OverDrive - OverDrive - December 24, 2025 - Hour 1 - Herm Edwards

Episode Date: December 24, 2025

Join Aaron Korolnek and Dave Feschuk for Hour 1 on OverDrive on Christmas Eve! The guys discuss the Maple Leafs' win against the Penguins, William Nylander's strong performance and Auston Matthews' lack of production throughout the season and NFL and NBA matchups on Christmas Day. ESPN NFL Analyst Herm Edwards on the biggest headlines around Week 17 in the NFL and Brooks Koepka departing from LIV Golf.

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It's Overdrive, a special Christmas Eve edition here on TSN 1050, TSN's YouTube channel. And get this, TSN 1, 4, and 5. I'm Aaron Kournick with my man, Dave Feschuk from the Toronto Star, in for Brian, Jamie, and Jeff. Merry Christmas Eve. Dave, how you doing? Doing great, my mom. man, great to be with you. It is a special edition. It is. For us.

For us. Not so special for the regulars who are probably saying why aren't Hayes and O Dog and Noodles here. Those guys are sitting at home looking at the Christmas tree, maybe some eggnog in hand, getting ready for a big feast and watching us, Dave. So

we've got to carry the mantle, carry the baton of this radio station, of this television program for the next two hours. We're well equipped to do so. I'm lucky I got here. I nearly got killed by a reindeer head today on my on my way to the studio there was a dude I'm not kidding you

you talk about I'm all four people that are in the festive mood but this dude had literally a taxidermied head of a animal that looked like a reindeer probably more like a deer but it was it was dressed as a reindeer with the red nose and he had like

Christmas lights in the antlers and it was like strapped to the back of his motorbike okay his motorbike He wasn't even like an SUV or a truck. Strat to the back of the motorbike, okay? And he's just flying around with this thing, and he's like, he's loving it, right? It's like Christmas Eve, he's got the perfect decoration for his motorbike, or so he thinks, until the thing came flying off.

He did not have it properly secure. That's not. Rudolph comes flying off the motorbike and nearly decapitates several passers by, including myself. Well, I'm glad you're here, and I know our audience is as well. We've got a great show lined up for you. Herm Edwards in about 30 minutes talking week 17 in the NFL, which begins tomorrow with three dreadful games. Just terrible.

You fired up to watch Josh Johnson in game number one. Max Brosmer in game number two. And my personal favorite, Chris Alutekin may be butchering his pronunciation. The third stringer for the Kansas City Chiefs after Gardner Minchu tore his ACL. Those are three of the six quarterbacks lined up for the Christmas Day spectacular. for the National Football League, but the ratings will still be massive because it's still the NFL, people will still bet

on it, fantasy teams in the final, and I guess that's what people do on Christmas. Now, the NBA, see you later, Adam Silver. Everyone's in on the NFL, in spite of the NBA having a vastly superior schedule tomorrow. I was going to say, this is the NBA's chance to at least

if they can't do it tomorrow, then they'll never do it. Take a little bit of the Christmas pie back from the NFL, who's so ungraciously stolen it from them in recent years. But because you're right, like, the NFL will be the NFL. It will eat everything that it comes in confrontation with. But these are brutal games. These are, these are essentially, unless you have money riding out of it, and I know you will.

I will. Unless you are in the fantasy playoffs, and I know you are. I'm not sadly. Oh, you're not out of? Last week, devastating. I prefer not to discuss this on national television day. My bet. My bad.

Sorry to bring it up. Did not realize it was a source spot. But now that I know, there'll be no further talk of fantasy football. But unless you're doing one of those things, like these are basically irrelevant games, which is kind of like if you're the NBA, if you're Adam Silver, if you're LeBron James, who's been saying Christmas Day is our day, it's a little bit of karmic, you know, comeback to say, ha, ha, we've got the matchup of the day, which of course is the San Antonio Spurs and the OKC Thunder, what I'm looking for.

I'm fired up for that. Gilgis Alexander just won the Northern Star Award. Right. NBA MVP, finals MVP. The guy's got a hundred straight games of 20 plus points. Incredible. Only Will Chamberlain has done that in NBA history. That is a ridiculous number. And LeBron, his streak of 10 plus points was what 18 years long. Just ended in Toronto a few weeks ago. That's incredible. But this is something completely different. I mean, 20 plus in 100 straight and against the Spurs team, that's certainly coming on here. That's going to be a fun game. Dallas, Golden State.

state, Houston, and the Lakers, LeBron, maybe it's his final Christmas day, and it's crazy. The guy's in his, what, 23rd season. I remember him and Kobe going back and forth, Lakers, calves back in the day. That was the Christmas staple, but maybe I'll be watching Max Brosmer throw interceptions to the Detroit lines defense instead of that tomorrow. Who knows? We'll have to wait and find out. It's a day to flip back and forth for sure.

