The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1478 - TOP 5: NFL Week 17 Recap

Episode Date: December 29, 2025

On today's show Pat, Darius Butler, and the boys break down the biggest storylines from week 17 of the NFL season in the TOP 5, plus they look ahead to all the playoff implications involved with the week 18 schedule. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for our overreaction Monday. Top five, top five, top five headlines in our eyes, driven by RAM. And, you know, a RAM truck obviously has the amount of power that you need to pull anything. Hell yeah. Whatever you need to pull. Anything. This whole thing. Yeah, you bet.

Pull it. Fast tummy capacity there is. That's right. And it also has the comfort of high society without having to pay the price. And then all the technology, easy to use, which is a massive thing. Because some of these futuristic cars you get in, it's like you get a spaceship. It's like, I'm like NASA. What all of these buttons and what is going on?

Ram makes it very easy to operate, but also has all the technology you need to be in the 21st, 22nd century. And then when you hit the gas pedal, the only sound you hear is... Because the engine is second to none. Now, let's get to the top five headlines, shall we? Number five, long live the king. King Henry. This guy's special. we saw him in high school

there was highlights of this thing running down a football field untackable seemingly the same size he is now he has been since he was 16 years old then he goes to Alabama yep obviously judge Sabin said the same thing we got something that nobody else has

we got a defensive end who's a running back here then he goes the NFL goes to the Titans what's he do there well for the first couple years not great it's actually not that great not running behind his pads I think he's trying to dance too much maybe because the NFL he didn't think he could be the same exact guy he was in high school and in college Then Eddie George has a conversation with him, former Titans legend, and says, hey, we dominate people, okay?

Guys like you and me, we're bigger than everybody, we're stronger than everybody, we work our asses off, we just run people over. Derek Henry started running north or south in the NFL, and guess what started happening? Tennessee Titans started winning ball games. Tennessee Titans down in Nashville, they weren't supposed to win ball games. What is this all about? Well, they rode this man in his shoulders and his legs to multiple different heights that they will, who knows if they'll ever see a game. And the Titans are a case studying of itself. All the stars around the NFL right now, seemingly, even the coaches, are from the Titans organization within the last five years.

They are fully ass and have completely tearing that place out. But that's a conversation for a different day. This dude, still doing this in Baltimore at this age, at this stage of his career, is outrageous. This past weekend against Packers has his seventh 200-yard game in the history of his career. That's the most 200-yard games in the history of the NFL. He passed Adrian Peterson and O.J. Simpson. O.J., I believe, had five. Adrian Peterson had six, and now Derek Henry has seven.

So whenever you think about Adrian, and I haven't seen O.J. Simpson play. I have seen him run. But whenever you think about Adrian Peterson and Derek Henry, you're talking about a style of play where you can see how people or defenses will quit, okay? Because it's just a punishing. We're running with our knees up. We're running through you. We got a stiff arm if we need it.

That will be a cartoonish caricature. stiff arm and they just pound you and once they get rolling especially if it's early if you see Derek Henry pop a couple long ones in the first quarter in the second quarter the natural instinct is well by the fourth quarter when these guys are tired and when these guys have had eaten Derek Henry a few different times will they be able to stop them or will they make business decisions you factor that alongside Patrick Ricard in the backfield former defensive end right there number 42 he's 315 320 plus who can run they can beat you up if they want to We did a little science, okay, for this Derek Henry thing

because I thought to myself, would I ever want to stand in front of Derek Henry? Absolutely not. So we did a little E equals MC squared. And obviously, E is energy, okay? And I'm not Einstein or Oppenheimer, but you get it. M is mass, obviously. C is for constant, which is the speed of light, okay?

And Einstein said if you took the mass times the speed of light, you would obviously get E. So let's go ahead and do the Derek Henry version of that. he's 252 pounds he runs 22 miles an hour okay that would be 5,500 joules of energy which is equivalent to 4590 mile an hour fastball simultaneously hitting you out that hurts in a hole Derek Henry says here I come and you're standing there going we got 364 days to the next hockey trial so we got gilbert and there's 45 of them a 2,000 pound vehicle moving at 8 miles an arm okay 2,000 pound vehicle I don't know what that is I don't know

what a normal vehicle weighs but a 2,000 pound one moving in 8 miles and hour, you're standing right in front of it. And it's enough energy, obviously, he's creating whenever he's moving at maximum speed to light a room for 90 seconds. Holy shit. That's pretty cool. Okay. So that is what Derek Henry is at this stage. And let's go back a week. He didn't get the ball for the final 12 minutes of the game. Then Harbaugh says, I should have spoke up a little bit. This game, 36 carries. We're riding Derek Henry. And the Baltimore Ravens go into week 18 in a must-win game for a playoff berth against the Pittsburgh Steelers,

seemingly having it figured out that they need to give the ball to the alien they have in the backfield. And that's Derek Henry, Darius Butler. Yeah, it's not hard to figure out. You have a modern marvel back there running the football. And what he's been able to do throughout his career, you mentioned in high school, his college, but what he's been able to do from the NFL level for this longer time, it's unbelievable. Yeah, just give him the damn ball. And now, you know, you talk about our sixth game lost streak with the Colts because of injuries.

