The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Week 16 Recap: Ravens knock off 49ers, Dolphins get huge win over Cowboys, Lions clinch NFC North, and more

Episode Date: December 26, 2023

The Game of the Season did not disappoint, especially if you're a Ravens fan. Robert Mays and Nate Tice kick off the Week 16 recap episode of The Athletic Football Show with the Ravens' big win over the 49ers, a matchup we very well could see again in the middle of February. Plus, the guys discuss the Dolphins' win over the Cowboys, the Lions' first division title in 30 years, the Browns' ceiling in the playoffs, and a whole lot more.Follow Robert on Twitter: @robertmaysFollow Nate on Twitter: @Nate_TiceSubscribe to The Athletic Football Show...AppleSpotifyYouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic football show. Welcome, the athletic football show. I'm Robert Mays. Joining me today. It's my good friend Nate Tyson. How you doing, buddy? Remember during 2020 when we had games because of bad reasons, but on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and everything? I do.

I do. It felt like this week should have had that because of the Saturday games, Sunday games, three games on Christmas Day, which was on Monday. I thought it was the good time you're going to keep going. We have college bowl season. So I guess that continues it. But it felt like there should just be two more games today. It should be like, this is the Tuesday game, right?

This is Paramount's special Tuesday package that they got. That is the first NFL game I did not have access to ever in my entire life. The peacock game? The peacock game. That was the first NFL game in my entire life. I am 34 years old that I have not had access to. We were a day one NFL network subscriber. So we never missed those games when they first started doing.

Thursdays or those special games. I have Amazon Prime. I have never missed a game where I had, not even just like where I'm like, oh, well, I'm just skipping that because I'm doing other things. I could not access it. And that is, uh, that was a new feeling for me that I felt really weird. As I'm looking on Twitter. I'm like, what's going on? ESPN play by play. But, uh, wonderful Christmas weekend, wonderful games. I had a great time. I got great gifts. I think I gave pretty good gifts as my first, one of my first times as a Santa. So yeah, it was a very fun weekend. I'm so happy to hear it. I love Christmas.

It is my favorite one of my favorite days of the year. It was always huge for us growing up. My dad loved Christmas. My mom digitized a lot of our home videos over the last couple of months. So they're all on a USB. It's just hours and hours and hours. So we had them on yesterday before the game started. And my wife was seeing them for the first time.

And she was looking at me on the couch. Like, I understand you more. Now, after watching some of this and what your Christmases were like growing up. Was it a lot of chaos? Not even. That is that is my dad just, my dad loved Christmas. My dad loved getting gifts. He was just that sort of person that we just, he was up all night and we had always had so many gifts. And that's how I treat Christmas now. I'd always just over by for people because I just love doing it. It's how my dad did it.

Just how we treated Christmas all the time. It was a very special day in our house. On the peacock front, we have peacock at my house because we have Xfinity. So I had just the normal peacock that comes with Xfinity. We have peacock premium though because my wife was tired of watching commercials while she was watching Bravo shows. So because she's just mainlining Real Housewives of New York, she doesn't want to watch commercials. So that's why we have the best version of Peacock in my home. I pay for every other streaming service that we have.

I handle the streaming stuff. But my wife ponied up the money for the Peacock premium without the ads. So she doesn't have to worry about it when she's watching Vanderpenter Pock Rules. That's amazing. No, but that's, it's, it's, what are they saying in economics? an elastic buyer. Like she have to get that. She has to get the premium product because she's not going to be like she can't handle

life without having that. That's so perfect. When I get the YouTube TV, it blew my dad's mind because of the multi-view. Yeah. And he was like, do you, is this a, because when he retired to Seattle in the house, they got remodel. And then he, he in his head, he wanted to create his own little race book like for horse racing. You know, it's the first time you met him was.

It's very true. We'll tell that story on the show one day. I'm not sure if I've ever told the problem. properly. So he has his den, you know, attic, whatever you want to call it up there in Seattle. And he has four legit, like 60-inch TVs to make one big giant TV called the special features. My dad is not tech savvy. Like for a coach, he's pretty tech savvy, but in general life parlance, no. And I'm like, you made the most complicated system for you. And like, I went up there to visit. And just before they moved out of there because they realized they live in the middle of nowhere.

I go up there to visit and I couldn't figure it out. And I'm pretty tech savvy. And my wife's like, you can't figure out. My mom can't figure it out. So he sees the YouTube TV multi-view and he's just like, so you got like a special system for that? I'm like, no, it comes with it. It's great.

It's stream it. It goes with your Google package. It's great. But yeah, blew my dad's mind with the multi-view when he checks that out every time, every time he comes over. I'm not tech savvy. So I'm very glad that we've reached a moment where even morons like me can figure this out. We had a bunch of games going on at the same time on Sunday, but it was a great game, a great

set of games overall. this weekend. And let's start with the game of the weekend, what was really coming into it, the game of the year. And that is the Ravens and the Niners. First question I want to lead this off with. The Ravens really taking care of business

against this Niners team and putting together, I think probably the best performance we've seen from an NFL team all year, you could argue, because of what that defense did to San Francisco. In your mind, is this game a case of the Niners being more flawed

than people understood or people appreciated or maybe not giving the Ravens their proper due for what sort of team they were. I think people didn't give the Ravens their proper due. I think it was a remembrance that they remember after about two months, we're like, hey, this team is number one to DVOA over this amount of time period. We went into it. Aaron Schatz had that tweet.

These are two to the top 15 teams through 15 weeks in DVOA. The Ravens are elite. Like they are an amazing team. I think some of the string of turnovers, of course, is going to overwhelm them. It's hard to overcome, but you got to credit the Ravens for getting them. That's the game script to stop a 49ers offense. You have to create chaos. You can't just live and die because you live and die by just normal down to down first and second down.

You're just going to get gashed. I mean, the 49ers were getting after them several times. But they create the chaos and that's what creates the favorable game script. And that's when you have to go against another elite team like this, that's what you have to do. So I think it's more of a tip of the captain of Ravens than like, oh, my God, the 49ers are crap. It's like, no, I still think these two teams, really? probably my two favorites still in each conference. I just think it was just a really good team with a bunch of turnovers that happened,

but you have to credit the Ravens for getting those. I would 100% agree on the turnover front because I wanted to see them do something to force the issue. We talked about it last week. My thought was, do they play a little bit more man than other teams have been willing to? It was something to disrupt the game. It was something to try to create your own explosives on defense. What was funny, going back and looking at some of the stats from this game, the Niners had a 16.2 percent.

explosive play rate in this game. That's exactly their season average. I was going to say it's exactly their season average. It would be the best in the league, but it was right in line with what they've done all season. And they were getting some of those explosives. So if you're another team, if you're a defense, that's planning for this team, you need to match their explosives with a handful of your own. You need to find a way to create those. And we can go through the interceptions, but this is a case of them forcing the issue. The first tipped ball interception, they bring a dollar. They bring a dollar. double corner blitz off both sides on an early down. Both guys are coming.

Brandon Stevens ends up getting the tip ball. They intercept it. The second interception, or excuse me, that was the first interception was just a bad decision by Purdy. The first tip ball interception was the blitz. The second tipped ball interception, they bring a simulated pressure with Kyle Hamilton coming. Purdy doesn't read it out well. He panics a little bit. And then the fourth interception is just a hit arm deflection.

But those two picks, the ones that were tipped ball interception. You can say, yeah, that's a little wonky. You get a little bit lucky. They're creating some of their own luck in those moments because they're forcing the issue with how they're attacking the Niners' offense in those moments. And I think that when you play against a team like this, you have to create some sort of chaos. You have to create some sort of disruption, confusion.

And I think the Niners, the Ravens did a very good job of that in their own specific way. I think that sometimes it was like you go against an elite defense. Like I always, this Brown's defense has really like stuck with me this year. It's like, how do you go about it? It's like you have to create explosives on offense because you can't nickel and dime against them because it's just like they're too good. It's the opposite for an elite offense. You know, it's like I just have to like untwist my brain a little bit.

But it's like that's what you have to do. It's that high variance world. And that's why when you have a defense like this Ravens defense, even what Spags does with the chiefs, you're just creating high variance moments. You're creating chaos. I always say gash or be gash is a term. I'm going to someday come up with a better one. But it's just something that's always been in my mind. but that's the kind of what you that's the given take of it you have to because they're just so talented

they're going to find a way and some of the like cat and mouse game in this game I cannot wait I hate to sound like this but I can't wait to watch this game on all 22 this side I was kind of bummed it wasn't already up this morning because I was up this morning and I was kind of hoping I'd be able to run it a little bit before we actually got started but it wasn't available yet I did my best I tell you again like some of these commentators are doing a lot much better job this year they're getting there I'm I'm going to credit where credits do. Like Troy Aikman and stuff is doing, they're doing some good jobs when replays are happening. But that first interception with Hamilton, it was something that we maybe thought the Ravens, the Four Nairs are in 21.

The Ravens match with base with four D-Bs, but that puts Hamilton in as a back safety, as a backside safety. So it's almost like they caused their own issue there. Yeah. Because now they just put a really smart player and it's four push quarters. But on it, there's nothing to tie down Hamilton. It's so strange to watch in real time. wondering, like, what do they think he's going to be doing in that moment? Because he's just sitting there reading that backside crosser. He looks and he watched, because he's on Kittle. He is number two,

because there's two tie downs on his side. And Kittle, they have a high, low. Something, it was a really common to what the Eagles run, that like Kram Kahn concept of Gautert. But I felt like Kittle is short on it. Because it didn't tie down that safety. The whole point of that route is either, if it's covered two, you go to that side. If not, that ties down the safety so he can't do exactly what Hamilton did. So that one was a little weird to me. It felt like a little lack detail, which is just so strange for the 40-Nir's.

But then, yeah, like you said, the second interception, Mike McDonald might be an emotional blitzer. I think he's got a little bit of that to him because that came right after a gash. And then he was like, right after explosive play to Debo. And he's like, screw that double quarters.

Watch this shit. And again, again, the purdy, read it right. It's an adjustment you have to make. If you run an open side run, I'm meaning away from the tight end, Some offense traditionally, this is what I grew up in, some don't do this anymore.

They run a key route, which is just a side adjust, which is just a little bubble. You're replacing the corner blitz and you just throw it instead of running it. It's like one of the original RPO's. And he does it right. Stevens was writer. jumps up, that's it. Great play. But again, you brought the simulated.

I thought just all the Ravens DBs had a standout moment. Stevens, Humphrey. Marvel. Humphrey played by the star again. What Marlon Humphrey did against the run in this game cannot be overstated. Because what the Niners are trying to do to you on all of those perimeter runs is they're circle in that outside corner. So we're going to make you the force-contained player here and we don't believe that you can do it.

