The Herd with Colin Cowherd - What's Wright - NFL Playoff Reaction: Bills LOSE, McDermott FIRED, Allen to BLAME? Bears FALL SHORT + Miami-Indiana

Episode Date: January 21, 2026

All lines provided by Hard Rock Bet.  Nick Wright recaps the College Football Playoff National Championship thriller between Indiana and Miami and every NFL playoff game of the Divisional Round. Starting with the Denver Broncos defeating the Bills, Nick breaks down the fallout in Buffalo with Josh Allen and Sean McDermott. Next, Nick discusses Caleb Williams’ Chicago Bears heroics falling just short against the Los Angeles Rams, and C.J. Stroud's meltdown against the New England Patriots. After, Nick debates if the Seattle Seahawks should be the Super Bowl favorites after their blowout win against the 49ers. Later, Nick and Damonza answer your questions. #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you.

you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Will Farrell's Big Money Players and IHeart Podcast Presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. This is my best friend, Janet. Hey. And we have been joined at the hips since high school. Absolutely. A redacted amount of years later, we're still

joined at the hip. Just a little bit bigger hips. This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey. With all the snacks and drinks. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? Oh, they had a bogo. Well, then you Listen to soccer moms on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was part of it. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come in to him, he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This week on Crimless, Rory and I welcome a very special guest. When I did a podcast, I wear my sleep mask. I like where this is going. So if you guys will indulge me. That's right, the incredibly talented and hilarious Will Ferrell on an episode dedicated to crimes committed by people named Will Ferrell. You're good for 300 crimes? Yeah. We got two.

I'm ready to go right up to present day Listen to Crimless on the IHeart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast Welcome in, What's Right with Nick Wright Episode 417 Oh my goodness gracious The light on my wonderful boost sign went out Hold on a second coach

There we go My goodness I just looked back I gotta say you know what I usually point fingers not or point thumbs not fingers I'm pointing fingers at that one That's a production area. You guys got to look behind me. You got to have my back there.

Welcome in, Damanzi. That's also on you. You can see behind me better than I can. How are you? That's my bag. Good to see you, Pop's pretty good. Can't complain. New shirt, looking great.

New shirt. Yep. Every time Mom comes in town, when she leaves, I'll have a new shirt. I picked your mom up from the airport last night, and we were not yet to the people movers on. you know, walking the little escalators that are flat on the ground. I think they're called people movers. We had gone 12 feet

from baggage claim before she said, I don't know what I'm going to do. I miss that baby so much. Yeah. And then she just kept showing me videos. Yeah, no, they had a good time together. Yeah, they had a great time.

But she also showed me a video of her dancing and rapping along with the baby and I said to her I said to her I was like DeMonsey's not gonna like that she was like I know she I know it's a weird I was like I knew it I just knew it 100% I was like he's not gonna like that um all right but she's back you're in LA a lot to do my favorite NFL weekend of the year just ended and that is not the lead today because we did get a, call it a semi-classic national championship game last night. The game was an A-minus.

The storylines were in A-Triple-plus, so we will get to all of that. Then we will get to the divisional round from the weekend, and we will get to what should not have been a difficult assignment for my colleagues in the media, but it is simply too much for them at times. I guess to follow the logical consistency of if I regularly call a certain player not only the best player in the league, but maybe the most talented player I've ever seen

and speak in those hyperbolic terms, four turnover playoff games probably shouldn't happen. but it's a bridge too far for some so we will get to all of that but first we have to get and by the way this episode's always what's writing the guys presented to you by our friends at boost mobile we'll do straight to voicemail brought to you by boost mobile some awful news overnight for the warriors and for well more so for jimmy butler than for the warriors i should start with the player rather than the

team but that's a torn ACL and for jimmy butler and at his age, that might be an abrupt end to Jimmy Butler as a super impactful NBA player. It's 35 years old. You now expect him to be out at least, you know, to this point next year, I would call it probably the All Star Break next year. That's brutal for a guy who I believe is a future Hall of Fame. and such a unique career, you hate to see him suffer that injury.

And for the team, that's just a rap for the Warriors. Like now, the pipe dream of trading for Janus doesn't even make sense. And they, I don't know what they do with the deadline, but I know that for the Warriors who were a middling team as is, that's a wrap for them, sadly. All-Star starters have been announced in both comments. conferences, LeBron, not one of them, that's fine. If somehow LeBron is not named to the All-Star team, given the precedent of Wizards, Michael Jordan, and final year, Kobe Bryant, I will do an entire show on it.

I'm telling you guys right now, heads up, it will be a basketball crime if LeBron James in year 23, particularly playing at the level that he is. but with the precedent of if you're a no doubt statue guy in the, not just for a team, but for the league, you're going to be invited to the All-Star game as Jordan was with the Wizards and as Kobe was in his final year, no matter what. If they decide for LeBron that no longer is the case, it'll be an outrage, but I don't think that's going to happen. And Eric B. Enemy, going back to the Kansas Chiefs

and some other head coach. hiring's Bob Sala goes to the Titans. Kevin Siffansky goes to the Falcons. You wonder if Stafansky wishes he had known the Bill's job was coming open before he took that Falcons job. And Jeff Halfley goes to the Dolphins. I'm going to go ahead and go on the record and say, I don't think the Halfley thing is going to work. I think the Safansky thing will be fine. And I'm a little optimistic about Sala if Cam Ward is the guy that some people hope he can be. I think Salah is shown. He'll give you a great defense.

We've never seen him be a head coach with a good quarterback. So we'll see. Reminder to everybody, like, rate, subscribe, review to the show. It greatly helps us out. National championship game last night. DeMonsei, let's get to it. Yeah, last night, Indiana capped off their perfect season with the national championship. They pulled that game from Miami.

