The Ringer NFL Show - Broncos Big Winners, Packers Big Losers, and Bills Win a Wild One in New England

Episode Date: December 15, 2025

Sheil is joined by Austin Gayle to discuss the biggest things that happened in what was a wild Week 15. (1:55) Micah Parsons injured on a non-contact play (6:53) The pecking order of the NFC (13:45) Bills vs. Patriots (23:46) Broncos win their 11th straight Host: Sheil Kapadia Guest: Austin Gayle Producer: Brian H. Waters and Chris Sutton Social: Kiera Givens and Isaiah Blakely Production Supervision: Conor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgopowell The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Ringer NFL show. I'm your host, Shield Capadia. What a week 15 it was. We're going to focus on the three biggest things that happened on Sunday. Number one, Micah Parsons going down with an injury, feared to be a torn ACL. What does that mean for the Packers? What does it mean for the NFC playoff picture? Number two, the Bills with a huge win in Foxborough. What did we learn about them? What did we learn about the Patriots? We'll talk about that. And number three, the Bron. The Bron. with an impressive win over the Packers, their 11th straight win. Are we buying them as the favorites in the AFC? My guest today is the ringers Austin Gale. Let's take a break and come back and talk to Austin. This episode of The Ringer NFL show is presented by State Farm. Having insurance isn't the same as having State Farm. It's like expecting the leadership of a team captain on the football field,

but getting a C captain? Sure, they're both captains. But who is going to run your offense? You wouldn't settle for just anything for your team, so don't settle for just any insurance. When it comes to getting the help you need, State Farm is the real deal. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. All right, we are back here with Austin. Gail, Austin, let's get started here.

The biggest thing that happened on Sunday, Micah Parsons, going down with the knee injury in the third quarter, the dreaded non-contact replay. And according to ESPN and pro football talk, they feel. year, it's a torn ACL, which of course means his season would be over. So we got to talk about what this means. And I hate to be an alarmist. I hate to, uh, you know, go all the way to one side. I think their Super Bowl hopes might be over. Austin, I think this is just too much to overcome. I mean, he leads the NFL in pressures. He's got 12 and a half sacks. And even more so, it's just he is that force multiplier guy that the nerd, you know, the football nerds always like

to talk about that when he's out there, now everyone else is 80s. able to generate pressure and everyone else is better at their jobs. And I just feel like that's going to show up. I feel like it showed up in this game. And so that's where I'm at right now. Maybe you'll tell me I'm wrong. Maybe six weeks from now, we'll go, oh, my gosh, Jordan Love reached another level and the offense carried on more Matt LaFleur, master's class in the NFC playoffs. I don't think that's going to happen. I think they're going to have a really tough time without Michael Parsons and that they're stealing, I'm bringing it down. What is your take on this Parsons injury?

I think it's hard with any team in either the NFC or the AFC, especially with a lot of like the top, you know, top quarterbacks in the NFL, not even going to make the postseason to call anybody out. But this is obviously a big hit to their Super Bowl chances with the Micah Parsons injury. I think I'm more of the opinion that like they're not deep postseason or Super Bowl contenders,

not just because of the Micah Parsons injury. I think they're obviously, like you said, it's looking like it's going to be an. see how he's going to be out of the season. But it's been a cluster of injuries for the Green Bay Packers this season. They were already without Tucker Kraft. They're starting tight end a weapon for them. Offensively, he's been out for a while. Now he's been out since week nine. They're also without Elton Jenkins. Their center, it forced him to reshuffle, the interior offensive line. And then they also have been out Devonte White. And then in this game, not only did they lose

