The Fumblerooski Podcast - Full Circle -Ep 235 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: January 9, 2024

Coaching to blame for Jacksonville's 2023 woes? How does Dallas avoid another playoff letdown? How much can the Browns lean on Joe Flacco? Is Rams @ Lions the most storied Wild Card matchup ever? Why would Vrabel to the Patriots be considered a lock? Do the banged-up Eagles have another run in them? Adam Wright and CJ Medeiros host special guest Nate Sloat to discuss these topics and more!

ladies and gentlemen the playoffs are here we will be going over our most anticipated matchups we're going to go over the fallout of black monday and some of the head coaching vacancies we are also going to talk about our top three bottom three but first we're going to talk about teams that missed the playoffs that probably shouldn't have you're not going to want to miss that this is the Fumble Rooski Podcast. This is no sign yet. Hamilton comes down with a football. They're saying it's a catch. It's a catch. Oh!

To Gates! Side-line! Touchdown! Unbelievable! Swings it way down the field to Watkins! Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! Good evening, you are listening to the Fumble Rooski Podcast, brought to you by Power 88 Dean Radio and Secret Web Consulting. I am your host, CJ Medeiros, With me is my good friend and co-host,

Adam Wright. And like I said, the playoffs are here. Or in the words of the immortal Jim Mora, the playoffs? I kid, I kid. So like I said, we're going to go over where we're going to start with teams that missed the playoffs. We're going to talk about some of the most anticipated matchups. We're going to touch on some head coaching vacancies. And of course, we have the top three, bottom three, and our Fumble Rooski fan box. But first, I would like to turn our attention to our very special guest, Nate Sloat. So Nate, it's been a while since you've been on. We have a lot of new followers. Why don't you tell us who you are? I'm Nate Sloat. Work with Adam a little bit over at Woo Socks, Holy Cross, doing production work there.

Big football fan, big Denver Broncos fan, although we are down on the team right now, obviously going to be some turmoil in the offseason. So happy to be back on. I was on, I think, right before the beginning of the season where you had your Lions over Chiefs pick, which nobody liked but ended up being right. Damn right it was. Last name, too.

So happy to be back on and looking forward to talking some football, some playoff football. Don't worry, Nate. The ride never ends. For Denver, that is. But we are going to start out with playoff misses. Now, as we know, playoffs, some teams make it, some teams don't. And there are some teams that should make it that end up not making it.

And, you know, we all know who you are jacksonville and you know maybe there are some others like the vikings who suffered through injuries but that's not for me to decide adam would you care to get us started well there's the obvious pick that's the jaguars but i'm gonna go with the seahawks this is a team that really looked like they were on the up and up and they still kind of are they finished with the exact same record that they did last year at nine and eight um problem is that uh clearly geno smith isn't the guy and i think the biggest mistake they made this past offseason was signing geno smith to that large contract um they didn't need to do that they needed to i mean they've run out of first round picks that they had that were that were high high up there that were good enough to draft a quarterback

of that caliber, but now they're stuck with the Drew Locke and Geno Smith carousel. And the roster around them looks good, but that's the problem. The quarterback is not it. So they need to find that one guy, that one guy who can elevate the rest of this roster to Super Bowl contention. Otherwise, they're going to be stuck in football purgatory for years to come. Yeah, that's the thing with them is that they kind of jumped the gun on Geno Smith, thinking like, oh, he's finally figured it out.

No, he's Geno Smith, and he caught lightning in a bottle like a lot of quarterbacks, journeyman quarterbacks do. Case Keenum is a good example. Even Daniel Jones. Who knows? He has a couple of years left to really tell that story. But there are a lot of quarterbacks that Ryan Tannehill, a lot of quarterbacks that kind of catch fire, then kind of fizzle out again. And Geno Smith had one good year. Extend them. Smith had one good year extend them and now they kind of need to go looking through the draft

seeing if they can find a quarterback that doesn't have a lot of value in the draft and try to build up that way that's the only way I see them getting a some good quarterback play going forward and Gino Smith was good during during this time this year 20 to 9 touchdown interception ratio 3600 yards it's just not good enough like people people people confuse good with good enough to win a super bowl geno smith was just not good enough he's not the type who's going to elevate your roster he's been a journeyman for years dk metcalf needs a better quarterback it's that simple yeah yeah dk metcalf can need a kind of Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen caliber quarterback,

Jackson Smith and Jigba DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett. The tight ends that they have year in year out are always really good. Even a quarterback like Tua would work in Seattle. I think just someone like that who has explosive arm and can make plays. Yeah. Also, I do want to touch on what you said about being good enough versus being good. Now, his stats, like you mentioned, they are good, no?

However, we have to take this with a grain of salt, especially when you look at last year's stats, where he threw for over 4,000 yards, he threw for 30 touchdowns as well, and he only had 11 picks and a completion percentage of on the doorstep of 70%. Now, I'm sorry, was he good? Yes. But was there still a fall off? Also, yes. And let's talk about the draft for a second, since y'all mentioned it they have picked 16 so they weren't bad enough to outright tank but they didn't just have that extra bit of gas to make it to the playoffs and at pick 16 unless you trade up i'm here to tell you right now you can kiss prospects like caleb williams drake may and jayden daniels goodbye right so the question is do you reach on a guy like michael pennix or

jj mccarthy national champion maybe someone like bo nix i don't know there's going to be no easy answers and you used up all your early firsts and uh well you made your bed now lying at seattle even that far back like right in the middle of the pack like that, might be too far to get a Michael Penix. Like I think their values are going to rise a little bit just because you got teams like the Broncos, you got teams like the Vikings who are going to be there. Like we need a quarterback right now because or else,

like who knows what we're going to have. Kirk Cousins is gone in Minnesota. Russell Wilson probably gone in Denver. So who really knows if Seattle has a chance for a mid-tier quarterback in that spot. You are correct. And I would say, speaking of Denver, we're now going over to our favorite Denver fan, Nate. Who's your most disappointing playoff miss? Definitely Jacksonville. I mean, when you start eight and three, you got to make the playoffs. They had the division really there for them the whole year,

