OverDrive - OverDrive - January 14, 2026 - Hour 1 - Jesse Palmer

Episode Date: January 14, 2026

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan for Hour 1 on OverDrive! The guys dive into the Maple Leafs' deflating loss against the Mammoth, Toronto getting set for the showdown against Mitch Marner and the Golden Knights and his position playing center on the team. TSN NFL Analyst Jesse Palmer joins to discuss the NFL divisional round matchups, Josh Allen's winning elements and Aaron Rodgers' legacy in the league and the PGA Tour kicking off at the Sony Open.

This hour of overdrive is powered by Fanduil. Fandul, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. All right, here we go, Overdrive, off and running GSN 1050 on the TSN app, your home smart speaker, and up on TSN4, Brian Hase, O'Dog, Jeff O'Neill, Jamie Noodles, McClennett. What's going on? What's going on over there? What is that?

Yeah, what do we have? Somebody gave him a free something. Asked for it. Someone asked for something, and it finally arrived. Ivan Demadoff. He's a good player, man. That's your guy? Ivan Demadoff.

You've got a hoodie with his name on the back of it. Look at you, Jersey guy. Hoodie guy. Remember I told you guys? I love Demadoff. He's one of my favorite players. My buddy, Paul Edwards, thank you very much. Got me the warrior.

Demadoff hoodie. Thank you very much. So he's your guy. Rookie of the year, Locke for you? Or Schaefer still the guy? Schaefer's still the guy. But let's clean up some housekeeping for. First of all, take me off of the group text with you and Al's brother, because you guys aren't taking me seriously.

Noodles, these two idiots, they say, this is where it starts. Early liens, please. I send out what I think, and they go, no, that's not going to happen. Dude, take me off of that. I'm not doing that. That's so stupid. Here's the problem, noodles. Yes, I want to hear this.

Here's the problem. We're having Jesse Palmer on today. Before any question is asked, I'm going to say, Jesse, what do you think of this philosophy? The Seahawks are going to destroy the 49ers. Destroy. Thoughts. We could use some help. Let's be clear here.

What are your problems with the test? It's not a matter of problems. Here's the issue. We get the ball rolling. This is how Al's brother and I operate it all year for one of the all-time great seasons in the history of pro-sport. We were glad to take you on on a waiver wire, and you're a big part of the team, and we love having you. But we have a process here. Late signing.

Yes, and the way it operates, early leans, you kind of, you get the ball rolling. You come out of the gate flying. This team's going to get destroyed. It's like, we're not talking, okay, just ease in it. Why do you think that? Slaughtered. You're idiots. And I'm like, dude, just relax.

Take us through the process. You're morons. take me on and I'm like you're not answering anything. Yeah, there's no rationale. There's no rationale. You've got to have different personalities in the boardroom. I agree with you. In the board room. So let me get this straight.

You guys like to round table it on a group text. No, this is how this is how the roundtable goes. I give my two cents, sometimes a little off the handle, sometimes a little crazy. Al's brother comes out with a stat pack and then this guy goes, here's what we're doing. This is

This is the direction. This guy's Mike Keenan. Yeah, yeah. He's Mike Keenan of HBO. You know, I'm listening to everyone. Someone's got to make an executive decision at the end of the day. And that's, I guess, my role in this process. But it's a tough week.

It should be. It's the divisional round. We've got four great games. You know, there's really compelling storylines. Jesse Palmer will join us at 430 and we'll get some help. And nothing's been defined. And I definitely, here's another thing. Okay.

If you don't like the process, your answer can't be, take me off the group chat. I'm out. Like, just relax a little bit. You know, we're just getting going here. We're not making the picks until Friday. We're going to settle. We got to consider who they're going to take, right? That's part of the process.

We get to pick our two games. We don't, we're not telling you anything, noodles until Friday. We're not telling you two anything. We make our picks, and then you will be left with the two games that are remaining. So, okay, cool. The ball is rolling. Al's brothers on Canadian soil. Everything's okay.

All right, we're going to be fine. And I haven't seen any big injury updates yet this week, which I think is a good sign. I think everyone's ready to go. You know, we'll see. Obviously, the big quarterbacks are playing and Jesse Palmer a little bit later this hour. What are the odds, too? Have we had the odds come out yet? Yeah, oh, yeah, spreads are out.

Man, the NFL, their spreads come out one second after a game. Instantaneously, but I haven't seen them in the group travel. They're starting to move a little bit. Like the Rams, it's moving in the direction of the Rams a little bit. The bills would be. Bills are favored. Yeah, that's what I thought. I mean, I don't know if you really want to do this.

Do you want an early kind of lean on that tilt? I like the bills. I know where you stand. You like Denver. And big. Is that what you're saying big? You like Denver big? Is that your?

Massive. Massive. I can't reason with that. I don't know how you think that is a massive win. I just. The Broncos. The Broncos are not the Jaguars. Finkel is not Einhorn, and Einhorn is not Finkel.

And the Broncos are not the bills, man. I just think that they might slaughter the bills. I don't see. That's the problem. I get an initial feeling about a game. I was one for two last week of my thoughts. Exactly. Okay.