How impressed were you with the Heisman, Fernando Mendoza, and the Hoosiers? Well, I'll get to Mendoza. second the Hoosiers first. I am not going to spend as much time on this as maybe others because this is the rare sports topic where I just don't think there are even allowable differing opinions. It is quite simply as a matter of fact, not as a matter of opinion, as of opinion. One of, if not the, greatest program turnarounds in the history of college sports, what Kurt Signetti has done at Indiana in two years is unprecedented in major American sports. And even after the year they had last season, this team was more than 100 to 1st.

to win this championship and to go through the gauntlet that they did, to go 16 and 0, to be as buttoned up and as well coached and as just damn near flawless at the fundamentals, it's unlike anything any of us have ever seen in our lives. The comp, and this is, I guess, maybe some would say me showing my Midwestern roots,

but the comp would be Bill Snyder at Kansas State. Bill Snyder took over what was the worst team in major college football, and just a little context there. Kansas State under its, I'll just read you the records of its previous coaches before Bill Snyder. Okay. O in 10, 4 and 26, 14 and 24, 14 and 34, 8 and 60, 33 and 52, 6 and 27, 26 and 21, and then the coach right before Bill Snyder went 2 and 30. That's the team Bill Snyder took over, and by year 5, they were a top 25 team.

By year 10, they were in contention for the national championship, and they won, one, two, three, four, five, six. They had seven, ten or eleven win seasons. That was the greatest turnaround in the history of college football prior to this. It took years to do it. They one year were maybe got a chance. to play for a national title, and it was just considered unreal that they were a perennial top 25 team. Indiana, prior to Kurt Signetti, one, two, three, four, five, six, had six years in one hundred,

130 years is a program, DeMonse, six out of 130 where they were in the top 25. They had one year, or I'm sorry, two years, 1945 and 1967 when they were in the top 10. the year before he got there, the three years before, two and ten, four and eight, three and nine. He gets there, they're 11 and 1 and in the playoff, and they lose in the first round, and then they're 16 and 0. It is unprecedented and I can't conceptualize it being duplicated. complicated. There is there is no comp because Indiana

was arguably the worst program in college football and within two years they just ran the gauntlet to a national championship. And they didn't and people can say oh it's NIL it's this. They didn't. It's a lot of James Madison kids. Now a lot of them are older. I get that and they have the number one pick of the draft at their quarterback, but it's still just an incomprehensible accomplishment. And then for Mendoza, he goes from a two-star recruit that Miami didn't want to recruit,

even though he was from there, to the consensus number one pick of the draft. And he looks the part and he talks the part, of a franchise quarterback. His toughness is unbelievable. He's 6.5. The intangibles seem to be unquestioned. The toughness seems to be unquestioned. And we'll see if he's good enough to do the impossible,

which is make the Raiders relevant. But the Raiders are going to get their quarterback. It's going to be Fernando Mendoza. and we'll see what coach he gets and we'll see if he can be joined with a coach that knows that what he's doing and see if all of a sudden the AFC West becomes the best quarterback division there is, potentially. And so shout out to Mendoza.

His story is great. His family's great. That run. to essentially win the national championship is an all-time moment. And also, shout out to Indiana, who I did pick, who I thought could steal it.

As good as Signetti was, I thought the decision up three with two minutes left to kick a field goal on fourth and five was insane. You guys know, my feeling on being up three rather than up six I'd actually probably rather go for a fourth down and miss it deep in the enemy territory with two minutes left and be up three then kick a field goal then kick off give them decent field position and be up six and it that's exactly what he chose the ladder rather than the

former and it looked like it was going to bite them but then the always polarizing i guess carson back made the one really bad decision he made all night and they lose but the right team won in Miami deserves a ton of respect they were right there they could have stolen the whole thing i thought christabal did a magnificent job uh they're running back number four and Malachi Tony are going to be future awesome pros and Bain man oh man I hope Bain is there at number nine for the chiefs I doubt he will be but I hope he is unbelievable season from Miami the most controversial inclusion in the college football playoff had the ball on the plus side of the 50 down six chance to win the

title and made up you know, kid made the bad throw. But Indiana is the story of this college football season and one of the greatest stories. It's, again, it's not hyperbole. One of the greatest stories

in the history of American sports is what Kurt Signetti just did in Indiana. You can't comp it to any pro sport turnaround because pro sports are a even level-ish playing field. know what to compete to. But it is, it would feel like if somebody all of a sudden took over the UMKC basketball team and within two years they went undefeated and won the championship, just seems impossible.

All right, my favorite weekend of the year is the divisional round in the NFL playoffs. We are going to get to that in a moment. But first, today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet, Florida Sportsbook. Folks, these playoffs have been crazy, and I hope you've been cashing in because God knows I haven't been. Can't pick a game to save my life. The unexpected moments killing me.

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Terms and conditions apply. Concerned about gambling in Florida, call 1833 playwise. In Indiana, if you or someone you know is a gambling problem wants help, call 1-8009 with it. gambling problem call 1-800 gambler Arizona Colorado Illinois Michigan New Jersey Ohio Tennessee Virginia hey it's us the Jonas brothers and guess what we have some big news what's the news news news we created our own podcast called hey Jonas we invented a podcast well we didn't invent it we just contributed to us people to do podcasts pretty yeah pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there but this one's extra special so how did we how do we actually come up with

the name hey Jonas guys I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this.

We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey, Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that guy. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series

because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nass would get that thing.

That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball, like, After you go through a training camp with that Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Keith Giamonka seemed like a mild-mannered suburban dad. But secretly, he became someone else, a master of disguise who went on a crime spree.

At the time, did it seem like a crazy idea? It seemed very crazy, but I felt so desperate that I felt it was the quickest, easiest way out. Did you allow yourself to think about how it could go wrong and what that might look like? No, I didn't want to manifest that. I was trying to manifest success. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? that is not the look of an innocent man. This is going to change my life and my family dynamic forever

because everything that had existed prior in my reality is now untrue. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jared Adano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help! Somebody! Please! But there's so much more to me than me. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian, and recently I've become

quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, Hope I'm a Hippocrat. I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends

as we riff rant and recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, Even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. One ring is too scary. Oh, cream a chicken suit. Hey, cream, cream a chicken suit.

This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the Mike Cultura Podcast Network available on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Demandzee, divisional round weekend. We're going to start with the first game of the weekend. Bill's Broncos, let's get to it. Big stuff. So the Broncos ended the bill's season on Saturday, got Sean McDermott fired.

