The Ringer NFL Show - Divisional-Round Recap: Mahomes Is Inevitable, the Lovable Lions, and the Niners Survive the Rain. Plus, Shirtless Jason Kelce.

Episode Date: January 22, 2024

DK and Heifetz recap the divisional round of the NFL playoffs, starting with the Chiefs-Bills game living up to the hype. They also discuss the Lions' win over the Bucs, the Ravens destroying the Texans, and the Niners' win over the Packers in the pouring rain. Email us! [e-mail] The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out theringer.com/RG to find out more, or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Hosts: Danny Heifetz and Danny Kelly Social: Kiera Givens and Jack Sanders Producer: Carlos Chiriboga Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The ringer gambling feat is your one-stop shop for all things betting throughout the NFL season, from week one all the way through Super Bowl 58 in Las Vegas. We have you covered every which way. We've got our favorite futures. We've got props. We'll discuss the lines. And, of course, we'll throw in a few parlets. That's a given.

So whether you're a sharp or square better, we'll be breaking it down in terms. Hopefully, everybody can understand. We'll try to win some money along the way. So be sure to subscribe to the ring of gambling feed on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. Tiger Fantasy Football Show. My name is Danny Heifitz. I am joined by Danny Kelly. And that's it.

Craig is out today. I think that he might, I don't know, he might just been struck, stricken by the football today. So the AFC championship, NFC championship games are set. We will be having the Chiefs at the Baltimore Ravens where I will be at that game next week. Ooh. Nice. Detroit Lions are at the same. Francisco 49ers.

Bill's Chiefs just ended moments ago. I feel electric. D.K., what an incredible sport. That stuff hits every time. Bill's Chiefs is exactly as good as we were promised.

I feel like I'm going to, midway through this episode, I'm going to get like an adrenaline headache because the end of that episode or the end of that game just had me on the edge my seat. Like obviously some huge plays, some huge missed opportunities by the bills.

But yeah, it's like, at the end of the day, The worst chiefs team we've seen in the Mahomes era is in the AFC championship game. So still good, apparently. As a neutral fan, that was an amazing game. As a Bill's fan, that was a catastrophe. Because without, you know, I don't want to be hyperbolic, but I think this is true. That was the biggest game of Josh Allen's career. And quite frankly, like the entire era of Bill's football with Josh Allen for,

I mean, five years has been built into that game. And they lost. and Andrew Grudadarro, Ringer Editor here, summed it up really well, which was, I cannot believe we are getting this game from Josh Allen and the offense, and we are depending on AJ Klein to stop Patrick Mahomes. But that's true.

That's kind of what happened. The Bill's defense in a way, like, reinvigorated the Chief's offense. Like, it was unreal. But the kick at the end, I said to Jackie, I was like, this is a death knell to kick this.

And I'm not saying this is some crazy prediction, but like they couldn't go front and forth there. But that was like the worst distance. There's no way you couldn't kick that. But that's with the wit, oh my God, heartbroken. Wide right. I went back and looked up like the details of the original wide right, the Bill's wide right, the first Super Bowl.

They lost your Giants. Yes, that's how the Giants won the Super Bowl. Were you alive at that point? Let's see here. Absolutely not. Like early 90s. The fact that you even had to think about that. Sorry, I forgot how early it was. I think my brother was alive and my mom, not kidding.

I think my mom almost dropped. my brother when he was like an infant because of the kick. I think Scott Norwood almost murdered my brother. You know what I was looking? I was looking at I was just rereading to like put myself back there. Frank Reich was the holder. I'd forgotten about that little detail. I'm sorry the Bill's fans listening to this have probably turned this off.

I genuinely feel bad for them because they came in with like the Manning Brady stuff with Mahomes and Josh Allen. And it is that on the battle level. But at some point, unfortunately like this is just. just, we were told on this on Friday, like, the bills are just now the team that are kind of going to get squished under, like, the thumb of Mahomes. Like, Mahomes is this inevitable, like, LeBron-esque dominance of the AFC that he's inherited from Brady.

And, like, inevitable is the perfect word to use for it. It just feels like Mahomes is inevitable. I mean, he didn't even have, like, a out. He was definitely very good, but, like, numbers-wise, 215 passing yards. It wasn't like he went completely off, you know. He was dialed in for sure. but I don't know, man. There's just something going on with like this Bill's offense where

Josh Allen has to do it all himself. Obviously, Khalir Shakur has come on and been really good for them lately. But Stefan Diggs missing that like 65-yard bomb. In his hands. Dude, if poor one out for Craig, if Craig were here, he'd be like when Stefan Diggs inevitably tweets something passive aggressive

this off season, like he's just going to get a thousand replies of like that catch in his hands. Dude, he had it. It was like, it wasn't even like that contestant. of a pass. He should have caught it for sure. I mean, I think this is one of the best games Josh Allen has ever played. I think that's kind of what makes it worse.

It's like he was putting balls in everyone's hands. Like, Cahillard, even when, like, Gabe Davis wasn't playing. Khalil Shakir had that, like, scary hit. Like, there were a bunch of guys that came in and out. And Josh Allen was dealing. And I think what's nuts is the bills were clinical. Like, if you look, I mean, just these touchdown drives. The bill's touchdown drives were 11 plays, 12 plays, 15 plays.

That field goal drive at the end was a, 16 play drive. The Chiefs had a six-play touchdown drive. I wanted an eight-played touchdown drive, a five-played touchdown drive. Like the Chiefs honestly like did, like they had a couple, like the chiefs rediscovered their explosiveness in this game. The bills were just like, well, you're going to take seven yards 10 times in a row. Honestly, almost like if Tom Brady were Josh Allen in a way. Time of possession, 37 to 22 bills in the bills favor. That's an old school Chiefs thing. The Chiefs never used to win the time of possession. It was weird. Here's the thing, though, I think, and tell me if I'm wrong, fix my memory.

We're doing this just after this game ended. I think the part that's super cutting for Bill's fans, like that cuts to the core, is that all the ways they got screwed over in this game are not the reason they lost. Like there was that, sorry, my memory is getting all jumbled, but there was the DeMarre Hamlin fake punt. That went, right, that was a mistake.

But then Miko Hardman gives the ball back, right? It's like there was a bad ref. There were a few questionable ref recalls in this one. I forget which one. them went against the bills, right? There was a pass interference play that gave the chiefs a new set of downs that probably shouldn't have been a pass interference. I think, I believe on that drive, correct me if I'm wrong.

Again, we're doing this like right after the game is over. I want to say the ball didn't lead to anything. Right. It was like a ball didn't lie situation where they didn't score. And so that's what's unfortunate is the moments that kind of screwed over the bills fans, it just leaves you with Stefan Diggs dropping a ball that landed 65 yards in his hands. and then a missed kick from 40 yards out. Yeah.

Oh, my God. Yeah, Josh was in his bag today, man. He looked incredible. His touchdown pass to Khalil Shakur in the fourth quarter where he basically, like, it was a third and 13. They made some really dumb plays to, like, get themselves into that position. They came out of a timeout and got to delay a game to get into third and 13, which is just like, come on, dude.

But Josh, like, made up for it by, he, like, rolled out to his left, and he almost like faked like he was going to start running it and then he did like a fade away and somehow turned his body and like it was an incredible throw across his body right to Khalil Shakur in the end zone. I think that's one of the best throws of his entire career. That was actually nuts.

The other, I mean honestly the MVP of this game that was Jason Kelsey just sitting there in the box just like coming down shirtless like a ogre being like just chugging, fresh off retirement just like shugging beers next to Taylor Swift. Dude, he's been like, how long did he play in the NFL? He's been saving up for this moment for so long. Like, this is my retirement party. He was, he was pre-funken at the, you know, the bills like in the parking.

