The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1481 - TOP 5: NFL Week 18 Recap, Coach Firings, & the Playoff Field

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

On today's show, Pat, Darius Butler, and the boys break down the biggest storylines from week 18 of the NFL season in the TOP 5, chat about coaches and GM's being fired, and look ahead to the playoff field. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

it's time to get to our top five top five top five headlines coming out of the end of the NFL season let's start with number five this is driven by ram and you know anytime you drive a ram you're going to think to yourself wow this thing's all all power oh hell this thing's so comfortable wow this thing so easy to use oh look at all the space I got and then whenever you hit that gas pedal it's going to sound like and that's going to be that power you know I believe the hemie is coming back that's right but I also know that the ram truck even if it doesn't have a hemie he's got a stronger engine than you let's get to the top five number five we're dancing okay this is what we've been waiting for super wild car weekend is officially locked it is saturday sunday and monday of

magical NFL football now throughout the season you think to yourself who's going to get to one scene who's going to get to two see who's going to get home field advantage are we going to make it are we not going to make it there's teams on a bubble we need this to happen Tampa bay buccaneers who make a may feel a long day hey day man nice house mm-hmm real nice hot looks like getting some work done yeah him sent up on that island oh yeah the kitchen she's bumped on that's a good house glass marble hey you earned that big you earned that bang is a walk on i think at one point yeah he was banger was a walk on at one point what a store yeah what a what a store yeah what literally instagram story and uh metaphorically baker mayfield story right as a whole he's watching along

seeing how people are doing everybody's waiting for something now we got it officially locked 14 teams make it on saturday rams take on the panthers rams favored by ten and a half on draft kings just five weeks ago the panthers beat the ramps people will forget about that panthers hosting playoff game congrats carolina congrats carolina had to have something happened for him obviously in the other game that was happening in the NFC south between the the saints and the falcons and uh congrats of them getting that done but they're they have 61% of the public bets strictly because they're getting 10 and a half they just beat them five weeks ago This Carolina Panthers team, I think, could be stingy.

They could come up and get you. Or what the books are expecting, draft king's expecting, is Matthew Stafford in the playoffs now. This is whenever all the stars come out. You know, people say the biggest games create the biggest players in the biggest moments. That's why they're called the big players. Well, there's a chance that some of these stars

are either coming out of the dirt or some of these stars are already there and they're going to go on a run. Matthew Stafford, Pooka and the boys over there in L.A., they're in the big lights all the time. Is this whenever they play their best, or is this Carolina Panthers finally coming out and saying, were for real. Now, a lot of people are going to be pissed at Panthers

host in a playoff game. Their record is as compared to a lot of other people that have gotten into the playoffs, but this Carolina Panthers team can beat anybody. And on that note, this Rams team could beat anybody last year in the playoffs. Will they be able to do that again? And Matthew Stafford is going to win the MVP, it appears, after a

four touchdown day, Dibbush. Yeah, Stafford has had a phenomenal year from wire to wire, and I mentioned it earlier. You know, if you're going into this playoff run with a head coach quarterback combination, you probably feel most comfortable either Rams or the Eagles but yeah on the row at the Panthers team you lost against had Mike Jackson had a pick six in that game of some weather some other things going on Panthers a good team good defenders for sure I think this would be a great matchup 10 and a half

is a lot of points especially on the road Packers Bears you guys split during a regular season that is correct how do you feel going into the playoffs I saw Jordan Love not playing saw Caleb doing his thing over the weekend your thoughts I as a Packers fan I actually feel very good like you said Packers are limping into the playoffs worse than probably any other team in the like the entire playoff field and you know they they didn't they didn't play anybody yesterday so you worry hey are they going to be rusty coming in but chicago did play everybody like they haven't been sitting anybody at all and they didn't look great yesterday yeah exactly against the lions so and again it's a lot of those guys for the bears like this is the this is the first time they've

went to the playoffs like the packers team is young but they're experienced like they've been to the playoffs before and for them you know like they know each other very well so yeah as a as a packers fan just like bears fans are probably confident i'm very confident i like that we get an nmc north rivalry game right there on saturday night a super wildcard weekend and then oh yeah we go to bed wake up have a little breakfast talk to the fam maybe go talk to god and then all of a sudden the buffalo bills are down in duval against the jacksville jaguars bills favored by one and a half i'll tell you what we'll talk about it here in a moment i feel for those bills fans what they're going through right now big time what's that we'll talk about it a little bit okay they're going through

it this weekend say goodbye to an old friend. That's right. It's always tough. It is, but it might not be goodbye because there is a chance, technically, that it could have another game, but nonetheless Bill is taking on the Jags. I think Jags said goodbye to an old friend as well, and that friend was one that was dragging them down.

