The Ringer NFL Show - The NFL Wins With Its Week 17 Schedule (Ep. 210)

Episode Date: December 29, 2017

The Ringer’s Robert Mays and Kevin Clark get you set for Week 17, including how the crazy AFC wild-card scenario will likely play out (4:04), why NFC teams would rather see Seattle than Atlanta as the 6-seed (16:26), and how resting players in Week 17 will affect the playoff picture and the MVP race (23:40). Then, the guys discuss which coaches need wins Sunday to save their jobs (33:32) and why most teams actually shouldn’t fire their coaches (38:29). Finally, Danny Kelly joins the show to predict next year’s fantasy studs (44:59), including a little-known 49ers receiver who should shine with Jimmy Garoppolo under center (52:16). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Ringer NFL show, part of the Ringer podcast Network. I'm Kevin Clark. Joining me on the other line is Robert Mays. Robert, it's the final week of the NFL season. Everything's happening, including Jeff Fisher calling in to a radio station saying he left the Rams in good shape. But more importantly, are you pumped for the playoffs? I am. It's that time of year, man.

There's a lot of stuff to do. There's a lot of stuff to be thinking about. I know you and I'll be kind of jet-setting around for a little while here as we get ready to cover these playoffs. It's good. I like it. I enjoy this stretch of the calendar, even though it seems like there's a million different things happening. Yeah. I mean, and that's the beauty of Sunday. And we'll get to that in a second. But there are some things that we still have to sort out before the playoffs. We're going to talk through all of the storylines through Sunday. And if you don't know, the NFL canceled Sunday night football this Sunday and put all

the potential playoff teams on at the 4 p.m. Eastern window, we're just going to create this just perfect storm of chaos and incompetence and like you're going to see things that you haven't seen in a long time. I'm really excited for it. Danny Kelly was also going to join us for his final fantasy football segment of the season to give you some dark night future picks. We're going to be looking ahead. So that sounds good. And I want to talk about this Sunday thing before we get into the start of the show though. I, it is puts such a weird wrench into like how I just a little live behind the curtain. Like, I have to write about this for Monday. It's New Year's Eve. So I kind of have to find a way to be somewhere to watch these games that I can be at without

it, like, bleeding into a New Year's Eve situation at that bar. Sure. So I don't know what I'm going to do. It's the- Do you have a TV in your home, Robert? Yes, but I like to be able to watch all the games. This is my deal. What about Sunday ticket using promo code ringer NFL? See, I usually do that for the afternoon games when there's only three or four. But now that there are seven afternoon games, I feel like I'm going to be missing out on something if I just watched a couple TVs in my living room. So negotiating Sunday and like where I have to be and what closes when is going to be a fascinating problem. It's one I've never run into before. Having week 16 and 17 be on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve is literally the worst possible way it can fall. So when everyone's going

through their playoff scenarios and refreshing their playoff pictures and wondering what happens if the Chargers win and the bills lose and the Ravens lose, I want you to think about all the scenarios going through Robert Mays's mind about how to navigate getting to a bar and watching all the games on Sunday because that's the real playoff scenario. You know, it's just another wrinkle to throw into which should be a very fascinating day. So I'm glad people are going to keep me in their thoughts because I'm the one that's really I have something at stake. You know, so they do this in the Premier League.

They have all of the final games of the season at the same time. And sometimes it's sort of anticlimatic, and sometimes you just get some of the best finishes in the world. And I could see, I mean, if all of the games are close, and they could be. And you know what I'm talking about, you know, Ravens, Bills, Chargers, Titans. If all of those games are close going into the fourth quarter, you're going to see one of the most fun NFL Sundays we've seen in a long time.

I wrote on the ringer today, Friday. One of my favorite moments of the last 20 years probably was that Nate Poole catch for Arizona against Minnesota that knocked Minnesota out of the playoffs and put the Packers into the playoffs. That needs to happen all the time. And the reason that happened is because both teams were playing on Sunday afternoon and it simultaneously happened. I understand why the NFL, usually puts a Sunday night game

sort of winner in game on the slate, but I think that everybody playing all at once creates drama that you cannot get anywhere else. Well, there's just too many scenarios in the AFC, especially to do that. I mean,

the only way you could do that is if you made one of the Seattle Arizona, like maybe Atlanta Carolina on Sunday night, but even that is there's too many scenarios for seating and things like that to do it. So I feel like this is the right move because if you put Carolina on Sunday night and New Orleans happen to win,

then Carolina would have nothing to play for. I mean, this is the way to make sure that everyone still has something at stake. I get why they're doing it. It's just, like you said, sets it up for some ridiculous chaos. I'm fired up. All right, so we're going to do our favorite four. This week we're doing our favorite four storylines, not matchups. Too many games.

Because I think we understand what matchups matter. Robert, get us started. So let's start with the AFC. I mean, I think that's the number one thing. I think the scoreboard watching that's going to go on in the AFC will be the biggest story about Sunday. You know, we have those four teams that are still lingering based on who wins, who loses. So I think that that's what's going to be most important because I do believe that there

are a couple of playoffs scenarios like we've discussed in the past couple weeks here, where the wildcard teams they get in could pose a threat to kind of the big boys in that conference. So obviously, if the Ravens get in, they're in. The Ravens get in. If Buffalo loses, the Ravens get in, Tennessee loses. is. So if the Titans lose, the Titans are really the biggest domino to fall here. Because if the Titans lose and they have the toughest opponent.

