The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 565 - OVERREACTION MONDAY, NFL Week 16 Recap, Dan Orlovsky, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: December 27, 2021

On today's show, Pat and the boys overreact to everything from week 16 of the NFL season as a few more teams clinched playoff berths, which teams are starting to look like the real contenders, who we should be worried about, Aaron Rodgers setting the franchise record for touchdown passes against the Browns on Christmas Day (ensuring a SuperBoost win), the Chiefs turning things on, if the Steelers are dead, the Colts looking like an absolute wagon, and much more. Joining the show with Pat and AJ Hawk is ESPN NFL Analyst, 12 Year NFL Quarterback, and friend of the program, Dan Orlovsky. Pat, Dan, and AJ chat about some of his early season predictions coming to fruition, which rookie QB's he likes after almost a whole season, which teams he thinks are poised to make a run, if the Cardinals are dead, and everything else happening around the league (45:47-1:22:00). Later, joining the show as he does every overreaction Monday, 9 Year NFL veteran at Defensive Back, host of the Man-To-Man podcast, friend of the program, Darius Butler. Pat, Darius, and AJ Hawk chat about his biggest takeaways from the weekend, if he believes in the Rams, why Rasul Douglas is such a monster for the Packers, if the Cowboys can win a Super Bowl, and much more (1:52:22-2:07:01). Make sure you subscribe to youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow and listen every day on Mad Dog Radio, Sirius XM Channel 82. We appreciate you all for listening, come and laugh with us, cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello! It is Overreaction Monday, December 27th. Can't thank you enough for joining us. Darius Butler, Dan Orlovsky, AJ Hawk, the boys are on fire and we can't thank you enough for being a part of this and letting us be a part of your day-to-day. If you enjoy this show, by the end of it, please be a friend, tell a friend. If not, just act like it never happened. Here we go. I couldn't wait to get back into Saturday with the boys here on this beautiful overreaction Monday. And there's a lot to talk about. I had a chance to watch all the games yesterday from beautiful Phoenix,

Arizona. Hey, I got a chance to go out there with the family a little bit. Enjoy the holiday. Had an absolute blast. Shout out to everybody we saw out there, whether it was at the Med Men or out and about around town. You all are incredible people. And the games yesterday kept us on our toes.

But it wasn't just yesterday. It was also Saturday and Thursday. There's a lot for us to address. Let's dive right into it. Toxic Table at Ty Schmidt at Boston Connor. Two polar different reactions to the weekend. Ty Schmidt on Christmas Day. Old Aaron Rodgers delivered us a super boost for us to ride into

the evening with incredible happiness. Now, whenever we speak about Devontae Adams becoming the, he and Aaron becoming the all-time leader in touchdowns as a duo in Packer history, catching his 66th touchdown, and then Aaron Rodgers obviously breaking Brett Favre's record for touchdowns thrown as a Green Bay Packer on Christmas Day in Lambeau. I thought to myself a little bit, you know, the Devontae anytime Tud, Green Bay Packer money line is a parlay, super boost. It hits. Shout out to Chuck, by the way, dropping it in our ear holes last Wednesday.

Like, hey, after what I heard Aaron just say, I think I know these guys a little bit. That feels like a lock, right? That's what we're going with. It was absolutely Chuck. So we get in there, we get hot. I honestly believe there's a chance that Aaron Rodgers was going to throw his record-breaking touchdown

to somebody other than Devontae. Just because he, I'm going to take that ball home. I need that ball. And then I'll throw the one to Devontae. Hey, Devontae, you keep that touchdown. We're in that thing together. I wouldn't be surprised if he was that cerebral and thought that much ahead, although Lazard made an incredible play to get the record breaker.

But even more so in the conversation should be this. Not only are the Packers, you know, on their way to lock up home field advantage through the playoffs. Congratulations, just like last year. Here we go. Here we go, boys. And now every team in the NFC, although some have some question marks, will have to probably go through

the incredibly cold and wild and windy Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, with cheeseheads surrounding it. Not that they wouldn't travel, but it feels like that's where we're headed. What is going on at the end of these games? I love Aaron. I absolutely love Aaron.

I love the Packers. I love that team. And maybe it's just because it's Christmas. But whenever you talk about the Cleveland Browns, and although there was a lot of hype around the Browns going into this season because the way their team was set up, the roster was set up, Baker Mayfield was going into basically a contract deciding type of year.

Here we go. They just won a playoff game last year against the Pittsburgh Steelers. I mean, now is the time. We're in a much different conversation piece around the Browns now. Odell Beckham Jr. obviously gets traded out to the Rams. Hey, scores another touchdown yesterday in a clinching win for the Rams against Minnesota. Matthew Saban threw three picks.

What's that all about? Mad ones. What's that all about? Chucking it. They clinched playoffs, but what's that all about? I don't know. Still a little Detroit intimacy. That was in?

Oh. Perhaps. Especially when he played Tennessee North. Yeah, because he went back into Minnesota maybe, and he drank from the same water fountain he once drank from as a Lion. It was like, you know what? Today, let's turn over a blocking ball. Screw it.

Maybe that's what happened. They got in there. Whatever the case. But whenever you go back to the Packers beating the Browns, the Browns are a good team. I think we all agree with that. Now, in the weekend with COVID and everything they've been going through, Chubbs in the backfield, whatever the case,

they're going to have to decide on Baker Mayfield's future. Once again, Baker has won for Cleveland as a quarterback, won a playoff game. They're still in the playoff conversation. They almost beat the Packers on Christmas somehow. He made some devastating mistakes. But why can't the Packers bury a team Ty I don't know it does seem like it's kind of been like this for the last few years it's like they they need to get up by like two touchdowns two touchdowns in a field goal because for whatever reason they don't really step on team's throats and granted like on christmas davante had that

uncharacteristic drop where you know it was a third down early yeah exactly and if he if he catches that game's over right there we don't have the whole you know next drive where they might be driving to to kick a field goal and win but it for whatever reason like it just looks so disjointed from what you watch of them in like the first half, like when the offense is firing all cylinders, it seems like late in these games, at least the last couple of weeks, like the play calling is just really vanilla. It's kind of like,

they're almost just like, all right, let's just get the hell out of here. Let's win this game. However, yeah, exactly. We want to go spend time with our families,

but I mean, shit, Baker throws four picks. Like they, they should have won that game by, you know, three touchdowns. Like it really felt like that as I was watching. And we had the super boost as packers money line so as i'm

watching this whole thing unfold and i'm a little bit you know i want some heavy vitamins sure sure okay it's arizona yeah i fucking love arizona by the way gorgeous okay now i had to get rid of all the vitamins before you come back to indiana get on a flight because I don't want to be George Young. But the ability just to walk into a Med Men over there and say, oh, what am I going to do today? Let me do $250 worth to myself here with my wife. It's the holiday, and I'm watching that game. So I'm in incredibly good spirits and moods.

You know, there's beers being drank. Tim McAfee's a beer snob, so there's some German beers he's drinking up there. I mean, it is. But I'm watching that game on the phone. I'm like, wait a fucking minute. Are the Packers about to lose to the Browns at Lambeau? They did not. Defense made some incredible plays.

They end up winning. Congratulations to the Packers. Good luck on it. Can't wait to chat with Aaron tomorrow. Here we go. Good win. Took a lot of notes on the game. Can't wait for that.

Now, on the flip side, speaking of a team answering and stepping on a throat when they had to, the Buffalo Bills go marching into Foxborough and march on Patriots' throats when they had to. Now, Josh Allen can sling the rock, and it's great to see him when he's playing well. There have been some games where he wasn't playing as well, and he was missing some throws. But when Josh Allen is on, which has been the majority of this season,

the majority of last year, it's why he got the deal that he got. Side-arming, shaking people, wiggling folks for a first down. Yesterday, he went for 378 total yards, three touchdowns, and zero interceptions in Foxborough. And shout-out to that defense, by the way. Poyer, Hyde, all the boys getting some big-time stops.

Maybe making Mac Jones a little bit rattled. Missed some throws? Hey, Mac missed some throws. His pinpoint accuracy is something that everybody has heralded as the greatest of a young quarterback could have, Mac Jones. And he has proven it, I think, time and time again, both in college and in the NFL, that he has the ability to, what's it mean when you're like, anticipate? He has the ability to anticipate where guys are going to be.

He has the ability to put the ball in places. He doesn't make mistakes normally. There's been a couple here the last few weeks where, you know, hands to the helmet against the Indianapolis Colts when somebody comes out of nowhere, like Darius Leonard. Then against the Bills, there's a couple misses late. Now, that's going to happen. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, congrats.

You just won the NFC South. Tom Brady was furious late in that game. They were up 50 against the Carolina Panthers. Carolina Panthers. I mean, they have no idea what's going on down there. And Coach Matt Rule, who we have met, I have met. Has he ever been on the show? Maybe once.

What is that, Baylor? He was on the show. Definitely then. He's just a football guy, whatever. We know Matt Rule. And everybody has always said, like, they got it figured out down there in Carolina. It's good coaching hire. But they're just rolling through players Ed I mean I mean Darnold I mean

Darnold threw like a 60 70 yard completion in one of his first plays whenever he extended to play then they had Sam Darnold in for the red zone for a couple plays he doesn't do well they put Cam and Cam gets sacked and then it just feels like it's all in disarray and coach Matt Rule afterwards said just like I've been telling the boys. You know, it took Jay-Z seven years, and he had to start his own agency, which meant he had a label for him to have any success. What I wish Matt Rule would have said is the bamboo tree. Oh, yeah.

You know, like, hey, you plant seed, you have to water it, you have to water it, you might not see it. And we just got blown the fuck out by the Buccaneers in a NFC South Championship clinching game. We did that whole thing. And he made a reference. I put him in any deeper spot, but as long as you win, NFC South Championship clinching game. We did that whole thing. He made a reference. I put him in any deeper spot, but as long as you win,

nobody give a fuck about anything that you say. Rule knows that. Tepper expects that. I don't know what's going to happen there in Carolina. It didn't look like Tampa was that worried about the game at all. And Tom was pissed. Tom was yelling at teammates, yelling at coaches. I mean, there was, hey, we're playing playoff time i understand this carolina panthers team is a high school football team looking right now but we need to get this little tighten up they blow them out they sent you that

whole thing but whenever you're talking about the buffalo bills putting the patriots away man in tampa once again the reason why i even got onto the tampa panthers game they got shut out a week ago yeah okay tom brady a veteran-led offense. Now, a couple injuries happened at poor timing with a defense, you know, that is very good at potentially taking advantage of the situation. The Saints have been the Achilles for the Bucs. But just one week ago, they were shut out. So you can have bad games.

Mac Jones can have a bad game where he misses some people or their offense isn't on. And he can have a bad couple weeks. He's a rookie or he's a quarterback in the NFL. That's going to happen. But the Buffalo Bills answer. It was 2014. I think they answer.

They go right down. Then it's 26 and Patriots score again. Yeah, drive right down. So now it's like, hey, Josh Allen, you're in Foxborough, Buffalo Bills. They know what you have to do. You have to go do it. And on that fourth down play where Josh Allen rolls out and gets the first down with a little wiggle, that was a massive game, I think, for the Bills. And they won't say it publicly,

and maybe they haven't even thought about it, but being able to answer the Patriots in the Patriots home with the AFC East basically on the line, I thought that was fucking huge for them. I thought that was big for the Bills. I think Bills Mafia should be very pumped about that because there was a lot of conversation of, hey, when the game matters, you know, whenever it's late in January, whenever the games matter, will the Bills be able to play a style of football that can beat the top of the AFC? Patriots were considered back in the top of the AFC in a style of football that could potentially get the Bills later.

They fucking answered. They got to win. Congrats to the Bills. I mean, it stinks for Connor. It absolutely stinks for you guys. Still, you still you know gonna be in the playoffs probably still gonna get in wild card be a problem for whoever the fuck you got to play but that was massive for the bills and maybe you know an official pass of the baton for the afcs because last year hey we stink right bill belichick was even saying worst team ever hey team ever. Hey, we stink. Then $160 million in one day, get a young quarterback.

All of a sudden, in Foxborough late to basically decide who's going to be the champs. Passing on the baton. Now I'm hearing on the Greg Hill show this morning. Oh, yeah. Okay, up there in WEEI up there. Sure. You got some Bostonian calling in saying, that quarterback. Quarterback.

And that's how I knew they were from Boston. Saying, everything seems to run through the Bills over there. Your thoughts as a Patriots fan watching that, and is that what the future looks like? Josh Allen just wiggling, shaking, and slicing and dicing the Patriots for the AFC East Championship for the next 15 fucking years? Oh, definitely not the next 15. I mean, Josh Allen's unbelievable.

I mean, the throws that he made yesterday, Isaiah McKenzie looked like Tyreek Hill running around in the secondary. So, we'll see. I'm not that worried about it. Our over-runner for the year pal is 9.5. I'm going to go out on a limb and say, we're going to beat the Jags next week at home. We'll get back. They are so bad. The Jags are so bad.

They're so bad. And by the way, I think Zach Wilson literally ran a 7-1 touchdown yesterday for 90 yards. Now, I tweeted that he ran a 7-1 touchdown yesterday for 90 yards yeah now i i tweeted that he run a 4-2 because he was pulling away from guys wild and then once you watch it closer it was on a it was on a smaller tv there's no way jets jags gonna make it on the tv in anybody's house outside of the diehard jets or jacks hands and even then yeah i don't know i think they're not even watching it he four players on the Jags quit on the play.

It was insane. So when I was watching it on a smaller TV down at the bottom, I saw him pulling away from people. I wasn't examining the effort being given. Jags players just quit on that. Now, Zach faked maybe. Maybe Kenny picketed. He was going out of bounds and did it back in there,

and the NFL is going to have to review that because some defensive players are saying, like, hey, we're supposed to not the Jags players no Jags players laid off before it was even close but other players that try and are on good teams and are superstars in this league they were saying loudly on the internet and retired players like hey if quarterbacks are gonna keep fucking around like this we will yeah like I'm at their heads off hey we will if we have to so that'll be something that'll be talked about with Zach or whatever. The Jags are terrible.

Terrible. And that is, you're still putting shit on film. I hope everybody down there knows. And there has to be somebody down in that building, and I understand that it is in disarray. It has been in disarray. Jim Caldwell getting an interview down there. Doug Peterson getting an interview.

Good luck down there, boys. Jim Caldwell back in the head coaching Search circuit which is good for him I enjoyed being a player on the team That he was on he won in Detroit Period that's what he should say He's too humble In his first year as a head coach with the Colts he won through the Super Bowl

Then Peyton has the next thing We lose We have no players Full turnaround get him the hell out of here. He goes to Baltimore. I think he's their offense coordinator. They win a Super Bowl. Then he goes to Detroit, wins in Detroit.