and really just kind of let Houston and Indy kind of hang around, and then just kind of fizzled out at the end. And I know they had injuries. Trevor Lawrence obviously was banged up at the end of the year. Christian Kirk had that major injury in the Monday night game. But I still think a team like that with all that talent, you got to find a way to make the playoffs. And, you know, Houston definitely looks like the up and coming team in that division. You have to battle with them coming up in the next few years. So really, you talk about the window for Trevor Lawrence and the team,

is it even that big? So I think really they needed this year where the chiefs are kind of on the down low, the bills kind of, you know, who knows with them when the AFC is wide open like that, you got to make the playoffs and see what happens. Yeah. And the way I look at it with the Jaguars, there's a lot of, even when they started 8-3, they didn't look right this year. And to that, I look at play calling. I look at the coaching. I think offensive coordinator Press Taylor is way too conservative

for a team that should be as high-flying an offense as it should be. You have pass catchers such as Calvin Ridley, Christian Kirk, who was still good. Uh, you have Zay Jones. Uh, you still have Zay, you, uh, you still have Evan Engram and you have Trevor Lawrence to throw to all of them in a pretty good offensive line. And Travis Etienne Jr. There's really no excuse for being a dink and dunk offense. Like they were, they really need to, they need to fire their offensive coordinator. They already fired their defensive coordinator, which, again, another good riddance move because their defense should have been better.

But overall, it just felt like a coaching thing. In the second half of the year, their real fallout was with the injuries. Trevor Lawrence was playing hurt, and they also lost Christian Kirk for the year. But the real issue here, the biggest issue, the reason they were not Superbowl contenders this year, it's the coaching that this, it was bad leadership with this team. You got to wonder maybe if that's the Doug Peterson factor. Cause look at those Philly

teams that he, the Philly team that won the Superbowl, they won with Nick Foles, explosive offense. And then after that, Carson Wentz doesn't look like anything like he once was. And the team needed an overhaul there. Could it be the same thing in Jacksonville where his coaching methods just kind of, he's good at first and then it just kind of catches up to him and the league kind of figures them out. It's possible, but I mean, Doug Peterson's a pretty, I just think Doug Peterson's a good coach. I've always thought he was a good coach. He, yes, he had his reasons to be fired from what he did at the end of the 2020 season. But at the same time, he was, he was good enough to win a Superbowl and he made the playoffs a couple times after that. And Carson Wentz was not a good player after he tore his ACL, and they still managed to make the playoffs a couple of times.

So I think there's value in that. And also, on top of that, I think it's the offensive coordinator. I mean, the defense was okay for most of this year. I just found the offense to be so underwhelming. How does Calvin Ridley barely crack 1,000 yards this year? How does Trevor Lawrence barely? Did he even crack 20 touchdown passes? He got 21, 21-14 to be precise, and he barely cracked 4K.

So that's just so – those are worse numbers than he got last year. And his top receiver was Christian Kirk. How does Christian Kirk end up being your best wide receiver the next year? Not to get on Christian Kirk at all. I'm just saying when you have Calvin Ridley added to the mix and you can't utilize him to the point where he's your number one option, that's not a good look. Calvin Ridley was a disappointment there.

I think Christian Kirk had a really good season and kind of broke out. But Calvin Ridley needed to have a way better season for them to put up 30 points a game, I'd say. Because that's really what that offense should have with all those weapons.

Right. Like Trevor Lawrence is a good quarterback. He should not be a game manager. He should not be the guy who's barely cracking 20 touchdown passes. Those are numbers for a quarterback who's having a career year who's just being carried by the roster around him trevor lawrence is a good roster around him but he should be the type of guy who's elevating it not just playing dink and dunk it just none of it made sense and maybe i'm just pissed off and uh

uh voicing my frustrations for naming this team to go to the AFC championship and win 12 games. But I mean, there's no excuse for this. Yeah, there's really not. And I mean, when you look at Trevor, I'll finish this quickly here. When you look at Trevor Lawrence getting hurt or at least playing banged up, I just, I know it's convenient to point the finger at, but look, four multi-interception games, five games where you don't even crack 60% passing.

That is terrible. And when you consider this, he had two games, literally two games the entire year where he threw for more than 300 yards. And when you consider the fact this is a 17 game season right and when you consider that he has let's see here three four five six six out of a possible 17 games where he where he threw for more than one touchdown pass that is disgraceful and i think the only way to fix it is a get healthy and be send your offensive coordinator press Taylor to the division now looking like it's on the up, it's going to be interesting to see how it works out for the next few years,

how competitive it is. Yeah. And for me, one of the most disappointing teams, for reasons pretty much beyond their control, my pick, theincinnati bangles you were considered to be the front runner for the super bowl this season you know what i mean you fixed up the o-line you fixed up the defense you got joe burrow who i believe is now playing on a big boy contract you know you got Chase, you got Higgins and Boyd there. And then, despite all of this, you miss the playoffs.

That is sad. I mean, truly it is. And another thing is that I will give Cincy credit. I know they were hurt. Joe Burrow, what did he do? Hurt his knee or his ankle or something in preseason? And from snap one, from literally

week one, he did not look right. And I said They got up to that one in three start. Exactly. And I said halfway through the season, Burrow is obviously playing hurt. And you don't want to risk your franchise quarterback getting even more injured. So I said at the middle of the season, just punt the season.

If you force him to stay in play, you are going to do more harm than good. And, well, look what happened then we had the mini little cinderella run of jake browning before he was promptly smacked back down to reality and i don't know i don't want to get a doubt be a downer because i do like cincinnati i do like burrow but the worst might be yet to come because you have guys like your right tackle jonah Williams, your wide receiver, T. Higgins, your slot guy in Tyler Boyd, and a few others that are going to be free agents. And do you have enough money to sign them all? Probably not. I mean, you could probably say one last thing. I'm sorry.