The friend that they are currently friends with is one that is prosperous. Oh, yeah. The Jacksonville Jaguars are a great football game. The Jacksonville Jaguars getting off the bus look like a great football team. When you talk about having the speed, the explosive, the power, everything you could possibly need to win a playoff game, Jacksonville Jaguars have it. They can

talk about offense. Do they have enough to be able to keep up with Josh Allen? I don't know if anybody does. Josh Allen is Josh Allen. Trevor Lawrence playing his best ball. Sure. Second play clock thing goes out to the thing, hey, this guy going to be wide ass open. Our team could hear him. Didn't matter.

First down. Hey, that guy going to be wide ass open. Trevor, you got it. Hey, first down, wide ass open. Liam, seemingly a super genius. And the way they've been able to rebuild that in such a quick amount of time without the second overall pick i don't know if as many people have respect for the jacksville jaguars as they should but i'll tell you beating the buffalo bills super wild car weekend to kick off sunday would be a great way to say hello to the world d bud

this is a great great match i mean i love all these match up this is a big time matchup you talk about not having the respect i guess uh league wide from like the casual fans i think if you've been paying attention to football this season you have to respect them at this point but yeah Trevor Lawrence, we always start with the quarterback. His turnaround since Liam got there is unbelievable. And it would be a close, close race for Coach of the year. Liam will probably get my vote because of what he did with Trevor Lawrence and that team. You know, having Anthony Campanelli on the defensive side of all,

I believe they're tied with the Bears as far as takeaways, but their numbers up and down defensively are better than the Bears. So they definitely have a chance at home against Josh Allen, who everybody's going to look at us. If you don't get it done this year, Josh, I don't want to hear it. Oh, no, Patrick Mahomes is not in. Joey Burrow, not in, Lamar Jackson, not in. So is this the year Josh Allen goes on a run?

New England, obviously, back in a big way in the AFC East. Conman, you've been saying the Bill's window has been closed for like five years. You were saying it as a New England Patriots fan, but it does feel like this year would be the year, it would be wide-ass open, but they have some things on their roster that the Jacksonville Jaguars can certainly take advantage of Conman. Yeah, no doubt about it. I mean, it will be a Josh Allen or bus type of playoffs. You know, it's kind of been that way for the entire season.

He's been carrying them. Can he carry them in the playoffs? I think we all believe that. He's done it for multiple, multiple massive games. And then for the Jags, it's kind of the opposite. Last time they hosted a playoff game against the Chargers at home and they ended up squeezing it out. We'll see if they can do it again.

Yeah, if you look at these quarterbacks that are in the dance right now, I believe Josh Allen is second with all-time playoff wins behind. Obviously, Aaron Rogers. So, yeah, I trust 17 in the playoffs. Trevor Lawrence has had one of the craziest playoff experiences of all time. We all watch that. I think he threw four picks in the first half. Came back in one in the second half.

It's like, will he be able to do that again? I don't know against Josh Allen, but we shall see San Francisco 49ers taking on the Eagles. Interesting move by the Eagles. Coach Siriani came out and said, it's my decision is what I think. Yeah, we disagree. Obviously, there's going to be differing opinions. He said, I like my guys to be healthy and fresh going into playoffs. They could have got the number two overall seat if they really went for it and said they chose

to rest. So now the Eagles lock in at three. They're hosting the San Francisco 49ers who lose to the Seattle Seahawks. Seattle Seahawks might be a basketball team. They're not a part of Super Wildcar, we can still in it. Yeah, great football team. Congrats to them and to the Denver Broncos, by the way. Number one, seeds across the board.

But Niners, Eagles, any quick thoughts on how this one should play out? I mean, they kind of had bad blood previously from the last time that the Eagles went to the Super Bowl. like so I don't know if this is like a budding rivalry but it's tough because we were talking about the niners you know being one of the hottest teams in the NFL going into this I think the Eagles are the one team though who like we've kind of just packed them in like I would not be surprised at all if the Eagles start to play their best football when the playoffs start and I think they're still as likely as any team in the NFC to go to the Super Bowl 80% of the bet sitting on the San Francisco 49ers plus three and a half what's that mean tone I think it's just because like the talk all season long is how bad the Eagles have looked even though they are what they are and the offense has not looked great and then they don't look great yesterday against the commanders. San Francisco obviously didn't look great against the Seahawks on Saturday night, but they had been on a run with Brock Purdy where the offense had looked really, really good. So I think it's just like a residency bias thing

in this situation. How about Sam Donald though? Just quick. I don't want to move faster too much because we need to give him some credit. Some of the biggest moments, he made the biggest plays and he were completions to his own team. That's right. Yep. That needs to be talked about. Yeah. Congrats, Sam. Good grass, Sam. 14 wins back to back years. Is Jailing going to be first guy ever?

Tom Brayton. Okay. Yeah. Pretty good. Pretty good. I would like to say, get the monkey off of his back. He did it. Yeah.

