The Fumblerooski Podcast - Dethroned -Ep 231 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: December 27, 2023

Ravens are the new top team in the NFL! Miami gives Dallas coal for Christmas, and the Detroit Lions clinch their division for the 1st time since 1993, and their first NFC North title in franchise history! The Chiefs ugly Christmas performance puts them in our Week 16 Bottom 3, and a preview of the playoff landscape going into the final 2 weeks of the regular season. Chris Costich and CJ Medeiros talk about all of this and more!

the Ravens taking down the 49ers on Christmas night, signifying, signifying, excuse me, that they are the best team in the league. Lions clinching the NFC North, their first NFC North title and their first division title since 1993. Miami getting the job done on Christmas Eve,

beating Dallas and keeping themselves in that number two spot, 1993 Miami getting the job done on Christmas Eve, beating Dallas and keeping themselves in that number two spot, setting up a big matchup against Baltimore next week, week 16, top three, bottom three in a review and a preview of the playoff landscape for the final two weeks of the regular season. You are listening to the FumbleRisky Podcast. And the wind comes down with a football. They're saying it's a catch. It's in.

Oh! Giggs! Sideline! Touchdown! Unbelievable! Swings it way down the field. The one catch! Sammy Watt gets for the touchdown! you are listening to the fumble risky podcast by power d8 dean radio and secret weapon consulting i'm chris kostich with me cj medeiros merry christmas happy holidays cj top three top three

gifts that you got this year or yesterday go wow i didn't expect to be put on the spot like that chris uh plan i definitely want to say i got uh a new uh some new earbuds like you know the new airpods like the new second gen airpods that was pretty neat i also got a uh new chain i'm not wearing it now. That's going back up to my home in Rhode Island. So I got a little mic on it. It's Italian silver. And I might out myself as a bit of a nerd with the new Avengers Tower Lego set. That's pretty sweet.

Nothing nerdy about that. We did a Secret Santa last week, and my buddy got my other buddy a Star Wars wars clone wars lego set hey i messed with it wait so what's your top three then my top three i got a lot of good gifts this year so it's kind of my girlfriend did get me a pair of shoes my parents got me a new pair of moccasins um i got this sweatshirt but i was with my mom when she got the sweatshirt. What else? I'm trying to think what else I got. Yeah, just to keep it short,

I would say those are my top three. Yeah, same. Once again, good holidays all around. There was nothing really to complain about at all. But with that being said, we'll move into the, the game of the was supposed to be the game of the night game of the weekend, Christmas night, everyone's settled down. Maybe you're having another holiday party or you're at another family holiday party and you sit down to watch the Monday night football game between the Ravens and the 49ers, the two

best teams in the league. What we thought was going to be a potential game of the year ended up being the complete opposite. The Ravens beating the 49ers 33-19. And the scoreboard doesn't really show how badly the Ravens beat up on the Niners. Brock Purdy with four interceptions. Ended up getting knocked out of the game. Sam Darnold had to finish the rest of the game out.

Brock Purdy, 18-32, 255 yards, no touchdowns, four interceptions. I will say two of them weren't necessarily his fault. One of them was Purdy getting hit on the throw. Another one, well, there was another one that was deflected that I will say was his fault. I think it was the screen or the quick slant that got deflected but uh total QBR for Brock Purdy 8.0 and for the Ravens side well quickly back to

the Niner side McCaffrey 14 carries under three yards and a touchdown George Kittle seven catches 126 yards uh Brandon Ayuk, six catches, 113 yards. There's still a lot of... Sorry, I clicked the wrong... My mic. There's still a lot of good performances on the Niners' side, but in general, the Ravens just took over. Lamar Jackson, 23 for 35, 252 yards, two touchdowns. The running game, he also led in rushing as well,

45 yards on seven carries. Up until around the fourth quarter, Justice Hill and Gus Edwards didn't have more than 10 yards rushing. Zay Flowers, nine catches, 72 yards and a touchdown. This defense, the Ravens defense showed up. That's all it really was. They made plays happen in the Baltimore Ravens offense, got the job done, capitalizing on what the defense was doing.

And at that point, can you really blame the Niners defense for giving up that much considering that their offense wasn't really doing a whole lot to help them yeah I did not see this coming I I really really didn't Brock Purdy took a massive step back like you said four picks that is unheard of in general let alone for a quarterback who's supposedly top 10. And I will give credit where it's due. The Baltimore Ravens came to play. They went in to enemy territory and they completely shut down the Niners.

