The Fumblerooski Podcast - The Harder They Fall -Ep 412 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: December 30, 2025

On today’s episode, another wild week of football finds the playoff picture set besides a few teams. The Ravens and Buccaneers see their season have an extra week of light with a chance to win their respective divisions. The Seahawks and 49ers secure a date for the NFC West title, the Bears win the North and the Eagles help the Patriots win the East. Drake Maye retakes the MVP odds lead with the Falcons getting an upset win over Stafford and the Rams. We also take a quick peek at Tankathon: can the Raiders hold on to the #1 pick? Rumors about a Jaxson Dart trade? Chris Costich, Justin Tucker, Adam Wright, and CJ Medeiros talk all this and more, including Week 17 Top 3 Bottom 4!

On today's episode of the Fumbleruski podcast, a wild, wild week with more game of the years. I mean, script writers are at it again. It's unbelievable. 49ers, high scoring affair, winning against the Bears on Sunday night football. And the playoff race for both sides, starting to shape up a little bit, along with a little peak of take-a-thon, week 17, top-three, bottom three, and a recap of Monday night football. This is the Fulmbruski podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws.

Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome to the Fulmaruski podcast by Power 88, Dean Radio, and Secret Weapon Consulting. We got all the fellas here. Adam Wright, C.J. Medeiros, Justin Tucker. I'm Chris Kostich. Glad for you to join us for our Tuesday episode.

Man, I mean, let's just take a moment and appreciate one of an amazing season this has been. It's been a weird one. Like, it has been the last few years, but you can make a case that this may just be the best NFL season that has ever come to be. It's the most exciting. You can legitimately make a case that any of the, and for some, for some, some of it's an outside shot just as any playoff picture is but like you can make a legitimate case any of these teams in the afc could represent in the a fc it's unbelievable 100% 100% uh any of you guys want to chip in on that i think it goes both ways i could see one through seven both in the nfc and the afc both contending for the super bowl which is weird because the nfc is so competitive

Yeah, I mean, you look at the NFC, the entire NFC West, save for Arizona is just murderers row over there. NFC North, you know, even though Green Bay is hurt, they're still dangerous. You know, you got the up-and-coming bears. Heck, even the Panthers. They beat the Rams. So, so you know they got something. And on the AFC side, you know, Josh Allen's there. No Mahomes, no borough, no problem.

Trevor Lawrence's finally looking like the talent. He should have been. You got suffocating Denver Broncos. defense out in the west you got drake drake may may in the afc east and on top of that the best defense in the league is going to be a wild card spot like you can make a case that the best team in all of football the the la rams you make a case like they're the best team but they're not even going to win their division and they may just be the 60s yeah yeah like unbelievable this this has been a great season. It's wide open and I love it. Of course, we'll talk about the Rams

after they take on the Falcons later on the episode, currently recording this. I don't have a clock in front of me, but it's 34 in standard time Monday, December 29th. But we'll start with that Bears 49ers game or do we want to start with the Ruski game of the week? Let's do a Ruski game of the week. Sorry, I saw that first, so I was putting that in. I'm good. I like it. I like it. Texans. on Saturday, big start, first two drives, two big touchdowns. C.J. Stroud started 4-4 with 142 yards, proceeded to go 12 for 24 for 104 yards and 12 touchdowns afterwards.

But in that game, those first two drives, you thought, wow, the Texans offense is back, they're humming, and then that happens, and they only get six points afterwards. But I think this says more about the Texans. And it doesn't – in terms of the Chargers, this doesn't affect my viewpoint of them because this is – I mean, we all know this has turned into one of the worst offensive lines in football, if not the worst. The Texans are the best defense in football as we were talking about. You kind of figured this was going to happen. Credit to Herbert and the rest of the team for staying in the game. But evidently, it came down to Dicker the kicker missing an extra point and a field goal.

And lo and behold, those are the four points that decided the game. Thoughts around the table. We'll start with Adam. Yeah, look, I think that game for the Texans was a great clarification for where they're at. The Texans, when everyone says that they're scared of the Texans, they don't mean them as a team. They mean their defense. Their defense is the singular, arguably the singular best. unit, not just the best defense, best unit in all of football, a team that's just able to even

produce some offense a little bit. They're able to put points on the board, produce turnovers. They are a swarming defense. But I don't know what's wrong with CJ Stroud. I mean, that's the second part of my takeaway of this game is like this kid started off his career. He looked like he was going to be one of the elite quarterbacks in this league. And he is very, very quickly falling off to be like he's not terrible but you can clearly see he's not good enough for you to respect as one of those quarterbacks we can take over a game like you can't call this a well-rounded uh texans team because their offense just can't put up enough points to win games they have nico collins i like him um and again stroud can put up some points sometimes

but he's so inconsistent i just i don't trust him at all CJ? Oh, my God. This game I was so excited for that it turns into that. Adam, I'm going to echo everything you've said and more. I finally thought, okay, CJ Stroud's cooking. Then C.J. Stroud says, ha, ha, ha, ha, I have fooled you. I shall cook no more.

And thank God for Stroud at least. that the Texans have the best defense in the league? Because without them, they're probably not even a playoff team. They got rid of their old O.C. Slow it last off season. And they replaced him with Nick Cayley from the Rams of all teams. And still, they haven't figured out, I say it's all the time. I'll say it again, they haven't figured out how to recapture that rookie year magic from C.J. Stroud. And look, great win for the Texans.

I'll start with the positives. You know, it's a good win for them. they have a shot to win their division right that's huge but i have a take don't bite my head off okay not a take but just more of a something i've been pondering a developing take yes have NFL defenses figured out cj stroud is this one of those look i didn't want to broach the subject because I love C.J. Stroud. But is this one of those times where the league gets enough film on him, figured him out, and he just has been able to adjust? It's happened before. Like, I don't think he's bad, but the fact that it's year three and he had, and his best year was

his rookie year, that is really, really concerning. And every time, much like this game, every time where you think he's got it back, he then does. decides, no, he doesn't. And thank God for that defense, clamping down on Justin Herbert, because the way they just completely stalled out, there's no reason the Chargers shouldn't have won that game. That was a purely, like, defensive, just shutting down the Chargers type of game. And as far as the Chargers themselves go, I'll save my If Man rant for if the chargers go one and done in the postseason, because I got some takes on this, you know, but I'll give Herbert a tiny bit of credit. So as you know, they do those player introductions,

right? And for every player, let's just say, you know, like, oh, Drake May, North Carolina, they'll show his PFF ranking, right? Such is true for all teams. And before I hand the baton off to our good friend Justin Tucker, listen to Justin Herbert's offensive line. Left tackle, Austin Deculis, PFF rank 38 out of 38. Left guard, Zion Johnson, PFF rank 21 out of 36. Center Bradley Bozeman, PFF rank 36 out of 36. Right guard, Mackay Beckton, Senior, PFF ranked 36 out of 37. And right tackle, Trey Pipkins, the third PFF rank 35 out of 36.

Now, two players dead last at their respective position on the offensive line. And, yeah, I know that both of his tackles being out in Roshan Slater and Joe Waltz, not ideal, but there was not a thought to protect this man. Thank God for that, for the Texans, at least. Otherwise, they would have blown this game. Where do I even begin? First and foremost, congratulations to the Houston Texans. Regardless of the quarterback play that they're experiencing with C.J. Strout, they are still very much a consistent. tend during the EFC, mainly because of the defense that they have.

I believe this defense can take them very far in the playoffs because if you have a defense, you tend to travel far in the playoffs. And I think they have enough pieces around CJ Stroud to where he can get things done. I'd see at bare minimum, 17 points would be enough for them to at least make it the divisional round and then go from there because I trust that defense so much. they're more than likely going to be the fifth seat so that means they're either going to face Pittsburgh or the Ravens I'm going to let you know right now we don't look particularly good on the Raven side and the Steelers don't look good either so if they stay in that fifth spot

they have the potential to bear minimum make it to the divisional round and then go from there and the second thing is dear God give Justin Herbert some line help if bobby heart is on your line you're doing him a disservice I don't know what else you need to do i don't know if you need to pick up some guy on on the waiver wire i don't know where you need to get it just get it somewhere because justin herbert's not going to survive this line for long enough this man already had a bang the pan he's going to get injured more this season i think this team if it was still healthy they'd be a major contender but this line has just been rabid so much i'm not sure how far they'll get especially if they have to go against a very

dangerous defense like denver or something like that so all the things considered a good one for Houston. I think they do have the potential to represent the AFC, depending on how well C.J. Straub plays. But I'd look at the charging zone, like, injuries at the worst possible time and at the worst possible positions. Agreed on that. I think you all make great points in general.

