The Josh Innes Show - Conference Championship Predictions

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

It is the final weekend we will have multiple NFL/College games until September. Enjoy it. I can tell you this...I do not want to see a Kansas City v. Philly Super Bowl. I also think the league is going to do whatever it takes to have Taylor and the Kelce's play a role in the big game. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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we are your local dignity memorial provider find us at dignity memorial.ca the dignity memorial brand name is used to identify a network of licensed funeral cremation and cemetery providers owned and operated by affiliates of service corporation international all right friends uh football weekend we only have two well we really only have two football weekends left we have three football games left if you don't count whatever the hell the Pro Bowl is. And then it's over, boys and girls. Finney, gone until late August, early September. So we're talking like six months or so,

seven months or so with no football. And I know that I used to make fun of people who would say, oh God, we need football. I find most other sports to be extremely just dull right now. Like I'll watch them. I'll watch and bet on the NBA playoffs. I'll watch and bet on some hockey stuff. You know, I love to take the daily goals bets in hockey. It's just a fun like day long event. Like tomorrow, I think there's 15 or 13 or 14 games in the NHL tomorrow. Boom.

We're going to bet the over total goals for the day. It's fun, but there ain't nothing like a Sunday. Well, a Saturday and a Sunday, depending on where you live. If you live in a state like Illinois, where you can bet on college prop bets, it's a thing of beauty. If not, it's not as much fun to bet college football, but on Sunday, there is nothing better than having like 14 NFL games, 13 NFL games from noon until about 11 o'clock at night. There's nothing better. So let's embrace what we have here this weekend, which is our last multi-game weekend of football until we get into September, really middle of September, early to mid-September for the NFL. College will be there earlier, obviously. So you better enjoy this. You better

embrace it. You better take it, and you better inject it into your veins, and hopefully we see some good games. As we saw last week, or two weeks ago, you're not guaranteed to get great games. Sometimes you do get great games. Two of the games last week, at least two that stick out to me. Well, one, the Chiefs game wasn't very good, but you certainly got some pretty solid ones last week. The Rams and the Eagles ended up being good in the last four or five minutes. That's fine. You had a good game with the Ravens and the Bills.

That was fine. And then you had the Commanders really putting the throttle down, especially in the second half on the Lions. But at least that game was high flying. There's like 76 points. It's fun. There's scoring. There's offense.

It's great. So hunker down. Sit your ass on the couch. If you're a gambler, put in some bets. If you're in a place where you can live bet, bless you. Get ready to put in those live bets, baby. But we got Sunday, and that's all we got left for multi-football days or multi-game football days.

So you better embrace it, and you better enjoy this because it's it. Now, I don't even know where to start. I don't even know where to start on this because I'm excited about this weekend. I know my Philly people don't want to hear this. I hope Jaden Daniels wins. I guess we can start with that game. I hope Jaden Daniels wins. I want Jaden Daniels to be a rookie that takes his team to the Super Bowl.

The thing is, I have nothing against the Eagles, and I really have nothing against Philly people. My vibe about them overall has changed, and maybe I've leveled out as a human. Maybe I've matured as a human. But even when the dipshit McDougals talk shit to me on on Facebook or not even Facebook anymore but Twitter or wherever on Instagram doesn't even really bother me anymore like I'll fuck with them a little bit but it truly doesn't because at the end of the day I'm like they're fucking idiots who gives a shit they have no clue what's going on in my life they have no clue what

I did they have no clue who I work for they have no fucking clue so who gives a shit? They have no clue what's going on in my life. They have no clue what I did. They have no clue who I work for. They have no fucking clue. So who gives a fuck? Who cares what they say? And I'll bust balls with them back and forth, but I don't even hate them. I now look back on my time somewhat fondly, right? So cool. But I want the commanders to win. That's what I want to have happen. Can they? I think they can. If you stop Saquon Barkley, let's let Jalen Hurts prove that he can beat you. And I know that that's what people have been saying. I know that it's tired. I know that every time you turn on ESPN, I know every time you turn on Fox, you turn on sports radio,

that's the talk. Can the Eagles win if Saquon Barkley can't get going? Well, it's hard to find out because that never fucking happens. The guy always gets going, so let's see. And also let us not forget that Washington is not a very good football team as it relates to facing the run. So Saquon is probably going to go off, and if Saquon does go off, they're not going to win, they being the commanders, right? Like that's pretty clear. I don't know what they not going to win. They being the commanders, right? Like that's pretty clear.