You can give T. Higgins the tag, but you're only allowed one tag, and you're probably say one last thing. I'm sorry. You can give T Higgins the tag, but you're only allowed one tag and you're probably going to use it there. Yeah. I think they'll be back. Cause I think Joe Burrow is going to get healthy and I think he'll probably be a very big contender for comeback player of the year next year. I think this was just really just a down year for him. I think the coaching kind of coach a down year for him. I think

the coaching kind of coached up Jake Browning and really gave them some competitive games. Like I was surprised they were still in that game against Minnesota, like that close. And you know, I think the coaching really coached up Jake Browning. I think that Joe Burrow is going to be back and you know, that division doesn't really excite me that much. Um, Baltimore, Cleveland, I think they could come back down the, down to earth. Pittsburgh is kind of in a middling kind of phase. So I like Cincinnati to come back. That's fair. Adam, do you have anything to add or no? Nothing too much. Just that, I mean, it's kind of a situational thing for the Bengals. They should, I mean, if everyone was healthy, Joe Burrow, most notably, they'd be in the Super Bowl conversation right now.

And unfortunately, it was over before it started with that that training camp injury to his calf he was never the same it's unfortunate especially since you and i both picked him to win the super bowl yeah i know kicking myself for it now but then again we probably couldn't see lamar jackson's mvp campaign or joe flacco's Linsanity run happening. So, oh, well, we live and we learn. So that'll close the book on this segment. But forget the teams that didn't make the playoffs. We're now going to shift our focus to the teams that did make the playoffs. But we break down our most anticipated matchups.

Oh, and believe you me, you don't want to miss that. So don't go anywhere. This is the Fumble ruski podcast here's edelman broken up and the pass is no sign yet edelman comes down with a football. They're saying it's a catch. It's a catch. Diggs!

Sideline! Touchdown! Unbelievable! Swings it way down the field to Watkins! Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! Welcome back to the Fumble Rooski Podcast, brought to you by Powered 18 Radio and Secret Weapon Consulting. I'm your host, CJ Medeiros. With me is my friend Adam Wright and our very special guest, Nate Sloat. So as I teased earlier, we are now going to tackle some of our most anticipated matchups of the playoffs. The brackets are set, the teams are preparing,

and ladies and gentlemen, playoff season is here. So we're going to switch things up here. Nate, would you like to start and tell us what you view as the most anticipated matchup for these playoffs? So on Sunday night, I was sitting there on my couch watching the remainder of, forgot what game was on, but I was watching the remainder of that late slate game. And the NFC picture comes up. And in the sixth seed, we got the Rams. In the three seed, we got the Lions.

And I jumped up and I was so hyped because, holy crap, that's going to be a good game. Rams, Lions. Matt Stafford returns to Ford Field to play the Lions, where he couldn't get them a playoff win, but now in he steps as a former Super Bowl champ with that pedigree. He knows how to win. Jared Goff on the other side for the Lions hasn't gotten a playoff win yet.

No, I take that back. Hasn't gotten a Super Bowl win yet, but also been to the Super Bowl, couldn't get the Rams there. Now is looking to be the savior for the Detroit Lions franchise, but you got Matt Stafford on the other side who was there for 10 years. The storylines are just unbelievable, and I think the teams match up so well. I think it's going to be the best playoff matchup of the week. Adam, do you have anything you want to add or yeah i i like that matchup i it's my favorite one coming up and uh listen it's we could talk about the storylines for matthew stafford going back to

detroit um no one's talking about the other end which which is golf coming, uh, who's fate, who's also facing his former team, um, in the LA Rams. So it's, it's a revenge game in so many different ways. And you might, this is a, this is going to be a popular upset game. Uh, the, the, uh, the lions are, they could be without their tight end, Sam Laporta. And on top of that, uh, the Rams are getting healthy. Cooper cup is there. Puka Nakua.

They have Kyron Williams to, to, uh, run the ball as well. The offensive line is playing the best it possibly could. Um, and Matthew Stafford looks like the Matthew Stafford of a couple of years ago, finally. So, Ooh, this is going to be a fun one. This is going to be a popular upset matchup because the Rams have – they're loaded to the gills with weapons, maybe even more than the Lions. So that's going to be an interesting one. They're very sneaky.

And they've been a sneaky team all season. They're 7-1 in their last eight games and the only one that they lost was an overtime on a kick return to the best team in football right now which is the baltimore ravens so you can barely even count that one because they actually danced with them um all right but my my pick was the green bay packers at nine and eight visiting the dallas cowboys now in hindsight this wouldn't seem like a very anticipated matchup um besides jordan love in his first year starting leading his team to the playoffs at nine and eight with a 32 and 11 touchdown interception ratio over 4 4,100 yards, all great numbers. You know why I am really, really excited for this matchup?

It's because of the history here. The past couple of games that these two have met over the past decade, in 2014 with the Dez Bryant no catch, then there was the other one with the toe tap by, I'm completely forgetting the other guy. Jared Cook. Yep, Jared Cook's toe tap to get the Packers into field goal position in 2016 for the Packers' run the table year with Aaron Rodgers. They started 4-6 to start the season.

They won the rest of their regular season games and they finished 10 and six snuck into the playoffs, made it all the way to the NFC championship game. And along that road was the one seated. What was it? 14 and two, no 13 and three, the 13 and three Dallas Cowboys led by Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott. They also had Des Bryant that year. It was a close matchup, but they beat them. Here's another one, except it's not Aaron Rodgers this time. It's Jordan Love. And this is one that I am really, really excited for. Correct me if I'm wrong. I think, so one of them them was one of those games was at lambeau the other game was in dallas correct so yeah this dallas team has looked a little choky at times

a season granted it was most of them was most of it was on the road but this is the playoff it's very different from a home regular season game. So I give the Packers a shot in this one. Yeah, you can't. And you just can't rule out the Packers. I was going to say that. You can't look at the Packers and say they're the seventh seed. They snuck in.

