OverDrive - Sanchez on Maye's MVP shot, the Bears' rise and the Bills' journey

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

TSN NFL Analyst Davis Sanchez joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the NFL, the AFC picture entering the playoffs, Drake Maye's shot for the MVP, Aaron Rodgers leading the Steelers, the NFL Coach of the Year candidates, the Bears' ceiling in the NFC, the Bills' chance for a run and more.

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Great Cup champion. A great friend of all of ours, Davis Sanchez. You look unbelievable. Hey, thank you. And I always would wear a smoking, a green smoking jacket. It is a smoking jacket. It is. Appreciate that.

We'll smoke some cigars. This show's done at six, Davis. Stick around and we can figure something out. I love it. Let's do it. Yeah. Well, you think there are some cigars being smoked in New England after that performance by Drake May yesterday?

I mean, that was some special stuff. that second half. Where do you look at New England relative to the rest of the AFC? Do you think they're right there at the top with maybe the bills, the other teams, the Broncos? Yeah. There's no weaknesses. That's the thing when you look at Wigginx, right?

Where are the weaknesses? And then the next thing you look at is coaching. I know not everyone loves Josh McDaniel. He's kind of a hateable guy, but he's an excellent play caller. You take him with Mike Vrable, the coach of the year. Really? And I think

I think the fact that you don't have any weaknesses on that team, two great coordinators and a quarterback played out of his mind, I think, I mean, they're a solid team. Now, do I think they're going to win the AFC? I don't know if they, I don't know if they're good enough. If any other teams can play above their weight on and get our role, I don't think that necessarily doing the best team, but I do think they are a solid team that doesn't have a weakness.

Yeah, the AFC is wide open. And we were talking about this earlier, Dave and Struddy. I mean, you can make a case for six or seven teams, really seven teams. I don't think anyone's making a case for the Indianapolis Colts, considering the way that their season is falling apart in lieu of the Daniel Jones under. But I think anybody who's in the playoffs and the AFC can win.

I'd be hard-pressed to find an argument against that. Yeah, I think they'll, I think, I'll talk to you're right, except for Indie. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that's, well, that's the question I have for you, Davis. When you look at this league, I mean, we've been so accustomed to just, you know, penciling in the Kansas City Chiefs, the Super Bowl and you just kind of felt like it was probably inevitable. If it wasn't going to be Mahomes, it would be Burrough or it might be Lamar in the

AFC. And yet now we're in a situation where it feels like if it's not the bills, like it'll never be the bills. I mean, is that a fair statement? I think so. I mean, when you have Burrough and you have Mahomes and you have Lamar and these guys who are, it's interesting because, and it was like that, it was the same way for CINC, you You know, when we saw the chief struggle, it was, okay, the windows open for Lamar.

The window's open for Joe Burrow. The windows open for Josh. But they've all struggled, which is crazy. So really, what we're saying is that this is, if Denver doesn't win it now, when are they're going to win it? If Indy doesn't win it now, when are they're going to win it? Because Lamar and the Ravers are going to be better. Mahomes, I think, I don't believe that the chiefs are, it's a down, the chiefs are not going to be down. They're going to just reload.

Mahomes will be healthy after week four, four. five, whatever it is, and they'll be back. So I think for all those teams that aren't, you know, don't have MVP quarterbacks, they better take their shot now. I think at the end of the inspection, the Miami Dolphins, you know, they took two out, put their young quarterback in, McDaniel. Like, it just feels like there's a lot going on down there, Sandy. What do you, how do you kind of sort this out of the next couple weeks on the offseason?

With Miami. Oh, yeah. Apparently they're bringing back Mike McDaniel. That was the report from me in Rappaport. And then they get absolutely slaughtered immediately thereafter. I mean, don't you think that Mike McDaniel gets a tough, a little bit of tough rap? I mean, I actually think he's a smart football guy.

A smart play caller, perhaps. As a head coach, that's more debatable. Here's the, I mean, I think lots would agree. I always say this. If you win, your goofy, awkward tactics are tolerable. And because, I mean, Chris Greer did him terrible. That rosters, they overpaid. for crappy players.