I don't know what they can do to win. They're going to have to try to win in a shootout as we talk about every week. And I know it's boring and I know it's tired, but it remains true. If the Eagles can have a fourth quarter lead and are able to sit on the ball, they are going to win. That's virtually any team, but the Eagles are special at it. The Eagles have mastered the art of a seven or eight minute drive in the fourth quarter that before you know it has been 14 plays and you are donezo. So if they can do that, you're in a whole heap of trouble. I don't want it to come down to that. I want the commanders to win. I want Jane Daniels to be in the Super Bowl, honestly, and I don't really care one way or the other about the Bills,

but give me Josh Allen versus Jaden Daniels in the Super Bowl. For the love of Christ, give me that. If you can give me that, you know what that means? There is zero Kelsey connection in the Super Bowl. There's no, here's T-Rav and Taylor, and over here, oh God, they're playing the Eagles, and there's his here's t rav and taylor and over here oh god they're playing the eagles and there's his brother jason oh my god who's he gonna root for for two weeks for two weeks that will be the talking point who does jason kelsey root for let's get him on the tonight show let's get him on the

jimmy kimmel show let's get him on the let's get him on fox and friends Let's get him on the, let's get him on Fox and friends. Let's get him on every possible outlet in the country telling you who he thinks is going to win and who he's rooting for. Is he rooting for his former team that he said he doesn't play for anymore? Is he rooting for his fucking brother and his girlfriend? What's going to happen if there's a God, if there is a God in heaven? And I'm skeptical. I'm not a very religious person. I hope there's a God because I'm probably closer to death than I'd like to be. Given the pain I've had in my fucking foot, I'd rather be dead. I was hoping they'd amputate my foot yesterday, collect the fucking disability and go about my day. Put me in a wheelchair, get the good parking and out back. Let's go.

But if there is a God, I would pray to this god that it's buffalo versus washington that's what i'd like to see wouldn't be the sexiest matchup it actually a really fun fucking game and on paper at least it's a really fun game but i don't want kelsey talk either kelsey i don't give a shit about Taylor Swift I don't want any of that I would like a Kelsey Mahomes Chiefs McDougal free Super Bowl that's what I'm rooting for as I sit here in my underwear this afternoon yeah it's 4 13 in the afternoon yeah I'm in my fucking underwear I'm a fucking bum and my foot hurts deal with it I will have to put on pants in a few minutes go pick up my dog at the daycare but other than that I'm a lazy son of a bitch that's out there hunting for a job and I'm in my goddamn underwear and my socks right now taking my medicines and you can deal with it

I have nothing against the Eagles the Eagles are actually like the least of the concerns the Eagles and the fans and the McDougals that's the least of the reasons why I have no interest in this. It's strict. I mean, 98% a Kelsey play. The Kelsey discussion has made me hate Jason Kelsey. And I don't really hate Travis and Taylor, but I'm not here for two weeks of it. You get Josh Allen, who, by the way way his fiancee the gal from the pitch perfect film hayley steinfeld much cuter than taylor much more likable than taylor but you don't see her everywhere but she's a pretty girl got nice brown hair she's not built like fucking olive oil like she's cute he's kind of weird like his hair is kind of ratty and gross looking now, but whatever. Do you, bro?