Not great. Eagle Super Bowl. They're in Cancun right now. You know, you have the Jags beat the bills. They're in Cancun. So, you know, that's a part of the problem here. So we're trying to wait through this. But anyway, I like the bills.

I like Josh Allen. I think it'll be a tight game. And I feel like if it comes down to the fourth quarter again, and he's got the ball in his hands with two minutes, they're going to win. Like, that's how he operates, and that's the way he's wired. But it's not going to be easy. None of these games would be easy.

They're all going to be. They're kind of pickums, aren't they? They're close to be in pickums. Like the biggest spread Seattle, San Frank, because the Niners are just so beaten down. short week all the way to Philly now to Seattle like coast to coast and kennels out but they've been banged up all year and they continue to play well so um you know there's another one we've got we don't see eye to eye necessarily or

else brother and the O dog don't but we'll sort it out we'll be fine we're going to get to those picks on Friday Jesse Palmer later in the hour Pete DeBore will join us in an hour we'll catch up with Pete we got role play level of concern and what's uh what's your level of concern on the leaf performance last night You find on the patio. Is Stevie Caldwell? It goes one way or the other. They either build off the momentum of the wind in Colorado or you get spanked.

Back-to-backs are difficult in the NHL. You're getting in late. And they obviously emptied the tank against the Aval. And they just couldn't get anything. They were terrible last night. Like, there is no other way around it. It was a difficult one. They were falling all over the place.

They were just, they were a mess in their own zone. And I just tell you one thing. and I don't want to harp on this guy because he's such a really good player. But it was like William Nealander last night, he was back to just like his own program. And you talked about how he was back checking and dialed in in Colorado. He was just off script last night doing his own thing, wheeling around. And it was like, yeah, I might get that one. I might not.

And it was like it can't go from one end of the spectrum to the other like that. Can't. I felt like it was a playoff game the night before. and then they just showed up. The one thing that I want to point out, and I said this to you the other day, Utah's a good team. Like, they're not, this isn't Arizona, you know, six years ago. Utah's got good young talent. They've got a, their goaltender leads the league and wins.

That's a Melka. Now, he made a couple good saves, timely saves. The breakaway save on Tavares, it was weird. He just made it look like he was out for Sunday stroll. I love. It was a weird. But the goalie didn't move. He didn't move.

It was a weird, like, point being is I think Utah might be a team that would look to add at the deadline and try and, you know, that's a playoff team for me, and I think they're a good team. And, you know, coming off the night before, I wouldn't say it was a trap game, but you could tell. There was a drop in everything, a drop of the insensitive. And that Utah team, they played a lot of road games, and now they got a bunch of home games and they're making, hey, they're fast. They moved the puck around. They're skilled. They got a little bit of everything. I actually, I don't mind that.

No, and they look good last night, and they were waiting for them. Exactly. Listen, we hear the term scheduled loss a lot. That's kind of the definition of one. And I know what people are going to say, you know, non-leaf fans. Oh, last night, you know, yesterday it was the greatest win ever. And now, you know, you've got to be reasonable here. Those are two back-to-backs, big travel, different times.

They're playing 10 p.m. Easter, and they're playing eight local in these games. You know, it's, it's, they emptied the tank in Colorado and went blow for blow with the best team in the league in one. And the objective flying into Colorado was get two points in the first 24 hours, you know, 48 hours. The first two games, whether it's you lose to Colorado, beat Utah, lose twice and overtime, beat Colorado, lose to Utah. It's irrelevant. They were 8-0 and 2 going into it, so they deserve some benefit of the doubt. It was an ugly game. It was over basically three minutes in, you know.

When Utah scored, you're like, this game's, it's just not going to happen. But now is where you've been in response. Yes. Now you played that card. You had your schedule lost. Now you get a day off in Vegas. You're acclimated to the time zone. Vegas is in L.A. playing tonight.

You're going to get like a fourth string goalie tomorrow because Hill's out, Carter Hart's out. I think Schmead's going tonight. So you got a fourth string Vegas goalie, and Vegas is playing tonight on the road. So advantage swings back to the leaves, and you've got to get it back together. And when we talked about this road trip, four games and six nights, a bunch of different time zones, tough games, four or five points. You've got two now. You've got to find two more in the next two games. Anything beyond that is a good trip.

That's how you've got to isolate this. And there's going to be another one later in the month, I believe it is. You're going through Western Canada and Seattle, four games in like six nights, and then it's going to be California. Like you got a few of these where you're you're getting they're going to get pumped a couple of times Like it's going to happen they're going to have a back to back in the wrong spot Yeah and it's just about how you respond you know you got to get back on the train quickly because you're not Colorado with points Minnesota Carolina with points Tampa with points You played you you lost it's going to happen at some point now you got to get back on the horse and play well tomorrow

Yeah that's that's really what it is and it's how you respond and you're right like Vegas, I don't know, the build-up, not the build-up. Marner game, not the Marner game. Vegas is a good team, and they're not just going to roll over. You're right, they play tonight, they're going to come back in their own building. We'll see how they play in L.A. tonight. It's only a short flight. It's a 40-minute flight, so it's not that they're going to be very taxed as far as playing.