They're their best players they get rid of. I mean, they've done a terrible job at managing that team over there. I think that if he's winning, I think he's way more tolerable. I just think the quirky, the quirky nerdy play caller doesn't fly when you're losing. But I actually think he's a smart guy.

So a coach who is neither quirky nor nerdy in Pittsburgh. It wasn't too long. What were they, six and six people were chanting, fire Tomlin. What's wrong with this team? they come out on the right end and probably the best game of the weekend

for the Steelers with Aaron Rogers looking a little bit like the Aaron Rogers of MVP form not quite I'm just saying a little showing flashes of vintage Aaron Rogers now is that a real team in the AFC

how do you see the Steelers here as we come down the stretch? Yeah I don't know I don't think they can get out of this yeah I just it's Aaron to me I don't think Aaron's good enough, to be honest. And that's, I mean, I know gets a pushback. I know Luke pushes back.

He likes Aaron. We know a lot of our people in the building like Aaron Rogers. I just, I call him the snowman. And when as soon as there's pressure around him, he just melts and falls down. I like that. That's a good one. But, I mean, again, if you have the right. Forty-two years old.

That's right. Yeah. It's understandable. If you have a strong, that's why I didn't like the fit in Pittsburgh. If you have a strong run game and a big old, line and you can off a play action that he would have been good in philly when philly had a good run game he'd be great because he just has a football ball 15 times and when he does he can rip it especially when he steps into it off play action but when he has to and the run game has been

been better was pretty good yesterday really good um but they also don't have a strong defense their defense is not great i think they were near the bottom of the league and i get 31st in explosive plays given up the run defense has not been great so no i mean i i don't know if they do. I mean, all I know is they face down a pretty good Lions team. They played great yesterday. They played a great game. The Lions had 15 yards rushing. They had Gibbs and Montgomery. They had 15 yards rushing. I know they had a ton of injuries. I know they were down to their number three center. But at the same time, you slow those guys down to that degree. That's really impressive. And I think

the point I'd be making at this point, if I'm, if I'm any of these teams, is there is no great team. I was just more to say that who is it at the FC? Yeah. There is no great team. Therefore, the hot team can win it, right? You just find the right mix at the right time, and you could run this table. And there's a very very strong likelihood that Pittsburgh hosts Buffalo in week one of

the wild car round. Buffalo is going to have three road games. Yeah, I mean, what's the spread on that, Davis? What? Buffalo minus two and a half. Pittsburgh hosting Buffalo? Yeah, in round one. Does it get over a field goal? I don't know. That's, I think it's probably maybe three and a half. But again,

that's pretty close to I mean, I've got to call it a coin flip. I think Buffalo should be favored because I think Josh Allen's the best player in that game by a mile. I think he's the best player in the AFC, probably in the NFL by a mile. Let's ask the question right now. I mean, who's, if that's, if Buffalo's at Pittsburgh

and it's minus two and a half, or what's, who are you taking? If it's minus two and a half, who are you taking? Grady? Buffalo's minus two and a half. Who do you take? Well, I want to believe in Buffalo. Listen, I want Josh Allen to get it done.

You know, I've seen the 30 for 30 where the guys lose, and I remember when they lost those Super Bowls, it's pretty tough. But let's talk about a team that just won in the Eagles, the NFC. Can they get themselves organized? It seems like there's a little bit of drama there, too, when I kind of read between the lines from outside. A ton of drama with the Eagles constantly. Constantly.

