The Fumblerooski Podcast - The Elite Eat -Ep 153 the Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: January 20, 2023

Join Adam Wright and Justin Tucker as they host special guest Grant Flood into their making bold Divisional Round picks, predict the most likely upsets, and discuss the progress of the Jaguars ' rebuild process!

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 pass to gates touchdown unbelievable we have officially moved on to the divisional round of the playoffs with the first game being tomorrow as we are recording this on Thursday. You guys will be receiving this on Friday night, but you are listening to the Fumble Rooski podcast by Power 88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. I'm Adam Wright with Justin Tucker.

As I said, we have a great show in store for you guys tonight. We're going to tackle all of the matchups from the Saturday matchups of Jacksonville at Kansas City and the Giants at Philly to the Sunday matchups with Cincinnati at Buffalo and Dallas at San Francisco. And joining us to cover all of these games, we have a new guest. We have Grant Flood, who is maybe the happiest Jaguars fan alive after this past weekend. Grant, welcome to the show. Why don't you introduce yourself to our listeners? Well, thank you, Adam.

Glad to hope you're having a great night, everybody. I am Grant Flood from Floodster Sports Zone. That is my YouTube channel where I love to do play-by-play broadcasts, especially for the NFL and the NHL. And, yeah, Adam reached out to me earlier this week. He said, well, hop on Fumbaruski podcast and, you know, talk about some playoff football. And I said, absolutely. So thank you so much for having me on.

And yeah, it should be a great week of football following up. It was already a tremendous week last weekend. I mean, you said it with some of these matchups. I thought that some of these were going to be slam dunk, easy wins for some of these teams, and it turned out that the Bengals-Ravens game was only decided by a possession with their backup, and then you had the other game, Miami at Buffalo with the third string

quarterback only winning by three did Buffalo. Both teams limped into the divisional round and are facing each other. And we'll get to that in a little bit. And I mean, also, I can't, speaking of the Jacksonville Jaguars, we can't forget about their historic comeback. Third largest comeback in NFL postseason history at being down 27 points. They now go into a matchup in Arrowhead where they're going to be underdogs against the Kansas City Chiefs. So this game is on Saturday at 4.30 p.m. Eastern time, and we're going to start by covering this one along with the other Saturday matchup,

and we're also going to go into the Sundays as well. And we're going to go around the table and give our game picks, but Grant, I'll start with you. Kick us off. Try not to be too biased, But who's winning this matchup? All right. Well, bias aside, you know what? The Jaguars, man, they have had such an incredible season.

You know, this was supposed to be the rebuilding year. And to make the divisional round on top of it is incredible. But to come back in such a way against the Chargers, that's only been done two other times before, I mean, it's just simply phenomenal. The defensive line is young. It's fantastic. If we can get Mahomes to, you know, we pressure him, he throws the ball deep, maybe we have a chance, but, you know, I think the secondary is drastically improved as well. Tyson Campbell having a tremendous second half of the season.

But we were the underdogs last week. I think Jacksonville thrives off being the underdogs. But to say that we can just march right into Arrowhead Stadium and, you know, defeat Kansas City? I'm not sure about that. Now, I think this is going to be a lot closer of a game than what many people are expecting, but I'm going to go with 27-24 Kansas City. Jacksonville's run defense still shows a little bit of holes. They let Austin Eckler score two rushing touchdowns last week,

and Derrick Henry went off in the first half against Jacksonville in Week 18. The two-headed monster between Isaiah Passaccio and Jerick McKinnon, two very good receiving backs. Jacksonville, they tend to give up a lot of third downs early in games, and you can't do that against a heavy powered offense like Kansas City I think it's going to be a very close game as I mentioned but 27-24 Chiefs just pull away all right well you do raise a good point there if they're going to win this game the Jaguars it's going to have to be a close one where they just they just barely gut it out because it's just going to be very tough for for them to just go in and blow

doors against this Chiefs team in their own house. But Tuck, what is your pick for this game? Oh, man. Can the Jaguars actually pull this off? They definitely could. They definitely could. I'm going with the Chiefs here, but I think it's definitely going to be a shootout. I think it's going to come down to who has the ball last. I think Jacksonville will tie up the score, but then eventually give the ball back to Patrick Mahomes, and that's where it goes GG. I think it'll be close. I think it'll be better than expected. I don't think it's going to be a blowout. I think Trevor'll be close. I think it'll be better than expected.

I don't think it's going to be a blowout. I think Trevor Lawrence is going to show you that his first half against the Chargers was a fluke and that he'll look much better like he did in the second half. And I think he'll once again prove to you that he is the franchise quarterback and that it's just a matter of talent and that Kansas City just overwhelmed him in being the better team. I see it going 27-30 Kansas City. All right.

