The Fumblerooski Podcast - Out The Door -Ep 146 the Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: December 28, 2022

How much do JJ Watt's injuries hurt his legacy? Have the Broncos solved their issues for next season with the firing of HC Nathaniel Hackett? Which of the current AFC division leaders have the edge this postseason? Adam Wright, CJ Medeiros, and Justin Tucker debate these topics as well as give your week 17 Fantasy waiver wire pickups!

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-ide! Touchdown! Unbelievable! Swings it way down the field to Watt. Catch! Sammy Watt has said goodbye to the NFL after this season in the same way that the Broncos just said goodbye to head coach Nathaniel Hackett after a 4-11 start to his first season.

You're listening to the Fumble Rooski podcast by Power 88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. I'm Adam Wright, as always. Well, most of the time with CJ Medeiros and Justin Tucker. Guys, we hope you had a very Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, whichever you celebrate. We hope you had a great time over your holidays. And I do wish I was able to make it. CJ mentioned it briefly at the start of our last episode. I was on and doing our prep work with both of these guys.

And my Wi-Fi just went down. And it was down for like three hours. And by the time it was back up, I just needed these guys to step in. And they did so wonderfully, so well that I just had to post you guys on our Instagram a couple of your takes for the naughty and nice list. That was a pretty good segment, I got to say. But how are you guys doing tonight? I'm doing all right.

I'm doing all right. Not too bad. I'm doing all right i'm doing all right not too bad uh i'm doing great you know i had a great uh christmas you know my family and uh yep and we're ready to get the train rolling into the new year you already know whose team you know clinched the playoff spot this this christmas time it's a fun and done i'm sorry at least i'm in At least I'm in. At least I'm in. Best number two team in the AFC North of all time. Number two? Who are you talking about? Who's number one?

We're talking about the Cincinnati Bengals who are first in the AFC East. Excuse me, AFC North. And they are, yeah, the world is ass backwards right now. And the AFC North. We do have to get started with this show. Guys, we have a great show in store for you tonight. What's that? Tell me when the Bengals have a ring, but I digress.

Well, you know what? Better late than never, and I digress. Never. All right. They'll get that. This is their year, the Bengals. This is their year. J.als. This is their year. J.J. Watt has announced his retirement.

For after this season, Broncos have fired head coach Nathaniel Hackett. The Bills and Chiefs have now both clinched their division in the AFC. There's two more divisions who are in the AFC still looking to find their division winner. And the first seed is available still for three AFC teams. And then we're going to get into the Fumble Rooski Fantasy Fix, as always, with our waiver wire pickups for the championship weekend for you guys. Then we have our fan box where we're going to talk about your picks for the league MVP. So as always, we start with our first segment, which is that J.J. Watt has announced his retirement.

And so we had a little bit of a skirmish here in our Fumble Rooski group chat between the three of us and Robert Shelley, who's the co-host of another show, but he'll step in every now and then. But so where he stands all time amongst defensive linemen. So I never really looked at his statistics where he stands all-time because I just assumed he was just an all-time great. But where he stands in tackles, 580, that ranks outside the top 250. Combined tackles, 445, that also ranks outside the top 250 combined tackles 445 that also ranks outside the top 250 um sacks he has a 111 and a half which is 38th all time and players who have more than him are von miller julius peppers

lawrence taylor bruce smith Reggie White, Michael Strahan, Demarcus Ware, Alan Page. Those are just a few notable names. I'm sure you could name plenty of other players, 37 others actually, to be exact. Force Fumbles, he is 27. He has 27, which is tied with three other players for 32nd all-time. Tackles for loss, 191.

That's second all-time. That's his best statistic. It is worth noting, however, it didn't become a measured statistic until 1994, which was after a lot of the all-time great names such as Lawrence Taylor, Joe Green were all retired by then, and other players such as Bruce Smith and Reggie White had already played half of their careers by then um so guys where do you where do you stand with jj watt all time amongst not just defensive linemen but defensive players all time like of all time

justin you can know justin you can go first oh god, God. This is going to be fun. Oh, this right here. Defensive lineman, top five all time. I don't know where to rank them because, to be honest, defensive positioning and how you define player in certain schemes and schematics is kind of hard, and especially if you go from, like, a defensive lineman all the way up to a DB like a safety or a cornerback so I can't do all-time because I don't know how you would rank like safeties and linebackers compared to like defensive ends and defensive tackles and pass rushers so it's kind of hard for me to like do all-time where we seem

to have the problem here is that you guys don't think he's at least top five or at least in the argument for top five all-time as a defensive lineman. I don't care what the stats tell you. When J.J. Watt was on that field, he was a difference maker. I know it doesn't seem like that because he's 38th all-time in sacks, but he has multiple 20-s sack seasons. That man was a problem when healthy. And now we're just going to sit here and disrespect the man thinking he's not top five all time. I demand for you guys to tell me five defensive linemen that are by far better than JJ Watt. And I refuse to believe that there is five better than him all time. You can come up with two, maybe even three, but five is pushing it. I know he doesn't have the longevity that everybody else does,

but I promise you that J.J. Watt was a problem on that field, and his impact more than justifies me saying that he's top five defensive lineman all time. I don't need to argue this. This should be just a common slam dunk in my opinion, but I feel like there's going to be an argument here. Take it away. Well, I assume that's my cue. Now, before we start disagreeing, I don't think it's an argument that J.J. Watt is going to the Hall of Fame. It's something that we know.

