The Ringer NFL Show - Divisional Round Awards

Episode Date: January 24, 2022

We recap a legendary divisional round by giving out new awards like The Gone In 13 Seconds Award, The Alexander The Great Award, The Slow, Glacial Shift of Narratives Award and more. Email us at [e-mail] and read Danny's story about fixing NFL overtime below. 11 Solutions to Fix NFL Overtime - https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2019/1/23/18194165/overtime-rule-changes Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck Producer: Craig Horlbeck and Mike Wargon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, everybody. This is Warren Sharp, NFL analyst over at Sharp Football Analysis. I want to welcome you to the ringer gambling show. Join me on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays each week during the NFL season with guests Chris Vernon, Ben Solac, and Joe House to guide you through the NFL betting landscape. We'll be talking spreads, game totals, parlays, player props, futures, and much, much more. Be sure to follow the ringer gambling show on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. For fantasy football show, my name is Danny Hyfitz. I am joined by Danny Kelly and Craig Whirlbeck and the divisional round is done. I am exhausted and energized at the same time. That was crazy.

Was that the best day of football you guys maybe have ever seen in your entire lives? At the risk of being like a prisoner of the moment, was that the best game, the Bill's Chiefs? Maybe the best game ever? It had, remember the 2018 Chiefs Rams game? It had that kind of vibe, but it was CRISPR. And it was in the playoffs. And it was in the playoffs. There was no, like, there's no turnovers in this game.

There's four penalties. It was 25 points after the two minute warning. It was insane. Okay, okay. I literally don't know what to start. This was one of the coolest weekends of football, which is ironic because like the beginning of Rams bucks was awful. And yet the last six, I get, I don't know, overtime, seven quarters of football that

we just watched. I actually think the five hours that I just had is roughly speaking where the NFL makes $17 billion a year. Like, I cannot believe I got to spend a quarter of my, day feeling the emotions that I just felt. Just to go through Bill's Chiefs, just the ending sequence there, the Bills have a seven minute touchdown drive,

the Chiefs respond with like the, and they go for two, chiefs get a 64 yard touchdown, bills respond in the 40 seconds, chiefs get 13 seconds to go overtime, and then they score. There's so much we're going to get to a new, we're going to get to awards,

all that jazz. First, want us to ask you guys this real quick. Was this actually the best day of watching football you've had? Well, what's funny is, so I was at a wedding this weekend, and I missed the Saturday games, and I actually got back at half time of the Rams Bucks game.

And I was like, oh, it's 20 to 3, whatever. The second I turned on the television today, it was amazing. So thank you, Craig. Are you serious? Yeah. You could not have planned that better if you had tried. That's unbelievable. The most efficient day of weekend of watching.

That's crazy. Okay. Let's just get into awards. This day deserves more awards than anything else. Okay. let someone give Bill's Chiefs an award. What do we give me that game? Well, that was the Viagra game, right?

Here's the word I'm thinking of. I can't remember anything before it, like in the game in my life before the two-in-morning in that game. It like completely wiped my memory. I'm just like, I don't even know what to think. It was such an incredible finish, such a fun game. Two of the best quarterbacks on the planet, if not the two best quarterbacks on the planet, going like head-to-head, both making incredible plays.

like pull plays out of your ass plays. Not just like good plays, like fourth down conversions, things that you never thought would happen. That was the whole game of so much fun to watch. And again, that's the award.

That was a long-winded award. I don't know what happened before the two-minute award. I don't know what happened. I think that you're right, though, D.K., and we're going to get to everything. We're going to get to everything that happened,

like Brady and Rogers and the Rams and the Bengals and everything that happened. And it's crazy. But I think that what this game did for me in a nutshell is two things. It lived up to the hype. this and honestly added to it. I mean, that's really my main takeaway. Mahomes and Josh Allen was billed.

Kevin Clark wrote about it for the ringer. ESPN said if it's next manning, you know, Brady matchup. Kevin Clark wrote about how that's not really going to be a thing anymore, but this is the closest we'll get to it. And somehow at the end of this game, it actually heightened what our expectations would be for the next one. Like it was impossibly every player in the game lived up

was like their best version of themselves. And I think overall this weekend, the theme for the division around to me was like the first three games were entertaining, but I wouldn't say they were good football. Like it was teams ruthlessly exploiting a weakness in their opponent. The Titans exploited the Bengals offensive line. The Niners ruthlessly exploited the Packer's special teams. You had the Bucks offensive line was so battered and the Rams like exploited that weakness.

Like things due to injuries. This Chiefs Bill's game was good football. Like it was like perfect. football and like this kind of change of pace from the other three. There weren't mistakes. It was, as Craig said, it's just, it's some of the highest quality of football I've ever seen. It was squeak and clean better than the Rams Bucks game from the, the, the, the, the 50s Rams, the Chiefs Rams game because that one was there were weird turnovers and there were

like mistakes. This was like largely, there weren't a ton of mistakes in this. The big plays were like, I, I am speechless. Yeah, the big plays were like incredible feats of human strength. Stuff you never thought ever... Speed. Like the Gabe Dave, fourth down touchdown,

I think it was like fourth and 18 or something ridiculous. Fourth and 13. Fourth and 13. And it looked like a busted coverage because he got so open. Yes.

Because he ran like such an incredible route. It wasn't even a busted coverage. The guy, he literally just made the corner fall down. It was like a crossover. It was unbelievable. You know, in basketball, when you cross a guy over

and they fall down in the entire bench just like gets up. It starts like waving their shirts and stuff. Like, that was what he did on the most crucial play of the game, at least that point. He destroyed that man's career. Who was the defender? I don't know who was. We don't need to talk about who it was.

It was Mike Hughes. Mike Hughes. That's an important note for the end, though, because the Chiefs were down three starters in their secondary got hurt, right? So Traverius Ward got hurt at the end. Tyron Matthew got hurt. I think the first series of the game. And then I forget who, but they were also missing a third defender in the secondary. And I do think that once Charverius Ward went down, quite honestly, that kind of accelerated

everything, right? Like, you don't think of those things, but once the Chiefs went the three of their starting secondary guys down, the bill scored like 21 points. Incredible. Don't you guys think, though, there's a dark cloud looming over all of this, and it's the stupid NFL overtime rules, which are terrible.

Josh Allen, who has 14 incompletions and nine touchdowns in the playoffs, doesn't get to touch the football in overtime, in the greatest performance you've probably ever seen between two quarterbacks in a fucking game, and he doesn't get to touch the football. I'm going to do a shameless plug. I wrote for the ringer three years ago

actually, which the only day of football I can think of that I would compare to this one in terms of like excitement and insanity was the day where the Saints Rams game happened where like that non-call happened and the Saints did not get to go because the Rams got because the Nicole Roby Coleman like pass interference thing. And then the next game

was Patriots Chiefs and then the Patriots Chiefs, the Chiefs scored 31 points in the second half, go to overtime and then the Patriots score on the touchdown on the first drive. Mahomet doesn't get to touch the ball. And so after that game, I wrote about how overtime needs to change. I have like 11 solutions to overtime. Shameless plug for that,

I wrote that story. What's your favorite solution? I don't understand why it's not equal possessions. Yeah. Like I don't. Like we can put, we can put them in the episode description, but the answer is like equal possessions.

