Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The surprise players of the year, Seahawks-49ers implications

Episode Date: January 2, 2026

Mike Schopp of ADP Chasing and WGR 550 joins for our weekly Fantasy Show to discuss the surprise players of the year, plus the implications of this weekend's Seahawks-49ers game. 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. And this is our weekly fantasy show with Mike Shope of WGR550 and ADP chasing. And hopefully it's not freezing rain there at the moment like it was last week for Josh Allen and Jalen Hertz. And I'll never apologize. There's two things I'll never apologize for. I will never apologize for enjoying games with terrible weather where everyone looks miserable playing football. It's not made to be beautiful all the time.

And I will also never apologize for thinking the Carolina Panthers or Tampa Bay Bucks should not be hosting a home playoff game. Sure, divisions are great, but it's a mess when that happens. Let's talk about, hi, let's talk about stadiums. So Sunday is the last regular season. game, if not probably the last game ever at the Bill Stadium, which opened in 1973. They built a fancy palace across the street, and any of us from the area see it, and you're like, it's surreal. It doesn't even seem like that could possibly exist here. No roof, sort of a semi-roof, but they stopped short on

purpose for cost. Of course, they went way over budget anyway, and nobody blinks an eye, And that's how much power the NFL has. Will that stadium be the last open-air stadium in the history of the NFL? What will expire first, the league itself, or that stadium opening in 2026? Kansas City is moving to a dome. Denver is moving to a dome. I don't know. I mean, I have as a fantasy player, and that's not my primary interest in football, as much as it sounds like it,

Um, okay. I mean, now I don't have any games in playoff weeks that are ruined by 50 mile an hour winds or freezing rain, 13, 12 games. But really like you and I are the same in this way, nostalgic for the old NFL film stuff. And a lot of that is the aesthetics. It's the weather and the mud. And I don't know, the bills will have grass. But I'm sure they'll figure out a way that it's never basically going to look like it's ever been stepped on before. when they play. So I wonder if their stadium will be the last open air stadium in the history of the league. I certainly hope not, but Cleveland's talking about a new stadium. Chicago's talking about a new stadium and everybody wants them to be indoors. And I just could not be more sad about it. It's, it's the, the aesthetic of now last week was pretty gross with what was happening out there with, you know, the freezing rain and so forth. And there are extremes to this that could be pretty gnarly. But the Kansas City, you know, the big snowflakes falling down or Cleveland, big snow flakes

falling down, the turf's ripped up a little bit where you can reach a point where they're playing regular football, but it looks beautiful. That to me is like the perfect. And then every once in a while, who doesn't like when there's eight feet of snow and someone is doing a snow angel in the end zone? If we're never going to have any person doing a snow angel, now the heated fields, I think, was necessary because, you know, guys fall on the, you know, frozen turf and get hurt. But even that is sort of taken away from the gathering snow because you'd start a game

at, you know, one o'clock. And it's, you know, pretty, you know, green out there. And then it gets more white and more white. I don't know. It just, uh, I feel like football is made to be outdoors and it's made to be the most aesthetically flawless game. And I feel like personally attacked when they take. take things away, or when a team that has great uniforms changes it to something terrible, I feel like you've taken something great from me of just being able to watch this. So, yeah, I don't know. It's going to be sad.

Yeah, then they, the next chapter in your book was they come out at halftime and just the yard lines have been snowblowed, if that's a word. Like, you just see the lines anymore. What was Minnesota's reaction to, I mean, it's a long time ago, I guess now, but to going indoors. Well, it's a very long time ago. Yeah. Because it's two stadiums ago.

But I wonder, like, this probably was a big controversy there when they moved out of the Met into the dome. And they were one of the first teams to do it. And it probably felt like this was antithetical to why we like the sport. I think in terms of TV, also, there's something about the framing of the field and the game itself that just was a perfect marriage with television.

And, you know, other sports suffered for it, especially hockey. Like hockey has never been able to figure out a way to make it sort of presentable on the same level. But football just is like perfect. And if Eagles bills had been 10 degrees colder, you would have had a snow globe and it would have been an iconic game and maybe even a better game than the rain.

I talked to Ross Tucker yesterday on WGR and he's like, absolutely the worst weather there is not. I think it is for the fans. And he said it is for the players. to 36 and wet. Yeah, well, and, I mean, I think in the snow, you can grip the football pretty easily. Like, because there's a lot of moisture in the air. This is getting too deep into like, you know, whatever.

