Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Fantasy finals, Vikings QB ideas

Episode Date: December 24, 2025

Mike Schopp of ADP Chasing and WGR 550 joins the show discuss key plays during Fantasy Finals week as well as look ahead to possible options for the Vikings at quarterback next season. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, presented by Fandul. Matthew Collar here, along with Mike Schope for our weekly fantasy show, although, you know, this show can go pretty much anywhere at this time of year because, you know, your fantasy championships, most people are probably done at this point outside of those competing for it. But if you're not. But if you're not, if you're not, it's, if you're not, quite a time for you. You might have, you might have found out through your work, through mine, through the ship chasing discord that you and I do this thing every week. So if you're in the finals and you're a little bit of a casual, you want to get, you want to know everything.

And there's no time to waste because we've got three games on Christmas, like they pack them in or they stretch them out. Maybe it's a better way to put it this time of year. So maybe even though it's one in six are in the fantasy finals, right? But if you are, there's a lot on the line. Yeah. And if you are, then here's what I always root for with that, is that you have some random player that you maybe had to pick up because of an injury or whatever.

Or let's just say you're getting to the end of your draft way back in July. And you're like, I don't know, Jacoby Myers, I guess. no one's picking him because he plays for the raiders and he's demanding a trade and whatever and then halfway through the season he goes to the jaguars and has become a huge player for them or a parker washington same sort of story i maybe the jaguars wasn't where everyone expected to start but i do feel like that is an incredible incredible shift from a team that was forcing the football to Travis hunter who is a cornerback and brian thomas who forgot how to receiver and then now they've got this sort of star duo out of nowhere that that to me is like the fantasy

player's dream of landing in the championship because you went i don't know park or washington i guess well there are a few different lessons and every year is different myers is a really good fantasy football lesson though i mean it was the raiders and you can't predict a trade to jacksonville and like just the whole picture but you had a provably good player like he he has a high floor. He's one of these guys. He's who I think in a kind of a normal setting Khalil Shakir in Buffalo would be or better. He's been a thousand yard player. So no matter what team he's on or situation, we tend to think that the bad team situations are sometimes better for the passing offense. Think of the Blake Bortles, Jaguars, since we're just going to make this a Jacksonville show.

So Myers, I mean, that was not an expensive pick. And I would say it's a flaw in my game because I get too sort of, I don't know, I'm too distracted by the butterfly of the rookie prospect who might just smash. I would rather have had basal tootin this year, Jaguars, hashtag Jaguars, than Myers. Because, oh, well, new coach and ETN is really inefficient over his career. They're not tied to him. They're going to revamp it. And here's this prospect, even if he was a day three pick, that is really exciting, you know, physically

elites, all of it, and what happened, even though it's not even that he was hurt. It's that ETN was good enough and that never really manifested in that they would give the rookie that much work. So that kind of busted for this year. Dynasty, hang in there. Myers is when he's sort of a boring player in the middle of the draft that nobody wants. If you draft Jacoby Myers at your draft in the bar with your friends, nobody says a peep.

They're not excited for, if you draft, have facial tutant. Oh, this guy knows ball. This guy did his homework. And you sort of want that, I'm guilty of this, that sort of positive reinforcement. And I often go too far in that respect. Washington is more of a do your work week to week. Guys were injured. They didn't have Myers yet. Thomas was busting. Hunter got hurt. Everything you said. And then Washington, while he hasn't been a reliable every week starter, he's popped. He reminds me a little bit of in this week last year in the finals against a friend of mine, Sneaky Joe, in the League of Shopes and Dreams that so many aspire to get in,

but it's just tough to get in. It was Zacchaeus on a Sunday night against Atlanta that went off, and he was in my lineup only because it was an emergency, injuries and whatever else. And Joe over there started Terry McLaurin very smartly, good draft pick, you know, all that, and he did nothing. So I won the league on Zekees. He lost it on McLaren.

That you really can't. predicts, but Washington is a lesson in being on it week to week and beating your competitors, beating your competition to the waiver wire and doing it smartly. So who do we think is the random person, maybe not super, super random. It could be anybody, I guess, if there's a receiver or a running back who gets injured and somebody comes off the bench and, you know, whatever might happen, who do you got in mind for this week that has maybe emerged recently? or you've been a little bit like, I don't know, keep an eye on whomever.

It's tough because so many teams are down so bad at quarterback. I've wanted it to be Adonai Mitchell with the Jets for two or three weeks since they traded for him and he popped in a game with Tyrod Taylor. But then they put him away and put Fields on IR and with Brady Cook, they're so nowhere. I think it tight end, not the most obscure name. but Joanne Johnson is interesting for New Orleans this week. He might be somebody available and you might have Travis Kelsey or somebody that's just like not happening. I think I would start Joanne Johnson over Kelsey at Tennessee this week.

It's Alave and Johnson, if not also Tassam Hill. I don't know what that is going to be. But I kind of like that a little bit as a dark throw. I mean, in your game, right, it's not the same thing because you don't have, well, you have all your running backs are hurt. So maybe there's Xavier Scott or somebody like that. But I mean, I just, I just wouldn't. The offense is likely to be so challenged that those names are really almost fools gold.

