The Fumblerooski Podcast - Welcome To The Big Time -Ep 150 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: January 10, 2023

Which Wild Card Matchup is the most intriguing? What do the bears do with their #1 pick? Will Aaron Rodgers actually move on from Green Bay this time? And who is in line for a new Head Coach? Adam Wright, Justin Tucker, CJ Medeiros, and special guest Ian Mulhearne try to answer these questions and more.(Link in bio)

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 cross. It's a catch. Side-line. Touchdown. Our Super Bowl, excuse me, our Super Wild Card weekend matchups are set as our regular season for the 2022 season comes to a close and we start up with our postseason coverage. This is the Fumble Rooski Podcast by Pal Radiate and Secret Weapon Consulting, Adam Wright, CJ Medeiros, and Justin Tucker. As always, we have a great show planned for you tonight. We're going to start up with our post-season coverage, but also talk about how

the Bears clinched their number one overall pick in dramatic fashion and how they're going to deal with this off-season. We're going to deal with this off season. We're going to talk about coach, some potential coaching matches with several head coaching jobs opening up around the league and plenty of firings already. Aaron Rogers is now his career, his career future is again in question. And joining us to cover all of this returning from the show after joining this summer ian mulhern ian thanks for joining the show how are you doing tonight man i am doing phenomenal couldn't be better absolutely um so we do have some new listeners since your last time would you be able to give us a brief uh introduction for our listeners on our show yeah so my name is ian mulhern i am a student at brookdale community

college i also do the broadcast over there for the games do commentary as well so and i like to give sports predictions it's really about it nice so joining this show for the second time is right off right up your alley isn't it all right well we are going to jump right into it so as i mentioned the super wild card weekend matchups are set and it is as follows. On Saturday, Seattle at San Francisco at 4.35 p.m. Eastern time. Then the Chargers at the Jaguars at 8.15 p.m. Eastern time. Then on Sunday, Miami at Buffalo, 1.05 p.m. Eastern time and the Giants at the, uh, at the Vikings, which is on, uh, at 4 40 p.m. Then, uh, we have Baltimore at since, uh, Cincinnati 8 15 p.m. Eastern time. And then on Monday, we conclude with Dallas at Tampa Bay. That's at 8.15.

All right, so we'll go around the table and each give one matchup that you guys are intrigued by the most. We'll start with you, Ian. I'm going to say the Tampa Bay Buccaneers versus the Dallas Cowboys. I mean, you're talking about a guy in Dak Prescott who kept a game close against the Houston Texans and also lost to the Commanders to a third-string quarterback. And you know what?

Dak is so 50-50. I feel like the Buccaneers can actually pull this off. I mean, yeah, Brady has struggled, but we've seen Brady do okay in a season before and then in the playoffs become a whole different breed. You're absolutely right there. And not only is Tampa Bay hosting, but you can never count out a Tom Brady-led team.

You can count on – that's what you can count on. But, CJ, what's your pick? Well, my pick is the Vikings hosting the New York Giants. Everybody likes to say Clash of the Titans. This is more Trash of the Titans. A battle of the mids, as it were. Two middling teams, both of them dripping with fraudulence, attempting to move on to the next round. But after the Vikings got brutalized by the Green Bay Packers, I'm not entirely sure that

I trust them. You know, I mean, I'll give all credit to credit to the giants dable is a good head coach and some would argue he's coach of the year and they've got a good team around them decent defense i mean their offenses it's something all right but i mean i don't know we both know that whoever wins will probably be forced out in the next round so honestly my pick is personally for the vikings just because of that offensive firepower but that's pretty much it i mean not neither of these teams are going to win the super bowl and i'm willing to i want to say i can guarantee that but you know the giants are interesting when they get into the playoffs. Alright.

Tuck, what's your pick? We already know what time it is. 8-15. Prong time. Bengals and Ravens for all the marbles. 1-1. It's a grudge match. Winner takes all. Who's the real kings of the AFC North? That's the way I like to see it.

The Bengals have been doing a lot of talk as of late. I personally don't like it. They were real happy about beating Lamar. This led Ravenstein without most of its offensive starters in the game was almost pretty close. Now we get to see what that talk is all about. When Lamar Jackson, who I pray comes back, hopefully is back. J.K. Dobbins is back. Mark Andrews is back. The running game is back. And that defense gets some of its players that it was missing last week. So hopefully this game turns into what I think is game of the, I want to say,

playoffs of the wild card round. I'm taking the Ravens as usual. Ain't no backing down. We know what time it is. Ravens Nation, Flock Nation, let's go. All right. So my matchup, and a lot of my picks were taken by you guys, but I'm glad you guys got to cover one.

But I'm going to take an interesting route here and talk about a team that, quite frankly, a lot of people did not expect to be here. And I'm going to hit on the Chargers at the Jaguars. So you have a Jaguars team that started 3-7, looked more in contention for the number one overall pick than to make the playoffs, or let alone to win their division like they just did. And now, so they're going into this game technically as an underdog, but they're home.

