark times you're about to happen with the tennessee titans that's where i am with them well the thing is they have a coach that should have as much job security as anybody right like you know mike ravel can't go anywhere he's no right but but then it raises the question trevor of i mean the entire fan base wants todd downing fired three weeks ago and i'm not saying they're wrong i'm just saying what's going on they fired the gm at a time where that does not happen like didn't even make it to the end

of the year they're at a total crossroads at quarterback. Like you said, do they go into next year with Tannehill? The way they treat Malik Willis tells you they have no confidence in Malik Willis at this moment. Doesn't feel like it. Which is, I mean, we knew Malik needed a redshirt year. No real analyst was saying Malik Willis is getting drafted and he's your savior from week one of his rookie season. No one said that. So I'm with you. It's scary. It's scary if you're the Titans.

It really is because realistically you're picking highest at what? Ninth? The highest you could pick is ninth? They might be able to pick like eighth, but it's going to be somewhere around there. They're tricky. They're tricky. They're tricky. Could be in the top 10, but it's tough. All right.

49ers. Let's move on to the 49ers game. 49ers, 37. Washington Commanders, 20. Another dominant performance for the 49ers. What do you got for this one connor well this isn't the most important aspect of their team right now but it's one that i find personally very interesting as we approach the niners this offseason and they're awesome i mean they're

they are absolutely every bit of a super bowl threat i really think trevor we're heading towards a summer where i'll comfortably say it's going to be Trey Lance versus Brock Purdy for that job. Like I think for so long, we're like, man, how are they going to bring Jimmy back next year? Jimmy is going to walk into free agency is going to get a nice three year

deal somewhere for a lot of money. And the Niners don't have to be the ones that pay it anymore. I really think that this staff likes Brock Purdy a lot. It's not just a fun little story anymore of the Mr. Irrelevant. He absolutely has limitations right now. I'm not saying he can't grow out of them. This is a offense that is tailor-made to help a rookie quarterback. And that's one of the beautiful things about Kyle Shanahan's ability in this league.

But we've now seen enough where i really think we're headed towards purdy and trey lance next summer and that money that would usually be allocated at veteran quarterback can take care of other areas they need to take care of i don't disagree man that matters a lot i don't i don't disagree i mean i'll touch on the on washington really quick with their playoff chances they they just have a 33 chance to make the playoffs now after this loss of the 49ers but really my what matters most has to be about the niners then i'll say it niners is the scariest team to me in the nfc i i think that they're i think right now they're scarier than

the eagles certainly with the injuries that we have. Lane Johnson, massive. It is with Lane Johnson, obviously, who's going to miss the rest of the regular season. Jalen Hurts, who's sidelined for a little bit. And if he comes back, how close to 100% is he really going to be? I don't know. Vikings, obviously, are a good football team, but Vikings are 49ers. You got your mortgages on the line. Who are you betting on?

You're going to be betting on the 49ers. You are. And they are the scariest team in the NFC right now. I think that if I had to bet on a team to make the Super Bowl from this conference right now, I'd be betting on the San Francisco 49ers. Connor, their margin of victory over the last five games, which has been five wins, has been 16.5. That's their average margin of victory over the last five games, which has been five wins, has been 16 and a half.

That's their average margin of victory. A couple of those games were with Jimmy Garoppolo. The rest of them were with Brock Purdy. And a couple of them have been without Debo Samuel. Debo for all of this. Well, and Kittle is completely unlocked since Purdy's taken over. And Purdy's been a guy who, even going back to Iowa State, loved to throw the ball to tight ends.

