OverDrive - Willson on Campbell's refusal to play, the Hurts and Brown clash and Week 15 picks

Episode Date: December 14, 2024

TSN NFL Analyst Luke Willson joined OverDrive to discuss the storylines around the NFL, the Rams' victory against the 49ers on Thursday Night Football, De'Vondre Campbell's refusal to play in the game, Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown's clash in Philadelphia, Hayes and Bro and O'Win Willson's pick and more.

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or visit askkelvin.ca is cooking now i know how it feels now i know how it feels to be cut off by the mic at least my music's good this music stinks You do have the best opener at all of showbiz. Thank you, Dave. Thank you, Dave. All right, Luke Wilson from the dark side joining us here on Overdrive. What's going on, Luke? How we doing? I mean, I'm doing great, right? We were on the Rams last night, picked a winner, but the 49ers and anyone who was backing them, such as yourself,

probably not feeling that great. We were talking about the Devondre Campbell situation last night. Decided he wasn't going to play in the second half when called upon by his teammates. We heard from the coach. We heard from a couple teammates. You obviously played many years in the NFL. What was your reaction to hearing what Devondre Campbell did last night?

You know, disappointing, it would be one. You know, it's obviously there's a shock value to it. You know, disappointment value. I think just as like a competitor, you feel for those guys on that team that are, you know are really trying to win that game. A lot of people put in a lot of time that don't even play on the field. I'm talking coaches, film, front office guys. That game was their last shot at making the playoffs. And I think that if you're in that locker room, maybe not us in the media, but if you're in that locker room and you get a win last night and you get a little help

from Green Bay potentially beating Seattle, which isn't the craziest idea in the world, you know, you're right back in this thing. You're game out of the division. So yeah, I think that there's, it's, it's gross to me that he would do that. I have a feeling, I think I know why, but it's just the whole situation is very unfortunate. Well, what's your theory on why he did it, Luke? So, and you know, sometimes you got to realize like the game is, the team is bigger than you. You look at, you know, his season thus far,

he's had a very good year. Not an all-pro year, but he's had a very good year. He's played a ton. I believe he's second on the team in tackles. And all of a sudden, it's like Dre Greenlaw comes back, and you're tossed away. He's on the bench. And I get how that would make you feel as an individual you're he's

probably sitting there thinking to himself hey man you know I understand the pass here but this is a what have you done for me lately business I played well enough to start Dre Greenlaw shows up off an Achilles tear from last year's Super Bowl okay hasn't done a thing this season, and somehow he gets to go in and start, you know, and everything I've done is disregarded. And that's kind of how it feels, but it's not like the reality of the situation. You know, and then all of a sudden it's like Greenlaw goes down, which, by the way, when Greenlaw went down, I will say Timo and Wilson also went down last night

because for a second I thought we were going to cover that bad boy. it's like they go to you know Campbell and he's like you know wait now you guys need me again I'm not going in you just tossed me the curve for this guy like you're kind of sticking it to the Niners but you know in his battle of I'm sticking to the Niners for benching me you know he doesn't realize how many people that have nothing to do with that decision he hurts. First and foremost, his teammates. And then after that, like I said, everybody else in the organization that has nothing to do with him playing or not playing. And I understand it's a tough spot for him,

but there's no excuse for when your team calls on you. Again, in a moment like that, like if this was a two-win team and he's heading into a free agent contract and he's like, yo, I can't wait to get out of here. I hate this team. We have no shot of making the playoffs. I still think it's wrong then. I want to be very clear.

But I could wrap my head around it. But until the fourth quarter, that game was a one-score game. That game was very, very tight. I'd argue until Colby Parkinson caught the third and four, that could have went either way. And down goes your playoff hopes. So again, I know it's a bit long-winded, but it's a very, very disgusting move to me.

Well, let's get into the game a little bit. It was obviously very low scoring. The first game of the NFL year without a touchdown. How hard is it to play in a game with such wet conditions like that, Luke? It is very tough, and it's funny because I almost find that when it starts, there's like different types of rain when it comes to football. And when it's that very light but constant rain, it's like different types of rain when it comes to football. And when it's that very light, but constant rain, it's like everything becomes slick.