I mean, McCaffrey had a good game. I think IU did decently enough, but it just wasn't enough. And if you're the Niners, some bad news might be on the horizon because your quarterback brock purdy got injured in that game he got an elbow stinger which is his second one in these past two weeks and you're definitely a team that's gonna rely on health for the playoffs and as for the ravens this has got to cement them atop the afc no i mean yeah you got miami yeah maybe buffalo i guess never mind top of the afc you got to consider on top of the nfl because originally i wasn't going to say the niners are number one but no no and for the record even after the loss i will

still take the niners over philly i'll still take them over dallas and i'll still take them over to troy but the ravens just beat the number one. I'm sorry, Ravens, you're the new number one. And with that does carry the burden of, since you're the new number one teams are going to play that much harder against you. You now have a target on your back, but you've shown that you can handle it. You're a top the AFC. You're atop the NFL. And the Ravens had to be the biggest winner over this weekend. Just one step closer to securing that coveted playoff week one bye. Yeah, and obviously everyone's main concern is obviously going to be how Baltimore performs in the playoffs because Lamar doesn't have a great track record in the playoffs.

And the last time the Ravens had the one seed was when the Titans made that shoot or. Yeah, it was. No, they weren't. No, the Ravens weren't the one seed that year. They were the two seed. But one of the last times. Did the Ravens beat't the one seed that year. They were the two seed. Were the Titans beat them too or no? I said, but didn't the Ravens beat them as well or no?

Who? The Titans? The Titans, yeah. Well, that was the COVID year. Okay. But the year that the Titans went on that huge run to the AFC title, the Ravens were a top two seed, I'm pretty sure. Yeah. Yeah, they were. Because that was...

Or no. Geez, now I'm confusing myself. My point is, we do know at some point the Titans beat them, and we do know Lamar was good, and when he was MVP, they did go one and done in the playoffs. That is the main point.

Anyways. One of the main graphics that i thought was very telling though was the difference between lamar and brock purdy in terms of facing those uh out of conference teams right so everyone knows lamar against nfc teams is unreal he's now 20 and one against NFC teams. The only loss was against the giants last year. And in the case of Brock Purdy coming into the game against AFC teams, three and two and 11 to nine touchdown to interception ratio. Do the math. Now he's three and three, 11 to 13 touchdown to interception ratio. Do the math. Now he's three and three, 11 to 13 touchdown to interception ratio.

It's not, not good. Not good. Yeah, no, no, it's really not. I mean,

at the end of the day, it's like, I mean, I know he's young, but if he is their QB one, like they claim he is, he's just got to be better. These are the games that separate the men from the boys. And look, I'll grant you he's in the middle of his second year.

And in a way, he's still kind of easing in because he was literally Mr. Irrelevant last year and got the QB1 job. And he's still on a rookie deal. So, so, you know, like I said, I'll give him like, I'll give him some benefit of the doubt,

but with all the weapons you have, I would have expected to at least cut down on the interceptions in that game alone. Yeah, exactly. And sorry, I was going to say, but I do want to give a lot of credit though,

to the Ravens. That defense now is unreal. I thought there were a few years off, but no, no, they're here. And I will reiterate that. I like them over pretty much every other team right now.

Yeah. And one of the big things, you know, they got four sacks total. They got nine quarterback hits in that game. And last night's game, they're just, they're all sacks total. They got nine quarterback hits in that game in last night's game. They're just they're all over the place. It it just seemed like Brock Purdy was so out of his element making the Ravens were baiting him into so many bad throws. It was unreal.

And at that point, the name of the game really was that the Ravens defense showed up and made Brock Purdy look like he looked like Mr. Irrelevant. Hmm. Yeah, you're right. And let's also not forget, as much as the 49ers disappointed us, as much as Brock Purdy may have disappointed us, we got to remember one thing. Brock Purdy doesn't play defense yeah what oh yeah 100 that 49ers defense led by emerging guys like trevarius ward and ambry thomas uh you know you have i have like some well-known pieces like fred warner Turner, Javon Hargrave, Nick Bosa, Chase Young. And now I just, I was shocked that the Ravens were able to move the ball that easily there. And I think what I said from the last episode came to

fruition about if you want to beat the Niners, you have to air it out. And that's just what he did. I mean, granted, there were a lot of screens, there were a lot of slants but either way these quick little dinks and dunks I don't know why the Niners just couldn't defend it it was like quick dump off of the receiver he knifes up the field for like right through the gut of the defense for a 10-yard gain for suppose the top 10 defense you cannot let that happen. Yeah. Yeah, they made Lamar. When Lamar was scrambling on him, they made Lamar look like 2019 MVP Lamar. That's how he was running around.

And it's not like they were getting to him either. They only hit him four times. They couldn't get into the backfield at all. They did get two sacks. But how good the defense is, you would have expected them to make more plays in general right only three pass deflections they couldn't force a single turnover yeah and that's the part for me that's insane because who does lamar really mar really have to throw to i mean zay flowers has been great as a rookie but mark andrews is

hurt is he not he's hurt isaiah like yeah he's i mean isaiah likely is okay uh rashad baitman's all okay uh nelson agalor is one is basically a wanted man in new england and philadelphia so i don't know so he's doing this without a real like top flight wide receiver one although i think zay flowers can develop into that but to do that with rookies a flowers is truly impressive i mean they're basically treating zay Flowers like a number one. He got 13 targets last night. Nine catches on 13 targets. Rightfully so.