This team has been dealing with, you know, dealing with injuries with their quarterback, Lamar Jackson, kind of all season long. He was out, so Derek Henry needed to step up, and they gave him a career high, 36 carries, 200 plus yards, and four TDs. Green Bay knew it was coming, Baltimore knew it was coming, but it's nothing you can do about it. When you got a guy like this,

and you mentioned all the different things. Early on in his career, he was kind of bouncing and trying to get outside, going a lot of East and West running, and once he started getting downhill and punishing guys, like you get on that second and third level with linebackers and DVs, nobody wants to tackle this guy. Joins Ledany and Thomas in a pretty good company, and Jim Brown, a great company. He's the only players in NFL history with 25 career games of 100 plus rush yards in multiple rushing touchdowns.

Ty, we saw it early with him moving. I mean, he had a touchdown within the first couple of minutes. Second touchdown followed a suit there. It was like, is Derek Henry about to have a career day? Possibly. Now, back with the Titans, Vrable, their entire thing was we're going to hand us off to Derek Henry, okay? Early. Might be getting an average yard per gain, like a yard and a half, two yards.

We don't care. We're going to stick with it. do it again then by the third quarter fourth quarter it's going to become wide open those little holes are going to become bigger holes because derrick henry's just going to wear you down where you down he started early yeah against you guys you were immediately knowing that you're in a tough spot whenever he gets rolling like that tie yeah definitely and just you know before that he actually had the most rushing yards in the history of lambo field and lambo field's been around for quite some time so when you put that in context with everything like that's pretty crazy but yeah it's one of those things where

it's just it's so demoralizing because once it's starts. And like you said, usually you're waiting for that third quarter, fourth quarter, okay, and we'll be okay in the first half. He was unbelievable in the first half, and it's just, it's one of those things, your offense has to play perfectly. Like, if you're not scoring on, because every time the Packers would respond

and get a little momentum, they, the Ravens would get the ball back, and then immediately, boom, eight play, 80 yard drive, 12 minutes off. And if the Packers go three and out, that defense has to face there Henry again. I mean, it is a lot of pressure to keep the ball and to keep your defense on the sideline.

a little bit so you don't have to eat more of Derek Henry's knees. I mean, it's a real problem for any of these teams that have to square off against the Ravens. Yeah, for sure. And like you said, especially at this part of the season, like, if your defense is even like a little banged up, like you don't have your A plus defense out there. And that is exactly what happened

is, you know, like they would turn the ball over or they would score. And then I don't know if the Ravens had a possession less than six minutes and all of them were ending in Derek Henry touchdowns. This is the football that we thought the Ravens would be able to win with. Now, last week, they forget to give him the ball. And I think it was last

year when Hardball came out and said, we're not going to be giving Derek Henry the ball 20 plus times. And then they started giving him the ball 20 plus times. They started winning. This year, for some reason, they don't want to give him the ball in certain games and think bad things happen. Then they give him the ball and great things happen. What is it? They're just worried he's going to get hurt. They don't think he can do what he is.

What do you think it is about the Ravens potentially not using him all the time? And do you think they'll ever make that mistake again after he literally breaks the record books at Lambo and in the NFL? It's almost like, hey, we have Lamar Jackson. We're giving him $200 million. Let's use him as much as possible. And because of that, everybody else kind of falls by the wayside. But I saw a stat that's interesting. Snoop Huntley has their only two victories over 500

teams. So it's something to think about like, oh, okay. When Lamar goes out and they focus on Derek Henry, is that one of those things where, hey, they have more success? And no one ever wants to have this conversation. There are, you know, 28 teams that want Lamar Jackson and quarterback. But when they do focus on Derek Henry, they have more success. Okay. And on that note, number four headline in the NFL, the inevitable. Okay, if you grew up in one of these cities, I think you understand that this was inevitable. Sunday night football,

the Pittsburgh Steelers in Accresher Stadium will host the Baltimore Ravens. One of the greatest rivalries in all of sport, certainly in the NFL, the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers will be battling not just for an AFC North title, but you lose, you go home. Playoff berth means maybe we can go on a run.

Derek Henry, he gets into the playoffs. Is there any team that's going to be able to stop him for four quarters if they're able to do it? And on defense aside, are they ever going to be able to just flip the switch and become great at defense? Because they've got stars all over the place. I'm watching that game, and I'm seeing big name, big name. I know that guy. I know that guy. How come their ass on the defense?

How come they haven't been fantastic? Well, let's just say they turn it on. And Derek Henry's able to do his thing. Are the Baltimore Ravens going to be able to win a playoff game this year? Maybe. If you have a home playoff game, maybe. in the Pittsburgh Steelers. They go all in there on the off season.

They're trying to win a Super Bowl. Teams hot. We're doing it. Then we cool off. Just lose to the Cleveland Bronx. Oh my God. But who cares? It's Cleveland and you move on.

You win on Sunday night football and you're in the playoffs. This was inevitable. And tone, I think you were staring it down for the last few weeks. And you're bummed out about it, it feels like. Yeah, it was inevitable. I am bummed out soon as, and this is why I was rooting so hard for the Packers on Saturday. and I put out the hashtag go pack go tweet soon as they lost all steelers fans pretty much had a good idea of what was going to happen yesterday because raven Steelers week 18

