NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 133. What Matters Most From Every Game of Week 18 in the NFL

Episode Date: January 9, 2023

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers go through every game on the Saturday and Sunday of games from the regular season finale Week 18 in the NFL and tell you what really matters most beyond the final scores, playoff positions and draft spots

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 telling you what mattered most from the regular season finale week 18 in the NFL oh man is there so much to get to we've got playoff spots that are locked up we've got draft positions that are locked up and we're got draft positions that are locked up. And we're, of course, going beyond the box scores as well. We're going to tell you what mattered

most in a short-term and a long-term view from every single game that we saw on Saturday as well as Sunday. 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 Sikma, that is Connor Rogers, joining you on a Monday for what matters most, finishing the 2022-2023 NFL regular season. Connor, we got takes, baby. We got playoff spots locked up. Well, not technically, because I guess

we are recording this podcast while Packers Lions is still going on. So that was a little bit up in the air, but we got most of the playoff picture figured out. A lot of the NFL draft picture figured out. Buddy, we're not going to have any shortage of things to talk about today. How you doing, my friend? Dude, I'm good. It felt like everything happened at once, right? You had the number one pick war. Dude. You had playoff seeding galore, especially in the AFC. Not just seeding, but teams with their lives on the line. You could even say that, you know, of course, across some of the NFC,

you had some odd decision-making going on. We got to see Sam Howell today, which was really cool. It was awesome. It was awesome. And then, I mean, we had game Saturday, too. to see Sam Howell today, which is really cool. It was awesome. It was awesome. And it's and then I mean, we had game Saturday, too. Obviously, we're going to start there, of course, too, because those were really, really impactful. But it was a great finish to the NFL regular season. Well, as you started off, man, we got so many games that we got to get to so many games that

matter that we'd at least need to touch on. Chiefs end up getting the one seed. We're going to go back to Saturday's game to start things off. Chiefs get the one seed. They defeat the Raiders 31 to 13. No, Jared stood a magic in this one. Like we had the week before when he took the San Francisco 49ers down to the wire, it was business as usual for the Kansas city chiefs.

And of course there was a lot of a hubbub of what was going to happen with the AFC playoff picture, given the new stipulations that the league voted on on Friday. But ultimately it was like, Hey, you know, if the chiefs win, if the, if the bills winulations that the league voted on on Friday but ultimately it was like hey you know if the Chiefs win if the if the Bills win if the Bengals win I know Bengals fans it's still they didn't have a chance to get the two seed I know but essentially it worked out exactly the way we thought with all those three teams winning but what do you think about this game here the Chiefs winning against the Raiders in the finale to me what really I took away from it is just how

loose they were Trevor I think this is a team that they've been here so many times before going into the postseason with mammoth expectations they close out the year with their 14th win they have a seven and two record on the road and they just they've looked so loose out there. And yes, they have their flaws. They're not a perfect football team. They're not entering the postseason where everybody's going, how are people going to beat the Chiefs, right? But when you look at the level Mahomes is playing at, he takes the record for most yards from a quarterback.

I know it was the combined rushing and passing yards. Not bad. He had a shot at Peyton Manning's passing yard single season record, but quite frankly, the Chiefs just didn't need to rear back and try to have him throw for 430 yards in this game. So for me, ultimately, the Raiders have a lot of work to do, and we'll get into them when we really dissect that franchise, which could truly be a whole show but for the chiefs for me i mean to me they are the scariest team in the postseason

and i think they have an energy right now where they have no fear and that i personally will not be picking against them for the entire postseason just because of the experience of andy reed obviously the leadership of Patrick Mahomes he got a guy like Chris Jones on the defensive side of the ball we saw some young players step up in this game as well it's just that's what matters most is that I I personally think the Chiefs are the best team in football right now uh I I would I would cop out that statement and say that they are one of the best because you look at how uh Buffalo played this past Sunday uh you look at how the since Andy this past sunday uh you look at how the

since annie bango's been playing down the stretch i mean those are the three teams it feels like you're in that top tier i would agree afc but it'll be interesting to see how it all shakes out how the chiefs end up going about their playoff journey now that they have the number one overall seed something that mattered most to me you mentioned how loose the chiefs looked how controlled they looked i love the fact that it only took 202 passing yards for Patrick Mahomes in this game for them to score 31 points. Isaiah Pacheco, I've been talking about this a couple of weeks now. I want to see the Kansas City Chiefs be able to lean on the run game.

Pacheco, 64 yards, eight carries. Obviously, you've got Ronald Jones involved there as well. Ronald Jones had a 4.5 yards per carry average. Pacheco had an 8.0. Mahomes himself, three carries for 29 yards, almost 10 yards per carry average pacheco had an 8.0 mahomes himself three carries for 29 yards almost 10 yards per carry there and then you just look at the receivers as well travis kelsey seven targets six catches jesus ms usher two for two but all this scaling six for three cadareous tony two for two justin watson two for one mckinnon was two for two they're just spreading the ball all over

the place you know it's not even the that they have the golden arm at quarterback. It's that he's clearly very comfortable attacking different levels of the field, attacking all sorts of different defenses with basically every pass catcher they have. It's not just like, oh, look at the chemistry that he has with Travis Kelsey. Or, you know, if we turn back the clock a little bit, combine Travis Kelsey with Tyree Kill. And that's why a lot of people in the off season were like, Oh, what's the, what are the chiefs going to be? No Tyree kill.

He was focused so much on Hill on Kelsey, on those guys getting a lot of stats. Now he's spreading the ball out a lot more. And guess what? This chiefs offense is still incredible. I will mention before we move on to the next game Raiders number seven, overall pick in the NFL draft officially, but we will get to that and talk about that a lot more when we get into the Wednesday episode of the refreshing the draft order with the final draft order

for the non-playoff teams. Anything else on the Raiders before we move on? No, like I said, they're, you know, obviously out of the picture, they're a huge, huge franchise for this show because of their draft implications and and they need a full they full dissection that's i'm almost going to take 30 to 40 minutes in my opinion the jacksonville jaguars our jags baby 20 to 16 down to the wire it took a defensive touchdown for them to take the lead at home but the jags win the afc south tennessee titans end of the game on or ended this one seven game losing streak a game what was it i think it was a seven game losing streak on the

season for the tennessee titans they went from seven and three at one point they finished seven and ten so this is just brutal i know they didn't have their quarterback i know they're banged up um josh dobbs is starting again in this game and he hadn't been in he wasn't even the quarterback on the roster for the entire year so this was a brutal one for tennessee it's been a brutal second half of the season they're now oh and eight against teams that had above 500 record which is a tough pill to swallow for the team that finished with the best record in afc last year but um connor titans or jags what was your what matters most here in this one it was on the jacksonville side and while this one felt like it was

a lot harder than it had to be against Josh Dobbs and that Titans offensive line. It definitely made it harder than it needed to be. It was scary hours for a pretty long time. I was like, oh my God, the Titans are really going to pull this off. Mike Vrabel just finds a way.