Well, I'm probably going to take Kansas City as well, but I'm going to say if the Jaguars are going to be in this game in any sort of capacity, they're going to have to play like they did in the second half of that game rather than the first half. Because if you make mistakes against Kansas City, they'll make you pay for it, and they're going to bury you with the scoreboard. It's going to be that bad.

So they really need to play like they did in that second half. I believe Trevor Lawrence threw for three touchdown passes over 300 yards. If they're going to win this game, that's what they're going to have to do, play mistake-free. And they still might not win even if they do that. That's what Buffalo did last year in the divisional round. And Kansas city just outpaced them. And they, they went down and they, and they won and made it to the AFC championship. I'm still taking Kansas city. It's going to be a close game. I would say, let's say 28 to 24. It won't be that high scoring, but they'll put enough distance between uh themselves and jacksonville

so that they can uh slow down trevor lawrence and company the jaguars might be the team of tomorrow but the chiefs are still the team of today that is what i said about the chargers when i was previewing the last matchup um and I was right in the first half, but I underestimated how Trevor Lawrence could just figure things out in one game. That was unbelievable. Doug Peterson also does a lot to that offense, really motivating Trevor's second half of the season. And, yeah, definitely coaching to Doug Peterson,

helping out with this team's motivation as well and yeah they're definitely not going to roll over and die against kansas they're definitely going to stick around and definitely get the cheese to run for their money yeah and maybe they got past all of their all of their you know their jitters early on in that first half and they're just all past it completely now that they've actually played a full playoff game so they i mean so they did they they had the luxury of hosting that game now they have to go into arrowhead which is on record the loudest stadium um in the in all of football so that's another test for Trevor Lawrence and company.

But either way, I mean, it's hard to be negative about this team because they weren't even supposed to be here in the first place. So, like, either way, it's a win-win for them. They're getting their postseason experience, this young team, and they're going to be better next year. So it's all moral victories from here. So of course we're, we have, we're going to have higher expectations for the Jaguars down the road, but for now it's, you can only go up from here. It's not, they're, they're done taking all of these L's they're, they're going to be uh in the coming years but um i wanted to go to the next

matchup which is saturday at 6 30 p.m eastern time that is the giants at the eagles so another david versus goliath matchup two of them in one day so you have the giants with daniel jones and saquon barkley kind of a depleted wide receiver core. However, they managed to pull the upset last week against the Vikings. Can they do it again traveling to Philly, Grant? You know what? It's going to be a shock to many, but I do. 24-21, I have the Giants defeating the Eagles.

And, you know, I think this is just because Daniel Jones is playing turnover-free football. 15 touchdowns to five interceptions in the regular season. The guy has played his first efficient play pretty much throughout his entire career, you know, as a rookie in 2019 and just seeing him struggle in 2020 and 2021, I'm not going to lie. I thought when the Giants signed Tyrod Taylor this offseason, they were eventually going to bench Daniel Jones for him. But Jones is playing turnover-free ball. Saquon Barkley staying healthy, really, for the first time since the 2019 season.

And he had a great first half against Minnesota last week. Daniel Jones also had over 70 rushing yards, and you could say what you will about the receiving core, but Isaiah Hodges, nice job stepping up in the receiving core, and Darius Slayton, you know what, he had that drop late in the game, but he has been a very efficient receiver all season. This defensive line is incredible. They stuff out scrambling quarterbacks. They played Philadelphia tough in Week 18 with most of their backups. And, you know, with a healthy defensive line, with Leonard Williams, with Dexter Lawrence, with Kayvon Thibodeau,

why not stuff out the Eagles' defense make them go deep and you know what if you cover AJ Brown you have a shot at winning this football game I'm gonna go upset Giants 24-21 Eagles win I wouldn't be surprised either again very successful year for the Giants but I see them in the NFC championship yeah, they do match up fairly well against the Eagles. So there's a possibility there, but Tuck, what's your prediction? This one's difficult. I like both teams.

I like both teams. I'm surprised the Giants were able to turn around as quickly as they did to make the playoffs. I'm surprised they made it to the divisional round, and I'm surprised the Giants were able to turn around as quickly as they did to make the playoffs. I'm surprised they made it to the divisional round. And I'm just as much as shocked that the Eagles are the number one seed right now. So overall, I'm proud of them both. But if I had to go with one team, I think it's going to be the Eagles. Lane Johnson is coming back, which will be big for that O-line.

