Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - What's going on in Buffalo? Is Stidham really gonna do this?

Episode Date: January 24, 2026

Mike Schopp of ADP Chasing and WGR 550 in Buffalo joins for our weekly Fantasy Show to discuss this weekend's conference championship games and just what the heck is going on with the Bills. 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 Fanduel, Matthew Collar here. And, man, our number of fantasy show episodes are dwindling down to the final couple. Dwindling. Yeah, I was looking for a word there. Yep. Mike Shope, ADP chasing, WGR 550 in Buffalo. You want to trade Keon Coleman to the Vikings? I mean, I don't think he's any good, but, you know, I don't know. Seems like he wouldn't want to be a Buffalo Bill anymore after this week. No. That sounds like the making of a great trade is when one team,

Team A calls Team B. And like, you know, this player that you've already identified publicly as terrible on and off the field. Do you guys want them? I mean, really just, I mean, I get trade offers in fantasy all the time, which is, I mean, this is a little bit adjacent to the NFL. You know, your seventh round pick in. two years for mine in three years. Like basically, we're just going to give you this player.

And actually, in fantasy, you do have limits on how many players you could roster in the offseason. So sometimes, I mean, there are owners who are just trying to give their fringe guys away. And I think Coleman, I literally did get three Key and Coleman trade offers in Dynasty Fantasy football the day of the press conference. You know, do you want to give them away or do you want to take him for free? and I don't know. I just feel bad for the guy.

Like that should never happen. Yep. Where the owner jumps in, it should never happen to the GM or the player, where the owner jumps in on a question for the GM about, you know, what happened with that draft pick. If I'm the GM, I'm like, I'll answer my, I'll defend myself. I can do that.

I kind of do that for a living. I can explain being, for all the heat, he's gotten in the last nine months, Finn's calling WGR and complaining about the complaining. He's really good, I think, at expressing himself, articulating his thoughts, and he's pretty forthcoming. I've liked my conversations with him. I've never felt insulted by them.

I think, you know, he wants, there are some guys in this, any sport, I think you'd agree with this. You have a lot of experience, of course, as well. There are some, a lot of guys in, some guys in any sport that want to tell, you the truth without making it obvious. And I think Bean is someone like that. So it's a little bit unfortunate that it sort of landed on him. But he can't jump back in to that question with his boss sitting to his right.

And basically then he's arguing with his boss about what happened that night. Bean did take the opportunity later in the press conference to say, you know, that was my pick. And that's what he has to do. and I don't know what kind of damage control they want to do with Coleman or if they just want to bail on it. There was a lot of speculation during the season that they were just done with him. And now that seems maybe like everybody knows that, I don't know. I feel bad for him, though. Well, it's a little bit of an odd situation too because then, of course, everyone digs up all the team media that's put out where they're talking about how much they love Keon Coleman and how much he wanted to draft him.

usually draft picks, and this is why like a GM or a coach or someone will always get pinned with a bust and we deal with that here. But they're usually full team organization decisions that you've had weeks of conversations that have gone into it. The owners in the room when they make the call. And everyone says, all right, this is what we're doing. We all agree. And I remember a story that my friend Jim Monis told me one time about Sammy Watkins about how. They had an internal vote. And he's a former pro scout with the bills and many other teams,

the Saints, Philadelphia. Anyway, he had told me that they took a vote inside the room before the trade up to get Sammy Watkins. It was like, is everybody on board? Like, raise your hand if you're not something like that, right? And, you know, nobody spoke up. Nobody said they were all on board. This guy is a generational talent or whatever it might be. and then as soon as he got there,

and it was pretty clear that that was not the case, though he still turned out to be pretty good. It was like, well, you know, I had reservations about that. I was concerned about that. I was like, now, wait a minute, you know. And it felt to me like Bean was maybe Terry, I told you that behind the scenes, that you're not supposed to tell anyone.