What mattered most to me in this game was nothing to do with Jacksonville's offense or Trevor Lawrence and his rise and the coaching uh it's just the full breaking out of defensive identity pieces for the Jags offense that in my opinion are headlined by Tyson Campbell and Josh Allen right I thought Josh Allen was unblockable in this game um if you've listened to show you know we've highlighted Tennessee's need for offensive line and you watching this game you probably saw it really quick I even had a couple people tweet at me they're like you've been talking about Dennis Daly all season like I didn't realize till now but at the end of

the day Josh Allen took over in this game I think he had seven overall pressures two of those were quarterback hits and then Tyson Campbell's been a very consistent player in coverage for them this season. So Jacksonville, I look at them and go, could they use a piece on the line? And they'll have Calvin Ridley coming back and they got to figure out Evan Ingram's contract. But their offense isn't something that you look at,

especially with Doug there. And you're like, they need this, they need that, they need this. It's just going to grow like a plant like you're just gonna keep good metaphor beating Trevor Lawrence and he's just gonna get better steadily with those pieces around him the defense I didn't feel like I could say that for a long time about this team they've had some real duds and you look around them and you go okay there's some talent I like Devin Lloyd I like Chad Muma um but they really needed guys to grow and you know I saw Trayvon Walker as a first round

player. I just thought it was a reach his number one overall pick. And I thought he had moments in this game. But Campbell and Josh Allen, in my opinion, need to be their identity guys. And when they needed the most, I thought they answered the bell. Harden Key too. Harden Key coming up. I mean, that was a great value signing. He was really, really good for the 49ers. I like that as a value signing. And he had a really nice game. What matters most to me is Trevor Lawrence now gets playoff experience, right? I don't think the Jags are going to beat the Chargers. Chargers are their first matchup, although I think it's—

We'll get there. I mean, it is a decent matchup for the Jags. Right, it is winnable, but you look at Trevor Lawrence in this game, his back was against the wall, right? It was win and you're in. Win and you get the division title. And I'm not saying Trevor Lawrence didn't make throws in this game. He did.

But he left a good amount of throws out there. He left some throws out there, especially, you know, you pinpoint that throw to Zay Jones, which could have been a touchdown, which could have totally changed the game. You got to have that. Franchise quarterbacks got to have that. I remember that throw got made. He overthrew Zay Jones in the back of the end zone. And my immediate first thought was Joe Burrow would never, would never. And I, you know, that's kind of the bar. That's what I'm

looking for Trevor Lawrence to be. He has that incredible arm talent. You just got to be an assassin with it. You've got to yeah that's the next step to being a franchise quarterback that's when you really have control over this offense and you've solidified the fact that this team could be a playoff team every year when you become that type of a quarterback when you are automatic on those throws that you really need and i just thought it was a it was a i'm gonna be honest it was a decently shaky game for trevor lawrence in a winner go home kind of environment i love the fact that they did win in the end because one he gets that game and it's kind of the jitters really of all of that playoff pressure now off of him now they get to host a playoff game it's back in jacksonville you'd love

to see it and i can't wait for him to get to throw the football under those lights of the playoffs. And that be in his resume. And that be what he gets to have going into the season. Whether they win a game or not, getting him in the playoffs is going to be crucial for his development because he knows what it's like. It's not just going to be this, he's on a bag Jags team that never makes the playoffs, right?

Hopefully they're making the playoffs on a consistent basis. And so him getting this playoff experience, I think is of course what matters most. No, it's spot on. I really, I'm with you as well. Even if it wasn't on the back of him in this game, his turning the corner moment of the season is what led them to winning the division.

So you're right. Even if they get knocked out right away, Trevor Lawrence going to the post-season, you don't ever want that narrative to grow. Right. Where it's year four, Trevor Lawrence, like is Jacksonville good enough around him to make the playoffs? Now you just kind of nip that in the bud and take care of business. You want to get into Sunday here, Trevor, and start with the, you know, the one that I think had the most hype with Bill's Patriots. Sure. And, and sure the spread was seven and a half in favor of Buffalo. So a lot of people expected Buffalo to come out inspired and boy, did they ever with two touchdowns, a kick return to open the game is amazing. I give new England credit. They really hung around maybe even a little better than I expected them

holding this in this game, but considering all the emotions at play it's saying with your chest say with your chest you take away those two kick return touchdowns and Buffalo is right right I mean New England is right there in that game you take 14 points off the board even if you sub one of them with three right you get it's 24 23 on the scoreboard New England absolutely say with your chest New England showed up in this game. Sure, but now I will go full Lion King and throw them off the cliff because what matters most is that the Bills now own Bill Belichick. Since 2020, the Bills, during the regular season,

are 5-1 against Bill Belichick. And do I have to tell you, obviously, when you get into the postseason last year where they throttled them 47 to 17, so that the five and one isn't even counting the postseason demolition. But I mean, I've watched the afc east my whole life okay i've seen a couple different eras but for most of my life as a football fan that knew what was going on the patriots have owned this division with bill belichick sure this is josh allen and the buffalo bills division and you can say it now where to the, you know, these last years aren't fluky. Nobody said that. But now when you really package these three years

together and look at this, I don't want to say statement, but considering all the emotions from that week and just who the Bills are as a whole, they now in this, you know, it'll come up on a half decade real quick, own New England. And I don't see that changing in the next year or two as New England enters an offseason where they have so many questions to answer. And sure, I could save that statement for like the J for us to completely move aside and say that the Bills have knocked off a narrative that existed for the better part of 15 plus years. That's a great point. Bills are currently the two seed.

They're going to get the two seed in the AFC. Their first round opponent is going to be the Miami Dolphins. Obviously another interdivision matchup that they get to play in the postseason. This one's going to be in Buffalo. Dolphins are just, they're not the same team that they were in the in the middle of the season they're limping everywhere yeah i think the the bills are going to handle this one and my what matters most is the bills took an incredibly emotional week for so many reasons and um obviously the wonderful news about tamar hamlin and how he is recovering certainly goes into this.

But they slingshotted that energy, man. And you could just feel it there. And that's something that I think you could absolutely ride into the postseason. They're playing next week. They don't have the bye. So it's just they get to continue to ride off that high. And I think this team is going to be absolutely dangerous. You talked about the Chiefs being the most dangerous team and a team that you wouldn't want to bet against.

I agree with you in a lot of ways. But it's going to be hard for me to bet against the Bills too, especially if it's Bills-Chiefs-AFC Championship neutral site game for that game if both of them make the AFC Championship. So they're just firing on all cylinders. They're taking that motivation, what has turned into a wonderful story now with the Marhamlins recovery. And I think that they're going to be an incredibly motivated team going into the post season,

especially as the two C getting to play back in Buffalo next week. What's the next matchup you want to hit Vikings bears admittedly. Yeah, I know. Admittedly one of the games. Yeah, I know. All right.