Michael Parsons, Zach Tom, their offensive tackle, he goes down with a knee injury. And he had Christian Watson, who's been kind of their go-to top threat at the receiver position, really for the offense downfield and he goes down with a chest injury. That doesn't look good either. So you lose Tom, you lose Watson, and you lose Parsons in this game. You're already without Wyatt, Kraft, Jenkins. I think it's just a combat. And it's sometimes it's a simple game, but it's the healthiest teams in the NFL are the ones that, you know, when you're in February, you think are actually have these chances to win the Super Bowl. And I think this Parsons injury is kind of the cherry on top of what has been like kind of a really, really tough season for the Packers over

the second half with a ton of injuries. And I think ultimately these injuries are too hard to overcome, especially when you look at, like, without Watson, I don't have a ton of faith in this receiving core. The offensive line's been banged up, and I think how they reshuffled it, that doesn't look good either. Love isn't as good under pressure. Then you go to the defense. Parsons is that force multiplier. He has over 20 more pressures than any other packer on this team. You don't have Wyatt anymore. I think he's like absolves some of the sins of the secondary as well. He makes things easier for the secondary. So the defense is going to take a major step back. The offensive line takes another step back. The receiving court loses Watson. It all kind of adds up to almost like too

many problems to solve. Even for Matt Lafleur, who I think is one of the best coaches in the NFL, I think it's ultimately just too much to overcome. And it's a season that even like, if they do make the Super Bowl or they do go on a run, it's going to be even Packers fans, I think would be shocked to see them kind of go the distance. I think a lot of Packers fans today felt like their season ended. It feels like it's going to be the dreaded what if season where, no, no, I like their team. I like the quarterback. I like the coach. I think they're going to be in the mix for years to come. But you know how this goes when you're a fan and, like, you're a fan and, like, you have an era and then like if it doesn't happen if you don't end up winning you often look back to well

there was that one season it was it was setting up pretty well for them in the nfc not to say they were the favorites i think the rams uh you know have been the favorites but i feel like they really had a chance with this parsons preseason trade and i like the point you made about all the guys that have been injured you weren't just naming some dudes you know sometimes on podcast people are just naming dudes and you're like is that a real person or not no you were these are like difference making Tucker Kraft, Elkin Jenkins, and Michael Parsons, like, if we did a list of their 10 best players, I think those three guys would be on the list. Like, the guys that are- They lost three of their five best players in this game.

Yeah, it might be five. You're right. Parsons, Watson, and then you lose Tom as well. In terms of maybe not best, but like most important, I think they, and that was before the craft, Wyatt Jenkins stuff. Like they, it was a devastating day for the Packers. Yeah. And Watson, it's like, when that craft injury happened, I was like, I don't know if they can withstand the craft injury. And then Watson comes in and it's like, I had the greatest ACL repair of all time in modern history. And I look like the player, everyone thought I was going to be early in my career. And so we don't know. To be fair, we don't know with Watson. It didn't look good. It's a chest injury. We'll see what that is. Maybe there's a scenario where their offense can carry them,

but tough, tough day for the Green Bay Packers. And you look around the NFC here, Austin, Rams are the heavy favorites. Seahawks, sneak past Phillip Rivers, Eagles blow out the Raiders, but it's the Raiders. I mean, what is the Pecking Gord? Is it the Rams in their own tier right now? Is it Rams and Seahawks? How do you size this up with this Packers, with the Parsons injury? I think it's easy maybe to argue that the Rams are in their own tier. They're atop the NFC, and I think now that you don't have the two teams in either conference both getting buys, only one team gets the buy. And if the Rams are able to kind of secure that top seat. Maybe they are in a tier by themselves, but I don't know if people saw this late.

Devante Adams kind of comes up with a hamstring injury. I think Sean McVeigh told reporters after the game, it doesn't look good. Anytime you have those soft tissue hamstring injuries, a receiver, it's tough to see him coming back. You have to hope he's healthy by the time they're going into the postseason, getting the buy. Obviously, it's going to be huge there. So I think that is a piece of this, but they're sure in a tier by themselves, but it's going to be, I think, a very interesting playoff, right? On the NFC side and the AFC, how I have the pecking order right now is Rams 1,

Then there's this cluster, I think, of tier two teams, bears, eagles, Seahawks, Packers. I kind of have them in that order. You can probably reshuffle a little bit. Why I like the Bears specifically at the number two spot. I'm head of the Eagles, yes, they beat Philly this year. But I really think it's because the bears can run the ball. And one thing I'm taking away from this season is the teams that can get under center or even just run the ball out of shotgun as well successfully, specifically on early downs.