And also, as I mentioned, they are 5-1 in their last six games. They're red hot right now, and they potentially have the golden goose here in trevor lawrence who's finally starting to show to show flashes of of the brilliance that we all know that he could have and they they have pieces around them the defense is is solid it's not great but it's it's good they have a solid offensive line although they are going going to be missing Cam Robinson until at least next year. They have good pieces, good, not great pieces for Trevor Lawrence to throw to you. And they have a very good run game with Travis Etienne leading the charge. This is a team that I believe 100% can beat the Chargers and pull the upset of the playoffs and move on to the divisional round. And from there, I mean, any given Sunday, this is Saturday,

but can we say any given Saturday just this once through the NFL? Just once? We can say it. We can say it. I forgive you. I'll allow it. And according to ESPN, according to ESPN analytics, the Jaguars have a 58.6 chance of winning this game.

So they're favored according to ESPN. But ESPN, you can take that how you would like to. I would call it an upset if the Jaguars win. The Chargers, on paper, have a better team, but they've been underachieving so far this year. They've been good of late, but they just lost to the Broncos in week 18. So I see the Jaguars winning this game. I do. I think this is a good matchup for them. All right. So we're going to continue our coverage for our Friday episode and really preview these matchups more thoroughly.

But in the meantime, I wanted to touch on more Week 18 coverage. And with that, we're going to change gears onto the number one overall pick because this is more dramatic than a draft lottery. I mean, the Texans had it and then they gave it away and the bears have it. And we're going to talk about what the bears now do with the number one overall pick and plenty of resources going into this off season. That's next. This is the fumbleoski podcast. comes down with a football, and they're saying it's a catch. It's a catch! It's a catch! Side-eyed touchdown!

Unbelievable! Swings it way down the field to Watkins! Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! Touchdown! you're listening to the Fumble Ruski podcast by Power Radiate and Secret Weapon Consulting Adam Wright with CJ Milos, Justin Tucker and special guest Ian Mulhern all right guys so the the Texans had the number one overall pick they were losing to the Colts the so the Texans had the number one overall pick. They were losing to the Colts. So the Texans had the lead, but then they blew the lead to the Colts.

And it looked like, all right, Texans are going to coast. They're going to get the number one overall pick. And they'll take a quarterback that they need. Wrong. Turns out, Lovey Smith, Davis Mills and his boys rallied. They converted a Hail Mary and then hit on the two point conversion and were able to take the lead at the last second and win the game. So Lovey Smith, he got fired later on that night. Um, but still he goes out with a bang but they gave the pick to the chicago bears and so not only do the bears have the number one overall pick but they have

the most cap space in the league by a landslide with 113 million dollars So you are GM Ryan Pohl for the Bears. You're on the clock at the number one overall pick. What are you guys doing this offseason? Ian, I'll start with you. You know what? If I am Chicago, I trade back here because you don't need the quarterback. I say you either get an old lineman or a defensive end, especially after losing Roquan Smith,

who was used as a linebacker or around the edge. I know that might sound interesting, but if I were them, I would trade back and maybe possibly potentially get my favorite prospect, Will Anderson, out of alabama all right cj well ian you took the words right out of my mouth now let me tell you something if i can i'm waiting to draft a trade back because believe you me the phones will be ringing houston will try to trade up carolina will probably try to trade up indy maybe and there's probably another team that we're not thinking about or i haven't mentioned that will probably also attempt to trade up it's

gonna be the wild wild west for that first overall pick and if you're the bears you just got to see you you place them all in a bidding war and you just got to see who gives you the most now like i said you're if you're chicago you can't overplay your hand like i said you wait as long as possible and you try to like inflate those offers you know what i mean and i agree when you say take will anderson because chicago doesn't need a quarterback, and I've heard they're not, unless they're like really blown away, they're not going to take one, and which I don't think is going to happen. Fields actually showed promise this year, so I'd say give him another year. However, you traded away Robert Quinn,

and that you've also traded away Khalil Mack within like the last 365 days. So I'm sorry. You have to go edge because there's really nobody on that edge or in that pass rush that really scares me too much. So Will Anderson to Chicago after a trade back is probably a slam dunk. All right. Talk. Yeah, I think trading back is the optimum pick,

even though just taking Will Anderson straight up doesn't sound too bad at all because he was the consistent best defensive player outside of Jalen Carter. They could also use a D tackle. So Will Anderson, Jalen Carter, just saying. It's not a bad thing. So if they do trade back back you got to figure out how far you want to trade back and see what player you you want that is still available and then see how many picks you can get up from that if i if i'm the bears and have the amount of money i

have i would start trying to pay for the offensive line first then the defensive line and then the skill position on offense. Because I'm not going to lie, Chase Claypool doesn't look like he's taking me to the promised land right now. David Montgomery is a good running back, but I need a number one receiver. They don't have that right now. They have number twos and number threes at best. So either draft the number one receiver in the draft or try to see in the offseason if you can trade for DeAndre Hawkins, who's now reportedly being available. So, yeah, I try to see if I can get a number one receiver through a trade or trade back and see if I can get more picks to hopefully draft one. all right so i think we're all going to stand um in agreement that we are not we all are going to trade this pick away because because the quarterback's going to go there there's no point

in draft in drafting this spot where several other teams want to draft their quarterback what you do is you trade back and you you get your guy and you get some other assets in return as well. Now, when you have the number one overall pick, there's no reason one way or another that you can't get at least two first round picks out of it. So there's a couple of teams who need a quarterback who have two firsts this year, or what you could also do is you could trade with a team that needs a quarterback, but only has one first round pick and they trade their first this year. Now your top need, this is your top priority in this draft, draft a tackle, draft a tackle. That offensive line is really, really lacking. You potentially have your franchise quarterback in Justin Fields.