Not enough, though. Get him the fuck out of here. And he has no personality. You know, he's always so boring. He's just the guy you want. And then he's just kind of been out and about, and we hadn't heard of him. I assume he's just golfing because he had coached for a long time.

He's coached a lot of great players, has a lot of great relationships. I saw him at Robert Mathis' – Enshrinement? Yeah. Ring of Honor Enshrinement, I think is what it's called. And I was talking to him. I'm like, Coach, how are you? And he follows along.

Very nice. Shout out. Shout out to the coach. He follows along. I said, you don't want to be a head coach anywhere anymore, right? And he was like, why do you say that? I was like, well, your name is never really brought up, and you were able to fucking win in Detroit,

and nobody's been able to win in Detroit. He was like, I think I would, actually. I wouldn't mind getting back in there. And I was like, oh, okay. So how come we're not talking about this or whatever? He was like, you know, we'll see. We'll see how it all goes. And I'm like, well, I'm going to get on the air then at some point.

And I'm going to say that you want a head coaching job again. Is that accurate? He goes, yes. I think I do. I do miss it. I do that whole thing. And he didn't want to give me like, these are the places I want to go. This is what I want to do.

But it feels like Jim Caldwell definitely interested in getting back into head coaching. And if you look at his resume, like actually look at it, as opposed to just the memes of somebody who doesn't have a personality or doesn't get too high or too low is business like hey listen we're trying to win fucking games here i don't know what you want me to do he is a guy i think that should warrant a lot of conversations around there especially in the recycled head coaching league that we're in right now there's either hey i'm gonna get the new up start that i'm gonna hit on or not at all yeah I'm going to hire some coach that's already been in there that knows all the bullshit that is going to come with being a head coach

alongside a coach in football. So I hope Jim Caldwell gets it. And good luck. Now, Jacksonville stinks. I don't know if you want to go out of retirement. I don't know what he's doing. And he did not tell me this. I'm just thinking aloud for a lot of people.

Doug Peterson loves the visor game, though. Great weather down there. Jim Caldwell is an incredible guy to bring people together, has a lot of relationships from being around. Whatever the case, they're not going to hire them before tomorrow or before next week. So I think the Patriots are going to – the Patriots have the Jags, you said? Yeah, we have the Jags next week at home in July.

So the Patriots are going to get into the playoffs. Yeah. And Mac, you know, one of these games, two of these games, it's good foundation building for the future of that young team. But, man, I thought it was a big day for the Bills. Speaking of big day, the Chiefs. Oh, boy. Holy shit.

My God. It's amazing that you three, you know, are in this particular studio with me because this is big storylines coming. with me because this is big storylines coming aside from dallas absolutely fleecing the football yeah it wasn't even big time i mean i hopped on a plane to fly back here during that game and i get one game you can follow along on your phone by the time we got up to 10,000 feet that shit was yeah i think it was. I think that shit was already over. I'm like, what happened? Then you're seeing, okay, they tried Trayvon Diggs' first series.

Okay, had him running a go route basically. Wild. Basically led him. He was the wide receiver on that particular play. Yeah, he would have got a touchdown. Then I think Lawrence. DeMarcus Lawrence. Then they blocked.

I mean, they blocked the punt and how you're not supposed to block a pump, by the way. Field goals, you block up. Okay, so when you're trying to block a field goal, you block up because you're trying to get into the trajectory. You just got to hope there. For punts, you go down. You're going to the foot. That is where you're trying to go.

Because up here, there is little to no chance of you getting it. That ball is going to somehow skirt around you because the ball has eyes in punts, it feels like. They're blocking punts with this. I mean, Washington had no fucking chance. No chance. They're blocking punts with this. I mean, they had, Washington had no fucking chance. No chance. They had no chance at all. So aside from Dallas,

congrats, Dallas. Good win. I like Dak flexing on him too. All you motherfuckers were talking about a slump. I didn't say that one fucking time. Nope. And they came out, they needed that.

I think big Mike McCarthy was having a field day with the refs and everything. He's good win on Sunday Night Football. Jerry Jones had to have loved it. Now, ratings might be done, Jer, so I don't know if he'll love that because of how big of a blowout it was. It was tough to turn that game on late.

Tress Wade tried to hit the Jumbotron late. I saw that game once we got ours. I saw that punt live once we got home. Got a lot of tweets about that. I think Tress is an incredible punter. Hey, Tress, hell of a career out of Oklahoma, I think. Great athlete. Incredible personality. Any punter in the NFL can hit that thing.

The Jumbotron. I think. Tress was just kind of doing it for everybody. They were down 35. Yeah, fuck it. I mean, I would. He's incredibly good. He's been around a long time. He'll be there for however long he wants to be there because of how good he is.

Got a lot of tweets about people. Trust is banging the ball. It's like, we could all hit that. For instance, it became a thing whenever that Jumbotron came in there, right? It was a thing because it had it too low. Remember, Jerry spent all this money out of his own pocket to build this new Jerry world. It's huge. We got this.

We got this. We got this. First game in there, all the punters were just like, that's going to have to move. That is in the way. No, no, it shouldn't be a big deal we did the science they actually were telling punters like no we actually we did all the measurements these fucking people you know who know everything all the time we actually did the measurements or whatever in every punter that walked in there from the punter who has no brain at all just choose tobacco and just spits i'm fucking hit that to the smartest, most technically sound punter,

I'm going to hit that thing, and then somebody banged it. Then they changed the rules. If it hits it, it's a replay of the down, because at one point, people were hitting it, and the game was still going. So that ball's coming straight down off of that thing, and it was a night. Then they raised it, and it did get to a height

in a place where you have to try to hit it. Where it is, anybody can hit it,'re you have to try to hit it where it is anybody can hit it but you gotta you gotta go for it yeah so we were a directional team so there was a time late in the game we were down dollars that was a game where i uh yeah oh yeah first series i threw away chuck yeah i think so too both both snap from the think. You know, we had fourth and 12, first series of the game. You know, in completion, there is tough to rebound. That is tough to rebound from. But there was no – I had no thought that there was –

once again, we did that 80 times in practice. The ball was caught every single time. You put it right on. I mean, we win the game probably. We go down. Instead, they score there. They score the next one. They score again.

They score again. There was a point in the game where it was a blowout. We were getting killed, and I did try to go for it, and I fucking missed. I just, I missed, hit it. It was a shank. It went out of bounds. I was like, ah. And everybody on the internet, oh, this fucking guy trying to hit the

jumbotron. That's exactly what I was trying to do. That's exactly what I was trying to do. I kind of felt bad about it, but that's what it turned into for Washington last night they got absolutely fucking killed good for Dallas congratulations I wish Tress would have just blasted that thing

would have been awesome for the football team for Tress, for punters because not often do you get in a situation where oh this NFL game does not matter I'm in a position where I'm not going to get cut and I wish he would have pounded that thing. But let's get back to the Chiefs. Okay.

What they did to the Steelers. Today, the conversation in Pittsburgh. Can't imagine. I can hear it from however many miles, 500 miles away. I don't know how many miles, 500 miles away, I don't know how many miles, 400 miles away, I can hear in every holler, down by every crick, at every single Italian stop in Pittsburgh, Mike Tomlin fucking stinks. Ben Roethlisberger, send him to the glue factory.

Why do we not give Najd a goddamn ball? And if we give Najd the ball, who cares? Because we play pretty bad defense out there. I mean, I couldn't even fathom what Pittsburgh is doing right now. We should be complimenting the Chiefs. Congrats to Patrick Mahomes, who has now become like 24-1 or something

like that in November, December, and January. Some sort of ridiculous stat where he just is, yeah, 26-1. Pretty good. A lot of numbers out here, too. A lot of numbers out here, too. Yeah. A lot of numbers out here. 26-1 in games in November, December, and January

over the last three seasons. 8,104 yards, 60 touchdowns, 13 interceptions for an overall 104.6 rating. Shout out to Jeff Crowe, CBS, for this. Thank you, Jeff. Thanks, Jeff. He's also won 26 straight games in November, December, and January. So once again,

the conversation about Patrick Mahomes having a bad year when he's like top three in passing, has a receiver who's top five in receiving yards. There are 26 straight wins and this whole thing was misguided probably all season long.

And it might have been ignited and fueled by Jackson Mahomes doing Jackson Mahomes shit, who we have not seen, by the way, which is good news for that stat probably to continue. But I think all of Pittsburgh was hoping for Jackson Mahomes to come out there and do a little Whirlyburg with the terrible towel before that game. I think everybody in Pittsburgh was hoping that Jackson Mahomes will go out and literally spit right on Mike Tomlin's face,

who's been masked up, by the way, for the last three weeks. My mom said it's because he's so fucking embarrassed he doesn't want to show his face with what the Steelers team is. That's what Sally McIntyre said. That's what Sally McIntyre said. Sally, by the way, normally pretty positive

publicly about everything in front of a lot of people yesterday. That's why he's got that fucking face mask on. He's embarrassed by this goddamn team and the way they act. Might be real. Mike Tomlin might not necessarily be thrilled. He talked about strongly disagreeing with something with Ray Ray. Last week, Chase Claypool, things in the past with Juju.

I think Tomlin has remained Tomlin through this entire thing, but Yenzers don't want to hear about it. Yenzers are fucking done with him, done with Ben, done with the Steelers, and that's strictly because this is a Monday after they lose. How does this turn around for the Steelers?

How do you see the future going? Congrats to the Chiefs, but what are Yenzers thinking? We're about to take a look into it right now. It doesn't turn around. There it is. Tomlin maybe should be coach of the year, though, for getting this fucking team to seven wins. The Chiefs, we should not give them any fucking flowers for yesterday.

They should have potentially won by 50. You win by 26 with this team, you should be fucking embarrassed. Jeez. Jeez. I mean, it turns out the age-old saying of, you know, you win the trenches, you win the game is true. They have a fucking terrible offensive line. The injuries to the defensive line.

Teams are just moving up and down the field. I mean, it is a fucking embarrassment from start to finish. I mean, they were 10-point dogs going into Kansas City yesterday. I mean, it was going to be a bloodbath the entire time. The Chiefs should be embarrassed. I actually watched that game yesterday, and I said, oh, the Chiefs have no fucking chance to win any games in the playoffs. So that's what I took away from yesterday's game.

And Tomlin should be coach of the year for getting this team to seven wins. So I feel like Diggs echoes the sentiments of a lot of people. I don't know about the whole Chiefs slander in the middle of your team stinking. I don't know why you need to bring Kansas City into this. They've won 26 straight in December. So I don't know if there's any reason for you to pivot

and point one finger. Because remember, when you're pointing one yinzer finger, there's three yinzer fingers pointing right back. And I appreciate the fact that you are saying they should have won by more and self-handicapping and all that. But watching Tim McAfee

and Sally McAfee watch that team representing Pittsburgh yesterday was awesome. Just so fucking disgusting. You know, because it was a four o'clock game. It was really the only reason why we didn't fly back. Now, congrats to the Raiders beating the Broncos. Yeah, big win.

And if Richie Bisaccio wins two more games, he has led that Raiders team who have been through a lot and put themselves through a lot. We're not saying that. They could potentially sneak into the playoffs. So that game was happening. Congrats to A.J. Cole hitting a game winner, I believe. A.J. No, Carlson. Carlson. Cole's the punter. So that game was happening. Congrats, A.J. Cole, hitting a game winner, I believe. No, Carlson. Carlson.

Cole's the punter. Carlson. Carlson. Sorry about that. Second in a row. Both absolute studs. Yeah, very, very good. And Seattle was playing Chicago in a massive Oh, big name teams? Who gives a fuck? Neither of these teams are going to make the playoffs. So it does not matter. Seattle was manhandling Chicago early, by the way.

And then we manhandled the fuck out of them right back. Then the Bears came back. Victory stakes for Zeke. Yeah! Get it out back, baby! Now, it might have extended to Nagy another season. Yeah. No, no, no.

Against Seattle, in Seattle, in those conditions. Snowstorm. Here we go. You guys, the boys showed fight. They came back. We're building up Big Dick Nick's fucking resume. That's all we were doing. Okay, well, whatever the case, congrats to Chicago.

But whenever you look around that game, the 4 o'clock games, do we want to get home for the Dallas-Washington game, or do we want to watch these? So we, me mostly, made the decision, we'll fly back during the Sunday night football game. Smart. Dallas, at that point, Dallas had already won. I believe the NFC East had already been decided.

So it was like, good, we're going to not be able to see a full game because the internet on a plane, good, not good enough to see a game. So we decided to stick around for the 4 o'clock strictly because Chiefs Steelers and my parents, big time Steelers. Now, they love the Colts for eight years. They still like the Colts. They live in Indiana.

That whole thing. But in Pittsburgh, it is different. It really is. And it's hard to describe. But in Pittsburgh, the Steelers are a lifeline. They are a moral morale, I'm sorry, morale altimeter. Okay? How the Steelers are doing is how high morale is. How the Steelers aren't doing is how low morale is around Pittsburgh.

Always been that way, always will be that way so if you're from Pittsburgh there is some tie to the Steelers that is why you see the Steelers fandom as big as it is and the reason why there's a Steelers bar in every single city is because all the steel mills you know as those things continue to spread through the the country they're like hey we need some of those hard-nosed dumbass yinzers to come out here and just do the work for the rest of america so you know pittsburgh has birthed basically the rest of america and you're welcome but those steelers fans remain true because it is really a part of the day-to-day in Pittsburgh. Mike Tomlin understands that anytime you hear him speak about it. I think the Rooney family has a fan base loyal to them that every other owner looks for.

But watching that team that is literally a representative of the entire city of Pittsburgh in a spotlighted way, in a fashion, in a sport that could be represented by Pittsburgh people. You know, a physical fight, hard nose. Watching Tim and Sally watch the Steelers get blown out by the Chiefs yesterday. Oh, I felt so bad. It was heartbreaking. It was a holiday. Yeah.

They were just disgusted. They were like, this is not what I'm fucking doing for the next 10 years. I ain't watching this team. And I don't think they're the only ones. Just to hammer your point home, I did the same thing. I had to make the decision. When do I drive back from Pittsburgh to Indianapolis? I chose to do it during that game so I could listen to it on the radio.

I did not want to see it. I knew I would be disgusted by the performance. And it was sickening to listen to. Well, I'm sorry it sounded like a horror flick there, but it was just as bad watching. Oh, yeah. Here's a fun fact. They've led only more than three teams this year,

and it's the fucking Jaguars, the Jets, and the Texans. You guys stink, yeah. I mean, the first half differential, what was it, like 115 to 54? The nine? I thought it was the nine. I thought it was the nine. Might be. Worst in NFL history.

