The Ringer NFL Show - Fantasy Futures of Lamar Jackson, Cam Akers, and the Saints. Plus, Divisional-Weekend Winners

Episode Date: January 18, 2021

We nominate our winners from divisional weekend before discussing the fantasy futures of the top players whose seasons ended this week. Bucs-Saints (4:19) Browns-Chiefs (17:55) Ravens-Bills (33:43) Rams-Packers (52:16) Email us! [e-mail]! Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's episode of the Ringer Fantasy Football Show, we give our winners from the divisional round and the 2021 outlook for the players on the losing teams. Also, we're trying to get this stupid weekend song out of our heads. Dun, da-da-da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na. Can't do it. I can't get it out. Stick around. Welcome to the Ringer Fantasy Football Show.

My name is Danny Hyphitz, and I am here with Danny Kelly and Craig Horlebeck. We are coming to you on Sunday night. We are recording Night of. It'll be fresher. probably. I hope so. That's the whole point. But if you're listening to this show, please also check out our Friday episodes. We've been previewing the playoffs with the daily fantasy format.

That's basically trivia nights because we miss trivia nights. Check it out. We're having a lot of fun. And you can email us trivia questions at ringer fantasy football at gmail.com. Send the questions. Link the answers. It's a good time. Okay. With all that said. Holy crap. Playoffs happened. NFC, AFC championship games.

What are your immediate reactions real quick before? we get to winners and losers. Okay, immediate reaction is this is the perfect possible outcome for the two championship games. I completely agree. You didn't want the Saints to it. You didn't think the Saints could pose a bigger challenge?

I didn't want Breeze's noodle arm wobbling around in Lambo. I think the Brady, and it's just way more fun with the bucks. They're just more of an exciting team. I mean, I thought the Saints would win. I picked the Saints to win. I had some money on the Saints winning.

And as you guys heard, Emma, my grandmother, wanted the Saints to win. So I'm not going to lie. I was kind of rooting for them. I mean, Brady Rogers is just good content. And then Bill's, I think Bill's Chiefs is just what everyone kind of agrees.

Yeah, the two best teams in the NFL. Honestly. I think it's probably the four best teams in the league. I do. It reminds me of two years ago when the championship games were Pat's Chiefs and then Rams Saints. And everyone was just like,

yeah, these are the four best teams clearly. And then both had actually kind of controversial endings. But that's how it feels. This feels right, especially since the Saints kind of looked pretty shitty. there's not really a good argument against against the bucks right now.

But I will say it's just there's a weird air to these games though because you got Mahomes and Lamar like the two past MVP's faces of the league just both left with concussions. Just kind of a strange weekend overall. The Mahomes concussion almost wasn't even a concussion. After the game, after the Saints game, Jay Glazer was talking about Mahomes and he was like,

he almost thought he got like choked out and like lost oxygen and that's what happened because if you look, he didn't really bang his head hard. He kind of got hooked around the neck. Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. Like, watching it live, I did not see the head, like the head contact or whatever. Sometimes guys, when they hit the ground, like that could be like jarring enough or whatever.

But I don't know. That was kind of bizarre. It just didn't look like it. But, man, hopefully he can play. I'm just going to assume he can play next week. Yeah, Glazer seemed optimistic. He was like, I just want to let you guys know that, like, he kind of, like, insinuated that they were, like, putting him through the production or the concussion protocol

in air quotes and was like, he wanted to come back and play, but he technically couldn't, but he'll be fine. Well, Glazer is the most bizarre relationship of any reporter I'm aware of because most other reporters, it's like, oh, you know,

they're reporters and they have like a gap between them and their subjects. And then there's Jay Glazer who just openly trained NFL players has a financial, has an MMA gym, and just trains offensive, defensive lineman for money.

It's just absolutely bizarre. So he's like, winking at the camera, like, I know something about choking people out. I'm like, okay, Jay. It's literally what he said.

So hopefully, The BOMbs is fine, ready to go, obviously. Anyways, all right, let's just get, we're going to go through game by game. We're going to give our winners here for fantasy NFL, whatever purposes, just general, winning in general. And then for the teams that lost, we're going to look at their fantasy outlooks for the offseason. Reverse chronological order?

Yeah, let's do it. All right. Let's just start with Buck Saints. It's fresh. So, winners. I'll start it out. Do it, D.K. Playoff Lenny.

Yes. Leonard Fornett. right there. Dude, when Shrakeman said playoff Lenny, I just leapt out of my chair. Yeah, we've been calling him Lenny Fornes, which I'm pretty sure no one else does. I don't know.

Have you seen anyone else calling that? Like, we got a couple tweets asking us who started Bobby Trees and that, I don't know, but we may have started Lenny Forns. I think we were early on the Bobby Trees train as well. We were early, but I definitely know

that we did not start that. So anyways, back to Lenny Forns. 17 carries, 63 yards. He was one of their better receivers in the game, catches 44 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown catch was a little iffy. I don't know.

Did you guys think that it was worth replay? Because it didn't end up like reviewing it or whatever. And it was kind of close. It jarred around in his arms. And I don't know. I thought it was a catch. They should have reviewed it, but also they should not have overturned it.

So I don't care. Yeah. Anyways. My question is with this game, is this enough? Because like, honestly, coming into this game, I'm like, is Lennie 4'net even going to be in the NFL in 2021?

Or maybe not quite that serious, maybe not quite that serious, but like, is he, I could honestly have seen him not being a fantasy factor whatsoever, being like a third string guy on some team or whatever. Now I'm like, he bought himself maybe another starting job in 2021 with this performance. I'm not saying it was like the most amazing astounding performance, but coming in and playing well. And, you know, obviously Ronald Jones was a little bit banged up. His quad kept acting up. He had actually decent couple of runs too, but I don't know. Lenny Fornes. I feel like he might have bought himself a job in 2021. But that's my question, because on one hand, I looked at this game and I was blown away

because you pointed out to me, D.K., that like through three quarters, Leonard Fournett was the leading receiver in the bucks. He finished with five catches, most in the game, and they had it 44 yards, which was second most only did Cameron Brayne. So I was like, wow, Renaissance game for Lenny Fornett. On the other hand, Ronald Jones, it seemed like he broke off a huge carry, like a third of his touches. He had this quad injury. Didn't look like it had an injury. It was like during the play he was healthy. And then he like got tackled and he's like, oh my God, I'm in so much pain.

And I was like this weekend there was a lot of playing through injury guys. You know, you can really see a lot of guys hobbled and playing through it. One of Jones's runs was like a 60-something yard run that got called back for a hold. And the hold was kind of weak. Yeah. So he got hurt on that play too. Or at least he pulled up kind of lame or whatever. And so.

But like Antonio Brown was kind of hurt. Mahomes was banged up. Before the concussion, Mahomes was just limping, just openly like just running also like. Just running also, like Ronald Jones, running for first down, getting up and barely walking back to the huddle. It's just bizarre. But I guess, what is that? Being a gamer, who knows?

Anyway, Leonard Fournett, big winner. I want to do one bonus just real quick. Tom Brady, I mean, again, we just got to say it. Like, the guy has now been in an NFC, sorry, he's been in a conference championship game. This is his first NFC championship game. But he's been in a conference championship game in 14 of his 19 seasons as a starter. I saw this.

That's a Michael Jordan-esque stat, except it's more impressive. It's ridiculous. It's absolutely ridiculous. And I don't know. I just wanted to shout that out because that's just amazing. Never going to be redone in like ever. No. No one will come close.