It was McDermott's idea. And then he comes out with it. but obviously, you know, if any bust falls on everybody's shoulders, I think it's more with that. When it comes to the efforts in free agency or other available wide receivers that have popped up throughout the years, whether the Jalen Wattle thing was weird because it was like, wait, Miami's going to trade them Jalen Waddle, but even like D.K. Metcalf comes available and another handful of wide receivers

that are out there bouncing around. And when he calls into your radio station, and goes off on our friends Jeremy and Joe, it comes across as you guys are completely wrong about this wide receiver position. We're totally fine. We're all set. You guys know nothing.

I know everything. And that is toothpaste you can't put back in the tube, which means your top draft pick better work. And then when it doesn't, and it sounds like you not only don't want him, but you despise him, well, you know, then it's just a bad look for everyone

with everything. Yeah. Usually what happens, I think you'd agree with this. Usually what happens is that fans side with the team. Yeah. I haven't talked about Jerry, to Jeremy about this in a while, if ever. But, you know, maybe there was backlash against him

and the morning show here when that happened because, I mean, I've been through this for many years when you criticize the bill. and it's the off season especially, fans are going to side with the bills. No matter who it is, you know, JP Lossman or whatever. Like, no, no, he's actually going to be the next Steve Young. Oh, yeah.

So I just like, that's usually the case. But in this case, it's amazing to me how many times I keep hearing about that phone call and that decision by being to raise hell with those guys. Like, there are a lot of people just sort of. holding back the trigger waiting to bring this point up. And it's very interesting. Like Bean, Bean is also somebody. He wasn't brand new.

I mean, far from it. He was somebody that helped build one of the best runs in the history of the team and always got the benefit of the doubt from fans. And then that happened and that changed. So I don't know. I love the Watkins callback, though. Like I was in the room. Maybe you were too.

I don't know exactly the timeline, but I was in the room the morning after they had drafted him at the stadium. And I remember just sort of from afar seeing Sammy Watkins on his phone before the press conference started like, oh, no, I feel so bad for this guy. He's going to a franchise that has just never figured out quarterback. And like, this is the worst possible. It's maybe even worse than Cleveland, the team that traded the pick. Like it's just so so unfortunate for him. But, you know, Josh Allen happened. And that got flipped on its head eventually.

I mean, years later. So that can happen. But there's no dome here like where you live. And quarterback whisperer, quote, unquote, like where you live. And, you know, it's always fluid with the NFL. But I love the walk-in story because, I mean, Odell Beckham was picked 10 picks later. Mike Evans was picked maybe seven picks later. You could have just waited.

And I remember also when you talk about that, how unhappy the fans were with you that afternoon when you questioned the amount that they had given up for Sammy Watkins because there were other available wide receivers. I mean, one thing with with busts, we deal with this all the time because the Vikings have had some drafts go bust, as has the other 31 teams. But there always needs to be like an investigation.

like the FBI must come in and figure out what happened, who was responsible, how could this be that my team of geniuses could draft someone who didn't work out? And then you look at everyone else's draft history and you go, oh, that's right. Bill Belichick missed on a ton of draft picks throughout his time. Or San Francisco was run as about as well as any franchise in the world except for that they put their practice facility next to a power station. that's a joke, but it's not, I guess, because they're looking into it. Right.

So, but other than that, like, they're the premier franchise, right? They've missed on a ton of players over the last couple of years. Like, it, it happens. That's life. And it's even more life when you draft in the back end of the first round all the time. And your odds of succeeding with these draft picks plummet after about the 14th pick. Like, when PFF looked at this, you would, I guess you would think that, pick would go down sort of incrementally, but it's really more like the top picks succeed at an

incredible rate. And then after about 10, it shoots down. And then it's more of like 40%, 29% so it was like that for success rate over the years. So if you're the team that's drafting in the back end and you've paid your quarterback, it's really, really hard to maintain an elite roster. And I think that's where the conflict ultimately comes. which is there's no objective looking at players two through 53 and saying the Buffalo Bills are one of the best teams in the NFL. That is just not possible. When you compare them to Seattle, when you compare them to the Rams to the Broncos,

no freaking way could you argue they're in their range. Player number one though makes everybody better paints over everything that's there. And I think that probably McDermott at some point got frustrated with that. the realities that the NFL is set up to hurt the teams that are good and help the teams that are bad. And that's what your GM has been dealing with. And that's what puts you in the limelight eventually. And even like Kansas City, you know, they're so brilliant and perfect and magical in Baltimore. And eventually when that quarterback gets paid and you never draft very high,

this will happen to just about everybody. So I kind of look at it as like, that's life. But to then hold a press. conference to just be like, nope, that guy, all that guy. It was that guy. Not us. That guy. That's where they look like a clown show.

