The Fumblerooski Podcast - A Big If -Ep 416 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: January 13, 2026

On today’s episode, Wild Card Weekend blew everybody’s socks off. On Saturday the Panthers almost pulled off the upset again vs the Rams, and the Bears came back to beat the Packers with a big debate about Jordan Love. Josh Allen turns into Super Man, 49ers upset the Eagles but lose Kittle. Drake Maye gets his 1st career postseason win, is this game on Justin Herbert? The Texans defense steps up in the 2nd half, is this it for both Tomlin and Rodgers? Chris Costich, CJ Medeiros, and Justin Tucker talk all this and more!

Wildcar weekend has come and gone. Golly. What another great weekend of football. Some wild finishes. Teams can't hold a lead. I love football. That's all it is. This is the Fulmariski podcast.

It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome to the Fumble Rusky podcast by Power 88 Radio and Secret Weapon Consulting.

We got C.J. Medeiros. We got the birthday boy, Adam, right? Happy birthday, Adam. Thanks, baby. Happy birthday, Adam. What have you done so far today? For your birthday? I woke up.

I was out last night, so I had a late night, and I was feeling a little sleazy. and uh sleazy a oh what what you mean by that you mean by sleazy I'm just feeling feeling a little feeling a little little uh little tired

uh yeah then I then I uh I drove back from Boston got a got a nice little workout in I'm eating I'm eating my lunch right now got uh got myself some baked Ziti and uh getting a seafood dinner tonight over some uh some you know, some Texans

Steelers, so that's going to be fun. Nice. I love it. I love it. I love to hear it. What does Sleazy even mean, by the way? I kind of just said a word. Oh, yeah. To put it nicely, it's

somebody who's, we'll say, sexually immoral. Oh, I'm not sleazy. Of ill romantic repute type of deal, which is why he said. I'm like, hey, oh, buddy. Let's keep this at least PG-13. Hey, man.

If I'm around you people, then I know. CJ has me feeling some type of way sometimes. All right. Well, me, why not Chris? I mean, we all know. We've already established that part. Yeah, we've already. We know how he is.

We know how he is. We know how you are. The ramps. Outlast Pat, the Panthers to open wildcar weekends. in general, the first three games of the weekend, or first four games of the weekend, I should really say, the team that had the lead at the two-minute warning, ended up not going to have to watch that.

Oh, what do we have here? Yeah. My fault. Those just listening, we got talk. We got talk. It's a full house. Come on, Doug. I said I was on my way.

We literally just started as you sent that. Yeah, I clicked record right as you sent the text. It's fine. My fault. It's all right. We were just talking about Adam's birthday and the definition of the word sleazy. Because he described. Happy birthday.

He said he was feeling sleazy. For some reason, I'm a little out of it. For some reason, I thought it was another word for just being tired. No. Maybe we should talk about some Rams. Yeah, let's talk about the Rams. So Matt Staffordher's finger, nothing came out of it. Just let's just getting that out of the way real quick.

I mean, shit. You know, Bryce Young threw his early interception, got that out of the way. and he started playing like Prime Cam Neumann. He was bawling out with Cam Newell and in the house, of course. They had all the Panthers legends. Greg Olson was on the call. Luke Keekley was there. It was some stacked star power for the Panthers.

Ted McMillan. He went off. Jalen Coker, sixth round pick. May as well have been your first round pick because who the hell is Xavier Leggap? at this point. Holy Cross Legend. Holy Cross legend. And this was one of those games where it was like, all right,

one of the Rams going to pull away with this one. When are they going to start to really stop on the Panthers? But it never came because the Panthers showed up just like they did earlier on this season. Bryce Young, 21 for 40, 264 yards,

one touchdown, one interception. Jalen Coker, nine catches 134 yards and a touchdown. Once again, Pooka Nakua couldn't be stopped. 10 catches 111 yards, one touchdown. Stafford ended up with 304 yards, three touchdowns in interception in this game. I mean, we expected the ramps to win, but I don't know if we were expecting basically the same thing to happen as the last time around where the Panthers were able to almost do what they wanted, eventually.

And, well, put up 31, almost one. This would have been quite the upset at the Panthers were able to win. Because there were 10.5 point underdogs for that. Credit to the Panthers on that. But what's the outlook on this game for you guys? CJ, let's start with you. Well, I want to open by saying this. For the Panthers, yeah, being a one and done in the playoffs sucks, but you have no reason to be mad at yourself.

You really don't. I mean, most people thought you're just going to roll over and die, but you really didn't. You know, I think they should just hold their heads high here. You know, you took the Rams to the very end. I mean, yeah, that dropped by Jimmy Horn Jr. kind of sucks. But, but like, you know, everyone's. like, oh, my self-inclusive, oh, you know, you can't catch lightning in a bottle twice. But, hey, you almost did.

You know, like I said, you took him to the very end. Do you definitely have, like, real legitimate potential with Bryce Young? I think Dave Canales is a very good coach. Technic Millen defied all expectations. What is he? Like, the first rookie receiver since, like, in a bit to hit 1,000 yards? Since, like, Jefferson or someone like that, or Chase? He's probably offensive rookie of the year.

Coker, what a breakout he had. Totally makes up for whiffing on Leggett. The defense is kind of questionable, but you've got some good pieces like Derek Brown and J.C. Horn. I think, and considering the fact you're in the NFC South, the future should be looking relatively up. But as for the Rams, what the hell was that? Like, look, you won. And Stafford, I guess, put on a clinic, kind of. but honestly, I'm a little, I'm not going to say skeptical, but I mean, it was a good win, you know, playing on the road's never easy against a team you lost to also not easy.

But their biggest weakness continues to be that past defense. That front seven is electric. That back four is very questionable. But if you just keep spamming the ball to Puka, you'll be fine. Because Puka is damn near unguarable. arguably like the best receiver in the league at this point. Him or JSN, you can take your pick. But like I said for the Rams,

you know, considering the fact this team beat you before, I'm glad you took it seriously. It was probably a little closer than you wanted. But you're going to be going to Chicago, you know, next round. So for the love of God, like something has to change for your past defense. But overall, you can't really be that mad at the Rams. They got their get back. Birthday boy, what's say you?

I think overall what we saw from Stafford, I mean, he had a rough game for pretty much, I mean, almost all the game, he was rough. But he showed why he's an MVP candidate on that final drive that he had. And look, in hindsight, I was like he had a terrible game, eight and nine team. but how often as Patriots fans did we talk up the Ravens whenever they faced him in the playoffs? It's like sometimes you just have a playoff team that they barely squeak in and they just play up to competition and the Panthers have done that twice now

once earlier this year and then they've done it again this past weekend. So, you know, they came out with a win. It was a pretty gutsy win. Matthew Stafford was, I believe he sprained his index finger they said. So he was playing hurt and he still managed to do it. And that's something that he's no stranger to. So, uh, yeah, my takeaway, Matthew Stafford is one tough SOB. Facts. Talk. Well, I can't believe I'm saying this, but congratulations to both teams. I thought

this was going to be a blow help, but Carolina Panthers showed up to play. I thought Bryce young being a rookie would show up like the inexperienced part. And it did show up, but he played like stud on Saturday. Oh, my. That game got considerably close. And then at one point when the Panthers finally took the lead, I thought, oh my Lord, this, this, they actually might win this. And then Matthew Stafford proceeded to march down the field and throw a game-winning touchdown to Cody Parkinson, which, by the way, that was an amazing catch and score. That was unbelievable. And then scored, and then Jimmy Horn unfortunately couldn't make the catch. So it was like, damn.

But congratulations to the Los Angeles Rams. We knew that we believed that they were going to win. Now they have to go up against Chicago, which, by the way, Chicago, just when you think they look bad, all of a sudden, they turn it around and look absolutely amazing and unstoppable. So that's going to be a very interesting game to watch. Carolina has a lot to improve on, but the future looks absolutely bright. if only they can fix the wide receiver spot would Xavier Liggett because all the others are showing up. If he can just show up, it would be good. And if they can get that online healthy, that team might be a problem in the future.

So the future looks bright in Carolina. So they should keep their heads up and good job for the Los Angeles Rams. They pulled it off against apparently a very tough opponent all of a sudden. So congrats. I cannot believe hell wrong we were about Teteroa McMillan. That kid is awesome. It's the size, the way he moves. I know he looks slow,

but there's something about the way he moves, the way he sells his routes where it's just awesome. His catch rate is unbelievable, too. His catch rate is unreal. I guess my takeaway is that the Rams defense has still has been ass this back half of the season and it trickled into the wild card round. And it kind of stems from the loss against the, the Panthers the last time out too, because they let up 31 now both times.

