The Fumblerooski Podcast - Youth Movement -Ep 238 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: January 19, 2024

Divisional Round is finally here! Texans go to Baltimore to take on the 1 seeded Ravens. Can Lamar Jackson turn the tide on his "playoff choker" storyline, or will Stroud make the Ravens defense look like the Browns last week and get the upset victory? 49ers take on the Pack after Green Bay's upset win in Jerry World, can Jordan Love get another upset victory over a top team in the league? The Lions have ANOTHER home playoff game as they welcome in the Bucs, could this game be a potentially air raid shootout? Bills vs Chiefs III in the playoffs this time in Buffalo. Josh Allen and the Bills look to put their playoff demons to rest, but can Mahomes and the rest of the offense pick up the slack and get a road playoff win? Chris Costich, CJ Medeiros, and Justin Tucker give their picks and takes on, what could be, another memorable playoff weekend!

The playoffs are well underway as we are now into the divisional weekend. The Ravens playing the Texans. See if CJ Stroud can get the big upset against Lamar. 49ers host the Packers after their upset in Jerry's World. And then the Lions trying to keep on their little Cinderella run as they host the Buccaneers. And the Bills versus the Chiefs. The rematch that we've all been waiting for. You're listening to the Fumble Rooski Podcast.

Here's Edelman broken up in the pass. No sign yet. Edelman comes down with a football and they're saying it's a catch. It's a catch. Oh! It's a catch! Sideline! Touchdown!

Unbelievable! Slings it way down the field to Watkins! Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! Happy Friday, everybody. You are listening to the Fumble Rooski Podcast by Power 88 Dean Radio and Secret Weapon Consulting. Chris Kostic, CJ Medeiros, and a happy Ravens fan, Justin Tucker. Listening to the Fumble Rooski podcast by Power 88 Dean Radio and Secret Weapon Consulting. Chris Kostic, CJ Medeiros, and a happy Ravens fan, Justin Tucker. Yeah.

A lot of reason to be happy. You had the bye week, and now you got a very young Texans team coming to town. Mm-hmm. But we'll get to that in a second. First, we got a little bit of trivia for you guys for this lovely Friday. The last 10 number one seeds to win the Super Bowl. So we'll go first to five since there is 10. So I'll let you guys decide who goes first. I prefer to go first, Tucker.

I'm sorry. Okay, you can take it. Oh, thank you. So last 10 goes back to 1999. All right. Nice. Right off the bat, weren't last year's Chiefs the number one seed? Last year's Chiefs was the number one seed.

So there's one for CJ. 2015 Denver Broncos. 2015 Denver Broncos. One to one. Oh, the Nick Foles Eagles. The Nick Foles Eagles is on the list.

The so-called underdogs. That season. Then they won and got complacent. That's how you lose the Saints. Yeah. All right. Two to one. 2022 Kansas City Chiefs.

Well, Tuck already. I mean, CJ already said that, but he already said my fault. My fault. Last year's Chiefs.

2014 New England Patriots. 2014 New England Patriots. Oh, the 2016 28 to 3 Patriots. 2014 New England Patriots. Oh, the 2016 28-3 Patriots. 28-3 Patriots is on the list. All right. Let's see if I can go older. In the decade of 2000 to 2010, there's only three teams that won as the one seed. Yeah. Seattle?

Seattle, yep. Yeah, that's true. Yep, the year that they beat the Broncos. Oh, speaking of Denver, Peyton Manning's final ride, Broncos. I already took it. Yep, Tucker already said it. Wait, he said that? Oh, wait. 2015 Broncos.

Yeah, I forgot about them. I'm sorry. Oh, well, let's just stay with New England. I believe the 0-4 Patriots were the one seed. 0-4 Patriots were the one seed. Well, technically 0-3 to 0-4 Patriots. Yeah, 0-3 to 0-4, but yeah, that's what I meant.

So, 4-3, CJ with the lead. I'm not missing here. No, it's not the Packers. You like? It's not the Packers. It's not the Packers. That year they were the sixth seed.