And that's when it's like ditch the gloves. Quarterback has a hard time gripping the ball where there's other games where it's almost a harder downpour. You know, maybe, I don't know if this makes sense, but a bit of like a thicker raindrop and it almost makes the ball so damp that there's like a weird grip to it again obviously it's not ideal but like that little like slick kind of west coast rainfall is always the hardest to catch and throw the football in because again it doesn't really like penetrate the pigskin if

that makes sense and it's a nightmare trying to you to catch and or throw that thing. Luke, I mean, when you look at that game, though, do you blame Thursday night beyond the rain to not have a touchdown in such a big game for both teams, and especially for the 49ers? Like, who do you blame? Do you blame Thursday night? Because we just came off of 44-42,ams over bills the week before and now we get the first game without a touchdown uh is this another anomaly of this this day that a lot of people don't like there to be football played on yeah to a degree yes i also think that in the division

it's a bit tough you know when you kind of know the other team it can go either way in the sense of either your score a bunch because you know what they're doing or the defense has the right calls and clearly for both teams it was the defense yesterday um the rain was tough and then I think it kind of got to the point where in that third quarter you know both of these coaches started playing the chess game and what I mean by that is, okay, it's still wet. You know, a tip ball in the air or drop ball that bounces the wrong way is going to be the difference in this thing. So it was one of those things where I felt like, you know,

in midway, you know, coming out of third quarter, midway through the third, Kyle Shanahan was like, you know what? We're going to win this game by three. We're going to come out here. Our defense is playing really well. We had an okay run game going. Garendo looked all right. We're going to control the clock.

It's going to be a vintage, old-school game. Dre Greenlaw goes down. And they had stopped the run. Matthew Stafford looked very poor in the first half. They had stopped the run. And then all of a sudden, it was kind of like the wheels fell off for Sam brand. And that's where I think they got burned a little bit was it was okay.

Um, green laws hurt. His backup is now quit football. We're now down to our fourth guy. You know, it's not, it was a bloodbath to say the least. Does that guy get another job in the NFL, you think?

That's a good question. Will somebody take a flyer on him? Yes, I do. I do believe that. But will his compensation take a hit? Also, yes. So whatever his market is this know this offseason you now sit here and say hey we're in need of a backup linebacker um we'll get a you know five million

dollar guy for three million bucks because no one's gonna want this guy we know we can't depend on him and we know that he's gonna bring you know not really a team first mentality into our locker rooms and those things play into it so i do think he'll be in the nfl somewhere if he wants to be that is but do i think that he will make as much money as he probably should absolutely not do you be click click clip that for me please that was a good question thank you very much for uh for acknowledging that that was that was a good question. Thank you very much for acknowledging that. That was the first moment of civility between Timo and Wilson

and Hazenbro, the all-season Luke. That's going to end very soon. That's going to end very soon here, I got a feeling. It will end soon. We'll get to the picks in just a minute, but there's actually one other thing that I want to get to really quickly with you, because all week there's been a little bit of a discussion about a tiff between A.J. Brown and Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia

Eagles. And look, this team's been playing a heck of a lot better of late. Your guys got that team playing well defensively. But at what point does this become a distraction where you like do you just get a feeling that things might start to unravel in Philly I think you know it's a bit weird because I know that like in the normal work world these things don't happen you know but in the NFL I can honestly say that they happen every day now to the media is a different story I'm'm not saying guys go to the media, but the idea that someone would, you know, point the finger being like, Hey buddy, you're not playing well. You know, obviously there's a little more animated than that. It's not a crazy concept.

So I wouldn't surprise me if it doesn't, you know, really affect this team at all. I mean, he's not, Jalen Hurts has not thrown the ball well, that's just a fact. You know, where it can get a little dicey now is that if it continues to happen, you know, it'll be amplified in the media. But I think the best teams, like, they don't really know. And I mean that, you know, in the best way where it's like, when we were good in Seattle, I had no idea what was going on in the media.

I mean, quite frankly, I didn't have time to know. I was a young player in this league. I'm not going home and reading the Seattle Times. I'm reading the playbook. So I sit here and it's like, hey, you know, you hear, I think of Tom Brady and the Patriots. What was the big saying? Ignore the noise, ignore the noise.

Same kind of principle where it's like, hey, it can be a big ordeal if they let it but if this is a team that's truly trying to win a super bowl believe they can they've got to be able okay aj brown shouldn't have said that let's move on like we got to be able to handle a little bit of outside noise and still be okay another big game this week luke uh the sunday night game uh packers seahawks and it was 10 years ago around this time the packers and seahawks played a pretty big game you might remember luke the 2014 i do the 2014 nfc championship and there's some beautiful video that i believe we were going to play here in one of the great moments of your career.

Here it is, Russell Wilson going back, scrambling, balls up. Nice little grab. Who's that guy? Who's that guy, number 82? Boys, it's funny. That game was one of the strangest games I think all of us have been a part of where we had won the Super Bowl the year before. You know, you're feeling pretty good.

Hey, we're at home once again. Another big ordeal. And then all of a sudden it was like nothing went right for us offensively. And I remember sitting there. We had the fake field goal for the first touchdown. It was 19-7. I think we threw a pick with like three-ish minutes left. It was like our fourth, maybe fifth turnover of the game.

And I think it was to Sam Shields. So this is kind of what I remember about this game. And we're running off. And I'm like, he's going to return to the crib or at least get into scoring range, and we'll be in trouble here. And Julius Peppers came flying by and was like, get down. This game's over. Pointed at him.

Again, I know it's Peppers. I might be wrong on shields. The pack went three and out. We went right down the field and scored. Got an onside kick, went right down the field and scored, and then had that two-minute play. So I always remember that moment. If Julius Peppers just lets him run,

it's probably a different ball game as well. I mean, there's a million plays like that. But that play right there is sprint right, and it's designed to go to Doug Baldwin, and I pretty much have nothing to do on backside. The blocking technique is called water falling, and it's mainly meant

to protect quarterbacks who are not mobile. And Russell Wilson in 2014, although that would have been January of 2015, is very mobile. So I'm like, okay, I pretty much have nothing to do here. And I turned around and saw him scrambling, and I was like, I'll just run over here. And, yeah, the rest is kind of history. Complete fluke play.

Ball was up in the air, which seemed like forever, but ended up being a pretty crucial two points so kind of a fun memory yeah you bobbled it but you corralled it you corralled it can you corral the season i don't think you can but we'll see if you can because you guys are still down three in our overdrive picks which is brought to you by fan duel bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score let Let's get to the picks here, Luke. Let's get to the picks. And obviously, you're going to be picking that Packers-Seahawks game as well for the Sunday nighter. But we'll start at the one o'clock slate, which I had a bone to pick about this one. Doogie, you got to hop on the mic here

because I think it's absolutely criminal that this is the game that these guys get to pick because it's the biggest layup of the season. Cincinnati at Tennessee. First and foremost, who cares about this game? Not one that anyone's going to be tuning into outside of those particular regions. And how is it only a four and a half point split here? It's wild. It's wild. Like, you asked the question, why did I pick the game?

Yeah. Joe Burrow has been on an absolute tear. If the Bengals' run wasn't like this, he would be in MVP conversations. Luke could probably agree with that as well. So I thought this was a notable game. It's not the most flashy game, but Joe Burrow has been incredible this season.

He deserves our spotlight in the overdrive picks. We've picked how many Bengals games this... He's gotten a lot of a lot of spotlight here but anyways Commissioner Doogie jamming us up what he says goes and you guys got to make the pick so uh Bengals laying four and a half on Tennessee what's the pick Luke so to be completely honest here Alice bro I'm almost at the point where I think this is a conspiracy. I think that you're in on it. I think Doogie's in on it. I hate picking this game because it seems like the easiest thing on planet Earth.

Everywhere I look, I'm like, how is the line only four and a half? And then I think to myself, what am I not seeing here? The Doogie and Al's bro who are in cahoots with that other scum by bag brian hayes okay what am i not seeing you guys have seen why is this line four and a half but the reality is there's no way i can take the titans here there's no way i mean i'm taking the bengals all day and i again i feel terrible about it because it almost seems like it is the easiest spread on planet Earth. But that's why I don't feel good about it. I feel terrible.

This game should – I feel like it should be a seven-and-a-half point spread. Like, this doesn't feel like it's going to be a particularly close game. Guys, the Bengals are five and eight. Who are they to be seven-and-a-half point favorites over anybody? That's fair. That's a fair point. Who are they to be 7.5 point favorites over anybody? That's fair. That's a fair point. I just get really nervous here. I'm like, what is going on? I just don't think...

The biggest issue is the defense, but you look at Will Levis and that Titans offense, they haven't been able to put up any numbers whatsoever. When's the last time they've crossed over? They really haven't been able to put up more than 20 points in a game in a few weeks here.

They put up more than 20 points once in the last five weeks. That's all that this offense is doing. So they put up 30, 35 points. I mean, they're going to win this game by more than a touchdown. It's an absolute layup and a disgrace that this was the one o'clock slate, but we'll power through. We will power through we will power

through this one hopefully will levis has himself a heck of a game and maybe they shock the world but next up comes the biggest game of the week it's bills and lions and this is the hardest game so going from you guys absolute layup the bills lions which honestly could end up being a little bit of a super bowl preview here lions lay in two and a half at ford field and we're rolling with the road dogs lukey we're rolling with the road dogs and bills mafia i believe that last week was a bit of an anomaly defensively for the buffalo bills i don't think they're that bad like matt milano is a pretty good run stuffer at the at the line position. Him alongside Terrell Bernard should be able to handle between the tackles, which is what the Lions like to do to establish that run.

And I think that this is a team in man coverage. They should be able to shut down enough to allow this to not get too out of hand. and then this offense should be able to shred that secondary out in Detroit. I think that we'll see a decently high-scoring game, but ultimately I believe in Josh Allen over Jared Goff to win in that shootout. I don't necessarily just believe that they're going to cover the 2.5. I think the Bills can outright win this football game, so I'll gladly take the points here. half. I think the Bills can outright win this football game, so I'll gladly

take the points here. I mean, I don't hate the pick as much as I would say I know I'm the anti-Bills guy. I get it. The Lions defense looks suspect, but I think it's a bit bold

when you just had the Rams hang 44 on you and the Lions are a much much better offense than the Rams hang 44 on you and the Lions are a much, much better offense than the Rams are, at least more complete. So I think it's a bit bold. But you know what, Alex, brother? I respect it. You know, you don't normally make bold picks.

It's usually just robotic nonsense. You've gotten lucky this year. I respect you coming on here and taking the bills. I really do. Yeah, well, my process has led to a plus three advantage over yourself. Oh, it's my process now. That's an

interesting take. I'm going to have to tell Hayes about that. Our process. You didn't say our. We got one more game, Luke, and it's one that we just talked about. It's Green Bay. It's Seattle. This time, no Luke Wilson to bail out the Seahawks.

Green Bay, going into this one, they are favored by two and a half on the road against the 12s. You laying the points or you're on with your Hawks? I'm going with the pack. I'm happy for Seattle. I think they're in a great

spot, but I still believe that Green Bay is a more complete team, a better team. I think they're going to run the football quite a bit. And I think that this kind of defensive run that the Hawks are on right now probably gets a little bit tougher with a non-division game. I'd feel better if it was not at home. But, again, I just have a hard time believing that Green Bay is going to somehow not cover this number.

But, I mean, time will tell. I think the Hawks have some flaws. But I think that Green Bay has got to kind of right the ship after last week, and they'll do that. You look at the Seahawks, though. This is an important game now, right? The Rams, they win that game last night, and they hold their own fate. The Seahawks lose on Sunday night.

It becomes very, very difficult for them to make the playoffs. I think they'll be playing with a lot of spunk Sunday night. I mean, we'll see. We'll see, but the good news is, the great news is, I think that actually there's a good chance coming into the Monday nighter, which you will have, that this thing's going to be real tight. I mean, assuming we don't get jammed by the Doogie special in round one, okay? We need the Lions to score 45.

My Hawks take a beat down. Now, all of a sudden, we're even-steven. I'm telling you, like I said yesterday, if we can get back on top, look out. I don't like playing from down. I love playing from in front, House Brother. It's a crucial weekend here.

I think we've got a double-header Monday night football game, too. We've both got some picks to make on Monday. So it'll be interesting to see what it's looking like. All right, buddy. Good luck. I don't mean that. Bad luck with your picks.

I truly, truly do. I wish you nothing but the worst with your selections. I appreciate that, Al. Bro, you're out here hosting. You're trying to play the middle ground. I mean, where are our parties at, both of us right now, leaving us just out here on an island? I know.

I know. Out there doing whatever they're doing. But it's all good. We made the picks. We feel strongly here on Team Hazen, bro. I don't know how you guys feel, but I know we feel terrific. We'll see what happens on Monday, pal. Chat then.

I'll see you Monday. There he goes. Luke Wilson, TSN NFL analyst.