So they obviously lost this game. Josh Allen had four turnovers. Do you think that the team built around him kind of failed Josh Allen? Or do you think that Josh Allen failed the bills with his turnovers? Defending League MVP had four turnovers in a playoff game, including one of the most cartoonish fumbles in the history of the league. That happened.

Okay. Before I even get in that, that is, you don't have to be a diehard sports fan to understand, oh, that's probably, that's probably why they lost. Before I get to that piece of it, let me say this on the front end, sincerely. And I know Broncos fans aren't going to want to hear this from me, and they might say I'm full of shit, whatever. I can't remember a more gutting postseason injury than the one the Broncos suffered. To have won the game be celebrating that you're going to the conference championship game at home, have beaten Josh Allen, and have watched Bo Nix play one of, in my opinion, best games of his life, and two separate times come through for you in just huge spots before the half to put the bills on tilt, which it's 10-10 with 30 seconds left.

And Josh Allen in the first half, Josh Allen has zero turnovers. The bills are feeling fine. Bo Nix hits that deep bomb to the front corner of the end zone to put the bills on their back foot. and then late in the game, down four, drives him down, puts him ahead with a minute left. Like, whatever skepticism I've had about your quarterback, he was nails on Saturday afternoon. However annoying, I have found Sean Payton to be, he called a hell of a game. And you're celebrating, you're feeling great, you really think you can win the super. Super Bowl.

And then you find out on a somewhat nothing play that no one even noticed, your quarterback broke his ankle and need surgery. It's just a stomach punch of all stomach punches. And I do, I legitimate, again, Broncos fans, you're allowed to hate me. It's fine. I legitimately feel sick for you guys. And I don't. obviously it's in the same bucket as Halliburton game seven

and one you kind of because he had been dealing with an injury the kind of specter loomed this was just so out of nowhere I don't even know now on the bright side it shouldn't impact your next season at all but this is who knows what next season's going to be so Broncos I feel sick for you. sincerely.

And you guys have proven me wrong all year. And I just, and Bo, if Bo's going to have a comeback down to Earth moment, it ain't going to be this season, because he ended last season, or he ended this season, pardon me, with probably the best game of his career,

all things considered. And in my favorite football weekend of the year, with Drake May and Matt Stavis, and Josh Allen and C.J. Stroud and Sam Darnold, all those guys playing, Bo Nicks played the best game. It just is what it is. And I wonder why that version of commentary I just did about Bo Nix. So many folks have trouble doing in the other direction. It's one thing to say, this guy, this team that I have always been down on or I have always doubted, he with his play proved me wrong.

It does feel like people are having easier time doing that leap than the opposite. one which is this guy this team this player that I have elevated beyond any realistic place that is justifiable his play proved me wrong and instead of being able to do that after Josh Allen's four turnover playoff game folks are just going out making a fools of themselves so I understand the bills would not have been there without Josh Allen. No shit. That is that if the standard is, standard for criticism is,

if a guy is the biggest reason a team got to a point, then criticizing his play at that point is unfair, then I guess we can never criticize anything. NBA superstar for a playoff performance ever because every single NBA superstar is the reason their team gets to the postseason and so then I guess if you James Harden it you're just an asshole if you're like he cost his team because the 35 IQ responses well would they have been there without him no they wouldn't have So I guess it's all reputational free rolls.

It just doesn't. And here, this is, it is not, DeMonse, it's not complicated. The analysis of Bill's Broncos. It's really not. Go on, Josh Allen. Josh Allen, go ahead. He pooped the bed.

Yeah, he definitely, he messed up pretty badly. I mean, it's, uh, four turnovers. That's a lot. I was surprised when Derby got fired. to be honest. I mean, I know that it is, go ahead. No, I just know that this is their year and, you know, if they lost the Broncos or if they just lost in this playoffron,

it was going to look bad. But in that instance, where it was just four turnovers, I just felt like they might have let it ride a little bit. Yeah, I thought so too, maybe. And we'll get to the McDermott piece. But, guys, I'm listening. And I, and I DM'd Bill about this, Bill Barnwell.

I'm listening to Barnwell this morning, who you guys know I have as much respect for his football opinions as anyone in the world. And I'm stunned because he's talking about how he thought McDermott screwed up

by not really impressing upon Josh Allen when they got the ball back with 20 seconds left that he can't do something dumb and bill said and I quote you have to be aware you have a lunatic at quarterback and it the the agency removal from the soon to be 30 year old defending league MVP. Like, well, we can't try to go get points here at the end of the half

because the guy might run for no reason, by the way. The scramble was even if he hadn't been sacked, the scramble was a dumb play. I'm sorry, even if he hadn't fumbled. Because they had no timeouts like you weren't going to. It was just a dead play the moment you don't throw the ball. But that guy might just hold the ball like a loaf of bread lose the football, you just got to know that.

Okay. So there's four turnovers, right? The first one's right before the end of the half. It's the worst fumble of the NFL season. The second one is right after the half. It's a blind side hit him. You'd like him to hold onto the ball, but a lot of quarterbacks had problems holding onto the ball this weekend.

You want to give him a slight pass on that, so be it. The third one is right after Bo Nix makes his only mistake, you go for a kill shot you don't need to in a decent down and distance on the fringe of field goal range and you throw a bad pass. The fourth one is the allegedly controversial interception. More on that in a minute. And in between the third and the fourth, you had two. two passes. One was easy, one was hard, that would have won the game.

You had Khalil Shakir on a wide receiver screen that I know he would have scored a touchdown on because he did score a touchdown on it, but then we saw you one hopped it to him. And then what would have been a tough pass to Dawson Knox in the waning seconds that you missed. Now, is that asking a lot of the quarterback? Not really, but is it certainly holding him to a highish standard? Sure. But the reason this is fair and the reason some of the Josh Allen media commentary is so maddening is because folks can't help themselves,

but one up the hyperbole. It's no longer enough to say, I think he might, even though he's never been to a Super Bowl, and even though 360 days ago, he, for the fourth time in the playoff, shared a field with Patrick Mahomes and for the fourth time was outplayed and lost. Even though those, that happened,

I think he might be the best quarterback in the league. That's not enough. And even though two of his contemporaries have more league MVPs than him during this run, Patrick and Lamar, and those same two guys have more first team all pros than him in this run. and another one of his contemporaries has been to a Super Bowl and Burrow. Forget Patrick going to five and winning three.