Yeah, it's not. Unfortunately, it's not the Ravens. I feel like I have one whatever Tuck's ready, but we'll see. The 99 Rams. Yeah, you got it. 2,000 Rams. But there is one more team prior to the Rams. Oh, okay.

I know that. So 4-4. If I recall correctly, this is one everyone forgets, I think. I'm going to take a big risk. Weren't the Saints, was it like 2009 Saints? 2009 Saints. Tuck, I'll give you a chance

to tie it. The 98 Broncos? 98 Broncos. 98-99 Broncos. So as a tiebreaker, we'll keep going. You can give me 1997. Oh, 97. Oh, oh.

Was that? 96-97. Was that? 96-97. Was that? Wait a minute. Was that Dallas? Because that was like their final ride. Nope. Nope.

That was 95-96. Oh. All right. 97. Oh, it is. Never mind. Damn it. 97.

97. You're talking about the 97-98 season? 96-97. I know who it is. Crap. I can't believe I said that. I didn't. I forgot the years.

Dang it. It's the NFC team. It can't be AFC. It's the NFC team. It is an NFC team. How do I not know this? Do we get a time limit on this? Yeah, give me 10 seconds.

9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. I don't know what Just throw a team out there You just counted to 10 This is The Vikings Incorrect CJ for the win

I feel like it is at Green Bay It is Green Bay Because they beat New England As soon as I said Dallas I regretted it because then the Packers popped in my head. Hold on. Time out. 96, 97. Yeah, Brett Favre, Desmond Howard, all those guys.

Yeah. That was in 97? You got it. Well, the Super Bowl was in 97, but it was the 96 season. Yeah. Don't worry. The years – the site that I was on, the years were kind of screwing me up as well because they had it as the years that the super bowl was played i got it all right we'll move

into our wild or wild card weekend our divisional weekend round games we'll start out with the ravens versus the texans this I'm pretty excited for this one. Spread does have Baltimore at nine and a half. Texans are going to be without Noah Brown now. And Mark Andrews still not set to return at the moment. Spread for the Ravens is at nine and a half. Tuck, I'll let you go first. There's really not much to say.

The underdog versus the Titan, the David. I think this is more like a David versus Goliath. If anyone picks against the Ravens this time, I think it's going to be a little bit of a surprise. The Ravens are more rested. I believe an overall better team. I wish that we had Marlon Humphrey this week, but again, beggars can't be choosers because I need him against Nico Collins because for some reason he's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. But overall, the Texans have overachieved this year considering where they were picking last year in the draft. I like C.J. Stroud.

I think he's going to get better over time. Saying that as a rookie is insane considering how good he is. But I think right now I don't think they'll overcome this Ravens defense because it's the best defense in the league this year. I believe so. But overall, I think it's still going to be close. I think C.J. is still going to keep him in the game.

But with Lamar Jackson on offense and Roe Kahn Smith on defense, I think it's just going to be a tough year for them to get past. I don't think they're the same teams as week one, both the Ravens and the Texans. But I still see the Ravens pulling this out at the end. If I was to give a score, Ravens 27, Texans 20. C.J.? to give a score, Ravens 27, Texans 20. CJ? Now, the bye week can often be a double-edged sword because you either come out well-rested or you just come out lethargic and maybe too rested

and perhaps a wee bit rusty. Harbaugh's a veteran coach and a Super Bowl winning head coach, so I don't really see that happening to him. And at the end of the day, I just feel that Baltimore's offensive attack is going to be too much because Lamar, this is like one of his best seasons as a passer, and he's a pretty darn good passer as well. And when you mix in the fact, the escapcapability it's going to keep the defense honest and get this lamar has dare i

say weapons now you have zay flowers the rookie tearing it up odell beckham catching lightning at the right time you don't have mark andrews but isaiah likely I believe his name is. Isaiah Likely's been playing very well. Yeah, but Isaiah Likely, I think he's just fine. The only thing, and I really mean the only thing that gives me some form of concern is the running game aside from Lamar, because J.K. Dobbins is hurt again. You lost Keaton Mitchell. I mean, you still have Gus Edwards, right? Yes. So you're going to need Gus to be his usual self, which he should be. Also, CJ Stroud. This is going to be a good test. I feel like he's going to keep him in it for a bit, but come the third quarter,

I think Baltimore is going to start pulling away. Because when you have a defense with guys like Matabuki, Queen, Smith, Hamilton, I think it's just going to be a little too much. I think Baltimore will end up taking it probably somewhere in the ballpark. I think it's going to be tight, but like I said, I think Baltimore will pull away, leaving a scoreboard looking more lopsided than it actually is.