And Jane Daniels, one of the most likable dudes on the planet, Heisman Trophy winner. No one's ever done that, I would imagine. Heisman Trophy one year, boom. NFL goes to the Super Bowl. I would imagine that no one's ever won the Heisman Trophy and the next year been in the conference championship game. Jane Daniels doing some historic shit here.

So give that to me, Lord. I don't ask you for a lot. I know I'm not perfect. Do I occasionally watch the hub? Yeah. Do I occasionally contemplate buying the little penis enlargement pills that you see in that little

cartoon that pops up when you go to the hub? Yeah, I contemplate it sometimes. So what? Have I drunkenly subscribed to someone's OnlyFans channel once, only to feel really weird about it the second I saw it and then unsubscribe? Yeah. Been there. I'm not perfect. I am flawed.

But we all are. All I ask of you is to not give us a Chiefs Eagles Super Bowl I don't want to see Jaden Daniels I don't know I want to see Jaden Daniels take that back strike that reverse and I'd like that stricken from the record I don't want to see Jalen Hurts overthrowing AJ Brown in the Super Bowl I don't want to see Jalen Hurts running for his life I don't want to see boring ass really everything they do is pretty boring other than Saquon Barkley lighting the shit up he's a fucking man I love him like I'm rooting for him but I'm rooting for Jaden Daniels more I I mean, we'll keep talking about this. Let me play a couple commercials. All right, if you're ready to win some real cash

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One per new customer. Bonus award. It is non-withdrawable. Pick six credits that expire in 14 days. Limited time offer. See terms at picksix.draftkings.com slash promos. So you know what I want to have happen. You know that I want it to be Buffalo and Washington. You know I want this. And that's fine. Again again I hope we can still be friends Philly people you've had your trips to the Super Bowl you're in the salad days of the franchise as it were I do enjoy the fact that the whole world hates the putts coach yet the putts coach has them having arguably the greatest season regular season wise they've ever had. Fascinating, right? Like, like, and by the way, most of the McDougal people will tell you that Nick Sirianni still sucks and they're winning in spite of him. Maybe, but maybe Nick Sirianni is actually

pretty fucking smart and they're winning in spite of the quarterback who's a glorified running back. Maybe, maybe that's the case. Maybe that's what we're dealing with here. Because if you look at just the quarterbacks that are left in this thing, the worst of them, the worst overall quarterback of them is the guy playing in Philadelphia. If you said right now, Josh, you could, I mean, obviously Mahomes and Allen leave them out. But if you said, Josh, you can start a football team with one of these dudes.

It's not like Jalen Hurts is ancient. Obviously, Jane Daniels is a young dude. But It's not like Jalen Hurts is ancient. Obviously, Jaden Daniels is a young dude, but it's not like Jalen Hurts is 35 here. If you could have Jalen Hurts or Jaden Daniels to start a football team right now, you could argue some of it's recency bias, and Josh, what about Jalen Hurts in the Super Bowl? That's fine.

More power to him. And maybe I'm an LSU homer, but it's not like I'm supporting like Tim Tebow here who clearly sucked and pulled off a miraculous playoff victory. We're talking about a guy who not only won the Heisman trophy, but is the reason why his football team is in the conference championship game as a rookie. Guy's a beast. I would take Jaden Daniels every day. And I think most Philly people would agree with me on that. I think deep down, most Philly people know that Jalen Hurts is extremely flawed. And a lot of them want to tell you that Nick Sirianni is a putz and he doesn't know what he's doing and they're winning

in spite of him. And maybe that's true, but they've got a formula that's been working. Their passing game can suck and they can still win. That's why, here's what I would do. If I'm Washington and I win the toss, I'm taking ball, which I know is not a popular thing to do. And I know that if it backfires on you, it happened to Brian Kelly a couple of times last year until he stopped doing this and people shit on him. And I know what the metrics tell you to do. I know what science tells you to do.