He's in a perfect spot for it. This to me is they are the team. I do not mean this as an insult to the Eagles and the season that they have had, but we've talked about it on this show and a lot of people talk about it. It is the status of your team going into the playoffs that matters the most. As of right now, the team that I would not want to play the most in the NFC is, I have no reservations about it, the San Francisco 49ers. That is the team that I do not want to play at all. Home, away, primetime, non-primetime, sunday saturday monday thursday i don't care i

don't want to play the 49ers they're the best team in that conference right now that's my take yeah i mean it's a it's a war of attrition and kyle shanahan is every year a top five coach in the nfl and there are stretches where he's the best coach in the NFL and honestly right now and once again I can't emphasize this enough and I know I do run this back maybe a little too much part of your success as a head coach a huge part is who you hire Kyle Shanahan has now hired and maybe helped develop Robert Sala, Mike McDaniel, and the, in my opinion, the hottest first-time head coach candidate next year, D'Amico Ryans. That, like, getting that level of human to come work for you

and thrive in your working environment to the point where they are taken to run a different organization speaks to how successful you are as a whole. So it's, yeah, they're terrifying. They're terrifying. Cowboys and Eagles. We can go on to the Eagles next. Eagles dropped one. Finally, it feels like.

To the Dallas Cowboys by a score of 40 to 34. Big time shootout obviously jalen hurts not starting in this game gardner minshu started goes 24 for 40 355 yards two touchdowns two interceptions uh the big storyline though i think from this one is is losing their right tackle lane johnson who's going to miss the rest of the regular season at least with a um torn tendon in his abdominal muscle which sounds extremely painful would not recommend haven't even experienced it myself and would not recommend they are hopeful they get him back for the playoffs especially if the eagles are getting that extra week of rest

that would be huge now not only for jalen hurts his shoulder he's coming through a sprained shoulder but also for lane johnson clearly as well. So the number one seed means a lot to Philly. And my what matters most is that from what I saw from Gardner Minshew this past week, I think

they're locking up the one seed. Eagles win one more game, and they lock up the one seed in the NFC. They've got the Saints, and they've got the Giants. Even without Jalen Hurts for both of those games, this is still a good enough team to where they win one of them. So I think that this is going to be the number one seed when it's all said and done.

So that to me was my what matters most because it means a lot towards the playoff seeding, where we're going to be and how much rest that kind of beat up eagles team can be i still have faith in them to get that one seed with how well i felt like gardner minshu played well i'm with you i'm fascinated if you and i were sitting here doing a free agent quarterback rankings today where gardner minshu would stack up because i think you could sit here and make the case he'd be he should be number one and he won't be paid like that he won't be treated like that well but lamar jackson tagged okay okay all right i just wanted to say i just wanted to say you saved me from the youtube

comments you saved me from the youtube comments and that is one of many things i appreciate about you lamar far and away he's going to be tagged out of guys that won't be tagged you're gonna have right like jimmy g gardner mitchu daniel jones jacoby brissett i think huntley unless he's restricted sam darnold oh yeah like if you had to bet on one aren't you the most intrigued by Gardner Minshew? For sure. For sure. I don't know. I don't know what Gardner Minshew ceiling really is, but I think his floor is pretty high.

I mean, his floor is pretty high, you know? Yeah. It's, it's interesting to me. My most, what matters most though from this game was on the Cowboys side.

Nice. Um, Dak Prescott reminded everybody that he can go out and win you a game with against the big dogs, right? I mean, I don't know, I guess because he's the quarterback of the Cowboys. Dak is one of the most scrutinized players in the entire NFL. And sure, has he made some mistakes this year, you know, in tough situations? Every quarterback has.

This was a game where I'm watching the fourth quarter trevor and i just dac was getting it done the big third and ten throw down the sideline the ability to evade pressure uh i just i think dac is just really really good and i don't know how we always get away from that every time it's people are like hey he's not really like a top 10 guy or you know how can you trust him or he's overrated this was a game to me that the cowboys really needed out of Dak because you go into the playoffs and you look at him and you go yeah if we're in a shootout with the Eagles or whoever we can put it on Dak's shoulders Tony Pollard got banged up in this game Tony Pollard did not have a typical Pollard kind of game. I was not blown away because this is what I expect from Dak,

