The Ringer NFL Show - Lombardi’s Week 13 Reactions | GM Street (Ep. 358)

Episode Date: December 4, 2018

The Eagles keep their playoff hopes alive, the Chargers survive in Pittsburgh, and the Packers show Mike McCarthy the door. Plus: this week’s awards. Hosts: Michael Lombardi and Tate Frazier Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey guys, it's Liz Kelly. Throughout the month of December, the Ringer staff will be releasing their year-end reviews covering the best and worst of 2018 in sports, TV, movies, music, and more. This week on the site, you can read Chris Ryan and Alison Herman on the best TV shows of 2018, and Chase Serrano and Rob Harvilla on the best albums of the year. You can check it all out on The Ringer.com. It's part of the Ringer Podcast Network. It is December 4th, and I am joined by the great Michael Lombardi.

Lombardi, how you doing? It is week 13. We made it, Tate Fraser. I'm doing great. Could be better. I mean, the city of brotherly love comes off a big win last night. Everything's good back here. And speaking of Monday Night Football, we got the Eagles. They get their first back-to-back wins of the season coming off the Super Bowl, obviously, last year. A fun staff for you, Lombardi. The Eagles are undefeated when Carson Went scores on the opening drive of the game. This one was a back-and-forth affair. Colt McCoy, of course, goes down early in this one, leading to Mark Sanchez quarterbacking for the first time since 2016, 36 net yards in the second. and half under Sanchez's guidance. Didn't go so well for Washington, but good news for Eagles fans.

They are in the playoff hunt yet again. What are your first thoughts for Monday night football last night? I wasn't sure it was going to be a good game. I like the Eagles to win big in that game because when you really break it down, Tate Frazier, the Redskins in the last five weeks, you know, they're one and they're going into that game. They were one and three. They were horrible on third down.

They've turned the ball over. I mean, everybody talks about their injuries in Washington like it's an excuse, you know? And they had them last year. when you have injuries two years in a row like at some point when does somebody say wait a minute we're doing something wrong with our training program we laughed all summer about j gruden saying he didn't want to get anybody hurt you know he didn't really want to get anybody

hurt and look i the redskins are to me really a team that is no details are ever crossed off the players kind of run the program down there i mean Josh norman does whatever he wants to do you know it's to me chaos and and they have no attention of detail so, as Belichick would often say, they get what they deserve. And again, if this sounds familiar, the Redskins in this game, they lost both of their guards on the offensive line. And if you feel like you've seen that headline before, if

you're living in the Twilight Zone, you were correct. That is the second time this season that they have lost both their starting guards in a game. So not only did they lose their starters, they now lost their replacements. And as you get down to the third level of guards, I mean, that offensive line with Mark Sanchez under center, that seems like a recipe for disaster for the most part moving forward. And for all the excitement early in the season about Washington making a push for the NFC East, last night was a telltale sign that that may be a dream that will never be actualized at this point.

No, and I think this is another point to understand. The Redskins under Jay Gruden are 8 and 9 in the month of December. Okay, that's his career record in December's 8 and 9. He's converted only 66 out of 200 third downs in those 17 games. And they've turned the ball over 26 times. okay so for me like as bad as it's been for the Redskins typically December hasn't been very kind to Jay and instead of Jay worried about in the summertime worrying about how his team is going to avoid injuries he might want to

reconsider thinking about how could his team get better in the month of December I mean they average 6.2 3 yards this is before everything of yards per attempt in the month of December I mean it's just horrendous and so in the last five games they can't do anything. So to me, this is a bigger problem. It goes to their personnel. It goes to their training. They're conditioning. I mean, you could just see last night. They're in no condition. And it just shows up. So, I mean, look, I think on Philadelphia's part, they have a tough schedule going ahead, Tate Fraser. I mean, you know, what they got, they got to go to Dallas this week. I know they control their own destiny. They got to go to Dallas. They got to win in Dallas. And then they

get rewarded by going to Dallas. They have another road trip to go to Los Angeles and play the Rams who would then be coming off a two-game road trip, they come back, and then they play, and then they've got to come back and play Houston at home, and then they end up with Washington down in D.C. So, I mean, if the Eagles make it and they're able to go 10 and 6, which put them in, it's going to be a well-earned get in. There's no gimmie putts on the Eagles schedule. Yeah, and if you remember last year, obviously the Carson Wins game was against the Los Angeles Rams coming off a win in Seattle. And so that may bring back some not-so-great memories for Eagles fans. And if they're able to get over to the hump there, that'll be

something to look forward to. I do want to point out the one bright spot on the Redskins, and that is the one personnel guy that did decide to sign this off season that has worked out, at least in some capacity, and that is AP AD, Adrian Peterson, of course. He goes for a 90-yard touchdown run in this game, but to give the Washington a 10-7 lead early on, and he tied Jim Brown for the fifth-most career rushing touchdowns in NFL history. So a little shout-out to AP-A-D, whatever you want to call him. And he deserves it. I mean, I've really, written him off and that run, he ate his words. You know, you had to be watching that run thinking, how come he can outrun everybody and DJ Moore can't? You know? Yep. Yeah. Like,

remember when DJ Moore caught that pass up in Detroit and he got caught from behind and he ran out of gas? I mean, that was a telling run out of gas play. That tells you that team must not be in very good shape. And then they go down to Tampa and get their asses drill. We'll talk about that later. But with the remarkable thing last night, Tate Fraser, is Adrian Peterson has a 90-yard run and he still doesn't rush for 100 yards. Like, that's got to be a world record. He then has eight carries for eight yards the remaining time. And it's remarkable.

Like, I can't wait for in-game betting to come into the NFL because if you're watching that game at home and it's at halftime, it's 14 to 3, you could have probably gotten decent odds to say, there's, you know, the Redskins might win the game. When, if you really understand football, there was no fucking chance the Redskins could. They could have played that game for another, 20 years in the Redskins weren't going to win.

I mean, you just know it. They gained 53 yards in the second half, right? Yeah, under Mark Sanchez's guidance, of course, and I will say it kind of reminded me of a Chris Johnson stat line from back in the day where he would have one run, you know, 85-yard run, whatever it may be, and then the rest of the game, you know, it's eight runs for 21 yards or whatever it ended up being. I would say that the symbolism is all there for Adrian Peterson,

kind of like the season of the Redskins, you know, they come out hot, you know, hitting people in the mouth, everyone gets very excited, and then from there, it's one-yard runs on eight attempts, and you don't even get to 100 yards. You don't even get to the mark that you wanted to get to and what you set out to do from the start of the season. So symbolism. We get it on Monday Night Football for the first time this season for Washington,

and we get to see it up close and personal. As always, we do the five takeaways of the week, and the first one that I want to get to Lombardi this week. It was a shootout with the Steelers and Phillip Rivers. The Steelers were up early in this one. I mean, they should have probably been up 23 to zero at halftime. They were averaging more than 1.4 yards per play than the Chargers at that point in the game. But for the first time and a long time, it seemed like luck was on the side of the Los Angeles Chargers.

