The Josh Innes Show - NFL Playoff Pressure Meter

Episode Date: January 6, 2026

I'll take a look at each playoff team and determine which player or coach is under the most pressure. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Let's do that after these words. I don't know why I was so dramatic with these words, but I was quite dramatic. So here's what we're going to do. Let's take a look at all these games and decide just looking at each game. Then necessarily have to be the team. Okay, so like obviously the team is understood because if like Aaron Rogers has a bunch of pressure on him,

then obviously the Steelers have a bunch of pressure on them, right? So like that goes without saying that's understood. So the first thing that comes to mind, when I look at each of these matchups and I think of the pressure scale like who's got more pressure on them in these games all right that's what we're doing here just first thing that comes to mind first thought first player first coach that's what we're looking for here all right so let's take a look at these matchups just take a look at each each team that's in the postseason let's look at it now here we go refresh the lines for me please thank you the Los Angeles

Rams. I don't know that there's a ton of pressure. The only pressure that I think exists on the Rams is that the Rams throughout most of the year have been considered the best team in the league by many people. And they're currently the, I'd say, I guess by odds, they're the second favorite to win the whole thing. So the pressure just exists in, hey, don't blow it in the first round against Carolina. I'd also say that there's great pressure on Matt Stafford. But the pressure on Matt Stafford is not because, you know, Matt Stafford would be considered a bum if Matt Stafford didn't win the whole thing. I think it's a father time thing. I think what you're looking at with Matt Stafford is your career window is potentially closing, although the guy

still out there slinging and still looks fantastic. So I don't even know that I'd sit here and tell you that I think Matt Stafford is desperate to win a championship because Matt Stafford isn't because Matt Stafford's won one. Now, if you want to start talking about big picture, legacy, how you're going to be viewed for the rest of your life by by football world. You win that second Super Bowl and then you're above a Drew Breeze type or you're above a Russell Wilson type, right? You start moving into that next category of people who have multiple Super Bowls. Look, you're, you could argue, you're above Aaron Rogers, right? So like that, and you might win another MVP this year as well if you're Stafford. So the pressure on Stafford is not to say that, you know, Stafford sucks or

that Stafford hasn't proven anything. Stafford's a Hall of Famer and Stafford's a beast. But as you get older and you start kind of running out of that time, that's when you have to start looking at these things and saying, is this my last realistic shot at doing it? I think that's where the pressure exists for Stafford. Panthers, there's no pressure on anybody with the Panthers. They're not supposed to be here.

Like, is it on Bryce Young? Like, I guess, like, I don't think there's anything that can be lost by anybody associated with the Panthers. All of it is gained. Bryce Young, if he goes out and out duels and wins a playoff game against Matt Stafford, then his stock goes up and he's considered a lot better than what he actually is. And if he fails, it's, okay, it's Bryce Young, who gives a shit. You know, like, that's all you would get out of that.

Now, I say the Packers, the Packers coach, I think that's the biggest one. Like when you start looking, like, I don't think Jordan Love, I don't think we're at that point in Jordan Love's career where we're like, oh boy, if Jordan Love can't win this, when maybe he's just not the guy. Like, I don't think that's the case. But I think Matt LaFleur, there starts to become more and more pressure on the floor because LaFleur is considered a guy that can win a lot of regular season games.

But then you see him in the postseason and you start looking at the fact that he's three and five in the playoffs. And two of those wins came in his first two years in the league. So since then he's won one playoff game. After 2020, he's won one playoff game. He's got a lot of these kind of like hovering around 500, a couple of years in there. really his first three years in the league he went two and three in the postseason right didn't make the playoffs in 2022 the last three years has had two nine wins seasons and an 11 win season he's won one playoff game in there haven't made it past the divisional round the pressure is squarely on the floor like there's nobody else associated with the packers i mean i guess if you want to throw in a little bit of the pressure for the quarterback and say all right um you know jordan love do something that's fine But LaFleur is the guy, because if you go into another playoff game and lose to your arch fucking rival in the playoffs,

and it looks like your arch rival is trending up and maybe you're trending down, hot seat talk is legit. There's always hot seat talk on the floor. But it really heats up if Ben Johnson goes to Chicago and Ben Johnson wins the playoff game, beat you in the postseason, has your arch rival trending upward while you're going backwards. So Matt LaFleur is the one the pressure resides on. I don't put a ton of it on Jordan Love. He'll get criticized if they don't win. but I'm not putting a ton of pressure on Jordan Love in that one.