Even though all those things are the case, calling him hands down the best player in the league. That's not enough either. And in the last few months, and this is not a straw man, and this is from not only people I like, but one of them my dearest friend and boss at the volume coward call him the most talented player ever ever the most talented quarterback ever greeny yesterday yesterday after the four turn over game said does as a matter of fact no one has ever played the position better if that is the way he is discussed then you can't also do a blame pie blaming mcdermott and brandon bean and brandon cooks and the poor left guard who didn't fall on allen's fumble when we're discussing them losing a

playoff game when he had four turnovers he's the only guy in the league that when they win he's an all-time legend and when they lose even when it's because of his mistakes it's got to be someone else's fault you are not it is not a tenable sports opinionist position to continually call a player better than historic legends and contemporaries that have more pelts on the wall by a wide margin and then give him a full-on pass for a playoff meltdown. He's on the record saying that he feels like it let his team down. well that's the other thing Josh Allen is more

is more of a realist about what happened than his media sycophants. Josh Allen was in tears you know why? Because he is the best player on the team obviously

he is their leader he is the reason they're there and he blew it that's okay it's sports and it wouldn't be that big of a deal if I didn't have to listen to people the day after it happens

still say he's the no one's ever played the position better. Are you fucking kidding me? Like take Mahomes out of it. I'm going to go out on a limb and say, I think Tom Brady played the position better than Josh Allen. Yeah. Like I, and so I,

there is an element of Demonsie. Last week, there was a little media, or little mini media, and we talked about it, Firestorm, about Lynn Jones. the older black lady oh yeah he said to Liam Cohen like hold your head up high yep all these folks were like once you turn once you become media you don't root anymore you don't do that and then those same people are sending tweets my heart breaks for Josh Allen he does why what it like I don't mean why like that like

I I understand feeling empathy to for a person that's a great player that you feel like can't get over the hump i understand that but the he doesn't you don't think cj stroud feels like shit this weekend i i i think i think seeing the guy gets stopped so many times i also think people just get caught up with the physicals of josh allen he's perfect like he's got the big arm he can run around he's a big dude um but yeah he obviously isn't as sound as he could be part of being an all-time great is being able to harness your greatest attributes while minimizing the risk associated with them. And I have watched the he has been incredible, the last year's playoff game against Kansas City,

he fumbled three times they recovered all of them the year before the playoff game against kansas city on what they thought was going to be the game tying drive he fumbled running around like he did at midfield near halftime it should have been scooped and scored by the chiefs one of his teammates fell on it after the chiefs kicked it he has been he's loose with the ball and when he switches his style up to not be loose with the ball, his gaudy stats go down. That's when his passing yardage numbers go down. He has not yet shown the ability to have the type of season

where you get the crazy gaudy numbers without the crazy turnovers. Which is fine. I still think he's the second best quarterback in the league. But you got to call a spade a spade on a four-turnover playoff game. And I, he was fine with it. He knew he blew it. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. And guess what?

We have some big news. What's the news, news, huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. First people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts.

We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how did we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Oh, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down?

Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast. We could call in and say, hey Jonas, and then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.

I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too.

Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball, like, after you go through a training camp with that, I said, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball.

So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Keith Gianmanca seemed like a mild-mannered suburban dad, but secretly, he became a. someone else, a master of disguise who went on a crime spree. At the time, did it seem like a crazy idea? It seemed very crazy, but I felt so desperate that I felt it was the quickest, easiest way out. Did you allow yourself to think about how it could go wrong on what that might look like? No, I didn't want to manifest that. I was trying to manifest success. Every family has a

its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man. This is going to change my life and my family dynamic forever because everything that had existed prior in my reality is now untrue. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jordan Ono. You might know me as that last. guy who yells out help on the internet. Help! Somebody! Please!

But there's so much more to me than that. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian, and recently, I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Syk! I'm a comedian! I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff rant and recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice.

One ring is too scary. Oh, cream of chicken suit. Hey, cream. Cream a chicken suit. This is Help from a Hypocrat, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrat as part of the Mike Cultura podcast network available on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And then the...

Well, get to the follow-ups because there's a lot about the calls and the whining and all of it. So you can go to all this. Yeah, so after the game, Josh Allen, Dionne Dawkins, and Brandon Cooks were all very emotional in their interviews and crying. How do you feel about players crying after a round two exit? So I think a couple things. Listen, it does now seem like the bills were going to fire McDermott if they didn't make the Super Bowl. if they hadn't made that decision after seeing how emotional the players were, I would have felt like, sorry, Sean, even it's not your fault, we have to, we can't just run this back.

This is a scarred team. And, and the, Domaze, why do you think the bills were so devastated about this loss in this postseason? Because I have a theory. well this was their this was their this was their shot this year like I just feel like this was because nobody else is I mean you got Drake May

you got all the I mean you just got Matt Stafford Mahomes Burrow uh at you know Lamar sure they're all gone

it's so I think they clearly viewed it as the chiefs aren't there and this is our moment and that's and by the way certainly the media after they reacted to the McDermott firing,

kept bringing up that this was the moment where the chiefs aren't there. And this is the other thing, if I'm being transparent here, that frustrates me about the just blowing past like Josh passed Patrick in this quarterback hierarchy. Folks simultaneously have this opinion. Josh is clearly the best quarterback in the league. He's better than Mahomes. He's been better than Mahomes last few years. They believe that while simultaneously believing this was such a massive missed opportunity for the Buffalo Bills because they finally would have been able to get to a Super Bowl without actually having to beat Patrick Mahomes.

Like that it was. I think they did view it as the path is clear. And I don't think they viewed it as the path was clear because Lamar wasn't there. because Josh has played Lamar twice in the playoffs and beat them both. I don't think they viewed as a path that's clear because Burrow's not there because Burrow ain't been there the last three years. I think they viewed as the path that's clear because Patrick's not there and they didn't get there.

The crying was interesting to me because I just don't remember the last, like I felt like Cam cried after the Super Bowl and people killed him for it. This is a divisional round game. but they really thought they were right there. And I didn't, we're going to talk about the calls here in a second. In fact, let's just get to it right now, DeMaze. Let's get to the calls and we'll get to McDermott.