You know, how much blame can you really put on the 49ers, though? Because a lot because all those turnovers granted, like the one good play that the 49ers had was the opening drive where they got the sack on Lamar. And they basically got lucky that the ref ended up tripping over himself and falling in front of Lamar to help with the safety, force the intentional ground and get the safety. But other than that, the Niners' offense didn't really help them out at all. All the turnovers basically gave the Ravens a short field.

The Niners were moving the ball, but all those turnovers were in their own end. They weren't in the Baltimore end where the Ravens then had to drive back down the field. They had a short field to work with, and the Ravens offense were able to capitalize on it. Now, point being, 49ers defense should be able to do a job with how good the defense is. They should be able to help themselves out and make the offense's mistakes not be that costly. But, you know, when it happens so many times, you can only do it so many times yeah i mean you'd think that but at the end of the day it's just for a defense that's supposedly top 10 you can't let that happen and i know that the niners offense was hemorrhaging turnovers but but the thing is it's just lomar ran all over them as soon as he got you know as soon as he uh got out of the pocket the niners defense just collapsed you know like

they just fell all over each other like two drunkards having a fight like what i i'm just disappointed i guess is the word. Yeah, I will. I'm going to give the quote that Tuck texted us before we move on. The Ravens are the best team in the NFL. We're running on all cylinders. Our defense is elite. We need to have a serious conversation about the MVP and an interesting game against the Dolphins coming up.

We'll be talking about that Ravens-Dolphins game later on. We'll take a quick break. When we come back, we'll discuss the Lions winning the NFC North. You're listening to the Fulmer-Ruski Podcast. Here's Edelman broken up and the pass is no sign yet. Edelman comes down with a football and they're saying it's a catch. It's caught! It's a catch! Side-line!

Touchdown! Unbelievable! Swings it way down the field to Watkins! Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! You're listening to the FumbleRisky Podcast. Chris Kostich, CJ Medeiros, Lions winning the NFC North for the first time in franchise history. Their first division title since 1993. So they will have their first home playoff game since 1993.

And the way that things are shaping up right now, they could be playing Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams in that wildcard game. They were able to beat the Vikings on Sunday. Yeah. They were able to beat the vikings on sunday on a foreseeing four turnovers off of nick mullins jared goff 30 for 40 257 yards jameer gives 15 carries 80 yards two touchdowns amonra saint brown 12 catches 106 yards and one touchdown. And the Lions, that looks like a game that they were about to blow.

Let's be real. That last drive, they had the Vikings on third and 26. And all of a sudden, you see Jettas just jump out of the building and double coverage and make a spectacular play to get the first down. Much like what we saw last year against Buffalo. Very similar play as last year in Buffalo. But at the end of the day, they were able to get the job done. Like I said, four interceptions off of Nick Mullins.

No fumble recoveries. That was the only... There were some fumbles here and there, but in general, just four interceptions. Kirby Joseph with two interceptions on the day. Yeah. It wasn't the greatest win in the world. I mean, they did have a two possession lead at one point,

but the bike, but the, it was just the fact that the lions kind of just let the Vikings back in the game and give them a chance to even score at that point. Cause that huge play by Jettas was able to, they were able to, the Vikings were able to rattle off a couple more plays, big plays down the field to set themselves up.

And really really if it wasn't for nick mullins throwing an absolute duck to jeddas that was slow and behind him for the interception then we could be having a much different discussion today yeah so first i want to give all the props to Detroit. You are the kings of your castle for the first time since 1993. A lot of people, I just think, don't quite get how long ago that was. That's 30 years ago. Bill Clinton was president.

We did not have smartphones. You know what I mean? Like this is long time. Wow. Long time. I mean, I just, for example,

one of the best players in your franchise's history, Calvin Johnson was drafted, retired and inducted into the hall of fame before you won your division i mean i'm not dunking on the lions it's just been this long and i am proud of them jared goff is a good quarterback dan campbell is a good coach and they have some really solid pieces but that vikings game oh that's in that something because the Lions are good but they're not great and something that worries me is if they stay in the three seed which I suspect they will because I don't think they'll stoop down to whatever level of play is happening in the NFC

South no they won't yeah I didn't think so but if they play the rams the biggest weakness i think for the lions is their secondary yeah and what happens when you're going up against cooper cup and puka nakua and on top of that even if you do lock them up they have kyron williams on the ground you know kind of keep the defense honest and Matt Stafford is a is a Super Bowl champ and uh and a real like longtime veteran who according to some is in the Hall of Fame conversation I disagree but that's another topic for another day I just something about the Lions just screams not ready. Maybe it's because they're young. Maybe it's just because I'm not sold on the secondary. But I do think that their ceiling is divisional round.

