The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Buffalo Shock and Texas Mourning: The Day After a Wild NFL Weekend

Episode Date: January 19, 2026

Sean McDermott fired! Can the timing be worse? John Harbaugh and Kevin Stefanski just signed with the Giants and Falcons. Oops? And while everyone is sad today for Josh Allen no one has shed a tear for CJ Stroud. Is it because he tried to big bro Caleb Williams? Maybe. Meanwhile, there’s tough and then there’s Bo Nix making a throw after his bone snapped. The hashtag #winitforbo has become a rallying cry for the Broncos. Speaking of cry, the Chicago fans had the highest of highs and then a quick fall back to earth. They're still sobbing a day later. We don't blame them either. Then our good friend and former NFL lineman Geoff Schwartz jumps in and gets deep into religion. Yes, religion. He says it’s the key to prep yourself for the violence of a football game. Alleluia! Dave Dameshek and the Super Fuentes Brothers dive into the details on this life saving episode of Football America! (Photo by RJ Sangosti/AP) AUDIO Football America! is available wherever you listen to podcasts. Leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/football-america/id1831757512 Follow us: Dave Dameshek: https://x.com/dameshek Geoff Schwartz: https://x.com/geoffschwartz Host: Dave Dameshek Guests: Geoff Schwartz Team: Gino Fuentes, Mike Fuentes Director: Danny Benitez Senior Producers: Gino Fuentes, Mike Fuentes Executive Producer: Soup Campbell Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Rams, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans, Washington Commanders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Well, let's see. Broncos are hosting the Patriots in the AFC title game. The Rams are on their way to Seattle for the NFC title game. Sean McDermott's out. The sophomore class has emerged as one of the greats already. Basically, long story short, I've been right about everything. Let's talk about it a little bit more, shall we? Start the show! Hello, my fellow Americans. It's your old pal Dave Damashik coming at you from Miami, Florida, here in the belly of the beast for Monday night's national championship game.

We'll avoid that subject so we can lean in on pro football. My goodness, has there ever been a weekend of NFL playoff action that has yielded more storylines, talking points, and the rest of it. We can fill the next week. We only have about 50 minutes. Now minus another minute or 90 seconds, thanks to my blathering. Welcome to Football America. As always, we're presented by our pals over there at Draft.

Draft Kings, Draft Kings, the crown is yours. Jeff Schwartz is coming up here. It's episode 44. 44 was best worn in the NFL by John Riggins, the diesel, you know, the hogs and all of that. Maybe not as well as Henry Aaron Ward and MLB. And that's saying something because Reggie Jackson and Willie McCovey also wore it in the big leagues. Jerry West and the Iceman George Gervyn wore it in the NBA. Chris Pronger in the NHL.

Let's give it to Hammer and Hank. Aaron is the greatest 44 of all time. And with that being said, let's talk divisional round what it means for the four teams left for the upcoming pair of title games next Sunday, which I'm sad to report, is the last real weekend of football that we have. And then it's into the desert. We have the big corporate event in Santa Clara, California a couple weeks after that. But really, two good, juicy games are all that stands between us and the abyss. known as baseball season, and then some other stuff. Let's jump in on it, shall we?

Like I say, so many storylines, which way to go, which way to start. I don't know. Let's see what the host of Jeff Schwartz is smarter than you, and you see him on Fox Sports as well. It's Jeff Schwartz. How are you, Pally? I am good. I know we're not talking about the national championship game,

but I do just 30 seconds. It's before the game, how we feel in, though, how are we doing tonight? Because I know, as an Oregon fan, how I would feel if Oregon played in this game, which they have in my lifetime, how do we feel? Just give me 30 seconds of emotions here. I know what a creep I sound like saying this. I really do feel, as I keep saying to everybody, I feel like what a Vegas Golden Knights fan must have felt like in their first season.

There are no stakes here. They lost in the final to the Washington Capitals, which they did. Oh, well, how sad could I be? This is so unheralded. So without any sort of historical comparison, it's been a great run. It would be even sweeter if they land on. on the very top of the mountain, but it's also a little sad. As you know, I'm one of society's great empaths.

And I do have to say, quickly, for the other side of things, this is a home game. And the rise of the hurricanes and getting to the title game and getting to play the Natty in their backyard is a great story too. And I dare say, were it not for the Cinderella Hoosiers, this would have consumed all of the pregame conversation. Can you imagine the canes are back after so many. years of irrelevancy and now they're back and now they're playing for it all in their home stadium. It's a great story. It's just consumed by the even better story of Fernando, the

prodigal son, coming back to his homeland to try and complete defeat and win the national championship. Either way, it's pretty good storylines. Mike Fuentes is chomping at the bit to say something here. No, I'm just saying you're absolutely right. They're also underdogs in the game. So that would have been like another storyline because even though Indiana has been the wrecking ball they've been, they don't feel like a favorite, even though they are a favorite because they don't have like any history attached to what's happening. All right, Schwartz, go ahead. Let's pretend the game already was played. The Hoosiers won it 27 to 19. I am not surprised to, by the results, a lot of people going in said, boy, this Miami team is real physical. I like to point out, remind people

they're football teams. They're all physical. They run into each other on purpose after all. so I dismissed that, but also I'd be more worried about that if I hadn't seen the Hoosiers not bow to Oregon or Ohio State or some other heavyweight teams. And I mean that physically heavy teams at the line of scrimbage. They've handled themselves all season long. I'm not sure why Miami has some different level of brawn to level these Hoosiers with or had because the game already happened as we discuss it. Yeah.