I think that run game will increase and that passing game will get better. I think A.J. Brown will abuse the corners of the New York Giants. And overall, I think the Eagles were just a better overall team than the Vikings. I don't think they'll have the same problems that the Vikings had against the Giants. And that's where I think the Eagles will take advantage and come out with the W. Of course, it'll be close because not only is it the playoffs, it's a divisional rivalry game, so of course it's a nip and tug game. I think Jalen Hurts will do more than enough to get the job done.

I think that running game will be sufficient. I think that Eagles defense will stop Saquon Barkley before he can even get started, so I'm taking the Eagles in this one. All right. So last week, great win against the Giants. Amazing upset. I mean, I didn't see them winning, although it was a popular pick for a lot of NFL fans that there was going to be, that they would pull it off.

But here's a big reason why it didn't happen. Or why it did happen. So the Minnesota Vikings, they rank towards the bottom half, like actually very close to the bottom of the league in Team Saks. So the Eagles are first in Saks. And it's not close between one and two. The Eagles have 70, and the Chiefs have 55. That's the gap.

So for Daniel Jones to play turnover-free football during that game, of course he did because he didn't face much pressure. Now you take that team and you put that offensive line against that Eagles front seven, and you might not be as turnover free as you were this past weekend. So with that in mind, it might still be a close game. And if it is, the Eagles also haven't been the best in games in one in games where they it's decided by one possession um so i will go with the eagles in this matchup but i'm proceeding with caution on this one because

the giants are one of those teams that just looks like they're not afraid of anyone and they could beat anybody if they really went in there and they did everything right only problem is i don't think they will because they just they're going it's it's just not the best matchup up front so i'm going to take the eagles it'll be a it'll be a low it'll be a lower scoring one let's say 23 to 20 it'll it'll be that close um all right so that is our saturday matchups the sunday ones are some real good ones break out your popcorn for these ones c Cincinnati at Buffalo and Dallas at San Francisco are next. You're not going to want to miss this. This is 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 a catch It's a catch It's a catch Side line Touchdown Unbelievable

Slings 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, Justin Tucker, and Grant Flood with you tonight. So, we've moved on to our Sunday matchups. We're going to talk about Cincinnati at Buffalo on Sunday at 3 o'clock p.m. And Dallas at San Francisco on Sunday at 6.30 p.m. Just some quick news on the Jaguars at Chiefs game.

So the Chiefs ruled out wide receiver Nicole Hardman for Saturday's matchup. Does that change anything for you guys? I mean, it doesn't, but I will say I'm a little bit more confident in special teams play now. That was a worry of mine. Mecole Hardman, you know, this is also a battle of kick returners. Mecole Hardman for the Chiefs, Jamal Agnew for the Jaguars, but I might have to give Jacksonville the slight edge in the special teams now with Hardman being ruled out, but at the end of the day, I'm still going to go with Kansas City winning by three. But, well, that will certainly limit the passing game, but still with Juju Smith-Schuster

and Marquise Valdez-Scantling being healthy, Chiefs still got their main two receivers. And they still have pass catcher Travis Kelsey, so they have a lot of pieces there. But it is, and they have, did you mention Kadarius Toney? Kadarius Toney, wide receiver three. And you know what? He has been a great turnaround for Kansas City

since they acquired him at the deadline. He's been really good too. They have a lot of solid pieces there. I mean, it's not like they have that one number one elite guy like Tyreek Hill anymore. But they have a lot of wide receiver twos and threes. And with Patrick Mahomes over there, he turns them into ones and twos. And then you still have Travis Kelsey, one of the best tight ends in the game.

But without further ado, we have Cincinnati at Buffalo. So, guys, what are your picks for this game? I think I'm going to go with the Bengals here, 34-31. It's going to be a shootout. Expect both Burrow and Allen to throw for three or four touchdowns apiece. Expect both Jamar Chase and Stephon Diggs to get about 150 yards apiece. This is going to be very similar to the Chiefs-Bills game last year. It's going to be a high-scoring game that could potentially go into overtime. It's going to go down to the wire for sure between the two heavyweights of the AFC, at least in my opinion.

And, you know what, I think Cincinnati is just going to edge it out. I know Buffalo is at home, but, you know, Bills Mafia is going to be rocking Highmark Stadium for sure. But, yeah, give me the Bengals here just because they've kind of built off this playoff experience last year, right? Winning the wildcard game at home, going on the road and beating the Titans, going on the road and making the Super Bowl. I kind of think Cincinnati is going to do perhaps a very similar thing this year where they go on the road, beat Buffalo, and then go on the road and beat Kansas City again. We shall see.