His record in those games was also nuts because I think that an important thing to know, obviously the six Super Bowls we all know about. What you just said, 14 championship games is actually feels more unbreakable than the Super Bowls. Because the Patriots and now the Bucks, I don't know what happens with this Bucs game, the Patriots are won like almost three quarters of their championship games. They went like nine and four or whatever in the AFC championship game, which is nuts. That's theoretically is like one of the other two best teams in the conference. And they're beating him at a 75% clip, which, I mean, the best team in the NFL usually wins at a 70% clip, less than that.

So the fact that he's back there is just absolutely insane. And also, again, a reminder of why he left the Patriots. they have DeMere Bird leading the Patriots in receiving and it's like oh look what happens with Chris Godwin and Mike Evans and a competent receiving corps and also a great defense A thing about Brady man is

no one looks more disappointed in people on the field than Brady when they do something wrong Like when Godwin runs a route and is like three feet too shallow or three feet too deep and the pass is messed up Brady looks so contemptuous It is insane He's like an angry dad

Who is upset with his son Who like got a ticket on a red light No, it's true. Although I will say I feel like he's just as hard on himself because he seems to talk to himself, and I don't think I ever really appreciated how much he yells at himself after plays. Sometimes I've assumed he's yelling at other people, he's just

young at himself. You think Brady's like a fun guy to play like Monopoly with, or no? No. He seems to me like one of those like insanely competitive people, like Michael Jordan to ask where it's, I don't ever want to be in a competition with this guy in anything, in any manner.

Don't you think Brady's kind of chill in interviews? I feel like he really wants to give off the vibe that he's a bro, that he's like just kind of one of the guys. I feel like MJ was never really like that. MJ was naturally kind of that guy, but I feel like Brady fakes it and is trying to make people believe that he's just a dude.

You know what I mean? Well, that is the funny thing with this championship game where it's like Rogers Brady, they're both like pretty relaxed California bros. And then on the field, Brady just looks like he's just, I mean, having the worst time possible. And Roger's just freaking laughing between plays.

Rogers is just like just giggling and Brady just looks as you said scowling or you said contentious I don't know if that's a word Scowling is a good way to put it yeah Did you say contemptuous is not a word You said contentious

I don't know what word No contemptuous Oh comte Oh that yeah That was it I thought you said You know what no one cares what I thought It's just

This is Cintillating This is very good Skintillating Cintillating Okay great Any other winners This game

Can I For the bucks, it was Drew Breeze, man. Just collapsed in the second half. Just threw a bunch of picks. You know what's weird is I think the best unit in this game was the Saints defense. The Saints defense was fantastic in this game. Their D-Bs were all over the place. Their linebacker White was everywhere.

Dude, it was absolutely brutal that Marshall and Latimore, who's the Saints cornerback, has just owned Mike Evans, just destroyed him. And the last three games they've played every time Mike Evans has had against Latimore, zero catches on two targets. The last three times they played, when in coverage with Latimore. And then this game, they shut down the Bucks offense and they get that freaking pick return to like the three yard line or whatever. And then they throw the pass to Evans who catches it over Latimore and just lays on top

of him like, what now, dude? And I was like, what a cheap freaking, it was just, it was so frustrating. Latimore is unbelievable. I mean, he blanketed him the whole game. I did like the play, though. they ran for Evans. I think the fade, like, I don't know

what the play call was or what you call it, what Evans did, but he kind of just like ran straight, boxed him out and then just caught it. That is such a more efficient

play than the fade. It's like throwing, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, throwing down to the post in a basketball game. It's like he gets on the other side

of Lattimore. He gets on the inside of him rather than the outside. I would do that every time. My God, way better. We was talk about Travis Kelsey is like not really tight end.

He's a receiver. Mike Evans, I feel like he isn't even really receiver is like a tight end. Or as we keep saying, he's a freaking fullback. Because he had one catch for three yards in this freaking game. Just fullback Mike Altstott Evans. Unbelievable. Anyways. Okay. Losers. Should we, you want to get to the Saints? Like long-term fantasy outlook here? Yeah, this is a team that has a lot of potential changes. Yeah, this is crazy. So everyone in their mom seems to think that Drew Brees is retiring. I think that we all know that one.

So, I mean, this is fascinating because it's like the Taysam Hill, James Winston, who came out of, like, oblivion to throw touchdown today. What? I'm most interested Deke, I'm curious what you think about the Saints offense because the thing that I keep thinking about is that we were introduced to the Sean Payton Breeze Saints from 06 to like call 2014 as this

like they were like the chiefs of their day just this lightning strike offense but deep passing was a huge part of it and now the last two years we've kind of forgotten they literally have outsourced the deep passing in this offense to different quarterbacks Taysam Hill James Winston they need different guys

to come on the field and do it. Like, Philip Rivers needs Jacoby Brisset to snap. Drew Brice needs someone else to throw 30 air yards. And I'm kind of interested. More of James Winston gets the job

for the deep passing, or maybe even Taysam Hill, but I'm curious what you think how the offense could open up with either one of those guys. I guess Taysam Hill is probably the dude. Yeah, it's so tough because, I mean, I think if I was putting,

like, if I was betting on it, it would probably be, I would say Tase Mill has a better chance just because they paid him that amount of money and he was the starter this year instead of James Winston. And, you know, maybe the way that he played this season changed their mind. I don't think it would have. I think he played about as well as you could have hoped in terms of as a backup

quarterback coming in and replacing Breeze and did pretty well. I think they went like three and one when he was a starter. So, you know, all things considered, he did pretty well. It seems like that succession plan is in place. But there's so many guys that they could still try and go get. There's going to be a pretty interesting free agent market with the quarterback position. I don't think anything is set in stone at this point. They have zero money.

They're like $100 million in the hole. That's fake. But they're in one of those holes that's big enough that it's not fake. And here's the thing with Taysam Hill, though. Yes, he's clearly the starter for at least next year, it seems. Here's the problem. This guy had four career-ending injuries in five seasons of college. Right.

Or, sorry, four-season ending injuries in five years. I was like what? Yeah, four-care. Well, it does feel like he's had four careers, but no, four-season ending injuries. And then just wasn't healthy enough to play in this most recent game with the knee injury, they're just going to turn over to him. Like, they have to keep James at a minimum. Like, they have to have someone else.

The idea of just giving him your starting role when he isn't healthy enough to play already. It just feels like a little ridiculous. But it's weird because if Tasey-Neil goes into the starter next season, is Alvin Kamer even a top five running back? I don't know. There's so much uncertainty. And you can say the same thing about Michael Thomas. Like, we just don't know enough about this offense and how it's going to, you know,

number one, how it's going to function if they're going to score very many points or if they're just going to revert to being this terrible slow, you know, run first offense, that's not really passing that much. And obviously, Taysam Hill's not passed, didn't pass to Camero very much when he was the quarterback. So, yeah, it's going to be very, very difficult. I think all those guys, all the players in that offense are going to probably be significantly downgraded going into next season, just because of all the uncertainty. You alluded to it. Per Jason from over the cap, the Saints are currently projected

to be around 95 million over the cap in 2021 and then they'll be over 100 million once they signed their futures deal so it's like they don't have a lot of wiggle room right now they're like a Tom Hanks net worth over the cap

it's pretty impressive yeah so they got some work to do I would say that Camara it doesn't really like I wouldn't say it hurts his dynasty value a lot because he's Camara but I don't know It definitely makes me pause in terms of like,

am I picking this guy in the top five in a redraft league? I think he's probably not top five. I think he probably becomes a late first rounder if Tateaum Hills, the quarterback. I mean, Michael Thomas goes way later. He might end up having one of the weirdest wide receiver careers. The guy broke the catch record and then might be irrelevant for like the next five years of his career.

You know, if you look at other guys who've changed teams or changed quarterbacks, I should say, in like the middle of their prime, it's like this year there was a ton. DeAndre Hopkins kind of worked out. Stefan Diggs kind of worked out. The only other guys to do it, it hasn't really been that fruitful.