So one thing about national championship games in college football is the point spread tends to not matter. The favorite wins in covers or the underdog just wins outright. So there's not many like, oh, Indiana one by three in Miami covered. It's not the way the game has been. So look, I think there's more paths for Indiana wins. I think that 2719 is probably, I think the game is a little bit bigger than that. I'm looking forward to watching. We'll see what happens.

And I have a tough decision because I can either have Indiana fans. in my mentions just bracketing me how they beat Oregon won a championship or Miami fan in this Cristobal thing like guys we both net it out fine Oregon got landing you got Cristobal like what are we what are you arguing about still four years later so I got to pick

and choose which fan base I'd rather have talking shit to me for a couple months the big choice tonight for everybody going into this one or the one person who has a big choice is Jesus because Carson Beck loves to wear those crosses on both cheeks but then Fernando loves to shout them out after

every game several dozen times. So where Christ comes down is going to say everything, we'll know by the time, or you'll know by the time you're listening to us have this conversation about a game. You don't want my opinion on this subject as a Jewish man in NFL locker rooms. I've always wondered, like, I, like,

who does he choose? I've had this discussion before with some of my teammates. I want to give all the glory to God! I'm like, who does he choose? Both locker rooms are praying to God before the game. which is great. Like, I participate in the Lord's Prayer. I've said it a thousand times.

But like, I'm just curious. My whole thing is about how, you know, to play the game, you mentioned it's violent, right? We know that. Both teams want to be physical, Dave. Did you know that? And I think that players have to find ways to mentally get ready for football. And one of those ways is religion.

Like, that's what I've come down on. Like, it's just like some guys use music. Some guys use this motivation. Some guys, like for them, religion sort of mentally helps them prepare for the three hours of violence they're going through. But I'm surprised it doesn't turn them into atheists, the guys on the losing side. Look, I put these. I used the lamp lack. And instead of using it to shield me from the sun, I made a big cross on my cheek for you.

You let me down, Jesus. Wait, what were you? But I think, again, I think guys do it again, like just, it's a mental preparation. to get ready for the game. And yeah, you're right, though. You got to choose tonight. We can't have a tie. God's playing.

God wanted us to lose this game. So then you kind of point the finger in his direction. All right, let's talk about pro football. And people are sending their prayers out to Josh Allen, which, given what's happening in the real world, in front of our eyeballs on our TV screens and everything, I love the fake empaths who take the social media to let you know that they have a big heart because they feel real sad for Josh Allen.

We'll talk about that, but nobody feels bad for C.J. Stroud. Mike Fulentes pointed that out to me before we got going. Amidst all the, oh, poor Josh Allen, poor guy, the multimillionaire, married to the Hollywood starlet, you know, has an entire football town on a string. By the way, among the many things I was right about is that the bills needed to go to the Super Bowl for McDowell. to keep his job. They did not, and now here we are. I don't understand in a divisional round loss, all the tears from the Buffalo Bills. It's not like you were particularly close to completing the feat of winning a Super Bowl for Josh. And you had a long way to go before you

got to that spot. And getting in the sixth seed was where you stumbled. The other thing, among the many things I've been right about is, I know it's easier said than done. But the one seed is almost everything, and the Broncos are now in the title game. Undone, though, by the football gods in the last minute, as Bo Nick snaps his ankle on the second to last play from scrimmage, and now it's Jared Stidham, and I wanted to tell everybody as an old man who cares about the history, people keep saying, what if the Broncos win this game? Jared Stidham would be the worst starting quarterback in Super Bowl history, and I don't really have a lot of pushback. Rex Grossman was not great for the Chicago Bears.

people always invoke the name Trent Dilfer as the worst winning quarterback, and that may well be, although it's a little overstated. He was pretty good down the stretch. I mean, the worst winning quarterback is either is Foles probably, right? Or Hoss Letter? Like, this are probably the two?

Yeah. Turn Delfur? Look, but Trent Delford was a multi-year starting quarterback. Like, Nick Foles was not very good outside of two games. Yeah, he had a great game. He might have had the best game, like, out of nowhere in NFL history. But he wasn't particularly good the first playoff game of that season. He wasn't good in week 18.

He wasn't really good after that. He just had an incredible two-game stretch there where he was out of this world. I mean, I think Trent Delford's better than Nick Foles. Well, I think you got the answer correct there, Jeff. I think the worst winning quarterback is Jeff Hostetler, even though Giants fans will push back at you hard for that because he kept them afloat. Same thing that Nick Foles did with the Eagles in a tough spot. And who knows?

Maybe Jared Stinnom will rise up in the same. way. Mark Rippin deserves a shout out because he was an all-time single season great for Washington when they beat the bills and the second Buffalo Bills lost out of the four straight that they went to. But otherwise was just a complete ham and ager even worse. So it was a bizarre season that Rippin had in 91. The answer I'm going with, though, the worst quarterback to ever start a Super Bowl, David Woodley, the Miami Dolphins, late LSU star, started, he was in front of Don Strock famously or otherwise. Woodley got to that Super Bowl because Dick Todd of the New York Jets in a rainstorm in the Orange

Bowl had, I think he had five career interceptions. He had three off the right arm of Dick Todd and the Jets, ran one in for a touchdown in a rainstorm. That's how Woodley and the Dolphins got to that Super Bowl 17 and lost it. John Riggins, look, the circle's complete. I already shouted out, John Riggins. Riggins. Look at all that. This is going to be a good show. We can already tell that. It's going to be a bad one if we're talking too much about the bills or the Texans or otherwise.

