The Josh Innes Show - Playoff Recap

Episode Date: January 12, 2026

Looking at the teams left in the NFL Playoffs, who has the most to gain or lose? Imagine the disaster it would have been had Josh Allen lost. Are the Rams really this average? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right, let's see what these games looked like this weekend and what they mean for certain people, legacies, all that kind of stuff. You know, the super duper hacky, wacky, sports radio shit, like what these things mean for legacies and everything else. How about we do that? Shall we? Yes. First off, I fucking hate Ben Johnson. I despise him. I think he's a toolbox.

I have no rooting interest because I don't really care about the lions or the fact that he left the lions and I don't really hate the bears. I don't think the bears are good. I don't believe in the Bears. This whole Bears thing is just a miracle run, and someone's got to bring this shit to an end because I'm tired of it. I am sick of the Bears and the Rams need to be the team to shut this shit down. I am sick of them. I am sick of the Bears, and they're eventually going to get their comeuppance. That said, I think Caleb Williams is really fucking good.

I think he's only going to get better. Some of the throws this dude makes, fucking ridiculous, dude. Watching some of the throws, my man was making, that fourth down throw that saved their season on the run. on the run. Jesus, this guy is good. I don't care that he's weird. I don't care that he's a little foo-foo. I don't care that he paints his fucking nails.

I don't care. This guy can play. He is a stud. And they may dominate that division for years because there ain't another stud quarterback in that division, and my man can sling. I really enjoy the number of people who love to bring up the painted fingernails thing. And granted, yes, it's kind of funny and dopey that this guy paints his fingernails.

But these are probably the same. macho men that listen to classic rock artists, half of whom dressed as women for the most part, and the other half probably did gay shit. Now, that's an estimate that half of them did gay shit. But, like, if you think about it, like, these guys want to judge Caleb Williams for having painted fingernails, yet, like, Mick Jagger probably blew David Bowie at some point, and no one gives a shit. So the worst thing that you can say about the guys that he carries a MERS and has painted fingernails,

Look, if I had a quarterback that was playing the level he's playing and winning the games he's winning, he could broke back another dude in front of me and I wouldn't give a shit because the guy's getting the shit done. But I hate Ben Johnson. Let's see. Here's a little Ben Johnson in the locker room saying F the Packers. I also enjoyed the number of people who get all worked up and call that classless. Now, granted, I think it's toolish, but there's a big difference between being a tool and being classless. The Lions fans are like, hey, this guy's classless. These are the same Lions fans who when Ben Johnson came back to town and his biggest crime he committed was that he took a job as a head coach somewhere that happened to be against one of your rivals.

But he comes back to town. Mind you, wasn't a head coach that abandoned you for another job. He was a coordinator and the coordinator left to take a head coaching job. Oh, the horror. When he came back, those same people, many of them chanted, fuck bitch. Johnson at the game in his return game. 70,000 people chanting fuck Ben Johnson. But now you want to tell me about class and decorum.

Go fuck yourself. Let's play a couple commercials and continue. Martha listens to her favorite band all the time. In the car? Jim. Even sleeping. So when they finally went on tour, Martha bundled her flight and hotel on Expedia to see them live.

She saved so much, she got his seat close enough to actually see and hear them. Sort of. You were made to scream from the front row. We were made to quietly save you more. Expedia made to travel. Savings vary and subject to availability. So the bears survive.

And I, God, I don't understand the LaFloor thing. Like, I was reading the story, actually, on ESPN about LaFloor. And it was like talking about how the Packers are hoping to retain LaFloor. Like, where's he? to go. I mean, the guy's obviously a fine coach. Like, he's not bad at his job, but you blew an 18-point lead against your arch rival. You blew an 11-point lead with six minutes to go in a playoff game against your arch rival. Like, that can't be a comfortable feeling right now. Now, he's not going to get fired, but that is not a comfortable feeling. I don't know how you blow that game. And it's just what

the bears do. The bears just rally in these games. Like, Caleb doesn't look good, doesn't look good, doesn't look good. Then, oh, by the way, he's thrown for like 300 yards and they win the game. And he leads them on an 18-point comeback. Rams, let's look at the Rams. The Rams were not impressive. I thought they'd go out and throttle Carolina. And early in the game, it looked like they were going to.

I guess you give Carolina some credit, but I just don't think they're any good. But look, Bryce played well, as well as he's going to play, right? Like, he had to make throws. He made a lot of throws. And they made it a game. And they had the lead late and the Rams had to rally. The Rams get a pass, I think, from a lot of people because they'll just say, oh, well, the Rams are still the Rams, and, you know, they had to rally to win, but that's

okay. You know, it showed grit and courage and tenaciousness and all this shit. No, it showed that they played like shit. After playing like shit to end the year, the shit playing continued when they went on the road facing Carolina. And now it gets considerably tougher. Now you don't get to hang out in, you know, moderate temperature Charlotte for a game. Now you have to go to Chicago where it may snow.

You never know because there's always a chance for snow in Chicago. You have to face a better offensive coach, a better quarterback, a better team with better playmakers. The Rams may find themselves in trouble. What is the line in that game? Again, my main takeaway from the Rams game was like you'd like to think, oh, they just kind of slept, walk through it because they overlook Carolina. They're looking to the next round. Even overlooking Carolina shouldn't have you in a position where you need a last-minute of the game is, should drive to win the game.

It should never come down to that. So I think this is a bigger deal for them than just overlooking Carolina. I think this is a bigger deal than looking ahead to Chicago. Like, are they better than Carolina? Yes. Is there probably some element of, hey, we got this. We're a 10-point favorite. And I guarantee you they know that shit.