Pre-funking? Pre-funking. Maybe that's like a pre-gaming. Elder millennial term. Yeah, like pre-game pre-funk. Email us at Ringar Fantasy Football at Gmail to tell me if that's regional or an age thing. Pre-funk? You've never heard that.

You've never heard the term pre-funk? I've heard pre-gaming is like, I thought, think universal in my generation. No, I know. I'm just curious if that's a regional or. age thing, whatever. Anyway, Kelsey was out there, like, hours before the game, like, mingling with all the Bills fans, like having a great time. You see him in the luxury box with Taylor Swift and all of her entourage, like, no shirt.

For like the whole time. It wasn't like five minutes. He just didn't wear a shirt during the game. Tarps off. You tweeted out, like, he at one point when Kelsey scored, I think, his second touchdown, Travis Kelsey, his brother scored a second touchdown. He, like, got up into, in the window and just, like, let out this most primal scream. and you put the Jurassic Park T-Rex noise over it?

Yeah, I tweeted. It was honestly like the best tweet I've ever had. It was amazing. I ever had a reason to go to my Twitter, Danny to describe it. It was like, it was just like, but then literally like an hour's time later in the game. Like not necessarily, you know,

I don't know how long exactly it was. There was like a fadeaway cut out to the commercial and it showed Taylor Swift. And in the background, Travis, or Jason Kelsey, no shirt, still just chugging. Still just chugging another beer. Just crushing a Labat blues. That guy's worth like $50 million.

It's just like crushing the cheapest beer in the stadium. Which led to one of the greatest tweets I've ever seen in my life. Shield Capadia, our esteemed colleague, who was sitting on this little piece of information for apparently like five or six years or however long it's been. The famous Jason Kelsey Super Bowl parade performance where he gave a big speech at the end of it. Like, Sheel apparently asked Kelsey, how many beers he'd at that day? And he said, north of 20. And then she'll. followed that up with how drunk do you think you were?

He's like, ah, about a five. So what's the over under on the number of beers do you think Jason Kelsey drank today? Dude. Or drinks, alcoholic drinks. I'm guessing like 25. Because you know why it skews you. It's kind of like, you know, Michael Phelps would eat like 15,000 calories or whatever. It's like for these professional athletes.

Like Jason Kelsey probably like would weigh 190 pounds if he lived a normal life. But he's like, so we have to skew it for that. the stories of Fridge Berry on the Bears he had to drink like 12 beers to get drunk it's like going after Wade it's like Wade Boggs like the stuff with legends dude that's always sudden like chasing chasing Boggs

like Kelsey could probably do it dude it is insane to think what an offensive lineman's like when they get married and they go on a bachelor party what 12 offensive linemen could just like do 30 rack per guy oh my God it was so much fun to watch Jason Kelsey today

um the unbelievable. But I will say, so two things for this game that also just stood out to me, well, three, of the football, the Mahomes is incredible. Well, I guess we should say, Mahomes is like an all-time player. I just was sitting there, it's like, you know, it's hard to appreciate what you have until it's gone.

Brady's gone. Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen, Josh Allen is John Elway 2.0. I was talking to Joe House about that earlier today. Like he is. And Patrick Mahomes is, it's, this Mahomes, Allen, I don't think it's Manning Brady. I think it's basically Elway Marino, if Marino had won two. Super Bowls in his first five seasons. Like Patrick Mahomes is the guy we will be telling,

I mean, you have kids and I guess you saw Brady too, but it's like Brady's Brady. Mahomes is, I don't know, he's kind of like LeBron. It's just he's going to do this forever. It's inevitable. Yeah, it's, so this is their sixth straight AFC championship game. And again, like I said at the beginning, like this is by far the worst,

well, I don't know about by far, but this is the worst chiefs team that we've seen. certainly the worst offense by a long shot. Their defense is really good, and I want to give their defense credit. Can I just contextual as what you just said? Patrick Mahomes has never not made the AFC championship game. That's just wild.

He's just only made the AFC championship game. Every season of his play. So, like, there's a bunch of stats, and you could maybe even pull it up if you want when I'm talking. But, like, there's a bunch of stats that, like, if you look at the Tom Brady era, the AFC sent, like, five total quarterbacks to the Super Bowl

because it was always Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. It's just Brady with like Peyton and Rathusberger. Like mixed like sprinkled in there. You know what I mean? And so like I feel like this is going to be a similar deal by the time Mahomes retires where it's like, Mahomes is in like 75% of like the Super Bowls or AFC championships that he's like.

It's kind of like tennis. Yeah. It's like tennis where like Federer and Nadal just blotted out the sun for like one, two, three. And then with Djokovic, we're coming up on like Alcraz. It's like the fifth generation of tennis players that quite five generations of tennis players to crack through from Federo 7 to like, I know generation, but like it really is kind of like,

or classes, maybe is better one than generation. Five classes of tennis players came up until they could crack like these three guys kind of blotted out the sun. And like Mahomes and Brady will be like that. This to be, the feeling that I get from this game is, and I think some people thought maybe that the Eagles would do this in the first round when they lost the bucks where it's like, yeah, they weren't playing very well, but their experience, their playoff tested,

and they'll figure it out come playoff time, and the Eagles obviously did not do that. They completely face-planted. But the Chiefs did it. You know what I mean? Like, they bowed up at the right time. Travis Kelsey had his best game. He scored his first touchdown since week 11.

It's been a long time. And he looked great. He looked like vintage Kelsey. He was, you know, shaking guys. He scored two touchdowns. And the whole time I was, just thinking like, just picture this Chief's offense if they had even just really, really average ho-hum, not even very good, just, you know, like role-playing receivers.

Like, if they didn't have the worst receivers you can possibly imagine in Cadarius Tony and Mikhail Hardman, like, what would this offense look like? I have to give you your props. I think this has been probably the best season you've had, like, calling stuff of the, I've ever done with you. And you said from like literally the day they traded for Miko Hardman, you're like, this guy can't play. Like this guy cannot hold onto the ball. He's like worse than Kaderes Tony.

I thought you were messing with me. Nicole Hardman, literally, we had two touches, two fumbles, like one yard. And he literally like, yeah, he fumbled on the one yard line into the end zone. Yeah. If the chief's lost, it wouldn't have been Miko Hardman's fault. It would have been Andy Reed giving Mikul Hardman the ball. And so when you texted me, who's the worst player that could have had 1,000 yards on this chief's team? Or like, how many receivers?

And I started, I became obsessed with that question. because really like what if DeAndre Hopkins was on this team? But you started like, yeah. Like Josh Palmer would have had a thousand yards for the cheese. Oh, easily. I think Josh Palmer could have 1,000 yards on any team. I think he's actually good. Dantavian Wicks for the rookie fifth rounder,

I think would have had a thousand yards. Easily. Our buddy, East and Freeze, covers the Titans. He threw out Nick Westbrook Aquini, would have easily cleared a thousand yards in this offense. Here's a couple other guys I think would have cleared a thousand yards. Isaiah Hodgins. just trade a 2026th round or seventh round pick for Isaiah Hodgins.

He's going over a thousand yards in this offense. Honestly, I think you're right. They got Richie James for the Giants and not Isaiah Hodg. Alan Lazard easily clears a thousand yards in this offense. Nelson Agalore. Yeah, you're right. He's going for a thousand yards. DeMarcus Robinson, who was on the Chiefs before, I think.

Probably could now. Donovan People's Jones, I think, goes over a thousand in this offense. Oh, that name. Dude, Robert Woods, I think, was a free agent before the year. Cadarral Hodge, like the wide receiver four on the Falcons. He's going over a thousand in his offense. Dude, it is insane. Like, I think we underrated.

We're like, what's throughout the Chiefs? It's like, they just actually have the most incompetent. Dude. They have the Bluth children. Can you, yeah. Like, can you imagine putting yourself like a couple weeks ago when Cadarious Tony hit like a new low and being like, they're going to have someone that makes. you miss Cadarius Tony being on the field.