But there's, there's moisture in the air. And I think that you can grip the football pretty well in the snow. And the receivers have a bit of an advantage running their routes with the corners trying to slide around. I think it was Tom Brady who said he loved playing in the snow because the corners couldn't stay close to the wide receivers. But when it's rainy like that, I don't know that. I don't know that even the man with the largest hands in the universe,

Josh Allen, can hold on to that ball. And maybe if he could have, that last pass is a completion. I'm not sure. But I don't know what the response was when they moved indoors. I imagine that people were not too thrilled because, I mean,

they used to, it would be those cold games. And the players would chant like Odin, when the other team would come out. And it would be such an advantage of like, uh, they wouldn't wear the sleeves. you know, Bud Grant would be over there and then they would just be like,

we're good with the snow. We're in Minnesota and, you know, other teams hated showing up there. At the same time with the way that the NFL is scheduled now, they used to be wrapping up the season by right now where it started to get dangerously cold. You get into January, mid-late January, I mean, you're talking really dangerous for people to be out there playing. So I don't know. There's probably a hint of that as well.

But anyway, so I wanted to look back because we're recording this on New Year's Eve and happy New Year to you, Mike. Look back at some of the fantasy football heroes, surprises and remember the 2025 fantasy season as most people's fantasy seasons are wrapping up. And I've seen some discussion about, hey, can we make that week 16 instead of week 17 because it starts to get real. with the New York Jets, like, not playing football at all on the field against Drake May, but, you know, whatever it may be. Where would you like to begin? Would you like to begin with biggest surprises, biggest superstars of fantasy football, biggest disappointments?

Where do you want to go with this? I'll begin with myself, which is, you know, every year when you play as much volume as I do, you have both. I had some good wins. being able to fade Drake London almost surprisingly well on Monday night turned out very good for me. But it's always a mixed bag.

And I think probably, especially when you're playing in the high stakes world and the tournament stuff, my predecessor as host of ADP chasing Sam Sherman took down $2 million on Monday night with a Derek Henry Christian McCaffrey team. And I just will not or can, not. I just refuse to, again, this year, I'm the sucker because I wouldn't build teams around

30-year-old running backs. And if you made it to week 17, as Sam did, to his credit, and what a tremendous, life-changing win that is, then you got, what, 80 points? You got four touchdowns from Henry. The fourth one, like, why is he still playing? He's sort of, Baltimore has the game's a two-minute warning and their way ahead. And it's Derek Henry running for a fourth and over 200 yards. Some of these leagues give bonuses out. Incredible. So I almost can't believe that for five years of arguing about older running backs and McCaffrey and Henry, here I am, at least, and most people who put nuanced thought into teams, and I think that's not a slight on Sam. He drafts a million teams probably too and had lots of both. But you just can't believe you're losing to

Derek Henry again. How many years of this? And then what do we do next year? Like, is he a first round pick again? Is Christian McCaffrey a first round pick again? I mean, Henry turns 32, I think, next week. So that's like they say in rounders, you always forget your beats more than your wins. And this year ended kind of not bitterly. I don't want to go that far, but unpleasantly for me because of that. Jackson Smith and Jigba was a huge win. And if you were willing to draft him early third round, I mean, you didn't need to pick him at the 210 or 211 because you could have got

them at the 3-2 or 3-3 in drafts. That was a league winner. And we were drafting T. Higgins instead or Jalen Waddle or Trayvion Henderson or O'Marion Hampton like it just worked out so perfectly for Smith and Jigba and that's my biggest miss I don't consider not drafting Derek Henry a miss but probably I should um but JSN and Seattle I just could not get myself to Seattle's offense will really hum with that offensive line nobody liked it and coaching change um who's their number two option like if you have one guy that's who even knew if he was necessarily that great to begin with, because he hadn't really shown that in the league yet.

I just didn't, I didn't reach for JSN. I mean, I got him when he was value, but that wasn't enough. So there's that. And I would say thirdly, the elite quarterback story this year is one of the interesting takeaways. I mean, Josh Allen was quarterback one most of the time, and he performed for the most part. He played the season. He had some spike weeks. He also had some duds in the fantasy playoffs. He really didn't get anything much while he had two rushing touchdowns against Philadelphia

in the end, but they were also shut out with five and a half minutes to go. You didn't get any huge games from him like other years. But Jackson busted, Jaden Daniels disappeared, Joe Burrow missed 70% of the season. Jalen Hertz was fine, somewhat in the Allen category. The guy you needed were like Drake May or Dak Prescott. And I love drafting those guys. That was an area where I was better off than the field. But so some of those are some of the more interesting conclusions from the fantasy year. Folks, as you know, Purple Insider is always growing and changing and I'm looking to take steps forward in 2026, just like your business. Now, I'm lucky to have a great crew, but as a business owner, I am well aware of the challenges of trying to find quality

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is he? I mean, still probably like a top 10, top 12, but you are likely drafting him number 1, 2, 3, 4 somewhere in that range. The guy that I was, I remember asking you and Ian Hartett's before the season about Bijan Robinson. And I was wondering, like, is it, you know, is I, L.G. are going to take his touchdowns? Or, you know, is he really going to break out? And he had, had an incredible season, Jonathan Taylor. So it was, you know, some proven guys. James Cook got paid before the season, had a great year. And there were some disappointments.

