The Fumblerooski Podcast - Would The Real MVP Please Stand Up? -Ep 329 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: January 17, 2025

Which MVP candidate will show out best in the Ravens-Bills showdown? Are the Chiefs destined for a 7th straight AFC Championship? Will Jayden Daniels continue his rookie magic against the 1-seeded Lions? Do the Eagles have a Super Bowl run in them? Adam Wright and Cj Medeiros debate these topics and more!

Divisional round matchups are set and we are going to preview each game. This is the Fumble Rooski 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 Fumbaruski Podcast by Power 88 and Secret Weapon Consulting.

I'm Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros. We have a great show planned for you guys tonight. And we're going to be planning, we're going to be giving a full preview, that is, of each divisional round matchup. Obviously, there's four of them. And we have a couple of good ones. So we're going to start off with the Texans who are visiting the Chiefs. That game is on Saturday at 4 4 30 p.m eastern standard time um then after that we're going to have saturday at eight o'clock it's going to be the commanders at the lions then going on to sunday so the game on the the texans chiefs game is going to be on ESPN plus commanders

lions. That's going to be on Fox going on to Sunday. We're going to have the Rams who are visiting the Eagles Sunday at 3 PM. Eastern standard time. That one is going to be on NBC or Peacock. And then we're going to round things out. And what a way to finish the divisional round. This is going to be the Ravens who are visiting the bills Sunday, 6 30 PM Eastern standard time. That one's going to be on CBS or Paramount plus that's one that I cannot wait. You have a showdown of two MVP candidates, one and two, and it's an extremely close MVP race. Just when we thought that Josh Allen was going to be the slam dunk guy to get there, just based off betting odds, usually when it comes to the MVP race, the betting odds end up

being right but you know what also ends up being right is the ap all pro awards which usually the first team all pro quarterback is the one who gets the in fact it's in the past decade and a half, every single time, it has been the one who wins first team All-Pro, and it was Lamar Jackson. So on one hand, the betting odds are saying one thing, Josh Allen wins league MVP. AP All-Pro is saying Lamar Jackson. So it's literally a skin tight race. It's actually insane. And they happen to be the two and three seeds in the AFC playoffs. This may be as far as divisional rounds go a matchup for the ages, a game that I just cannot wait to happen. Um, one thing to, one thing to note is that Zay Flowers has not practiced at all this round. That's something that could potentially be huge.

Obviously wasn't going to be against the Steelers, who are struggling. But for a game against the Bills, who you cannot make mistakes against, that's going to be something else. But we're going to start off with the first matchup. Saturday, 4.30 PM Eastern Standard Time. Texans are visiting the Chiefs. And I got to say, if you were to tell me about this matchup, let's say five months ago, I would have said, this is going to be an awesome game. You have the team of tomorrow versus the team of today. The Chiefs are still

hanging around there in championship contention. The Texans are right there. C.J. Stroud looks like the kid of the future. And maybe he still is. But this Texans team all around has had a down year in every sense of the phrase. C.J. Stroud has taken a few steps back since a sensational rookie year where he won offensive rookie of the year. That is the defense has been pretty much, pretty much the same. I would say maybe a little better, but that's about it. That's the only spot where they've been better. The receiving core has not only been not as good, but also hurt as well. Two out of the three stars that they had on that team are now hurt. And it's literally just down to, as far as wide receivers go, Nico Collins, you have Dalton Schultz, who's a nice tight end, but that's literally all you

have. Um, so that's tough there. Uh. Joe Mixon is having a nice year, but I don't know, man. A running back isn't going to put you over the top. Defense looks fine. It looks solid. It would be a championship winning defense. Definitely not the type of defense that carries you. But I'm looking as far as the biggest flaw on this team has been the offensive line. An offensive line that was supposed to be one of the better, better ones in the league this year. And boy, is it the opposite?

And again, maybe CJ Stroud turns things around. This whole team turns things around in the next year or so. But right now I pretty, it's pretty much safe to say that i don't see them advancing i just don't and the chiefs they've been there they've done that as flawed as they have been this season they may not be 15 and 2 good but they're championship level good still which is enough to say that i think they're championship-level good still,

which is enough to say that I think they're going to the AFC championship. But, CJ, give me your two cents. You know how you previewed the Ravens-Bills game, right? Yes. This is the anti-Ravens-Bills game, Whereas in Ravens-Bills, we're expecting fireworks. Even with the other two games, Commanders-Lions, Eagles-Rams, I'm expecting fireworks. This is the one game where I am more or less pretty confident in saying I'm expecting a rock fight. I am expecting an ugly defensive slugfest.