Like right now, the actual NFL rule is, you want me to just pull it up? It's crazy. It's like, it's like in 21, you have to win by two. No,

but right now it's like, the rule is literally, answer. Yeah, it's like whoever scores wins unless, the first team scores a field goal, basically. I just don't understand why it wouldn't be, like, you know, you, it should be an equal

amount of possessions. Like, it doesn't make sense. Bottom line, bottom line. It doesn't match the rest of the game. Like, foundationally. Yeah. Yeah. Foundationally, both teams should get an opportunity to have the ball, right?

Yes. Yes. That's it. That's so simple. That's the thing is, like, there's no arguing against it. There's actually no argument why this is the best. I guess time. It's quicker and people don't get hurt, I suppose.

No, I think it's player safety because the guys get exhausted. And I think the, the union. or people necessarily are kind of worried about, you know, what happens if it's like a chess mess back and forth. Start at the 25. Start in the red zone. I don't care. I actually think it's the opposite. You should start at the other 25. And I think that way fans won't think it's cheap, right? Because the college becomes a different game. You're talking about the guy's getting exhausted. I was saying if you wanted to like expedite that, you move them closer than whatever it is. Just each give them possessions. Regardless, the fact that Josh Allen is able to not touch the ball is a crime.

I feel so bad for Bill's fans. Seriously, man. The second they lost the coin toss, you're like, oh, they're going to lose. It's crazy to, like, have your season end and it's awful. I mean, that's what kind of makes the playoffs to playoffs, right? Like, every team is like,

raw, raw, like, we're number one. We're the guys. And then poof, you're gone. Like, goodbye. It's so crazy. It's crazy for that to happen to you when, like, you know, and you start thinking about, oh, well, could have done this, could have done that.

It's crazy to, though, with the bills where you have to see your team go off. And it's like, well, shit, we might be the best team in the league. Like, you still might be that. And it's so devastating for a team like Buffalo to like have to walk into the offseason. And like, do you even have regrets, really? This is, speaking of rule changes, I, I suggest this on Twitter.

Can we just get a moratorium on bills versus chiefs in anything but the Super Bowl for the next 10 years? Like, the only time they can play is in the Super Bowl. I know that that doesn't fit the rules currently. I know, this being the divisional round doesn't make any sense. Meantukheim said the best tweet, which Minaikimes was like, screw the Super Bowl. it should just be best of three. And honestly, like, I do think that best of the three bills Chesa would easily be the best.

This game felt like a Super Bowl. By the way, we are kind of, I feel like we're bearing the lead a little bit here because speaking to the Bill's fans and like the roller coaster that that game was, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, all game, they score a touchdown with 13 seconds left.

The Chiefs, so they got the field goal of 13. Sorry, what's that? The Chiefs had a field goal. 13 seconds left. Sorry, your brain scrambled. There was a lot going on there. No, the Bills scored a touchdown with 13 seconds left in the game.

Oh, I see what you're saying. You made it sound like the GERRY. I thought Craig and I three saying that the chiefs had 13 seconds remaining. Well, okay. Sorry. And they just converted the field goal. Let me communicate more clearly. The bill scored with 13 seconds left.

Basically, that's like, oh, that's game. And Romo jinxed it. Romo was talking like the game was over when they did that. Romo was kind of all over the place at the end there. He was, at the end, dude, when they kicked the game tying field goal to send it to overtime before he kicked it, Romo was like, I'm so nervous. Dude, when Kelsey, when they were reviewing Kelsey's touchdown at the end, like out of nowhere, Romo just goes, I think he's only got one foot in.

It might not be over, Jim. Might not be over. It's like, he clearly has two feet in, dude. What are you talking about? If I were a Bills fan, I mean, I don't think that our listeners really know much about my Giants watching habits because I'm, they haven't been competitive since we've had this podcast, but like, I'm a psycho and like, I'm very superstitious. And like, if I were a Bills fan and Tony Romo,

as he did, started talking about this key tart talking about the bills win in like past tense. I would be losing my mind. There was so much like legacy talk coming out of him like every throw. Romo was like, Josh Allen's entire career

comes down to this right now. Josh Allen's entire, how people will roll him for the rest of his life comes down to this throw. That's one of the reasons. Alan kind of picked Romo's brain for a few hours. Like Al, I think they're not like working together

training, but he kind of has Romo and speed dial and ask him stuff. So I think he cares about Alan a lot. But this was crazy. I mean, honestly, you know what's crazy? There's like two or three games we could talk about for the full hour. So staying here, Gabe, Dave, we haven't, we were however long in this podcast.

Have you mentioned Gabriel Davis, first wide receiver to, or a player to ever catch four touchdowns in a playoff game. Two hundred and one yards and four touchdowns. He lost. He's one of nine guys, I think, to have 200 receiving yards in the playoffs. Gabe, Dave, never, never wrong. Just early. Hell yeah. I also want to shout out that I had Josh Allen and Gabriel Davis in a DFS lineup on Fandall

in the million in the millie, the million dollar contest. Do you know how much money I won? $5. I want $8 with Dave Davis and Josh Allen. Your other picks were that bad. I checked it. I literally, I expected four digits. Obviously, I didn't think I won the million, but I was like, I'm going to win like $5,000.

And I looked and I had eight. Anyway. there was perhaps one coaching mistake tonight in this game. Do you guys think that they should have not kicked it into the end zone with 13 seconds left, the bills? I thought that was incredible. I don't think that's a coaching mistake. I think that was a kicker error. Oh, you think that he was instructed to keep it short and just didn't?

I have to believe that. There's no world. Unless Tyree Kill was out there and I didn't notice as a kick returner, which is possible. I don't think there's a world. Like, kick returns don't happen anymore. It's like you're, it's a 98. tackle rate, like 90, higher than that, actually, I think. Like, you, if anyone who's played mad and know this,

13 seconds on the clock, you can squib or whatever, you kick it to the five-yard line, and like that's going to be three seconds. Burn a few seconds. Yes, and you don't want to squib, because they could just fall on it. You need to make them catch it at like the five, and then they have to run. You know where my mind went? I'm so glad you mentioned that, Craig. You know where my mind went?

The Giants play against the Eagles when Deshawn Jackson returned the punt. And everyone's like, why they punt to him. The Giants told that Matt Dodge, the bane of my existence. they told the punter to kick it out of bounds and he just didn't. And I think the kicker just didn't. Like, it's one of those things you just practice booting out. I'm sure we'll find out in the press conference. It's like what the actual plan was with that.

But that was the only thing. That was the only mistake I think that the bill's made tonight. But this, this had the hype of like a heavyweight fight. And it just completely lived up to expectations. Like this was like the, the, of this generation of the NFL. And now we're going to get a Niners, Bengals, Super Bowl. No one's going to care.

I think we, we, can talk about this forever. Do we want to move on to a different game? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I can't believe this wasn't like the first thing we ended up talking about today, but Tom Brady also pulled off

merely hours ago one of the most incredible things I've ever seen in the football field. Seriously. I, I mean, I'm just going to give him the Alexander the Great Award. D.K., you've often compared Brady to like Alexander the Great apparently like had this reputation for being unkillable in battle. So, All the soldiers had irrational confidence.

Well, he cultivated that for sure, because that's what you did in the old days when you were a leader. But, like, his soldiers truly believed he was, like, invincible. And he was the type of leader, you know, this is getting into history and herdery, where he would, like, join people on the battlefield. He was, like, leading charges and shit. And he did it so many times. He never lost a battle. And his soldiers started to believe he was, like, uncillable.