Back-to-back's always hard in this league. But you've got to be ready. You've got to be ready tomorrow. And then regardless of what do you think going into Winnipeg, is it Winnipeg? Winnipeg Saturday, yeah. Winnipeg's playing better. Like that's the one thing that, you know, you look at it, Winnipeg seems, their game seems to settle down a little bit.

You know, they're playing with confidence now. So that's not going to be just a rollover game. So you're right. You've got to find four or five points, maybe six if you could play amazing. If not, you've got to find at least two more points in the next two games. For sure. And, you know, tomorrow, it'll be interesting. Like, Marner's playing center, and Iko and Hurtle are available.

It's just they're playing them up. the middle of the ice. So what? He's their third line centerman? Or second line. He's playing with Dora Faev, so I think it's Riley Smith and him and Dora Favav. We'll see tonight. I mean, I don't know if Cassidy's committed to it.

I don't know if it's going to happen consistently. I understand the thought process just with how clever he is, but in a different way, I view him as like a Patrick Kane, like a dominating play-driving winger. I don't, like I've thought about the idea. I don't see him as a centerman. I think everybody looks at a player and you have different thoughts over, especially when you watch them as much as we've watched Mitch Marner over his career, watching every shift, every game.

I just don't see him as a centerman. I don't know why. Maybe a little more freedom on the wing. He's done all of his business, his whole career on the wing. I'd like to decide now in his career that he's a sentiment, I find weird. I think he's smart enough and talented enough to play any position. Sure. I see him as a winger as well.

Center is a different position because you've got to be guy back down low, supporting the play. Center is a more physical position because you've got to fight for the puck all the time. Marner, to me, is a guy who can get lost out there in a good way. Go and find open space, create open space with his skill. That's why I think he's always been a dominant winger is because he draws people towards him and then he distributes the puck. as a centerman you're in the middle of everything and I just I don't know if that would be conducive to the way he likes to play or not but he's talented enough to play anything but I I see him as a winger as well totally I mean he's in year 10 he's a veteran in the league he hasn't played center at all and he never had to you know when he arrived here Matthews was here they had Cadry and Bozac his first year they had Cadre his second and Tavares showed up his third so it was Matthews and Tavaris or Cadry or whatever it was never really a conversation

It was water cooler chat. You know, they tried Willie at the middle of the ice. They didn't really ever try Marner. But I think what it indicates is the way Vegas operates that it is about the name on the front instead of the name on the back. We're not asking you. Right, you're playing it. We're going to give it a shot.

We want to try. It doesn't mean he'll stay there. But that was always, you know, an interesting chat in Toronto. Well, how would Mitch feel about it? How does Willie feel about it? Is that going to work? What about their headspace? They're being asked about it.

a lot. In Vegas, man, they don't care. Like, they're paying you. They're paying you a lot, and they want you to fit in, but if we feel you've got to play in the middle of the ice, that's precisely where you're going to play. And I appreciate that mentality. And, you know, Mitch,

I think a lot of Lee fans are going to wake up today and tomorrow, like in preparation for the game, and try to figure out what's going on with him, you know, because he's out of sight out of mind. When you're in Vegas, it's gone. I haven't played them. They're playing a 10 o'clock every night. It's a total different experience.

And, you know, you've got 10 goals, about a point of game, playing 20 minutes, playing some center, playing on the second line. You know, it's a transition. And Jonas wrote an article in the athletic today. I guess he went there in December and caught up with him for a couple of days, which I'm sure Marner loved when he saw Jonas walking through that door. Jonas gets off the plane? Oh, yeah.

I'm coming in, and I'm coming in hot. And he wrote, I thought it was a really interesting article about trying to identify. identify the transition for Martin because it's got to be difficult. You know, he's, he's from here, his wife's from here, they've got a young kid, they're in Vegas, you don't know anyone there. It's a different world. You're in a different country. Everything's different with the team, the way they do, business, all of it.

I think there's a lot. I think there's pros and cons to everything. I will say he probably has a different life and maybe a quieter life, which, you know, he always talked about it. Listen, I played the Canadian market, so did you. Like going for dinners, all of that type of stuff. You have to plan for it in a Canadian market, especially when you're a star. Not me.

You know, oh, you might have, but me not. If I was with Jerome McGinnler, absolutely. The point is, is you get a lot more attention in Canadian market. In Vegas, I guarantee him and his wife and kid go for dinner, you know, they get to destroy the life. Yesterday, Brian asked me, he said, do you think he regrets his decision? And I said, I don't think the word regret is a mistake. involved, but I would bet sometimes he misses it.

Like, big win on Saturday night and you want to go have a couple beers with you. It's just, I don't know, I found that to be pretty cool. Like, just when things are going good and you're Mitch Marner in Toronto, it was probably pretty good. I know there was nonsense that happened that he hated. I would just, if I were to bet, I would say he misses it to some degree, sometimes, some things about it. I'm sure.

There's things to, yeah. I mean, it was his room, you know, like he was very comfortable here, too. And, like, he was chasing record books. It was his team and all that kind of stuff. And you guys can both speak to it also as veterans. You know, if you're a kid, if you're a rookie joining a new team, the vets take you under their wing and they're like, all right, you're a kid, you know, well, you got no family here.