Time will tell. But I think that the defense is going to be, you know, a defense is a strength of the Bills. But, you know, if anyone's going to crack that code against guys like Tredavious White, Matt Milano, it's going to be Joe Burrow. I think having Vaughn Miller inactive for a situation like this game definitely hurts Buffalo a little bit defensively for sure. And, you know what, Cincinnati, I would favor their receivers against the Bills corner group.

They're going to probably have Tredavious White on Jamar Chase. But, you know, their secondary kind of trails off after that. Jordan Poyer could potentially be returning to the lineup, so that is a storyline to look at. But I will say Bengals win 34-31. All right. So the underdog coming in and taking out Buffalo, huh? I definitely think it's possible with their previous playoff experience.

All right. So, Tuck, what's your pick? Well, when I first saw the matchups after Sunday night, I originally – my first thought about it was, who cares? So that was my first thought about it was, who cares? So that was my first thought. But when I looked at the matchups, I'm going to be honest, I'm picking every team that is going up against the Bills. So I'm picking, I mean, going up against the Bengals,

so I'm choosing the Bills. I don't care about anything else. I want the Bengals to lose no matter what. I am very biased against this. But again, if I'm not being biased, I think the Bills have the team to beat the Bengals because they have a solid defense and their offense has Josh Allen, Stephon Diggs, and a myriad of receivers like Cole Beasley. And I want to say Isaiah McKinney and John Brown. I can't remember off the top of my head, but I believe those are the receivers.

So they have a quality receiver group. They have a quality run game. They protect Josh Allen enough to where he doesn't make too many costly turnovers that they can't come back from. I think Joe Burrow will have a very good game. At the same time, I don't think he'll have a better one than Josh Allen. I think that's going to be the difference. I see the Bills getting this one done, 27-24. All right.

So both of these teams healthy. I take the Bengals by a mile. However, the Bengals just aren't healthy, not even close. Have you seen that offensive front lately? It doesn't look good. So on Christmas Eve against the Patriots, they lost their prized acquisition from this offseason, right tackle Lyle Collins.

Then the following week, they lost their other prized offseason acquisition in Alex Kappa. And then, to make things even better, during their wildcard matchup, they lost left tackle Jonah Williams. So all they have left right now, for their starters at least, is their center, Ted Karras,

who they also acquired over the offseason, and the kid who they have at left guard. That's all they have for their starters. So, yeah, like, you cannot, from looking at that, you can understand why it was so close against the Ravens, because they have just such an elite front seven. But when you look at how injured that offensive line is, you can get away with playing that inefficiently against the Ravens

with how hurt they are. But when you take that and you go into Buffalo against Josh Allen and company, you're not going to be able to keep pace with that Bills offense. You won't. Now, what it looked like from at least the small sample we got of these two teams facing off against each other in Week 17, it looked like the Bengals were just steamrolling over them so maybe this equalizes a little bit and it's a close game I still think it's going to be close but the Bengals

they don't they need to protect Joe Burrow in order to win games I mean you can you saw it from the the first half of the season to this half. They were very up and down and they were coming out with victories and then losing games. But then once they started to figure things out on the offensive line with all these new faces, they started to gel. Then they figured things out. For that seven game stretch. They only allowed eight sacks, only eight sacks during that stretch of time. And they won seven in a row during that time. Now you're losing all those pieces. So what was helping you winning those games is not, is it's not there anymore. So I, hands are tied here i have to pick the i have to pick

the bills it's gonna be close it's gonna be close and it will be kind of high scoring i'm gonna go 26 21 buffalo wins it won't be a pretty one um it'll be a close one. And they'll both score over 20 points. But, I mean, it sucks because I was really excited for this matchup, but it's not going – it's just that Cincinnati won't be at full strength. Furthermore, they should – this game should be on neutral grounds. There's no reason it shouldn't have been. Oh, my God, get over it. It's not fair how they did this.

It's not. It has to be on neutral grounds. There's no reason why Buffalo gets the advantage in this. I was kind of thinking the same thing when it was originally announced that the game was going to be played in Buffalo and the AFC Championship was being played in Atlanta if, of course, it results to Bill's Chiefs. So, yeah, I can definitely see the point you're bringing up there

about how this game could also potentially be in a neutral site. Why couldn't the Ravens just beat them? I don't – this is what hurts. It's not so much my team loss. It's the fact the Bengals won, and we're still having this damn conversation we are having this conversation over it it's at a neutral playing field move on it's not at a neutral playing field this game is in buffalo when it shouldn't be i'm sorry it should not be it

should be on neutral grounds one more games that's all i gotta tell you one more games in the regular season don't lose them well it it doesn't help when those games are getting canceled if the bengals win that game they hope they host a potential matchup with these two the two teams they might they do that's what happens because one goes up to the two seed, which is Cincinnati, and the Bills go all the way down to the three seed, which means they will win. That's if. If, yeah. We're playing hypotheticals when we go into these neutral matchups.