And that's exactly what Brady is. Because every time you go out there, you're like, we can't fucking kill this guy. He's invincible. It cannot die. It's funny because it's not like Brady was that sensational, like, in that comeback. I mean, the Rams, like, fumbled like four times. That's really why the comeback happened. But Brady made them.

Yes. Honestly, there's just something weird. When Brady's playing, weird shit happens. So the Rams won 30 to 27, but it was 27 to 3. To 3. And everybody. Are you serious? In the third.

27 to 3 midway through the 3. It was basically a repeat of the Falcon Super Bowl. Because that was 28 to 3. Everyone's on Twitter making jokes like, oh, don't get to 28 to 3, don't get to 23. But this to me is actually, again, it's impossible to really know how you'll feel about things long term in the moment. But I have to tell you guys, I think that when, you know, 30 years from now, it's like when football has its own version of LeBron and the people who saw Michael Jordan are like, nah, no, no, no. The actual thing I'll think of with Brady, I don't even think it's any of the Super Bowl. I think I'll think about this game.

because what I think I'll think about is they were down 24 points midway through the third quarter and everyone was like Brady's gonna figure this out and then he did he did

it's always that situation where I feel like every time there's like one little thing here or there it's the pucker factor the pucker factor for the other team starts taking over the pucker factor is a real thing

where Craig's like what does that mean the pucker factor is you start to feel the pressure and like the fear. Pucker your butt hole, Craig. Pucker is like your butt, like puckers up because you're starting to get scared. Yeah.

Craig's like, ah, yes, I know the feeling. But like every time, every little thing, like every three and out or whatever that the Ram said, every turnover, you know in their mind, in the back of their mind or the front of their mind, they're like,

we're giving this to Brady, you know? Yeah, well, you got something to lose, right? You don't execute. Riscilla talks about this all the time, but how like, you can't compare anything to a team that has nothing to lose. Like, there's just nothing else like it. And when you're the bucks and you're done 27 to 3, it's like, fuck it.

Like, you're playing completely unabated. And then the Rams, Stafford starts to tense up. Canemakers fumbles. Every completion that Brady makes, you start to get a little bit, oh, the probability is lowering after each throw. That's what I'm saying. It's like, this is also, you can't underrate the longevity, though, because we're at the point now where, I mean, literally 80, 90% of the players on every NFL roster have grown

up in the era of Tom Brady, seen him doing this to them. Like, to them, they can tag. hell of themselves like, oh, we're going to take it from him. But the second it starts happening to you, you're like, oh my God, like, I've seen this movie before and now I'm in it. And the murderers coming for me. Like, you can't get that feeling out. And that's the thing.

We're at the point where I was, I think at this point I'll call the first half of Tom Brady's career, maybe the first two-thirds, not a doubter or a skeptic, but I was certainly someone who felt that luck had played an outsized role in Brady's mythology. Sure. that like the Marshaelks run the ball with Marshawn Lynch then it's like well he won three and then he lost three Super Bowls

and he's washed and blah blah and I just felt like he got too much credit but there's a there's a point where so much weird shit happens to the other sideline that it actually I think the mythology it's like art intersects with life and like the mythology actually does affect

the other sideline and to what Craig said it actually does break their brains it messes you can see it in their body language people start to change the way they behave. And, like, at the end of the day, what is choking? It's you start to think about things you used to do, like, automatically. Right.

And, like, when Brady's coming back, now KM Akers is thinking about how to hold onto a football, which he's never done before. And you start fumbling. And, like, this happens. It's, this game, the fact that Brady did this, though, at 44 years old, the confidence that everyone collectively was like, I think he's going to do it. And then he did. I, and this is my other question for you guys.

I actually obviously there's all this If you're hearing about this for the first time There has been a lot of speculation Brady might walk away And that so to me I started really paying attention to this When Jeff Darlington for ESPN reported Jeff Darlington reported Brady would leave the Patriots Like seven months before he did And got a lot of crap for it

And then he was right So he's obviously plugged into one of the small handful of people Who know Tom Brady If Jeff Darlington's saying Brady genuinely doesn't know What he's going to do and it's going to take the next month It really might be real Brady doesn't play again having said that, I actually almost think this would be the perfect way for Brady to leave.

Well, I was thinking about it. No way. Is this, I mean, it's not the perfect way, but it, it's not bad. Not perfect, but it's good. Yeah, what I was going to say is, is this the best way you could end a career on a loss? Yeah, I think that's fair.

Yeah, I kind of think it is. Yeah, because you don't want to lose in the Super Bowl. No, you can't have someone else's confetti fall on you. Yeah, like that's brutal. He mounts a legendary comeback at 44 years old, And then, you know, loses on a field goal that nobody will really remember that. But they'll just remember what he did.

He did the Falcons thing again. Like, I can't say this enough. He did the Falcons thing again. I kind of feel like if it's... I went the other way with it. High Fitzwell, you were doing the intro to that. I was thinking you were going to come to the conclusion. Like, he's definitely coming back because who wants to go out like that?

That's where I am. I'm like, he's going to be motivated. He's, you know, obviously they were really banged up at the end of the year. That was a little bit of bad luck. And I think he's going to look at this and be like, we have a team that can win it up. all again. Like, let's run this back. I don't know how much of it is up to him. Not up

to him, but like, if you read the Seth Wickersham book, it's better to be feared about the Brady-Belichick, Robert Kraft Trio on like the 20 years there. I mean, Chazelle wanted him to stop playing footballing at this point, like, seven years ago. Remember there was something where she like talked about his concussions and kind of said that he had a lot more than was reported?

She did. So, yes, that's true. And also, the interesting, and this is in the book that Wickersham wrote. So I'm trying to get my timeline right here. I think it was three years ago. It was the year between, I think, the Eagles Super Bowl and the Rams Super Bowl. I could be wrong about that. Whenever he stopped coming to OTAs

and that was like a big surprise. 2018, I think it was 2018. Yeah, I think it was 2018 and he stopped coming to OTAs, like voluntary OTAs. And quarterbacks always go. And everyone's like, what's going on? It's because Giselle wrote Brady a letter. And like, because she couldn't articulate herself like it's, you know, an emotional conversation. And she was like, she wrote him a letter and was like,

I feel like we've built our whole like life around your football schedule in the season, but now to play at this age, he can't ever take time off because if you fall out of shape, you can't get back in at his age. So now we're building our entire year,

like, there's no more off season. Like, we just build our entire lives around you. And like, you need to kind of like, pick, like, your family over football, like at least some time of the year. Damn. She's like Pam Beasley. Yeah, and that's when he started being weird,

right? That's when he went to the Met Gala and that weird kind of cool black and gold thing. And like, that's when he started being public and like, do you want on Howard Stern? Like that's when he kind of opened up. But like I do think if we're already hearing these rumblings that like he's thinking about it, I think it means that like he clearly can play. But I don't know.

I give it more credence than I initially did. You know what struck me after this game, after the Bucks game was he seemed so at peace immediately after the loss. Very calm. He was jovial, happy. Like it didn't. I mean, maybe it's just because he's been here so many goddamn times. And like this is just a day of the office for him. He goes to the divisional AFC champion.

wherever it is every single year. But yeah, he really didn't seem too upset. He was immediately like chatting with Rams players and patting him on the back. And I was like, oh, he seems fine. Maybe he's happy with where he is in his life. I also have a question for both of you about this game. Yeah.

