OverDrive - Palmer on Allen's winning formula, NFL Divisional Round matchups and Rodgers' legacy

Episode Date: January 14, 2026

TSN NFL Analyst Jesse Palmer joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines for the NFL Divisional Round, Josh Allen's factor for the Bills and the showdown to the Broncos, the Bears facing Matthew Stafford and the Rams, the key to winning in the playoffs, Aaron Rodgers and Mike Tomlin's next steps and his legacy in the league and more.

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 you. It's very disappointing.

It's great to 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 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, just 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. And 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 Ceeha. it. I can 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 court is completely decimated right now. Josh Palmer goes to IR on Saturday before the game. They lose Gabe Davis, a few plays before that. And he's short-handed here. And he's thrown to a guy that wasn't on the team a couple of weeks ago right there in the double move and Brandon Cooks. And he's just found away. 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 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 cold 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. 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 zero's on the clock. But they got to get DeAndre 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 Stafford. I'm not worried about Stafford so much as I am Chicago starting slow. With Jesse Palmer. I mean, this year, it's 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, that's, 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, you know, and another guy who's relatively inexperienced, right, who you've seen a lot of really good things from this year in the regular season, but,

you know, in the postseason, I think it's a, 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 Fossel 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 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. 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 betting 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. Rable 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,

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, that's one of the most intriguing matchups of the weekend. Yeah, that, 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, 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, what's your read on Aaron Rogers? I mean, if history tells us anything, we'll, we'll be talking about this for another, I don't know, eight months. Yeah.

You know, if he reports to camp where he's going to sign, if he retires, unretires, 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, you know, we've sort of seen this in the past with great quarterback sort of kind of fizzling out in their last playoff game in a wildcard round or a divisional round and then calling it a day. 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? Is it, like, how do you look back on the legacy of Aaron Rogers?

Top five quarterback all time in terms of talent for sure in terms of his ability to throw it. It's funny. So after, or 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. Like, 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, you know, I agree with. 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 Hermet Edwards, 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 they do. 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,

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, you know, 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. The newest tracks. Let's go.

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