Because the Texans have one of the best pass rushes in the league. Meanwhile, the Chiefs have a vastly overrated pass rush. It's propped up literally by Chris Jones, but the Texans have a bad O-line, and the Chiefs know how to take full advantage of that. And the one thing I'll say about the Texans is that they totally have a chip on their shoulder after the last game, right? After, I would assume so, right? You know, the Chiefs already beat them. You lost Tank Dell in that game.

But a chip on your shoulder really isn't enough to beat Kansas City. And if you're the Texans, look, we say this every week. When you play the Chiefs, you can't leave the game in the hands of the refs. Because, look, it's a well-established fact when you look at that Chiefs offensive line, right, versus the Texans pass rush. Flagrant holdings will not be called. Yes, I know that Jawan Taylor, their right tackle, literally jumps off, or literally commits a false start, and he jumps early on every play. Pick yourself up.

Stop crying. You're not going to get the call. You have to work around that. Like, you can't just throw your hands up in the air when an offensive line is grabbing you by the face mask and saying, hey, where's the flag? You're not going to get it. Like, you have to work around that. You can't leave the game in the hands of the refs. The only way to beat Kansas City, that's what Buffalo did, is it's got to

be a two-score game. You put your foot on their neck, and if you're up by two scores by midway through the fourth, I think you're golden. But the Texans, I don't know if they can do that. Joe Mixon finally had a good game, I will grant him, against top 10 DVOA defense, right? He finally cracked over like 50 yards. I think he got over 100. But the Chiefs are a completely different animal, especially in Arrowhead. But when it comes to the Chiefs' offense, I still think that Texans' pass rush is going to be very concerning stingley is just going to completely erase whoever he's on whether it's worthy or hopkins kelsey you better you better hope kelsey turns back the clock because he has not been inspiring literally at all but

even though it's an ugly game the chiefs are dangerous like i think like within like the past two years correct me if i'm wrong but i don't think they've even lost a one score game i read something like that or like the past year and a half or whatever like they have not lost any one score games i know this season they haven't lost any one score games so you gotta be really really careful because because if it's a one score game whether it's a favor you or them you're not gonna win so that being said i just i think the texans have the will the want and the even probably the game plan to get it done but the chiefs this is another thing where it's just experience outranks everything

they have the experience they've been there and not to mention like I said Chiefs being lethal unscored games I'm taking Kansas City to be fair though I will say a Houston upset wouldn't shock me like it would most people but I still think it's highly unlikely. I'm still going KC. I'm going KC. And I mean, the Chiefs have been shaky all season long, and they were more shaky before they got DeAndre Hopkins and some of their injured players on offense back.

But I still – the Chiefs just have an ability to kick themselves into a different gear once the playoffs start. And if this was a regular season game, I guess I would give the Texans more of a shot. But they have been such a shaky team this year. I don't believe the Chiefs will reach the Super Bowl, but I also don't believe they're going to lose to this team in the divisional round.

I would have given the Chargers a chance if they had their head screwed on straight, just because I feel like they had the horses to do it, and they see the Chiefs more often. But here in this matchup against the Texans, I just don't see a path where the Texans win. And perhaps I'm being unfair because the Chiefs have been shaky this year, and the Texans are a tough team.

Worst teams have had the Chiefs on the ropes this season. So theoretically, the Texans have a very realistic shot of winning, but that's just in theory. This is reality. This is everything, any sort of analytic or anything like that is all bets are off. We're on the football field it's the playoffs you're an arrowhead stadium facing one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time and patrick mahomes uh do you have a shot at winning this game if you're the texans i say no but if you

if you predict an upset i won't fault you for it because this has been if this is a year if there is a year for the chiefs to let's say um to lose before making what i said you know just go one and done yeah to lose before even making to before even making it to the afc championship this is the year to do it i just don't like the texans this year anymore i i predicted this team to be in the super bowl and i'm so pissed off that they have been as bad as they have been the offensive line the injuries cj stroud's regression everything has just pissed me off about this texans team it makes me want to put a bag over my head just seeing how bad it has been. Yeah. By the way, speaking of the Chiefs,