Should we just talk about AFC playoff picture at this point now? Yeah. Yeah, let's do it. Since we're on these two wildcard teams right now, the Chargers and the Texans. So everyone in both sides of the aisle have clinched a playoff spot or six of the seven needed teams have clinched a playoff spot. Of course, the Steelers and the Ravens are figuring out the North and the Panthers and Bucks are figuring out the NFC South. So for those last playoff spots. In terms of the wildcard spots for the AFC side, since we're on it,

Texans now hold control of the five spot because they have the tiebreaker over both the chargers and the bills. So it's Texans, chargers, and bills. And the charges have the tie break over the bill, best on best win percentage in common games. Chargers are also 5 and 0 in the division, 8 and 3 in the conference. But it really comes down to week 18 in terms of playoff positioning now for all three of these teams. We're going to probably talk a little bit about the week 18 scheduling in terms of times and whatnot later on. But Texans, they got the Colts for their final game.

Jaguars have the Titans. And the Jaguars currently hold the lead in the AFC South. that the Texans win and the Jaguars lose, then the Texans will be AFC South champs. The Jaguars would be the fifth seat, I believe. Let me double check the standings on that. But, yeah, they would be the fifth seat at that point. So it's going to be a little interesting to see how this one plays out.

But I have a strong feeling that in terms of the wild card, this is going to be as it's going to hold as is texans five charger six bill seven yeah pretty much i don't see anything changing adam you're muted yeah you're muted yeah uh this would be good as an open conversation but um i'm looking at the chargers i don't see them finishing any lower than any higher than the seven seed i really i i think the bill end up higher and the the chargers end up lower unless there's unless there's some sort of change like i i favor the broncos in their in their matchup against the chargers if not um then things

things shift most likely up top since the since that would mean that new england would most likely overtake the broncos as the as the um you know as the one seed but i mean the most The most likely scenario is the Texans at five and the bills at six and then the Chargers at seven. I mean, even if you could make a case that this Chargers team, when healthy is a contender, that's when healthy, their offensive line is just awful this year. Even the guys who were going into this year who were healthy, who we were expecting to get big performances out of, they haven't been good either. Like I really loved Mackay Beckton in this free agency class. I wanted him to become a patriot. I'm kind of glad they didn't make them like that.

It's just there's something going on in Philly that makes offensive linemen that good. But I would look at, there's a lot of wild card teams here that could very easily end up advancing to the next round, particularly Buffalo and Houston. like let's do the path math right here if if if it's buffalo at the sixth seed then that means they get the Jaguars that's a tough matchup in Jacksonville the way Trevor Lawrence is playing right now that's a tough matchup and you don't think Josh Allen can take over game I think that's a good that's a game that the bills can win I think he can but the problem is you get games like we just watched against Philly where he ends up feeling like he has to take over or has to make the big play and ends up losing 16 yards and takes a team out of field goal range. So I think that, but that's also the good and bad of having a guy like Josh Allen in the team that you've constructed.

Do you think the Jaguars are actually capable of making those same, like being able to capitalize on mistakes like that? Whereas Philly is a little more, Philly's a little more seasoned in big games like that. Like, they've been there and done that over the years. The Jaguars are kind of just on the up and up. I don't really trust them in postseason games. I really don't. I mean, Trevor Lawrence took down the Kansas City Chiefs in the middle of their dynasty.

And before that came back down, what was it, 27 points against the Chargers in that wild card round? Yeah, but that was the charge. Those are the other big playoff chokers. Yeah. But, like, let's my. point my point is the same even if you make a case that the jaguars can beat the bills the bills can also beat the jaguars yes very very easily it's the same thing with houston in fact i would favor whoever uh i would favor them over whoever comes out of the a fc north yeah yeah i agree

yeah i'm still going to pick the ravens of course but i'm not going to lie and tell you that i'm i'm like confident we'll beat the houston texans after what they did to us i'm i'm not confident I still think we can beat them. This is going to be a very interesting playoff race. I'll tell you that much. Yeah. Adam, by the way, I'm glad that you mentioned Chargers going to seven because I completely forgot that they're playing Denver Week 18.

So I retract what I said. I'm going to go on Adams' take, re-correct myself. I still think the Chargers have a chance to win that game. I just think Denver deserves to be favored. Like they, the Chargers are, the chargers are having some issues on their offensive line. Denver has an amazing front seven. In fact, they're chasing the 84 bears in the single season team sack record. Yeah. So any team that has to go into Denver this postseason, just a developing take of

mine that I'll probably need some more time to think on, the team that will come out of the AFC, I believe will be the bills or whoever takes the one seat which boils down to whether New England or Denver takes it or the Jaguar or the Jagu I have a very I actually need the path and the Jacks to both lose

yeah but it's still a pass in the Broncos I mean sorry I mean the Jaguars might get it but I just think it's an outside shot. And also, I don't think Jacksonville has all that good of a home field advantage. They play down south, but it's not the same as South Beach over in Miami. That is, that's a spot where it's like, if you're a cold weather team, you have to go in there and win a game, New England, it's always a hard place to play. But I mean, when I refer to, when I refer to whoever wins the one seed, I'm talking about New England or Denver. And the only teams I can go into either of those spots, the only team that I think they can go into either of those spots

legitimately late in the postseason and win, I think is Buffalo. And the only team that has been, the only team that's really been able to stop Buffalo in the last half decade outside of that one, that one Cincinnati year, has been Mahomes and the chiefs, and they're gone. So the only guy with any real postseason seasoning that we have here is, Al, unless either Rogers or Lamar make it into the playoffs right which I mean who you're not expecting them to go far but I'm saying that's what we're looking at here yeah all right anything else we want to touch I haven't heard CJ talk a whole lot during this

segment anything else you want to touch on no no I think you're right it's just I've said this before, but I'm going to reiterate it. Adams' take about the Bills is correct, but it's also a double-edged sword. I've said this before, and I feel like I need to say it again for all the Bills fans that may or may not listen. Mahomes has been the only one to beat you. If you do not make it out of the AFC, I don't think you ever will. This year for Buffalo, I don't care if they're one. wildcars. As long as they have Alan, they have a shot because Alan just goes God mode and

can take over games. So if you don't win this year without Burrow and without Mahomes in the playoffs, what assurances do I have that you're ever going to do it? In fact, I'm willing to go a step further. If the bill's season does not end with the Lombardi trophy, Eds need to roll. Specifically, Sean McDermott. I'd be open to canning Brandon Bean as well for them as a pass fan but should be more than that but yeah yeah no but like heads have to roll because statistically and even like in the playoffs is Alan yeah we can clown Allen for that really awful pass on the two-point conversion but really is Alan really the problem here you already know that I do not like Sean McDermen as a head coach I think he's overrated

and I think the relationship between him and Josh Allen is akin to Aaron Rogers and Mike McCarthy so if you don't win this season what assurances do we have that you're ever going to because chiefs are gone from your path but they're also gone from your excuses you know i don't even care if they go to the super bowl and lose anything short of winning mcdermott and probably bean have to go if i'm owner terry pagula i'm sitting both of them down and saying you are gming and coaching for your job like get it done because you have been gifted such i won't say an easy path but a manageable path you split with new england you can beat them but they've also shown they can beat you the jaguars who knows what they are they're chaos incarnate

the broncos they were looking good until the jags came in and beat them so demvers beatable and you beat them last year but bo necks isn't a rookie anymore the texans are half of a team we don't take the afc north seriously no offense tuck and the chargers are powered by if man of people. So you have the most experience. You have, I mean, as far as quarterbacks go, so like if you don't get it done this year, then changes have to be made. McDermott's got to go and probably being as well. C.J, it's a matter of whether or not something will happen, though, because what you're mentioning isn't just an organizational issue. It's a league-wide issue. When you look at a coach like John Harbaugh, an elite quarterback like Lamar Jackson is making

him look better as a head coach. They're winning so many games. Back when the Bengals were winning, you know, when they were making it to AFC championships and going to Super Bowls, Joe Burrow has made him look better. And then the injury issues come up on top of that. And therefore, oh, they're injured. It's not Zach Taylor's fault. The league has an issue with the quarterbacks making the coaches look much better. And it keeps them around longer than they're supposed to be. It happened earlier in the it's it's happened a lot earlier into the previous generations. Aaron Rogers. Do you think Mike McCarthy would have been a head coach for as long as he was if he didn't have Aaron Rogers on the Packers? And then after that, Jason Garrett with Tony Romo

and then Dak Prescott afterwards. And also Dak Prescott with Mike McCarthy afterwards again, because the league is just fooled into thinking he's a good coach. Like it just happened. Like you get coaches like this who are like you kind of you you have to marry them together because they're winning and you don't want to you don't want to be that one organization that penalizes a head coach for winning and that's a that's a league-wide issue the NBA doesn't have this issue the NBA does not have this issue it has the opposite they they love to can their head coaches after a lot of things yeah the NBA the uh we could we could that's a whole different I'm not saying I disagree.