Randy Moss went to Oakland, that was weird. Then he obviously went to New England when he was 30. Odell Beckham switched. Brandon Cooks has bounced around. I don't know if he's an elite guy. Brandon Marshall has done it. But there's a chance that, I mean, has there ever been a bigger quarterback drop-off

than Breeze to Tassam Hill for any receiver ever? I don't know. And it's like the way that they used Thomas, too. It's just Peyton Manning to the Osweiler Trevor Simeon group for the, that ended like Demarius Thomas's career and all them.

And I guess they were still a little bit in their prime maybe in the tail end of it but yeah that's a good call but man Michael Thomas might be like a fifth round craft pick next year that's so crazy.

Did we mention he had a goose egg today? Did he catch a pass? No. That is unbelievable. That's crazy. And Hyfitz out trivied me for him. Love that. Whoops.

It is crazy to think that like we ended the season with Michael Thomas just on a, like the guy broke the catch's record last year just doesn't have a catch in their playoff game. Just unbelievable. Chiefs Browns?

Yeah. Okay. Another weird game. So I have a winner and I want to go first here. The winner to me is the ABC Dog Show. Specifically, the Samoyeds and the Newfoundlands in this contest because this game started and CBS in the New York market was just blacked out. I have never seen anything like this in my life.

Every time I've ever lost my TV channels, I've lost all of them. I've never lost one channel and only one channel and I've never lost it immediately at kickoff. So I was so confused that I went on Twitter I immediately realized there was like a New York wide blackout. And then someone slacked me, shout out David Lara, social media manager that there was a Spanish language version of ABC.

And so I just spent the first 20 minutes of this game watching the dog shows. I'm obsessed with Samoyats and Newfoundlands. And I don't have a dog right now, but all these quarantine dogs, I'm just on Samoyat, Instagram. right now, it is the greatest place in the world. It's lit.

These things look like little baby seals mixed with polar bears. So that's like the number one draft pick. If you were like doing a scouting report, if I had to get a quarantine puppy, I would get a Samoyat or a new film. Because the new finlet, there's like they got the little eyebrow. Oh my God. Anyways. Did you tweet at CBS to fix their feed that usually works, everybody tweeting.

Hey, CBS. I know that usually does the show. All I want to do is be famous enough in life to just when I tweeted an airline, they fix my flight. I'd love to imagine a world where CBS is just, they think, everything's going fine and they get like, oh, we got tagged in a tweet by some guy named Andy. He says, fuck you, CBS. The feed is down.

The feed is down. As if they're not working on it immediately. Dude, that was like, dude. Just imagine the social media manager just sweating bullets getting all these ass. Oh, my God. Dude, that reminds me. I was talking to my dad during this game and my dad's like, why don't they cover Travis Kelsey? They got to cover him.

And I'm like, you know, they didn't think of that. Right. That's my real winner that. week as Kelsey. He's really good. Unbelievable. He's just like unguaratable. I mean, he, yeah, I actually was texting with some of my buddies and like is there an argument that he's

one of the best players in the NFL like full stop? I mean, yeah, he came second receiver as he played 14 games or 15 games. I mean, he had that route, that touchdown where he basically ran, I forget who the defender was on the play, but he basically ran right at him and he just did a spin move and he just

created four or five yards instantly and just got it and that was the play where he like leapt over. I think me, Cole Mardman's back into the goal line. And I was just, he moves. His route running is like the precision of like a Chris Godwin, except he's the size of Travis Kelsey. He's on a LeBron like consistency too, where he's elite every single year.

He doesn't get hurt. He's played 16 games, 15 games minimum, as long as I can remember. And he puts up tied in one numbers every single game. I mean, he's incredible. And Kittles' absence really has exacerbated the gap between Travis Kelsey and literally everyone else at his position. But even at his position feels ridiculous because he's a receiver.

But he's just, he just really might, like, we've kind of anointed Devante Adams as the best receiver in the league, right? Is Travis Kelsey number two? Travis Kelsey's more of a wide receiver than Mike Evans is, right? Just say past pitcher. Who cares? I agree. But I think Kelsey really is the second best guy in the league. I don't even know how I could argue against that at this point.

His teammate might be the only person you can make an argument for, Tyreek. but they're so perfectly fit together. Anyways, Kelsey, one of the week to me. It's just unreal. What about you guys? So I'm seeing that Craig and I have the same guy, and that's Andy Reed. Andy Big Balls Reed. Got it to her, man. That was one of the most ballsy, brave, courageous, awesome, audacious, like, play calls ever.

Courageous is really funny. I was just trying to, I was going through the mental syllabus here. Not syllabus. What are you called? What's the... Synonyms. Thesaurus. Thesaurus.

Yeah, sorry. The mental thesaurus. So anyhow, I mean, and you could see the, you can see the narrative building on Twitter as like the game got further in. Obviously, Patrick Mahomes getting injured and going out was a big factor and everything. But like the decision making towards the end of the game was like beginning to, it was like sphincter titan time where like, oh God, Andy Reid is going to like,

totally screw this up again and we're going back we're going to revert back to the narrative we're going to revert back to like early career Andy Reid all that stuff

simple game management stuff doesn't need to be this hard but yet they seem to be screwing everything up they're throwing when they should have been running or whatever

you know what I mean and then going and calling this play on fourth and one with the game on the line at the midfield I mean think about if they'd given the ball

back to the Browns at midfield they were up by five at the time right wouldn't everyone would have been making fun of Andy Reid if this play didn't work? Yes, but that's always how it goes no matter what. That's the best, like, evidence that it was like a ballsy, awesome play call or decision is because, like, if it hadn't gone well, like, we would have been like, what are you doing, you idiot?

But I mean, number one, love the play call. You can't guard Tyreek on that play. Like, that is just so difficult for a defense. He's so fast. You just can't keep up with him. It was a perfect call. No one thought they were going to run a play. I thought they were just going to try and draw them off sides.

That was just great theater. because Roma was wrong. And Roma was like, there's no play called. Look at their body language. They sold it. And then just snapped immediately after he said it.

They snapped it with like five seconds on the play clock too. So that was another thing that caught them off guard because normally they would have waited to like one second to snap the ball. But they kind of got it off quick and like, oh shit.

Like they actually ran the play. So I loved everything about that. It was so brilliant too. I've been waiting for a coach to do that. Like we specifically snapping with the early play clock thing because those defenders are specifically telling

each other. Don't freaking jump. Don't move. Don't move. Totally. That's just not the mentality you have been practicing with your entire life. You've never, like, you don't line up to play defense and be like, I'm not going to move. It is literally your, and like the half second split

reaction that you lose when you're trying to guard Tyree Kill is everything. And that's why it's so wide open on the play. And I honestly wonder if like the next, I'm seriously, the next season or two, you're going to start to see coaches do that more often to specifically take advantage of how defenders are like, don't move.

And you're like, oh, maybe the play will work if they're trying not to, if that's what they're thinking about before the freaking play. But it totally. It was awesome. Anyways, the chiefs didn't look rusty either. Just want to shout out, big loser here is also rust. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, like, Kelsey was on point. Tiger Kill looked great. Like, it was like, oh, wow, actually having these guys who've gone through this gauntlet season where they're playing 16 games or getting beat up every week, giving these guys a couple weeks off is not actually a bad thing. Yeah, let's hope Mahomes can turn it around. You know what? I don't get why they let guys who are, you know, supposedly concussed on the sidelines sprint into the locker room. Yeah, that was bizarre. I don't understand that at all. It's actually a really good question. Because it's like, I know from their perspective, I get it because you want to show, especially if there's fans in the stadium, you want to show that.