What game you want to jump in? I'm making the call here, Schwartz. Let's go last things first. And I want to talk about one of the last plays of the Bears and Rams, gunslinger, young one versus old one. It was dandy stuff in the snow. What did you make of that game? And particularly the talking point that in the moment, I thought, go for two here, Ben Johnson. You just scored an impossible touchdown. Steal this game before they even know what hit him. How say you? Well, the way the Bears executed on third down and fourth down in that game,

third and fourth and short, I don't think they thought they had a two-point play that would work. They didn't have been good in that situation all game, Dave. So I think he thought, let's get to overtime here. We're at home. You know, the question now, so now we're seeing the winner of the coin toss overtime kicks the ball. They do the college overtime idea, right?

I think that's the smart thing to do, right? But I have a question, though, if the Rams defense is exhausted, wouldn't you want another stab at them right away? Like, wouldn't you want to go right at them? You need a touchdown anyways probably to win the game. Like, go score touchdown and then try to stop them from scoring on their end. I thought the Rams got away with a really, really bad game plan. And sports championships aren't one alone,

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and Jeff Schwartz or Mike Fuentes or Gino Fuentes or Sue Campbell, whoever will weigh in. Is that a valid thing to say? Or is it, are you getting over your skis and it's a knee jerk reaction here? And Schwartz, you and I were texting on the side, and I think that's a theme. The play callers had a dreadful divisional round. Is that? Does that make me a jerk for saying that? I mean, Sean McVey and Sean Payton, in particular, two of the high-end play callers in pro football, both were lousy. What was wrong with Sean Payne?

I so long ago, I don't even remember. I thought he was fine, right? They should have run the ball. They didn't run the ball, it felt like, almost literally. Yeah, here's the problem with the Broncos, though. They don't have good running backs. Like, they just don't. Their guys are 5-9 and 5-7 and 180 pounds.

Well, the bills don't have a good. run defense. I agree, but they didn't run the ball terribly well. I thought Bo Nixer actually run the ball more. I thought they did. The second drive, they came out and sort of counter what the bills did a little bit. The first drive, I mean, had two kind of long runs and never went back to that. So maybe just formationally getting back into running the ball. They also, the fumble early in the game by McLaughlin, they had a giant hole in that play. It was a fullback, like, zone run. And like, they just didn't get back to some of those. But I thought it was generally fine from pain.

And then, well, okay, so McVeigh, McVeigh, it was abundantly clear. We talked to Maurice Jones Drew at the end of last week, and he and I agreed that the path of victory for the Rams, ironic or otherwise the SoCal Pretty Boys and the Hall of Fame QB and all that, was it going to be their ability to run the ball. And it was evident that they could have their way with Kyron Williams against that defense. And yet they completely abandoned it.

for long stretches. And in fact, they ended up rallying to win, or not rallying, but the way they got enough points to win the game was up with the legs of Kyron Williams, I think, like much more than Stafford throwing the ball around. It was a very poor game plan, I thought.

I mean, they were running the ball in the second half for seven, eight, ten yards, and just stopped doing it. And Stafford very clearly, whether it was the weather, which I don't think it was as much, but just wasn't as crisp as we've seen. in the past him be in these games. And you run the ball well. Just keep running the football.

Just keep around the football. I think sometimes... Oh, oh, oh, oh. Hello, Jeff. The count is back. You mentioned Matt Stafford and the weather. Do you know how many games Matt Stafford has now won in cold weather, Jeff Schwartz? Welcome back to the count.

I don't know if Jeff Schwartz had never met the count before. Oh, close Dave. Jeff, Jeff, Jeff said three games. He's actually won two games. Ha, ha, ha, ha. One, two, two wins for Matt Stafford and cold weather. He was previously one and nine. He got his second one.

The count sounds like he's going through puberty, maybe. Yeah, the count's having an issue. He's not quite fighting his voice. Too many, too many whiskeys and cigarettes this weekend. But yeah, they should have run the ball more on the ram side of things. And you know going into the game that Matt Stafford over the course of his whole career has not been at his best when it's frigid outside. It was so obvious to me that they should be running the ball,

but they survived on the other side of things. Ben Johnson, so clever, such a difference maker for Caleb Williams in Year 2 and all of that. I thought the specific play calls, running it between the tackles on third and one and fourth and one, and all of that was awfully uninspired. And by the way, it steers you away from the best player you have on that offense. Who is your quarterback? run some play action, some boot action, get him on the edge. Kick a field. Caleb's so good with his legs. I don't get it.

So here's the play that I think the plays that I think really got Ben Johnson. So I mentioned earlier, so he's sort of predictable on third down when it's going on a fourth down. He runs the ball third and one and two all the time. And it's all he did in this game. Third and one, third and two, run the ball, run the ball, run the ball. Plaques should pass, like move the pocket. Like, dude, that's what I thought it wasn't very good now? Wasn't that the whole thing with like the thing that he'll love about Caleb versus Jared Goff is Caleb's ability to run play action and then boot it out and really put pressure on the defense?

And there was no evidence of him realizing that it wasn't Jared Goff under center anymore. Correct. So I thought, but I thought the one thing that I like about Ben Johnson is that he very clearly has an identity and it's just going to play to his identity, right? And I like that. Me too. I thought McVeigh got away from his identity in this game.