The Bears are the number two team in rushing success rate. You look at last year, I think there were 31st this time last season. and we've talked about this on this podcast before. When you get these sexy offensive play-calling coaches coming in, everyone kind of looks first at the quarterback. Oh, can he fix Jared Gough? Can he fix Caleb Williams? Can Liam Cohen fix Trevor Lawrence?

I think what gets kind of underrated is can these guys come in and establish a very successful run game? And you've seen that immediately with Ben Johnson, Dandre Swift, Kamenangai, this completely retooled offensive line. And in January, in February, I can bet on the Bears being able to run the football. You haven't been able to say that about the Philadelphia. the Eagles this season. The Seahawks, it's not been there. Green Bay, it's been fine. Top 10. The Bears, I think, are a better running football team. And then after that, the six, seven

that I have in this pecking order is the Niners and then the Bucks, or I guess whoever wins this, like very bad NFC sales. But it's tough, man. I think the Rams, it's their conference to lose, especially with the one seed. But that middle tier of teams, it could swap in and out, depending on how this, how this regular season ends out. It's still bunched up. I mean, you named all those teams. The Niners actually have better odds to come out of the NFC than the Bears right now, according to Fandule. And so it's still one of those things, you know, the Lions lose this game, but I was looking at the Athletics Playoff Simulator. If the Lions win out, Steelers at Vikings at Bears, they have a 95% chance to get in. And the Bears

right now are the two-seat, but they've got the Packers on Saturday night, which I can't wait for that game, at San Francisco and the Lion. So it's almost like this mini-NFC tournament is playing out, because between bears, Packers, Lions, and Niners, only three, one of those teams is not going to make it. Only three of those teams are going to get in because the Seahawks or the Rams are going to take up one of the wild card spots. So a lot, it's like a bunch of teams are eliminated and it's like, okay, on to free agency in the draft and whatever,

but we're still not sure exactly what this field is going to look like in the NFC, which makes it fun. So Rams continue to be impressive. I think they are the favorites, but I'm with you. I can tell you're a little nervous like I am, awesome, because we like to be like this team, you know, they're not that good when we're, all right, well, look at their scoring margin

or look at their EPA or look at their one-score games, but we're going to get burned with some of those takes this year. All of these teams have flaws. All of these teams have flaws. The Rams secondary, I think, is very getable. I think teams have really good receiving for us, good quarterbacks that you're going to pick on that secondary. The Bears defense overall, I think, has struggled this season.

The Eagles, we've all talked about the problems offensive. Seattle still has Darnold, still has a run game that isn't efficient. Packers have all these injuries now. 49ers defensively have had a ton of injuries. That's taking the big step back in the box. Baker Mayfield just hasn't played well for like two months, right? And then you factor in some of the injuries as well. Like I think all of these teams have flaws.

No team is like a juggernaut. And I think with the Bears, you mentioned those three games down the stretch. I think the most important one, I think the most interesting one is outside in Chicago against Detroit in Week 18. I think that's a big opportunity for them to like, hey, we're going to shut down the lines in this spot. Ben Johnson over his former team, and we're going to go into the playoffs with a little bit of momentum here.

And they're the team now that I think like three, four, five weeks ago, specifically because of the defense and like some up and down roller coasterness from Caleb Williams. I was like, I can't be buying this team as a team that wins three, four games in the postseason and actually gets the big dance. I'm actually growing more and more on the side of like, I trust this team. I trust this team to run the football. I think they're getting better. The coaching, I think is up there with the best.