Sunday night football was the inevitable is the thing that we are going to all have to go through once we move past the disappointment of yesterday we will then be able to focus on this matchup and whether Steelers or Ravens have a chance in it. Steelers the last three weeks have got up 78, 15 and 63 yards rushing so that will be the game then versus Darry. Eric Henry. And we should feel good because we didn't dominate it. We won 2722 the first matchup of the season, but they scored 10 out, 10 unanswered in the fourth quarter. But, you know, it's just something right now, I'm just mad that it's happening. Yeah, it does feel like you have a lot of negativity. And if you make it in the playoffs, you're going to have to play

a primetime game. You know, it feels like he doesn't want a primetime game because he doesn't want the world to see primetime Pittsburgh Steelers. Last game in a year. Because then his mentions become pretty wild, but I like the fact that this is Sunday night football. I like that it's Aaron Rogers and his Pittsburgh Steelers team playing for life or death for their season, not for actuality. And now Hembo Center v. stat, this would be

the second time that Aaron Rogers will play in a win or go home game for the division title in the final week of the season. The other came in 2013 against the Bears leading the package to a 33-28 victory and a late touchdown to Randall Cobb in the final minute. This is what we have here, actually. It's 28, 27, 46

seconds left. Fourth and eight. Aaron Rogers magic to that stunt, that handsome blue-eyed Randall Cobb. Those were the good old days, Ty, weren't they? Yeah, they certainly were. Ben Johnson's done on the sideline for that Bears team, and that was before they were good, better, or best. And that was when they were letting it rest instead of never letting it rest until the good became better and their better became best.

Bears are certainly a different team now than they were then. Jay Cutler, obviously smoking Jay. We're certainly a fan of him as a human. But the Green Bay Packers getting a late winner go home. Touchdown like that is special. will that be the same thing that happens on Sunday night with the Pittsburgh Steelers? Do you think the Pittsburgh Steelers have a shot against his Baltimore Ravens team who seemingly just found who they were in week 17 going into the biggest game of the year?

Yeah, and that last matchup, a big reason the Steelers won't have a big game. And now, D.K. won't be there. We saw, you know, the guys who were there when the game was on the line. So I think they'll be missing number four. And I think the Ravens will, whether Lamar plays or not, I think they're going to lean heavy on 22. keep giving the ball and force the sealers to show up and stop him. We'll see if they can do it. But I like the Ravens going on this one.

Yeah, it's going to be hard. Nah, it's Aaron Rogers. Let's remember. Guy just ran for 230. I mean, it's going to be hard not to think about all these things as we're picking this game. We don't have to do that today. We'll do that on Friday. The dog in this series between Harbaugh and Tomlin is 25, 8, and 3 against the spread.

Against the spread. What about straight up? Well, I know the Steelers were dogs in Baltimore earlier in season and won. Oh! Okay, so I wanted out in the last one. That's definitely too many points. Three and a half. It always seems to be three and a half in this game.

Well, is Aaron going to treat MvS like Megatron or? He might have a great week of practice. What was the demon? The demon was out there. I mean, is already going to forget that we're paying John Owe and Muth more than anybody else on the offense? I don't know. The real question is, is Ryan Kennedy? Is Ryan Kennedy going to be sitting in Accrues Stadium front row wearing a backwards Ravens hat?

That's kind of what if this comes down to, I think. People are thinking he's actually working for the Baltimore Ravens all season. And he said in his press conference on Friday, I've been a season ticket holder. I've never had a violation. You can look it up like, I respected him sitting in there and explaining his entire situation, especially when it comes to animal cruelty and racist. I agree, by the way. I agree.

I shout out to Ryan Kennedy doing that. But a lot of people are saying this feels like this was like a Baltimore Raven super high intel chess play almost, maybe. Getting D.K. Metcalf, the guy who is their weapon? and explosive weapon out for the last two weeks. I'm sure Butto would be sending a thank you to Ryan Kennedy if the Baltimore Ravens were able to get into the playoffs. But I saw them all pulling for the Cleveland Browns as well. So it seems like Baltimore vibes, fans, team, everything, good.

Steelers, full disarray. You lose to the Cleveland Browns. You got Shador Sanders throwing pump fakes in the air. They threw it. That ball has to be down. That thing's still floating right to his guy. That's a touchdown. Pittsburgh Steelers Ravens Sunday night football for the time.

title for a playoff birth, that's a beautiful thing. What a ball. I mean, that's exactly what it's supposed to be. And it's not just the only great game we have in week 18. Week 18 is about to be epic. We have an epic final weekend of the NFL season on deck. You have the Carolina Panthers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Saturday 4.30 kicking it off. That's for the NFC South title.

Winner goes, loser out. Seattle Seahawks versus the Niners, oh, that's just for the number one seed. That's on Saturday night at 8 p.m. on ESPN. And then for Sunday, 425, a lot of 4 o'clock. games that are good. Chargers, Broncos. That's for if the Broncos win, they get the number one overall seed. If they lose, they could potentially drop to the third overall seat because they're still AFC West Chance for the first time in a decade. So there's certainly beat top four. But there's a world where the Jags win, I believe. Broncos lose. And then the Broncos are

a third seed. Patriots are the one seed. Jags are the two seats. So everything for this is seeding purposes. But for the Broncos, the seven and a half point favorites. I like that team. lot. I like the Denver Broncos a lot, especially with Big Ball Bo Nix. Yeah. Hey, Big Bo Nix is actually spinning it right now, and it feels like he's under complete control of the offense. Now, if you watch this Denver Broncos team all year, you think to yourself, well, it hasn't been that like electrifying to watch. The finishes haven't been that big of blowouts. The defense is still who the defense is. And Bo Nix is only getting better seemingly, D. Butch, as they take on the Chargers in the final week to potentially be the