Look, you can question the third down play calls, which I'm doing, you can question maybe the fourth down play calls, but he has a plan and he sticks to his plan. He knows what works, he runs what works. Caleb Williams, that was incredible. It was a hail, it was a 14-yard pass. There was a hail-marry, unbelievable. But still, you can put 50% of passes over two playoff games.

Like, there's much more work to be done for Caleb. Williams. Emo Elway, I call him. He's a gunslinger shorts, which is great. It's different to watch. If you have watched the last 15, 20 years rooting for Peyton or Brady or Breeze, this is an eyesore to you, barely 50% completion rate and all that. Those got the guys I just met, they're surgeons. They win pre-snap. It's more fun to watch the gunslingers who throw you into trouble and then throw and run you out of trouble. with heroic plays like you saw to tie the game. Correct.

But by the way, just very quickly on Ben Johnson and everything else, I want to give you the room to make your larger point, you should have gone for two there. Caleb Williams is your best player. So again, I'm, I'm mixed because of the struggles they had in this game on fourth down and on third and short. So it's possible that he used up as two-point play.

At some point, you probably have one two-point play heading into a game. he might have used it up going for on a fourth down at some point in that game. You know, the previous drive, they got stuffed on a fourth down. Like that might have been his fourth down play. I mean, his two-point play he had dialed up and that was the play they had. And I think at that point, you're at home, the Rams weren't playing terribly well. Let's just go to overtime. I get it.

But here's the math. That it feels like it's alleged conservatism to kick the extra point and go to overtime. but I push back at the notion that that's playing it's safe. First of all, in the snow, you have to make the extra point, which is not a gimmie. And it's windy as well. Then it's better if you win the coin flip so you get it just so, so it sets up to give them the ball, then you get it back and all of that formula, whichever you prefer, as the head coach. Also, better not the running back better not fumble at any point there or any guy who has

the ball in his hands. and also if that team scores a touchdown, but then we have to go down and get a touchdown. But if they have a field goal, then we could maybe go for a touchdown, but maybe we could kick the field goal too. But again, there's so much that has to go your way to win when you have the best player on the field

and you have to make two and a half yards. One play, you have them on their heels. And by the way, given the nature of how they just got within a point of the Rams, man, they're stunned. They thought the game was over. Continue it. Finish them. Finish them off there.

Kill them now. Right? That's it. I thought the biggest error that Ben Johnson made was not kicking a field goal on the first drive of the game. Thank you. Thank you. I thought at that point, in that point, the game, Mike Fuentes is standing up for you. Yeah, that's because that's true.

He had two or three times. You get the ball early. You go down, get a field goal range. Just take the three points. Just start the game with three points. Just start the game with three points. instead you don't get it now Rams go and scored

you're down 7-0 nothing the other ones I was fine with I think once the game starts going you start feeling how the game's going go for it but that moment's fourth and three just take the field goal it was a 40-yard field goal

I think it was 30 would have been 38 yards just take the field goal Dave start with three points feel good and I think that the one thing about the fourth down discussion I think is important to note is like it does feel good

to score points on the drive like you start the game off for three points You come off the field. Okay, guys, good start. We got three points. Like, here's what we're seeing on the field. Here's what we can get better.

Here's what we're trying to drive to. The defense feels good. Good. We got three points. Good start. There's a little bit of vibes to that. And I feel like at times we don't talk about that when it comes to a fourth. Look, the thing on the screen says go.

It's always going to say go for it. Of course it is. Because if you complete a fourth down, your win percentage goes up. Of course you're going for it, according to the analytics every time. But sometimes I feel like situation matters. And starting off a home playoff game with three points, that's a win in my opinion. I agree. And as far as that sort of get some points on the board goes and, you know, helps the confidence level of the guys on the sidelines.

I don't know how much time we're going to spend on Niners' Hawks, which is not to diminish the Seahawks. They won by blowout and all the rest of it. as everybody knows. I thought Shannie was right at 17-0-0 and it felt like the game was already over

and the football gods were against them in an era when no one has returned to kick off for a touchdown in three years they suddenly have a team

the game starts you're down 7-0 before you even touch the field. But I thought Shanney was right to kick the field goal at 17, to get at 17-3. kicking the second one

on fourth and four I thought was a mistake because all of a sudden they felt like, man, the Niners, this game was over before the half. But suddenly now they're in a spot on the Seahawks side of the field. Make those four yards. And if you get it to 1710, the Niners, I mean, the Seahawks in that whole stadium is going to be spooked because the game was, like I say, felt like a wrap 30 seconds into it. Yeah, it was a, I think the Niners were just sort of screwed either way, man. They just, the injury stuff caught up to them. It was enough.

Like, I thought this game, this is the one game got right in, like, feels like 10 games so far. By the way, we got 10 games played in the NFL playoffs since college football last had their a playoff game, by the way. Ten NFL games have been played. Absolutely. It's a ludicrous schedule the cultural has. I really can't stand it. And I don't want to be a curmudgeon about that.

Georgia v. I, you for all the marbles, would have been just as satisfying, I think, for college football fans. But all right. We're not talking about that right now. I think that this was the easiest game of call of all the time we've had so far. Beat up Niners, sort of surviving by the skin of their teeth, no kiddle now, and then McAfrey got hurt at some point.

Tongus gets hurt. Does I pronounce his name? Tongis? The backup time gets her. It just the whole defense was hurt. See, I don't even have to work very hard to win that game, 41 to 6. That's why you want the buy, man.