Instead of treating this kind of the way it is, which it takes time to revamp rosters under those more difficult circumstances. Yeah. I mean, this isn't Bill's chasing or red and blue insider or anything like that. Oh, my audience is interesting. Mike, my audience is interesting. I've got more questions about this than Viking stuff this. stuff this week. Yeah. They know you. You're your past. But yeah, like the number one thing that is really

the most amazing about the press conference and sort of the current state of affairs here is that I feel like the bills showed an amazing lack of graciousness publicly toward McDermott. Right. And there was always, I mean, little along the way, but then eventually more and more speculation about whether there was really a rift in the organization. And then Matthew, he did an admiral job. Like, that's the first sentence of the buy press release. It's so bad. I mean, of course, it's a mistake. But even admirable is a word you use when you're breaking up with somebody that you didn't really like. You know, you're an admirable person. But, you know, bye. Like, it's just, really, really weird.

And then the press conference happened a day or two later. And there was just no graciousness or really respect even for McDermott shown, I thought. They twisted and turned throughout to avoid giving him credit for anything. And that was really led by the owner. And again, like if you're the GM, you work for him. And that's what this is our message. So really strange and also a little bit like familiar. with the bills who pre-McDermott and pre-Ellen were always like this.

Yeah, that's kind of funny because people have said to me, like, hey, was it like this when you were there? Like, oh, yeah. Like, that was the norm when I was there. My favorite one there was when on the hockey side, and there's enough hockey fans, I think, in my audience to understand these references. Let's go. That's Terry Pagula, the owner of the bills, one night as the sabers were going to the bottom on

purpose to try to get Jack Eichel. he had dinner with Pat LaFontaine, and LaFontaine said the team doesn't work hard enough, and you should fire the coach and hire Ted Nolan because he'll get them to work harder. And Terry said, okay, and then did it the next day. And it's like, what? What?

Like you have your- And brought LaFontaine on to help him. Right. You have your whole plan set up. You hired a coach who is a developmental expert, and it all made sense. And then you just blew the whole thing up because a former player told you,

the team wasn't working hard enough. Imagine if Terry Pagula listened to podcasts these days, where it's like all former players saying ridiculous things on the internet all the time. Maybe he did, and that's how we got to this point. But, well, I mean, I don't think he probably knows what that is. That's true. But I think he's very, you know, like most people who are vain are going to listen to hear when they are being talked about.

Yeah. You know, one of the things that came out when he bought the Sabre, and eventually the bills was that he was a big WGR listener, like for many years. So as we record on Friday lunchtime, they have officially announced, or maybe it's been reported, if not officially announced, eight candidates. And the latest is Philip Rivers, which is awesome. The bills are interviewing Philip Rivers. They flew to Florida because it's, you know, going to be zero degrees Fahrenheit here,

for a couple days. Actually, we're going to be better off than a lot of the country, which is, you know, something that I flaunt as a Western New Yorker because that's upside down. But yeah, they're interviewing Philip Rivers, I think, today in Florida for their vacancy. Wow. Well, certainly they found a way to add to their credibility after the knock down a peg with that.

Well, that was one of the things I wondered about because I thought, you know, in one hand, And if I'm, there was like the jokes of anybody who already took a job, like, uh, did I have to sign that? Because, uh, number 17 is going to do it for you there, regardless of whether your general manager is existing or not. Uh, he's going to get you 12 wins and you're going to be in the playoffs and have a chance. And if you get one call to go the opposite direction and just kick a field goal and win the game, you get to be the genius that did it and not Sean McDermott. and people can stop referencing something that happened 25 years ago with Tony Dungey going to John Gruden because you'll be the new example. But I've,

Alan is in every meeting, by the way, they say. Well, okay. I mean, look, if you're, but he's got to clean up their mess because if you're a serious candidate, you got to be like, so I'm working for you guys, huh? How did you just treat the last head coach? Who got blamed?