but it's just a reminder that against the elite quarterbacks, and he wasn't against one in this game with Gardner, but the Eagles offense is elite. He can get it done. And the Cowboys need that going into the postseason. Look, the team they were going up against scored 34 points. They needed more than 34 points. Anytime that you can,

anytime that's the bar that you have to hit and you hit it, that's a job well done. No doubt about it. This is a pro-DAC podcast. DAC's ability and his ceiling as a quarterback is very, very high. I think the worry has been over the last couple of weeks, the turnovers. But you see, you know,

when DAC can keep the turnovers down, obviously how potent this offense could be. Shout out to CeeDee Lamb as well, who had another fantastic game, truly budding into one of the best young wide receivers in the game, no doubt about it. But huge win for the Cowboys. And I'll say this too, you know, I'll put my hand up on this one. I didn't think the Cowboys were going to be that good this year.

Certainly with them sitting here at 11-4, having a real shot to be, I mean, I guess technically they are still in the hunt, right, I certainly with them sitting here at 11 and four having a real shot to be, I mean, I guess technically they are still in the hunt, right? For the, for the division title. I just never thought that that was going to be the case with the Cowboys. I thought they were going to regress a little bit,

not the biggest believer in Mike McCarthy, but hats off to him. That whole unit is playing really well and they're going to go into the playoffs. It feels like as a really strong team. So shout out to the Cowboys there. Raiders steelers next steelers 13 raiders 10 another collapse from the las vegas raiders although this one not as high scoring connor for this one for my what matters most i wanted to read off a couple of quotes for you

uh good i think we have the same one okay josh jacob's quote yep that's what mattered most to me in this game i'm so glad you you have him have him ready to roll okay uh josh jacob's quote after this game i'm tired of dealing with this expletive tired of dealing with it. Like every day I come here and bust my ass, I see these guys busting their ass and the result is not there. And for me, the last four years, the result hasn't been there. Quite frankly, I don't know what else to do. Now, I will also read the quote from Josh McDaniels after the game. And the quote from Josh Jacobs was obviously coming from a lot of frustration

of them not being able to get the ball or get the run game going. You only had 15 carries in this game for 44 yards, and it has really been a staple of when they lean on Josh Jacobs, that's when they have a ton of success. This is what Josh McDaniels said after the game. In a nutshell, we put one group out there, and then they would put another group out there, and they'd have one more big guy than what we had.

I don't want to get too much into the specifics of it, but there were times when we went out there with then they would put another group out there and they'd have one more big guy than what we had i don't want to get too much into the specifics of it but there were times when we went out there with three defense and where they went out there with three defensive backs and four four fronts against our personnel grouping and it made it very difficult just to keep slamming runs in there because you were either going to ask mac hollins to block a linebacker which is not good football in that regard. Part of their plan. They did a decent job. Trying to discourage that as much as they did today.

We felt like we made some adjustments. That helped us as the game went on. But you know we didn't have the ball. As much in the second half. And that is our fault as well. Going back to the Josh Jacobs quote. I don't know if Josh McDaniels. Is going to get fired we've read

we've read that the raiders might be short on cash so they might not have the funds to fire josh mcdaniels but the derrick carr emotional press conference a couple weeks ago and I'm not hating on the emotional press conference, football and caring about what you do and your job and your livelihood and something like this. It's okay to show emotions. I'm not picking on the emotions there. But the emotional press conference from Derek Carr a couple weeks ago, coupled with now this kind of reaction from Josh Jacobs, it feels like this locker room is either getting lost on the coaching staff

or is already lost. I don't know if this core group of players that currently is in Las Vegas is going to believe in this coaching staff the way that they need to. Winning cures everything. And if they come out next year and they start the year, you know, 3-0 and oh four and oh all of a sudden it could be yeah you'd let bygones be bygones but i don't know man it just it feels like the current coaching regime is slipping with the guys that are in the locker room now and i felt like that quote was a big takeaway for me it was massive massive it stood out it was what stood out to me that one like that tells me