Well, the reason you want the buy. The two things that gave me pause I was with. you. Obviously, I said Seahawks minus seven and was confident in that one, and I was confident in the Broncos winning. That was a little tighter affair. Again, you may have heard about it. But, you know, Shanee's ability to work magic has, I mean, forget about his career, just this season. The last six weeks has been great stuff from Shanney and what he's been able to get out of that team. And also, we still had not seen. That's why QB wins in the playoff. I know that the multimillionaires who are super famous and have accomplished a great deal athletically don't want to talk about that because

it serves their purposes to make it about their larger careers. But these singular moments are everything. And Sam Darnold had zero of them until he finally got over and beat the Niners. Now, more hash to be settled on the NFC because we get the reckoning game. The Rams like you and I talked about, and Maurice Jones-Drew and I talked about, and he in fact confirmed for him. He has somebody who's in the locker room with those guys after the games, said, yeah, they were sick. They let one go. That was a, they should have had everything running through so-fi. Now this is pretty close to it.

And we get the scene of the crime, two-point conversion and all that a few weeks ago up in Seattle that gave the Hawks the number one seat. Now, back to that same spot to settle it once and for all. I think this sets up as a great game. And I think the Pats and Broncos would also be great, were it not for the injury to Jared Stidham. It still may end up being a good game. But I think the first chapter of the sequel to Brady Payton and, you know, Bo and Drake would have been juicy stuff as well to be buzzing about all week. Let's talk about the Texans now because why you said you have empathy for wait a minute.

Oh, Dave, you mentioned the Houston, Texas. Wow, it's really getting away from me. They are, in fact, now, oh, and seven in the, holy shit, in the divisional round. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Seven and all in the divisional round, including three in the last three years. Good luck in algebra, seventh grade count. Going through puberty there. Yeah, I heard about that.

I mean, low-key, this is sad for the Texans, been in the division around seven times out of the last 15 and never survived it even once. Here, I'm going to get a little saucy here, except that I don't think there's anybody to be on the receiving end of this insult. I think we're all kind of sort of happy that the Texans and the Jags and the Titans before them are all gone, because I think that combined they have 17 total fans. I don't really see a ton of evidence. As you go through Football America, Schwartz, do you see a lot of Houston Texans fans? Not Houston football fans.

I'm talking about people who are like, man, can't wait best day. My Texans are playing today. My Jags are going. Can't wear? I mean, there are like a few dozen of them total. I think the NFL is always happy when NFC South or

FACC South team does not advance further in the postseason than they would otherwise. Right? Yeah, I mean, it's just the South is consumed by the second best conference in college? It's the second best conference of college. Dude, I am loving

so much how many college football national pundits have made themselves like SEC homers and just are just they look like they just hate college football right now. I love it so much. Maybe just Talk about the sport. Maybe you don't like the sport.

Maybe you don't have to like just a conference. They're so bitter about the way this is going right now. My hot take on this, not a hot take. The Big Ten has had billionaire boosters for many years. But until it became allowed to pay players, they didn't do it. And now that they can do it legally, they're all pouring their money into the Big Ten conference. And all these schools have a ton of rich boosters,

are now getting the money from their boosters, legally getting the money and now that it's legal the Big Ten is paying for better players and the SEC doesn't have as many to go to football players. The Puritanical, the sincere

moralists among us are in the Midwest more. They're more like in the Big Ten. I think the boosters in the Big Ten did not want to cheat as much

as Boosters in the South did in previous years. Well, it means more down. there. Doesn't it? That's what I've heard. Like, like, okay,

Mark Cuban for your, for your Hoosiers. He could have donated 15 years ago. Has he been donating money? Now all of a sudden he's just writing checks every freaking week to Indiana. Was he waiting for them to be good? Maybe he's waiting for them to be good.

I don't know. Not nearly enough buzz about Mark Cuban, being the Hoosier's biggest backer and the Hoosiers playing in Cuban Central around a bunch of, a bunch of Cuban people, including the Hoosier's quarterback. who is Cuban himself. Fascinating. The Texans, though, are you one of these people who thinks they should have yanked C.J. Stroud? And if you do that, I don't know that it ends his

time in Houston. But, you know, the thing I keep coming back to is they are very much like the Jacksonville Jaguars of 2017. They had the greatest defense, but you can't get to the Super Bowl with just a great defense trying to hide the quarterback or a QB playing on that level, which kind of proves the point about QB wins, right? So the Kureberg win thing, yeah, I mean, it's, there's something too, I think, in the playoffs of your quarterback getting you over the hurdle, right?

And like that should be considered when it talks about quarterback wins, but it is, you know, a team game, right? I mean, you have to, the team has to be playing well around you. The QB makes 10 to 20 times more than his teammates make. And there's a reason why, I mean, C.J. The conversation, here's the thing about C.J. Stroud that proves QB wins are what matters. It will be the entire talking point about the Houston Texans this offseason.

That is what people will be buzzing about is that he let them down. And the big debate in the Bill's locker room and beyond is, was it Josh Allen's fault or was it not? what I am talking about is the reaction that society has. It's not perpetuated by the media necessarily, as people like to say. We're human beings. The winners get the glory and the people primarily, whether you think it's fair or not, in the quarterback league and the guy who makes all the money, of course he's going to get the lion's share of the blame.

Right? I mean, that's the way the conversation goes. No, no, no, that's not really matters. Yeah, it is, or else people wouldn't talk about it so much. Well, but if they would have lost the game 3433 and he wins, excuse me, he loses but plays well, obviously the discussion is not really about to pick up his option, right? Like, you'd be like, yes, absolutely. If you would have benched him, you would have had that serious discussion if he comes back and serious your quarterback.