They have the toughest opponent. And we're going to get to rest in the idea of it a little bit later here. But that's going to play a factor in this week. So if the Titans lose and the Chargers win, the Chargers are in. So if the Titans lose and the Ravens are in. So the Titans are really kind of the biggest thing here. If that game and which way it goes will have the most to say about who's going to get in because most likely the Chargers and the Ravens are going to win their respective matches. Maybe not. You know, Oakland played well against the

Eagles last week, but I still feel like the Chargers with their playoff hopes on the line, with their playoff lives on the line, we'll beat the Raiders. I mean, I guess, but I got to say, the reason all of these teams are here is because they've been remarkably inconsistent. I'm not ready to bet that they're going to win anything. Yeah, you're right. I trust me.

Watching that Chargers Jets game last week, I was like, guys, really, we're going to do this? I mean, listen, if these teams could win when their backs were against the wall, they wouldn't be in the situation. I mean, the freaking Titans have lost to the Cardinals three weeks ago. Well, the Titans aren't very good. I think that's the biggest issue there. That's true.

No, I mean, obviously, they're backing into the playoffs here. If they make the playoffs, that's a remarkable feat of luck and, you know, shows you how weak the AFC is. At one point, I thought they were a playoff team, but haven't they lost three straight? Who? The Titans? The Titans, yeah. Yeah.

The Titans do not deserve to be in. I mean, they really have. Here's the thing about the Chargers, though. The only games the Chargers have lost since week two were against the Chiefs when they were rolling, the Eagles, the Patriots, the Jaguars on the road in overtime, the Chiefs Ed on the road last week. Those are the only games the Chargers have lost. So it's not as if they're a team that has not beaten teams they should. You know, the only games they've lost are to Kansas City and really good teams. So I feel like, you know, this is a situation where they beat the Raiders already.

This is at home. This is not going on the road to Casey like it was two weeks ago. This is a much different scenario. I don't know. What the hell is going on in Oakland right now? I have no idea. Every time I click on a different coaching carousel story by like Albert Breer or like Mike Florio, they have a different take on what's about to happen with the Raiders.

Florio had that Del Rio is only 50-50 to come back. And no one talked about that after he posted. of that. And I think we should probably, that would stun me. But here we are. Todd Downing is probably going to get fired. Most likely. There's some Mike Tice rumblings. I don't understand why you'd fire Mike Tice. I mean, the offensive line is not the problem. No, no, I don't think you are. the rumor is that he's a, he's a divisive figure in the locker room. I think that he's under contract for a while. Yeah, I think that Todd Downing probably goes. I mean, that offense has been not nearly what it needs to be considering the talent there. And that scheme is just not

conducive to success. I mean, really for anyone, let a little bit of a little. alone a team without much talent on it. So I wouldn't be surprised if there were some significant changes that I feel like there probably should be. But if you just kind of, you're watching these games, I mean, are you still in the boat that you think the Chargers and the Ravens would make for the most interesting playoffs? You know, that's, that's an interesting question. Yes, probably.

I don't think Buffalo is there for me yet. I just don't, I just don't see it. I mean, yeah. Yeah, I don't want to see them. I think the Nathan Peterman thing. it's significantly funnier if that is what cost them the playoffs, because I don't think anyone was thinking about that at that point. We're all about comedy on this show.

Yeah, it's, yeah, exactly. Nathan Peterman was the ultimate bit. And it was really funny. And the fact that it's probably going to cost them a playoff spot is hysterical. So my only concern is I don't want to see the Jaguars and the Titans play two straight weeks. No, God, that would be terrible. Well, that's probably going to happen. Yeah, I would not want that.

I'd rather have Casey and Tennessee and then Baltimore and Jacksonville, but I don't think that's very likely at this point. Baltimore has got Cincinnati. He is doing it for Marvin Lewis, if this is his last game, and I think it is, does that involve winning or losing? Like, what's the tribute to Marvin Lewis in that spot? I think it would be them somehow sneaking into the playoffs miraculously. Wildcar and losing in the wild car round. Yeah. scoring eight points next week in the wildcard game.

They should let, they should let Marvin Lewis coach a wildcard team next week, as is going away present. They should let him coach the Titans. The only way the Ravens would play the Jags and the Titans would play the Chiefs is if the Titans won and the Ravens lost to Cincinnati, which is not out of the question. I mean, that could happen. I don't think it will happen. Again, none of these teams, if you could rely on any of these teams, they would not be trying to sneak into the playoffs at 9 and 7. Yeah, and the Bengals aren't like a terrible team. The Bengals aren't good.

But, you know, they're not, it's not as if they're playing the cult of the Browns. Or the Browns, yeah. So that, but for that to happen, actually, Buffalo would have to lose. Right. If the Ravens win and Buffalo wins, then Buffalo is in. So most likely the scenario, if the Ravens get in, they're playing Kansas City and we're going to see the five-seat play Jacksonville. Or the six-seat, excuse me. I can't tell.