That's just a whole other can of worms. But no, no, no. You've got a point. I definitely agree. It's just, if you're a Bill's fan, even if Allen, like I said, like on that two-point play, can be mortal sometimes, when do you say enough's enough and just say, all right, Sean McDermott's not the guy? And I know you're really scared, but think about it this way. If you as the bill, so the head coach vacancy, you're probably the sexiest spot to go to because you have Josh Allen. So I'm not going to say you can only improve, but you can pretty much get any coordinator you want to be your next head coach.

Yeah, listen, it's, I think the point I'm bringing up, I guess, when I bring up that this is a league-wide issue is that the Raven, I think the bills have just won too many games. they've done too well this season and they're at the point they're going to make the playoffs they'll probably win a playoff game and once you get to that point then the owner is going to look at this and say well I mean they did the most with what they had even though when you look closer

they kind of put themselves in that spot my thing is this we look at Josh Allen in a certain light like the reason he hasn't gone further than where he's at the reason he doesn't have like multiple Super Bowls is because of Mahomes. If he loses to any of these teams in the playoffs,

because Mahomes and Andy Reid aren't here anymore, especially if he loses as the 6th to the Jags, we're assuming that's going to be the matchup, it's no longer in a Mahomes issue. We'd have to look at him in a new light and look at him and be like, why can't you get it done in the playoffs when it matters? It kind of depends on the stats, too,

because when they go out, at it. Alan plays well. Just usually the defense lets him down or his receivers, you know, tend to disappear. But, you know, it all depends on that. But yeah, now there have been times where Alan, especially against the cheese, has gotten the ball in his hands and has done nothing, you have a point. And I understand why you say that. But once again, like, it's just going to depend on, like, just how well he plays. Because usually he plays well until, like, the final drive when they need them most and then it's just like work down not converting i'm unfortunately going to shut this down now since we've been at this for nearly half an hour but i was going to say

hell of a conversation though that was good um i had one more thing but that can be for friday's episode uh we'll step aside we'll get into the nfc playoff picture uh more specifically talk about the bears 49ers sunday night football game this is what again what again this is the It may not have always showed it in the staff sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie.

Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome back to the Fulmaruski podcast. Let's get into the NFC side of things, starting with the 49ers, beating the Bears in a high-scoring affair, 42 to 38. Oh, cardiac bears are at it again, dude. Oh, my goodness. Like, never mind that. But this is kind of what I was talking about at the top of the show where it just feels like every week this season, there's been at minimum two game of the year candidates.

It's unbelievable. And this, more importantly, too. Seemed like the Niners were. I felt like the Niners at some point were going to pull away and pull away big but the Bears were right there every single time Brock Purdy had five touchdowns and I think he's finally starting to

shut down the Brock Purdy primetime criticism as of right now two rushing touchdowns is insane five total that's Josh Allen numbers right there. He had a great game Ricky Pearsall went off. Jake Tong is in for George Kittle.

He had seven catches. On the other side for the Bears, Caleb Williams went off again in another game where the Bears kept him clean, no sacks. DeAndre Swift had two touchdowns. Luther Burden with eight catches with no Roman Dundze for the fourth week in a row. The Bears' offense is humming.

But the 49ers is also, that good, even without Frank Warner and Nick Bosa. I'm still a little skeptical of the defense a little bit just because of some of these games. But by God, we were talking about this earlier too. 49ers are another team that can make a Super Bowl run. And if you're the Bears, you can't take this loss and be like, oh, we suck. Like, this is another game where they competed. with a top dog in the league.

That's all you can really say about it. Let's go other way around the table on this one. Tuck, your thoughts. This really might have been. There's been several games where we could say this might be game of league. This game is another contender for game of the year. Holy shit, what a game. It started off with a pick six.

I'm thinking, oh no, Brock Purdy, the curse is here. Once again, he can't perform in prime time. he then responds with a touchdown i think the four uh the bear stole out and then they score a touchdown 14-7 and then the bear score again then the nine of score and then the bear score again it was just a back-and-forth non-stop scoring affair it was 21 21 by the end of the first half i'm like oh my god is this going to stop the answer is no the 49ers respond and score a touchdown Caleb william says i'm not done and goes down the field and scores And then they, the 49th score again, and then DeAndre Swift scores again.

I'm like, are these, are they going to stop any time soon? And then Brock Berge said, I got this. Throws it to John Jennings for what would be the game winning touchdown. But the Bears, oh, they made it interesting. Caleb Williams was dotting them going down the field. Luther Burden came up with some clutch catches, even though he dropped one, which almost cost them the game. and Jacob Loveland did the same thing as well,

but Luther Borden came up clutching this game, and I think he's going to get much more like playing time as the season goes down, especially with the injuries to Rome and Dunez. And I'm not sure about DJ Moore right now. Even though he played, I'm just not sure. I think he's taking, I think Luther Burden is taking steps up. But it came down to the final throw of the game,

and I was thinking to myself, Caleb might actually do it. I'm thinking Caleb might actually pull this one off. But unfortunately, he wasn't able to pull off the miracle thrown in. The 49ers won this one and a thriller. Congratulations to the 49ers. They played their ass off. But I think this is a game that we might see again in the playoffs.

I hope we see this again in the playoffs because how good this one was. But it might actually be in Chicago. So congratulations to the 49ers, but I'm not sure, though, be so lucky if they play the Bears again, if it's in Chicago. But very good game. You're mute. CJ. How crazy was this game, you might ask?

It was tied at five different points. At one point, it was 7-7, 14-14, 21-21, 21, 28, 28 and 35, 35. I know we say it every week about every other game, but this just might be game of the year. This hit everything you want. Offense, mostly just offense, heartbreak, lead changes, ties, coming down to the final throw.

That's what you live for, unless you're a fan of either of those teams, then you've aged 10 years. Oh, my God. I hate to see the insurance premiums in the state of Illinois right now considering the fat you know like the you know that nickname they've gotten the cardiac bears pretty apt considering the fact every game like they just can't seem to put anyone away it's just like it's a down to the wire nail biter that ages you have 10 years and this is the downside of that where you know

they were winning but you can also see sometimes it'll go the other way i'm definitely rooting for a rematch if they happen across paths in the playoffs that would be super But in the meantime, I've got to say, congrats to the Niners. For the Bears, hey, you know, just take it in stride. I'm sure they'll be fine. But this, a lot of people aren't going to like this, but I'm just going to say it. Can the Brock Purdy hate just, like, die now? Because his entire career, it's just, oh, system quarterback relies on his weapons.

Well, he had a banged up Christian McCaffrey. Joanne Jennings, Jake Tonges, and went toe-to-to-to with the Bears in one. Like, back-to-back games with five total touchdowns. I'm not going to say the system QB allegations are dead, but they're on life support. And the thing is, the only reason that this game is even that close is because the entire Niners' defense is injured. They were saying at multiple points they're at the game, how Yomador Lenore, their corner one, And then, like, everyone else is, like, a second and third stringer. That's the one thing that worries me about the Niners, just how banged up they are on the defensive side of the ball.

And I know injuries happen, but when, like, a whole quarter of your salary cap is on IR, and not coming back, I might add, that's kind of a problem. Just imagine how scary they'd be at full health. But either way, for the Niners, great win. You've proven you belong to the playoffs. And for the Bears, just, yeah, it sucks. But you played your heart out. and you're also going to the playoffs. So maybe they meet again in Soldier Field.

Will it be different? We'll have to wait. Adam? This game was like that old, that old McDonald's ad, where it was like between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird and they're playing horse around the basketball arena

and they're just making all these crazy shots and like they're just waiting on who's going to blink first. It's like just one of those classic commercials. if you guys recognize that it was kind of like that between brock purdy and kaleb williams they were just going back and forth i almost made a post about it before i kind of got lost in the patriots edit that we put on the social media page but it was kind of like that sort of game in the sense that it was a straight shootout and listen i i think it gets to a point where i love scoring but i also think there's a little bit of a

happy medium that you want here, where there is a little defense where teams have to really fight to get those points. It felt like you didn't really need to do that. There wasn't much defense in this game, which means the Bears' defense was a little bit of a disappointment. As far as Brock Purdy go, look, I've been one of those who does criticize Brock Purdy a lot. I still think he's a solid quarterback. I just don't think he's one of the league's elite. Chris, you and I used to go back and forth on this all the time about Brock Purdy. I think he's a solid quarterback, but I also think two things can be true at once. When you have a system in San Francisco, where you can have a lot of different

quarterbacks who are at least solid, who can still win you games. You had Mac Jones who played really solid ball. You had Jimmy Garoppolo who played really good ball for him. And Brock Purdy's played the best out of him. That's not a coincidence. All I'm saying is Kyle Shanahan, as a head coach, as an offensive mind, is a superstar. And what I compare Kyle Shanahan to is to Andy Reid in his earlier days. Andy Reed's always had subpar to decent to really good quarterback play, and he's always been able to stay competitive and win playoff games, but he's never been able to quite get over the hump. Then he got his superstar quarterback, and that's when things absolutely exploded. I like Brock Purdy. I just don't think he's at the level of stardom.