I think Baltimore is going to take it probably like 31-17. Yeah, I'm going to have to agree. probably like 31 17 yeah I'm gonna have to agree this will probably end up being one of those games that it's tight like three point game up until the fourth quarter and then the Ravens will probably pull away I'm not I don't know about a 17 point game I'd probably go more in the direction of like a 10 point game maybe 14 or yeah 14 point game but maybe more towards a 10-point game than anything. But regardless, I'm going to have Ravens on this one. Here is a storyline for you guys, a little talking point,

that Lamar really needs to get some playoff wins here. And this is the year for him to win a ring, right? Oh, yeah. And if he doesn't win a ring this year, the storyline is just going to continue with Lamar not being able to get it done in the playoffs, regular season merchant, and the narrative of him being a running back quarterback

is going to continue. As unfair as it is, that's what's going to happen. I wish it wasn't going to happen, but he needs to start winning playoff games. I believe with this playoff game, and he'll win it, I believe it'll give him some more relax from all those things. If he can make it to the AFC Championship game, at least he'll get a reprieve, I believe. Then it's probably against

Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. Sorry, CJ. I was just going to say, I know that there's a stigma you know the running back quarterback things kind of you know taken a back seat to the playoff underachiever title which do with that what you will but i would like to say this is probably the best team he's had around him in the playoffs no talk you're as a ravens fan you can confirm this is the best team he's had so i especially against

the texans i can and without tank dell and their and without noah brown and your best receivers nico collins who waited until now to be good uh what do you mean He was a rookie. He was a rookie. Last year? This year. Nico Collins is not a rookie. Whatever it was, but still, Nico Collins had like 80 catches in almost 1,300 yards this year.

I said he waited until this year to be good. Oh, okay. Nico Collins is... He was probably drafted last year, the year before. No, this is his – like this might be like his second or third year in the NFL to my – You're right.

I don't know why people thought – why I thought he was a rookie. That was the same thing with me and Josh Dobbs. For some reason, I kept thinking he was a rookie. It happens. It happens. It happens. It's a big league. You can't keep track of every player. I know I can't.

But yeah, like I said, though, it's just when you just look at the firepower on the Ravens offense surrounding Lamar and that defense, I'm going to have to go Baltimore. want to reiterate though he has to because if he at least doesn't get to the afc championship game narratives will start going and we'll start actually forming instead of just being narratives yeah and hopefully i feel like the narratives in general have kind of started to fizzle away a little bit because you look at lamar's mvp year uh back in 2019 and obviously they lost in the first round to the titans to derrick henry and that that was just one of those years you just couldn't stop the titans at all um and that kind and that was the start of lamar not getting not being able to get it done in the playoffs but the progression of Lamar from that point on it's and a lot of people have started to notice it is that Lamar isn't like

isn't looking at the first read and just taking it off taking off with the ball immediately he's looking he's actually progressing through his reads and making running as your third or fourth choice he's not just taking off with the ball immediately he's actually developing as a passer and so a lot of analysts are saying that this is probably his best year as a passer because of that yeah i think so yeah he's made he's played well under Todd Munson's system, and you see the development happening under it. Exactly. Any last thoughts before we move on to the second Saturday game?

I got nothing to talk. Ravens are winning regardless. Let's go. 49ers Packers, the main event of Saturday night. Packers coming off of a big win against Dallas. And that Jordan Love was... Jordan Love has been playing like one of the best quarterbacks in the last...

Since week 12, basically. Yep. So that definitely bodes as a tough task for the 49ers. Yep. on top of possibly not having Jair Alexander. Or if you do have Jair Alexander, you're going to have a beat-up Jair Alexander. Yep. So my initial take is going to be 49ers in this one. Fresh off the bye week, you got CMC fully healthy. I want to go Niners by 14 on this.