Breece Hall, I think was a huge disappointment for me. I would have expected that that run game with Justin Fields, they would have been handing off to him forever. And it just never really came about. But for me, they were too dysfunctional, Hall. He did go over 1,000 yards somehow on that team, but it just never really popped. You're right.

For me, it's always with running backs, though. If you're the person who before the season takes the swing at the random guy that nobody really likes and hits, I mean, there was a lot of those. And there are every single year. Javante Williams was probably one of the biggest surprises. You go back to last year with Denver and look at his numbers. You go, okay, just the guy. But their offense was so prolific at passing the football that I think he benefited. Another guy, Travis E.T.N. with a big breakout.

I don't know if you were an E.T.N. guy. But last year, wasn't he getting benched last year? And then, you know, now goes over 1,000 yards. Who wasn't celebrating the Rico Dowdell signing for like one year, $2 million or something from the Carolina Panthers. But then they leaned really heavy into the run game. So it's kind of a kind of a mixed bag. Josh Jacobs, another huge disappointment in this.

The Travion Henderson, Ashton Gentie, Quinshan Judkins' journey of all three of them was fascinating because Judkins comes on and is great. and then falls off pretty hard. Henderson can't even get on the field and then does and is a monster. And Ashton Genty, I'm pretty sure you, me and our dogs are blocking for him up front. I've never seen a guy get hit instantly as many times as Ashton Genty. So it stood to reason to draft him, but he had no opportunity whatsoever. And people keep hiring Chip Kelly in the year 2025.

And it just didn't really make sense when they did it. and it sure as heck didn't work out for them. And now he's going to work at Northwestern or something. It's, I mean, that clearly teams had figured that out. Clearly they had major blocking issues and it proved costly for him. So, I mean, that's a lot of your, the story of trying to draft young and unproven running backs. It was almost better or definitely better if you drafted someone who had been in the league, but hadn't been that great like Rico Dottle and Giovante Williams.

Yeah. And those guys are always a lot cheaper. So I think one lesson that I should learn this year is not to completely ignore those players. With Dallas, people were drafting Javante Williams in the 10th round and Miles Sanders in the 18th round. And I thought they were mostly the same player. So I'll just take the 18th round. I drafted a lot of Miles Sanders thinking like he could beat out Williams coming off a big knee injury and really had not been efficient at all. But that didn't happen. And then Sanders was out for the year immediately. So there is some, there's always, I beat myself up maybe a little too much. Like there's always a lot of luck in it. I everybody loved this year's running back class. And it started early with Genty. And, you know, the Raiders were a tough one for me because Pete Carroll's never coached

a really bad team. Like they probably had with Gino there and Bowers and maybe the best running back in the league if Genty hit right. There was a lot to like there. turned out completely the other way, like with the Jets, although the Jets, I think, were less of a surprise in this way. But all those cool mid-to-late-round running backs that might have had a path to make it, Bachel Tootin, Jacori Kroski Merritt, Richard Smith, Jarquez-Hunter, like really almost none of that ever happened. And I thought the calculus on some of those

was pretty good. Like, the Chiefs didn't have anybody good. So, okay. New regime in Jacksonville. I was not on ETN because I thought they might phase him out. He was also very inefficient throughout his career. So if Teuton is this athletic Adonis, he could just go in and take over. That didn't happen. So I don't want to, I never want to over read these kind of takeaways from the ends of seasons because I believe in kind of my process and the certain axioms, if that's the word, like certain beliefs that I have about how teens tend to operate, but you never know. And New England is an interesting one. They were almost too good. Like Henderson on a lesser team might, on a bad team for sure, he just takes over and maybe he's

great and he gives you huge production down the stretch. She also had a concussion in the playoff weeks, which didn't help. But Stevenson was good enough. Remandre, Stevenson ends up being a league winner you know like if you made it to the playoffs again with him you start you got 27 points or so out of him in the in the championship week good for you yeah uh and that's why you know if you talk about those week 16 maybe should be the last week uh if you get to play a team that is clearly tanking you get a pretty big advantage and that was certainly true for that game with new england and the jets i saw i mean i saw a lot of hey this is historic number this historic number that. I was like, that's a preseason game. That's just Drake May playing a

preseason game. And that is one of the downsides of playing 17 games is that we just get several weeks of those from certain teams. I told you about my idea, right, of taking the last teams in the division and moving them to a separate world where they play each other for the number one pick. And I did hear from someone on that who liked my idea. But I don't think I don't think the NFL could ever get that bold. But I love that. by anti-tanking. It's a version of the gold plan, right, where you get the teams that are with the worst records playing to win

at the end of the season. You know, that'd be a version of that. No, it'll never happen because the NFL would never want us to look at it. And that's the whole point of the NFL is that we look at everything they do. But Giants Raiders, I mean, the Raiders figured it out. We're going to put Max Crosby on IR, even though he's shooting threes with his kids in a gym. Like, we're just going to not do that. And the Giants, the Giants have played like a team that knows this too,

but they were not to be denied by the Raiders. Yeah. They were outdone. The Raiders took it to a completely different level of tanking, which, you know, hey, look, the truth is the truth, right? I mean, the league is set up. We debated this last week when the Vikings beat the Lions. It wasn't really a debate.