and i know money changes everything josh jacobs is leaving why would he if he that level of frustration going to free agency why would he stay unless they tag him unless they tag him and he has no choice which could very well happen um but not a good sign for your locker room so trevor what what matters most to me is the raiders are in this middle ground right where they have a coach that they probably don't really believe in but they're not going to fire him because of all the money reasons we've gone over on this podcast for a very long time you brought in davante adams on a huge trade because you thought that would get your offense over the hump of derrick carr and no problem with that trade but things have not worked out for this team i don't know if derrick carr is going to be there next year i lean on the side of no no i don't know if josh jacobs will be back next year

if they franchise tag him i don't know if he'll want to be back i mean you run the guy into the ground on a one-year deal for a team that can't get out of its own way i don't think he wants that and you know josh jacobs words matter a lot this is a guy that won a national championship in 2017 was the mvp of the sec championship in 2018, this isn't a dude that doesn't know what winning looks like, okay? At a high level. Right. So when a guy like that speaks up, knowing what we know about Josh McDaniel's past,

what players have said about his tenure in Denver, it's bleak. The future of the Raiders right now is bleak, and that's a shame to say, honestly. Yep, I agree. I agree. Okay, we talked about Josh McDaniels maybe needing to get fired.

Let's skip one game, and let's go to the Denver Broncos. 4-11 is what they dropped to after being whooped by the Los Angeles Rams, 51-14. And 4-11 is going to be the final head coaching record for Nathaniel Hackett as the head coach of the Denver Broncos because he has since this week been relieved of his duties.

One year into coaching this Broncos team, Connor, it was an ugly, ugly game. And we've seen a lot of ugly games from the Denver Broncos. It's a tough offseason for them. They're going to be searching for another head coach. They were just going through a head coaching search one year prior. They clearly made the wrong choice. They've got a first-round pick because they traded Bradley Chubb,

so they have Miami's first-round pick. But right now that's in the mid-20s. They don't have their's first-round pick, but right now that's in the mid-20s. They don't have their current first-round pick, which is a top-five pick because of the Russell Wilson trade. And to bring up the Russell Wilson trade, that's two first-round picks, two second-round picks, a fifth-round pick, and a five-year, $245 million extension to a quarterback that looks so bad that he would actually deter good head coaching candidates

from maybe wanting to come to Denver. Connor, what was your, what matters most, I guess, not just from this game, but also from the moves that they made firing Nathaniel Hackett earlier this week? Denver is going to be one hell of a mess to clean up. And this trickles down across the board of, I mean, did you see the video of the sideline with Brett Rippin and Dalton Reisner? I did.

Because I know the cameras caught it too late, but there is a video on Twitter of the actual interaction. And Latavius Murray, pro's pro, comes in and, you know, tries to have cooler heads prevail. By the way way side note i forgot how massive latavius murray is he's standing next to offensive linemen trying to calm people down he looks like one he's 6'3 230 dude so somebody actually i this is so funny somebody actually said to me this past weekend it was my uh fiance's brother we were just chatting

about it as we were watching the game he's like yeah, yeah, Latavius Murray, he's 6'2", 230 pounds. And I'm like, Latavius Murray's not 230 pounds. No way. And he looked it up, and sure as hell he is. He is. He looked like an offensive lineman next to them, but jacked, in shape. That's my biggest side takeaway here. I can't believe it that he's two 30.

Hey, he's almost, he's all, he could almost co-host his podcast. He's almost six, five, two, getting close.

Think about it. Let's say VS you hit one winter bulking season and you are on the pod and you're on the pod. We'll have you on the pod in all seriousness. I, this is what I come away with Trevor. And I have a mini Rams one, but that doesn't fully matter right now.