That's just how it is. I'll tell you how it is. The Bills were going to win that game. That's how it was going to be. They were up 7-3. I don't know, man. They scored right away on that first drive, and they were driving again before the unfortunate DeMar Hamlin incident, man.

They absolutely gashed that Buffalo defense. Come on. So if they go down 14-3, you guys are counting it out? No, but I'm not saying who's in the lead is probably favored to win the game. We're not saying that Cincinnati would have won. Buffalo could have came back for sure. We're not saying that Cincinnati would have won. It's the fact that why is Buffalo getting, why is Buffalo getting

the advantage in this? They were already ahead of standings. Right. But if they win that game, you're so the hypothetical here there, it's all on hypothetical when we're talking about, uh, these neutral grounds, because the winner of that game gets the higher seed, right? The winner of that game has the higher seed. Yeah. So with this game being canceled, that should be on neutral grounds.

This, this game, this matchup has more right to be on neutral grounds than a Kansas city Buffalo matchup does because Kansas city has very right to be on neutral grounds than a Kansas City-Buffalo matchup does. Because Kansas City has very little to do with this. Other than the fact that they were kind of gifted the one seed. But, you know, both of these matchups should have been on neutral grounds. And they're not.

Alright. We're going to move on to our last matchup. So it is Sunday at 6.30pmm eastern time that is dallas at san francisco so just as everyone thought that dallas was going to puke all over themselves and everyone had the buccaneers advancing and facing philly in the divisional round. Dallas played probably the best game I have seen them play in years. On both sides of the ball, too. Their defense was solid.

Their offense, Dak Prescott, five total touchdowns. Excuse me, did he have four? I think he had four passing, one rushing. think he had four passing one rushing four yeah four passing one rushing that's what that's what i thought and over 300 yards that's his best career game like ever that's unbelievable so dallas is now going into san francisco to face brock purdy and company grant what's your pick all right well i I think that this is definitely going to be another close game. It should be a great week for football with all these four games, hopefully predicting how we're going.

But I'm going to say San Francisco wins and a bit of a high scoring one here. I'm going to say, actually, nah, I was going to say 37-27, but I'll go 27-17. San Francisco wins. I think Dallas keeps pace with San Francisco in the first half. Defense, best second half defense in football, hands down the 49ers. I think at one point they shut out their opponents like for five or six straight weeks in the second half. It was something crazy like that. And then, you know what? Seattle had the lead at halftime last week. San Francisco goes on the second half. It was something crazy like that. And then, you know what? Seattle had the lead at halftime last week. San Francisco goes down in the second half, just ran them over defensively.

Yeah, give me San Francisco to win. But I will say Dallas is definitely not to be slept on here. I was one who predicted Tampa Bay to win last week. And, you know, I'm thinking, oh, you know, why is Mike McCarthy still the head coach of the Cowboys? How much can Dak Prescott really win in the playoffs? And last week showed us that Dallas is still going to have those flashes. Again, with Prescott scoring five touchdowns last week,

I believe two going to Dalton Schultz. C.D. Lamb had a touchdown late in that game that pretty much sealed it. Cowboys defense is very good too. You know, we're looking at two perennial defensive players right now between Nick Bosa and Micah Parsons. It's a great mashup, but San Francisco, in my opinion, just has the more complete offense. Deebo Samuel, he's been returned from injury for a couple weeks now.

He's been doing fantastic. Brock Purdy still undefeated as a starter. Christian McCaffrey still carrying the rock very well. George Kittle, he's been a touchdown machine since Purdy's been in the lineup. Just, you know, Dallas' offense is good, but it's not up to San Francisco's good. And same thing with their defense. Good, but are they San Francisco great? I don't know.