number one seed in the AFC. Yeah, this is crazy. To turn around and Bo Nix, the the jump that he's made from year one or year two. He's been great Sean Payton and this defense, like this defense, this pass rush against the Chargers offensive line and those group of guys that try to block for Justin Herbert. That's going to be a scary situation to watch. We just saw it in the Houston game,

even though it was still a close game, once again, some late calls down and stretched down on both sides. But it's going to be a great battle in the AFC West. This whole week 18, but this Denver Broncos team, electric finishes, and I feel like Bo Nix plays his,

best ball when it's when it's the highest pressure moment. So I love that about quarterbacks, especially young quarterback like Bo. I like the way he plays. I like the way Sean Payton. And remember, this Denver Broncos team decided last year to take on the biggest salary cap hit in the history of football. Now, are they laying down kind of the groundwork or trailblazing for other franchises cut bait with bad contracts and just go forward with people that want to be there? Maybe. But what they have been able to accomplish with not as much money as everybody else is certainly fantastic. And if they're the number one seed

in the AFC, that would be bananas. You like Bo? You like Bo more than you like Justin Herbert? Cool. Healthy, Bo. So the thing about Justin Herbert. Absolutely not. Justin Herbert is full track meat.

Okay, so I feel like anytime you judge quarterback, we and we're a part of the problem. We'll talk about the entire picture. Justin Herbert's running for his life a lot. Everybody. I mean, it feels like he's running for his life a lot. Now, is there always going to be excuses? Like, is that all of the

always going to be the excuse, potentially, but they've had some pretty impactful injuries that that offensive line. And Herbert is seemingly always running for his life. And against his Denver defense, I just don't know if that's the position I want to be in, but I have faith in Herbert. Like, Herbo is a guy. I'm a big fan. Will they ever be able to just figure it out, though? Like, you know, like that's, they always have it. It's tough. And that's why I have, we put so much respect on teams that actually go and win it, especially if you win multiple championships, because there's always teams or franchises or quarterbacks or coaches that you can make excuses for.

That's just life, that's football. So the teams and the quarterbacks and the coaches that can kind of get over that hump and win a big game, whether it's the Buffalo Bills, can they finally go and get it down the stretch? The Patriots, oh, they're not tested yet. They haven't played a tough schedule. Like, it's always these built-in excuses for everyone.

So we'll see who can figure it out. But, I mean, watch it Judge Herbert against even this Texan team. Like, you expect it to coming into the game. You know what that pass rush is. You know what his offense. line is and you actually watch the game you like damn like I feel bad for that guy sometimes and you never would have felt bad

for an NFL player especially a quarterback but like you see shit like this and it's like come on man but I guess it happens you know pretty much every game but it should be a great one seven and a half points I think there's a lot of points for division uh divisional opponents week 18 but I'm excited to watch it so on that note about the Texans defense or what the

Broncos defense Chris Ryan Rim reported via ESPN research the Texans pressure Justin Herbert 20 times on Saturday that's his fourth game with 20 plus pressures this season. Most by a quarterback in a season since, Justin Herbert in 2022. It's like, are they ever, they tried. Hardball comes in first draft pick. Oh, we need another one. We need to do this. And then he get a couple injuries and all of a sudden it's back to the same old shit and it's Herbert running for his life, actually running for his life back

there. Well, it just, you know, you read that and it makes you feel like they're never going to get it figured out. And again, like maybe they do have that excuse in place because they have tried to do everything they can. But every time we go into a season, I feel like, everyone's hot on the Chargers because of how good Herbert is and because of Jim Harbaugh. And then at this point in the season, we're saying the exact same thing. He's like, well, he's running for his life on every single play. His offensive line sucks is skill position players aren't as good as they need to be. It's just it's a broken record over and over.

But who knows? Maybe this is the year that changes. Well, and that's the thing. They've been strapped for cash for so long. I mean, we forget that they got rid of Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, a couple years ago. They got rid of Joey Bose. So, like, they've had to get rid of a bunch of players. Now, if there was ever a year for the Chargers to make a run, it would be.

when the chiefs completely fall off, but instead, you know, the Broncos kind of rise up with the second easiest schedule in the NFL people forget to talk about. And that's why with the Chargers, the New England Patriots, everyone talks about that, though. With the Chargers with Herbert, though, that was the first time on Saturday where it was like, wow, okay, this guy is so screwed, damn near every single play. They should have scored, what, three touchdown? They should have had 24 points at least against the Texans. Like, we're talking about the Texans, yeah, with the field goals. Dicker misses a kick that he statistically. Most accurate kicker in the history of the NFL.

Yeah. So it's like everything seemingly always goes wrong for the Chargers. That's why it's damn near impressive that, you know, Herbert has willed them to 11 wins. Now, who knows what happens in the playoffs of all the favorites win, to your point about the seating. They end up with the seven seed and they end up traveling to New England. So it's just, will they ever figure it out? I don't know. I genuinely hope they do, though, because watching Justin Herbert is a treat every single time.

Their defense is very good, too. Defense is going to play well under Mentor, so they'll have a chance. And he's gone. And he's gone. Yeah, he's going to be gone to be a head coach. Who knows? Let's move to the next headline, and you mentioned to potentially having to travel to New England, the not so.