I think Joward Jordan in Houston, watch for Woody Marks updates, tough matchup at the Chargers. That's somebody, Jalen Coker, one more. He had a big catch late for Carolina against Tampa Bay. They host Seattle. Maybe you get into garbage time. they're playing, they're playing for something. Carolina and Coker has been pretty good. I'll think of other names, perhaps, as we go through the show.

Is Blake Corum not deep enough for this? Maybe. He's really become quite a guy for them in the recent weeks. No, that's right. He might not be startable. If you have a team good enough to have made the finals, I'm not sure Corum makes the cut as a starter. But he definitely should be rostered.

And you might also want to consider this. As we record on Wednesday morning, Christmas Eve, if your waivers run on Wednesday night, which by the way, all league's waivers should run on Wednesdays. It's just Tuesday is too soon. If it's running the night and Corum is a free agent and your

opponent has a running back problem, he has, I don't know if it would be Aaron Jones, but somebody who's hurt or just might not get much of a workload here, you want to pick up Corum even just to block your opponent. All is fair in fantasy. You're playing for money. That's a totally fair

move and those handcuffed guys or you know whoever your backup quarterbacks you're ever on your bench you don't need them anymore they're they're not ever going to play for you this is the end so use all your resources to pick up guys that your opponent might want i could also see someone like uh isaac tesla having a game against the vikings on christmas day i mean this is i mean this is a team in the vikings who have fought over the last few weeks and they've played well and they've won their games. But this is a Detroit team with any shred of hope left on the line for Christmas Day. They are really desperate. And you know, Dan Campbell's team is not going to come in and just play, you know, three quarters of the way. The Vikings are playing

a backup quarterback. The defense has been great for the Vikings stopping the past, but they also have played some pretty bad quarterbacks recently in an injured. Jaden Daniels slash Marcus Mariotta and then last week Jackson throws for 30 yards. I mean, you know, yeah, that's just unbelievable. If you're, real quick, if you're an interim coach for a team and you're trying to make an impression to say, hey, hire me. Bring in me, Mike Kafka, who no one knows. The way to do it is to run the ball 34 times and throw 12 or

whatever and get 30 yards from your quarterback. Now, that is something that's going to catch everyone's attention. I mean, look, they had injured offensive linemen. The Vikings defensive line is really good. I get it, but it's like, bro, are you really thinking that you're going to, like, impress anyone by throwing for 30 yards? It reminds me of the one time that, so I, I forget who was doing it. Maybe Paul Peck or Howard Simon, our friends were hosting this University of Buffalo radio show

each week. And one of them couldn't do it. And they asked me to fill in and they had, they had fired the coach. And so it was the wide receivers coach who just stepped in to be the interim coach. And I asked him about going for fourth downs. I was like, well, you're the interim coach. Like, do you be more aggressive or whatever? And he said, you know, I learned a long time ago in this game. You know, if you start listening to people like you, you lose your job. And I was like, you're losing your job anyway. I don't know, like you're the interim coach. Like what, what my, my cat. So I thought of that last week. Like Mike Kefka, you're losing your job anyway. Why not throw the ball down the field a couple times, the Wondale Robinson. What are we doing?

Let's on, let's on wine fish. Folks, I know that a lot of you out there getting all of my references to 1990s football. And if that's the case, there's also a good chance that you're spending way too much time thinking about your hair and your hairline. Don't comb it over or spike it or do anything stylistically that you'll regret. No, no, no, that's not going to help. You need to try hymns instead. They make it so simple for you, 100% online access to personalize treatment plans that put your goals first. There are not hidden fees. There's not surprised costs. Just real personalized care on your schedule. For simple online access to personalize an affordable care for hair loss, ED or weight loss and more, visit hymns.com slash purple insider. That's

hims.com slash purple insider for your free online visit. Hymns.com slash Purple Insider. Individual results may vary based on studies of topical and oral monocodil and vensteroid. Feature products include compound drug products, which the FDA does not approve or verify for safety, effectiveness, or quality, prescription required, see website for details, restrictions, and important safety information. One of the worst so-called axioms ever was that one. Oh, yeah. Every Monday night on the radio broadcast. Boomer Asiason would quote, maybe he was quoting Mark Levy. I know Marv would say this too.

If you listen to the fans often enough, you're going to be sitting with them. Well, guess what? All those years, the fans were mostly right. Yes, yeah. When they booed you for sending the punter on and fourth and one from the other team's 39 yard line, they were right. Yeah. And you were probably sitting with them ultimately anyway because there was some other thing that you were missing. So one of the worst all-time positions to take.

The Giants, not to make it about a teacher, point again, but NFL coaches, almost always, with only a few exceptions, are middle managers. Why was Brian Dable fired? Because he was getting Jackson Dart killed on the field. Worse than the number of passing plays, the Vikings, or the Giants, rather, against the Vikings amassed, is how many plays it took before they threw one pass. It was, what, 17 in a row or something. When the Giants went to New England on a Thursday night a few weeks ago, well, this goes back to the fourth down point because Troy Aikman in his, you know, endearing way was frustrated with how the Giants did this on fourth down, but didn't do this.