You've got the Eagles green on. Maybe you're a believer. Yeah, no. Here's the thing with the Eagles. I'm not a believer in Jalen Hertz. And it's Super Bowl MVP. So here's the MVP. So here's the thing. In pro sports, we have this thing. And I totally understand it. I think

it's deserved. When you win, when you win championships, when you're a championship guy and a Super MVP at that, you automatically get a pass. You automatically, it's always the, obviously the rebuttal is always, yes, but he's a champion. You know that in that playoff run, Jalen Hertz was when he won the MVP, that whole playoff time, the were the three games they played. He was 31st in the NFL The last quarterbacks would be whatever he was in the playoffs. He was the lowest rated quarterback

with any pressure. So without a completely clean pocket, he was the lowest rated quarterback in the playoffs that year. So eight teams, I guess it would have been in the playoffs. He was a lowest rated quarterback. So, yes, he won a championship,

but he's on a good team. I don't think that in the NFC now with the Sam Donos or the Matthew Staffords or the Jare Goffs, whoever the quarterbacks that are ripping it there, I don't think he can come and play from behind or be good enough with his arm to win if db and they're not pounding people with the run like they used to slot yeah and again they beat up on the raiders they beat up on Washington

where like marriota and johnson are playing and against a real team i think the eagles are going to have a very different experience and we're in conversation with tsn nfl analyst davis sanchez you can see his work on broken table on ts n's youtube channel as well the chicago bears that game on saturday night was one of the most ridiculous finishes you'll ever see the onside kick, Caleb Williams. I saw a stat that the Bears have been trailing six times in the final two minutes of games this year

and have won six times in the final two minutes of games this year. The only team to do that since 1970. The Bears are the cardiac kids. They come back and in spite of the odds are able to pull games out of their, you know what, constantly, including on Saturday night.

They're 11 and 4. They've got a chance to be the one seed in the conference. Nobody saw this coming. Ben Johnson coming over. Caleb Williams has made a significant improvement year over year. Are you a believer in Chicago that they can make some noise in the NFC postseason, Davis? Absolutely. Yes.

Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. I'm a believer, to your point, I'm a believer in Ben Johnson. I'm a believer in what he can do. He's, again, a great play caller. I thought at times he tries to get a bit cute at times, but that's part of being a young genius or whatever they want to call it. What's Rex Warren call him? Kid Wonderboy.

Exactly. What a throw that was, G.J. Moore. That was unbelievable. Here's the thing, too, guys. Do you think that if you think that turnovers, if you defensively, so if there's any question, if you think that defensively it's sustainable, your key to success on defense is creating turnovers.

And that's your method of success, then yes, they can. But that's, if you look, they're bottom of the NFL in every defensive category. but they're number one in turnovers. Yeah, the luck right might run out, but we're, like, Ben Johnson's got to be on that coach of the year ballot, doesn't he? Like, where is he ranked for you? Davis and I had a spirited debate about this this morning talking about that.

There's a lot of good candidates right now. Dave, do you want the honest answer? Yeah, that's for me, or do you want, okay, well, I'll tell you the honest answer. He ranked second or third to me because I just put a nice, a nice play in. Somebody else to be coached of the year. Mike Braver. Yeah, so I'm not going to sewer myself here and say, but yeah, I got, I got Rabel that, but no, I do, I do think. I appreciate the transparency, yeah, but you've got betting interests at hand here, which is most important.

Yes, I do, I do think that, I mean, I think that roster-wise, I think Chicago had, I mean, Caleb's a number one, a first overall pick. Yeah, he's got a first-over-pick quarterback. He had a pretty solid. But a lot of downside to him, a lot of doubters. Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. But, I mean, the talent, the talent is there. I don't think anyone questioned talent that quickly. The defense is pretty good. I think that Mike Vrable was working with a less talented roster. Well, how about my coach of the year prediction right now? Liam Cohen of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

He is leading this team on a crazy run right now. They beat the Broncos. That snaps their 11-game winning streak. Trevor Lawrence, last four games, 1,079 yards, 14 touchdown, zero turnovers. They could win the number one seed in the AFC. and the craziest thing about the Jacksonville Jaguars, they used the number two overall pick on Travis Hunter, who did nothing.

Brian Thomas was going in the first round of fantasy football leagues. He's done nothing. They trade for Jacoby Myers of the deadline. He's been incredible. They've already re-signed him. They're getting unexpected production all over the place, but it's Trevor Lawrence and his emergence, and I think Liam Cohen deserves a lot of credit

because we saw what Baker Mayfield looked like last year when Liam Cohen was his OC. Baker Mayfield's been horrible the last couple of months. in Tampa. So Liam Cohen, he's live for Coach of the Year in my estimation, and he's on an incredible job in Jacksonville, a team that I think Davis is right there as far as being a contender.