their assistant general manager, Mike Borgzoni, is leaving them to be the GM of the Titans. Yeah, that's, I mean, they're really good as far as drafting goes. I would say their defensive drafting has been stellar over the past few years. Their offensive drafting has been okay. They're very good on day two, I'll say. Day two between drafting defensive players,

finding wide receivers, they've been solid and I look at Rasheed Rice a guy who's I mean off the field we can say all we want but he looked like a one early on the season and he looked like the guy who was really the x factor on whether or not the Chiefs would be as dominant offensively as they have in years past. Obviously, he's out with a torn ACL, so the Chiefs have been as shaky as ever. And we've brought up Travis Kelsey a couple times this season, and statistically, he looks fine. My problem is the reason he looks so good statistically

is because of targets. If Rasheed Rice didn't get hurt earlier this year, Travis Kelsey would not see the volume of targets to break maybe even 600 yards this year, just because they literally need so much help. They need Travis Kelsey out there. They can't have him on the offensive line to help. They need to throw his way because anyone else that, that Patrick Mahomes trusts, they're not getting the job done. They're not going to get open. They just won't do it. And Kelsey's still a good tight end. I'm not saying he's bad. It's just, he's clearly not the receiver that he once was i say receiver pass catcher um yeah and

uh this what i will say is their offensive line has improved a lot so uh they brought in dj humphries who's fine he's obviously past his prime um I believe he was a pro bowler with the Cardinals, no? I think at least once, yeah. So he was a good starting level tackle back then. He's not nearly the same guy anymore. And he's also gotten hurt a couple times for the Chiefs. They brought in their guard, Joe Thune, to play left tackle, who during that span has been dominant and man what what a badass player that Joe Tooney is that guy he he's an all pro as a guard he's an all pro level guard but the fact that he's also excelling as a left tackle, oh boy, did the Patriots make a mistake letting him go.

But they have one of the most dominant interior offensive lines in all of football, and it's helped them a lot. The tackle position for them has been iffy, but they've been figuring it out. It just goes to show that the interior offensive line is more important than the tackle position. The only reason the tackle position is so valued is because it's so hard of a position to be good

at. But when you're looking at just results on the football field, the tackle, the guard position is actually more important. The guard position in the center position. Because when the tackle position gives out, you can at least step up and step into your throws. If the guard or center position gives out, if pressure is coming to you from up the middle, there's no way you're avoiding that. And if you do make a throw, your vision is going to be partially impaired, and it's going to be harder to step into your throw because there's a defender in your face. So what the Chiefs have prioritized has been fantastic. The offensive minds on that coaching staff for the Chiefs the prioritized has been fantastic they're all the offensive minds on that coaching

staff for the chiefs the past few years have been nothing short of spectacular they've put patrick mahomes in the best position to succeed regardless of the pieces moving around them as far as pass catchers have gone regardless of the age of travis kelsey i mean props to them for staying in contention despite all of this that they've been going through. And winning championships back-to-back and potentially a third in a row. All right, let's move on. Next, we're going to have a primetime Saturday night matchup. It's going to be the Commanders who are visiting the one-seeded Lions.

Rookie Jaden Daniels is getting his shot. That's next. This is the Fumble Rooski 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 back to the Fumbaruski Podcast by Power88 and Secret Weapon Consulting Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros. So we have this next matchup, which is, I believe, going to be much more competitive than the last one as far as Saturday matchups go. So Saturday night at 8 o'clock p.m. Eastern Standard Time, it's going to be on Fox. A big story on this one is that Terryon Arnold and David Montgomery are both full goes. Which is huge.

The injury bug has hammered this Lions team hard this season. And luckily, I mean, they've come out with a 15-2 record regardless, but on paper, they're blowing teams out anyways. But on defense, things have been left to be desired.

Just because in the rare situation that this team does end up in a one-score game, I'm not sure if I trust this defense. Now with Terry and Arnold back, I think you can trust them a little bit more. So here you are facing another bad defense. Well, the Lions have still have a good defense, but a very bad defense in the Washington Commanders. Jaden Daniels is most likely going to be the rookie of the year on the offensive side of the ball. 25 touchdowns to 9 picks. 3,500 yards.

Spectacular season. He's also their lead rusher, by the way, with 891 rushing yards and 6 touchdowns. The kid's been awesome. Terry McLaurin is proving himself yet again to be a very good wide receiver. One, he's been playing with a bunch of scrubs as quarterbacks in years past. Now he has somebody to actually work with. And that is one tough SOB over there. Thousand yards, 13 touchdowns on 82 receptions. The kid's been awesome.