I don't know how you sell this job to someone. Did you see the owner of the Broncos this week come out and say they will be reporting to them? Let me tell you, as somebody who's seen this structure with the New York Jets very, very long time, it's a disaster. OK, let me just make that very clear. The head coach reporting to the owner that is not immersed in football operations the way they should be right they're just a rich person is an issue but i i don't know who okay what matters most is i don't know why somebody would want this job attach yourself to your future success to Russell Wilson. Yeah.

And there's no, you can't, there's no getting rid of him and not just, and not just Russell Wilson. Right. Like again, the, the, it's like we talked about with the Titans,

all of a sudden the hierarchy, the, the pyramid or like, however you want to call the structure of NFL team is really messed up because as much as associating yourself with Russell Wilson could be bad. Like if you're a head coach, you basically have to have a closed door meeting and say, okay, well, what are we doing with Russ? Cause you're not tying me to Russ.

Like it's just like, it's not going to happen. Like I will try to fix him obviously, but can we get out of this contract? Is there a way to get out of this contract? And I'm not coming here if you're going to tie me to Russell Wilson. The other problem of this is George Payton, who George Payton made the Russell Wilson trade sign. Nathaniel Hackett is head coach sign. Russell Wilson do a five-year extension before he played it down with the

Broncos. Every bad move. Like he's also somebody who, if you were a head coach, not only would you be sketched out about being tied to Russell Wilson, but you'd be sketched out to be tied to George Payton right now. It's not that Payton can't turn around, but that all of a sudden gets really dangerous as a head coach. Like if things start going downhill and the owner of the Broncos looks at George Payton and goes, all right, well, you've been here for a couple of years.

You've had plenty of time to kind of screw up your job here. You're gone. Are they just going to clean house? Is the next GM that they bring in going to be like, ah, okay, well then that's not my head coach that I hired. So I want to get out of that too. This Broncos situation is a mess, man. It's brutal.

It's brutal. It's absolutely brutal. It's a dirty diaper, man. We'll just throw it in the trash. Got to double bag that bad boy. You got to get it out of there. It's got to be in the dumpster quick. Bestering.

No, we'll dive, I think, very deep into the Broncos and their situation and what we think we can do to fix it. But that's tough, man. I wanted to kind of talk about that news a little bit. But this situation is terrible because of the timing of it all, the money involved with all of it, and how these decisions were made to get to this point. They are behind the eight ball financially.

They are behind the eight ball with the most important position in the game. They are behind the eight ball with the timing with their GM now, and they are behind the eight ball with draft picks. Everything. I don't know if I just said that twice but if I did the draft picks part it's worth mentioning because this team's 4-11 and uh they don't have a first round pick this year or next year anyways and their defensive coordinator um Ajiro Evero Ajiro Evero yep passed upiro Evero, yep. Passed up the interim job. Was he offered it?

Yes. He was like, thanks, but no thanks. Yeah, I'm good. Adios. Yikes. Yikes! While I was looking his name up for this pod, do you know the Rams and the Broncos

separately list his pronunciations differently? Isn't that a doozy? Oh, what is it? Am I saying it right? I thought I was saying it right. No, the Broncos have it, Ejiro Evero. Yeah. The Rams have it, Ejiro Evero.

Oh. Interesting. Maybe he did that to keep everybody on their toes either way he's gonna be a head coaching candidate and he might not have to settle for the broncos job i think that that's an awful sign all right well let's hit these three games real quick packers dolphins uh packers win this one in a cold day in miami florida doesn't happen too often but Packers felt like they were at home, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

Well, I should say, especially on the defensive side of the ball with all those takeaways to end the game in the fourth quarter. 26-20 was the final in this one. Packers' playoff hopes stay alive. They have a 30% chance to make the playoffs. I think that's very funny.