You're more of a J. Cutlerologist than I am. is Jay Cutler in week 17 on a week where he can't stop talking about how many Marriott points he has. Is he dangerous or is he just going to pack it? I think he's kind of dangerous. I honestly do. Yeah, me too. I think he's way more dangerous when he doesn't care than when he does. Did you see that photo of him from Kristen Cavalari's Snapchat?

I did. I did. He was just pounding on a turkey leg? What was that a turkey leg? It looked like some sort of, I don't know. It was a large bone and a piece of meat. It looked like one of those turkey legs that you were. get a fair. It could have been that. It looked like a bone on steak maybe. I didn't, I couldn't

tell what it was, because most of it was a gnawed off. Jay was really going after whatever that was. And he had a bottle of mustard on his chest. So clearly he's just pouring mustard on the piece of meat and then taking ribs off of it from the bone, which good for you, Jay. I mean, with that beard he's got rocking right now, he's just really living it up. I'm proud of him. This is great. We didn't get, because he was injured last year, we didn't get to properly celebrate the Jay Cutler experience. But I think it's wonderful to see him, not care for all the world to see this week. It's beautiful. He didn't move out of his hotel.

Why would he? I mean, why would he? Why would he care? He knows he's going to be there for a year. He's got $10 million to throw around. I don't know if he's, I don't know if he's in the dolphins, the hotel, all the dolphins stay in when they have to do business. But I've stayed in the hotel. It's okay.

But, I mean, I could, I, you're in South Florida. there's houses to rent and stuff. I don't know if you've been to South Florida. It's a very nice place. Yeah, I had been there. Yeah. I mean, you could probably do a little bit better than the hotel, but that would make Jay think. And why would Jay think?

It's unnecessary. Well, he's got his hands full with the mustard and the meat and all that stuff. So I don't know. He also has two children, so I'm not sure how well they do in the hotel. More questions and answers coming from the Jay Cutler experience this week. The only thing that has me asking more questions than that that came up this week is definitely the Baron Davis-Lor-Dor. and thing. But in the number two slide, is what is Jay Cutter's living situation?

Amazingly, this is the only pod where that doesn't come up. We're not going to talk about that. On the ringer. We have like a hundred podcasts and all of them have Dern Davis segments probably, except this one. So listen to the NBA show, listen to Juliet and Amanda. Probably Bill has probably got some with Francesa. So is there any other AFC scenario that we haven't really touched on here? I mean, pretty simply. So here's my question. Of these teams, which one do you think has the biggest capability to win a playoff game or even

sort of threatened to make a run and get is there anybody in your mind to if they go into Pittsburgh might give Pittsburgh a game or even New England might give New England a game and you know obviously win their divisional game is there anybody you say ooh might be a little dangerous here I think it's probably I mean I think it's the same two teams you talked about I feel like Baltimore can do it with the defense. Their defense is good enough, and they've shown enough life on offense over the last month where you could see for four quarters them putting it all together. And then I think the Chargers have enough talent to do it.

I mean, I think those are the two teams that could scare them. I don't know if either will win, but I do think those would be the two best games. And in my mind, that's why I want to see those teams in the playoffs, because not only do I think they could win a game, I think they could make a push to win two. I don't know if they would, but I think that would give us the best. shot for just some sort of uncertainty to get rid of the chalk and the AFC. We're not that far removed from the Chargers playing the Patriots really tough.

I just think those are the best two options on the board. So of these four teams, John Harbaal is the best coach. And of these four teams, Philip Rivers is the best quarterback. And I know it's simplicity and all that. And I know I don't want to oversimplify, but sometimes this can be a simple game. coaching and quarterbacking matters. And if you've got either of those two things, I think you've got a chance. Do I think any of these teams are going to the AFC championship game?

No, but I do know that I don't think New England or Pittsburgh wants to see either of those teams. I think they'd be much happier to see Jacksonville or Kansas City, right? If you were New England, would you rather see Kansas City or the Ravens and Chargers? I mean, I know that Kansas City pasted them in week one, but it's a very different. the Ravens than the Chiefs if I was New England. What about the Chargers? I'd still rather see the Chargers, I think. Jacksonville?

I'd rather see all those other teams than Jacksonville. Yeah, no, I know. I mean, that's, Jacksonville scares the hell out of me if I'm one of those teams just because great defenses, just screw with you. So for a while, it seemed like the simplest, for the Chargers it was simple. Like the Titans lost this game and the Bills, and the Chargers won the Chargers were in. just by virtue of the head-to-head with Buffalo. But that would require Baltimore to win as well.

And just because you need the Baltimore to be 10 and 6 in order to avoid three-way ties and craziness. So there's a lot of stuff in play here. I mean, you can go look it up all online. I mean, the playoff machine is your friend, but it's sometimes too complicated for me to understand. The playoff machine is like a top five thing in my life right now. Yeah, I spent a lot of time there.