It's sort of a, the fact of the matter is you hurt yourself by winning the game. That's just a fact. Like, you don't have to like it, but it's a fact. And then all the reasons that it's not worse to win are, well, momentum. And I'm like, oh, well, that's not real. So it's definitely not real from year to year. Where's the Vikings 14 win momentum that came over from last year? I don't know.

Where's anyone's momentum from year to year? Oh, did the Jags have momentum at the end of the year or something? Like, it doesn't make sense because so many things change. Don't forget that the Vikings learned how to win last year, which means this year they forgot. Yeah, I mean, that's, that's the whole thing, right? I mean, here's the reality. No one is ever going to, if you're a coach and you're trying to get over 500 to make sure that your record doesn't say you had another losing season.

No one's ever going to say, let's just pull Harrison Smith from the game or whatever. I mean, we saw what happened when Doug Peterson did that. Then he got fired because all the players lost their minds because they only have so many football games in their life and they have to go play for it. But it's a, it is the fact of the matter. that if you, like with Max Crosby, he wants to play and he wants to go fight for a victory, but sorry, bro, like there's a, the franchise is going to go forward. And so the people who say, well, I want to win every single game, well, there are games next year that I want to win and games in the year before or the year after that matter more

than this one, uh, that I would prefer to win. But, you know, we'll, we'll put that one aside from the, the quarterback position. I feel like it was defined, um, by Drake May this year taking this gargantuan leap forward going from last year where he showed promise to mega star in the NFL. And also, I mean, Liam Cohen, I have to respect the like no one believed in us thing. It's it's one thing that my friend Kevin Seaford says all the time, but he'll say no one believed in us except for the people in this locker room. Like it's just like the all time cliche, no one believed in us. You're like, well, I can't imagine why no one believed in the Jaguars before this, but this, the step forward in the second half of the season

from Trevor Lawrence is one of the more remarkable things of the entire 2025 season, because halfway through the year, he's forcing passes to a cornerback and his number one wide receiver from last year forgets how to play football entirely. And you're thinking like, okay, well, the Jags have a good defense and they could battle their way to a 500 record or something. And then the light goes on and I'm always like skeptical of lights going on like did he just Trevor Lawrence has been around for years did he just figure out how to play or did they have the right schedule or or what I you know what sort of guys who are that good go hot and cold like I don't really know what to make of it but the second half of the season is unbelievable for

Trevor Lawrence I mean I agree I acknowledge that and I'm very curious to see what that looks like in the playoffs since week nine raiders Houston they lost chargers they won big Arizona Tennessee in a bad Indianapolis team that was exposed Jones hurt jets Denver was nice Indianapolis again they they eked it out and now Tennessee again and that's part of the Patriot story too and as it's frustrating for guys like us to have it end this way because it's like a sample size point, but the playoffs are going to tell us, it's one thing for Jacksonville to wave the nobody believed in us flag, like, that's fine. You're right. When the bills do it in three weeks after winning road games in Jacksonville and Foxborough, it's going to be insufferable

because everybody assumed they would get this far and they're going to talk like everybody gave up on them. And I'm just bracing for that. So sometimes it's more acceptable than others. Lawrence is cool. I mean, one of my favorite talking points through the season is the number of teams. It's always, to me, been around 10 that really do not know what they're going to be at quarterback next year. And through almost half the season, Jacksonville was squarely on that list. I mean, what are they supposed to do here? You got your new coach again.

And if he can't make it work, it's sort of a Dolphins situation. But they absolutely got that back on the road. and Miami is also, though, one of those teams still. I wondered if Denver might have a season where they're up and down and, oh, is Bownick's actually good? What do we want to do? Well, they won too many games, and he was, you know, good enough to say the least, probably. So that's off the table.

But there still are a number of teams. Arizona is maybe quintessentially one of these teams where you really don't know what they should do or what they can do at that position. But yeah, that's the AFC playoffs with Jacksonville, New England, Denver, the L.A. Chargers, maybe even Houston. That's five out of the seven teams where you'd go, all right, well, it's time for this quarterback to prove that he can win now. And it's not just Josh Allen that doesn't have Mahomes to beat in the playoffs. It's all of those guys.

And maybe even Lamar Jackson, if he wants to play anymore this year. So Allen isn't the only one benefiting from the lack of chiefs in the AFC field. And as often as it is that it's kind of tough to listen to and tough to take the way the quarterback narrative stuff gets said and written, there's going to be a lot of that in this postseason, especially in the AFC. I'm already preparing for Justin Herbert finds a way to win a playoff game. And then everything I see from every writer is all the hate. were proven wrong today, even though I've never seen a single person hate Justin Herbert. It was it was the most celebrated 16 point performance I've ever seen. And I just want to know who these people, we're all looking for the Justin Herbert haters.