You cannot go out there and give them the offensive line that he's had over the past two years. You're going to get him killed that way. And you use a significant draft pick to get this kid. You can't mess it up. There's nothing more valuable than the first than the than the the next guy when it comes to the quarterback position um after that you need to i think because you have so much cap space focus on focus on defense on um in the uh in free agency this year focus on that there but your second second need, I would say, is wide receiver.

Look at that. And if you can use a first round pick, again, you would need a second first round pick probably for that. Go get them with a first round pick either this year or next year. And look at it that way because it's a need it is it is probably your number two need and so is defense but like i said you have the you have the cap space and if you improve on the offensive line the defense and you stick with the the weapons that you have you're probably not going to be a super bowl contender but at least at least you will see some development from fields he'll have time to throw and he can throw to Darnell Mooney, Chase Claypool, and Cole Komet, which is good enough.

It's good enough for the development of Justin Fields, which is the name of the game right now in his first couple of years in the league. Then you look at it, and if you can get a number one receiver, which is what all of the great quarterbacks in this league did in their got in their final steps of development josh allen joe burrow um i mean patrick mahomes already had tyreek hill but looking at all of these players to a tongue of iloa all of those guys and they were able to make those next steps. That's what you have to do with Justin Fields here.

Get him some protection and then look over towards, you know, look over towards his targets. But I think that's kind of what you need. But speaking of, I touched briefly on the incident with the Texans, how Lovie Smith went for the win, and he lost his job later on in that day. So because of that, lots of head coaching openings around the league. We're going to touch on all of them and also some candidates to fill those jobs. This is the Fumble Rooski Podcast. here's edelman broken up and the pass is no sign yet edelman comes down with a football they're saying it's a catch

it's a catch Touchdown! Unbelievable! Swings it way down the field to Watkins! Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! You're listening to the Fumble Rooski Podcast by Power 88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. Adam Wright, CJ Medeiros, Justin Tucker, special guest Ian Mulhern. All right, so plenty of head coaching openings, lots of firings, starting with the Broncos, Colts, Cardinals, Panthers, Texans, and potentially the Rams with Sean McVay being noncommittal early on in this offseason. Some candidates are Lovie Smith, Jim Harbaugh potentially making his return into the NFL,

Sean Payton, Dan Quinn, among others. But I'll start with you, Ian. What's one match that you see for one of these teams, head coach to franchise? You know what? I have to say for the Arizona Cardinals, this might seem like an interesting pick, but what this guy has done with the Lions offense, I couldn't believe. And I have to go Johnson for that position

because the Cardinals offense was very inconsistent this year. I mean, they had multiple quarterbacks they had to work with. And this guy just reminds me of a little bit of a quarterback developer and can work with a lot of different schemes. That's what I like about this coach or this candidate. All right. CJ. All right. CJ. All right.

So I'm going to go a bit off the board here because there's somebody you don't have. First, I would like to say one thing. Can we please stop with the Jim Harbaugh hype? Seems like every off season there's whispers he might come back and it never comes to fruition. I don't believe it until I see it. That said looking at the texans you know they're gonna need to redo everything and i mean defense is important but you need a young guy who can also do you know like how do

i put this who can also understand offense but is like defensive-minded. A young guy who can reach out to the players and a guy who can unlock their full potential, which is why I'm going with 49ers defensive coordinator D'Amico Ryans to the Houston Texans. And on top of that, the Texans are going to get a rookie quarterback and they can just build up from there. It's a match made in heaven. All right, Tuck, what's your pick?

Looking at the board and looking at the best available, he doesn't deserve the head coaching job. But if there was a team that fits, I'd say Jim Harbaugh and the Colts. Really? The reason for it is former player, him to aac championship game knows the ins and outs of the team i think that's a good quality pick for them i think it'll be a nice help to rebuild the colts because quite frankly they really do need to rebuild considering what happened between them and the vikings and, I think he could be the coach that could maybe one day turn this thing around.

I'm not saying he'd be deserving, but if I see a match, it would be those two. I still can't forgive him for losing at TCU. I still can't. Yeah, he can't even manage a game clock. All right. Well, ever since Sean Payton retired, there's been rumors swirling of him coming out of retirement. And the reason I give this any sort of attention at all is because he hasn't, especially this offseason so far, he hasn't shut it down. Especially since he's had conversations with the Denver Broncos. You'll notice that ever since the Broncos fired Nathaniel Hackett in the two games since, Russell Wilson has looked like himself again.