We've talked about this a lot after Brady won the Super Bowl last year. And I think it's a really interesting conversation. But essentially it's that us as Americans, and people, but like Americans love to root for underdogs in theory. No, but you need dynasties. You need that later. But in reality, we crave dynasty. We crave rulings.

It's like, and you see it into individual sports all the time, right? We love to root for Tiger Woods. We love to root for Federer. People hate when people root against Federer. Like, you love to see dynasties in individual sports, and we think we want underdogs and team sports, but we crave dynasties. And I'm curious, like, D.K., who were you rooting for in Ramsbucks?

Like, as the game went on, did you kind of start to lean to one side? Because I was surprised I was rooting for the comeback. 100%. you're rooting for a Brady. Yeah, I wanted Brady to pull it out. No, I would say this, I'm probably the wrong person to ask because generally speaking, I don't root for NFC West teams. It's like this latent Seahawks fandom thing and I'm just like I don't want them to win.

But I don't know, I'm a fan of Stafford. I do like a lot of the Rams individually. And so I don't think I had a strong rooting interest, but I think I definitely was rooting for, you know, the comeback to make it interesting, make it fun, like back and forth. It was so much, it was just such an intense finish. I was definitely rooting for it to be like an exciting finish like that, I'd say. So deep in my soul, I was probably rooting for Brady. Yeah.

I have it's to your larger point. I think you're right. Like I think like LeBron going to Miami, it's just, it's what people actually want, right? It's what we talk about. It's like we want to see them fall, but you want to see them get to the finals at first. And then maybe maybe they'll fall. Like they need to be in the finals. Like the Warriors, everybody hated them.

Like, but you want to see Warriors calves, you know, like it's what it is. You want to say you were there. Like people love to complain about. the five straight years of LeBron versus the Warriors but it's like you do want to say you were there for some great era of time. Like people do want their own myths. People do want their own stories.

The alternative hyphids is literally like I don't remember who won the Super Bowl two years ago like Tristan. Like you know what I mean? Like I'm not actually saying that but like that's kind of how it turns into when someone's like what are some of the best NBA finals? No one's going to pick the years after Warriors Cavs.

And I'd be like oh that one bucks sons. No, they're going to be like oh that five year stretch. The Raptors one. Yeah. No, it's good for that team's fans, but... No offense to the Dirk Mavs, but like, that one's for you, but it's not for like everybody else.

Well, that one was pretty big, but yeah. Okay. There's a big deal. Whatever. Okay. My point being, this was an absolutely crazy day of football. So, I mean, it's nuts, but at the same time, we just talked a lot about two teams that lost.

Yeah, I was going to say, we need to talk about the Rams a little bit here. The next award. I wanted to give out was the slow glacial shift of narratives. And that's for Matthew. One, Matthew Stafford. Look, it's very difficult to change a narrative once you sort of become labeled something. And I think that, you know, for all the good stuff that Stafford has done, like, you know, making Calvin Johnson and Cooper Cup, the two most prolific past catchers ever in the sport. It's good take.

For whatever, for everything that he's done, like he's still considered, I think, by a lot of people, like a choker, like a guy who's overridden. you know, all this stuff, just a big arm. Empty calories. I know. It's like, and honestly, look, we were talking about this on the podcast like literally a couple days ago. Like, we don't trust Safford in this game. Oh, dude, I was waiting for that pick six so bad.

On that last drive, would he hit cup? All right. So to tell you the truth, I'm torn, because he had that thing at the end where he was like, yeah, I wanted to steal their soul. But also like, he fumbled like two plays before that. I don't have half fun. I'm just saying, we have to be honest that if he loses the fumble, we're out here like, oh, we knew it the whole time.

The ball didn't really lose. Like he kind of lost control of it, but he fell on top of the ball. It wasn't like he was rolling around. I had a take about fumbling. I don't think it should be viewed. It's all luck. I don't think it should be viewed as equal, like in comparison to other turnovers, like an interception. I think a fumble is basically arbitrary.

I think every guy's pretty much holding on to the ball. Fumble recovery is, for sure. No, I'm just saying like, if Stafford's running and like somebody punches up the ball, I'm not like, wow, Stafford really fucked up there. I'm like, oh, the defender made a great play. It's about process. It's like when a runner fumbles and it's because he has the ball in the wrong hand and you're supposed to shift it to the sideline side,

but you didn't because you forgot. Sure. There's stuff like that. But like if a guy's running properly and just gets like some amazing strip, I'm not like, oh, this guy's having a terrible day now. It's like, oh, he gets stripped.

Like, I don't know. I think it's more of a defensive play than it is an offensive screw up. But anyway, Stafford did follow up two plays later and hit cup for that game winning touchdown. But like that was also a busted coverage, which was crazy. I don't know to give him credit or like, no. Levanti David, who's the middle line back. The cup one.

The cup touched, sorry, the cup gain. It was a 44-yard game. No, the touchdown. The touchdown was a busted coverage, they said. No, no, D-K. Levante David, the middle linebacker for the bucks, confirmed after the game that not all the defenders on the last play of the game knew with the play. Yeah, I bet he said that.

So they called an all-out blitz, though. Okay, I understand what you're saying that they weren't all on the same page. It doesn't matter. They still called a cover zero blitz and Cup beat his guy. And Stafford beat the blitz. So I don't know. Like, I guess you could, whatever. Like, this is like what I'm talking about, though.

Like, we were trying so hard not to give Stafford credit for leading a, like, a comeback. Yeah. They had a touchdown scoring, or sorry, a field goal game winning drive. I think there was like 40 seconds left or something like that. If Joe Burrow made that pass, we'd be flipping out. Yeah, we're trying so hard to like take credit out of Stafford's hands in this. And so I'm just saying, look, man, we got to give Stafford as credit here. Obviously, Cup made a couple of amazing plays in this game.

So Cup, you know, great job. Grimes played well. Also, I mean, honestly. again, it reminds me of the Falcons, except obviously the Falcons will be forgotten for anything good that team ever did. But like the Rams almost got swept away. I mean, Aaron Donald and Von Miller.

I mean, how smart do the Rams look for flipping away? Like, what was they give it for Von? Like a third? I mean, Von Miller had nine quarterback pressures today. Vaughn is like, he's like, he turns into the Terminator whenever they play Brady. He's healthy now. I mean, it is. Craig made this point. Honestly, I undersold

it how the difference between Vaughn's early impact. Like, he had that ankle injury right after they traded for him. Everyone kind of forgot. Like, it's a Super Bowl MVP who, dude, past rushers as they get older, like they still have most of the athleticism, but the things you learn, not even just moves,

but also when to use your energy and stuff and like, like, like, the technique and like when to go in and out, what moves to use at a certain point, like timing. It's like, it's kind of like boxing, right? Like you've got to like have a flow.

Like you got to set up your punches. Like setting up rushes. Von Miller and Aaron Donald, I feel like has actually been underrated in terms of like the Rams have Von Miller and Aaron Donald. that they absolutely dominated Tom Brady. The Rams are like the Lakers, but if it worked,

like they have like Eric Weddle and Odell, it's like Carmelo, Russell Westbro. It's true. Right. Bring them all out. Yeah, who cares? This is like hyphids. This is a perfect example. Like we do as a staff,

the ringer staff, we do like a prediction post or not a prediction post, but like what are we looking forward to watching each week? So go check those out for next week. But like, one of the questions is always like, who's the best, who's the non-quarterback that's going to have the biggest impact? on a game. And I'm just like, you're insane if you're picking anyone but Aaron Donald.