Besides, only giving up 17 to the Cardinals the week after that, gave up 34 to Detroit, 38 to Seattle, 27 to Atlanta, and then 20 against Arizona. But they haven't been that great recently. And especially against the Chicago team who, yeah, they might start out slow. but once that offense gets humming, they get humming. So Rams defense, they could potentially be in trouble going into Chicago next week. But this is a team that also can play in the cold as well. Showtig last year against Philly.

So at the same time, that's going to be very interesting in itself. Sticking with the Bears then with Saturday, Bears face. their demons, come back, beat the Packers. What a game. What a game indeed. Cardiac Bears, once again. Down 21 to 3 at halftime. Packers, I mean, got the ball the second half.

This is your opportunity to go up big, go up 28 to 3. Not able to do so, unfortunately, for them. And the Bears, another slow third quarter, but once the fourth, quarter came around cinema scene lights them down

too bright for the packers it's i mean Caleb william say what you want to say about them but when shit gets tough he gets cooking purple nails who gives a crap dude can ball

in the fourth quarter and doesn't matter what the deficit is you're not out of it unless you're not out of it when you got Caleb Williams at Q-bone. Adam. Thoughts on the game. Lil Wayne from,

on social media, he said it best. He goes, you know, we lost to a dude with purple nails. And look, he plays his best football when it absolutely matters most. It kind of reminds me

a little bit of Bo Nix where, you know, like, I think I think he has more talent than Knicks, but I think just the the sense of them having that competitive attitude when it matters most and being able to make some of the throw some of those throws were insane like did you guys see the one where he was getting dragged down by the ankles he's running to his left and he has to turn it and because he's obviously a right he has to turn turn and throw against his body and make a long throw to roma

dunesay on the side on the sideline it was unbelievable i mean what i will say ben johnson's a bit of an asshole. It's kind of funny. And I kind of like it. What do you mean? I think he's going, I think he's going a little too far. The post.

This is the Bears and the Packers. This is supposed to be a rival. Aaron Rogers, old Chicago that he fucking owns them. He's not on the team anymore. He's never done anything. It's like, it just feels so forced.

Like, I know it's a rivalry. This has been fun. I'm enjoying it. I'm enjoying it. I love postpickers of him holding the bears. as his child. Out of his way to start beef with LaFleur.

Like, not even just competitive. Like, do you see the way he shook his hand the other day? He was like shouting at him, like, ran over and then just ran away. And then the first it's like, what the hell was that? Like, again, it's fun. But I'm just thinking of it. I kind of feel bad for LaFleur in this situation. Because it's like, I didn't do anything.

It's, again, it's fun. I'm not complaining about it. But I do think, like, going a little far there. It's been interesting. No, we need a heated rivalry in the league. And the fact that the Bears and the Packers both being good and reigniting this rivalry is good for football. I mean, you did beat him twice.

Beat him twice. That's the other thing is that he beat him twice. Talk. It was so nice the first time I had to do it twice. The way I see it, it's like this. Congratulations to the Chicago Bears and that victory. Oh, my God, they were getting belted in the first half. And then all of a sudden, the fourth quarter happened and they just came alive.

Like, for some reason, they're always doing this season. They're hard to kill. So congratulations to that. But when Adam says that it's unnecessary, I kind of thought so, too. Until I went back early in the week in how the Green Bay Packers were actually asking for Chicago. Like, they made it very clear that they wanted Chicago. they thought it was a fluke when they faced them last time. They wanted to get their get back, and they were talking a lot of this noise.

So when Chicago got them and then they won, they're not going to hold back against it. But I'm not going to lie. Hale Williams is an absolute villain to the Green Bay Packers. You saw the way he was grading that cheese in the post game? Yeah, they had that tongue sticking out. He was getting into it. He does not like Green Bay, and Green Bay does not like him. This is going to be an amazing rivalry because finally, Chicago has an arminor

Rogers like quarterback behind them. Oh, oh, this is going to be interesting for years to come. If they can keep this up, I want to see it for a long time. But congratulations to Chicago, they were down and down in the first half, but McMahon is the kicker. I knew there was something wrong with kickers this season, and he just showed me why. Up 21 to 3 before half, you had an opportunity to make it 24 to 3,

and you shank it, you miss. And then, The fourth quarter happens, and then they finally score a touchdown with Gouldon, I mean, with Matthew Golden, congratulations. Finally, he comes in clutch and scores a touchdown when he absolutely needs it. Matthew Golden had a great game. Yes, he wanted that touchdown. Like, he wasn't going to stop for that touchdown.

He always had the abilities, but it's like he's never, they never used him. He's in a crowded wide receiver room. And he was banged up, too. Yeah, but I think he asked all the tools to make it work. They just didn't use them as effectively as we all thought as a first round pick. But he showed up in the playoffs. I think for the Green Bay Packers, I think it's more like not rebuilding. It's just reloading because they were so injured this year.

I think once they get healthier, you'll see a different version of Greenback. But congratulations to Chicago. They came back from a deficit, which quite frankly they shouldn't have, and Green Bay should finish the job. job, but they couldn't, and Chicago took advantage of that. Congrats to Chicago. Now they're on to face the L.A. Rams, which I'm not sure if they get behind by like 18 points. They're going to come back because once they and the Rams score points, they don't usually stop unless you make them stop. So I think this is going to be an

interesting game, and I want to see how Chicago's defense ad dashed to McVe's offense. CJ, your thoughts? Well, for the Bears, just what a comeback. Caleb Williams, you know, just doing what he does best. I mean, look, don't get me wrong. It seems less like a comeback, or at least for a lot of these games, even including the regular season, feels less like a comeback and more like they're just kind of dancing through the raindrops.

But, hey, if it works, it works. You keep riding that momentum until it doesn't work. That's just the way it is. As for the Packers, you know, I'll get that. I'll get that later. Just the Bears have some fighters. You know, they were tired for decades of being little brother. That's the thing.

Green Bay and Rogers, you know, whenever they have anything nice, Green Bay just starts chirping and says, oh, yeah, we still own you. You're nothing, you know, just the abuse constantly. Snide Packers fans trolling them during pre-agency, the draft, the regular season, the postseason. and Chicago, they just got back at them. And then I just think it's funny how now Packers fans after, we own you, just the nonstop trash talk.

It's now going, whew, Ben Johnson's a big, meany head. Like, fucking grow a set. Oh, my God. Yeah, great that cheese, Chicago. You earned it. That's my stance. The Chicago has earned every right to talk as much shit as they want. they really have after Packers fans essentially just trying to take on the role of mean older brother,

they got punched in the mouth and now all of a sudden it's, hey, let's keep it classy. Nah, nah, Packers fans. And honestly, the Packers, players and staff, you threw classy out the window a long time ago. Now it bit you in the ass. And we finally have like another really good rivalry of the league, kind of like, It kind of reminds me of the Steelers and Ravens, or you just have two teams that just hate each other. There's no, like, begrudging respect.

There's no, there is no me without you. There's just hatred. And that's what we need more of. But as for the Packers, don't you cry to me about injuries. I don't want to hear it. I sincerely do not care. You are up 21 to 3.

And the Bears' defense didn't even adjust all that much. You just went cold. Like the Bears defense made some adjustments where they didn't like completely change it up. You just went flat. And yeah, I know I jokingly called their defense defanged after losing Michael Parsons, but I don't care how injured you are. Blowing that lead. Furthermore, giving up 25 points in the fourth quarter alone, that is inexcusable. That is some vile butchery of football.

ball if I have ever seen it. Like, I'm sorry. Like, once again, injuries really don't matter when you are blowing that huge lead. Like, it's huge. I mean, it's, it's, uh, like they play a part, but you still got that lead in the first place. I don't really know how much, I mean, I know they're banged up, but how much can you really blame that when you blew a 21 to 3 lead?

Mm-hmm. But also, but Brandon McManus the kicker. I will say if he makes his kicks, they win. It's not like he missed a field goal. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. He missed seven total points. That's two field goals and an extra point. Seven total points, just gone.

He left seven points on the field. He makes that extra point. Let's just say he misses both field goals, makes an extra point. then, you know, to be fair, the Packers dig it into field goal range. So, so, you know, then you're playing for overtime. Not that I would have trusted him to make that field goal, but, you know, I digress. So for the Packers, what's it going to take? Because honestly, I think he's good, but I'm just not sold on Jordan Love.