And I think Kyle Shanahan really needs that in order for him to really beat those playoff choker allegations because i if you remember andy reed kind of had that as well where it's like he wasn't able to get over the hump he he always he had some sort of issue that would happen late in playoff games late in uh playoff runs it's like he can't do it at the big stage again he was a quarterback away it turns out and now he's one of the best he's considered one of the best coaches the game has ever seen i think it's the same thing with kyle shanahan i like brock purdy I also don't think he's the guy for them. Is that good enough, CJ?

Am I, am I, did I miss you off at all with that one? I know that you kind of went against my take, but I feel like I tried to be as fair as I possibly do. No, it's one of those things where I think there's a middle ground between the guy and system quarterback, then there's this area where that's Brock Purdy. Yeah, because I think we're so. getting points to Brock Purdy's career now where it's like, all right, like he's playing

like he's the guy, right? Like, he's playing like he's going to be the guy for the next 10 years or whatever. I'm trying to do math from what he first started. But say next 10 years, 2020. Thank you. Yeah, so that would be actually pretty accurate on my part. All I'm saying is that, sorry, I didn't mean. No, no, no, you're good.

Like seven and four with Mac Jones. You did a, like, with, you, you don't have Debo Samuel anymore. You traded him away. No Brandon Iuke. He's a disaster. George Kittles been in and out of the lineup. He was gone for most of the first half of the season. And you somehow manage to make that work?

That guy sucks. I'm just saying, you give credit where credit is due. Oh, yeah. Kyle Shanahan is a superstar head coach. 100%. No, there's no. disagreeing with that at all. By the way, I don't think we ever really talked about

the Brandon I, you shit. He's especially because it's like a couple weeks ago, Kyle Shanahan's like, yeah, we haven't seen him in a month. Oh? And then he posts a video of himself like doing 90 past Levi Stadium. Like, what's going on here? I mean, you saw the,

you saw the reports that they're basically about to get rid of them. Oh, yeah. He's off the team already. Yeah, yeah. Like they're like, Kyle Shanan basically said that in a press conference like when was it like two weeks ago it was a while ago this happened through this season has been so crazy we haven't even been able to cover it and he look they got rid they lost all their weapons and kyle shanahan still turned it into a team that very well could end up with the one seed in fact with sam darnall i can make a case here with how sam darnald plays in big moments you could say that the 49ers are probably

going to get the one seed. That last game that he played where he overtook the Rams in that one game, that was the first game that he actually played well in. That was a big game. He's always had issues with that. So, I mean, the 49ers are right there. They don't have much to work with. And somehow Kyle Shanahan has made it work.

Some way, somehow, Kyle Shanahan's very young. One day he's going to end up with a superstar quarterback. And we're going to look at at Shanahan the same way we're looking at Andy Reid. Got a little breaking news for the boys. Nothing crazy. It's just week 18 stuff. Chargers resting their starters. I just saw that.

Huh. Chargers resting their starters against the Broncos. So there go. So get ready to learn two seed New England. Yep. That's so basically we're getting the charters week one. Yeah, that being said, that basically soes up what the AFC is going to look like because, yeah, so it's going to be Broncos, Pat's, Jags are Texans, Steelers or Ravens, and then the loser of the Texans, Jags game, bills and Chargers. So the Chargers, I guess they're just content with drop into the 7th seed and is.

Well, they are not going to Well, let's go play New England. Well, let's go to New England. All right, let's talk about the NFC playoff picture, though. NFC North is, if the Bears hadn't clinched the NFC North with the Packers losing to Baltimore on Saturday night, then this loss probably would hurt with sting a lot more. But thankfully for them, they got the division clinched up

because their win against Philly earlier this year as well on Black Friday. they still hold the two spot with Philly holding the three spot. South and West divisions are still up for grabs as we were talking about the Niners and Seahawks. They're going to be prime time on Saturday night, week 18, to battle for the NFC South and the one seed. The Rams, we were talking about this earlier before the show just to clarify some things. The Rams have no shot of winning the NMC West. There's just, they don't have a better conference record than the Niners or the Seahawks. The Niners have a better conference record than both of those teams.

They also have a better division record than both of those teams. So it's, so it's the Rams who were in the driver's seat for the majority of this season is now going to, or on the verge of finishing third in the division and being the six seat. By the way, Packers locked into the seven seat. they're not moving out of that spot. Also, it's going to rest their starters. And then before the Seahawks and Niners game will be the Panthers and Bucks to play for the NFC South title,

which, I mean, I heard a really funny take right after, I think the 1 o'clock slate, maybe after 4 o'clock. And I forget if it was CBS or Fox that were talking about it, and they were like, gee, I mean, you look at the NFC South, And you're thinking the states are the best team in the division. They got eliminated a month ago, which is a perfectly explained to the NFC South right now. So should be interesting to see how this next week plays out.

And, of course, we'll get more news on who's resting, who's not, in terms of the playoff picture. But it's pretty cut and dry in terms of the picture, to say the least. maybe if the Rams win and the Niners lose, then they would flip spots, obviously. But that would really be it. I mean, look, again, we talked about this earlier. We can argue that the Rams are the best team in this conference,

and they're not even going to end up winning the division. They might even finish third, an outside shot, but it could happen. I, again, I might favor the 49ers just because they've been there and done that. The Seahawks, even as a franchise, haven't really been knocking at the door like this in a very long time. Probably not since 2014, right? I mean, it's been a long time since they've been vying for the one seed. And the 49ers have been doing it for years. How many times have they made the conference championship?

shit. How many times did I make the Super Bowl? Three or four. I mean, just in the last half decade, going back to 2019, then 21, then 22. 23. Exactly.

They're getting there all the time. It's just, I just think Brock Purdy, Kyle Shanahan, George Kiddell, Christian McCaffrey, they've all been there and done that. I know the 49ers have looked a lot shakier than the Seahawks during this regular season.

But the playoffs is a different animal. And once we start playing for a playoff seating this late in the season, it's basically an extension of the postseason. That's when you start to see some quarterbacks, some other teams kind of crack under pressure. I'm not convinced by the Seahawks just yet. That one Thursday night game was a positive sign for them, but it's just one game. I've seen way too much of Sam Donald choking for me to actually trust him. my problem is with the 49ers it's not a big one but it's something we need to be cognizant of if they finish up as the five seat they would have to go up against the four seat it could be carolina

broad party wants nothing to do with carolina he wants nothing to do with that i saw i saw that game he wants nothing to do with michael jackson he wants nothing to do with j c horn he wants nothing to do with derrick brown he played god off and they should have lost that game. This shouldn't even be a conversation. So for me, I think the 49ers, due to playoff experience, are always going to be a threat when it comes to the playoffs. But this is a match of nightmare for them with the 49ers play against the Carolina Panthers again. Because I think, I just think it's going to be a struggle for them to move the ball.

And if Brock Party is not careful with the ball, this game can get out of him very quickly, especially if it's in Carolina with momentum Adam you look like you want to say something I mean if the 49ers get the one seed then they don't have to worry about Carolina but that's if they beat the Seahawks

I'm not sure they can beat them the way that the Seahawks look right now I don't think so I think that's going to be, I think it's going to be a good matcher, but I think the Seattle Seahawks can win this game. So let's say what Friday takes for Friday. How about that? Fair enough.

Fair enough. Well, let me just, let me just ask this, because I don't know if I'll be on, I don't know if I'll end up being on the show. Tell me what the factor would be. Offense or defense that, that really has Brock Purdy with his head spinning. Like, what is it the defense or the offense that really takes out the 49ers? If Sam Donald shows up in the second half like he did against the Rams, I think it's the offense.

If he plays like the second half, Sarand Donald against the 49ers. If he plays like that, that's the problem. See, that's the problem, though, because I just, I don't, I don't have that trust that we're going to get that form of Sam Darnold because we really haven't seen that. We've seen that once. And it was a random Thursday night game where, yeah, he played well at the end. But, I mean, every single time that we, besides that one game that we have seen

Sam Donald under any sort of pressure against a competitive team, he cracks. Every single time. It happened last year. It happened this year a couple of times. He is a shell of himself when he faces tough opponents. And I don't know if the 49ers are going to give him any in. We'll see. I trust the Seattle Seahunx offense to give him chances.

Not sure he'll take them, but I think they'll give him chances. Yeah, going to be interesting to see how Saturday plays out. And, well, it's week 18. And God bless the fact that, or CJ, wait, did we get time? No. He's just been sitting there so patiently like a good boy. I'm sorry. Hey, yo, hey, whoa, whoa, why's there, Ginny?