Multiple times in this game, Marlon Humphrey is taking on a tight end in space and spilling things back inside to everybody else and the Ravens are making a play as a team defense. It was a team defensive effort. And these guys coming up and contributing to the game in unconsored. conventional ways, right? That's not how you would expect Marlon Humphrey to affect the game. He's had an up and down season even in the ways we think of Marlon Humphrey this year. And so he was good as a corner yesterday and as a run defender playing in ways that maybe you don't necessarily expect. Travis Jones is a 325 pound run stuffing defensive tackle. He wins on an inside move

as a defensive end and creates that fourth Brock Purdy interception. You have that. Kyle Hamilton's always affecting the game in unconventional ways. It's awesome. And the last thing I thought of in this kind of conversation, because I'm literally laying in bed last night thinking about how I want to talk about this, and I couldn't fall asleep because I was so excited about all the things about this game.

The last kind of slightly unconventional thing that I thought was notable. Patrick Queen blitzed several times in this game. It was always off the edge. When they were bringing actual blitzes, five or more guys to the quarterback, very rarely were they bringing guys from depth in the middle of the field to give purdy answers right in front of him.

I don't know if that's by virtue of where CMC was lining up, whatever. But almost all of those pressures were coming off the edge and they were catching them with them as a result. So just these little unconventional wrinkles that maybe are a slight twist on what you might expect from either players, scheme, whatever, consistently coming up big for the Ravens in this game. Great call of the queen one because they had a blitz from a corner spot. Yes. On one play. Like an outside corner spot. It's weird, guys.

It sounds like, oh, yeah, sure, it's just on the outside. It was way from the outside. Yes, and that's a great call. It was just, again, you have to do some unconventional. If you have such, the Shanahan guys have such standard rules because they, like, you have to be on standard. You have to kind of discombobulate them a little bit. But the little blitzing, I thought they did a great job of making Purdy, make the decision quickly, but get the ball out of his hands so he couldn't hold on the ball to hit those explosives down the field.

A couple times he did get him. I also thought that you were bringing up Humphrey in the run defense. That's always been something with him. He's such a good run defender. It did Debo got him once, which was like, that's also a Debo thing. But it was because the Ravens ran so much cloud coverage. They were in cover two and cover six a bunch on first and second down. And when you're in cloud, that's cover two to one side.

That corner is now in the run fit. Quarters, the safety's in the run fit. Cover two, the corner is in the run fit. When you have Humphrey, that helps. And also if they want to do those outside runs, now that, this is old school stuff. This is like 2002 football. We're talking about like Ronday Barber here is like what we're talking about. Yes.

Against a Mike Shanahan Denver Broncos team. Like this is it. Like toss outside zone into a corner crashing down. And it's like just who who blinks first? I mean, this is like old school in a way. But the first second downplay of the game. And then they gash them on third down. But the first second down play of the game, I'm going to, I couldn't clip it because YouTube

TV, like blacks out. Anytime I try to clip their stuff. If anyone wonders why my, when my recordings on Twitter are really weird during live, it's because I do it from my phone because I don't get blacked out. I could clip the YouTube TV. I'm going to get so banned now. But it's the second,

the first second down of the game was just awesome coverage distribution. The 49ers ran a JetSweep motion with IUC. And the whole time the Ravens were showing quarters and they end up playing man. and on it they run a slant flat kind of look with Ushack and Debo. And the Ravens Defenders just run the route for them, pretty like double clutches and ends up throwing to cover to Ushack. But it looks like zone all the way. But they end up playing like, man on that side.

It totally just screwed up the entire offense. So they were all over the place, man. It was a great gameplay. Not that the foreigners did not get them. I mean, they were a, sorry. Last one. But they're going to get you though. They're going to get you.

The cat mouse was awesome. You remember the crab motion that they do with CMC? You know, they like shuffle, shuffle, shuffle. They always usually do that right before the snap. Crab motion. I don't know what's to call it. I call it bumper motion. I think that's what Shanahan calls it.

But crab motion is better. I think we should go with. The Zoidberg motion. Because he goes out. But usually they do that right at the snap. This game, because they've been shown it, showing it. Okay, we do choice routes from it. Okay, now we do vertical routes for it against it.

Remembering the Eagles game? Now they motion them. Then they pop. paused and then they motioned someone else. But it was great because they caught the Ravens because they would motion CMC pause because the Ravens were like, hold the look, hold the look, hold the look, hold the look, hold the look. We're high in our coverage. And then you see Patrick Queen going like, well, I got to cover them.

And then you see them slowly walk out of the box. And then you see the foreigners go, okay, kill, kill, check, check, do all this stuff. And then they hit, they hit Kittle twice on it. But yeah, no, it was just a great cat and mouse game between two awesome coaches. The last thing, we talked about this in the preview. and I just wanted to note it because we're wondering what the Ravens were going to do when the Niners were in 21 personnel. Are they going to play base? Are they going to play Nickel?

They played Nickel about two thirds of the time. In passing situations, playing Nickel against 21, Brock Party 6 of 11 for 42 yards and two interceptions. Wow. Against 12 and 21 in this game. In Nickel, 62 and a half percent run defense success rate for the Ravens. Not great, good enough. That was always going to be the question. Could you slow them down a netherance?

enough when you were in lighter bodies when they were trying to run the ball for you to get the benefits of defending the pass in those situations. The answer was yes. The answer was yes, all game, and it's a credit to the Ravens for being able to defend the run in those looks. Let's get to the Brock Purdy of it all. Four interceptions. The MVP train is derailed after that game.

You do it in prime time. You do it in week 16. It's understandable. Do you feel any differently about Brock Purdy this morning than you did where that game started yesterday? Nope. Same thing. It's the same stuff.

It's the same stuff. And then you watch Darnold get in there and make the same throws. The three game losing streak when everyone, all the four in Irish fans were just going, oh, man, we might have to go to Darnold and stuff like that. Like after they were just hyping up the first five weeks, he was doing the same stuff. He just got punished for some of the chaotic moments. And then that's just what happened again today. It's a ball interception from Humphrey.

That is the moment I will keep going back to because that is shit he has gotten away with so many times. over the course of the season and he did not get away with it in that moment. Just a little flip pass he had to see him see over his head. That was pretty sweet actually. He went for like negative one yards. But it was I was actually, that's true no look. That wasn't the little broad peak and then no look. That was a true over the shoulder. I love that. My favorite part about that play is that I'm watching with my brother last night. It's 10.30 p.m. He is a three month old baby. He's exhausted. He's hosted people all day. But I did, I didn't have time to go home. So I'm sitting there watching the game with him. It's a three score game, but he's got CMC and fantasy, and he's down like three

points. So he's sitting there refreshing his phone to see if that was a pass or a run to see if he gets half a point for PPR. So the game is over. He's just curled under a blanket on the couch, just sweating it out so hard. My wife's on her phone. She's like, I can't believe we're still here. So that moment, even though it was a throwaway moment in the game, hugely important to everyone on that couch as we were watching. I know no one cares about fantasy teams, but oh my God, the Sam Darnold thing, everyone's tagging me. Someone tag me on Twitter going like, oh, I can only, to be a fly on the wall in the Tice household right now. You know what's happening in the Tice household right?

Tice household right now is me throwing my phone into the couch because Sam Darnold costs me, my fantasy league. You deserve that. That is a proper fate. It is. He started feeding Brandon Ayuk at the end of the game. I lose by three yards. and that last Brandon and I, you catch and run, he broke like the second one,

well, second of the last one, he broke like five tackles. Rokron Swift, like had him in a suplex. It's like, I just couldn't believe it. I lost by three yards. But everyone's like,

oh my God, Nate's probably so happy. Right now I'm just like, beat red and everything. Last thing about Purdy, though, this was a really funny moment. This was just more funny than anything. Remember the whole man zone tells

I talked about last week. They did a little man zone tell. They split out Kittle all the way to the outside. Tight end. Usually you match with it. If it's a man cover. there's going to be a safety on that tight end. Purdy looks over, sees number 44 and kills the play.

Because Marlon Humphrey wears 44. So in his brain, he goes, that's a linebacker or safety. I would too. If I just briefly looked at it. But then he goes, reload, reload, reload. Because then he realized it was, oh, that's Marlon Humphrey. That's actually a corner. And then they ran to play.

I think it went to Kittle. But it was like, that cracked me up so much because it was like he glanced over soft 44. And he goes, oh, that's a safety. All right, kill, kill. We're going to get to the man coverage beater that we want a rod. But actually it was. No, that's Humphrey. So I remember tweet that out because I thought that was hilarious.

That was like just his brain just instantly just went like, oh yeah, that's man. A lot of people yesterday, understandably so because of the way the discourse is gone this year, very quick to take the Brock Party victory lapses. He's throwing those four interceptions. Two, three of them are tip balls. It's just bad variance. And I don't, again, I don't think the guy is the most valuable player in the NFL. I think he's very far away from that. But that last night was an instance of the Ravens defense, one, being really fucking.

good to coming up in the right moments, coming up with the big plays in the right moments, the biggest plays in the biggest moments. So I think this is way more about the Ravens defense, the players they have, the plan that they had, than it is some indictment of the fact that everyone was right or wrong about Brock Purdy, no matter how you thought about him for the last three months. Two awesome teams going at it. That's just what it is. That being said. Yes. The contrast between Brock Purdy and Lamar Jackson last night. that is what I'm talking about when we're trying to figure out the most valuable player in the NFL. When you're watching those two guys play yesterday, you feel the value that Lamar brings to his offense,

independent to everything else that is happening within that offense. One of the coolest parts of this season has been watching Lamar navigate, maneuver, manipulate the pocket all year consistently as he looked to throw or looked to selectively scramble. He did it again last night over and over and over again. You could point out a half dozen moments. There's a single drive where he shakes off to Seer Taylor in the pocket and steps up and makes a play twice. The last drive in the first half with about three minutes left, first and 20 makes that crazy throw across his body to Isaiah likely to cut it to second and seven. They end up getting it.

First and 25 on that same drive steps up and throws a missile to Zay Jones. They chunk it. They put him in a position. he hits a 31-yard scramble. Two plays later, they kick a field goal. Previous drive, cover zero in the red zone, hits Isaiah likely, gets them down to the two. They get that Gus Edwards run for another touchdown.