And that's Michael Hartman. This is this game. And you're like, wait, you'll wish Michael Hardman. Like you said it early in the year or a couple weeks ago at least. Like the Chiefs would have won like three to four more games this year if they just had not traded for Cadarious Stone. Or even it's just if he hadn't been playing, they would have won like two to three more games. They would have won in week one and they would have won the Bill's game. Anyways, dude, they need to prioritize the hell.

I mean, I think Rishi Rice is good, and I think he's going to continue to improve and be like a good player for that. Honestly, Mike Evans. Go get freaking DeAndre Hopkins. Right that wrong. Yeah. Mike Evans or Hopkins is to be a chief. Oh, Mike Evans.

That'd be fun. Next, speaking of Mike Evans and the Bucks. So, yeah, so the Chiefs won 27 to 24. I apologize. I didn't say that before. The Buccaneers lost to the Lions. The Lions beat the Bucks, 31 to 23. It came down to the end.

Good game. It was a good game. So we'll talk about the game in a second. I think the Lions are. are like the real America's team. You know, they always say that about Dallas. I,

the Lions fans staying, like 25 minutes after the game and like no one had left because no one wanted to go. Just soaking it in. It, like, to me it was the most mushy, gushy,

Ted Lassow cliche stuff I have seen in the NFL in quite some time. And I, I don't know where to start, but I just, the fact that they were so, I think that's the loudest I've ever heard fans on a telecast in like any sport. Yeah, they were all over it. They're punts.

And I don't know. I mean, I don't know how you cannot root for the Lions unless you are literally a 49ers fan. I think the Lions are the easiest team to root for since I've been covering professional sports. Does anybody outside the San Francisco Bay Area and or people that like have parents that were 49ers fans like the 49ers? Like, that's not a team. I feel like people like. like, even the NFC North rivals, like, even Vikings fans are kind of like, a lot of that.

Like, you know what I mean? I'm like, like, well, because it's like there are assholes kind of deal, you know what I mean? Like they're in our division. We want our division to like, you know, continue to rise up in, in, whatever. Like college football, you start rooting for your own confidence. Like, that's the lions, whatever, you know, it's like, it's like the Packers. But yeah, no, this is like one of the most likable teams.

Obviously, Dan Campbell, extremely, extremely likable guy. Heifans, I think you said this a couple of weeks ago, it's like his half time, like his, his, his, interviews coming out of half time are the most, like genuine. Literally the best ever. I noticed that on this game, too. Like, he was like, man, we knew they were going to come out. They were going to give us our best. We didn't really stop them.

But we got to come out here now and like actually start playing some defense. Like, he's like giving them a lot of credit. He's the only coach that has ever answered the questions. 100%. Literally in any sport. Like Dan Campbell, you're so right. I forgot about this till just now. He came out and they were like, what did you tell?

He was just like, yeah, you know, look, what did you think? we're going to come out and give it to us? Like, hey, we're doing all right. That's football. We've got to go out. We're going to execute. She's like, so what you say at halftime? And he looks at her like confused.

Like, I just told you what I said. That's what I said. I love this guy. Real talk, though, like for Dan Campbell and just like his leadership style, I always think about this during games. When you start to see teams go on a run, you start to see, you know, for lack of a better term, because I know some people don't believe momentum. But like the momentum starts to shift.

And you start to see the opposing team that. that's getting behind, like, start to panic a little bit. I always like to see coaches who are really good at, I guess, like, keeping their team from panicking and, like, keeping them on track and, like, basically sort of refocusing and re-centering the players to be like, hey, look, we knew this is going to be a battle. We know, we knew this is going to be grind. Like, we need to keep doing what we're doing. We have tons of time left. You know, like, I like coaches like that and players like that that, that, you know, don't let the momentum and, like, the mood swings of the game. really get to them. I think Dan Campbell's just like that.

I'm so glad you said that, D.K., because as much as Dan Campbell is truly like meathead Ted Lassow, and every interview he gives is just so emotional, he's so calm on the sideline, and he has his stuff together. Like, even when that crazy Lions Cowboys thing happened with all the refs, Dan Campbell's knew, like, he sat there and he just listened. Like, he did not flip out. And just such a good call that he's actually, as weirdly as it is, oddly even-handed during the games. Yeah, because this started to get a little bit tight there. So it was 10 to 10 a half. It was 17 to 17 going into the very end of the third quarter.

So going into the fourth quarter is essentially tie game. The Lions just straight up outplayed the Bucks. And what happened with the first quarter, honest to God, the first quarter was Gough threw a pick directly at a Bucks defender, but he dropped it. And then Baker threw a pick at Mike Evans and then a defender caught it. So it's like Baker had a pick that should have been a catch. Goff had a drop that should have been a pick. and then Rashad White

kept messing up the blitz pickups while Jemir Gibbs for the Lions kept doing the Blitz pickups and so the Lions are playing better. But then the Bucks have one good drive at the end of the half, which is the drive that Sean McVeigh kneeled at the end of the last round.

Totally, totally. Sean McVe was like, let's go to halftime. The Bucks wanted to do the same thing. They're like, oh, we'll run it to make sure you don't get the ball. And then they just got all this yard. It's like, oh, we'll try. And then Mike Evans gets like 55 yards

on the drive. And they're like, all, fine. and they score touchdown. Like, oh, my God, it's tied. But at the end of the day, I know this is cutting edge of football analysis, but Dika, I feel like the simplest way I could say it is, when the lions moved the ball, it looked effortless. And when the bucks moved the ball, it looked excruciatingly difficult.

You ever have, like, an article where every, writing every word is excruciatingly difficult and you can't get through it. And then sometimes, like, you just get into flow state and you can write, like, a 1,200-page article in, like, 20 minutes, and it's, like, so easy. I'm sure a lot of people can really relate to this. No, it is. You know why? Because for us, it's articles, but other people, it's emails. It's like, sometimes you're like, oh, I don't want to write this email. And then you're like,

wow, that was so easy. That took 10 seconds. Exactly. And I remember thinking at the beginning of this, or at the beginning of this game, Goff, to me, looked a little off. He was like a little shaky. But by the end of, he settled in, by the end of the game, he was 30 of 43. Like, he 30 out of 43 pass attempts,

he completed 287 yards, two touchdowns. he ended up being pretty damn good. Someone said this to me. He looked like someone who was the first pick in the draft today. I thought that was totally on par. And also the other thing, like the big takeaway I had is Jemir Gibbs, man. What a difference maker. He looked incredible.

He's so explosive. He looks like he shot out of a cannon every time. Shout out to our friend Nate Tice, who said this three weeks into the season. The Lions are the 2006 Saints. And Jemir Gibbs is who we thought Reggie Bush would be. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like Reggie Bush was just in the wrong era, Reggie Bush was in the wrong era,

and Jemir Gibbs is who we thought Reggie Bush would be, where he's like, Natis, he nailed this. It's like, he can run in between the tackles, but it's not his forte. He is unguarable in the open field. They had a great replay, Anton Winfield Jr., who's honest to God, probably should have been a first team all pro safety.

That play? Literally did not even come close to coming close to touching him on the play. And it's like, that's who it, like, it gives in space, these like slip screens, does Jemir Gibbs, like these things that, If you get the Lions and Madden would be unstoppable. You'd just keep calling these screens to Gibbs. It's like, he is Reggie Bush, man.

It's crazy. It's like, I know we said that about Bijon, but Gibbs is kind of like it. That play, I get for when he went up against Anton Winfield, I know it wasn't like a one-on-one thing or anything. It was just like Winfield needed to make a play in space, and it was like, dude, good luck against this guy's acceleration. He didn't do it. Gibbs sort of beat him to the angle and got a touchdown.