This is a fact. Love him or hate him, J.J. Watt is a Hall of Famer. And I do think he's one of the best defensive linemen of all time. The best, though. The best. do think he's one of the best defensive linemen all time the best though the best no top five i don't know and there is one thing i would like to say so adam mentioned our fun whiskey group chat where a man by the name of robert shelly said that it was debatable. And Justin Tucker backed him up on this. Yes, yes. It was debatable, good people who listen, that Bruce Smith is better than J.J. Watt.

I think he is. They said it's debatable. Lies. All lies. First of all, let's take a look at J.J. Watt's peak. All right? So basically, 2012, when he had 20.5 sacks is really when he burst on the scene. Then in 2015, he had 17.5.

So for 2012 to 2015, so 12, 13, 14, 15, that was really his prime. Then he's injured, injured. Then he had 16 sacks and then four, five, one, and then nine and a half this year. So it's like, look at this. His, his best years was like, he had like his prime, his greatest play was literally four years. And then Bruce Smith, where apparently it's debatable that he's better than jj watt listen to this when you just look at sacks because you know that's the most important thing a defensive lineman does he started in 1985 where he had six and then 15 12 11 13 and 19

already five years where he's better than he was hurt where he had one and a half. And then he was hurt. Then he had one and a half. But then after that, he came back 14, 14, 10, 10 and a half, 13 and a half, 14 and 10. The man literally had two separate stretches, which were both longer peaks than J.J. Watt. And that's not all. You look at Reggie White. You look at Kevin Green.

And even on a – and, you know, sacks, I believe, started getting counted in 1982. Am I – does that sound about right to you guys? Around that time, yes. Yes. Yep. And there are people where if you go back, there are people who went back and looked at all the game film,

all the statistics. And there's even people like greats that before sacks were invented, basically like, I don't know. Deacon Jones, for example, could we forget Alan page? I mean,

and even people like Jack young bloodod? Well, I'm sorry, these old heads, you got to respect them. And there's even players that are active now that have more sacks. Like, I mean, Justin Houston's literally just one half sack away from tying J.J. Watt. Chandler Jones has more, Cameron Jordan has more, and Von Miller has more. So, I mean, like I said, I know I'm just looking at sacks, but most of them have more tackles, where he's not even top 250 in tackles. But the thing is, it's the persona. It's the media attention that really builds him up. And look, and he was famous, and I'll admit. But when it comes to the best top five i have my doubts no no no what do you mean no i literally just got him numbers adam go adam go

i need to hear both of y'all before i continue all right so given the statistics that I just gave, you really can't rest your case on J.J. Watt being a top five lineman based on his career statistics and where he ranks in relation to all the other greats. What you can do is base it off his time. J.J. Watt was the greatest defense, not only defensive lineman, but defensive player of his time. So from 2012 to 2015, he had three out of four years, he had 17 and a half sacks or more. And in that span, three times he won defensive player of the year. One of those, he was the runner-up of league MVP. May I remind you that only two other players have ever won league MVP

on the defensive side of the ball. Both of them were on the defensive line. Both of them are all-time greats in the, with the likes of Alan Page and Lawrence Taylor. And so like that on that, in that sense, when he was on the field, when he was on the field and healthy, there's no one better than him, at least during his time on the defensive line. No one better. I mean, he was so much of a difference maker. He very nearly won league MVP in 2014 over aaron rogers but the case it's it's the the problem that i have with that case and why i'm i'm very iffy on it is because the best ability is availability and he may have been

a great difference maker and this is the problem i had with rob gronkowski as well as much as i loved him is that you may have been great when you were on the field but it's got to be sustainable and these two players played their asses off and ultimately it it contributed to their to their downfall i mean afterwards after that stretch of all of these games from after 2015 he only had two seasons where he played the full 16 games and so you had um a quarter a quarter of all of his game of his seasons ever played so that's four that's four seasons where he failed to play more than half of a season. That's eight games. One of them he played only three games.