And they rally back in Philip Rivers ties a record set by Peyton Manning seven times. He has come back from 16 plus points in a game and has come back and won that game. Again, that is a record set by Peyton Manning. Philip Rivers ties that record. And in this one, Lombardi, I mean, we just saw the Chargers, despite everything, despite all the off-sides, despite all the penalties, despite all the balls that got, you know, tipped up in the air, they somehow found a way to win a game against nine and three. Really, you've got to give him credit.

Look, nobody's harder on Anthony Lynn than I am. I mean, I am the leader in the clubhouse on being too hard on the dude. But, you know, look, he doesn't have Melvin Gordon. And I think the move that he made just playing Justin Jackson, the kid from Northwestern, seventh rounder late in the second half, you know, he gave him eight carries for 63 yards. That's Steeler team now. When you go back and watch that game,

you got to think about their conditioning. They were not in really good shape. They wore down. And it wasn't like they played a lot of defense. I mean, they only played 29 minutes of defense, but they played so much of it in the second half that they got tired. I mean, the chiefs, the Chargers had the ball for 16 minutes in the second half. And so they were able to dominate the second half.

And it really wore down Pittsburgh. And then Jackson was able to take some runs. He ran the ball for, like I said, 63 yards. They make that great play. Keenan Allen makes that play in the end zone, which should have been picked off. And they avoided losing a game. They won with their special teams play. King takes the punt back for 73 yards.

You got to take your hat off to them. I mean, they really did a great job. And I think, look, the Steelers are incapable. It's a fascinating dichotomy in Pittsburgh. They fire all these coaches because they want to be more physical and run the ball. And they have stat sheets that come out. They have the lead and they've got 17 carries. Connor had 15 and then Samuels had two.

And they put the ball 45 more times in Ben's hands, throws an interception, you know, they're taking the risk. They can't convert on some third downs in the second half. And, you know, there they are. And so to me, they still don't understand how to pace games. They really don't. And now, you know, they're barely hanging on to the divisional lead there in the AFC North.

And the big news that came out of this game, obviously, was the injury to James Connor. You mentioned Jalen Samuel was out of NC State comes into the game. And the one possession that Connor was out on, Samuels goes down and scores a touchdown, former NC State product doing that to a fellow NC State product with Philip Rivers. It's a nice little back and forth there. But Connor goes down. He grabs his leg late in the fourth, like I said, and he had to lead the game. And there's a chance now with the Ravens on a nice little win streak and the Steelers having to play without Connor.

I mean, is there a world in which they could get, you know, maybe lose their hold on that division and not get that top seat that they expect to get after they played so well, you know, in the middle of the season? Baltimore's got a tough schedule. I mean, Baltimore travels to Kansas City. They still have to play. They've got to go to Los Angeles and play the Chargers, Baltimore. So they've got a tough schedule.

They've got to play Tampa. I mean, they've got Tampa after Kansas City. Then they go to the Chargers, they play the Brown. So, you know, I could see them, you know, if they're lucky to go three and one in those four, that gets them to 10 and 6 and they get in. I don't know if they can win the division. I think Pittsburgh has the better chance. I think Baltimore's got to be playing for a wild card here.

But, I mean, Pittsburgh keeps stubbing their toe at home. It keeps stubbing their toe at home when they shouldn't. I think their conditioning is a problem. I think they got war down in that game. And I think the fact that they're not able to control the pace of the game affects them. And, you know, look, their special teams have never been great. I think they've done a great job of adjusting their defense. But, you know, when Rivers gets going like he did, man, it's a, that was an impressive second half by Philip.

Yeah, Phil Rivers goes 13 for 16, 152 yards and a touchdown following the intermission. just made that one mistake that you mentioned, which ended up leading to a Keenan Allen touchdown. He throws it up and two Steelers guys collide into one each other. Ball pops in the air in Keenan Allen. Presence of mine, as they like to say in the industry, catches that ball. Has 14 catches on the game,

gets them down into field goal range. And that's what I want to. You talk about stubbing your toe. We have three straight off sides at the end of this game. Michael Badgley, the rookie kicker for the Chargers, comes out. The first off sides, you know, gets caught on pit. And, of course, they miss left.

Badgeley missed the kick to the left. so that would have left him tied and go to overtime. The next one gets blocked. You know, all the Steelers fans are going crazy. Again, off sides. The third attempt, third time's the charm. He kicks it right through the uprights. But again, even if he did miss this one,

the Steelers were off sides on the third attempt. So all three times they get off sides on the play. They give the charge of the team that has, you know, has all the demons in the world about missing late game kicks to win games. They get three shots at it. They finally, Badgley finally gets it through the uprights. They get the win. And it seemed like the monkey a little bit was off their back.

I mean, there was so much relief on that sideline for a team, you know, under Anthony Lynn that has seen so many games. I mean, dating back to even last year with Young Wicu is their kicker, you know, and how far we've gone, you know, through Sturdis and all these other guys. They've had so many moments where it just felt like things were not going to go their way. And for the first time, it finally did on the road in Pittsburgh. Look, we can say whatever we want. And I, like I said, I'm the leader in the clubhouse taking shots of the Chargers. But the reality here is they've won in Seattle. They've won in Pittsburgh.

Those are two hard places to win. They're a good team. They'll play Kansas City as well as anybody. This team's got to be somebody you reckon with on the road, and you just hope they don't mess it up. You hope their kicker doesn't mess it up. You hope limb doesn't mess it up. But they're really good.

And to overcome the injury to Melvin Gordon this week and still be able to go back and beat a really good Pittsburgh team and outscore them by 24 to 7 in the second half. I think you take your hat off to him, Tate Frazier. And let's talk about a situation where we cannot tip our cap, and that is the decision in Green Bay to end the coaching tenure for Mike McCarthy. You wrote a nice piece on the athletic, and I thought it was a nice little summation of all things that were going on there in Green Bay. You used the quote, old rules don't apply.

And in Green Bay, we've seen so many times where they have sort of followed chorus and just let things play out. They're not going to fire a coach midseason. This was a decision that was made by Packers President Mark Murphy decides to fire McCarthy with four games left in the season. Only second time they've done that in franchise history. McCarthy, of course, playoffs 9 and 13. seasons with the Packers, also the Super Bowl eight years ago. But this was the fewest wins through 12 games since 2006 for the Packers, and now they are moving on. Aaron Rogers had some nice things to say about McCarthy, despite a lot of people thinking there was a rift between the two.