Unfortunately, it speaks to the sadness in my life. Can you look forward to a day when the Bears are just a team you can even click on? Yeah, it'd be great. Maybe next year, man. Who knows? I'm really hoping for that Rams-esque turnaround. Jeff Fisher? Yep, he's the one to do it, clearly.

All right, so should we move on NFC? Let's get the NFC. Okay, pretty simple scenario here. It comes down to Atlanta and Seattle. If Atlanta wins, they're in. if Seattle wins and Atlanta loses, they're in. I think this is way more intriguing, Maze, because I think both these teams,

maybe it's just because they're bold-faced names, they've had so much success, especially over the past year, or in the case of the Seahawks, the last four years. But when we're looking at the AFC, we're looking at a bunch of teams who maybe aren't as scary as they could be. I mean, I don't think anybody wants to see Atlanta,

or really Seattle. I would probably rather see Seattle, but how do you handicap this? That's where I'm at. I think the exact tone and words you used is where I sit with this. I would probably rather say Seattle. Just have Isaac just take what I said and just double it. I would probably rather see Seattle. But again, you know, they have enough talent just on the rest of that roster that you would worry.

I mean, just that team, it's like what they did last week against Dallas. You know, you're trying to figure out, all right, what can we do because we don't have our full stable of guys defensively to create some problems? And then you just have them use slot blitzes for the entire game and crush Zach Prescott for four straight quarters. I mean, they have always found a way except without Earl Thomas. That's really the only thing they haven't been able to overcome. And he's there now. Bobby Wagner looked much better this week after really struggling with that hamstring week earlier. I just think that right now they have enough tamper.

and can assemble a plan to be an issue. And then on offense, you just have to figure the Russell Wilson factor. I mean, that offense is not frightening on a play-to-play basis. But every five plays, they get very scary. So that's the Seattle formula. For Atlanta, it's kind of the same deal. The players and the roster give you pause if you're a team that has to play then. You still have Julio who had another great game on Sunday against New Orleans.

That offense looks at times like they have no idea what they're doing, but there are still moments where you have Freeman, Julio, Tevin Coleman doing something, and Matt Ryan is still a pretty decent quarterback where they can put it together. Defensively, they have enough. It's weird because Atlanta's defense is kind of like Russell Wilson's offense

in the sense that they have such dynamic players, like a handful of them, that they can make game-changing plays in any moment. Dion Jones is going to make that pick in the end zone like you did against New Orleans. Keanu Neal is going to cause a fumble on a flat on a, on a throw into the flat at some point.

So that's kind of the, it's interesting. So you have the one side of the ball is, you know, pretty good all around. They're going to be some you can rely on. And then the other side of the ball, they just have these players that can really make a difference on a single game-changing play. So I think that the formula is not dissimilar. I just feel a little bit better about Atlanta. I think that, you know, it's twofold here with Seattle, in my opinion.

Obviously, if they had Chancellor and Sherman, they're a Super Bowl contender. Having said that, if they had Chancellor and Sherman, they would not be in this position. So it's sort of foolhardy to argue. I think there's something vaguely magical when you look at the Seahawks because I think, you know, there's so many rumblings about how this could be their, you know, their last ride and that, so, you know, the defense might have to break up after this year. Maybe the Luigi of Boom is a thing of the past. and I think that you're going to see guys who just ball the hell out.

I think there's going to be some of that. But having said that, again, I mean, Atlanta had the most efficient offense, basically in the history of the league last year, it's not what it was, but they still have the capability to put up 30 on year pretty quickly. And so if I'm the Rams and I haven't played a playoff game in a long time, I'd be scared as hell at seeing a team who, who, romp through the NFC last year. Oh, that's the thing, right? It depends on which team

ends up being the three seed. So, we'll talk about this a little bit when we talk about who's wrestling and who's not. But if the Saints win and the Rams lose, it changes which team you'd rather see. If I'm the Rams, I want the Seahawks, man. I've just crushed them. And I feel like

you have a pretty good game plan against them. If I'm the Saints, I want the excuse me, if I'm the Rams, I want see, yeah. No, well, I guess that's a good point. So I guess both teams want the Seahawks. because New Orleans does not want to play Atlanta. I mean, both of those games have been extremely close. I mean, that game they played last week in New Orleans.

Atlanta absolutely could have won that game. That's a butt interception and goal line fumble from Devante Freeman for being a very close game. And they beat New Orleans already this season. I know they didn't have Kamara, but they still played extremely well. I think that with Jones and Keanu Neal, they weirdly have two players that attack space and open space so well that they're kind of a bad matchup for the Saints, if that makes any sense? Their defense has played really well against DeWolans both times they played against them. Even with Kamara last week, the Saints weren't marching up and down the field.

So I think both teams would probably rather play Seattle. So here's my question. It goes beyond this. Would you be more scared if you were L.A. or New Orleans of either of the two teams who are getting in the wild card? the six seat here with Atlanta and Seattle or Carolina. Would you rather see Carolina than those two teams? I don't think so. It's tough.

I don't know. The Carolina passing game last week really frightened me. I think that against that Buccaneers team, they should have been so much better. And they looked out of sorts. It was the same kind of, Cam takes a five-step drop on third and three and tries to fit a ball 20 yards down the field between two guys. I just, Christian McCaffrey was MIA. I mean, it's amazing that they're running these. plays where McCaffrey split out wide on third and four and Cam is dropping back.