We're all out there investigating where are they? Who are they? What are they saying that every single analyst keeps referring to Justin Herbert's really showing why he's one of the best. Did it? I did. I thought Justin Herbert was good. I think you thought Justin Herbert was good, but he'll lose in the playoffs because he has no offensive line. And then people will say, don't you dare say that he should win in the playoffs. You know, okay, I don't know.

I don't even know. Good face, good name, Matt. Good face, good name. I don't even know. Yeah, he's good. I just don't even know what to do with quarterback analysis these days because most of it is centered around told you so. Like whether someone wins or loses, it's just told you so.

Only two teams reach the Super Bowl. Whoever loses, it's, I told you. he couldn't get it done or whoever wins. I told you he could get it done, which reminds me of the time Joe Burrow was sacked nine times and they scored like 18 points and won. It was like, see, Burrow, winner. You're like, okay, sure.

Yeah, I mean, I think Burroughs incredible, but I don't think that that proves it. Well, the most interesting quarterback in the league, I think for this right now is darn old though. Yeah. As Herbert doesn't really, he's fine, you know, he's fine. Darnold is like talk about something to prove like here it is starting this week in San Francisco like that's a bye week that means it goes through Seattle if they win that's very different than probably three road games again or at least two if they lose so flashbacks to last year everybody remembers it I'm sure he can't hear enough about it and it's a tough game. like at the Niners, but the Niners defense was a sieve against the Bears. Like, it's there for Darnold.

Very interesting. That's a good one. I think that's why I can't stand it is because of Sam Darnold. Because I saw a franchise based their decision last year on two bad games. And there's so many quarterbacks who have started off their playoff careers, not very well. And then they turn out to be great winning quarterbacks. And then you're not a winner until you are like Matthew Stafford. is a good example of that.

He was terrible in his playoff performances until he wasn't. And a lot of times it's, you know, years later, Eli Manning famously has only ever won playoff games, two different seasons and lost all the rest of them. Four different times he lost the rest. But those two years were great. So now he's a Hall of Fame finalist when, yeah, I don't know, he doesn't have a great case otherwise. It just drives me nuts.

And with Darnold, he just wins and wins and wins and puts up great numbers and his top receivers are playing great and he has the game against the Rams the other night. So that proved he was clutch. But then you've actually got to go do it again and again and again until you win the Super Bowl. You're a loser. And that's, uh, that's, that's, that's pretty annoying. But, uh, anyway. Well, he doesn't, he doesn't have, I mean, you know this. He was a high draft pick, but he's on his 15, right? Like, or fourth or 15. He doesn't have the stickiness like that Stafford. Stafford was able. And also there's perceptions.

about like your franchise and what your chances really are as a quarterback of certain teams. Stafford was too good for the Lions to cut bait for a long time. He ends up racking up huge numbers, a couple of wildcard games they lose. But really, you couldn't hammer on him too hard. 101, the talent is pretty obvious. He throws in an occasional no-look pass. And McVeigh goes and gets him and they win. Like that change did happen.

win a Super Bowl with Detroit. Nobody does that. Darnold is on, you know, Jets, Panthers, Niners, Vikings, Seahawks. It is his 15. And you saw with Minnesota, it's a good example. Minnesota did draft McCarthy. That has to be mentioned in the calculus of what the Vikings did. They had already invested that draft pick. But, you know, a team like the Seahawks, if they'd won a couple fewer games or if it ends like last year's Viking season ends, They could move on. They probably won't. I mean, he was that good, and it's two years in a row for him.

I don't think they'll do that. But he doesn't have that sort of stature or stability as a player on a franchise where it's impossible to make that, to cut him. You know, he doesn't have that like Stafford did or some of these other guys who get chance after chance to. So very curious situation. I don't know what will be good enough for him. Like if they beat the Niners, get the one, get the bus. and then lose to the Rams in the second round? Is that a bust?

It might sound like one. Yeah, I guess I've looked at this differently than because it drives me so crazy about the quarterback narrative things that if you have a quarterback who is putting you multiple times in those games that you have a great quarterback, more likely than not. I mean, most, most, I can't think of too many examples of quarterbacks who multiple times have been playing in week 18 for the number one seed, back-to-back seasons, even if it's on different franchises. There's not too many quarterbacks that you wouldn't say are great.

Now, there are levels of great. There's a level of Josh Allen great, who is the best quarterback in the entire league, or Mahomes, 2018 through 2022, I guess, where it's all-time great. Well, no one thinks that's Sam Darnold. That's Jordan Love. That's Justin Herbert.