It's Aaron. Yeah. He is the best non-quarterback in the NFL, like full stop. And the way that they moved him around today. So basically, it was perfect. It's like what every team and what every fan wants their coach to do, it's like, hey, you have that literal generational superstar player, half him attack the weakest link. It's over and over and over. Every third down, it was like he's, Aaron Donald's like, I'm going to stuff the runs of the first two and then I'll slide over to the left tackle for the third and you can't get you. And like, think about those. And then Von Miller's dominating Donovan Smith.

Sorry, that was on the, Donovan Smith was that left tackle and Von Miller's just working him. And then they got Aaron Donald on the other side and you're like, oh my God. Like this is a disaster. So the Rams look incredible. The Rams, I mean, speak also, I'm not going to lie. I don't want to, there's so much to talk about. And I just want to say, the Falcons when they lost the Super Bowl of the Patriots fractured the organization. Like, the fact is it, They did not get over it.

It lingers. It hangs in the air. It poisoned the rest of that falcons. Like tenure. Like it was this cloud that hung over it. And, you know, when things go wrong, you know, your mind goes back to that moment. And it kind of really ended up ruining that Matt Ryan era of the falcons. By the way, I was very happy that the Falcons did that because prior to the Falcons blowing that lead,

the Seahawks deciding to throw on the goal line was like the worst place. and NFL history. And now it's the Falcons. And then everyone just talks about the Falts. But here's the thing. I kind of think the Rams, if they lose this game, a similar thing happens to the Rams. Because if the Rams give up all,

like every pick in this draft and then losing the divisional round by blowing a 24 point lead, this doesn't work. You can't bring these people back. Like, it breaks your organization. It makes people not necessarily want to come back to you. Like, this is the difference. It erodes trust in the coaching staff.

Yeah. Think about the difference between the Rams having no draft picks next year and blowing a 24-point lien to loosen the division around versus, potentially if they win the next game, hosting a home Super Bowl. Like, absolute inflection point for the entire franchise and the whole move for football in Los Angeles. Crazy amount of stuff going on.

Okay. Well, I just, I wanted to piggyback off of the DK one and just talk about, because you're talking about narratives. Just, I think it kind of sucks that the Chiefs one, to be honest. It would have been cooler if it was Josh Allen. But there's just a lot of, like, fun new personalities and kind of narratives that play. Like, Burrow is, like, ascending into a god,

like, already taking Cincinnati. in his first full season to an AFC championship is ridiculous. Then you have McVeigh and Stafford and Stafford trying to bust his narrative. I wish we had Josh Allen. And then you have Shanahan who's like has this like, you know, rough and rowdy little Niner team that like he's trying to take to the Super Bowl and obviously get over the hurdle of him like being a Super Bowl bust. There's just like a lot of fun new faces.

Like this feels like the first time in a long time. We haven't had Rogers, Brady, Rothesburg, a Manning. Like it's just, it feels very. Yeah, both one seeds lost. Yeah. And the first time in like 12 years. It feels just like a first time in like 12 years, Rogers of Brady-Rest new group that we're kind of witnessing here. I agree with Craig that I wish the bills had won. D.K., do you also feel that way?

I like the Chiefs. I was rooting for the Bhombs. But heavily. Yes. I admit to like, for whatever reason, they're just so much fun to watch. And that's like not, this is literally like, it wouldn't matter who they played because I love, I love the Chiefs. I love Mahomes. There's so much fun to watch.

It's not like a bad consolation prize. But I definitely was rooting for the Bills just because, I don't know, they just been sort of the team that we adopted. over the last few weeks. I think the bills are pure. Like there's very few pure things left in the NFL. The bills are pure. Like this like Buffalo, the trauma of like four straight Super Bowl losses

and then like not making the playoffs forever. And then them getting a quarterback that everybody, including us, made relentless fun of for almost three years. Like everything about this team and then becoming like an offensive juggernaut, Josh Allen becoming like this transcendent player. And then it happening in this small city. And like I do think it would have been nice to Craig's point about new faces.

if Josh Allen and Joe Burrow from Cincinnati and Buffalo which are these, like I mean, we're talking about Cincinnati and Buffalo are really in that five teams that have been absolute doormats in the last 25 years. It's Cincinnati, it's Buffalo, it's Detroit, it's Jacksonville, and it's Cleveland.

And like for two of those teams to meet the AFC championship game, and one of those fan bases get to the Super Bowl, but both feeling like they're playing with house money and like they are going to be good for like the foreseeable future would have been nice. And definitely it's weird that the chiefs are there.

but either way, like, it is very cool to see a bunch of just awesome quarterbacks. Yeah, 100%. People were talking about it all day long, but like, this was one of the greatest days of football ever, you know, and it's just like, makes you really appreciate, not to get sappy, but like makes me appreciate that.

I get to do this for a living. Like, it's so much fun that we're just like so stoked the whole game. We're texting each other, like, what we're going to do for the show and stuff. And every, like, five minutes, it felt like, oh, God, we got to start with this instead. Like, because it was like,

just everything that, that happened was so just monumental, it felt like every time anything happened. It's so much. I was watching the game with Liz, my girlfriend, and my fiance Oh, well. Yeah, there you go.

Congrats. Can we, can we like blow people's minds right now? With what? That you're engaged to the person who is the voice of the ringer and all the ad reads that they've heard for like three years. Yeah, and I mean, she doesn't really do it anymore, but yes, Liz Kelly and I are engaged. I feel like people

probably know. Well, they don't know who she is. there's like, hi, I'm Liz Kelly. And like, that's, that's great. She does the take per-syngo voice. Yeah, she did a take perjured intro. I promise you that people's minds are like exploding right now. Yeah, well, that's fun. But anyway, it's really funny to like watch football.

Like, I was watching it alone. Like, she was in the room with me, but she wasn't watching the games. And so I'm like, freaking out. And then she's like, what happened? What's so crazy? And like, trying to describe it, you sound so stupid. I'm like, well, there was two minutes left. And then the chief scored and the bill scored and the chief scored.

And then there was 13 seconds left, and she's like, oh, that does sound crazy. God. Yeah. Damn it. You don't get it. But they're not supposed to score that quickly because they take that them longer before. And the overtime rules suck because it's like basically whoever gets the coin toss wins the game. And she's like, you care a lot about a coin toss.

And I'm like, nah. I do. Why, how did we get here? Yeah. I can totally relate to that. That's how I feel all the time, Craig. like when NBA Twitter's going off and I'm like, I don't know anything about the NBA right now

because I've completely like neglected my NBA NBA fandom over the last like two decades. So I'm just like, that seems fun. I'd love to be a part of an inside joke sometime. Yeah. That sounds neat. How many threes did he make? Yeah.

Oh, man. Anyway. I feel the same way too. Like, you know, I don't remember the name. I'm sure people are going to scream the answer to their headphones. I can't hear you. You feel like a ghost because I can hear you.

But you know those comic strips of aliens just doing like everyday activities? And like they try to explain things. And one of them like someone sent me like the some people, my friends sent me the football ones. And it's like like foul. Shoveing after shoving time was over. And I'm like, wow, football is such a weird sport. I'm like, oh my God.