You know what? Do I dare pick them? Do I dare pick them? You know what? I'm going to gamble a little bit. I'm going to get into this one. I'm picking the Packers. All right.

We need a little bit of divisiveness, and I'm liking what I'm picking the Packers. All right. We need a little bit of divisiveness, and I'm liking what I'm seeing from Jordan Love. In his first playoff game, he had a near-perfect passer rating. He demolished the Cowboys defense. I mean, let's face it, it was the Cowboys defense, but he still played well in the playoffs and helped his team advance to the divisional round.

I believe they're playing with house money, and no one thought they would be here at this time. So overall, I kind of want to see what they got. I kind of want to see what they'll do against that defense. I think the O-line will hold up well against the pass rush for a little while, enough time for Jordan Love to find wide-open people. Yeah, I think it'll be a close game. And if it's close, the pressure then goes on the 49ers.

And I'm not sure how I feel about Brock Purdy with all that pressure yet, because I just don't know yet. But overall, I still want the Packers to win. I just want to see it. Huh. This is an interesting one, isn't it? A lot of my concerns are also on the packers defense because like i said your defensive coordinator is vanilla joe berry so and we've seen this man gave up 30 to the panthers i don't even want to fathom what the niners are going to do but it's the packers offense is going to keep them in the game jordan love i mean here's the Packers offense that's going to keep him in the game Jordan Love I mean here's the deal we said that Brock Purdy you know the lights are shining bright on him but are they also not shining bright on Jordan Love Jordan Love himself though he's been in the league low

these many years he's been a backup that has not had that much experience that label can be applied to both quarterbacks at the end of the day Purdy I just think has too many weapons around him and when you go up against a soft Packers defense and a Packers offense that features Jaden Reed Christian Watson Romeo Dubs I mean and also their run now here's the thing Dallas Dallas is a good defense lots of takeaways but they give up lots of yards they have a good pass rush but their run defense is terrible and I don't think this is going to be another game where aaron jones can run all over you stroud i'm not stroud wow love is going to have to beat the niners with his arm and purdy i think like i said just has enough guys like Devo Samuel, George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey, Brandon Ayuk, and a decent O-line,

I think he should be fine. I think the game might be a little closer than people think, which is why I think Green Bay is probably going to take it like 28-20. Yeah, I'm going to have to stick with you on the whole passing thing because the niners are a top three rushing defense in the league and in terms of passing they're middle of the pack in terms of being a passing defense so jordan love is they're definitely gonna have to throw the ball at least 30 times in this game because the rushing game probably won't be there um tuck what do you think i think it's going to be a problem trying to rush the ball against that

packers front seven but at the same time i believe they can get aaron jones in a lot of different ways to get them involved in with having the ball in his hands so i don't think it's that much of a problem you just have to figure out how to get the ball in Aaron Jones' hands to move it down the field. Outside of that, Jordan Love, yeah, you're probably going to have to win this one with your arm. Because the running game's not going to be there. They're not going to let you run the ball up and down the field.

So the passing game has to be there. And even though it's the middle of the pack, they do have a pro bowler in Jadarius Ward that's having a very good season. So he does have to be careful with that. It's true. Here's a little stat for you guys. No team in recent years, the last 10 years, or basically in the entirety of Kirk Cousins' career,

no team that has lost to Kirk Cousins has made the Super Bowl. 49ers lost to Kirk Cousins and the Vikings earlier this year. Could we potentially see that upset of the Packers versus 49ers today and the Niners don't even make it to the NFC Championship? The jinx of Kirk Cousin lives. No, I don't think that will happen. Hopefully, for the 49ers' sake, they don't lose to the Green Bay Packers. But at the same time, who knows?