That's what it is. It's like, yeah. I mean, every week. It feels like, all right, Ben Johnson's giving his team an edge over the opponent. So yeah, I'm with you there. I've had kind of a roller coaster ride with them. But now I'm like, I kind of like them. I think I kind of trust the bears here.

All right, let's take a break. We come back. We'll get to some of the other big storylines from week 15. The ringer NFL show is brought to you by Fandul football fans. The best way to game day is on Fandul. Fandul is your home for all your favorite NFL bets from yards to touchdowns to who will win with Fandul any play. can be the play of the game. And Fandul is giving all customers a 25% PBT for the Dolphins

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All right, we are back on the Ringer NFL show. Next big thing that happened, Austin, the Buffalo Bills close the gap on the New England Patriots. to be fair, even after this win, Patriots are still the favorites. They have like a 75% chance to win the AFCEs. They're 11 and 3. The bills are 10 and 4, but the bills battle back from what was it, 21-0, 24-7. Their offense scores touchdowns on five straight drives. I have news for you.

I don't really feel different about the bills now than I did 12 hours ago. I know their offense can be very efficient. I like their offensive line. I like Josh Allen. I like their run game. Most weeks, they're going to go up and down the field. And the flaws that we've seen with them defensively showed up again here. So I think if you're a Bills fan, you're excited.

You're looking at it like, hey, Mahomes isn't going to be in the dance. Joe Burroughs not going to be in the dance. Is this our year? And then you look at your defensive depth chart and you look at your defensive performance in the playoffs most seasons. And you're like, oh my gosh, is that going to betray us once again here? So that's where I'm at with the Bills. You should be excited about this win.

It doesn't really change how I view the Buffalo. Bill. Am I right or am I wrong? No, I don't, I think that some people looking at this game, be like, oh, man, Josh Allen put on the superhero cape again. Like that's, I didn't come away like in the second half specifically. I thought this was more like the Patriots defense is really bad and really struggled in this game. They didn't have Milton Williams.

Bobby Spillane, their linebacker was active, but he didn't play that he did pregame warmups. Apparently he was the first person on the field, but he didn't end up playing in this game. I thought the bills picked on those linebackers specifically in the second half. I know some Patriots fans are kind of upset about some of the penalties in second half. I wanted to go over those really quickly. The third and five in the third quarter, defensive holding against Craig Woodson, clear penalty ends up setting up a touchdown on one of those five direct consecutive touchdown drives. Then you had the third and four, Carlton Davis falls

down, then he gets back up. He hooks Keon Coleman. People don't think it's there. Maybe the contact you could argue doesn't like negatively affect Coleman. I still think it's a penalty. They call it. They end up scoring a touchdown on that drive too. And then the big one, the fourth and three, Khalil Shakir, 37-yarder. They ended up calling it a Shakir catch with defensive pass interference on Marcus. And then, yeah, I forget his last name. Marcus something. But yeah, Marcus Jones.

Marcus Jones. He's turning his head. Maybe there's a pick, whatever. I think that was like the closest one, the most maybe that you could argue either side. But still, they ended up ruling in a catch defense pass fingers. I don't think the penalties, even though they came on clutch situations, two third downs and a fourth down, that wasn't my big takeaway from this and that the refs like screwed them.

The defense just simply was not getting the job done in the interior. They're going to beat up in the run game. Linebackers are getting picked on in coverage. challenge had all day to throw. This Patriots defense is not a pressure defense and neither is the bills, to be fair. But like, if you're coming out of this game as a Patriots fan, it maybe we didn't learn too much about the bills. I think there's still some suspect stuff on the bill's defense. I think they're a break, not bend defense. Like, they give up a ton of explosives. They struggle specifically giving up run explosives. I like that. Did you coin that? I haven't heard that before. I don't know.