But there was another drive earlier in the game. where I know that I harp on this all the time, but I'm really truly in my soul, in my heart, believe that, like, the best teams are the ones that give their good players a chance to make plays.

It's not scheme. It's not coaching. It's let your star players win you the game. I remember thinking that. It's both. It's like design your scheme around getting your best players, the goddamn ball.

Exactly. Your game said nine carries for 74 yards at a touchdown, and then he had another four catches for 40 yards. It's like, like, think about when the Rams won the Super Bowl, when the Rams won the Super Bowl, what happened? They gave Cooper Cup, what?

Let every category. Remember when the Falcons and Kyle Shanahan made the Super Bowl? Remember, Julio Jones got like 200 targets. He made the record for targets. He made the worst insane catch in that game I've ever seen in my life. But so like there was a drive for the Lions in the middle of the fourth quarter. I remember thinking this very distinctly, it was like the Buccaneers, one of their corners, went out, so they immediately targeted the guy who came in from and on the Jameson

Williams pass down the field. James and Williams, they're highly drafted, extremely explosive receivers, started to really come on for them, 24-yard catch. Later in the drive, ISO route where Jemir Gibbs ran like a Texas route, like an angle route over the middle field, beat the linebacker like so easily, and then, you know, after the catch, gained 20 yards. And then the touchdown was the slot fade to Amman Rae St. Brown, where they sort of ran like a fake screen on the...

the outside and you just like beat his guy to the corner of the end zone. I remember just thinking like that's good coaching. This is what it looks like when you let your good players win the game for you. You know what I mean? And so I think that drive put them up 31 to 17 or something like that. Yeah. And that was sort of the end of it. Actually, it wasn't the end of it. The bucks kind of came back and made it a thing. But that definitely put them in a really, really good position late in the game. I just remember thinking that man. It's like, man, you give like, just do this. This isn't me just like wanting fantasy points? Like give your good players the football.

100%. Do you want to talk real quick about the losing teams at all? I'm curious what you think about this Baker Mayfield resurgence. So the Bucks, I think that the thing I remember about the Bucks, it reminds me the Giants last year where the Bucks had $70 million in dead cap this year. Like this was the reset, right? Like this was the reset after Brady. Like they're just all these guys are free agents. This was the last room with this team.

They're kind of just like starting next week, tabby. LaRas. I forget exactly who, but it's like Mike Evans is a free agent. Like all these contributors, one of the reasons I thought the Bucks might have a chance to win this game. And I actually, I like them as an upset. And I was totally wrong about my picks. I thought that the Bucks might have a chance to upset. They, you know, they almost did, but they definitely the worst team. I thought Packer, Niners would be blow out. Obviously, Packers probably could have, should have won that game. Should have won. But the reason I liked the Bucks was they had more than half the defense in the Super Bowl left over. They had Mike Evans. They got one. I think all these guys

might go. But Baker, I think that Baker is very clearly one of the 32 best quarterbacks in the NFL. He is not, he's probably like kind of where Derek, we thought Derek Carr was a few years ago, but he's actually likable and his team is like it. Yeah, that's a good comp. I like that actually. He's just like it's, he's not like what you want or aspire to be, but there will always be like, man, I wish we had Baker right now, but never 20. I mean, think about like what, think about how good the Jets would have been this year if they had Baker Mayfield running that offense instead.

I mean, yeah, this is like, I think someone, this is, it's controversial because and I'm experiencing this in Seattle with Gino Smith, and I'm actually thinking like Baker might get a Gino Smith type deal. But it's like some people are like, oh, this just puts you in a sort of weird purgatory where you're good and you can maybe go to the playoffs, but there's no way in hell you're going to win a Super Bowl.

And some people are, you know, thinking, And this is like the type of situation where you just have to face reality. There's only so many good elite quarterbacks and having a guy who can win you games, you know, that gives you an opportunity to go out there and like, you know, make some, make a Cinderella run sort of like the Bucks where it felt like they were fixing to do this year. So I don't know, it's, he definitely lands in that, you know, veteran, middling veteran quarterback area that I think Juno Smith probably fits in. I think Juno's probably better than him.

But still, it's, I guess he gets like a somewhat similar type of deal. Genosite a three-year, $75 million contract, $40 million guaranteed. I could see that happening. You know, he's not going to get top of the market money next year, but... I think the other thing is you get lost in the millions, and honestly, it's weird, but the money doesn't matter. It's irrelevant. It's not your money.

It's like there's a percentage. Patrick Holmes gets 15%. Like, the middling quarterbacks get like 11. And, like, you know what I mean? If you think of it more that way, it's like, yeah, give Baker like 9% of your salary. It's fine. it's it's yeah also the bucks you know they're getting rid of so much salary it's fine but i think yeah baker it's still fun um even though he's you know clearly flawed nineers packers so the niners beat the packers

24 to 21 it was absolutely pouring rain huge huge game for wow it's weird you can't see rain on television what's up with that uh what are you up to there rain we were having actual conversations in the second half like is it still raining can't tell if it's raining dude it was like they literally is it raining and they're like it's raining and they're like it's letting up and they cut to the lights. And it's like, like you can't even see John Lynch, the Niners GM,

because there's so much rain. They had to take a video of John Lynch and then like slow-mo it just to show his face. That was how much rain there was. And then the Niners, it was literally like, we were, we were talking about how I think the Niners

could kick the shit out of the Packers. And then the first like five plays for the Niners were like, Debo limps off and like, oh, it's just a shoe. And then Party throws a pick to Darnel Savage, but Savage drops it in his chest.

And then Debo, lips off this time for real. It doesn't come back with a shoulder injury and then Purdy gets sacked and it was like, uh-oh. Well, I made the joke about the dolphins being the F-35 fighter that can't fly in the rain. Like, the 49ers Oh my God. Purdy can't play

in the rain. They can't play in the rain. Okay. Is what's happening. There is, we don't talk about this enough. How weird is it? That there are things that affect football games that it took me a long time to realize have nothing like this in other sports. rain. Like, or like the crowd.

Like literally act of God. Like it's raining to them. And they're like, oh, it's like, think about weirdness. Explain football. Yeah, it's raining. So the quarterback can't hold the football. So the quarterback's going to suck. He can't hold it?

And they're like, can you get him, I don't know, a glove? And he's like, no, they don't do it. Yeah, but he doesn't like the glove. It's like, it's so absurd. He didn't practice this week with a glove on. The diners are like changing their shoes on the sideboard. I'm like, isn't this your field? It is a bizarre thing for sure

It's just Two drives in They're like all They had the eight shoes Of the 90 sideline And then at halftime Kyle Shannon's still talking about their cleats And I'm like you had a week

Well this is like why I think there's so many discussion I know a lot of people probably most The majority of people like weather games And like that weather is a variable But it's like I do it's wild It's like when you look back on the year You're like oh so did the best teams win

It's like no it rained that day So they lost Like you know what I mean it's just like a bizarre thing. You know, it's like if this was in a dome, the 49ers probably would have rocked them. But like it wasn't. The other one I think about,

or sorry, I never thought about until this weekend was how weird crowd noises. Like the Texans gave, the Texans had the most first half penalties in, oh my God. In a playoff game in the 21st century. They tied with the Cowboys. Texans had eight,

I think four or five of them were false starts. It was so loud in Baltimore. And then the Detroit game, too, was so loud. And I never thought about it. until like today or yesterday, I was like, hmm, that's not a thing. Like in basketball, it's like, oh, the crowd's loud.

But in football, it's like, oh, yeah, the fans are yelling. So the players don't know what to do. And they can't hear each other. They don't know when the play begins. It's like in basketball, maybe you don't hear something LeBron says. Like, oh, cut. But it's like, the players don't know when the game's the play begins because people are yelling. Yeah.