They're 9-8. You can't look at them like that because they went in there at Ford Field on Thanksgiving and looked like a real team against the Detroit Lions can't forget that game and Jordan Love has looked like he's gotten better as the season has gone on and now kind of looks pretty good I think maybe you could say even better than Aaron Rodgers the year before for them like he's just a better fit for a quarterback right now for that team. So I think it matches up pretty well. We got Mike McCarthy on the sideline for Dallas. He's going in there wanting to beat his former team, a little bit of revenge game there.

I think it's a pretty good matchup. I mean, like it's, it's basically the same roster as last year, except Jordan Love took it and did much better. So, I mean, the whole Aaron Rodgers without Devontae Adams, he doesn't have his favorite toy. No Devontae Adams means he's not going to do as well. Well, Jordan Love just took that roster and went 32-11, touchdown interceptions, and took your team to the playoffs.

That's right. And a lot of people, like I think it was Nate mentioned, don't realize that is a bit of a revenge game, actually, for their head coach, Mike McCarthy. I mean, he's going up against the team that said, get out, you're no good, you can't win without Rodgers. And he is looking to break that trend. Will he do it? We'll see. But for me, I just, what the game going to pick perhaps isn't highly anticipated, but the sheer absurdity of it is what I love, and I'm talking about the Houston Texans hosting the Cleveland Browns.

The Houston Texans led by rookie sensation C.J. Stroud, who, by the way, C.J. Stroud, we were, I mean, though I liked him at the time they drafted him. I said he was the best quarterback in the draft. I was concerned because I wasn't selling the weapons they were giving him. But this man turned around and said, so, and went out and did his thing anyway. He battled injuries. He lost his best receiver in Tank Dell as well. And guess what? The Texans are still in the playoffs.

How do you like that? And who will they be hosting? But the Cleveland Browns, who they're like over $200 million man, Deshaun Watson, the king of the massage parlor there. Oh, well, guess what? He's hurt. And Nick Chubb, you're all pro running back. I got some news for you. He also is hurt.

Your tackles, Jedrick Wills and Jack Conklin. Also, you want to take a guess at what they are that's right they're hurt and who steps in after you have to put up with rookie dorian thompson robinson and some other quarterback whose name escapes me well was it pj walker and um yeah they had pj walker and dorian thompson robinson that's it i just get it right yes yeah and those aren't the answers so what do you do you bring in old man joe flacco who get this comes out and lights the world on fire he's slinging the rock he's he's taking this offense with two backup offensive linemen and you're starting running back being jerome ford and they're kicking butts and they're taking names and on top of that you have arguably the best defense in the league

led by guys like miles garrett and denzel ward ward so i just when you stop and think about it they have defeated all the odds to come to the playoffs so you have one team so neither team i think was actually expected to make the playoffs one is headed by a rookie quarterback and the other a journeyman who we all thought his best days were behind him. It is the classic battle of old versus new. Yeah, these are two young teams and playing the best football that these two teams have seen in a long time. And I think it's really a shame that one of these two seasons has to come to an end this week. Because it's just so evenly matched, I think it's really a shame that one of these two seasons has to come to an end this week because it's just so evenly matched I think when you got the the Texans offense with CJ Stroud

how he's taken that team and has made it looked look really good and then Joe Flacco on the other side just defying he was on the bench for the jets jets practice squad like basically retired almost retired and now he has a good shot for the super bowl it's it's such a good storyline so i think both of those teams are fun to watch that's fair and i forgot to mention these two teams actually met earlier in the season with the Browns destroying them. However, there's a catch. C.J. Stroud was not playing. And now he is.

And, oh, man, I do believe this is going to be a good matchup. Yeah. And just the fact that it's not that Joe Flacco is there and they happen to be winning. He's playing a massive part in it. In the games that he has started, I'm pretty sure every single one of them he has thrown for over 300 yards. I think there was one where he didn't, but that's still –

I mean, he's killing it. This is a textbook Linsanity run. And if it continues, we've seen quarterbacks do well for short spurts of time. If they can just do it a little bit longer, just a few more games, we could find ourselves, it's the year 2012, and Joe Flacco is back in the Super Bowl. And he'd have to beat the Baltimore Ravens probably. He would, yes.

If the Ravens get past the divisional round and the Browns win their games, then yeah, they would only have to meet in the AFC championship. So those are our most anticipated games. in the AFC Championship. So, yep. So those are our most anticipated games. And in my eyes, rightfully so. So we're going to veer away from the playoffs. You know, I mean, we talked about the teams that didn't make it. We talked about the teams that did make it in some of those matchups.

But now, and for those of you who don't know, yesterday was Black Monday, the first day after the end of the regular season, where coaches get canned. And there are some openings, and there are some pretty big names that might be on the move. But we're not going to speculate just yet, at least not until next segment. So I know you can't afford to miss that. So please don't go anywhere. This is the Fumble Rooski Podcast. and broken up and the pass is no sign yet. Edelman comes down with a football.

They're saying it's a catch. It's a catch. What? It's a catch. Sideline. Touchdown. Unbelievable. Swings it way down the field to Watkins.

Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! Welcome back to the Fumble Rooski Podcast, powered by Power 88, Dean Radio, and Secret Web Consulting. I'm your host, CJ Medeiros, adam right and special guest nate sloat my friends the aftermath of black monday is upon us and that we can consider it black tuesday now because another coach got canned and another one just might. So there are a few vacancies right now, and I will list them. As we know, the Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Chargers and Las Vegas Raiders had their head coaches fired through the middle of the season. And since the season has ended the atlanta falcons have actually got their heads screwed on right and fired the man who can't use his weapons and arthur smith after it was reported

his job was safe barring a collapse but guess what a collapse happened the washington commanders finally parted ways with the eternal underachiever Ron Rivera. And before this show started, shockingly, the Tennessee Titans booted head coach Mike Vrabel. Well, that last one I do think was unexpected. So what do we make of this, guys? Make Mike Vrabel a Patriot right now. Right now. The worst of Black Monday is yet to come with Bill Belichick looking more and more likely to be fired by the day.