The throw to Gus Edwards on the first drive of the second half, where he's stepping up in the pocket, Greenlaw has to acknowledge him, and because of that, he's got Gus running up the sideline for a 40-yard game. These moments over and over and over again. That drive ends with him finding, Aguilar for a touchdown while again stepping up and out of the pocket to the

left. Consistently last night, just feeling the gravity, the impact, the value that he brings to the team to the football game. And that's why when we're having this discussion in this unconventional year about the most valuable player, you're going to look at Lamar's counting stats

and say, I can't win it. But if we're talking about the most valuable players in the league, he is 100% in the conversation and you felt it in a dozen moments last night. It was another master class by this guy when in reality, his counting stats are not going to blow you away again. He threw for 252 yards and he looked like one of the best players on earth. It's the most exciting 250 yards, man. Everyone is like well earned.

It's the, that's what you have to do against these defenses. You either have to operate like Stafford did, which is just hilarious and just be a machine from the pocket dashed with gash and boom, boom, boom, never making a wrong decision. Or you do a little bit of that. plus the creation. Lamar making these throws sometimes as he's getting tackled. Like, he's hit the weights. The strength is impressive. He's hit the weights.

What's interesting is last year he hit the weights before the season started as well. Remember how bulky he was? It was very bulky. And he, this is a conversation we'll have in a second because I do want to talk about this in a slightly different context. He is less explosive than he used to be. He is less explosive. There's no way around that.

But the strength now has become a strength. no pun intended. It's become a strength of the game because of how he's operating in the pocket. If he was going to play the way he did last year with that extra size and that lack of explosiveness, he's just not a player that's going to scare you consistently because he's not beating you from the pocket. But if part of the game now, he's kind of chemistry. Because if he's going to shake off guys in the pocket and play from the pocket, now that additional strength and the slight downtick and explosiveness becomes an overall positive for his game. And that's what we've seen from him. This is a huge thing for me because he's always been borderline 210.

And the sub 210 quarterback thing is a real thing just because of the pocket stuff, because of the guys can get dragged down. And Lamar usually overwhelms him with athleticism. And that's why he can get away with it. That's the usual caveat to the sub 210 thing is, oh, are you a freak athlete? But no, that is a great point. It's that perfect balance where he's maybe 90% of the athlete used to be 85%, but he's 30% strong. And it's just that perfect little balance that he has.

So I think that's a great thing to bring up. And I think against his 49ers defense, it stuck out to me the most because there's so much chaos happening in the pocket. And he's maneuvering in it, getting grabbed, getting pulled. And he's staying up and getting those throws off and avoiding negative plays outside tripping over the ref in the end zone, which was just all right. It's just a play. It's just a play. I mean, there's no way around that. But against the blitz, I thought he did.

very well. The foreign airs tried to heat him up several times, but they got him a couple times, including that safety. But then he gashed him for 34 yards to likely. You brought up 23-yarder, 10-yarder, 10-yarder, 10-yarder. That's five firsts, six first downs that he got against the blitz. That's huge because that's a thing that defenses could usually poke at against and I think it was the right move because when they were rushing four early in the game, he had way too much time to operate back there. I think you need to force the issue, but he consistently answered the bell when they did that. The last thing about Lamar I want to talk about, Last night was a reprisal of the conversation about everyone could have had Lamar this offseason.

Everyone could have had Lamar. Multiple things can be true at the same time. Let's talk about them. Several people online yesterday, not sports writers, people with decently big followings, were saying, Lamar was a free agent this season. No one wanted him. Incorrect. We all know this.

He was not a free agent. He was a non-exclusive franchise tag. To get Lamar, you had to give up two first-round picks, and the Ravens would not have to match whatever offer. they was given, okay? Just point that out there first. Those are facts. Those are purely, facts.

Teams thought that the Ravens would match any sort of traditional offer given to Lamar Jackson, any sort of offer that was like the one he eventually accepted from the Ravens. They didn't want to waste their time putting together a contract offer for Lamar, the Ravens are going to match anyway. That being said, all that means is teams were not willing to put together a non-traditional offer for Lamar Jackson. And we can talk about what that means here in a second.

That is the gap. Two things can be true at once. That it's reasonable that teams wouldn't want to draw up the contract Lamar got and because they thought the Ravens would match anyway. But they also misjudged what sort of player Lamar Jackson is in not giving him everything he might have wanted. That downtick and explosiveness we're talking about last year, teams did not think. think Lamar was this player that we're watching right now. They thought he was a diminished version of the guy we had watched for the previous three or four years.

And that is a massive miscalculation. Because if maybe let's say you give him a fully guaranteed contract or you give him something just completely outlandish and make the Ravens match it. I don't think teams thought he was that sort of player. That is where the miscalculation comes in. Not teams just should have offered Lamar a contract and made the Ravens match. That's likely a waste of time. But if you gave him the fully guaranteed Deshawn Watson deal, do the Ravens match it?

And by doing that, you run two risks. You risk pissing off the other owners because you gave him a fully guaranteed deal. And you run the risk of the downside of a fully guaranteed contract. What we've learned this year is that Lamar Jackson, the player Lamar Jackson is right now, he's worth any sort of risk you could have incurred in this process. And that is where teams fucked up. And they absolutely did. That's what you pay for.

You're paying for a guy to outright win you games. If you're in a 50-50 battle, he outright wins you the game. That's what he does. And I think there's a lot of narrative scouting that happens in general. I mean, everyone is guilty of it. And I think in the league, it happens a lot. And I think that's what happens. Lamar, your kind of book gets written in the week.

You are what you are. And some of that is laziness. I really do think because I will say the first month of last season, that Dolphins game sticks out to me in 2022. But others, Lamar was operating from the pocket more than you ever had. It was there. Like it was like it was all happening last year. And then you got hurt and other things happened last year.

That was also part of it is that the injuries absolutely played a part of people did not think he would stay healthy. And that's why I thought he was, I mean, I love Lamar. So I thought he was worth paying anyways. But it's just the I think watching him that's four-ish weeks last year, six-ish weeks. And remember what I remember from Louisville and going like, I think he can do this. And seeing that, of course he got hurt. And of course you have to remember that stuff. But it's also like, I think he can do this.

If he fully leans into it and now we're seeing it. We're seeing this perfect balance of the 70% pocket pass or 30% creation magician stuff. And I think that's the perfect chemistry for this version of Lamar of era two of Lamar. And I think that's really exciting because I think this actually makes him age better if he's getting bigger and stronger. I mean, even if it's five more pounds, but then be able to win from the pocket consistently. Not just win from the pocket once in a while, win from the pocket on a whole drive. Throw after throw after throw after throw creation. throw after throw after throw. He can do that. And he's proven it all season long. And it's like,

that's why you pay it. It's because that's more sustainable than all the creation, all the chaos stuff. That's what puts them over the top. But to get that sustainability, that's what Marr is showing this year. And I think he showed it last year too. And I actually, I wrote about this. And I actually, that's where I think so maybe the quote unquote laziness happens. But it is a bet you would have had to be. They were bogged down in version one. Teams were bogged down in version one. And it ultimately cost them. Because who knows if you were to give him a fully guaranteed deal what it would have met. But again, teams were not willing to run the risk by doing that on multiple different fronts, pissing off the quarterback you already have, pissing off the owners, potentially having a guy who's injury prone with a fully guaranteed contract that you have to eat all of if he ends up getting hurt. What we have learned is that version two of Omar Jackson is worth every single one of those things. Beautiful.

It really has been beautiful to watch. Lamar's version. Final note on this game, one of my takeaways from this, The Niners losing in this fashion. The Ravens showing what they have. The playoffs are going to be awesome. Awesome. Both sides.

It just feels like so much is on the table. And the Niners felt like this unstoppable juggernav for playing like that. And I know the Ravens are a great team. And the Ravens are the second best team in the league. You can make an argument there. Maybe the best team in the league. These are the two best teams. And maybe they'll play in the Super Bowl again.

But this just made me so excited for the caliber of games we are going to see when we get to the postseason with the best teams in the last. We're in for a good one. I'm very excited. Also wanted to give one shout out to a Ravens player. Tower, Lindelbaum played phenomenal last night. He had, well, he got to be one time, but he had a couple really nice moments in the run game where he was reaching guys and that really, really helped him out.

You worried about the tackle rotation on offense for Baltimore? I think any time you say tackle rotation, I'm going to be a little bit worried. Ronnie Stanley's not what he is. It concerns me, though. If we're trying to pull holes in Super Bowl teams, the fact that they're rotating in their tackles consistently, and I don't know. It's, oh, man, Daniel Falalais is out there now. Morgan Moses is out. Randy Stanley's in there.

Macari's in. Now he's in the blue tent. Trying to keep track of the three-card Monty that's going on on the offensive line for the Ravens right now, it's the one thing about this team that gives me a little bit of pause as we get to the postseason. I wanted to mention that. Especially when we look at some of the top teams in the playoffs right now. If they play the browns or dolphins or anything like that, let's bring it all full circle, though. That's why you have Lamar Jackson because he can mitigate some of these things in ways

that other quarterbacks cannot. What's the best way to block Aaron Donald? Have Lamar Jackson. He can mitigate these things in some ways other people cannot, which is why he absolutely deserves credit or deserves mention every single time we talk about the MVP award. That's a little bow there. Gentlemen, you have my curiosity.

Now you have my attention. each week, and especially this week when the games are happening over 72 hours. We got to figure out what grabbed our attention over the course of week 16. Miami Dolphins getting their biggest win of the year against a surefire playoff team in the Dallas Cowboys. Miami Dolphins, you have my attention. Yes, you do. Do you feel Tyron Smith's absence? I did.

Dakos knocked down 16 times by this Dolphins front. eight of ten third down dropbacks he got knocked down on eight of ten I mean some of that is tyron Smith and some of that is the Miami Dolphins front because they took advantage of the interior consistently with some of the stuff that they were doing stunts O'Doga was just leaving guys unblocked he left Bradley Chubb unblocked multiple different times when they were in any sort of empty protection it just something felt off for them up front the entire game and it consistently caused the offense to struggle oh Dack was looking to bail the pocket right away.

The guy that I think has some of the best pocket movement like I've seen in my lifetime. And he's just going, screw this. I'm out. And I mean, like you said, some of those botches, Olson did a great job and just going, I don't know why. Like, I didn't understand why. Because there's times we should just not talk about the games that Olson does. We should just have Beller come up with a montage of the shit that Olson says over the course of the game so we can skip it in the recap. I could just repeat it.

It's great. Actually, it's not great because it takes away so much from the stuff I'm going to talk about. And everyone just goes, oh, you're just copying Olson. It's like, ah, no, but he had the empty protection stuff, which I didn't understand. Like, it was, because even just the look of it, like, David Long was kind of slow rushing. And he, like, he's classic, like, the tackle's trying to be right. And he's trying to be smart. And it's like, no, just play your rules.