He's had six total touchdowns through just one interception. And that's just with some Joe Schmo interim head coach stepping in you add sean payton to that mix and this team potentially next season could be a playoff team like we thought they they would be this year i like i like sean payton and he especially with the offensive mind that he is how he did the performance with drew breeze if. If you add him in with Russell Wilson, you have targets like Jerry Judy and Cortland Sutton, KJ Hamler. That's a combination that's going to get you back to the postseason and be in contention for this AFC West with the other superpowers

that are the Kansas City Chiefs and the LA Chargers. But I wanted to change gears, and we have a quarterback who won't be named Aaron Rodgers, who is now, again, for the third offseason in a row, contemplating retirement. We're going to talk about whether or not there's any water. You're not going to want to miss this one. 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. Oh! To Gates! Sideline! Touchdown! Unbelievable!

Swings it way down the field to Watkins! Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! This is the Fumble Rooski Podcast by Power 88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. Adam Wright, CJ Medeiros, Justin Tucker, special guest Ian Mulhern. Have you guys heard the story of the boy who cried wolf? Don't even. Don't even. Let's just get into it.

All right. I'm not going to. Have you ever heard the story of Darth Plagueis the Wise? Yeah, you said the thing. I had to say it. All right. So essentially, this is the third straight off season now where we're hearing rumors swirl of Aaron Rodgers potentially retiring.

So this really started to gain steam during the postgame when all the players were, Lions and Packers alike, were, you know, hugging, congratulating each other on a great season, on a great game, Jameson Williams comes up and asks Aaron Rodgers for his jersey, and Rodgers says, I'm going to hold on to this one. And people are like, well, why are you holding on to this one? Are you just not going to be back next year? Are you going to be not in the league

next year and furthermore pat mcafee who is a great friend of aaron rogers he's been uh rogers has been on his show several times he reported that there could be a decision on what he's going to do with the future uh later on uh next week he said he said Tuesday, so a week from now. So, guys, as I mentioned, he's contemplated retirement a lot. Does this hold any water? I'll start with you, Ian. You know what? No, because I'll give a great reason why.

He lost Devontae Adams this season, still managed to get eight wins without his best receiver. Had to work with a whole new wide receiving core with Christian Watson coming in, who's played out of his mind the past couple games. I have to say, this is just going to only motivate Aaron Rodgers to get revenge and to maybe even potentially take that division. All right, CJ. I'm sorry.

Were you going to keep going, Ian? Did you have more? All right, CJ. I am very tired of this Aaron Rodgers will he won't he every friggin year. The man is not going to go anywhere. He just loves the attention. He loves to be in the headlines. Oh my God, will he return?

Won't he return? It's going to be so crazy. Here's a list of like jersey swaps and teams where he could go. How would a trade look? Maybe he's just going to retire. And then every year at the 11th hour, he always comes back. I do not believe he's going to leave Green Bay. I don't know what all of this is about, but I'm highly skeptical that he's going to leave.

And if he does, or if he just outright retires, I'll admit when I'm highly skeptical that he's going to leave. And if he does, or if he just outright retires, I'll admit when I'm wrong. But, but I'm not going to give this any credence until he actually does something. You can't believe it till you see it. I'm not going to give this drama queen any more attention. All right, Tuck, what are your thoughts? Tuck, you're muted.

Tuck. I'm well aware. Thank you. The way you guys talk about Aaron Rodgers is just, I don't like it. But I understand where you guys are coming from. He's gotten on my nerves at times. But at this point in time, I don't blame him for feeling this way. They were this close to making the playoffs on his back, and despite all of the adversity he

had to play with, they were this close to making it, and everything that could have gone wrong for the Packers went wrong. Fumble Aaron Jones. Drop passes that were right in their hands, right over the defender, right into their hands, drops out of nowhere. Aaron Rodgers running for his life because they couldn't protect him on the right side. It felt like Aiden Hutchinson was having a career day against him, which he was, by the way. Shout out to Aiden Hutchinson. He looked like a beast. But Aaron Rodgers tried all that he could.

And I will say this. Did he play a great game? No, but I thought he played a solid game considering what he was working with. The run game was nonexistent because they couldn't get a push off the line because Isaiah Buggs was just out in the middle, clogging everything and stopping everything for basically no game. And so when you rely upon Aaron Rodgers that much, no wonder you guys didn't win.

And the defense shot themselves in the foot by Quay Walker shoving. Why the hell did he do that? Because I know the first time he's done it. That was just dumb. I feel like it was a reactionary thing. He didn't know who was cutting through. And he's just standing there. So on instinct, he probably just shoved him.