What was your big takeaway from this one? What mattered most, Connor? That the Dolph dolphins have a serious question to figure out a quarterback and that is this is a team that they built to win now right they traded their first round pick for bradley chubb they gave him all that money they made they signed taron armstead they made all these moves to win now and to be sustainable. I'm not saying it was like Super Bowl or bust year for the Miami Dolphins. That's not what I'm saying. Things are getting scary quick for Miami. Two is dealing with his third concussion. It sounds doubtful for him to play against New England. Now, it's not a game in a sense that

the Dolphins would like to have it. Oh, yeah, the Dolphins kind of need this game. Yeah, the Dolphins kind of need this game. Dolphins kind of need this game. I was, I was, because I was saying. Dolphins have a 60% chance to make the playoffs. Like, it's not this guarantee that Dolphins are still going to make the playoffs. Not even close. And if the Jets beat the Seahawks,

the Jets and Dolphins could be playing each other the last game of the season. Winner, winner go home for both of them. Winner gets in. Playoffs on the line. Yeah. Let's assume New England, which is dangerous,

but New England loses one of those games to the Dolphins or Bills. The Jets Dolphins most likely is winning get in. Damn. Damn. Damn, I'd love to see it, though. We all would love to see it.

I'd love to see it. I love as many win-and-you're-in games as possible in Week 18. It's the good stuff. It is truly the good stuff. I agree with you. My what matters most for this Miami team is a little bit of what I talked about a couple of weeks ago, but it's even wider now. The variance of the Miami Dolphins is very high and low, it feels like.

The ceiling of this team has not changed. This is a team that could put up a ton of points any given week. It's still a very potent offense. It's a team that could score a lot. But as we saw this past week, back was against the wall. It was time to do or die. And Tua threw not one, not two, but three interceptions in their final three drives of this game to end this game and give the Packers the win. Even aside from the concussion thing, which look, three concussions in one season I mean maybe you should shut Tua down for the year I don't know what's going to happen there but

even if they don't man the Dolphins and where they are with Tua Tungvaluwa are at a tough spot because Tua feels very robotic to me right now it feels like it was hard to it was kind of hard to quantify at the beginning of the year, how when you watch the dolphins, it looked like Tua was rattled under pressure, but then you go and you looked at his numbers, his grades, the event, even some adjusted completion percentage versus pressure. And it was good for the first half of the year. Tua was the highest graded quarterback under pressure in the nfl and i think that is that to me that picture is becoming very clear that that was more on mike

mcdaniel than it was on tour because it was mike mcdaniel saying okay here's the play and if you are pressured this is where it goes this is your this is your safety valve and he just understood that really really really well. So pressures would still be registered on him. He would still have to get rid of the ball, but he was getting rid of the ball on a script still. And not all quarterbacks have that luxury. Not all of them have that ability to be able to do that.

And Tua was able to do that. Now I think you're watching defenses adjust against Tua, and some of those safety valves are being taken away too. So he's still throwing to these timing throws that you just go, how are you letting that ball go? What are you looking at? And it's because he's just throwing with timing. He's doing what the script is telling him to do.

He's not going off script with it because when he goes off script, that's when you see Tua struggle. So they are the Dolph the dolphin clearly at this point the variance of good dolphins bad dolphins that that gap is a lot wider than i thought that it was even a couple of weeks ago even if they make the playoffs it's not that they can't score a lot of points they can but you could also get the ugly miami dolphins in a lot more of an ugly fashion than i thought we had a couple of a couple of weeks ago so that's why what matters most there i'm with you all the way for green bay their season stays alive if green bay finds a way in green bay will always

scare people because it's aaron rogers as a what seven seed yeah it's like uh nobody really cared about us for the last two months. And here we are. Good reason. And Aaron Rodgers loves the moment. So we'll keep an eye on Green Bay and where their season goes down the stretch here. All right, Trevor. Sorry, we got to do it because this was the final game of Sunday.

Yeah. Well, they won. Yeah. The Bucs beat the Cardinals in overtime, 19-16. The Trace McSorley-led Cardinals go down swinging. What do you got for us here, bud? Final score of this one, 19-16. Tampa Bay Buccaneers win in overtime. Had to be comeback fashion, as Tom Brady often does. I mean, we're in the fourth quarter and this game goes to 16 to six.