Another five. Another was seven, eight. I mean, that's just not good, and it's hard. Like, if you look at it in that small sample size where he was playing, he was incredible. I mean, you talk about a difference maker on that on that side of the ball he's that but it's just like i'm i'm very iffy on it because you've got to be able to stay on the field at the same time and that's how i rest my case i'm i'd say he's i'd say he's top five but barely top five he's okay so adam agrees

with me on this that he's top five i'm i've been very i've been very back and forth because i've just been i've been researching i've been figuring out where uh where everybody is um but there's there's a lot there's still several players who are who than J.J. Watt on the defensive line. My argument is I never said he was the best. I never said he was second best. I said he's top five. And for us to poo-poo as if I'm speaking nonsense or as if it's not debatable is crazy in my eyes.

I will say this again. In his peak, those three to four years, there was nobody comparable to J.J. Watt outside of maybe Aaron Donald at his peak. Anybody else in history falls short in some capacity. The only person I believe is close to that is Lawrence Taylor. Anybody else falls short. So you have a number two all time? No, I have him top five because, again,

I do doc notes for longevity and among other things. But I still think he's top five. You literally just said no one else other than Lawrence Taylor is comparable. Yeah. That's why I believe he's top five. But again, I don't have the number. The stats don't really give him the longevity.

He has over 100 stats. Because he never gives longevity. Yeah has over 100 stats. He does have the longevity. Yeah, because he always got injured. Well, he got injured at the most inopportune times. Yeah, well, so did Gronk. I mean, look, I'm a Pats fan. I love Gronk, but I got to admit, that really does hurt him. As far as what?

I don't understand the argument against Gronk. You guys are Patriots fans. You guys should be telling me he's number one because of what he's done. I mean, Denver Gonzalez, I mean, both have strong cases, but I mean, Gronk's team was longer. Gronk literally lit the league on fire and was good until like

2017. So it's like 2010 to 2017. That's seven years. Or, you know, depending on how the math works. But I mean, this is an nfl this is an nfl podcast so i try to be as unbiased as possible and i just i just think rob gronkowski the reason it's debatable whether or not he's the greatest tight end of all time

well number one there's not very many real great great tight ends number two his career longevity sucked i mean that that guy could not stay on the field at his absolute best and it really got it really got annoying at times like 2013 i thought we were going to win the super bowl i really did 2016 they almost fumbled the bag because he got hurt for the rest of the year. Luckily, they had a backup tight end that year who was at least a portion of what he could do in Bennett, Martellus Bennett. But, like, I mean, it became a problem for the Patriots. And he was, from 2010 to up and up, all the way up, like, I mean, throughout the, up until 2013, he was the focal point of that offense, and it was becoming a liability.

And the reason why those Patriots teams always lost in the playoffs, because they always lost, they didn't have him, or he wasn't completely healthy come playoff time. And it screwed him over. I mean, it was a liability at times. I can't hold it against Gronk for being dominant and getting injured because he was so dominant. That's why defenses played him like the way they played him. Because he was so dominant and there was no other way to deal with him.

I can't hold that against him for being dominant. I can't hold the injuries that he sustained on the field as his fault because he was too damn dominant. I can't hold that against JJ because at the most inopportune times, his injuries were different. I can't hold that against JJ that his leg broke at one time or his biceps got torn off or that he had an injured fist or an injured hand at one point in time. That's just how dominant they were. You can't hold it against him, but you can at least use that as a reason to understand why he wasn't, he,

why it's debatable what that he's top five, because like it, that's just, that just contributes to how his his the way he played the game he played he he never went down he played every snap at 150 percent and you can respect that but you're also going to get hurt doing it yeah and you know there there has to be some sort of happy medium there especially in the game of football it's really hard to go 150 percent on every single snap jj wanton and rob gronkowski did just that and i respect him for it but it

also contributed as to why there's their careers were so short-lived they got hurt it happens i don't know if it's short if it's short considering how long they actually played but again i'll rephrase what you're saying but again at their peak there's no one better than those two at their peaks i'll rephrase why their primes were short it's just that's just part of why why it happened and it you can't really hold it against them because respect to them for that. I mean, it's hard. Like for whatever, all the stuff that we do,

it's hard for us to be 100% all the time. They did that and then some for every single play. I mean, that's really hard to do. But J.J. Watt did it, but it also screwed him over at the end of the day. And the second half of his career was not the same as the first half. The only time since that stretch where he was really his true self was in 2018. Okay, it was his third to last year in Houston. He was an all pro. It is also worth noting. He's a, he's a five time all pro. Um, and four of those were during that stretch where he was completely dominant, but 2018, 16 sacks, 18 tackles for loss.

He was the runner up for a comeback player of the year. So this guy i mean he it's just he wasn't the same during the second half of his career and i'm talking from 2016 until 2022 so that's seven that's seven years where he just wasn't the same that's more than half of his career. I mean, that just can't be overlooked, especially with the fact that he's outside the top. And I don't know how far outside the top 250 he is in tackles and combined tackles because pro football reference can't even track where he is. He's just that far back. And in sacks, he's 38th all time, which it's still pretty good that he got racked up 11.5 sacks because if you're getting injured for more than half of your career

and you're still able to rack up that much, that's pretty damn good. You mean 111? 111. What did I say? 11.5. good you mean 111 what did i say 11 oh i i meant i meant 111 and a half it's that's a that's a that's also a that's also a mouthful to say um force fumbles 27 32nd all-time, tied with three other guys for that spot. Tackles for loss. Again, that's a great stat.