Well, I was going to ease into it. According to Mike Reese, apparently it is a Hail Mary that Bill Belichick is still with the organization by the offseason's end. But if you're the New England Patriots, now that Mike Vrabel has been fired, because let's face it, there's been a lot of head coaching vacancies. If you are New England, you speed up this process and you kick Belichick out the door as soon as you possibly can. Because now Vrabel is available. Go and get him as soon as you can. Because if you don't, the Chargers, the Raiders, the Commanders, all teams who could do it.

The Panthers, they could do it. I mean, there's so many teams who need coaching right now, and there's some that are still in the playoffs right now that might say at the season's end, the Cowboys of the world who might say, you know what, a guy like Vrabel, we could use someone like that, right? That's a team that doesn't quite have the coaching,

but if they fall short and they say, we need some coaching that is going to get them over that hump. They could go for Vrabel as well. So if you are in the new England Patriots or any other team that is interested in new coaching, you go and get this guy yesterday. I'm, I'm looking at it.

Like if I'm Robert craft, I think Vrabel is a great coach. I think he's going to get another shot at head coaching, a NFL team. If I'm looking at it like if I'm Robert Kraft, and I think Vrabel's a great coach, I think he's going to get another shot at head coaching an NFL team. If I'm Robert Kraft, I'm thinking more outside the box, and I pick up the phone and I call Jim Harbaugh because he's a national champion, undefeated season at Michigan, and I think he could walk in there and rebuild that offense. While you already have the defensive pieces already for a good team,

I think he could make the Patriots a threat again. Where Vrabel, he's more special teams, defensive-minded. With that, what the Patriots need is an offensive revamp, which I think Harbaugh could give them. Yeah. Well, I think the most notable thing with harbaugh is he took alex smith when he back when he was a 49er and he revived his career and then alex smith went to the the chiefs with andy reed and his his career success continued after he was a failed No. 1 overall pick with the 49ers.

So I like the way things are looking with Harbaugh on any offensive team. If you have a quarterback who's underachieving, I would go after Harbaugh. Because this guy seems to be the quarterback whisperer. Also, another thing to note, Colin Kaepernick's only good years in the NFL came under Harbaugh. Took him to a Super Bowl. That's true. They went to the Super Bowl. Then they went back to the conference championship the year after that and if it weren't for injuries the fall the following year they wouldn't have finished nine and uh nine and

seven yeah and uh eight and eight but still about uh harbaugh here apparently although a lot of teams are interested in harbaugh harbaugh's not interested in all the teams. As we have heard now, that it's probably going to come down to the Chargers and the Raiders. Because the Raiders, who, by the way, stop me if you've heard this one before, have a successful interim head coach that all the players love, and they're going to push him out the door. Wow. History sure repeats itself, doesn't it, my AFC West compad compadre nate yeah it would only be more raiders if they got bill belichick just cap it off with a oh yeah well well they are intent on poaching anyone and everything from new england so you never know exactly so the problem is i'm sorry uh only problem is does bill want to be uh brady's boss or does is, does Bill want to be Brady's boss?

Or does Brady want to be – does Bill want to be – Or does he want Brady to be his boss? Does Bill want to be working under Brady? Probably not. No. And the way I see it, if I had to guess, I would imagine that now national champion coach john harbaugh the man who has mastered the competitive imbalance if you know you know has is probably going to go to the

chargers that is my thought if you're some a coach i don't know why you'd go to the raiders and i certainly don't know why you would go to a team like the panthers where you will have the meddlesome david tepper breathing down your neck at all hours of the day why you would go to a team like the Panthers, where you will have the meddlesome David Tepper breathing down your neck at all hours of the day. But as for New England, Adam is very right. Today, Mike Reese has reported that there is a Hail Mary chance that Bill stays. And we do know that many in the front office and in Kraft's inner circle have singled out Mike Vrabel as a replacement. Whether you're pro-Bill or anti-Bill, these are the facts. But will they pull the trigger? That remains to be seen, because either

way, you're still going to need a GM. But so let's just say, for the sake of the argument the patriots do move on from bill they hire variables their head coach and the chargers are able to wrangle uh jim harbaugh bring him back to the league does bill belichick go anywhere else so that so if my hypothetical scenario happens the panthers the raiders Raiders, the Falcons, the Commanders, and the Titans would still be in play. Do you think he goes to any of those teams or retires or what? I think he should strongly consider the Chargers, as Harbaugh should also strongly consider the Chargers. Any other one of those teams is probably not ready to compete. It's probably going to take around three to five years to get to that point.

So the question is whether he wants to rebuild an organization, which in my opinion at 73, just go to a team that's ready to win and see how far you can take them with your coaching because his biggest strength is his coaching not his personnel yeah no i i hear you but i i do think that the chargers at this point would prefer harbaugh and i i don't know i mean you look at teams that are young but have potential, I would think probably the Falcons and the Commanders. Because the Falcons, look at all those toys you have on offense. And all you need is a quarterback and you have a top 10 pick.

What he'll use that pick on, I don't know if he's GM, but that's something to be decided. And the Commanders aren't a bad team. Maybe you just need some help in the defensive backfield. But on offense, you've got Brian Robinson, Angie of Antonio Gibson. And let's not forget, you have a three-headed monster wide receiver, a very underrated one that features Terry McLaurin, Curtis Samuel, and Jahan Dotson.