And I was, you know, not really, but yelling at my TV, it's because they're not playing to win. The Giants are not playing. Obviously, they're not going to give Devin Singletary 11 straight carries with a two touchdown deficit. If they care about winning the game, they'd rather not. So this, the GM was not, the GM was spared by the Giants. The coach, I think, is being told the most important thing is to get our quarterback to the finish line. And, you know, if we lose even better. Back to Detroit, I'd like for the fantasy aspect of this game or for the Lions in general that they play before the other teams that they need to have lose, whether that's Green Bay or whoever it is. It's a long shot for Detroit, but they're not dead.

and if Green Bay or San Francisco or whoever went and won their games, that might change the Lions' perspective on their game. I mean, they're not going to play for a draft pick, but you want the most you can get out of Detroit. Very tough loss for them. So, yeah, Tesla is interesting and kind of thinking how you were asking before about tough, you know, obscure names maybe. I think for Denver on Christmas night, Troy Franklin could be interesting.

Pat Bryant is likely to miss off that gruesome. him hit he took last week. And Franklin steps in. They're a huge favorite. They might not need to do much. And if they're Denver, they don't already do much through the air. But he could be somebody,

I don't think I'd want to start on, but just a name to consider. Before we move on to some other things, what would you do if you are the Minnesota Vikings franchise now that J.J. McCarthy has suffered another injury? What would I do going into the offseason, like this off season? I mean, I have to have somebody with some credit.

ability, Sam Darnold, two years ago, if you will, just to throw out one name, to give the impression, this is probably what I, you know, sincerely want to be able to do is to have a competition, make it a serious one. And at least if O'Connell is still there and the GM is still there, like give off the, you know, the vibes that it's not just going to be handed to McCarthy. We're not going to just do this again because we don't have a better option, even if that includes like Carson Wentz or somebody like that. So I think that might be easier said than done with what the market is at quarterback. A lot of teams we've talked about this through the season are going to be

in that position. You and I before we started, we're talking about Sam Bradford randomly like what, what's he up to? He could be somebody like a flacko or some comes off the couch and just throws for 300 yards. I mean, we saw Philip Rivers do whatever that was. But you told me, you know, that's probably not going to happen. Of course it's not with Bradford, which is kind of a funny idea. So Minnesota has to do something. They can't do nothing. And if that's a, if it's a draft pick, that gets really interesting. But I think that that's less likely because of where they'll pick. And, you know, if they do that, it's kind of, I don't know, cool because then they're pretty much telling you they have no hope for McCarthy.

Maybe there's a sort of an in-between idea that would suffice. Yeah, I've been trying to think of everyone that there is because this is a scenario that is so reminiscent of Tray Lance and of Anthony Richardson where you can see the moments when those guys play. But then you look at the stat line at the end and you go, okay, well, that's not even close to what it needs to be. And then you have these stops and starts and the player can't develop and they can't get better. Like, I wouldn't be surprised if someday Trey Lance is starting for someone and looks pretty good when he's like 32 because he'll have actually been able to develop behind the scenes and get that opportunity where, you know, someone like Anthony Richardson who got hurt in a strange way and couldn't step in

and that's how we end up with Philip Rivers. But he had so many injuries before that you go into an offseason and it's like, well, you've got to fix your mechanics, but you would need shoulder surgery. So good luck with that. And that's kind of how it was, I think last year with McCarthy and his mechanical stuff with, well, you've got to fix your footwork, but your knee is being reconstructed for most of the offseason. So that's not really going to help you very much or you're recovering from that. And now he's got a hand injury. He might play against the Green Bay Packers through the hand injury.

But even then we're talking about another game and a half, which is another large percentage of throws that you are not able to make. and large percentages of defenses that you're not seeing, blitzes you're not facing, coverages you're not going against, throws you're not passing to Justin Jefferson to try to get some chemistry. And when the sample size is now cut to your playing

less than a third of the potential games that you were expected to play when they drafted you, I don't know how you could go into next season saying, well, yeah, he'll be fine. I'm sure that he won't hurt his knee, ankle, head or hand, at all next year, especially when he plays in a semi-reckless type of manner, which was similar to Anthony Richardson or Jackson Dart, who these teams tell, hey, maybe you shouldn't be diving at two guys at the goal line, but like he's going to do it anyway, because that's the way

that he plays. But finding the other guy to compete with him is such a mystery. Like, I mean, when you start looking at, okay, who are the free agents? There are some people who like Malik Willis because they've seen a little tiny bit of Malik Willis. I don't know if that's a fit for what Kevin O'Connell wants to do, even though I like Willis. And I like a story of a guy who makes a lot of progress and develops. And Tennessee, well done, like getting rid of a quarterback who can play. Great job.