When you're 28, you know, like Mark Stone's got a wife and kids, he's not saying, yeah, let's go out and party tonight. You know, like, it's a different transition when you join a team as a veteran. as opposed to maybe as a rookie or if it's your room. And Mitchell get there. If he's there for eight years, it'll feel like his room. It probably does now more than it did at the start of the year. Will, I'm sure, in a couple of years.

And obviously winning will be a big factor in that. That's been a consistent theme this week we've talked about. For the Leafs, Vegas, anyone else, if you win, everything feels better, everything feels different. And, you know, that's where obviously the Leafs are at right now, last night notwithstanding. You know, you start winning again and you can move on. and it opens up the spotlight for other guys.

You know, Matthew Nyes plays a bigger role in the spotlight of the city. Joseph Wohl can play a bigger role, you know, and I think ultimately we'll talk about it between now and tomorrow and I certainly by next Friday when he rolls back through town. It was the right play. Something had to change here. Like, it was the right play for Marner to leave. Go find where you want to find.

I think it was better for him. It's better for the team. I totally agree. They had to have a different feel. You got to have a different identity. You had to. You know, so one narrative that drives me nuts is when people, like, well, I'll just tweet about something. And then some dork sends me a message saying, you drove Marner out of town.

I'm like, what are you? The idea that the media drove Marner out of town, I think is the craziest thing I've ever heard in my life. The craziest. Well, he's a big boy, too. Why would he want that, you know, like he made a decision. Well, you're telling me you've never heard that stupid narrative. Of course. I get it all the time.

Yeah, of course. And Brad Marchand say it last week or two weeks ago. I mean, I think it's unfair to just say one word. The media, the fan. You know what you could say? It's an intense city with a lot of attention. But just like anything, just like Philadelphia is, just like New York is, just like Dallas with the Cowboys. It is an intense city.

There's lots of coverage, and it is a lot different than other settings. Oh, you came from Carolina to Toronto. You can actually explain the difference of the attention and all of that. Now, it's for some people, others. I've talked to former Leafs that say I loved it for five years. After a while, I grew tired of the attention. I grew tired of the – and it wasn't – it's not the pressure. It's a pressure you put on yourself as a player in that.

But, oh, you speak to coming from Carolina to Toronto. It's a different life. That's really what it is. The one thing that people do around here, I think the players do it, and it's a big-time mistake or a misunderstanding, I think they loop Twitter trolls with the media. Do you know what I mean? Like they take heat on Twitter from bozos on Twitter,

and it's like those people are the media. That's not the media. Or the average fan, for that matter, and the average experience. Like the reality is a lot of interaction online is non-leaf fans, too, that hate on the leaves and can't wait to jump on them. and I get it. That's a big part of the sports, you know, culture in the country. You either love or hate them. You know, there's some teams in this country. I won't name them.

But they're, you know, their fans love them, but other people aren't like, I hate those fans or I hate that team. It's don't have the same profile. You know, and it's deeply rooted. Original Six, hockey night, they were the only team on and, you know, all that kind of stuff. And what comes with it, the amount of coverage, et cetera, et cetera. So you're right, though. Social media is a, you know, you. You get caught down that rabbit hole and you're like, oh, what does this mean?

And you extrapolate and et cetera, et cetera. That's what it does. It gets noisy. It amplifies anything, any story. Again, when I was playing this, I'm dating myself, but you guys know, I played a long time ago. There wasn't Twitter. You watch TV or you read the paper the next day. It wasn't instantaneous opinions from everybody, instantaneous coaching from everybody.

That's what I think the biggest adjustment for some of these. players and it's not even the players what it is is the players here from the parents and the wife and the best friend and some of these wives and girlfriends are instagram stars and they got to be at the rink and in the corner taking pictures with the baby and all it like there's there's so it's a different world and i as an old man i've had to like adjust to it because i'm i there's times where i'm in between the benches and warm up and i'm going man like i i think of some of the coaches i had they would crawl the glass and attack some of the players are going, why is your, you know, wife in the corner with your kid and you're standing there waving to him

instead of getting ready for the game? It's just different. Life is different. And I think that's the way you have to adjust to it. But it's, you know, I think his life in Vegas would be a lot different. And you're right. I think there's things he would miss. But I also think there's things that he welcomes where it's just a different approach to life.

It's a new lease on life. It's a different, you know, he's a great player. He's had a great. career and ultimately it will be determined on how the teams perform in the future right if Vegas wins if the Leafs win or lose you know it'll have an effect on maybe how we look back on everything but you're right about the approach of social media like even Aaron Rogers the other night was referencing that on the way out like likely his final press conference you know he's chastising Twitter trolls media members that don't think they know everything yeah it's like

man that that's a 42 year old man That is a 42-year-old who is genuinely affected by it. Like, you could tell. That wasn't him protecting somebody. That was him affected. You don't make the comment if you're not affected by it. Exactly. And he's aware of it, and he sees it, and he knows it, and he doesn't like it.

And, you know, that is the reality of where we're at with pro sports. All right, Jesse Palmer coming up on the divisional weekend. Oh, you'll have the first question. You can get out there and you can ask, right? You can ask are the Seahawks going to get, you know, pumped the Niners or the bill's going to get pumped. That'll be the very first question. I'm going to lay out a scenario for him, and I want to get his initial reaction. But you've got to make me a deal.