And it's common sense. Common sense tells you to defer because you're getting a bonus possession and if you have the ball at the end of the half you can then flip it get three points get the ball there you can make that a 14 point swing a 10 point swing over two possessions they don't get the ball you're getting an extra possession so I get that but man if I'm Washington and I'm trying to set the tone early and I know that I don't want to get the Eagles in a position where they're up seven to 10 points, and Jalen Hurts doesn't factor in the game,

and you can just give it to Saquon. He can just work you down, work you down, pop, big run, work you down, work you down, bam, he just ran for 80. If I'm Washington, I'm taking ball, and I'm trying to flex on the Eagle. Could backfire, and you'll be judged for it if you do take ball and you don't score in the first possession of the game if you have that option really if I'm Washington I hope

the Eagles win the toss and the Eagles get you know kick the ball to us and then we can go try to shove it down their throats early and put some pressure on the Eagles early that's what I would hope if I were Washington do I think Washington's gonna to win the game? I don't. I do think the Eagles running game is just so dominant. And Washington for most of the season has been not great against the run. I don't believe that Washington, it's just hard for me to believe a rookie quarterback is going to go into Philly and win a game to go to the Superbowl. But if someone can do it, it could be Jaden because his whole story, his whole arc is fascinating. To be a guy that was at Arizona State, no one really paid any attention to you.

When you left to go to LSU, your teammates are basically telling you to go fuck yourself. You go to LSU and when you're a freshman in your first year at LSU, so I guess you're a junior, whatever you were, goes to LSU, plays guess you're a junior all right whatever you were goes to LSU plays Alabama at home wins the game in overtime is a fucking stud if he doesn't get hurt the next year at Alabama they very well may have beaten Alabama at Alabama and at LSU that's like the second thing that matters more you win the national championship or did you beat Alabama it's a big deal the dude's a fucking beast what an arc like basically hanging out in witness protection at Arizona State wins the Heisman Trophy and now he's a fucking man in the NFL the story would be

phenomenal it would be fun it would be great they're like that's interesting there's nothing interesting the Eagles are a very boring team outside of Saquon that sucks but they just are you can just tell like they're just because they keep winning things don't melt down and that makes sense but since they keep winning things don't full-on melt down but like that little AJ Brown shit with the book and I know that some people can say it's not that big a deal and oh he reads books all the time on the sideline that motherfucker wanted people to see him reading the book he wanted it to be made a big deal he wanted it to be a story he's pissed now to be fair he had like a handful of drops it seemed like in the last game to try to get him the

ball but also in his defense it's fucking snow and so what are you gonna do but I'm telling you like they they just like a season on the brink like it feels like they're always on the brink of this thing completely collapsing like one day there'll be a book written about this and the behind the scenes drama involved just if you go to like the brandon graham talk on his show and you go to the aj brown book and you go to sirianni like what happened after nick sirianni like was talking shit to the fan after the Cleveland game like like this season. Now, if they win the Super Bowl, be super interesting, because this will be one of those things that in 10 years when there's books written about it, you'll be like, holy shit. This thing was being held together by duct tape, like everything behind the scenes was a mess.

You know, a lot of drama involved in this, but it's fascinating. But all that said, I do think the Eagles are going to win and they're going to be in the Super Bowl. Now, you go to Buffalo and Kansas City, and there really isn't a ton you need to break down about this game. Why? Because let's be real. The Chiefs are winning. Josh Allen can ball out all he wants, whether it's because just Mahomes finds a way to win or whether it's because the NFL, that it has been predetermined in the script that Kansas City is going to win,

Kansas City is going to win. I don't think this Kansas City team is very good. I think they're fine. Look, you can't say a 15-win team sucks. That sounds ridiculous, but they're a 15-win team that's kind of done it with smoke and mirrors, kind of done it with miracles, kind of done it with, let's be real,

bullshit help from the refs. That's the thing I find interesting, too, when you talk about the Chiefs is their fans will come back at you, and they'll post stats that show, oh, you think we get unfavorable benefits from the refs, do you? Well, look at this. Josh Allen has gotten more roughing the passer calls than Mahomes, and more penalties have been called against the Chiefs. Yeah, it's not about the number of penalties called.