But he would have, he was dying there. Yeah. Right. This is a point about Green Bay staff, I think, is that they've, you know, I don't know if saved him is right, but, you know, go on, yes. I think it's a point about Green Bay not having an owner because. the owners are always, oh, well, the, you know, they're always overreacting in certain places and they don't have one. Um, so they could just develop a quarterback for three years and it's like,

that's what we do. Uh, but anyway, you know, you start looking around and you go, all right, is Malik Willis, the Sam Darnold you're talking about of a guy who has sort of developed behind the scenes or, you know, maybe was given up by, you know, a franchise. Uh, is the Jimmy Garapolo a guy who could just come in and execute an offense and get the ball to Jefferson. The guy is probably washed, but he also took a team to the Super Bowl and NFC championship. Are you talking about a Kyler Murray where you're completely out and you make this big move and swing for a guy who was PFF's 10th best quarterback in 2024? And then his franchise is a total calamity, which actually sounds a little Sam Darnold like

as well. I mean, but none of these ideas are inspiring when you have other teams in your division who are locked into their quarterbacks and feel great about them. Well, Darnold was not an inspiring idea either. And that worked out great. So I think maybe we're at a point in time where that can be an easier sell. Buffalo, we have Mitchell Trubisky. Yeah.

And you could make, I wouldn't, okay, but one could make certain excuses for him and build an argument that in this climate, there might be something there. And I don't know if he doesn't get a chance. chance in these, you know, complicated times at that position that I think about this every day and try to map out like who's going where and how much is Mack Jones worth at this, you know, in this market. He's not going to be a free agent, but does San Francisco clean up trading Mac Jones if they want to do that or do they just hang on to them? And you got to price in the advantages a guy like that. And I think Malik Willis have being on the teams they're on

and just if they're on bad teams, they're not learning anything. I don't know what Trey Lance and the Chargers are as an example in this way. So there are a lot of teams that don't, even Pittsburgh, which is going to the playoffs, probably with Aaron Rogers, like what do they roll out? Who did they roll out next year?

Rogers again, do they run that back? They likely go to the playoffs and get stomped for the 50 year in a row in the first round or whatever that is. So lots of balls in the air, so to speak, in this off season. And Minnesota will be squarely a team that will be analyzed and, you know, discussed heavily. Yeah, because I think that we have reached a point where you can't just go forward with it, which is what I was advocating maybe a week ago is, hey, you know, finish this out and then go into next year and live or die on the hill that you decided to sit on because you moved on from Sam Darnold.

But now with an injury like this, you might go into next year. year and he starts and gets hurt in the first two games and then you're playing Carson once again and that just can't that just can't happen it is what what do you think about this I mean I didn't really address this when you brought it up earlier the injuries I think can be a convenient excuse for a team you know oh Anthony Richardson snapped a rubber band in his eye and he's gone forever like just so we don't have to answer questions oh he's got a shoulder out for the year yeah they've done that a couple times with Richardson and I'm not saying necessarily that those events didn't happen, but it's more convenient.

It's easier for the team to navigate the season when they don't have that lurking over their shoulder all the time. So you can use injury prone for McCarthy. I think I think you'd agree with this. I don't know. Most fans are probably a little bit more sophisticated than it used to be in a way where like, oh, we're just going to fall for that. I mean, speaking of fantasy football, remember a guy that I play in a league with every year,

absolutely swearing off forever the idea of drafting Christian McCaffrey again because, oh, he gets her. Yeah. And all you need to do the last three or four years in fantasy football, well, last year didn't work out this way, but mostly, just simply draft Christian McCaffrey and close your eyes.

I mean, look at it. So I think injury prone, you know, if I'm hosting a talk show, I don't really want to hear it. Yeah. But it is several different injuries. And if a guy is a certain body type, Maybe you sort of look at it and like, this is not going to last.

So it's definitely a point to consider, but I feel like it might just be more of an excuse than anything else to get out from a guy. I mean, yes and no, because I think that more than body type play style would be the thing here. Because when you look at he has the fourth highest pressure to sack ratio, which is one of those analytics people, death knell stats. Justin Fields. Yeah, right, exactly. like if you if you have this one it is very very very concerning and that's also a lot of hits and there was a play last week that even though he had you know some good moments against the giants where he passed up an open wide receiver on a concept that kOC has scored 50 touchdowns

with between you know kirk cousins and sam darnal didn't see it and then panics tries to scramble and gets drilled and it's like well that's the type of thing that gets your quarterback injured all the time. Like that was the, you know, just to make Buffalo connections like a Trent Edwards where it just, you know, if you hang on to that football forever and he's averaging over three yards or three seconds holding out of the ball, but he's not a Caleb Williams level type of scrambler. And then he when he runs and we've asked them about and there's some thought to like diving forward being a good thing for quarterbacks. You could kind of see where you're headed as opposed to completely giving

yourself up and so forth. But I mean, you run full speed and just launch yourself into places, you're bound to get hit sometimes. And he is kind of a reckless scrambler. So I think that the way of playing is not exactly protecting yourself either, even if I agree with you that overall injuries are mostly random. But I think for other positions, it's a little different. If it's a tackle, it's like, well, Christian Derasaw's ACL got torn when someone else fell on

him. But with a quarterback, you have control over that. That's why, like, some scramblers, they stay healthy their entire career. Some pocket quarterbacks, they get hurt their entire career because it's all about how you deal with that pressure. But, yeah, I wish I had the, hey, Vikings, just do this and you'll be fine. But you do make a point that throughout Vikings history, there's always been a guy around the corner that you don't expect. And then, oh, this guy got them to 13 wins. and if they get the last play schedule, who knows?