I know. I know. The bears did it. The bears did it baby yes they got the number one overall pick i mean improbable we talked about this scenario weeks ago and you looked at the i literally said to you i said look at who the texans play the final week of the season in the state of that Colts team. And look at how awful the bears have been for the better part of three months. And then when it came out, Justin Fields wasn't playing in this game.

It was all but a layup. Not only, not only Justin Fields, but they, they started Nathan Peterman in this game, right? This Chicago bears, Peter Brinko is 11 for 19 with 114 yards and a touchdown. And they go, not good enough, baby. We're putting Timmy Boyle in. Tim, get in there. Two for eight, 33 yards, two picks.

A tank commander that we have not seen. We have not seen this level of commanding the tank. Unbelievable. Houston couldn't get the message. I guess we'll talk about Houston next. But before we get to it. They had an inside agent. We'll get to it. but okay so i mean what was your did i did i miss your what matters most here i mean no you you what else could it be you didn't have to watch

this game to have the what matters most what matters most is chicago is picking first overall in the draft and they have a buffet of options so they can trade that pick and get auctioned off for a ton of picks. Something that I'm a little more skeptical of than the general public that's assuming that, but they can take Will Anderson, the best player in the draft, and finally get that star on defense they need for Matt Eberflus. I mean, the options are endless. The options are endless.

We won't do it on this pod, but I'm warning everybody, you are also going to hear headlines such as, should the Bears consider taking Bryce Young number one overall? And it's obviously not something we're considering, but I'm warning everybody that this discussion will, the door is now open for this discussion. So what matters most is the Bears are picking number one overall. This team can get a lot better,

whether that's around Justin Fields, but they trade for a ton of picks and get offensive pieces around him. Don't forget they have a second rounder they need to replace because they decide to trade the first pick in the second round for Chase Claypool. Whatever.

But adding Will Anderson would be truly tremendous. A game changer for the Bears. They got a late second round pick for the Roquan trade, but still not ideal. Trading the extremely early second rounder. Roquan's really good. And Roquan is really good. Now, I don't want to get too much into the draft scenarios with Chicago because we're going to get into that a ton on the Wednesday episode of the podcast.

What are your thoughts on Minnesota? Minnesota is now the three seed. They'll play the New York Giants in the wild card round. This is a team. This game between the Vikings and the Giants went down to the wire. Not too long ago, a couple of weeks ago. It took a last second field goal for the Vikings to win that game. I think the Vikings can still make some noise, man.

What time is the game being played? And I'll give you my answer. Okay, great. Great point. Great point. I don't think we know that yet. But you know, I still think that the Vikings are a really good team.

The what matters most is obviously that Chicago is picking number one overall from this game. But I do think that the Vikings are a good football team. I don't think that they're going to be just as pushover that everybody can write off. You know, if they win this upcoming weekend against the Giants, they'll probably end up playing the 49ers in San Francisco.

Admittedly, not a great matchup against the hottest team in the NFL, but I just, I wanted to say, I don't think this Vikings team is one that you can, that you can write off as easily as some people might want to just because of the Kirk Cousins narratives and just everything about the Vikings over the last couple of years. I still think they're a good team no i'm glad you said it

i mean minnesota a remarkable entry year for kevin o'connell and that staff they've done so many good things and i'm excited to see what they can do in the playoffs so they match up that you would call you know ideal but we also know, what, a 60-yard field goal last time to finish business against that New York Giants team. That's just a pain in the butt. So that's actually quietly going to be one of the most interesting games of the opening of the playoffs. Let's move to Bucs, Falcons, Trevor.

Okay. I mean, I don't know how I can really have a Bucs takeaway from this game. I don't know. Right. Okay. I want to make sure that wasn't it. There's not. No, I didn't want to.

And I'm glad you just gave me a little more confidence there. I think for the Falcons, honestly, why don't I didn't find him remarkable since he took over a quarterback. I think Desmond Ritter did enough where he should go into next summer with a chance to win the job and i say that even with the thought of let me pull up our old friend tankathon.com the falcons picking uh eighth so the falcons are currently picking eighth in the draft which very well could be cj stroud will levis. Things get crazy, maybe Anthony Richardson. I'm just saying, the Falcons are in a position

where they could theoretically take a quarterback. But when you name those guys, I don't really have the inkling or the excitement to just throw them into the fire. And it's nice to have Desmond Ritter on the roster where, once again, i wasn't admittedly overly high on ritter in the draft i even from watching what he's done i think he's made some throws and i think he's been okay but he didn't stink and he didn't look lost especially after that first start

where he deserves that shot going into summer to build on this with a better offense second year in arthur smith's system um where i think that really matters a lot to atlanta putting all bias aside yeah look i was very impressed with three rookie performances from the falcons here to end this this uh this regular season for them yeah the skill guys are awesome desmond ritter obviously through his uh first and second touchdown pass of the season which was great to see uh played really well in the second half, especially again, when he really got into the game, it felt like he was very, very comfortable, which was great. I thought he had a really good second half. Tyler Algier, 24 carries, 135 yards, 5.6 yards per carry average. Love Algier. Love

that he's getting a feature role in this offense. Good to see them feeding him. And then Drake London as well. Eight targets, targets six catches 120 receiving yards look you throw a healthy Kyle Pitts in there hopefully getting utilized a little bit more than he was at the beginning of the season this year you're drafting another skilled player somewhere in the passing game and all of a sudden you're all right and and I think that the uh what matters most is Falcons obviously getting a win here but the rookies looked good the rookies looked good for this team I still think I'm probably leaning defense for that first pick with the Falcons just because they desperately need it.

They really need a big-time defensive playmaker. I know this has been a popular spot for Jared Verst, which, holy cow, Jared Verst going back to school. We haven't talked about that yet. Did not see that one coming. Did not see that one coming. But no longer a target for the Falcons at eight, but certainly some edge rushers, some defensive linemen, I think could rushers some defensive linemen i think could really help out maybe corners as well could really

help out this team so i i thought i thought the falcons looked good there's nothing really to take away with tampa bay i mean they weren't even playing their starters kyle trask played second round picked mister sure yeah right technically right. Technically you are correct. You are correct. Ravens Bengals Bengals went 27 to 16. Wasn't close. 16. Yeah, they're right. Nearly as close to the final score.

No, this game was 24 to 7 at the half and just kind of went into this ugly snail fest in the second half. Isaiah likely had 13 targets, 8 receptions, 103 yards. I didn't realize he had 13 targets. Damn, force feeding the guy. That's pretty insane.