John Love might all of a sudden become Aaron Rodgers or Brett Favre again and turn this thing around for Green Bay. Been playing like it. Yep. They did run the table Been playing like it. Yep. They did run the table like Aaron Rodgers. Yeah. I don't know how I feel about the whole losing to Kirk Cousins deal. I mean, it's

funny and all, but you could pick any arbitrary stat out. It's funny. It's funny, though. Don't get me wrong. It is a very funny stat. Although, I don't know. Last thoughts before we go into the break. I think this is a big time game

for Brock Purdy. Yeah. Oh, yeah. We can definitely agree on that. With that, we'll take a quick break when we get when we come back we'll get ourselves into the sunday divisional games you're listening to the fumbarous 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 pass. It's a catch. Sideline. Touchdown. Unbelievable. Swings it way down the field to Watkins!

Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! You're listening to the Fumble Rooski Podcast. Chris Kostich, CJ Medeiros, Justin Tucker. Talk about divisional football, divisional weekend football as we head into the Sunday slate. First one on the list, Lions versus Bucs. 3 p.m. on NBC. Lions coming off of a pretty

rough game against the Rams where they showed some signs of offense. They blew up on offense in the second quarter or more in the first half, but then in the second half, they kind of phased out. Buccaneers obviously coming off of a very dominating win against the Eagles. Baker Mayfield has been looking very good this year. And honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if I saw a Bucs upset in this game. What do you guys' takes? CJ?

Oh, thanks, Tuck. Now, a lot of it is with Tampa Bay beating Philly. Let's be real with ourselves. Philly, the wheels were coming off. I really didn't believe there was any way they were going to win that game and when we look at just just Tampa in general they're good and I do think Baker Mayfield might have played himself into a contract extension there can't speak for how much but I do happen to think that Mayfield is a good quarterback. But when you look at how he played against Philly, there were some mistakes.

I think he plays a little too fast and loose with the ball. And I think that Detroit being just a better team than Philly would be able to take advantage of that. And I don't know how the Tampa defense is going to react to a team that doesn't have to rely on a gimmick play. I'm not going to rule it out, but I just think the little Mayfield miracle run is over. Because when you think about it, this is a game where there's actually not too, too much going on. I mean, both teams are interesting, but I think it's pretty cut and dry. I feel like the Lions are just the better team. I think the Lions just maybe wanted a little bit more.

So once again, I'm taking Detroit, and it's probably going to be somewhere in the ballpark of probably like 27-21. CJ, I'm not going to lie, but the whole they just want it more argument is basically Adam telling you that it's not analytical to say Dallas is going to lose a little bit. Oh, no, I'm sorry. There is no team that is hungrier than Detroit. I'm sorry.

No, you're not wrong. You're not wrong. No team? What I hear – No team, Justin. I'm not saying that means anything in the way of talent. I'm just saying. I don't think there's any team that plays as –

I promise you you want it more. There is no team that plays as gorgeous and vicious as Detroit, and I'm promising you that. Whenever I hear they just want it more. I just think of Mark Cuban ranting on Skip Bayless in that one first take episode where they were talking about the Dallas Mavericks beating the Miami Heat. And Skip Bayless just said, oh, Dallas just wanted it more. And Mark Cuban was like, you just can't say that. You just can't say that.

Look, I mean, I know, but it's like, I don't think in this case, you probably could. I just think there's like no team, especially like Dan Campbell. Like those guys would run through a wall for him. And that's a lot of what I think is it's just the energy. The Lions are coming out there. Like I said, last time, every catch, they're going to knock. They want to knock your guy down.

Every run, they're going to try to run over your defense. Like every play, they're going to try to hurt you. I don't mean that in the dirty play sense. I mean that they're going to. I just feel like when it comes to this overall grit, no team matches them. Mm-hmm. Talk about it. I'm not going to lie.

I think this is going to be a pretty close game. I think Baker Mayfield has been playing the best football of his career thus far. I think he's overachieved this season, considering the projections and the expectations he was given this year. And the fact that he managed to take this team to the playoffs and get a playoff victory is an incredible achievement for him this year. Hopefully he does get a contract extension in the offseason. But as far as this game is concerned, I might have to take Detroit because it's in Detroit.