It's like that Mike Evans penalty. It's like, well, the ball landed just before. However, he got hit in the head. Exactly. So actually, you don't get the ball at the two. The game is over. Hoculees, however, will live in infamy. Sean Hock.

I love that. How well? I'm stopping. You're not spending any time on the refs today. They don't deserve it. That was good point. They don't deserve it. Not today.

Not today. The rest don't get anything. I got another award for you guys. I can't believe that this is like the fifth thing we're talking about. That's how good this weekend of football was. I'm giving you another word. It's the final nail on the cancel culture Casket Award. And it's for Aaron Rogers.

Q-A-R-R-ON. Yeah. Q-I-R-R-on, which is not fair. It's not a fair nickname, but I have to admit it's one of those creative nicknames. Throw-Rogan. What is? Throw-Rogan. Throw-Rogan.

There's some good one. It's not, that's not fair. Q-A-R-R-R-R-R-N is an off-time. Okay. I, this was like, what feels like a lifetime ago, which was yesterday. was this was one of the most stunning games I'd seen of like like Aaron Rogers set off the game I was like I just didn't think we would lose like this

I didn't think it would end like this and was like I did not either I mean yeah were you guys I guess Craig you were at a wedding so I kind of want to hear how you did you just check the game and like see the Rogers lost or like it was like during like everybody was like giving their speeches and like people were kind of whispering like it's seven zero in the third and I was like what like really wasn't it 7-0 in the first drive of the game?

No one has scored. And like, yeah, this is like super weird. Then they were tackling in the non-tackling time. And then I literally, the only thing I saw, I turned the game on, like on my phone, I saw the last kick, Robbie Gould's kick. That was it. Oh, my God.

So that's the only play, the Niners had a lead. Quick recap for people who may have had their minds wiped like DK of everything that happened before the man. You don't know who you are. Basically, the Packers' defense played incredible. The Niners had negative 10 yards Midway through the second quarter.

They had started with four three and outs. As a team, the Niners have not started with four, three and outs in like 12 years. And despite all that, the Packers scored like a touchdown on their opening drive looked dominant. We're dominating on the second drive. Mercedes-Louis fumbles. They basically scored three points in the next nine drives. Like, they did not score the rest of the game minus like one field goal.

And their special teams had a meltdown that I think can only really be compared to like Chernobyl. Oh, wow. I mean, they gave up 10 points in a 13 to 10 game. Block field goal gave up a block in the end at the first half. Block punt at the end of the second half. They returned for a touchdown. 10 points in a 10 point game. They had 10 guys on the field in the final game winning kick.

Yeah. And that's the last thing image of this team is going to be the 10 guys in the kick. And how fitting is it that the lasting image of this Packers team is going to be one guy's missing? And now we got into this whole thing of like, is Rogers coming back? Was this the last dance? Is he going to retire? I mean, think about this. And again, I know that Brady might come back.

Rogers might come back. But the only thing I think, I think it's hubris to pretend to know how either of these guys feel. And like, it's crazy that we might have just seen Aaron Rogers and Tom Brady play their last games on back-to-back days. What was it with Rogers? Like, why didn't he play? Like, was he playing poorly? How did they not score? So the Niners defense basically tightened up a lot.

They got a lot of past pressures. The short answer is that David, Boktiari was inactive because he didn't play. And Dennis Kelly kind of got wrecked at tackle. And Nick Bosa kind of wrecked. Bosa was everywhere. Yeah. And just didn't, the Nauter just had a great pass rush.

They just played well. And then honestly, it was crazy. Devante Adams and Aaron Jones were the only Packers who caught a pass until the fourth quarter. Yeah. And Mercedes-Louis was the only one that had a target. Literally,

Aaron Jones and Devante Adams had all but one target through the first three quarters. So, by the way, it was like nine degrees, and it was a windshield of, like, negative. So it was extremely, extremely cold. It was ugly football. No one was executing at a high level.

Like both teams offensively were pretty messy. And so it was definitely like a defensive slug fest in the snow, in negative degree weather. It was just one of those games where, you know, I think everybody's hands were probably frozen off. So they couldn't really, you know, catch or throw. I think that we got to talk about the 49ers too because they, to me, they're like a really fun Cinderella story. because, you know, they, even me, like, I underestimated how good they were. I kept looking at, like, their DV-O-A all year, and I'm like, they're, like, in the top 10 and DV-O-A, what's going on here?

But then they would lose, like, some stupid game. And I always kind of still, I'm just like, Jimmy Garoppolo is like a big vulnerability that they have. And he almost, he tried to give the game away for him, too. Like, he didn't play well. But for whatever reason, I'm just looking at the 49ers. I'm like, this team could win the Super Bowl. Like, it would not be surprising for me. And by the way, they've beat.

the Rams, I think six straight times coming into the NFC championship. So this might be the Super Bowl team. There's something weird about the Niners, and I think we touched on it last week. Like, they're like the opposite of the Titans where the Titans are a good team,

but they're actually bad. And the Niners are like a bad team, but they're actually really good. And it's like, when I think about the Niners, I'm like, eh, but then every time I see a specific matchup in the playoffs, I'm like, oh, they could win that game. And then they do it,

and then I see the next game. They're going to punch you in the face. Yeah. Like the second the game starts like, oh, this team actually might be better than any team they play. I think they're genuinely hard to understand and hard to explain.

I think that because, one, Jimmy's so bad. Like, Jimmy Grappel is bad. And I don't care. I think Jimmy, I would give Jimmy Garoppel

the, the hot guy winter award, like Megan the Stallion, but the opposite. Because if the Niners had lost either the last two games, and obviously they came very close to, Jimmy's getting blamed.

I mean, Jimmy, at the end of the Dallas game game, did everything possible to get to let Dallas back into it. And Jimmy in this game throws a pick, like, right before halftime when the Niners were like really rolling. Like, Jimmy was awful. And Jimmy would be getting blamed for a lot of stuff that we're now just going to like all like men in black like wipe our memories of because they won the game. But like he played awful.

And I think it's really hard to explain. Well, they have this system that like works perfectly. But other people don't run it because it's hard, but it's also easy. And it's like, how do you explain what the nine, like the hand system? them and like, it's... They literally have some of the most unique players in the NFL.

Like a collection of the most unique players in the NFL, Devo Samville, there's no one else like him. George Kittle, there's no one else like him. They have a left tackle Trent Williams

who is like playing fullback for them. Yeah, yeah. That was a fun play. Craig, you missed it. They had their left tackle, slice across the formation

on like a pulling play and he just like took out guys like a bowling ball. It was like pins were flying. It was so much fun. But at the same time, to Craig's point, the Niners,

I kind of want to check of how many, teams have failed on a fourth and one conversion while trailing, or I guess failed on a fourth and one in the fourth quarter and, like, won the game anyway for two rounds in a row in the playoffs. Like, that's kind of crazy. Anyway, I think Niners Rams to button this whole thing full circle, I think to the new faces thing, I think that Joe Burrow and Josh Allen would have been cool for new faces, and it's

still nice to have burrow in. I think that the weird thing about McVeigh and Shanhan is that McVeigh is still the youngest head coach in the NFL, and Shanahan came to the NFC. West and it was like, we're going to get this McVeigh-Shannhan rivalry, and it's going to be epic and they're going to meet for championship games, fight over the division. And they're doing that. Like, way after we all kind of gave up on it

in a way. Like people, including like Bill, including us, we're kind of shitting on Kyle Shanahan like two months ago. You know what I mean? Like, we don't give up on the McVeigh-Shan stuff. I took my anger out on Shanehan because he had Ayyuk on the bench and that was affecting me personally. And this is, I mean,

how about tossing Zach Taylor? This is really the McVeigh coaching tree playoffs, three out of the four Talk about narratives. You talk about narratives. Let me tell you a dirty secret of the media take world. No one wants to give Zach Taylor credit for anything because people thought he should have been fired after two years. And people, and sometimes me, have bent over backward to not give Zach Taylor one ounce

of credit for what the Bengals have done. And I think we officially are going to have to give Zach Taylor some credit as a good head coach. This is the Matt Stafford effect. Yeah, but even more so. Like, go back and clear me, like I've written about Burrow, go back and find anyone who's like given Zach Taylor like 10% credit for this team other than like a passing sentence or two. You listening this, does anyone listening to this podcast know one thing about Zach Taylor? Literally one.