To get the number one overall seed in a big moment, made it. Now they ran the ball very well. And obviously the way they scripted that entire thing was very beneficial to a quarterback, as it should be. Maybe others should have done that in the past. But whenever he needed to make a couple,

I mean, he made a couple. Good for Sam Darnold doing his thing and congrats to Seattle Seahawks. If Jalen Hertz can play as well as Sam Darnal can play against that Niners defense, the Eagles move on in my eyes. See, that's a big if. I've seen Jailen Hertz do it on this stage multiple times, multiple years,

a couple Super Bowls. I've seen Siriani and I've damn sure seen that defense who have been playing well, kind of take it to another level. So I feel very confident about my Philadelphia Eagles in this matchup. Brock Purdy coming off being held to three points after that hot. run before running into that Seahawks defense kind of concerns me as well and coach

B.A sat here a few weeks ago and talked about Brock Purdy in these outdoor kind of late season environments I don't know what the weather will be in Philly on Sunday but for all those things I feel very confident with the Eagles okay and then Chargers Patriots wrap up Saturday night football I cannot wait for this one now the charges basically chose to be the number seven seed rested their players could have stolen and not been this seed take on the Patriots. Now, New England can obviously utilize that. I will say this. Following this Patriots team for the last three years has been a blast with this guy, okay, alongside Connor Campbell. Boston Connor is a Patriots diehard. I think there is no faking that. I think that is his life. I think we

have experienced it. There was times where we thought maybe his team was going to stink for the rest of his life and that he was just going to have to try to relive the memories of when he was just a boy in the New England Patriots were good. This man was going to parades over the span of his first 20 years of his existence then all of a sudden maybe it never happens again he's going to have to tell his little baby boy and baby girl and maybe even grandbaby and grandbabies grandbabies say there was a time when the patriots ran this whole damn thing there was a thought that that was going to take place for all patriots fans everywhere Connor Campbell more specifically but instead somehow the Tennessee Titans good luck to whoever gets hired there I'm sure it's going to go great

yikes they kick him out the door he sits in Cleveland for a year, and somehow, lo and behold, the team that he played for, the team that he loves, the team that he's in the Hall of Fame for, the team that he's in the Ring of Honor with, he has an opening all of a sudden because they fire a coach after one year, one and done, just like Pete Carroll had. He comes

in there, flips the entire thing, and oh, yeah, they got an MVP candidate in his second year at the age of 23. And the offensive coordinator, yeah, he's been a head coach for it sucks. He doesn't like it. He just wants to be a coordinator. This Patriot seems back in a big way, and Saturday night's the chance to really say it for real. Has Drake been able to do

it in the playoffs. Has Drake been able to do it in the playoffs? That's the question we find out Saturday night. What's that? Sunday night. Sunday, I'm so sorry. So sorry. I said it in multiple time. Sorry, let me get jacked up. Sunday night. I apologize. They're feeling Saturday. Yeah, well, every day feels like Saturday right now. Sunday night, Chargers and Patriots, but the Chargers team hit or miss feels like. We've seen them play very good. We've seen them not play so good. Who shows up against the New England Patriots? I guess we find out. You have to feel great to be in the dance with a real shot at this thing. Yeah, I feel incredible. I mean, you go from 3 and 14, or sorry, 4 and 13 to, you know, 14 and 3 over the span of one year.

That's going to get your juices flowing. You're going to be bricked up no matter what. What really gets me, you know, going is the fact that last time the Patriots won the Super Bowl is 2018. Who did they play in that first round? The L.A. Chargers. And I believe they were L.A. I don't even think there are San Diego yet. Phil Rivers flew all the way over.

Another kicker there, too, who led the Patriots on that little bit of a run, Sony-Michel, rookie running back. So we kind of have rookie running back right now, Trevion Henderson. There's a lot of parallels between the two. In reality, I think what you mentioned is going to be a huge message. Hey, the Chargers could have easily been the sixth seed. They chose to bench everybody, not play anybody, have a little mini buy week. They chose to kind of move down to that seven seed in order to come and play you guys.

Now, maybe they didn't want to go to Jacksonville again because they did blow a 28-0 lead in Jacksonville. So they said, hey, we can't go there anymore. Not doing that. Let's go to Foxborough play Vrable's boys. I feel fantastic. I think the MVP fodder will be awesome. week as well up until, you know, basically until the Super Bowl, February 5th when it gets announced. But that will be a motivator.

Everyone getting healthy for the Patriots this past week. I mean, we just beat the absolute dog shit out of the Miami Dolphins with Milton Williams coming back. Highest pay player on the team. Well, Campbell coming back, leading the way on multiple rushing touchdowns. Efton Chisholm, the third superstar kind of budding for the New England Patriots and Stefan Diggs getting a thousand yard receiving again after kind of going through. a little bit of an ACL and some other things but it does feel as though the Patriots

are rolling in all directions. It is a great feeling to be back on the biggest stage and hosts and playoffs and I mean we're talking about a chance for their hosting two maybe three playoff games on the way to a Super Bowl. I mean, it's remarkable that you can flip a team in a culture like this and you mentioned it, you know, on a day

like today, Black Monday where coaches and GMs are getting fired. Just keep in mind, look at look to the New England Patriots, look to the Jacksonville Jaguars, look to these teams, Chicago Bears. That were absolute shite. And in one year, flipped it. I mean, we're talking about teams that can legitimately go and win the Super Bowl

because of a few changes. And Vrable, I think we all thought was going to be great coach. Bet, or knew he was going to be a great coach. Ben Johnson all knew he was going to be a great coach, right? It felt like everybody thought he was going to be a great coach. Liam Cohen came out of nowhere. That was a late hire. No doubt.