It's third and 11. I just don't understand how we can't have a selection of plays in the playbook where McCaffrey lines up in the backfield, you run ankle routes and option routes. Yep, totally agree. I don't know, I know this is not incredible analysis here. I don't know what the hell to think about the NFC. No, I really don't. Anything.

I mean, I think that we know for a fact, not a fact, but pretty close. to it, then the AFC we're going to see a fairly epic matchup, barring Barring Bortles balling out, which is possible in one of these games and, you know, the Jaguars winning 17 to 10. But I think we're pretty much headed, we know what we're headed towards in the AFC with New England and Pittsburgh. In the NFC, legitimately, I would not be shocked if Atlanta makes the NFC championship game. I wouldn't be shocked if Carolina makes the Super Bowl. I mean, this happens. The Wence injury threw a wrench in the NFC playoffs, I mean, bigger than anything.

I mean, I think the Derek Carr injury last year with Oakland was sort of like this, where it just removes a Super Bowl contender, you know, a couple weeks before the playoffs start, and it changes everything. So let's get into this because I wanted to talk about what the rest effect this week and just kind of the impact that it'll have overall. And I feel like that kind of starts in Philly in a strange way. Because Sean McVeigh came out this week and said he's sitting his guys. You know, Whitworth, Donald, Gough, Gurley, all of them are going to sit.

So one of the reasons that that feels okay is that even if the Rams have the three seed to play for, if they lose in New Orleans wins, that means if the Rams can beat Carolina at home, they go to Philadelphia. and obviously the Saints would have to win for that to happen, but they would go to Philadelphia. So, which has become much more attractive than having to go to Minnesota. So it's just one of those things

where now there's so many moving pieces with seating and everything else that I'm just not sure how it's all going to fall where they wanted to. I really don't know. You're not going to get any answers here, buddy. I mean, all I know is,

all I know is you want to be going in to Philadelphia instead of going into Minnesota. Yes. I don't know if you could improve in Minnesota if you had Sam Bradford this year. Okay. But because it's Case Keenum, we've all just collectively slept on the Vikings and we don't realize. I haven't. We haven't talked.

I promised you that. Okay. But I'm saying as a footballing nation. Agreed. I totally agree. No one cares about the Vikings. If they were, if they were quarterbacked by, by, Sam Bradford or if Teddy Bridgewater would come in and given the exact same level of play,

we'd be taking them much more seriously. This is a, it is a, in a weird way, the league has the exact opposite view of the fans in this regard. Fans view this as a reputation league. They look at the quarterbacks, they look at the coaches. And I, you know, we're all guilty of this. And they say, okay, this team's going to win because of XYZ. Whereas the league really doesn't care about reputation and, and really move.

on from guys quickly or whatever. And so I think that we look at Minnesota and we say Case Keenham and we write them off. I mean, I would peg Minnesota as the pretty much the heavy favorites to make the Super Bowl of the NFC at this point, just because of how complete a team they are. That's tough for me. I could easily say that. I think Minnesota is really good. I do think that they have few weaknesses right now.

I also think the same about the Rams. And I think the same thing about the Saints. I feel like all three of those teams have very easily traceable paths to the Super Bowl. And I think it's really close. I want the Saints to win the Super Bowl because of the argument we had last August in which we argued whether or not the Sands could win the Super Bowl, which we could dig out of the archives. Yeah, I did not consider them one of the teams that can make it. I did not support the defensive turnaround this fast, which is a whole different conversation.

I wrote about it earlier this year. I mean, we are living in the era of where you can just be a contender in a single offseason. That's possible now because of a lot of different factors. I mean, I think that trades have never existed to this degree and the way that you can sign free agents. I mean, how quickly rookies are playing. I mean, there are so many things that go into this right now, and the Saints hit on every single one of those things. Yep. So that's that's exactly. And you only need, if you've got an offense like they have, there were only a couple of breaks they needed on defense and they were instant contenders. And, and that's,

That was why I wasn't surprised is because it's almost law of averages. We joked about the Saints defense over the summer. Haven't they been like above 30th for like four or five of the last six seasons or whatever? It's been incredible. Yeah. It's been a remarkable run of incompetence. In this era of crappy defenses and stuff, it's almost the law of averages that at some point you will not be 32nd in the NFL. Like at some point, you're just going to find two guys.

and they're going to be better than the guys before at cornerback or defensive tackle, and that's exactly what happened, and they're going to be able to figure it out. And I knew at some point that was going to happen, and once it happened to the Saints would be contenders again. I mean, the analogy I made earlier in the year still stands. It's the Broncos in the mid-90s. John Elway, we forget about it now, had a run of pretty mediocre teams in Denver in the mid-90s. Terrell Davis comes in, the defense gets bolstered,

and all of a sudden they win two straight Super Bowls. I'm not saying Breeze is going to win two straight Super Bowls, but what I am saying is that when you build a team around a great quarterback, you don't have to worry about the quarterback. And that's the biggest thing in sports. And so it's just, it always made sense to me that the Saints would return to relevance as soon as they got a few breaks and they got it this year. They got so many breaks.