We can get into that a little bit more. But first off, your thoughts on McCarthy and a decision for the Packers to get rid of him. Look, I think that really it came down to very simply this. I think that McCarthy's represented by Trace Armstrong. And I think that the Packers have interest in Josh McDaniels, this is also represented by, Trace Armstrong. I think the Packers have interested in some college coaches who also may in fact be interested in Trace Armstrong. And I think losing at home to the Arizona Cardinals when you're a 14-point favorite, I think Mark Murphy made the decision that you know what, I'm going to do this at the end of the year. Why should I wait? Now, I will say, you know, had he had they made the kick and, you know, had Crosby made some of the kicks in earlier in the season or he made the kick against Arizona, you know, would he have waited probably? and he would have given the guy a chance to play it out. But this divorce was going to happen.

I mean, this was going to occur because everybody had every Packer fan that you talk to and the great Vince Lombardi who lives here in Ocean City, my cousin, who's the biggest Packer fan of all time. He's been screaming for McCarthy's head for four years. I mean, any Packer fan who watches this Packer team play on a continual basis wanted McCarthy fire. I mean, his decision to go for it on Fourth down or not to go for it on Fourth down in Seattle. If you go back to that Seattle playoff game, a chance that he would have played the Patriots in the Super Bowl. You know, I mean, all these things.

And I know people say Mike won a Super Bowl. And yeah, he did. And certainly it's a hard thing to accomplish. He got in as a wild card that year. And they were able to run the table, got hot, played against that bear team when Jay Cutler got hurt. So there were some situations that happened that really worked in his favor. And he deserves it. But this performance, the last three or four years, especially when you hear players come out and say, we run the same place.

I mean, everybody knows they run the same play. But what I wrote Tate Fraser, and I think people need to pay attention to especially Packer fans, is that their drafts have not been very good. Their player talent level on that team is not very good. This is not a job. You hire Josh McDaniels or some offensive guru, and he just sprinkles his pixie ducks over the Steelers in Lambeau Field, and they turn this thing around. I think it's a dangerous job because you've got to play to the elements.

You're going to play at least eight games in bad weather. or some form of cold weather, not eight total. You should have September as a ninth month. But, you know, the meaningful games in December and January are going to be outdoors and are going to be in really bad weather. So your team has to be able to play right-handed and left-handed. You can't hire, you can't play a Big 12 game up there. You're going to have to have a balanced team that can play on any field like New England

can do. And you're going to have to be able to develop talent around this player. And you're going to have to be able to get a better defense. at least a complimentary defense. And I think these are the challenges that lie ahead for them. And the Packers in this game against the Cardinals, they average just 4.4 yards per play. As the Cardinals team, obviously we saw last week that lost by 35 points

and has struggled on defense throughout the season. But somehow in this game, they were able to get some pressure on Rogers. And Rogers, I mean, he goes 31 for 50 in this one, 233 yards in a touchdown. But there were some times in this game where, you know, he had St. Brown open, missed him on a touchdown. He had a pass where he had Devante Adams was a touchdown. open, threw it over his head. He had an interception dropped in the third quarter. And then his sole touchdown was on a fourth and forward conversion to Adams after a nice

punt return early in the game. And when you kind of look at the situation here, I mean, Aaron Rogers after the game when they asked him about McCarthy, he says it was all conjecture with a lot of people pointing to some frustration on his part. I thought it was interesting, Jeff Saturday, who was a center there in Green Bay after his time with the Colts. You know, more early on in Rogers' career, he said that, you know, there was a lot of times in the huddle. And again, this is, you know, coming from a guy that was in the locker room who was there, seeing how things were going, where Roger as a young guy, Rogers as a young guy, you know, he was frustrated with the lack of creativity on offense. He said there were a couple times in

the huddle where Rogers would get calls from the sideline for McCarthy. He would roll his eyes. And, you know, he said he was a young guy, so he just, you know, continued to do what was called, but you could see his frustration. And he said that, you know, just being in the building, he could see a ripple effect on some of those younger guys under Rogers where if your quarterback who is one of the greatest quarterbacks we've seen in the 21st century is rolling his eyes and, you know, shrugging his shoulders and, you know, showing that frustration, you know, as fickle as it may be, it's hard to get over that. And you talked about a guy coming in being an offensive guru. Not only do you have to be a guy who knows how to build out an offense, but you also have to deal with, you know, having a prime time, you know, PTP or as Dick Vitell would say, with Aaron Rogers. And you have to appease what he wants to do on the field as well, not only run your offense. Yeah, no doubt. I mean, look, Tate Frazier, this is the divorce that had to happen. I mean, the offense was generic. I mean, everybody knows the plays. I mean, everybody knows what they run. They really don't run very much. They haven't run jet sweeps. They really don't do anything that challenges the defense. And he runs out of plays midway through the third quarter. People get a read on them. And it's challenging. And it puts the game right on Aaron Rogers's shoulders and he's got to carry the team. And their defense isn't good enough. I mean, their defense isn't good enough. I mean, they couldn't stop Arizona when it counted third and 23. They couldn't stop him on that play. I mean, kidding me.

And so, look, I think Mike needs a divorce as much as Aaron Rogers needs a divorce. I think sometimes you just need to go somewhere else and try to start over. I just don't know. Maybe he gets the Cleveland job. Maybe he doesn't. I think there's going to be a lot of people think it's automatic. He gets a job right away. But I think the more of the analytical people that are in charge of front offices will not be in favor of McCarthy as their coach.

I think it's going to be a little challenging for him. going to have to reinvent himself a little bit. And I'm not sure it's going to be just autumn. We've got to hire Mike McCarthy because he's got 138 wins. I don't think it's going to be as easy as that because I think people look at those 138 wins and say, wait a minute, if he don't have Aaron Rogers, what is his one loss record? And remember, go back to when he got the job. He got the job in San Francisco. The offense in San Francisco was in the bottom third of the NFL.

I'm not knocking. I'm not killing Mike. I'm just saying facts. So, you know, he's been able to go there and have great quarterbacks win one super. Ball as the sixth seed, which isn't really very good. So I think it's a challenge. And I think it's going to be hard for him. Could he get the job in Cleveland?

Because John Dorsey knows him, maybe. But if they have an analytical department in Cleveland and Paul DiPedesto has the owner's ear, he's going to be screaming, we can't hire him because he doesn't do anything analytically that makes sense. Well, I mean, the good news is he does have a nice sales pitch, right? He can go into that room with Dorsey and say, I have 135 more wins than Hugh Jackson. No doubt. He wins that one.