You're so strong. You're feeling good. Don't get worried. I'll be back. But like from a medical standpoint, like, he should sit on a cart and they should drive him into the locker room if he has a brain injury. Well, the other thing that I wanted, like, that came to mind and this whole thing was happening is like, it seems like every time, and this is, players are getting better about this, but like, when guys get blown up or like hit really hard and have clearly like, oh, that's bad, like be careful, don't move him. They're like picking their guy up, like hitting him on the head. Like, you know, like, walk it off, dude. Like, you're good. And Mahomes, like, clearly got up way too quickly. And I, you know, anyways, that was just like hard to watch. That's actually the first time I've seen Mahomes on TV and been like,

oh, I can do that because sometimes I get up too quickly from the couch and I get lightheaded. And I was like, oh, yeah. Totally relatable. Yeah. Something in common. Anyways, hopefully he's okay. And obviously, I think he tweeted after the game that he's good to go.

So let's hope it next week he's good. All right. Offseason Outlook? The poor Browns, man. Everything went right against Pittsburgh and everything went wrong against Kansas City. So the irony of this game was it was like the final convincing argument for me that Baker is good and the right. quarterback for this team. The first half of this, really the first month of the season, I was

like deeply concerned. First half of the season, I was just like, I don't know. He just played so well down the final six or so weeks. This was an amazing game from Baker. It's bizarre. Because, I mean, they had, they basically had three points by halftime and it just looked all. And yet he was just hitting everything. He was making the right decisions and the right passes and they were accurate. It just, it kind of, in a bizarre way, nothing clicked for him, but he was never the problem outside of like two or three plays. He was 23 for 37 for 200 yards, a touchdown and a pick. I mean, if that's the best we got from Baker.

No, I understand that. But, like, think about the Higgins. No, I understand that. But think about, like, that Higgins play at the end of the half. It was, what was the score? It was like 16 to 3. And then that basically should have been another touchdown that would have made the game 16. Yeah, and it became a touchback.

Yeah, he tried to die for the end zone, got it knocked out. Now, even if they get the field goal at the end of half, whatever, that still is going to be a one-possop, probably a one-possession game going into halftime. And then they come out of half, they're trying to press, and he throws the pick, and that wasn't great. But I do think that he played, I was pretty impressed with how he played overall. Like, there were just a lot of drops that were, like, like, for example, Nick Trubb, Nick Chubb just dropped two consecutive passes on first and 20, second and twas. That would have freaking picked up 10 or 15 yards both times.

Like, there just wasn't a lot of help around him, with the exception of one amazing play from your high school enemy, middle school enemy, Austin Hooper. on fourth and two. No, you're right. I'm just mainly teasing you. I think Baker, you know, it could be one of those types of things where he works really well

with Stefanski. If he ever leaves, he might not succeed as much, but like they could develop into like a really, a team with a strong identity and he could be this kind of game manager guy that could lead them into the playoffs

for many years. I could see that. That's exactly what I was going to ask you is, does this season, specifically like the second half of the season or like the stretch run of the season, change your guys' thought on him, like maybe from a dynasty perspective,

like does he have a little bit more dynasty value than you thought earlier on in the season? So like, number one, he finished the season as a QB 18. He was the QB 19 and 2019. He was the QB 16 and 2018. So like, this is kind of who he's been for the first three years, the first three seasons of his career.

He didn't play a full season when he was a rookie. But, um, however, as he got more ingrained and more used to the, the, the Stefansky offense, kind of like started feeling it. He was the QB8,

the final six games of the season. He averaged 20.5 points per game. 20 points a game is pretty damn good. The first half of the season, he was QB 26. There were times, there were like moments in the beginning of the season early on in the season where I was like, is this guy even going to be the starter next year?

You know what I mean? Yeah. And now that's sort of different. That's like way different. Now I'm like, the question is, can he ascend to that QB1 area where he's scoring 20 points a game and this offense is pretty good

or is his ceiling more like a mid-range QB2 type of thing like where he's been the first three seasons of his career where he's good sometimes but they're in a ball control offense they're going to run a lot. You're not really going to expect much from him. Maybe he's like a, you know,

Kirk Cousins or something like that like reputation wise or you know, just kind of how people look at him. I'm not convinced Baker's going to be like a full-fledged fantasy asset. I think that he's, I think the Browns, he's definitely the quarterback for the Cleveland

rounds, but I'm not sure he's the quarterback for your fantasy team. But I think Nick Chub is the much more exciting player for the squad and like going in. I think Nick Chub is just an undervalued guy. I think there were a lot of questions about him and Kareem's role. And so Chub ended up as this like second round pick, maybe third round pick for some people. I think Chubb is unbelievable and would have had an even better season if he had stayed healthy. I think the most interesting guys here is Odell Beckham. Yeah, I mean, to me that he's one of the most fascinating guys going into next season because like number one, I guess there's this question. Is he going to be a brown for? for the long term?

Or are they going to try and shop him? What's his story there? But number two, even if he comes back, is there any chance? Are you still holding out Hope? Hyfit's, you're a Giants fan.

You obviously saw him very closely in the beginning of his career. Are you still holding out and he hope that he returns to form that we saw early on in his career? Before Hyatt's answers, so we read the first half of the season Baker stats in the second half.

I mean, there's one glaring coincidence. Right. So there is, there is, even if there is the the Ewing theory thing of like the split literally before and after the Beckham injury is like a glaring thing.

The only argument about it I do think is I do think there is a real thing of sometimes quarterbacks can force things to like their best player and I do think there is an argument sometimes that that person losing like just makes it easier for the quarterback to just make the right read

without thinking about politics. I think it's also a little unfair of I think that he actually just kind of got hurt as they were, got going. Yeah. Also as their defense kind of got hurt, and I think they had to pass more. But with Odell,

my real take on O'Dell is actually, I was thinking about this when Stefan Diggs had a conversation because there were so many Diggs interviews the last month or so. And I don't remember if he told this to ESPN or somewhere, but he basically talked about how much he really hates talking about the Minneapolis miracle.

Like, Stefan Diggs is just tired of it. Because everyone brings it up to him. And he had this feeling that, while he was still in Minnesota, he had this feeling that the greatest moment of his life had already happened and that he was just looking back at it and he's like this 26-year-old dude.

He's like, I don't want that. I don't want my best stuff in my life to be behind me. And it was like this giant fear. And O'Dell has talked very similarly about the catch and that his life changed before and after that moment. And I really do believe he got, Because there's like becoming famous too quick, right? I think that he became A plus famous kind of too quick

and like really needs to just kind of adjust. I think that's why he changed his hair when he went to Cleveland. I think I think there's like like a legit like just who he is. Is he like McCulley Culkin or Daniel Ratcliffe or something? He just struck gold way too early. I think that moment made him too famous. I'm dead soon. And this is like some take from the recesses of my mind.

He's talked about the moment kind of being too much for him. but wow yeah i i think bottom wine and the day i i don't i don't really see him going back to what he was early in his career i do think he's going to be good and continue to be a fantasy factor but i do not know if i truly believe that he's going to be like a you know top five guy so do you think this what 2020 was the last year where like fantasy analysts are blown smoke up his ass and you're kind of convincing yourself again that like oh man

he really could be it like are we finally done I don't know, because honestly, like, as of like a month ago, I share a team with a guy in the industry, and we were talking about trading for O'Dell Beckham. Okay, so we're back. Well, that's the thing. Is he bad, like, is he more likely in 2021 to be really bad Devante Adams or really good Sammy Watkins? Interesting. Yeah. I don't even really know how to think about that.

That's a weird way to put it. I would say the latter, though. Like, I don't think he's going to be Devante Adams. Yeah, it's just tough for O'Dell. Okay. Want to get to Bill's Ravens? Yeah, probably the worst game. By far, the weirdest game.