You always hated how the media talks about calls by the refs. Was the branding Cooks play extra infuriating, the talks that surrounded that one? I just, listen, shout out. Did you see, Joe Burrow tweeted. I did see Joe Burroughs tweet. Joe Burrow, who doesn't tweet. Joe Burrow, I just want to read you guys Joe Burrough's Twitter history.

April 26th, 2024. Okay? So a year and a half ago, or almost two years ago. 18 games, question mark, two by weeks. July 15th, 2025. a one-click captionless retweet of Netflix sports promoting quarterback. And that's it. So he has not written a tweet since April of 2024.

And then he writes, the amount of people that don't understand what it catches in the rulebook, flabbergast me. And it's not the officials. The two plays yesterday were not difficult calls, and they got them both right. Of course they did. And these, I want to be on the record about this.

I am, I find this to be very, very binary. And I, this will, I'm sure, hurt some people's feelings. But I stand by it. If you are someone who posts, still images as evidence something was or wasn't to catch you are either far far far dumber than you think you are or you're being disingenuous there is nothing to be learned about what is or isn't to catch from a screenshot that's not how it works.

And folks acting like the Devante Adams, the Devante Adams actual catch was the same play as the Brandon Cook's non-katch are, are again, either idiots or liars. I don't see a difference. I thought about it as a Ravens fan. That Isaiah likely touchdown, where he, like, caught the ball. Like I feel like took a step and let the ball go immediately. Like if that wasn't a catch right there, then the Brandon Cook thing definitely isn't a catch.

He just never really had full control. Here's the question I would ask everybody. Are you guys arguing if that you're saying it was a catch that if the Broncos defensive back had, you know, not secured it and it hit the ground, that that would have been a fumble? Because that's what you're arguing. That would have been a fumble. Of course that wouldn't have been a fumble. It's an incomplete pass. I'm not going to explain the rules to everybody.

What a play by that guy, though. I'm sorry. Unbelievable play by the guy. People are showing the Xavier worthy play from last year. The Xavier worthy play from last year was actual. People are like, oh, simultaneous possession goes to the offensive player. Simultaneous possession. means simultaneous possession.

Pardon me. The Xavier Worthy play. Two guys went up for the ball. They both came to the ground. When the refs come over and whistle it, they're both holding onto the ball. That's simultaneous possession. This one, Brandon Cooks went up for it.

It hit him in his shoulder. He momentarily split second long enough for a screenshot, though, controlled it. But before he completed the process of the cap, catch the bronco's guy took it from him that's a pick devonte caught the ball tucked it took two steps got hit hit hit the ground and then had it ripped away that's down by contact these aren't complicated and i think i here's the other reason why and maybe it was that McDermott knew Demonset, he was going to be fired.

But you can't, blaming the refs like that and then calling the media from the team playing to blame them some more is the lack of accountability there is bad. And it is the second year in a row. The bills have lost a playoff game.

And for a lot of folks involved with that team and for a lot of their just blatant apologists in the media, they didn't lose, they got screwed. Remember last year? Josh Allen got that first down on that tush push. I swear he did. I watched it with my own two eyes. Yeah, I still didn't. The media calling it controversial. I just heard that the other day.

Are that cool? I 13 seconds game Unfair Didn't get the ball Change the rules Everybody knows if Josh Allen had gotten the ball

In overtime He would have gone And scored a touchdown Pop quiz hot shot The six other overtime games Josh Allen's been in Where he did get the ball How many touchdowns has his team scored?

The answer is zero How many games has the team won? The answer's zero. How many total points have they scored in those seven overtime games, six of which they got the ball. The answer is three. So maybe they would have scored. Maybe they would have won.

I don't know, but luckily, the NFL changed the rules for him. They get stuffed on the tush push. Now I supported this, but the timeline is true. The bills lose a playoff game because they can't execute tush push. The league holds a vote to outlaw the tush push. Again, I don't think that's the real reason, but it is the timeline. And now we got folks. and this was that Greg Rosenthal had it

and he's right the tell that a lot of the media didn't actually think it was the wrong call was they weren't saying they got it wrong they were saying why didn't you take more time to review it and then these these dopes

saying and it's this is just dumb folks then creating this conspiracy, they didn't want to stop and review it, DeMonse, because Fox had already pushed back the start of the NFC championship game and they wanted to get to it. Can you people not again, forget what an outrageous conspiracy that is?

Let's just say that conspiracy is true that Fox pressed the red button and was like, like this game's got to end. Do you know the quickest way to end Bill's Broncos in the Brandon Cook's moment, rule it a catch. They're at the 10 in sudden death. They just kick a field goal. The game's over.

Like what, when you, when you have, and I want to say one other thing for we move on. Because I know a lot of people are saying, Nick, what you're accusing the media of doing with Josh Allen, you do with Patrick Mahomes. And I would say that is in one way true and in one way totally incorrect. Here's the way that it's true. I openly root for one team. I don't pretend like I'm wholly unbiased observer. If somebody came out and was just like, I'm from, and some of these guys, like,

Ariel Hawani, he's not an NFL coverage guy, but Ariel Juanis from Buffalo, loves the bills roots for great i i i cover the whole league i root for the chiefs i have a relationship with patrick he's my favorite player ever everybody knows that going in that's first of all second of all all all nick but even past that you you you treat patrick like he's above criticism on certain things i do have a tendency whether they're my guy or not, that if one guy before he turned 29 was already the second or third most decorated winner

in the history of the league to give them the benefit of the doubt. If one guy has been to five Super Bowls, one three is second all time in playoff, wins, second all time in playoff touchdowns, second all time in Super Bowl MVP's. I do think that guy, second all time and Super Bowl starts, tied for third all time in Super Bowl wins. I do think that guy has earned us a little more of a benefit of a doubt than a guy than anybody who's never won and never even been in the game to win.

I'm not turning a ball over four times in the second round. I mean, give me a break. I mean, give me a break. I mean, I'm glad you said that, DeMonse, because, listen, Patrick has had one and a half really rough Super Bowls. There's no way around it. And when it comes to the goat conversation, that's a fair thing to bring. up as far as in the postseason prior to the Super Bowl, those, how many games is that? He's played 21 playoff games.