And then, all right, I think everybody even understands that there is a level of repeating the same results over and over again that in pro sports normally results in, all right, we got to try something different. I don't even think it's the craziest thing in the history of the United States of America to fire Sean McDermott. But the way that it ends up happening is so ludicrous. It's actually, it's actually kind of like, in a way, it's kind of like the call with the Brandon Cook's catch, where it's like, I don't even disagree with it based on. what the rule is, but the way it went down was ridiculous.

It was just like I was watching the game with my father-in-law, and he's not a huge football guy, but he likes to watch it, but he doesn't know every catch rule or something. And we see it happen. And it's like, okay, well, you know, I imagine they're going to, and I'm saying to him, well, this is going to take a while. Like, they're going to review this. They're going to look for it.

And then they just line up. And he's like, what's happening? And I'm like, I don't know. Well, you tell me. I'll tell you what was happening. The Seattle game had started. That was what was happening. Yes.

Yeah. It was overtime and, you know, we need to wrap this up. But I don't mean that in sort of a cynical way. Like McDermott's complaint after the game was that it didn't take longer. And the whole point of the more streamlined replay system is for it to take less time, which they always get credit for, even though, as we've talked about in the past, there's that much less transparency, which I think is not good. Yeah.

Well, with 51 million people watching at that point, I'm sure every person needed it to go 30 seconds faster. Anyway, anyway, we, we can, we can move forward. But I have been, I have been pretty, you know, captivated by the entire situation over the last couple weeks myself. So why don't we get into these games here? We have, I mean, the gap, like the difference between, the difference between the AFC and the NFC for intrigue here is the NFC,

is the NFC feels like it's going to be my favorite game of all time. And the AFC feels like I should make steak fajitas and take my time, right? Like get, yes, get through it like the opening band. You know, you go, you go, you know, you go see, all right, here's the opening band. And, and you know, you like, all right, you nod your head. You listen. Okay. And now we get the, and here comes, you know, Kendrick Lamar is now here to play.

And that's the NFC. But is there any belief from you? Let me see if this has changed at all. Yes. It's going to be my answer. Yes. Okay. In, you know who I'm going to say.

In Jared Stitt. They actually have changed this since yesterday. They have moved up Jared Stidham's number from 198 to 200.5 over under on Fandul. And so you're saying yes. It's not seismic. I kind of like, I like the points in that game. I like Denver. I don't think we'll see what happens.

I don't think there has to be a match. massive downgrade here. And so I've got the home team in altitude, all that stuff, against the Patriots team that all year has just had the smoothest possible ride. I'll take four and a half with Denver. I don't know if I want to go over on passing yards. A couple of receivers are hurt. Pat Bryant, who returned last week and started great in the Bills game. I had won fantasy tournament team with Pat Bryant. Like, here we go. Then he got her concussion, second one in like five weeks. And then Franklin, Troy Franklin, has a hamstring injury,

and he was Oregon with Bo Nix, if you're into that kind of thing. And I don't know his status right now for this game, but I don't think Denver really has the weapons, but they do have the defense. And so I would be on the under 42 and a half here and the Broncos at home. Maybe it's like a 1310 kind of game, and that fits with,

your narrative that like we we really don't want to watch this game. We just want it to end. It's, you know, championship Sunday, but let's get to the good stuff. So yeah, that's where my head is at. I have one high stakes tournament team where we're sitting pretty high up on the list. And pre-on Henderson is on our roster and nobody else above him has him. So think of me if Henderson does anything here on Sunday. I'll give you, I'll give you an analytic stat that makes me.

think Denver has a chance in this football game. So the Denver Broncos sport the number one pass blocking graded unit by pro football focus best in the national football league. Now, they are helped by it's a quick pass offense. So that's obviously going to assist your offensive line. But still, like you look at the names on that line. You look at the draft capital that's been invested. They got some beasts. Now, in order to find New England's other opponents, I I have to use my little scrolly button and go down, down, down to 22nd Houston Texans and all the way down to 31st Los Angeles Chargers. Those are the two teams that they've faced so far in the playoffs.