It's like, it's so crazy. Sort of a uniquely football thing. Obviously, there's other sports. this communication matters, but... But like the catcher in a baseball game still knows the pitch when fans do it. Still knows how to catch it. Yeah, it's like there was, I forget one of the games, it was a flag on everyone but the center. And it was like they didn't, it was so loud.

And it's like, the guy with the ball didn't know when to do the ball thing. Yeah, it is, that's a great point. It is one of the sports, I think, that, you know, it's like so hokey and everything. Like the 12th man, they talk about the Seahawks fans, the 12th man. And everyone used to get mad about the Seahawks for like, there was all these conspiracies. They were piping in music at their stadium and stuff like that. But it's like the fans can really affect the game.

Well, no, the Falcons actually piped in music. The fans used to accuse the Seahawks fan, Seahawks of piping in music. That's why the lion stuff is so endearing is because it's like actually you can literally like, you can affect the game. Yeah, and the fans are just discovering this for the first time in 30 years. There are people who've literally waited their whole lives to let this out among other people letting it out for four hours.

And I'm like, wow, this is like actually like, it's an insane thing to watch all these fans realize they can experience. So I enjoy, I enjoy seeing when like players who are long retired will look back and be like, yeah, man, playing in so-and-so stadium. That was always so hard because you couldn't hear each other. You couldn't communicate. No one knew what they were doing.

I couldn't hear the snap. Yeah. It is so cool. I literally like Arrowhead. Like Arrowhead, they're like, oh, it's the loud. I mean, I think Detroit's lap. I mean, it changes. Well, that's the thing.

It sort of like seems to go. in shifts because, you know, like some teams will have more rabid fans at certain junctures of their, like, life cycle. You know what I mean? Like, there's a natural shifting in and out of fandom, I think. Like, you get more bandwagon people. This is probably controversial. Well, the chiefs, they're like, yeah, by the fourth AFC championship game, I really stopped yelling. And then, you know, I'm serious. I'm serious. You get like more people that are like, oh, this is a social experience. I'm going to go to this game because the team is good versus like early in the thing. This is what happened sort of with the Seahawks.

this is probably a controversial stupid take, but I do think throughout the life cycle of your team, as it goes on and gets better and better, I think the crowd noise becomes less of a factor because you have, I don't know, maybe less drunk people or something. I don't know what it is. A hundred percent. And that's why the bills have never won. Hence why the people are in their parking lot drunk, covering themselves in lighter fluid and just like lighting their asses.

That happens like every week. But the Packers and Niners, so the game ends at Jordan Love throwing the dump pick. And it was like the, if you close your eyes and imagine what like, like, the cross body, like what they always say. You're rolling to your right. You throw across your body, middle of the field. It was like that essence of what you're not supposed to do. But it was also on first down.

And he could have ran. And they had two time outs left. And it was raining. And I was like, all time bonehead play. Like all time bonehead play. But you know, my takeaway with that throw though. Yeah. Because it's like, oh, the Packers could have won the game.

Oh, they should have won the game. I'm like, yes, but it was the epitome of like youth is wasted on the young. Like this is the youngest playoff team in 50 years. Why did they lost? The Packers lost because they made a bunch of youthful freaking mistakes. It's like, Jordan Love, like Matt Lafleur said the Packers got here because he told Jordan Love be aggressive. That's the throw of a guy that in his last nine games, Jordan Love had 21 touchdown passes and one pick. Starting to feel himself a little bit.

It's a heat check. It was a total heat check. And he's like, oh, I guess I shouldn't do that. Did you see it overlaid with the Brett Farr of interception from when he was with the Vikings? I do the fit my cousin video is like ah, damn it's so close. It's like, beat for beat. It's crazy. I think my favorite, it's too bad we did the fantasy rewatchables already because I think

my favorite meme of the year is actually the someone with the, did the tweet of the, the Packers finding another franchise quarterback. And it was the Matt Damon Goodwill hunting. It's like, do you know how easy this is for me? Yeah, yeah. But it's true. Like, Jordan Love is really just far of in Rogers, but not. Did you, did you see much about the vibes?

with the team, with the Packers after this game, like did it feel like there were really, um, like distraught and down and really down in the dumpster? Was it more just like, this is the beginning of something really special going forward? Because I do worry a little bit, but like,

I think they were, do I worry? Well, I worry a little bit. Ending the season on such a stupid play can have an effect that carries on into the next year. This, this case is probably not going to happen.

I don't think, it was a bad play, but like, I mean, it's not like Jordan Love is the reason they freaking got there. I don't think any of the, none of these players are going to be like, is Jordan Love the guy? Jordan Love is freaking better than Aaron Rogers is the Thumbage and Lester. Drillard's straight up was better.

Yeah. There's no question he's their starter going forward. So that, yeah, you're probably right. It doesn't matter. I know. I have zero. This is, I think you're projecting a little Russell Wilson Seahawks energy. I know.

I'm trying not to like bring up the Seahawks with everything, but this team does remind me of this 2012 Seahawks where, you know, young team on the up and up, like, good young core group of playmakers, like overachieving essentially and kind of got hot at the right time. But then they ended up losing two. But the difference is the offense was the reason. Right. And the defense, the Seahawks defense was really good back then. And so, but the overall, I mean, looking at this, I mean, how many players caught a pass? One, two, three, four, five, six, nine Packers caught a pass. Every single one of them is on a rookie contract. Every single one of these guys. I believe, yeah, except Aaron Jones, eight of the night,

10 guys got a target. Nine of the 10 are in the first or second year of the rookie card. So the rookies have been in the year of two leagues. The other one's Aaron Jones, who I think had one of the best stretches of his entire career

at the last five games. Meanwhile, the chiefs can't find a fucking receiver to save their life. Dude, it's insane. It's like the Packers and even Calvin Austin on the Steelers is good. It's like the Packers and Steelers

should just like, it's kind of like it on baseball or even soccer. The mid-market teams get really good at scouting and they caught it like the raise have like a third of the payroll of the Yankees and they kick the Yankees ass because they're just like try scouting harder and like the lower budget soccer teams will just fund their entire operation by just scouting and selling

the contract players later it's like the Packers and Steelers literally could just draft receivers and trade them as like a like a hobby on Etsy I don't know but yeah overall like the Packers definitely going in the right direction I'm really excited about this offense they should probably bring is Aaron Jones under contract again next year I can't remember. I think they'll bring it back. They should run it back with him for sure. Can I say one thing?

We were always like, why doesn't Aaron Jones play more to your thing about Aaron Jones? And he did have 100 yards in like five straight games, which is, I think, a Packer's record. He's also definitely still a space cadet. I see why. Aaron Jones was amazing. He's like the best player on Green Bay's offense. At the same time, he caught a pass out of bounds and didn't realize he was out of bounds and dropped a pitch in this game to lose like 12 yards.

And like, you know, we can't just blame Eric Joy and love. The Niners, though. I think the Niners escape with their lives, and frankly, the Niners really avoided a catastrophe here. I don't want to put anything on Purdy. I think party definitely struggles in the rain. Having said that, tell me if you disagree, I think the Niners, if you could, as stupid as this sounds, if you could see the rain during the game, like if you were in the crowd, like, if you could see how much it was raining, I don't think anyone would be surprised

that Brock Party was playing poorly. I feel like you'd be amazed Jordan Love got anything done. Right. But like, I don't know, because do you think Purdy, like, because he couldn't control the football.

I think it was more aesthetic. It was more like, Purdy looked rattled to me, the whole game. He did. And I don't know, for whatever reason, it was like his confidence was really off.

Like he, when he was, even when he was throwing, you know, like he was making throws from the pocket, like he looked like he was sort of like, spray and pray like oh god i hope he's down there there's so many plays there are so many plays where it felt like he was not on the same page with his receivers um i don't know it was he just didn't have a good

game that said he did come up big at the end um helped them you know win the game and everything i i do he took he did a kennie picket he did a kennie picket he had like six good throws and four of them were on the final drive but you know at the end of the day like i don't think anyone would construe that he played well and that could be a little bit alarming um you know for a team that coming in, this was not the team I expected to see whatsoever. They did not look good in this game. You know, there's a couple of big plays.