I do want to point out one more thing here in this game just for the Cardinals aspect. Rosen had a tough day, but he did make some clutch throws late in this one to help them get the win. Mason Crosby, as you mentioned, wide left from 49 yards, ending the hopes for Green Bay. And if you are the Packers and you're moving on from your head coach and you only have four games left, is it time to shut down Rogers. Do we see that happen? No, I don't think you could shut down Rogers at all. You've got to keep playing.

Murphy came out the press conference says that Philbilt's got a chance to be the head coach. So, I mean, he expects to win. Look, Mark Murphy is the interesting character in this. And that's really what my piece was about. Murphy has seized control of this. This is much like when Uncle Jr. took over the Sopranos. You know, when Jackie Appreel dies, you know, they're wondering who's going to be the boss. And they gave it to Uncle Jr.

And the next thing we see is Mikey Palmeese coming in and breaking up car games and saying, hey, look, you know, old rules don't apply. That's Murphy. Old rules don't apply anymore up in Green Bay. there was a time from 1959 in Green Bay that the head coach back then Lombardi had complete control of the organization. Then they shifted into the GM structure. GM controls the coach, GM controls the players, GM controls the draft, the coach coaches the team. Okay, that that dynamic went on. They were so sold on that dynamic that even when they fired Tom Bratz and Lindy infante, when they had that dynamic going, they replaced it with Ron Wolf and Wolf hired HomeGrim.

And then Wolf left and then obviously Ted Thompson came in. So this dynamic has always been in place. Now, Mike Sherman had a period where he controlled it. He controlled the personnel. And then I think they gave it. Then it went to, I think when Ron left, Sherman took it over. But then it went right back to Thompson and he took it over. This is the first time since I was born that the Packers are going to have a president of the team

that everybody reports to him. That's really never been the case. And I know that Murphy's telling people, look, I don't mess with Guticus' personnel decisions, but he's operating this team as if he's still the athletic director at Northwestern. He wants everybody to report to him, and he's going to have final say on who the coach is. And so that's going to create a dynamic,

and eventually he's going to have to see how it all plays out. Is that something Josh McDaniels would want? I don't know. That's an interesting dynamic. Josh McDaniels thought when he went to San Francisco, perhaps he would take Goudicus with him as his personnel director. So they kind of know each other. So there's a relationship there. However, that being said, you know, is Murphy going to allow Josh McDaniels to come in and run the Patriot way?

Is he going to allow him to come in and establish exactly what he wants up there? And does Goudicus understand what that is? There's a lot of moving pieces here. And the trigger here is that the guy that's hiring you isn't the guy you're willing. working side by side with. And you talk about moving pieces. I do want to, I'm going to bring up two things when talking about filling this vacancy up there. First off, Josh McDaniels. Is there any sort of lingering effect? We saw him go to Indianapolis last year. We all remember this. He agrees to take the job in principle. And then he backs out at the last minute. We thought, and when we discussed

on this podcast, we thought there may be some sort of effect there where teams may not want to bring him in and do the interviews and offer him a job knowing that, you know, there is a chance that he would back out last minute like what he did with Indianapolis. Is there no, there's no holdover from that at all with him getting interviews with any of these teams? No one really cares about that. I think there's going to be some holdover. I think you got to be concerned that will he actually leave. You know, I think that there's probably, I'm sure Robert Kraft, the owner of the Patriots, is probably saying, look, you know, I gave you this huge raise. I don't expect you to take

the first job. I didn't pay you this huge raise for one year. You know, so I think that conversation is going to take place. I mean, Kraft's not usually giving out of money just because he likes to give away money. So, I think there's more of this. There's a lot of moving parts. Plus, how do you know he's really going to come? How do you know unless you get him signed to a contract? He's really going to take the job.

Green Bay is not for everybody. I mean, it's up there and it's the frozen tundra. You know, he's got four young kids. Could they live up there? I know it's the Midwest, but it's the mid-mid, it's up in the Midwest, you know? And so it's not exactly Boston and all that. So I think there's a lot of moving pieces. Who gets it?

I mean, say John Harbaugh gets fired. Tate Fraser, you know, wouldn't you want to talk to John Harba? I think the best thing that you can do right now, if you're Mark Murphy, is not limit yourself to just finding somebody to make Aaron Rogers happy. You need to find somebody to make the Green Bay Packers happy. You need to find somebody to come in there and build the team and find the solution after Rogers retires.

That should be the number one thing on your agenda is we're going to find a replacement for Aaron Rogers in the next four years. And the coach who's going to help us find them is going to be the coach who's going to coach them 10 years from now. That to me is the agenda. And you mentioned retiring and you mentioned Trace Armstrong and you mentioned clients that would be interested in the job. And I can't help but put two and two together here, Lombardi, and ask you the question. Urban Meyer decided to step down from Ohio State.

He said he is going to retire at the ripe age of 54 years old. And now we're in a situation he is a client of Trace Armstrong, as you said. And Trace Armstrong is a guy that's going to be involved in this process. Is there a world in which Urban Meyer can get away with what he did before when he left Florida where he steps down, leaves the job, and then somehow ends up falling into his lap at even better job. And is there a world in which Urban Meyer takes the Meyer family to Green Bay and becomes the offensive coach, and becomes the head coach for Aaron Rogers moving forward for the Green Bay Packers?

Is that far-fetched? I think Urban's got to get himself healthy first. I think he's got to get himself healthy. All right, Lombardi, before we move on to more takeaways from week 13, let's take a quick break. What do you wish for most this holiday? If you're like me, you want all Ws for your favorite NFL team. Unfortunately, even Santa can't make that happen,

but the Yahoo Sports Mobile app can make it so you can watch those games and more right on your phone. In fact, with the Yahoo Sports mobile app, you can watch live, local, and primetime NFL games during the holidays and all season long. Never miss big matchups or your favorite team in action. What are you waiting for? Download the Yahoo Sports mobile app

and may all your football wishes come true unless, of course, your team is playing against the Panthers. Today's episode is brought to you also by Dark Sacred Night, the new number one bestseller from author Michael Connolly. Veteran Detective Harry Bosch partners with Renee Ballard who works the LAPD's Nightbeat to solve the brutal murder of a teen runaway. The case unfolds with a furious momentum, and according to Wall Street Journal, Dark Sacred Night is one of the best and most affecting Bosch novels since Connolly began.