I'm really not. Like, I think he's a solid, yeah, Chris looks at. Brother at 323 yards and four touchdowns, what else you want him to do? win the defense led up 25 points he went cold he went flat he disappeared when they needed him most in the second half when the bears rally you know the bears which are known to be a second half team that pull all kinds of fluky bullshit out of their ass you know i would have liked him to just not disappear that would have been really nice did he disappear out of after the Bears made it a one-score game.

He's in his second year where, you know, you could just say, oh, he'll get better. He's been in the league for a bit. And I just don't really know how you can excuse this. I genuinely don't know. Jordan Lowe. I'm not so, okay. The moment that the Bears made it a one-score game with 10.08 left in the game,

Jordan Love drove the team down the field. And with six and a half to go, there was a 23-yard touchdown pass to Matthew Golden. After that, the Packers' defense lets up the rest of the way. That was a Matt Golden The fucking Packers' defense led up a fourth down that evidently leads to a touchdown.

And then Jordan Love leads him back down the field for McManus to then miss a freaking kick. Like, what else? Like, I get that. Okay, answer me this. And brought him into a spot to get the win. He got it into a spot to get them into

scoring territory. What I don't know. One and three. In the fourth quarter. One in the final seven minutes, I don't get the shit. Guys, guys, stop.

This isn't good television. This is amazing television. Well, not if you can't make out what each other is saying, like you're talking over each other. Listen, I, what kind of weapons has Jordan Love have, though?

Like that, he lost Kyle Tucker early in the season, who was a legit number. one. Tucker Kraft. What did I say? Kyle Tyler. I thought, I said Tucker Kraft. No, you did not. Who evidently just left Chicago. Yeah, yeah.

I wanted him to be a Red Sox, but look, they lost Tucker Kraft, which is a bit, like, that's a big loss for them. You don't have a number one. And I mean, there's a reason why the Packers really collapsed at the end, at the end of the season. Like, they lost everything. They lost all of their best defensive pieces. They lost all of their best offense. Like, I don't know. Like, what have we? The surrounding roster really hasn't been good enough for Jordan Love to win a Super Bowl.

I don't think he's elite. But he also, like, he also doesn't, if everything around him is good enough, he can still win. I just, I get it. And I get the weapons argument, and especially the Tucker craft thing. That was brutal. Like, don't get me wrong.

But Green Bay literally just spent a first round pick on a wide receiver for the first time since, like, what, like 20 some odd years? And my stance is, it's not like he doesn't have anything. Well, I think Romeo Dobbs is good. I think Watson's good. There's just a lot of good. They don't have that alpha. And that's something that they haven't had probably since, like, Jordy Nelson. but or Devante Adams.

Oh. You said Jordan Nelson and just forgot Devante. No, no, no, no. I was trying to think back back. I thought Tuck was like about to start debating if Jordan Nelson was an alpha. No, no, no. We love Jordy Nelson. We can't.

Yeah, Tony Nelson's a stuff. No, no, like, I mean, those are like the last two, like number ones they've had, but I don't know. Like, still just like one and three, that is. But look, we can debate this all we want. But all I'm going to say is this. Still, being up 21 to 3 and losing, that's, that's nasty work. That's all. I'll just leave it there.

Injuries, like that excuse can only take you so far when you were up by that much and still lost. I'll give you, look, I'll give you the fact that, like, third quarter in a spot where, especially with the bears not playing all that well in the third quarter themselves, That was a great opportunity to put the game away. I'll give you that. And I apologize as well for cutting you off. I'll give you the kicker, seven points left on the field.

That was, that's vile. I'm just saying like the last seven minutes of the game, Jordan, or the last 10 minutes of the game, Jordan Love was putting them into scoring position to put the game away in the defense and their kicker didn't show up to do so or help them out.

Matt, before also didn't help some. Sometimes. Did you see that? Yeah. Them calling a timeout on defense late in the game. That hurt them. No one's going to talk about that screenplay that happened with the left tackle?

Yeah. Yeah, that's true. That was almost that almost. Jordan Love, sorry. I was just going to say, Jordan Love and injuries aside, before we move on, I have a question for like all three of you, rapid fire. Where do you stand on Matliflor? Because the more time it goes by.

Forget my reservations about Jordan Love. I'm just, I'm done with Matt Lafleur. I really am. He stays. I think Matt. It's not he stays. It's just what do you make of him?

Like, is he good? Can he leave them anywhere? I don't know. Like, we know he's staying that there was a report that came out that said that they're going to work on trying to keep him over the next few days and to try to work out a new contract for him. But in terms of Matt Lafleur himself, I like we were talking about this prior to the show this.

Matt Lafleur, when they get out to a lead, they do, the play calling is drastically different. And we see that with Patriots too. Yeah. So there's that. We talked about it on Friday as well. Matt Lafleur has also gotten you to multiple NFC championships. A lot of playoff appearances, of course.

Adam even mentioned it going from Aaron Rogers straight to Jordan Love and developing him into the new franchise quarterback. There's still a lot of great things about Matt Lafleur, but, you know, when does your time run out of, all right, we've given you this much time. What's going on? Yeah, Lafleur can kind of, like I said during the Friday episode, Lafleur can stand on his two feet as a head coach. He's more of an offensive mind than anything else.

He's more of a guy who schemes very well, but as a leader, he's just, so-so. But it's like, I mean, like I said, they haven't had the weapons in order to really win games. And they're still doing it. Look at what they've been working with over the last few years. Their front office really hasn't given them many good weapons to throw to. And yet their quarterback is still a perennial pro bowl contender. And back when they actually had the weapons, when they had to throw.

Avanti Adams and Aaron Rogers playing at his best. They were winning 13 games perennially. So I just think Lefleur needs the toys. And then they'll be right there. He actually needs a running attack. Josh Jacobs looked horrible on Saturday. To be fair, he was also banged up. Yeah, and I don't think it's his fault.

He just doesn't have much to work with as far as the old line is concerned. Yeah, like you just need to get a little better on the old line. I think because a lot of that third quarter was because Jordan Love didn't really have a lot of time to work with. Like he had guys in his face almost every single drop back. Also, did you get real quick about the Bears before we move on? Did you guys see the report afterwards? And it was like apparently they before during preseason during training camp. So they have two guys that were part of the 28 to 3 Super Bowl game.

That being Grady Jarrett. and I forget Joe Tooney. And before the season, they went back and watched that game and had Tooney and Jared both speak about their experiences with the game, the winning side and the losing side. I mean, you all saw what I related that to, so it's like, it's interesting. Like, I wouldn't want to. go back on something so traumatic.

Oh, yeah. All the power to Grady Jarrett, but like I wouldn't want to be in the same room as freaking, you know. They're on the same team now. They have to let it go, but damn, that's going to be. That was heartbreaking. I'm not going back on it. If Ben Johnson asked me to rehash the past there, I'm saying, fuck you.

I'm not doing that. Yeah. Like as much as it sucks for fans, it's even worse for players because they're like, that's traumatic. That's like, they feel like they won it, their lifetime achievement. They've dreamed about it since they were kids. And just have it snatched away from them last. Just to have it snatched away from them last second.

Like, that's tough to just go back on. Just saying. Yeah. No, it is. All right. Let's take a quick break. When we come back, we'll get into the Sunday games. This is the Bumble Ruski podcast.

It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. I'm going back to the Fulmaruski podcast. Let's get into the Sunday slate from the Wild Card Round.

Starting out with the one o'clock game. The Bills get the win over the Jaguars. Another master class. Another master class from. the NFL schedule makers or not the schedule makers but the script writers Buffalo gets the win

27 to 24 let's start with the winning team first the bills this was Josh Allen turning into Superman he didn't want to admit that he was hurt but holy shit he was banged up

and he was making plays out of his ass this game we saw a lot of care of Josh Allen. But we also saw a lot of really good Josh Allen at the same time. Those two touch, push, QB sneak plays unbelievable. The one that took them 15 yards and almost into the end zone for a touchdown. Like Jacksonville's defense, first off, they gave up on that play, horribly gave up on that play.

Never mind that, but the Bill's offensive line, the leverage that they had, low man wins, the leverage that they had on those, on those Jaguars defensive linemen, unreal, just pushing them back at will. Oh, grown man football. That's what I'd love to see. Hey, other than that, what else can you say?

This was Josh Allen at his finest. Adam, you seem like you're chopping at the bit. talk about this. So we'll start with you. I did preface this before the before the game on Friday, but Josh Allen has a weirdly good record in shootouts. And we just saw that. And it was such a gutsy win when you think about how beat up that Phil's team was. How many times did Josh Allen go to the blue tent? Like two, three times. That guy took a beating with hands, with concussions. It's It was insane. And yet he still hung in there and was able to win the game and, like, win it convincingly.