Definitely. One of the great sports watching days of the year. I'm looking forward to it, but yeah, like SGA, you know, a, Scout was saying to me, this guy just does not have bad games. Like his kind of mediocre game is just not a bad game. Like there's, like when you look at the

careers of great NBA players, like there's a lot of variance in their performances. And we talk about this 20 point streak here of 100 plus games that he continues to work on. This is not like, you know, when you're talking about nobody's done it since, Will, there's a reason for it. Because

you know, good players go three for 10 from the field or three for 20 the field. Kobe used to go five for 25 from the field all the time. You're not getting to 20 very often when you do stuff like that. This guy, he's just so efficient,

so clockwork, so composed that there's just not a lot of variance. He doesn't have bad shots. He doesn't have bad games. And it's a scary proposition for the rest of the NBA right now because they look like in a machine

that's going to be difficult to stop until the San Antonio Spurs get on the court with him and they've been having some pretty good luck. They are. I saw that OKC was a 10-point favorite tomorrow. Against the Spurs team that's red-hot, when Mannyama's playing, maybe not to full capacity yet,

coming off the bench. Coming off the injury, coming off the bench. But that's a game I'm really looking forward to. And oddly enough, yesterday afternoon, it's not necessarily every season. You sit down a 4 o'clock game at the end of December and think Toronto Maple Leafs need to win this hockey game, which I believe they needed that.

that W that they ultimately got yesterday over the Pittsburgh Penguins. They win 6-3 because of a number of factors. They fire their assistant coach. They've been on a terrible skid. They were last place in the Eastern Conference. And they come out and they take it to Pittsburgh to some extent. I mean, it wasn't the most dominant performance. No.

Pittsburgh's goaltending. Oh, my goodness. Not the best. Some terrible giveaways, nonetheless. But the Toronto Maple Leafs were able to win hockey. And that's all that matters heading in to a Christmas break. which this team desperately needed. A couple of guys got off the Schneid.

Max Domi hadn't scored since, what, October 24th, something like that against Calgary, like a long time, 23 games. Nealander hadn't scored in 11. He has a huge performance, two goals and two assists. But I think it's fair to ask the question, what, if anything, does that mean? Considering the opposition and considering the way that this team has played now for a long time. It's just the first of what is hopefully for them a number of wins, but I don't think anyone's getting too carried away after that performance.

Well, you're not getting carried away because, A, they had a 3-1 lead, and that evaporated pretty quick, and they needed the heroics from Mr. Domi. Hell of a goal from Domi. Hell of a goal from Domi. And yet, the problem with goals like that, moments like that, in a season like this, is that you see it, and then you go, wait a second, we're a couple of days before Christmas. This guy hasn't scored since before Halloween, and people are supposed to get excited about it? Well, yeah, you do get excited about it because it was a great goal and it was turned out to be the winning goal. And it was an important goal to your point about, hey, this team was in an absolute death spiral and they were thrown bodies over the side or at least one body so far over the side in the person of Mark Savard. And so they needed to win and it means something because everyone matters in this league with the standings as jumbled as they are.

But they're still like when they win a game like that and they play like they played, show a little bit of really. resilience, get a big goal. I think the only logical question is, where has that been? Like, why is it not a more regular occurrence for Max Domey and for many other guys in this roster who are, let's just say, intermittent performers to say the least? Well, their opponent, I think, had a lot to do with it. The Leaves have owned the Pittsburgh Penguins all year. 17 to 8 in the three games they played against Pittsburgh.

The three and no, they haven't lost. They have Pittsburgh's number. Pittsburgh's not a very good team. Thank you, Kyle Deavis. Yeah, thank you, Kyle Duviz. He would have loved to win yesterday. I don't think the penguins are winning too many games from here on now, and that's a team that I'm almost certain will be a big-time seller leading in

to the March the 6th trade deadline. They've got guys who will be very desirable because it doesn't seem like there's too many top six forwards available for trade. And you can guarantee you, Dubas, we're looking at guys like Rust and Raquel and Anthony Mantha perhaps who's at a really nice season is, oh, yeah, you can, you know, anti-up and maybe one of those guys could be yours because Pittsburgh's not doing anything this year. That's pretty clear. Maple Leafs, man, did they ever need a laffer like that? Which wasn't a laffer really until late

in the third period. But they did get it done. And Neelander had two goals and two assists. He had some really nice jump to his game, something we haven't seen a lot lately. And whether you're attributed to injury or sickness or maybe in the middle of a season malaise, it was great to see Neelander for the Toronto Maple Leafs really come out and play the way that he did. And again, this is a guy who hadn't scored in a long time. dash 10 in his last five games, but it was everybody. But so was everybody. And I think a lot of people are talking about Austin Matthews, even in lieu of the Toronto Maple Leafs winning that game, his fourth straight game

without a point. Yeah. Something that hadn't been done in seven years. And you're thinking, oh man, it just gets worse and worse for this guy who's on pace for, I believe, 56 points on the season after going pointless again against Pittsburgh. And it's, it's something, man. He's playing with Bobby McMahon and Max Stomie now. He's had a million different linemates this year. Six different guys have started a game on his right side, probably close to that same number on the left side, and they just can't find anything that has stuck to this point, stuck to this point. And it's got to be a major concern going forward because the Toronto Maple Leafs aren't going to win consistently if Austin Matthews is performing at a 56 point pace. That's for sure.