Actually, Curtis Samuel might be a free agent. Scratch that if they bring him back. And you've got Logan Thomas, who's a darn serviceable tight end. And you have the second overall pick too, I might add, if you need a quarterback, hint, hint. What if Dallas loses this weekend and they decide to pull the plug on Mike McCarthy? That could also be injured.

I don't know. That would have to be a Jerry Jones decision. And believe you me, Jerry Jones is as stubborn as the day is long. I mean, he kept Jason Garrett will pass his expiration date. I don't. But if you're the number one seed and get bounced around one, there's a chance. I would say there's like a 15 chance but a chance nonetheless i think there's there's no way belichick retires and if he does it's a big mistake

because i think he needs there is there are some aspects of his legacy he needs to recover um i'm pretty sure he just passed jeff fisher for the most losses for a head coach of all time he wants that we record. He did, yeah. Don Shula record. But that's just due to longevity, not because of how bad it is. Well, I think it has gotten that bad. That's the problem. I mean, this is where it's going to bite him in the ass

because in the 11 years that he has been a head coach without Tom Brady as his starting quarterback for that season, he has made a head coach uh without tom brady as his starting quarterback for that season he has made the playoffs twice so if you keep on doing this yeah you might get the coaching record but at what cost i mean you're going to lose your reputation you're just going to be that one coach who only got to the coaching record because he was in the league for 10 years after he was supposed to the question i'm exaggerating when i say 10 years. But he should go to a team where he can actually start winning some games and be competitive again. I think that he can still do it. When he had Tom Brady, everything was good.

So find that team that's already established with the quarterback. Find the Cowboys. Go get the Chargers, right? You can get the Falcons, then the whichever gm is there they draft that quarterback and all the weapons around him it all takes care of itself and also the falcons i know that defense was really bad this past game i know that defense is better than is better than what it played how it played and they have good personnel bills a good bills a good defensive g of bills bills a good defensive gm that's something that as a gm i i hate a lot of things about belichick his drafting with defensive players whether it be late round

gems or first round picks he is money he is really good good at that. Um, but he's a, he's a great defensive guy. And if he has the personnel on offense, then he has, he can make it work. He did it before with Brady. He can do it again. And if he were, if he were to retire, it will forever look like those championships that he won were not because of bill they were in spite of him and that brady won the championships for him that's what it's going to look like i'm not saying i agree with it i'm starting to think that he doesn't want to leave new england because i don't think he does now i mean i've heard he he actually no he himself said he would prefer to stay in new england right because he's not playing ball

with the crafts he's not like working with them to try to get a trade together he's under contract he i think he wants to stay and doesn't want to you know take over another team with a non-comfortable situation he has his kids on the coaching staff all that all plays a factor i think he is comfortable where he is right now yeah but that's i don't know if that's entirely his choice is all i'm saying so there was another report out there that said if he wants to stay he's going to need to lay out a detailed like step-by-step plan for Robert Kraft that would have to convince him, which means he's going to have to do some unorthodox things, things that he probably hasn't done and

really probably doesn't want to do. But part of me, I'm not saying I agree, but I'm just saying part of me feels like that might be too little too late. So, I don't know um i he i don't think bill should retire i don't i it's it would be a very bad decision for him and i also don't think he should stay in new england i think his time is up there oh but guys guys guys uh mike reese and cam marino have reported that

the expectation around the league is that vrabel is the top candidate for the new england patriots head coaching position should it become available what's interesting is this is what he's noting the atlanta falcons will heavily pursue bill Belichick should he become available, and they're sniffing around him now. He is their clear target, and the Falcons desperately want him. So before we end the segment. Maybe we can shift that 28 to 3 curse. Well, if there's anyone who can, perhaps. It's the guy who did the damage.

Hey, you never know fate works mysterious ways well we've about reached our time for this segment so up next we are going to move on to or we're going to move back to excuse me the final week of the nfl season with our final top three bottom three last one of the season no chris costage here but we'll still finish it out strong don't go anywhere this is the fumble 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 a catch! Oh!

It's a catch! Side-line! Touchdown! Unbelievable! Slings it way down the field to Watkins! Sammy Watt takes for the touchdown! Welcome back to the Fumble Rooski Podcast, still powered by PowerD8 Dean Radio and still powered by Secret Web Consulting.

I'm your host, CJ Medeiros. With me, of course, is my good friend and co-host, Adam Wright, and our special guest, Nate Sloat. So here we are. Final segment. We're going to do the top three, bottom three, and the Fumble Rooski fan box. First up, top three, bottom three. bottom three adam my man would you take it away thank you cj so for the top three um and for so let me let me first start off thank you to chris kostich for making this segment possible uh this has been a great season of top three bottom three this is the first year we've done it and it's been had some good success so far so um salutations to you chris as we continue on the final installment of the 2023 top three bottom three its debut season all right we're going to start off with the top three uh the buffalo bills so you managed to win five in a row and on your final one in a showdown

against your division rival in the Miami Dolphins, you go in there and you beat them. And you were down for a large portion of that game. And you managed to come back, you win on the road and steal the division for the Miami Dolphins, who seemed to have a chokehold on this division earlier on in the season. They had a three-game lead on the division in the AFC East, and the Bills said, hold my beer. All right, the next one is the Dallas Cowboys. So another team that did not seem to be likely to win the division earlier on this year, but with a combination of the Cowboys playing better down

the stretch and also the Eagles, their division rivals falling apart, the Cowboys managed to rally and they made it so that all they needed to do was win this week in order to clinch the NFC East. Not only did they do it, they blew the doors off of the commanders. And on top of that, even if they didn't win this game, the Eagles lost yet again, this time to their, their other division rivals in the, uh, New York giants. All right. The next one, the, uh, Houston Texans, they beat the division rival Indianapolis Colts. Um, CJ Stroud is the real deal deal and he is showing week in week out that he is their guy and uh nick casario is doing a great job drafting and gming with this team i can see now i'm seeing as a patriots fan i see now why belichick was was holding this guy

captive in new england because this guy knows his stuff. He knows ball. Nick Casario knows ball. All right. Bottom three. Actually, we usually go on to get your thoughts. What do you guys think? Good list, bad list? Anyone who you'd rather have in?