Oh, man. I don't know. Rest in peace. Rest in peace. Rest in peace. Is there any way they actually move on from Tomlin, you think? Is there any way? I don't know how you could. You can't.

They just re-upped him. Yeah, I don't know how you could. Pittsburgh's calling for it, though, right now. There's going to be yinzers that call for it. Last year, they lose to the Browns in the playoffs. He got loud. Then this year, especially because it's Cleveland, this year with the way the team has had some ups and downs,

and then there's moments where it's like a first down in two minutes. Like people in Pittsburgh do not. TJ Watt kicking his agents out of the way, going in and signing his contract extension, that is like Pittsburgh fairy tale yinzer fodder. Need it. But it happened. TJ says it happened.

Sure. It did. It weren't fairytale. Those are things that Pittsburgh loves. If you're showboating or celebrating and it's affecting our happiness, get the fuck

out of here. And it's been happening for a couple years now, right? So that is how Yinzer's old versus Yinzer's new. There's a lot of Juju fans. There's a lot of chase claypool fans chase claypool made a couple massive plays by the way early thought they were going to continue to feed him made some great catches i was like here we go ray ray mccleod gets a lot of the that the that position was built for juju he got hurt what the fucking second week of the year well

it's not his fucking coordinator blame Canada, can't adjust his offense. He's like, well, I was going to call these for Juju. I mean, might as well do the same thing for a guy that hasn't even been in the fucking on and off. Anyways, that's how it is in Pittsburgh. Rest in peace to the Steelers. Congrats to the Chiefs. All right.

Good run. Speaking of the city we're in right now, the Indianapolis Colts, what they did to the Cardinals after that Superboost hit for the Green Bay Packers, I'm pumped up about. Carson Wentz had to make some plays late in the game. We'll talk to Darius Butler in the next hour. Can't wait to chat with him. His big statement on the Colts last week,

and what a lot of people are saying about the Colts is, hey, Jonathan Taylor in the MVP conversation had another 100 yards with like four replacements on the offense. Yeah, of course. His vision, his power, his speed, everything about him just radiates greatness. And we are very lucky that Jonathan Taylor is the pivotal member of the Indianapolis Colts offense. Now, you lose Quentin Nelson and Ryan Kelly

and Eric Fisher and Glowinski. Glowinski out of West Virginia, by the way. He don't fuck around. Good beautiful guy. Toss-on bitch. He is toss-on bitch, that guy. And Chris Reed, you lose your entire

offensive line. Two of the top 100 players in the NFL are the offensive line, by the way. You think to yourself, oh, they're a key

of this best rushing unit in the NFL by far, by the way. By far. John the Terror don't give a damn. The backup offensive lineman

came in and moved some bodies. Let's go Colts. Let's get this win. But whenever you think about the end of that game, Carson had to make a couple plays. Yeah. Carson made a couple plays. Yeah, he did.

Couple plays by Baker weren't made. Couple plays by Carson were made. Does that mean anything for what will happen next week? No. But I think Frank Wright gave him a game ball afterwards and said, hey, Chris Ballard, great roster. Here's a game ball for you. And also, end of the game,

a quarterback that has been talked about not being needed on this offense because of the way our rush game is, because of Jonathan Taylor and our offensive line, because of how good our defense is, even though he's getting paid $100 million, and he once was the MVP talk. He was the guy.

Just a few years later in a brand new home, has had to kind of take a back seat. He has had to kind of take a back seat. He has had to kind of take a back seat and just let the game kind of flow through Jonathan Taylor because Jonathan Taylor and that offensive line are an incredible combination of great. I mean, what they do is awesome. His cuts, he pops through, he breaks through.

He's going 23 of the top five fastest recorded speeds. I don't know what Zach Wilson was clocked at, but three of the top five fastest speeds are from Jonathan Taylor because of that offensive line. Carson Wentz had to make some plays. He did. Good on him. Good on the Colts.

The Colts are going to be a tough team to fucking see in the playoffs right now. Yeah, and them shutting down Kyler Murray without Darius Leonard. The fact that the Cardinals only scored 13 points and they also were missing their best player on defense, you have to have a lot of faith in the Colts, and that's why if you're the Bills, you do not want to see the Colts in the first round because you know that run game and that defense is traveling to buffalo pretty damn well ej speed i think is his name uh i think he's

a he was special teams stud yeah for the colts two tugs this year two blocked punts yeah and tuts yeah so i'll block it and i'll go get it myself he is special teams captain i think he played for darius leonard i saw darius leonard put out a tweet because baldy uh brian baldinger did a Lock it and I'll go get it myself. He is special teams captain, I think. He played for Darius Leonard. I saw Darius Leonard put out a tweet because Baldy, Brian Baldinger did a breakdown of how speed played. It's like Iberflues got those boys flying. And they talk about that culture. And that culture is, hey, what next man up can happen.

Everybody's kind of locked in. Everybody's working. That's why the special teams unit, normally pretty good for the Indianapolis Colts under a Chris Ballard-led roster build because he's got depth in there. Now, do we have enough superstars at key positions? T.Y. Hilton scored a touchdown.

Let's go. Michael Pittman Jr. jumped over a guy. Let's go. Oh! Naeem Hines is still unbelievable. Still doing it. They paid him. He got paid some money. And he's a backup, I guess, to

Jonathan Taylor. But he's also a slot. He's a returner. He is a lightning rod for the team. Paschal, I don't know if he's hurt or back. Whatever the case, that Colts squad fucking ready to go. Yeah, they can go. Cardinals might be dead, too.

Yeah. Cardinals might be dead. No hop, I guess. Is that the big thing? No hop? No. Yeah, but they were struggling. Yeah, but their entire, their entire, it just feels, it feels like last year whenever you

would have to live bet Kyler and feel like, hey, are they in or are they not in? How'd that happen? They went backwards. He looks very pouty recently. Yeah, that's what it is. Oh, pouty's an interesting way. I mean, I guess it is the right way to describe it. But just like you can tell like the swagger he was playing

with before he got hurt for that extent. You know, he took like two weeks off and then they had to buy. He was a different player then. He doesn't look like the same. What happened? And maybe it is D-hop, but even like God, the running back, James Conner. Oh, yeah.

He had, what, like 18 touchdowns. He was leading the NFL in touchdowns. And then like the last three, four weeks, he's just completely absent too. Like they just feel like a much different team. They can't stop the run. Is it all because J.J. Watt's not out there? Because I saw J.J. talking to Prater. Oh, yeah.

And remember, Matt Prater has told us he has no idea why the ball goes where it goes. Remember? Yes. By the way, there's some guys that kick like it. Boz is another guy. Boswell, who I've talked both sober with and intoxicated with, has told me the same answer every time. I'm like, hey, how do you hit that ball so pure?

Because he's hitting 50-yarders down at Heinz Field like weekly. Boz, I think he missed one because Kansas City was like, I think they had like 30-mile-an-hour win. Windy, he had a new holder, too. Shout-out to Presley Harvin. His father passed away. Shout-out to Presley, by the way. Tease and pee his Godspeed on the way back.

Also, shout-out to that punter. Waitman? Yeah, Corliss Waitman. He was bombing the ball. Bombing! I had no idea who the fuck he was. He looked smooth, too. He looked like Slash out there. I mean, catch. the fuck he was he looked smooth i mean slash out there i mean catch

he's yeah he was number uh yeah he's number 10 nice he had good catch good flow and was bombing like 30 mile an hour i that dude needs to be somewhere was he on the practice squad how did they yeah last year yeah he was very good i was very impressed but boss i asked him i'm like hey how do you hit that ball so pure because in in those windy days, now, granted, yesterday, I mean, it kind of debunks that. But in those windy days, the more up and down you see a ball rotating, okay, like such. If you see a ball start going like this, the wind has more to hit. So that thing will eat it. Whoa.

So whenever you see it, like Justin Tucker, for instance, when he kicks a ball, it is just end over end, perfectly hit. It cuts through whatever. He absolutely murders it. Daniel Carlson on that game winner, if you see it against the Broncos, it's in Las Vegas. And you have to go, you have to attack the ball to hit a ball pure like that. So in those big moments, in those game winners, you see some guys miss and some guys make.

I honestly believe the guys that miss are the guys who have second thoughts they're like ah i'm gonna try to guide it in i'm not gonna so the ability to kind of free yourself from that and swing as if you're trying to fucking kill a ball knowing that the future of your franchise is potentially on the line is amazing boswell has that same trajectory now he lost it for one year but i asked him a couple times i'm like how do you do it he's like i have no idea i just kind of swing at it and we asked prater we're like hey your ball does this fucking slice thing now what uh it just started happening one day that's literally what he said and those kickers the ones who just have the ability just to be like i'm gonna go so jj talking to prater which

i appreciate and i bet you prater has great probably great relationship with jj i think the ones who just have the ability just to be like, I'm going to go. So JJ talking to Prater, which I appreciate, and I bet you Prater has probably a great relationship with JJ. I think we've talked to both of them. We assume they do get along. Prater, I feel like, gets along with everybody. JJ, same way. I don't know what they were saying, but I would like to think that JJ is like, hey, you're going to get it back, man.

You're going to be okay. We're going to need you or whatever, which is normal standard lingo towards a kicker who has missed one early in a game, might need you later. And Prater responded with, what if it doesn't, though? You know, what if it doesn't come back? Because I don't think Prater operates by like, oh, I need to take a better step this way.

I need to do that. It's just like, hey, I'm going to murder this ball. It's going to go through those uprights. That was one thing, I guess, that did affect the Cardinals, obviously, that changed the game completely. No D-hop, no everything. I'm worried about the Cardinals. They were a team that I the Cardinals, obviously. That changed the game completely. No D-hop, no everything. I'm worried about the Cardinals. They were a team that I really enjoyed watching, too.

And in the NFC, especially with the way the Packers are going, I guess the Rams are getting wins with Stafford throwing three picks. Bucks. Rams kind of feel like the Bucks a little bit from last year. Yeah, but I don't think Tom was throwing three picks. They get a win they shouldn't have won, though. Like they shouldn't have won that game against Minnesota. Hildell Beckham, by the way, hit a gritty with a little bit more.

Yeah, it was. It was like a long. Oh, yeah. His ass. He was going like, I mean, he was going like a good two yards each. Yeah. You know what I mean? Now, they're both from LSU.

I assume they both know gritty directly. Right. Pre-game fits, too. But that was a much different gritty than we had seen from Justin Jefferson. You know, the Justin Jefferson one looked close like it. Odell was kind of triple. I mean, he made some grind. He did.

I like Justin's better. Whoa. I'm a feeling guy. Odell was, you know, just the old dog teaching the young pup a few new tricks about how to Gritty. Yeah, and by the way, let's not get it twisted. Odell Beckham Jr. has been dancing on the internet for a long time. Yes, he has.

On a high level. Very high level. Before TikTok, Odell was crushing dancing on the internet. So I was just interested to see that. And by the way, red zone threat, Odell Beckham Jr. I love that McVeigh, you know, down the red zone, third down plays, you have to get creative. You have to create space. Everybody here is down the red zone. It gets tighter down there. You know, there's a lot of teams, Ben, but don't break. That's

their actual philosophy. Like, hey, you're going to get yards, but we're going to hold you to three instead of six because when it gets down here, you're not going to be able to find windows. Sean McVay blatantly making Odell Beckham like the red zone threat, whether it's him running or fades or whatever. I think Odell probably loves that. Like zone threat, whether it's him running or fades or whatever. I think Odell probably loves that. Like, hey, I'm going to get touchdowns, and I have special plays. I'm cool with Cooper Cup being the focus of everything whenever I'm not in there. Matthew Stafford can't be throwing three picks in his own end zone, basically.

But you're right. Maybe that team goes. Jalen Ramsey. Remember, Jalen, the perfect heel. He's a dog. He's unbelievable. The perfect heel. He's a dog. He's unbelievable. The perfect heel. I got COVID.

Nobody fucking text me. Nope. All right, don't reach out. I don't want anything. I'm back. This morning he said, if you don't watch the games or watch film or haven't played, I don't give a fuck what you've got to say. Because this morning all anybody's saying is, hey, Jalen Ramsey's the guy.

Jalen Ramsey's the guy. He's played every position for the Rams. He has stood people up in a hole straight up like oklahoma drill he has floated over humans and made plays he has picked jalen ramsey with aaron donald in that entire squad that makes me believe with what i think you were trying to say that's championship defense oh yeah vaughn can the offense figure it out you know can they have a mistake free game can they be able to go without Woods? Can they go ahead and make it happen?

Maybe. But what we're saying is the NFC is going to be tough, and there ain't no time for the Cardinals to get out of their slump. You've got to figure it out now. You've got to shitter. You're going to get run off the pot early in wild card weekend. Especially with some of these other teams that are coming on in the NFC who are starting to play the –

Cowboys. Yeah, the Cowboys. Eagles. Hey. Yeah. There's some teams that are playing their best ball right now, and the Cardinals, shit, I wouldn't want to play the Eagles in the first round of playoffs. How about the Philadelphia

Eagles, by the way? And we'll get to Coach Sirianni in the second hour. Hey, Gardner Minshew is asking, how can I become the starter? And Coach Sirianni's responding, bro, we are fucking, we've won seven of the last eight, okay? I mean, thank you for what you're doing. But that's not going to happen right now, Gardner.

What we need you to do is sit down and help us figure out how to make Jalen even better than he already is. Because Jalen, it's a shame to say he's basically a rookie. But, I mean, last year was a clusterfuck. He is. And he still only played a few games at the end of the season. This is what next year is going to look like for Justin Fields, hopefully. Right?

That's what everybody's hoping in Chicago. Oh, yeah. We're done. Although Justin Fields will not be a rookie next year, everybody will be like, kind of, with what was going on. With what was going on in Philadelphia last year. I don't think we should. It should count as an accrued season, okay, for his pension.

Right. Sure. All right, but it's not going to count in the judgment of Jalen Hurts, I don't think. He's playing. Yeah, Devontae Smith, too. Lane Johnson's catching touch. Yeah.

Jalen tried to throw that ball, by the way, through Lane's hands. And Lane, freak athlete, goes, ha, ha, ha, give me that. Costanzo used to pitch for them to throw a ball at the crossbar every time we are in the red zone. And Costanzo wanted to leak out. He's like seven foot tall or whatever, bigger than everybody, and just go get it. Some of those big guys, especially a tackle, whether they're used to be basketball players or whatever, great athletes.

A lot of fat guy touchdowns this past weekend. Look for that creativity to continue to grow. Lane Johnson, freak show athlete out there. And poor Gardner, he's asking this question because he looks across the fucking field. He's like, Mike Lennon's got six starts for this fucking team this year. Jake Fromm's starting.