Yeah. I mean, run that back for a second. Like, we are living in a world where, Connor McDavid today has, he has 67 points. And Austin Matthews, who not too long ago was in the conversation as maybe the 1A to Connors won as the two best players in this league, he's on pace for 56. McDavid has 67. Matthews is on pace for 56. Think about that.

Nick David has 31 points in his last 11 games. In the month of December, he has 31 points. He has 31 points. And Matthews right now. I think 23, 24 on the season, something like that. Yeah. I mean, it's. That's a staggering.

It's a testament to the greatest of McDavid, no doubt. But it's also a testament to the lackluster. That might be complimentary performance of Austin Matthews so far in 2025. Well, and that's like we were talking the other day, you and I sitting here before they fired Mark Savard about, and we had strutty on and we were talking about, hey, we didn't know if they were going to fire Savard. We thought maybe they would fire Barouba. they had to do something to somehow jumpstart this team

that was absolutely sleeping at the switch. And so we said, well, look at the model, right? The model was the Edmonton Oilers two years ago, three nine and one, and what do they do? They fire Woodcroft, they bring in Knoblock, and it's been relatively smooth sailing ever since. Two straight cup appearances, sadly no wins, but, you know, an awfully good run in both those seasons.

so maybe that's the model, right? The thing is, though, when you do something like that, you have to have confidence that your guy, your number one guy, has another gear, that your number one guy can carry the team if need be. Because no matter who the coaches, guess what, in this league, sometimes your number one guy has to carry it. And for the Maple Leafs, I think this is the number one issue of the season, AK, the number one guy ain't carrying him anywhere.

In fact, he's being carried by teammates that are having better years than him. he's being carried by the fact that, you know, they've had pretty damn good goaltending when it's been good. He's being carried by the fact that, you know, there's other issues with this team that are being highlighted, including the rash of injuries, including, you know, the fact that a lot of people are blaming the coach, including the fact a lot of people are blaming the general manager. But I think the general manager, the coach, everybody else around this team would also say, if they were being honest with a little truth serum, a little eggnog and rum into the system, that, hey, what do you expect us to do?

if our best guy or a highest paid guy is essentially playing like he's just another guy. And the Maple Leafs have put themselves in a position here where they need to leap a bunch of teams to get back into the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Look at yesterday, everybody in the East was picking up points. So yeah, you could win games, but you need to do it over a sustained period of time and you're going to need some help to get back into that conversation. And for the Leafs, they need Matthews to be much better. Obviously, I would say they need Matthew Nyes to be much better as well.

We haven't talked a lot about that. He played 12 minutes last night. Matthew Nyes, they just gave him a, what, 7 by $7.75 million contract extension. That's big money. And he's playing on the third line with Nicholas Waugh playing 12 minutes in what's the team's most important game of the season. That's a concern. And we were talking about this before we came on the air,

the U.S. Olympic team. And could Matthew Nyes be a part of it? There's no chance in hell. No. Matthew Nise is a part of that conversation. I'm sure before the season, you thought maybe if Matthew Nise continued, his assent that we saw at the end of last year

into the playoffs, and sure, he definitely could be, but the way that he's played so far this year, he's definitely taken a step back, which is not unexpected, right? Young players, it's not just, it's not linear, right? You don't just go up and up and up and up and up. No, you kind of hope you do in a perfect world, but that's not always how it goes.

Nice had a great start at 5 on 5 was producing a bunch of points playing with Matthews, but he's been very, very quiet. I think three goals in his last 21 games, 22 games, he's not been producing offense. So that's another key cog, right? You talk about the four players you counted on for offense. Matthews, way below a point of game. Nyes is not producing

offense the way you'd like. Tavares started off so well, but he's really slowed down here as the second half of the first half, if you want to call it that, has gotten underway. And Nielander, I mean, I'm not really sure how you'd assess Nielander overall. He's got a lot of points, but clearly there's more there for

consistency. So this is a team that wants to come back and you look at their schedule, coming back. There's three Eastern Conference opponents, including Ottawa on Saturday night. They play Jersey. They play the Islanders. They play the Winnipeg Jets.

There's a lot of quality teams that they're going to have to go through here. And I'm skeptical. I am skeptical. And it's great to see they beat Pittsburgh, but that's a team they've owned all year long and isn't very good to begin with. They're going to need their best players

to come back from this Christmas break and be their best players once again. And if they don't, we know where this is, going. It's the same old story, right? It's follow the money. And for years we had the obsession with the core four and 50% of the salary cap and all that. And it's changed now because Martin is not part of the equation because Haveris took the big salary cut to stay in Toronto going from what he was making to now 4.3. But you look at it, like go down the list of their highest paid

forwards, right? Matthew's at 13.25, massively underperforming. Willie at 11.5, okay, we'll leave the jury out on him. I'm sure there are nights where Craig Burubei wishes he was playing a little better. Matthew Nyes, third highest paid forward, to your point, disappointing season at 7.75. John Tavares has fallen off considerably after a very hot start. They wrote him a lot when Matthews was out. He was playing probably more than he should have. He did. He did. He did his part. He did. He did his part.