But look, the thing about Stroud is, and Aikman said this. I think Akeman, I like, Akeman's like honest all of a sudden for so many of these guys, like, don't want to be honest. And he's like, yeah, he hasn't been very good for two years. Someone's got to be, someone's got to change. that changes OC. The offensive line's not terribly good, but Drake made his offense line is not good either, Dave. There are plenty of quarterbacks

that don't have good offensive lines that make something happen in these games. He has the ability to run too. We've seen it. He just never uses it. So I think about, remember when he came out of Ohio State, up until they played Georgia in the championship game,

do you remember it was like, why does this guy ever run the football? Yes, I know. He presents as you, if you miss. that game, literally that game, you would be led to believe based on what, if you watched his film, is that he's the stiffest stiff among all the quarterbacks of the NFL. Correct.

He might have a big arm, but he is as immobile as anybody. But he didn't show the big arm yesterday. The balls were behind. They were up in the wind. Now I can't get that the video Tom Brady said about throwing in the wind out of my head when it comes to these quarterbacks. I don't if you saw that video. It was like the best thing I've heard him say about.

football in the broadcast booth. A little bit too much praise for him saying as an analyst saying some analyzing something. Oh my God. Tom Brady said something smart finally. I mean, he said something smart about the world. Terrific. I mean, it was a pretty good point about

the position of the quarterback's hand when you throw the ball in the wind. I agree. Okay. I know. Listen. But I mean, it's better than Jim. Oh! This Romo just saying nonsense the entire three hours of that game. He did call one deep shock. the one play. Yes, and now universal praise.

The old Romo's back. He also called Josh Allen Bahomes once. Like, it just like, I caught that. I just, my thing about it is like, I want to be, when I listen to these guys, I just want to be told what happened on the play, explain to me the play. He just doesn't do that enough, right? He talks about other stuff that's not important. Oh, new jerk, new jerk.

Play-by-play guys and the analysts, either one of them. Need to bite their lip and stop the crap when there's a flag on the field. they go like, well, this looks like a defensive hold and the play's going to hold up and it's going to be a touchdown. And then four seconds later, the official turns his little microphone on on his hip and he goes, illegal formation like, whoa, that ball's coming back. Why did you do it? Why?

Nobody asked you to guess. Nobody asks you to speculate. We're going to find the answer in just the second anyway. Why? I think you can speculate based off of where the flag is thrown and the guys are walking back and forth. Look, the other thing has to go, like, we got to find one of these former officials that will ever disagree with the call on the field. Can we just have one time? This one time, officials are like, I don't like that call.

Oh, I think it's way worse than that because they do sometimes. And what those guys are there specifically to do is to give us a different level of confidence. See, the officials are aligned and now they can explain the reasoning behind the call on the field. And instead, they go like, yeah, I didn't see PI there. either. Well, now it's completely subjective. You're an official and he's an official and you rendered the opposite opinions. How are we supposed to feel as fans? It's also, again, I think that Gene Serato put out a good tweet about the idea that watching replays in full speed is probably the best way to review. Because of course, when you can watch a something in slow motion and

it looks, it's going to look much different than the officials who watch it in full speed. They watch the game in full speed. If you want to talk about it, let's talk about for a second. I get the importance of that play for two pro football teams that have big aspirations and the fans and everything else. And it's a big event for the most popular thing in our society is the NFL. The process was weird given that it usually takes them 11 minutes to announce what we've all seen in replay a few times with. in 30 seconds after the play's completion. It was weird that they didn't review a play that was so significant.

Correct. Or spend more time. That said, they got it right. And I saw you get duped online over the weekend by, I forget what other football players said it. You're like, okay, now I agree with it because a football man said it. Yeah, I've got a dumb day. Dumb Dave is right.

I've gone back. I've gone back and forth. I'm now back on your side. Okay. I think, well, you know why? You don't want I'm back on your side? Because of the difference in doing, What happened with Devante Adams?

It would happen with Cooks. Where Adams, like, very clearly caught the ball, knee down, plays over, right? That's right. Cooks never had the ball like Adams had the ball. He must complete the catch to the ground. When he hits the ground, the ball is in the other guy's hands. Well, now the craziness, here are more jerks for you. Get the blaster ready for me, Fuentes.

Are the people, you just mentioned Dan Orlovsky. He's not the only person to do this. but it is not a compelling argument to say, look at this play that happened, bang, bang, bang, watch it in real time, to float stills as your argument. The stills have no value, obviously. The point is, does he have the ball, it hits him in his hands? Yeah, we all knew that already, Dan.

We knew the ball was in his hands, and we knew he went to the ground with the ball in his hands, but there was no football move, as we have now gotten way too familiar with the phrase. Ah, the football move. With all that kind of stuff. But okay, so he didn't make a football. ball move like Devante Adams did. He got the ball and went to the ground. As soon as his back

hit the ground, the ball sort of jostled enough that the DB put his hands on it and rolled over. And a split second later, it was the Broncos ball. Yeah, it's really not the controversy. Everybody's trying to make it on time. But Lebitard makes a great point. If the on-field official nearest to it says that's Bill's ball, the reaction I think would, have been, wouldn't have been as severe. I don't think Broncos fans and nationally we would have talked about it for 24, for 48 hours after the play and say, man, the Broncos got screwed. That should have been an I-N-T, but they called it a completed pass. I think that's, I think that's an interesting point at least. Because America's in love with Josh Allen and they want Josh Allen to

six. I don't know about that. I do, I do, the Josh Allen discussion is interesting because I feel like the first like four bad losses they had in the playoffs were not as fault. what he didn't play for him. Oh, did you say Josh Allen, Jeff? Speaking of Josh Allen, do you know that Josh Allen has now seven overtime losses with zero wins? Ha, ha, ha, ha. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven losses in overtime for Josh Allen. And let's not forget, the NFL changed the rules for him so he would get the ball because Mahomes kept

whooping his ass in these games. Ha, ha, ha. You know what we call Josh Allen here in Football America, Dave? James Bond, 00-O-7, zero Super Bowl appearances, zero AFC championships, seven over time losses. Jeff Schwartz is a serious man. He's spent time in pro football. He's my favorite guest in Football America, Dave. I know this.