I've never, have you ever seen goalposts sway in the wind? Because I can't remember another time I've seen that. Yeah, that was crazy. That was insane. Justin Tucker missed multiple kicks. When does that happen? Dude, he didn't miss multiple field goals in, I think, 2016 or 2019. He just had missed one field goal the whole year and then misses his first two.

And it's like, it was one of the, it was just freaking bizarre. It was actually fascinating a little bit because, when you're, they're lining up to watch, like, do the kick. The, the flags were literally,

like, going in opposite directions at times. It was like, how do you know where to kick this goddamn thing? Like, literally the, both of the flags were, like,

in opposite directions. And they were talking about how the wind swirls into the stadium. I don't know, like, the actual science behind it, but just imagine trying to kick from 50 yards out in that situation. Well,

that's the thing about the wind is, think about all the advancements we've made over, like as a human species over the last 50,000 years, we still have no fucking idea how to figure out what direction the wind is going to blow. Not even like a fathom of a freaking idea. What direction the ball will go? Scholars maintain that...

Yeah, I don't know. That's a really good point. I feel like we're still really behind on figuring out weather. We've done a lot. We don't know anything about weather or how it works. Low key, we always talk about great inventions and we're like, oh, the fire, the fire and the automobile.

predicting the weather, even though we aren't that great at it, is actually maybe the biggest advancement we've made as a speed. It's actually nuts that we can even do it at all. It's actually like the most complex problem. Anyway, we don't have to go into that. Football is one of the only sports? Is football actually the only major sport that still really has to deal with weather? Because baseball just cancels the game.

Yeah, they have covered stadiums too in a lot of areas. Yeah. It's like the last real like, oh, we're traveling to this city. this is going to be a different style of game than we're used to. Again, football is a crazy sport in that way because Aaron Rogers after this win is like, I really hope it snows. Like, I hope it's really cold, colder than it was tonight. Like, that's just like a crazy thing to say.

Yeah, I hope it's like 20 degrees in Lamb. That's why they did the Super Bowl, at least this is how I understand it. It's why they did the Super Bowl for so many years in Miami or whatever in Florida because there's always going to be like a sunny day. And now you got... That kind of makes no sense, though, because the, whole season teams have to deal with snow and that could impact who makes it to the

final game and then it's like well now you don't have to worry about weather but no one wants to travel to freaking Buffalo in February to see a football game you want to travel in New Orleans or Miami or somewhere that's warm Atlanta well they did they did it at MetLife in the only reason I know this because the CX won in 2013

and it was like frigate away to whoever builds a new stadium that's like the chair on top of like hey city officials who like are approving this billion dollar tax credit like you can host the Super Bowl in six years. Yeah, LA is 2022. Anyway, this game was cold and windy. That's the point.

But it was also ugly as hell. It really was. It was tough to pick a winner out of these games, but mine is the relationship between Josh Allen and Stefan Diggs, who seemed like the purest of best friends. There's so much joy between the two of them. Stefan Diggs had another great game.

Allen was okay. But the post-game interview, I don't know if you guys saw it. I mean, they just looked like the absolute bestest of friends I just love this guy man like he's the best they're like giving each other

nuggies they really love each other And they really give each other Nuggies I would love that pretty much They were kind of like Roughhousing It's like the new breastfriend vibe Dude the sideline reporter

The way they described it was like It was like two kids show up And they were like hey You're just like me And I'm like I'm just like you And then they're just like be friends I've never heard that on television before Okay can we think

Back, you guys know a little bit more about the history of football than me. What are some other, like, really, really friendly, wide receiver quarterback relationships? Can you think of other best friends, like those two? Oh, man. Were they actually hang out? Well, they're just, like, you know,

doing these, like, interviews together, and you're like, oh, my God, like, is this a bit? Or are these guys really best friends? Like, was Joe Montana and Jerry Rice like that? Like, I haven't seen this before. That's a good question. They love each other.

I literally was reading a thing the other day, and Jordy Nelson was like, yeah, Aaron Rogers and I, like, knew, I knew where he wanted the football. to be thrown, but like, you know, we don't hang out. Yeah, like, I wouldn't be surprised if Stefan Diggs and Josh Allen are like playing Call of Duty right now together. They're probably war zoning right now.

That's actually, that's a funny question though, because I feel like a lot of the times these quarterbacks and receivers have like kind of weird relationships where like a lot of times the receivers are like, pass me the fucking ball, dude, you fucking suck. You know who had a little bit of, Kamara had that little bit of that energy tonight. He had a couple, like, slim his hands down against his thighs and be like, I was open. Well, just a weird, it's just a weird sport. It's just a weird job. Like, you literally, your entire livelihood depends on someone else giving you the ball or not.

And you are just basically worthless if that doesn't happen. It's kind of an insane, insane thing. It's kind of like football. They're all football players, except receivers are basketball players. And it's just they're on the team, but they play a different sport. It's just a bizarre calculus dynamic. And then kickers and punters aren't even playing a sport. They're just like, I don't even know what you call it.

basketball writer compared it. It was like the fact that field goals to determine football games is like if basketball games at the end were decided by someone like does like a 50 meter freestyle swim race at the end of it and like that person wins the game because you made the free swim. That's so true. The eighth man on the team, Kent Baysmore comes in for the Warriors and has to freestyle swim against the. Exactly. It's crazy that kicking is part of this because if my example is always like if you were just wipe this from our collective memories and we like then like all right, let's describe this sport. We explain it to people. And then all right. Let's describe this sport. We explain it to people. And then all. also there's kickers. You're like, what? No, that's not part of it. You can't do that. It's like, basketball. Yeah, someone's like,

yeah, I feel like aliens would be like, wait, why is that sports writer kicking for the team? Dude, this was my pitch for the XFL. Is this a fan? Is this like a make a wish thing? Or? Every single game. My pitch for the XFL was they should just eliminate kicking and punting completely.

And that you should literally, the only option should be you make it on fourth down. you give the ball back and that's it and that's the sport. Yeah, I don't hate it. Anyway, all right, so there weren't many winners. Clearly this tangent means there were not many winners from Bill's Ravens, although shout up Bill's fans.

I was going to say, yeah, congrats to the Bills fans as a long-suffering Seattle Mariners fan. I offer my congratulations to you all for I guess, you know, they've smashed that postseason drought a couple years ago and that was great, but they got back to the championship round for the first time since 93. Tom Brady's been in the championship around 14 fucking times since 2001.

This is our first time back since 1993, so congrats. I guess the 1993 season. Technically, it was 1994 when it happened. Let me ask you guys. Who do you want to win the AFC championship? I mean, how do you be the bills, man? It's like the chiefs make it. I'm not sad that Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs from the Super Bowl, but the bills are just,

I think the bills are the easiest bandwagon team in a very long time. Yeah, for sure. Totally. Let me ask you this question, you guys. How do you feel about dynasties? Do you get into the dynasty idea? Like, the idea of a chief's dynasty, is that kind of fun to you? Or would you rather have someone new every single season?

I think dynasties make the sport better. I think you're a Warriors fan. Whatever. I mean, the heat did it right before that. Like, I think it's always fun. I think it was fun when the Patriots were doing what they were doing because it's fun to have a villain to root towards. Movies suck if there's no villain.

So this is the weird thing about- I'm with you. At least I can only speak for American sports, but this is the weird thing. In individual sports, dynasties, we obsess over them and we love them. Tiger Woods. It's weird that people root for the best player to crush the underdogs. Tennis. Serena Williams. No one roots against Serena. No one routes for Roger Federer to losing the first round. Doesn't happen. But in team sports, you root, no one wants Duke to win when they play the 15 seed. It doesn't happen. No one's like, oh yeah, I hope Duke advances.