And their defensive line has annihilated those bad offensive lines. This is going to be a completely different story. I think Jared Stidham is going to have time to throw. And I think that you can run a little on this line, on this D line from New England. but really, like, they use their short passing game and passing game to RJ Harvey as their running game. I think if Jared Stidham is not consistently pressured the same way that C.J. Stroud and Justin Herbert were, he can at least keep the train on the tracks. And then the other stat would be the pass rush, which the Denver Broncos, as you know,

have an incredibly good pass rush. But Nick Benito has the fastest or the highest number of fast pressures in the entire NFL. and Drake may take sacks. If there's one thing, one criticism of Drake May, because he's been nearly flawless in every other way, he will allow himself to get hit and take sacks sometimes. So I think this could be one where, yeah, right, where I wish we had like Deirdore for Madden,

who we were talking about the trenches all day long, because I think that the trenches really will determine this game. Yeah, really good. I don't think Stidham is that bad either. Like I think maybe versus say Stroud last week, I'm not going to get the panic. Yeah. Or I hope I don't anyway.

I mean, Stroud, that was incredible. On the road, in the snow, sit him at home. I mean, he's been in the league a long time. So, yeah, I'm not really worried about that. I love the points you're making about the interior matchups. And yeah, just four and a half. I was talking yesterday with Joe Estrowski, formerly of BetMGM now with the chicken dinner podcast with San Paniadovich.

And he said that since 1972, there have been nine playoff games where a home team was an underdog by at least four or four and a half points. And they're nine and oh, the underdogs in those games against the spread, including Carolina against the Rams for what it's worth. You have to go back to 1971 for the last one where the favorite cleared the spread. on the road in the playoffs. So I don't know, like, the market is probably not blind to Stidham's experience or Sean Payton's and New England's schedule and all those points. And that could be sort of a red flag when siding with Denver here,

but I'm going to do it. I mean, you might as well. And also it's not the first and only time that a backup quarterback has ever dropped in and gotten hot in one one of these games. I was just pulling up Jared Stidham's career stats, and they're kind of like aren't any. I mean, he's thrown 197 passes in his career. What are you supposed to make of that?

Like the most were with the Las Vegas Raiders. Yeah, he had a minute with Vegas where like maybe this is somebody in dynasty fantasy. Maybe you just want to sort of invest in because he's going to have a, he's going to get a look. He didn't get that look. And they went to maybe Minshu the next year, the Raiders. but I'm not too pessimistic here. And if you want to go over that number, it is moving up.

And last week we talked about throws to RJ Harvey as maybe the recipe for Denver. That really didn't happen. But if they're going to win or compete in this game, there could be production from somebody. There should be. Evan Engram has been really a dilemma. That was kind of like a cool idea,

the theory when they signed him as somebody, the so-called Joker in that offense, like Jimmy Graham or something was going to happen, reincarnated with the Broncos. That didn't happen at all, but Peyton's good. And he should probably, I think this is how coaches tend to do it, generally speaking, is what haven't we shown yet?

And there's a guy, I don't know, Patriots against tight ends right now, but there's a guy that has some talent, and they're down receivers, if they're down one or two guys, I think Ingram could be an interesting D.I. F. On the Patriots side, Kishan Bouti, very, very funny how sometimes like, I don't know, you feel like you live in a simulation a little bit. During the Vikings joint practices with the New England Patriots, I was standing right

behind the end zone. And Drake May made a throw to Kishan Bouty in this joint practice where he beat somebody and caught it like one hand. It made this unbelievable catch right in. front of me. And I thought, man, I wish I had like one of those NFL films cameras that the, I mean, the ball, like seeing Drake may move around and throw a football was ludicrous in practice, even though the Vikings did well in those joint practices because they have great defense. But like, I mean, this was unbelievable. They throw, the catch everything. And then when he

made it last week, I was like, doesn't everyone, actually no, no one remembers that. Like 19 people remember that catch the Kishon Booty made in the end zone. Uh, he is a, an interesting weapon though very very talented player his over under on fan duel is 35 and a half stephan digs is 44 and a half and digs i'm sure is going to have you know pat certain all over him in this game how they manage their receivers here it's not a group that blows you away against a great defense but it's also a group that drake may has found a lot of ways to make better throughout the season, including this sort of resurgent Stefan Diggs year. Yeah.