Dark Sacred Night is Connolly's 21st Harry Bosch novel, as well as his second novel to feature Detective Renee Ballard, who first appeared in last summer's bestseller The Late Show. Titus Wellifer, the star of Amazon's hit TV drama Bosch, reads the Audible Book edition of Dark Sacred Night with an appearance from actress Christine Lakin as well. Don't miss the novel that the Washington Post calls darkly brilliant. Listen to the audiobook or pick up your copy of Dark Sacred Night from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or wherever you get your books. Go to M-I-C-H-A-E-L-L-L-L-Y.com, Michael Connolly.com, to learn more. back to GM Street. Let's talk about a team that we both enjoy watching,

and especially for our boy Ferris Bueller, a guy who was a star on this program, and he was a star in this game, and I like to tab it Ferris finds a way. OBJ, first player since 1924, Lombardi, to have multiple games in a season with a passing and a receiving touchdown. He does it in this one.

Through a 49-yard touchdown to Russell Shepard in this one. It was a jump pass, a nice little hat-tip to Tebow there. And he also gets three and nine targets for 35 yards. and a nice touchdown on a desperation he from Eli Manning on fourth down. Tariq Cohen was great in this game. He has 12 catches for 156 receiving yards. Also had the game-tying touchdown to send it into overtime.

But regardless, despite Eli looking lifeless, the Giants were able to get a win here and get some good spirits. And Saquan Barkley again shows that he is a force in the league. It's one of those games where even if you're an Eli Manning fan, I think this is the game that all the people that defended not drafted a quarterback, have to look at and say, you know what, if this team had a goddamn quarterback, we could be really good. We could win the East.

Not that they're any good on defense. I mean, look, when you keep getting beat by the wheel route when Tariq Cohen's in the backfield, there's something wrong with your ass. Like at some point, like, we're checking out. When the back's in the, in that spot and you're in Met, you got to have a, you have to have a check for it. Like, we're not going to get beat on the wheel again. And of course, the final two drives, they got beat on wheels twice.

That's besides the other point. But look, I give the Giants credit. I give them a ton of credit here. because for everything that happened in that game, having that 10-point lead disappeared with two minutes to go in the game, they fought back, they were resilient. They gave up a fourth down in the overtime, and they held them back on the other fourth down. So I think it was a great, great effort by them. And if you're the Bears, you've got to say to yourself, look, one of the few games we didn't play from in front.

You know, our defense is good, but it's a complementary defense. It performs best when we can rush and play from ahead. We couldn't do that. We had to play from behind in this game, and it cost us. and Chase Daniels made too many mistakes. I said on betting across America when I did the show in the morning, look, the only way the Bears lose this game is they turn a damn thing over. First play the game, they turned a damn thing over.

You know, they gave up 30 points. And, you know, you're not going to be good enough to win. They say, well, if Mitchell would have been there, they would have been better, probably would have been. But the Bears have to prove they can be really good on the road. I think that's the challenge for the Bears is how good can they be on the road? We know they're good at home. How good are they on the road?

And you mentioned Alec Ogletree, we should point out, I mean, the second interception especially that he pulled down with one hand, that was an OBJ play himself. I mean, Chase Daniel looked like he had a man streaking down the middle of the field. That was a touchdown. That was a touchdown. All I do is lob it over him, take Frazier. He could have floated it up. I think Trubisky would have done that, but Chase Daniel didn't even see Ogletree,

and that was one of those plays where you just see a defensive player do something like that. And, you know, that is a highlight to say the least, and it was an unbelievable play. And Chase Daniel, I mean, he could see the frustration on his face when it happened. And the question I have for you, so Cohen, you know, they do the little trick play at the end. Cohen throws the pass to Anthony Miller, barely gets through the hands of Landon Collins, who, you know, the ball, almost the way Cohen threw it, he was fading off to his right. And the ball kind of spun to the right and got, you know, underneath the hands of Landon Collins. But they're down one point in that game. They're on the road.

They had made this big comeback. If you're Matt Nagy, you talked about, you know, to playing the percentages, should he have tried to go for two there and go for the win? Or, you know, sort of like what Carolina did in Detroit with Ron Rivera. Or, you know, do you sit on that and go to overtime and just think your defense can hold Sequin Barclay, even though obviously they weren't able to do that. Watching Eli play in the game, I would have kicked because, look, he was playing horrible. And unless something really bad happened, there was no way he was really going to beat you. I mean, you know, Barclay was a really is a good player.

You know he could beat you. But the way Eli was playing, there was as good of a chance that he was going to turn a damn thing over to you as he was giving up any point. So I think Matt did the right thing. I think the longer the game went, the better chance the Bears had to win. Obviously, that proved to be wrong. And it was an interesting situation after the game. I mean, people asked Nagy about it.

He said it wasn't even a thought. They'd obviously just ran that trick play there. So do you think they run that same play call there at the end of the game with three seconds left with the trick play to Cohen if Trubisky's in the game? Do you think they trust him to make a pass? You think so? I think it was, I think in that situation, I think, in that situation, I think, Treyfraiser, what I think happens is that they ran, they ran what they call their best play. You know, their best two-point play, that was their best two-point play.

And I think that's what you got to do. Understandable. Understandable. I found it interesting. A lot of people thought that the Chase Daniel Rinkle was the reason why they did not give him the ball in that situation. And I thought Nagy just was trying to make a creative play happen. And of course, it worked despite them losing.

But congratulations to the Giants and OBJ and Ferris, because it was a fun game to watch them figure it out, despite him almost having a Cam Newton moment where he didn't die for the on-side kick. a lot of people probably would have been up in arms if things didn't play out the way they did. That was the worst play of it I've ever seen. I mean, unbelievable. I think, you know, the rules and the new rules on the old side kick make it pretty hard not to get the ball if you're the receiving team. And that was one of those situations where they basically let them have the ball there.

Let's get to another team that is struggling. They're on a complete skid at this point. They cannot stop any offense in the NFL, it seems like. And Cam Newton was under duress to say the least in this one. Buccaneers tallied four sacks in this game. It felt like it was more like 12 sacks in this game. Cam Newman was getting hit all over the place. Throws four picks in this one.

Even went down with a shoulder injury late in this one. Ron Rivera came out on Monday, said that he will assume the responsibility of defensive play calling moving forward. They had some firings on the staff. They're going to keep Eric Washington on as the defensive coordinator, but now Rivera will be officially in charge of calling plays. Looking at this Carolina team, losing four straight a team that at one point, look, you know, a sure-fire team to make the playoffs and now they are reeling, to say the least. What is the first thing that jumps out to you about this Carolina Panthers team? And I know that they've been such a disappointment to both of us watching them play. And obviously,

just from a defensive standpoint, they have really, you know, taking a step back in the secondary. I mean, they're horrible on the road defensively, take phrase. They can't cover anybody. I mean, the bucks carved them up. And, you know, I think James Winston really is proven me wrong in the sense that he's playing much better. He's controlling the football. he's making better throws, better decisions. He's running with the football when he has an opportunity. I mean, that game alone, he had five carries for 48 yards. They didn't do a good enough job spying on him.