He really knew. Remember, he wasn't even going to be able to put together a staff, they were trying to slander his name pretty good. And they did the Duval thing. It was hard not to talk a lot of shit about that. But then you see what they're able to do with something. Like, if you find a good leader, there is a chance you can flip an entire culture. These are all NFL players.

If you're able to rally an entire building in the same direction, you're able to get into the dance. And obviously, Tomiko Ryans and Casario have been able to do that down in Houston multiple times. C.J. Stroud might be playing his best ball, and then they play against Pittsburgh Steelers at home on Monday night. Steelers obviously impossible to beat on Monday night football. Is that change whenever it's the playoffs? And does that matter? How does that matter? How is that a real thing?

I genuinely want to know that. I mean, I don't think it matters. Me neither. You know, every game is its own game. We obviously been in those buildings. We have those stats, whether it's, hey, we start slow as a team or prime time or whatever it is. But the game is going to be the game. Once again, another great matchup.

I can't wait to see this Houston, Texans defense on prime time. That defense again, and then you mentioned. Booburns. You mentioned C.J. Schott played some good ball as well. So, yeah, it's going to be another banger. I mean, this whole slate, man. I mean, you couldn't really, you could react for a better slate. That's why Super Wild Card Weekend has become must-watch,

maybe best weekend of ball that there is all year. Obviously, Super Bowl weekend's sweet. There's only one game championship weekend sweet because there's so much on the line. Divisional rounds cool. The fact that we get two, three, and one here of all meaningful football with great football teams. It's beautiful. It's so beautiful.

College football playoffs right before. So, we got to enjoy these boys. It's a dream. We got to enjoy this time. Let's close our eyes. I don't even feel like I deserve it. Everyone's why you're going to do that? Hell yeah.

Just kind of take it in. We're here. Let's go to number four headline coming out of the NFL season. Goodbye to the Ralph. I guess since 2021, it's been called Highmark Stadium, Blue Cross Blue Shield. The new stadium will be Highmark Stadium right across the way.

This has been the home of the Buffalo Bill since 1973. Wow. all the documentaries and stories that you hear about the buffalo beals come from the ralph i was very lucky that i got a chance during my career to play a lambboat i got a chance to play a candlestick i got a chance to play at that one place out there in oakland what's the name of coliseum i got a chance to play in a lot yeah the black hole i got a chance to play in a lot of places that are football movies playing in the ralph my rookie year in the middle of a blizzard felt like i was in the middle of a football movie place is obviously very special i had a lot on the line that game

although all my teammates did not it was very fascinating we were attempting to lose that game try to uh it was the end of our undefeated season that we had for me i had to have a couple inside 20 had to average ever something to get a million dollar escalator which is obviously the most amount of money that i could ever fathom in my life so is it a joy to be there obviously thankful for everything the buffalo bills people have done for football as a whole you're talking about a passionate loyal uh i don't even know if there's any other place that has gone through what fans have gone through to remain the fans. Let alone the four falls. Yeah. Okay. Heartbreak after heartbreak after heartbreak. Kind of happening with the Ravens right now, just not at the Super Bowl level.

That was all at the Super Bowl level. For the Ravens, end of season, the last four years is just heartbreak, heartbreak, heartbreak, heartbreak, heartbreak, heartbreak. But whenever you talk about the bills, everything, the weather, digging out your own seats, having to get to this place in the back of tractors. And then what they do every single time they show up is be the best fan base that you can have. It's like, congrats to Buffalo. Congrats to the Ralph on a hell of a run. And the scenes coming out after the game here. This is from Jason McCordy.

He was calling the game where nobody left and they just relive some of the greatest moments of the Ralph. Now, some people, I assume, are very tuned up and blacked out at this moment. We'll not remember this other than some of the pictures. Hopefully people have of them out there. But it's like, this is a special fan base, special place. And obviously, their next stadium is going to be awesome

with big ass bison out front. But I like whenever people get emotional about something, and they certainly did about the Ralph. I think that's a beautiful thing. Yeah, it just shows you how much, you know, football means to the people of Buffalo and just fans in general. Like in that Sal Capaccio tweet, I mean, there's a security lady who's been there for 32 years. That is so long just to be at one place in general, let alone work at one place like that. That's remarkable, but also to keep in mind from the people of Buffalo, these new stadiums that are remarkable.