I can see them playing the phone. No, you want them to lose. And so I think there's a weird thing where we tell ourselves we root for underdogs. Fuck that. We want the underdogs to get crushed. We love dynasties. Just thinking about that now, though, like if you were just asking me why, because I agree with you, I would do that. I would root for Tiger Woods or Serena Williams.

But if I ask myself, why did I do that and not root for the Patriots to win every year? I think there's something to be said about individuals, it feels like they just worked their ass off so they deserve it. A team sport is so much more different because, like, you have the Yankee. and they're just like spending money to get the best players. Yeah. And it can feel unfair. And one-on-one competitions feels the most fair to me because, like, you can't, there's nothing else but two people competing.

You want to witness greatness. And with team sports, it's maybe not, it's a different dynamic because it's like, man, they just, they got hot at the right time or whatever, you know. There's a lot of extenuating circumstances in a team sport. Yeah. I don't know. I just think it's weird. So to answer your question, I think that the bills are different because they're

such an underdog that I think they're. so underdoggy, you have to root for them. But I'm fascinated by that. Anyways, I think that we have a tendency to drift toward monarchy in many ways. Sports is merely one. I was actually going to bring that up. Yeah, it's in our, it's in our bones or something like that. Democracy's not a natural occurring thing on. All right. The Ravens Outlook for the offseason. I think straight up, I think this game and this season in some ways was kind of a referendum on Lamar. I think it was really weird. And it's not really clear. I think the number one thing, is they clearly need a receiver.

I think that's obvious. I mean, Des Bryant was playing snaps. They need more weapons on that team, man. Des Bryant played snaps in a playoff game for them. Like, meaningful snaps against the Titans. That's everything you need to know. Marquise Brown was actually pretty good in the final six or seven weeks of the season.

But there's nothing behind him. Mark Andrews is just known for drops at this point. I love Mark Andrews coming in this week. Just doesn't fight for balls, quite frankly. And then even J.K. Dobbins had a couple of killer drops in this game. Yeah. They just need people who can catch the football and like whether they can get at free agent like Alan Robinson or someone to do it. But, D.K., what did you make of Lamar in this game?

And what do you make of Lamar going to 2021? It's just a bizarre situation. Yeah, I think it's tough because like I was getting texts from my buddies about like, like, is Lamar even good? You know what I mean? Like, it's that kind of thing. And I think a lot of that has to do with all the narratives coming in. Like, oh, he should just be a receiver. You know what I mean?

It's like those things are hard to like completely bury. fun of fucking MVP and people still believe. I think that we're at the point where I'm a little tired of the receiver thing because it was one person and like it, look, it's absolutely important to put that to bed. But it was one person. I don't think there was a single person.

You say that, but have you been on Twitter? I really am trying to cut down on it. A lot of people are still like, yeah, that's because he's a running back. Like, you know what I mean? People are stupid and racist. Well, that's true. But here's the thing. It's still obviously something that people are

talking about. I find myself giving like reasons like that like that he's not doing as well as maybe that you'd hope as a passer like the weapons around him are just not good. Like especially compared to some of the guys like look at Josh Allen how big of a different Stefan Diggs made in his career. That kind of thing is like huge to me. And you look around the league like Patrick Mahomes is surrounded by he has two of the best skill position players in the NFL like full stop. You know, these things definitely matter. It's a team it's a team sport. Um, on the other hand like you know there are times where he just really is not seeing what he's like he's just throwing the ball up he's not seeing things like he has to develop just like any other quarterback in NFL I'm not really that worried about it I mean he's young he's younger than Joe burrow he's the youngest quarterback in the division and Baker and Perra in the division he's still got time to develop as a passer I'm still bullish on his career all that stuff but I do think that they do need to do a better job and actually Marquis brown came out and said this after the game like you know he's like we were number one in rushing and 30th or something in passing, that needs to be like more balanced.

That's just not a good way to play the game. No, it, no. But I think that to your point, the, this bills, the fact they lost to the bills is very telling because I think this game was not as egregious, but it was basically the Baltimore's version of that Buffalo game last year when the bills lost to the Texans and Josh Allen was the only reason they were in the game and he was the only reason they lost the game because he kept doing all those crazy great plays and they kept turning the ball over he was trying to do too much.

And he just turned the ball over. And Brandon Bean told our colleague Nora Princiotti that he watched that game and the GM of the bills, Brandon Bean, watch that was like, shit, like, I need to get Stefan Dix. That is not a quote,

but I'm paraphrasing the man. And I think that Eric DeCosta, the GM of the Ravens, watched this Lamar game. And look, was Lamar perfect? Absolutely not. But there was a sense

that he was just trying to get a little too much done to overcompensate for the fact that Des Brian had to play for this freaking team because they don't have any receivers. Not to mention that Ronnie Stanley got hurt I think that you're dead on right with the Josh Allen comparison

If Josh Allen can have the biggest rise in completion percentage In NFL history in like a year or two year period Ever he went from last in his first two years at completion percentage He was fourth this year If that is possible Then Lamar Jackson can become a slightly more efficient passer I mean he was the number one quarterback in EPA per play In the pocket in 2019

I'm not really worried about him But the Ravens have to add talent on the on I do think this discussion is just like a bigger discussion too. I think it's very fascinating is, you know, how dependent our quarterback, because we talk about how dependent receivers are with quarterbacks. How dependent are quarterbacks with the receivers? I mean, there's just so many examples of it where Brady is actually a pretty good example. Like Brady, people were talking about how he was washed up last year in his situation with those receivers.

He goes, now he has a team with Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Antonio Brown, Gronk. You know, there's just like he's got tons of talent around. and all of a sudden he's having like this huge renaissance year. So 43 touchdowns at 43 years old. Yeah. So I don't know. I think there's something to it for sure. And I'm far from giving up at Lamar as a past.

I think it's, you know, he's just like any other young quarterback. He's got to develop, continue to develop and improve. Yeah, listen, like if the first three years of your career, which are usually your worst, if one of those you won an MVP. It's pretty good. It's probably good. Yeah. I think it's okay that he's scheme-based.

You know, I don't think he's going to be. Aaron Rogers, but that's okay. Like, quarterback sometimes exists in certain schemes and succeed in certain schemes for a reason because you tailor them to him. I don't think he could just get dropped on any team and be amazing. But, like, so what? That doesn't mean he's, like, a bad quarterback. Like, teams need to be built around him, and I think that's totally fine.

I agree. Okay. So, dovetailing that out, I want to ask you guys, because you know I've got the Marquise Brown, it's just like a bit at this point that I keep talking about Marquis Brown. But how do you feel going into next year about Marquis Brown? Mark Heath Brown because, you know, what we saw in the final six games from week 12 to week 17, he was the wide receiver 11 and half PBR. So he was a wide receiver one over the final six games of the season, regular season. Is there a scenario where like say they do end up

going and getting like an Allen Robinson beefing up their their offensive skill players with the idea and maybe they talk about the fact that they're going to try and pass more this next season or whatever. Maybe they get a new offensive coordinator. Maybe they drop Greg Roman. We don't know. Is there a world where you can go into next year thinking, like, maybe Marquise Brown is one of the better values, or are you guys just kind of still just like, eh? I'm not really buying it.