Just real quick, before we get to a break, we'd be remiss to say, Josh Johnson got a start for the Baltimore Ravens. Balled out. Looked very good. Played against the Colts earlier this year while. Balled out. Looked very good. Played against the Colts earlier this year while you were there. Right. Yeah.

Looked very good. Joey Burrow. My God. Let's get to a break. We're back in four minutes. This is the Pat McAfee Show. Overreaction Monday, December 27, 2021. Got to talk about Joey B, Baltimore.

Other than that, I think we hit everything. What a show! Now that the world's opening back up, so many new thrills are on the horizon. Okay. And whether you've been in a relationship for years or just getting started, we're excited to get back out there and meet new people. Hell yeah. When the moment comes...

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from now until the Super Bowl, former NFL quarterback, Dan Orlowski. Hey! Dan Orlowski! What's up, boys? Hey, I watched the morning show. Is that like your room? You know how they all have their rooms that go in?

Lauer had his. Is that like your room over there at ESPN? Hey, Dan, when you get six minutes in between ESPN. Can you lock the door from your desk? Yeah, is that your room? Is that your room? Oh, come on. Are you saying Matt Lauer, dude?

Yeah, from the morning show. Morning show. Come on. Mitch Kessler. Steve Carell. This is – that morning show is in New York. I'm now in Bristol. I just got to Bristol, I don't know, 10 minutes ago, 15 minutes ago.

So this is just a normal room in Bristol. Okay, so this is the standard Monday for you. You go New York at the pier for get up first take. Then you hop in a car, go to Bristol, Connecticut, and then now you have NFL Live Prep and NFL Live. Is that every single day for you? Every Monday. So I go from my house in Connecticut into New York, do the shows in New York,

either get up and first take, then in a car up to Bristol, and then NFL Live here, and then Bristol home. Yes. Thank you for your service. Thank you, Dan. Thank you for your service. Hey,, Dan. Thank you for your service. Hey, man, I haven't been on since, obviously, the big news for you and the boys. So congratulations.

Obviously, incredible accomplishment. And I've shared with you, completely earned. So just wanted to pass along my congratulations. Well, we thank you, Dan. Thank you, Dan. And we miss you around here. You know, Dan, you have been. That's because you don't have me on enough anymore.

I beg to come on. I've got a social media peer pressure. You allow me on your show. Yeah. Well, none of that matters. But the thing about it is we are thankful you're back because you're always great on this show. What happened was, you see, there was a little thing going on, you know, with a lot of money at stake. I didn't want anybody to get any credit for anything, you know, that wasn't warranted.

And I didn't want to put you in an interesting position because you are one of the faces of ESPN. And when I say thank you for your service, I'm serious. You were on our TV basically all day, every day. And now we're in flashback season for Dan Orlovsky. You know, we're doing a lot of flashing back, which is fascinating what we're flashing back to. But it seems like every team that is good right now, you called. What a year.

What a year for Dan Orlovsky. Dan, how are we feeling about how the season's shaping up? It's been a lot of question marks. I don't know how you got everyone right, dude. I don't know how you did it. Well, when you say every team's going to be good at some point, you find the ability to go back in time. It's been a lot of question marks. I don't know how you got everyone right, dude. I don't know how you did it. Well, when you say every team's going to be good at some point, you find the ability to go back in time and point it out.

So, yeah. Obviously, I'm riding high on the Colts one. That was a pretty good pick. A little bit was that just rolling the dice and getting lucky on it. But I also said some stuff that was relatively inaccurate as well. No! I didn't see it. Don't be surprised by it. Hey, Dan, what about the Arizona Cardinals, Kyler Murray?

Are they broke? Are they going to figure this out? What's going on there? Yeah, I think they're broke. So when JJ got hurt, I thought it was a really big deal, and obviously that was kind of the week that Green Bay went out there and beat them very much so hands tied behind their back. But they ran it with their tight ends on the field. And I thought that was going to be kind of a blueprint to attack Arizona defense because it does minimize AJ.

It just it minimizes their blitz package when you do that. And that's kind of the strength of their defensive unit. And teams just kind of have followed that that and then DeAndre got hurt and when everyone when DeAndre got hurt and everyone was like oh they could still win a playoff game I was like what the heck are you talking about like DeAndre Hopkins is at worst the third best receiver in football and arguably the best right he's in that conversation I just don't understand how and that offense is completely built around two people DeAndre Hopkins and Kyler Murray so to lose one of them was enormous in every aspect of their offense and so I think they're struggling to find because the reason AJ Green went over there and played so well

because they were asking AJ Green to be like the third receiver who had like four catches a game and then you know Christian Kirk was so good because it was like, hey, run deep for eight plays a game and we'll hit you twice, and it becomes big plays. And same with Rondo Moore. Now everybody else's role has to become better and different on that pass-catching group. And I don't think that those guys are ready for that or capable, and I don't think Cliff's ready to handle them the right way.

And I think Cliff's game management right now is so bad. I have no idea. I have no idea i have no idea how you kick a field goal on third down the other night i i need i i why not run an offensive play and then kick the field goal on fourth down um but to kick the field goal on third down made absolutely no sense to me so i think you're gonna need an onside kick either way let's at least keep this thing alive as we're in we could throw a longer ball than we can kick. But kick that field going fourth down. Run an offensive play on fourth down.

More time. Tick, tick, tick. Shit. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, dude. I didn't expect that from you for Cliff Kingsbury. Both backup quarterbacks. I thought you'd be very much on the… No, his game management's bad.

But that's always been his M.O. Right now it's bad. Oh, geez. I didn't expect that out of you, Dan. I honestly did not know that. I should have been paying attention closer. But the things that you support, by the way, we are also very supportive of, I believe. All of the things, like the Colts, for instance, we're very excited about.

We'll get to that. The Cards, I was a big fan of Cliff Kingsbury, still am, and the Arizona Cardinals. Yeah, sure. But there's some stuff happening that make me think about last year when they were very inconsistent it's like whoa this is not a time for that to happen no fudging way you say they can win without d hop you might be 100 accurate another person that we are very positive about around here matthew stafford hey old nine he threw three picks yesterday still clinched that team defensively stacked offensively you lose woods but they still got a lot going on what are your thoughts on stafford la and how this season ends you know

him better than anybody i think that is speaking into microphones on a regular basis i think he has all the talent in the world i think there's nothing to worry about but three costly picks in a big game on the road even though they win people are pointing at as maybe being a problem of the future i don't give i couldn't care less about those interceptions yesterday i just i couldn't um 10 o'clock start to that team it's christmas weekend like they're all traveling they just came off like three or four those aren't excuses they're reasons um suck it they just yeah they just came off like a three or four week stretch of absolute COVID insanity of who's playing, who's not playing.

So one of them becomes picked. I don't care. Here's the thing. The Rams, the biggest question of the Rams, and it's a fair one, is can Matthew Stafford play the best four-game stretch of his career once they get into the playoffs? If he does, they got a chance to win the whole Super Bowl. If he doesn't, yeah, then I think that the Green Bay Packers can beat them.

The Bucs can beat them. The Cowboys can beat them. But I still think that the way Sean has gone back to their old school offense, putting Matthew under center protects their offensive line a little bit. Odell looks fantastic. Sonny looks really good. If Cam Akers comes back, that's enormous for their offense. So here's my thing, dude.

I think the thing as I sit here week 17 is I think Kansas City's the team to beat in the NFL. I think they've earned that right. And then every other team has got flaws and issues that you can kind of go after. And if the team that gets the hottest and stays the healthiest or avoids COVID will probably have the best run in the playoffs. That's football, buddy. So what about the Packers? Are your worries for them like special teams and defense at times or what else?

I'm worried about the Packers in relation to their ability to stop the run and nickel defense, which is kind of the same story that it's been for three years. That's really gotten bad over the last, like, four or five weeks. Last four or five weeks. I can hear you guys. I'm sure we're clear. Yeah, I think the last four or five weeks it's gotten a lot worse. No, I think they're going to hopefully get healthy with Bakhtiari and Jair

and Zedarius. But, you know, like that's the thing is if they run into a team like candidly, like if they run into a team like the 49ers or the Eagles that unapologetically is going to run the football and and slow the game down and steal possessions like that's going to be somewhat of an issue for that team. And so I think that would be like if they get knocked off. I'm not overly concerned about the special teams, but if they knocked off i think it would be because of that i think special teams might be a problem too they seem to have it locked up here this past weekend but that is a big deal that can lose you a big time game if you don't get it figured out we're talking to dan

rolovsky the authority on football at espn go ahead tone digs dan you left josh allen out of your top five and my question to you is how dare you? Wow. Holy shit. What's that all about? Diggs, it's not a question. That's a statement when you say how dare you. Well, I guess that is a question.

There was a question mark at the end. Yeah, I don't know if I somewhat don't regret that. So here's how that all went down last week. It was top five quarterbacks in the NFL right now. I did not put him in there. He was top five quarterbacks in the NFL right now. I did not put him in there. He obviously was the best player in football yesterday. So that doesn't swing amazingly, especially specifically when Stafford throws three picks this weekend.

But I love Josh. I've been a big believer in Josh, whatnot. But I'm not changing my top five. Right now, that's the top five. If Josh has to be at six, I'm okay with that. Who is it? We got Aaron? Aaron, Tom, Patrick, Matthew, Joe Burrow.

No Dak. Joe Burrow had a hell of a weekend for you. Dak? Well, Dak just threw for, I think, three tides, four tides. He hasn't played a good game. Yesterday was his first really good game in seven or eight weeks. He was very, very good. They won the NFC, dude.

He was very good yesterday. Washington's defense was atrocious yesterday. Dak? That's what you sounded like there. Man, that was awesome. What about Carson Wentz in that top five? Did you see him with the Indianapolis Cubs making some plays? Yo, real talk.

Honestly, honestly. Because if Aaron makes that throw that he makes, the game-sealer to Michael Pittman, that's the first thing that you lead your show with on Tuesday. It's all over SportsCenter for like the past 48 hours. But since Carson Wentz makes it and everyone likes Carson Wentz and he sucks and all that stuff, we don't get to – it wasn't even on top ten.

This is your business. Hey, that's your company that you work for, not ours, dude. We put them in our top ten. We did top of the hour. Look, Carson Wentz proved to everybody he can make the plays when you have to make them. Now – Hold on.

I want to get clarification for this. Yeah. You put him in your, you know, leading the hour top ten stuff? We don't do that, but we did a top ten plays in the office, and Carson, I think, was number two. Yeah, he was. He was number three. I think we did a top ten in the office.

So he does show that on air for us. It's on the drive. We don't you show that on air for us? By the way, you guys got rights to all Hey, you got footage rights to all these NFL things, and you guys choose just to yell at each other on there. I mean, if we could do it, we would put it up right here, right now. We could only do it in the office. Can't do it on show because

something called, you know, DCMA we will take your entire company down. So this is your fault. Why don't you guys give Carson Wentz any credit? Because he's had to. Dan, he's had to swallow his ego a lot this year, I think, which is not easy to do, by the way, for an NFL quarterback, especially one that was MVP, getting paid a lot of money,

trying to prove that he was fucked in his last place. This is my new home. This is how we're going to go. He has had to completely swallow all of that, right? He has had to swallow all that with Jonathan Taylor being the guy. And it's been proven. Jonathan Taylor rushed for 100. We're undefeated. This way it's going to go. He had to make a couple of big time plays for that team. And every mic'd up session he's in, hard knocks, seems like he is just the guy over there. I love him. I don't know what you're talking about. Get out of your coastal elitism over there. I love him. I don't know what you're talking about.

Get out of your coastal elitism, Dan. I love him out here, dude. Oh, well, I have text messages that, you know, there was moments where I don't know if that love was as strong as it is right now. Different tone. New information. Different tone. This is an accumulation of information.

That's right. Dude, I think the dude's proven that he's back. I actually think that the game that he had on Saturday night was the best when it came to playmaking, decision-making since 2017. I think it was very much so a pivotal moment for him, dude. And I think it'll be very interesting to see how he handles success. But, dude, you know, I've always rode with Carson Wentz. I think he's back to being a top-ten yes at that position absolutely top 10 it's very nice because

we had him in our as well go ahead connor yeah dan you just said josh allen best player in football yesterday should i be worried as a patriots fan then going forward with mac jones or no um i don't think you have to be worried i think um that what I would say is over the last three weeks, we've seen that there are some issues with the Patriots. They've got to play on their terms. They've got to play with their ability to dictate to the other team how they're going to play. When they fall behind, I don't know if you feel confident.

You can't feel confident that, okay, we're down 10. Let's go, boys. We can get right back in this because we're so explosive when they don't play to their characteristics and they have some of those drops and they have some of the penalties and then they fall behind i don't think they're built or explosive enough and their identity is good enough to kind of make that comeback so i don't know if it's like concerned but it's a real thing and it could be the issue that knocks them off. I still think, again, I still think they're very good. I'm not overreacting.

Just like I didn't overreact to Indy beating them, and just I didn't overreact. No, I'm not an overreactor. You know, never have been. I think New England's still really good, but they got to play on their terms, and they can't fall behind like some of those other teams are capable of kind kind of making up ground and they don't have the ability to erase them. There are other flaws. Dan, you're just saying I react. Okay.

I don't ever react. It's how I am every single day. Right. That's what you're saying. I'm a reactor to things for sure. And I'm a, I'm a long picture guy. Big picture guy. Yeah, of course you are.

Let's talk about the big picture here because Mac missed some throws. They't normally miss okay yeah miss them a little bit his anticipation his accuracy a little bit last week the buccaneers could shut out why does that happen you think sometimes sometimes there's just days where you're off and you just gotta hope that it's not an important day why do you think that happens yeah i think matchups are part of it you know like the bucking the saints are not a good matchup for tampa bay it just gives the style that they play with their coverage in their rush um when you build a game plan and then throughout the game multiple guys that are the focal points of that game plan go out it's really difficult to adjust like i i build my game plan and all these plays are built around a guy like leonard fournette well those plays are gone and well these plays are built around guys

like chris godwin well those are gone and And while these plays are built around guys like Chris Godwin, well, those are gone. And then the situational stuff is gone. And then, well, that play's built for Mike Evans. Or Mike's a big part in building that play for a guy like Cameron Braith. Well, Mike's gone. So it's just like you slowly pick away at part of your game plan. So that's part of it. And, yeah, I think you just have off days.

Again, you know, you guys know that football is so connected. And, like, we talked about the Cowboys before. The Cowboys looked incredible. No, they got a couple first downs. Two or three first downs allow for nine more play calls, so to speak. So it just builds in a rhythm. When you're not getting that, you don't have any type of rhythm as a play caller. Okay, Josh Allen got a couple fourth downs where if he didn't get it,

the Patriots probably win yesterday. I mean, that is an interesting thing to do right there, what you just chose to do, especially at ESPN, in which you have to talk about the Cowboys every day. Yeah, dude, it's nauseating. Hey, what about Dak, though? You said if Matthew Stafford plays four of his best games, they can make a run.