They are so nice. You're going to love it. You're going to love it. Okay. After you get over this, after you get over this heartbreak and, hopefully. Hopefully the people over there got to yank something out of that stadium to keep forever in their basis. Might have another game in there. Yeah, might have another game there.

Can still host the Chargers in the AFC Championship, but you're going to love this new Highmark Stadium. It's going to be gorgeous. Yeah, it was a perfect night, cold as hell. Obviously, a great way to send off. I wish there was a little bit more snow in there, you know, so you can feel it. And once I read Sal Capaccio's tweet, I completely forgot like, oh, it is going to be an emotional day, especially for Sal Capaccio. Yeah, especially for Sao. Especially for Sal.

But there's a lot of Sal is up there in Buffalo. That's pretty Buffaloians. brother yeah yeah there's a lot of good buffalo aliens up there and it reminded me of whenever i was a child and they tore down the igloo they did this downtown pittsburgh they tore down the igloo and i'll tell you what i was uh i was bummed out alongside everybody else this the home of pittsburgh penguins and they just went ahead and just took that thing down they showed it across the entire city whenever they started now you'll see there's four different winners that came and went while these things were being tearing down that's not

how i remember it in my head at all i think i had a little mandela effect In my head, they imploded that thing. And we all got out of school for it. That's how my head remembered it. And then we got to send it in there. Turns out they took their sweet-ass time. Somebody had a good contract on this thing. And they go, they went ahead and say,

we're going to need another 12 months or so. We're going to need another 12 months or so. Whatever the case. The city of Pittsburgh was very emotional whenever this went down. Three rivers. Same exact thing. Very emotional. It's like the Ralph.

I can understand it. I appreciate it. And we had one this weekend tone. Yeah, we did. And it's like, I remember waking up. up and watching the implosion of Three Rivers Stadium. It was like everyone was down there. It was like it was something.

And I remember when we were growing up, a kid in your grade actually had a stadium seats from Three Rivers in his basement. It was a shot out Josh Won't. Thank you. Yep, you knew. Like that was like something that happened. I'm sure that was something to happen in Buffalo yesterday. It's just like so many memories in that place.

And like when you think about something, you think about these stadiums, like it's not just like the football, but like you go there with family. Like it's a family tradition and the tailgates and everything like that. it's an emotional day for sure yeah i'll tell you what the reason why i knew is josh won it's he had a couple ping pong tournaments in that basement boom get a game winner pretty exhausted let me go sit down at three rooms yeah yeah right next to oh oh yeah the amount of shit being talked to at that entire thing josh roland a great dude great family and also his dad love

collecting that that shot outs too yeah shoutouts too it wasn't just i mean he had i think you probably find a piece of mary lew's hair down here if you really had two uh good people good times Nothing stopped for him. Boom. Best truck. Dang the line. Let's go to the number three headline. Miles Garrett moralized.

Congrats, Miles. Oh, yeah. He's going to get this a couple weeks earlier. Obviously, he was on a wrecking path to kind of make this happen. He's been all over the field. And we know of Miles Garrett's greatness strictly because we've gotten a chance to witness it. It is a shame, though, much like Joe Thomas, the teams he has played on for the Cleveland Browns have been asked whenever you're a goat. Now, they paid him four.

$40 million a year, reset the entire market because they understand his greatness. He at one point was worried that he didn't win enough games and he wanted to win more games. He's not worried about getting into the Hall of Fame. Now he signs on to be a Cleveland Brown Pillar in his first year post brand new contract in which he resets the entire market. He breaks the sack record. Now, it did take 17 games as opposed to 16 games. Heard Michael Strahan talk about that. I think that's a very real argument that's going to happen as football continues to go.

Adam Venetary, all-time leader in points. 16 game season, I think at some point somebody's going to come with these extra games and potentially catch them. Nonetheless, very impressive, very pumped. And Strahan might come up to Joe Burroughs someday. No. They say, he screwed me.

Oh, yeah. You screwed me! I think he was going to get him regardless. I think Joe knew that. But people are saying Joey laid down for him. I mean, yeah, I understand it. Joe, we've all seen what Joe has been through health-wise and getting to the last game of the season. He probably saw 95 getting off the ball from

Ms. Perriff and knew he probably had no chance to get out of the group. But this was awesome. This was cool. His dad had been in the crowd, you know, with this camera and he looked like he got emotional. I don't even know if he had a chance to get a picture because he was so jacked up once he finally got the sack. And in 17 games, that'll be a conversation. But then there will be other people that say this amount of snaps

and all the stats that we have now around it. But we all watch Mobb's gear. And he has been one of, if not the most dominant defender in his generation, you know, from wider, from coming into the league as the number one overall pick, he's lived up to all the same. stuff man he's just an unbelievable player great person for that city hopefully they can build a winner around him but he's a great pillar to build around hopefully they're able to honestly

there's a lot of change happening in cleveland as we speak who knows what the next iteration looks like mark gasano had a hell overrun okay in the york sac exchange dog martin did his thing obviously strahan comes in and t j watt and then miles garrett congratulations to all these dudes for being incredible on a football field gas know you're ahead of your time yeah he was Back to back. Seriously. One of the goals. That of your time, dude.