You're right. I don't know if I coined it or not. But like, I think they think they think they're touchdowns, but you know, other positions, they might look okay. The other side too, right? You had the pick six against the Bengals last week, some of these big explosive, big, big plays on defense, those havoc plays. But for the Patriots, like, you're coming out of this game,

you're saying, man, our defense really struggling. It wasn't Josh Allen making these superhero plays. It's like us getting beating coverage, us getting beat on the ground game, like their linebackers really struggling. Offensive linemen for the bills, getting up to the second level very easily.

Like, I feel if I'm a Patriots fan, you need Drake May to put on the superhero cape to really be a team that's like going to dominate in the postseason like they have against a very easy schedule all throughout this season. I don't know, man. Like, obviously they have the injuries along the offensive line. No Will Campbell defensively. No Bobby Splain in this game.

No Milton Williams. I think you need a lot more from May. I don't think this was a good May game. And that to me feels like this is another reason why, even though the Patriots have the best record, maybe they are going to end up being the top C. They still have a chance there. They still feel like a year away team, right? Like they still feel like a little young. You're finding this with May. You still, I think, need better weapons for him. You need a healthy offensive line. And the defense, I think, needs a complete retooling specifically in the front seven before you're like, okay, this is a team that can solve problems when Drake May isn't having a phenomenal game.

Because when you look at the second half, I'm sorry, I'm going along here, but the second half specifically for the bills offensively. This was, I think, a pretty ugly performance for the Patriots offense offensively. They started out with a three and out, ugly there. You have the arm punt interception for Drake May. There's another play later in the drive where the next drive where Kyle Williams is coming open on a crosser, but May gets hit in the face right as it's happening. like a lot of this stuff, like a lot of this dysfunction offensively, feels like stuff

that's going to show up against better defenses in the playoffs too. Like if they have to go against the Texans or the Broncos, like these are not going to be easy games for the Patriots. I don't know. I came out of it more like having takeaways on the Patriots side being like, I don't think there are this team that is going to be the top contender in the AFC. I'm with you on the defense. I don't agree on the offense.

I mean, they, what did they run for? 246 yards. I think May's box score is not great, but they, broke off explosive runs. They haven't been able to run the football most of the year. They were able to hear Hunter Henry had a, you know, catchable ball on one of those possessions. I don't know if it's technically a drop or not, but I felt like that's a play he could come down with. And then that last possession, for sure, you would have loved to see May lead a drive right there that puts them in front. I mean, when they got the ball, I thought they were going to move the ball.

I think their offense is going to show up. We'll see where their offensive line is by the time we get around to the playoffs. I don't know that they're a year away. Like I think this was a very evenly matched game between two very evenly matched teams. Like I think both these teams have great shots to get out of the AFC. I think they're both flawed to your point earlier. Every single team is flawed here. I do agree with the defense, though, because the defense, like the stats were good. And then you looked at the quarterbacks they faced.

And you kept waiting. Well, they faced like Josh Allen that one week. And they got a few turnovers. But that doesn't tell us anything. And I thought the defense in this game, that was a little bit more sort of representative of what they might be. Now, I don't know that there are a ton of great offenses they're going to face in the playoffs.

And a team like Houston, that's who they match up with right now. It's just going to be a tough matchup for everybody. I don't know that any offense is confident, like, hey, we're going to go up and down the field against the Texans. So I don't think there's a lot separating these two teams. And if I'm a Patriots fan, I'm like, all right, that was a loss. We had won 10 in a row. But I don't want to, yeah, I don't buy this like, hey, it's house money, especially when

you look at Mahomes being out of it. and, you know, to a lesser extent, Burrow, and maybe Lamar Jackson's, like, sometimes you think it's a house money season, and then you look back 10 years later, and you're like, that was actually our best job to get to the Super Bowl. And so that's kind of where they're at right now with this schedule. So, yeah, I'm not, I'm still kind of in on them as a Super Bowl contender here. It's something that you're going to have to kind of bring into, and I know Steve and Ruiz has had this take before where, like, he's like bad weather games in football actually suck. And it's not football weather when it's rainy and sloppy or kind of snowing and windy and all