Maybe this game will determine a lot. But, again, I'll go 27 17 sam fran on top all right well you bring up a solid point where you mentioned their second half defense and offense and just looking at the that wild card matchup i mean they seattle had the lead at halftime and even had, and it was even a, so this game was a one possession game all the way up until the beginning of the fourth quarter. And next thing you know, you blink and it's 41-23, the final score with San Francisco smothering the Seahawks. But Tuck, what's your pick? Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I want to hear your pick for this game first before I go. All this year you've been telling me about these

Cowboys. Then last week you told me you don't believe them anymore. They're going to lose. Now that they win this week, I want to hear what you think i want to hear it i want to know your game prediction before i go okay for those of you who don't understand i have been i wouldn't say i'm pro cowboys but i i sympathize with them because i i think a lot of their hate is i i think a lot of their hate uh is not deserved it's the a lot of their fans who just bring it upon them i mean what are they what are the cowboys doing what are the what's the team doing they're not doing anything the fans are but the team itself isn't yeah and they it's a target on their backs and they were also dubbed uh america's team which a lot of people didn't like because they were only really, I mean, we can talk about this all we want.

But I was very, I'll say, optimistic about the Cowboys' chances this season. I'll say. For most of this year because I thought this team has the talent to beat anybody. The problem has always been that they couldn't when it mattered most. And I thought they, and I, I jumped ship after on them after they lost to the, uh, the, after they lost to Washington with their backups, they lost that freaking game. Washington was even trying to win. And they also lost a game against the Jaguars. And we've been talking up the Jaguars all day. The Jaguars are on the up and up, but

if you're, if you're Dallas, if you are as good a team as you are, win now mode, you are, you are in the Jaguars. The Jaguars are looking to win in the future and whatever they can get, they'll take it. Cowboys, they might punch you in the mouth, but if you do that, like if, like if they do that, you need to still come out with that win and you didn't. But look, they beat the Buccaneers, right? Which was a good win, but the Buccaneers have had their issues too. Like, in fact, even worse than, like, much, much worse than Dallas. So I'm really not fooled by what Dallas did this past week. They had a good game, and I'll give credit where it's due.

They beat a team that they should beat. However, now you have the 49ers, who are playing mistake-free football with a third-string quarterback. That feels sustainable to me. The fact that they lost their starting quarterback, their backup quarterback, and are playing now with their third-stringer, and they haven't missed a beat. You think this Cowboys team is going to throw them off? Absolutely not. It might be a close game. Dallas might hold their own, but at the end of the day, they're the Cowboys.

This is the 49ers. Give me the 49ers in this matchup. I think they pull ahead. They don't win. They might win by a possession. I'm going to give it a little bit more than that. Let's say 21 to30. All right.

Just checking. Just checking because for a second there, I really thought you was going to pick them Cowboys. And then if they were to lose, you already know who I was calling. I'm just making sure. I'm picking San Francisco because I believe in that defense more so than I believe in the Cowboys offense. And the Cowboys defense, I don't think, will stop Christian McCaffrey or Brock Purdy putting up numbers against them. I think there will be holes for days because that running scheme is legit.

Amazing. I don't know how they continually make this running game better and better each year, but they somehow do it. I think the passing game is underrated, especially with the way Brandon Ayuk is playing right now and the way Devo Samuel is playing. I think Brock Purdy is putting up good numbers for the positioning he's in. I'm not saying he's a bad quarterback, but I'm not sure if he's even the future of the San Francisco 49ers right now with their carousel of quarterbacks right now. And overall, I just believe in the 49ers' ability or playoff caliber than I do the Cowboys. The Cowboys showed me a little something beating Tom Brady,

beating his unbeaten record against them, or snapping it, I should say. But I believe San Francisco will put the Cowboys in their place. I'm going to say 27 to 20, but it could be more. It could be more. But I still pick San Francisco to pull it out. All right. So I think we're all in agreement where we take San Francisco. And it won't last forever one day there is going to come a day where

the dallas cowboys snap out of it make a postseason run and win a super bowl and we're going to get all of their and we're going to get all of their fans rubbing it in our face saying how about them cowboys cowboys taking it this year we done boys all of that which will be annoying but it's going to happen at some point it has to there's no way it lasts this it it'll it'll happen at some point it just won't be this year all right so there are all of our game picks so we are going to move on to grant's guest segment where he is going to talk about his Jaguars team's future and how their rebuild process is going so far. Expectations for the future, all of that. This is a segment you won't want to miss.