Bears wise, this is another one where there's not a ton of pressure. Like, why would there be pressure on Ben Johnson? There isn't. Why would there be pressure on Caleb? There isn't. It's his first playoff game. Now, he's a number one pick and he's a Heisman guy. So, like, he's going to be viewed differently than, say, a Drake May might or a Bryce,

even at this point, I know they're not apples to apples, but a Bryce Young. So he's going to get a different form of criticism than some of these guys are going to get and get a little bit more of a, you're going to be scrutinized maybe a little bit more. But I don't know. I don't think there's a ton of pressure on the Bears. If they were on the road, there'd be no pressure. I think the fact you're playing a home playoff game and just the fact you're in Chicago puts pressure on you.

But they're excited to have good football there. And it's the Packers. They're going to rip you if you don't beat the Packers. And that sucks if you don't beat the Packers. It's not Aaron Rogers. It's Jordan Love. And it's basically a pick-em. But at the end of it, from a national standpoint, I don't view this as a ton of

a pressure game. Like if you wanted to put a scale of 1 to 10 on pressure for the bears, you know, the highest form of pressure being like if you don't win this, your legacy's fucked and you're fired. What is it, two for the bears? Whereas like a Matt LaFleur, you start talking about 7-8-9 range. Rams and Panthers, neither one of them have a high pressure gauge if you want to call it that. Bills and Jaguars, the obvious one it's a two-fold. It's the coach and the quarterback in Buffalo. If you win this, no one cares, right? So if you're Sean McDermott or you're Josh Allen, you were supposed to win a game like that. this. If you lose it, everything's ratcheted up. Everything about you and everything we thought we knew

about you. People question people start to rip Josh Allen even more. And it's, oh, my God, Josh Allen gets all this love and he sucks and he's not as good as this guy. So the pressure, like this is a pressure game, especially knowing that there's no Pat Mahomes waiting at the end of the rainbow. This is a gigantic pressure game for Josh Allen, maybe more than he's ever had. and I know it sounds ridiculous to say that because you're playing the Jaguars in a playoff game first round Sunday afternoon at 1 o'clock it is a gigantic pressure game

for both of them I'm not saying that either one of them's bounce obviously Josh Allen's not going anywhere and I don't think they're firing the coach if they lose that game but it's huge Jaguars no pressure maybe a little on Trevor Lawrence

because he's been there a while and you need to win something but coach has no pressure there's very little pressure on that It's the fucking Jaguars. Who gives you shit? Jacksonville. London will be more upset if Jacksonville loses than if Jacksonville, the fans, if they care.

49ers, I mean, I guess you always put pressure on Purdy because people are going to start, again, there's always pressure on the quarterback to some degree, but people, I mean, even during the game, they were showing shots of the backup, Mac Jones, and is Purdy really the guy? I think you start to put a little bit of pressure on Shanahan as well, but Shanahan's been to the big. game. He's been to the mountaintop. So I don't think his job is in jeopardy. It's Philly. It's a tough place to play. You're an underdog. You kind of surprise people this year with what you're able to do. So I don't think the pressure gauge is high on either one of them. I'd say the highest would be on Purdy. Because you saw what you were able to do offensively without him. You start to realize that you

don't necessarily need Purdy to be successful. And Purdy needs to win a game like this. And I don't think he is. I think the Eagles are going to kick the shit out of them honestly because they're at home and that's just what the Eagles do. Maybe they don't kick the shit out of them because the Eagles have played some tight home playoff games in recent years. We've talked about that.

You know what I mean? Would they have ever won that twice? Look, if Julio Jones makes that catch in the end zone in 2018, maybe there's, I mean, obviously there's no Super Bowl. What if the double doink doesn't happen? What if, you know, the Rams, you know,

score last year, you know? But there's that. Eagles, there's always pressure. There's never a time that there isn't pressure on somebody in Philadelphia, particularly with the Eagles. That's always the case. The obvious answer for pressure here is on Siriani. Because even though there's a lot of skepticism and there's a lot of back and forth

and conjecture about Jalen Hertz, where's he going to go? Are you really going to part ways or as a guy who's been to two Super Bowls and won one of them and won a Super Bowl MVP, is he truly on the hot seat as the starting quarterback of the Eagles? Fuck no. So there's always pressure because you'll have to deal with a lot of shit from McDougals over the course of the offseason for anybody that fails. But Siriani would be the ultimate. Because they're, I mean, are they going to fire Siriani?

No. But there's a shit ton of pressure on him. 100%, especially to not lose in the first round. Look, if you have a home playoff game, you can't lose a home playoff game in Philly like that. Even though you won the Super Bowl last year, even though you've been to two of them in three years or whatever the number is, even though all that's been the case, you can't lose that game.