That was absolutely unbelievable. But he literally, I can't remember a quarterback who's played hero ball as well as Josh Allen can do it. With the lack of talent this Bill's team has had on offense the past couple of years, I can see why he won MVP last year because he puts the team on his back with very, very little offensive talent around him. They hardly have anything on defense, incompetent coaching, and yet they're in contention year and year out. This is the type of roster where if you have like two thirds of the starting

quarterbacks around the league on this team, you may not even have a winning record. This team went 12 and 5, went on the road against a really balanced and talented Jacksonville team, and they beat him. It was unbelievable. He did it by himself. By himself.

Unbelievable stuff. Duck? First and foremost, congratulations to the Buffalo bills. Josh Allen once again puts on his superhero gig and shows you why he is their franchise quarterback and one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. I don't know how he's able to considerately do it with the talent surrounding him, but he's able to pull out these miracles and the jags are what

we all suspected them to be. I thought they were going to be a little bit better, but unfortunately, they just couldn't get the job done. Trevor Lawrence threw, what, multiple interceptions? So I think a few, I think one of them was like egregiously bad, but, oh, no, Josh Allen got the win, Trevor Lawrence got the loss. And up in the way the bills go. Who do they, They face the Patriots, right? Or it's on the banner here. You know, I make these great banners. Sorry, they face the Broncos.

So I think that'll be a very interesting game to see Josh Allen go up against that Broncos defense in Mahal where they look unbeatable. So I'm going to see that. Congrats to the bills, though. They deserved it. See, Jeff. You know, every time you think, all right, you got the bills. put away, they come back. The bills are kind of like

at least later now, maybe second only to like the Bears as far as being like a second half team or just insane comebacks and dancing through the raindrops. I just even though they won, I feel so bad for Josh Allen.

We know he has that nagging foot injury. Now he's jammed his hand. He's maybe has a concussion. You know, he's it's never Josh Allen you know, versus the Jaguar. It's Josh Shallen versus Sean McDermott and his defense and the Jaguars. Oh, my God, man.

You got to tip your hat to him. It's like, this is insane what he's been able to do. He really is a good quarterback. And what I love is that he's playing with this real, like, legitimate sense of urgency, you know? Like, there's this, like, literal, like, and I know. I've said this before, but I think, like, just on how you can see the look in his eyes and how he plays, I think even he knows that low-key, it might be now or never. Because, you know, your boogeyman in Mahomes is gone. And, like, he knows that if you don't win it this year, he probably never will. And when I say he,

no, Adam, Adam, I don't shake my head all my own wall I want, but just hear me out. Well, I say, 29. Shut up. I don't care. McDermott specifically is what I mean. Like, he's not going to win with McDermott. With McDermott, yeah, I agree. I misspoke.

I actually misspoke. I meant like, if it's not this year, then he's never going to win with McDermott. Like, it's going to have to go. And I will maintain anything less than a Seward Bowl victory this year means McDermott has to go. McDermott still just some horrific play calling. but Allen's literally just able to turn water into wine. Like he is like I've described the relationship between Alan and McDermott to being like Rogers and McCarthy. And I'm standing on that.

I will not hear any argument to the contrary. Anybody who disagrees with this just has a truth deficit. McDermott is so horrible. And Alan just saves him again and again and again. Yeah. But as for the Jags. My question is, where do they go from here? Because Liam Cohen, a lot of people are saying he's the real coach of the year.

I personally disagree. But where, like, but seriously, where exactly, like, does he go? Because, I mean, is Brian Thomas Jr., I mean, he's going through a really nasty sophomore slump, but is he going to return to form? What's, can Travis Hunter actually play both sides of the ball? Personally, I got to say, dude, to hell with your two-way ability, pick a side and stick with it. That's where I would go, honestly. So now what? The thing with the Jags is

they went 13 and 4. A lot of people need to sit back and realize that the Jacksonville Jaguars went 13 and 4. Do you know what that means? You now have the dreaded word, expectations. And I feel like we see this every so often where the Jaguars just go balls to the wall one year, have an insane season, they get expectations, and then they just completely crumble. For example, remember, they made the playoffs for the first time with Lawrence, had that insane comeback against the Chargers, and then proceeded to fuck all the next year?

Or how about... And it lost out. Yeah, exactly. See, that's right. Or remember, Saxonville? Didn't even make the playoffs the next year. And that one weird year, that one was a little different, yeah. Yeah, that one weird year where they had like Mark Brunel, they played lights out and the next year.

I don't even know if they made the playoffs. So they had this weird cycle. You're thinking of Byron Lefich and David. Byron Lefich, thank you. Yeah. Look, I mean. I'm just saying like they have this weird cycle where they just peak and then they crash the next year. They need some consistency.

And I think Liam Cullen is the perfect coach to give them consistency. but now you have expectations. I just, I want to see what they do in the future. Before you had, I mean, before, now you have Trevor Lawrence and you have a more offense friendly, more Trevor Lawrence friendly coaching scheme to work with. I mean, before you had Press Taylor and Doug Peterson. You weren't doing much with that. Yeah.

And as far as Saxonville goes, I mean, that's kind of, didn't we all kind of look at that and say that that was a bit of a fluky year? Like, we know how, why they were good. but it wasn't sustainable. The, like, relying on defense, running the ball, and mediocre quarterback play, it doesn't last very long. No, like, I hear you, I do. No, you're right.

But who really predicted Leonard Fournett to just fall off a cliff, at least until you got to Tampa? And that defense, like, that was a terrifying defense, and they were really just a one-year wonder. Like two years later, almost all of them were gone. Like, I just, fluky, yes, but once again, they still had expectations. If you heard all the talk, they, like mostly like Jalen Ramsey and Leonard Fournette were doing that offseason. You thought they were going to be the next big thing.

And I mean, regardless whether or not it was fluky, which you are right, it was, they still had expectations. That's part of why I say it's not sustainable because in football, there's so many moving parts. that you just need that one constant, which is the quarterback, and they had Blake Bordels. Oh, no, no. You are absolutely right, but I'm just saying, like, there were still expectations, but I understand what you mean.

Do you want to chime in on any of this? No, I agree with both sides on it. The Jax do have moments of where they're peaking, and then they crater. But I think this is going to be more consistent because I like Liam Cohen as a coach, from how they started the season to how they finished the season, is World's Way.

I think the only problem is they don't have a first round pick, so they have to be cognizant of that. But outside of it, I think they'll be just fine once they get Travis Hunter back because they were doing all this without him. But I think they're going to make him decide whether or not to be on offensive defense. Yeah. And I think outside of Brian Thomas and Travis Hunter, like, this is still not a bad wide receiver court, too.

Parker Washington showed out really well today. He's had some good flashes throughout the year. Jacoby Myers, you know, everyone forgets. He's still a solid wide receiver, but he just had a bad game. He had a bad game. And he wasn't that productive after the trade from Vegas, but he can be a guy that can be very productive for you. Am I wrong?

Am I very wrong about this, Adam? No. I just think Jacoby Myers had a great year once he went to Jacksonville. Like, he put up some of his best career numbers there. I agree at a bad night, or rather bad afternoon. But like, hey, you know what? I'm speaking out of terms. Let me know.

He's probably their one of the best offensive player going into that week. I'll give it to him. I never thought he had it. I'm just looking at trying to find his numbers right now. 42 catches, 483 yards, three touchdowns. It sounds bad, but when he was on the offense to the Jaguars, he actually performed. I'll agree with that.

I'll definitely agree with that. Yeah, I mean, there was games where he was getting at least six start. Like the first game after he got trade, which was the game they blew that lead to the Texans. He only had three targets. After that, no less than six. So he's a guy that you can very comfortably throw the ball too. All right. Let's move on from this game.

Going to the next game on the Sunday slate, the 49ers, beating the defending champs, the Eagles, 23 to 19. They will head to Seattle to take on the Seahawks in the divisional round. But at what cost, George Kittle torn Achilles. He went down, what, second quarter, third quarter, something like that. He went down somewhere in the middle of the game. and it was pretty evident that it was an Achilles injury. They said it pretty quickly. And then Shanahan right after the game confirmed it, torn Achilles for Kittles.

So he's done for the year and for next year as well. So this is a bit of an interesting spot now in terms of Kittles' career, which we can talk about that later on. But I mean, Kyle Shanahan, man, once again, getting it done. done on the road, by the way, getting the revenge from 22, went Brock Purdy towards UCL and couldn't throw the freaking ball. Brock Purdy had a good game besides two interceptions, 262 yards, 18 for 31, two touchdowns. And they didn't come close to even winning time of possession either.