McCaffrey had that big touchdown run, 39, I think it was 39 yards. And Debo got hurt immediately, and Debo kind of seemed to throw off their mojo. Everything. By the way, I want to throw this one out there. Juan Jennings, if there was a six-man award in football,

Joanne Jennings is winning that shit. That guy is like the Robert Ori of third downs. He comes in. Every time he comes in, he makes like a third down. You know, he came in and played a lot because Deepa went out. He ended up with five catches, 61 yards. He made four first downs.

It seemed like every time they needed a big play, it was Joanne Jennings of all people that was making the play. It was Kendrick Bourne before that too, like before he left. And like, Joanne. Also, wait, did you see that Shanahan, like, Ron Burgundy did it? Where it's like, Shanahan, they were like, why did you call a run for Joanne Jennings? And he was like, Yeah, that was for Diba.

And then I didn't realize Diba was at the game. And I should have like, there's a word. It was like, hex or something. And I was like, oh, I meant to take that out. And then Purdy said hex. And then, oh, well, guess you one's in. Well, all right. Guess we're doing that.

He lost one yard on the play. It's like, we're sitting here, like, analyzing all these decisions for like days and hours afterward. And I'm like, all these decisions have to get made in like six seconds to get them. Probably like honestly less like less than that. It's crazy. This is, I think, the part of football that, that most, fans and even probably most media people don't really realize is how quickly you have to go from

play to play and how many different steps there are in making a play call because you have to so like the play the last play ends immediately the coach has to make a decision on what he's going to do he has to signal until his coaching staff what personnel group is going to go in he has to relay the play call which sometimes can be like i don't know 15 words you know like Have you ever heard a West Coast offense like play call? It's crazy long string of like commands essentially for what the different players are doing. And you have to get that all in. So the quarterback can then relay it to the rest of the guys on the field.

Meanwhile, you have guys coming on and off the field. You have coaches. It's like a mad scramble just to get the play in. There's 25 seconds on the play clock. One of my favorite interviews have ever done was I talked to Matt Schaub. He listed out everything that has to happen in the 40 seconds. Yeah. Do I ever read you the list?

I just pull it up. I know it's kind of a little repetitive what you. you said, but you're talking about coaches. We're like, oh, why is it hard for a rookie quarterback to come in from college? You know, they haven't taken like a snap. So here's what happened. Let's see, you just got tackled. Like, you just got hit and it's incompletion.

It's like second and ten. So when you've got to get up from getting smacked by this three-intentioned by a guy. Sometimes guys are laying on you. Yeah. You have 40 seconds. Check the down in distance. Listen to the coach, radioing in the personnel, the people, the players who are going to be on the field for the next play.

Right. Which they have to like, everybody needs to be on the same page with that, too. Yeah. Then you have to get all those guys in the huddle, including someone has to go, you know, check eligibility, whatever. Then you have to listen to any concerns or complaints from teammates about the previous play.

Like there's like, like the law, like, you know, they're like, I was open. You're like, all right. Yeah, yeah. Then you have to listen to the play call coming in the headset. If you can hear it over the crowd noise. So then you're like, oh,

and they're like, oh, you cover your helmet. Then if you can't hear the call, you have to fill it. You have to close your eyes. You have to think about fill in the gaps using what you studied this week because you can't hear everything to figure out what the context clues

of what you're missing. It's like filling in the gaps in dinosaur DNA. Literally, yeah. It's like you heard three words. It's like, what do you think the play calls? Then you call the play? Then you call the play. Then you call the play. Then you call the play. Make sure everyone's lined up right. Check the play clock again. Then you have to look, okay, we're lined up. Where are the safeties? That basically gives you the quarterback a lot of information. Then you have to check the line of scrimmage. How many are there, how many linemen are there in linebackers? Where are these guys? Where could they blitz from? Right. And then you've got to figure out where it blitz is from. And if there's coming, then you're like, all right, we have to

adjust the blocking to counteract. All right, we did that. Then you have to tell your offensive line what you're going to do. Like you figured it out, now you have to tell them, make sure they hear you. Then you check the play clock again. And then you look and you're like, hey, are there safety still in the spot where I thought they were before? Like six seconds ago. Then you have to put it somewhat in motion. And then you have to like check the play clock, clap, snap. You have. That sounds awful. 40 seconds to do that 60 times. That stresses me out. And if you're late for three seconds, you get a delay a game.

And everyone's like, what an idiot. Well, this, like, explains how you get a delay of game coming out of a timeout. Even having, like, the advantage of having a timeout to tell you the play and make a good decision, you still have to go through all that shit to make sure that the play is going to work or whatever that you're going to get the best play in, not audible or change the play or change the protection, you know, whatever. So, man, yeah, football's complicated. There's probably a reason high fits that there's like 13 really good quarterbacks on planet Earth. The 12 good coaches.

On that note, though, so do you blame Shanahan because let's be real like the Shannon, the Niners winning this game almost was out of Shannon's hands. Like the, he sat on the ball at the end of the first half and then he kind of like held it toward the end and wanted to basically not give the Packers the ball, but then he did anyway. And so if Jordan, if they had driven down and scored, like, do you, would you have put the L on Kyle Shanahan for the way he handled the clock in a bunch of different situations. I don't know. Honestly, I can't even remember some of the flubs you had.

Do you have like those in front of you? Like I, yeah, I think the most controversial. Yeah, remind me. The thing that Shanahan did was with four minutes left. They get the ball four minutes left that they're on 25 yard line.

They're up one point. And it's seven to six. And Shanahan basically decides his first priority is, We're not giving Green Bay the ball with time to score. Like, we will not like Green Bay score. We're going to have the, because the Niners are getting the ball in the second half. So we're like, no more Packers drives.

Second priority is we'll see if we can score. And so he basically like, Lolligan, instead of like actually trying to run any kind of two minute drill, they just kind of like run and they run out the clock. Then they come into the second half and they just go three and out. So he was like, hey, we're going to get two drives and steal an extra one and they got nothing out of it.

Yeah. almost lost. I don't know. Just saw the bucks get a touchdown in the final minute doing the exact opposite. Yeah, I think you can always second guess that stuff. I mean, obviously, I think if you're sitting on a couch, you're like, I want my coach to be aggressive. I want my coach to go score as many points as he can because that's the way that you win.

You score more points than your opponent. I think I was like a little bit surprised how easily the Packers were moving the ball in this defense. So especially with that context, yeah, he probably should have been more aggressive. You know what I mean? I think the other stuff that I'm hesitant to criticize the priorities because that's, I know for a fact that's how Tom Brady also prioritizes. He's like end of half.

Priority one is they don't get the ball back. Priority two is we score. And so I'm like, oh, I don't know if I'm going to question Brady. You know what I mean? I do think it's weird that Kyle Shannon's basically never trusted a two-minute drill and that he was 0 and 30 down five points in the fourth quarter until this game. And I'm like, it just kept getting thrown up there so many times. this game. It's wild. It's like

offensive genius Kyle Shanahan. It's down a touchdown. It cannot get a touchdown. It's kind of weird. It's weird. Like, oh, well, they're always winning. I'm like, I don't know. It's kind of odd. But to me, that's the weird thing with Shanahan, but I think also part of his job is it's like he's thinking, I got to get my guys to change their shoes on defense before. You know what I mean?

Totally. The last game we have here is the Texans and the Ravens. This is, the Ravens look so good. The Ravens crushed the Texans, 34 to 10. It was not that close. The only Texans touchdown was on a punt return for a touchdown. The Ravens defense allowed a field goal.