That might be Trevor Lawrence, where if the circumstances are right for them, then they have a great chance of putting you in those types of games. But just by proxy of having them doesn't mean you're going to win those games, right? But I don't know. There's so many, what drives me crazy is that there's so many quarterbacks because of Mahomes, Brady,

before that it was Rothesberger Manning, so many quarterbacks that just get known as like, ah, not good enough, you know, not a winner or whatever. And, I mean, think about, like, even Drew Brees. Brett Farve throws across his body. If he doesn't do that, Drew Breeze is a losing quarterback. Drew Breeze is a guy who couldn't get it done because Farv couldn't just check it down or scramble.

I mean, it's crazy how narrow the margins are. And then here we have, you know, Jalen Hertz, who is a, you know, I think he's a really good quarterback under the right circumstances. But he's got a Super Bowl and another appearance. And I don't think he's better than 10 different quarterbacks in the league. but that team's unbelievable. You know, it's a really hard thing to pick apart. I guess it's what makes the sport so interesting. It's the best.

Get your one, right? I mean, Bree's got his one. Aaron Rogers got his one. Never went back. It carries a lot of weight. I'm thinking about this in terms of golf majors. John Feinstein wrote many golf books. One called the majors.

And the first chapter of the majors is, yeah, one, one, but the real, the great ones win two. Like, there's a lot of guys on that list of one. major winners that are really obscure, but hardly anybody that's won two is the same. So, you know, that's another way of looking at it. It is timeless and just the fuel of football talk is what we decide about quarterbacks based on their team results. Why don't we talk about this game a little bit more? So right now on Fandul, the Seahawks are one and a half point favorites, which is

basically like being, uh, well, I don't know how much home field matters anymore to the betting market. So I, about one and a half. Is it about one and a half? Okay. So, you know, about about three point favorites, uh, neutral. I think that the Seattle Seahawks defense, I was shocked at how much they struggled against the Rams. That would be talk about MVP narratives and stuff. Matthew Stafford, make a field goal big old thicker kicker. And, uh, all of a sudden, you know, you're talking about one of the best games you're ever going to see with Matthew Stafford throwing for $4.50 against Seattle. But they come out the next week. They just beat down Bryce Young, took his lunch money in that game. They are so violent up front. They have great coverage. They are coached incredibly well on

the defensive side. And here's Brock Purdy. And this goes for quarterback narratives too. Because Brock Purdy, when he goes to the Super Bowl, is a bad quarterback who is lucky, right? from what I read from all the analysis, right? Oh, it's just wide open receivers. It's really easy to play quarterback, which I think J.J. McCarthy might disagree with how easy it is to play quarterback. This guy's not actually any good. They shouldn't pay him.

They should get rid of him. He's garbage. Oh, okay. All right. Fair enough. He wasn't drafted high. So that must be the truth, right? And then this year, he has Joe Blow at wide receiver.

And Christian McCaffrey is running the football a lot at 3.9 yards per carry. the offensive line does have Trent Williams, but it didn't the other night and he scored 42 points. This guy has become a fantastic elite level quarterback with the best coaching that there is versus an extremely well-coached defense that's got a bunch of highly drafted defensive linemen. Great corner. I mean, this matchup of their offense versus Seattle's defense

is breathtaking to me. Like, this is what you dream of for a week 18 game. Yeah. And I wonder about, I mean, they're going to have to go all out. This is not a game where it's the difference between a five seed and a six or even a two versus the three. This is the one and the buy versus the road trip across the country to the NFC South, probably, or even Philadelphia, whatever that or where that lands. So I would have, I'd be of two minds about it if I were one of these coaches because I think, you know, I'd really love to take the pressure off my guys this week. but I can't really justify it.

I can't afford to do it. Purdy, everything you said, just like, fantasy-wise, five total touchdowns in weeks 16 and 17, both. Like, you won. Congrats. If you had Brock Purdy, you did it. And he really was almost amazing in those efforts.

I mean, some of these plays that he extended and takes off on really, really good. I like, last week we talked about Chicago. Was it last week? Chicago, San Francisco. Yeah. And I said, I'd want to be on the bear side of the line because it almost seemed like it was weirdly low. And I'm not sure if the bear is even covered.

Maybe they didn't. 42, 38 was that the score of that game? Yeah. I feel like Chicago was the right side. It sort of justified how I felt, but they still didn't cover. And I feel that way about Seattle here. Also, being favored in San Francisco, how did we get there? I mean, the Niners have been on such a role.

at home with so much on the line, they win. They're never leaving Santa Clara the rest of the year, no matter how long they win, including the Super Bowl. So I don't know. I don't want to be, you know, a slave to the narrative stuff on Darnold that we've been over and over. But I feel like Seattle is probably the right side, given that they're giving points.