Eagles had the ball for 11 more minutes, and this defense, despite all these, the injuries continues to find a freaking way. I think CJ may have said it, Kyle Shanhan coached the year type beat. But unfortunately, the 49ers keep selling their soul to try to keep

Christian McCaffrey healthy, which leads to more guys being out for the season. But thoughts from you, fellas, C.J. Let's start with you. If now, well, I'm a huge Mike Rable

fan, I think he should be coached in the year. If there's anyone else, I think, deserves it more. We can, you know, we talk with this off camera than I think a runner-up should be Kyle Shanahan for just working sheer necromancy to keep the 49ers just involved. Think about it. Mikel Williams, Fred Warner. Oh, what's his name? Oh, yeah, Nick Bosa, your entire defense getting pillaged. Like your entire team just getting, getting all their assets stripped during the offseason. Brandon Ayup is probably done as a 49er. Yes. Literally everyone but Chris McCaffrey is getting hurt. You know, Debo Samuel is also gone. Ricky Pierce all's hurt. George Kittle just tore his Achilles. Some injuries on the O-line as well.

Like I said, everyone but McCaffrey, for once McCaffrey's not the one getting injured. And still, it's just game planning. And also, Brock Purdy's stepping up in a huge way that's given them the lead. And that's given them like any kind of advantage. And honestly, Lincoln Financial Field in Philly, the link is also known, is just, also it's a tough place to play. You know how Eagles fans are. They're nuts, except for Mike. We love Mike.

And Mike, I'm sorry, man, I really am. but oh my but like i said just that that was some brilliant uh maneuvering by shanahan and by purdy you know purdy's really been stepping up when they need them most especially at the end there i can't i can't hate that at all you know that's really what it is but then there's philly i'm angry on behalf of their fans you have all that talent you have that roster and you just And you just won the Super Bowl, I might add. And you just said, hmm, what and done, I think, would be a very good use of this roster. You know, it's something that I learned recently.

Maybe I already knew it and forgot it. The hiring last season, you know, before they won the Super Bowl, of Vic Fangio and Kellyn Moore, were Howie Roseman and Jeffrey Lurie hires, not Nick Siriani hires. You want to know who was a Nick Siriani hire Kevin Petula. And Chris, remember you and I were talking a different episode about how Roseman had to sit down with Siriani and said, if you can't get your head out of your ass, you're going to be gone. I'm going to have to hire the coordinators. Me thinks it's time we have that again. I really do think it's time they have that chat again.

Kevin Petulow should have no place on the Eagles. And look, I'm aware that he and Siriani are friends, and that was like a big promotion for him because that's Siriani's guy. But he's got to go. He has to go. The way he has mangled this offense should get him sent to death row for murder. But there's one more piece to this puzzle.

By the way, A.J. Brown. I was wondering. All of the social media drama, the endless cryptic quote, the endless whining that he hasn't gotten the ball, and you had not one, but two egregious drops. Catches that he makes, they set on the broadcast 99 out of 100 times. Really?

Maybe this is why you're not getting the ball. Don't get me wrong. I think he's a phenomenal receiver. I really think he's still got a lot left. But you can't throw all these fits for the ball and be a jackass clown on social media just to turn around and do this. It makes you look terrible. Heads have to roll. I think it's a matter at this point.

I know I'm like, oh, nothing ever happens. But I think at this point, it really is a matter of when, not if A.J. Brown is traded. And Kevin Petulow has to go. I, I, I, I said, me and my dad had a, a hilarious moment last night right after the, right after the game ended. And I was like, get that man on my team right now. And my dad was like, and my dad was like, you just went on about how he fucking sucks for dropping that pass. I was like, yeah, he's still a damn good receiver, though. Adam, what say you?

I think CJ and I end up disagreeing on who should win coach of the year, but I think we definitely agree on Kyle Shanahan's candidacy. And this guy, the shit that he's gone through on that roster between, you know, injuries, you know, having to work with Mack Jones for half the season, and actually putting up really good numbers. and somehow having the chance to land the number one seed in week 18, what a season it has been. And I got to hand it to them.

I did not think the 49ers were capable of going across the country and going into that Hornets nest, which is Philadelphia, and somehow winning, I didn't think they would do it. They did it. And they did so while having the crap beat out of them. and I think this is going to end eventually because they're just too beat up. They just don't have the toys to do it.

But they've earned my respect. It's pretty hard for a warm weather team to go into a cold weather environment, especially Philly and win, especially beat up, by the way. They were missing everybody. I mean, we're acting surprised, but San Francisco under Kyle Shannon

has done this numerous times. Not in there. Not in Philly, but they've done it in Green Bay. they literally have. They have more talent back then. The reason they didn't do it against Phillies because they literally didn't have a quarterback.

They were relying on Christian McCaffrey at points in time. Yeah. That's not fair. But I'm saying San Francisco has walked into a cold environment, a cold, tough environment to get a win. Yeah, they've done that. First and foremost, congratulations to the San Francisco. Cisco 49ers.

They absolutely desert this game from head to shoulders. Kyle, I mean, Brock Purdy played well. Kyle Shanahan should be a candidacy for coach of the year because, quite frankly, what he's doing with less is astounding, considering he was almost the number one seat this year with what he's been dealing with. Without Brock Bertie, without George Kittle, without Joan Jennings for times, without Christian McAfrey for times, without George Kittle for times,

with that banged up defense that he has, without Fred Warner, without numerous players. He has still managed to almost get them to the number one seed and get a win in Philly. Congrats to Kyle Shanahan. He deserved this victory. Now on to the Eagles. That OC needs to go today. A.J. Brown might need to get traded.

And Jalen Hertz needs to be on fraud watch because this is unbelievable what they keep doing on the offensive side of the ball. You guys have Sequin Barkley. You have a competent enough O line. I would assume a decent quarterback in an old pro type of wide receiver. And you have an amazing wide receiver too and Devonty Smith. How are you this ass consistently? I've watched only a few games this year of the Eagles, and every game I keep seemingly watched, they are ass.

The only one where I don't think they're as offensively is the game against the Vikings, surprisingly. They just keep on playing down. I wouldn't say down to competition. They're just playing below their standards. The game against Buffalo. They scored 14 points in the first half. They couldn't get anything going offensively in the second half. Because for some reason, Jalen Hertz just couldn't throw the ball to save his life.

Against the charges. Jalen Hertz had his worst game as an eagle. It was one of the worst game since 2012. Jalen Hertz has just been playing awful. And then A.J. Brown, you cannot complain about wanting the ball. have a performance like this when you're dropping numerous passes, you just can't have it because people will look at you crazy for doing it. Just keep your mouth shut, keep it in-house, don't bring it to the media, because when you have a bad game, they're going to look at you

crazy. I don't understand how this season could be this awful with this amount of peace of surrounding me. I don't know how. I don't know why, but I think it's just time for Kevin Petulow to just go. He should have been gone halfway through the season, but we usually allow coaches to finish the job. And quite frankly, this was an abysmal job. He took a chicken salad, he took chicken salad and turned into chicken shit. I don't know how he was able to do that. The Eagles should have finished better than where they were. They should have been fighting for the number one scene, but instead they had mediocre playing on offense, and they robbed that defense of a great season. They should have advanced, but because of that

offense not being able to do anything, this is where it ends up. Jalen Hertz finished with 168 yards. That means he couldn't pass for over 100 yards in the first half nor the second half because he finished with 75 yards in the second half. This is bad. They need to fix this in Philly if they ever think about winning another Super Bowl. They need to get rid of Kevin Petulow. It's got to be a very interesting offseason to say the least for Philly for, well, all the reasons we just listed right there. Real quick, before we move on to.

the final game from Sunday. I think we can say right now that it's very slim chances that San Francisco wins next week because now George Kittles out. They have Seattle, which is going to be. You're going to get punched in the mouth by them. Yeah, especially seeing how they played week 18. I mean, the only path to victory I see and we don't have to get into it is they have to find a way to make Sam Darnold see ghosts because that that is Seattle's only Achilles.

That's their only weakness is their quarterback has a major choking problem. Yeah. All right. Sunday night game, Patriots win in a sloppy one, 16 to 3 against the Chargers. Justin Herbert sacked six times. They barely got 200 yards total yards. Um, this was just a messy one from start to finish. Drake May didn't have his cleanest game.