If he agrees with me, we're rolling with it. Okay. All right. Deal? Demadov. I think we might be on to something. Demi God. Demi God.

Always been a Schaefer guy myself, but I appreciate how great that kid is in Montreal as well. All right. So we got more games in the NHL tonight. Palmer coming up. Pete DeBore, role play in about an hour. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and up on YouTube live. Unmistakably Canadian. It's the music that raised you. The artists raising the bar. Hi, this is Brian Adams. Hey, my name's Brett Emmons. I'm from the glorious sons. Hi, I'm Nellie Fittato. Made in Canada. The station that champions Canadian music. Loud, crowd, and all yours.

No passports required. Just press play. Tap into Mating Canada now on iHeartRadio.ca. Or the free iHeartRadio Radio app. You guys see that stinky old Tony Romo is now claiming he was sick on the weekend? I did not see that. No, is Tony getting out in front of it? Because he still got work to do, right?

Tony's calling games this week and I believe the following week. Yeah, I just saw an announcement on. awful announcing Maromo claims he was sick. That's why it was bizarre things going on. And I'm just like, why would you even bother? On medication? I don't know. Like was he saying weird things out of the normal?

I don't know if one of his reps got to him and said, look, man, it's like anything else. Like you got to get out and you got to come up with something here because people are just destroying you. He was taking a lot of heat. A lot of heat. Again, social media, so take that for what it's worth. But I've always liked Romo. He's a likable guy. I like his energy's approach.

When he came on the scene, it was like, whoa, what is this? Where is he going? He's so excited. And I found that very captivating. Now, you know, over the weekend there were some weird calls and there was some weird stuff going on. It's like stuff that goes on where old Jimmy Boy will say like, hey, I think they're Tony. and Tony Romo will be like, ah, I kind of don't know,

and I don't, maybe it was this, and maybe it was that, it was like, what the hell are you talking about, man? He sounded subdued. The thing is about football games. You know, there's 30 million people watching in the States.

Yeah. And it's, you got the one game, you know, like, noodles, you call, you know, like,

all right, I'm calling another one tomorrow night. Exactly. Whatever. Bounce back. Yeah, there's no immediate bounce back. And it's such a high profile.

I thought the goat, Tom Brady was, I think the jump that he's doing a great, made from year one to year two. Fantastic. You didn't believe in Tom, though. I was not a big believer in Tom. He doesn't believe in anybody.

The only person he believes in, Jamie, is himself. Let's bring in a real broadcaster. A real broadcaster. All right, here he is. This guy, you know, how about this, Jesse? Jesse Palmer joining us. Just taking heat, man. I'm trying to just do my thing here, and these guys, no support for me.

It's very disappointing. It's great, see, you guys. You're just catching strays over there, haze all day. It's like stray hay over there. It's just friendly fire coming from every direction. No kidding. Well, I mean, you've called a bunch of games. You've done studio work.

You've done it all. What's it like being in the booth for like a big game? And you know there's millions of people watching. I mean, it's exciting. It's nerve-wracking for sure. But it's just like when you play, I think. You just have to sort of remind yourself that it's still just a game. I think it's important in that job to treat every game like it's the biggest game of the week.

I mean, there's a lot of games you call where you know there's nobody at home watching. And sometimes those are the ones that, you know, you take your foot off the gas a little bit, and those are ones that you can make the biggest mistakes in. So I think it's just an approach of knowing, you know, I don't think you prepare more for the big game than you do a smaller game. You should prepare a lot for all the games and just kind of go into it as prepped as you can be and just try to be as present, and just try to be a fan and just think about the fans at home and what they want to know

and what they want you to talk about. I think those are things you got to think about. What do you think of the criticism Romo is getting, Jesse? You think it's kind of warranted, or you don't comment on what other people do, or just what are your thoughts on it? I mean, it's hard for me to do because I just don't know what Tony's prep is and sort of what his process is.

I know everybody has that, and I know I think for broadcasters, like for players. I think there's ups and downs and I think there's a lot of excitement around Tony, certainly when he started his career and some of the fresh perspective and the fresh energy and, you know, diagramming plays before they happen and all that sort of thing. And, you know, he's been out of a long time now. Tony's called a lot of big time games and he works with one of the best in the business in Jim Nance. And, you know, it's kind of hard to say. I mean, I enjoy watching them every week. I enjoy watching all the guys. I sort of appreciate everybody's

different approach to it and different style, you know, and you kind of take it that way. I'm going to present the most Canadian answer ever. Yeah, very Canadian. I just want to present this scenario to you because I am on a team with Hayes here who was catching strays. And he basically takes suggestions for who he thinks is going to win. And then he just goes into a room, locks the door, and he said, I don't care what you guys think. But let me present this scenario for you. The Seahawks blow out the 49ers and the Broncos blow out the bills.

Thoughts on that. Yeah. Okay. Well, so here's the thing. With Seattle, if Sam Darnel doesn't turn it over, I could see them winning convincingly in that game. I really could. Turnovers have been the biggest problem for him, obviously. He led the NFL of 20 giveaways throughout the regular season, and their run defense is outstanding.