I do. That's what I think is going to happen because I don't think they're going to beat Philly or Dallas or San fran but that's just me oh by the way we're gonna find out because they're gonna be in dallas are they not like this week they're going to be in dallas um give me a sec pulling up the schedule yeah they are in dallas for monday night football and let me just say the only way they would ever beat dallas is if it's in detroit Give me a sec. Pulling up the schedule. They are in Dallas for Monday Night Football. Let me just say, the only way they would ever beat Dallas is if it's in Detroit because Dallas is abysmal on the road.

Or Saturday night. Yeah, but spoiler alert, we'll get to that later. I don't know anymore. I just – I'm rooting for Detroit. I am. I'm happy that they have success but oh my god i just don't see them getting past round two because even still the rams are catching heat or have got the lightning in the bottle there at just the right time

i just the lions are very fragile in the way that the defense operates. And here's the thing. You let the Vikings back into the game. They almost came back and won. You almost blew that lead. And you got four interceptions off Nick Mullins. Not to mention that Detroit had a slow start to begin with, with Jared Goff really not heating up until the second half. Those mistakes will kill you in the playoffs,

and I am confident they can work through it, but the playoffs is not the time to be working through these really bad issues. Overall, maybe I'm overreacting but detroit enjoy your win but 24-hour rule there's still some season left to be played yeah and there's been a lot of stats that have been coming out recently about the way that jared goff plays in indoor settings compared to the outdoor settings and boy it's a dramatic, dramatic difference. Like Jared Goff's at like take his touchdown to interception ratio. For example, outdoors versus indoors, indoors 2.5 touchdowns to less than one interception.

Oh, by the way, Chris. So we were just talking about the Vikings, right? Did you hear what just happened with them? Oh, TJ Hockington? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. TJ Hockington tore into ACL and MCL. Yeah, and since the Vikings are technically in the playoff hunt,

that could kill them down the stretch. That could be the final blow, but that's either here or there. Continue. That can be something we could talk about later on when we talk about uh playoff landscape um anyways so jared goff takes touchdown interception ratio for outdoors or excuse me indoors indoor touchdown interception Indoors, 1.5 to over 2. It's not good. Not good.

And the yard differential is there as well. It's a concern. And if you look, you know, if they can somehow catch a couple losses from the 49ers and Eagles, because right now they're in that third seed and there are three teams at 11 four. It's the Niners, Eagles and lions. If they can somehow find a way to get the Eagles and 49ers to catch two

losses in the next two weeks, then the outdoor indoor conversation will not matter. But like you said, that secondary is just, that secondary is just so suspect. It's, it's not good. There's been so many times where lines should be blowing a team out of the

water and their secondary just keeps teams in games. Like the secondary kept the Chargers in the game. The same secondary led up over 30 points to the Baltimore Ravens. The defense is going to be the downfall of the Detroit Lions, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were... You said that you don't see them making it past the second round. I wouldn't be surprised if they don you said that you don't see them uh making it past the second round i wouldn't be surprised that's their stealing i don't i wouldn't be surprised if they don't make it out of the first round if they were to face the rams no that wouldn't shock me

either just because of the firepower the rams have on offense and i don't see them making that many mistakes. Exactly. But moving on, the Dolphins putting Cole in Dallas' stocking. Battle of the two seeds. It was funny. We had the battle of the two number one teams in the conference and the two

number two teams in each conference battled it out as well. The Dallas and Miami playing on Christmas Eve. And this one came down to a last minute field or last second field goal from Miami to get the win, keep themselves in that two spot and put themselves in a real good spot to go and face Baltimore next week as well. Just reading off some stats real quick to a 24 for 37,

293 yards and a touchdown where he most are surprisingly no touchdowns leading the league in touchdowns. Excuse me, leading the league in touchdowns. Didn't. Leading the league in touchdowns. Didn't score a single one. Tyreek Hill, nine catches, 99 yards. Jalen Waddell, only one catch, but it was a 50-yard catch. Dallas side.

Dak Prescott, 20 for 32, two touchdowns. Sacked four times. Another thing. Tua got sacked only once. Tony Pollard, no touchdowns, 12 carries, 38 yards. Actually should have had a touchdown, but I don't know what he was doing. But Tony Pollard is proving that for, I don't know, maybe we should have a conversation that Tony Pollard shouldn't be a main back

and that really all of the success was from him. Sharing carries with Zeke. Maybe that's a conversation we could start. CD lamb, six catches, 118 yards and one touchdown. Huh? I just,

I'm trying to think here. I, there's just, I'm trying to think here. I, there's just, I'm trying to put together two words, but it's just Dallas. It just seems to be the name Dallas game for them. Yeah. I know their old saying, you know, you are what your record says you are, but we can no longer ignore the absolute just embarrassments they face on the road. We can't ignore how terrible they are on the road. And here's the thing, Dallas, I know that your fan base fancies you a Super Bowl contender, i got some news for you you very well could go on the road for the playoffs and guess what super bowl's not going to be in your stadium so if you

don't shape up on the road and if some and if philly has philly surpassed them for the division lead? Yeah. I would not put it past Dallas to be favored, right? In the wild card round of the playoffs, go on the road and lose. I genuinely, even if it's to like an NFC South team, I would expect them to win, but you can never count that out just because they're awful on the road. And the sad thing is that's not a joke.