that stuff. But like there is something too that like I feel like sometimes you kind of not throw out the game, but some of the Drake May stuff and even the Allen stuff, I think early in the game is a part of the weather. Right. It's windy. It's wet. It's snowing. And it kind of, I think, affected May and Allen at points in this game. I think why I don't, why I feel like I came away kind of less impressed with the offense specifically is I think the offensive line is going to struggle until they get Will Campbell back. I think a lot of the rushing success that they had was on some of these big explosive, including that Henderson one where he goes all the way one way. And it kind of almost like a play you like maybe see one or one or two times a year.

I love those. He reverses the opposite field and Drake Mays out in front and blocking and all that stuff. But like that was the only drive where they really had any success in the second half. And there was that fourth and five late to kind of come back and win this game. They run mesh. They do a pre-snap motion to kind of see if it's man. They see its man. They run mesh.

And no one gets open. It's clogged. It has to bail out the pocket. It's an incomplete. On the third down before that, like I don't know what May was doing. He was trying to put it to Henderson. And like it was like uncatchable to Henderson. and Booty was coming wide open on a crosser underneath.

And like, Booty ends up finishing that play, kind of throwing his hands in the air, being like, why wasn't that to me? Like, I don't know. Like, I think there was some clunkiness to the offense in a high pressure situation outside where, like, May has to be the guy. It's not going to be Mack Hollins.

It's not going to be Keatshan Booty. It's not going to be Stefan Diggs at 45 years old. Like, it's going to have to be, you know, there's another play in this game where I thought May was locking in on Diggs. I think it was a choice route or whatever. He doesn't come open. Then he has to come off. Someone else was open, but the pressure gets there.

Like, this offense doesn't, have a player, I think they can focus the ball through, even though they did have success with that with Diggs in the early parts of the season against easier competition. Like, in the playoffs, it's going to look a lot like Mack Hollins and Stefan Diggs and Kishon Booty and a banged-up offensive line. You're going to feel that, I think, against the Texans, the Bills, the Broncos. I don't know. I think that, I'm not saying, would it shock me if the Patriots end up kind of in this situation where they don't have a playoff win and they kind of get shocked or upset by one of these teams? I don't know. I think that there's going to be a game potentially where they don't have

the best unit in the game. It's going to be the Texans defense. It's going to be the Broncos defense. It'll be Josh Allen and the bills. I don't know. Maybe it's when they go into this next off season, you have to kind of have guys that are legit playmakers on both sides of the ball. I don't really feel that with this team. There's no doubt. I mean, yeah, you look at the roster and this is why I've had Drake May as my MVP because I don't think it's a great situation here. So that's true. I think this may be the worst supporting cast he ever plays with, but there's other circumstances too that might be different in future years. I was just looking statistically, And I know this doesn't tell the whole story.

This was actually an 86 percentile game based on EPA per drive, which is their best of the season. Now, I agree with you. We watch the game. And I feel like if you're facing Josh Allen and that Bill's offense, in the second half, you would have liked a drive or two where you can put them away. That would have been the difference. If you could have got one stop on defense or maybe one more score on offense, you probably win this game. But I don't know.

If you play this game out 10 times, I think maybe you get that more often than not here. So we will say, all right. Last thing here, Austin, the Broncos created separation in the AFC. That was the other big thing that happened in week 15. Now, they didn't clinch the AFC West because the Chargers won, but they are in a great spot with this win over the Packers. 12 and 2, best record in the NFL. They've won 11 straight. Their two losses are by a combined four points.

I mean, they have the profile of a Super Bowl team, even though I've been reluctant to buy it all season long. I watch today. It does look like a Super Bowl team. Bo Nix played great today. Their defense struggled early and then bounce back. I think they have a coaching edge most weeks. And if the road to the Super Bowl goes through Denver and they are the one seed, they got a great shot.