Is Case Keenum still active? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Do you know where he plays? He is going to be the playoffs. Houston? He is a Chicago bear, I believe. I always guess Houston when it comes to Case Keenum, whether it's college or pro,

I always guess Houston. Because there was the year. The year that Keenum played for Houston, left Houston, and then returned to Houston. It's too hard to, it's too risky to guess anywhere else. So he's the bear's backup? Yeah, he's the bear's backup. Does Tyler Huntley start week one for somebody? I don't think so.

There's certain guys where you just, I mean, maybe, but how do you make the argument? Like you mentioned Trubisky, I don't know, like no one's tried that. With Sam Darnold, he had been a starting quarterback, was a backup for one year and then back in. But, you know, now when you look back at Mitch Trubisky's numbers and compare them to J.J. McCarthy, you're like, maybe. Shoulder Sanders, yes or no? No, I don't think so. Gino Smith?

Here. I think here. I think Gino Smith is a legitimate. I like that. Yeah. That's a legitimate option. That's my pick. Minchu is ACL is not torn.

Uh, no. Back up. Same with like Jacoby Brissette. People like he has a few good games and oh, Jacobi Perci, they're like three and ten. Stop it. Like be serious. That's right.

Yeah. Three and 12. They've all these games with Brissette, a fantasy. What a find. Finally ended last week. But they've won one. game with him. They beat Dallas. Right. And they've lost every other game. Well, and that, that was another point about the McCarthy good game against Dallas,

where you're like, yeah, actually, Justin Fields and Jacoby Preset had good games against Dallas as well. So I don't know. Was there a point? No, I don't think that. I don't think so. That just seems like he's not the same player that he was a couple years ago. A lot of injuries there for him. And it's just so limited. The reason I like the, Kyler Murray or Gino Smith idea better than anything else. If you're talking about, hey, they don't believe in him, not they still believe in him, but he's had injuries. If they don't believe in him, as opposed to someone like Tua is just, it's, it's not

going to be that fun, number one. And the ceiling is so limited. And my whole gripe with the Kirk Cousin's thing for years was the ceiling is already decided. You are not going past a certain point unless there's a miracle. so why, why do it? And I would feel the same way. Now, there's, there is like a scenario where Gino Smith throws for 5,000 yards or something as a Viking or Kyler Burry goes completely crazy.

I don't think there's a scenario where Tua does that. I'm going forward with Gino Smith and the Vikings. I feel like that's kind of perfect. And I would love it in fantasy. Like bringing Jefferson, Jefferson's going to fall to the end of the first round probably, at least. next year, if there isn't some sort of miraculous, obvious quarterback answer there, too many other good choices. And this year was such a disaster.

Jefferson, man, I got a little bit too complacent drafting Jefferson over Gibbs and McCaffrey and C.D. Lambs, so many, so many drafts. And he turned out to not exactly be quarterback proof. So it seems, although maybe Max Brosmer is all he needed. No, that wasn't the case in the Seattle. But he did make a hell of a throw to him last week. Was there something you wanted to get to before we talk about some games? Well, I'm excited.

Not exactly. I'm excited just to give everybody a heads up for next week. Matt and I are going to be compiling a couple of FFPC playoff tournament teams. And that's maybe my favorite format in all of fantasy football. is to do that. It's, you have 14 teams in the playoffs, but you only have 12 roster spots, and you can't use more than one player per NFL team. So, and it's for the, there's no changing the roster during the playoffs either.

And Super Bowl points are double. So there's lots to think about if Purple Insider, viewers and listeners want to sort of play along, it's kind of a, like a word puzzle or something, try it. One quarterback, two running backs, three receivers, one tight end, three flex kicker and defense. So it's a long roster. It's best ball. So your top guys automatically count every week.

And a really fun exercise. This year is somewhat unusual in that with two weeks to go, very likely the teams that are in playoff spots right now will be the playoff teams with the possible exception of the two divisions where it could flip. Even now, like Pittsburgh is two games ahead. So really the NFC South is the one. wild cards. We kind of know everything. You can start on that process already. And they have different price points on the FFPC so you can play for 35 bucks or or higher. But it's a really

fun tournament. You've got to beat everybody to win real money. So you got to get a little bit different with some of your choices. And Matt and I next week will be brainstorming those our two teams, our two entries. I will have some time because the Vikings play on Christmas to start organizing my thoughts I cannot wait for that I love that that is such a great format and for people you know if you're not generally somebody who has got enough time to go

through all the lineups and everything else each week to really invest that so you're like fantasy football just takes too much time this is for you like do you know you draft it once and see what happens and if you're somebody that is kind of crazy for it on the other side of the coin and you're already missing it because the season

is ending you have this so you can also look at it from that perspective. So you mentioned that there's not crazy, or maybe you said this off the air, not crazy implications for playoffs this week necessarily. But there are some really good football games where I feel like there's just a, some playoff previews in here or some ones that just could be really compelling. I want to start in that realm with the Seattle Seahawks and Carolina Panthers. Seahawks at Panthers.