Can I bet on there being a Diggs-Sertan fight in this game? Is there some sort of odds on that? I mean, Booty was a good. His name wasn't Booty then. It was Bouté because a lot of these guys, I think, intentionally are changing the pronunciation of their names once they go pro, so you don't have to sort of remember them as the same player they were in college, but that's just sort of a wild theory.

In college, he was, he, he showed flashes like this. It's not shocking that you see this sort of athleticism with him, but there was off the field stuff and then an injury, I guess, and that's how that tends to go. I think he's interesting. I wouldn't want to bet on digs, really, because of Certain. And I think it's a little bit too obvious,

even though the number is pretty low, 44 and a half. But booty is interesting. I wouldn't fight you on that. I think Pop Douglas is probably more interesting. for me at 15 and a half yards because, like, he, I think he's actually good, Douglas, just sort of as a possession receiver, Red Zone. They used him. Last week, he scored, right, in the game against Houston.

And then on the Denver side, sort of like Mims at a pretty modest number, 27 and a half with their other injuries. So booty, I'm kind of neutral. Henderson, five and a half receiving yards, one play. Come on. Let's just do that. and Douglas, I think, but I would avoid Diggs. And, yeah, Ingram, 19 and a half is pretty low.

I like that a lot, actually. If Diggs is below 44 and a half, it's going to be a story that they were able to shut him down in that game because he has at times played like a true number one wide receiver and at times not. And that could be the difference in do you win this game or do you not win this game? Okay, let's go to here's Led Zeppelin now, after the folk band of, you know, six flutists.

The Jesus twins have left the stage. And now here's Led Zeppelin, the Seattle Seahawks and the Los Angeles Rams. I feel like this one was written by the football gods in like, I don't know, week 10 or something. It just became so clear that the two best rosters in the National Football League were these two teams. And here they are. They have arrived. two gems of football games. The last second field goal that gets missed by Seattle

and the first one, the overtime, you know, explosion from Sam Darnold and the second one. We've got Matthew Stafford kind of struggling heading into this game, which is interesting. You would, I mean, this is how funny playoff wins and losses for quarterbacks are because he's played kind of like Sam Darnold played last year in the playoffs in week 18.

Like, it's been bad. He's got a 52% complete. Plesia percentage, 80 quarterback rating. He's really struggled, but done just enough to get over Carolina to get over Chicago, who I don't believe either one of those were great teams. His over under in this game is 253.5. I think he's got to go over that to have any chance. And remember the last time, he crushed them the last time.

He went absolutely off in that overtime game that they lost. I agree that if they're going. to win, that's how they're going to do it. I just do not believe for as much credit as they get for their roster that this is a team that's going to win three road games in the NFC playoffs. And Seattle is giving me those like early, it's a long time ago, I'm sorry, but the early Kelly Bill's vibes were like, you know, they've never been there. It's just sort of a team that you sort of associate with failure.

And Seattle isn't even really that. I mean, they've won a championship before, but I'm totally with the Seahawks in this game. I just do not think the Rams are so good that they're going to survive Carolina, survive the frigid overtime game in Chicago, and then go right back on a plane and win again. And the line is two and a half.

So I could see Stafford clearing that number, even if it's garbage time. It's a game like, what do they do to San Francisco? What were we talking about last week with that matchup? Well, you know, how does San Francisco do better than they did just three weeks ago or whatever it was against Seattle? And they did far worse.

I mean, the game was a blowout before I got off the air with the Bill's postgame show. It was over. So Matthew, give me. Oh, look at that. Wow, that's a beauty. That's a beauty. Don't ask me to put it on, but I'm going with Seattle here. So Sam Darnold in this game, 231 and a half.