I don't think he did it on purpose. But again, you can't do that. Flag, you're gone. Devontae Wyatt? Devontae Wyatt? I don't know how he did that stupid Russell Douglas move or what he did. Stupid Russell Douglas thing. Like there was a number of things that Aaron Jones fumbling right before halftime that led to the Russell Douglas thing. Like there was a number of things that Aaron Jones fumbling right before

halftime that led to the Russell Douglas thing. It's just a number of things that didn't go his way. I feel bad, but at the same time, if this leads to Aaron Rodgers finally leaving Green Bay to actually go to a playoff worthy team, I'm all for it. I'm all for it. All right. So when I started off the segment, I alluded to the boy who cried wolf.

And I'll tell you why. Because over the past few years, Aaron Rodgers and his team has always come up short, and it's always been the excuse-making. He doesn't have the weapons. He doesn't have the defense. He doesn't, which he has had over the past few years. He doesn't have the defense, which he has had over the past few years. He doesn't have the protection, all of that. And I was like, well, you do.

You have all of this stuff. You're just not coming through when you need it most. And now this year, he actually lost Aaron Rodgers, excuse me, Devontae Adams and Marquez Valdez-Scantling, and he actually didn't have the best offensive line this year. So what do you make of this? What do you make of that? So, like, now he actually has reason to contemplate retirement because the team just isn't that good.

He's at a point in his career where you're taking it year by year from a production standpoint, and he already just signed this contract to stay with Green Bay. So what do you do at this point? So the retirement, I think this is real. I think for once this actually holds water. But the reason why no one's taking you seriously now is because all these times when

you actually had the roster around you and you were saying, oh, woe is me. Yeah, no one was taking you seriously. So no one's going to take you seriously now. I do because I understand the context of the situation. But don't like you can't sit here and tell me that you didn't have weapons before because you did you did and you had you had the offensive line and in recent years they did work on the defense and i will say the one thing that they did lack on the offensive side is a wide receiver too they had they had number three options and they had a number one option but not a two that's it that's all i will give you but everything else you had a pretty good roster these not a two that's it that's all i will give you but everything else you had a pretty good roster these past few years and you did you didn't do much with it um

but that's my two cents on that um anything else before we move on to our next segment which is ian's guest uh guest segment nah please straight aaron rogers to somewhere else he deserves it you guys gave him nothing let him go and start rebuilding. You guys have Jordan Love now. I wish he would retire. That man gets on my nerves. Oh, he needs a new destination. He needs a new spot. The couch. All right, guys. Next, we are going to move on to Ian Mulhern's guest segment, where he's going to talk about some underdog playoff teams that could break the entire postseason. That's next. This is the Fumble Rooski podcast. Dettelman broken up and the pass is no sign yet. Dettelman comes down with a football and they're saying it's a catch.

It's caught! Diggs! Side-line! Touchdown! Unbelievable! Swings it way down the field to Watkins! Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! This is the Fumble Rooski Podcast by Power 88, Seeker Weapon Consulting.

Adam Wright, CJ Medeiros, Justin Tucker, special guest Ian Mulhern. Welcome 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, visit www.secretweaponconsulting.com. All right, so Ian is going to touch on some underdog playoff teams in this 2023, we'll call it, NFL postseason. Ian, what do you got? You know what? I got Tampa Bay as one of them because, like I said earlier in the show,

when it comes to Tom Brady, you never know when he's going to be, like against the Panthers a few weeks ago. I didn't expect that guy to throw for over 400 yards and do what he did to the Panthers. I mean, you just never know with Tom Brady. He can pull it out at any given time. But you know what? Everyone's going to call me nuts for this, but I've just had a gut feeling about it the whole time.

The New York Giants. And don't get me started. You're probably going to say, oh, it's Danny Dimes. It's blah, blah, blah. But you know what? I have seen the Giants in some close games this year. And they may be not the best all the time but when it comes to clutch moments they can be clutch and they can win games

those are those are your two yeah i would say those are my two i mean you could argue the Jaguars and the Seahawks, but I just don't really see that happening. Yeah. I mean, wouldn't it be fitting for Eli Manning's heir apparent to step right back into his shoes and start winning Super Bowls as a wildcard team? I'm going to tell you what this kind of reminds me of. This playoffs, this whole playoffs reminds me of 2015 when Peyton Manning went down and

Brock Osweiler took them to the Super Bowl. I mean, you just never know with the playoffs. I mean, forgive me for this also, but any Saturday, any Sunday. Any Saturday. Whatever day. No, not like Jeff Saturday. That guy chokes against the Vikings. But you know what?

TV personality. NFL high school coach. Perhaps. personality and i failed high school coach perhaps it that's that's a good i honestly i like i like those two picks especially your buccaneers one i think listen this t people have now completely forgotten about the buccaneers because on paper they have the roster to beat anybody. They've just been really, really bad this year relative to their expectations. Now, granted, their offensive line has been banged up all season long, starting from the get-go, from training camp, losing their center, Ryan Jensen. Also, they've been without both of their tackles for stretches of time.