It's good that he's – I mean, that's an important stat to tell whether or not you're elite. And the fact that you went second all-time, problem is that only became a stat fairly recently. So that's the issue there. So that's 20 – it's, it's about, it's about 30 years. It's been around, but I just can't, I can't, I, it's hard for me to put, it's really hard for me to put them top five. And I think I barely have them there. I think I I'd have to, I'd have to take some more time to think about it. Um, but we do want to move on. And again, as one player leaves the league,

another head coach has been forced out of his team, less than a season through, which is Nathaniel Hackett from the Denver Broncos. We're going to talk about the firing, how it finally happened. That's next. This is the Fumble Rooski Podcast. Woken up and the pass is no sign yet. Hamilton comes down with a football. They're saying it's a catch. It's a pass.

To Gates. Sideline. Touchdown. Unbelievable. Swings it way down the field to Watkins. Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! This is the Fumble Rooski Podcast by Power 88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros and Justin Tucker. So the Denver Broncos, after an abysmal 4-11 start to the season,

have fired their head coach Nathaniel Hackett. So 15 games in, 4-11 for a Pro Bowl-caliber quarterback in Russell Wilson. You had two wide receivers who have been, I mean, they haven't, they haven't made a pro bowl yet, but Jerry Judy, Cortland Sutton. Um, I mean, just look at, I mean, just look at the team all around, all around them. And they, they finished with four wins. Well, not finished. They could win a couple more because there's two more games left. But guys, not only that, but they also fired their offensive line coach and their special teams coach and their GM, George Patton, had to come on to a press conference said that we believe we can fix Russell Wilson. So is it the coaching?

What is it, guys? CJ? Oh, thank you. So if you will recall, earlier in the year we did an episode, I believe it was called Fat and Happy, where we were talking about Russell Wilson's struggles. And I mean, I'm seeing Russ play or Russ cook, as they like to say, and the drive just isn't there. He got the bag over the offseason. And since then, it looks like he's

just been complacent. You know, his reads aren't as sharp he's playing sloppily and as bad as that is he's still a very good quarterback but then there's a thaniel hackett where it's becoming abundantly you know because packers offensive coordinator it's becoming abundantly clear that he is horrifically unqualified to be a head coach. And he was buoyed by Aaron Rodgers and Matt LaFleur in Green Bay. And you knew it was bad when week one, we figured out the hard way that he could not in fact manage a game clock.

Now I'm sorry, I don't care where you stand on them. That's just horrible. And when you think about it, it just, this ineptitude permeated itself throughout the entire offense to the point where, you know, like he said, the offensive line coach has been fired, I believe. And on top of that, you had to bring in a special assistant to literally help Nathaniel Hackett manage the game clock.

And this guy is now the head coach. And I want to say the future is going to get better, but firing Nathaniel Hackett will only do so much. You've got to convince Russell Wilson that you're in a 20 Super Bowl. It's time to care. Look past the money. You know? And I think we can all agree he is getting a little bit complacent.

And unless their future is on Russell Wilson, and unless Russell Wilson shapes up, it's not going to be very pretty for them. You know, I mean, they don't even have a first round pick this year and soon they're going to

enter cap hell. And well, you know, like I said, long story short, this all hinges on Russell Wilson. I, I think he can turn it around,

but will he, that's a, that's a different story. Broncos country, let's hide. Because goodness gracious, this is just the worst thing right now for the Denver Broncos. First things first, I guess I'm sorry for Nathaniel Hackett for getting fired. Congratulations to the Denver Broncos for firing Nathaniel Hackett.

Congratulations. This guy can manage a cookout, let alone a game clock. My God. And then there's Russell Wilson. I understand that he is a problem, but hopefully they actually get a head coach that understands what they have for the team surrounding him, and they can build the offense to support Russell Wilson's needs.

Russell, stop throwing terrible, horrendous interceptions and actually start caring about winning these games. Actually make good quality reads. Check the ball down instead of trying to throw it deep when you know the guy is double covered. Don't try to make the incredible Herculean play you always do. It's not always there. Just check it down every once in a while. That'll be nice. And actually be the franchise quarterback we traded for to begin with. Oh, man. The defense, funny enough, I know we looked at that 51 beating that the Rams gave them. But overall, I think they just didn't want to be there, to be honest, because they were arguably one of the best defenses in the league. They were averaging like 18 to 19 points a game.