It looked like that double digit lead was insurmountable. And then Tom Brady just goes all Tom Brady on him. These are two bad football teams. Look, I think that Tampa's probably gonna still make the playoffs. I think they're still probably gonna win the NFC South, although their battle against the Carolina Panthers is upcoming weekend. Panthers win it. I'm gonna say that the Pan probably going to win the NFC South, although their battle against the Carolina Panthers is upcoming weekend.

Panthers win it. I'm going to say that the Panthers are going to win the South because then they would go into first place because they own the tiebreaker over the Bucs, and there's one game remaining. These are two terrible football teams. The Arizona Cardinals have to clean house. Cliff Kingsbury's got to be gone.

Steve Kime's got to be gone. You've got to change that whole regime. Everything's got to be out. It's been trending in an ugly direction, and it's rearing its ugly head now. J.J. Watt just announced that he is retiring. I want to salute him, make sure that we give our props to him. Truly one of the best players over the last two decades. It's the turn of the century.

Just an unbelievable player. Still playing at a high level, too. I want to make sure that that's mentioned. Yeah, he had a good year. This is an absolute loss for the Arizona Cardinals, which we'll talk about on the uh wednesday edition of the show when we get to the draft because they're picking number four overall right now and on the other side of things man nothing tampa is doing is sustainable in offense nothing tempo and two minute drills are the only thing that work at the end of the first half in the end second half

is it is it is a terrible football team it's work at the end of the first half. And the end of the second half is, is, is, is a terrible football team. It's not a cohesive football team. The run game's bad. The past game's bad. The offensive line's bad. The play calling is bad.

And the defensive line's all over. And the, the defense as a whole is just all over the place. It's not a good football team. These were two coaching staffs that are two of the, I would say bottom five coaching staffs in the NFL right now. And that's what this game was. And that's what matters most,

is that both these teams, whoever won, whoever lost, it didn't matter. You got to take a long, hard look in the mirror about what's about to happen this offseason. I mean, that's it. Honestly, there's really not much more to say from this game. Arizona's in a full-blown rebuild. We'll talk to the Bucs, about the Bucs more when their season officially ends,

but right now it feels like the Bucs are going to be in the playoffs, and we'll see where it goes for Tom Brady from there. I agree. My big Bucs thing was just going to be their line is just falling off a cliff, and it kind of trickles down to everything. Last game, what a thriller. The Chargers and the Colts. The Colts actually trotted out Nick Foles in the year 2000, almost 23.

The results were as expected. He was sacked seven times. He threw three interceptions. Three picks. He didn't get to 150 yards passing. His QBR was 3.4. No way. Oh, yeah.

His quarterback rating was 31.9. Ah, damn. They quarterback rating was 31.9. Ah, damn. They got Nick. Yeah. Father Time got Nick. Yeah, Father Time finally got Nick. Chargers defense getting healthy. Yeah.

Yeah. That's a big story here. Derwin James, you know, I know he got ejected, but Derwin James back on the field is nothing. What more needs to be said? I know I've been nitpicky with the Chargers. Am I wrong that I still think this offense should be so much better? Oh, no, it should be.

I think it should be. They're in the playoffs. I didn't think they would be. So, you know, I said maybe two months ago or something that I just, with their run defense and the coaching of their offense i didn't see them as a playoff team they made it uh credit to the chargers staley probably keeps his job because of this yeah come on yeah yeah i mean i i thought they would be sean payton destination number one personally i mean sean

sean would have loved that payton would have absolutely loved that. But they got it together. They got healthy. And they took care of business against one of the most lifeless teams left in the entire NFL. Yeah. Which is why I think the Texans beat this team at the end of the year. They're not starting Nick Foles. I know. I know what they're doing. Voluntarily.

I know. They have other quarterbacks on the team. I don't know about voluntarily. They have other choices. Yeah, violence. There's another choice. They chose violence. Look, this is a Chargers team that was 5-5 after Week 11. They were 6-6 after Week 13.