But it's a little bit hard for me to see it. So recent performance, and I don't know how predictive recent performance is in a game like this, because as you mentioned, the San Francisco defense, this is actually kind of Kyle Shanahan's Atlanta Falcons all over again where they had one of the worst defenses in the NFL, but they've got, you know, a great quarterback and Matt Ryan, a ton of weapons. They're playing great. Shanahan's just a wizard out there. And it's the same sort of story with this San Francisco 49ers team. But recent performance, Brock Purdy since week 12 is the highest graded PFF quarterback in the league has played like, I mean, nothing short of a megastar,

as you saw the other night. And, you know, I mean, it's, it's just sort of funny, like how the draft status just sort of carries forever. The first impression carries forever. Darnold with the seeing ghost. Like it just, how, how are people still saying that about Sam Darnold after he's 27 and six or something in the last two seasons? But if he throws one bad pass, somebody will be like, see, that's doing Darnold. Um, but. But, uh, Darnold is 24th in PFF grade since week 12. He has not performed at the same level. He struggled against the Vikings.

I did not think he played well at all against Carolina and made some key mistakes there. And it feels like the offensive lines struggles have kind of gotten to him a little bit. Uh, their running game has been slowed down. And I also wondered about Clint Kubiak, who was here with the Vikings. And I thought became a little predictable when he was with the Vikings. Remember how hot they started out. out in New Orleans, and then people kind of figured it out. I'm wondering if there's some of that.

And when you only have one receiver, this goes back to your favorite article from our friend Eric Eager, who has got a big week coming up now and working for the Carolina Panthers. But he wrote about how those number two, number three weapons are insanely important in big games and they don't have them. Well, that's interesting. San Francisco or Seattle? No, I mean Seattle.

Okay, because maybe it's both. No, you're right. That's interesting. Seattle, I think, no question about it. They don't. And I think that that's probably going to be an issue. I mean, I just do not see them going to the Super Bowl. San Francisco, those guys might be pretty good. I mean, Pierceall has really never been able to stay on the field long enough, but he put up a good game. If Kittle comes back, McCaffrey is a passing game weapon. Jennings has had big postseason games for them. I don't think he's a great player, but he has mattered to them. I don't see Ayuk ever happening. I don't know what happened there, but really just those four guys give you a pretty good palette where San Francisco might have enough. I agree with you.

I don't see it on Seattle. Interesting. If we had fantasy football this week, I'd make a point here that I guess I'm about to make any way about Zach Charbonnet taking over, I mean, all the goal line stuff, and he was really the, Ken Walker did not happen this year.

You know, Charbonnet was too much in the way. And I wonder if Charbonnet is the lead on Sunday night. maybe not they'll probably use both guys yeah i think they probably will use both uh offensive line wise the seahawks are both 19th by pff in pass blocking and run blocking and with a quarterback who takes a lot of sacks and also probably needs to build off of the run game because darnold is a really good under center play action quarterback having the 19th best offensive line really is going to be tough to get all the way through the playoffs i think we saw last year how much those D-lines, they take it to a completely different level when you get to the playoffs in terms of

their value. So there's concern there. San Francisco doesn't have past rushers though. So can they actually have a good week and give Sam Darnold some time? That's a factor. I look at San Francisco as it's definitely not as freakish as it was when they had Prime Debo, Prime Brandon Ayyuk. Those are top draft picks. Those are really unique players. Pearsall, I think, is good. But one thing that does for me travel through playoffs through big games as tight ends and they have the best of the best I think is as great as Travis Kelsey has been. He's a Hall of Famer. I think George Kittles have been the best tight end in the NFL for the entire time since George Kittle has played in the NFL. He is an unbelievable blocker yards after catch. You could throw it two yards and get 50 from him.

He's just such an exceptional matchup for other teams because if you try to guard him with a nickel corner. That guy's going to get run over as soon as he touches the football. And if you try to guard him with a linebacker, he's way too fast for that. And his blocking is fantastic. And the passes to the running backs. I mean, this is a Brady playoff thing for years, tight end and running back. And it was like, for a while there, it was part of the discussion of like, doesn't Brady just throw to his running backs all the time? Like, is this impressive? You're like, well, it works. And it worked for Steve Young throwing to, you know, William Floyd. or whoever, or Joe Montana, throw into Tom Rathman, and they still do it out.

Yeah, Ricky Waters, Garrison Hurst. So I think that those things into playoff games really work and give San Francisco an advantage here. The Seattle offense, I don't know, because, you know, Chicago's got that great offensive line. So they were able to give all sorts of time to Caleb Williams. And I think with Darnel, it's the same thing. If you give him time to throw, he can find guys downfield. But Robert Sala is a good defensive mind. so how are they going to what teams have done recently what i've noticed mike is they are really

using deception post snap on darno i mean almost every single play and i don't think that that's necessarily his strength when he has to sit back there and be philip rivers and pick it all apart i think his strength is when there's a guy running ever so slightly open and he can throw a rocket launcher to that guy you know through a keyhole or something but he needs time to do that. Yeah, really interesting game. I think Seattle has to win to have a real look at the Super Bowl. If they do, two home games up there could happen.