I mean, Anthony Brown somehow dropped back 44 times in this game. So they didn't play Dobbins in this game. They obviously didn't play Lamar Jackson. Did Mark Andrews play? I don't think he did. He doesn't have a stat. I'll pull up the snaps. He obviously didn't get any targets in this game,

but it does not look like it. Mark Andrews enacted. Tyler Huntley enacted. It felt like Baltimore went into this game just kind of understanding the situation. Which was interesting. Yeah, I thought so too. Like if you win,

you've got a chance for a coin flip to host against the Bengals right yeah and they just you never want to say well obviously they didn't hold Lamar out there nobody really understands what's going on there well I guess the Chargers lost right I'm not an idiot yeah the Chargers lost so I cannot wait to get into that game but we got I know we got to do this first so if the Ravens would have won they would have jumped them and the Ravens would have been five so I guess technically if they won this game and the Chargers didn't win then they would not have had the coin flip to be at home but still I just felt like it was a little bit weird um

my what matters most not to step on your toes no No, please go ahead. Bengals are hot, baby. Bengals are scorching. Bengals are about it. This is absolutely a team that is still peaking at the right time and a team that can make another Superbowl run. I 100% believe it. And my hand is up. I didn't believe it at the beginning of the year. I thought the Bengals were going to take a step back.

I thought the Bengals were going to miss the playoff by just one game. I didn't think they were going to be a terrible team, but I did think that it was going to be a regression of a year uh they look awesome again 12 and 4 obviously afc north champs they're going to host the playoff game against the ravens even with lamar jackson i think the bangles win that one again so i think the bangles are going to be off to buffalo in the second round to face off against the bills um and what's going to be a incredible game that obviously we didn't even get to finish a week ago. So it was just going to be a Bengals love fest for me.

This team's really damn good, and I think they have as good a shot as anybody in the AFC to win the Super Bowl. Yeah, it's hard to argue that, just the way they have played for, God, the better part. It feels like over two months right now for the bengals and i'm just pulling up their calendar yeah so the the bengals much like the niners have not lost since october incredible i mean they're just they're firing on all cylinders what are they at home this year

uh let me look this up they are six and at home, including a canceled game against the Bills. Okay. I mean, yeah, they've just completely taken care of business since the month of November started. They slaughtered the Panthers. They beat the Steelers. They beat the Titans. They beat the Chiefs.

They beat the Browns. They beat the Bucs. They beat New England. And then, you know know they obviously beat baltimore so they're just they're a team right now that they don't even really remember what losing is like and what i like what i like about this team is that i i feel like when i watch them when i watch the chiefs and when i watch the bills as much as i still think the chiefs are the team i fear the most there's a lot of times where I watch those teams and I go man like they got superheroes

at quarterback and they really call on that skill a lot there's nothing overly wrong with that I think because those guys are built for it they're rare the Bengals I really think have a quarterback like that and Joe Burrow but I feel like they call on it less sometimes I just think the Bengals, I really think have a quarterback like that in Joe Burrow, but I feel like they call on it less sometimes. I just think the Bengals are a more stout defensive team. I think that the skill talent they have is in abundance. They can grind out running games. So I guess what matters most, and I will say it, I really am still the most fearful of the chiefs in this

postseason but i think i kind of lean with you that the bengals are the most complete team and i wonder how that plays in the postseason road houston texans emphatic victory over the Indianapolis Colts. 32-31. Connor, it took a 4th-and-20 conversion for a touchdown with less than a minute to go in this game, followed up by a giant double middle finger to the owner's box two point conversion after that for the Texans to win this game the Texans have had the number one overall pick since October right maybe September I can't remember exactly off the top of my head but every single mock draft we've done every single Wednesday episode it feels like we're starting with the Houston, Texas number one overall.

Here we are. The final order for the non-playoff teams is set. And Houston blew it. They gave the number one overall pick to the Chicago Bears. It makes our offseason a lot more fun because of the creativity that we get to have with some trades up to number one overall. But Connor, that's got to be what matters most in this game, right? I'm not even going to ask you.

That's got to be what matters most. Yeah. I find it interesting how many people. Number one, the fourth and 20. I just played it back again. It's like, it's unbelievable how many defenders are in the area and the ball just floats floats through all of them all of them and then they cut right away to the the Colts fans in the stand with their heads down between their legs which I mean I mean look the Colts got exactly what they wanted

out of this one man they got their four. They're picking number four overall. A month and a half ago, they were picking like 15th. So let's do that real quick. What matters most for the Colts is that they, Jeff Saturday came in and did the job. Jeff Saturday got them into the top five, mostly with incompetence, and the Colts stunk it up. Yeah.

They are going, I, do I get to say it one last time. Will Levis is a Colt. Will Levis is a Colt. What do you mean one last time? Yeah, you're right. I could just keep doing it like 80 times. I could do the rest of Will Levis' career.

But on the Houston side, Trevor, I'd like to know what you think of this. I was kind of surprised that the reaction as a whole was, it doesn't really matter that much. It doesn't really matter that much. From Houston? I think it matters a lot. No, yeah, I think it matters a lot. I thought Bryce Young, at number one to the Texans, it's just exactly what they need as a reset. Bryce Young at number one to the Texans.

It's just exactly what they need as a reset. And yeah, maybe the Bears take Will Anderson and maybe the Texans just get Bryce Young at two and it doesn't really matter. But now you have to deal with the Bears are going to talk to teams. The Bears are going to call you and tell you they're talking to teams and ask if you want to pick swap.

It made everything. and you know what honestly it just feels like there's a still dysfunction in houston like apparently lovey yeah you have love i mean that's another thing is this a desirable place for people to work right now in a sense of is nick casario getting shown the door with lovey smith did these two ever really work together? Did Lovey ever really have a chance? Is Nick Casario the right guy for this massive, massive offseason they had for them?

I think what matters most is this seemed to open up so many more questions about the future of the Houston Texans compared to if they just got the number one overall pick. Yeah, 100%. Yeah, no, absolutely. Before the game came out, Pro Football Talk put out a report that Casario and Lovie Smith could very well be out, not just Lovie. You know, Casario is there as well.

And it is funny how the, I think the beginning of that article said Lovie Smith is kind of like auditioning for a second year as head coach. Well, actually, the way that they pulled it off, you would think that that would be positive for a second year as head coach. Well, actually the way that they pulled it off, you would think that that would be positive for a second year as head coach, but I'm lost in the number one overall pick. So I don't know how ownership actually feels about that one. I don't really know what happens with Houston. And again, I don't want to dig too much into it.