They were keeping their team in these games. The problem is the offense kept on letting them down when they needed them the most. So unfortunately for them, the defense is fine, but they have an incompetent offense to support them. And I want to say it'll get better, but unfortunately, they don't even have a first-round pick. That's gone off to Seattle for this franchise guy. So I guess all the Denver Broncos fans looking forward to a first-round pick, all you have to do is look at Russell Wilson's Denver Bronco highlights to see if it was worth it. Oh, man.

It's an unfortunate situation, but there's still a lot of progress. There's still weapons surrounding Russell Wilson. They still have Jerry Judy. They still have KJ Hamler. They still have Cortland Sutton. And they still have Tim Patrick, who hopefully comes back healthy. And the only thing I'm worried about is the run game because they don't really have that guy now that Javante Williams is injured. But hopefully he'll come back 100%. And then after that, it's just manage the clock properly.

They would have actually a few more wins under their belt if they just managed the clock properly. So maybe a change at head coaching spot may actually do wonders for them. And also, the guy that's the head coach, former Ravens special team coach. I appreciate that. Super Bowl champion, knows what it takes to win. So, you know, pointless plug right there. But overall, I don't think it's as bleak as everybody says,

but it's not exactly the happiest time to be a Broncos fan either. All right. So you have to look at the coaching first. So they're doing the right thing by firing the head coach, and I'm glad that they did it. They probably should have done it earlier. When you look at the coaching, like Tuck alluded to, their clock management was really bad.

Their play calling was god-awful. I remember one game they played. They played the Chargers either on Thursday night or Monday night. It was Monday. Thursday. I know it was Monday. Are you sure? I'm pretty. It was Monday. Thursday. I know. It was Monday. Are you sure? I'm pretty sure it was Monday night football.

They faced the Chargers or – It was the Chargers. I believe it was the Broncos and Colts Thursday night. I think that was it. Because I remember Richard Sherman was on Thursday night at that time. I think that was it because I remember Richard Sherman was on Thursday night at that time I think that was the thing you should Richard Sherman was on like the postgame coverage of that game and he was ridiculing Russell Wilson after the game that's not what that's not what I was alluding to what I was trying to say was that um this team so what they did like in a game where

the Chargers and Broncos were going back and forth, not even back and forth, like both of them struggled to struggle to score in their own rights. My fault. And they were like, it was a close game, a game script where you should be throwing the ball all over the field with your pro bowl quarterback. And in that offense with Cortland sutton jerry judy came kj hamler and they didn't and they didn't do that they ran the excuse me they ran the ball

with the likes of latavius murray because giovante williams hurt. They ran the ball like 17 times with him. Like, what are you doing? What are you doing? That's not what you should be doing. You should be throwing the ball, especially when you paid this quarterback so much money. Why the conservative play? Wilson was able to throw the ball all over the field

to Metcalf and lock it throughout earlier past seasons with the Seahawks. So why is that a problem now? That was an issue that I had. Also, the offensive line in the world, but it should be better than to perform to a point where they're allowing Russell Wilson to be sacked the most out of any quarterback this season. He has now taken that number one spot over Justin Fields, over Joe Burrow, over everybody.

That is really bad. Like, how do you allow that quarterback especially someone as mobile as him to get sacked so much that is a that is a big problem that that's an issue so they fired their offensive line coach as well um so that you have to look at that first especially since you paid this quarterback so much money russell wilson he was he he has gone from being a perennial 30 plus touchdown uh quarterback to maybe he he may not even break 20 this year furthermore he's thrown what uh 10 interceptions this year 9 10 it's not good like how do you have a 19 to 10 uh 14 to 10 touchdown to interception ratio that's pretty bad so you look at that first the play calling but if they if they if they improve that and Russell Wilson is still struggling, then you might have a real attitude problem with this quarterback who it turns out from reports coming out of Seattle

that had a fire lit under him his entire career when we didn't even know it. He thought he was going to be traded when you would think he would have that job security. He didn't, it turns out. So it looks like there is also a possibility that maybe it's not only the head coaching, but that it's also that Wilson has an attitude problem

and that he's not really that motivated unless someone else is motivating him. And if you are a quarterback, you should be a leader on that team. So you look at the head coaching first, and this Broncos team should be looked at under a magnifying glass next year. And if it turns out that there's still an issue, you're going to have some problems for years to come, especially with the contract that you just gave Russell Wilson.

That's kind of my take on this. But we do need to move on and get to a bit of a, let's say a three, what is that? Three race horse, three horse horse race what the hell do you call it three horse race that's not even a good that's that doesn't even roll off the tongue well but it's a cool it's a cool phrase to use and it's the right phrase to use for what has become of the race for the first seed avail the uh the first seed in the AFC between the Bills, Chiefs, and Bengals. Who's going to get it in the next couple of weeks?

We'll talk about that next. Don't go anywhere. You're listening to the Fumble Rooski 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! Side-line! Touchdown!