Evil Empire is back. We've been talking about this for a bit now. And I think it's maybe because of who we are. But we like Vrable as football coach. We like Vrable as human. We like Vrable's story getting kicked out of Tennessee and basically going free-loading to Cleveland. Browns for a year back at his hometown and then going back to the place in which he's in the

Hall of Fame. Drake May, this guy was talked about being a guy who, yeah, he's athletic, but it's going to take forever. Every time he answers any question, he says the right thing. And he's damn new perfect. I think he just had the best quarterback game in the history of football. Yeah, ever, ever. It's the highest QBR in the history, single game QBR in the history of any quarterback that's ever played football since 2006. Drake May just did that. Now, granted, we're going into the playoffs. So what a time to play your best football is what we're aiming for. But not only does he play best football on the field. It's like off the field. He says everything that you would want your lead mind, your front mind to say and be like. Seems like the entire team loves

them. Seems like the locker room is together. Vrable has it right. And it's hard to hate this team. I'm going to be honest. It's hard to hate the New England Patriots. Now, we'll be able to figure out how to hate them if they start stacking up Lombardies like they did for the last 20 years before in the last dynasty? But it's crazy to think that the evil empire, the New England Patriots, are all the way back. Could be the number one seed in the AFC. Could obviously, win the Super Bowl this year. No questions. They have everything that you can potentially win a Super Bowl with. And it's almost a more likable squad because it's more unexpected at this stage. Is that what it is, Dee Bow? I don't know. Maybe we're too close to

it because we like Braves. We know Braves. I mean, most of us, we like Diggs. We like a lot. We love. I love Drake May. We love him. I think outside of you zoom out a little bit, I think majority of NFL fans probably still hate the Patriots and probably will forever hate the Patriots because they always won. They always got calls. And now you got another second the quarterback that you had that you lost to for two decades so I think I think the hate is still out there I think they still are the evil empire even though they are more like we had shrags up here he was talking about from the media standpoint being in the building how it feels different people actually smile about you not walking on eggshells and shit like that but um yeah I think

they're still the evil empire he got trapped up seeing them back go ahead well it's funny you said something in there that I just I don't want to completely go there yet he's not the second coming because he's kind of the first coming no one's ever done the shit he's doing. It's okay. You know what? I will forgive you for this time. He's the first ever quarterback with 90% completed passes

while throwing for 250 yards and five touchdowns in a single game. He actually was removed from the game with 530 left in the third quarter. So that would have been for 300 plus yards and probably seven plus touchdowns in a single game, but we were robbed

of that, but that's because the Jets are the worst franchise in all of sports. He's Also, the first ever quarterback with 4,200 pass yards, 30 pass touchdowns, what? 110 pass already. 400 plus rush yards and four rushing touchdowns. I mean, that's the coolest thing for me is that he also has the mobility that people forget about. And then, yes, to the one that was just shown, this is just the second time ever that a team has gone from 13 losses to 13 wins. Drake May's first year to his second year and Peyton Manning's first year to his second year.

and you might say, well, this is a 17 game season. Well, shut up, we did it in 16 games. This is, and I can't emphasize enough, the coolest feeling ever, you know, as a Patriots fan who went through all the shite, it was tough. But to sit here last night and watch a scene like this, and I don't know if we even want to play the audio, but it's just the Patriots watching the bills melt, and the bills actually became, you know, the first team ever to win five straight

division titles and not go to a Super Bowl once. Kind of cool, I guess, too, for a New England Patriots fan, another victory you can take. But it all starts with that guy. It truly is Mike Vrable. And he just seeing the vibe around it is something that is new when it comes to winning. Because, you know, the winning shit isn't new for New England Patriots fans. But the winning with a smile on your face, that is new.

It is cool to see all the players get the love and kind of respect that they deserve from the layman, if you will, and from the football fan. But, yeah, you might as well listen to it. No, no, listen to it. Him calling everybody up at the FBI after a game, after a flight. home, not normal. This is an abnormal situation just in general. And by the way, to your point about Vraibs, just everybody buying in, y'all, Braves is

talking, let's go ahead and relax. And you hear, every time you hear a Stefan Diggs talk, with everything that's ever been said about Stefan Diggs. Yeah. In the world that Stefan Diggs is currently in where he's more famous than he's ever been. You know, I would assume his clout is higher than it's ever been. It's like, listen to him be a leader on the team. That was clearly Vrable going to him early.

Like, hey, I'm going to need you to be a guy in here. It's like what he does, how he does it, clearly gets everybody to buy you. But it's winning. football. You know, it's winning football as well. And you mentioned it a few times before that he kind of seems like he's in it with the guys. Like, yeah, I'm in it with the guys. Obviously, my vote just counts 10. And I don't know, you probably have more context, but I saw a clip that they have the audio on with him and our Christian Barmore going into a halftime. I think Barmore may have got into it with another player. And you see like Vrabel like in his face going

back and forth. And that's the thing. A lot of coaches are put in a position. And sometimes they avoid those type of conflicts or those type of conversation with their players. But Vrable just steps right into it. I assume he said like, hey, we'll fight him afterwards. Something like, it felt like it was like a very, very intense. And he hit him in the chest too. We're able like hit him in the chest a couple times like, yo, we don't need that right now, who you are and who they are. I think it was and hopefully they do have the mic'd up moment. I think they went eight and no on the road. Okay, I think that was something they all talked about as motivation. You heard Stefan Diggs talk about, he heard Drake May talk about. I think people on the defensive side talked

about it. And I think they said something about packing their culture. Is that what they've said, we can pack our culture, take it on the road. I forget what it was. They had a tagline though that multiple guys said and it was like oh this is how Vrable motivated these guys. Ain't no on the road and we can pack or something. I forget what it was but basically trying to prove like hey we can go and do this. There's been other

teams in the past here that have done this. We need to accomplish it. It felt obvious that that was the motivating factor going into the final week against the New York Jets and they obviously smacked the hell out of the New York Jets who might be. They are. They are actually a friend of the program right here. A good friend