I think the concern you have as a Panther fan is, is things go wrong at the wrong time for the Panthers. So details don't seem to ever get nailed down. They get blitzed on third and four. They don't block it. Something happens. You know, they don't get this. They make a bad decision.

I mean, you know, for a team that's owned by a guy who's a hedge fund, runs a hedge fund, you would think they would be really sharp on the analytics and they would be really sharp on the details. And unfortunately, he's inherited this organization. So it's not really his and they're not sharp in any of those areas. So, you know, I'm disappointed. I don't think Camp's healthy. They took him out of the game because he couldn't reach the end zone with his arm. I mean, it doesn't really have it. It seems like it's a struggle for him to throw the ball. you know, and he has a hard time making a lot of the throws and, you know, down the field specifically, and he's taking a beating. Their offensive line has let him down again, and, you know, they haven't

been able to play nearly half decent on the road. This was a game that I thought they had a win. Now they've got to go into Cleveland. They play the second row game, go up to Cleveland and try to handle them. But this defense, you know, I know that Rivera is going to take it over, but where was he the last 11 weeks? Like, you know, is you just going to step in now? take it over. I always wonder why guys feel the need to do it. I've never seen a D-line coach kid fired during the season. I mean, seriously, Brady

Hoke must have been really bad. I mean, for that to happen, where he must have lost the room or something. I mean, that's something I've never heard before, but this Panther team has been disappointed to me because I think they've got a lot of good players, but they don't have a good team. And I think that's the problem.

And I think Cam's not 100%. I think they're going to waste McCaffrey's incredible season. I mean, another game is 10, 10, 10 rushes for 106 yards. You know, they only run the ball 19 times. They average 8-8 a rush attempt in the game, and they threw it 41 times. So, you know, you got to wonder, like, where are they going?

And I think that they're just not, and they don't help their defense at all. I mean, they really don't help their defense with the way they play because they're horrible on third down. They're three-for-eight on third down in the game. You know, another game, Tate Frazier. Here's another one. They gained 444 yards. Turn the ball over.

Fumbles, interception, turn the ball over. Can't wait to give the game away, and that's what they've been doing. And you mentioned the end-season firing. So first-year defensive line coach Brady-Hoke goes away. First-year secondary coach, Jeffrey Murrah, goes away. Rivera will take over the backside of things, and then the front seven will be taking care of a defensive coordinator, Eric Washington.

The Panthers have lost five of six road games this season. Their only one on the road was in Philadelphia, a game where they were down by a lot, and they were able to come back in that one to get a win. We remember that one early in the season. CBS Sports, Jason Lock and Forra, he released a report citing anonymous sources, you know, the all anonymous horses, as Bob Knight would say, he said, I wish that I would know who they were. But he said Carolina owner, David Tepper, was frustrated and antsy with the Panthers' repeated losses and some of the in-game decisions made by the coaching staff. Port also said that Tepper was mulling major changes that the team didn't get things turned around.

So it sounds like Rivera said that he would not address any report unless it was signed by Tepper himself, which is, of course, what any coach would say. Greg Olson goes down with a serious foot injury. He's now most likely done for the season. obviously you mentioned Cam's injury. So all things are going downward at this point in Carolina and for David Tepper's team. So I do feel like the tide is turning right now where the fingers may start getting pointed at Rivera if they continue to go down the spiral. Yeah, I think he's in trouble, Tate Fraser. I think their whole organization's in trouble.

I think that Tepper is going to build up an organization that resembles his hedge fund with a lot of analytics, with a lot of smart people. This is an old school organization. I mean, this is an old school way they've done it. Now, can they branch off? But look, you know, the one thing they've got going for them in their favor is they have, they've beaten Philly in the head-to-head. So to get that six spot. I mean, I think Seattle's going to get it.

Seattle's got Minnesota, San Francisco, Kansas City, and Arizona left. You know, Minnesota's got to play Seattle, Miami, Detroit, and Chicago. So they're all going to fight it out. And I think Philly, you know, obviously controls their own destiny. Only if they get into, if they win the East, can they win the wild card, losing to Minnesota, losing to. Carolina, you know, I think that really affects them. So yeah, I think this is, I think this is a situation where this job could open up because do you really, does he really buy into what Rivera's doing?

I think it's kind of, Rivera's an interesting coach because he has always, and you know this, has a great ear, bad year, great year, bad year, great year, bad year. It just follows, it's like perfectly goes that way all the time. It's like the clapper. It's the same thing. It's an up and down roller coaster, but, you know, Jerry Jones is all in on what Garrett's going to do. and Tepper is not a guy that brought in Rivera. So I think that's really different. Right. No. No. And look, we know Jason's, we know that that's going on. But I mean, you know, Rivera is 70 and 53.

But when you look at his year by year, you know, he goes 12 and 4 to 7, 8 and 1. Then, you know, 15 and 1 to 6 and 10, whatever. I mean, it's always bad. So it's never really good. And it'll be interesting to see just from their vantage point what they decided to do moving forward in the future. Obviously, Cam Newton was another guy number one pick of the old regime. Cam Newton is obviously the centerpiece of this franchise, but they're still trying to figure out what they want to do

on the defensive side of the football. Unfortunately, Luke Keekeley has not been able to be the same force that we've seen on the defensive side of the ball, but he's also getting asked to do a lot of things on that side of the football, and it does not seem like they have enough horses at this point to get things done. Final game I want to talk about this week, and one of the bigger things and one of the bigger takeaways we saw, and two teams that are in the playoff hunt playing against each other,

Vikings on the road going up to New England. You know, it feels like forever ago that we remember the Patriots getting blown out by Tennessee. They get the buy. They come out. They beat the Jets. And then in this game, they completely dominated. And the interesting part to me, they picked up 27 first down, 7 of 14, 50% on third down. Tom Brady played one of his vintage games, 24 for 32, 311 yards, one touchdown, one pick.

You pointed this out when I was looking at, you know, some of your tweets during the game. Only 13 runs for the Minnesota Vikings. They were able to let Tom Brady hold onto the football and completely control this game from start to finish. Adam Thielen got a little upset in this one with Bill Belichick. We can talk about that a little bit. But just first off, this Patriots team, this is a statement win for them, right,

to take on that Minnesota defense and really handle business? Yeah, they did a great job. I mean, look, they were 50% on third down against one of the best throw-down defenses. They put 471 yards. But again, once again, a Patriots, which you notice when you watch the Patriots, as you notice the way they play the pace of the game. I mean, here's a game.