and then this is where it gets ugly. Max Domi finally shows up last night after not having scored since before Halloween, but that's $3.75 million on the cap. And by the way, not just this year, but two more years to come. Matthias Mice Shelley finally shows up last night, scores a goal, but has been a healthy scratch

for many, many games, way too many games for a guy who makes $3.425 million. Dakota Joshua, you know, 3.25 million. another guy who is grossly underperformed expectations from when he was acquired in the off season. So you go on that list and you start saying like,

you know, how is this the coach's fault? Like these guys just haven't, dead last power. Haven't been performing to the level they were expected to perform. Now, I'm sure you can speak to player advocates. And I know this for a fact. Who will say, yeah, but the coach isn't put in a position to succeed. And look, there's always, you know, both sides.

there's always two sides of that story. There's always a weight of point fingers, and the finger point he's already started, and Mark Savard took the finger to the chest in a way nobody wants to. But, man, I just look at those, I look at that salary list, and I look at the performances, and I say, this isn't good enough,

and how can that not be at least 50%, 60%, 70% on the players? Yeah, and that's exactly it. And I think if you were to do the blame pie game, the players should be the ones who take the brunt of the blame. And the coaches, that's the only guy so far who's taking any of the blame. He lost a job as far as Mark Savard running the power play. And you saw Derek Lalonde with the earpiece yesterday. So clearly he's a big part of the power play and how it goes forward.

But they had, what, 30 seconds of power play time yesterday before, I think was Tavares who took a penalty. And so they really get a real opportunity. So we'll see how it looks on Saturday night against the Ottawa Senators who have had a nice stretch here as well. And again, a lot of these teams in the Eastern Conference in the Atlantic Division, Buffalo has won seven games in a row. With Josh Norris back, they've looked completely different. Ottawa, you know when they're healthy, they're going to be a quality team. We'll see about Boston and Detroit. Tampa, you think will be in the 95 to 100 point range when everything is said and done.

But, again, that's where the Leafs are going to have to find themselves. and that's a lot of teams to climb above because those teams are now playing competent hockey as well. But that's a really good point you make about Buffalo because it's a good example of what's to come as the season creeps into the second half after the turn of the calendar, AK. It's that like Buffalo wins seven in a row,

but there's still only three points clear of the mavens who've been struggling, right? Like it's hard to make up ground when there's so many three-point games. 30% of games go to overtime. Yeah. It's at a record high this season. so that, you know, it's very difficult to make up ground because even when teams are losing,

they're getting a point a lot of the time, even when teams are struggling, they're still kind of cobbling together, a point here, a point there. And so you can win seven in a row, and you're still, you know, only four points out of the basement, albeit three points out of the final wildcard spot,

but it's hard to climb all those teams. And right now the Maple Leafs have to climb one, two, three, four, five, six, six teams to get even into the rung below the final wild card. The Florida Panthers looks like Matthew Kuchick's on his way back as well. He said on the podcast with Brady that he's going to start skating after Christmas and probably a return to play isn't far behind. And we know what an awesome player he is when he's healthy.

And there you go with like the Panthers. A lot of people were kind of waiting for them to show the effects of being the three straight cup finals and winning two in a row and all the talk. of the toll that takes on a team. And obviously the physical toll that Matthew Kachuk's been going through coming out of that groin injury. The fact that Barkov's not around.

You know what? They're basically the two guys that are the heart and soul of their team. Their captain and the guy who might as well be the captain and Matthew Kichuk have not been around and there they are holding on to the final wild card spot.

Brodsky's not even been that good. He's been terrible. And they're still in the final wildcard spot. Like that's how, like that is to me the measure of a really good team, right? Where they've got a million reasons to say, this ain't our year and yet they're still there.

And there's still going to be a problem. You know it. Like, do you really, like, what will be the advantage of winning a division if the final wildcard spot is occupied by the Florida Panthers? And you may have to face that the first round. That's probably something you'd like to avoid. Yes. In a perfect world. And who knows about Barkov, whether he comes

back, I have a sneaking suspicion that he probably does when it's all said and done. Well, they haven't punt it on it. Well, that's it. That's right. They haven't used, the Cap space, so you know they're holding that home. Exactly. If that's the case, they probably have a good idea of exactly how that's going to play out. More hockey talk ahead with Mike Johnson, our hockey analyst. We're also talking about Team Canada, the world juniors. What a clinic they put on against Denmark. 13 goals. Poor Denmark. They're playing NHL 26 on easy, just killing the Danes. So that's

a good sign for Team Canada. They begin action on Boxing Day. We're looking forward to that. We're looking forward to welcoming Herm Edwards to the show on the other side, former NFL Coach player and ESPN NFL analyst. And we will get you the picks from team HBO and Nootelson as well. Don't think the fellas have punted on their picks. They will give it to the people. I know they are in dire need of what those guys have ahead of Christmas and ahead of week number 17.

That's Dave Festruck from the Toronto Star. I'm Aaron Kourlnick. We're in for the usual trio here on Overdrive on Christmas Eve. First hour of Overdrive continues the Christmas Eve edition featuring Aaron Kourlnick and Dave. Bestruck from the Toronto Star. We'll welcome Herm Edwards to the show momentarily, ESPN NFL analyst, former coach and player. And if Herm ever played in Christmas, I guess not, it's more of a newer thing, coached on Christmas perhaps, but the way that the schedule has changed in the NFL over the years, right?