Cause we're going to talk about this a ton on the Wednesday show, but the, the, this changes the draft landscape in a massive way in a massive massive way and i'll save most of our conversation about the texans for wednesday but for the colts certainly what a fantastic end of the season that you have had kind of collapsing to get a top five overall pick now you have a shot at now it's not just this well i guess do we do we take will levis now it's okay now you got a shot maybe it's's CJ Stroud, Will Levis. And number four overall,

you even now have a realistic shot to trade up to one, right? To go get Bryce Young if you want something that we thought was unthinkable. And so I'll just say that and kind of save the rest of the conversation for Wednesday's episode. But yeah, that was my thoughts on this game. And as always, shout out to Roy Lopez. Shout out to Roy Lopez. Verify it, baby. verify baby verify the goat dolphins jets yes dolphins jets this was the thriller uh that we all been waiting for all day waiting all day for dolphins jets that's how the song goes as everybody knows final score to this game was 11 to six. I'm going to read off with you guys. The quarter scores here. First quarter,

zero, zero. Second quarter, three to three third quarter. We had an additional three added by the Miami dolphins. And in the fourth quarter, we got three for the jets and five for the dolphins. What an abysmal stat line for the scorecards uh all right connor what mattered most from this one

you want to know how well i know this team on a day that they went into the game starting a replacement offensive line they played a lot of their young guys on defense joe flacco was under center on smy pregame i i have to do as part of a segment we do. I have to make a same game parlay. And I was like, guys, honestly, I put together this parlay since the Jets are playing all backups. The prop board is barren. Here's the parlay, but it's my least favorite one of the season. I don't really care about this. i'll give you my best bet for the jets in this game my best bet was greg zerline over one and a half field goals oh brother i had to put the mortgage on it come on it's probably the only thing that hit me why didn't you text me that

i know we could have been we could have been doing the podcast in mink we could have been doing the podcast in mink. We could have been covered in mink. Oh, I know. With buckets of bubbly just everywhere. Oakley shades. Oh, man. I'm going to put the paycheck on it. It smashed. It smashed. This game.

So the Dolphins go to the playoffs. Boy, did it take a long road to get there. There was a wild phantom horse collar call at the end of the game. Yeah. I mean, just the officiating crew, I believe, was the same as the Terry McLaurin. Am I on the line? Yes.

Penalty. Didn't McLaurin, like, do the thumbs up to him? Like, twice. And he just stared at him. Or did he give him the thumbs up too i can't remember clarence said in the interview he had the like indication that they were good this crew this crew is having one hell of a year all that being said i'm not saying the jets didn't deserve to lose and this is a meaningless game now the jets are picking 13 whatever the dolphins

go to the playoffs they are limping into the playoffs um what matters most for the dolphins is that mike mcdaniel keeps his job i found it truly absurd that there was legitimate rumors it seemed i think legitimate rumors if they weren't legitimate they picked up like wildfire that they were gonna fire him if he lost this game oh mcdaniel yeah i remember that that would have been a bad decision in my humble opinion i think that was one report that kind of like went crazy it did it one of those yeah i think it was one i mean either way it's like you never know everybody's reaction was exactly the same right mcdaniel would be unemployed for 30 seconds it felt that way you know it was like if he if he would have gotten if he would have gotten fired by miami if they lose this game and he gets fired

he'd be unemployed for 30 seconds 30 seconds so yeah I don't really have a what matters most from this game I guess what matters most is the Dolphins are in no way a serious playoff contender for me I never felt that way um during this game at least you know at one point in the season it felt like they could have been a serious playoff contender but then I went all in at the deadline that is not yeah that is not coming to fruition and um I think i said this last week or maybe it was the year before dolphins fans know this has been frustrating but the ebbs and flows the roller coaster that has been this season is going to be a good thing in

the long run for mcdaniel he started off really hot his offenses started off hot baby they were they were all anybody could talk about what a hire look at the points look at how they're using all these speed on the offense. And then I think defense has kind of figured it out a little bit. Obviously, two being in and out of the lineup definitely hurt that. But you learn. You learn what starting the season off with good offensive game plans is. You learn what defenses are doing to counter it in the middle of the season.

And now he's got that experience going into the next year. So I think the offense is going to be fine long-term. But this year, obviously, I don't think it's too much their year. Shout out Garrett Wilson, though. Yeah, I think the offense is going to be fine long term but this year obviously i don't think it's too much their year shout out garrett wilson though i yeah i think the the two little targets 17 17 joe flacco joe flacco reached a point in this game where he only threw to garrett wilson and it was the right play so i think wait a second hold on what was garrett wilson's threat percentage in this game oh Oh God. Like 50%. It had to be.

Okay. Let me look. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. We're pulling it up. We're pulling it up. Keep in mind.

He has a phantom line. So his line says he caught nine passes for 89 yards. He actually lost, I think 15 yards on the last play of the game where they lateral. So he went over a hundred yards. So he's, so he, so he had a,

he had a true over 100 yards yeah threat was 54.8 pretty rare stuff dude flacka was locked the hell in okay all right what's the next game we gotta move on yep panther saints whoo i mean uh when i checked in on this game, Sam Darnold was 2 for 8. Good win for Steve Botes. I think 2 yards and 1 pick. Oh my god, Darnold's stat line. It didn't really get much better from there. It's 5 for 15, 43 yards and 2 picks.

No. Yeah, Darnold came crashing back down to earth. How did the Panthers win this game? What? They ran the ball 41 times and he's all went 15 for 25 171 yards i didn't get a ton of eyes on this one one touchdown albacore went over 100 yards chris olava gets 60 yards hold on whoa tyron matthew had a had a forced fumble andrew mcdowell had a forced fumble tyron matthew had an interception daniel sorensen had an interception how the panthers win this game hold on. Whoa. Tyron Matthew had a, had a forced fumble. Andrew McDowell had a forced fumble. Tyron Matthew had an interception.

Daniel Sorenson had an interception. How did the Panthers win this game? Just pure insanity. How did they win? Some of the ugliest football of all time. Sweet Jesus. That's amazing. Why?

So I guess what matters most. Incredible. What is my. Well done, Steve Wilks. Yeah. You think Steve Wilks keeps his job? No. Unfortunately, I don't. I think the Tepper wants to take a big swing

because I think that's kind of... Yeah, it's tough to keep the interim when you're Tepper. I heard... Who bought a house, mind you, to bulldoze it. So it came out... Jay Glazer said this beginning of the day. Panthers planning on interviewing Jim Caldwell and Frank Reich. As well as, obviously, they're going to consider Steve Wilks.

But Jim Caldwell and Frank Reich as two... No, those aren't as big of swings. Hey, man. Frank Reich's a Panther. I like Frank Reich. He's a Panther's legend. He's a Panther's legend. You watch out.

There were rumors about Jim Harbaugh potentially to Carolina, but then it kind of came out that those rumors were more of Jim Harbaugh's camp. Yeah, go to college for it again. It worked so good the first time. I don't want Jim Harbaugh in Carolina anyways. Yeah, the take from this one is Panthers had the ninth overall pick and Philly ends up with a top 10 pick.

Yeah, and Chris Alave was vastly underappreciated in the offensive rookie of the year race. Steve Wilks got a team win with Sam Darnold having two interceptions and 43 passing yards. I mean, come on, folks. Consider the man. They just keep running the ball. Want to do Brown Steelers?