That's reality. Yeah, right now they're slated. If the season were to end today, then they would be going to Tampa Bay for the wild card game. It's just, this is just the same story over and over again. You know, it's Dallas comes out and just works the Eagles out of AT&T Stadium. And for some reason, this is also the same Dallas team that gets blown out by 30 against the Niners. And they lose by one to Miami. They barely beat Seattle in a game that shouldn't have been a shootout and it was a shootout. They're handed the keys to the division

and now they're blowing it all of a sudden. What else are you supposed to expect from this Dallas team at this point? They get on these huge runs and everyone's like, what else are you supposed to expect from this Dallas team at this point? You know, it's, you know, they get on these huge runs and everyone's like, Oh, this could be the year that they actually make a run at the title. It's the next week. It's like,

Oh, there's same old Dallas again. They're same old Dallas again. Like in the difference here is that like Dak isn't even like committing a ton of turnovers either. Like the Buffalo game is a different story. The Miami game, he only had one fumble,

but he had no interceptions. He was still doing a pretty solid job on offense. It. I'm just going to say that this was, I said this when Dallas lost the Eagles the first time this year. And I think it's just that case that this is just more of a Dallas thing than it was that you can blame Dak for. But at the end of the day, too, like Miami got the job done,

drove down the field, got the field goal. Their first win over a team over 500 in over a year and a half. I forget what the actual stat is, but they finally got a win against a team over 500 in over a year and a half. Since the 2021 season, I think. Yeah. Also, the thing with Dallasallas and uh dac prescott right it's just that you the cowboys this is one of dac's better years you know what i mean yeah i mean it is it's better than last year there's only two years which i would argue could be considered better,

and that would be 2021 and maybe 2019. Actually, yeah, 2019, 2021. But you're wasting it. The year where he's not fumbling everywhere, the one year where he's not throwing turnover after turnover, he's tied with his career-high impasse you are and yet you can't get it done on the road and i've been very vocal about it on the show but how much this falls on the feet of mccarthy i i feel like it has to at that point this this has been a discussion that adam and i happening that with the with the cowboys

and it's happened with the packers you know what i mean this is always what happened to green bay they'd be good and then every year they can never seal the deal he had one fluke super bowl win with aaron rogers carrying him and then he got fired because they just they were always good but not good enough and that's what's happening in dallas he is literally to use a basketball uh coach here he's the nfl version of doc rivers yeah and it's just i i know with that record it's unlikely, but Dallas, I think, should at least weigh their options if somehow they are one and done. If they, for another year, get bounced out round one or even round two, I would say anything short of an NFC championship game appearance, I'm calling it a disappointment. If you get bounced out, especially round one, then I'm not going to say what you should do, but consider your options.

Like we've seen so many, we've seen so many teams in the past that have wasted MVP years. I mean, we've seen it from the Patriots where, where Tom Brady has an MVP year and they get bounced in the divisional round and they don't make a deep run, but that's a different story because Brady was making it to the playoff or making deep runs in the divisional round, and they don't make a deep run. But that's a different story because Brady was making it to the playoff or making deep runs in the playoffs every single year, making it to the Super Bowl. So that's a different case. But for this one, it's just like they're not –

this Dallas team hasn't been successful since the 90s. You know, they've, what, only two playoff wins since 94 or whatever it is? Three playoff wins maybe? Something like that. I don't have that in front of me. But this isn't a successful team, and McCarthy hasn't really done anything to help their case either. There's been time and time again where McCarthy has been at the forefront

of blunder after blunder. Now, you know, another case you can make here is that, well, has been at the forefront of blunder after blunder. Now, you know, another case you can make here is that, well, at least Dallas didn't get blown out by one of the top teams in the league, which has been the case for multiple games this year. Now, Bills, obviously, they're not really a top team in the league, but the way that they're playing, they're really acting like it. They got blown out last week by the bills earlier this year.