Don't you think if Dak plays four of his best ever, the Cowboys can make a run? Big Mike? Yeah, I would absolutely say that yeah I think that the the most interesting dark part for me about Dallas AJ is like I think that they have the scariest unit in the playoffs more than likely I think there are five pass rushers you know just I don't know if I would have a really good plan for how to block those guys. Probably at the top of the list would be Micah Parsons. Like, I don't know how you would plan to handle that guy.

And that would be, like, the scariest part to me is, like, if Dallas gets up 10-0, man, and you get into those obvious passing situations, dude, it's a wrap. If 94-90 and 11 stay healthy, it's lights out. So, yeah, if Dak plays really good, yes. That offense, because of their talent, should be able to kind of go and control games. But for me, it was all about their tempo last night. I just thought they were much better with their tempo at the line of scrimmage, no huddle, never allowing the defense to adjust.

So, yeah, I think if Dak has his best four-game stretch, because of the way their pass rush is, they could go. You know Kellen Morga? I love Kellen. Hate Dak, though. Is he going to get a head gig soon? I don't hate Dak. Sounds like you do. I'm sorry. I was just reacting. I'm just reacting.

No, I'm just saying realist. Yeah. I think Kellen will get a head coaching job soon. Jim Caldwell, too. Hey, Jim, I love Jim Caldwell. I think you do as well. I'm happy his name's getting back in there. All he's done is really won. Doug Peterson getting back in there.

And I think we're talking to Dan Orlovsky, who just said, if I was playing against Dallas' front five, I don't know I'd be able to come up with a plan to beat them. Are you getting into the – remember, what was that, two years ago? Yeah, that's right. Your name was getting thrown into some coaching stuff. And then, you know then there was some other. They can start interviewing today, right, Dane?

If they've informed their coach that they're moving on, they can start interviews today. So that's Raiders, that's Jaguars, and that's any other team. Congrats, Dane. Dan Orlovsky. Dan. Dan. I cannot stand how seamless.

AJ no longer literally calls me by my name. It's not even said with a hesitation or smile. Well, in his head, you are Dane. I just don't understand. Is Coach Dane Orslavsky going to be something that happens or no? God. I hope so one day. I've always been outspoken that I want to coach one day And you know

If it's the right place Right time The right people Yeah I would love to do that Straight to head coach Or do you want to be A coordinator first No I would want to be

A head coordinator Or a coordinator first Before being a head coach I would want to do it The right way And go to a place With a good quarterback And all that stuff

What about the sleeping On the couch for like 10 years Yeah What about all that stuff You know like in the coaching ranks Yeah I mean that's a reality but you know i think one the negatives are kind of countered by some of the positives i've got friends that have kind of made that transition because they were missing some of the impact and kind of the day-to-day difference you know the the television world there is a there are some some days that are relatively similar. I can only go and break down

run games so many different ways where the real life coaching aspect is a little bit different. I don't know. I love television right now as well. I kind of like the balance. Like I said, right place, right time. I would do it for sure. Chicago Bears are going to need somebody, huh?

Dano and Justin Fields. You want to know who I think the Bears should call first? Let's hear it. I don't know if he's ready yet, but that's only inside information. I think I would call Nathaniel Hackett first. Okay. Oh, over there at Green Bay. By the way, I don't know if that.

What about Urban? To Chicago. Yeah. Oh, my God. Urban Meyer also potentially a good call. What? Turn the whole place around. Yeah.

He's got experience. Yeah. Turn it around, that's for sure. Too many call-overs. Oh, I get what you said there. You're talking about the chop-offs. Yeah. Chop-offs.

What do you got, Tom? Chop-offs. No, you said you wanted to ask Dan a question. Did you already ask him? Josh Allen. What about Ben Roethlisberger? He's dead, and everybody's just watching it happen. Is that – like, so when –

Why is anyone surprised? As a wrestling fan, as a wrestling fan, okay, and I don't want to tie this together, but I'm going to. As a wrestling fan, some of the olds will come back and wrestle, and you have these high regards for these olds and the memories. Then they get in a ring and Father Time has done what it has done to every single human. And you see some things and you go, oh, I wish I didn't see that. I'm going to remember that person right now.

I can't believe that's the case. Ben Roethlisberger currently potentially going through a similar thing in Pittsburgh. I think Pittsburgh will always hold Ben in high regards because he won a couple Super Bowls, but I think time's going to take a little bit. That whole place is under heavy scrutiny right now, and they're still in the hunt. They are still in the hunt. They lose T.J. Watt.

They get blown out by the Chiefs. The Chiefs win 26 straight in December. It's loud in Pittsburgh right now, though, Dano. What's the future look like there in your eyes, you think? I don't think this season has any bearing on anybody's opinion of Ben Roethlisberger. He's a Hall of Famer and one of the best to ever put on that uniform. No one cares about what Eli Manning did his last year.

We all remember Eli Manning for his Super Bowl runs and his clutch play. No one's going to care about what Big Ben has done or not done this year. He's a Hall of Famer. Lock it in. Congrats, Ben. Like I said, one of the best ever. Here in Danos, HLF. First ballot.

I think probably one of the better coaching jobs we've ever seen from Mike Tomlin. I mean, anyone who thought – Okay, here we go. Hey, that was Tony's take as well, Dan. I agree. No, but anyone who thought the Steelers were going to be good this year, that is on you because the writing was on the wall, bad offensive line.

Ben couldn't play at a high level anymore. The secondary lost important pieces. They were completely dependent on their defense being incredible. And they've slowly lost some of those aspects in their defense. Hasn't been incredible. So they're a below average team that with an above average coach is kind of flirted. They're not getting into playoffs. They are not a cont contender they're just a team that doesn't have a bright

future and i they're gonna have pittsburgh jesus they're gonna have to draft a kid in the first round this year i would imagine like it would i go get a rod they were not going there oh thank you you think he's going to chicago with nathan talking to? You think he's going to Chicago with Nathaniel Hackett? You take the coach out of Green Bay and take him in Chicago and have Aaron go there? That's a good group package. If Green Bay, if it's going to be a trade, I would say there's a 0% chance they trade him in conference.

I mean, that would be idiotic. Well, you're talking about Hackett going up there. I don't know if that's going to happen. So, I don't know. You know, I still think the team that we correlated with Aaron a lot last year would probably be the likeliest team. I mean, I would imagine Cleveland would be in that conversation as well. But they're going to have to draft the guy early.

Pittsburgh. Who were you guys over there correlating him with earlier? I think the team that makes the most sense would be Denver again because they're going to have need and they've got a really great defense and they've got good skill position guys. They're going to have a new head coach, yeah, right? Maybe Hackett head coach. Devontae Arringo over there.

Oh, my God. Oh, no, mile high. They're going up to Aspen on the weekend. The women flow. Salmon of the Copa. That's what you think is potentially happening in Orlovsky? Again, I don't think it's going to be in the NFC, and I just think of the AFC teams that are going to be in that conference. I guess maybe Miami, but are you going to Miami if you're Aaron?

If you have any say and you work it out with Gooden, hey, keep me out of the NFC, that's fine. But, like, let me tell you where I want to go as long as the deals are the same. Like, I don't think you're going to Miami. You're not going to Pittsburgh, maybe Cleveland, maybe Denver. Why not Pittsburgh? Now, listen, we all believe that the relationship – Because your offensive line isn't good.

The worst, actually, Dan. They're the worst. Yeah, would you want to be 40 years old and go playing behind an offensive line that's going to get you smashed bro he runs a 4-2 still but he's saying a lot I love you to Green Bay you know I think he's sticking around although AJ asked that question who's his closest

public confidant so him even asking that question makes me think like what is this all about what is this all about he's doing a lot of this you know what I mean he's doing a lot of I love you to the Packer faithful we think they're going to be with the packers right that's who you think he's remaining with the packers none of us know i don't think except for maybe aj love you dude i have i have absolutely no idea um do i want him to stay with the packers yes do i think he will stay with the packers no oh get out why don't you think so

yeah i just like i don't know i feel you know what let I just, like, I don't know. You know what? I feel like Aaron is at a very content place just hearing him talk. And I think he's just at a very, like, whatever's going to happen is going to happen. And I don't, like, maybe you can answer this question for me, Pat, because I'm interested in it. I don't know. When I hear him talk, I think he's obsessed with greatness. I don't know if he's obsessed with winning at all costs. You know what I'm saying? And I don't, that's just how it sounds when he's like, I just expect greatness. I feel

like he's content with the process as long as he believes that the process has allowed for greatness. And if he loses, I don't think he's going to be like this oh my gosh i didn't get it done or we didn't get it done again type of thing that's just how i feel when i hear him talk nowadays interesting you're saying that because he's like super chill vibe like hey we did everything we could this the way it works out i don't know if you're a 17 year nfl vet who's on the mount rushmore at the highest level at the toughest position. If you don't have a be great at all costs type mentality, especially with all. I didn't say that. I do think he's obsessed with greatness.

Like I do believe he's. But I think there's a difference between being obsessed with greatness and I'm we I or we have to win at all costs. OK. I mean, interesting dynamic there, especially in a team sport to think like that. But you're right. I think you're you're like, I don't think he's, I think he's Nancy Kerrigan. You know, is that what you're talking about? Like, no, I just, I just think like if, if they go to the NFC title game and they play a really good football game or whatever, and they lose in a close game or whatever, I don't think he's going to sit there and go, I got to come back because we didn't get it done again.

Like I don't think that is going to be the reasoning behind him coming back or go to the Super Bowl and lose. I just don't believe that that is going to be something that alters his decision. I might be wrong. AJ would know more. I think he just wants to be respected in the building. That's what I think personally. I think his opinion, his brain, his accolades, his resume,

he would like it to be respected as anybody else that would have that potential resume anywhere else. I don't know if I've ever seen him play better football. I will say that. And the team looks good, by the way. Rasul Douglas brought him in to trade. He's making game-time plays. They brought in Randall Cobb. Maybe things are turning around.

A lot of I love yous. A lot of I love you's. But is that him hitting the phones early for a breakup? We'll ask tomorrow about the I love you's. Let's talk about another quarterback here with the authority on quarterbacking at the ESPN. By the way, what you and Ryan Clark do, breaking down film from each

side. Really cool segment on NFL Live. Thank you. That's all RC, man man RC actually had that idea early on in this year he was like yo what do you think about this and I was like let's give it a try so it was all his he's the kind of creative mind behind it you know me I'm not very

creative with my mind so what you make up a lot of takes that we think are very creative don't you even think about that and also the dance you guys do on there with the iPad it's's very, very good. And there's been a lot of heated discussion. Yeah, you're doing incredible work. It's a lot.

You're on TV a lot. But you are incredible. We always enjoy watching you. And the talk about Baker Mayfield, does it change at all after what happened against the Packers? They almost beat the Packers in Lambeau on Christmas Day. Now, granted, he throws four picks. They look bad.

The team, you have to think, if they had another quarterback in there, what would they look like? That Baker Mayfield being in a class of his own, because he can't be judged against anybody else because he did something that nobody else was able to do, which is win in Cleveland. Like, he was able to win.

Nobody's been able to do that. But now that they have the roster, and it feels like a winning culture, maybe. I don't know. Are they going to look for somebody else? What do you think happens with Baker Mayfield and the Browns? I think, first of all, going back to Saturday's game,

I think they win that game with any other quarterback on their roster but Baker. Because of the four... Oh my God. I feel it. Hey, listen. I'm going up to the top. Going up to the top.

Going up to the top here. Where's Beck? I mean, four turnovers. Beck right down there. The fifth-string quarterback, Jarvis Landry, would have been able to do better than the shit you pulled. Woo! Fly.

The turnovers, man. You lose a two-point game with those four turnovers, and I would say that some of the turnovers man like you lose a two-point game with those four turnovers and i would say that you know some of the turnovers were were poor i think baker has a justifiable reason to not perform to his standards when it comes to his individual individual performance and that is the injury it is not a justifiable reason to be the reason that your football team loses games. Good sense. And that's kind of what I saw happen on Saturday. And I'm a Baker guy.

I think the Browns have to figure out, and only they can, how much they actually believe that the injury has negatively impacted his performance. Because if they sit there and go, you know what? Our doctors have said this injury is not that big a deal and you perform so bad whatever or they say hey baker's a guy that is really big when it when it comes to spinning off his back foot and his his feet were terrible on saturday spinning off his back foot and turn it up top and that's been impacted by the injury and he's at because like my thing is this it's like baker literally used to be one of the better ball placement like last year his ball placement in the nfl was top 10

this year it's bottom 10 that doesn't just happen that that doesn't just all of a sudden become something you're very good at to being something you're very bad at and so i lean towards the injury being a thing i think his future obviously they picked up his fifth year option. I think he's probably going to be a part of their future. And I think they want him to be a part of their future, but there's no way that you could be doing a good job as a Drummond manager if you're Andrew Berry and not do something else at that position this off season. Because while you may want Baker to be your guy, you have to protect the other 52 people on the team and all the 150 other people within your organization

or something like that. And so I think they've got to do something, whether it's some form of a draft pick, more than likely. And I think that's fair to Baker. Like, Baker, we want you to be our dude, but we've seen you go up mountains and we've seen you take us down the valleys as well. And I think you've got to kind of cover your bases it's kind of like the jimmy g conversation right

yep and it's whenever he's hurt jimmy g whenever he was hurt they would lose they bring in a quarterback jimmy g plays great they win he plays bad they lose they gotta look out for the future who knows what either of those places look we're talking to dan orlovsky the authority on american football on espn. Go ahead, Ty. Dan, when you look at some of these rookie quarterbacks, specifically Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson, do you think how bad their years have been? Are those guys still going to be okay?

Or did the damage that Urban Meyer did to Trevor Lawrence, is that going to be detrimental for the rest of his career? I don't think it will be detrimental for the rest of their career for Trevor, as long as they make the next decision, the right one, you know, like it's incredible or it's impossible to ask a kid to go from Clemson. That's got a very positive and really healthy culture to be around as an athlete to go into Jacksonville, that to be an absolute debacle and then try to fix it and it end up being another poor decision. So I think the jury is still out whether it's going to work or not work in Jacksonville for Trevor, but that's way more dependent

on who their next head coach is. I have said that I would call Sean Payton. I have said that I would call Jim Caldwell. And I've said that I would call Doug Peterson. One of those three guys would be my hire um so i i'm not overly concerned about the stuff that i've seen from trevor their offensive line is not great they got to upgrade it to skill position so like we we knew this was going to be a long haul for him for zach wilson i'm a little bit more encouraged over the past couple weeks michael floor's done a really good job for them as he's settled in. I think they've got to get Zach a – yeah, they're really good.