Sure. My only big takeaway that I have from this one is Kenny Pickett and George Pickens are here to stay, baby. Yeah, brother. I think Kenny Pickett's had a really nice second half of the season how has he lit the world on fire no he hasn't but there have been plenty of moments that you have wanted to see out of a rookie year from kenny pickett i think it's a really good building block for him going into next season hey george pickens is solidifying himself as the number one option on this team certainly with deontay johnson as well need to to get Deontay Johnson into the end zone next year, since he literally did not get into the end zone one time this season.

Brother. Did he make it to 150 targets without a touchdown? I think he did. He had 10 targets this game. I really think he did. Deontay Johnson had 10 targets, two catches, 38 yards. Kenny. I just complimented you.

Lock it in, my guy. Lock it in. He had a lot of egregious drops, Deontay. So not a ton to take away from this one. Pittsburgh Steelers actually had a chance to make the playoffs down the stretch. They are, as it stands right now, picking 18th, which is the final cutoff number for the nine playoff teams it is incredible

that mike tomlin once again with this steelers team connor nine and eight above 500 one of the greatest coaches one of the greatest coaches but yeah my what matters most love what i've seen from kenny pickett this year love the Kenny Pickett-George Pickett's connection. I think it's a massive one going into next year for the Steelers. Just to piggyback off your Pickett selection, which I'm a big fan of, Kenny Pickett, since October, only threw one interception.

That's really impressive for a rookie on a not-so-great team. They've been strong, but when you go to the Steelers, they're still kind of figuring out that line. They have targets. They have a good defense that got healthy, but had its struggles for a long time because of the lack of health. One interception since October. It's really impressive. It's really impressive.

It's really impressive. And I'm with you, Trev. I think now Kenny goes into the summer with a lot of confidence, and I think the confidence bounces back from the coaching staff and the team to him. Yeah. And that's very, very important for the Steelers franchise. I definitely agree.

Do you have any rounds, takes? Not really. Watson still not looking yeah you just we just i mean throw it out this year just throw it out the browns certainly hope that you have to you yeah yeah i'm not losing any sleep over deshaun watch the struggle in this year but if you're the browns that's just what you got to do they took the suspension they go into next year we'll see what watson is next year for this team. But certainly aren't getting any tears from me in that regard with the Browns.

But I didn't have a lot of Browns takes this year. They just did. They were a team that they didn't have their quarterback for more than half of the season. And then when he got back there, he wasn't very good to the team around him. Just was not very competitive. So the Browns all year long. If Browns fans are listening to this podcast, I'm'm sorry we haven't had a lot of words to say about the browns in the regular season but it has been a forgettable season for them nick chubb another

fantastic year i definitely want to point that out so salute to nick chubb obviously miles garrett absolute animal that continues to be the same nothing's changing there but we'll talk about draft needs and how this how this cleveland brown team get better um during the draft we will definitely get into that uh before we go on here's one for you yeah yeah go ahead go ahead did chubb just have the quietest 1500 rushing yard year of all time i agree i really do yes yes insane man rush for 1500 yards yeah nobody cared nobody nobody cared um before we go to the next one con Connor, I have a question for you. I'm not answering. Speaking of Kenny Pickett, that's fair.

What if you could have invested in Kenny Pickett's stock before this year, right? If you would have, your investment would have been worth over 400,000%. No, I'm just kidding. It wouldn't have been that high. But you'd definitely be cashing out because it would have been a middling bet at the beginning of the season before he was even starting. Now the young man is playing well. Now it's not a question of what if, but now it's a who's next. All right. Mojo, which is the all new sports stock market, lets you invest in your favorite athletes and cash in on your passions. Sign up right now on the Apple app store to get your first stock for free worth up to $10,000. If you hit it right

over 300 players are listed on Mojo. So you can invest in rookies like Drake London, like Chris Olave, Rising Stars, like, oh man, who's a good one? I just said two, I guess. Kenny Pickett, George Pickens, those guys, those are definitely Rising Stars. Comeback candidates, guys like Saquon Barkley, guys who have the quietest 1,500 season of all time, and Nick Chubb, right? Everybody. Go along and make money when an underrated diamond in the rough breaks out

or short sell an overrated rival and make some money if they flop, which is an interesting way to do it. Prices move with every play, every game, and every headline, so you can buy and sell instantly, anytime, all year long, so the action never stops. Mojo is live in New Jersey, so download Mojo in the Apple App Store today

and start turning your playmakers into moneymakers. Must be 21 years or older to use Mojo and located in the great state of New Jersey to make trades. If you've got a gambling problem, help is available at 1-800-GAMBLER. Visit Mojo.com for more info. Connor, where are we going next? Chargers Broncos. Oh, you said you can't wait to talk about this game. Go off, King.

You're the best. Go off. I just, okay, nothing could have came from this game for full clarity they had to know that going in because they played after the Ravens Bengals I'll start with the Chargers obviously Trevor what was Brandon Staley doing well I mean the cat cow stretch a couple weeks ago? Dude, it's great for the lower back.

I understand if you came out in the first quarter and you wanted live action for your guys. Yeah. And they went right down the field. Everything seemed fine. They were even handing Eckler the ball, which, once again, this is a meaningless game. Austin Eckler's been playing at a high level in this league for quite some time.

I don't think he needed carries, but that was the only time where I'm like, okay, I get why they brought their guys up. You really have to hand Eckler the ball. And then it just kept going. And then guys started to get banged up. And I know Mike Williams, the early indication on him is that it's back spasms. MRI is MRI is negative per lindsey theory but what what is going on like i don't know what could have been going through his trevor this is it's something serious happened it's borderline

a fireball offense so the bucks did the same thing, right, against the Falcons. The Bucs played their starters, or at least Tom Brady was out there, to start the game. And they did so because, clearly, the offense has been cheeks for most of the season. So it's not like, and that's a scientific term there. Not sure you guys know about it, but they use it a lot over in Europe. That was why you play them, because you want the offense to get better. You want to kind of iron out some wrinkles going into the postseason.