They're the favorites right now, according to Fanduel in the AFC after week 15. So I got to eat my words from earlier this season. And the eye test matched it, honestly, today. I was very impressed with the Denver Broncos in this game. I think I have to submit an official apology to Denver for, and it's, I guess, to Bo Nix and the family, because I think this was the best Bo Nix performance we've ever seen. I think was the best of his career. Some of the stats I think really impressed me, 2.9% inaccurate throw rate, lowest of any game in his career. It felt like he didn't miss a throw all day.

Exactly. And he was on the run. And yeah, they weren't like the easy. They weren't just checkdowns all game. He, to me, I think something that, one thing that I feel like has held me back on kind of, and why I felt like he was holding this Broncos team back specifically in the early parts of the season and boot and rally bow and they had to have all these fourth quarter comebacks was his inaccuracy. I thought he was accurate in this game. I thought the other piece that really impressed me is the stuff that has continued impress me. I think even dating back to the start of this season is what he can do out of structure. Like when he's rolling right and looking downfield, there are guys coming open. He has good chemistry and he's putting the ball in the right

place. I think there are a handful in this one too from the pocket over the top to Sutton. You know, he had that one where he's stringing out, gets it to Troy Franklin for a first down. I thought this was a really impressive Bonix performance. Over the last four weeks, he leaves the league in the EPA per dropback. This is the third best EPA game of his first second best by success rate. And, you know,

I have to mention that he had, you know, I think PFF is going to chart him with three turnoffordy plays. I wrote down the same thing. When the thing comes out tomorrow, he had two to Xavier McKinney and one to Carrington Valentine. And like, that's kind of what you're going to get with him. But I also thought he had a lot of really impressive throws in this one. And, you know, it's a team that I think is middle

the pack in terms of rushing success. and what has helped them, and specifically over the last four weeks, where the offense has looked really good is Bo Nex. Bo Nex is playing very good football, and he has the trust of his coach, a very good coach in that, is always making changes, I think,

to who he wants in the offense and who he wants to be involved. I think Sutton, Franklin, even saw a little Jordan Humphrey today making plays. I think that when you add that in with a defense that is like top five by any metric, this is a team that if they have home field advantage, they have that first round by,

Patrick Mahomes is not in the playoffs. You know, Joe Burrell is not making the playoffs. I don't, we'll see if Lamar Jackson is there. Josh Allen's maybe the scariest quarterback in the AFC, like this is a, you know, if they play, if Buffalo goes to Denver, what are you making that line in the playoffs? Buffalo.

Bill's by one, bills by two. So right now, this site impertictable that does like the betting lines, they have four, the bills fourth in their power rankings, and they still have the Broncos 12th in their power rankings. That's just on a neutral field,

you know, which team would actually be favored here. So yeah, the bills would be favored in that game. It looks like it might be, it will be under a field goal. It looks like in that game. And I think the Broncos would be live in it. And I don't know if I wanted to bet on them. Because I mean, you're going to have to see what Bo Nix and the playoffs looks like in there. I think there is a true thing to like having experience playing in late January and early Feb.

But I think it's, like I said, I'm submitting, I'm submitting my apology to Bo Nix. I thought he played a very good game today, the best of his career. And, you know, people, if you scroll Broncos, Reddit right now, I wanted to read you a couple quotes. Best team in the NFL, Super Bowl bound. Bo Nix is a franchise quarterback, quarterback of the future. When he's seeing everything, he's a top three quarterback in the league. Now, I don't know if I'm there.