I know they're 12 to 1 on Fandul to win the Super Bowl. Why not them in the AFC? Who's not a contender? All we've always said so far as Indies not Indies. It's not indie. That's for sure. It's not indie. Philip Rivers, no grandfathers are contenders when it comes to the Super Bowl contention.

Go ahead, Struddy. What about the quarterback in San Diego, or I guess he'll set the charges, I just say, and the broken hand and all that. How impressive what he's doing, and can they, are they for real, in your opinion? Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, he's, I mean, we're talking about a quarterback that, I think if he wasn't in, not San Diego, I'd like it, though, because I sound do the same. Great, great city.

Yeah, great city. If he wasn't, if he wasn't in L.A. in the West Coast there and kind of steps child to the, to the Rams, and he has a lot more love and attention. and he's playing Justin Herbert's playing at a pretty high level I mean yesterday I don't think a lot of people watched the Cowboys game because there was other games on at the time they were better including myself

I just was kind of screwing that game but I mean this kid is I was down there at training camp last year yeah beginning of last year or this year anyway he is he's legit 6-6 like a full maybe close to 6-7 and he's like 240 and he can run

and he's got a massive arm and he's intelligent and he's tough as is-ish And the kid is for real. Like, he's the real deal. And so I think they've got a great defense. The charges are, again, I think I would take the charges over the Jags. And they did lose those two O. Lyman, right, Alton Slater, which is a travesty. Because if those guys are healthy, you could probably make a case.

The Chargers are the class of the AFC. But you can't run the ball, right? Vidal and Hampton, they just haven't been able to do it. Herbert's great. But I don't know. I'm a little skeptical on that one. Why don't we look ahead to Monday night tonight, which is, of course, today. San Fran at Indy.

The Niners with Brock Birdie. And I know you've been a supporter of Brock Purdy over the years. Last four games, they're averaging over 31 a game. That offense is cooking all of a sudden. And the Niners are positioning themselves to be perhaps the one seed in the NFC. And yet they're only four and a half point road favorites at Indy against the grandfather. Explain this one to me. I think it's recency bias.

We saw last week what Indy did in Seattle. can they do the same? If they can pound the ball and play good defense, if they can slow down Seattle, they can slow down San Fran. I think that's the reasoning. That being said, I absolutely positively love the Colts tonight.

Oh, really? I love the Colts tonight. Okay, take us through it. What's the rationale? But my kids are also, don't listen to me, because my kids are also not getting presents this year because of some other teams, that I've loved a lot this year.

All right. But you can explain to five- and seven-year-old girls, they'll understand that dad was pretty sure it was a lot. I don't know. I mean, you sell that jacket you're wearing right now, you could come up with a lot of cash for gifts. So, Dave, is bringing it back closer to home with the bills. Like, you look at this team, like, if it's not this season, when will it be? We talked about the opportunity that, you know, that's ahead of them here

with the Chiefs down and Burrow down and Lamar down. And yet, you know, they're going to have to, it's possible they're going to have to go in the road from the beginning of the playoffs if they want to run that gonlet to get the Super Bowl, as much as Allen's a stud, James Cook is in his kitchen, as they like to say on local bills radio. What do they have

to overcome besides the road games in your mind to be the team they've always thought they could be? Their defense? I mean, here's the thing with the bills, and this is a, you guys all will understand this. You guys have all been around Sportland, a long time, understand. Sometimes the

statistics and the numbers don't tell the true story. We with our eyes, look at things and analyze what's real. And for me, and I hate to say this because we all, I'm a Bills fan. I like the Bills. If I cheer for any team, I cheer for the team I play for with the Chargers, and I cheer for the Bills because it's, you know,

it's a team that we have some exposure to, and I just have fallen in love with the unlucky loser over time. But their defense is secondary in particular, their linebacker core, they will be the worst, the worst secondary in the playoffs. with who they rolled out. And that's not good enough. I mean, and if you look, and that being said, so I talk about the numbers, they're the number two, they're passing yards allowed.