The Seahawks, I've always had this theory, and I have no idea if it bears out or not, when a team has a super emotional win that the next week they don't play as well. And I was looking at this, Ernest Jones, the linebacker from the Seahawks, he played 92 snaps last week. And I know it was a Thursday,

so he's got a little extra recovery. I mean, that is the way, that Seahawks game, that was insane. Now they go to Carolina. It's just a little bit less juice for, them. It's going across the country. They are seven and a half point favorites on Fanduil in this game. I am really interested to see how this one goes for Sam Darnold against a defense that is getting better in Carolina. I gave Baker Mayfield a really hard time

last week against, you know, a Bryce Young who has been legitimately emerging lately, especially the more he trusts Tedroa McMillan, who is, I think, becoming a star right in front of us. I just think it's intriguing of a team that's kind of been on the rise versus a team that sort of just proved itself but then all then has to go play another team that's going to be in the playoffs. I love this matchup.

I want to love it. I think there are a couple things to also factor in. It's a much more important game I would say for Seattle than it is for Carolina. If Carolina loses and Tampa wins or loses, they're still going to have to win next week. Right. Against Tampa in that rematch to win the division.

there's not a unless I'm missing something there's really not that much on the line unless Tampa loses to Miami then Carolina can clinch here and I don't know the combination of those two things doesn't seem that's likely also San Francisco and Seattle meet in week 18 in San Francisco and if the Niners win there two this week against the Bears and that one they will be the one which means very possibly Seattle will go to Carolina again in two weeks or Tampa like so there might be a little bit here maybe especially from the panther standpoint if they're you know playing the long game where they might want to just sort of roll out everything they've got it's not it's not a winner go home game for Carolina so and

plus they're already a team that's very been very hard to predict I mean they have had they got blown out by Atlanta right like they've had a couple of games this year where they were just not competitive. So I respect it. It's been kind of an interesting story this year. I have to have a Fanduil Futures bet on Carolina to win the NFC South at 10 to 1 from, you know, many weeks ago. So I wouldn't hate that happening. But I don't know if this game, Seattle had better get at home here. It's also a west to east one o'clock game, right? Yeah. Those historically are dangerous for the road team. They did win a game like that in Jacksonville, however, earlier this season. Seattle's legit good. And it's right there for.

them. The one seat is such a huge advantage for whoever gets it from the NFC West. Yeah. I mean, from a, right, as you said, the playoff perspective, Seattle needs it more, but I don't think that it's, hey, if whoever loses is screwed in this situation, I think it's more of just for me where those two teams are. Like Carolina sort of surging, they had that bad loss against New Orleans, but they bounce back. They get this huge win. And they're a team that has been more or less on the rise, making noise in the second half and you have Seattle coming off of this insane game

and they're kind of trying to solidify themselves as the one seed, the best team in the NFC, all that. And so maybe like two different narratives coming together in that game. Chicago and the San Francisco 49ers also interesting. Kyle Shanahan, the king remains the king the other night. I mean, Indianapolis has a pretty good defense and they got eaten right up by Kyle Shanahan.

Shanahan. It was crazy. The number of open wide receivers, Christian McCaffrey's walking into the end zone. I mean, Brock, Brock Purdy also, like, you know, he deserves, he deserves his credit because he's the perfect quarterback for that guy. And, uh, I thought it was cool. Trent Williams after the game talking about like him in the huddle and all that sort of stuff. Uh, but I mean, they have no receivers. I mean, it's just crazy like what he's been able to do this year. because when they went to the Super Bowl, it was, hey, you know, he's got all these great weapons.

He doesn't actually have to do anything and so forth. I mean, but now I don't know that you could say that about what Sky Moore stepping in as one of their, I guess, keyish players. Well, that's really, you said it. I mean, a function of their scheme and being able to make it such that a guy like that is just open. And he's going to catch that pass most of the time when it's so easy. like that. I'll admit to being kind of crushing on Purdy a little bit on Monday night and just even though it's not really my thing, just the body language stuff on him, I just really dig. He's just never impressed with anything he does. At least he gives you that impression.