They got embarrassed by San Francisco, both of those being road games, by the way, to kind of go back on that road game topic. But like you said, it's wouldn't be surprised if they don't make a deep run. But this is a team that should be making an NFC championship run. But looks like their fate is just going to be losing in San Francisco once again. It could very well happen and as for miami they're another team that's just weird

yeah that's miami's another one that's you don't really know which team you're gonna get i mean miami at least gets a job done for the most part against the bad teams the titans game is one was one of those games that any given Sunday, I'm not going to really go too deep into that. But at least Miami just can get the job done, where it's Dallas where you don't know if they will get the job done at that point. Yeah, and like I said, if there's a game in the playoffs, which there inevitably will be, that you have to play on the road,

there should be a level of fear. Yeah. Oh, yeah. We'll take a quick break. When we come back, we'll get into the Week 16 Top 3, Bottom 3. A lot of good games from this past week. A lot of good teams. But that's after this break. You're listening to the Fumble Rooski Podcast. There's Edelman broken up and the pass is no sign yet.

Edelman comes down with a football and they're saying it's a catch. It's a catch. It's a catch. Sideline. Touchdown. Unbelievable. Slings it way down the field to Watkins. Sammy Watkins for the touchdown!

You are listening to the Fumble Rooski Podcast by Power 88 Dean Radio and Secret Weapon Consulting. Chris Kostich, TJ Medeiros. Go to the Week 16 top three, bottom three. So we'll start with the top, with the top three.

This one's all three of these top three teams are pretty obvious. And they're all three teams that we just talked about. So top three Ravens bullying the 49ers. They made pretty thorough for interceptions. They made them look like Mr. Mr. Irrelevant. Someone say, yeah, Mr.

Earl. Oh my Lord. I'm just going to stop. I'm just going to stop. Mr. Irrelevant. Boom. All right.

Made him throw four interceptions, and they have solidified them as the best team in the NFL. And it wasn't like they were just getting interceptions. They were hitting Purdy as much as they possibly could. They were getting to Purdy. Dolphins. Big win. Set up a huge game against Baltimore next week.

And it's really just because they beat Dallas at that point in the way they were able to come back, get the job done. Especially since their last primetime game, they ended up blowing a two-score lead to Tennessee to lose on Monday Night Football. Last team on the top three, the Lions. Winning the division title for the first time since 1993. Obviously, we're saying that there's the concerns with how the game against the Vikings ended.

But you know, at the end of the day, it is a divisional game. So anything can happen in those divisional games. But it's just the fact that they were able to finally win the NFC North for the first time. First division title since 1993. those divisional games, but it's just the fact that they were able to finally win the NFC North for the first time, first division title since 1993. And that's the thing. That's the thing. It's been so long that the Lions had won a division title that the divisions got realigned

into what we have today. Your thoughts, CJ? Well, I'm inclined to agree. I will admit to you that I am inclined to agree on that, especially with the Ravens and Miami and the Lions. Those are pretty good. Yeah. Some other ones that we could have probably mentioned,

the Steelers winning with Mason Rudolph. Oh, yeah, that. But I would give them higher marks than Joe Burrow, but Jake Browning's not terrible. Jake, just for the way that Browning has been playing, and Browning's still at over 300 yards, but he also had three interceptions, and most of those yards ended up coming in garbage time.

And you know how I feel about garbage time yards. They don't count. Yep. Cleveland's another one winning 36-22. Granted, they did beat Davis Mills and Case Keenum, so that's not – but it's just the sense that Cleveland's just on this magical run. You just...

Every week is just a new surprise, especially considering that they handled the Texans by 14. The Buccaneers... A lot of those points were garbage time, by the way. Because I watched that game.

Joe Flacco still has a little tiny bit of rust because he does throw a mean interception. But if he can cut down on those, then perhaps the Browns could be a trap game in the playoffs. Yep. Buccaneers is another one beating the Jaguars. Jaguars are just I'm

going to talk about them in a second anyways. Yep. So moving on to the bottom three, the Chiefs. That offense just looked so slow. I don't know if they had too much eggnog the night before or something, but they let the Raiders

embarrass them. Just straight up embarrass them. Back-to-back plays where they let up a defensive touchdown. And that's the thing, is that if it weren't for those two defensive touchdowns, because the Chiefs defense still did a job, right?

The Raiders, this is bad the that the Raiders did not complete a single pass since the after the first quarter of that game did not complete one pass and they still won and on top of that too you had the play of Jack Jones Getting the pick six off Mahomes Staring Mahomes down And then proceeding to go to the stands Act like he's giving a kid a football And just taking it right away Acting like the Grinch

Saying nah this is my Christmas present Blood This is mine Yeah Yeah that was something to watch wasn't it This is my Christmas present, blood. This is mine. Yeah. Yeah, that was something to watch, wasn't it? Yeah. Unreal.

That Raiders defense was standing on business. I just... Oh, never mind. I'll give my thoughts when you're done with yours. Okay. The Jaguars. This team is just in shambles right now. I don't know if Trevor Lawrence just got back from his injury too soon, but you know, not no Christian Kirk. Zay Jones even play. Don't even think he did,

but just going to check real quick. Zay, no Zay Jones, no Christian Kirk. Your leading receiver was Evan Ingram. Travis Etienne had 12 yards on the ground. They had 37 yards of rushing total. Trevor Lawrence threw two interceptions. This team is in a bad, bad spot right now. And the last team on the bottom three, the Colts.