The Saturday games, the Thursday games that they put in, now Christmas games. I mean, it's just completely screwing with everybody. And we talk a lot about the NHL and just how condensed the schedule it is. And when you wonder, you look at some of the quarterbacks that are playing tomorrow, how much the schedule and the condensation of it is affecting things in professional sports and perhaps the NFL in particular, and of course, the extra game that they're playing now in the National Football League. Yeah, the idea that you could expect to do what they're doing to condense the schedule. They've condensed it and then lengthened it on top of it and not sort of have some sort of effect that's negative on the health of the players.

and we've heard all the rumblings about players being upset with the quality of the artificial turf fields and wanting to move to natural grass in large part because of concerns over the rash of injuries that have kind of washed over the league. Yeah, all those things are interconnected, A.K., you can't have everything. And I'm sure when Roger Goodell and the scheduling committee sat down, like, look at this Christmas late. Well, the Cowboys against Jane Daniels and the commanders, the Detroit Lions, 15 wins, last year against Minnesota with 14 wins last year. Oh, Mahomes

on Christmas night. Taylor Swift on Taylor Swift. And you think Taylor Swift showing up to this game? She's like, listen, Trave, I'll see you when the season's over. I don't need to watch a Lutiken play quarterback and throw you three balls and you can catch one of them for seven yards. Exactly. She's probably saying to Trapp, Trav, I'll come to your last game if you

promised to retire. Yeah, that's pretty likely. I think it's safe to say. Although you never really know how the plans could change, right? If Mahomes is aggressively rehabbing and guys already had surgery for his ACL. So I don't think it's a lock that he's just going to miss time next year again with a nine month recovery for an ACL and that lines up for September of next year. I wouldn't be surprised that all of Mahomes be ready to rock and maybe Kelsey's right there with him. Yeah. He's actually

had a pretty impressive season, Kelsey. He's been much better than he was last year, at least from the receptions and the yards perspective. No, I always get a kick when I read these things that people just assume, oh, yeah, Travis Kelsey's done. Oh, is he? Like, have you not been paying attention? Like, we just watched, you know, one of the great players of all time, if not the greatest, and Tom Brady play well into his 40s. We just saw a grandpa play quarterback in the NFL. And the idea that guys are just going to say, yeah, you know, my time's done.

Like, the lure of hanging in there, AK is huge for these guys. And then the lure of making a bad season right. And that's kind of what has happened to the time. the Kansas City Chiefs where do you really want to go out like this after the run they've had to have this season sort of peter out, to have Mahomes suffer the injury. It's, you know, I would have a hard time betting on Travis Kelsey playing his final NFL game this season. Yeah, I'm with you.

I think Kelsey comes back. I think LeBron comes back as well. Speaking of playing on Christmas Day, LeBron will be action for the Lakers taking on the Houston Rockets. So perhaps a couple of guys with their Christmas swan songs. But to consider the possibility at the beginning of the season that Mahomes and the Chiefs would be out, that Burrough and the Bengals would be out, that Lamar and the Ravens would be out, that the Detroit Lions, again, they won 15 games last year, would be out as well.

And all of those, well, certainly a number of them are already locks. A number of them could very well be locked in this week. I mean, it just sets the table for a wide open playoffs and really a perfect spot for the Buffalo Bills. We continue to go back to that same refrain, but it's true. Josh Allen is the best player in this playoffs. He's been thwarted by Mahomes and the Chiefs so many times over the years. There's no excuses anymore. If you go in and play Jacksonville or a 42-year-old Aaron Rogers,

not much more you could ask. If I told him any Bill's fan that at the beginning of the season, only round ones against Jacksonville or Rogers and the Steelers, they would be elated. And I don't think things should change simply because of the way the Buffalo bills have played this year. I'll tell you what, man. You're right.

It's hilarious to me. I know so many Bill's fans and, you know, I'm old enough to have lived through the four Super Bowls and, you know, hung out in Western New York for a lot of those with Bill's Mafia Nation, whatever you want to call it. So many of those people

would agree with you. Yes, this is the year in terms of everything that's happening outside the bills. It's lining up perfectly. But inside the bills, there is so little faith. You're right. There's faith in Josh Allen.

Everyone believes he's Superman. And James Cook. beyond that, there's not a lot of faith. The coach. James Cook is in his kitchen, but nobody believes in the coach, nobody believes in the defense, and there's just this belief that they're going to get into a situation where it's going to come

down to one drive, where it's going to come down to one play, and guess who's going to be on the wrong side of it? Let's welcome in, Herm Edwards, from ESPN, long-time NFL coach and player to perhaps opine on the Buffalo Bills. Merry Christmas, Herm, how are you? Thank you for doing this. Well, thank you.

I'm sorry, couldn't get on FaceTime, but I'm at home, I'm at some in-laws' house, and background wouldn't be that good. You're all good. You're all good, man. We can't thank you enough for doing this for us. Of course, a very busy night with family and friends. Christmas Eve is, but I'm curious to know, your thoughts on the bills. Do you view them as the team to beat in the AFC? Well, I think they have a chance. Look, I'm going to, you know, say this, and so I hope the fans understand. Josh Allen is, he's my favorite player.