You can't get any kind of reaction out of him. And I've always loved those athletes through the years in any sport because I just love the idea that like the less your opponent knows about how you're feeling the better for you. So if you can sort of be under control to the extent that you don't give up any positive or negative, you know, positive can be you're overconfident, negative can be or frustrated. This is more maybe like a tennis point or an individual sport. But I just love a guy who doesn't, I mean, to say the least, seems to never get rattled. And, you know, that's not analytics, but I think he's sort of easy to like and respect

in that way. They really, they cross your fingers on George Kittle. Yeah. Because for as bulletproof as they seem to be over the years offensively because of Shanahan and now Purdy, that guy, speaking of futures bets, I just thought, I just got drunk one night. I'm like, I'm going to bet George Kittle to be the offensive player of the year

because he's that good and they're really kind of bereft at the, you know, skill position guys. and if he can just, he probably needed a game like he had Monday night every week. And that did not happen. He never was in contention for that award. But, you know, he got hurt there late. Interesting that McCaffrey and Kittle both were still in the game so late when the game was really over. Yeah.

I thought that was questionable. But I think, you know, Kittle, maybe even more so than McCaffrey for me is, that's debatable, to be kind, vital to their success. monster yeah absolute monster i think that he is the decided best tight i i'm not you know obviously travis kelsey's going to go to the hall fame i i was never in the camp that kelsey was better than kittal because kittal is like rob gronkowski in that he is a dominating blocker as well and then just a yards after catch monster uh brilliant in that scheme perfect and they're using kyle use check in all sorts of different ways which i love to see uh as well. But as far as Chicago goes, I feel like this is the battle of two teams that no one's really

believed were actually good for the entire season, where, you know, San Francisco, they've got all the injuries on defense, and they had the pretty light schedule. And Chicago, they've gotten away with all these wins. And this is where, you know, because you and I have talked for many years about, you know, different analytical concepts and things like this, this is where I have become now prone to turning the internet off when there's a good game because I just don't want everybody's horse crap commentary about how, oh, well, they got outplayed and, you know, they shouldn't have won and it was luck and everything else. Like, let me just watch a good football game here. And, uh, you know, I'll think about that a little bit later. And that's how I felt about

the Packers and Bears and Seahawks and Rams. Obviously the Rams outplayed the Seahawks and lost because of a field goal, a punt return, or whatever, and an amazing comeback. The same thing goes here. The Packers outplayed the Bears for most of that game. But Caleb Williams, in the biggest moments, there is something real there with him because of the pure, absurd, outrageous talent that that man possesses. And when it clicks in, it looks like John Freaking Elway. And that's what that game was. But I don't know that you can win like that every single week. Jordan Love got hurt, right and you know you just a lot of things had to kind of come your way some guy who's never caught a pass before has to catch make a great catch of the back of the end zone I it it feels

like um Chicago is that team that has sort of gotten away with it week in a week out and they will eventually kind of have that comeback and bite them we keep saying it I mean yes there are often these teams in a given NFL season it's the Vikings sorry to do this every time but the year with the negative point differential. I think the bears are a little better than that, but not a lot. And so high stakes here, like if they win in San Francisco and then can be possibly by then eliminated Detroit team with Jared Goff, if he plays in the cold week 18, then they're the one.

Like they could be the one if Seattle loses one game here and they play the Niners too like we talked about. So huge advantage for the Bears. That'll make them an interesting team to think about in our little play. playoff format because, like, who do you want? Who's the Bears player? One quarterback, right? That wouldn't be Caleb Williams. Who's the player? They might have one playoff game. They might have four if they are actually good. So I think that'll be a team for a team with such a good record. I have, you know, several years experience in that in that tournament that some sharp players will just avoid.

Yeah. Because they'll feel like the public will jump in on DeAndre Swift or DJ Moore or something. and maybe I'll take their kicker, maybe I'll just skip the bears. If they end up with the one seed, I mean, you're, it doesn't, all that stuff about whether you were lucky or not in the regular season, it sort of goes out the window because it's like you get to miss the first round and then, you know, the Vikings in 2020 had to still play in the first round against the Giants and that's where, and the interesting part too is that the Vikings got exposed at the end of that season and everybody knew that they weren't long for the postseason by the end. The bears have seemingly gotten stronger as they've gone along. They've got some of their

secondary back. They've had guys emerge. They've had, you know, Caleb Williams get more and more confident and with his past catchers, but still. They had Romeo Dobbs dropping onside kick. Yeah. Yeah, right. Exactly. Still, they've had, you know, these things go right for them. Uh, the bears are three and a half point underdogs on Fanduil. How are we, how are we feeling about this game? I mean, I'm not sure how I'd want to bet it at this point. There's a little bit of a, I call the Buster Theory element in play where San Francisco, it's so fresh in our minds, how good they were in kind of every way on the road.

Now I only have to give three or three and a half at home to a suspect Bears team. I think that's a little bit of a trap. But wasn't that the Colts game too, where the Niners felt a little bit like a trap as a bet and then they just completely rolled. So I wouldn't want to bet San Francisco. We'll see on Kittle. If he misses, I don't think that line moves.