And you have been fine, like, and all those things. But holy crap, I thought that this Dolphins front just fantastic. The offense found a way. And this is just kind of what they did. The toss windback stuff by this dolphin. offense was fantastic, which is they toss the play. They usually do outside zone with it. So everyone's getting to the outside.

Everyone's racing to the outside. They would toss and then the running back winds back to the other side and the offensive line seals great against the Cowboys. Because one, you're getting the ball away from the front so you don't have to worry about someone losing right away at the line scrimmage. But then also you see all those linebackers. We talk about the Cowboys linebackers. They go, oh my God, toss it outside.

Run to the outside. We got to beat Reim Mosert. and there he comes winding back. So again, that respect for the speed that this Dolphins offense makes you have, makes every defense have, creates just these easy, good plays for them, even if they have some woes sometimes. It's just like it. And with how that defense is playing, man, this is just a real good team too in the AFC. I was worried again about how the Cowboys defense played in this game because even though the Dolphins didn't score that many points, it's because they were kicking field goals. Yeah.

Miami had a 52.2% offensive success rate this week. It's the best in the NFL. The best success rate of any offense in football this week was Miami against that Cowboys defense. Over the last three weeks, incredibly small sample, normal caveats involved here. Dallas against the Eagles, Bills, and this Dolphins team dead last in defensive success rate over the last three weeks. It would be better if you include the Seahawks, too. Yeah, that's right. I didn't include the Seahawks game.

Probably should have. So four playoff teams. So four playoff teams. And they have struggled. And this is a perfect example of what we were talking about in the preview show. Like, okay, you have this Cowboys defense. They only play man coverage. And when I say that, they play man coverage on 40% of their snaps, which is the highest rate in the NFL.

They had not played man on less than 20% in an entire game this season. They played man on 10% of their snaps against the dolphins on Sunday. Whatever day it was. I'm tired of this. Whatever day it was. This weekend, they played 10% man. I think it was Sunday. It was Sunday. It was Sunday.

I actually don't even know anymore. So they're playing tons of soft zone, and they're just not equipped to do it. They look completely out of sorts. So they're getting gashed when the dolphins are trying to throw the ball because they're playing left-handed, because the way they want to play, they can't play against Miami. And against the run, they're still just getting crushed because you just have this team that's just not set up to do it. Moster it gets down, is a gash down to like the 15-yard line in the second quarter. They've got cursed essentially as an off ball linebacker there, and Wilson's just walked down into the box too. So you've got two guys who are safeties in your run-heavy look that you're trying to play.

You just can't do it. If teams are going to be willing to run the ball downhill at you in those moments, you're going to have a really, really hard time stopping the run. So it's just a damned if you do, damned if you don't sort of situation, especially against Miami. That's why they were such a unique, strange, difficult matchup for this Cowboys team. team because they can't play anywhere near the way that they wanted to, and you saw it consistently down in and down out. They bowed up in the red zone. It's why the game was close.

But every play consistently throughout the game, they were just scrambling, grasping at straws for answers. It was a problem. And I think it might continue to be a problem as they play against these really good offenses. And this is a team that didn't have J-1 Waddle and two-thirds of the offensive line is banged up. That's it. And it's a quote-unquote finesse run game, which is like, should be what the Cowboys match up well because they're speed. They're so usually,

and that's the thing when you also take away that man coverage card from them, you take away that aggression of this defense. This defense wants to take it to every offense they play. And you could feel that. Yeah, you'll catch us every once. Yeah, they want to throw haymakers over and over and over and over and it's like, stop us. Stop us. You have to stop us.

And then they just overwhelm you. And yeah, they felt so much like they were in the guard the entire time. And it just against that run, or run, playing run defense against this Dolphins team, It just felt like it happened all the time. I will say that they will, I'm curious to rewatch this game because they were doing some,

the Cowboys were trying some tweaks. Like they had Michael Parsons as like this kind of middle ground player. I don't know what to describe it. In between the defense alignment and the linebackers, he was in between that. Like, I don't know. There's got to be a soccer term for that. He's like a number 10 on defense. He was in between the forwards and the midfielders.

But also I just like watching that Dolphins offense and there's a couple throws by Tua where he threw that thing four steps before the receiver was breaking on the ball. And again, but the Cowboys defense is like, you're going to get gashed by that. Okay. Like you, they just never felt this entire game that they're just taking it to them at all, even if they were trying some things. And even when the Dolphins got, or I'm sorry, the Cowboys backed them up, Dolphins were just like, we're just going to spam go balls because we know you can't keep

up with our guys on the outside. And, but it's the fact that this team, when this, they're kind of battered right now. If they could hold it in protection, that would. Waddle won early in the first half. It's third down. Cowboys bring four. Parsons gets double-teamed. No one else wins. Gilmore has no shot.

He has no shot against Waddle and Space out there. And that's what you're seeing. You're seeing teams start to take it to this defense and it is becoming a consistent issue. And the fact that that's what we're talking about where they need him so badly, that's all you need to know about the state of this team right now. I'm really trying to work an answer for them. and that's why I've really tried to help.

And for them, that's it. That's the only thing I could think of. It's like, get that guy back on the field because all these other answers aren't working for them. And on the other side of the ball, they have two big plays to Citi on a single drive in the first half where he's lined up in the slot. They're like, okay, we're not going to move Ramsey in there. So he's picking on Kohu. Makes a lot of sense with the route combinations. They were clearing the middle of the field.

He's hit the big crosser for a big game. And then, again, another end breaker he takes for a touchdown. They didn't do it again for the entire game. For the entire game. And I'm sitting there, I'm like, what is going on? I understand if you don't feel like you can be as complex offensively on the road, you can't use as much motion, the offense feels a little bit more static. This is not rocket science.

This is not a lot of moving pieces. It's putting your best player in the slot against their worst corner and going to work in the way that you've already seen it be effective in this game, and they went away from it for two and a half quarters. I just don't understand this team whatsoever. Again, the dolphins deserve a ton of credit for the way they're playing right now. They are dangerous. But the Cowboys remain frustrating when it comes to these moments where you want to see them answer the call.

Oh, and then the touchdown of CD was an awesome design. And that was so early. And I was like, oh, wow, I can't wait to see what else they got the rest of this game. And it was like, that was it, apparently. It was empty. They were empty. They motion powered back into the back field and then had them orbit motion back out to empty. Pop the Dolphins defender's brains.

And I was like, oh, there you go. that's an inspired design from McCarthy and Schottenheimer. And never saw it again. Never saw that motion again. But then also, Dak had the ultimate respect for Jalen Ramsey. It's a flip. So Ramsey lines up on the offense's left and Howard lines up on the offense's right.

Usually typically the number one corner lines up on the offense's right towards the right-handed quarterback's side. I wonder if they, that's because they practice two-o every day. And they're just like that. Maybe that's what it is. But he had the ultimate respect for him. He only had one throw outside the numbers to the left, the entire game passed the line scrimmage. One.

You know what it was? It was the brand of cook's touchdown. And that was it. Yeah. That was it. That was the only throw past the line scrimmage to the left. And that's from the, what, the seven yard line or whatever? Yeah, yeah.

That's just a red line from the slot with a stack thing and a release and all that. So it was the ultimate respect to that side. And it just felt like this classic kind of Cowboys thing where it's like the run game was kind of, you know, and it just felt like they just were some sloggy drives. It felt like whenever you see Dak doing the pump fake, that's why I'm like, oh, no, it's not going to be a good day because it's just that that means something, someone's not coming open. And that means that they're getting them a little bit. And so that, but he ended up in the second half really coming along. We saw Brandon Cook's Jet Sweep, which was like, shout out to. That's a throwback jam. That's either Mike Riley, Oregon State or 2019 Rams or 18, I guess, when he was there. Or Sean Peyton right after he drafted him, he like sprinkled it up. all these jet sweeps and then it was like never ran them again. But no, but it was just, yeah, I don't know. I thought this Cowboys team, there's moments where I was like, man, they look good even without the offensive line injuries and everything, but then they just had several drives where it's like, they're in third extra long and it's like, man, they can't get off the ground. I will say that this

Dolphins defense has maybe just go like, man, this team, this defense is shit. So that's what I wanted to pivot to here because as disappointing as the Cowboys had been as they've tried to answer some of these moments. The Dolphins playing the way that they did on both sides of the ball with that offensive line banged up. I think this team is legitimately a threat to come out of the AFC. If you think about how they're playing on both sides of the ball, Austin Jackson hopefully will come back from injury. We'll see how healthy the offensive line can get. Hopefully Waddle can get right. He's just been dealing with these nagging injuries all year. But even without him on the field this weekend, again, this weekend, Tyreek is still enough where they're able to find explosives

who was playing well enough and what they have on defense, it's everybody in the front. Seeler has his moments every single week. Wilkins has his moments every single week, including a roughing the pastor call that probably could have gone either way. Chubb has been a consistent disruptor. Very good. We talk about what David Long is,

Ramsey being back. Even the safeties, safeties are banged up. And I thought they actually played really well in this game. And I think that position group as a whole seems to be very locked in and well coached. And they're going to get healthier there. So I just think that what the Dolphpherson is. are doing on both sides how complete they feel, even if there are some missing pieces and

some missing elements in who they are, I can absolutely see this falling into place over the next two weeks or so and seeing them be a really, really frightening proposition when we get to the postseason. They're answering questions. I know that Titans game happened, but that was just so fluky. And watching this team, I'm so glad I've been studying them a lot because the defense is playing out of their mind and the offense finds answers. And the fact that they can find a run game is huge, no matter what, even with offensive line injuries. That is so huge for the playoffs.

And I mean, it was pretty funny seeing the Holland injury because it was knees, plural. It wasn't just one knee. It was knees. But get him back. Holy crap. Like, this defense is just grooving. And so I really feel like they can hang with a lot of teams because I trust what the offense can do, even if the offensive line has injuries, because they can be as explosive,

of any game. They can find a run game and they have a good defense. That's a good formula for as the months get colder. And Robert Hunt is not on IR. So in theory, he might be back this year as well. So if they can get him and Jackson back and left guard is the only spot where you're dealing with the back. And Connor Williams has hurt as well.

But Ikeberg is, you know, if all the positions, I think that may be stabilized more than some of the other interior spot. So hopefully they can get to a place where let's say the line is 70, percent of what it was at its best or everyone was healthy. That group plus Waddle and Tyrake Hill plus this defense, that's enough. That that is enough right now in the grander scheme of the entire league for you to be dangerous. Yep. You can create, you run a ball, you can create explosives and you play good defense. That's, that's a good formula. That's, that's what you want to do in the playoffs and they can do it. Next one here. The Detroit Lions, you have my attention. First division title in 30 years.

they win a wild one against the Vikings. 30 years. That's really, that's awesome. We can talk about the game and some of the stuff that they did. Their offense continues to be really productive. They had a 50% success rate in this game. A lot of answers. Jemir Gibbs consistently giving them explosive plays, almost conjuring them.