I mean, so I'm biased when it comes to Josh Allen. I just wish he had a better supporting cast. And that there lies the problem. He has a really good runner in Cooks, but when they break the huddle, no one scares you except for Josh Allen and Cooks, to be quite honest. Defensively, you know, they're a little light up front. They can't stop the run on defense.

They're 30th in the league. That's not a good number to be at, especially now when the weather changes because running games and obviously good defense propel you to win playoff games because of the elements. And so, you know, they're going to play Philadelphia, who's a team that has struggled some. I mean, their record is 10 and 5. There's a reason they earn that 10 and 5 record coming off a Super Bowl win, but they've struggled as well. You know, they don't stop the run very well. So that's a good thing for Buffalo. They're 21st in stopping the run.

But this will be an interesting game. You know, they're 10 and 5. The Buffalo Bills are 11 and 4. I do believe they're one of the better teams on the AFC side of it. But I just worry about can two players on offense carry them through the playoffs. Yeah, no, that's a huge concern. And obviously, Herm, we live in the Bills region here in Toronto. And a lot of people follow this team very, very intensely.

the other concern from a lot of viewpoints is the coach who's had his list of career clock management issues going back to 13 seconds, the infamous 13 seconds against the Chiefs a few years back. And there's a feeling that, you know, Sean McDermott maybe isn't cut out to be a guy who can carry a team or coach a team, X and O a team to a Super Bowl. You would know better than us.

So, you know, how do you review the Bill's coaching staff as you look at the way they performed in recent years? Well, obviously, when you're successful as they've been, I mean, and if you haven't got to the big game, that always becomes part of the equation, right? He can only take them so far. And I get that conversation. I mean, you know, that's the conversation.

It always happens around the water cooler, you know, when people are viewing their team and go, well, we lost getting into playoffs, right? And so that's kind of, and then people forget how it's hard it is to get into playoffs. And then all of a sudden, you know, they switch coaches, then all of a sudden they hit this spell of two or three years not being in the playoffs anymore. And they go, oh, well, guess what?

So I get it. It's just part of the profession. I know a coach, you know, he's done a fine job up there in Buffalo. But it's kind of like those years that the Buffalo bills kept getting into the Super Bowl, they couldn't win one, right? I mean, it's just, so these fans have seen this story. And they're like, when can we win one, right? or when can we get in the playoffs now and win the playoff game

and get to the championship game and win the championship game and go to the Super Bowl. And so this builds fan base. It's a great fan base, by the way, and it's a great venue to play out when you go play Buffalo up there. But I can understand the conversation. Herm Edwards, our guest, here in the first hour of overdrive. I think one of the most compelling awards discussions,

Herm, is Coach of the Year. And I think you can make a case for seven or eight guys right now. I mean, Denver and New England and Jacksonville, certainly the Seattle Seahawks at the top of the NFC, the Bears, maybe Dave Canales and the Carolina Panthers, if they can win the division. How about what Shanahan's done with the San Francisco 49ers? When you look at that race,

is there one name that sticks out as someone maybe who's done the best job and should be the coach of the year? Well, you know, I think all of them are worthy candidates. There's no doubt about that. I mean, when you can look at the transformation of what they've done in Chicago. I mean, it's like, wow. I mean, during the division where you got the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions,

and I can promise you, you know, all these gamblers, if they would have bet on Chicago being in the first place, they'd be rich right now. No one did it, especially in the NFC North, right? No one anticipated them to be 11 and 4. So you've got to give them a lot of credit. San Francisco, I say that in a sense. They were beat up early in the season.

They were wounded. haven't played with both that are starting receivers since the season, right? And McCaffrey has been kind of a workhorse for them on offense defensively. They're good, but they've only got 18 sacks as a defense. I mean, and they sit here at 11 and 4, and maybe the best division in the NFC, when you think about the Rams are sitting there at 11 and 4. Obviously, the Seattle Seahawks are 12 and 3.

So those two, to me, are the, the coaches, in my opinion, not saying those other guys aren't worthy, but I'm just looking at, you know, what they've accomplished were, the 49ers being beat up in Chicago, I mean, 11 and 4. And it's like, wow, that's really good for Chicago Bears, by the way. You know, that quarterback took 68 sacks last year and that. Yeah. Remember that.