Michael Cole of the program. He has jumped ship. He is now a New England Patriots fan. He is done with the Jets. That's not real. Yes, it is. Dude. I'm telling you, that can't be real. Just think about the kick thing that happened with that lady. Just think about that. Like, let alone your ass. Your team is cheeks. This is a butthole operation from top to bottom and it has been. Then this girl is going to want a kick for her dad. And then they find out that, ah, she might actually be able to make this thing. We played middle school soccer. She can't do this. We thought there was no chance she would make it. No way. play tennis there's no way

this lady's able to make a field goal then they find out somebody goes like hey there's she's a high school soccer there's she has kicked before cancel it cancel that thing completely get that out of there it's like everything they do is like how can we be the most hateable franchise like how can we make our fans hate us

more than they did before and obviously that is just kind of in it and we would have done a kick we reach out to the Rose Bowl where the next game day is and we thought there'd be no chance Rose Bowl people would say yes and with the torrential downpour potentially coming who knows how it'll go The Rose Bowl people are like, yeah, you can use the feel for Game Day for her to kick, by the way. So we were going to do that.

That was something that was happening. So when I put the eyeballs up on that thing, very much text, call, easy. Let's see, can we do this? It would have been for $2.502. You know, and I think it would have been at the Rose Bowl, whether or not she wanted to do that. So shout to the Rose Bowl saying, yes, we will definitely do that. And also shout to the Jets for saying, actually, yeah, she can do the $100,000 kick now. She missed it, okay, which stinks.

A lot of people missing kicks. I mean, that's pretty obvious going out there. but just everything about the organization sucks. And then you start seeing like, well, it's a new defensive head coach and a defensive mindset. It's like, well, they have zero interceptions on the season. Zero? Zero. None.

Not even like one that was tipped up in a year. Nope. Tips overthrows. Got to get those? They ain't. They ain't get any of them. That is just something that hasn't happened. Defensive coach. Now, they trade pieces away, great peaceful way, to get more assets.

And obviously they'll make the right decisions on what those assets should be going forward. We assume maybe I'm a fan of Aaron Glenn. but the shit that's coming out about this defense being historically terrible and his team being historically terrible is outrageous. Lost four straight games by 23 points in the history of the NFL football. History. Jets in 2025. Then he got to go back to the 70s, the 50s, the 30s, and the 20s.

The U-Rang Indians in 1923 lost four straight games by 23 plus points. And you think to yourself, the U-Rang Indians, that's on a team. It is. Yeah, Nikki Sassahs boys. Yes, actually, you do know of them. Who was the star on... Jimmy Thorpe? Yeah, you ever heard of him?

The Jim Thorpe? Yes, Jim Thorpe was star. The U-Rang Indians were a team of all Native Americans. I can't believe they called themselves that. I don't know if they know how offensive that was to themselves at the time. Okay, obviously, that would vastly be different now. But the U-Rang Indians were a team Jim Thorpe was on that was led by a guy who was literally just trying to sell dogs from his dog kennel. they lost four straight games of 23 plus points.

They didn't think it could be done at the time. Their first team ever did it, 1923. Teams like, there's no way you could be this ass. And then the U-Rang Indians were like, it's not about football anyways. We're trying to sell these sweet dogs. They got very cool. The Erdale Terriers, I believe, is the name of the dogs.

Good-looking dogs. I mean, they got good stances, good posture, good noses and everything like that. They were named the U-Rang Indians because the name U-Rang was a kennel where this guy was trying to sell dogs. They, there it is, that's the dog you're trying to move. That ain't the dog, actually. Is that Jim Thorpe? That's not the Airdale dog.

Yeah, Bruce got completely wrong. Jim Thorpe loves dogs, though, which we certainly respect. That's not the Airdale that they were trying. Yeah. What's that? You're right. Yeah, true, that's one of the things. Oh, yeah.

Animal cruelty. I completely forgot. Space hot. But anytime you're in the same conversation as the U-Rang Indians, who are a team that was literally only put together to move some dogs, you know, it's not going well. And that's the New York Jets of this season. And it's the first year with a new head coach.

And he's a defensive coach. And we love Aaron Glenn, but we don't save them. We don't know if they could be saved over there in New York, honestly. I mean, it was ugly all-time bad. You talk about zero interceptions. That seems impossible to be able to do. I think they're second or third to last in the league when it comes to sacks as well. You mentioned training Quinn Williams, Trades,

so obviously they were tanking on this year. It wasn't a little stretch in the middle of season. I think they won two or three maybe back-to-back games. But, yeah, it's just an all-around shit show. From the top down in New York Jets, say, I mean, will it be one and done? I hope not for Aaron Glenn. I like Aaron Glenn. I hope so for Aaron Glenn.

They have all these picks and shit. Will they do the right thing? They haven't done it historically. Let's see if they could figure it out. But, I mean, that shit is all time bad. The only thing I was thinking with this game right after halftime was get Drake May out. Like, I would hate to see him just go down and be hurt for the playoffs or anything like that. Because this team, who Brady Cook was that quarterback now,

You know? It's just, it's a shit show. Well, and that's why when you say, like, we like Aaron Glenn, I actually don't because the only thing that I was worried about was the injuries, and then they're doing cheap bullshit after the plays. It's like, okay, so this guy, or I won't say this guy, but this team is a detriment to football because watching them makes you not like the sport. But then at the other side of it, it's, oh, like, I'm now worried about just the safety in medical, you know, future of the players of the team I root for. When you think of the front office and ownership, they're crooks.