So functionally speaking, if you take out special teams, it was four touchdowns to zero. But that play came after a dropped interception. Like they probably should have allowed zero points on defense. You know what I mean? In a weird way, it's almost like Cichy Stroud.

I don't want to say he played well, but that he, Cedestroud didn't take a but he was pressured and a half of the plays. Like the Ravens had this weird thing where it might have been the best defensive performance I've ever seen from a defense that did not get a sack or a pick or a turnover. Yeah. But like they didn't get a sack or turnover, but there was at no point did you think the Texans were going to score.

Right. They just made his life really hard. We were talking about this before the show. Like you said, I thought Stroud looked fine. Like Stroud didn't make any egregious plays, I don't think. like he looked like he was pretty good. You know, obviously not, they weren't scoring a lot of points, but I don't think he looked bad, if that makes sense.

And yet they couldn't do anything on offense. It was very strange. Well, you know, it was so loud that no one knew what to do, which is just weird. Like, it's like, well, 19 of 33, 175 yards. That was what Stroud's line was. I think one thing that really stood out to me is,

and this, I don't, I'm wondering if this will have, like, an effect on whether Bobby Sloke gets hired as a head coach or not, but like, they kept trying to run on first down and it was just not working. And this was something that people were kind of bitching about all year. Obviously, like, running on early downs is one way that, like, teams and coaches use to, like, really sell that you're a dedicated running team that

gets you the defense to come up and, like, really try and stop that. And then that's where your play action comes into play. And this is one of the best play action teams in the NFL this year. So, like, strategically, I understand that. but Singletary, Devin Singletary, look this up, on first down in this game, six rushes for nine yards. The Texans had 10 first downs in this game. 10.

That's only 10 teams, sorry, only nine teams in the entire season had fewer than 10 first downs in any game. So, like, this was like one of the worst offensive performances of any team this year. They got, they got eviscerated. And the Ravens are, I think the Ravens played the way we thought the Niners would play, which is the Ravens are the boss solid. We also have to, Lamar Jackson looked like an MVP. I mean, Lamar Jackson, 11 carries for 100 yards for Lamar. I mean, the Ravens had 42 carries for 22 yards for 22 yards.

That is what the Ravens looked like in 2019 when we thought they were going to win the Super Bowl. 42 carries for 22 29 yards. The passing stats were impressive from Lamar because, I mean, 152 passing yards. They didn't have to do anything. Like, they just, it was 34 to 10 and the Texans couldn't move the ball. But the Ravens looked, honestly, the Ravens and the Niners alike just looked super chittery in the first. And Lamar literally said after the game, like exactly what the cliche narrative is, is, you know, we got the first run by. And I think, you know, the week off, it's like you took some little bit to get your rhythm.

And then we come out at halftime and like, I think we looked like ourselves. And I think that was definitely true for the Ravens. I, this coming game of the Ravens versus the Chiefs feels epic and easily the most epic AFC championship game, I think, since the, since the Chiefs played the Patriots and Brady versus Mahomes a few years back. but I it's I feel like we got the right games we have the two one seeds versus the two three seeds

but Ravens Chiefs feels like the right game because we got Bill's Chiefs now we get Chiefs Ravens these are easily the two best teams right now in the FACC and then the NFC Lions are like this team of destiny Ted Lassow and the Niners are the best teams

of the NFC yeah do you feel that way like that this is basically the best I don't know if it's like the ultimate best matchup that it could be, but like of the divisional round, I really like that it's going to be Detroit versus San Francisco. That to me seems like... The championship round.

Yeah, sorry. The styles make fights in terms of like you got a really explosive fun offense in Detroit. And they have some pass rushers. They can do some things on defense. I think that they'll have a chance of giving the 49ers like their best shot kind of deal. Like I think the 49ers are clearly going to be favorites. I didn't see the line yet, but I'm sure it's going to be pretty substantial. But yeah, I mean, I think this is going to be a super, super fun championship around.

What do you think? I saw this stat about Lamar. Sorry to just go right back to the Ravens real quick. But he was the second player in the Super Bowl era with two plus passing touchdowns and two plus rushing touchdowns with 100 yards rushing rushing. So can you can you think of who else has done that in the playoffs in the Super Bowl era? Sorry, say what is the stat again? So it was two passing touchdowns, two plus passing touchdowns, two plus rushing touchdowns over 100 rushing yards. the only other player to ever do that.

Michael Vick and Lambeau Field when they won that game. Good idea. Colin Kaepernick for the 49ers back in the day. I think it was like 180. Yeah, he rocked the Packers. That was one of the best games ever. And that like I look back,

that was one of the best games. I can remember a quarterback playing. Like he looked like unstoppable. They had zero answers for him. So that was the type of game Lamar had. I just wanted to put that out. Obviously Capernick became a total lightning rod for protests and everything.

But there was this like, narrative, I mean, this feels forever ago at this point, but there was this whole narrative that Capernic couldn't play, right, and that he didn't get signed because he couldn't play. Colin Kaepernick, and I think this gets lost in the Kaepernick discussion, Colin Kaepernick was for like 18 months, the, like, most dangerous dual threat quarterback in NFL history. The scariest player to play.

Yes, he was the most unstoppable quarterback that has been in the NFL playoffs. I was covering the Seahawks at that time, obviously I'm a Seahawks fan, and I vividly remember. remember some of those games with Colin Kaepernick and just feeling like helpless, like against him. Because if, like, you were saying this on the last show, like the buy one, get one free quarterbacks where it's like even if the first play, the design play breaks, like, that's almost worse because then he's just going to run for 50 yards.

You know what I mean? It's why it's so interesting to have Jim Harbaugh coming back to the league because Jim Harbaugh and Colin Kaepernick like in a lot of ways, I think beginning with Cam Newton and the Panthers. And then Colin Kaepernick and the Niners, like, I mean, this isn't even like a stretch. Like, do you know who the offensive coordinator for Colin Kaepernick and Harbour was? Greg Roman. Like, do you know who the Lamar offensive coordinator was for five, four years when he won the MVP? Greg Roben, because he went to John Harbaugh, Jim's brother.

Like, Lamar Jackson's offense is not like, uh, unreal. It's like, literally it's the Colin Kaepernick, like Greg Roman offense was tweaked to become the Lamar Jackson. Yeah, yeah. Yes, it's because Lamar is better. He's a better runner and he's a better thrower than Kaepernick. But like, it's kind of like this. And now what we're seeing now at the Ravens offense, it's what if those offenses had a real offense

coordinator and first round picks at wide receiver? And great, like, it's just a better design. But there's a direct through line from the Kaepernick stuff. That's a great point. Yeah, I love that. That's really cool. The only other question I had for that game

and for just like going forward for the Ravens in this championship round, let's say Mark Andrews, this is probably a really stupid question. But let's just say Mark Andrews is healthy enough to play in this game. game. Are you taking Isaiah likely off the field in favor of Mark Andrews? I don't know if I would. Do they really play the same role in the offense? No, but like I don't think they, I would have to

look back at the numbers, but I don't think they like to play them at the same time. You know what I mean? Like they don't want to do. I agree that like I don't want to discount what Mark Andrews does. I mean, obviously, yeah, Mark Andrews is a very good player. Isaiah likely. But like likely's been incredible. I got to tell you, if you told me next year, Isaiah likely, just outproduced Sam LaBron board at tight end, I wouldn't like, Isaiah likely is incredible. I, I think they have a conundrum here. Like, just, they have a lot of good players. They get in the ball. Also, speaking of the Ravens,

can you imagine being Dalvin Cook? Dude, this is great. Go to the New York Jets and like just somehow getting $6 million. And you spend all season on the New York Jets and they're awful. Do you know, do you want to know stats? Okay. Dalvin Cook, so you get signed to the Ravens, like what, a week ago to replace Melvin, not even a week, I was five days ago to replace Melvin Gordon in the practice squad. You're like, check his pulse. So yeah, he's better than Melvin Gordon.