I don't know if I'm drinking that blade. But that's the kind of game I think he had in the eyes of Broncos fans. And like, holy shit, we might be extending this guy. This guy might be the quarterback of the future. This guy can be a 10, 11 win quarterback every season when we have Sean Payton, high performing defense. I know they're saying maybe Vance Joseph is going to get some head coaching interviews this offseason, but I think more of that is, you know, credit to the team building. Like, they have

legit pass rushers on both edges. They have a really good defensive tackle in Zach Allen. They got linebackers that fly, safeties that fly, the best corner in the game. And Patrick Sertan, he had his first pick of the season. That was an incredible interception. Insane. Insane. That flipped the game. You know, he had like, like, they're down at that point. It's a downfield shot. He makes an incredible interception. Christian Watson has the injury. And then to your point, the Broncos ensuing drive. I'm watching that going, all right, are they going to capitalize? It wasn't. Oh, Sean Payton's in his bag, dialing it up.

It was actually Bo Nix was creating on that drive. It has to be one of his best drives as an NFL quarterback because he took them right down the field with some high degree of difficulty stuff, some creation stuff, some second reaction stuff, and they scored there. So I'm with you. When you mentioned the Bill's Broncos thing, it's like, you know, take away the quarterbacks and just do roster two to 53. You know, I don't, I shouldn't say it's not close, but I certainly the Broncos are the more

talented team, I think, overall. And you would just be saying, do I want to bet against Josh Allen in this spot or not? But yeah, I thought, and you're right, it was, it was a little un-Nicks type game because he usually doesn't have, you know, he's been pretty good with the turnover-worthy place since early in the season. And he had a few here. But he also was being aggressive. And they go for that fourth and three.

And they're like, throw it downfield, you know, to Corton Sutton on the left sideline there. And he makes that throw. So, yeah, I understand the Redditors. They should be excited about this team. If Bo Nix, dialing it up, 15, 20 plus yards downfield

in a one-on-one situation, vertical lead throws, like those kind of the throws we saw to sudden, if he's hitting those, right? And they're not uncatchable like they have a lot of the times

this season, like that's a Super Bowl competitive team, right? Like, they have a legit top five defense in the league, maybe top three. And, you know, the Texans are very good,

the Browns are very good. You know, all, you know, Seahawks are great. And if, like I said, if Nix is limiting the inaccuracy downfield,

and you have this offensive line, He's the fourth least pressured quarterback in the NFL. Like now you saw in some of this game, like they're able to get pressure. Parsons specifically getting pressure before he gets hurt. But then he's making plays out of structure. I love how square he is to the line scrimmage. He's always looking downfield. And these receivers are getting better at coming back to the football, trying to figure out with him.

I don't know, man. Like I think it's a credit to Sean Payton and I think how he sees skill group specifically. I think somehow he's figuring out how to make Troy Franklin, Sutton, Little Jordan Humphrey, Ingram, these guys work. And Knicks, I think, as well, is just like getting better as the season progresses. This last month, like I said, best in the NFL by EPA for dropback. Some of that's the competition, but he played a very good Green Bay Packers team, a team that a lot of people thought could be winning the Super Bowl going into this game. So I don't know, man.

I feel like I'm kind of eating Crow a little bit on hating Bo Nicks. And I'm actually on board with him being a team that, like, or him leading the Broncos to, you know, deep postseason success. They've got a great chance. No doubt. They're just a tough team to play. I think they're very hard to blow out with this kind of their style of play as well in the past two years would reflect that. I mean, they almost have no losses by more than seven points.

So they're in it. I've been wrong about them. So you could add my name there to the bottom of that apology letter as well, Austin, because they have a chance to get to the Super Bowl. Put mine like a little smaller fine. You know, I don't need to take the heat as much. All right, his name is Austin Gale. Well, no hurry up today. We had too much to get to with all these topics. What a week 15. It was. Thank you to Brian Waters for producing tonight. Kiera Givens on social and additional production supervision by Connor and Evans and Arjuna Rom Gopal. There's so much we didn't get to. That's why we do shows every day.

So we will get to more of it, including the Patrick Mahomes injury and everything else later this week. Thanks for listening. We'll talk to you tomorrow on the Ringer NFL show. Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem. Call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-HELP.com. Call 1-888-7-8-9-7-77 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit MDGamblinghelp.org in Maryland.

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