I mean, sure, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Pittsburgh Pirates guy, he, Bob Nutting, he just goes down to, you know, the Pirates Field, and he collects a check, and he doesn't spend money, and that's cool and great. We just paid O'Curne, thank you. That's right. Two years, 26 million, and baseball, that is basically pennies. But, again, it's one of those things where they're honestly just collecting checks, and that's how it feels. No matter what you say about this Jets team, there's nothing you can look at and say, like, that's good. Garrett Wilson has played since October and he's their leading receiver. It's almost

January. Like that is abysmal. It's pathetic beyond sports. Like it's pathetic in the sense of getting F's and finishing last in a race where you should finish first. I don't even know what's compared to because it's so embarrassing. As a Patriots fan

as a member of the AFC East, like I'm calling for their fans to either veto some sort of movement or growth within MetLife within the team. If I'm Aaron Glenn, if I'm a fan of Aaron Glenn, I'm telling him like, hey, you've got to chain yourself

to the practice facility and say, hey, no one's allowed to use this thing until either ownership sells, until they completely redo their front office, because there is any hope and guess what's going to happen? They're going to use those picks they got. They're going to draft two guys and both those guys. One of them might be really good.

They're going to trade him in three years after whoever they draft that quarterback doesn't work out. And most likely as well, they're never going to rebuild. The Dolphins, I have way more faith in the dolphins. The bills have Josh Allen and the Patriots have Drake May and Mike Freiboy. Realistically, the Jets are not going to win for another 20 plus years unless there's changes. Hey, J-E-T-S, J-E-S, J-E-S, J-E-S, he quit again.

Unfortunately, it is our fifth retirement tour for Firemanette. Firemanette has called it again. He's doing the George Boland-U. He's doing what you're saying. Yeah, he's saying enough, enough of this. Enough of this. I used to run towards fires, not away from, why am I standing up to cheer for dumpster fires? Okay, I'm a firefighter.

I'm supposed to be fighting against these things. And he feels like what he's cheering for at this point is a fire. Now, on that note, they were not in the lame bowl yesterday between the Raiders and the Giants. That was another team that caused MetLife home. So shout out to the New York, New Jersey people. You're doing great. Jump ship. At least they had a run.

Giants. Yeah, they did. Oh, yeah. The Jets did too. Remember Broadway, Joe? No, I don't remember. Yeah, me neither. I just seen a clip.

Yeah. They look like a good time. He was by the pool. You know, there's no social media. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, we're going to do this. Sick. Oh, let's go to the number one headline coming out of the weekend.

By far, the Sunday night thriller. The game of the year between the 11 and 4 Chicago Bears, first the 11 and 4, San Francisco 49ers. Caleb Williams, Ben Johnson, taking on Brock Purdy, Kyle Shanahan. Now, Shanahan, Ben Johnson. Hello. I mean, here we are. Obviously, McVeigh's name gets tossed in there and some others, but whenever you're talking about offensive minds, when you're talking about offensive brilliance, you're talking about those two coordinators. And then the defense coordinators in this game, Dennis Allen, former head coach, Robert Salah, former head coach. So whenever you talk about four supreme, incredible coordinators, you talk about this particular matchup. In forecasting it, I don't think we would have expected a shootup. I don't think we would have expected this thing to get to what it got. to, but as we were watching it, all any of us could think to ourselves, it was, wow, football is the greatest. Brock Purdy's obviously dancing his ass off.

He's got the duggy down pat. He said he'd been practiced at in front of the mirror. He certainly has. First play, pick six. Chicago Bears' defense. How you doing? Keep it moving. In Santa Clara, 15 seconds into this game, it's 7-0 Chicago Bears.

Is Brock Purdy going to have one of those ass games that he's had in the past? Is Christian McCaffrey not going to be able to do anything? Uh-uh. Christian McCaffrey goes upset. Absolutely harm. Now, I put out a couple tweets about Christopher in the way we talk about him is as if he's a machine. He never gets tired. How is this guy on the field all the time?

How is this guy get the ball all the time? How does he take this many hits? How is he able to just never get tired and how is he always explosive? Because, you know, in boxing later rounds, the juice is all gone. So laying in a massive shot in like the 10th, 11th, 12, 3rd is going to be difficult just because you don't have enough explosion in you because of how long the fight has been. In the fourth quarter, third quarter, after you've gotten a ball 40 times,

both through the sky and on the ground, I don't know how there's any explosion left in your body. He somehow always has it, always explosive, never gets tired, always has the ball, and this dude is special. In Brock Purdy, he's seemingly at a different level this year. The Purdy Moxie is fantastic. It's not just through the sky

and understanding what is going on. How about on the ground, I'm going to be faster than you, and then I'm going to do my shit. Yeah, I'm a, uh, uh, uh, hey, hey. I saw some white people on the internet saying what Purdy was doing was cringe. Yeah, right. Purdy crushes that thing. Now, a little bit of a juke here, you know, stays clean.

They even give us the Hulkster, huh? Excuse me, let me hear it's Santa Clara. You got an absolute dog here getting paid $50 million a year. And then this play, obviously going to run for the rest of time for Brock Purdy on Sunday night football. He's shaking, he's baking, he's cooking, he's looking. And touchdown, Harvard Big Brain Juice with the perfect spike. And Brock Party got a euro step. Uh-huh.