I mean, it wasn't just the defense. Who knew that they were going to lose their right tackle? they were going to lose Toronto Armstead for about half the season. And when Toronto Armstead was hurt, Zach Shreif was healthy, so Ramchek could just flip back and forth between left and right tackle, which he can play both of, by the way, and he's a rookie. That's the type of stuff you can never understand.

And whoever could have predicted that Alvin Kamara would be this. The Saints didn't predict that. So it really was just a perfect confluence of factors. They got everything right in a single off season. And that's just impossible to predict. I mean, they've got, I'm not even going to say it's lucky. I mean, they just hit it so well that everything managed to come together for them. Jeff Ireland, baby.

Yeah, the Marchand-Ladamor thing, I mean, let's say Marshaun Lattimore doesn't fall to 11 or whatever. Say teams aren't worried about his shoulder or his hamstring? He was his hamstring, wasn't it? His, like lifetime of hamstring problems. Let's say people weren't concerned about that. And he goes sixth overall talent-wise like he should. This doesn't happen. You need all of everything to fall right.

for the saints to have done what they did. And it just happened to for them up for one year. Yeah. They could easily win the Super Bowl. I mean, I'm just pegging. I'm just pegging the Vikings as the favorites because, A, they're going to have the home games. And quite frankly, I'm not optimistic that the Eagles are going to win their divisional round game, which does one of two things.

Either they win their divisional round game and they get, to play the Eagles on the road, which is fairly easy as it compared to what it would have been six weeks ago when they had once. Or they get a home NFC championship game with the rights to have a home Super Bowl two weeks later. Either of those things sets up favorably just from an emotional standpoint. And then from a football standpoint, they've got an incredible defense. I love their coaches.

I love what they're doing. You know, they have one of the best wide receiver tammons in the, the NFL. I just, I'm really fired up about this Vikings team right now. Me too. I absolutely am. So back to rest very quickly before we get to our four topic here. So the Jaguars say they're going to play their guys. Everyone's going to start. They're going to play to win the game. Which coming off that San Francisco loss, I don't think is the worst idea in the world. I kind of understand where you would do that. McVeigh has been very clear about guys are going to sit. Where do you fall on this? Do you think teams should if they have very little to win?

sit their guys in week 17 or do you understand a team like the Jags wanting to play out the string? So here's the way I view it. If you have an untouchable piece that if you lose it, you're screwed. You know, Carson Wentz is a good example. Sit them.

You know, remember the Colts used to just sit Peyton Manning in week, you know, 17 and 16 under the Dungee era teams. If you know if you lose a guy, it's over, you want to take as few chances as possible. You know, I saw in Pittsburgh this week, they said that the killer bees probably aren't going to play much, if at all. That's a good idea. Because if one of the killer bees gets hurt, there goes to Super Bowl chance.

But I think if you're a team like Jacksonville and you need, you know, you don't have that piece, first of all. You're more of just a dominant unit. I think that they sort of need the momentum. they need the reps. You know, I'm, I can see both sides of it. I don't think it ultimately matters all that much, but I just think the injury risk is too much. Especially week 17, there's a lot of desperate guys in the field trying to get, especially the other side of the ball, try guys trying to get, you know, their next contract

or whatever, making tackles harder than they normally would. So I, it's, week 17 is kind of a weird space sometimes. And I don't blame teams for, for resting absolute superstars. On the other hand, you know, if your team's already banged up, you know, it's time to rest them. So there's a million reasons to sit them. There's a million reasons to play. Coach is no more than I do. So I don't feel strongly either way on this particular topic.

Yeah, I don't either. The only other thing that's kind of considered this week is that I feel like the year-long awards races are so close this year that a big week 17 from guys that are playing and aren't maybe enough to swing it, which I kind of don't enjoy. I don't like that. I feel like if Todd Gurley doesn't play on Sunday and Brady does and Brady has a monster game, it should not affect Todd Gurley's MVP chances, but it probably will. Same goes for like Aaron Donald and the defensive player of the year. Like it kind of throws a wrench into that stuff in a season where it's all so, so close, which I don't really know how to consider that.

I think that's tough. I feel like I would just kind of write week 17 off in that regard, but that's hard to do when everything's so tight. Yeah. Okay. Story line number four. I have written about this four or five times now. the season, at least flicked at it and written one full story. But the coaching carousel in the NFL and how ridiculous it's gotten where teams are just cashing out of coaches after two or three

years. And it's created a weird situation where the bench, the bench gets thinner because so many guys have been cycled through where, you know, basically, you know, there's not even really a pool anymore. And it's created a very bizarre set of circumstances within the coaching world. Now, Albert Breer had a story, and Mike Florio had it a couple weeks ago about the coaching carousel and what it's going to look like this year. And Breer put it all together this week. And there's a lot of jobs in the line, Robert, like a lot. And jobs we don't even think about. You know, obviously there's Chicago and Indianapolis and all that.