Problem is you're running into the Lions who have a career year for Jared Goff, 37 touchdowns to 12 picks. Jameer Gibbs and now David Montgomery as well. We're getting Sonic and Knuckles back. Amin Ross St. Brown with Jameson Williams and Sam Laporta behind that great offensive line. And the creative coaching staff of Dan Campbell and Ben Johnson. I think the commanders have a very good shot at making this a game. I think they can make this a close game. This team has been, I mean, regardless of what happens

for this Washington team on Saturday night, it is an achievement for them. It is a great step in the right direction, massive step in the right direction for them to go from being the number two overall pick in last year's draft to now being in the divisional round. You just want to play off game with your rookie quarterback in a dog fight of a game and you're facing down with half a shot of winning, by the way, you're facing the number one seed, a team that I mean, most see as the, as the favorite to win the Superbowl. I mean, the commanders are the team of tomorrow. The lions are the team of today.

I see this being a relatively close matchup. Maybe it's one score, let's say eight. But the Lions come out of this game and they win, and they're going to the NFC Championship. CJ, what are your thoughts? I can't rule out a commander's upset. I really can't. However, I don't know.

I just feel like Jane Daniels and them, they're too young. If that makes sense. I just, the Lions are a team that have actually been there before, you know. They've faced many tougher teams, and they've done it while being shorthanded on defense. Like, you could literally create a whole other defense with the amount of defenders that they have on IR. It's insane.

But for me, it's not about the Lions' defense. It's about the Commander's defense. Jameson Williams has been looking promising. We already know what Amon Ra is. Sam Laporta is starting to get it together. And Sonic and Knuckles are back in the backfield. So how are you going to stop the run? And even if you do stop the run,

Marshawn Lattimore, you know, your new corner, he can only play one side of the field. Do you really trust Benjamin St. Juiced to shut down somebody like Jamison Williams, assuming that Lattimore is going to be on Amun-Ra? I don't. Because that's the thing. It's going to be about the defense. Meanwhile, if you're the Lions, the objective of the game is contain the scramble. I know it's easier said than done, but Jaden Daniels literally had the Tampa defense playing scared.

Whenever he would roll out of the pocket, the play would immediately break down. Like I said, they were literally running two spy stats but for the lions like you gotta run contained like you have to stop daniels so that being said i i don't know if the commanders really have the juice to dance with the Lions, especially in Detroit. Like, that's the big thing. I can't stress this part enough. They are in Detroit. And that home crowd for the Lions is going to be as loud as ever, I would imagine, you know, against the Commanders.

So, I just, like I said, I feel like it'd be unnecessarily harsh towards Jaden Daniels, but I don't know, like if he meets the moment, great. But either way, I don't see him winning. Like he can have a good game and they'd still lose. But eventually I do expect the commander's defense to blink first because their pass rush isn't great especially not since they've lost Jonathan Allen I've mentioned this before it's literally Duran Payne and nobody else and the Lions just have too many ways to hurt them I'm gonna have to go with

the Lions although I think the commanders can keep it close but by the fourth quarter I feel like the Lions are gonna to start pulling away. Yeah, I think we're kind of on the same page on that. It can be a game, but they're just too young. This is their first rodeo, and they have a few things to work on, and they have a lot of cap space going into this offseason. Overall, this has been a great season for the commanders, relative to their expectations. Even not relative to that. They won 12 games. They won 12 games.

You're in the divisional round, and you're visiting the one-seeded Detroit Lions, who are supposed to win the Super Bowl, and you kind of have half a shot to win. So, I mean, no matter what happens, the commanders should be coming out of this game, holding their heads high. The thing is,

I don't, it's just not their time just yet. They have, they have some things to work on, especially on the defensive side of the ball. So, uh, we'll see how they fare. I believe that this is going to be a close game,

but they're just going, they're long. That lion's offense is going to be too much. I mean, Jared Goff is having a great year, and from before the season even started, most of us had the Lions as the favorite to win the Super Bowl. And we're sitting here looking at them, and they're doing everything that we expected them to do. Their defense still has some things to work on, and it's mainly because of injuries. Like if Aiden Hutchinson were here, they may actually be 16-1.

They may not lose that game against the Bills. That's how dominant they've been this season. The injury bug hits them as hard as it has for the Lions. And we are sitting here and still saying, yeah, there's not many teams in the league right now that can beat them. So great stuff for the Lions. And same with the Commanders. I expect this to be a nice game.