Let's calm down. All right. So anyway, anyway, what? No, Adam, they're not going to censor us. No one's going to care. No one, no, no, and just trust me on this. Give your sake. Huh?

Never mind. Go. Oh, no, no, no. If anything 50 cent would support this, so it's fine. Well, thank you, Chris. So, you know, Bears Clinch to North. That's cool. And all, uh, NFC West.

I just love that it's final. going to like come down to you know like i always love when there's a division where it's just like an all the marbles type thing winter take off uh that's gonna be something i have my question both teams you know for uh for the seahawks it's what sam donald are we going to get because look he beat the rams that's super impressive but i am old enough to remember when he was on the vikings and had two do or die games and he died both times but as for the Niners, that defense is playing, like I said, like

second and third stringers, except for like Diomador Lenore and another, like, two dudes on their defensive line. Like, that entire defense is just, like, gone. And God, remember, they were already rated the previous offseason. And now it's gotten worse. But hey,

hurdy's, you know, back to back five total touchdown games, you know, give them his flowers, give them props where it's due. That's definitely could be something interesting to watch a South Division. up for grabs. I just, you know what we like to talk about

head coaches on the hot seat? Who should be fired? Who shouldn't? It is my firm belief that's time to throw Todd Bowles into that category. I agree. I agree.

I'm all in now. I'm not a huge fan of his. Like, I like his defenses as a coordinator. But how do you have Baker Mayfiel? I know Baker's been banged up of their injuries, but you have all that talent. and still you underachieve,

I'm starting to wonder if Dave Canales and Liam Cohen were the real driving forces behind those offenses. Well, I love Baker. I think there's a special place for him this league. Mike Evans, of course, is good. Godwin's, he's not healthy this year, but when he's good, he's there. Egbuka looked so good the first half of the year, and then he just completely disappeared.

But the fact, and well, you can say injuries all you want, But even when the defense, which is Todd Bulls' bread and butter, completely collapses with nowhere near the injury luck of the bad injury luck of the offense, that screams coaching. And for the Panthers, they're just not as talented as the bucks on paper. And I, if they miss the playoffs, you can't fire Canales. I think he's doing great work there. And then, of course, you know, the East, you know, Philly. we know that but right now uh like i said we have two winner take all games you got bucks panthers and niners seahawks and uh it's like watching a heavyweight matchup in the west and then that

south part cripple fight meme in the south yeah it's unfortunate uh yeah i don't know what you got yeah i have a question for cj yo so now that because we're on the the topic of the buccaneers and the Panthers, we loved Emeka Buka during the draft process. We hated Teteroa McMillan during the draft process. You guys hated him. I loved them. I would like to get an update from you as far as what went right for McMillan so that for him to end up becoming the better prospect between the two of them. Better prospect?

Hold up. Don't talk, just hold up, hold up, hold up. Adam asked me the question. You know why he did, Tuck? Do you know why? Why? Because you know who I am. Just answer the damn question.

All right. Okay, so look, what went wrong for El Salvador think Buka, we know what he has, and I still think his ceiling is higher than McMillan. He's faster, he's got better hand. But the problem is he just disappeared. because Evans came back, Godwin came back. We said Egbuka was going to be wide receiver three.

He just became wide receiver three later than we thought. He's just not getting targeted as much. That's really like the problem. And I know one of my buddies had him in fantasy, and you could see like his production just immediately nosedive. And that's really what it was. Honestly, I still think he's got the potential. It's just as the injuries started piling up,

but even he himself was banged up. So that kind of gave him a window to be better. But when Evans came back and now that Godwin's getting healthy, his ass is going right back to the wider C-R-R-3 projection. McMillan, he's pretty much Bryce Young's first and only option. He was better than what I thought he was, but you've got, but look who's competition is. you've got the iRL version of boomhauer from king of the hill and zavier legate who if you get that

reference god bless you uh who's just shown practically nothing and holy cross legend jalen cocker yeah great great paul the thing is i won't say mcmillan's being force fed but yeah he kind is because he's like obviously the most reliable target he's gotten a good chemistry of price young i want to see if he can keep it up but yeah no I'll admit it, yeah, I was wrong. I was worried about his speed, but, hey, who cares? Like when he, when, you know, he's just win and jump ball situations. And you got to like that, really, because he's pretty much, it's a tale of two options.

McMillan's practically Bryce Young's only option, whereas Zygooka's option number three. All right. I want to jump in real quick with a bit of a blind resume before we move on. Both Igbuka and McMillan need at least 70 yards to break a third. thousand this season, all right? They are both 18th and 19th in receiving yards on the season. Here's wide receiver number one.

62 catches, 930 yards, six touchdowns. Wide receiver 2, 66 catches on eight less targets, 929 yards and seven touchdowns. Wide receiver 1 is Amika Igbuka and wide receiver 2 is Ted McMillan.

I'm taking Amika because the yards per reception is 15. Yeah, he's got more rack opportunities as well. I'm still tilting towards him, but once again, just being wide receiver three, you're practically, with that talent, like they're practically stuck in hell. It's kind of like, I'm not making any direct comparisons, but the room itself is similar to peak Cincinnati when their Super Bowl window was open for a bit, and they had Chase Higgins and Boyd. I'm not saying Igbukas any one of them, but it's just like, you know,

eat where you've essentially got three number ones. But yeah, someone's got to eat and someone's going to eat less, such as the nature of the game, unless, of course, you pass every throw, which or pass every down, which no one does. Yeah. All right. The target share I didn't think was, I didn't realize was so bad as far as both of them. Like, they're getting, I mean, like, Bucca's,

being targeting a hundred twelve 120 times this season 62 receptions he's barely catching half of the passes that he's that he's getting are the same thing with and it's the same thing with mcmillan i mean it seems like both of them are getting force fed 66 catches on 116 targets yeah but a lot of that with i buka happened earlier in the season like he's not getting tar it doesn't seem like at least according to the eye test i could be wrong that he hasn't been being targeted as much and they've kind of like gone in opposite directions at least that's how it seems um target chair in the last or in the last two games seven uh prior the three games prior to that seven nine and eight berg buca forgbuka

on the bad but it's not like wide receiver one either on the tet side he only had four targets this week only one catch against Tampa two weeks ago 10 targets but the prior but he had 11 targets 13 targets total in the three games prior to that Tampa game this is just weird man I got no idea It's year one. It's year one for these guys. And the fact of the matter is they're both very good wide receivers. I like them both. I like a big bookas breakaway speed.

I love Tick McMillan's catch radius. And I think that's a good way to wrap that up. Imagine if you combined them to the two of them. You basically have Randy Moss, dude. That's who Leo Jones we're talking about. Yep. Yeah. All right.

We're going to take a quick break when we come back. we'll get into a quick tank-thon update and then we'll do a Monday night football recap with week 17 top three bottom three it may not have always showed it in the stat sheet but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns so one's got to get that six or seven spot he's an elite wide receiver as a rookie truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides start getting into tankathon um Tankathon, baby. With the loss, the Vegas Raiders now hold the number one pick.

The Giants are at number two. The Jets at three, Titans at four, and the Cardinals at five. So at the moment, looking at the tankathon mock draft, Fernando Mendoza is projected to be the number one overall pick to go to the Raiders. And also some tankathon breaking news for in terms of future coaches. that could be hired by the Giants. Marcus Friedman of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish said he's all set. He's sticking with the Irish for next season. All of them to assume you had a choice.

Yeah. So that's kind of what we're at right now in terms of this, but it, I mean, picks two through five. I mean, really two through, two through seven could all be up in the air for, this final week. The Raiders are playing the Chiefs. Chiefs are favored by five and a half in that game. Chiefs are probably going to end up winning it

because Gino Smith pretty sure is hurt. But that's what we're looking at. Anything we want to touch on for Tankathon? Yeah. Didn't anyone see that fight? A fight. Yeah, I saw that fight. Well out of bounds,

and he's throwing them into a cooler. it's yeah what are we getting passionate about there like what both your seasons are over you're you're basically tank they yearn adam they earn for the first overall pick it's not that it's just being a gunner is not the easiest thing so when you get shoved out of bounds and then continually shove towards the sideline it's not exactly the most pleasant of things yeah let's just get thrown yeah um jets took a 34 to 10 or part of to me, 42 to 10 loss to the Patriots. Right now they're at three spot.

Their projected first round pick is Dante Moore, quarterback out of Oregon. If you're wondering about the Giants, Arville Reese, linebacker at Ohio State. But the Raiders are in an interesting spot, especially coming into this week. And pretty much right before Christmas Day on Christmas Eve, maybe it was Tuesday, I forget. But Brock Bowers gets put on IR. After their loss on Sunday, the Raider, Max Crosby said, I'm not hit with this tanking number one picks thing. Like, I want to play.