He's played five Super Bowls. So those 16 playoff games where he is 14 and 2 and has, let me go ahead and just check it real quick, six plus. Oh, yeah, 42 touchdown. and three interceptions in the wild card round, divisional round and conference championship, and the divisional round where he's seven and oh. Yeah.

How many fumbles? Great question. Great question. Two fumbles lost. Okay. Eight fumbles total in those 16 games. I mean, give me a break. Give me a break.

and it used to be a straw man folks said like well nobody's actually saying these guys are better than mahomes and now not only are they saying that that's that that take has become too lukewarm and it's got to be he's the most talented player ever and i rooted for the bills this year and bet them I was at a casino in Philly, playing poker in the morning, and then sitting in the sports book, watching the divisional round game. I kept betting the bills. What are you? What are you? Yeah, no.

I was. I kept, I should have taken, I, I just kept betting the bills. I bet them before the game. And then when they fell down early, I bet them again. at plus money and then at halftime, I bet him again. I just kept betting the bills. I was like,

Alan's going to come through here. Yeah. I was rooting for the bills. But fair is fair, folks. All right, that was 45 minutes on that game. Yeah, now this one... You ever notice how... Got you going.

I mean, it's just, again, it's... It's remarkable to me that Josh Allen gets it more the folks who cover the sport. Just remarkable. You ever notice everything keeps going up, rinse going up, streaming services going up, your favorite burrito spots charging you extra for salsa.

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After 30 gigs, customers may experience lower speeds. customers will pay $20 per month as long as you remain active on the boosts unlimited plan. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, news? Huge news.

We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend.

But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. We were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was...

This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast, Point Game is about defining the odds.

Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.

I think Joker's, going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by,

like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He run under court, licking his fingers while he got the ball, like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick.

Oh, yeah. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Keith Giamanka seemed like a mild-mannered suburban dad, but secretly he became someone else, a master of disguise who went on a crime spree. At the time, did it seem like a crazy idea? It seemed very crazy, but I felt so desperate that, I felt it was the quickest, easiest way out.

Did you allow yourself to think about how it could go wrong on what that might look like? No, I didn't want to manifest that. I was trying to manifest success. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man.

This is going to change my life and my family dynamic forever because everything that had existed prior in my reality is now untrue. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jared Adano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help! Somebody! Please! But there's so much more to me than that.

I'm an actor. I'm a comedian. And recently, I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, hope from a hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff rant and recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. One ring is too scary.

Oh, cream a chicken suit. Hey, cream. Cream of chicken suit. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the Mike Coulthura Podcast Network available on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Oh, I never even, DeManzai got to the McDermott firing piece of it, which is, I, if you were going to, if you were going to fire one of McDermin or Bean, I would have thought it would have been Bean. and I also thought they maybe would fire both. I didn't think Bean would get a promotion out of this.

Once we get a better idea on who they're going to interview, we can talk about this maybe more on Thursday. But there have only been a handful of instances in NFL history to Monzae where a league MVP who hasn't turned 30 yet, his, like his head coach positions available, and two of them are right now. With Lamar and Josh.

Yeah. And it's, I, you know what, I'll just, I'm going to talk about this more on TV today. If I were the bills, I'd swallow hard, I'd hope that, the weather in the town is not really what his girlfriend is into and that maybe they can have a long distance thing for a bit.

And I would ask Bill Belichick to come coach my football team for three years. Because if you are in win now, win this minute mode hiring Joe Brady or Davis Webb or any of these. first time head coaches is such a hard ask. And I don't think Brian Dable is an upgrade over Sean McDermott. So I would go Belich. I would try again. Belichick's like player evaluation stuff doesn't matter as much because this would be a short term thing.

It'd be Bill. Go break the record, win a Super Bowl. Stick it to the Pats who think. this is their moment. I think you could entice him. And I don't think Bill Bel-I-I-I-R-Lead. I understand North Carolina hasn't gone great. I don't think that he's lost his ability to coach professional football.

I don't. All right, let's talk Rams, Bears. To Rams escaped out of Chicago with a win. Caleb pulled off some crazy stuff to force it in an OT, but he also threw the game-sealing pick at end of the game. What did you make of Caleb? game and this season. Well, listen, it's a resounding successful season for Caleb.

I think it's undeniable. And here's what I would say. The things that are either uncoachable, like just inherent to a player, or the hardest things to coach are things such as arm talent, poise under pressure, athleticism, and escapeability. And Caleb is a 10 out of 10 on all of those things. The things that should be easiest to coach,

footwork and accuracy, are the places he needs the most improvement. So that makes me incredibly bullish on him. And I do feel a little vindicated, De Manze. for his placement on Mahomes Mountain as a college sophomore when you see this type of, holy shit, what did that guy just do? I could not believe that.

That was like that was kind of, that might have been the craziest play I've ever seen in football. Like just seeing, if you press pause at one point, just seeing how that turned into a touchdown was just insane. Um, but yeah, that's good stuff. A touchdown on fourth and four in the playoffs with 20 seconds left. Dude. I mean, it's, it's as, and by the way, I don't think it was a better throw than the one last week. He had, he had in back-to-back playoff games, he had fourth down plays that if they don't convert, they lose the game and made plays that I,

truly believe the only other player in the league who would have, A, been able to do it exact, like, if it's like, hey, recreate this, I think the only other player I've ever seen that could recreate both of them is Patrick. And the rolling to your left throw and then the running backwards 30 yards and then he's, it's unbelievable. Now, with that said, this might have been a missed opportunity. They had the ball in overtime. It was sudden death. You don't want to...

I think they should want for the two-point conversion. You don't want to take the Rams to overtime. I think you got momentum. I think they should have gone for the two-point conversion. But they still got a chance at OT2. It's just... So his decision to trust his defense was vindicated by the fact

the defense forced the three and out. And they got the ball. I thought they were going to go for two. Let me say that on the front end. I respect the fact that Ben Johnson's gut is to go for two and he pivoted

because he thought the game situation dictated not to. That he wasn't just an auto two point conversion, press the button because he thought we've sucked at short yardage today. We've sucked at the goal line. We've sucked at short yardage.