But I think we know who we're favoring here. Yeah. All right. We're moving on. And we're getting into our Sunday matchups. Starting with the Rams. We're visiting the Eagles. The Rams.

Just a few years after winning a Super Bowl. The Eagles two years removed from being in the Super Bowl, both trying to find their way back to the mountaintop. One is a little further along than the other, but still, both of them in contention nonetheless. That's next. This is the FumbleRisky 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 gotta 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 fumble ruskiki podcast, Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros. And it feels like, it feels, I mean, it was literally just last year around this exact time when the Rams with this exact record were back in the divisional round. They were back in the playoffs after a horrendous 2022 season. And they faced the Detroit Lions, who beat them only by one score.

And I might add that if you look at a trade, a blockbuster trade, that has turned out to be as beneficial to both sides as it could possibly get. I mean, here it is. So Matthew Stafford was of course traded from the lions to the Rams and the lions got a treasure chest of picks out of it that they, and they took advantage of literally every single one of them and the Rams won their super bowl. And they've kind of been in the mix ever since too. They, I mean, they, they kind of sold their souls for that super bowl and they hit on a couple late round picks, namely Kyron Williams and Puka Nakua, and also their first first-round pick since 2015. They hit on Jared Verse, who looks awesome right now. And the offensive line, they've been working things out.

Joe Notboom and Aleric Jackson they have on the edges. So overall, Matthew Stafford, this Rams team, they're not really going anywhere. And Matthew Stafford, he's 36 years old. So technically the Rams can stay in playoff contention and maybe even Super Bowl contention for a few years now because they got younger. They have some good players on both sides of the ball. Their first round picks are officially back. The problem is they're not there yet. They're not ready to start being back in contention just yet.

They have some work to do. And they're visiting. So this is an L.A. team, a team that, you know, so an L.A. team that is obviously a warmer weather team going into philadelphia where there's supposed to be a blizzard at the time of the game uh obviously the eagles are used to playing in this way and normally when the weather when the elements start to have an effect on the game which which it will, that's when the team that runs a little more is going to be the bigger benefactor. And the two,

something tells me the 2000 yard rusher Saquon Barkley is going to be a massive factor in this game. And the, they have a great short game working with Jalen hurts on that, on that, a nice little QB sneak that they like to call the tush push they can use that and they can run option plays and again the rams are more of a warmer weather team i think that's going to be a massive factor and why i don't believe that this is going to be that

close of a game i think this will be at least two scores. And the Eagles are going to feast. They're going to head to the NFC Championship game. But CJ, give me your thoughts. I'll do you one better, Adam. I will. The Rams, calling the Rams a warm weather team is not going far enough. They're more than a warm weather team. Worse, they're a dome team. And dome teams, as you know, have a nasty reputation for being soft in the elements. That's just kind of how it's been. I don't make the rules but yeah and look i know the rams have had a lot of adversity since the super bowl and you know you like you mentioned that god-awful year but now they're back i just but i i just i feel like they're one-dimensional if that makes sense and i guess you could say the same thing for philly, but the Rams literally have Kyron Williams and he's good,

but is he 2000 yard rusher Saquon good? I disagree. And for Philly, I mean, they're just better geared for cold weather. You know, you can hand them off to Saquon, even still,

if you do have to throw, you still have Devontae Smith and A.J. Brown. And don't get me wrong, the Rams still have Puka Nakua. They still have Cooper Cup. But the passing game tends to shrivel up and die in the cold. Especially, like I said, because the Rams are, I say it with me, kids, a dome team. And I know perhaps I'm being overly simplistic, but I am not thrilled about their chances.

Honest to God, if it were like a 40-degree game, you know, like clear skies, no wind, I wouldn't hate picking the rams as an upset i really wouldn't because if you can get that passing game clicking on all cylinders you got to gene and mitchell i know they call themselves dogs but i've said they're not dogs i think they're pups you know they're too young and guys, and people like Puka and Cooper would eat them for lunch. That's just a fact. However, what do we call weather, folks?