It's got to the number two headline coming out of the NFL season, shall we? Yeah, the only thing with that Miles Garrett thing. Okay. Just for Zach Taylor to go up there after. No one's watching this game unless you're watching it. What are you talking about? What are you talking about? Well, the whole entire thing, you know, he was pretty upset.

And Jamar Chase mentioned as well, I don't think he was upset as Zach Taylor was, you know, they kind of stopped the game for Miles Garrett to celebrate. and enjoy this, and this historic moment that may never happen again. Now, granted, like you said, 17 games, eventually maybe the season goes to 18. Still got it, not his fault. Yeah, not his fault. It's certainly a conversation. Certainly a conversation.

And once it goes to 18 games and someone breaks this record, guess what's going to happen? They're going to stop the game because it's history in the NFL. The only thing anybody will ever remember from the Bengal season probably or the Brown season in the 2025 NFL season was, Miles Garrick got the sack record in Cincinnati against the against the Bengals. So for some of the people to be upset about, you know, them stopping the game or everything, like that's ridiculous.

May we remind you when Drew Breeze broke the NFL passing record, this is what happened, okay? Monday night football. Yeah. Only game on. And also, this record got broken maybe a year later. Look what they did. The refs, I think, took off their hats

and took knees to shake his hand. I think the coach of the other team walked over and said, hey, Drew, congratulations. Now, whether that was Ron Rivera or not, who knows. But still, look at what happened for Drew Breeze. They did a, he basically won the Super Bowl. They brought a podium out.

They should. I don't know. He gave a speech. He did the one for me, two for you. He did that whole thing. Three for a. Yeah. This was doing a break. No, no. No, show. No break. This is on the game. Oh, I missed. Yeah, it's like

whenever legendary NFL records, get broken, you know, passing, sacking. Right. I would assume. Rushing. I bet Emmett Smith had some. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

These big ones. There's going to be a moment of, holy hell. This league's been around a long time. There's been a lot of great players. And obviously, this impact. Family, family's about to walk on the field. It's second quarter. So I think a lot of people probably judge this moment as well.

And then the NFL came out and was like, hey, this is a huge deal, man. Like, we would like our players to know that if you become what? What? I don't remember it. Yes, this whole happened. All of it. This happened, yes. This did happen.

Look at the jumbo truck. All time pass yard leader. Congratulations. I mean, they stopped. This is second quarter. I just should. Game after that 1 a.m. Yes, they should.

The game happened. This game has been going on a long time. And for you to break one of this, David Baker. Hell yeah. Put in the hall. Put in the hall, baby. The gloves. I don't want to put my fingerprints on it.

Shout out to David Baker. All right. All right. He played left tackle, actually, right after this. Yeah, well, they needed a guy. Obviously, he had somebody get hurt. they end up winning the game. David Baker obviously playing a lot of time for you is a good place to be.

But nonetheless, whenever these big records happen, there has been precedent already set that we are going to celebrate it in the moment. And, yeah, I didn't like Miles catching a little hell there for getting Rudy. I was going to say, if you would have been like, you know, listen, stopping the game is one thing for them to, you know, put them on their shoulders and take them off the goddamn field like Rudy, that's another thing. All right, let's go to the second headline coming out of the NFL season, a most valuable momentum shift.

Matthew Stafford is now the MVP favorite. appreciate that we put Matt on the graphic, you know, even though he is a Matthew Stafford, mad respect for what Matthew has been able to accomplish this late into his career. He is now 180. We had a conversation last week with Dan Orlovsky. Dan Rolowski said, Mattie Statt, what are we? Yeah, right. Harder players, hard competition.

Everything. This is Matthew Stafford. We said, you're just kind of throwing Drake May out because he played against bad teams, is what you're saying? Yeah, strength of schedule has to matter. Then he throws four touchdowns against Arizona Cardinals. And a conversation is, hey, this is good football. And so you can obviously cat, dog, chase, tail, situation

this entirety. What we know is if you're in the MVP conversation, you've had a fantastic year. And Matthew Stafford, I think, did put a stamp on it this past weekend throwing for four touchdowns. Now, when you look at the stats, it's absurd what Matthew Stafford's been able to do. When you look at what the Rams are able to do offensively, it's crazy. In tone, you're a voter. One of these votes have to go in, and you've been saying this entire time, I want to look at the entire 17-game picture. Yeah, they have to be in by 3 p.m. today.

Obviously, the award will be announced Thursday before the Super Bowl. Going into week 17, Stafford was the favorite. And then he had that bad game against the Falcons. And Drake may had a all-time game against the Jets. And then this weekend, obviously, it flips again. So it's like these last two weeks have been monumental towards this race. I just didn't like the old, it has to be this guy or it has to be this guy. Both these guys have had unbelievable years.