Unbelievable! Swings it way down the field to Watkins! Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! You are listening to the Fumble Rooski podcast by Power 88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros and Justin Tucker. So the Bills have clinched the AFC East for a third straight season. The second team in the AFC to do it, it was the Chiefs in week five, the week prior and week 15 before that. But they did it after a 35 to 13 route of the Chicago Bears. And so, so you have three teams here who are in the lead um and i'm trying to pull up the uh standing the playoff

picture here um who are in the so three teams in the lead for uh in contention at least to get the number one seed the first round by so the the bills are 12 and 3 the chiefs are right behind them also at 12 and 3 just by decision head-to-head matchup and the cincinnati bengals hot on their heels at 11 and 4 and the bills have a matchup with the afc north leading bengals who has the edge of, so who has the edge of the AFC division leaders in the playoffs here? Well, I believe the Chiefs, it's the Chiefs to lose or it's the Bills to lose. I believe the Bills and the Bengals is going to be tough either or. And I believe the Chiefs have the path of least resistance. So I believe either them or the Bills will end up as the first seed. I believe the Bills might struggle against the Bengals. So

that might take them out. And I believe the Bengals won't finish as the number one seed because they still have a problem on their hands. Stop counting out my Ravens. We still going to win that North. Let's not forget about that. Let's not forget the Ravens still got a chance to win the AFC North. We're talking about the one seed, though. Yeah, but I don't think the Bengals are going to be able to get it. I just think that the Bills are either going to beat them

or the Chiefs are just going to win out. I don't see the Bills or the Chiefs losing out on that. So it's just a matter of who you believe will most likely get it. I believe the Chiefs will. Damn sure it won't be the Bengals. Not on my watch. Not today.

Alright. CJ? CJ? As a Pats fan, as much as it pains me, I think Buffalo has the advantage. Now, as you know, they have the lead over the Chiefs because of the tiebreaker. That's hugely important. And also, the Bengles are right on casey's heels you have to remember the bangles i believe also defeated the chiefs now i do agree with justin that for the most part it is buffaloes to lose because if you fall one game behind kansas city then that's uh

then i think you're i don't think you're getting the one seed. And then when you look at the Bengals, that's an interesting team because if this is an, if, if they went out, if they upset Buffalo and if they defeat Baltimore, then I truly would have them probably as like the best team in the AFC. Because like I said, because then that would mean you've beaten A, your division, and B, KC, and you've beaten Buffalo. But right now, that's what could happen. But as for what I think will happen, I do think that Buffalo will maintain the one-seater tie with the Chiefs, and the Bengals will split.

I can't tell you which one. I mean, they should beat the Ravens, but those division games, no matter how you slice it, are always pretty tough. Psych. Psych. Yeah, I'll say. So, yeah, long story short, it's Buffalo. Yeah, it's definitely Buffalo who has the edge here between these three teams.

But it is pretty evenly matched. I mean, Patrick Mahomes, the way he's been able to really overshadow some of that, some of their weakness in the pass-catching corpse. And the Cincinnati Bengals, they definitely have the best supporting cast for their quarterback out of all three of these teams, with Jamar Chase, with T. Higgins, Tyler Boyd, Hayden Hurst. Even at the running back position, they have Joe Mixon, who's undoubtedly the best running back out of these three teams. The reason I would have the Bengals towards the

bottom of these three is the offensive line. Their offensive line have been playing well, and because of it, they've won six straight games. What the catch here the reason for that is because they've been able to keep Joe Burrow on the on on his feet and now that they lost their starting right tackle prized free agent acquisition Lyle Collins I have my doubts whether or not they'll be able to do that anymore and you saw what it was you guys saw what it was like earlier on in the season. They started 0-2. Joe Burrow was on pace to be sacked the most in a single season, like smash that record, which does not look good.

And now they lost – as soon as they started to figure things out, they lost their right tackle. That's a problem. That's a big problem. Now the Bills have had issues with their quarterback being sacked as well, but they've kind of figured it out in recent weeks. But I have to give the advantage to the Bills as long as they hold on to that number one seed.

But the last time the Bills and Chiefss faced off granted they did have tyree kill but the chiefs still have their have their share of toys to play with they have juju smith schuster they have marcus valdez scantling they have micole hardman cadarious tony all speedsters who can at least combined in a group effort, uh, replace the production that Tyreek Hill brought to the table. And I haven't even mentioned Travis Kelsey yet. So I like,

I give it to the bills, but it's close between all three teams because I, I just think they're all, they, they all have that same play style. Their defenses are pretty much on the same level, especially since the Bills haven't been healthy on defense with Von Miller not being out for the year.

I got to give it to the Bills, but this is a close one, and this is going to be fun to watch for the rest of this season. We know who it is. It's the Chiefs and the Bills and then the Bengals. The Bengals right here. And then somewhere in between, more importantly, it's the Ravens. I mean, I know it hurts that everybody doesn't want to say it. It's fine.