The bills are number two in the NFL. They're the second best past defense NFL if you look at stats. But I promise you, the bill's defense is not a top 10 secondary. They're not a top 15 or top 20 secondary. The stats lie. The stats are lie. But it's because they're the 30th ranked pass rush running defense. So teams are run the ball down their throat.

And they don't need necessarily to throw the ball as much as they would. So the stats don't always tell the truth. That's the big concern for me. In a playoff game with great quarterbacks out there, which luckily the ASC, a lot of the great ones aren't going to make it. And Josh is going to be the best one, obviously. But if teams are throwing the ball, I don't know if the bills can get stops and keep their downs when they need to when it matters.

And that's been the case for how many years now, though? And they haven't been able to end there. They haven't paid a bunch of money to upgrade that secondary. you have any money on Jake Paul on Friday night Davis I don't want to sound like a total degenerate betting on that sadly I did I'm sitting there I was in Niagara Falls this weekend what and you are degenerate we're in the casino again I'm just reaffirming my degenerate behavior we're at the crafts table

and we look at each other it's like should we go bet on Jake Paul and we're like oh yeah let's do it and he I think Jake Paul thought it was a UFC fight because it gets on trying to like grab at the legs of Anthony Joshua as opposed to box him but I think by the end you knew Jake Paul wasn't winning and we're all just supporting Anthony Joshua to knock him out and of course that's what ultimately transpired. How about the body on that guy?

Yeah. That guy is a unit. God. He took his thing off. I'm like, oh, this guy's dead. He is going to, Jake Paul's dead. Can you tell me, I'm just looking at it. Let me pull something up here real fast because I'm just looking at it. You said you had Anthony Joshua

for a knockout? No, no, I had Jake Paul. I had Jake Paul. Just on the money line or whatever it is in boxing. You know, you might need to send me that ConX Ontario, a phone number. I should call it afterwards. Davis, great to see you. Thank you very much for coming in. Fantastic stuff.

We'll be watching tonight. I was just going to pull up because I said I didn't want to sound like a degenerate telling you I bet on a Netflix boxer versus a UFC fighter. So I want to show you my ticket. Yeah. Anthony Joshua, I was on Joshua for TKO. That's wise move. You could have sent me that.

I would have been a lot better off financially, but that's how it usually goes. That's Davis Sanchez joining us here on overdrive. Chris Johnson, we believe, we've been teasing CJ all afternoon, having a couple of technical issues. He's going to join us a little bit later this afternoon. Stradi, I'm curious, you're a Giants guy, big Giants Raiders game for the number one overall pick in week number 17.

The loser gets the number one overall pick. What are you hoping for from Pafka? I think he's the coach now, right? Is he the coach for the Giants? They fired Dave? I'm pretty sure. I mean, that's got to be one of the most painful watches in sports. The Looser gets the number one pick.

Listen, I've been on Giants fans for like 35, 40 years. I love the Giants. And I've been around a long time. I've seen this win and I've seen us at our worst. I want us to lose. Oh, yeah. I want Jackson Dart to have the play calling that he did last week. I think they had, was it 15 net yards in the air or something like that?

Like, I think I could have tossed that much. It was incredible. And I want to see it again because I want that first pick. I want options. I want a new GM, obviously new coaches. And I don't like people getting fired, but they've had their time, and it's time to start. We've got some talent. Sanchez, am I wrong?

Is there some talent on this Giants team, buddy? Like, make me feel better. It's going into Christmas. I said your jacket was nice. Everyone's hurt. You want me to get thrown back to you, huh? Yeah. No, I didn't know you were a Giants fan that I feel for you, but I do think Jackson,

I mean, you probably follow them closer to that I do. I do think Jackson Dart has something. Well, you got the number one pick. You're taking Mendoza, no? I don't know. How good is Mendoza? I don't know. And Jackson Dark can't stay on the field. He's always concussed. Yeah.