They have 39 rushes in the game. They got 160 yards. They get 39 rushes in the game. You know, they have five different backs carry the ball. You know, I mean, if you count Devlin, I mean, even Brady, they end up with seven different players touched the ball in the running game. And it's a reflection of them not wanting to give the ball back to Minnesota. They played a lot of nickel in the game. They dared Minnesota to run the football.

Cook average is almost 10 yards of carry, and they don't give them the goddamn ball. You know? And Cousins is throwing the ball. four times and, you know, for, for 201 yards. And so, you know, people don't realize that. That's why this game of football is about how you play it as much as the plays you run in it. And nobody seems to understand. Everybody wants to, we got to throw the ball on this down. Yeah, you do. You got to throw. Look, I'm a big component of getting the lead in the first half, but I'm also a bigger, a bigger proponent of pacing a game and understanding what you have to do to

beat your opponent. And that's not happening in Minnesota. I mean, look, John D. Philippa won a Super Bowl with the with the Eagles last year. He got this big job. He's up for every goddamn head coaching job. I mean, he's got a tremendous PR campaign. I mean, he could probably win the southern primaries. I think he certainly could be up for

the presidential election soon. There's no doubt. I mean, he can be the Democratic candidate without a doubt. He's got a machine behind him. At least he can be as the mayor of Chicago. I think there's no doubt. So, you know, watch the fucking tape. Like, watch him coach this game. Watch the receiver.

The receivers run in two spots of the same spot. Watch them have, you know, watch him call it. Watch them not understand how to pace the game. Like give the guy, he's a young coordinator. Like, stop being in a hurry to be a head coach. Like, stop it. Like, do really good at your job you're doing, you know. And I know one ex-NFL coach who, you know, basically said,

hey, look, you hire, you do this. You go down this direction to Zimmer. You're going to make it, you're making a huge mistake. And so it's proved out to be, be correct because it doesn't compliment what Zimmer wants to do. Like Zimmer wants more of a pace game. He wants to pilot his defense. You know, he wants that.

And this Minnesota Vikings have these skill players, but they can't make plays when they need to make them. I mean, and then I think the play of the game was, you know, it's fourth and 11. And, you know, Belichick and Brian Flores, they call this Blitz. And they get the Vikings to throw it hot off of it. And they tackle the guy. And, you know, they got to punt the ball. Now, Brady throws the interception of the next play, two plays later, which is a disastrous play.

But then, of course, Cousins throws a ball on an interception in the end zone. And, you know, they lose the game. But, you know, that right there is a perfect example of the Patriots knew the site adjustments of the Vikings. They knew out of a certain formation that they would have to throw it hot. They threw the blitz and bell it on fourth and 11. They knew what was going to happen. And they ended it. And it's this perfect example.

of a coach, not understanding what they're going to do to him, they knew their system better than the Vikings did. That's what that tells you. And people can sit there and keep promoting D. Philippa for a head coaching job, and that's great. That's why one of the work, that's why one

third of the workforce in the NFL gets fired every year. Davin cooking this game, nine attempts, 84 yards, and we talked about this before how McVeigh, Shaw McVeigh, and some of these offensive-minded coaches, they attack defenses. Bill Belich has been doing this forever as a defensive head coach, he has been attacking offenses and a guy

he attacked in this game. Quite a bit was Adam Thielen. He had five catches even though he had 10 targets in this game, five catches for 28 yards. Some frustration came out. He yelled back at Bill Belichick on the sideline. Bill Belichick pardon my French told him to shut the fuck up, yeah, and yelled back at him and

you know, Thielen after the game did apologize. But you just saw in this game, you know, you talk about trying to make someone play left-handed. I mean, Bill Belichick tried to make the Vikings' offense played with their hands behind their back. And their guy is Adam Thieland. And they blanketed him everywhere.

I said it on Friday. I mean, like, there's no way. There's no way Belichick was going to let him just throw the ball. I mean, he was going to play pass first and dare him to run the ball. And dare him to. Say, like, look, if you've got enough discipline, you got enough self-control, if you're willing to run it, if you're willing to keep run it, run it. You won't be able to.

It won't happen. And it didn't. And that was what led to the 2410 win for the New England Patriots. We are going to take a quick break. Meet Sonos Beam, the smart compact soundbar for your TV and newest addition to the easy-to-use home sound system. All Sonos speakers connect wirelessly. Sonos works with all your favorite streaming services. All our speakers and components work together so you can expand your system any time.

Go to Sonos.com to learn more and order your Sonos Beam to start your smart home sound system today. That's Sonos, S-O-N-O-S-com. Back to GM Street. And we are back GM Street here. We are going to do our week 13 awards. A lot of stuff going on in the world. First off, we have our time to go on the lamb. This is one of our favorite awards that we give out each week.

Someone that needs to get on the run, get to West Cape May, hide out if they have a home in Ocean City, New Jersey, because Lombardi might come find you. Lombardi, who do we have here to go on the lamb? Well, I think, look, I think there's two teams you've got to put on the lamb. First of all, the Falcons. I mean, look, the Falcons season has gotten ruined by injuries and all that, but their offensive line is a disaster.

They can't really run the football. Matt Ryan hasn't been very effective, you know, especially on the road. And for all the skill they have, they can't dominate with their defensive front. I mean, I think Atlanta's got to take a hard look at themselves and say, this is deeper than just having so many injuries. And I think they got to ask those questions. I think they got to improve their offensive line. Their guard play is not very good. I think Baltimore exposed that.

I think the other team that's got to go on the lamb, let's be real honest. We talked about the beginning of the podcast as the Redskins. I mean, the whole Ruben Foster situation to me is ridiculous in this sense, Tate Frazier. I mean, first of all, to claim Rubin Foster and then to throw players under the bus by saying we did our homework. And then Bruce Allen, who's the president of the team, doesn't talk to anybody. But then he speaks to Lisa Salters last night and says, oh, by the way, we have out our own investigation. You did? Really?

Seriously? You had your own investigation. You didn't even call the Tampa police. Like, you didn't even call them. What's your own investigation like? Like, seriously. like why would you claim Ruben Foster? He's had off the field issues while he was at Alabama.

He's had off the field issues while he was a 49er. And he's been nothing but a problem on and off the field. Why would you claim that? Like, why would you reward it? And so to me, they need to go on the land because the Redskins are a perfect example of a team that has no idea about culture. They have no idea how to build a team. They just want to add players. That's all they care about.

And they have no idea. And that's why they're going to go down. That's why Bruce says the president of the team, he hides behind. He's sitting in the coach's box. You know, he pretends he's not involved with football, but he's involved in every aspect of the game. You know, he needs to go on land. But look, the one thing about the NFL, when you got the owner in your hip pocket like Bruce has Dan Snyder, you're good. And next up, we got the Fred Palermo Award for this week talking about the best game plan going in.