So that, you're talking. about teams that have a must win. The bills have a must win and the Eagles have a must win. Outside of that, there's not a team I'd circle on here and say, I mean, obviously, it's the playoffs. So like, it's a must win if you want to keep your season going. But I'm talking big picture for reputation, for pressure, for job security, Eagles and bills, two that have been there a lot, must win games for them. The Chargers have pressure, not necessarily on the coach. I don't think, actually, I think the pressure on the coach is nil. It's like, one. No one's concerned about Harbaugh. You do start to get a little pressure on Herbert as a guy

who gets a lot of credit. Oh, he's a beautiful thrower of the football, that type of guy and just can't win. And he'll just, maybe he'll just fall into that category of guys who are super talented, can compile a lot of stats and just not win. Maybe he's a Philip Rivers. They can win enough to get in and keep you excited, but aren't real threats. Maybe he's a Philip Rivers. Maybe that's what he'll be. But I don't think the pressure is huge, because again, what are you going to do? Cut Justin Herbert? No. Zero pressure on the Patriots outside of the fact that you're the Patriots

and you're still living in the shadow at Tom Brady. That's it. Like you have to figure out a way to become, you know, you're following a dynasty. And now you're not necessarily following a dynasty. You're following the guys that followed a dynasty, which really helps you. But you're still living in the shadow

of the Super Bowls and Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, right? I don't think there's a ton of pressure, big picture for short-term stuff though. Like, yeah, you want to win. this game you don't want to be shit on for losing it you should win this game you're at home but it is the first playoff game for drake may uh but look you got a coach who's got experience you got a coach who arguably should have been in the super bowl in nashville so there's some pressure i wouldn't say it's you know huge pressure but it's somewhere like three four again because pressure

is if you lose this scale like nine 10 scale that means you're fucked nobody's fucked from the patriots if they lose also it comes with expectation you should win this game but it's not like you know, if you're, you know, the Rams and you lose to the Panthers, right? And then, let's see, the Texans pressure scale. There's no pressure on anybody real talk. It's fucking Houston. I love you guys. It's fucking Houston.

What pressure is on anybody in Houston? And by the way, they were 0 and 3 to start the year, one nine games in a row, made the playoffs. Is it house money? No, because you should win this game because you're better than the Steelers. And there is pressure because the AFC is more open than any other time you've made the playoffs, right? you got Josh Allen

you've got no burrow no Mahomes this isn't the era of like you know the flacco and Brady either when you were in before so there's pressure from that standpoint and it is your third year it's your third year in a row ago to the playoffs can you advance past

the second round but looking at this season as an individual season you were 0 and 3 it's not miraculous that you made the playoffs but damn near is because nobody does that so 0 and 3 to the playoffs And I say this with peace and love because I love Houston more than you could fathom. I miss it.

I wish I was sitting at a house in Houston right now with a smoker and drinking bushlights and smoking a pork butt. And that's the life I'd love to live. It'd be a beautiful life. But there's no pressure in Houston. Like I'm watching that last game and it still felt like there were empty seats in that last game. And I get that it was a somewhat meaningless game. But the vibes in Houston are not immaculate for the NFL.

So what pressure? What are they going to do? Get on the shitty radio stations that no one listens to in Houston and rah, rah, like, what are they going to do? So, uh, no. Uh, Pittsburgh, the pressure's on Tomlin because, you know, he, I don't even think there's pressure on Aaron. The pressure on Aaron exists because this could be the end. So every game you play might end up being the last game you play if you're Aaron Rogers. Is it a huge legacy game?

Like, what can Aaron Rogers do to boost his legs? Went another Super Bowl and obviously you go up to another level. But I don't think he hurts his legacy. with anything he does in this game. And I don't know that his legacy goes up exponentially by winning it, although he's facing the best defense in the NFL, and it would be impressive. But Tomlin's the one, because every year, is Tomlin going to survive? Can Tomlin survive?

Are they going to fire Tomlin? And how good of a coach is Tomlin? Because he can win eight, nine games every year. But then what? Can he get them past this point again? A win for a win in this playoff game. game. The person that benefits the most, it ain't Temeco Ryan's. It ain't C.J. Stride. If they lose these games, no one's firing them and no one's bitching big time. They had a hell of a run to get

there. And I think in 10 years when you look back on this year, you'll go, yeah, they lost in the first round of the playoffs, but holy shit, they won nine in a row after starting 0 and 3. It's not like it's shit or get off the pot win now thing. Tomlin has all the pressure because almost every game the guy coaches there's an element of pressure. If he wins this game, It'd be the biggest playoff when he's had in an eternity. So there is pressure. Like, do they fire him at the end of this thing? Probably not.

I don't know if they'll ever fire the guy. But as far as pressure goes, the pressure's all on Tomlin. So there you have it. And we will continue.