I would say this, the thing you have to build, if you look at, here's the good news. When you're building rosters in the NFL, especially defensively, what cost the most is your defensive line. And they have, they are loaded. That front of four might be better than anybody in the league. So if you have that, and you can, you know, do something to offense, you're in pretty good

Well, from stupid franchises to stupid players, easy way to transition to DK.K. Metcalf, the ruling has come down on Metcalf, who do you want to call a punch of a fan? He threw one. He was he being. He swung a van. He gets a two-game suspension. Now, the Steelers are in the playoffs because of the Baltimore loss and the way they win, but that may have been one of the dumbest things I've ever seen, and I've watched sports for a long time.

What are you doing? And it's up here on TSN4, Metcalfe with some blue-haired individual, and there's claims about he said this, he said that, I don't know, but regardless, you cannot go over to the crowd and swing at a fan. It's so stupid. We have a time to talk about this.

Let a rip. I'm confused as to, so here's what I was saying about that. I was saying it was in the end zone before, and I thought that he walked, because it looked from the shot, that it wasn't in a tunnel, he walked to the end zone, it was end up being behind the bench, okay? But for me, as players, if we

if I see a guy I walk into the tunnel and some guy grabs my back of my head or he throws a beer on me or says something to me, my natural snap reaction could be to do something impulsive and punch him or swing or do something. And that I understand. You're still going to get suspended and you know the NFL is not playing. But for someone to be heckling me from somewhere else and for me to hear his words and it be enough for me to turn around and divert from where I'm standing to walk a the other way to get at this person. I just don't understand that. Like, you have to be,

you have to have some sort of, you know, imbalance there with your logic not to take the time to walk over there and do it. It's not a natural reaction thing. It's not a quick snap reaction. So I just think it's stupid as heck. It's almost weird. I mean,

you don't, I haven't seen the full footage of how it developed that he got over to that spot with nobody on the team kind of getting between him and the casualty walked. They show him walking over. So the guy said something and he slowly walking. walked over there. And nobody got between him.

Like somebody should have been on him saying, hey, buddy. Security maybe? I don't know. Again, how is no security coming over or Steelers security pulling him away from the stand? It lasted a long time, right?

I mean, it wasn't exactly a short interaction. Yeah, two games. I also, I thought about this. What about this for, what do you guys think about this for a rule? What about this, though? If a fan is blatantly disrespectful

and breaking the rules, they now have to, they take them somewhere underneath, like a jail underneath the, they have those. underneath the jail or a holding cell. They take that fan down there. He has to wait until the game is over. When the game's over, he has 60 seconds with D.K.

To sit in there and explain to say the same thing. Exact same things you said to D.K. Out there, you can say it to him in that locked room. And then D.K. has 60 seconds to do whatever he wants. No cameras. And the fan has to try to find his way out. No cameras. No cameras, no lawyers.

D.K. Meckav might be the last person I would want to encounter in that situation. That should be the rule Maybe Anthony Joshua Struddy, were you ever close to getting out of heckler in your career? No, they wanted me on the ice. They didn't want me off the ice. The other teams like, get Strudrick out there, man. We want to score.

Don't suspend him. Well, we have some more breaking news. Apparently, Team HBO, Hayes, Bro, and O is picking the Niners minus five and a half tonight. So they're in agreement with me, Davis. Who's winning right now? Uh, not, uh, not Luke. What, what's our team name, Nudelson?

Nudelson. Nudelson, yes. Nudelson, yes. Um, yeah, not those guys. Not going well for that. No, but, uh, team HBO, a dominant force. Dominant force. And, uh, this is smart minds.

Yeah, great minds. Sharp guys. Great marks. You're on the other side. You're on Indy. You're on the grandpa. No, no, no. Oh, no.

Oh, you're not on the, I'm on Sanford. Okay. Did I say, he was on the ground. Yeah, you did say it was saying. I was saying I'm absolutely all over. Sorry. I'm fading indie. All right. We're not backing.

I think what they did to Seattle was... Yeah, we are agist here on Overdrive this afternoon. Great to see you, buddy. Thank you very much. That's Davis Sanchez. You can see him on tonight's broadcast with Tequila Singh with the Fandul Insert. Do you hear what I hear? It's I Heart the Holidays.

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