I'm out. I don't think I'm going to predict that he'll finish as a wide receiver one next year. Like how we kind of did Robert Woods. Like, I don't see myself putting him in that range. High Fitz, what do you think? There's real life and there's fantasy. And I have to say, starting with real life, I was really impressed with what I saw from him,

from basically after, really after they got their players back from COVID around December. and that was kind of the guy we thought we were getting in the preseason when we liked him this season and he was really good. Fantasy-wise, I think there's real questions about whether the volume will be there. The Harbaugh and the Ravens kept Greg Roman,

the offensive coordinator, kept saying that the deep pass is going to be part of this offense. It just never was. That is part of the fact that Marcus Brown was the only deep option, really. They don't really have enough speed, ironically, even though they have certain guys

that weren't contributing. I think if they signed Alan Robinson, I think Marquise Brown would be the best number two receiver in the league outside of maybe Calvin Ridley. I think that he's really freaking good. I'm a little dubious of whether the Ravens will ever pass enough, but I also think they probably figured that one out the hard way this week. I think just right now, if I had...

That's high praise for Marquise Brown. I don't know about that. I'm assuming growth. I was really impressed with him. But like we got like Deontay Johnson and Claypool, we got Evans and Godwin. There's a lot of... We got Locking...

Godwin's a free agent. Metcalf. Yeah, God, well, yeah, that's true. I'm put Godwin I'm mentally compartmental although he'll probably go back to the loss. You got Jefferson and Thielen

There's a lot of good one two punches. I think Thielen's the number two at this point. Oh, it's fine, you're right. He's probably a top five

number two option. You're right. I think at the end of the day, if I had to guess right now, people are going to be relatively low on Brown again. Next year it'll probably end up being like a, he'll get drafted as maybe like a wide receiver three type guy.

Yeah. And then I could see him being a sort of volatile wide receiver two going forward. Like, you know, he's maybe not going to be the guy that everybody's really excited about, but just right now, I don't know, I'm still, I'm still bullish on him.

I think that, especially with the amount of target, like the target share that he was getting, obviously it'll change if they get another guy in that offense, but the rising tides raises all ships, the idea to me is more important. Like, if they can get this passing game going, that would be huge for him. All right. Let's go to this last game of the weekend. Packers, Rams. This game is like the chaser because this game was great.

I felt like this was the tensest. It was the prettiest. It was, in some ways, the most fun to watch. Maybe that's just me, but I felt like this was the best football I saw all the weekend. This is a pretty good game. Yeah, we previewed that chess match situation, and it kind of paid off. Like, we really got to watch Staley on the Rams and LaFleur on the Packers, like, really kind of tee off on one another. I thought one of the best encapsulations of that was how they got Devontov's that touchdown.

Oh, my God. They ran them across the field. Ramsey followed him, and they said. sprinted him right back and got him just a couple feet of room and it was just enough. And that's kind of how the whole game went. It was just Rogers and the floor out chest McVeigh and Staley. The Packers' offense, the Packers' offense to me is, I don't know who said. Someone mentioned this, maybe it was U-Hyfe.

It's like, for the people that have been wanting to see what an elite, or at least elite-tooled quarterback could do in a Shanahan or McVeigh offense, Like this is what we're getting with this Lefleur offense. Aaron Rogers is like on another level right now. He is just dealing. It's like easy for him. This was against the number one offense in the NFL. I thought Lefleur had a really smart game plan in terms of how they were going to attack this defense,

how they're going to attack the things that they just, you know, because this was the best defense in the NFL all year. Like they were shutting people down. Staley just got hired by the Chargers, by the way, this Sunday night. So he's a head coach now. So he's not on the Rams anymore, which is crazy. But I just think this is exactly like what we'd wanted to see where like if you drop like an elite quarterback in a Shanahan scheme where if you drop like you don't have fucking goff in McVeigh's offense like what they could do. It's so true.

This is like what we're getting. So it's been awesome to see Rogers have his late career renaissance. It makes me wonder like is he here to stay for another like four or five six years or whatever? Because he's talked to, I think he's talked about playing for a long time. He's just like Brady. he wants to keep playing for as long as he can. The way that they're playing right now, it's like, man, they could be so good for so long.

It's just, I don't know, like the way that they sequence plays, the game plans they have, they've got good running backs. The run game is really, like, versatile and variable. The play action game, it all fits together so well. And, you know, credit to LaFleur and obviously Aaron Rogers, who I think is like the clear MVP right now. Rogers is unbelievable. I mean, when Aaron Donald was off the field,

when he would come off the field, Rogers would go no huddle so he couldn't come back. Like he's just... And he's like smiling. He's just laughing the whole time. It just looked easy. Everything looked easy. Even when he's running away from Aaron Donald

and finding Robert Tunyon for 30 yards, it looked easy. And that's, I mean, we're just talking about the Ravens. Everything for Baltimore looked hard. That's the difference. They couldn't snap the freaking ball. And then the Packers,

it just didn't look like they had to try very hard. And that's the highest level of excellence to me is Roger Federer and tennis. It just looks freaking easy. I'm surprised they're sweating. That's Devante Adams getting open. that motion play was perfect. And that's a good example, Craig. It reminded me actually of what Bamba did with Devante Smith and the championship

game very similar. Yeah, the whiteback thing. Yeah, the Packers have been doing motion like that for a lot of this season. But it's just a perfect play. Sean McVeigh said in a press conference last week that he compared Devante Adams getting open to like guarding Alan Iverson on a crossover. I thought that was a great comparison. And I also thought it was funny that they did that play because it was like setting,

you used the Ramses like used their defenders of. own team to set like four consecutive picks. Yeah, he had to run through the, you had to run through traffic to just get back. It's just, but yeah, it's just, this team's impossible to defend. It's so impressive. And again, yeah, Rogers's his job is just really easy. And he's just, he's in full command on an intellectual level in a way that I feel I have seen very few athletes in a team sport ever get to.

And he also is still probably the second most talented passer after Mahomes. And the combo of those two things is fucking nuts to see. Yeah, he's like self-actualized Yeah, he's on the astral plane That's really what we're seeing It's the astral plane The okay, so Aaron Rogers Winner the Week

Yeah Is there a Rogers rate? Would you rather the Patrick rate or the Rogers rate? The Rogers rate He's been with them way long He's, the Rogers commercials are better The Mahomes ones, it's like, I don't know I'm not,

Rogers, he's been to state for him for like years Like the discount double check That was like eight years ago Momes, it's, I don't know Although Mahomes is lucky because State Farm's colors are the Chiefs colors, which is just nice. All right, so should we talk about the Rams? You don't want to keep talking about State Farm?

I want to give what they are the sponsor of the Ringer NFL show. I want to shout out the one play on the Rams that was awesome. Was there two-point conversion hook and ladder play? Hell yeah, that was great. Okay, the hook and ladder needs to be run like six times a game. Like that needs to be a part of basic game plan and basic play calling. I feel like it is such an efficient play. It's not that risky.

I really feel like it could work if you ran it like three times a game. It's one of those plays where if they messed it up one time and it's a fumble, then the coaches will never call it ever again. It's gonna say it is kind of risky. It's the definition of risk.

It's like turnovers are the most easiest way to lose a football game and you put in the ball in the air. You run a quick little screen pass. A guy runs right behind him. You flip it to him. I don't think it's that risky and I think the reward is worth it.