It's the great equalizer. And if you're Cooper to Gene and Quinian Mitchell, and you have the weather on your side, and you're already good, even though you're both very very young then honestly yeah yeah i can definitely see them pulling it out and on top of that the eagles pass rush is gonna cause some problems for the rams not to mention the eagles have been pretty solid at stopping the run and if you if your entire running game is literally just uh just Kyron Williams then I don't know because I know they've got other guys but it's let's face it it's literally just Kyron Williams and on top of that the Rams front seven's good but Saquon Barkley he's something else entirely you know and honestly I think that the ram should be concerned if philly starts passing the ball

because you have a good front seven but good god that back four it's not great you know and i don't trust any of their corners to cover aj brown or davante smith even even their safeties like regardless i don't trust a single one of that defensive backfield to reliably shut down Smith or Goddard or Brown or really anyone. I think it's not that hard of a choice. Give me the Eagles. Yeah. I got to say, this is as close to a slam dunk as it gets

without it being the Tex texans chiefs game because i think that's i think that's one where it's going to be exactly like that uh but i get yeah if the weather was better then i would certainly give the rams a shot at least to make it a close game i just don't think this is even going to be close um and i will before we move on i'll give a quick i'll give a quick props to nick seriani who literally turned things around he's always been a good coach but it feels like he let he definitely during the 2023 season let his ego get the best of him he got so egotistical that he let it get in the way of his play. It got in the way of his leadership and the team collapsed in the second half of the season. And they looked

God awful to start the year. And they, they were winning ugly ones. They were winning the ugly games, but eventually they got their head screwed on straight and those ugly wins did matter. Next thing you know, they're sitting here, they're 14 and three, and they look like roses right now. I wouldn't be surprised if they're in the Superbowl this year. I really would not, but my NFC championship is definitely Lions Eagles, which I believe is going to be a matchup for the ages if it happens. Knock on wood, but I think if it does happen, that would be one of the better – this is going to be one of the better matchups in our recent memory, that is, as far as playoffs go.

But we'll move on. Why won't this go? this is literally not leaving it just left i i don't see that it's okay it's raven okay there we go something was glitching on my end my internet's getting very uh iffy all right raven's bills is next The matchup of two MVP candidates In one of the tightest MVP races We've ever seen And a matchup of Potentially who ends up going to the Super Bowl

If the Chiefs are as Are as What's the way I would put it If the Chiefs are as vulnerable As we believe that they are That's next. This is the Fumble Rooski 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 back to the Fumble Rooski podcast, Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros. And to finish off the show, we have a great one. We have the Baltimore Ravens facing off the Buffalo Bills in Buffalo. And as stated before, this game is going to be on cbs or paramount plus and for this one okay so here is where things get interesting so we're also expecting um

18 degree weather so that's going to be certainly something. But here is the breaking news from the last, let's say, I believe it was 10 minutes ago. Zay Flowers is listed as doubtful for this matchup. Which is basically, since you talked for out. Yeah, that's another way of putting it. It sucks because the Ravens, during game against the against the browns did have something to play for they needed to keep that seed in the number three spot but now here we are zay flowers is most likely going to be out this is obviously huge because Zay Flowers, all 1,000 yards and four touchdowns

of him, he was Lamar's number one. Now he's going to be working with an aging Mark Andrews, Isaiah Likely, and Rashad Bateman. Obviously, he has Derek Henry, but in a, in a season where CJ, you and I loved the Ravens this year because of Lamar Jackson's improved passing ability. The Ravens were much more multidimensional this season, 41 touchdowns to four picks. Nobody, none of us ever saw Lamar Jackson throwing for 40 plus touchdowns to four picks. Nobody, none of us ever saw Lamar Jackson throwing for 40-plus touchdowns in a season and over 4,000 yards. I don't know.

Tuck probably did, if I'm being honest. Tuck probably did. And if you guys viewing the show believed it, then good for you. It's just, and it's not a knock on his game. It's just, this is the style of play he runs. He's not, I'm in no ways calling him a running back, but he's a dual threat quarterback,

meaning much of his production is going to be on the ground. And his production through the air is still going to be good, but not 41 touchdowns, four picks and 4,000 yards good. That's kind of the argument I am making here. And he was still very productive on the ground. Still rushed for over 4,000. Rather, still rushed for over 800 yards. He was pretty good.