And Baltimore Ravens, right? Three game winning street. Three and O for Lamar. Yeah. Look, I think Lamar's done a good job. I think they have an identity as a football team. You know, there's no way they're going back to Flacco. I mean, there's just no way.

I mean, John Harbaugh recognizes what he's brought to the table. You know, Lamar's numbers aren't reflective in the stats, but they're reflective in how the team plays. And they dominated the game with their run game last week. So I think the Ravens have done an incredible job of finding their niche with Lamar. And I think he's going to get better in the passing game and their skill play. I had a couple drops in the game. I think they're going to get better.

They're going to be a tougher out because they can, now pace the game and they don't have to rely on their statue Joe Flacco to make a play. And it is very interesting to think about not too long ago, maybe four or five weeks ago. A lot of people were pointing to John Harbaugh as a potential name to be one of the first head coaches fired this season. But now the Ravens are the sixth seed and they are all things are looking good moving forward for Baltimore fans, especially with the fact. Hold on though, Tate Fraser.

I'll say this to you though. I think John Harbaal's still not out of the weeds. I think he could be the first coach fired. And I think if Brian Kelly, the head coach in Notre Dame, wants to go to Green Bay or if he wants to go to Tampa Bay or he wants to get in the football, I think John Harbaal would be at Notre Dame in a second. I think John Harbaugh would be a candidate at all these jobs open up, whether it's Green Bay, Carolina, maybe Miami if that opens.

So I think John Harbaugh is sitting in the driver's seat right now. His team's playing better. I don't think there's a mutual love for him to come back there. And the owners made it very clear that, hey, look, either he gets a playoff win or not. So I think there's a lot of, look, Eric Dacostas taken over the organization in Baltimore. He's now the general manager going to replace Ozzy. Once he takes over, he's going to want people that don't remember him as being a guy that used to be an intern in the building. He wants people that see him as the king of all kings, you know, and he's the prince.

So I could see a change happening in Baltimore. But these wins for John Harbaugh and the defensive coaches and is really critical to the future. I think he'll get a job, but we ain't got to put them on the lamb yet. And I will say this, a lot of people in Carolina, a lot of Panthers fans, I was getting a lot of Texas weekend with a lot of people wishing, putting on their Christmas list, John Harbaugh as a future head coach of the Panthers. So that's something to keep an eye on as well. Next award we have this week, the KGB Award, the team that snuck up on a team this week.

And we got the Arizona Cardinals, right, going against the Packers. Yeah, I mean, look, you got to give them credit. I mean, look, they came in there. They ran the ball 29 times for 182 yards. Rosen didn't play particularly well, but they went in there. They paced the game. They forced Aaron Rogers to throw the ball 50 times in a close game. I mean, they stopped Aaron Jones from having much success running the football.

He had one carry for 13 yards. And I think he had 10 carries for 23 yards the rest of the game. So they've been able to do that. And they did a great job controlling that. And you've got to give them credit. I mean, they didn't lose the game. They didn't turn the ball over. They didn't fumble.

They didn't kill themselves. They didn't beat themselves. Even though they fumbled three times, they didn't turn the thing over. Give them credit. I mean, look, the Cardinals are no good. The other team has to lose, and I think that's what happened with the Packers.

And next up, we got, if you don't know, now you know, Lombardi, what do we know? We know that this is going to be one of the most interesting months of the season because we got the defending champions who are, you know, thinking they got a chance to come back. They got four tough games. We've got the Clapper in first place. We know he's going to get a contract extension if he wins one more game.

So we're going to have more Clapper. There'll be a Clapper underneath your, Christmas tree this year. And I still think, and the other thing I think we didn't talk about, the Rams didn't play good last week. I mean, they won by 14, but that was an ugly 14. I think the Lions, Matt Patricia, had his team ready to play. They hit golf in the mouth.

They forced him to stand in there. And I know they won by double digits, but that was a tough game. And I also think that Seattle's for real. I think Pete Carroll should be coach of the year for what he's done. Yep. And that is a team to keep an eye on right now. We're going to do quickly. I'll run through the playoff picture as it stands currently in the NFC.

We've got the Saints, Rams, Bears, Cowboys, Seahawks, Vikings, and that is with the Panthers, Eagles, and Washington right on the outside looking in. AFC, we got Chiefs, Patriots, Texan, Steelers, Chargers, Ravens. If there's any team right now that's currently in the playoff position that you see falling out, AFC or NFC, is there a team Lombardi that you can point to right now? Well, I mean, look, Indianapolis plays down in Houston. There are three games out with four games to go. I think that's going to be hard.

Can it be a wild card? No. Denver's got a really easy schedule. They've snuck back in this thing. I mean, Vance Joseph, look, they beat Cincinnati this week. Cost me a stupid. I mean, I made that pick like stupidly. But, I mean, they've won three games in a row.

Really haven't played good football. They just, the other teams lost. And so I don't think Miami, Indianapolis, Denver, or Tennessee are playoff caliber teams. I really don't. If they get in, it'll be a bad six seed. I think the best six teams in the AFC are the way it's seated currently now. Houston at three, Pittsburgh four, Chargers five, Baltimore. I think there's no doubt about that.

When you go to the NFC, though, I think this is where it gets a little bit hairy. Eliminate Washington with Mark Sanchez, Tampa, Green Bay. They're all done. So it really comes down to Carolina, Philly, and Minnesota, Seattle, those four teams. I think Dallas, obviously, if they don't win the east, they'll get a playoff spot. So it's going to be the fight for six, let's say. And Philly could fight for four or fight for six. And I think Seattle, Minnesota, they're playing against each other this week.

Carolina, look, I don't think Carolina can beat Cleveland the way they're currently playing right now. So I think there's two teams left to play that could make the playoffs in the NFC, Carolina or Philly. Slightly, I'm favoring, obviously, Philly, not Carolina. And in the AFC, I think it's

really a six-team race. I think there's the other teams that Miami get in, they're not a playoff team. Miami goes on the road, they'll get killed. So I think we're really down to the last month of the season focusing on those games. Yep. And we'll keep an eye on all that. We will be back on GM Street on Friday to do the

five games to watch out for in week 14. We appreciate everyone listening and we hope that everyone is excited for December football. It is here. It is Philip Rivers time. This is his time of the year and right now he's at 9 and 3. So it'll be a fun month to watch all the football. Again, appreciate everyone listening to this and we will see you on

Friday. Thanks, Dave Fraser. Thanks again to Sonos. Meet Sonos Beam, the smart compact sound bar for your TV and newest addition to the easy-to-use home sound system. Go to sonos.com to learn more and order your Sonos beam to start your smart home sound system today. That's Sonos, S-O-N-O-S dot com.