Same quarterback, 68 sacks. Yeah, that's incredible. It is incredible. Herm, we were just talking before you came on about the. But the NFL, you know, they take over whatever they want to take over, and they've taken over Christmas Day from the NBA. And yet, you look at these three games, they're not exactly marquee matchups given the form of the teams in question, Cowboys, Commanders, Lions, Vikings,

and then what was supposed to be the feature game, Broncos Chiefs at 815, it was supposed to be Mahomes against Knicks. It was supposed to be Taylor Swift in prime time. What do you make of the Chiefs, Herm, when you think about, you know, Mahomes coming off the ACL coming into next year. Kelsey, 36 years old, there's speculation about whether this will be his last season. If you had to put money on that, you talked about betting, if you had to put money on it if Travis Kelsey will play his last game this season

or will he continue? Which way would you be swinging? I think if he watches, you know, I know when I retired, you know, I watched myself play and I knew how I was. wanted to play and what I had done in the past and I looked at myself on film and I said I'm done I don't want to put that on film anymore right you know that's not who I am and that was just me personally that's how I did and I retired I didn't get cut or anything like that I retired and I walked into the coach's office and he said what I said yeah coach I'm done I'm going

home he's got eight games left I said now coach I'm done I'm good unless so I mean I don't know how he's going to come about doing that. I think Mahones will get, he'll get, he'll get, he'll, he'll be fine next year. I mean, Brady went through this, Adrian Peterson went through the same injury. Um, they've got to address their offensive line. There's no doubt about that. They, they've got to fix that. They've got to get some complimentary receivers, you know, that, that, that are, they got

some okay receivers, not great. I mean, they're okay. They're flashy at times. Defensively, they were pretty good. But I think this team, along with the Eagles that have a little bit of this, they're tired. When you think about all the games these guys have played in the last four years, all the added games, playoffs, Super Bowls. It's a tired team. This is what happens when you continue to go into the playoffs and you get to the finals and you go to a Super Bowl.

You become weary. It's a lot of extra games over four years. Eagles are feeling a little bit. of that too when you watch the employee. So I just think they'll find a way to get it fixed. They have my homes coming back. But will they dominate like

they did for that run they had again? I don't know about that. I don't know about that. We'll have to wait and see. Herm Edwards with us here on Overdrive. It's also bowl season officially underway. And I'm curious to know your thoughts on Fernando Mendoza. It's such an incredible season.

Do you look at him as a franchise quarterback in the NFL? Herm, Well, you know, it's, first of all, there's not, there's not 32 franchise quarterbacks. Let's make that perfect as we never has been. We like to throw that word out there, franchise. Buffalo Bills have one. They got one for sure. You know, I don't know.

I think he's talented, love him as a person. But, you know, time will tell. Now, he'll get drafted. I mean, there's not a big quarterback class, right? There's not a lot of quarterback, so they get shoved up. There's probably in the league right now, there is probably seven or eight teams that need a quarterback. So guess what?

They just shove them up. They get pushed up. Sometimes that's a good thing if it works, sometimes not, right? Because then you got a guy, first round pick, high pick, and the pressure's on the guy right away some guys can deal with the pressure some cannot we've seen this story before where guys haven't dealt with it first couple years and they ship them off baker mayfield happens to be one there's a there's a bunch of them that have kind of resurrected their careers after they were somewhere else and it didn't work out for them and they went ah you know i got to go somewhere

jerry golf you know found the landing spot i mean you can there's a handful of them so We'll just have to wait and see what happens here. Coach, thank you so much for doing this on Christmas Eve. We can't thank you enough for your time. A very Merry Christmas, happy holidays to you and your family, and hopefully we can catch up with you again down the road. You guys have the same. Thank you very much.

Thank you. That's Herm Edwards from ESPN. What a guy. Herm Edwards. Inspiring guy. He fires me up, just listening to him to talk. Yes, very much. So we should give the people what they want,

and that is the official picks for the over-jured. drive competition between team HBO and team Nudelson. And I'm going to read them out, Doogie, is that right? Okay, let's do it. So the Cowboys of the Commanders is the first game tomorrow. Team Nudelson is on Dallas minus the points, seven and a half. And it's up here on TSN 1, 4, and 5. Lions and Vikes for Hayes, Bro, and O, they're on Detroit. And then Team Nudelson, oh, everyone's back in the big favorites.

The Broncos minus 13 and a half at Kansas City. So those are the Christmas games. There are two games on Saturday as well. Texans at Chargers. HBO's on Houston plus a point in a half. And Ravens and Packers, Packers minus three for Nootlson. And the last two picks. Bears at Niners.

HBO on San Fran minus the points. And the Eagles of the Bills, the Eagles plus the points for Luke and Noodles. So, interesting. Where do you stand on that Philly Buffalo game? Bills at home are tough to be. They've been good. at home. They have been good at home. And I mean, I don't know what to make

a Philly. I don't want to count out Philly. Like, it feels like, you know, having covered them at the Super Bowl last year and really looked at their season closely, like, they've weathered the storm of Fire Siriani and these guys stink and Jalen Hertz isn't a championship

quarterback. And they've come out of it with a Super Bowl and Jalen Hertz is a Super Bowl MVP. So, you know, I'm a little worried that I'm tapping my watch going. This is around the time of the season where they start to remind people that they're really good. They beat the Raiders. They shut them out a couple weeks ago

and they beat Washington last week, but the bill is clearly a different level of competition this week. So looking forward to that one. That's going to be a lot of fun on Sunday afternoon. Mike Johnson in about 15 minutes we'll talk about the world juniors with MJ who imagines on his way to Minnesota in probably the next

24 hours as Team Canada gets underway on Boxing Day and certainly the Toronto Maple Leafs and their 6-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins yesterday afternoon. I'm Aaron Kurolnick. That's Dave Feschuk. More overdrive after this. Overdrive continues the first hour here on TSN 1, 4, and 5 on TSN's YouTube channel and TSN 1050. Coralick Fesschuk with you until 6 o'clock and then the Christmas Eve festivities kick off. Very exciting night of sports. Not so much.