I feel like if he goes under, they win because they want. Now, Zach Charbonnet being out is a major factor for me because he's a good pass protector. And that's something that they're going to need in this game. What it really ends up kind of coming down to is if the Rams are going to have a chance. This is sort of how we talked about Carolina and the Rams. Like, could Carolina win the game? Well, if the Rams turn it over a bunch of times and screw up on special. teams, sure. Seattle has the league's best special teams, by the way, and expected points added.

So that's a major factor there as the Rams have the worst. So, and we saw that gap in the last time that they played. But it's every other factor is, uh, if you had like those old, very old 80s graphics where they would put like a, a box and a checkmark, like, which team is better at running, this team, which team is better at passing, that team, uh, everything goes to Seattle more or less. except for the reputation of the quarterback. Now, if you put statistically next to each other, the last two seasons, it's not that far away from Sam Darnold and Matthew Stafford, but Stafford has played like the best quarterback in the NFL this year.

And Darnold has been very good, but in the games against the Rams, he has turned the ball over and thrown interceptions and throws an interception at the goal line. And Chris Shula, who might end up as the Steelers, coach, that guy has been cooking up every different look. And if there's one thing, and I know this from covering Darnold that will get him, it's that post-snap shifting of coverages that sometimes he will kind of predetermine where he's going to go with the football. And then, uh-oh, somebody ends up in a window that he didn't expect and throws an interception.

That does happen to him. So that to me is the only area where you could really argue that the Rams are better, but they've got the D-line to make things very uncomfortable. They've got the, you know, secondary to make plays. They've got the defensive coordinator. So if they can hold that fairly close, then they'll have a chance. Not worried. Okay.

I just am not worried. I think Seattle will have every base covered. I mean, I'm rarely this confident about a game. And when I am, it worries me. Like, I'm not. Yeah. I don't lean into it so much. I mean, last week we talked, I sort of, I got a lot right last week, which kind of scared me.

Like, what, what happened? Why didn't you bet all this? But I, I think Seattle's got it all. I don't think Stafford's been really good at these playoffs at all. Yeah. These last two games. So I don't know if there's an injury they're going to tell us about on Monday or Tuesday after they lose or what. But I've got everything I like here.

I've got rest, relatively speaking, home field, coaching. I mean, Rams coaches are good. but I'm excited about what Seattle has. That's McDonald. Kubiak could be a coach in the league by a month from now as well, a head coach. So they're healthy. The Charbonnet injury is not ideal, obviously,

but Walker went into, I'll just score three touchdowns, whatever. Like I can score from the goal line from the red zone too. So I like everything about Seattle in this game. And turnovers, we know how much randomness there is in that. So if there's a tip pass because of pressure and it falls to the ground early in this game, like, all right, we got it. Because there probably are going to be a couple of bad plays.

If I can just force one more reference to this upon you, 1990 Bills, they played the Raiders in the AFC championship, had never been. The Raiders were an iconic franchise. Now they're a joke, but it wasn't true then. They played in the regular season, and the bills stole the game in the regular season on a specialty, a block punt and a tip pass. Like it was just random. And then, you know, okay, well, here's L.A.

Like, they're good. They had the reputation. No, 51 to 3 is the final score that came. Like the better team is the better team. So I could be wrong. I mean, I respect how good the Rams are, but I'm just not on them at all. And, yeah, I mean,

the way that Seattle handled their business last week was so impressive. It was like small. mother them right away and don't even let them get a single breath. And that's what they did. There's a stat that's really fascinating to me. And it really highlights, I guess, how crazy it is that Eli Manning won two Super Bowls this way,

of going on the road and being the wild card team. Because the Seattle Seahawks played, I think, 60 defensive snaps last week or 58 or something in that range. The Rams have played 150 defensive snaps. So three times worth to one game. game worth. And now they have to go out there. It has to matter, right? It has to matter. The other thing that, you know, I'm always fascinated by this. And this is something that I've