If it was in Tampa Bay, I might pick Tampa. But since it's in Detroit and this team wants a NFC championship game badly, imagine if they hosted it. But imagine if they went to an NFC championship game against the 49ers. That is an interesting matchup. Overall, I think Jared Goff, with his experience of making it to the Super Bowl, is more than enough to help this team get to the victory. I think the pieces around him are better than in years past. I think that defense, even though a lot is to be desired in the secondary, I think their front seven makes up for it.

So overall, I think it's a good enough team to make it to the NFC Championship game. I think they'll get past Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Bucks. I got the score being 31 to 20. Here's my take. You got two teams that are

top five in run defense, but at the same time, you also have two teams that are bottom five in run defense but at the same time you also have two teams that are bottom five in passing defense so my prediction here is that baker and goff are both gonna go for over 300 yards honestly i wouldn't be surprised if we see baker go for 350 because the bucks run game they almost did not have a run game for the entirety of this season. It was mostly all up to Baker to try to make of the situation as you will. So my prediction, they both go for over 300,

but the Lions are going to just barely, just barely edge out the Bucs. I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up being a one-point game like it was with the Rams. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up being the same score. With that being said, I'm going to go 31-30 Lions. It's going to be a shootout. Ooh. A passing shootout.

I can see it. I can see it. But, with that being said, you also have to take into account that you gotta also think maybe the receiver... If the Bucs receivers have their stuff together and whatnot,

they can get it all together and not have a million drops like they did last week. If they have a lot of drops and a lot of mistakes on the offensive side, then the Lions are just going to take care of business. But if we take away those drops and mistakes from the receivers, this could very well be a shootout. Like I said, I'm not very high on this Lions defense, mostly the secondary. And obviously the stats show for themselves they not very high on this Lions defense, mostly the secondary.

And obviously the stats show for themselves they are very good on the run. And with Tampa's lack of run game and the Buccaneers also being a very good team in the run as well, I wouldn't be surprised if both teams just completely aired out and have themselves a field day. Hmm. I still got Jared golf and the lions taking it. I want it to be close, but I'm not sure if it will be close. I'm still not sure of that just yet. Yeah. I don't know.

I, another thing is though, I just think that Dan Campbell is a better coach than Todd Bowles. Oh, for sure. That's another thing. People always underrate coaching. I think that Dan Campbell is a great coach. I think Todd Bowles is a great defensive coordinator, but I don't know. Head coaching, I kind of have to raise my eyebrow a little bit.

He's still a great defensive guy, though. Don't get me wrong. And you want to see the Todd Bowles press conference when they asked him about playing in Detroit with the Red still a great defensive guy, though. Don't get me wrong. And you want to see the top post press conference when they asked him about playing in Detroit with the Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh my god, that was hysterical. Yeah, they're playing a dome. Jeez. That reporter needs to get

fired. They got like a political some political reporter to come in to No, wait, that was the backstory? Oh my god. Oh, I don't know if that's the backstory, but I'm just throwing it out there as a possibility because there's just no way

that an NFL or a sports reporter, for that matter, is coming in asking that question. Yeah, that's fair. Another thing that I wanted to add, though, is you know that Todd Bowles is going to blitz the hell out of Detroit as well. He's going to be sending at least five guys every single play, which is what he did against Philly. He's going to be sending at least five to six guys.

So a lot of this is going to depend on how Detroit picks up the blitz and how they can figure it out. Because obviously Philly couldn't figure it out for the life of them on Monday. So, if Detroit can figure it out and handle the Blitz well, and Jared Goff is a very good play-action quarterback, if they can utilize the play-action well,

pick up the Blitz where they come, then the Lions will do just fine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Any last thoughts before we move on to the main event of the weekend? Nah, no.

I'm really liking this Jarrett golf redemption story. I'm really liking it. Yeah, I know. Started off with leading this team out of that 3-13 season to going 9-8 and just barely missing the playoffs, and now they're the three seed. Getting better and better each season. In which the first playoff game beats the team that ran out of L.A. Yeah.

That's just beautiful. So beautiful. Script writers have earned their checks, I tell you. And they're going to earn their checks even more with this one. Bills versus Chiefs. What seems like the first game in Buffalo that they've had, even though they've had one or two games in Buffalo, but it seems like every single Chiefs-Bills game ends up being in Kansas City. But playoffs-wise, this is the first playoff game in Buffalo between these two teams.