46 to 8 is absurd for staff. And then Drake May 35 and 8 with his with his rushing yards and with his rushing touchdowns too. Like they're both absurd. Drake May leads the league in completion percentage and then average distance per target. Like to have those two things. Those are all right. Yeah. Exactly.

Drake made is the best on third down to like both of these quarterbacks are very, very deserving just like last year, both the quarterbacks, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen were very, very deserving. I don't like people putting down either to make the case for their guy. But that's just how it is these days. But like either, I don't want to be surprised of either of them. one. Well, and that's the other thing. Like as a Patriots fan, I feel like if you just do take a step back and realize, like, Matthew Stafford has never really been in the MVP conversation. He's

never really been, I don't know if he's ever been all pro. Like, Drake May's 23, hopefully he will be back here no matter what the schedule is. But Matt Stafford does deserve it in his own right, especially when what's the most important thing, scoring touchdowns. And, you know, people have been throwing shade on the 15 one-yard touchdown passes, but that doesn't matter. You know, Like, just because their one yard doesn't mean, you know, that's not an unbelievable ball. How many times have we shown Devante Adams, you know, him throwing it in the perfect spot where only Devonze can get it. Like, that should help his case in many sense. I mean, in this case, Pookinacua, a great play.

But still, it is just, it feels as though Stafford should win it this year. Pookinacua is up for an award or two as well. I mean, you could have a couple awards heading to Los Angeles Rams this season. And the crazy part about it all is this has been a rebuild after rebuild after rebuild out there for L.A. and seemingly still have their pillars, still have their studs, and obviously still have a chance to win to Lombardi. Yeah, Mr. Stafford has just been unbelievable. And he, what is he, 37, 36 this year, however,

oh, and him being with Sean McVeigh, obviously they're on the same page. And just coming into each and every game damn near, it seems like he was always in full control. And throwing those touchdown passes, leading yards, all the different things, like you said, so either one of these guys could win it. But Matt Stafford, with the questions that we had about his health

coming into this year, the rebuild kind of around him, bring it in Devante. Like, people can talk about those, you know, one-yard touchdowns. That's hard to get on the same page with a receiver like that, especially down there. Everyone would do it, you know, the same way people look at touch push. Like, everyone could do it. Everyone would do it if everyone could do it.

So that's a tough, a tough spot to be in. But Matt Stafford has been phenomenal wide or wire. So it's Drake May. But this, I mean, I'm not surprised that Matt Staffer is the, I guess, slight favor at this point. As 2009 draft classees. Yep. Me and Darius, we'd like to say, hell yeah, man.

Hell yeah. Oh, yeah. That's Dave Good, good dog. That's a damn good dog there, Matthew Stafford. Now valuable, and we talked about it last week, and then JJ Watt, you know, when again yesterday, Drake May is definitely more valuable to his team than Mass Stafford. Why would you say that? I mean, you just mentioned one of the guys.

Devonte Adams got brought in. You mentioned Pooka and Nakua, maybe winning the offensive player of the year. Two running backs right now, balling over there. That was the argument. Henry, Trayvion, go ahead, go ahead. Trayvion, Josh McDaniel, like, they got good coach. Okay. Hunter, Hunter?

Hunter. Hunter's very good. Pooka Nekua or Stefan Dix? Well, weapons? Yeah. Would you take Pooka or Stefan Dix? I would take Pooka. Would you take Devante or Stefan Dix?

I don't know. There you go. What's Pook up for? What is Pook up for? Offense player there. And I think he's got pretty good odds. Yeah, he's second behind JSN who's had a historic season. Okay, so in Christian McCaffrey, also in this entire conversation.

Bejohn. I mean, there's a lot of great players, a lot of great, players and Matthew Stafford hops into that trailer during training camp comes out spinning it $140,000 bed is that what they said? Holy. It doesn't look comfortable either.

What's that? The bed doesn't look comfortable either. What so? We had eyes in a bit? Yeah, yeah. It looks hard. There's no cushion. There's no padding. I don't think we've seen the actual bed. We've seen a 3D graphic I think of what the bed is like, right? I don't think

they've shown us what the actual bed looks like. I think we have a, in theory, this is what the bed looks like. And it's Matthew Stafford laying down, and there's just red light therapy everywhere, and then he's laying on a thing, and then they say it vibrates you to the proper medium or whatever the hell you're supposed to get.

Then there's a red light thing that you're supposed to get. Then there's a temperature thing, a sound thing. It's basically just true as your entire body. Yeah. 140,000. Don't you worry about it. I have thought about purchasing a few of these things. It looks cool. It looks very cool. And if you have a hurt back, then he'd go in that thing,

and then he become an MVP at 37, I'm thinking about maybe we need to lay our ads and sold. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. They've had a hell of a run, that immortal group. And then let's get to the number one headline for this particular overreaction Monday. It's Black Monday.