I think a lot of people were questioning whether Staley was going to make it to next off season. I felt like he was, you know, you're talking about, Oh, you know, but if you're in talks with Sean Payton, if Sean Payton wants to come on down,

you know, maybe you make the switch. They're sitting here nine and six. Now they're on a three game winning streak. It feels like the team's playing better defense. Like you said, it's getting healthy offense and a little bit more of a groove. And I think that we're,

we're getting close to the best virgin version of the chargers sorry that was good uh we are getting to the best version of the chargers that we were going to get this year um close to it i will say close to it uh minus like a peak joey of course but um and obviously jc jackson if he a lot of things went differently there's a lot going on there but all that to say i feel like with what has happened we're getting the best version of the chargers and that's all you can ask going into the postseason so um hats off to brandon staley i think he did a great job keeping this team together they're certainly rolling as we get into the postseason so i without a doubt think that his job is completely safe this season maybe

they still make some changes in the coaching staff. I don't know if Joe Lombardi is going to stick around, but it probably depends on how they do with these last two regular season games and then going into the playoffs. But hats off to Staley. I thought he did a great job kind of riding the ship and just navigating some tough waters that the Chargers always seem to have, whether it's injury related or what would be it. So big shout out to the Chargers there.

That's it for this one. That's it for this podcast. This is a monster pod, man. We got one last thing i want to drop in there yeah yeah what do we got i won't go as far as frank reich redemption tour because he got fired by the chargers as their oc but i in all seriousness because i know it's been a week to get jokes off on him i would actually really like to see nathanielett on that Chargers staff next year. Justin Herbert. Okay. A dead serious take.

And if you guys only remember Hackett as this tenure with the Broncos, which was about as embarrassing as it gets for a head coach, you know, obviously somebody there. And Rodgers, highly valued. I think that would be a really nice soft landing for Hackett with a quarterback that could honestly use him in his ear right now. Good to see. Conor's calling his shot.

Maybe it's good for him. Maybe it's good for him. Hey, you know what? Maybe it's good for all parties involved. I do think that Nathaniel Hackett is not done in the NFL. No way at all. But being a head coach is a different beast. So let him be an offense coordinator again.

You don't have to fire Lombardi that way. If Staley wants to stick by Lombardi, it's it's like okay we'll bring in some help for you sure sure just a thought yeah just have a war in the office you're right trevor some guys some guys are great assistants and just cannot handle that it's a different beast it's just totally different it's a totally different beast you know there are a lot of teams that we didn't necessarily touch on in this episode, but if you've listened to this podcast, you know that if we didn't touch on your team in the What Matters Most, it means that we're probably going to touch on them for the Wednesday pod when we

update the 2023 NFL draft order. That's what's coming up next, and it's going to come up tomorrow. I appreciate you guys being flexible with us as we took a day off for the holiday. We gave you this one on Tuesday, and we're giving you another one right back on schedule with the Wednesday podcast.

We'll tell you what matters most. We'll get into the Houston Texans being number one overall, and maybe for now, maybe not for long. Who knows? We'll see. And then, of course, we will update the rest of the order as well, give you some team needs, some scenarios, all the good stuff that you have come to know and love with the Wednesday podcast.

Connor, you got anything else before we get out of here? No, that sums it up. We'll be back, obviously, with everything draft-related, like you said. So if you're a Steelers fan or whoever fan you are that we didn't talk about you a lot today, you always get a little love on the midweek show. A lot of love. We got a lot of love to give around because that's the bread and butter of this podcast, getting to the 2023 NFL draft.

See you guys on Wednesday. I'm Trevor Sikama. That's Connor Rogers. Thank you so much for getting to the 2023 nfl draft see you guys on wednesday i'm trevor sycamore that's connor rogers thank you so much for listening the nfl stock exchange see you next week Outro Music