I think they've got to get him a very specific quarterback coach, and he's got to really attack the football one-on-one basics and mechanics and fundamentals because he's super talented. They've got to get bigger receivers. All his receivers are little dudes, and that's just hard to throw the ball to, candidly. Becton coming back will be a big deal, so I'm not nearly

as kind of concerned about Zach Wilson as some other people are. You're an NFL quarterback. Okay, throw the ball. Make the throws. Now, Berrios, by the way, kickoff return to the house. He looked like he was shot out of a cannon, that dude. Hey, shout out to Coach Boyer down there drawing up the schemes to get that guy in the end zone zone zach wilson were you pumped to see a quarterback that runs

like a 7 240 run a 60 yard touchdown there what that did you see there was four jaguars aj let me get your take on this real quick there was like four jaguars on the film after watching it closer that just quit on the play i think it's because they thought he was going to go out of bounds is that what you think they thought aj absolutely i feel like they're all you don't know especially if a quarterback is near a sideline like you have to be scared to hit the dude because you know you don't know you won't get the big penalty on you orlovsky what are your thoughts on kenny pickett changing the college game and maybe zach wilson doing this in the nfl game because you got a lot of defensive guys that are like i would kill this guy yeah i mean is that do you think that's what

zach meant to do or you think he just saw an opening and said, oh, I'm a freak athlete, dude. This is the Jags. They stink. I think it was like a little bit of a reactionary play by Zach. Like, he probably planned on, you know, kind of stepping out or going down. And then as you start to feel guys, like, not kind of attacking you, like, all right, maybe I'll just react to something.

I do not think the NFL is going to change their rule. We all know that the quarterbacks will be incredibly overly protected in the NFL, as they probably should be for their business model. So I don't think they'll change the rule like college did, no. All right, Dan, good luck out there today. What do you got tonight? Dolphins minus three heading into New Orleans. Your pick, Darius Butler picked the Dolphins.

He's a part of the Fin Fam. AJ picked the Saints at home, getting three points. Ian Book, who is this guy, is what D-Bud asked. AJ said, I got him. What are your thoughts, Dan? I think Ian Book's a good little player. I would imagine he reminds Sean Payton of a less kind of creative, recess-style quarterback of Tony Romo.

Like he's a good athlete, ball distributor, play point guard type, play point guard type of guy. But I'll take Miami. You know, with the guys that are out for more on the defense, that's a big deal. Two, it takes less than three sacks, Miami wins. All right. Me and Dan are on the same side.

You know what that means. Dritty and Dana. Hey, Dane, appreciate you, man. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. Thank you for stopping by. And please tell everybody, your family, the others at NFL Live, everybody, we said hello and we appreciate it.

All right. Appreciate you guys. Good to see you, bud. Congratulations again. Hey, you're trying the internet, though, with all these victory laps you know they got time they're gonna look you know what i mean the internet got time you know what i mean when you're good at you what you do you're good at what you do bob dan we love you ladies and gentlemen dan or love so sorry to interrupt but i want to let you know that if you're not gambling with fandle you're

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Let's get back to the show. That's down with a man who is a COVID survivor. Wow. He's talking to one, by the way. True. COVID survivor. Tone Diggs. COVID survivor.

Frank Moraldo. COVID survivor. What Moraldo. COVID survivor. Zito Jose. COVID survivor. I was actually got. We were worried about that one. Yeah, you think he got back because the Bears won. He had victory steps.

What? Gumpy. Gumpy. COVID survivor. What? What? The newest member of the COVID survivor club that speaks into microphones on this particular dumbass sports show. College football national champion.

Super Bowl champion. Ryder Cup champion. COVID survivor. AJ Hall. Yeah! Way to go, man. Hey, way to go man hey way to go how do you do it should I wear a cowboy hat now

and take on a character well maybe listen if you're gonna watch Kevin Costner the entire time I get digs I get digs

that was not a shot at you oh shit AJ I did not take that as a shot at you good to see the toxicity is still flowing out of your fucking mouth over there in Ohio.

I didn't know if COVID, you know, it takes some people's smell and taste. Thought maybe it would take your toxicity, but that is not the case. Hope you had an incredible Christmas, AJ. Merry Christmas, AJ. 100 kids, you know, over there in Ohio. Hope everybody had a great Christmas. Santa. Yeah, they did.

They definitely had a good Christmas. It was fun, man. What about you? You guys have a good time? Yeah, we got so high out in Arizona. You know what I mean? Highest house on Camelback. No big deal.

Highest people on Camelback. Put those two together with the most rain since 1944. Ooh. Really? World War II. I don't know if they actually set the record, but they were on pace for the most amount of rain in one day since 1944 or something like that.

That was the day we arrived. Damn. And it hadn't rained out there since the last time we were out there. So literally, I'm bringing water to the desert. So I feel like me and Sam maybe need a little bit more thank you from the cacti and greenery around the Phoenix area. That place is fucking gorgeous, AJ. You ever go out there and spend any time?

We played in the Fiesta Bowl out there. I know you played in the Fiesta Bowl out there. But if you've gone out there and hung out, those views, it's a different fucking world out there. It's a Bob Ross painting. I was in a Bob Ross painting for Christmas. I think it's the best time you were there. When you're in the winter, like the summer, yeah, it's 9,000 degrees.

Oh, it's a dry heat. Doesn't matter. Still super hot. But in the winter is when I've been there because I played in the Fiesta Bowl three times. And they have like – there's some weird kind of – not weird kind of, but native wood that they're burning in outdoor fires out there. It smells great. If I ever catch a whiff of a fire around here like that, sometimes it reminds me of being there. It's a special place, man.

It's pretty cool. They say smell is the biggest nostalgia thing. That's right. It's pretty cool. They say smell is the biggest nostalgia thing. That's right. Really? Yeah. Takes you back. The same scientists that tell us that we know more about space. No, no. Brain scientists. Check it off early. Way to go. Way to go.

Way to go. I'm sorry. I'm an American. That's the first one I think. Not Einstein. Rest in peace to those dogs. Anyways, with that being said, look how happy he is.

Especially now that he's a COVID survivor. I know. There it is. There it is. Get Dick Pond out too. You want to talk about the Olympics a little bit? All right. Let's get back to the program. What a slate of games we had yesterday.

Yesterday and Saturday. Let's dive into it. Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers deliver us a super boost on Christmas Day that brought joy to all that were a part of it. It took millions and millions of dollars from FanDuel, and we love that. And by the way, shout out to the Risk and Trading group over there. You know, because we are adversaries. We are competing against each other.

They have openly admitted, hey, Pat, whenever you do something, we tend to lose a lot more or we win more. So they understand that just like, you know, just like Ali needed Frazier. And just like Tom Brady needed Peyton Manning. And Jordan needed... John Stockton. Of course. That's right.

Oh, come on. Of course, by the way. But just like two people need each other, the risk in trading, I think both of us, although Bill Belichick will not tell us the New Year's resolution he has until a week from now, which is awesome. I feel like us getting the risk

in trading, we have like a New Year's resolution like, hey, going forward, let's go ahead, let's do this. Let's dance a little bit. Let's dance a little bit. So them going to plus 200 for Devontae for a touchdown on the Packers' money line, as soon as they sent that email over, is this good?

Is plus 200 good? It's like, fucking Merry Christmas! Yes, that is good. That's going to happen. I don't know if Aaron planned out the touchdown to somebody else, because remember last week he told us if he was to hit Devontae with the first thud, it would break the Packers' Brett Favre record, and it would

break the Aaron Rodgers-Jordy Nelson record for the duos. And he said that would be pretty sweet. I wonder if he thought ahead and was like, somebody else needs to score that first one, I'll get the ball. Then we'll score the next one to Devontae, he'll get the ball. We both leave Lambeau with record-breaking balls. Merry Christmas to all of us. We'll ask him about that tomorrow.

They almost gave that thing up late, though, AJ. I was in the clouds both physically and spiritually, but I thought they were going to lose that game late. Why is that? What's going on? Is it because it was Christmas? Who cares? I'm trying to figure out the same thing.

I was looking up the stats, too. They sacked Baker five times. Aaron was sacked zero times. Baker threw four picks, and you still only won by two points. What did I miss in that game? Yeah, me too. I feel like we were very comfortable because the Devontae Tud happened, times and Baker threw four picks and you still only won by two points. Like what did I miss in that game? Yeah, me too. And I feel like we were very comfortable because the Devante Todd happened.

So we're watching for the super boost. It's like, okay, Devante scores. Now we just need the Packers to win or whatever. How's everybody doing? I was helping some kids. Hey, let's go ahead and hit something. We look like. What the fuck's going on?

Aaron's coming back on. He'll figure out. Hey, how's it going? Can I get one of them German beers that Tim McAfee's drinking that are darker than anything in history? Are you drinking maple syrup that is considered beer from Germany, Tim? You look back, what the fuck is going on? They could drive down here and win this goddamn game. I don't think I was paying attention enough either.

And this seems to be a trend. Now, Razul Douglas ending that thing, calling game, West Virginia Mountaineer, been around a lot of places, talking about how great it is to be a Packer in that defense, in Lambeau. Feels like he has recognized the moment being his and has taken advantage of it with all of the stops he had before, learning from and dominating. But that was wild. Baker Mayfield in the Cleveland Browns almost beat the Packers in Lambeau on Christmas.

Okay, very close. Made no sense how close they were to potentially making a couple plays and beating the Packers. Baker's the worst quarterback of all time. Get him out of here. He threw four picks. But also for the Packers, like, what the fuck is going on? Let's put some teams away, AJ. Let's go.

We need to do it. It's not the playoffs. A win's a win. It doesn't matter. But, god damn, that got a bit close there. It was definitely closer than I thought. And let's say the Browns won the game. Would people still be all on, like, the get rid of Baker train?

So, right now, for instance, Matthew Stafford is still being attacked for going back to Detroit, throwing three picks. They clinch in that game against Minnesota in Minnesota. Long trip, far trip from L.A., Christmas weekend, cold as fuck. Cold as fuck. Now, not in the Dome, but just in the life in general. They get a win. He throws three picks.

They're like, Stafford, he's not going to be a guy that's going to be able to get him there because at the end of the day, he's the quarterback that doesn't have a playoff win in his incredible resume that is what is happening even though the Rams won so I do believe Baker would still be getting killed by some people whether they win that game or not yeah I guess the one pick that I don't know which number it was in the four that he threw he threw but it was early and he was back in the pocket and he couldn't see really I think Troy even said like look he's shorter he couldn't see and he kind of threw it off his back foot and they back in the pocket and he couldn't see really. I think Troy even said, like, look, he's shorter. He couldn't see. And he kind of threw it off his back foot in there in the red zone. That one right there was – that was tough for the Browns. To his right, right?

Yeah. That was a – He rolled his ankle while he was letting go of it. The other pick, the one where it was kind of like a post with an over route. The over was wide open. Oh, yeah, yeah. He threw the post with two on. Yeah.

A couple decisions I think people will point to will be like, not only was the ball bad, but also the decision at this stage of his career. The one that they went back and talked about that he put it up because he knew his receiver was on top, but the receiver got hit down the field. They didn't call it. That I give him. I'm like, okay, I understand that one.

Because when he threw it, I didn't know what he was doing, why he let that thing go. And we are not a pro-Baker or anti-Baker show. I feel like we have been relatively. I think I have. That's term of fair. Yeah. So if he only throws three picks, do they win the game?

Maybe. But I feel like we have been, you know. But who knows what happens. Yeah, yeah. Like, who knows? I mean, you never know. Because the flow of a game could change from something that's, you know, like, for instance. Oh, yeah, yeah.

You make a kick early, it potentially changes the entire game, as opposed to a missed kick early that could. You know, the game always seems to answer itself. So I'm not 100% sure if he throws three and they win or whatever. You would point to the fact that, yes, it would naturally not have the last one that you would go on the way you would do that. But who knows how the game plays. With all that being said, I don't know how the fuck they pay Baker Mayfield. I don't know. And it's not his.

He's won. He won a playoff game there. That team is in a position that they haven't been in in so long. They almost beat the Packers. Best team in football is everybody saying they're almost locking up home field advantage through the entire plus on christmas in lambeau and i still feel the same way that a large majority of the people have felt for like the last two years which and i'm just now getting to this you have it's hard not to think about another

quarterback on that team and in those situations and it's not fair to Baker it's not fair to all NFL players that this happens but you're in the fucking best league the biggest league the highest level this is going to happen that situation especially if they win what if they get in they win out they make the playoffs back-to-back years for the first time in so long Baker's your quarterback through that all do you get a little grass is greener on the other side thought I don't know. That's for Andrew Barry to figure out. But let's go back to the Packers. It feels like there's a lot of I love you's going on.

Oh, yeah. You know, I love you. Brett Favre says, congrats, Aaron. I'm breaking the record. I have one more request. Let's go. Let's go win our Super Bowl. That place goes crazy. I think Aaron even got a little emotional for that whole thing.

He's been doing a lot of the I love you's, which I think is him talking to the fans directly, because even whenever he did that interview with Kenny Main, his last episode of SportsCenter, he said, I love the fans. I love the people. I love my teammates. I love my coaches. That's all I'm really worried about right now.

I was like, well, there's one glaring omission, one group of people not in there. So I enjoy that he's at this stage, AJ. What if they win the Super Bowl, dude? There's no conversation about him going anywhere, right? Can't happen. You would think, yeah, if he won it all, that he's going to go somewhere else. But I don't think any of us have any clue what's going to happen now.

Love you, dude. With what they do, though, they are primed to make a run. This is silent. Well, Ben's calling a play. They did to his family last night. No, Ben does that, too. First time his family had traveled to an away game ever, I believe. Well, and his family had noticed

that his forearm was a little skinnier. Yeah, tiny. And I'm It's tiny. A little skinnier. Yeah, tiny. And I'm the toxic one. Yeah, you are. Pat, can you explain to people that first-time watchers why his forearm is smaller? Well, time will always do its thing.

But there's a lot of this, you know what I mean, from Aaron to the crowd. What does that mean, AJ? And why is – has he always done this? We just haven't seen it on TV? Or is he just a little bit more open about it now you think i think he's he's been doing that for a long time uh maybe he does a little bit more now and maybe two more people i guess i don't know because you think about last week where he says you know you're either playing at iconic lambo or you're hosting the fucking green bay packers you know we travel and he does a lot of love you

to the fan and he talked about the storied franchise and how they travel everywhere and everything like that. I think Aaron has probably done some reflection. I don't know, not just some, a lot of them. I think all he does is reflection. Yeah. Now that I think about it, I think there's a lot of reflecting. But I think he genuinely does appreciate what the Packers are

as opposed to what other teams are like like I think he's absolutely yeah yeah that's easy to see that he he is 100 all in like with the organization like what the Packers are the history the tradition I'm not saying all the people he's with okay I don't I have no idea what that relationship looks like now up top but I know everybody else that I've watched him interact with in that building he loves loves all those people. And I think – what year is this for him now? 17. 17, yeah. I mean, think about that.