I know that they've lost Donovan Smith for a stretch in the late going of this season. And then Tristan Wirfs has been in and out of their lineup. And, I mean, they kind of started the last offseason having to work their way back from this because they lost both of their starting guards to free agency and retirement. So they've had to work through that. Luckily, it hasn't killed Tom Brady because he's not even in the top 15 in times sacked. But if they could figure all this stuff out, also their play calling has been awful. It looks like clearly Todd Bowles is best as a defensive coordinator and Byron left, which he can't do it alone.

I guess the guy before him, Bruce Arians, actually was pretty good as an offensive play caller. But if they could figure all this stuff out, they have the personnel to beat anybody and they're hosting a game they are hosting the the cowboys who notoriously choke in games where they're supposed to win i mean i mean after what i saw last year i mean with the cowboys i mean this team if they can't even spike a ball how do you expect them to go through the playoffs? Against Tom Brady in round one, too. That's going to be hard.

I mean, if we're backtracking a little bit, I mean, Brady already beat the Cowboys this past season. Yeah, that is right. It feels like that was eons ago, though, wasn't it? Like, we felt like the Buccaneers were here and the Cowboys here, especially with the offseason they had. They lost a few pieces. And I was notoriously saying this offseason, the best the Cowboys can do with the personnel that they have

going into this season is stay the same as they were last year, which wasn't anything to write home about either. So there's that. And the Buccaneers were supposed to be Super Bowl contenders this year. So it just feels strange. It does feel strange now looking back at it and having to recall what we were looking at, how we looked at the NFL landscape from this offseason, right?

Mm-hmm. All right. Ian, do you have anything more you want to cover on underdog playoff teams, any other angles, anything like that? No. All right. Well, next we are going to cover our fan box where we asked for you guys to predict your Super Bowl 57 matchup.

So this is going to be an interesting one. Postseason is kicking off. Everyone is getting bold with their predictions. We're going to get a taste of that. Next, you're listening to the Fumble Rooski Podcast. Hanelman comes down with a football. They're saying it's a catch. It's in. Oh! Diggs! Side-bind!

Touchdown! Unbelievable! Swings it way down the field. The one catch! Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! you are listening to the fumble ruski podcast by power 88 and secret weapon consulting adam right cj medeiros justin tucker special guest ian mulhern so we have reached the fumble ruski fan box where we post a question filter on our Instagram every Monday and you can respond with hot takes questions and more and we will discuss it and give you a shout out on our

podcast respond to next week's fan box question to be featured on our show so our question of the week and it was more of a statement or a request predict this year's super bowl matchup all right so starting with our responses we had chris kostich a friend of the show who said eagles or bucks for nfc afc a little too wide open to make a real choice but bills um so boxes bucks is bold as we alluded to in the previous segment. That's an interesting one, especially to get the Bucs and the Bills. So Tom Brady against his former rival in the AFC East. Mallory Kleppel said Chiefs versus Eagles. So that's going to be, I mean, battle of the number one seeds right there.

Patrick Mahomes is no stranger to the spotlight. That is the Super Bowl or the AFC Championship, which he's been to practically every year of his career. And the Eagles, I mean, wow. We saw this team as a dark horse over the offseason. And isn't it amazing that this team is now a favorite to win the Super Bowl? That's unbelievable. Isaac Zonana said 49ers versus Chiefs.

So 49ers, Chiefs, I could see it. And for them to make it with Brock Purdy, man, wow. And maybe Brock Purdy, he has something. But the fact that they're doing this with the weapons they have around them, the defense, the offensive line, the offensive scheme, it's just a great look for the 49ers. It's just plug and play. Whoever's in there, it works out. Isaac Zonana, so Isaac had two responses. He also said Finns versus Niners because my dad goes for the Niners,

so his dad, and he's a Dolphins fan. So his second one had his bias in it. But, I mean, the Dolph the dolphins they probably won't go anywhere but let's not forget the talent that they had going into this season and how they showed signs they flashed signs of brilliance uh at points during this season they they had number one in the uh the afc east for a short stretch of time and it just all fell apart um but patrick williver said cowboys bangles book it absolutely those that is uh neither team is making it that's patrick williver's favorite both are his favorite teams um but it's crazy how they're both pretty good this year the cowboys are a little shaky

and like i said the best that they could have done was stay the same as they did last year and last year they lost in the first round so i wouldn't i wouldn't bet on the bang on the cowboys they do have the the talent to beat anybody this is crazy behavior this is but the bengal the um so the bengals are going to be interesting but liam hanky said bengals versus 49ers we touched on the 49ers but the bengals listen the fact that they lost we're all forgetting that they just made the superbowl not only that but they lost the superbowl and the super Bowl curse, the hangover for the loser is real. And it feels like this team is better than they were last year, which is unheard of.

Usually the team stays the same, and they're able to make it close to or at the level that they were last year. This time they improved. They got better. Their offensive line is better. Joe Burrow looks like a seasoned vet already. And they look – that team looks as motivated as ever, especially with the coin flip and the issue with the neutral grounds, I'm sorry, but to have Bills-Bengals as not neutral ground,

that doesn't sit well because they were supposed to. Because if the Bengals beat the Bills in that game, that would have meant Bengals number two, Bills number three. And that meant in a playoff series between those two, the Bengals would have home field advantage. Now it's going to be Bill's hosting, which is asinine. All right. So Brogdon Hill said Chiefs versus Vikings.