The fact that you can just get the ball in his hands and you're conjuring explosives. You know, like three guys miss in the backfield. In this era, when it's hard to find explosives, having a guy that's a living explosive play, that's a nice thing to be able to tap into. That's real quick, sorry, but that's funny. For even draft reasons, this is changing my perspective on prospects. And I talked about this with Dane. And I'm giving a bump to Malik Navors, the LSC receiver.

He's going to probably end of my receiver too over the Washington receiver, who I really like, whose name is Roman Duzier, who I compare to Chris Godwin. So, of course, I love him. I knew you would like him. Just be watching him in the slight burst that I have. He's just, he's so, I'm trying to find the right adjective. So up my alley. Yeah.

He is just like, he just put. together in the way that you moves the way you want a receiver to move. That's exactly what I'd say about a DUSA. Yeah. He's, he's good or better at everything. And that's like, yes, that's exactly what I like. And yeah, he's put, but anyways, but why I give, I'm just gushing about him. It's a great receiver class.

But neighbors is a walking talking explosive play machine. And I just, you just brought it up. Explosive plays are so freaking hard to create now. You need guys that can break a tackle and take one to the house or create 20 yards when it's only for six. Watch the 49ers. And you just need that now. And I just know I'm giving that more of a bump, even if he's raw as a route runner.

I'm giving that more of a bump than maybe I used to three, four, or five years ago. And I think like speed to speed, don't get me wrong. But a true explosive play thing is the greatest valuable thing that you can have right now. And I think that we should have that same sort of reframing when it comes to Jamir Gibbs, the position that he plays and the impact that he can have within an offense. And that speaks to the larger discussion about what the Lions have been over the last three years. And how they've done this? they have found value in unconventional ways,

in unconventional places over and over and over again over the last three years. What they saw in Jared Goff, what they've seen in some of these guys that were available for free on the street. And they said, you know what? This guy, we can get something out of this guy. John Kaminsky, right?

John Kaminsky's not a great player. John Kaminsky was available for free. Charles Harrison, the production he gave them over the last couple years. was available for free. Klee Freeman was available for free. Josh Reynolds was available for free. They've consistently done this.

They have brought guys into this building and into this program and gotten the best versions of them. This is a top-down success from the way that Brad Holmes has done this, from the way that Dan Campbell has done this, the staff that they have built. What Ben Johnson has done, what Hank Frailey, their offensive line coach has done. Great chat. They have done such a great job of just,

developing these guys in-house and creating an ecosystem that is getting the most, especially on offense, but just the vibe they play with. And there have been so many things that they've done were in the moment, I was like, I don't know about that. I'm not sure if that's the way move. I'm not sure if I would do it that way. And consistently, they have made me look like a moron. And I've really enjoyed doing it. I've really enjoyed feeling that way as I watch them succeed, because them building it the way that they have and creating this effect, where you're reinvigrating football in a place that people deserve to love football for a fan base that deserves to feel this way. It has been an incredibly rewarding thing to watch from afar when you've, I've been so close to what this Detroit Lions experience has felt like over the last three decades, sharing a division with them my entire life.

And it really felt like, I don't know, the Lions and their path under Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes has been really, you know, with this show, it kind of like the timeline matches perfectly. There was the year before they got there, so we knew what they were. We remember Patricia. And then all the moves that happened, that first off season in 2021. And watching Campbell, the opening press conferences, watching them throughout that season, we have brought up that Rams game in 2021, 400 times on this show. But that game will stick in our brains because that was like, hey, they might be on to something here, all the fake punts that they did.

But they just kept betting on themselves. Yeah. Not in a way of where it's like we know better. Backing themselves and their timeline. The patience has struck me so often. It's been so impressive to watch. Watch even how like last year Jameson Williams comes back from injury. Rather than just putting them out there and going like, hey, we're going to have him run 40 snaps.

And we're going to have him run. We're going to put him as a punk gunner because he's good at it. And we're going to get his legs back. But we have no rush. We're trying to fight for a playoff spot. But there's no rush to play him 30 snaps and have him make 10 mistakes and it costs us a game. like, yeah, you're going to need that down the road. But no, let's just get his legs back.

But it's just, I mean, patience is such a great word. They just always have a plan. And it's cool. I love watching this team. I love watching these young guys get better or guys that Ben Johnson does such a great job. He truly has some of that Sean Peyton DNA with this offense where every guy gets used exactly how they should be used. And I love that. There's never a time where I'm like, why do you have Khalif Raymond doing that?

There's never a time where I'm like, why you have Josh Reynolds doing it? that. No, they understand what these guys do. They understand Sam Leporter can only do some things in the run game, but then what's used them as a dynamic receiver. I don't know. It's everything they do make sense. It's been so fun to watch this every step of the way and then bang the drum for this kind of team and then this offseason kind of go, okay, pump the brakes a little bit, guys, but I'm kind of glad that like they blew through my expectations. I thought they'd be maybe 10 and 7. Like pretty good. They have blown even me away. And I think they should be commended for it. I think they're one of the most film teams every week to watch because of what they do on offense

and the frisginess that they can have on defense. And I just like the coaches. Even a month ago when we were talking about this Lions team, it felt like, okay, we have the elite teams in the NFC with the Niners at the top and the Cowboys and the Eagles are somewhere in that conversation. You take a step down and then you have the Lions because their defense was struggling the way that it was. So it's like, okay, these other teams, they feel more complete on both sides of the ball.

That conversation has shifted. The Niners are absolutely the best team in the NFC. whatever happened yesterday, don't worry about it. They are a very, very good football team. They continue to be arguably, I think, the best team in the NFL probably. Oh, yeah, you could beat the Niners. Yeah, just get three picks. That's the formula.

Yeah, get three tipped ball interceptions and have the best defense in the NFL, arguably. That's all you need to take advantage of them. And have an offense. And have Lamar, okay? Yeah. So those are all the things you need to beat the Niners. Yeah, that's it. But if you look at the rest of the teams in the NFC, the Cowboys feel very

flawed. Even with their defense is playing, they're concerning right now. The Eagles defense is a huge problem and their offense feels extremely uneven. I've gone from thinking the Lions are a step back from three teams in the NFC to thinking, why can't the Lions go to the NFC championship game with the way that they're currently playing even with some of those concerns on defense that do persist? Yes. I think they absolutely can. They can get some pass rush every once in a while. It's like, but they can get enough. They're going to have to be opportunistic on defense. Those Melfon will plays we got this weekend, the picks, branch coming up with a big play

here and there. That's the type of defense they're going to need to be. You know who had the biggest explosive play rate in the NFL this weekend? Which offense? The Minnesota Vikings. The Lions defense is going to be something that's in the back of your mind no matter what, but the offense can overcome it. Did you like the Vikings, oh, piece of candy drive with, oh, a piece of candy, which is,

oh, Justin Jefferson. that was the 22-yard gain, 29-yard gain on 3rd-19, that a 26-yard touchdown. I was like, oh, Justin Jefferson. But just launch it up to him. That's all we have to do. Nick Mullen's Justin Jefferson experience this weekend. It was very enjoyable to watch. I wouldn't want to watch it as a Vikings fan.

I don't think what Nick Mollins has been over the last couple weeks. But as someone who doesn't care, it's wonderful. I'm in that group chat with my high school friends who are all Vikings fans. And then I'm in a one-packed fan there. But then I have my good friend here in Vegas, my first friend I made in Vegas. just happened to be a Vikings fan. And I did not know that when like the first couple of times we hung out that came out. He didn't figure out who my dad was for a while,

which has been a running joke for like for years now that he didn't figure it out for a while. But I, I just, I don't know, watching watching them gash after him, but I just watched the lion's offense. They're always going to have answers. They're going to get their points as long as they don't play the Ravens defense. They're going to get their points because they can run the ball always. What did we say about the Vikings defense was the stat that I found on,

from SIS was they face the least amount of pulling offense alignment. The one run that they make you run is zone runs. And we always talk about the Lions can get to any type of run. They pounded away with zone runs in this game. That's why you saw Jemir Gibbs popping so many. But the fact that they can get to that. It's the Jamal Charles conversation we had last week. He can do that for you.

He can. Someone else tweeted that too, which is funny. It was like, that's coming around. But this offense is also doing like zone runs to David Montgomery. And he's pitching, throwing bubbles to Khalif Ramman. in. Like, so they have that creativity in there? Again, this is the offense that snapped a ball between the quarterback's legs to the running back in the red zone just because they can. But they always have that. And the defense, I will compliment them all year. I'm like, why don't they play the Vikings

play Ty Chandler? Why don't the Vikings play Ty Chandler? Why don't it with a classic reason why a young talented runnerback doesn't play? They're bad in protection. Oh my God, the lines got after him. There were several times he just walked by his guy as a free runner comes in and smokes mullins. So the fact that the Lions did that, though, it's like, all right, at least he got something. At least he got something you can get to to create a little bit of chaos on that end. This is the period at the end of the sentence, exclamation point at the end of the sentence of what the Lions have built over the last few years. And what's cool about watching it, this is what everyone wants. Everyone wants this.

You have a team that finishes the worst team in the NFL. You're tearing it down. Okay, we're starting from square one. How do we get where everyone else is? How do we get to be one of those teams? The Lions did it. I don't know how this ends up. They're going to have a Jared golf conversation,

what he's going to need to be paid, how does that figure into what a championship caliber team is built like? But they've made me wrong 100,000 times, and I love watching Jared Golf play football right now. So that's a discussion for a different time. But what they have done over the last couple years, again, everyone wants this. Everyone wants to try this to say, how do we get from square one to a championship caliber team?

And they have checked every single box knocked off every single challenge along the way. And they deserve an unbelievable amount of credit for making that happen. Yes. I wholeheartedly agree. Sorry, guys. It's just even just watch this line's team protect against Brian Flores and all these blitzes. And you just see how well coached and how sound they are. It's just everybody's on the same page.

And watching the offensive line, this team goes through them. and but how they play and the consistency they play with and the soundness they play with, that's how this whole team feels like. They're always prepared for whatever they're going to face, which makes me feel really good about them. Going from soundness to just pure chaos. Last one here. Joe Flacco, you have my attention.