Folks are getting fired. And folks are staying. That's right. Sure are. There's always a yin to a yin. There's always a zig to a zag. You know, some teams see what happened in New England, in Chicago, and Jackson,

and think to themselves, well, if we just make a little bit of a shift here, we can go on a potential Lombardi run. And then other places say, we like our guys. Hell yeah. The Bengals have said, we lack our guys. Zach Taylor and Duke Tobin sticking around for the Cincinnati Bengals. Now, it was reported late into the season that these two have contracts for at least another year, and that made everybody think to themselves, Bengals aren't paying multiple contracts.

So they are going to stay. Indianapolis Colts, Shane Stike and head coach, and Chris Ballard, general manager, We'll be sticking around. That announcement came 35 seconds after losing our eighth straight football game here in Indianapolis, which means the decision was already made before the game even started. The outcome against Houston Texans, who obviously have an incredible football team, really didn't matter to what was going to happen in the future. Now, I will say this about the Indianapolis Colts.

I am a Chris Ballard fan. I love the human, Chris Ballard. He has been nothing but good to us, to the city of Indianapolis. I think the organization at the time, whenever he got in there, kind of piecing everything back together. after all the hell that had been taking place and mistrust and got everything that happens okay now

this is going to be 10 years no aFC South championships and nobody really talks about the AFC South being you know like a juggernaut okay I no offense to Houston over the years they're back which even more so no offense to Jacksonville over the years

they're back even more so part of the conversation and Tennessee Titans steak steak yeah but they had Fable there for a while so they were good for a bit it, but it's like the lack of success for the Indianapolis Colts is alarming, I think, for Colts fans, for them to decide just that quickly after the last game of the season to stick with the same people that have done this entire time.

Now, every single season, there is valid excuses, valid. I mean, Danny Dimes had us as the number one team in the league. We're eight and one. And then all of a sudden, he comes back after Baye, he has a fractured fibula that can't move. It's like, well, moving was a massive piece of his offense. So once we lose him, though, everybody else just kind of says, yeah, we're done. we stink. Offensive line can't really move people anymore. Jonathan Taylor not really able to do what he

was able to do because when Danny Dimes was playing, I think there was more eyes on him than it was on Jonathan Taylor. The defense couldn't get a stop. People got hurt. We traded away two ones for Soss Gardner haven't really seen them on the field. So everything kind of just collapses in on itself this year and it's like, were they waiting for a reason to make an excuse? Or is there actual

excuses every year? I think there is actual excuses every single year. But boy, are we just going to continue to do that? Feels like like the Colts are saying yes. Carly speaks at 2.30 officially to break it all down. Okay, so give us some more definite answers. But I was surprised, just like you were to hear, that they were coming back right after the season was in it.

I thought there would be some sit-down, some conversations, maybe some interviews. But, yeah, I thought Chris Ballard did some great things this offseason. I was very excited. Didn't see what Danny Dimes did this year. Obviously, you got banged up. You can't control injuries. But every team deals with injuries to have that seven-game slide at the end of the season,

that was very, very tough. And then when you do take that chance to go and trade two for Sauce Gardner, If he comes in balls and he's the reason you go and win the Super Bowl, it looks great. But if it goes, how it goes, it looks terrible, man. So bringing them back, bringing them both back. It's definitely a decision. I know a lot of people get excited when you just clean house and start over, but we've seen teams kind of just be in that mode every two or three years.

So the big three kind of gets taking their time to see how it all plays out. I guess I get that side of it too. And here we are. We've got another year. See if we can figure it out. If you were to run back what I said on this day last year, just go ahead and do it. again. We found a couple of the same good pieces to bring a culture.

Like I think Danny Dimes up the culture. Like I think whenever he got in here, I think he changed some things. I think Cam Bynum, whenever he came in, his energy changed some things. I think there was some accountability. I think there was some professionalism that got brought into the building because we had heard what had been happening in the past. It's almost like guys gave up and they stopped being pros.

Late the meetings, missing this, missing that. It's like, that's not what winning teams do. Like, that's not how it goes. This year, everything was great. Everything was great. Then an injury of the quarterback slows us down. But then just losing every single game it's like well is there any fight like what how does that happen we'll see that's what everything else supposed to step up the defense the run game offensive line like you got to figure out a way we don't have any ones this year or next year as we rebuild it's

great i think we got some pieces that could potentially move yeah move some good pieces you just got to think that like with you look at ballard's resume uh 31 other teams probably would have fired him after like his fifth or six year and he's going into year 10 which is crazy to think well there's Six coaches who have been fired already. We assume there will be more. Good luck to all these men as they try to find new homes and their families. Obviously, that's a whole piece of it. But organizations are trying to get to the Lombardi.

Who will make it? Who won't? We will continue on the other side. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice. It might change their life.