What are we thinking? I think a pretty good list, although Dallas played Washington. How big of a challenge was that really? So I'd maybe take Dallas out. But other than that, I think a good list. All right, CJ. No, I mean, I agree kind of with Nate about Dallas. However, it would be typical Cowboys fashion to blow that, would it not?

Especially to your little brother in the Washington Commanders there, who, as we know, we're just trying to play a spoiler. But I mean, overall, though, they did win the divisions. That's mostly why I think Adam chose them as a winner. But as for Buffalo and the Texans, I mean, I feel like those are no-brainers. Yeah. I mean, they had a couple of must-win games that they absolutely needed to have it, and they went in and they did exactly what they needed to do.

All right, on to the bottom three. The Jacksonville Jaguars. Don't let that final score fool you against the Tennessee Titans. Yes, it was a close game. Not that that makes it any better that you just lost to your division rival. Not a good division rival. One of the bad ones that has been eliminated for weeks from playoff contention and just fired their head coach, not that it's justified.

This is a team that was 8-3 earlier on in the year, and you should have had this division weeks ago. You should have had it wrapped. But somehow, someway, by some injuries and some pretty bad play calling on the offensive side, you managed to play your way out of the playoffs. That's pretty bad. All right, the Atlanta Falcons. Not only did you, a couple of weeks ago, lose to, in your division division the panthers who just clinched the bears number one overall

pick but you just got your doors blown off by the uh by the new orleans saints like it was not close and the defense is supposed to be it's supposed to be better it's supposed to be the it's supposed to be the strong suit of this team and for some reason you blew it that's not good the philadelphia eagles this is one that really i just can't believe it happened you're facing you are facing the New York Giants, who are now on to their third-string quarterback. Not only was Daniel Jones hurt, but also they benched Tommy DeVito because he was playing so poorly. They're on to Tyrod Taylor. And you got absolutely pantsed by them. And on top of that, you had a couple players get hurt.

A.J. Brown hurt his knee. Jalen Hurts hurt his finger. And you still have Devontae Smith, who has banged up himself. So not only are you playing on wildcard weekend, you were playing on the road, and most of your star talent on the offensive side is now hurt. You couldn't be in a worse position relative to where they were just a month ago. It's getting bad in Philly. All right. What do you guys think?

Yeah, I think Philly definitely is the pick of the week there. More than the Jaguars, I would say, because they still could have controlled their destiny to get that uh number two seed which is vital i think for playoff success because now you beat tampa this week now you're probably traveling to dallas you could host a playoff game but who really knows you're gonna have to be on the road for a lot of the playoffs. It just doesn't seem like they could have won that game, then seen what Dallas did. Win and see what happens is basically the motto there. They couldn't pull it out against a Giants team that's just playing spoiler at this point.

For that, I give it to the Eagles. Who knows what happens this week in that playoff matchup? It's's gonna be interesting yeah i just want to mention something the falcons now i've been clamoring for weeks especially when the report came out that arthur smith was safe barring a collapse that i've said it doesn't matter how you finish the season, get him out. And lo and behold, the collapse happened. You played so badly against the Saints, the Saints which are trotting out Derek the used car as quarterback, and you lost 48-17? My brother in Christ, that is 31 points. and then don't get me started on philly

who lost to the new york football not so giants i just wow and philly you know what the super bowl hangover is real kids that is my only uh the thing that's my only saying for that i think that doesn't make sense to me for philly is how the the drop off so fast from 10 and 1 to 1 and 5 like it's just two completely different teams hangover hit them late but but that's all the time we have for the top three bottom three so we are going to move on to the fumble ruski fan box where once again i will defer to adam adam take it away all right well we welcome you to the to the fumble ruski fan box where we post a question filter on our instagram every monday and we'll we will uh respond with hot takes questions and more and give you a shout out on our podcast respond to next week's fan box question to be featured

on our show so the question of the week here was uh now that the regular season is all wrapped up looking forward to the uh to the postseason what is your boldest prediction for the nfl playoffs we got some good ones starting with cooper matthews who said dallas makes an nfc championship game and wins it now you could have just said that they're going to the Superbowl, which would have been easier to, to point out, but I see what you did there. Giving some emphasis to the fact where they, they haven't been to an NFC championship since the mid nineties. So it is pretty notable that they would make it to the NFC championship

as well, but you could just say that they're going it to the NFC Championship as well. But you could just say that they're going to the Super Bowl, which would be even more noteworthy. And I think they have a chance this year. They're going to have to overcome some major head coaching deficiencies from Mike McCarthy. But I think they can do it. There's been a team that has overcome Mike McCarthy as a head coach in the past and has won a Super Bowl.

It could happen again. It could happen again. All right. Next we have Owen Van Slack who said Browns make the Super Bowl. Am I dreaming or is this 2012? Because Joe Flacco is looking like his old self. He looks a little better too. I mean, the way he throws, the way he's slinging it.

Like back in 2012, Joe Flacco, of course he could throw it really well, but they were winning off their defense, like solely defense. The Browns win this week. I might pick them over the Ravens. What's Lamar Jackson made of in the playoffs? He hasn't established himself really yet. They're facing the Texans this year, this week. I know.

I'm saying if they win. If they win. Well, I mean, that's the thing like i think with the ravens it's a i need to see it to believe it with them because they uh lamar jackson has had electric seasons like this namely back in 2019 and they didn't do anything they were one and yeah they were one and done. So looking towards this season, I could easily see a team like the Browns, or we could even point out the Bills, or even the Chiefs. The Chiefs have some Super Bowl experience. They've been there, done that.