Oh, my God. I have no idea what to make of this game. It's awesome. It was insane to watch, okay? So Flacco throws for 368 yards in this game. We can start with anything. The first play of the game, they take a 60-yard shot down the middle of the field. At one other point, he takes a shot for a goal ball to Amari Cooper that he kind of like

sidearm loops 40 yards down the left sideline. He's skipping rocks, man. There was a stretch in the second half where he made three off-schedual plays on the same drive-and-tiles. I don't know what to do with any of this. Like, it's truly ridiculous that he is playing like this. This is a man who has nothing left to lose. Truly, he is coming off the bench.

He's coming off the street to a playoff team that has fully embraced the volatility and variance that he is going to bring the offense because it is truly their best chance as currently constructed to do some damage. It is a marriage of convenience and of opportunity. And it has led to a wonderfully, beautifully, beautifully chaotic final. product that I cannot wait to watch on WildCart weekend. I love the Browns. They should be America's team right now. They, they are so much fun. It's the chaos of Flacco is the best. The one, the go ball to Amari Cooper, where he just pulls, he's, they have a boot to the left,

too, by the way, which is like, okay. Listen, he can move in the pocket, man. The best pocket manipulation of the weekend was Lamar Jackson. Second was probably Joe Flacco. Two players I've often compared. Fico had, that was the slowest bootleg ever. Like he would have been caught Prohibition for sure. And, but he catapulted that thing 50 yards. But the, he would have. Usually we do the show at midnight for me.

Now we're doing it at 7 a.m. for you. So there's a whole different chaotic energy that's happening. It's just a total loopiness. The, oh, but then, but then we're saying this. Oh, the chaos and the stuff and he's great breaking tackles. Then he throws. a one percenter throw to the Joku for the touchdown. That was an incredible throw.

That on a stick nod, that's like, that's a big boy throw. And so you have that. He has some size so you can get out of some stuff. I don't know. He's perfect for him. He can get it to their good players and they have a great defense. So yeah, he's throwing some interceptions, but he's bringing that high variance play. And it's like, that's what they need.

They have an offense that can rock or a defense that can carry them through all games. So it's get some variance on offense, which is, that can keep us in games. That can create points. just watch the Bears game. I mean, obviously you did. But a few weeks ago, but even when stuff's not going right for them, the Bears defense is playing well, they can stay in games because they can create points and they have really good designs and they have enough players.

So I don't know. I really like watch this Brown team. Let it rip. Let's go. Fire away, Joe Flacco. Their offense has such a vibe to it right now that Amari Cooper has come out after the game and you're saying, people can't guard me. I'm unguarable because Joe Flacco is now his quarterback.

Cooper is the most anti-receiver receiver ever. Doesn't talk. Like, just is the, yeah, that is so funny. That's how he played, though. Like, this is, coo. Again, I love weird chemistries in the NFL between quarterbacks and pass catchers. And Amari Cooper and Joe Flacco, they just, they should have always played together. They just have this chemistry together.

I thought Amari Cooper was going to have a huge season this year because I thought the Browns offense would just be better. I thought the passing game would just be better if you looked at, you had like 30% of the teams of air yards last year, which is the top five marks. Auxiliary weapons were a little better. Exactly. Just everything. I didn't realize that it would take Joe Flacco coming to town for that to be fully unlocked, but here we are. It's been that sort of season in both Cleveland and the NFL in general.

2023, baby. I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed. Kansas City Chiefs, we have reached a low point, my friends. We have reached a low point. It does not get much worse than putting up that sort of performance against the team that did not have a passing yard for two quarters and losing to the Raiders at home. It's so sloppy.

It's this team led the league and penalties per snap on offense going into last week. And I'm sure I don't think their numbers are going to change much. This chief skill player group, skill position group receivers, tight ends a little bit because Kelsey can be a little loose. And in runoffbacks is probably the lowest collective football IQ I've ever seen, at least from a contender. at least from a team that we'll talk about that. Holy crap. But it looks like a first preseason game with these guys. But that fourth and one, they had to burn a time out, which one?

But the fourth and one they had to burn a time out. And I tweeted about it was that was just like this perfect little snapshot what's going on with this offense. The play gets in late. So they're breaking the huddle. You see a couple of guys trotting in about 16 seconds left. Usually you want to break the huddle at 20 seconds. Break the huddle at 20 seconds, 18 to 20.

That means you have to suck. of about 25 to 30. So they're subbing at 15 to 20. All right. So you're already 10 seconds late on a fourth and one. And of course, of course it's an Andy Reid offense. So you're going to have some shifts of motions.

Why not? Got some guys who can barely get lined up. What shift emotion of them? Why not? That's what you do? So a huddle breaks at 12 to 13 seconds. Pacheco looks right away at Mahomes like, what did you just call?

Like he goes, what? Like he looks on, you can see it. You can see it. And then, okay, Richie James shifts into the backfield. Him and Pacheco are sitting next to other. They did the night at the Roxbury routine where they point at each other like, you go,

do I go? You, him, me? So the Pacheco starts moving. Mahomes burns the timeout, pissed off. They convert on the next play. But this is constant with them. Any short yardage, any game play any play, and that's usually situational play, short yardage, red zone, the third down. And they've been terrible short yards this year. They've been the worst short yards team in the NFL? Are you doing the numbers at least two thirds away through year, bore that out? They lack so much detail. Trey Smith, the right guards played poor. I think he got hurt, uh, He did get picked up yesterday. Yes.

But this is just constant with them. Say they have no sustainability on the ground, and that's the big thing. That's why I feel so uneven. And then when they need the high moments, Kelsey just looks out of it. I've never seen him play so angry. Like, he just looks angry out there. And that's really strange. I felt like he should be happy right now with what his life is the life's going on.

Two things I think are worth pointing out. One, last year we talked about this. And they showed us this with their team building model. their thought as a front office, Brett Fee shot down, clearly was. As long as we have a line, it doesn't matter who he's throwing to, to an extent, right?

It's Kelsey, it's whoever else. As long as we protect him, we have the opportunity to have an elite offense. Guess what? This year, they got neither. They didn't go get the pass catchers and the offensive line has played poorly. Obviously, they have an injury at left tackle right now,

but like you said, Trace Smith has taken a step back. They paid Juan Taylor. a shitload of money. Yeah. They paid him like an elite tackle. He has not been that. So this plan that they've had over the last couple years of,

hey, as long as we protect him, we can do whatever we want on offense. They were right last year. They won the Super Bowl. Yeah. They were wrong this year because they did not put together the line in the way that they thought they were putting together the line.

So that's one misstep. Two, talk about Kelsey playing angry. The vibes are unlike anything we have ever seen from this team. Even in moments where it, wasn't perfect from the start of 2018 when Patrick Mahom stepped in as the starter until the day they won the

Super Bowl last year. Name me one moment that you can point back and say, man, this team feels off. It never happened. It never ever happened. Even the year they, quote unquote, were struggling, which was 2021, they had like the best offense in the league. Yes. It never, it never

happened. He's always in a good mood. We got Andy Reed and State Farm commercials. Everything is just going great all the time. always. Now you got Mahomes. He looks miserable. Every single moment we see a camera on him. He's screaming at his offensive lineman on the sideline, which I would love to be flat on the wall for that conversation. His voice just screaming people. I didn't know he had that in him. Like, I never picture him as an old line screamer. You know what I mean? Like that's just, yeah. And that's

fine. You can be an O line screamer. Tom Brady was an O line screamer. Like that's okay. Most quarterbacks are O line screamers. But that was never what this team felt like. And now it's what they feel like. I don't know what the path out of this is. The defense, I think, is still a very good unit. I think that that team, even though they struggled against the run yesterday, I think that unit is still good enough to keep them in some of these games, even with the offense struggling. But we have gotten past the point of benefit of the doubt because it's getting worse

instead of better, which is not the direction that this was supposed to be heading. I thought this game would be a cleanup game for him. Okay, we're playing the Raiders. We've played against this defense a little bit. they're pretty good. This race defense is good right now. We're talking about it in a second. Yeah, shout out Patrick Graham.

But it's, but okay, this is kind of a get right game. We just played them a few weeks ago, Rishie Rice went off and like, we just had our way. Even if I think they went down 14 nothing, but then after that, they just torched them. And at first in this game,

but then it's week after week. There's no reinforcements coming. I said a few weeks ago, I was like, they need their, they need juju back, Juju Smith-Schuster. And really it's more of that archetype.

They need a vet receiver that's like an every down player. MVS is the vet receiver right now. MVS is not known for his details, guys. That is not who you're, that's not a guy that you want teaching the young guys. So then you got Tony, who's, that's why he, I graded him in the third round when he was coming out.

As explosive as he was, it was lack of details. There's a reason he didn't play until a senior at Florida. I mean, you see his talent. And Florida was like, Dan Mollins was like, nah, I don't trust that guy. So, okay, there's that.

Rishi Rice was known as a project. He was the wild horse. That's why I call him the Mustang. who's reliable. Kelsey's stuff is all ad-lib stuff. That's why you need a Juju Smith-Schuster is because he stays on script. And then Kelsey can ad-lib, Mahomes can ad-lip when they need to add-lib. They can do the ad-lip funny stuff, the Jim Carrey stuff, Robin Williams stuff.

But when we need to be on script, okay, boom, there we can just pepper the other guys. And that's what they don't have. It's all ad-lip. It's all wonkiness. It's all do another take. And it's just, you can't do that. You can't win that way because you still have to stay on script sometimes. You need a Sally Field in the Mrs. Doutfire universe to keep everything out of

track. I blanked on, uh, uh, uh, not because I don't know who it is, but I'm blanking on his name, uh, Lloyd in, uh, not, not Lloyd. Uh, and dumb and dumber. Uh, freaking what's his name? Jeff Daniels. Jeff Daniels. Thank you. Thank you. I was like Jeff Lloyd. No, no, Jeff. Daniels. That's what, that's what you need. Jim Carrey and then you need Jeff Daniels. You need a traditional actor to keep you on script, but that's what they, they just don't have that. And like, like, Pacheco is so frustrating to me because there's holes there and he just is pounding in the ground. I know he looks fun to watch guys, but his vision is horrid. He misses so many holes. And it's just, but you can't have that. Again, they built to be so explosive that they kind of lost

their way of the sustainability. And that's just what it feels like right now. On the flip side of this, I don't want to have this just be a shit on the chief's stretch and not give credit to the Raiders defense, because this is not a, oh, we got jumped on by a bad defense. And we haven't talked about the Raiders much since the McDaniels firing. It's been weird. And when they, if they played a couple of prime time games when they beat the chargers i think the correct response to that game was brandon staley just got fired what does this mean for the chargers but what the raiders have done under antonio peers especially on defense the raiders are number one in the NFL in EPA per play on defense since josh mcdaniels get fired got fired number one in the league wow right now that is

obviously that's a small is sample so that can go a lot of different ways and they've had seven games right But think about how many defensive touchdowns they've had. They had two last weekend. Jack Jones has another one. They've got a lot of splash points. 10th that success rate though. And guess what? They are fifth in a weighted defensive DVOA.