So we're not doing it. I also do think there is an element of it should be noted. Let me put it like this. If they go for two, DeMonsei, then the, let me, how many timeouts?

I wish I knew how many timeouts. the Rams had. I thought the Rams had a timeout left. I could be wrong. No, they did. Let me check the Bears last drive, and I'll know it. Because I thought the Rams should have been using their timeouts, but they didn't. So let me just check.

Timeout won by the Rams. Yes. All right. So here's the thing about going for two. if they go for two, you're kicking off with 18 seconds left and the Rams have two timeouts and they are obviously going to try,

you know, like they're not, going for two with 18 seconds left, even if you get it, doesn't end the game. Yeah, I mean, the defense has to stop like maybe three plays, two or three plays. Three plays.

No, and so I, uh, I just, I understood him not going for it. I was surprised, but I understood it. And the other side of it is this. I think that was probably DJ Moore's screw up, okay, on the interception and overtime. DJ Moore seemed to lollygagged the route.

But Caleb doesn't have to go for that kill shot there. It's second and eight. You're at midfield. A field goal wins it. So that's a mistake. And this one stings for the bears because, again, every year you're this close and you've got a real shot. And it feels like, oh, man, we made a mistake. That's really painful.

It's just really painful. And so I'm optimistic and bullish on the bears, but that is a painful loss. The Rams, on the other hand, here's the deal. The Rams are my pick to win the Super Bowl. They have not played well in either playoff game. There's two ways to look at that. One is they're just not playing well right now and they're about to get clocked by Seattle.

Another way to look at it is they've made the conference championship game despite not playing well and they're about to play their best game of the postseason. The first time they played Seattle, they put Sam Darnold in hell and the second time they played Seattle, they had that game in total control

and it took an insane confluence of events for them to lose it. But that is why this game is in Seattle and not Los Angeles. I think Stafford's going to play better. And at least Stafford this weekend has been one of the few quarterbacks who has been able to not, you know, be a turnover machine. Speaking of a turnover machine, let's get to Pat's Texans. Patriots are headed back to the AFCs. conference

conference game for the first time in a decade. Now this was not smooth. The defense gave the Patriots and fits, but they also got to

play C.J. Stroud. Did New England win the game, or did the Texans lose it? Let me say this about New England. They have won both of their

playoff games easily and their quarterback hasn't played well yet. Now, he's made some great plays, but the fumbles are crazy. He just keeps fumbling in the ball. The offensive line hasn't played great.

Listen, the pass to booty to put the game away in the end zone was really good. The catch was unbelievable. And you guys know how high I am on Drake May, but he has shown some playoff game jitters. And now the Pats are huge favorites in the conference championship

game, and they can go back to the Super Bowl without Drake May playing great yet. With that said, I think they needed to bench C.J. at half time. That was Davis Mills started three games for them this year

at five touchdowns, one turnover. They went three and oh. All they had to do was get some type of spark offensively. And I don't know what was going on with CJ. Because that Pat's defense is good, but it is not great.

and I CJ is and the thing the argument demands a against benching CJ is well he's our franchise guy we can't do that to him. Yeah. They're about to do that to him this summer

when they don't offer him a contract extension. Like he is going to get I, by the way, he's got, they're going to pick up his fifth-year option, and then I would imagine they're going to say, go play out year four, and then we'll see, because he still has essentially two years left on his rookie deal.

So I'm not like saying they're going to move off C.J. Stroud, but after three years is when franchise quarterbacks get their extensions. He ain't getting that. And he's got to figure out what the hell's going on there. And all they had that defense, and they also got on. I mean, Drake May fumbled inside the five. That ball bounced around. Patriots recover it. There was another fumble that it looked like the Texans could have scooped and scored, but because they had been not falling on fumbles, they just fell on it.

Like, that Texan's defense was ferocious as advertised. And the CJ pick six was just impossibly bad. at that point he had been turning the ball over but they had the lead they were up 10-7 and that pick six flipped the whole game i i don't know what's happened to cj strong i joke on tv about the lecture that led to the losing that ever since the caleb big brother stuff he hasn't the same guy i don't actually think that is what happened but it is crazy who he was to montzaa his rookie year and who he's been the last two years i mean he was out to sumo wrestling with like my Michael Parsons and calling himself like a top three quarterback and stuff on podcast.

I feel like after his first season. I mean, yes, but that still doesn't explain. Last year then should have been a bit of a wake-up call for him. Right. Exactly. Yeah. And so I don't, I don't know. How much of them are we putting on the O-line?

O-line's bad. I mean, are you putting a fair amount of it on the O-line? but then just eat the ball. Like some of these, he threw four picks to Monzae. He could have thrown seven. Like there were another three or four that's like, oh, God. I mean, that was just brutal. And by the way, he was awful in round one.

Yeah. I mean, that was. Carried. He's being carried. Man, I feel sick for that defense. That defense is unbelievable. All right, speaking of unbelievable defenses, let's talk Seahawks-Niner.

Seattle dominated the Niners this weekend, like from the opening kickoff. Headed into championship weekends, the Seahawks are the Super Bowl favorite, and do you think that Vegas has that correct? I mean, listen, I'm going to pick the Rams, but Seattle's earned the... They've earned this. They beat Carolina by 17 right before the playoffs. They beat the Niners by 10. They just beat the Niners by 35, and they did it all without their quarterback playing that well.

And classic one by me, when that was your classic one or classic two, I'm not sure, great opinion by me, pat myself on the back. Trade deadline day, Quinn and Williams to the Cowboys, Sauce Gardner to the Colts. And I went on TV and said the most impactful trade of the day is Rashid Shaheed to the Seahawks. Rashid Shaheed in the Rams game, that one home field advantage, got, had the punt return, they got the comeback going, and Rashid Shaheed's kick return in this game, open the floodgates. And so, the Seahawks have just been utterly dominant.

I do think we're in store, though, for a very close, excellent NFC championship game. And if that's the context, all trust. Stafford late. I know it's simple. And Seattle, listen, Mike McDonald's been unbelievable and that defense is underrated. The loss of Charbonnet is big. And Seattle did what a one seed against a, you know, beat up Niners team is supposed to do.