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 a catch! It's a catch! Stunned! Touchdown! Unbelievable! This is the Fumble Rooski podcast by Power 88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. Adam Wright, Justin Tucker, special guest Grant Flood. We welcome you to the guest segment of our show sponsored by Secret Weapon Consulting. For business plans, secret shoppers, bar spotting, server and manager training, and so much more more visit www.secretweaponconsulting.com

so for grant's guest segment he is going to talk about the jaguars and their rebuild process so grant what do you got so i mean pretty much as i already mentioned even with them losing to kansas city saturday as a jaguar fan you know got to be happy with this season, right? How could you not be? I've been a fan of this team since 2013, and, you know, we're a decade into the journey, and this is only my second playoff appearance, you know? I understand, you know, those teams like the Browns and the Bears

and the Texans and the Lions. Like, when you guys get on those on those losing skids after losing skids and you just rack up a bunch of losing seasons in a row, I understand what you go through as a fan. You're passionate, though. You stay, and if you stay, you're going to get rewarded. And I think this is with a bright future with the Jaguars here because, listen, I thought when Urban Meyer, you know, when he got fired,

I truly thought that, wow, you know, here we are with Trevor Lawrence, with Travis Etienne, with a lot of these young Josh Allen, a lot of these young talented players, and their primes are just going to go to waste. We'll trade them all in a few years. And, oh, my goodness, we aren't getting any better. Sure, instead of winning two to four games a year, we'll win five to six. But, you know, that's not drastic improvement. And then along comes Doug Peterson.

Now, when we first hired Peterson, I was like, okay, you know, a decent stopgap coach, you know, we'll keep him for two to three years. But I didn't realize how important he has been to this team. And this second half run that they've put together here, it has showed this team was sitting at four and seven. All right. We just lost to the Lions. I'm sitting here like, okay, decent run. At least we won more games than last year.

But, you know, lose out, get the better draft pick. I didn't realize how battered up Tennessee was. We go into Nissan Stadium. We defeat the Titans. Fantastic. We're still three, four games out of a playoff shot. And as the Titans kept losing, the Jaguars kept winning. One of the craziest games I've ever watched before that Chargers game was that Cowboys game in week 15. Coming back from,

what was it, 27 to 10, Zay Jones catching three touchdowns, Rashawn Jenkins picked six in overtime. That was the game that made me believe, wow, we're going to make the playoffs. And at that point, Jacksonville was still two games out, but that didn't matter. That didn't matter to me. I knew that Destiny, they were going to make the playoffs this year if they won that game against the Cowboys. And that was the start of, wow, Doug Peterson was the right hire for this team. And this defense has been playing like that ever since. This run defense, second half of the season, has been absolutely phenomenal. Shining down Derrick Henry in Week 18.

Slowing down Austin Eckler in the second half last week. I mean, they got on a roll. They got on a roll, simple as that. The defense has been forcing turnovers. Again, Rashawn Jenkins, game-winning pick six against Dallas, game-winning forced fumble against the Titans, returned by Josh Allen for the touchdown with three minutes left, clinching a playoff spot.

Trevor Lawrence not turning over the football, and Travis Etienne emerging into his own as a running back one. I was mad earlier this year when the Jaguars traded James Robinson. I'm not going to lie to you. I thought that was a move that was going to set this offense backwards, but Etienne has developed beautifully into a running back one. Zay Jones, at one point he led the league in drops. He is fantastic. And Christian Kirk, a lot of people said he was an overpayment. I was not one of those. I knew the Jaguars desperately needed a receiver. I was happy when they got Christian Kirk, signed him to a four-year deal, and he has been playing incredible over a thousand

yards this season. Now, if they win this Saturday, great. We can talk about a Super Bowl appearance, but that is only if they win, and I'm not expecting them to. I think we've got to wait a little longer for that. I think next year there's a better chance that they go further in the playoffs. Calvin Ridley, the trade deadline acquisition, he's yet to set foot on the field. Now that is going to be

a wide receiver combination to talk about. You're expected to lose Marvin Jones, this free agency, but you've gained Calvin Ridley, having him, Jones, and Kirk as the three wide receivers, along with re-signing Evan Ingram, which he emerged out of nowhere after having a couple of struggling seasons with the Giants. He emerged. He's caught, what, five or six touchdowns this year, fourth amongst tight ends in receiving yards, and even caught a touchdown against the Chargers last week. Like, Ingram, turn around big time, and he definitely deserves a contract.