And they took away Christian McCaffrey in the final game of the regular season to lock up the one seed because of the defense, because of the 12s playing at home. Decimated Niners defense, no George Kittle. I mean, I could see, yeah, I could see Seahawks. I could see it. I could see the Seahawks winning by a lot. Everything on paper tells me the Broncos are going to win by a lot. The only thing, I don't know if any of you guys are as big a believer in him as I am too or just it always forces you to pause, but the Josh Allen factor to me, man. is crazy. It is.

And it's like, I know, like, I'm very aware of how good Denver's defense is and how good that pass rush is and what that's going to be like playing at home and how the noise impacts that and affects that. Also, Josh Allen's receiving core is completely decimated right now. Josh Palmer goes to IAR on Saturday before the game. They lose Gabe Davis, a few plays before that. And he's shorthanded here, and he's thrown to a guy that wasn't on the team a couple weeks ago right there in the double move, and Brandon Cooks,

And he's just found a way. And great players, somehow, some way, they just find a way to rise up and elevate those around him. In that game, when Josh Allen was trailing, he was 14 of 17 and accounted for three touchdown passes. And so, you know, if you said, hey, what's the biggest advantage Buffalo has in this one? I feel pretty good knowing what I'm going to get from Josh Allen. I don't really know what I'm going to get from Bo Nix, though, just because I have, haven't seen him play a lot in the postseason.

He's been outstanding. He's been great. And for a second year player, the guy's been phenomenal. And I'm a huge believer in Sean Peyton. He was my coach, my offensive coordinator, my first two years in the league in New York. But the Josh Allen thing, man, I just feel like he, at minimum, keeps that thing close. Staying with quarterbacks, any concern about Stafford in the cold weather in Chicago? No. I mean, the injuries and, you know, he's a guy that,

played in that division a long time. Obviously played in the dome in Detroit all those years, but he's played a lot of cool games in Chicago. He's played a lot of cold games in Green Bay throughout his career. I'm not as concerned about that, especially just his experience, the MVP caliber he's played out all year. I'm not worried about that.

Now, Chicago's defense has been incredible with takeaways this year and taking the ball away. That's something that I think Matt Stafford has to be careful of. I don't know, man. I feel like if Chicago could find a way to start faster, if they could find a way to put four quarters together, I think they could win the whole thing. I mean, they're the best second half team, I think, in the NFL.

And Caleb Williams just keeps competing until there's zeros on the clock. But they got to get D'Andre Swift in that backfield going soon early against the Rams because, I mean, he's got, what, seven fourth quarter comeback wins now? That's the most of any NFL quarterback before the age of 25 or something. You got to start fast. against Matthew Stadford. I'm not worried about Stafford so much as I am Chicago starting slow. With Jesse Palmer, I mean, this year,

the consistent theme from the majority of fans has been like there's no clear-cut favorite. But I think with your assessment of the Bears would suggest to me there's no clear-cut, you know, eighth seed, so to speak. Like, I think all these teams can win this weekend. And if that's the case, I guess I have to believe they can win the championship weekend and roll it into the Super Bowl. Do you see it the same way that it's truly a crapshoot right now? Yeah, I mean, and it's crazy.

I woke up this morning and I was just kind of looking at the games again. And, I mean, I feel like every single game is intriguing for different reasons. Like, there's not one game that I look at and go, oh, that's a guarantee win for this team because. Like in New England, even, as good as Drake May has been, I can't wait to watch New England, Houston, just because I want to see Drake May against that defense and against that pass rush. Right. another guy who's relatively an experienced, right? Who you've seen a lot of really good things from this year in the regular season.

But in the postseason, I think it's a different question. We talked about San Francisco and Seattle and we've talked a little bit about Chicago as well. And I just think all of these games are intriguing for different reasons. In Seattle and San Francisco, it's no different. It's just, you know, my old coach, Jim Fossil used to say with the Giants, he used to tell us, and we were not a good team, but he used to tell us, it's not a good team. But he used to tell us it's not the best team that wins. It's the team that plays the best.

And I think that's true this weekend for any of these teams. Everyone's talented. Everyone can win whoever makes the fewest mistakes. And that's so cliche to say. But I think it's in any sport. I think that's true, especially come this time of the season and playoffs. If you limit the mistakes, you're going to give yourself a chance. Jesse, you just mentioned New England and Drake May.

Is his inexperience why team are people assessing them or being? getting on them or liking them. They don't kind of want to go all in because they just don't know with him. Maybe. You know, I think that's, you know, we talked about the Josh Allen factor versus the Bo Nix factor. I think you could say the same thing about Drake May in that sense as well. Brable has energized that team in a way that is, you know, it's really unique. The physicality, obviously some of the free agent moves they did have changed a lot of things too. I, you know, I have a hard time believing Drake's just going to completely implode. He's just been so good and so locked in.

Him and Josh McDaniel are just on the same page. And it's crazy to think, you know, the course of a season, an offensive play caller, the rhythm and cadence they develop with their quarterback is obviously a huge factor and it's key. And for them, this being really the only year they work together, you know, from week one up into this point now, it's just night and day difference. I think you can say the same thing about Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams too, actually. And so, you know, for me, I think Drake May is the real deal.