You know who I bet watched that game and felt like, my God, we really blew it was the Eagles. The Eagles are like, that Niners team came. to our building and beat us. Like, that's just, that's a rough one. All right, what other Niners questions you have before you move on? You were open to pivoting on Purdy. We see how he played in this game against Seahawks. How do you feel now after that performance?

Is that? Listen, I'm not going to, he was obviously bad, but I'm not going to hang him for that performance. That whole team was bad. And so I'm not going to. going to kill him. But I, had he been good in that game? And it's like, oh, my God, this team moved, like, that would have made me, you know, reevaluate, but I'm not going to kill him for that performance. How would you describe the 49ers window? Open, closed, closing? I think they're in a transition period, but I thought that this year and they had all the injuries and they got the

divisional round. Shanahan's so good, man. You can't be closed. Like, it's, it can't be. It can't be closed with Shanahan. It just can't be. He's so good. But no Kittle. I mean, I guess we'll see about Kittle, but the Achilles, we'll see about McCaffrey after all this workload. Losing Robert Sala is a big deal. But Shanahan's so good. All right, let's get to listen to our questions. Billy asks, why are people so hesitant on calling out Josh Allen, but have little, no issue banging all my homes, Jalen, and Lamar?

Listen, I Bouncing around a lot of this Quarterback Criticism Commentary has been a not so subtle racial component. Yeah, I was about to say that. Where people have wondered about whether or not certain quarterbacks get

favorable coverage or less than favorable coverage based on race, okay? And anybody that's consumed any of my content for any point of my career knows, I believe in a way that I'm sure annoys a lot of the audience. I think race touches every single thing in America in ways that people, you know, are either blissfully unaware of or hyper aware of. And so I, there is, there is almost nothing, no question you could ask me that my answer

to be, oh, race plays no factor in it whatsoever. Okay, so let me say that on the front end. I don't, however, I don't see, because a lot of people bring up like the Josh criticism, Lamar criticism. I happen to think that Lamar gets mostly a pass from most folks too. And I've said that for a while. It has felt like for years, it was just me and Shannon as the only people that would be like, Lamar is bad and like as has had these bad moments. So I don't look at Lamar as like being overly criticized, right?

I also think there is, there is also, again, this is too complex to get into. But you saw Nick Young, Swaggy P or, you know, you know what that is, right? Yeah, I know he is, but it was during, um, he tweeted, uh, he, he, He tweeted during the show after the Raven season ended or they fired hardball. I don't know. But during our A block when I was, I don't know, ripping Lamar, he tweeted something about these FS1 shows and the way they talk about black quarterbacks. Oh. And then Lamar's entertainment company retweeted it with a lot.

little bullseye thing. And there is a really, and I'm not going to get into it now because I just don't have the bandwidth for it. There's a, and it's really a longer form discussion, there's a really interesting discussion to be had about folks who look at Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hertz, Kailen William's Lamar Jackson and criticizing or complimenting black quarterbacks and what resonates and what doesn't. And so it there is, it is, it would be ridiculous on its face to be like, Nick, Nick's got something against black quarterbacks when favorite player of all times, Patrick Mahomes. and I, when Caleb was a sophomore in college,

I was saying he was six best quarterback in football. But I think some folks are like, yeah, but you go at Lamar and you haven't believed in jail and there is, I mean, DeMonte, we can slide Demonsie on the screen. I, again, I'm not going to get, no, I'm not saying it's like colorism. I'm not saying like a skin tone thing, but I'm saying that it is about, who people think,

I just think it's about how people view these other people racially. I think there is that element. And so it's not a skin tone thing as much as it is just how they view those players. And so I, so I am not trying to act like I believe race

plays no part in quarterback evaluations. I think it clearly and obviously does. But I also think that Lamar has gotten, you know, when Lamar's team has blown it in the playoffs and he's turned the ball over, people are like, why didn't they run the ball more?

And his coach also got fired. So I don't, I don't think Lamar has gotten, you know, pilloried by the media. And so that's, you know, that's pretty similar with the way that they're discussed,

to be honest. To me, that's how it feels. Now, if you want to say again, Mahomes has gotten passes, my answer would be, yeah, he's been to five Super Bowls. He's won three of them. He's going to build up a little equity. All right, next. Eric asks, would any of your Josh Allen criticisms apply to LeBron pre-2012?

And can we see a similar turnaround and playoff accomplishments? At least LeBron in 2012 had been to the championship. round twice. LeBron in 2012 was the most decorated regular season player of his era. Josh is neither of those, right? Lamar and Patrick are more decorated regular season players. Lamar's never been to the championship round. So I don't think that is going to apply.

I do think Josh Allen's. going to win a Super Bowl. That's the other thing. And then we'll leave it at this. I do think Josh Allen's going to win a Super Bowl. I want to be very clear. I think Josh Allen is going to be a really good older quarterback. I think. See, that I'm a little worried about because I don't know how well his body's going to hold up.

But I think he's going to win a Super Bowl. Yeah. But folks, here's my last thing on this. Folks, leave yourself some room for compliment. growth once he wins the Super Bowl. Because if he's the best quarterback alive and the most talented player ever before he's been to a Super Bowl, then what are you... Jesus Christ is on the bills.

Yeah, I mean, you're going to give him... He'll give him the Nobel Peace Prize when he finally wins it. And if you do that, then we're definitely going to invade Greenland. Talk to you guys on Thursday. What's right. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast?

Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast, Point Game, the playoffs.

We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was finally. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that Game 7, Marquis keep coming to you. He's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

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Just a little bit bigger hips. This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey. With all the snacks and drinks. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? Well, they hit a bogo. Well, then you got it. Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast.

or wherever you get your podcasts. This week on Crimless, Rory and I welcome a very special guest. When I did a podcast, I wear my sleep masks. I like where this is going. So if you guys will indulge me. That's right, the incredibly talented and hilarious Will Ferrell on an episode dedicated to crimes committed by people named Will Ferrell. You're good for 300 crimes? Yeah.

We've got two. I'm ready to go right up to present day. Listen to Crimless on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.