The last two meetings, obviously the first one where Buffalo lost, I think it was like by 10 or something like that. And then the Chiefs ended up losing the Super Bowl that year. And the second one being the overtime thriller where Kansas City won 42 to 36. My mind is going to go directly to Buffalo, though. Kansas City doesn't have hasn't had a great run defense as of recent granted they were able to hold off on the Miami run last week but we're talking about negative 30 degree wind chill against a Miami offense that doesn't really emphasize a power running game more of a finesse

just a all-around finesse offense so i'm not really going to take that into account but run defense wise hasn't been great and obviously the bills love to have josh allen be the center of their run game so i wouldn't be surprised if they utilize that as well so i'm going to say j Josh Allen's probably going to have at least seven carries in this one. Seven carries, maybe 70 yards. I'm going to go Bills. What's the spread on this?

They have Buffalo by two and a half. I'd say Buffalo by seven. I wouldn't say that. Just because of the psychological whammy the Chiefs have on the Bills. I'm picking the Bills, but because how bad the Chiefs have looked this year, this is the best opportunity for Josh Allen to prove that he can beat the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes when it matters the most. In the playoffs, it's been Mahomes all day. Regular season has been a little bit closer.

This is now Josh Allen's time to step forward and say, no, Kansas City is not making it to the AFC championship game this year. They've made it every other year, sometimes at our expense, even one time to go to the Super Bowl. That's not happening this year. This is our year. We're going to the AFC championship game.. That's not happening this year. This is our year. We're going to the AFC Championship game. They can't have it this year. I think Josh Allen is going to play well,

but I do expect to pick because it's Josh Allen. I just have to accept that. I think he'll play well enough to get them in positions to win the game. I think James Cook is going to have a touchdown, either running or passing. I think Stephon Diggs is going to have his way with Trent McDuffie. And I think Josh Allen will be able to beat the blitz that Kansas City will send out every now and then. Overall, I think the Bills are a good enough team to beat this variation of Kansas City. And I think they need to beat them, because if not, some nasty agendas are going to be pushed about Josh Allen. And I'm not going to lie, if he doesn't win i'm here for it yeah interesting ah so well well well here we are again seems like we're here every year

and tuck i think makes a good point. You know how, to use his terminology, the Chiefs have the psychological whammy on them. In the playoffs, the Chiefs are the boogeyman that no matter how hard Buffalo tries, Kansas City is always one step ahead. And Andy Reid is just a better coach than Sean McDermott. Buffalo will not have Taylor Rapp, Gabe Davis, Christian Benford, or Baylon Spector. They've all just been ruled out. I don't know if you've seen.

So that's something. But there's a saving grace. These are not the Kansas City Chiefs of yore. The wide receiver one is just a high-end, maybe middling two in Rasheed Rice, which leaves you free to double-team Travis Kelsey all the time. Their defense is good, but Buffalo has a good counter now. James Cook, the man who is adept at running or catching, and it's in buffalo and you could also say oh but the cold weather has hindered uh you know it some people are saying how the cold weather hindered

miami but see you just think buffalo is another cold weather team yeah i mean granted statistically they haven't been great there huh that's a terrible take for whoever's saying that yeah no but they're saying miami would have won if not for the injuries on defense also i do want to address they wouldn't have won anyway no they wouldn't have because they're like oh but van ginkle chubb and phillips were hurt my response is well i didn't realize that van ginkle chubb and phillips played offense they scored seven but whatever that's either here nor there but buffalo i know isn't the best team in the elements which which is ironic since they're from Buffalo, but come on,

they're at home. And I just think they can reverse it to use Tuck's term, which I love the psychological whammy because Alan wants to exercise his demons. This is Buffalo was playing angry. Buffalo hates the chiefs. There's no love lost. And you know Josh Allen probably is still in the back of his mind