been like since Darnold especially like really thoughtful of when I'm watching old games or whatever. I was watching Falcons and 49ers from 2012 the other day. And I thought it's so funny because Matt Ryan fumbles a snap in that game. They're driving. They could kind of get ahead and control the game. But he fumbles a snap. And if he does. just falls on it. Maybe the next play they win, but instead, like San Francisco picks it up, you know, they go score, whatever, right? Like, this happens all the time of quarterback narratives. Matthew Stafford in the NFC championship in 2021, throws a ball into the air that just floats into the defender's hands that would have ended the game and he drops the ball. And then they come back

to win, right? And then he throws the no look pass and he gets a Super Bowl and he's got a ring and he's clutch. And now Matt Leiner thinks he's a top three quarterback in the history of the NFL and all And you're like, wow, right? Because last year he misses a pass that they could have won the game, throws it over Nakuwa. And they could have upset Philly. He does not show up in Chicago. They struggled mightily in Chicago,

which if maybe an interception at the end of the game, we're talking about Stafford not showing up. Carolina decides they're not going to blitz him at all at the end of the game. He goes down and scores. If they get upset by Carolina, Think of how close Matthew Stafford is to being a gargantuan choker. And instead we go into this game saying, Darnold's the choker,

Stafford is super clutch. And that's just written and it is what it is. I've talked you into it. I guess we'll find out. Look, I mean, so as you mentioned on Fandul, two and a half point favorite Seattle Seahawks,

I think even that big a number. I think it should probably be bigger than that, considering the advantages. This number to me says, until Sam Darnold wins a Super Bowl, people will continue to say Sam Darnold can't win the Super Bowl. And that's just how it's going to be. I think that's an edge.

Again, you're going to be wrong sometimes, but I'm totally leaning into that. The whole reputation point is real. I mean, I hear it every day. How can you bet on this guy versus Stafford or whoever? Brock Purdy even, but I like the Seahawks a lot, clearly. Okay. Also, by the way, this helmet was a Christmas present.

as a young boy. It was my favorite team. Jim Zorn was the quarterback. He was left-handed and my mother is left-handed. So I gravitated to the Seahawks. And when I had kids, they had some fun with the other side of it sticking stickers all over it. So I'm always showing you.

Also, by the way, our late great friend, Dean, always maintained that all the best helmets have no stripe. Oh, okay. Including Minnesota, would be one of those, Philadelphia, Rams. and that's a part of his vast legacy, and I'm here to advertise, promote it. I'm here to promote it. Seattle's helmet is great.

When you mentioned trades where one person gets really pummeled, I thought of our friend, our friend as well. So anyway, thanks for all this. That was unnecessary. It was. We miss him dearly, but I won so many strat trades from that man. Anyway, he got me back in the playoffs in our final season. But let's do it again, I guess next week or I guess before the Super Bowl would make more sense.

Whatever you want to do. I'm happy with either. We're starting out on 2026. ADP chasing returns Tuesday night, February 10th. That'll be an evening live show going through the offseason, looking at best ball drafts and rankings for next year. it's a little bit insane, but that's what we do. So look for that in, at the latest. It might be even February 3rd, but I think we're going to start on the 10th.

And I'll be at Shop Talk promoting whenever we do that. That's exciting. New season is here. I was going to say, I kind of like the idea of next week looking at, all right, let's on to next year. We could preview it. Well, you have one of the most interesting players to debate in Justin Jefferson. Yeah.

I mean, there are always the guys who are going into free. agency and, you know, coaching changes. What will this mean to their value? There are always lots of puzzles. But Jefferson isn't going anywhere. And what the Vikings can do for him, whether it's McCarthy or someone else, is a big question mark. So he, I think, is like a mid, early to mid second round pick going into next year at this point. I'm not sure of that, but I feel like that's where we're at because, I mean, you have Pooka Nakuwa, JSN, other receivers and skill position players that are sort of more solid as investments, if you will. But Jefferson, you know what the upside can be.

So he's a fun one to talk about. I'm excited to do that next week if you want. Yeah, let's do it. Okay. Well, thanks for your time as always. And we'll talk to you again soon, Mike. Thanks, Matt.