Lost 29-10 to the Falcons. This is a Colts defense that has been a highlight. Acting like a top five defense for the last six weeks. And they let a Falcons offense that doesn't know how to use their weapons put up almost 30 points on them. It just makes you think that, it just makes you question how realistic the Colts wildcard chances are. Huh. the Colts wildcard chances are. Yeah.

The thing with Indy is that the deck was stacked against them, you know, ever since they lost Richardson and full disclosure, you can't blame the head coach, Shane Steichen one bit. He's making the best out of bad situation. It's really a rude awakening for his first season in the nfl but the colts i feel like a lot of their playoff chances went out the window with anthony

richardson and i come to be back next year but that they show that they can overperform and then there's the jaguars for those of you keeping track at home, I believe the Jaguars have lost four straight. Plain and simple, Trevor Lawrence is hurt. You know, and the AFC South is just a mess right now. CJ Stroud is hurt. Anthony Richardson's hurt. Trevor Lawrence is battling injuries. and it might be time. Honestly, I think missing the playoffs might not be the worst thing for Jacksonville. It really wouldn't. I'm not saying punt the year, but Trevor Lawrence is showing that he's still hurt,

and you don't want to make a guy who you spent the first overall pick on have such an injury. Or, I mean, just worse than such an injury, or I mean, you're just worse than such an injury. You don't want them to play through that. And then there's the chiefs. I don't think enough people understand how bad this loss was. A lot of people really don't. The Raiders did not complete a pass after the first quarter.

Aiden O'Connell, the quarterback, threw for like what, 62 yards? And they didn't score any offensive touchdowns. Yeah. 20-14 was your final score. Yeah, O'Connell only had 62 yards. Like I said, all nine of his completion came in the first quarter. Yeah. The Chiefs, you deserve to lose that one.

If you can't beat a team that can't get into the end zone, then I just don't know. This is the most vulnerable they've looked since Mahomes has gotten there. And let me tell you something. Everybody says that the Bears should have drafted Mahomes. I just want to make this quick side note that if the Bears did draft Mahomes, this would be kind of the Mahomes we'd see. This man has no help in Kansas City. And even if you're Patrick Mahomes, we've said before that a game-breaking wide receiver one is needed. This is why. If Mahomes can't do it without one, then what?

I mean, there's doing more with less. Then there's just trying to do anything with nothing. And the Chiefs are 9-6. That speaks for itself. Yeah, you know, we can bash on the Chiefs receivers all we want, but even watching that game, it wasn't like Mahomes was helping himself out at all. He wasn't, like, yeah, he was doing Mahomes things,

but just some of the throws were just, like, Mahomes is throwing this ball? What? Like for some reason, ESPN has him only throwing one interception. He threw two interceptions. He threw two interceptions. Let's not get that. Let's get that one straight. And he is currently on track to throw 16 interceptions total this year.

So they're expecting him to throw at least two more in the next two weeks. Oh, just bad. Anything else you want to end on before we head to the landscape? No, no, I agree with

you for the most part. That's pretty good. All right. Our last segment on the show, we're going to look at the playoff landscape. There's two weeks left in the NFL season. About to go into week 17, and some division winners, but a lot of spots that are open in each conference,

especially AFC. There are no division winners so far in the AFC. So read out the top seven in the AFC real quick. It's the Ravens at 12 and three dolphins at 11 and four, the chiefs Jaguars. And then the wildcard spots are held by the Browns, Bills, and Colts. And there are five teams that are still in the hunt

for a playoff spot. The Texans, Steelers, Bengals, Raiders, and Broncos. And everyone in that wildcard spot, besides the Browns, are within two games of each other. Now, granted, the Browns could definitely lose the next two and be eliminated from the playoffs, but the way they're playing right now doesn't seem so. You got the Ravens and Dolphins playing this week.

And if the Dolphins lose and the Bills win this week, then we will have an AFC's title game on week 18 in Miami. If the Ravens win, they clinch the AFC North. If they lose, that sets up an AFC North title game, potential AFC North title game in Baltimore in week 18. If the Jaguars, if the Jaguars, Colts and Texans somehow all went out or I'm going to have to check the schedules real quick. Jaguars play the Panthers and the Titans, so they will not be playing the Texans and the Colts anymore. The Colts, lo and behold, will be playing the Texans on January 7th.