Fifth. This is real. The Las Vegas Raiders. And that in and of itself would be impressive. But coming into the season, I think you could have made a real argument that the Raiders defense was set up to be one of the worst units in the NFL. When you think about the talent that they had and the invest. that they had made. There is only one team in the league this year that is spending less on

its defense against the cap than the Las Vegas Raiders, and that is the Los Angeles Rams, who have had to, who have had to own for their seventh rounder, fifth rounder. The Rams have had to atone for their resource spending sins, okay? The Raiders are spending $49 million on their defense. There are multiple teams in the NFL this year, the bills, the Steelers, that are spending $100 million against. against the cap on their defense. The Raiders are half of that, and they are fifth and weighted defensive DVOA. They deserve a ton of credit.

Patrick Graham was somebody that when he was the defensive coordinator for the Giants, I was looking at what he was doing. I was like, I like this guy. I think he's doing some really interesting stuff, and it has been a winding road in Las Vegas and what that defense has looked like over the last couple years. But what they have done, mix of coverages, guys clearly being in the right spots, Jack Jones giving them a lot since he came over there. Nate Hobbs is still a good player.

Merrig and Eps are stabilizing forces at safety. What Spillane has been for them this year, down in and down out? That guy is fun to watch. This is somebody that anybody could have had. Anybody. You shredding the dolphins single handling. And now you have Max Crosby do what Max Crosby does, but Malcolm Coons is playing well. Yes, he's been really well.

They're getting so many productive outings. from these guys that were afterthoughts. And it's a unit that was an afterthought. So now this brings me to a larger question about the Raiders. What happens here? Because I don't think in good faith, you cannot give Antonio Pierce this job based on the way that they have played and especially the way the defense is played. It feels like if there's one team where like a former player to be the coach that feels

right, it's the Raiders, because it just, I mean, but watch the locker room stuff. Max Crosby is going to get in trouble soon. But some of those videos after the game are just wonderful. Call me, I'll pay the fines. I want him to keep doing everything he's doing. I love Max Crosby, man. I think he is just a hero. I love watching him.

I love his demeanor. I love his perspective on life. It's just, he's very freshly watch. I have a special sort of respect for him. I know you do. I know you know. I know. I understand.

Yes, but it's, I love it because he just has that kind of guy that found a new leaf on life, a new lease on life. It really does. And but watching them, they all play hard. The Nate Hobbs shout out. I'm glad he brought it up because he's just weak and week out, it's just making plays. He's around the ball.

They're a smart unit. This is how that Giants team played under Patrick Graham. Everybody was at the right place at the right time. They were a lot of zone coverage looks in it, but they would make the offenses pay because they made it tough on you. But now you got a dude and now he's getting some help. It's a good unit. And yeah, I thought, I even know what I wrote about like the chiefs, I said, hey,

they got pretty easy schedule. Hey, it's a frisky Raiders defense, though. they played more than frisky. They played like a legit good one. I think Pierce, though, as I would stick with it because the players are responding. I feel like his game management stuff has been on top of it or whoever he's listening to has been on top of it. I think both sides of the ball played inspired with a fourth round rookie quarterback back there. They're playing hard.

Devante Adams is trying to fit up runs and block. Like that's what the head coach does, right? They play soundball on both sides. Everyone knows what they're doing. everybody seems like they have a plan. Raiders team that's probably paying several coaching staff still could be a good way to kind of manage this situation. I think Pierce has done everything he can to deserve it.

It makes sense for me. If you told me that a month ago, I've been laughing. But I truly think how this Raiders team under Pierce has been commendable that deserves to be rewarded. I think on defense, you continue rolling with everything you got and the way that things are currently constructed.

On offense, I think you start over, right? This is the remnants of the Josh McDaniel. Daniel's staff. You have Bo Hard degree who's never been calling plays, who's an assistant on that staff. Scott Turner's still there. Scott Turner's still there. I would say, okay, let's keep rolling on defense because the infrastructure that we have built there is solid. On offense, anything should be on the table.

Offensive coordinator, quarterback, the way we're building the personnel on that side. So that is a larger consideration. What we want to do with Cheka, is what we want to do with Devante. Yes. Yes. Is, do we keep Devante Adams? Do we trade Devante Adams? They have some caps based.

We kind of rebuild a couple pieces on the offensive line. Just what do we do this off season? What is the plan? But I right now, based on what they have done, and more than okay with Champ Kelly and Antonio Pierce overseeing that plan because I think they deserve it. Same. I went from just kind of like whatever, whatever, we yada, yada yada yadding the Raiders.

And it's fun to just, I have to acknowledge them because they're doing this right now. And I have to and I have to watch them, have to study them, have to talk about them. and I think these guys that are now in charge deserve more chances. Let's get back to I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed. The Jacksonville Jaguars. I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed.

The Jax are spiraling. Fourth straight loss, they're now eight and seven in a virtual three-way tie with the Colts and the Texans in the AFC South. And things are heading in a troubling direction. Lawrence is hurt again. So now he has a shoulder injury. We're not going to know when he's going to be back or at what capacity when he gets back. And maybe even more problematic than that,

The defense has fallen off the rails. I mean, what Baker was doing through the air in that first half of that game, while it was still in the balance, it was too easy, just way too easy. Chuck at it. Chuck in it. And now you have guys that were playing at an elite level at times this year, like Tyson Campbell being the best example. He was hurt.

Now he's been in out of the lineup. He doesn't look right. So I just don't know what to make of this because it felt a couple weeks ago like, yeah, they're incomplete. You know, they'll get into the postseason. They'll win 10 games. They'll lose in probably the first round of the playoffs. We'll get to the spring and say, okay, now what needs to happen with this?

Do we need a new general manager? How do we need to build the roster? We're not even going to get there. We're not even going to get maybe limping into the postseason as the worst possible outcome here for this team. And I just did not expect that to be the case. At all. I was loving this defense. I was giving Mike Caldwell's shots.

I still think he's a solid defense coordinator. But it's just this team feels like Trevor Lawrence's injury report. hobbled in a sling and concussed. Like, yeah, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, he's care, I cannot believe the, the backlash is happening with Trevor Lawrence right now. So are you watching this team and him just getting close on at a high ankle sprain and just like, the offensive line can't block anyone right now. Zay Jones is one of the most important pieces on this team. The weapons in this game is, I mean, you're talking about Parker,

William, Tim Jones, Elijah Cooks, catching comebacks again. And then Harrison gets hurt at some point in this game. Yeah, they're on two backup. tackles. The Trevor thing continues to keep coming back to the same place. Just hang out of the football. The fumbling continues to be a concern. But they're off, what the offense looked like overall this weekend and their inability to block anybody. This is rotten at its core right now. Yes. And needs to be revamped in every single way. It's, it's the defensive flaws too. Like, they invested a lot in linebacker. You just brought up all

the expensive defenses. Jacks have an expensive defense. And the defending the middle is very real. week after week, tight ends are getting them. Kate Otten got them this week. It's a thing. It's happened to last year. They shorted up a little at the beginning of this year. And now it's a thing again. Week after week, these linebackers are getting targeted.

They're a flaw team. And they hit a real rough patch. But the flaws are just so much more just devastating now, as opposed to like, hey, just whipped away because the quarterback is not healthy. That usually is what will help cover up a lot of those woes. But this team was fragile, not in a sense, well, some injury sense, but more just their ecosystem. The offense is just the ridiculous that it can come unwound if one guy gets hurt as opposed

to going well. We can cover it up this way with this, this, this and this. That's what good teams do. They go, oh, this guy's hurt. Well, we have two other answers. Think about the lions over the last two years. And how many guys have been out of the lineup, whether it be offensive skills position. St. Brown's Miss games this year.

It doesn't matter. Yep. St. Brown's Miss games. The Dolphins. Think about the dolphins. Oh, my God. The dolphins especially.

Offens a lot. Waddle everybody. Just all the running backs. A chain being out. Yeah, exactly. They find different ways to pivot to. And it just feels like this Jack's team. If one starter's out as far as skill position guys, can't do it.

We're done. We're done. But it's like that's where you're at right now. And man. And it's kind of what I hate to sound like this, but it's kind of what I thought going into the season, but it's just so much more stark now. And just seeing it happen because I saw so many highs happening this year. And then now it's just all kind of come and unraveled so quickly. On the other side of this, I don't want this just to be a.

Jags pity party. I was really impressed with the way that Baker played the first half again. What he's doing in the pocket and his ability to step up in the pocket, fireball on third down. I want this box team in the playoffs, dude. And they're probably going to get there, man. They're going to make it. They're going to make it because of fun. They're going to get there.

Yeah, I'm so impressed with the way that he's played over the last couple weeks. And again, I know he played against the Packers last week. Natural caveats to come along with that. But what he has done against pressure specifically this year. And I don't know how sustainable it is. I don't know if he'll turn back into a pumpkin at some point in those situations because we've seen that be a volatile piece of people's games over time. But what he has done in muddy pockets and on third down this year continues to be very impressive.

And now you've got Mike Evans running whip routes for touchdowns. And it's everything about their offense right now. I'm fine watching it. I'm more than in. Like I said, Kate Otten's catching stuff. It's great. And also Devin White gets benched and it comes back and plays awesome. Like it was, yeah, like, way to go Devin White, kind of bounce it back.

Didn't go into the, to his hole and kind of pity partied it. So like, shout out to him too. So again, this Bucks team, they just have so many good players. Like, they just do. So Baker gives him a chance because he's going to give those guys chances. He'll have his negative plays. Don't get me wrong. But he's going to give them at least a half dozen positive plays, like big ones.

A guy we probably have not talked about enough on this show this season and the way that he has played. Antoine Winfield is playing an insane level. He is playing unbelievable football. Yeah. So that's just somebody that, again, his name has not come up often enough on this show. The buck's very likely going to win the NFC South and get into the postseason. On the flip side, the AFC South is an absolute mess. The Jags have the Panthers and the Titans in their last two games.

So in theory, they should be able to do this, but who knows if Florence is hurt and he can't play. So there's a decent chance that they miss the playoffs. The Colts have the Raiders and the Texans, and then the Texans have the Titans and the Colts. Texans are currently the 8th seed, the Colts are currently the 7th seed. So who knows how this is all going to shake out with these teams trying to get in here. There's some interesting games. Yeah. Oh, man, that's fun.