where instead of congratulating him on beating him in the regular season, which they did in Arrowhead, by the way, Mahomes just cried about the refs. You know that's living in Allen's head. But the thing is, when you factor in the injuries and how McDermott isn't actually the best coach it that is kind of what brings it into balance and i know what they say it's the playoffs no matter what you never bet against mahomes i i don't know i genuinely don't know. I genuinely don't know. And there's one thing we need to remember, though. Even though the scoreboard looked lopsided in their game against Miami,

once the Chiefs got into the red zone, their offense died. They literally just fell apart in the red zone. They had to settle for field goals. Let me tell you something. The Bills are not a team you are going to beat with field goals. And just because it's in Buffalo, they say you've never bet against Mahomes. Well, guess what? I'm betting against Mahomes. I think it's going to be a close game. It's going to be an ugly game. It's going to be a game where both sides or whoever wins you're leaving bruised and bloodied but give me the buffalo bills 21 20 i like it i like it 24 20 my uh bills i'll go 27 20 bills and i'm not going to

rule out a josh allen interception or a turnover at all either you know he's probably gonna throw one especially he's got one in him this chief's defense is the best defense that they've had with mahomes as well um especially than secondary uh legeria sneed has really shown up to be a pretty good cornerback in the league um and you just gotta know you just gotta figure that with the amount of deep shots that josh allen likes to take that there's gonna be one that he ends up throwing that's probably gonna be on a deep shot or maybe he throws a really bad one and that's the thing with josh allen is that you know even though he's basically like Brett Favre he throws a lot of

interceptions but you know quarter the gunslinger has to take his shots gunslingers do take their shots and that's why they end up with a lot of turnovers but quarterbacks if they don't take these shots then they'll probably end up with five interceptions. But if you don't take the shots, how many of these games do you actually win? Yeah, that's fair. You got to be aggressive. So it's very aggressive. Oh yeah.

Josh Allen is very aggressive, but so that's why I wouldn't rule out a Josh Allen interception for this one. Definitely going to have one pick. I'm going to say he has a pick, probably two passing touchdowns, throwing a rushing touchdown, and 270 yards throwing.

That'll be my pick for that. Any last thoughts for this game? Nope. Nope. Cool. So that'll basically do it for the show other news stories around the league mike mccarthy sticking around for another year oh brother bad that is shame that is just shameful it truly is shameful you're like a super bowl that way yeah no you're not and this is just a

self-inflicted wound i always said hey dallas if you got a good coach you'd be fine but it's so self-inflicted at this point i never felt bad but if i did feel bad this is where i would stop this is just where i would say all right you're bringing it on yourselves no more yeah there's not really much else to say about that it's you keep mike mccarthy around you might as well already put the Cowboys out for a eliminated from playoff contention. Other news, basically other news around the league is people getting interviewed. Belichick going in for his second interview with the Falcons. So it's more and more likely that Belichick will probably go to the Falcons,

which wouldn't be a bad destination for him. And when you look at it too, you know, Bill is going to want to go to a team that has a lot of talent, a lot of promise, and that's what the Falcons have. They have a lot of offensive talent. Need a quarterback. That's the other thing. They do need a quarterback. And Bill does not have a lot of time left.

He probably has upwards of five years left, maybe 10. And so he's going to be looking for a ring. He's not going to. And that's another reason probably why he didn't stick around in New England is because New England's in this rebuilding mode. So, and with Bill and with bill thinking oh well i don't have a lot of time left i'm gonna try to ring chase you might as well go to a team with a lot of promise like the falcons or if mike mccarthy dipped out he probably could have gone to the cowboys too but that's neither here nor there at this point since McCarthy

is staying. But that's just a little food for thought. Any last news segments that you guys found that is worth pointing out before we end?

Nah. Alright. That'll do it for us tonight. No. Nothing. All right. That'll do it for us tonight. Thank you for listening to us. New episodes coming out Tuesdays at 7.30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time and Fridays at 5 p.m.

Eastern Standard Time. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We also have all our episodes available on Spotify, Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, and so much more. also be sure to follow our

instagram fumbleruski underscore podcast and our tiktok fumbleruski pod to keep up with our podcast and the latest coverage on the nfl otherwise from myself chris kostich cj medeiros and justin tucker we say so long and we'll see you on tuesday over and out