We can sleepwalk through this, I guess. But sleepwalk through it is, you know, you don't score as many points as you think you should and you win the game, you know, 24 to 12 or something, and you're never really in jeopardy of losing, but you don't really look like the juggernaut you can be. That wasn't this. This is you gave up 31 points. This is you needed a drive at the end of the game to win it.

I'd say there's much bigger concerns for the Rams than a lot of people are letting on. I'd still pick them to win the Super Bowl, but I'm wavering on that. You know, Buffalo kind of experienced the same thing, but Buffalo was a toss-up game with Jacksonville. The Rams were a 10 and a half point favorite on the road against, Carolina and they slept walk through that shit and they were bad. So I'd be far more concerned. If I'm the Rams, far more concerned coming out of that game.

They answered no questions. They played like shit to end the year and they're continuing to play like shit. And I'd be concerned. We talked Green Bay in Chicago, Buffalo and Jacksonville. I don't think the bills are any good. Just a shameful end to the game for Jacksonville as well, throwing a pick at the end there to on the first play of that drive. All you had to do is getting to field goal range to tie the game.

You had plenty of time and you throw that pick. I don't buy Buffalo at all. I don't buy the Buffalo coach. I like Josh Allen, who doesn't like Josh Allen. But all the pressure is on them is you keep moving forward. The more they keep winning. Again, this is a huge. You're talking about pressure and legacies and how people are remembered.

If Josh Allen doesn't get to the Super Bowl, this is a major black mark on his legacy. There's no doubt about that. There's no debating that. He is the only person. that is currently in the postseason. Maybe, you know what, I would say, I would also throw Brock Purdy in this. These are the only people left in this thing right now

whose legacies, if you want to talk legacy, can be negatively impacted. Like, let's say that Caleb Williams loses in the second round of the Rams, right? Like, you want a playoff game. You're on the ascent. There's no negative. It's almost house money at this point,

if you're the Bears, right? Same thing with, I guess Trevor Lawrence was, Well, you know what? I'm talking about teams that are left. I would say that the only two guys who could have a negative impact on their overall legacy big picture is Josh Allen Brock Purdy. But that loss that Jacksonville put on the board and the way Trevor Lawrence blew it late and through the interception late, that hurts him too. Because he hasn't really done anything impressive in the postseason to gain any sort of positive traction. So his was a negative hit too. I guess you could argue that there could be a negative hit for Aaron Rogers if he goes out and is totally

garbage tonight, but big picture, like I look at Buffalo. every game they play is a referendum at this point, right? Like it's like, it is, it's Josh Allen, it's Sean McDermott. And if they lose, whenever they do lose, if it is not in the Super Bowl, it's a failure. And it will be a major black mark. San Francisco Brock Purdy worked himself into a wonderful spot despite the fact they turned the ball over twice. If you look at Purdy, if Purdy loses that, it's kind of same old situation shit.

Purdy goes on the road in Philadelphia, needs a drive at the end of the game, and gets a drive at the end of the game. That's gigantic. That is something that they needed and it is something they got from him. and I think that takes some of the heat off of him for now. To go on the road in Philly as a five and a half point underdog, trailing late in the game, and to orchestrate a drive that results in a touchdown and you win that game?

Absolutely. That was a gigantic win for Brock Purdy and the overall brand of Brock Purdy. Well, I guess, and then you look at someone else who's a brand took a hit or someone's legacy that took a hit. The perception of Justin Herbert has to take it. The guy played like shit. I understand the offensive line sucks. I respect that the offensive line sucks.

I respect the fact that this guy had to take a shitload of hits and he had to run for his life for a lot of the game. I get that. I get that that's a defense that's nasty, a coach that knows how to coach defense. I get that that was not an easy spot to be, and that's why I picked the Patriots to win. But Justin Herbert continues to get mentioned in that high-end crew, because the guy can sling it. But he has zero skins on the wall to back anything up. people want to throw him in the burrows and with the Mahomes and all these guys when you start talking about these elite quarterbacks How many playoff wins does Justin Herbert have in his career?

Anyone? Anyone? Playoff wins for Justin Herbert. He has zero. What is this completion percentage in the playoffs? 55%. How many touchdowns has he thrown two? How many interceptions has he thrown? Four.

So, again, again, Again, take that for what it is. But Herbert failed miserably. Like, you could have lost that game and still had something to show for it. You played like shit. That game was dreadful. The worst game, you would have thought that game had potential to be fireworks, fun. It was quite the opposite.

You had games like Green Bay and Chicago, Rams and Carolina that were fun. Buffalo and Jacksonville was fun. That game won fun. So now you look at what the bracket has in store. Rams and Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle. Eventually, the hourglass will run out on Chicago. You can only rally so much. But the Rams have looked like shit the last couple weeks. And they didn't get better last week. They got fortunate to win against a 10.5 point underdog would have been one of the great

playoff losses ever. What could the San Francisco ride the momentum? You know, Seattle's beaten San Francisco. They know how to do it. But will we end up with a situation where you finally get Sam Darnold to turn back into a pumpkin. I mean, look, Purdy did the best he could to turn into a pumpkin. He threw two fucking picks, but he made the drive when he needed to make the drive and won the game. Then you've got Buffalo in Denver. I think Buffalo's going to win that because I hate Sean Payton and I don't believe in

Bo Nix. I don't really believe in them either. Part of it just because Buffalo has to win. If you lose that game, that is a dick punch to Josh Allen. A lot of the shine wears off. off of you if you lose that game or don't make it to the Super Bowl. We've talked about it. And then you're going to have New England versus Pittsburgh or Houston.

I think it's going to be Houston. So that's where we are right now. Big picture. You know, I mean, the person who stands to gain the most or lose the most who's left in the playoffs is Josh Allen. Brock Purdy is moving up the charts too. That win was huge for him. Anywho. Mortica.