And the stuff that we absolutely know, Marvin Lewis is a good example. But, you know, if Vance Joseph loses on Sunday, he might get, he might be one and done. thing Mike Lombardi's been talking about for a while. Is Dirk Cutter going to get fired? And is John Gruden going to come in there? I don't know. I mean, it just seems like, it seems like owners are more likely to fire a guy than not. And for me, I think Sunday's intriguing not only for the playoffs, but because of, to see

how some of these guys whose jobs might be on the line, Jack Dorio is a good example, might perform and try to save their job. Who do you think is number one on that list? Who do you think has the most to gain? job security-wise with a win on Sunday. That's a good question. If I'm Vance Joseph, I'm going to want to win on Sunday. Yeah, I think he's number one.

You're playing Patrick. You're playing Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs backups. Like, yeah, go ahead and win there, buddy. You're at home. So that's at least near the top. I'm not sure if Del Rio is winner in. I think that's more of a philosophical decision on where these guys want to go. Is Jason Garrett, I don't even know what's going on there.

It seems like Jerry's really going to die on this hill, man. I mean, everything he said... Well, he died on the Wade Phillips Hill like a year and a half too late, too. That's kind of Jerry's deal, it seems. It really felt like... Obviously, we should never take anything to say at face value, but, I mean, he said on Monday that he has no interest in changing coaches, which, who knows?

That doesn't even sound like a vote of confidence. That sounds like Jerry being like, nah, I'm not doing this. Well, he said it's not in their best interest right now. That doesn't mean he's not going to do it, exactly. man, Texans Colts is kind of a ghost ship. If I feel like what O'Brien did with Watson earlier this year has his job safe. That's my opinion on that. I mean, I could be wrong.

That's not what the chattering classes say. That's fine. I mean, honestly, I think that team has so much talent when they get healthy next year that I wouldn't mind them going a different direction and kind of getting a revamp. I mean, that's fine with me. I feel like that team can be really good. So nothing that Bill O'Brien has done, especially all. offensively outside of the four weeks of magic with DeShon Watson leads me to believe that she's necessarily the right guy to do it. So the Jeff Fisher thing is maybe my favorite thing of

this season. It's pretty great. The four things of this year of 2017 that I'll remember, five things. Number one is the Super Bowl. Number two is Dunkirk. Number three is the Nathan for you finale. Number four is Deshawn Watson against Seattle. And number five is Jeff Fisher calling into a radio station and taking credit for the Rams. Those are my top five of the year. It's not bad. I wasn't a Dunkirk guy, but I understand the list. It's okay. That's for another pod. I was on an airplane the other day, and someone, I don't, it wasn't exactly clear what

they did. They either tried to smoke a cigarette in the bathroom, or they did some sort of fire situation that led to the fire alarm going off and the flight attendants screaming at them. Oh, God. And it reminded me a little bit of the Jeff Fisher thing because I didn't know that that was something we considered anymore. You know what I'm saying? I didn't know that people were just like,

I think I'm going to smoke on an airplane. I feel like that's the thing I'm going to do in 2017, just see how it goes. And now all of a sudden you got this thing with Jeff Fisher. And it's like, really, we're talking about hiring Jeff? I thought we'd pass that as humans. I guess not. Sorry, buddy.

We're regressing as a people, which I think Jeff Fisher is the biggest example of. It was Jeff Fisher, the guy who was smoking on an airport. Of course, absolutely. He was trying to light it with a match. That's why there was so much fire. All right, let's get going. Yeah, so who's your guy to watch as far as the carousel goes?

Del Rio. I think that whether they can put up a fight against that Chargers team that's trying to win, if they have two straight solid showings, I think that goes a long way and kind of him saying, I still have this team, everything else. We can make some changes elsewhere and kind of figure this out. Yeah, totally agree. Time for my hottest take.

I actually kind of believe it involves this, this coaching carousel situation. And for me, in reading these stories, the one thing you notice is, A, how many openings there could be, and B, how few candidates are available. David Shaw, he might leave Stanford, but it would have to be an incredible offer in a team like the Giants or something, a stable organization that's going to give you a lot of money and already has some roster talent. I know the Giants may actually not be the perfect situation, but I'm just throwing out a good organization, right?

And the more I read, the more I think that if you're a team on the fence about making a change, I think the absolute correct answer is to not make a change. If you're the Jets right now, and you've got Todd Bowles and Mike McCaghan. I think you have to just stick with. Todd Bowles was not bad this year, and you're not going to get better than him. Let's be clear about this.

The Jets coaching job this year was incredible. Well, it's not. That's not going to crazy here. The Jets should have won one game or zero based on the amount of talent they have on that team. What the Jets did offensively with Johnny Morton was excellent. Those guys 100% should not lose their jobs. John Morton rules. I would actually hire John Morton.

Morton's head coach, who cares? Those guys should, they would absolutely have the coach. I want to be clear. Not in the Jets. I mean, someone should hire John Morton's head coach just because I like the way that offense looked. Yes. I mean, they did a remarkable job.

Anyway, that's a little bit. That wasn't your point, but I just wanted to make that clear. No, I get you. I get you. No, what I'm saying is, is that those sort of teams where it's like, oh, maybe we just need a fresh start or whatever, don't do it. Yeah, I agree. Don't do it.