I really do. But, you know, this Houston defense is a different animal too now. And Anderson and Hunter and some of these creatures coming off the edge. I mean, they create problems. And so it's that, you know, for me, that's one of the most intriguing matchups at the weekend. Yeah, that defense, they're going to get after him, man. they are going to get after him. Like they got after Aaron Rogers.

And I'm curious what you think happens with Rogers. Do you think this is it? And if so, is he just kind of fade into retirement? Do you see him having a public profile? What's your read on Aaron Rogers? I mean, if history tells us anything, we'll be talking about this for another, I don't know, eight months. You know, if he reports to camp where he's going to sign, if he retires, I don't know. I feel like this is it.

I think he said earlier this year, I think, that this was probably the end for him. And, you know, I think we've sort of seen this in the past with great quarterbacks sort of kind of fizzling out in their last playoff game in a wild card round or a divisional round and then calling it a day. I know we've done, I feel like we've done this for three straight years now, but I feel like this time it's different. I think this is probably the end of the road. It's not getting any better, man. No, it probably won't. Like, at the end, you know, we're in this world of rings and comparing players and legacies, and I've seen it already, you know, reviewing his career.

He's got one ring, and it was back in 2010, I believe, 2011. Like, do you feel like, you know, did he get job? Did he, should he have more? Does it, like, how do you look back on the legacy of Aaron Rogers? Top five quarterback all time in terms of 10. talent for sure in terms of his ability to throw it. It's funny. So after, I think it was yesterday. I was just on YouTube watching like Aaron Rogers highlight and watching some of the throws he's made throughout the course of his career. It's unbelievable. You know, he won four MVPs. And when

he was at his best, there was a stretch of like 10 years or 8 years where it was like 74% completion and he was easily the most dominant player on the field. I think, you know, I think we live in it. I don't know how you guys feel about this. I feel like today we're so quick to say that everything today is the greatest of all time. Like I don't know if you guys do this in hockey ever, but I feel like in basketball, we do it. Certainly in football we do it. The goats are always guys who are playing right now or in the last five years.

And there's a lot of people who lose perspective on what it was like 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago. And so, you know, I cover a lot of college football. I talk to a lot of college players. and we talk about quarterbacks they look up to. And these guys have never seen Dan Marino or John Elway or Joe Montana. Like they don't know, like some of them don't know who Joe Namath is. And like Aaron Rogers to me is sort of one of those generational talents. Just, you know, forgetting how he's looked the last couple of years.

But when you go back and you looked at his career in Green Bay and all the things he did and what he accomplished the Super Bowl, obviously. But to me, top five talent, no question. Yeah. Honestly, man. Like he never threw picks. he had an aura to him that was incredible. And they knocked on the door a lot.

He was in the championship game multiple times. And he didn't perform at his best in some of the biggest games too. I mean, he's got to own it as well. It's not just the Packers were the ones that did give him the opportunity. There were chances for him to step up in bigger games and it didn't happen. But I agree with your assessment. I think that's probably the end of the road. What about Mike Tomlin?

Do you see media for a year back into coaching? Because I remember Bill Cowher. the same chat, right? Bill's going to go into media and then he'll return. He never did. He got very comfortable in media. He's still doing it. You think Tomlin might just get in there and settle in and never go back? Yeah,

maybe. I know just talking to Hermann, John Gruden, a lot of guys that have done it in the past, I don't think they ever expect to like media as much as they do. And I think for coaches, you know, it's such a grind, the day-to-day schedule and just the inability

to have time to yourself, to have time for your family, for your wife, for kids, to travel, do anything. You're just constantly at it. And I think a guy like Mike Tomlin obviously is always going to have a competitive itch and want to compete for championships. And he's a motivator of many. He's a guy that, you know, you ask any player I think that's ever played for Mike Tomlin, I'll tell you just how great he was, how relatable he was to the team, to the locker room, etc. And it's a huge part of his success. But absolutely.

I mean, I could see him having tons of success in the TV world. opportunity to make a lot of money today in TV as well in the role that he would get, because he's one of those coaches at a profile that a big network would open a chair for. There's only a finite amount of those seats, right? And there's only, you can count on one hand how many networks or streaming services are showing NFL football week in, week out in those big markets. And so to me, he gets one of those seats. He could make a lot of money, could really love the schedule.

and then when the right opportunity pops up for him, you know, he takes it if he wants, but he was at that, how many years was it, 19 years in Pittsburgh? 18. That's a grind, man. And, you know, he deserves some time off, but I'm sure he'll be great at TV,

but I'm sure a big part of him is going to want to get back to. Absolutely. He is Jesse Palmer. Enjoy the weekend, Jesse. Always appreciate you doing this. We'll do it again soon. You got it, guys. Appreciate you.

We'll see you. There he is. Jesse Palmer. So, oh, do you feel vindicated? Do you feel, because I'm not sure he gave you the exact answer you were looking for. He gave you a Canadian answer. Somewhat diplomatic. Could say the Seahawks doing it.