Those are some interesting matches to the end of the house. No easy ones. No easy buckets. All right. Let's get to the Sunday notebook. Hit a couple quick things before we get out of here. The Broncos lose to the Patriots this weekend, which is a huge blow to the Broncos' playoff chances, but also kind of feels like a Pyrick victory for the Patriots,

are now drafting fourth overall and potentially through all of this, where the only solace you could find in the type of season that the Patriots were having was your ability to find a quarterback in next year's draft suddenly could be evaporating because of what is happening at the top of the draft. So just a mess of a game overall for both of these teams. I think everybody in that stadium because there's Patriots fans in that mile high, I think everyone that stadium when that field goal went in was yelling no. Just everybody, just no. Oh, as I saw Caleb Williams and Drake May going away. That's exactly what happened there.

What a wild game. What a wild game. You have two, essentially, the Patriots offense was two Devante Parker goal balls. I want to know how you want to talk about this game because this game was wacko. Two Devante Parker go balls. A couple ender rounds to Tyquan Thornton. One Zeke Elliott leap over somebody. One Mike Gisicki touchdown on the back end line.

A fumble return for a touchdown on a fumbled kickoff. And Christian Barmore just wrecking shit. That was the Patriots formula for victory in this game as Russell Wilson just short-circuited in the pocket over and over and over again. They got zapped. Oh, I know that a Belichick defense against Ross, that you can, that's the worst for him. Just push the pocket on him, make him throw into flooded lanes. Yeah, that is, that's not going to be a formula for success, which also disappointed me because it was one of those where I was like, as I was looking at the spread, I was like, I think I'm going to go Patriots here. It was one of those where it's like, as I thought more about it, it's like, man, I actually should have been all over that one. Sorry, no one cares about my betting either. I've incorporated fantasy and betting on this hour and a half show so far. So I'm sorry, everybody. But I, I don't know. I watched the zappy effect, I guess. I thought this Broncos team was found some formula and that they uglied up every game, but then they face a team that thrives in those situations. That's like, I've been boring into this darkness of ugliness and that they got them. I really thought.

the Broncos were going to pull it off in the end, but man, shout to the Patriots, I guess, for pulling that one off. Broncos can have a very hard time making the playoffs now. They are pretty much out of it. You look at the rest of the AFC wild card. We just talked about the Colts. The Colts right now are positioned to be the seven seed. They have a 66% chance to make the playoffs scoring to our own Austin Mock.

The Texans at 8 and 7 have a 36% chance. And the Bengals, after losing to the Steelers this weekend, are now the 10 seat. So the Steelers and the Bengals are probably out of it, even though they are eight and seven. The Seahawks and the Ravens, the Bengals have the Chiefs and the Browns. So the difference in strength of schedule for the AFC South teams compared to the AFC Nork teams are the reason that the Texans and the Colts have a much better shot of doing this. The bills are now pretty much in at 9 and 6.

As everyone else has just fallen apart, the bills just continue to take care of business and they are very much a dangerous proposition if they were to get it. So that is the state of things in the AFC wildcard. At the top of the draft, the Patriots are now picking. fourth, Washington, now picking third. Keep an eye on them. I told you guys. And we'll see what happens with the Cardinals.

Because the whole thing was, how well does Kyle would play over the back half of the season? Does it dissuade them from taking a quarterback? There's a chance based on the way that he's played and some of the struggles that they say, all right. Who wants them? We're starting over because that was always going to be on the table. So it is possible that the Patriots now picking fourth, quarterbacks go one, two, three, with Jane Daniels going third to Washington, and the Patriots are out of the quarterback derby

after everything that they've had to put up with this season. And then we all get cursed with Marvin Harrison, Jr. going into the quarterback wasteland of New England. It's just there is no God. It's not a bad consolation prize, but the fact that you wouldn't find a quarterback after all of this. Yeah. Is there a team that needs him more, though?

When you watch that Patriots team and the guys that they're throwing the football to right now, is there anyone who needs it more? For a draft that's loaded with, well, top load of quarterbacks, but then one of the best offense tackle drafts I've seen in recent memory, a great receiver draft as well. It's like the Patriots are set up. It's like no matter what, offense. Okay, thank God. We have some offense happening on this side of the ball. All right, let's get to a couple more here. I just wanted to shout out the drive that Gino Smith had to essentially save the Seahawks season. They've got the ball back with about three minutes left. They're down four. He needs to go down and score a touchdown. I tweeted out the four throws that he made in this drive. There's a second and six dart, he throws the Tyler Lockett at the sticks for a first down, takes a sack, third and 14, throws a missile to JSN over the middle of the field. That was sweet. Incredible throw in a huge moment. In a huge moment.

If they don't win this game, there's a chance they do not get in. The playoffs are hanging in the balance as he's doing this. Hits Locket after stepping up in the pocket and creating a little bit of movement on the left side again, throws another dart to lock it at the sticks on the right side. Gino throws a perfect ball to DK and a little end breaker where he gets a pass interference call to get them inside the 10

hits Kobe Parkinson as he posts up for a touchdown. So with the season on the line, Gino has that sort of drive. And again, it's been a magic season for their offense, but that guy when he's firing it is really fun to watch.

High end, shoot, looking at how this playoff picture is, that's what you got to bet on guys. It's guys that can just bring that high variance, big boy throws in there. Yeah, fade out to Kobe Parkinson.

That's exactly what you plan. on, right? When you predict a Seahawks game-winning touchdown with JSN, with D.K. Metcalfe, Tower Lockett, even though a fan or, you know, Kenneth Walker, Zach Sharbine, blocking tight end, Kobe Parkinson, what's don't con guys, but it worked. Honestly, I was more impressed with this Titans' offense because that, or I'm sorry, this Seahawks offense because that Titans' defense is a terrible matchup for them, just how they play and how they play up front. And I thought just how their offense aligned played was very, makes me feel more optimistic about them. Charbonne.

Charbo, blocko, man. Picking up those Titans blitzes, that makes you feel optimistic. So, yeah, I feel much better about them, especially with Gino ripping those balls. And, like, if Drew Locke can beat the Eagles, like, Gino can do a little bit better, especially if this line feeling better. I also remember my joke, I was going to say, was the Bears Cardinals game, the quarterback showcase bowl in the sense that, hey, what's, what's, we're going to trade these guys? Hey, hey, look at this shiny toy.

Hey, I heard your prospective quarterback. buyer? That's what that game felt like to be. That absolutely felt like that. And it was funny watching my mom get really angry and my mom's husband get really angry. I'm sitting in this living room like, guys, this doesn't matter. The outcome of this game truly does not matter. Did the Panthers lose again? Okay, we're good. It's just funny to be around that is they're like living and dying with every single point. It's like I promise you guys, it's going to be all right. It's definitely going to be all right. Let's stick in the NFC North, by the way, another very concerning day for the Packers defense.

The fact that I had to sweat that game out, I resent Joe Barry so much for me having to think that there was a chance that the Panthers would win that game. 50.8% success rate for the Panthers. Second best best offensive success rate of any team in the league this week, the Carolina Panthers. Oh, man. Only the dolphins at a higher offensive success rate this week than Carolina. What do they put up?

30. Oh, boy. Yeah. When this team, this Panthers team that had set some issues, throwing the ball. And they put up three bills on it. And they put up three bills on you. DJ Chark went for a good amount. Oh, yeah, 98 yards and two touchdowns. It's just, but it's the same thing. It's the same story. I remember a couple of weeks ago we talked about. It's like it's the same stuff. It's the arc of the show has been talking about this Packers defense that has felt exactly the same every single year, even when Barry wasn't there. I don't know what's going out with you, Alexandria. He comes out for the the coin toss, calls the coin toss, asked, asked to go on defense first, wasn't supposed to be a captain.

I know the offense, I know is young. And I know that there's a lot of. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So he was not one of the captains. He goes up to the coin toss, calls the coin toss. They, I don't remember, but they won the toss. They asked him what he wanted to do and said, I want to be on defense.

And the ref was like, are you sure? Because if you asked to be on defense, they. then the other team still gets to pick what they want to do at halftime. That's not the same as deferring. So the rep was like, are you sure you want to be on defense? So they gave him multiple chances. And I guess his response was, I guess we'll defer. And after the game, he said, coach didn't know I was from Charlotte and I should have been one of the, meaning that he should have been one of the captains.

He's the vet. This young Packers team, he's the vet. The vets on this team are David Bakhtiari and Jair Alexander. So that was a real thing that happened before this game. Oh, my God, I didn't know that. That is hilarious. The offense is young. I understand the growing pains on offense.

The weird vibes with some of the expensive veterans on this team plus the state of the defense, that is all stuff that needs to be addressed as we get into the postseason. They're such a strange team, dude. So I guess I'm feeling so good about this team like a month ago. Look at the young off, the young cheese heads. Look at them. And they just, they can out. And they won this game. So they won this game.

They still probably are not getting in, though. And but the way it currently sits. based on everything that happened this week, it does feel like the Seahawks and the Rams have an inside track to do this. And if there are two quarterbacks that I would want to watch in the postseason, Gino Smith and Matthew Stafford are absolutely in that conversation. Right now, the overrunner for that game should be 64 and a half. And I'm going to be sitting there on my couch with popcorn if we end up getting that. It feels like we should because I can't even independent of the narratives and the storylines going along with that, the, the,

experience purely of watching those two offenses play against each other right now, I want it. I want it. Let's make it happen. I agree. And then you get, and then obviously just like matchups is like Aaron Donald versus the lines off, it's a line. Like just all the personnel matchups, storylines. Yeah, that would have a please. Please.

I don't. I don't. I don't. I really don't. Just please let that happen. It's not even a stretch. You're not even asking for that much. It's not.

It's not at all. Oh, man. How about that Rams team, dude? that there's a performance. It was like, I'm telling you, it's all I want. And it really does feel like

we're going to get them in the playoffs now, which is a nice outcome, considering what the season has looked like overall. All right, that is all we got. Chill little hour and a half long show on a Tuesdays day. It was a long weekend. Hey,

there's a long weekend, a lot of stuff to get to. I thought we were going to three hours for three days. I thought that's what we were going to do. We had the game of the year out last night, probably with the two best teams in the NFL. We got to give that it's due. For now, guys,

that is all we have. We'll be back with our regularly scheduled programming for the rest of the week. No key for in the beats, obviously, because we're obviously thrown off there, but we'll be back with everything else that comes your way in the Athletic Football Show feed. So please come back and check that out for now.

That is all we got. Appreciate you guys listening. We'll talk to you soon. This was the Athletic Football Show.