It's actually similar to me like the Andy Reid call where they called the fourth in one play in a situation when no one thinks they're doing it and they called it like the six five second mark and in that every it's so crazy like am I so sane

that's basically what it is because you could turn it into like a read option where the receiver can catch it and somebody runs by me can fake it to him and then turn and run I really think guys it's the perfect example saying that if you could actually do it at a high level would be borderline unstoppable but there's so much risk in doing it like the criticism

that you would endure to do that would be borderline unbearable and someone needs the job security you need to be able to make that a staple. Like Bill Belichick, guess what Bill Belichick would never do, have his players like throw the ball up in the air. It's literally the last thing. Imagine Tyree Kill and McCle Hardman running

this hook and ladder thing. They're doing perfectly fine without that happening. Have you guys seen any stats or any research on whether there were more trick plays in the NFL this year than in previous seasons? I don't know about you, but it felt like there was a lot of like double throws receiver throws

like Philly special style shit where like the tight end was throwing like a touchdown I mean James Winston threw a touchdown today on like a weird whatever it was

double reverse so I don't know I think I saw more of teams stealing the trick plays that they had just been used against them like that Saints play literally the play the Bears ran against the Saints

last week they remember when the Browns had that long run with Odell Beckham cut through the Cowboys yeah that was I don't remember if they had just taken

that from their previous opponent or the Cowboys used it the next week. Like that was really, like just taking the same shit and just using it like a week or two later. Well, the Rams play, the Dolphins did that earlier in the season with Ahmed, I believe,

where they ran like the hook and ladder at the goal. I think it was on a two-point conversion. So they basically stole that one too. Good artist copy, great artist steal. Yeah. When Packers did that one play with the, with the Devante Adams, like running, you know, back across the formation,

I had multiple people tweet me. because the Florida offense did that this year with Cadarius Tony, and it, like, worked like a charm. I'm sure they didn't make this up, but, like, it's one of those things where, like, everybody's stealing from everybody. I think that motion play, though, is the next thing. That is, like, a really difficult thing to stop

when it's in the right look. It's just, you're just getting the full sprint. It's just really hard. Well, it's almost like how Romo today was talking about what they do with Tyree Kill, where rather than having him run a go route, he runs a diagonal go route, and running laterly is so much harder than running vertically.

And with Tyreek speed, kind of like with Devante running across, it's just harder to guard if you're running sideways. It's also literally more space for Tyreek to outrun someone. You're giving more track. It's just, it's just, dude, it's just hard to play defense, man. That's really the theme of the whole weekend to me, even though there was some good defense this weekend. The biggest thing, it just, I keep coming back to what Nick Sabin said in October. It's just, it's hard. Offense doesn't really be defense anymore.

It just feels true. There's so many ways for offenses to win. And it took like 10 years of the rule. changes for this to really materialize and like are mature. But it feels mature now. There are so many good ideas and Kevin Clark's written about this quite a bit and you can find all those good ideas on YouTube and now the air of like, oh, we should do like what a professional style offense is.

Now that's dead. And now it's just we've fully matured in this era where it's just so difficult to play defense, man. It's just there's so many ways they can beat you at any time that it really just feels more like you're treading water than actually making any ground. anyways, that's kind of depressing. The Rams offseason outlook for this season, which is how he got on this whole tangent

with the hook and ladder. Cam Acres was unreal in this game. I mean, if the Rams had won, I feel like he would have been like story almost more than the defense. It's fantastic. I'm really curious where you guys would take him in draft next year.

I think he's going to go pretty early. Yeah, he's going to go high, maybe a little bit too high, but we'll see. There's still the question mark of how big of a rotation they're going to use. I think the last few games, though he's done enough acres is done enough to prove that he's like the you know the type that

can do that three down stuff over updating the numbers I said this last week too but updating the numbers his final six games of the season including the Seattle win and the Packers lost in the playoffs 132 carries 5161 yards three touchdowns that's 22 per game 22 carries a game 93 yards and a half a touchdown a game so extrapolating that to 16 games what he's done over last six would be 350 carries and almost 1,500 yards, eight touchdowns on the ground. So that's a huge season. And that doesn't even include his receiving work, which has been very minimal. But if we see them get him involved in like the screen game and stuff like they did with

Gurley during Gurley's Prime, you know, he has that really high, high end potential. So I think people are going to look at him. Maybe he's not a first rounder, but early second rounder, people who are going to see him taking a big jump. I would not be surprised if he ends up as an early second rounder. I think he's going to be a first rounder. I think that we're going to think that Cammakers is what we wanted Clyde Edwards Hilaire to be. And that's how people are going to draft him.

Are you worried about the quality of this offense, though? What are they going to do with Goff? That's like the big question for me is Goff. Do McVeigh decline to like just say Goff with the quarterback today, which is mind-blowing because he could have just said it was. Here's the quote for McVeigh. So when he was asked if Jared Goff is the Rams quarterback in 2021, he said everything is being evaluated. I'm not ready to make any statements with regards to starting position or not. We're going to have a level of competition in everything we do.

And then they pressed him even further. This was talking to reporters today. He said, I'm not saying anything other than we're evaluating, you know, the competition at quarterback. And I think it's important that you do that at every single spot. No position is excluded from that, which I'm pretty sure he would have said in any other scenario. He would be like, yeah, Jared's our guy. I think it's totally fine that he's doing that. maybe this will make Jared

golf work harder in the officees. Like, you'd be a coach here. Like, you guy didn't play well. Like, why would you pat him on the back? So I think that McVeigh can do this in part

because he has a ton of job security because the Rams, like he's just, he's honestly, he's like the face of the team, almost more than Jalen Rams or Aaron Donald. Like, McVeigh is the face of this team. And he basically has as much job security

as anyone except like Belichick or Andy Reid or like John Gruden. Like, McVeigh is like right in that second tier under those guys. And I think, that that's kind of what you need to be able to do to say some stuff like this because my first reaction

was I'm surprised he did not lie but I kind of agree with Craig to be honest where that's really what football's about like it is next man up like yes you can be replaced by John Walford that's the entire concept like the team needs to be a little nervous this off season like good now here's like it brings a lot of questions

and now the whole now here's the problem he fueled all these questions for the next eight months but he can endure the storm but now he's probably going to regret that if something goes wrong. So I'll take the L on golf because I actually, in the off season, I was thinking he was going to have a bounce back here. I thought he had a good chance of actually even coming in and being like a low end

quarterback one. And if you look at his career, so he was a QB 12 in 2017, which is a QB1 in 12 team leagues. And then he was a QB7 in 2018. And then he was the QB 13 in 2019. I thought he was going to bounce back from that like relatively. low 2019 year and like go up to like QB8 or something like that this season and just nothing he was terrible he was a QB 18 you know he's like on that Baker bayfield level or even like

garter minchew level or it's like you could start him if you want like don't have any other options but he's not a guy you're going to look for it's not a guy that you're excited about he doesn't have anything in the running department I think golf is the most average quarterback in the NFL I really do like I'm at that point like physically like he's really talented he's a good thrower but considering the awesome offensive design he's in, I do wonder if he's like the new Andy Dalton. And I know that's a crazy thing to say because he's been to a Super Bowl, all this stuff.

It's not that crazy. But considering the offenses, Andy Dalton was in, and he was uninspiring. I know Cincinnati and L.A. are like opposite places. But I kind of do wonder if he's like this de facto. Andy Dalton, to me, was the most average quarterback because he was exactly as good as the players around him and exactly as good as the situation he's in.

And I wonder if golf is just very similar. Yeah, I think golf, it could be a whole episode in the offseason. Just everything he's done. Yeah. It's the Jared Goff. Okay. All right, there you go. Those are, that's our losers, offseason outlooks, winners for the divisional round.

Let's get out of here. Thank you, Craig. Thank you, D.K. Anyone else to think? Thank you, Lauren. Oh, fuck. I got to think of our band. Thank you, Lauren.

D.K. Band, I know it's late. I don't know. Thank you, some more. Thank you, Cardi B. Thank you all the Instagram Samoyad pages. Did you say Cardi B? Yeah. Craig's reaction was classic.

You could have said the weekend. He's doing the Super Bowl. Oh, that's a good one. Yeah. Okay. Catchy-ass song. The weekend gets enough publicity. I think no, the weekend doesn't need any help.

Yeah, Cardi B doesn't. Goodbye. We'll see you guys on Friday.