It is about where the penalties are called, when the penalties are called, who they're called against, and how they impact the game. Like a dinky defensive holding penalty in the first quarter doesn't hurt anybody and no one pays attention. It does go to the record. But we're talking about game-al, game changing bailout penalties. And while I do not have the statistics on that, I don't have the data to back that up. I will tell you that go back to that Chiefs Texans game last week. When did the big penalties, the kind of ticky tack iffy calls,

particularly the one big one in the first quarter, But what was happening at that point in the game? They were about to get the Chiefs off the field. It was a punt situation. You had stopped them. They had not moved the ball in the first quarter. They only had points because you gave up a long kickoff return. And then what happened? Mahomes bailed out. It's about when these penalties happen and how ridiculous the penalties are and how egregious the misses are. That's the key in all of this. That's what I'm trying to convey to you. It's not about the number of penalties. It's not about, oh, the Chiefs get more penalty calls than these guys, so what are you pitching about?

No. It's about when they happen and how they happen. Pay attention to that. I get that this is conspiracy theory bullshit. Totally get it. But do you want, like everybody's talking about the NFL and college football and what ratings are doing and there's been a lot of blowouts and the ratings aren't doing well for some of these, they're down. Then tell me this, what would be better for the NFL? Buffalo and DC rookie quarterback versus Josh Allen or Taylor Swift's boyfriend against the team that Taylor Swift's brother played for. What do you think they want?

What do you think the league wants? I'll tell you what the league wants. The league wants Kansas city, Philadelphia. That's what they what they want they want they certainly at least want Travis now if you want to make an argument that Washington or Philly is a wash at this point like I think that Washington uh Washington versus Kansas City would be a far more entertaining game because the Eagles are just not an entertaining football team to watch it's very a couple of big running plays and a lot of nothing happens for the Eagles. So there, so maybe the game would be better, but I do think probably Washington Philly is kind of a wash in terms of what the people would want, what the league would want. I think they'd prefer having the angle of, you know, Jason Kelsey's or Travis Kelsey's brothers, former team.

One thing they do want is Taylor. They want Taylor at the Super Bowl. Now you could say, Josh, you're just making yourself, you're setting yourself up for, you know, seeming like your conspiracy theory is right. I mean, they're a point and a half favorite, so them winning wouldn't be shocking. What would this prove if they win their favorite? Eh, you're probably right. But I do believe that when the league sees the Taylor Swift people and they see the Kelsey shit, you want to tell me they don't want that in the Super Bowl? Look, 100 million people are going to watch the Super Bowl anyway. But you want to tell me that they don't want Taylor? You want me to believe that?

You want me to believe that they would rather Josh Allen in the Super Bowl than Mahomes and the Swifties. So I stand by what I'm saying here when I say the NFL will not let Buffalo win. Buffalo has come in in the wrong spot. They're a solid football team every year. They exist in a bad time of Patrick Mahomes and now a really bad time of Taylor Swift and Patrick Mahomes. So when it's all said and done here, I do think it's going to be Philadelphia, Kansas City. I don't want it to be Philadelphia, Kansas City, but it's going to be Philadelphia, Kansas City. And that's how it's going to go down. And I'm telling you, there's

going to be an iffy call that alters the game. Something is going to happen and it's going to favor Kansas City. It is inevitable. They're going to order the code red. They're going to hit the button and go, we got to solve this. Let's figure this shit out. Something's going to happen. And a mysterious flag,

just like the mysterious flag that showed up when Kansas City should have lost to Cincinnati earlier in the year, or the bullshit penalty against the Texans last week when the Chiefs are off to a slow start and about to give the ball back. Something is going to happen, and the call is going to be terrible, or Mahomes is going to sell a flop, and it's going to change the game. Let's see it happen. All right, more to come.