He had a great game on the ground. Uh, ended up 17 for 29, 268 yards, touchdown interception, 66 yards rushing as well. But you also fumble the ball twice. One of them was lost. And evidently, this was a defensive slug fest that was ultimately won by the Patriots defense, because at the end of the day, the Chargers O' line just could not hold up anymore. Justin Herbert was pressured.

I want to say 19 times. Of course, mentioned six of them, sacks, five total QB hits outside of that. It was a, or pardon me, looking at the wrong one, 11 QB hits. So that was basically the main story in this one, was that Chargers offense

going to do anything I also point to you know Patriots Drake May throws that weird interception in the first quarter Chargers set up beautifully in the red zone and they come away

with turning the ball over on four downs so I see that as a huge turning point in being like well Chargers there's no way they're one in this game that's that's kind of how i pointed it out or how i thought um i'm afraid to send it to you guys because this could this could very much be war of different feelings as pat's fans we'll we'll start with the we'll start with the unbiased one in the room talk uh what say you uh first and foremost congratulations to new england patriots more specifically to that new england defense because

Let's start with the Patriots first, and then we'll move to the Chargers after. Fair enough. I'll start with the Patriots. From what I saw, Drake May, it's his first time in the playoffs, so he looked a little rough. But once he got comfortable, he was making plays, making throws. I'm thinking, oh, my God, here he comes here, here he goes. We made a few plays, but a couple of times he overthrew his receivers, like that one time, Hunter Henry was in the end zone and just threw a horrible ball.

I thought that one was not Drake-like. But all in all, I think he played fairly decent and did more than enough to get them the win. So congrats to Drake May. I thought Ramadre Stevenson showed up when Trey Hendrickson couldn't get things going. I thought this was a game for Ramandre Stevenson because that charges defense is no joke. I thought the defense that they had was the main contributor as to why they were winning because good Lord, Justin Herbert looked like he was on suicide. Watch the way they were abusing him back there. six sacks 11 quarterback hits 19 pressures 30 I look back at that game 30 yeah it was 30 yep oh my yeah no wonder they didn't win

that that defense looked amazing even though they've had a few penalties like the one on carlton davis which was like tickey tack in my opinion but oh oh no I thought that defense looked astounding let on Sunday night. I thought they deserved to get that victory and congrats the Patriots. But we said we're going to move to the Chargers needle. So I'll just stick to

the Patriots. Good one for the Patriots. Now they're moving on. And facing the winner of Houston versus Houston versus Pittsburgh, which is Houston in my opinion. Yeah, we'll talk about that later this episode as well, since we're

recording this before the Steelers, Texans game so we'll get to that at the end of the episode but uh I want to start first Adam you can't um so at hindsight this was a type of game that really made me sick to my stomach watching there really wasn't much offense in the first half and even in the second half there wasn't too much the defense helped them win the game but it was uh I mean the chargers were missing almost all of their offensive line however more I, the more I, the more time that passed, the more that game marinated, the more I liked it. Because for starters, the Patriots can win games without Drake May playing a great ball game.

Secondly, Drake May, while being jittery, in the second half he settled down. He went 11 for 14 with a touchdown in the second half. He settled in and he played a really nice game at the end. and he really made some great plays with his legs. He is really developed as a scrambler as the season has gone on. But there's, listen, what I'm encouraged by is that Drake May on a bad day can still make plays when it matters most. It's a clutch gene. It's something that I'm very encouraged by.

And there's a tweet here by a Boston Sports Insider that I wanted to read. and it kind of encapsulates how I feel about this game. So in the middle of the Tom Brady years, the Patriots went from 2005 to 2013 without a title, mostly because they could not win the kind of game the Patriots played last night. This season, while winning 14 games during the regular season, the Patriots did not have a single victory in which they scored fewer than 23 points. they just did that last night.

So they're finding new ways to win, and they are showing that they are much more balanced and that their quarterback can make plays when they absolutely need to. I refer to Super Bowl 53 a lot, not because it was a good game, but because it's a bad game by the quarterback who scraped his shit together at the end of the game and put together one of the best drivers I've ever seen to make.

He made some unbelievable throws to Gronkowski, and he is part of the reason they won that game. Now, he had a bad game, but he played a part in the victory. And that's what I felt about Drake May. Not a good game at all, but he settled in and he made the throws he needed to make. That Hunter Henry throw was one of the best throws in this entire postseason so far. and that's important for the Patriots going forward because sometimes you just need to win ugly, especially in the postseason.

But that's my take. I was really happy that Hunter Henry got a touchdown last night, that especially going against his former team, that brought joy to me. CJ. I think this was an important game for Drake May. When it's not going your way, your offensive line is being exposed

for the more youth aspect, of it, especially on that left side. I think Will Campbell's good. Jared Wilson's inconsistent, but the talent is there. When that's not going your way, when you have a pick that's really kind of not your fault, you know, it was a tip drill, circus catch pick.

You know, when you fumble twice because you know, your offensive line decides not to block that time, it's easy to just curl up into a ball. But no, he made it happen. He made plays happen with his legs. And he had that beautiful catch

Hunter Henry, a beautiful throw to Hunter Henry, where he caught that right over Derwin James, you know, who's a pretty dangerous defender of his own right. That Chargers defense is severely underrated, you know, Tully-Polotu is, I think, was like six in sacks. He had like 12 or 13 on the year. You know, that defensive backfield is really underrated. And I, it wasn't a pretty game, but you have to admire how we handle them. many quarterbacks would shrink in that moment. He did not. But how about the defense?

For that much maligned red zone defense, they clutched up, literally stopped the chargers on a fourth and two. They got into the red zone again. You held them to a field goal. And Justin Herbert, who are spiritual about the O-Lyme, he has Ladd-McConkie. He's got Last Dance, Keenan Allen, and Quentin Johnston, who has developed hands all of a sudden. and they just kept a lid on them the whole game. You know, like that's really impressive.

And, you know, you had Andy Borough Ghalis, the rookie, a warm weather kicker, which is a very much about warm weather quarterbacks, warm weather kickers are even scarier. And he came up and he did his job. This was a complete team win, and I think it was important because the Patriots have shown, right? They have shown that they can completely curb-stomp opponents.

Right, you know, we saw the Cleveland game, a Carolina game among others. They have shown that they can win in a shootout. Think the Tampa Bay game, most notably, or the first Miami Dolphins game. They have shown that they can come from behind. Look at the Baltimore Ravens game, for example. So what's also important is the ability to win ugly. you're going to accept that you made mistakes you have to have a short memory

and you just you know you just got to put your head down in the words of Mike Rable spill a little blood also before we move for the Chargers I need to give a shout out to Milton Williams man

what an absolute demon worth every cent second time this year he himself has called game hell yeah um yeah I don't have much else to really add on the paths really. I mean, this first playoff game for Drake May, and as mentioned said, played gray in the second

half. So I think my, and the Patriots have been a little bit of a, can be a bit of a one-half team sometimes too. And a lot of those times, it's, they've been a second half team, which is a little stressful, but sometimes not how he starts, how you finish. Adam, what the hell are we doing here, man? be very careful yeah what what is going on

he's going to the basement just right in the middle of podcast this is great podcasting right well you have to imagine Doug is harassing him and wants his baked as as eating potentially that could be the reason yeah all right chargers obviously we mentioned how great

the tech uh the pat's descent was um but all around I mean this charges offense fizzled out as the season went on. Never mind the offensive line being shit, but I mean, the receivers did not help Herbert that much out at all in this game.

Chargers defense, they stood up. They stood on their heads a lot in this game. They forced a lot of bad plays for the Patriots. But at the end of the day, the Pat's just grinded them out. Obviously, the big story, question. Big talking points, Justin Herbert.

Is this another case of if man or does he actually have a case? I believe he kind of has a case here this time around, but it's an if man. It's no, no, no.

We're not going if man for him, not this game. He's a perennial playoff choker. If you want to do it last year, that's fine. If you want to do it for the first time he was in the playoffs and he choked against the Jaguars, that's fine. I can't do it this game. This man,

this man got sacked six times and you want me to, you want to hold that against him. Do you see what he is? No, I will, I will say, I will say that Justin Herbert, there were probably times where he had the yips and held on to the ball a little too long if that's the direction we want to go with. You know who was sacked five times?

Drake, Mack. Drake, man. You know who also had the crap beat out of him? Drake May. Josh Allen. Oh, I won the game all by himself. But yes,

true. Drake May too. But like, listen, sometimes you're going to have the crap beat out of you, and especially in January, because you're going to face stinging your defenses. And it's the same deal every single year with Justin Herbert. Really good in the postseason in the regular season.