I was going to say, I don't think I've ever written a sentence about him. I bet you don't know how to spell his name. Every week. He was even a guest on Flying Coach. And I thought he was a very kind of like standard guy, was not blown away. Didn't seem overly charismatic, but just like a normal dude. So I think part of the reason high fits that at least specific to this week still people aren't giving him his credit

is because the Bengals' offensive line was absolutely just truly atrocious in this game. And so there's a little bit, I think, of hesitation to be like, everything, the reason they won is because of Zach Taylor because he wasn't giving Burrow any help. Obviously, Burrow wasn't getting rid of the ball quickly.

Right. So I think that's probably the reason. I mean, listen, they gave up, the Bengals had nine sacks. Did you have the stat on hand? Is that the most ever by a winning team? I think it's the most, yeah, it's the most ever in a playoff win by a lot. So, like, that alone is just crazy. It literally felt like three quarters, maybe like six, sevenths of their drives ended in sacks because it was just like they could not protect him.

They couldn't get the ball out quickly enough. I mean, that goes, the blame can be on multiple people. It can be on the head coach for not dialing up more help or whatever. However it means schematically getting more help is on borough probably for not getting where the ball quickly enough. And obviously, like, they're playing a really good defense. Like, this is what the Titans have done all year long. Like, the Titans whole thing.

When what we talked about going into the game was the Titans having a four-man pass rush and could they get pressure in Cincinnati, the Raiders couldn't do it the week before. And the Bengals would have been the first team to ever have 50 plus sacks in the season to go to Super Bowl. And, I mean, if you think about Super Bowl 42, like the Giants beating the Patriots the first time, what's the narrative? Oh, well, the Giants got pressure with four. And, like, they beat the crap out of Brady. They only sacked Brady five times.

Titans sack Brady nine times in this game. And I think seven or eight of them were with a four-man. rush. So it's crazy to lose. On that note, I want to give the Titans D-Ly at award. I'm going to have to, like, explain this one a little bit. There's a Michael Chea joke that's like, he's watching the news and he's like, they said we owe China $11 trillion. And he's like,

I don't know China shit. You owe China $11 trillion. We owe Sprint, $90. And I was thinking of that with the Titans D-Line because Titans are like, you know, we lost this game. And the Titans D-Lines is like, we! You lost this game. We didn't lose anything.

We didn't lose shit. Yeah, they're looking, like, just like looking down their nose at Ryan Tannahill, who, by the way, threw an interception on the first pass of the game, first pass to the second half, and the final pass. I'm done with the Titans, man. They're frauds. I'm so sick of Tennessee. I don't care how good they are.

I don't care how many games they win. I will never believe in them. Oh, my God. The Titans, dude, this was a bad game for Tann Hill. This was really, the knives are going to be out for Tann Hill. I think Stephen Ruiz is going to be leading the way. I want to, I want, before we move on from this game, though, I do want for Bengals fans,

if there are any Bengals fans listening to the show, like, we got a shout out Jamar Chase. That guy is just absurd. He already, like, this is the first two playoff games. I can't remember what he had last week. He had five catches,

109 yards in this game. Like, probably, I think actually the greatest first two playoff games for any rookie ever, like it just goes in line with his incredible all-time rookie season. The guy is already, like, a top three receiver in the NFL. and I'm just really glad, number one,

that he's still in the playoffs because I just want to watch him every Sunday. Chase is incredible, and I think I'm ready to do something. What's that? I am ready to, like, we kept comparing him to, like, Larry Fitzgerald light.

I'm taking the light off of it. At this point, I think the only difference between him and Larry Fitzgerald is getting play like 17 years and be healthy, because Jamar Chase, the maturity,

like, of just like his play style, but also the chemistry of is with Burrow, the acceleration of that relationship and, like, how good they are. Jamar Chase is unguardable, but what I love is that Burrow,

and I think what everyone is drawn to Burrow about, is that Joe Burrow is just at his absolute best in the biggest moments, and underratedly so is Jamar Chase. Jamar Chase is like also a gamer, and you don't really think about that for wide receivers, but he is just always, he's like that reliable Jason Whitten tight end

on third downs, except he does it for third and 16. Yeah. Do you remember, I don't remember the context of the game, because again, I don't remember anything really before the two-minute warning. But like, he caught a ball at the line of scrimmage and just ran past every one.

A 50-yard screen. Yeah, I didn't see that. I tried to explain to you high fits before the season. And I'd love to actually go back and listen now and kind of hear how I tried to explain who Jammar Chase was because I'm like, he's a power player, but he's not that big, but he's so explosive. He plays like physical style, like physicality. He just overpower. It's like hard to explain.

He's trying harder. I don't know. I don't explain it. It's like he looks like he's trying. trying harder or his Madden slider is all like he gets 10% more than the other players. He just moves at a more explosive and powerful rate. Well, and what's weird about him to me is that his body, like the way he looks is like, he looks normal.

How tall is he decay? Six feet even, right? Six feet. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. But for some reason when I watch him. He plays like Angkor Bolden, but he's like 20 pounds lighter. Yeah.

When I watch him, I'm like, I actually don't think I've ever seen anybody move like you, but I'm not really sure how or why, but you do look different to me. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. It's hard to explain. It's like he's just a, he's one of one. He's almost like if Alvin Camara was a wide receiver or something.

I don't know. There's just like something about the way he moves. It just seems like better than everybody else. This might be childhood nostalgia. I still think of him as a blend of Larry Fitzgerald and Anquin from those Kurt Warner Cardinals teams in that the physicality of Bolden who like broke his face and then came back like two weeks later. Mixed with Larry Fitzgerald's ability to high point,

but also young Larry Fitz's ability to do like the slant that I'm actually going to outrun everyone up the middle. I think those comps to people who are, our age, high, if it's and younger, doesn't work because when I think of Larry Fitzgerald, I think of like an old possession receiver. Yeah, yeah. And like, I'm like,

I'm talking about, like, explosion. I'm telling, like, the Larry Fitzgerald against the Steelers, who takes, like, a 70-yard slant, like, that looked like Odell Beckham did. Yeah, right. But, you know what I mean? Burr, sorry, Chase is, like, the, I'm trying to think of, like, a,

like, a good comp for the new generation of people that have been watching the football over the last five years. It's like, he's almost like, if D.K. Metcalf was just six foot, 200. He's so overpoweringly explosive. But with the route running of like Cooper Cup. Like he like like that's the thing. It's his technical. It's his technical skill set is like a nine out of ten in everything you need to be a wide

receiver. He is like he's just so good at so many different things at such a young age that you're like you can't fake that. It's not an anomaly. Like you can't be this good at this many things at this. Also this this can't be understanding. he actually might have the single best wide receiver name ever. Yeah, Jamar Chase. Better than Waddle.