So if we see a Jaguars loss and the Colts and Texans can both pick up a win next week, then lo and behold, we will be seeing an AFC South title game between the Colts and the Texans. Potentially. But currently Jacksonville wins the tiebreak over the Colts and Houston based on head-to-head win percentage. Yeah. Let me tell you some all things considered this afc is truly something that is up for grabs even the one seed and i fully expect this division to go down to the wire like week 18

and it's just no one feels safe and even though it's a lot more competitive than the nfc it's literally just like a real murderer's row i just i i don't know i think it's going to be the ravens that come out on top but there's no team that i am 100 sold on to say oh yeah that's our eventual super bowl champs right there i mean the ravens are the best team in the league but things change fast especially this season yeah it it's just weird how you know in past years we have seen by this time where we have at least two teams from each each conference that uh have clinched the division title and in the case of the AFC, there's no one that's clinched a division yet. Whereas the NFC, two teams have clinched the division, a third or two others that are still very much up for grabs. You just don't really see that, or in the past,

you haven't really seen this as often. But granted, this NFL season has been a weird one, to say the least. Tom Brady was right when he said there was a lot of mediocrity. And the NFC, I still think the Niners are going to hold on there despite the loss. But the NFC East is going to be interesting to see how that kind of shakes out between Philly and Dallas. And then there's the tire fire that is the NFC South, where I expect Tampa to come away with it. And the wild cards right now, that's anyone's guess.

Yeah, it's both sides. Someone has to get that 6-7 seed, you know. And going through the playoff picture for the NFC right now, 49ers are in the one spot with the Eagles and Lions in the two and three. 49ers are in the one spot because they win the tiebreak over Philly and Detroit based on best win percentage in conference games. And if Dallas finds their way in there, then 49ers are still going to have the one seed

because of their win over Dallas and the conference record as well. Eagles win the tiebreaker over Detroit based on strength of victory because they're both tied for conference record at 7-3. Buccaneers are in the four spot. Dallas in the five spot. Rams are in the six. Seattle's in seven. Rams have the tie break over Seattle based on head-to-head wins.

And then in the hunt, Vikings, Falcons, Packers, Saints, and the Bears. Bears are 6-9. And they are two games out of that 6-7 spot. Yeah, the Bears are a team that I don't see getting it. I think the Rams and the Cowboys are going to clinch the playoffs to some capacity. But the seventh seed, oh, man, that's going to be weird. Yeah.

I'm thinking that the Seahawks are going to lock up the seventh seed next week. It's a little more clear than the AFC, but yeah, but a lot more top heavy. Very true. The NFC definitely is more top heavy. Whereas the AFC seems like anyone could get out of the AFC, but they would be getting out of the AFC beat into hell basically. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, there's some other stuff to note too. The Vikings do end up making it. They had the tiebreak over Atlanta. The vision tiebreak was initially used to eliminate Green Bay.

Atlanta has a tiebreak over Green Bay. Green Bay has a tiebreak over Green Bay. Green Bay has a tiebreak over New Orleans. So that's why those three are where they are. Yeah, it's. And for the 49ers, too, they'll probably end up staying in that one spot. They have the commanders next week on New Year's Eve. Then they have the Rams on January 7th. So they'll probably end up staying in the seventh seat on this or the first

seat. Excuse me. Actually, if they win next week, they would pretty sure they would win or clinch the first round by. And say the 49ers win, Eagles lose, and Lions lose. Then they would clinch the conference, no? I think, yeah. Because, yeah.

They would just have to win next week and for a couple of teams to lose and they clinched the conference. So that Rams game could just not matter at all. I mean, it matters for the Rams, but for the 49ers case, it wouldn't matter for them, but something to definitely keep note of is the Eagles and the Cowboys.

Um, I said NFC East title game, but they already played each other. But for the Eagles, they have the Cardinals and then the Giants to round out their season. The Cowboys. The Cowboys have the Lions and the Commanders. They have the Lions at home, and they have the Commanders on the road. I could definitely see the Cowboys getting a road win there. For the Bucs, looking at the NFC South, the Buccaneers have the Saints and the Panthers.

And the Saints, or excuse me, the Falcons, since that's the next team up. Saints have the Bears and the Saints. And the Saints, besides playing the Falcons and the Buccaneers, or they do play the Falcons and the Buccaneers. Excuse me. So there's your playoff landscape. It's going to be a wild final two weeks of the regular season, to say the least. Yeah, and like I said,

especially the AFC, that's going down to the wire. NFC is a little more clear cut, but a lot can still happen, especially in the NFC East and South. Yeah. CJ, anything you want to touch on before we end the show? Nope.

All right. That'll do it for us tonight. Thank you for listening. We have new episodes coming out on Tuesdays at 730 p.m. Eastern Standard and Friday at 5 p.m. Eastern Standard. Be sure to. PM. Eastern standard. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We also have all our episodes available on Spotify,

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Ruski pod to keep up with our podcast and the latest coverage on the NFL. Otherwise, from myself, Chris Kostic, and CJ Medeiros, happy holidays, Merry Christmas, and have a wonderful rest of your week. We will see you on Friday. Over and out.