So they bring Dalvin Cook on. Dalvin Cook's first carry with the Ravens was longer than any carry he had with the jets all year. Oh my God. High Fitz. You were talking, you were talking about the difference in temperature between like the chiefs game in Kansas City and then like the Dolphins. Negative 30 wind chill versus the 120 on the Vikings. It's a $150 degree difference. That's like the greatest delta in two temperatures that any team has ever played, whatever. Do you think there's a

greater delta in vibes that any one player has gone from going on this Jets team to literally playing in the divisional round and having your best run all season for this Ravens squad that is obviously like they're playing out of their minds right now. This is like the most complete

good vibes team you can imagine. It's up there. Such a fun quarterback. The Jets are the worst organization. in football and the Ravens are the best organization and the Ravens are the best team. Right. And the Jets are the worst. And like they're Aaron Rogers versus Lamar like Dalvin Cook must like he like wait.

I was texting Craig this because Craig's out of the show and I was like what either? Craig was like this is the Angelina Jolie Award because Angelina Jolie went from dating Billy Bob Thornton to Brad Pitt. Oh my God. I just like talk to Dalvin Cook by him of beer. falling upward. This is like the all-time falling upwards. Like, Cook was never, like, remotely good with the Jets.

And then he ends up on this Ravens team. He's maybe getting to get a Super Bowl ring from it. Oh, my God. Dude, I told you, I was in the Chiefs Locker last to the Super Bowl. And I saw Melvin Gordon, and he looked like the most surprised. He just looked like he thought he was in a dream. He just, like, thought he couldn't. He was like, I don't think he was active for the game, but he like got away.

I completely forgot. I don't think he even played. Dude, Melvin Gordon didn't even play. But he was like on the, he was like on the, he's like, I get to go to all the parties. That's amazing. It was like,

it just looked like wide eyed. It's like, oh my, oh yeah, wait, I just Google this. Because I was like, did I dream this?

No, first thing I googled Melvin Gordon Chief Super Bowl. First thing that comes up, Kansas City Star article. And it's Melvin Gordon, quote, it's super weird to win Super Bowl with Chiefs.

Dude, if you would have said, there's no way I would have remembered. that in my life. Like, I had no idea. Wait, other quote. I didn't do shit for the chiefs in the Super Bowl run. I mean, you're there for the vibes, man.

Never underestimate that. There you go. Guys, dude, Delvin Cook, there for the vlogs. I believe strongly in vibes. I got to say, Dalvin Cook, when he ran, when he made that run, I think it was like a 12-yard run, I was like, who's this guy? He looks pretty fast. Do you think, wait, speaking of vibes, do you think that the number of players wear

makes them look slower faster? Yes, absolutely. Like I was thinking about How Justice Hill has like a terrible number. What is it's like 43 or something? Yes. Because I was thinking about how AJ Brown, like the one is more slimming.

And I was thinking about who is it? I think Josh Reynolds wears eight for the Lions. And I was thinking about how slow you look when you're wearing eight. And I was, oh, C.D. Lamb too, because the 88 is like this thing for the cow is. Yeah, Josh Reynolds was eight. And I was like, God, all the guys that the eight looks so slow. And I was like, if A.G.

Brown were 88, would we think he was like a lumbering tight end? Like, probably. Probably. Sean Jackson was one. I'm like, oh, he's fast. But T. Higgins wears 85 and he's, I'm like, I don't know. Is it, does it change? I'm 100% believe in that. Yeah. Big time. It's like,

you know how they say never believe like firsthand accounts or whatever, like bystanders accounts? Like our visions. I winness accounts. Thank you. It's too late. It's actually not that late. old. I feel like there's a very, like, it's like slight of hand almost. Like it's just, it tricks your eyes. Like there's a real thing here. There's a real scientific explanation

behind some numbers making you look slow. I think I believe this in my heart. We should get some scientists to give us their take on this. Emails at ring of fancy football at gmail.com. If you, you know, are no scientist who can answer this question. I don't know how they would prove this. But yeah. What would happen if AJ Brown were 88? I'm convinced he would just like, I don't know, it wouldn't look as good. All right. That's all we got. Thank you, DK. Thank you, Craig, wherever you are in spirit. Thank you, Carlos, for producing this episode. Thank you, everyone for listening. Congratulations. If any of your teams made it to the championship game, and honestly, bottom of my heart, I'm sorry if your team was eliminated, especially the bills. That was brutal. And thank you, Lauren.

Thank you, Pixies. Also, NFL Draft Show on Wednesdays. Check it out. We can't each one. I'm not going to lie. I feel like I know the Pixies, but I actually don't know. I know of their music, but I can't, like, I cannot name a song. Where is my mind? Do you know the end of, uh, the Ed Norton movie? Fight Club? Yeah, Fight Club.

Oh, wow. That's like, obviously the newer generation would know that song from that more than probably the original, but, actually they have some great stuff. Fight Club, really good movie. Love that movie. Fight Club is, that's a whole other thing is like there are movies that you have to watch twice, like Fight Club and stuff. Fyke club's like a first hall of fame.

You have to watch it twice. It's almost rewatchable, if you will. But rewatchable is more like it's fun to rewatch. Fight Club's like if you watch it once, it's like you didn't even watch it at all. Oh, 100%. This is how I feel about the movie Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy. Have you ever seen that? I have not.

Because I actually have never understood what it's about. It's a weird type. It's hard to understand the first time you're like, I don't know what the fuck just happened. Like there's a, there's a, you know, like a. a flurry at the end and basically everything changes. I'm not going to give it away.

But you come out of the movie, you're like, what the fuck did I just watch? I have no idea what just happened. So you have to watch it like three or four times. Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, are all in this movie? Dude, that did it Cumberbatch?

Incredible, incredible movie. I'm not even kidding. People are going to laugh at me for saying this. Like, one of my favorite movies all time. I've watched it. I've watched it so many times. The Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy. It's a, it's the name of a book.

It's based on a book. Wow, this looks incredible. John La Care, I don't know how to pronounce his name exactly, but he's written all these. Without Craig, we're lost on the... La Caree. Well, it's his suitative. It's like it's like on the plume or whatever. But anyways, he's written all these books.

He's written probably, I don't know, like 10 or 15 books that have been turned into movies. The Constant Gardner. The Night Watchman, that's a series. There's like a ton. He's done a whole bunch of books. But the movie poster is the film event of the, a masterpiece, but it's like, I always kind of think that's BS, but it's too bad that that was actually true, and I just disregarded it.

I personally believe it's a masterpiece. I love it. I love it so much. It's not for everyone because it is kind of like slow burn. And obviously, like I said, it's very confusing the first time you watch it. But I love that kind of shit, like interweave. It's a movie that's about relationships. And it's the relationships are presented in this like context of spying on each.

other. It's like pretty great. I love it. It's really good. All right. Yeah. Cool. All right. Well, we'll end the show so Carlos can just like spy on us. Watch this. All right. Goodbye, everyone. Must be 21 plus and present in select states. Fandul is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino LLC. Gambling problem. Call 1-800 gambler or visit fandle.com slash RG in Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Call 1-800 next step or text next step to 533442 in Arizona. 1-88-78-9-7777-or or visit ccpgaggop.org slash chat in Connecticut. 1-800-9 with it in Indiana. 1-800-2-2-4-700 or visit KSgamblinghelp.com in Kansas. 1-8777-0 stop in Louisiana. Visit MD-Gamlinghelp.org in Maryland. Visit 1-800-gambler.net in West Virginia. Or call 1-800-5-2-2-7-H00 in Wyoming.

Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelpline, MA.org. or call 800327 5050 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts or call 18778 Hope NY or text Hope NY in New York.