But Brady didn't play the whole game. I felt like the Chargers starters played a little bit longer than they need to. But maybe it's just that. Maybe it was a, hey, the Chargers play the Jags next week. They think they can beat them, but then that next game that they play if they do so is going to be probably against Kansas City. They want this offense to be as tip-top as it possibly can be,

and maybe that was just the whole reason. Now, would I have played the starters? Probably not. No. reason now would i have played the starters probably not no if you don't have enough experience in 17 games granted there were some in and outs with some injuries in the lineup if you don't have enough experience in 17 games and your seat is locked and you can't go anywhere i'm at least resting the running back right i'm at least not letting us i get the herbert drive out of the gate yeah i don't i don't know joey borsa got banged up herbert attempted 37 passes in this game if you didn't tell anybody the situation they would think the chargers are playing for the one seed watching this game uh the other thing that matters most in this one it was reported before the games kicked off that the Broncos have requested

and been granted permission to interview Sean Payton as their head coach, which is big because Sean Payton's probably going to have his pick of basically any team in the NFL that he would want to go to. Now, you got to talk about compensation with the Saints because the Saints still own his contract. What goes into that but certainly if it feels like anybody's really going to be able to turn around russell wilson and make the most out of that massive investment in his contract uh there's a reason why the broncos are going all in on the number one choice in the head coaching vacancy right now so that is also what matters most certainly does i think for the broncos you take any good russ performance um as hopeful and i

thought this was one i thought russ looked like what they thought they were getting maybe it doesn't mean anything in a no stakes game but all you can do with that contract and what you gave up for him god have you ever opened his pro football reference page? Whose? Russell Wilson. Russell Carrington Wilson, in parentheses. Nice middle name. Mr. Unlimited. Dangerous, the asterisk, Mr. Unlimited, or Robot Russell. Nobody calls him that.

Nobody calls him that. It's like Prince Aladdin with Jimmy G. Nobody calls him that. Nobody calls him that. Just there on the page excellent trolling i will say i'm very excited for justin herbert versus trevor lawrence next week hell yeah very excited for this young quarterback matchup i think chargers are gonna win that game i just wasn't super impressed with how jacksonville was handling themselves last week but maybe it was jitters that are going to be

fully out of it i'd love to see these two offenses go back and forth with each other certainly if if most parties are healthy i think the chargers have a slight edge but excited to watch two young arms in the game have a throw off next week in jacksonville um new york giants yeah take it down to the wire against the philadelphia eagles j Hurts started in this game play the entire game and they did what they needed to be done they secured the one seed now they get to rest Jalen Hurts obviously a week everybody gets the week off they get to rest Lane Johnson another week everybody gets the week off and the entire NFC playoffs run through Philadelphia that is of course what matters most here for me Giants they didn't play anybody. That's going to be a massive maker in the shot of Brandon Staley.

Yeah. Take a note. David Webb started in this game, Brian Dable. Hey, you know what? Can we shout out Kenny Galladay? Can we shout out Kenny Galladay?

Incredible touchdown catch in this game. My guy got seven targets, had two catches, 30 yards. And one was a 25 yard touchdown near the end of the game to get it within onside kick distance in this one so shout out kenny galladay very frustrating time in new york but uh nice way to end off the season for you my guy trevor did you know no probably not that was kenny galladay's first touchdown as a Giant. Damn, it's tough.

Did you see the tweets that were going around this week where it was like, Kenny Galladay needs just 76 catches against the Eagles to get his 75... 750,000 bonus in his contract? So dumb, but it makes me laugh every time. Every time I laugh defensive because you read it and you're like oh i didn't know that was and they're like wait a minute anytime you read a like fully put together graphic that says needs just like you believe it you know like you're gonna read the rest of it you're like oh just just 76 catches crazy what so the playoffs run through

philadelphia yep the giants i think out of all things they could have gotten probably feel pretty good about minnesota yeah you have to yeah you have to and one like a mini last note on this game you just wonder what can brian like what's the minimum brian dable can win with right or not i don't want to say win with i mean he was close this what can he be competitive with he's close with davis webb i know davis freaking webb who ran somebody over into the end zone um let's do cardinals 49ers before we do the other two because i just want to get Cardinals 49ers out of the way. 49ers lock up the two seed. I know the plow plow just plays again.

Like what are we doing? The Arizona snow blow. Yeah, there we go. Brock Purdy 15. I should, I should have said the desert snow plow. God, that was bad. That's right. Sorry.

It's your work shopping. Brock Purdy 15 15 for 20 178 yards three touchdowns two of them go to george kittle one of them goes to christian mccaffrey uh elijah mitchell also had two touchdowns on the ground my guy had five five attempts two of them were for touchdowns nothing really to talk about on arizona's side of the ball you mentioned david blauu starting at quarterback in this game. A.J. Green almost had 100 yards in 2023, imagine. What matters most for me for this one is, of course, the San Francisco 49ers getting a two seed. And then also a report that I saw that Steve Kahn could very well be out

as general manager of the Arizona Cardinals, which is important because his team has the number three overall pick. I would think Cliff Kingsbury is also probably going with him but maybe not you know long contract but yeah maybe uh maybe super handsome people just get all the luck so i i don't know maybe maybe he maybe he won't be out of it but i feel like i feel like he kind of should be but he he could certainly be back but those are the two things i thought mattered most aiden hudgson is just wreaking havoc right now is he green bay yeah it's two sacks in the first half but damn what it's done um yeah it's it's pretty good for him this game i mean yeah you're right this i i'm there's two parts of me with san

francisco there's the part of me that wonders can this team win a super bowl of course right now and then two two i mean we are really entering a trey lance versus brock purdy summer and i think it's freaking fascinating mr irrelevant versus the guy they traded everything to get no you got to trade trey lance i don't know if they're gonna to do that. No, I think they're going to let them go at it. Yeah, you're probably right. Rams, Seahawks, Seahawks. The Rams keep doing this to Seattle. They do it, though.

They come out victorious in overtime, baby. This season started so thrilling for the Seahawks with their victory over Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos. And the regular season finished just as thrilling with them not going to feel goal in there in overtime to clinch a playoff berth this game was fun man Jalen Ramsey had two interceptions in this game Geno Smith threw for over 200 yards and I think in this game Geno Smith broke the single season he did passing record for Seattleattle which is incredible record yeah thinking how long russ was there another incredible performance by kenneth walker 29 attempts

114 yards they just lean on him and he continues to deliver big shout out to cam acres who we weren't sure what his nfo's career was going to be after his achilles injury another 100 yard game 21 attempts 104 yards baker mayfield didn't look great in this one, but we figured that this would probably be the end for Baker Mayfield. What I do want to talk about as what matters most, do you think Sean McVay's done? Yes. I thought that when...

I also think he's done. When the whole coaching staff rumor started to heat up about guys leaving, and I think... I just think the Rams had all caught up to them real quick. And I think McVay's burnt out. Honestly, I really do. I think McVay's burnt out. McVay has his Super Bowl.

McVay and Snead went all in, shot their shot last year, and it paid off in the biggest way. And it worked. And he's got a cushy broadcasting job. Not to make that sound like broadcasting jobs are the easiest things in the world. Didn't mean to say that. But it's better than coaching. But coaching is just wild hours and everything like that.

So he's already got a broadcast job lined up. And the thing is, Sean McVay is how old? 36. He was hired by the Rams when he was the ripe age of 30 years old. He is 36 years old. You are right. He could retire. He could go do broadcasting for three seasons and he could come back as a 40 year old.