If they don't, I don't see them winning on the road. Interesting, Pittsburgh and Baltimore, Matthew, like, what are we going to get from the Ravens? Is Jackson going to play? This is one where I really want to be careful because it's easy to fall for the wrong. narrative on him or is it i mean how many times do we have to hear that he's sick or mike mike preston from the is it mike preston from the baltimore son like went went in on jackson and that was i don't know if that was a long time coming or what but he sleeps in meetings and just i don't know like he's been my favorite player in the league since he got here but right now

my faith is really being tested and you can't really know from a player's injury but is this one where he kind of has to be out there or if i know john dagle tweeted uh fantasy analyst if he doesn't play this game for the ravens he'll never play for them again because this is it i mean there's still a chance look at henry on saturday night there's still a chance they could salvage this thing they also don't have to play kansas city again right and is he going to give it a shot you know it's a fascinating situation because he seems like the most disliked all-time great quarterback by his own franchise that I can ever remember. I mean, when you look back at that situation with him in the contract, that other teams could

have just offered him a contract that Baltimore couldn't match and they were ready to say goodbye, which is insane because we never see that. I mean, how many all-time great quarterbacks before age, I don't know, 37 get let go by their teams. The answer is, I'm going to go ahead and say almost none, right? And yet, Baltimore was willing to say, hey, you know, you come with an offer and you could probably have him. And now this year, there seems to be momentum for the possibility that they don't want to give him 75 more million dollars or whatever it is. And then I saw Mike Sando of the athletic floating Vikings Lamar Jackson. I was like, oh, oh, man. Oh, don't even, don't even get me

going. Like, because I already did 45 minutes on Joe Burrow to the Vikings. I'm ready to talk about this as well. But it's bizarre, you know, and it feels like, is it the relationship with the coach? Is it the fact that they've just never really gotten in receivers who can consistently catch it? Is it a health thing? Is it a off the field type of thing? It's like there's all this kind of whisper and suggestion. I mean, a lot of guys play video games in the NFL.

All sorts of players play video games. But Kyler Murray and Lamar Jackson seem to be the only two that ever get talked about as if they do. when, I don't know, hundreds and hundreds of players are staying up late, playing video games in the National Football League, I promise you. But these two guys, and I just, I think what happens eventually, and this is, you know, this is Buffalo a little bit too, is when you're that great and you don't win, I'll just never get it out of my brain, your guy, Chris Parker, Bulldog.

I was listening to him as a kid on my AM radio. and I remember people calling in and being like, you know, they should just go with Frank Reich. Just Kelly just can't get it done. Oh, yeah. And that was like a real thing. The boredom sets in and the frustration starts to build. And then every little thing, you know, every injury, every down game,

every playoff disappointment, it just festers. And I guess they're close to reaching a breaking point. And usually what you get is a different coach. Usually the coach gets fired at that point. Well, Bulldog is old. You're right about that. it was a long time ago that was a long time ago i think that was probably 98 93 93 no you're right you're right 93 this is one of like five sports topics my dad ever got involved in was like

why don't you just play rike well he's way he's way worse that's way frank rike wouldn't play frank rike no way uh although when he became a coach maybe we his some of his decisions were dubious as well yeah uh yeah i just i guess i need to see jackson give bit a shot here. And if they do and he's physically capable, they should win. And then what? Then they play the Texans. And maybe they get, they get going. But it's been tough. I mean, I've been such a Baltimore backer for a long time. This year, I think I did well getting off of it. Because just, they just didn't have a good game for a long time. I did like him in Green Bay. I didn't need to see Derek Henry go for 204. But I did like them on Saturday night. We'll see what

happens. Losers coach gets fired or whatever. And, you know, I think there's a halfway decent chance Brian Flores is coaching the Pittsburgh Steelers next year if they don't win that game. And it's also exactly why I didn't want Aaron Rogers for the Vikings. Because while he probably would have gotten them into the conversation for this game, the way he played against Cleveland was just, was just vintage late Aaron Rogers where you just can't believe what's happening for someone who is that great.

at playing the position where he just seemed like he wanted nothing to do with getting knocked down. And he was just going to take the ball and throw it down the sideline over and over again. And that was how he was going to play quarterback that day. It makes sense. He did his own thing. And they scored six points against the Browns. So he's so easy to root against. Just like it's always someone else's fault.

Yeah. Awful. Well, I can't wait for next week. We didn't build any playoff lineups yet at the FFPC playoff challenge. We could have because I think the whole playoff field is set, right? all 14 spots are are officially like clinched but nonetheless they'll put the names up next week you and I are going to split a couple teams and build them on the stream next week I mean think about who one player per team so like who you want for each team and then also how many games

will they play you want I might have said this last week sorry if I did but you want to reverse engineer it who's your Super Bowl and then sort of back it out from there this is going to be the ever for that tournament because it's so wide open there's no clear favorite on either side and I can't wait to work on this with you next week. All right. That will be very exciting. Mike Shope. Appreciate you and we will talk to you then. Can't wait to see what happens everywhere except for the team that I cover. Take care. Happy New Year. Thank you.