But it would lean me toward Chicago even more because nobody was that impressed with the Bears against Green Bay and they still won the game. So I think the way I look at sports betting would have me toward Chicago, but I don't know what kind of game it'll be. Last one in terms of our good games. bills is the bills yeah that's right bills are home against the philadelphia eagles

bills are one and a half point favorites in this game and uh i don't know like just this one doesn't have does it have juice for the bills in their playoff situation or not really not really when the when the schedule came out we had this really special situation with the bills this year it's the last year of their stadium yeah and as the chips fell home games against Kansas City, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati, all those teams on their schedule, all at home. We know that none of those teams would be a week 18 opponent because those are always division games, but whether it's the end of the stadium or not, and they were expecting to be in the playoffs, when they won the division five years in a row, maybe there's a home game

in the playoffs to, you know, close the stadium, so to speak. I just, when, when Philadelphia got slotted for week 17 here, I really didn't like it. it because I thought with teams that good, there was too good of a chance that the game would not be that important. If you put it, like the Eagles went to Kansas City in week two. Now, that was a Super Bowl rematch. So you're kind of like building momentum for the season

and getting eyeballs, not that that's ever a problem with this league. I never like this game being so late. And I think that's mostly justified here. Like the bills are a game behind. They need the Patriots to lose to the Jets or the dolphins or else they're going to be a wild card. I don't know how much seeding matters to teams like this or any in either conference.

You know, to the Bears point, if they're the one, great, but who are they playing in the second round? The Rams, the Seahawks, the Niners, the Packers again, like it won't be pretty. And I think, you know, if you're a team like Buffalo that's been to the playoff so many times, you're just going to take what you get. Maybe they'll get Pittsburgh in the first round. They buried them. Maybe they'll get Jacksonville. I think they'd be favored in Jacksonville, but I don't like that as much. I just feel like the big thing with the buy is the rest.

And if you can take week 18 off, you'll do it. Remember Sean McVeigh last year? They had a seating on the line. They chose not to try for it. And they won their game, the Austin, Philadelphia eventually. But I think that that might be the more popular strategy for teams. So we'll see. It just to the word you use juice, I think.

This game doesn't have a lot. Philadelphia is going to the playoffs, and so is Buffalo, but they don't have a lot to play for here. And New England will have played its jet game already before Eagles bills at 425. So are the bills home week 18? Yes, to the Jets.

Oof. And they might be playing for nothing. So do you play Josh? Is Mitch Trubeskey going to close the stadium? Yes, probably. Alan last year in a similar situation, well, not quite as similar. Like they had clinched the AFC East because Kansas City had already won its game and laid down for Denver. Remember that?

Like that, that was already decided. So Alan, who has a long consecutive starts streak, played literally one snap handed off and left last year. Maybe the stadium point changes that, but... Probably not. Imagine Sean McDermott lobbying for that now. So, yeah, or the bills decide that the five versus the six say is meaningful because that's the Steelers instead of the Jaguars. They could look at it like that. I think what you're looking for.

Well, that's, yeah, no, that's fair. But what often teams will do is let me know who we're going to face. So we can kind of throw that game, be set up to play who we think we're going to play and then take two weeks to prepare, which is what Sean McVe. did last year, take it two weeks to prepare for the Minnesota Vikings and saw the fruits of his decision there in the first round. So one more thing on the bills speaking to that game last year, James Cook was going for a touchdown, a franchise touchdown record. And they did put him back in in New England last year to get that record, which he did.

The Patriots won the game with Joe Milton, which was hilarious because it cost them the number one pick, but, you know, they weren't too worse for it, I suppose. Cook is the NFL's rushing leader right now. I don't know that he has bonuses, but he has totally backed up last year. And

I might expect that if he has a chance to win the rushing title, he's like 43 yards, I think, maybe ahead of Jonathan Taylor, that they will want that for him. Yeah, no, that's a good point. And I do think that, you know, stuff like that matters to the players a lot, like that they work so hard, you know, it was sort of like when Baker Mayfield just threw the ball to Mike Evans, even though he probably shouldn't have with the game on the line to make sure that

he got one more catch. The Vikings botched that in 2021. And I don't think Justin Jefferson would have ever forgiven Mike Zimmer if they didn't fire him for not getting him the ball or Kirk Cousins. I don't think he ever forgave Kirk Cousins for that. I mean, it was just so absurd to not get him, you know, there was a record. I think it was the franchise record for receiving in a season or whatever it was, I forget, but anyway. The bills had James Lofden toward the end of his career going into the playoffs. They'd already been to the Super Bowl once or twice. And he was going for the, maybe the all time receiving yards record back like 92, perhaps.

And there's like every, I think it might have even been the backup, Frank Reich at that point, just in a meaningless game, throwing the ball constantly to James Lofton. And when we saw Lofden again, he couldn't even walk. Like it just sort of was over for him after that record quest, which he, which he got. well we'll see which one of those comes up and maybe some guys will have very surprising weeks because they have bonuses which you've talked about is a next next next level fantasy thing well Mike next week should be extremely fun we'll draft that team for the playoffs and we will go from there and into the postseason so thank you as always for your time and Merry Christmas

to you sir. Merry Christmas to you and all your fans and we'll see you next week. Thank you.