But we're better than the Bengals, and we'll show it come playoff time, and we'll show it come week 18 when we take the division. Yeah, I don't know if I want to say that rashad baitman who's i believe on the on ir now right he's out for the season yeah he's so he's out for the season yes that was their top wide receiver now he's gone so you got duvernay and mark andrews gone duvernay's gone too. Oh, there you go. So it's just Mark Andrews and the rest right now. Mark Andrews and then your backup, Isaiah Likely? Yes, Isaiah Likely. And then we have Perchet and Demarcus Robinson, who's actually not playing bad.

He's actually not playing bad. And you've got Sammy Watkins. So it sounds like you answered your own question there. Your top wide receiver is Sammy Watkins, who hasn't played at a high level to be a wide receiver one since 2014. No, Demarcus Robinson is our number one. Sammy's our number two. That's a lot better.

That's a lot better. It's not a lot better, but Demarcus Robinson has been playing better. And then there's Deshaun Jackson, it's demarcus robinson has been playing better and then there's deshaun jackson who's still at what year 15 can still burn a lot of corner backs i'm not saying it's good but it's something we can work with and we still have a stellar defense so i can work with this even though my play calling is abysmal all right well i think i'm i'm still gonna give the edge to the bengals here watch week 18 when they lose watch week 18 when they lose week 18 they're gonna lose yes all right we'll have to just wait and see justin mark my words if cincinnati wins you're not gonna hear the end of

it for me yeah we're mentioning it on the show i I hope you know that. I expect phone calls from both of you. Phone calls and a shout-out on our podcast. Okay, okay. All right, we got to move on, and we have our Fumble Rooski Fantasy Fix, our final week of waiver wire pickups. We'll probably do another one next week for those of you who do your championship on the final week of the regular season that's a risky one though but i mean if you guys do it then we will help you out and we have your championship weekend or conference championship

weekend waiver wire pickups don't go anywhere this is is the Fumble Rooski Podcast. Hanlon comes down with a football. They're saying it's a catch. It's caught. It's a catch. Sideline. Touchdown. Unbelievable. Swings it way down the field to Watkins. Sammy Watkins for the touchdown. This is the Fumble Rooski Podcast by Power 88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros and Justin Tucker.

We have reached our Fumble Rooski Fantasy Fix portion of the show, which is Waver Wire Pickups. So it is, we are going into our week 17 if you can believe it and a lot of you guys if you're still listening to this portion you're in the championship if not you could be you could have your championship in the last week that's a that is a risky one that is very risky because do you know how many play, how many teams in that league bench their starters? Like they'll do it like a quarter into the game because they already have, they already, they already have their seed locked up and they're, they're playing for the post season. That's a tough one. I, I, I offer respect to those of you who do that, but we'll be, we'll

be with you guys every step of the way. So waiver wire pickups for Week 17, starting with running backs, Cam Akers and Tyler Algier for wide receiver, DJ Chark and Jahan Dotson. Tight end, we have Tyler Higby and Evan Engram. Quarterback streamers, we have Mike White at Seattle and Brock Purdy at Las Vegas. For defense streamers, we have Jaguars at Houston We have Mike White at Seattle and Brock Purdy at Las Vegas. For defense, streamers, we have Jaguars at Houston and Giants versus Indianapolis.

Well, there you have it for Week 17 waiver wire pickups. And next, we have our Fumble Rooski fan box, and we are going to talk about who you guys picked for your league MVP. That's one. You will not want to miss. This is the Fumble Rooski podcast. Here's Edelman broken up in the past. 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! Skyline! Touchdown! Unbelievable! Swings it way down the field to Watkins! Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! This is the Fumble Rooski Podcast by PowerAdiot and Secret Weapon Consulting.

I'm Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros and justin tucker so we have reached the fumble ruski fan box so we post a question filter on our instagram every monday and you can respond with hot takes questions and more and we will discuss it 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 was, who is your pick for league MVP this year? All right. So our first response, and we'll go through who answered for which player. So among those who picked Patrick Mahomes are Grayson Mortimer,

Brogdon Hill, Derek Houle, and then Chris Kostic, Isaac Zonana, Jack Briel, Charlie Tim, and Jad Noman. So that is a good pick, and CJ and I have talked about this one. I'm not sure what Tuck's pick is. But I think that should be a slam dunk. That should be your league MVP. Yeah, there's really no two ways around it at this point. Are you sure?

So he's the leader in both touchdown passes and passing yards. And he's doing it with his top wide receiver for the season being Juju Smith-Schuster. How many passing touchdowns does he have? 37. He's going to wind up with – that's going to be the second most in his career, only to that 50-burger he put out there in his first season starting, putting the league on notice. Oh, yeah.