He could coach then another six years. He could retire, go back to broadcasting for another three years and come back as a 50 year old. He could then coach for another five years, retire, go back to broadcasting. This guy has just the life set up for him. The success that he has had at an,

at a young age is on be leaveable. And I think, I do think that he's, I'm leaning towards him walking away this offseason. I think it's going to happen. I think so too. And who could blame the guy? You already want to see, it feels very,

we've seen this at times, right? When did John Madden walk away? I always forget. I'm checking it right now. Madden walk away? I always forget. I'm checking it right now. Madden walked away. He coached from the Raiders from 1969 to 1978. He was 103-32. That's absolutely insane.

He won a Super Bowl in 76, and then he walked away after the 78 season so he was 48 no uh he was he had to be 42 42 he was 42 when he walked away and think about it back then it got like sean mcveigh was hired as a 30 year old it was one of the most unprecedented things we'd ever seen right there's guys in the locker room that are older than sean mcveigh a lot of guys so it just you go back to the john madden route where like you you nailed it trevor he could walk away i think he's gonna love broadcasting i really do i think some guys do it because it's the thing to do right you make

a ton of money oh he's gonna love it like it hasn the thing to do, right? You make a ton of money. Oh, he's going to love it. Like, it hasn't worked out. It doesn't work out for some guys. Some guys do it, and they stink at it, and then they just walk away, and it doesn't work, or they don't feel the same way about it as they did when they played, coached, whatever. He's going to be A1, just tremendous. But I agree with you that you go get a mega deal, probably get $20 million a year as a

broadcaster. You do that, which is more than coaching. It's much less stressful. He's got a wife. Maybe he wants a family, all those things. You settle down for a little bit and do that, and you're still in the game. And then you'll be the hottest head coaching candidate every year that you want your name floated out there by your agent yep or or all of that which is dream world and right in front of sean mcveigh or you can come back and coach whatever is left of this rams team there's just no way. There's no way. No, I think he's, I think he's, I think he's. Even if he loves football that much, being on the field with the headset on. Mm-hmm.

He should, he would be better suited to go somewhere else. Last game that we're going to talk about here on this show, Cowboys commanders. Cowboys went in with a chance at the one seed, right? Yeah. No. Like the tiniest chance, yes. Right.

The Cardinals would have had to beat the Niners. Cowboys would have had to win. Eagles would have had to lose. Yeah. Yeah. So very unlikely. Well, whether it was the one seed or whether it was just the division i can't remember um they end up losing 26 to 6 to the washington commanders connor my

what matters most um worried about the cowboys the cowboys play the cowboys play the buccaneers next week and we've joked about it uh the bucks are a bad football team the bucks could absolutely be that be the dallas cowboys next weekend in tampa i would be very worried about the dallas cowboys they are so hot and cold they really are often of an offense especially i know a lot of teams have their up and downs they are so hot and cold it's yeah it's they're they're they're playing with fire here with with some of their um downturns and i don't know what it's yeah it's they're they're they're playing with fire here with with some of their um downturns and i don't know what it's going to be for i don't know what offense is going to show up next week in tampa but there's a legit shot that they could absolutely be a 12 win team and lose

in the first round there's a chance for sure they looked flat they never looked right in this game i mean i'll take the other side i really liked what I saw from Sam Howell. Oh, yeah, baby. It makes you wonder, was no-add Heineken in that little potential playoff run not the greatest thing for the Commanders? Because I feel like we should have saw a month of Sam Howell. It would have been nice. It would have been nice for them to see a month of Sam Howell.

And I get why they couldn't do that. They couldn't put a playoff chase in the hands of Sam Howell. It would have been nice. Would have been nice for them to see. And I get, I get why they couldn't do that. They couldn't put a playoff chase in the hands of Sam Howell. That's not fair to him. It's not fair to the team. It's not fair to anybody, but in this one star from Sam Howell, if you just look at the box score, you go,

he went 11, 19, 169 yards, one touchdown, one pick. And he ran for 35 yards in a touchdown. You go, ah,

okay. You watch him play huge arm made a beautiful deep throw to Terry McLaurin in this game his mobility brought a different dimension down in the red and the guy has an energy that guys have always loved to follow we saw it at UNC I'm not saying Sam Howell's the future in Washington, but I'm saying he should have got the Desmond Ritter opportunity where maybe you go into next summer and let Sam Howell compete with somebody. And I don't really see this Washington team doing that. I think they're going to be on a Derek Carr or Jimmy G or some nature of that.

Probably depends who's head coach. Like, is Rivera going to be? That's a really good point. That's a really, really good point. If Rivera is still going to be head coach, Rivera is going to go into the season on the hot seat. So, like, is he just going to have to get a veteran quarterback in there? You know, he might not have the luxury of just, like, going young.

No, and they pick 16th. So, forget that. Right. But, yeah. and young no and they pick whoever whoever so forget that right but yeah what mattered most to me is i liked what i saw from the sam howell experience in this game good because i think they have built an offense that should be terry mclaurin and john dotson working downfield off of a tough play action run game featuring brian robinson and antonio Antonio Gibson and a tough offensive line and I think Sam Howell is the best suited quarterback for that on this roster and we saw one game but I get it love the Sam Howell takes let us know what your takes are of every game that we

talked about here this weekend every game you watch whether you're a fan of the team or not you could throw you certainly throw your draft takes into it as well. Just know that we're going to get a lot deeper into the draft takes for the Wednesday show. Once the order becomes absolutely final for the non-playoff teams, when green Bay and Detroit end up finishing their game, but let us know what you thought of this episode of the season of the playoff bracket. As it finalized, if you're watching this on YouTube, you can let us know right below easy to comment there,

hit us up on Twitter as well at Tampa Bay Trey at Easy to comment there. Hit us up on Twitter as well, at Tampa Bay Trey, at Connor T. Rogers. You can hit us up on Instagram as well. I'm laughing because I thought about when Houston won that game. We got so many tweets from people who were just like, can't wait for the show, baby. So obviously we touched on it a little bit here, but we're going to get into Bears and Houston in depth and where they're picking at number one and number two on the Wednesday episode. so obviously we touched it on it a little bit here but we're gonna get into bears in houston uh in depth and where they're picking at number one and number two on the wednesday episode connor anything else before we get out of here no i think you covered it well i am genuinely really excited

for the the draft edition this week because we have an order now which is amazing. We have drama at the top. Jared Verst decided to go back to school, which feels very Olu Fashanu to me. Two potential top 10 guys. Didn't declare. I had them both there. And do what's best for you. Man, it's exciting. It's really exciting.

It's our time to shine. Oh, it's a fun time of year. Always is. Excited for the Wednesday show. Thanks so much for tuning in, everybody. I'm Trevor Sikma. That's Connor Rogers. Thank you for watching and listening to the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast.

See you guys on Wednesday. Thank you.