Uh-huh. Hey, hey, hey, Brock Purdy, unbelievable. Now, Trent Williams pulls a hamstring, okay? So what is that going to do? George Kittle, obviously, not playing. What are they going to look like going forward? But this San Francisco 49ers team outgunned, outman, outlasted, the Chicago Bears team who had a chance.

The Chicago Bears had four seconds left on a clock, down four. And they had Caleb Williams with the ball in his hands. All he had to do was score a touchdown from the two and a half yard line. He's cooking. He's moving. Is anybody open? Final answer? No. Was he throw one?

Yes. Does Tarrico make a great call? Absolutely. Love the energy. The San Francisco 49ers win. The San Francisco 49ers won that game on that play. Nobody was open. Now, were we expecting some Ben Johnson shit? They ran a hook and ladder right before that to get down there. Was there a two-point play maybe that could have happened that Ben Johnson had in his back pocket to win the game?

Potentially. But instead, what we saw was an electrifying, epic, instant classic between these two teams, who obviously are going to have great runs. in the playoffs and potentially are only getting started with these two franchises for the next five, ten years. Thank you football. Thank you, Bears. Thank you Niners. Thank you Sunday Night Football, Dibud.

Yeah, unbelievable stop right there by Diomador, Lenore at that corner on that hook and ladder. If he likes to get the edge right there, even get out of bounds, it's kind of a different game down there. You kind of maybe some Bears fans want to just play a little closer to the end zone, but if he wins, they win it,

he scores right there. Ben Johnson's a genius. Just a great game by both team. Both offenses. Usually you can find some corner of the internet, bitch in their moaning or something about any game and most of the internet is pretty universally agree. Like, hey, this is a great game. It's a great prime time game. Went back

and forth. Wasn't it history, I think, back and forth being tied all the way up to 35. Just an unbelievable game. Great game by Caleb Williams as well. 3.30 in the air, two touchdowns, no interceptions. But back-to-back games now for Brock Purdy being responsible for five touchdowns. And we always talked about an early in his career. Hey,

he's just doing this because of Kyle or Dibor, I are you, you mentioned all those names being out of the lineup and then putting this shit on his back. So just a big time performance by both of these teams and an unbelievable job by the Niners still got a chance to get the one seat to have, you know, home field advantage throughout the Super Bowl. Tong is doing his thing. Pierceall doing his thing. Jennings doing his thing, having a couple massive plays. And it's like without Fred, we saw Fred last night, which was cool. It was good to see Fred.

He was pretty active. Without Bosa, is this team going to have enough? Do they have enough on the defensive side? I know Ben Johnson and Chicago Bears' offense is very good. But did the Niners have enough on the defensive side? They're playing for the number one seed. No, I think that would be the question for both of these teams. The defense, can they step up and stop?

You gave up 80 points on the field. So I don't think either one of these teams have enough on that side of the ball. Offensively, I think both of these teams can make a run. Okay, so that's the number one headline coming out of Week 17 is the Sunday Night Thriller. What are a couple things we miss, Dibut, you think? We kind of mentioned it a little bit with the Broncos. First time in 10 years in a decade, winning their division. Last time, I believe it's when they went to the Super Bowl.

And then on the flip side on the other side, the NFC, the Eagles. They get an ugly, ugly winning Buffalo, but their defense since week eight, giving up a 15 points per game since that Jalen Phillips trade. Cooper DeGine has been phenomenal. Quinn Yon Mitchell, also a pro bowler, two pro bowlers in the back. And Jailor Carter's back. And whenever he's on the field, he's going to be dominant, had his mitt on another field goal this weekend.

So, yeah, this is a team that is poised to make a run in the playoffs. I've never jumped off the Eagles bandwagon. I know my head coach just missed a lot. room, but I'm still on the bad way. I think they can get hot and get rolling. Josh Allen missing that throw, abnormal, completely abnormal. Jalen Carter blocking a kick the extra point of Michael Badgley, not abnormal. He's a guy. Obviously, Jalen Carter has become a part of this. And maximum effort on fuel goal or extra point blocks is a good sign from your best players, especially with Jalen. And if he has a little bit of hope that he's going to be

able to get it, he's going to continue to push. Them going from two, I didn't mind it. I mean, I know people are saying, hey, Eagles' offense, I think Jalen Hurts was 0 for 7 in the second half passing, which is like the worst, I think, out of any team that's ever won a football game in the history of football or something like that. So why not take this to overtime? You have it. It's like, well, you have all the momentum, too, the guys wide open. Josh Allen does what Josh Allen does 99 out of 100 times.

It puts this on him. They win the game right there, and everybody says they love the play. So it's very Monday morning quarterback-ish to be able to go after the decision. But on that note, Josh never misses them. No. No. Rain an MVP. He put the ball in his hands.

And Coach Seriani afterwards was talking his shit going up the tunnel. I'm talking about it. Both more. Have so much anymore. Woo! Not so much anymore. AJ's like he got it. Lockroom's right here.

Take it on here. Coach, he missed the locker room. That locker room's been there since the beginning of that stadium. Them coming down the same tunnel. Out the same tunnel is obviously a part of a lot of different scenes in the history. different scenes in the history of ball. But him almost missing that locker room just so he could talk his shit, feels like Seriani's back.

The Eagles defense is back. Is Jalen going to be able to get back? We shall see. We appreciate you all for allowing us to do this for a living. We'll see you on the other side. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice.