OverDrive - Willson on Daniels' strong season, Allen playing through a hand injury and the Bengals' playoff pursuit

Episode Date: December 23, 2024

TSN NFL Analyst Luke Willson joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the NFL, Josh Allen's MVP performances, Jayden Daniels leading the way for the Commanders, the Bengals' possible path to the playoffs, Hayes and Bro and O'Win Willson's picks and more.

Listen to Tech Talk with Mark Saltzman, Sundays at 5 p.m. on News Talk 1010 and the iHeartRadio app. The show that makes sense of the ever-changing world of technology. Brought to you by LG CareQ. Keeping the life's good promise with elevated customer care. William Wilson is cooking. I did not want to hear that music at all. I just want to try and bring him in slowly. But here he is, Luke Wilson, our TSN NFL analyst. One half of the Owen Wilson team.

Kind of been the go-to lead dog on that team that went 0-2-1 on the weekend, I might add. What's going on, Luke? How's it going, man? How we doing, Alex, bro? You got a little nervous this weekend, huh? You're lucky that we got jammed up.

Yeah. Saw that lead disappear for a quick second. Yeah, it did, didn't it? I mean, a little elf told me you're a little too sick to come in today. Is this stemming from when you puked on yourself during the overdrive pick segment over the weekend? So, again, I sit here, I make picks based on good information, based on experience. Again, I sit here, I make picks based on good information, based on experience. I can't make picks based on a quarterback getting injured in the first quarter.

I can't do that. So, you know, I get jammed up there. It is what it is. The Bucs game, that's on me. I got to wear that. I should have taken the Cowboys. You know, I said it on the show. I'm like, this has got Cowboys cover written all over it. You know, it is what it is.

I thought the Bucs did have a chance to win and cover. You know, the pick in the end zone hurt. The Bucs defense not showing up for the first entire half of the game. It was also a tough pill to swallow, but I'm feeling pretty good right now. I don't know when you picked a winner. It's been a long time. And I think we're one back, and you've got a greasy game tonight there. We do got a greasy one.

We'll get to it in a little bit. But I do want to, I guess, jump off of that game we saw last night, Dallas winning 26-24 over the Bucs. And Cooper Rush had himself a decent little game. And I'm just curious, Luke, why is it that Cooper Rush has been able to just run this offense a little better than what Dak Prescott was doing earlier in the year? It's one of those things where in the NFL, I think sometimes you'll see guys

that can process the game but don't necessarily have the talent can really, the arm talent, the talent to extend plays, can really beat up teams that have vulnerabilities. And that's kind of what I get with Cooper Rush as far as, you know, when you watch him play, would you feel good about him going up against, you know, one of the best defenses in the league? I think most people would probably say no. But in the same breath, when you sit here and you got Tampa Bay, whose past defense is atrocious, Carolina last week,

his other wins are Washington against Washington Commanders, whose defense is very, very poor, and the Giants, who might be the worst team in the NFL, he's going to be able to really command the huddle, move down the field, execute plays. Where I would say it probably gets jammed up is if, you know, I think of the game earlier in the year where the Cowboys beat the Steelers. I believe it was like 2017.

I'm going to guess week five. Like, that's a game there I think Dak threw for 350 you know where I don't think Cooper Rush is finding a way to win that one so that's kind of what I would say it's a bit of a who you're playing but you got to tip your cap

this is what you want to back a guy that can come in and execute the plays and that's what Cooper Rush is doing and I like what he's doing out there so Luke you know the guy that Al's brother just likened himself to before you got on the air, Josh Allen. Of course, Al's brother anointed himself the presumptive MVP of the Overdrive NFL pick pool. But Josh Allen has revealed that he's been playing the majority of the season

with a broken left hand, not his throwing hand, although he did hurt his throwing hand against the Patriots. The Bills kind of survived to win against the Patriots, but what do you make of Allen suffering through the broken left hand and the Bills surviving against the Patriots? Yeah, so I'll start with the good and the Bills surviving against the Patriots. I was on Jay last night and I said,

I actually thought it was a really good win if you're a Bills fan. And there's a lot of things that play into me saying that. But first and foremost, the offense wasn't great. I don't think the offense is anyone's worry right now. Josh Allen's playing at an MVP level. He's historically been

very, very good in the playoffs. If I'm a Bills fan, the least of my worries is our offense. You're coming off a situation where your defense, on the other hand, gave up, I believe, 44 to the Rams on the road, then gave up 42, was it,

against the Lions in a win in that one. And now all of a sudden, again, this offense, Drake May and the Patriots are not those two offenses, but in the same breath, I think from a coaching perspective, coaches can go look at that film, try and find guys that are similar, can do similar things, are condensed with the Rams and the Lions did, and come out here and say, hey, let's try and hang 30.

You know, we're not as good as those other offenses, but let's get to 28 or 30 points and see what happens. And I thought the Bills defense played well. You know, you look at the first touchdown that the Patriots scored, really a small percentage chance of that catch happening. It was a sick throw and catch by the Pats there. So you live with that one. And at the end of the day, you get, you force a turnover with Stevenson on a fumble,

and you get seven points yourself. Now, that play was absurd. I mean, the Bills' defensive touchdown. You've got to kind of thank the Patriots for that one a bit. But my point here is your net 14 points. You give them 21, you score seven. I like it. I think it's a good showing for them, kind of right to ship defensively.

And then I'd also say it's a divisional game. It's the Patriots Super Bowl, as will be the last game of the year. It's all they're playing for. Hey, we can knock off the Bills, feel good heading into the offseason. And the Bills just came from a crazy shootout

in the Rams situation to a crazy shootout in detroit it's an emotional letdown i again i'm not so worried about that game i thought it was a good division game that they came out on top of uh as far as josh allen's left hand goes what a crock of nonsense okay i'm not saying he doesn't have a broken hand. I'm sure he does. But first and foremost, it's clearly not hindering him. He's literally playing the best football he's ever played in his life. He's going to win MVP of the league. Like the report that out and whoever did it, I'm sure there's some slimy agent. It's like I'm trying to make sure Josh gets MVP or whatever. It's just ridiculous at this point to me.

I'm like, listen, it's a broken bone something in his left hand. He's clearly fine. He's clearly gripping the ball fine. I mean, every week the guy's supermanning into the end zone. And half of the league, if not more, has a small broken bone somewhere they're playing through. So that story kind of annoyed me. It had nothing to do with Josh.

I'm just sitting here saying, yeah, Josh has got a small injury that doesn't really affect him on Sundays. Does he have to shoot it up and numb it? Welcome to the club. The amount of tort all and freezing agents and numbing agents that are put into at least 15 guys, you know, every single game day is in common practice, to say the least. So, again, that hand thing to me, it's something that a guy like Al's bro would be like, wow, he's got a broken hand. This is sick.

But real players, you know, actually realize how much garbage that whole story is. Luke, what's a bigger story? Jaden Daniels having a great comeback win or the Eagles losing their quarterback? To me, it's a tough one because they're both, I think, pretty big ordeal. I sit here and I do wonder at times,

and I know it's not that easy, but we just talked about Cooper Rush, and I look at the Chiefs as well. And if, God forbid, Mahomes goes down, it's a huge ordeal. But you got Carson Wentz back there. You would assume Carson Wentz would be able to operate the offense. Can he pick it? I mean, he did do some things, but the pick that he threw might have been the worst interception of the year. A lot of it was just chuck it to A.J. Brown.

So I do think that it's really going to change their offensive game plan if Hurts is not there. You no longer have the runner that Hurts is. The whole push-push goes out the window as well. That's a big ordeal, you know, especially you're calculating, okay, it's third and three. We want to run this, but we also know if we get a couple yards, we can do the quarterback sneak ordeal.

You know, that could change play calling. I still think that the Eagles will be a tough team to beat with or without Hurts, obviously much tougher with them. But it's a big ordeal, especially because I was very unimpressed with the way Kenny Pickett performed. And the Jane Daniels thing, I mean, you've got to sit here and say,

if you're a Commanders fan, what a great season this has been to sit here and go from the organization you've had for as long as I can remember you know into a year where you get a new head coach a rookie quarterback and you're going into the playoffs and again it's gonna be very tough the NFC is stacked in my opinion um but I sit here and think the future is wildly bright wildly bright for Jane Daniels and the Washington Commanders. With Luke Wilson, there was another kind of big story last night

that's developed into today. Tag Dell got injured and ended up tearing an ACL, fractured his leg, but hung on and ended up getting the touchdown. Very impressive. What do you make of that entire play and the fact that he was able to hang on? And what does that say about him and his toughness? You know, I think for Tank Dell, it's really, and you can see how many guys were affected, it's such a brutal ordeal. Hanging on there was awesome. You know, that's going to be hopefully a highlight

or a silver lining for him. But when I see an injury, it's not even so much the injury itself, which is awful, but as a guy who's been through the, like, rehab process and saw teammates do it, that is, like, the biggest mental gymnastics of all time I think football players go through, especially one that's as gruesome as his.

And at this part of the year, you know, he's going to have to wait for the swelling to go down, then eventually get the surgery. And then there's a lot of time where whatever his off-season plans are, they just got absolutely blown up. And then when you come back to OTAs in April and May, you know, there's a general excitement. You get to see all your teammates.

OTAs are very, very light as far as time commitment goes. I think it's four days a week, four hours a day per the CBA. So you sit there and it's like, okay, you know, everybody's having fun and we're putting our offense in and you're just kind of on the sideline. You know, you're waking up a room and everybody and you're just kind of on the sideline. You know, you're waking up early and everybody, and you're going in there and doing the same stupid movements of rehab that can get very, very boring. Obviously, they're beneficial and you need to do them. But now all of a sudden it's like, okay, you know, the team moves on.

The game moves on. Everything happens and you're like, man, this used to be my play and I'm sitting in the meeting just getting fresh out of rehab, and they've got Deontay Johnson in there now or whomever, and that can really take a toll on guys mentally, and I know Tank Dell's already been through a lot. So I hope for him and his teammates to kind of rally around him and push him through because obviously the guy is a tremendous,

tremendous talent. What do you make of the Bengals, Luke? I mean, they seem like a lost season for a lot of it. They're 7-8 now after winning three in a row. I think some of the percentages, the probabilities have them with a 15% chance of still making the playoffs. They've got Denver Saturday and then Pittsburgh to finish it off. Is there an outside shot that Joey Burrow and the Bengals can pull this off?

I think so, for sure. I mean, you look at this thing, and this is where it gets weird for me, because I think the Broncos are in trouble. So I think the Bengals go in. The Broncos are 1-6 against teams that are 500, and that's who they've got this week. So the Bengals kind of control their destiny this week. Like you said, Joe Burrow's cooking.

The defense has made a few more plays, and that's theoretically all they need. Jamar Chase looks sick. I mean, the team looks awesome. So you beat the Broncos. You're now one back of the Broncos, and the Broncos end with Kansas City. But again, the mental gymnastics come in is if Kansas City beats Pittsburgh, they clinch the one seed. So who's playing in that last game? And I know the thought process is, hey, we don't want to get anybody hurt. Don't play them. But in the same breath,

if I'm Andy Reid, and I know I'm kind of jumping all over the place, but if they beat the Steelers this week and clinch that one seed, I'm probably playing Patrick Mahomes for at least a half. And the reason I say that is because you've got to buy. Like, do you really want your team and your starters to be completely out of football, a game I should say, for what will be two full weeks? You know, I have a hard time believing that's a great play. I'm not saying they're going

to play the whole game, but I would say, hey, at least get some snaps in there because we got next week off. So that's where it gets a bit weird. And the next thing is you look at the Colts and you look at the Dolphins. I believe they will hold the tiebreaker over the Bengals. So both of those teams need to lose a game. So that's kind of the disappointing part, because I don't think the Colts are that good. Don't get me wrong. I think they can lose to anybody.

But the Colts' next two games are the Giants and the Jaguars. I'm not sure they're losing one of those two games. You know, so it's unfortunate, but the odds are stacked against the Bengals and I hope that the Colts mess up I hope that the Dolphins mess up and I hope that the the Bengals run the table because to me the way Joe Burrow's playing to not have him in the um would be an absolute shame. And what would potentially be a historic matchup would be the wildcard weekend at the moment, Joe Burrow versus Josh Allen at Highmark. I mean, that's what football fans' dreams are made of. It's unfortunate, though. It does not look like it's probably very likely to happen.

What a game that'd be, though. What a game that would be. And what a ball game we have tonight, Luke. And for the rest of the week, we're making the picks for Christmas Day and the Thursday night of tonight. So we've got a four-pack of games to pick here. So why don't we get things started? Overdrive brought to you by FanDuel,

bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. And Hazenbro, leading plus one. We are currently on the clock for tonight's Monday night football game. And this is an outrageous line. Packers laying 14.5 points against the New Orleans Saints. Now it's at Lambeau. It is at Lambeau. And I think I'm willing to lay the points.

Ultimately, I don't think that the New Orleans Saints are really going to put up a lot of points here, Luke. Who's playing? They got Spencer Rattler at quarterback. No Alvin Kamara. Bob Means is out. I mean, there's really no one there to catch footballs, run the ball. I don't think they're going to put up a lot of points. The last few weeks they've been held to under 20 points, and

they have not been playing very good football teams. The Packers are a great football team. I think they'll score. I think they can limit New Orleans offensively, and they should be able to win this thing by more than two touchdowns. Team Hazenbro would love to select Hazy B's

New York Packers and lay the 14 and a half. You say New York Packers. New York. Green Bay Packers. Green Bay Packers. I saw the Saints played New York a couple of years ago. Too much Christmas eggnog. What's going on over there?

Apparently 40 and slip. I was reading the Saints. They barely beat the Giants a couple of weeks ago. I was reading them, but the Green Bay Packersants a couple weeks ago. I was reading them. But the Green Bay Packers, they're the pick. We're rolling with the cheeseheads. I mean, I get it. You're a coward and don't want to understand that the backdoor is coming today.

I totally get it. And now we're dead even heading into Christmas because this has a blowout. Let me tell you what's going to happen today. This has a blowout written all over it. You're probably going to be spamming the group like you normally do when you think you're going to get a win. And the Pack are going to be up 21, and they're going to say, okay, it's freezing out here.

We can't win the division. We're going to start putting the subs in. Spencer Rattler's going to turn back the clock, start running around like a wild man pretending it's college in somehow, some way way because he's a friend he's a friend of of team owen wilson he's gonna find a way to lose this game by 14 on the dot and the hook's gonna jam you i i can feel it now shout out spencer rattler he's gonna lose this game by 14 and we're dead even so i'm feeling pretty good about this i don't know green bay

7-0 against teams under 500 5, 5-2 against the spread. They crush and beat up on bad football teams, which is exactly what the Saints are. But we're moving on. You got the next pick. We're moving on to Christmas Day, a big Christmas Day game, that Netflix game. We'll see how that goes.

We'll see how it goes. We'll see if we can watch it after what happened last time. They had a live sporting event. But the Chiefs laying two and a half? Is this down to two and a half now for the Chiefs and Steelers game? Outrageous. You get another layup here. Who are you taking?

I mean, you know who I'm taking. I'm taking the Chiefs. Not even close. How is this only two and a half? Explain this to me. Well, it's funny. two and a half explain this to me well it's funny um you know i sit here and say to myself that uh i i think part of it's going to be bet the other way so i like the doogie made us pick these today because i think it's going to be much higher i don't know exactly why it's two and a half but

to me i sit here and say like mike tomlin is a guy who coaches, you know, teams to wins. He's very detailed in his preparation. He does a lot of those things. They make a lot of plays. He's not, Thursday night football is not his jam. And I'm not saying, you know, that this is a Thursday night game, but theoretically you're going to prep the same way. You played on Saturday.

It's now Wednesday. Same amount of days. So short weeks, Mike Tomlin, no bueno. Also, you know, I would say younger Russ on a short week, we're going to get a little more playmaking. But in the same breath, you know, he doesn't really, you know, scramble like he did, let's call it, in 2014. And I think Patty Mahomes will come out here. They want to clinch

the division. They want to get this thing done. Sorry, clinch the one seed. I really like it. Again, a field goal? Are you kidding me? I'm taking the Chiefs all day. Yeah, I can't believe that that's just a two and a half. And go figure, because the next game we got the Ravens and the Texans. And I woke up this morning,

guys, and this was a three and a half point spread. It's now to three and a half point spread it's now to five and a half points explain two point swing in the matter of hours and Doogie very happily sent me a text and he's grinning right through that glass the fact that I have to make this pick at them at five and a half and the problem is me and Partsy Hazy B we were all good at four and a half no more than I don't know 30 minutes ago now at 5.5, I still got to make the pick. But guess what? Just like I was willing to do all over the weekend,

I was willing to lay the points despite the number continuing to grow for the Baltimore Ravens. Because what does that mean? That means that the Sharps are definitely back in the Ravens. They see that this is going to be a lopsided game. I don't think the Texans are that good of a football team. I think you know that, Luke. This team, a little overrated.

They're having a massive sophomore slump from the quarterback, C.J. Stroud, and that Baltimore Ravens offense is starting to roll. I mean, they can run the ball, they can throw the ball, and they can obviously stop the run. They stopped Joe Mixon. There's not really much to throw to out there if you're C.J. Stroud. Now you've got Tank Dell injured. It's just him and Nico Collins.

You double him up. You make sure that you take him out of the game. I think that we could see the Ravens roll again, laying the points, flying with the flock. I think you're going to get jammed here, and I'm not just saying that. I think you're going to get jammed. You've got to look at matchups, Al's brother. Here's my thing.

First and foremost, C.J. Stroud did have a couple picks last week. But in the same sentence, I thought he threw the ball very, very well, especially on third down. And also to say that after Nico Collins, they have no one else, that's just simply untrue. I don't know where you're getting that information from. But that's maybe one of the craziest things you ever said. Next thing I will say is let's look at what the Texans do well defensively.

Any chance you know what they're holding, the percentage, you're an information guy. The percentage of the Texans are holding completion-wise other quarterbacks. They're holding completion-wise? 58.5%. Yeah, number one in the league. And you know what that's good for? Number one in the league, my friend.

And what is the glaring issue with Lamar Jackson's offense right now? Fluidity through the passing game. Not a ton of things on time, on rhythm, etc. So basically, you're going to sit here and give me five and a half points when I fully expect C.J. Stroud to come out here, throw for.350 against a terrible pass defense. And Lamar is going to have to deal with throwing the ball because demico ryans who is a tremendous defensive coach is going to load everybody up to

stop the run we gotta stop henry make lamar throw the ball i actually think this can be a very very tight matchup coming down to a last second field goal so hopefully i get that hopefully spencer rattler doesn't absolutely dummy me tonight. And right now, we're plus two after Christmas is done. Well, let's see what your Seahawks will do for you because Boxing Day, we got another Thursday nighter. Seahawks, Bears,

Seahawks lay in three and a half. Where's Owen Wilson going? We're going with the Hawks on this. You know, don't get me wrong, the Hawks have a lot of they have a lot of issues they have a lot of issues um that I don't love you know um but there's just no way that I'm going to give this amount of points or excuse me this little amount of points to the Bears the Bears are terrible I, it's like Mary's lost

little lamb watching this football team. You go into Detroit on the weekend, it's got a banged up defense, and you turn the ball over twice in the first quarter. I mean, it was a joke. Every play they make looks like it's the hardest play

on planet Earth to complete. I've never seen anything like it they get one yard it's like oh my god they got a yard you're shocked the run game is so so you know and seattle's most likely eliminated from the playoffs don't get me wrong but it's not out yet they're not done yet so the idea that they're not going to come in here try and set up that showdown with the rams week 18 hope for the best obviously obviously, is a bit concerning, I would say. I think that Seattle comes in here and absolutely smacks the Bears. The one thing I would say about Chicago,

as someone who is now backing the Bears in this one, they are two totally different teams on the road than when they are at home. For a team that is 0-7 on the road, they've at least got a 500 record at home, and their point differential is within 10 points difference when they're at Soldier. So I think that they could keep this one close. I don't think they'll win the football game. I think Seattle's the better team.

But I think you, this time, my friend, will get done by the hook. That's what I'm expecting this one to happen. The hook will get you on this one, my friend. I mean, we'll see, but there's a good, again, it all starts with Spencer Rattler tonight. This man can somehow cover 14 and a half points. Don't like your odds. I think we got a shot that we go on a roll.

I think we got a shot. That's what I'll say. I don't like your odds, but we'll see. Should be an interesting one tonight, that's for sure. Blowout City is what I'm expecting. Luke, you obviously expecting something a little different, at least hoping and praying for a Christmas miracle to get you going in the right direction

this weekend. We don't need to pray for that because we just know how to pick winners, so that's what we're up to this weekend. Luke, appreciate it, buddy. Good luck this weekend. Merry Christmas, pal. Merry Christmas, guys. There he goes luke wilson tsn football analyst and one half of team owen wilson what do you guys make of the picks what do you think snow is expected tonight in green bay could be you know

might be difficult to put up points that's when the Green Bay Packers are at their best though. Are they? When Lambeau's a snowy tundra, that offense seems to come alive. Seems to come alive. Sounds like it might be wet snow, the ball gets slick, it might be tough to put up points. It might be hard to hang that 14 plus on the Saints.

I'm looking like 28-10. 28-10 final. I don't think they need to score 30-40 points To cover the number I think you get 24-20 Maybe 24-28 points should be enough I think

So this deep into the season You're winning by one game After all that analysis All the breaking down You guys looking at the pop charts All this stuff This is what we're at Plus one All that analysis, all the breaking down, you guys looking at the pop charts, the charts, all this stuff, this is what we're at is plus one. Plus one, absolutely, which is a heck of a lot better than being minus one on the other side, Strutty.

Are you training for the tiebreaker, the 40? Oh, did you hear that, Strutty? Oh, you were on the show, actually. I hope it's tied. I hope it's tied. Doogie McMahon says he's doing everything in his power when it comes to making which games we pick on to get us to do this 40. He's hoping and praying.

That's probably what's on his Christmas wish list. He's probably hoping for a tie. Is that what's on your wish list here, Producer Doogie? 100%. 100%. I can admit that on air. Okay, so what's the training consist of, Al's brother? You'll see.

Okay. You'll see. You'll see. Put a little social media post. We'll start moving and shaking, absolutely. We'll have to get outside and start doing some sprints, start doing some lifts. All right. Oh, yeah.

We'll get it going. Make it easier to the game. That's not my style. You know that. Okay. I got a great shoot. All right. I'm not a long-distance runner, though.

For the first 10, 15 yards, I'll be in good shape. After that, I... You consider the 40 long-distance? A little bit. A little longer than I want. We'll see. We'll see. I think I'll beat 10-1, though.

I can break 10-1. That is a guarantee. I can break 10-1. Absolutely. I like your chances. Absolutely, I can. Thank you.