Can't get it done in the postseason. I mean, this is just because, like, his only achievement is dating Madison beer that's the list and then that one five thousand yard season where he didn't make the playoffs so that's for all the box score watchers out there

who are like well the stats the stats he throws a lot of touchdown passes yay we fucking idiots if I hate if man in this case this man has no old line you guys can say Josh Allen did it all himself, but he has a better O-line than what this man is working with. Do you guys see his left tackle?

Do you guys see the way McCaugh-Becton his playing? Bobby Hart is out there on the field playing actual playoff minutes, and you guys are going to look me in my eyes and say Justin Herbert is any way comparable to what he is any way comparable to the O-lines that even Drake May has or even, even Josh Allen. We're really going to do this to Josh. I'll go real quick just to further your point. I mean, Josh Yowell is getting beat up because of the way he fucking runs the ball. Yes, it has nothing to do with the passing or him being hit. It was happening in the pocket, too.

As he was throwing, it was taking hits on the hand and he was getting drilled in the chest. It was all over the place. You guys are not. He is trying when the running. I'm sure he is. No, I'm not even saying like he's trying. I'm like he is running the ball when they don't have a rushing attack. He is throwing the ball when they can't get.

He can't catch the ball and throw the ball at the same damn time. His receivers aren't getting open when they're in man. They couldn't get open against Christian Gonzalez and Carlton and Carlton Davis. They should have been able to get open. The only time they got semi open was that pass interference against Carlton Davis. Outside of that, no, nothing. They gave him nothing to do. Nothing to operative.

Amario. Amarion Hampton got injured. He couldn't go because he only played for two. two plays and then they said no can't go he's left with nothing no running attack no passing attack because no one can get open or catch when they can't when they can get open what do you want this man to do this you guys can say drake me got sacked five times you guys can say drake me was harassed in the pocket probably because he was he was but not like just in you guys see he's rolling to his left he gets his offensive line gets push back six yards

six yards in the pocket not one not two all five o linemen get pushed back like oh my they get pushed back in the pocket and he has nowhere to go and that's how the fumble happens and you guys get the ball at there 45 justin herbert doesn't deserve the abuse he is getting today i'm not calling him if man this is not fair to him when his whole team doesn't show up he showed up his team just didn't and this man is injured to Hellenbach playing with a godawful O line that has now been, this was the eighth game he got sacked four more times in the season. Give this man some damn help. What do you want from him?

Whatever. I mean, he's the most sacked quarterback in football this year. Huh? Who is one of the most sacked quarterbacks in football this year? The year one of the most because I think Ward number one. Drake May's higher. I believe he actually is, yes. I'm just saying, look, I, again, I think Justin Herbert's a good quarterback.

It's Gino Smith. Oh, I thought it was camp. I guess slowly they get better. I know that May is somewhere in the top three, top four, but look, I think Justin Herbert's a good quarterback. And I think some of his best ball is ahead of him. The fact he can't do it in the postseason. I can't get that out. I can't get it out of my head.

I can't get past it. Herbert is third and May is fourth. Okay. So they're literally the same. Okay. This man lost his all line this year and we're just going to act like, oh, okay. Well, when he had a line, he threw four picks. So what are we doing here?

Like his when his all pro line was playing at a high level or level level. last year. It was a really... We're talking about this year, Adam. We're talking about this year. Okay. Well, Justin Herbert's the same quarterback. He's the same guy.

With not the same weapons or line around him. Hey, guys, can I say my thing? Sure. I got some insight for you. I want you, if you're able to look out the window and look at the sky. I can't. It's not a bird. It's not a plane.

It's if, man. He's back. Yay! Oh my God, it's if man. Around this time every year he returns and we laugh. You see, first of all, there's one more thing. There's one thing I want to say about New England first. By the way, does this count as a real team haters?

Because all I see now are people moving the goalposts say, oh, yeah, well, the Chargers suck anyway. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, keep making excuses. The fact they won a playoff game, single-handedly puts the schedule narrative to bed. Why? Bring it back to the Chargers. But I just want to say, I forgot to say that. But for the Chargers,

Justin Herbert is the literal definition of the term. If it's not one thing, it's the other. Because do you know what this game was? Tuck, you keep bringing up the O line. I say, ah, another hypothetical win for Justin Herbert. Justin Herbert might be the greatest hypothetical quarterback of all time. Every goddamn year, it's an excuse. I'm done with excuses.

Stop being if and start becoming is. Don't tell me what if. Tell me what it is. Okay, I'm done. I mean, Josh Allen has a worse situation. Josh Allen has a much worse situation and he makes it work. I'm not doing this with you. No, no, no, no, no.

Talk, hear me out. Every year, it's the same. Oh, but the coaching. So he gets a good coach. Oh, but the receivers, they get McConkey and Quinn Johnson's able to develop hands. But the defense, they have a good defense, but the line, if you are telling me that the only way Justin Herbert can win a playoff game is to have everything go his way. I have news for you. He ain't winning shit.

Literally nothing went his way. The coaching. Yeah. They had brought home as an O-C. Every year, it's a new. excuse. No more excuses. I'm so done. That is why we call him if man, because you say anything, it's from the Chargers fans. And let me just say, before this game, all nine of them, all nine chargers fans crawled out from under their rocks, and we're talking some hangish dead online.

Now look, yeah, yeah, I'm hereby exile you all back to Under Your Rocks, you useless chuds. And let me inform you. Tuck, I really need you to understand here. Every year, it is a new excuse. It was coaching. It was receivers. Like, I don't think you understand this. No quarterback is going to have a perfect situation.

Drake May went through the ringer and delivered a clutch touchdown to Hunter Henry. Josh Allen was getting brutalized every play and had a clutch comeback win. Brock Purdy has nothing. The entire team around him is terrible. except for Christian McCaffrey. And it gets to a point where why can all these other quarterbacks do it, but Justin Herbert can't? Why can't he?

Because look, I remember, I'm old enough to remember when they had a three-score lead over the Jacksonville Jaguar and choked. I'm old enough to remember him throwing four interceptions in a game against Houston. And by the way, this game, a lot of people were saying, oh, the Patriots are soft. They were that soft, why didn't they win? Oh, also also, he had another thing going his way. We were literally talking about the stat that favors West Coast teams and primetime games on the East Coast because the jet lag wouldn't affect them as bad.

Sports Illustrated literally did a whole article about that and he couldn't even take advantage of that. I just, I'm so done. Do not ever Chargers fans all nine of you. Tell me he is a top five quarterback. And it's like, oh, but if, no, no, no, no, no, no. stop being if start being is i just i'm done if you need everything to go right then you're never going to win because adversity is part of the game i'm done with the excuses no more until you in a playoff game you will be called if man and don't you shake your head at me justin

It's just... I'm not arguing about the game... I'm not arguing. One thing, it's the other. I think we're repeating ourselves now. Like, we're running around in circles. Let's... I'm just saying, at some point, like, it's got...

Something has to get. I can't hear you... Chris, you're muted. The linesmen are coming in on this one. I think everyone's made some great points about this. I think the last thing that I'll throw in is that we are about to be, what are we in year seven, about to be in year seven for Justin Herbert.

And no playoff wins. We're going to be in year eight next year. Year eight. Exactly. That's the issue at hand here. That's the issue at hand is that we're about to be at year eight. And for a lot of other quarterbacks, that's when we say, hey. Seven, maybe seven.

Next year's year seven? Yeah. Yes. We're about to be in year seven. and at this point, you know, look at guys like Caller Murray. He hasn't gone to, or he doesn't have a playoff win yet. He's only made the playoff once. We've already established what kind of quarterback he is.

Well, we're in your, about being in year seven for Justin Herbert. We've established what kind of quarterback he is. He's, look, he's a top 10 quarterback, but once it comes to playoff time, he's just not that guy anymore. And that's, look, there's a, a lot of great quarterbacks that were great in the regular season. But that's just how it is. All right.

We're going to take a quick break. Well, for us, it's going to be a pretty long break for you guys. It'll be a quick break. When we come back, we'll get into the Monday night wildcar game, the Texans and the Steelers. This is the Fumbaruski podcast.

Always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touchdown. So one's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome back to the Full Maruski podcast. The Texans get the win against the Steelers.

30 to 6. Well, this was an ugly, ugly first half that then saw the Texans. Well, very slow third quarter as well, no points scored. And then the Texans decided, yeah, we could score on both sides of the football. That's right. 23 points in the fourth quarter, including a defensive touchdown. Boy, Texans defense showed up. Steelers' offense didn't.