That's seven, we know the count can do seven now. We know two and seven. I don't know. Favorite number. Six. But, I mean, look, a couple of those weren't honest. I think they changed overtime rules twice for Josh Allen, by the way, now, right? I think they changed it twice.

One, two times. And they were really, really, really against the tush push until they decided to fully embrace it and ride the victory on it. Yes, the bills, the bills, and the most tush push plays this season, voted against it last offseason. It is like this, Alan played, didn't play very good. And this is like the one time where it's funny because, like, this is the one time where I feel like you can actually put this on Allen.

When other losses weren't all, like the 13th day game was not his fault. This one, he, the couple of turnovers were bad. The fumble for that in the first half was inexcusable. This is why I think like McDermott's got to step in. He's only only the coach obviously. He'd be like, we're just taking a knee. We're going to halftime. What are we going to do?

It's 1710. We have no timeouts and have 20 seconds left. Just take a knee and go to halftime and regroup. Instead, they fumble and go down 20 to 10. I thought this lost, Dave, and now that the McDermott's been fired, I think it's confirmed this. Like, this loss broke Buffalo. I think this was the one that, like, if they rolled the same team back next year,

this was like going to be like a six or seven win team. Like this is going to completely go to shit. And now with firing McDermott, I feel better about depending on who they hire. But this loss was the one where, you know, like too many mistakes, obviously. Josh didn't play terribly well. McDerminton, you know, had some coaching issues. I mentioned at that point. No chiefs in the playoffs, no Burrow in the playoffs.

They put the grab up. Alan's 0 and 5 against Burrow and Mahomes in the playoff. And he's like seven against everyone else. This was the time. It's like the weakest AFC field in years. And this was the year to do it. And they didn't get it done. It's not all McDermott's fault, by the way.

The roster is not great either. But something had to be done after those games. I felt that this one broke Buffalo. By the way, how mad are John Harbaugh and Kevin Stefansky right now? If they would have just waited just a few more days. I do want to get Jeff's thoughts. actually go ahead and tackle that one. Do you suppose that the guys who accepted a job

are now regretting having accepted those gigs with the... Yes. Do you? I don't think the fancams getting this job, but Harbaugh certainly would be up for it. Yeah, I mean, look, you get Josh Allen or Jackson Dart. I mean, what are you going to choose, right? Now, Harbaugh gets more player personnel control.

It seems like in Buffalo, very clearly, personnel control will be Brandon Beans. So that's a different dynamic to this, right? So maybe tends to skew maybe younger, more inexperienced coach if that's what it is. But yeah, I would imagine that Harbaugh would certainly take a call from Buffalo.

Maybe there was a night. Maybe he knew. I don't know. But I think he would have, I mean, anyone would take this job, man. I don't want to run Jeff Schwartz off, but we've taken up a ton of your time. But I do want to get,

before I hear who you think is going to Super Bowl 60, your thoughts on this. Because I feel like the average, fan is more, I think the majority of football fans are on my side with this. Even the ones who live in the North and when part of being a fan if you go to the games instead of watching them on TV is enduring the cold and the elements and all of that. I think if the Bears would have won that game against the Rams, I think then you just have to cancel plans for a dome, right?

Like, it's like, well, see, now, look, we wouldn't have beaten the Rams had this place been domed, and now we did because we know how to survive the elements better than the pretty boys from SoCal have. But in a broader sense, you're a SoCal guy, Jeff Schwartz, but you're brawny, you're a husky guy, and you played up in the rain and the chill of Eugene Oregon and around pro football. Yeah, I mean, it's the greatest if you're on TV. Nobody who, I mean, if you're watching on TV, it's so aesthetically pleasing to look at. I'll hear the arguments that the game is diminished a little bit, but also that's a part of football. Tennis requires optimal weather for it to work or else they cancel it.

And also in tennis, you're not allowed to make noise. Is that what we should do too? If we need pristine conditions so we can see the world's best athletes, then keep it down, everybody. You're distracting them too much. How far are we going to take it? How say you on playing in the elements? I'm outside on grass football, buddy.

That's what I want football we played in. I'm not, you know, in that elements, but like the advantages you have for these home games, it's pretty big. But it's hard if you haven't done it to play. It's more about the wind too. Like when you practice in the wind, you play in the wind,

in the cold, you know how to play in it. And when you don't, we see the numbers are out there. It's pretty staggering about how, you know, the difference in these warm weather teams having to play games up north. And with the more domes you get,

we're going to end up in, you know, 30 years, everyone's going to have a dome. And the thing about it too is, it's like, it's for corporate reasons. It's because the city can put, you know,

Beyonce shows in there. Correct. Like, you get one Super Bowl, presumably. Chicago might get more because it's a major city. But you get your one Super Bowl, maybe your, your,

your, your, you're one final four. Well, maybe Indiana. Might have to go to Gary, Indiana to go watch a Bears game, but okay. That's, again, like,

I am football outside on grassy elements, and that's the way I think should be played. I like that Mike Fuentes doesn't like the outdoor football. He's one of these. But they're great athletes. Why are we throwing up obstacles for that?