And he had been dealing with this knee injury since October, and the Raiders informed him that they were shutting him down for the rest of the season. And afterwards came out that he's going to be getting a meniscus trim. So the Raiders shut him down. Max Crosby's all pissed. pissed off one of a million of course players that get pissed off over something and this is one to get pissed off over and so he storms out he's all mad nothing's going to come of it crosbie's a raider until he gets traded until he gets traded well did you see the like did you

see that where he posted on it all over his social media him playing basketball shooting yeah dribbling and jumping on the trampoline and stuff yeah on the day of gay that dude's pissed. Oh, yeah. I'd be pissed, too. I'd be pissed, too. Because Lord knows, like, what kind of incentives he probably had on his contract that he was probably going to meet in the final two games. Yeah. Well, like, so while we're on, while we're on this whole tank ofthon, this whole tankathon issue, if I'm one of the teams, one of the other teams that gets one of the top picks in this draft, and let's say, because I am getting worried about Jackson dart on the Giants. I'm getting a little worried. Let's say they make him available and the

giants are trying to trade up and draft Fernando Mendoza. If I'm one of those teams, I'm taking advantage of that. I would absolutely take advantage of that. Jackson Dart might be better than anything in this draft class as far as quarterbacks go. And if the Giants are dumb enough to get rid of them to give up on them after one after just one year just because they have a new administration essentially you should definitely jump on that i don't think you can't no i don't think you can i mean if you if you're willing to trade out of the two spot for someone that's quarterback needy and wants to go after mendoza more than sure i don't think you i don't think the giants are that dumb to give up on dart well i'm just telling you if that does

happen if you're one of those other teams like you you'd probably get if you're getting if you're getting jackson dart you're probably getting their first out of it as well so it's basically a two for one deal you're probably getting more because once you start getting up to that one two three spot and depending on how far down the giants are that depends on if more wants to come out in the draft he still might come back to school yeah that's true because he is uh he's very young yeah you're right I mean there's a lot of rumors that he won't and if he doesn't

then it's practically just Mendoza and maybe you see Ty Simpson's draft stock artificially skyrocket because demand will be created in some all I'm saying is this he's Dante Moore supposed to go third to the Jets

do y'all honestly trust the Jets to produce a quality quarterback no no i don't either so i'm going back to school if i'm dante more yeah um speaking of the jets uh my buddy has a college friend that uh or a couple college friends that are jets fans and she sent us a screenshot um he he was at the game the friend in question was at the game and sent our our buddy a screenshot of uh sent a screenshot now i'm trying to find it but it was basically basically saying that there was a guy yelling in the stands that he has better what was it

you guys keep going i'm going to try to find this uh screenshot so uh essentially why would the giants trade dark it's so stupid like i hear it but for the love of god why They better be thanking their lucky stars that they share a building with the New York Jets. Otherwise, nobody would take them seriously. Yeah, like, the Jets are just a bigger clown show in East Rutherford, and that's probably why nobody, or outside the Giants fans, dunks on them as much. But the issue here is, like, why?

Like, why? I mean, I'm not saying actively tank and throw the game, but then why do you care? much about winning if you're just going to get rid of dart and even if you weren't going to let's just say you're going to keep dark you stay at that first overall pick and you can trade back to some qb needy team for an absolute haul if whether mendoza or more is there fancy i just this is now the second year in a row or something where the giants at one point have the first overall pick and they just said no i'd rather win instead so yeah they have it giant's gonna giant man

what do you want and uh as far as that goes you guys did mention that uh dante more is young and honestly is he a junior is he a sophomore talk of you know okay yeah because i was going to say if he's a junior then he should probably come out for the draft because if you're already good and you've got like a first round selection for yourself locked up, then you don't ever stay for your senior year. But if he's a sophomore, honestly, I think it would be worth avoiding going to the Jets low-key or any other terrible team like that, specifically the Jets. So I guess like I said, my question would be, sorry, Chris, who then becomes QB2?

I would imagine it's Ty Simpson because for me, One is Mendoza. Then at a distant second is Simpson in a Dante Morales draft. And then everyone else, then it's like everyone else. Nuss Meyer was supposed to be good. He's not. Clubnick was supposed to be good. He's not.

Lenora Sellers is not coming out this year. Arch Manning, who I don't think is great, but hey, name value, is also not coming out this year. So if you're a QB needy team, womp, that's pretty much it. You're getting Mendoza, maybe Simpson, or nothing if Dante Moore comes, it doesn't come out, which you never know, we might not. I don't know if he will. Yeah. I found the screenshot.

My friend is at the game incentive of some guy screaming. The Epstein list is better than our playbook. Jesus fuck, Aaron. My thing is this, low key. Where will Atlanta finish? Because if they finish Atlanta right now They're the 11th pick

Pending the result for tonight Not Atlanta It's the Rans It's the Rams Yeah So if the Rans We'll finish with a top 10 pick Watch out

Because they can either go D-Line Or they can go corner Or they can go several spots They might even be able to go Receiver and somehow get Carnal Tate You just never know in these drafts I don't know

If Cardinal Tate falls that far now things have been shifting rapidly in the world you could also have him as wide receiver one and if that's the case i don't know if he falls past the titans you could also look at the colts and curiosity springs up of how that's going to turn out because the jets have their pick for next year's draft so say the colts lose then the jets may have two picks in the top 15 it's very possible oh and by the way philip rivers is not playing so it is possible since they're playing the Texans. Yeah.

I'd have two picks in the top of the team, and they could trade up for the number one spot. 100%. It depends if the Raiders are still willing to give Gino Smith another shot. They won't. I don't know. For the Raiders, like I said, I didn't expect them to be good this year. I expect this to be not even like a rebuild, but just a blank slate kind of year where you build yourselves up to the mid, you know, like just.

And you're clearing house, like you're doing everything, right? And you're basically making, and like I said, Pete Carroll's supposed to be a bridge coach to where, you know, you can to where you essentially undo all the damage. You start next year or the next two years or whatever, two years in the future, on a clean slate. And then you, you know, and then you just hand the baton off for the next head coach

so you could draft a dude. But now, I know, he said, I didn't expect the Raiders to be good, but did anyone expect them to be the worst team in the league with Pete Carroll, Gino, Smith, Ashton Genti, like Brock Bowers, Colton Miller, all them? Like, I didn't. Yeah. I really did not, I didn't think they were going to be good, but I did not think they were going to be, like, the worst team in the league.

I think it's crazier, too, when you look at, like, who the worst teams, at least in the AFC, like, you look at the Raiders, the Jets, and the Titans is the three worst right and there's just no signs of them feeling like they're getting better and then you look at the worst or i wouldn't go maybe the titans but like and their only bright spot was freaking uh game ward but you look at like who the worst teams that in the league were supposed to be on the nfc side and that was the giants and the saints giants are have some bright spots over there especially Jackson Dart, they just battle with a bunch of injuries. And the

Saints are looking extremely bright right now. We're talking about the joke that the Saints were the best team in the NFC South. Yeah, they got Unkshuck down there in the bayou shuck and chucking the football. So hey, I can't

be. Guys, hold on. The Browns also have two picks right in the first round. So it's the Browns that both in the Jets that have two first round. The Browns have the Jaguars pick, but that that's a top 30. That's going to be great. So what are the Browns do?

Do they like go Ty Simpson? Because look, I don't care how much money you're paying Diddy Watson. Like he's not the answer. He's torn the same Achilles twice. His weirdness aside. Oh, no. They're going to. Do you really want to go another year,

Schwarz Sanders or little Dylan Gabriel? Watson is not going to do there another year. I would try Shadour another year. Give him an actual line to protect him. Trade back, give him a line to protect him, either go the tackle from Miami or the tackle from Alabama, and then go from there. What about the ones from Utah?

One of them might be on the board between Fano and MoMo. Possibly, but I'm expecting them to build on this offense because Shador needs help. Inconsistency from Jerry Judy. I like Phantom, but he's injured right now. I like Jelkins, who's injured right now. It's like there's potential here from this working class, but I need more talent to build on this.

And they already have a good defense. I mean, they have Miles Garrett, and they're not getting rid of him. So it's just a matter of getting this offense right. And I think Shador is a good piece for that, and they have the pieces around. They just need to get healthy and add to it. Is this the first time where multiple teams have multiple picks in the first round?

maybe not ever but this many you know you got the jets the uh the browns and i think it might be someone else yeah oh yeah i think the cowboys no yeah yeah the cowboys had multiple picks yep i think they own 14 and 21 i thought they got rid of it for the jets because of the like a part because of the coin no i think that was like the next year's first i'm looking at it right now it's uh it must have been a different pick he's looking at it right now talk got you so the way i see it uh jeez this is the first time i've seen it going into the draft not while it's happening during the draft that that's like how i'm seeing a lot of funny stuff can happen you never know yeah but i want to see how teams turn out this draft

especially the Rams, because they're already a playoff team. Yeah. Week 18, baby. Can't wait. Anything else? I assume not. It's Monday night. Yeah, besides Monday night.