Steelers' defense showed up for the majority of this game. But, you know, Aaron Rogers and the rest of them, no shows. There are no shows tonight. So obviously there's a couple different things to really speak on. I mean, what more is there to really say about Houston besides the fact that their defense is disgusting? But Nico Collins did get a head injury in the game. So that could be a little interesting for next week against the Pats. Could be.

What are we thinking about the Texans here? First things first. Congratulations to the Houston Texans. All in all, they're kind of better than their off. The defense is better than the offense at scoring points because they score 14 points on defense and the offense can barely, what, get 10?

No, no, no, 14. They 16, my fault. The point, my point is this, that defense is good. They're very good. They can generate pressure with just four people and they don't need to blitz. So they're a,

problem to deal with. And they got an opera on one side and one of, and Derek Stingley, and they have a very good corner on the other side in Carl, in Carl Lasseter. That defense is very, very hard to beat. And Aaron Rogers just felt like he was under duress the entire game. He didn't feel safe. He didn't feel comfortable. And, and he just couldn't get out, get out of the blocks early. He got the three points, but then it just became a struggle just to That defense can take more, but I swear to you, and I said it in the group said earlier, during about half time, C.J. Stroud is selling this game, and he almost sold this game because he had two fumbles lost and an interception. Against any other team, this actually might be a loss. But because the Pittsburgh Steelers are so inept on offense, they were able to escape this.

So all on all, it's a solid one, but they have a lot to clean up if they think they're going to beat the Patriots next. Oh, it's Saturday? Sunday at three. Okay. They have a lot to clean up before Sunday at three if they think they're going to win. Yeah. No, CJ Stroud played like Dick today. Yeah, CJ.

The Texans have the scariest defense in the league. We knew this coming into the playoffs. since it's just been confirmed again. They just have this 11, I don't even know what to call them, just 11 just horrifying people, just all over the ball,

just scary. Just like, picture 11 horror movie villains, put them on defense, and that's the Houston Texans. You know, the highlights, of course, include Will Anderson, De Niel Hunter, Aziz al-Berfect, I mean, Aziz Al-Shayir, I had to joke. Henry Tootelo, who's really underrated.

Not a lot of people put a lot of respect on his name there. Jalen Petrie, Kamari Lasseter, and Derek Stingley. Just absolute, just killing field that defense. And look, defense travels. Defense wins championships. But, oh, my God. that offense makes me so angry. Because I have defended C.J. Stroud for a while.

But what the hell is going on with C.J. Strauss. Why? Once again, I know I'm a broke record saying this, but I'm just going to say it again. He has not recaptured the magic of his rookie year. I really don't want to say maybe defenses have just kind of got him figured out. and he hasn't adjusted, but what else can it be? They give him receivers. They, you know, they try to get him more running backs.

I mean, I refuse to believe what he marks is bad. Some of his, I mean, you can kind of blame the O line, but he was struggling before, before Laramie Tonsel got traded. He went from, what's his name, Bobby Sloick, to Kaylee, and not. So literally like what's it going to take? That defense should be able to write C.J. Sproud off on their taxes as a dependent because he relies on them that much. As a Bats fan, I am terrified of that defense because I remember they ate Drake May alive last season in his debut. Granted that was a different team, but that defense has only gotten better.

But the offense, Nico Collins are not. I don't understand why they're just treading water. They're stuck in neutral. I mean, they're not a bad offense, but they're still underperforming. Actually, dare I even say they're a bad offense now? I just, the Texans are an incredibly frustrating team. And if they lose next week against New England, then, The leaders of the defense, you know, Anderson, Hunter, Lasseter, Stingley, et cetera,

they have to go to Domeko Ryans and say, dude, what the hell? Something has to give. Yeah. I think I'll be ready to make my definite take on C.J. Stroud next year. I'm just holding out hope at this point. Dude, I am too, but I don't know, man. On the Steelers side, basically the two most pressing points of conversation is, When will Mike Tomlin get fired and is Aaron Rogers career over?

Is this the last that we have seen of Aaron Rogers? It's possible. It could be. I'm not sure if he'll end his career on a pick six. I'm not sure. I'm not sure he'll allow that to happen. If it does, it's unfortunate, but he did have a hell of a career. As far as Mike Tomlin is concerned, they're not getting rid of him.

we already knew what was going on in the moment they won the the a fc north last sunday they're not getting rid of him mc j i can't believe i am about to say this but i i think this is the last we've seen of aaron rogers oh my i was always like no he's not gonna but The stats are one thing. And if you're a box score watcher, you're probably like, at least for this season, cumulative. You're right. Air Rogers hasn't been that bad. That's why my good friend, the eye test, says, hold up now.

He's just rickety and old. And for Rogers, there's no shame in bowing out right now. He is a first ballot Hall of Famer. He is a top five quarterback of all time. I just, I just really think there's no shame of bowing out. Ah, I have more to say about Rogers, but I'll just wait if, for if he actually retires, then because I have like this whole thing that I've been turning over in my head. But now let's go to the other issue.

Mike Tomlin, I know he's never had a losing record. That fact is not lost on me. But when people tell me he's never had a losing record, I love. like to respond with a quote from Mike Tomlin. We do not care. We do not care. It gets to a point where 9 and 8 and 10, 7, is that a losing record? No, but it's mediocre.

He is 0.7 in his last, well, seven playoff games. He has not won since 2017. Well, that was the year. It was actually a 2016 season, you know? Yep. And they only won because the Chiefs tackle Eric Fisher created a, or caused a stupid penalty. They were not going to win regardless. And before that, they barely squeaked by the Miami Dolphins without Ryan Tannahill.

I would say that Tomlin's been dancing through the raindrops. So that would imply that he has had any kind of playoff success. I don't think he's necessarily a bad coach, far from it. I just think he needs a change of scenery, kind of like with the Baltimore Ravens and John Harbaugh. I'm so, I guess I'm just done, you know, with Tomlin and his, oh, never had a losing season, never had a losing season. And I'll tell you that's a reason to keep him around if you can answer me one question.

What trophy do you get for that? What award, what award do you get for that? You don't get one. And it gets to a point where I know the whole saying for Pittsburgh is all the standard is the standard, but your standard is mediocrity. You are not, granted, you're not getting worse, but you're not progressing either. Pittsburgh is a stagnant franchise. And, yeah, Tomlin's a good coach, but at some point, you have to realize what

situation is. Ever since Ben Rothesberger retired, you've just been riding the QB carousel. And yes, I know they drafted Kenny Pickett in the first round, right? That's not lost on me, you know? But you're never going to be bad enough to land a top prospect as long as you're mediocre. I'm not advocating for tanking, but unless you move up and swing a trade, which you all know, moving into the top 10, let alone the top five costs you an arm and a leg.

Yep. So you're never going to be bad enough to get a top prospect and that's just true. And you're never going to be good enough to compete for a Super Bowl. I think it's time to move on from Tomlin. I think we said this like

literally this time last year and we're like, Steelers are in purgatory. And the only way to do that is if they tank and they just never accept the tank. All right. Wild Card weekend has come and gone. Time for the divisional round, but obviously we're not going to talk about the divisional round since we're already pretty deep into this episode,

but in terms of what we're looking at, schedule came out right after the conclusion of this game too perfectly. Buffalo and Denver at 430. The opening line for that is one and a half. points in favor of Buffalo at 8 o'clock on Saturday. San Francisco travels to Seattle. Seattle's seven and a half point favorites. And Lee kind of just said fucks San Francisco.

Let's let's have them, let's have them play the short week. Houston, New England playing at three on Sunday. Pats are three point favorites at home and the Bears and Rams will be at 630. Rams are three and a half point favorites on the road. I mean, you guys want to chime in with any thoughts on any general, very general thoughts before we wrap up? No. I just want to expand on what you said. The league is, like, actually foul for doing that to the Niners.

Like, the Niners just keep losing another pound of flesh after every game. And it's like, hey, let's have you play a short week. look, I know they probably didn't mean to do it, but I usually don't advocate for this, obviously, but I'm not going to lie. They might have to, like, talk to the league and be like, okay, like, really, really were held together by duct tape and string and you're actively screwing us over. Yeah.

That's the rules. All right. That'll do it for us today. Thank you for tuning into another Tuesday episode of the Fulmaruski podcast. new episode coming out on Friday at 8 a.m. And be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. And we also have all our episodes available on Spotify, Sprieker, Apple Podcast, IHeartRadio, Google Podcast,

and so much more. Be sure to follow our Instagram, Fulmaruski underscore podcast, keep up the pod, and the latest coverage on the NFL. Otherwise, from CJ Medeiros, Justin Tucker. I'm Chris Costich. We'll see you on Friday over and out.