915 rushing yards. So basically just under 1,000. And the guy was insane this year. He had a great year. But the reason is because they were not one-dimensional. It didn't feel as if if you shut down the Baltimore run game, then they would be screwed. Now, without Lamar's favorite toy in Zay Flowers,

things are going to be a lot more interesting. And with Buffalo having home field advantage, Josh Allen playing out of his mind, I'm a little worried for this matchup. I was probably going to lean Buffalo before. Now I just have to outright say it is Buffalo. It could be still a very close game. This is probably going to be a great matchup because Lamar Jackson, I mean, he's been playing without players like Zay Flowers his entire career. So this is still probably going to be a great matchup, but this is, I mean, this is a huge blow to the Ravens offense. And I have to say, I'm a little worried. I'm a little worried here.

I'm going to take Buffalo. Josh Allen has had a great year i think this is his year to go to the super bowl yeah oh my god i feel like a lot of people don't quite grasp how important zay flowers is this ras offense. Because even tight ends aside, Rashad Bateman's now your one. You're also throwing to the likes of Tylan Wallace, Nelson Aguilar, and Anthony Miller. Yeah, that's going to be scared. And keep in mind, the last game, you went up against Pittsburgh, right? We all remember that game.

Lamar Jackson was relegated to more or less of a dink and dunk role. 16-21, which was solid, really good, but 175 yards and two touchdowns. The two touchdowns is great. 175 yards scares me because you did that against a really good defense and granted buffalo's defense isn't that great i mean it's weird how one week they'll pitch a darn near shutout and the next week they'll let up 40 i don't know depends but now you're in the cold as well right and know Buffalo's going to be selling out to stop Derrick Henry every play pretty much. In fact, I'd probably wager that at least half the time they're going

to bring five or six guys to the box. Like they are going to sell out to stop the run and say, you're a good passer. You can beat me with your arm, but can you do it in the cold without Zay Flowers? And honestly, I don't know. But don't get me wrong. I don't think that their offense is going to completely die. As long as they have Derrick Henry, they have options. And I don't see the Buffalo defense or even cold weather slowing them down. But Buffalo, you know, they're built for the cold it's in buffalo you're playing in front of bill's mafia no one circles the wagons like them we all know it and oh just

i don't like the matchups here and not to mention right even though Buffalo doesn't really have that superstar wide receiver that you love, and like I said, we all know they don't. That's cool. It's whatever. But Josh Allen has still been able to get it done. And the Ravens' defense, cold or not, has been, especially their pass defense, has it hemorrhages yardage and at this point i feel that's that's well established right we already knew this going in and when you just look at the matchups it's going to be which offense blinks first and if i were a betting man, I would say it's the Ravens. And also, I can already hear from the future,

if the Ravens lose, I can already hear the, but if we had Zay Flowers excuse. And believe you, me, Adam, the Justin Tuckers of the world are warming up that right now as we speak. And honestly, I might be leaning more towards Baltimore if they had Flowers, but I definitely think that makes a key difference. And like I said, in the cold, it's not going to be – I don't think there's going to be a blizzard like there is in Philly, but the cold is still nasty to play in, unless you're Buffalo, who, like I said, just tends to play really well in the cold is still nasty to play in unless you're buffalo who like i said just tends to play really well in the cold these days i know they didn't always right buffalo was ironically pretty bad in the cold for a bit but for the past two seasons it has been a completely different

story so all things considered i am going to have to pick the Bills. Yeah, I'm going to roll the Bills. In Buffalo, it's supposed to be on Sunday, it's going to be a high of 23, a low of 14. And it appears around game time, it's going to be in the teens, like 15, 16. So it's going to be in the teens like 15 16 so it's going to be cold it's going to be very very cold um it's going to feel it's going to feel like around 11 degrees so i mean weather is the great equalizer and it gets colder, the rushing attack becomes more of a thing.

At that point, it will be an advantage Derek Henry, I guess. It's hard to hit Derek Henry as is, but trying to hit him in the cold weather, that has to be hard. So I expect this to be a good matchup still. just think the bills have multiple ways they can beat you they're going to take advantage of a less than satisfactory ravens defense it's not even to say that the bills have a good defense it's okay it's a solid one but it's significantly better than the ravens and just for that i'm going to give a slight edge to Baltimore, uh,

Buffalo rather. And yeah, this could still go either way, but the loss of Zay flowers is big. Um, that's big. Um, yeah,

but that is all the scheduled content that we have for today. You have anything else before we end the show tonight uh nope no i'm good i'm just i mean i'm sure you're happy if i got episode under an hour yeah about time right no two hour episodes well that'll do it for us tonight thank you for listening to us we have new episodes out on tuesdays at.30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time and Fridays at 5. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We have all our episodes available on Spotify, Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, and so much more.

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