This offensive line's done really well. Walker Little's doing a nice job stepping in for the injured Cam Robinson. And, yeah, I mean, expect this defense to, you know, stick around long-term. Tyson Campbell, Josh Allen, Arden Key, Devin Lloyd, all these young players. Trayvon Walker, even, number one overall pick. All these young defensive stars this year showed that they belong to be on the team long-term. And I would love to lock these guys up to long-term contracts as next season, I do believe our contending window opens. But yeah,

very bright future for the Jaguars. And I couldn't be happier as a fan right now, win or lose against Kansas City Saturday. This is just the stepping stone to what could potentially be a Super Bowl championship a couple of seasons down the road if we are able to make that happen down the road in some time. But that's my future about the Jaguars. It's a bright one. Well, thanks a lot. I couldn't agree with you more on just about everything you said listen this is a jaguars team which has had some good a good amount of resources this year uh in

the past few years uh between uh draft picks uh cap space all all of that. And they've utilized it all. So you look at the draft. They drafted Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne, Devin Lloyd, Trayvon Walker. A lot of good young pieces to contribute to this team. And they also spent in free agency bringing in Christian Kirk. They added some pieces on the offensive line. They've extended his bodyguard left tackle Cam Robinson, who is out for the year, but he's a big part of why Trevor Lawrence has

been one of the most protected young quarterbacks in the league, as opposed to a Justin Fields over there in Chicago. They're really utilizing everything, and that's what is the most encouraging here. And I haven't even mentioned Calvin Ridley, who was acquired in a trade. So it's just the future is looking great for this Jaguars team. And I got to say, I think Trevor Lawrence is going to be one of the better quarterbacks in this league in a couple years' time. It's going to get to a point, and Tuck had to leave. He has class. But it's going to get to a point where in a couple years time maybe even

next year we're going to be mentioning trevor lawrence in the same breath as the likes of joe burrow josh allen and patrick mahomes i hope i'm not i'm not going to say who's who's better than the other because we don't even know if allen and Burrow have reached their ceilings, and we don't know where Trevor Lawrence is going to be. So we can just muddle all those four quarterbacks together and maybe mention Justin Herbert as well. He's trapped in L.A. right now with some questionable coaching and an injury-riddled, talented but injury-riddled team.

But they found their guy in Trevor Lawrence. I mean, that's their guy. He's the key to everything. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that was my big concern again when we, you know, whenever I originally got fired again, I was like, oh, no, like we're going to really ruin Trevor Lawrence's career, you know. I'm like, I'm sick and tired of seeing star players leave. And, you know, I saw Jalen Ramsey get traded to the Rams.

I've seen Yannick Ngakwe get traded to the Raiders. I see Clayus Campbell get traded to the Ravens. I have Fournette to the Bucs. I'm like, James Robinson to the Jets. I'm like, I'm done with, you know, us throwing away all these star young players. You know, let's actually develop them for once. You know, let's get that winning culture back in Duval County.

And, well, again, you give Lawrence the proper coaching. You hired Doug Peterson. You nailed the defensive draft picks this past year. You get a well-rounded team. Of course, there is some luck that comes along with that. Tennessee having a good roster comes with that. But Jacksonville earned this playoff. Walker could use more work, though.

Yeah, Walker could. But, you know, they're sitting there 4-7, 4-8. I'm thinking they're not going to make the playoffs, but they did. They strung up. They're on a, what, six-game winning streak right now? They've all but earned this playoff appearance. And Trayvon Walker, I'm telling you, he's going to get better in time. I agree.

Devin Lloyd has been the better rookie linebacker this year. But I think Walker, in due time, you know, he can reach his ceiling. This defense, man. I mean, their run defense really improved too. How about Devon Hamilton? I didn't even mention him. Great stalwart on the defensive line. Yeah, I mean, we'll see with Trayvon Walker. They probably should have drafted Aiden Hutchinson.

I wanted them to draft Hutchinson too. They were in love with that guy, man. Trayvon Walker. I don't know what it is about, uh, these, these NFL scouts and the, and the combine, but he was athletically he's, he's incredible just in the stat sheets in college. He never really showed much. Yeah. I wanted Hutchinson too. And yes, during the draft, I was disappointed when we drafted Walker.

But you know what? Free agency money. Let's go out, get past Rusher. Let's help out Josh Allen. Let's help out Arden Key. Let's help out DeJuan Smoot when he gets back next year and healthy. Help out these young guys. They have some good pieces.

All right, well, we are out of time. But Grant, thank you for joining the show. It was great getting your analysis on this Jaguars team and where they're going forward and also all of these game picks. It was great having you, dude. Yes, thank you, Adam, and I make sure to thank Tucker for me as well. It was a pleasure having the opportunity to come on the show. I really appreciate you guys checking out my work and having me come on the show. Of course. I appreciate it, man.

All right. Well, that'll do it for us tonight. Thank you for listening to us. We have new episodes out on Tuesdays and Fridays at 7.30 PM Eastern Standard Time. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We also have all our episodes available on Spotify, Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, and so much more. Also be sure to follow our Instagram at FumbleRooski underscore podcast to keep up with our podcasts and the latest coverage on the NFL. Otherwise, we'll see you next week. Over and out.