Adam, you look like one. Yeah. We'll get to that after the break. This is the Fullmeroski podcast. All right. We're going to get right back into the action here. Pooka and Nakua may have just had the catch of the year. to set up the Rams in fuel goal range

in the matter of 21 a matter of 16 seconds Wait, did you see the end of that play, Chris? Oh, Chris, wait, no, watch the replay. The corner jarred it out. That's incomplete. Yeah, oh, watch. All does it in, one hand, one, two,

still in bounds, and he loosed control. Right there. It's out. It lost control. Oh, my God. Oh, ha, ha. it's out it's out he had his hand on it

the field what a call on the field what a call he though if the corner's not there that's a catch had both feet down one hand in and the corner just poked it out was that Robert Alford stands as cold yep yeah

hold talk I think you're a little ahead of us yeah hookah toe drag swag one hand I think that is Robert Alford it's still fourth down No, there's still one more play to go. Yeah, so they're five seconds left, though. They're going to have to just aim for the sideline hope again to field goal range.

They can't get into field goal range in five seconds on a deep ball. Like the type of throw that you just made there is their only shot at it. All right. Lokey, that was almost, like you said, that was almost catch of the year. That was not the best throw from Stafford, but I thought Puka just made an insane grab. So I just want to preface as well. Rams lose this game, then they are locked into the sixth seed. Locked into the sixth?

They can't move up to the fifth? Oh, no, because of the. No. Yep. Because they were. They were Cahawks. Yep. Time out to ice Stafford a little bit, right?

Yeah. This is very unfortunate. I don't care what happens in this game. Rahim Mora should still get canned. I don't think he should get canned. I mean, they almost lost the game. Like this, we're going to go over this game, especially once it's over, but it shouldn't be as close as it was.

There were so many times this game could have been put away already. It was like 24 to 7 at one point, right? Or like, or 21-0. 21-0. There's 21-0-Zilch. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, 21-9. nothing, then 21-3 or 24-3.

And that field goal should have really iced him, and they didn't take Jared Verr seriously in the interior. All right. Here we go. There it is. Five seconds left. Stafford drop back. Looking going to fall and incomplete.

Ball game. There it is. All right. GGs. So to recap the game, Rams come back down, 21. tied the game, but Falcons game winning drive from Kirk Cousins to get them in field goal range, put the game away, and a upset win for the Atlanta Falcons who are now at 7 and 9.

So, the Rams had a funny, could have done something funny and helped their draft position out for next season. Yep. Nope. A little tidbit of information here, too. now that this happened because I don't think anyone saw this coming. According to Field Yates, this is some path math here, if the Falcons defeat the Saints in week 18,

the Panthers will win the NFC South regardless of their outcome against the Buccaneers on Sunday. No way. Really? Yes. So the Falcons just have to beat New Orleans and the Panthers are in. Is that correct? Yeah.

Wow. that's crazy all thing i've ever heard of that no such the wonders of mathematics what do you what do you want because i believe that that's because the that would mean the buccaneers and falcons would be around the same record somewhere i don't have the standings up right now but they i mean the falcons are seven and nine now yep so if they win next week they're they're eight and nine which would mean you know that's the that's the exact same record as the buccaneers so there you go the falcons are both have the same record as the bucks yeah and they have a better conference record too and i believe they have the decision over them well never mind the decision over

well not even that they split um they split in their in the two games so So the Falcons just because of the conference record should be, should technically still be at the fucking playoffs, I guess. No, they were eliminated. Yeah, but they're eliminated. Such as such. Unbelievable. Yeah.

So that really makes things interesting for the playoffs. As mentioned, Rams are locked into the sick spot because even with, or actually, Yeah, even with a loss in week 18, Packers won't overtake them because of the literal tiebreaker. And they can't move into the fit spot because the Seahawks and the 49ers both have better division and conference records than them. So with that being said, throughout the night, we're also, of course, paying attention to the MVP odds. And that's where it brings us to Drake May at the top.

What are the odds as of 11.14 p.m. Eastern Standard Time Monday night. Currently, we have Drake May on top. He's taken the lead, and it's been a massive swing. Minus 350. Matthew Stafford is pretty far behind now at plus 250. One game. A massive swing based on that one game. And you don't be so sour for like once? No.

This is just how it is, though, Tuck. Like, you know that it's going to be a massive swing weekend and weekend. That's how it always is. One game does it for you? Especially just late in the season. Yeah, it kind of does. Furthermore, all we hear about is people bitching and moaning about New England's so-called cupcake schedule. Meanwhile, New England beat Atlanta and the Rams, who apparently so much better, just didn't.

they also beat the Panthers who the Patriots who the Rams couldn't so I don't know you know we're getting to that point I will say like you might have a better record against common opponents now that I think about it so we've gotten to a point where look I hate these MVP races for one reason which is that you're naturally going to end up tearing down one of the other candidates and both of these guys are having unbelievable years and I have so much respect for Matthew Stafford. It, it sucks that he had this game. And I wouldn't want this performance to overshadow the season that he had at his age. I mean, it's, it was, it feels like just yesterday where we were questioning whether or not he'd even be available to start the season with that back injury that we thought he had. Remember that? And then he went, he went on and he's, it's literally at this point in the season, we're at week 17, where he lost the award and he could gain it back i mean who knows drake may could i mean he the the dolphins had some struggle had uh gave the patriot some struggles the last

time they face each other who knows but as of right now i mean 40 plus touchdown passes for a third time of his career um he's a world champion already if he won the MVP that would have been insane and he could still make a deep playoff run who knows they have as good a team as anyone in the NFC. Yeah, look, I don't want to take this moment, even as a Patriots fan, to tear down Matthew Stafford, even after a bad game, because what an unbelievable season and career this guy has had, despite rotting away in Detroit for 12 years. He still managed to turn it into something.

But with that being said, Drake May, doing what he has done with the supporting cast he has, getting the high seed over the guy who can't even win his own division being in the third finishing third in his division there it is i mean that that's what's going to be the the difference maker um stafford is surrounded by a lot of talent and he can't get that high seed that's going to be a big difference maker when it comes to winning this MVP yeah um all around, I mean, when you look at the Rams in general, they really just shot themselves in the foot in all phases of the game. I mean, Bejohn Roberts had out 195 yards.

Like, when you look at this game, Stafford had three interceptions. You got sack three times. But at the end of the day, defense also let up 27 points. They did their job and keep giving their offense a chance to make the comeback, make that 21 point comeback in the second half. But you shouldn't have to against the, Atlanta. You shouldn't have to, especially when you're supposed to be a very good defense as well, but then you don't show up.

But at the end of day, quarterback played in and help you here. I do agree with you, Adam, in a sense that, you know, when you look at this game, like, Stafford has had an amazing career, and there's nothing to take away from that. but um sometimes one bad like seeing in college all the time not to make that type of comparison but like one bad game ruins heisman performance or a heisman race and i mean he could still get it back but oh yeah what what a great i think the problem is though now that they're locked into this six seed but they may they may as well just rest everyone next week are they locked into the six i haven't gotten to look back closely because um like even if they lose another game they still have a tie break the literal tiebreaker against the packers and then they don't have better division or conference records than Seattle or San Francisco and or San Francisco because San Francisco has a work is one game back of Seattle so Seattle if they were to lose they would just have the five seed and that's it San Francisco can still lose and not lose the five seat.

yeah it would have been a great addition to his resume oh yeah as far as i mean you and you know you're a world champion and you manage to win a league MVP all again after rotting away for 12 years in detroit um that would have been great for him and he still has more years who knows he's going to have pukinakua next year who knows what they're going to do with devonte adams but you know quarterbacks can play deep into their 30s and in some very rare cases into their 40s so it may not be over just yet for them

yeah for sure um I guess that's the next question though uh do we see the Rams actually starting all their guys next week or do we see them starting them for like a drive and then pulling them it depends it's not impossible but they can still get the 5C it depends on what they see if they if they think they're not going anywhere i would they're they're not

though they're not there's no way for them to get the five c like based off their record alone they can't yeah you're right i think they're stuck at the six they are they are like they can't go up they can't even get worse so yeah they can just rest their good at this point like logistically there's no reason to start them you have think about it do you really really they want to roll the dice i mean you have nothing to gain but everything to lose i think they'll put them in for a driver to and then sit them yeah but my thing is who are they going to face is it would you rather face philly or chicago right they don't either way they don't have a choice but if i'm yet true but i would rather face philly right now considering how they played

against Buffalo, then facing Chicago and how they played against the 49ers. Well, when you think about it, too, L.A. is almost beaten Philly like two years in a row. Almost be a happening. Yeah. Philly doesn't look like Philly

so consider that. Philly doesn't look like Philly of last year, so I think the Rams could easily beat them. Nor the Philly of week three or whatever that game was earlier this season. Yeah. Another game of the year candidate, by the way. Yeah.