I need to see it to believe it with the Ravens. Of course they deserve to be favored this year but they haven't been there yet they haven't done it and until i see it i'm not going to believe it yet um all right so this next one alex and ardone he said the dolphins will pull off the upset against kansas city So Kansas City is hosting in this matchup. The problem is the Dolphins are not a battle-tested team. They have faced good teams, but I say they're not battle-tested because they haven't beaten any of those teams besides the Cowboys.

And the Cowboys on the road, as CJ alluded to earlier on this episode, barely even counts as a competitive team. So the way I look at it, I have to give it, I have to give it to Kansas city still, but the only way Miami wins, in my opinion, is if the chiefs play badly. Cause it's so cold too. I could see it being like, remember that San Francisco-Green Bay playoff game a couple years ago? That was like 13-10, San Francisco winning. Oh, yeah, where the Packers lost to a team that did not score a touchdown.

Yes, I remember. I could see it in kind of one of those games if the Chiefs play so bad at home. The Chiefs play so bad at home that they can only score like one touchdown or something like that then maybe miami wins but they're not going to score 30 points in 10 degree weather in kansas city yeah i just don't uh now this is a bold prediction so i respect it And it is something that is possible because Miami does have a pretty good team. The only reason I say it's probably not going to happen is because number one, this is a warm weather team. Number two, this is a team that just has not been able to be competitive, competitive squads, at least not yet. Maybe it could happen. Could happen this week. I don't think so. All right. Nate Sloat,

our special guest here said Packers upset Cowboys. Let you take it away with this one. I can see it for the reasons we listed earlier. Packers in previous playoff matchups against the Cowboys, seem to have their number. Cowboys just, they really get their fans to believe in them just to crush them 10 times harder. The 7th seed has not beaten the 2 seed since the 7th seed was implemented into the playoffs yet. The Green Bay Packers, with a young quarterback, really kind of little expectations. Cowboys are the two seed.

They could have two home playoff games, which is huge for them if they win this week. It'd be just like them to come out, underestimate their competition, and lose to this young Packers team that looks really good right now. And then Mike McCarthy just goes in there, doesn't show, doesn't have his team show up. I can see it. It's, it's not only that it's the fact there's just so much history behind the Packers and the

Cowboys that I can just see the Packers pulling that upset just because they might be, the Packers just might be in the Cowboys head in their heads, especially since a lot of these players on the Cowboys team were on those other teams, right? Especially in 2016, Dak Prescott was the starting quarterback. Then too, they were 13 and three and they lost in overtime.

And that was a team that, and it was a hard-fought game, but holy crap, it's got to put something in your head where the next time you face them, right now, even though it's a different starting quarterback for the Packers, they're going to be thinking, man, I don't know if we can do this this time. All right. The next one we have, Colin Ray said, the Texans make it all the way to the AFC Championship game. The Texans are a team that has played much better than we thought they would.

In fact, most people didn't even have them in the playoffs. It went from that in a blink of an eye to them having expectations to make the playoffs. In fact, a lot of people now think that they kind of underachieved in the later goings of this year. For a couple of reasons, CJ Stroud was out for a few games, so they had to start Davis Mills. And then on top of that, they lost Davis Mills. They lost Tank tank dell their offensive line had a little flurry of injuries going on um so you can understand why they they had some trouble towards the end of the season and i would believe in this a lot more if they didn't get bit so hard by the injury bug bug, but you're without Tank Dell and CJ Stroud doesn't look quite like the guy that we saw

earlier on this year. I still think he's the guy. I still think he's their franchise's savior. They did a great job drafting him. Problem is he doesn't have that much around him. He was able to do more with less before, but there's a difference. We said this with Patrick Mahomes before the season started, there's doing more with less. And then there's being asked to do something with almost nothing. And what they have is almost

nothing. If Nico Collins is your best wide receiver, then that's it. That's going to be it for him. Um, so we'll see what happens maybe they beat the bat they beat the browns and they go on another linsanity run let's see but i'm not going to bet on it all right next one is grayson mortimer who says ravens choke which could mean a couple of things when are they going to choke are they going to make it to the super bowl and then choke are they is this even going to be competitive are they going to choke at the end and which game is it going to be but again i so i mentioned this earlier on in the fan box i need to see it to believe it with this ravens team we have not seen lamar jackson win they've only won one playoff game and it was in uh it was on wild

card weekend against the titans you're gonna brag about beating ryan tannahill i think in the card matchup i think they need to go all the way because this this ravens team has proven they can beat san francisco right so by default you look at this team is so by default you look at this team as the best team yeah they should go all the way yeah i feel like they are favorites and you know i feel like any loss would be considered a choke especially when it seems like every other team is hideously flawed and the championship could arguably be theirs to lose the afc's wide open forum yeah yeah if they don't then it's a problem but again i still need to see it to believe it is anyone here else hearing this cutting in and out are you guys hearing each other clearly or is it just my connection no i'm hearing you guys fine yeah me

too okay so then it's just me i just hope when this recording comes out that uh our audience doesn't hear this because it's it's been a headache for me just hearing you guys um all right that's all the that's all the scheduled content we have for today but we have any other thoughts before we end the show tonight? No, I don't believe we do. I mean, I know I don't. Nate, do you have anything to add? Just excited to watch these games this week.

There's a lot of good matchups. Oh, yeah. I tell you, playoff football is something else. And, well, may your favorite team not get eliminated best of luck to you guys who do have teams in the playoffs but uh but that will do it for us tonight thanks for listening we have new episodes out on tuesdays at 7 30 p.m eastern time and also be sure to subscribe to our youtube channel that's taken off we also have all of our episodes available on Spotify, Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, and so much more. Also, be sure to follow our Instagram, labeled at FumbleRooski underscore podcast to keep up with our podcasts and latest coverage on NFL.

Also, be sure to follow our TikTok at FumbleRooskiPod. And that will do it for us tonight. And we will see you next week. Over and out.