I don't know. Why is the defense trying to stop them from doing stuff too? I like football and it's nice and sunny and cool outside. I don't like the best athletes in the world being hampered because it's snowing. I know. That was uncool. What the Broncos did to Josh Allen kept getting in his way and taking the ball away from him. He's one of the best athletes in the world.

The number one example for what Mike is talking. about was that Patriots Texans game. There was what? Eight turnovers in that game. Probably should have been 10 or 11 or 12. You know what? I'm not going to blame the elements for that. CJ Stroud just sucks out. Also, C.J. Stroud. They was bad too. Here's what I predict, Jeff. We're going to hear in the coming hours. Oh, yeah, C.J. Stroud had a broken finger.

Or something like that, because he was so bad. The LeBron. I don't know. Because he sucked against the Steelers as well. He was desperate to give that on game. I don't know. I love LeBron. I'm a Lakers guy. I've always rude for him. But every playoff series he loses, he comes to press conference in like an ankle brace or wrist brace or fingers are taped up. And I get it. You're going to play through injury. I get it. But like every time it happens, there is a LeBron injury that just you're like, come on, man, just let it go. Just I don't want to hear about it.

I want to just win the playoffs series, please. All right. We have to, we want to do a little funniest musical chair results for the head coaches out there and who's going to fill these seats. And the other team, there are a lot, when you lose in the playoffs now, it feels so harsh. Troy Aigman was talking about that, that it's almost worse to make the playoffs and then not win a game. And now it does feel like a big reckoning for the Houston Texans. What are we going to do about our quarterback? And I also feel like that applies to the Lions.

I don't see anything that's standing between them and running it back with Jared Gough. And that just not, that feels outmoded in that division. Anywho, these are the teams that are now out of the picture. Tell us final four, and then that's your final comment, Jeff Schwartz. I think Denver might win this game. I have a feeling, too, Jen. I don't know, Jeff, I'm going to do it. I think Denver is going to win.

I'm just going to continue to fade the Patriots to lose all the money I have. And then I would have been right about it. You know I would have been right. You were with me up until the. the last second shorts and then you backed off on the Broncos. We were together on that one. They were going to the Super Bowl. They were.

Nobody has talked about, of all the things, Jeff, I'm sorry, I keep interrupting you. But for all the story, the officiating and poor Josh Allen and C.J. Stroud sucks and Caleb Williams, what a throw and the Rams survived. Somehow it's all added up to the number one seed in the AFC wins. They beat the Buffalo Bills and boy, that was a tough spot. and they were a home dog and everything else. And their quarterback snaps his ankle on the second to last play. It's almost playing like an afterthought because we've already moved on to like,

Huck and Jared Stid him do it. Like, man, the Broncos got screwed by the football gods here. They did. Absolutely did. It's a pretty, it's a bummer that that happened that way. I think Seattle wins. I've been on the Rams all season long, but they just don't play complete football, Dave. like they just haven't played their best game.

Maybe this the game they play their best game. Zach Charbonnet is out for the season, it appears, by the way, which is not. You beat us to it. That was our breaking news, Dave. Jack Charmody out for the remainder of the playoffs. Significant knee injury, it says. Wow, that is big news going into this one. So I still look Seattle, though.

I'll take so Seattle. So Sam Donald's winning this first championship or Jared Stidham? Those are your two choices. And the answer would be Sam Donald. You can bet on it. You can bet on it now, like, it's like, I think, I think Denver would be favored by, well, Seattle would be favored by eight and a half, I think, or nine and a half in that game,

which is wild, but I think Seattle would win that game. Boy, yeah, that is interesting. All right, that's cart before the horse stuff or before the Bronco either way. Jeff Schwartz, you're the tops. We appreciate the time, Pally. Love getting to break down the biggest games to the season with you as we have all season long. It's been grand stuff. We're about to go into the abyss, though, Schwartz.

We will, Kibbets with you before Super Bowl 60 kicks off. At least once. In the meantime, Jeff Schwartz is smarter than you, all the great stuff he does with Chris Felica and everybody else. Over there at Fox Sports, it's Jeff Schwartz. Thanks. Bye guys. And let's wrap it up.

No more. The count doesn't have anything to say to Jeff Schwartz? No, Dave, I'm all throtted out. I thought you're going to give us a count on how many seconds we have left before we wrap the show. Looks like about 20-19. What's the funniest hire? Funnyest higher left out there in this coaching carous out.

There's easily Mike McDaniel if he goes to the Buffalo Bill. The Brown's trading for Mike Tomlin. He's going to take a year off. Honest to you, yes. I will take the weekend off. I am the count. Okay, bye. All right, listen, we're just getting rolling as we anticipate these two big games.

The title games await our consideration. We've barely dug in on them. We'll do a little bit better job with that. Later in the week, in the meantime, I will be sitting in on the, on The Lebitard show on Tuesday and Wednesday as well as Monday night for the National Championship game. Make sure you're checking that all out. In the meantime, thanks to Jeff Schwartz, the Fuentes, boys, and everybody else here on Football

America until the end of the week when it's time to pick those title games. Thanks so much, my fellow football Americans. It's been a thin slice of heaven.