Tonight meant to spend with family and friends, Dave. That's why they don't have any sports on and except that game in Hawaii where they play. I don't know, Cal versus whoever else. But there's nothing else going on. It's a beautiful thing. Is it a beautiful thing? Like, isn't this a marketing opportunity for some, you know, aspiring sports entrepreneur to come up with some sort of a, yes, gizmo, some sort of a gimmick, some sort of an event,

some sort of a golf match. Maybe Liv could figure something out. Unfortunately, Brooks Kepka no longer available for Liv. He leaves Liv, the announcement made yesterday, that he will not be part of it. participating in 2026, leaving a lot of people to wonder what the future is of Brooks Kepka. I don't think Brooks Kepka is good at golf anymore. And I don't think that's a hot take. He won the PGA back in 2023 and since then he's been completely irrelevant.

He's into his mid-30s. Irrelevant would be strong. Would it? I mean, he's had some decent showings at majors where he's maybe hasn't finished well, but he started well at a couple. Well, the Masters, when he and Rahm went toe to toe. But that was the same year he won the PGA. Right.

Yeah, that was more than two years ago. Okay. A lot of injuries. I would say only two years ago. Okay. I'm just uncertain. Brooks Kepka comes back to the PGA tour if he's the Brooks Kepka from five years ago where he was one of the best players.

The guy's got five major championships. Yeah. It's unbelievable. He's got three PGAs and two U.S. opens, had that stretch there in the late 2010s where he was as good as anybody. But that was a long time ago now. I'm just uncertain if the star appeal of Brooks Kepka is still there to the point where the BGA tour is desperate to get him back on.

Look, obviously, the way he's played, no, it's not. But that's been almost the same for everybody that went to live. Pretty much. Minus DeShambo, who did it through YouTube. And John Rom, who's been hit and miss. But, yeah, really, it's only those two guys. Yeah, to your point, like Kepkin missed the cut at three of the four majors this year. Now, he was, he did tie for 12th at the U.S. Open, which isn't terrible.

Like, it's not what you expect. You expect this got to be a contender because this was a guy who, to your point, won five majors. I mean, 2023, he finishes he second at the Masters, wins the PGA, you know, 17, 18, 19. He won a major in each of those years and won two in 2018. So here's a guy that's had a hell of a career by any measure, but he's only 35, A.K. This guy is not an old man. I like how you think 35 is young still.

It makes me feel better by myself. Well, in the age of, you know, charter flights to the Eternal Fountain of Youth in Munich, Germany, which seems to work for everybody other than. and Austin Matthews, you know, there are ways of prolonging your career that have never been available to human beings before. That's true. I like his chance. That's true.

I like his, and he's a dog. He is. He was. I'm not sure he still is, but I do think he will play on the PSHA tour again. The dog parts up here. Yes. The body, yes, the body has failed him at times. He's had some injury issues, but the mental strength that Brooks Kepka has been able to

display on a golf course has never been in doubt. So when it comes to live in its future, what has Kepka's, departure mean for you, if anything, the viability of it going forward? It's never been viable, but that doesn't stop it from going forward, right? True. That's the beauty of Saudi, the endless pit of money that exists in the Saudi kingdom, where they just keep dumping it in. And by the way, because for whatever reason, you know, the merger that we were told about

on the Wednesday of the Canadian Open, how many years ago now, they announced that never came to fruition. There's obviously the negotiations failed. There's never been a substantial or a substantive coming together of the PJ tour and the Saudi public investment fund that funds the LiveGolf Tour. I don't know where we are on that.

Like, Live is as irrelevant as ever. Yeah, and their players, they're all old guys for the most part. Remember Cameron Smith going toe to toe with McElroy at the open. Joaquin Neiman, who never shows up for major championships, but a lot of people thought he was one of the next young studs. Hasn't really emerged. Rom,

Keppka, Dustin Johnson. Like, you're talking about guys who are kind of past their prime, a lot of old guys on Live, who can't really compete with the young studs on the PGA tour. So I wonder how that's going to look going forward. And I think for Kepka,

it's more so he's got a ton of cash. Yes. He doesn't want to schlep around all North America. on the world playing in these live events when he doesn't need to. And he's got a kid and that's probably his priority now. You know, look, I mean, I would be surprised. That is one theory.

I'm not saying you're wrong. I would be surprised by that. I think this guy at his heart is the essence of a competitor. And I would be surprised if this guy does not show his face in a very real way in the major scene in the coming years. I really would. I think he wins again? Yeah, for sure.

If this guy faded into obscurity, that would absolutely shock me. I mean, and it would probably be irreparable knee problems and things that he just cannot overcome physically because the mental game's there, man. It is. And that'd be a lot of fun to see him back on the tour because you're right. When he's at his best, he is as good as it gets, but it's been a while since we've seen that. That's Dave Festchuk from the star. I'm Aaron Kournick. Hour 2 of Overdrive ahead featuring Mike Johnson, confirm or deny, comes your way next.

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