17 years going into the same facility every single day, the same thing, still playing at such a high level. Maybe playing your best football ever in 17 years. Yeah, I would say he's pretty appreciative of what's going on. By the way, out in the middle of nowhere. You know, I mean, for 17 years he's gone into hibernation in green bay okay well all the other people that he's friends with or hangs out with or at his level would be trying to fly south for the winter or go to a big city or something like that he has remained very faithful and loyal to green bay now one sign of oh he's not happy was this

past off season and some packers fans turned on him, right? There was, hey, go Pack, instead of the go Pack go, remember there was a sign in Green Bay, A. Aaron, hashtag go Pack. Dude, get the fuck out of here. It got to that point because of, you know, one side, Mark Murphy, sending emails out and doing things about what Aaron's doing, and Aaron remaining quiet. And I was, you know, I thought

it was fascinating that he remained quiet. I was, cause I think you and I have chatted about it because at that point he and I did not have the relationship where I should send him a text and be like, Hey, you should fucking say something like he, I didn't have that relationship with him. I did not. So I would ask you, and I don't now, and I don't know if anybody, but I would ask you like, Hey, should he not say something? Because Mark Murphy is crafting the angle alongside media. There's a lot of media tag team that is happening here. We all know that from reading the articles, even though, you know,

anonymous sources or accumulation of information. When you read that, it was like, like oh this is clearly the Packers people trying to shape their story to their fans into the public about what's going on he remained quiet that entire time then at 45 minute press conference when he came back where he answered all the questions I think he got a lot of Packers fans back like oh yeah he's actually the adult in the room when it comes to this thing and he did that now as the season has gone with the tovid you know and the immunized and this and that i think there's been a lot of people outside of green bay that have hated aaron for a long time this gave them more reason people that loved aaron have stuck by his side i guess he learned who's on his side who isn't on his side but in

green bay i think a majority of packers fans have remained on his side post 45 minute press conference explaining why he hasn't talked and I think him showcasing more about how appreciative he is of the Green Bay people as he was getting buried from the outside as he's in a little city in Wisconsin where if he was in LA or New York every single move he made he would be getting killed for I think him openly showing it is really cool it also reminds me of a theory i had back in the day hey when you go through a breakup you got to hit those phones you know for the friends like you got you have to hit those phones before the person you are oh to get your side out you you're saying? Yes. There you go. Yes, because if you do not, okay, that campaign trail is going to end soon,

and you will lose. That's a good point. You have to hit the phones whenever a breakup happens. You have to. Like when a husband and wife break up, and they've been married for a while, then other couples have to choose, right, which side they go with, the husband or wife?

Bingo. And I had seen a friend of mine who was in a relationship for a long time long time they broke up and i got a message from the girl about the breakup and why and i was like oh so then i called him i'm like hey do you know what i just heard do you know what i just heard he's like that's not what happened at all i'm like you need to hit the phone you need to hit the phones dude you know so I just heard? And he's like, that's not what happened at all. I'm like, you need to hit the phones. You need to hit the phones, dude. So I think Aaron talking to the Packers fans has been a lot of him trying to say, like, hey, I want to let you know, whatever fucking happens here,

I have always appreciated this shit out of all you. And it's not about them. I think he wants them to know this has nothing to do with you, the fans. Like, he probably would say, hey, if it wasn't for you and how awesome this place is, I probably would have done this years ago. Yeah, I think so too. And what a win on Christmas. That goes into the Colts, AJ.

Have you gotten a chance? Have we chatted with AJ about the Colts yet? No, no. So you took the Cardinals, obviously, and that would have been a smart take. I think all the sportsbooks wanted people to take the cards, especially when it was announced that Darius Leonard would also be out of the game. That has Quentin Nelson out. We had four or five top 100 players in the entire NFL out.

Four offensive linemen in the number one rush unit in the NFL out. And we were still able to get a win over the cards who were looking to try try to get home field advantage through the playoffs now the cards might be dead I have no idea what the fuck's going on over there I don't know if it's a culture issue I don't know if it's what happened what D hop not being there him being kind of the glue that brings everybody together JJ Watt maybe being out is a big deal his energy is potentially needed I'm not sure they seem to be in some trouble hopefully they'll be able to figure it out because of how awesome the team is, the city is, and everything like that. But the

Colts look like a team, AJ. Hey, look like a goddamn team. Carson took a step. I feel like that was a big moment for Carson. That touchdown, scrambling around finding him in the back of the end zone. That was an unbelievable play, unbelievable throw. I think that is going to do wonders for Carson's confidence

and everything moving forward. They gave him a game ball afterwards. This game ball is for Chris Ballard because they were out 7-8 starters. No big deal. That's a sweet hat by Ursa. Unbelievable. And he wears sweats, I think, with all these suits. What?

Wait, what do you mean? I don't know. I've been checking out his videos on Instagram trying to figure it out. I think he has business on top, party on the bottom. No way. Love it. I think so. I think he has a couple thousand dollar custom suit on top,

and then just the same comfortable black sweats almost on the bottom. That's awesome. Yeah. But the hat has become a thing now that the Jim Irsay collection is a thing. Yeah. This dude's a fucking rock star. He is? Yeah.

This dude's a rock star owner who is very invested in his team. He's at every single game. They're saying he's a fucking rock star. He is? This dude's a rock star owner who is very invested in his team. He's at every single game. They're saying he's at every single day he's around. I mean, this is a good time to be a Colts fan. I'm pretty pumped up about it. Let's get to the standings for the weekend for you and me making picks.

You'll see the asterisk next to the records there. I want nine and six. You want eight and seven. Congrats to you, man. Having another above 500 week. Well done, AJ. Yeah, What's the asterisk about? So the asterisk is actually we both got wins for the Packers

because we took the Packers. They were minus seven and a half or something. They did not cover, but we're giving ourselves the win because the Superboost hit. So everybody else did. You're telling me I took the Ravens over the Bengals? No, I didn't. Yeah, you did. It was a full conversation. Tyler Huntley.

What was the line? It was something I forget. Ravens were closing at 7. 7? After the news. Was it before or after the news that Huntley was out? Before. Then it was like 3 or 4.

Yeah. All right. We'll have to check the tape. I don't know. I don't think I took the Ravens. You lost, pal. All right. I didn't check the tape, by the way.

I did not check the tape. But I know a couple of people did in the office. So you're taking a shot at a lot of people in here, I think, whenever you're questioning this type of stuff. Maybe you should look inward, dude. Maybe you should take a little peek, see the COVID survivor in the mirror. I'm not mad about them. They're just being instructed of what the dictator is doing. No!

What are you talking about? What are you talking about? I didn't say a damn thing. I'm just letting you know, like, three weeks straight now, I have. Hey, eight and seven, I'll take it. All right, I can get another win tonight. I would like to let you know that the dictator that instructed them to do the thing, you would have been seven and eight.

Okay? So, you would have. Oh, you mean the Packers? Yeah, he gave it to the Packers, dude. Yeah, you would have had another loss, too, pal. Yeah, but I still would have been, you know. Eight and seven is way better than seven and eight, buddy. Yeah, this is talking about records.

And none of it matters. I don't know about that. There's a winner and a loser. Tonight, we're going to even that out. Oh, who you got tonight? Dolphins, Saints, three-point spread. Saints at home getting three. Holy shit.

I don't know. I'll have to let you know. Ian Book. Ian Book's starting. Oh, the Notre Dame dude? Yeah. He can play. He's an athlete. Well, yeah. Sean Payton. Sean Payton.

Kamara. Defense is real good. Just shut out the Bucs. Two is like 80% completion though. Yeah. Leading the league. Three-point favorites going into New Orleans. I mean, there was blowout after blowout after blowout after blowout yesterday. This won't be one of those.

No. This is going to be a dogfight. If the whistle guy is there, you've got to look out because that crowd is going to be going. You're right. Is whistle guy there? These are things that I would like to know before a three-point. Maybe that's why they're gone.

Gumpy's here. Hey, Dolphins, primetime football. Let's go. It's two a time. Here we go, Gumpins. Let's go, Gump. It's two a time. Three points.

That's not enough, you think? Dolphins are really riding high right now i like being the underdog oh i don't love being the favorite oh you sound a little softer there i think nick has maybe dropped some bass out of your microphone somehow but you guys are now at the top of the hill you used to be on cuck mountain now you guys are climbing like alpinists in the afc east or the dolphins all the way back favored by by three on Monday Night Football in New Orleans. What a time to be a part of the Dolpham, the FinFam. Good for you, Gumpy.

Also in the playoff spot if we win. How about that? Here we go. Oh, no. Is Gumpy nervous? Are Dolphins fans nervous now with all these expectations? No, I've been beating this drum all season long. I love this team, AJ.

Always will. Gumpy put them in the playoffs like five, six weeks ago whenever they got hot. Because remember, they were what? One and what? Seven. And then they've rattled off all the wins. They've really found something down there after firing some people,

getting rid of some people, doing a little of this. We want somebody else. We don't like this guy. Let's go ahead and do this thing. Good on them. Congratulations to the Dolphins. Now, somebody else. We don't like this guy. Let's go ahead and do this thing. Good on them. Congratulations to the Dolphins. Now, let's go through the playoff picture here. Chiefs.

AJ, did you see what they did to the Steelers? Yes, I did. Is Diggs and Nick okay? I expected worse. Yeah, Diggs actually led off the show. It was an interesting take. Chiefs win by 26 yesterday. Diggs was not impressed, and he thought the Chiefs were going to lose

in a wild card weekend because they didn't beat the Steelers by enough. That is what Diggs – that was Diggs' take on the entire thing. Chiefs seem to have found it. Will they maintain and keep it going? 26. Sure feels like it. 26 straight in December, I guess, is how many games the Chiefs have won with Patrick Mahomes as quarterback. 26 straight in December, I guess, is how many games the Chiefs have won with Patrick Mahomes as quarterback.

26 straight. Jackson Mahomes has not been on the internet that much. Is that a sign of things to come? And is this what the future looks like? The internet hopes so. Titans up there, 10-5. Massive win on Thursday Night Football. Huge.

Hey, I love that Frames guy, dude. I fucking love that Frames guy. Killed us, okay? Absolutely killed the Thursday Night Superboost. We're supposed to be like six or seven in a row now yeah supposed to be like six or seven in a row at this point but this titan squad somehow some way finds a way to win and vrabes said oh i can't wait to see where they got us fucking this week frames even acknowledge that whole thing they're still winning games and it makes no sense. What a team that they got crafted down there, AJ. If you're watching a Titans game, no matter what it looks like,

you've got to watch the last eight minutes because I felt like throughout that game, they're like, how are they going to find a way to win this thing? And then all of a sudden, Braves' dudes come back, and they find a way. They're impressive, man. They do. They're a gritty bunch that finds a way.

Terrell LeJuan was out. I know that. Do we know if. Is he coming? Do we know if he's back soon? Well, he put a tweet out that said he was just sitting on his couch having a fine time. Like, you know, I was just told I was sick. I'm okay. So hopefully he'll be back.

I don't know. I don't think we know shit about fuck about the future there, but they are like an NBA game, the Titans. Yeah. Like, it doesn't really matter what goes on for the first three quarters or so. Just kind of watch that fourth quarter because the Titans are going to be in it somehow. They're going to make it a game. And, by the way, there are special teams I can get chatted about. Randy Bullock seems to be kicking the ball better than he's ever kicked.

He's been in a couple different spots. And Brett Kern, their punter, is an absolute weapon. Look for the Titans, huh, to make a game a dogfight, to make a playoff game a dogfight and steal a win or two or three. I mean, could do it. Vrabes is a guy. Vrabes understands special teams too, though. I talked about it before.

Vrabes was on the Steelers for, I believe, four years before he went to New England. He was largely like a special teams guy with Pittsburgh. I know he played on defense, but yeah, he understands how to win games. I do. I enjoy him a lot. The Bengals are currently in the lead of the AFC North and the Bills go into

Foxborough and get a massive win. So those four seem to be locked up. Colts, Patriots, Ravens in the hunt, but Chargers, Dolphins, Brownies still, Raiders if they win out. They had another game winner from Carlson. Don't look now. Paisan

Basaccia's got that team in a position to make the playoff. Shout out to Vincent Bonsignor. Wow. Bonsignor. Of the Italian Times. He's covering Richie Basaccia. And he is letting it be known that the Raiders are, you know,

potentially going to sneak in the back door there. And then on the NFC side in the Broncos, I mean, they're 7-8. There's still a conversation. The Steelers, the world is burning down in Pittsburgh. They're then on the NFC side in the Broncos, I mean, they're 7-8. There's still a conversation. The Steelers, the world is burning down in Pittsburgh. They're still on the bubble for the playoffs this late into the season. We're going into Week 17. Let's go.

Packers, in. Cowboys, in. Rams, in. Bucs, in. NFC's figured out a little bit. Cardinals, where the fuck are they gonna end up then you got the niners the eagles who have won six or seven out of eight i forget which one exactly and now is the time to chat with coach sirianni aj we waited all first hour to hear what he had to

say they deliver an ass beating to the new york football giants now they find themselves right in the middle of the hunt when things were ugly earlier there was flowers being thrown from johns all over philadelphia at this man in a negative way not a positive way he sounded dumb but then his team came together in a brilliant fashion ladies and gentlemen coach sirio how's it going coach pretty fucking good today pam doing pretty pretty good today. Yeah, it seems like everything that you thought would happen has kind of happened. Now you're in the middle of it for the NFC and the playoff push. You're not going to win the East, but you're going to get into a wild card game, it feels like.

What are you telling the boys, and how do you handle playoff expectations? Well, I really want to temper expectations and kind of let them know after yesterday, hey, listen, we beat the New York football giants. These guys fucking stink. Okay, so we don't need to be patting anyone on the back. We talked about Gardner Minshew earlier. I don't know why the hell he had the balls to come in and say, hey, when am I going to start playing quarterback?

I told you a couple weeks ago, Gardner, you're not playing quarterback. Okay? Jalen Hurts is unbelievable. It's a dog mentality, and I don't know how many times I need to say it to you guys say it to the media we're going to run the football down your fucking throat until you can stop us and guess what people haven't been able to stop us especially with Jalen throwing the ball a little bit better Lane Johnson had a touchdown a big guy Todd that had to feel pretty good out for morale on Christmas weekend absolutely I schemed that one up uh because once again, I am an offensive genius.