Chiefs win. So we had a victory as well. We're going real bold. Even though the Chiefs are a team that could very realistically win the Super Bowl, and the fact that the Chiefs are doing this with their top receivers being Juju Smith-Schuster, Marcus Valdez-Scantling, and Kadarius Toney, wow. I mean, this just, this just validates how great Patrick Mahomes has become and that this guy could potentially, when his career is all said and done, be an all-time great. Vikings are, the Vikings are a bold one. They have the pieces on offense besides,

I mean, their quarterback's solid. Their quarterback is good. Their defense is just okay, which brings us to Tyson Tate, who said Vikings-Bills. That would be a fun matchup, and it would be a rematch of earlier on this season when the Vikings pulled the upset, but it would be an upset to me if they played because they're still kind of a shaky ish team the vikings they're good but they have their flaws their d their defense is just okay they're cousins what's that i believe in kirk cousins to pull this off again what a super bowl if he does man that would be i mean if mean, if you get Captain Kirk back from Washington

when he led them to like, what was it, like 12-5, 11-5, something like that. If you get that version of Kirk Cousins, who was the king of the play action, doing his thing, comfortable time in the pocket, it's a possibility. One o'clock Kirk Cousins is the best Kirk Cousins. Don't at me. Unfortunately, the Super Bowl is not in one o'clock.

Yep, it's at prime time, which is kind of prime time because it's at six. But we got to move on. Jack Hartman said Buffalo and San Francisco. Okay, I got to comment on San Francisco because, you know what, it's been driving me nuts. I like the Niners. And, you know, their defense is very, very good with Nick Bosa, the leader in sacks.

But the real question is, I mean, we've seen quarterbacks have a solid start, but the playoffs are a whole different scenario. This is the big time. Is Brock Purdy the guy in the big time? Is he that guy? The question is, does he have to, though? If he has all these pieces to throw to, all he has to do is throw at least 20 yards

and throw it with some sort of accuracy. If they do get far, I would give their defense a lot of the credit because if they keep intercepting guys and give Brock Perry, like you said, 20, 30 yards, they'll make it probably in a landslide. But I've seen the 49ers kind of disappoint, especially, you know, last year, not this version of the Packers, but last year's version, where they actually beat the Niners. And the Niners could just be a huge disappointment at points.

So they're a tough team for me to really trust. Yeah. So actually, we have a lot of matchup predictions with 49ers in them, including a lot of Bills 49ers. So not only Jack Hartman said it, Eli Turner said it, Bills 49ers. And he also gave a score prediction and a winner. So 34-31, Niners win. So it looks like this one's a favorite matchup.

We also got Derek Houle who also said Bills Niners. So we've covered plenty of that. Bengals 49ers from Stephen Parker. So every time I mention the Bengals, even though they're one of the Super Bowl favorites, you're just going to say no? Hell yeah. All right.

Honestly, this is my one problem with the Bills. I mean, they're great, but is Josh Allen that guy in the big-time moment in the playoffs? I mean, he lost to a coin flip last year. If he's the last guy with the ball, I would say yes. But if it's a close game, it could be tough to tell, especially if it's against the Chiefs or especially if it's against the Bengals.

All right. It can be a tough game. Sean Howe said Finns versus some bums, so someone's a homer. He is a Dolphins fan, so that'll be interesting. They're going to lose in the first round. I appreciate it. They're losing. Brian Sierra said Giants-Bills, book it.

Brian Sierra is a Giants fan, so another guy who is – his unbiased opinion does favor the Bills. Diego Larios said Bengals versus 49ers. So not – the Bengals look more motivated than they did last year which is what scares me if I'm a team facing them because they they're not only on paper are they better than they were last year but because of how they kind of got screwed and they feel that they got screwed from this whole neutral grounds decision the coin flipped on who hosts bengals ravens it pissed them off and they looked more they look more locked in than they have in the

past two years uh of them being uh content a contending team um uh josh hool Bills 49ers again. Another Bills 49ers vote. Logan Dunbar said your mom. Okay, we'll move on from that. Luke Hickey said Bears Texans. So the world's upside down, I guess. You know, what I've heard from a lot of fans, and this is severely flawed, but it's fun. It's funny to think about that. There should be an exhibition match between the two worst teams in all of football.

They play a game. The winner gets the, gets the number one overall pick. I agree. Now the problem with this would be that, um, the teams would be like, well, I'm playing for my replacement. Why would I want to win that game? They wouldn't openly say it, but they're going to be thinking that in the back of their head when they have a chance to win this game. So some of them might be motivated. Others might be like, do I really want my replacement?

You've got to think about it that way. All right. But Cash Withers had two votes. He said Jags versus Giants. JK. So he doesn't actually believe that. And he had a throwing up emoji in that as well. I mean, both teams are kind of dark horses here.