He's on pace, according to ESPN, for 42 on the season, which is pretty impressive. Not too shabby. And he's also on pace for 5,200 yards, which is like incredible. But there are other candidates, and we're going to go to Jalen Hurts. So among people who voted Jalen Hurts, Diego Huertas, Andrew Michalak. Is it Michalak or Michalak? Michalak. Yeah Michalak or Michalak Michalak yeah because you know

him so Andrew Michalak Josh Houle and scrolling through scrolling through so that's it three for Jalen Hurts I believe unless I'm missing somebody

no that's it one kid said one kid said unless I'm missing somebody. No, that's it. One kid said Eli Turner said, I would pick Hertz, but the Eagles did just fine with Minshew, so I'll go Josh Allen, which leads to Josh Allen. He's our only Josh Allen vote, actually. Josh Allen doesn't deserve that. What's that?

Josh Allen doesn't deserve MVP over Mahomes or Hurts. Yeah. I mean, I'm just glad we got a different voter, a different player than Mah mahomes or hertz because i'm pretty sure those three those two made up 10 of our votes and we had 17 responses so i mean you can make a case for alan and he'd have to play a lot he'd have to play out of his mind in these next two games but he does have he did get 30 uh 30 or more touchdowns for his third straight season, and he's on pace to get over 4,500 yards yet again. So, I mean, he was one of the leaders in MVP like halfway through the season, but then he went through that stretch. It was a three-game stretch halfway through the year where he threw six picks

and he turned the ball over seven total times that is what killed his mvp case but he still he knew he's still deserving of being in that general area right he still deserves to be there he's still a league but not mvp yeah um all right so we got two joe burrow votes and it was ian mulhern and stephen parker and chris kostich because he kind of said to he mentioned two players he said chris said either patty or burrow but the media loves patty way more with three wise in the way um yeah i mean between those two between patrick mahomes and Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes is going to have the edge because he's more popular. He's already taken the league by storm years ago.

And statistically, he's been better. More touchdown passes, more passing yards. And he's done it with nothing joe burrow actually has a lot there now joe burrow his his time might come in a few years but it probably won't be this year um but all her and stephen parker and chris top costage said joe burrow oh too bad she said not this year. Yeah. Not on my watch. Not this year. Looking at other votes, we got one for – this was an interesting one. Justin Jefferson.

Tyler Tucker said Justin Jefferson. Oh. That might be an argument. One thing that no one is talking about is the fact that this guy has 1,756 yards this season, which mathematically over these last two games, granted if they don't sit Jefferson for the last game of the season, he does have a shot at that all-time record. What is it?

1864. Yeah yeah he's right 1864 no it's not 1964 exactly he's right there he's like right there he's on pace for it he's on pace for it and no one's talking about it everyone was was talking about it with Mr. Cooper Cup last season, and he didn't make it. But no one's talking about it this year. That's interesting. We got a couple other ones, and these were mostly jokes. Bennett Graff, who's my next-door neighbor, he said George Costanza from the show Seinfeld.

Oh my goodness. That's our league MVP. And then Tyson Tate said, gotta go Eminem right now. Tyson, we forgive you. He might be the MVP of Detroit, but not the MVP of the league. Well, Detroit football is turning around, so maybe he'll be part of that. He better be the halftime performer for whenever they go to the Super Bowl. They could actually make the playoffs.

Yeah, they could. But their chances took a big hit when they lost to the Carolina Panthers. Yeah. So that didn't look good. Yeah, so do you guys have any other thoughts before we end the show tonight? Nope. No, I'm good. I'm good for right now.

All right. Among other topics that we were going to have on this show, we were going to talk about how the Jaguars took over first place, took over first place in the AFC South. And the only reason we cut it out is we can probably talk about it in the next couple of shows. Because no matter what happens in week 17, week 18 is what is going, between titans and the jaguars is

what is going to decide who wins that south afc south game and i'm thinking about that simpsons meme where you have the two monkeys who are fighting and everyone's placing wagers oh yeah and i just think it's going to be kind of fun. It's like neither team is going to win the Super Bowl, but there's something at stake there. It's kind of cool. I can't wait for that Week 18 game between those two. Who's going to place bets on who's going to win? Also, the Dolphins have lost four straight games.

After, I mean, like, look, if you look at it, so they're 8-7 right now. They were once 8-3 and in contention for the first seed in the AFC. They were looking like one of the best teams in the, like, not only in the AFC, but possibly the league. And now it doesn't even look close to that. And it's really sad. Some injuries killed him.

But also, I don't know what's going on with Tua. He is in concussion protocol yet again. But the fact that he threw three picks in the second half really does, that should raise some eyebrows right there. But we didn't talk about those two because we can talk about that another time, and we do need to cut how long our show is, as it is over an hour, as it is. But anyways, that'll do it for us tonight. Thank you for listening to us.

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