I am a guru. Everyone knows that I know what I'm doing. When it comes to X's and O's, there's really nobody better in the National Football League than me. But, you know, I mean, we look ahead. Like I say, we're barking. We're biting. We're doing a little bit of both right now.

Guys are fiery. I mean, the defense was shitty kind all year, and people were comforted with my defensive coordinator's head, and now we got one of the best defenses in the league. How does that work? I'm a great coach. I said last week I won't win coach of the year. I'm the coach of the year.

Okay, so we can drop that charade. If we make it to the playoffs, we're not going to win just one game or two games or three games. If we get into the playoffs with our dog mentality, we'll see you in L.A. We will be in the Super Bowl. Oh, the dogs are drinking water from the Super Bowl. That's right, the Super Bowl. Not just a little dog bowl.

We will be drinking water from the Super Bowl as so far as day in Los Angeles. Joining us now is a man who has big-time brain on the defensive side of the ball, hosts the Man to Man podcast. Just went live at 11 o'clock today, I believe. Ladies, nine-year NFL vet, Darius Butler. Yay! I love Coach Sirianni, man. What up, fellas?

Hey, Coach Sirianni, offensive genius. We love him, too. What do you think about the Eagles? I mean, obviously, the NFC East runs through Dallas at this point. They are the champions. They just beat the shit out of the Washington football team on national television, but the Eagles might sneak

in, D, but they have what a team needs in the playoffs as well. Might sneak in, man. Hurts, like you said, passing the ball a little better. He's always a weapon, though, running or passing. That run game, physical, running right down your throat. Defense is playing great. Starts with Fletcher Cox in the middle. Slay on the back end.

Eagles can definitely sneak in. I mean, they're tough out. I don't see them making a run this year, but they're definitely a tough out every week. D-Bart, what about the Cowboys? I know we love to crown the Cowboys when they have a nice win like they did yesterday. Are they going to be able to consistently show that offense here down the stretch? Great question.

It depends on that run game, man. If they can keep that run game going. Zeke was toting that pill yesterday, even with the big Don Joy on. They were physical. When it starts there, they obviously got a bunch of weapons outside. Dag threw a touchdown to every offensive position on the field. They have been playing some bums lately. This last four weeks. defensive position on the field. They have been playing some bums lately.

This last four weeks. Hey, that defense. Not bums. I got to put some more respect on it. They've been playing some questionable offenses and quarterbacks. These defenses get healthy. They are flying around, man. It's pass rush, obviously Gregory, Lawrence, Parsons, and then you got just fast physical athletes all over

that defense digs 11 picks you got playmakers man so they're fun to watch and they could definitely make a run man they got they got they check all the boxes they can make a run for sure the deck came out and said you guys are talking about something not me you know what i mean hey you guys need to relax a little bit that type of win is huge isn't it like to like for instance the buffalo bills with the the New England Patriots yesterday. Those types of wins I think do a lot for a team, especially this time of year. Long season,

everybody's banged up. Now you've got the spot testing for the COVID. I'm sure everybody's kind of on edge. It's December football. Those type of statement-like wins, not Dallas with Washington, and the Bills in Foxborough yesterday, D, but I learned a lot about Buffalo and I think Buffalo learned a lot about themselves.

They answered twice late in Foxborough. I thought that was a huge win for Buffalo. Yeah, you knew Buffalo was pissed off coming into that one. And if you look at the two quarterbacks, you know, this is the point in the season where that's going to make even a bigger difference. You know, your quarterback, Josh Allen played, you know, his highs are high and his lows are lows. But we've seen him dominate this point in the season. And Mack is looking like he's running into a rookie wall.

That defense made him look bad yesterday for the field. What's that mean? What's that mean? What's that mean, rookie wall? He's tired or people are starting to catch up? Just like you said, this is a time where the season gets long. You know, you're dealing with a lot as a rookie. Things are going so fast, especially as a quarterback.

Usually you will want you to hit that rookie wall a little earlier if you're going to make a playoff run. Hitting in the December, middle of December is tough. But he's hitting it hard these last two weeks. He's struggled. And his defense will only get tougher as the season goes on. So another statement win. The Bengals yesterday obviously banged up Ravens team,

but Joe Burrow went out there and he did some gangster shit. You know, went up and put 500 on the boys. The Chiefs, they blew the doors off the Steelers. So a lot of teams are making statement wins. The Colts, I mean, going out there in Arizona, missing four of your five starting lines, missing the Maniac, missing your starting corners, two starting safeties, and to get a win like that against a 10-win team.

Carson making big-time throws in big moments, man. A lot of statements made this past weekend. Hey, what about Matthew Stafford and the Rams? Like, what do you – I guess how confident are you in what Stafford can do in that whole team? That was not a statement. No, it was a win, though. It was. Clinching win.

A game-clinching win. Yeah, it was a win. It was ugly. And, you know, I've kind of been consistent with my stance on Stafford. You know, great, great talent. Obviously, arm talent. But, you know, long career, not a lot of success at this point in the season. Obviously, he was in Detroit for a long time.

But you got to take care of the ball at this point in the season, man. You watch Aaron Rodgers or Brady and these guys, they take care of the ball. You got to keep the ball in possession. And Stafford struggles with that. Talent, undeniable with that team up and down the roster on both sides of the ball. But can you continue to take care of the ball down the stretch? That's going to be a question because the other teams on the NFC, they look like they're doing that.

Is Jalen the best heel in the NFL? Hey, listen, I got COVID. Don't nobody text me. All right. I don't want to hear from anybody. He shuts down. He's he's an Oklahoma drill defensive back. He'll hover.

He'll make plays on the ball. Seems like he's everywhere playing at his highest level telling people, hey, I don't want to hear shit from anybody. All right. If you don't watch the film or haven't played, don't say anything about it. I love the way this dude's playing football right now. And with him on it in the back end of a defense, it's almost like at this with this quarterback, you can win any game with Jalen, though. And that defense, it feels like they can win any game, right? Am I wrong in thinking that or no? I mean, you rarely get a tone setter at the cornerback position,

but that's exactly what he is. And he's going to match up with some of the best receivers in the game. And you feel confident as a D coordinator leaving five on anybody at this point. He can get them in the mix in a run game. You can blitz them. He can do a lot of things. Like you said, that energy, that kind of attitude that he brings to the defensive side of the ball and when you do when he does get beat when you do have opportunities to get him like you got to beat him because it's not going to be many it's kind of like some of these quarterbacks like my homes early on in the

season when teams were getting the opportunity to turn them over they were but now it's not happening so jaylen ramsey man he's dominant week in a week out and he's definitely i mean he's in the 99 he started off in the 99 club you know for aalen Ramsey, man, he's dominant week in and week out. And he's definitely – I mean, he's in the 99. He started off in the 99 club, you know, for a reason at that cornerback position. He's definitely a great ace in the hole to have your defensive play calling. And I love that he doesn't give a fuck. Yeah.

Like, I absolutely – I enjoy that so much. Another guy that we've obviously all seen, doesn't really seem to give a fuck about anything, Aaron Rodgers and the packers get another massive win but let's talk about because you are the host of the man to man podcast alongside antoine bethea nine years in the secondary in the nfl at corner slot safety you name it razzle douglas out of west virginia game winning pick not only that but throughout his time over there it feels like he has been

an igniter signed off the practice squad of arizona after stefan gilmore goes down to carolina in the trade market what an insane rise to glory this guy has had with the packers but they're gonna need him and that's a team that can go yeah that's the team that can go talented all around our roster defense they're missing probably two of their two of their best players is Darius and Alexander. But Douglas, since they signed him, since they brought him over, he's been liced out. And Ty asked me the question about him a few weeks ago, like kind of what's what's the difference here and in other places? You know, Douglas has played a long time. He started multiple games for, I want to say, five or six years now. And sometimes it's just been in the right system,

right place at the right time. And he's obviously playing with a good group of players as well. But he's taking advantage of his opportunities. He got away with one at the end, savvy little pull through, fighting on, you know, you push, I pull type of thing, finish the game off his ball skills, you know, have been tremendous. I don't know how many picks he – it seems like he got 15 picks this year. He probably only has like five.

But he's been balling in domination, has been over there at Green Bay. I'd love to see a story like that, and hopefully it keeps going. But Packers got to do something about their run defense, though. Because even with Baker just handing them out like your Oprah meme, they still had an opportunity to win that game. So you got to stop the run at some point down the stretch. I just had word in my ear, by the way, AJ, update uh that you did take the bangles and i took the ravens so i guess we are tied going in and i don't know how that happens by the way honestly i have no

idea that can't happen every fucking week i can't i can't have it that can't happen all right jeez louise do we have to do the counting ourselves? I mean, what is going on out here? Me and AJ. Shout out Josh Johnson, though. Hey, hell of a career. Hell of a career. I love seeing him.

He was slinging the rock, too. But the Bengals just got absolutely incredibly hot. AJ, I don't do that on purpose. But look, as soon as I got an update, I literally stopped the incredible conversation with Darius Leder. Can't have it out there, by the way. Cannot have it. Not on this program.

Not on this program. All right. Go ahead, Connor. Yeah, Deebo, what the hell is going on with your guy, Justin Herbert? Because all of a sudden, they are kind of almost dead in the water after losing to the Texans. Ugly. Ugly, ugly win. I was trying to make excuses,

trying to give some explanations on the internet yesterday. But, you know, young team, young quarterback, young first-year head coach. But this Chargers team has been inconsistent, man. And that's the only reason I would say this team kind of doesn't have a chance to make a real run this year. Now they're on the outside looking in. Obviously, Herbert is super, super talented, but just too many mistakes, sloppy. The depth isn't there right now, but they got a ton of money

to spend this offseason. So I got faith in Tom Telesco over there to put it together. The future's still bright in LA, but man, that was an ugly, ugly loss to Davis Mills and co- out there in Houston Dougie Mills by the way I took the Bengals as well so I think I am I mean this is there's a lot going on as well you know I'm still up one I think on you but you are

you are a little bit I mean that is for another time out there Dougie nobody could have thought the fucking Texans were going to do what they did to the Chargers that is a massive question mark and we have to figure it out with that Chargers team. They have to figure it out. Because literally, we're going to have the Chargers on the sidebar, but we only have nine things.

The thing that I was going to write is, what are the Chargers? Like, what are they? How does that – and maybe Dougie Mills is just an unbelievable player. But I thought Connor was going to ask you about something you alluded to earlier. And I would like to follow up on it, actually, because I think it is pretty insightful, but I appreciate you mentioning it. The rookie wall, okay, and you said Mac Jones is experiencing that. You feel like from an outsider looking in midway through December. When you think about a rookie season, you go through either their junior, sophomore, whatever year it is in college,

then they go straight into training, then they have their combine. Then you have your pro day. Then there's the draft. Then there's the rookie camp. Then there's OTAs. Then there's training camp. Then there's the longest season you've ever played in your entire life. Okay. So all those times where, you know, Aaron was hopping into a waterfall. Okay. These rookies were training still at that time to put on their absolute best performance. However, wherever, when a vets get a chance to sleep and chill in the off season and take some time away, or, you know, just hang out, go to the OTAs, take a couple of G days, rookies are still trying to prove it. So it isn't the longest two years of your life or the last year of college football right into the NFL, especially if you're a player. I mean, that is a long time.

What you think is the rookie quarterback is what? You just make simple errors? You get tired? You kind of get lost? Do you think it's other teams figuring you out? Do you think your drive to get better kind of falls off because it's so long in taxing? What do you think it is?

I mean, I wouldn't say the drive. I think everybody's trying to get out there and prove it and win every week. But like all those things you just said, it's long, especially with Matt Jones. He's going to the playoffs every year. I think he won a national championship. And then you go right into this season. Now you're playing the longest football season that you've ever played. So it's just it's mentally exhausting.

It's physically exhausting. You know, you're a quarterback so he's probably coming in there first thing in the morning you know sitting down having his meeting with bill then he's going into his meetings but i mean it's obviously no excuses everybody's going through it but uh it's tough especially as a as a quarterback you know you're taking every rep the game's in your hand every week um and a part of what you said as well defenses now have a book on you. We know what Mac Jones is. We know what they like. We know what offense is, what schemes. We know what he

struggles with. So these are some talented defensive play callers and defensive players who are studying the hell out of this film and are used to studying NFL quarterback film. So it's tough. I think he's a smart kid. Josh McDaniels is a good play caller. So he'll definitely be all right in the long run. But right now, you know, everybody's going in their playoff form. So it's going to be tough for him. Hey, D-Bar, what about all these? We've seen it all year, but the underthrown ball and then all of a sudden we got defensive pass interference.

Are they going to change anything about that? Are we just going to continue to see this happen? Bad ball, dude. Sick of it. I doubt they change it because it's in the offense's favor. The rules that are in the offense's favor, they're going to keep rocking with them.

I hate to see quarterbacks getting bailed out for terrible throws, receivers getting bailed out. You see receivers intentionally doing it now. Sometimes they'll pull the DB into them. Sometimes they'll just jump into the DB. And so I don't think they change it,

but it's something that obviously should be fixed. But, I mean, it's a long list of what at NFL officiating needs to fix. I've been going to that now. I'm surprised they haven't blocked me yet. They will. I'm going to go to that next every week. They will. Walt Anderson's going to block you. I don't know who this Darius J. Butler is, but I'm sick of it.

That's a hilarious take there. Hey, any rule that has been put in that benefits the offense, they're not going to block you. I don't know who Darius J. Butler is, but I'm saying that's a hilarious take there. Hey, any rule that has been put in that benefits the offense, they're not going to take out. That's just like a thought for the world. Any tax that a government puts in, they're never going to take it away. No. Any tax that gets put in that has money flowing in, they're never going to take it away. Any rule that helps the offense, never going to take it away. That's just the world you've got to live in, and you you got to make the most of it no matter where you are.

We can't thank you enough for joining us, Darius. You're amazing every single week. Appreciate you, fellas. Hey, who's winning tonight? I know you're a big-time Dolphins fan. Favored by three going into New Orleans. Favored by three taking on Ian Book in the Saints. I'm with Gump.

I would prefer to be the underdog here, but I'll take him to win. I'll take him to cover I mean you got Ian Book I mean B-Flow And this defense is going to blitz the shit Out of this quarterback I can't wait to watch It's going to be fun to watch

I got a Dolphins win A Dolphins cover Alright we can't thank you enough Ladies and gentlemen Darius Butler Appreciate you Thank you for allowing us to penetrate your ear holes today. Tomorrow's Aaron Rodgers Tuesday should be a good one,

especially after that big Christmas Day win. What? And the NFL never stops, so we shall not as well. We're back, manana. Can't wait for it. Be a friend, tell a friend. Cheers. សូវាប់បានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបាូវាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប� Thank you. សូវាប់ពីបានប់ពីបានប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពី Thank you.