The Rams are going to be a tough out regardless, so I don't know, even though Chicago seems to be playing with house money right now, I would say that somehow, like, if you fall to the three seed, you do not, you can't take the Rams lightly. Even though they're locked into the sixth seed, they're still considered by many people, Super Bowl favorites, and rightfully so. I mean, like, who else in that conference is, again, I've already raised my earlier in this episode. my reservations for the Seahawks given Sam Darnold. And I also did the same thing, kind of, for the 49ers when talking about Brock Purdy. So who else, if not them? And I think the bears are just too young. And I think Caleb Williams isn't there just yet.

Why not Stafford? He's the most seasoned guy in that entire playoff picture. I just think, and they have the complete team. team. They have the defense. They have the offensive weapons. I mean, yeah, they might be having to go on the road, but I don't think there's a quarterback in this playoff picture. I would trust more to go on the road and win playoff games than Matthew Stafford. Yeah. True. Yeah.

All right. Let's move on. Week 17, top three, bottom three. Start with the top three. Dexons, massive win against. The Chargers on Saturday night, defense was going gangbusters once again. And most importantly, you have headway on the five seat and a chance to go and win the division in week 18. Niners, basically same idea, but this time just winning a shootout against a Chicago Bears team that is proven as a top team in this league. by the way a division champ that they beat what nothing late i just saw it they can still get the 50

they can still get that because they're only 11 and 5 the rams yes because there's still a game in hand you're not you're not listening to what i'm saying the rams have a worse divisional record than the 49ers and they have a worse conference record than the 49ers by three games even if the Niners and the Rams were to tie in division record by the end of week 18 the Rams still have a shit conference record Chris I am telling you right now what is reported if the Rams win on Sunday and the 49ers lose on Saturday they are in the fifth spot how that is I don't get that with a win and a loss i don't know what to tell you i don't know how they got it but that's the position they're in they can still get it but that's just how it is i guess i just don't

understand tibergers anymore all right me neither because i know they like didn't they like changed them like a few years ago or whatever i thought they were always based off of like division and conference record and then we go into fight wait no never mind never mind i'm thinking about i break this for the draft that they changed a bit ago never mind yeah it's head head most importantly of course but like also comes down to division record and conference record and then you get into strength schedule strength victory and then you get into a bunch of other shit well i'm pretty sure it's head-to-head record is the one of the top uh tiebreakers as far as it is playoff seating it is that is weird and the rams have split the rams and the nines split split

maybe margin of victory combined between the two. Ooh. You would be correct about that because that would go to the Rams by 13. All right. It also might be record in common games. I know that's a big one. Yeah.

All right. All right. Tuck, I'm sorry for yelling at you. It's fine. I'm sorry for chastising you, man. That was rude, man. That's what was reported on. By the announcers, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, so.

Oh, I don't have the TV on, so I also haven't been lucking. All right. 49ers. Still in the five seed, win a top, win a big game on prime time against the top team in the NFC, and you have yourself a chance at winning the division next week, next Saturday night. Baltimore. Still alive. Let's still alive and John Harbaugh learned a Schleson and gave Derek Henry the ball 36 times, and boy, did it work out.

Tuck, what was it? He broke, did he tie or break Adrian Pearson's record? Broke it. He has seven games with over 200 yards rushing. It used to be six. He used to be tied. Now it's seven. Thank you.

Thank you, Tuck. You're welcome. You're welcome. though. That was beautiful. But hey, you know what? Congrats to you, because you have a chance at winning the AFC North and, like, not shooting yourself in the eye for an extra week. I wouldn't go that far.

Let's see what happens Sunday, and then we can go from there. Okay. Bottom three. Do we still want to do Rams for bottom three here? We can add them and make it a bottom four. Yeah, let's just make it a bottom four because there was some performances that were just unbelievable in terms of how do you let that happen? Penalty.

Like the first team on the new bottom four, the first ever bottom four, the lions. And, you know, seasons on the line backs against the wall, and you lose to the Vikings, you lose to the Vikings against a Max Brosmer-led Vikings. No disrespect to the UNH guy, but, I mean, unbelievable. Max Brosmer, I'm pretty sure, is the first quarterback. I could have this extremely wrong, but the first quarterback with 53 yards and still getting a win in, like, quite a long time. Let's call it the first time ever. Let's call it the first time ever.

And 51 yards, 9 for 16 passing. unbelievable unbelievable 161 total yards and you lost and you lost um let's have a difficult let's have that difficult conversation about Detroit next week or on Friday I should say it's just been a bad year yeah no for sure like I think this is is really just back-to-back seasons of hell on earth with the injuries but anyways the bills next team on the bottom four uh they lost to philly by one dad weather in buffalo you'd think that you know this is the strikes this bodes well for buffalo but no it does not and it doesn't help when you know defense are defense shut out philly in the second half jell and hurts

was over seven the offense had eight total yards and yet Josh Allen is making these bone-headed plays. They ended up scoring 12 in the 4th credit. But, I mean, when your quarterback is scrambling around for a 16-yard loss to get you out of field goal range, there's a fucking problem. And on America's game in the week against the defending, the reigning defending Super Bowl champs, there's a problem. That's a problem.

That's a sign that your quarterback is saying to himself, needs to do too much to get a win. And that's been the problem for Buffalo the last three years. Steelers. They had a chance. They had a chance to. Yes, they did. Literally all they had to do was win.

That's literally all they had to do was win. Beat Cleveland and you win. That's all the year. Be Cleveland. And they only put up six points and lost. Because, of course, when you expect them to do very well, they pissed it, their pants. they absolutely shouldn't yeah you see what they kind of did though like they they were it seemed that rogers tomlin and the steelers were a lot more just by the way they played they were a lot

more focused on keeping miles garret from getting the the single season sack record than he was at actually you know like winning the game and and winning their division yeah like at that I get it's your division rival, but who gives a fuck at that point? Who gives a fuck? Especially with the game on the line coming up next week if you lose. God forbid, you can't rush your starters now. Yeah, that is something that I noticed. A lot of Browns fans were saying about how, like, you guys put the nail right on the head there.

The Steelers literally diverted more energy, attention, and effort to keeping Miles Garrett from breaking. the record than winning the game and it showed like congratulations you've inconvenienced him and if he does get it low key it might have to get an asterisk for because he happened 17 games that's a debate for another time if it happens but but you lost the war now like you if you won this you were in the playoffs it was win and you're in and now you're going to face a hungry baltimore team that just beat green bay and probably what i would expect to be a very ugly game. It's going to be so ugly and it's going to be so violent and it's going to be so amazing on Sunday night football, but it's going to be so heartbreaking to whoever's team

loses that game. It's just, uh, not only do you win the series, you also have like bragging rights because you just eliminated your, your best rival, your fiercest rival. It's like, all they had to do was win this game. That's all they had to do. The Browns put up 13 points and they couldn't beat that. They put up 20-something. against the lions and this is the game you cannot lose and they lose just it's ridiculous yeah um last team on the bottom four uh the rams uh coming into this week depending on some of the other results from the seahawks and the niners of course they still had a chance of maybe winning the division granted the seahawks and the niners both won so the rams were going to weren't going to

have a chance of winning the division uh when this week ended anyways but really shot yourself in the freaking foot doing doing so i mean what a way to do it your division rivals win and you decide you wanted to make life harder for you and then you'll lose by three to the to the Atlanta falcons and let bejean run for 219 on your ass that's your top three bottom four first ever bottom four anything else we wanted to add before we end the show nah nothing more for the show

I have posts to make yeah I'm good yeah start making that freaking meme brother is this your king is this your king yeah it's gonna be interesting

you have a good run great run yeah gonna be interesting to see how the rest of this season plays out including week 18 most important games as we were talking about of course

NFC South Division Championship 430 on Saturday San Francisco, Seattle, 8 o'clock for the NFC West and for the AFC North on Sunday night the Steelers

and the Ravens and some other matchups that'll decide of course the AFC South but unfortunately the Jaguars and the Texans already played twice all right

Time to call it tonight. Thank you for tuning in for another Tuesday episode of the Fulbruski podcast. New episodes coming out on Friday at 8am and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. And we also have all our episodes available on Spotify, Spreeker, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Google Podcast, and so much more. Be sure to follow our Instagram, Fulbruski underscore podcast to keep up the pod and the latest coverage on the NFL. Otherwise from C.J. Madero, Saddam Wright, Justin Tucker. I'll see you on Friday. I'm Chris Kossach, by the way.

Happy birthday to me, by the way. Happy birthday to me. I lost in two of my fantasy football championships. Happy birthday. Yeah, thanks. Good night. See you Friday. Happy birthday.