I think he could have the best name ever. I don't know. Chase is good. Chase is really good. Remember, like, talk about what it's aged the worst. Remember when he briefly called him Jamar Trail?

Because he was in the preseason? That was really bad. Yeah, speaking of gamer, like the guy doesn't need to fucking catch every pass in the preseason game. Like put him in a real game and all of a sudden he's just like the greatest rookie of all time.

Yeah. that's absolutely incredible. All right, do you guys have any more takes or any more awards from this weekend of the games? I wanted to point out we didn't talk about the kicker

for the Bengals, Evan McPherson and that call. Oh, yeah. Speaking of rookies on the Bengals, this kid is incredible. Burrow and the presser after it was like, yeah,

I was standing back there with him and he like, the way Burrow does, he kind of like hoisted up his belt and like imitating McPherson and he goes, yeah, McPherson just went,

all right, looks like we're going to the AFC championship and then trots out there and nails this like 54-yard field goal. Are you serious? I didn't know that. That's incredible.

He literally did like a hold my beer, but in real fucking life. No way. Yeah. Dude, that's awesome. Looks like you're going to the NC Championship. Yeah. That's incredible. Because at first one I heard it.

But that's what makes this team fun though is like they're playing with house money and the Bengals have this vibe. And honestly, there are the surrogate bills now. Like they're the team to root for. Totally. Certainly against the Chiefs. Like the Chiefs are probably the most fun juggernaut we've had in a really long time. Yeah.

Like you're going to root for like, you know, an empire like god, Mahomes is pretty cool. Very light. I'm never going to be like bummed if the chiefs win. No, it's not the Patriots.

But like, God, the Bengals though, it's just the Hutzpah. That's the Yiddish word for it. I don't know. The second bro showed up like the whole, the vibe of the team,

I can't explain how different it is. I don't think I've ever seen a vibe of a team change quicker. Quietly, CJU Zoma had this. I'm going to curse. So Anna, if you're listening with your daughter,

like watch out. See you late for that. Watch out for the tunnel. I'm a sucker for these tunnel videos of like when you get the act. Not like the produced one with the Niners one. Like the ones that are actually like this is what they're actually saying to each other. And C.G. Zoma was just like, uh, I want to get the wording right.

He was basically like, fuck all this. Why not us bullshit? It is us. And then they all ran out in the field. I was like, I love that. Yeah. Oh, man. Yeah.

They're a fun team to root for it. It's also, it's almost like a little bit of the. this might be too old of a reference for you guys. Have you seen Major League? Yeah. I have not still. High Fitz hasn't seen Major League. Okay, so basically the crux of the,

off-season to-do list. The crux of the movie, Hyphitz, is they're like a second-rate pro team whose owner wants them to be bad so that she just, like, has them, like, pick up a bunch of shitty players have a terrible, like, no payroll. It's not unlike the Ted Lassow plot, honestly.

I was going to say, it's also sounds like the Seattle Mariners. There you go. A lot of baseball teams. Okay, new age, they're a new-aged Ted Lasselso team. Basically, you know, I'm not saying that the Bengals are a second-ranked team, but, like, basically, they haven't, historically, they haven't spent as much on anything, really,

as other team. So that puts them at a competitive disadvantage every year. It's like the ownership just doesn't, they're happy enough, like, being okay kind of deal. Yeah, they're the pirates. I know. I get it. Right, exactly.

So it's kind of fun to see them, you know, obviously, they have these pieces where they're going to be competitive for years with Joe Burrough, Marche, Chase, T. Higgins. You know, their defense was a lot better than I think anyone wouldn't give him credit for this year. And so, yeah, it's just kind of a fun. It's like, how I think you said it earlier, everyone loves the underdog. And I think the Bengals are like that.

So definitely fun to root for. Okay. Any other awards? I just want to shout out Playoff Lenny. This is the don't be sad. It's over. Be happy it happened award. Playoff Lenny did his thing again, man.

Like, that guy just turns into like such a beast in the playoffs. As soon as January comes around, he's just really good. He had a sick one-handed catch in the game. On a fourth down, he made a ridiculously good cut and scored a touchdown. He had them in this game, and he was really important for them throughout this whole game. So I just want to shout out, Lenny. Obviously, he didn't win, but... Well, not to get too real, too.

His cousin died two days ago. Oh, I didn't hear about that. Yeah, I don't know if it was public. He mentioned it after the game. Oh, well, that's sad to hear. Yeah, so I think he played his cousin's... Lenny is a guy whose entire kind of fantasy value really rests on what Tom Brady does next year. because like if Brady retires,

Lenny's like a seventh round pick in my mind, but if Brady plays, like Lenny could be like a third round pick, you know? Well, he's a free agent too. Oh, yeah. So that'll be interesting. We didn't even, we got, we left a lot of stuff on the table

and we didn't get into the Rogers and the Packers. And like, we didn't even get into whether Rogers could leave Green Bay. I mean, what happens with that team free agents? I mean, all of the Packers, right receivers series are like not, are free agents.

Devonte, Marquez Valde, Scantling, Alan Lazard, Equinion and they're like 40 million. $40 million over the cap right now. Yeah, they're going to have to cut Randall Cobb just to get those guys back. And Devonte's going to want to be the highest paid player in the league. I mean, so, like, you know, they have to cut. Basically, all the good defensive player is going to have to get cut or not brought back

to bring back an offense for a team that couldn't get to the championship game. So we've got whether Rogers is going to come back. Is Brady going to keep playing football or go out on his second Atlanta comeback? I mean, this is one of those days where I kind of look at all the things that just happen. Never mind, Sean Payton. There are rumors. back to the Saints. Like, I'm looking at all the things that happen

on the field, all the things looming. A championship game, we got the Bengals at the Chiefs, the Niners at the Rams, and it's like, this is really cool. And this is what we said on Friday, this is the best weekend of the year. This is the best two weeks of the year. Division around the conference championship games and it more than lives up to the height.

This was awesome. Absolutely. They shoved the guy not during shoving time, though. Only shove during shoving time. Any kids listening. You can only show during shoving time. All right. That's all we got. Thank you, D.K. Thank you, Craig Horwellbeck. Thank you, Mike Wargon for producing this episode. Thank you to everyone who keeps the shoving inside of shoving time.

Thank you, Zach Taylor. I've never said that before. Yeah, give him some love. There we go. Thank you, Lauren. I'm going to shout out. Thank you the weekend because I can't feel my face right now. Whoa.

Whoa. We're back to top 40 with D.K. Wow. Sorry, it's probably a repeat, but yeah. No, that's great, D.K. Half-time show's going to be so. Can't feel my face is great song. It is.

Really hit. Really does hit. Blinding lights. I think the weekend halftime was bad, but it ended up being worth it for the meme because just the three-second meme

of him walking through the mirrors, where it looks like the waiters taking him to the his table at the cheesecake factory. It's like my favorite video. That's good. All right.

Thank you, everyone.