They've snuck into the playoffs. They have decent pieces, and they could make some noise. Are they winning the Super Bowl? Are either of them going to be the matchup for the Super Bowl? Probably not, but they could do a thing or two. His other prediction was, guess what? Let me hear it. Bills 49ers.

No. No, I wouldn't. That's the favorite here. Teddy Goodman said Bengals Eagles. So that's a different one that we've gotten. But who would we favor in that matchup? I've got to go probably the Eagles because of their pass rushing attack. They would experience that banged up offensive line for the Bengals.

But don't count out the Bengals either because that team is motivated right now. William Mantle said, Jags, Seahawks, NFL's worst nightmare. Again, the league would be upside down if something like this happened. If two of the worst teams in the playoffs on each side made it in, like, oh, my God, that would be nuts. You know what? I might just – just to throw it out there. Just to throw it out there. You know what? I might just – you know what? Just to throw it out there. Just to throw it out there.

You know what? I give Justin respect here because you know what? Who knows? I've seen this team do it before back when they beat the Niners. There we go. This team came out of nowhere with Ray Lewis. I mean, I'm not saying they have those receivers, but their defense could step up just to throw it out there.

Battle of the Birds, Eagles versus the Ravens. Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Is that your Super Bowl matchup? You know what? It's the playoffs. Why not? There we go. There we go. There we go.

We're going to have you on our annual Super Bowl special to talk if that happens. I'll have you on anyways. If that actually happens, I would just be like, oh, my God. Absolutely. No, if that actually happens, I'm having do like all my parlays if i start doing that you're gonna be the main host of the show like you're gonna be the quarterback of our show for that episode if you're i will let you if if i book it right now if if that happens i will let you be the main host of our show for our super bowl special book it book it okay if this if this metaphorically happens i would just

come like just go into retirement be like yep i'm done hang it up all right liam norton said chargers cowboys so the chargers would be the underdog in this one actually who the hell is the underdog in this one who who wins? Because it's the Cowboys. I hope the Chargers would win, honestly. I would probably root for the Chargers. Good young team. They've had some bad luck during Justin Herbert's first few years of his career. If they did that.

Justin Herbert's looked more like Justin Herbert lately. He's actually done pretty solid i mean the week 18 yeah they put in their backups like chase daniel but i feel like if you got justin herbert who wants to play for something that's a whole different matchup right there certainly uh so daniel blaziak said chiefs Bills suck, LOL. So he goes against the current that is all those Bills 49ers votes and says the Bills suck. He flips the bird and he says Chiefs Bucs. You know what? I agree with this.

I want to see another Chiefs Bucs Super Bowl. I need the Bucs to lose after they beat Dallas or after they lose to Dallas. No, Tom Brady. bucks to lose after they beat dallas or after they lose to dallas so no tom brady so we get a rematch of super bowl 55 um and i would be 150 percent rooting for the bucks in that one show that tom brady still got it the old man beats the young buck uh damon Damon Bergfeld said Bengals Cowboys. No. On both? Yeah, Tuck, you would have trouble rooting for either of them.

I would root for the Cowboys, even though I know in the end they would mess it up. I would root for the Cowboys. I'd have to go. I mean, I'm rooting for the Bengals in this Super Bowl. No, I would go for the Bengals. Absolutely not. I'm rooting for the Bengals. They're a lik No, I'm going to go for the Bengals. Absolutely not. I'm rooting for the Bengals. They're a likable team.

There's nothing likable about that team. They got screwed over by this neutral grounds rule and the coin flip, and they lost the Super Bowl last year. And they lost the Super Bowl last year, and they've never won a Super bowl before and joe burrow already is arguably the best bengals quarterback in franchise history like he no quarterback no quarterback in bengals history has thrown for more than thrown for more than 30 touchdowns in multiple seasons let alone back to back years so i give me joe burrow i like this guy's a franchise guy. He has weapons all around him.

This is the Bengals' window to win a Super Bowl. It's about to close abruptly. What are you doing here? We'll see. If they lose to the Ravens, then I'll give it to you. I'll give it to you. Give it to them. We're taking it. And we'll... Isn't that what Tyler Boyd said when he was yelling in the tunnel? It wasn't given to us. We just took it. Yeah. Listen.

They're motivated. I'm telling you. I got some problems with that Bengals team. That team has a chip on its shoulder. I'm going to deal with them. The right – hey, you know what, though? Like the matchup I mentioned earlier, I feel like, you know what? If you really look at it, they have both beaten, you know, the Ravens in the past have beaten the Chiefs,

and they have beaten the Bengals. So. Yeah, we'll see. That could happen. It's possible. Let's get it. It's possible. Battle of the birds.

It's the battle of the birds. Okay. All right. Do we have any other thoughts before we end the show tonight? Nope. Let's get this game on. Sunday, 8-15. I'm ready for it.

I hope the calendar is good. Official prediction, battle of the birds. Mark it in your calendar. 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 p.m eastern standard time be sure to subscribe to our youtube channel we have all our episodes available on spotify spreaker apple podcast iheart radio google podcasts and so much more also be sure to follow

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