Why don't you just do me a favor right now? Get your little phone and read the message that Al's brother just sent to the group text and read it out loud. Okay. Al's brother, three minutes ago. Bills are now a one-and-a-half-point dog. line is completely flipped since noon. So are you indicating you have flipped the line? You came on here and said Denver Big and Fandul spiraled out of control and said we've got to flip the line here.

Wales from Singapore are calling you up for information. Okay. All right. That's an interesting. Now you're getting plus points with the bills. Also compelling. I don't know. Is AB back on Canadian soil or is him?

He's serious. He's got another cruise I think next week. Dude, get that guy. I want to speak. Forget about whatever we're doing at 545. Get that guy on the horn. Okay. We can get them on and reset.

Okay. We've got to do that because we've got role play coming up. Maybe we'll do role play tomorrow. We can do role play whenever we want. I just want to hear what this guy has. Like it's been too long. I want a cruise update. Can we marry him on the show?

Okay. All of it. I like that idea. We'll see what he's doing. He might be at a card expo right now and not available. I mean, that is possible, right? There's a very good chance that he's running some card operation. But Pete DeBoer coming up.

We'll see if we can find Al's brother. We might have to make some golf picks, right? We get the Sony start tomorrow. Might have to sneak in some golf picks. Absolutely. I would love to do that. Yes. All right.

So we'll do that as well. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN4. I'm Dylan Playfair. And I'm Tyler Smith. We're putting loneliness in the penalty box by talking to some of our favorite athletes about the importance of friendship. This is bromance. Bromance is brought to you by Charm Diamond Centers, proudly Canadian-owned and operator.

Charm has been part of your love stories and bromances for over 50 years. And you can find Bromance on the IHeart Radio Network or wherever you get your podcast. All right, Pete DeBore at about 10 minutes. Again, we got the Sony Open starting tomorrow in Hawaii. Russell Henley is a favorite. Big favorite on a Fandu. Interesting. What stinky VJ rated?

Has he got any? Let me look that up and see if I could find a number on. VJ is plus, is that a million or plus 100,000? Plus a hundred thousand? Plus a hundred thousand. I was going to say plus a million seems a little bit rich. Like maybe he puts a dollar on that. Would you put a dollar on it?

Sure. I mean, I don't, I don't, VJ's not making the cut noodles, you know. I just don't. If you're a hundred percent sure. If each could turn back the clock and roll the rock with that big broomstick in the hunk of shoes, you never know. Maybe he makes a weekend. Maybe. You got to be getting huge plus money on the weekend, though.

That's what we should be doing, because you guys know for the most part, like you've got your favorites and all that. What you should be doing is choosing one crazy pick a year. Like one crazy pick per tournament going, you're right. VJ to make the cut. Not to win or anything like this guy to make the cut. I like that idea. We get down with that.

I think Vige on that golf course can make the cut, man. He still hits it a pretty good way. He grinds on the range. Yeah, you know he's working. Like, you know he's there working. He's probably been there for a month working on his game. All right. We'll see if anyone's got the stones to take VJ in the next hour.

We'll make some picks. One of my clings to fame in golf is like, you know how you're just a golf freak of love golfers? I took a leak beside V.J. I had CPC Sawgrass. And I just saw, like, I didn't want to say like, hey, Vege, but I'm telling you, that guy was there. From 6 in the morning, we played 36 that day, and he left when we did, because we played 36, and he just waits, range. And then he just wheels around on a golf cart and tells people to get out of the way he's coming through.

and he just played TBC Sawgrass all day long. That's unreal. Dude, insane what that guy's routine was. Yeah. That takes some stones, man, because it costs a lot of money to play sawgrass to tell people you're out of the way while I'm coming through. Well, it's the player's course. I'll never forget.

There was like you could drive up to the starters. And Veed drives up with this cart, and there's a giant barrel of range balls in his cart. and I don't think that the starter might have been new on the scene and he goes, sir, you just have to wait, these people are going to tee off and there was a couple pylons and Vich goes, move those pylons right now. He went ahead of us and tee off. I love it.

And the starter was like, no, you got to wait, and he goes, move the cones. And the guy just moved the cones and Vige went off. Has he ever won the players? No. No. So, I mean, you're not even a championship at the course. Still, it's a baller move. You don't want VJ, you know, right on your ass the whole round either.

Like, if you're a force of it, he's a single behind you, you know, intimidating that would be. No, I'm not playing. I'm waving him up. Right through. Please, VJ. Go ahead. Right, true. Take your range balls and get out of here.

All right. So more on that into the next hour. Peter DeBore leaves in Vegas tomorrow coming off a bad loss in Utah last night. Ottawa with a wind there in New York tonight. So there's a lot to be. get into with Pete. Overdrive continues. TSN 1050 and on TSN4. You've been listening to Overdrive, powered by Fandool. FanDuel, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. Unmistakably Canadian. It's the music that raised you.

The artists raising the bar. Hi, this is Brian Adams. Hey, my name's Brett Emmons. I'm from the glorious sons. Hi, I'm Nellie Fattato. Made in Canada. The station that champion Canadian music. Loud, crowd, and all yours. No passports required, just press play. Tap into Made in Canada now on iHeartRadio.ca. Or the free iHeartRadio app.