Because teams are firing at an unprecedented rate and you're going to be competing. What are you going to do? Hired maybe John DiFilippo. I mean, but there's so many guys. Give you a good example, right? Like Mike Patton. Mike Patton is basically not an entity in football anymore. And he was hired, he was hired essentially because the Browns had nobody else to hire because they kept firing people.

Right? And that is happening throughout the league because guys are just getting cycled through and cycled through and cycled through because they're getting fired after two years. And eventually there's just no more guys. Is John D. Felipe a great, the quarterback coach in Philadelphia?

Is he a great candidate? Maybe. Or is he a candidate because, you know, there's just an altogether lack of candidates over the last four years. I don't know the answer to that. I'm not necessarily not criticizing him. He obviously did a great job with the quarterback.

back play there, but it just, it calls into question why certain guys are getting hired. And so you're not going to find Todd Bowles was a really good defensive coordinator and has shown that he can win at the NFL level. That is not true of a lot of guys who are candidates this cycle. So that's my hot take. Don't fire guys if you can avoid it. I agree with that. And I think that we're all looking for McVeigh.

And I think that I talked to Les Sneed yesterday about some stuff with McVeigh. And he just said so many interesting things. I think that we want to make these mastermind guys, these special, like just a different, we want to make them the next guy. And in reality, it's not that element of who they are that makes them really good head coaches. And I think that that's just something that we don't think about all the time and we should. Yeah. All right, Robert, we've covered the big picture storyline to week 17, but what are we missing?

I want to talk about, I mentioned this briefly in the rest thing. I feel like what's going to happen with defensive player of the year is kind of fascinating. Donald probably has it right now. I think he deserves it. He's on a defense that's kind of defined the season in a way, a team that has. But if he doesn't play, the two guys looming in my mind are Cameron Jordan and Callais Campbell.

And I think that Jordan is kind of in a similar boat. That Saints defense has been a huge storyline for a big chunk of the year because they've been so unexpected and they played so well. If Cameron Jordan picks up two more sacks and he ends the year with 14 and that Saints defense is in the top 10, everything else, or if say Campbell gets two sacks and a force fumble, he has 16 and a half on the year. It's the number one defense in the league.

I feel like the gap between them and Donald is small enough that one of them could win it this week. And that's fascinating. I wrote about this for the ringer on Thursday. I think that race is more intriguing than it's been in years past. It's much closer. And the guys involved are all players that have really been integral parts of making the season interesting.

So I think what those guys do on Sunday, I'm going to be, I'm going to be looking at it. I'm going to be watching it. I'm going to see what their production is because I think it absolutely could swing who wins that award. Yep. I'm looking forward to it. And, you know, I would give it to Donald as well. I think that you saw Wade Phillips comments yesterday. He's pretty much, we all agree, he's the best defensive player on the league on a talent basis. And I think that you just, you know, all of these awards are narrative awards. And we won to assign, obviously, I get McVail get coach of the year, right? He should. I mean, why would he? I mean, I guess. I guess.

Yeah. And so, I mean, we just want to assign awards to the teams that impressed us most. So I would guess it would be Donald in that spot. Yeah, I would assume so as well. But I think that you could make an argument for one of those other guys just based on one huge week 17 in the seasons that they've had. Yep. Okay. Coming up, Danny Kelly is here to predict the fantasy football stars of tomorrow.

And we'll predict the future as well with next week's headlines. That's coming up on the Ringer NFL show, part of the Ringer podcast network. Robert, we're in the thick of the holidays right now, and a lot of people's wallets are already empty. Yeah, they should have laid down some cash on their sports predictions on MyBooky to make some extra money for the holidays. Yeah, if you're not betting on MyBooky, you're blowing it. They have every imaginal betting option and the fastest payouts in the biz. MyBooky is the only site we recommend because they have odds on every matchup and a mobile site that lets you bet from wherever you are during the holidays. Plus, you can get a 50% match on any deposit you make if you use our promo code, Ringer and

NFL. Check out mybookie.agee today. You play, you win, you get paid. Time to welcome in Danny, our fantasy football king. You're the king, Danny. How are you, buddy? Hey, thanks, Kevin. I'm doing well, man. How are you doing? I'm great. Fantasy football is over for most people. We know that. Yeah, so the true fanatics, that's who we're appealing to, they want to know next year's 2018 sleeper picks. Now, obviously, there's a lot of moving parts with that, but we're going to Give her our best shot. These are Danny's future Dark Nights. Danny, it actually says Dan are now in the script.

Yes. Man, well, that's a good sign. It's caught on. You've made that happen. By the way, my high school friends are super excited that you have decided to start calling me Danor. This is amazing. All right, Danny, hit us.

All right, so this guy actually almost made the list this year in terms of the Dark Nights, and that's Demir Mird for the Panthers. I mean, he showed up in a big time late in the season, kind of had some big plays for them. He is ridiculously fast. I actually, I didn't realize this. I just looked it up, but he ran a 427 on his pro day back in 2015 with a 42-inch vert, 659-3 cone.

Like, he is extremely athletic. He has sparked up, if you will, Kevin. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. So, and this is actually kind of a fun little tieback to a running joke we had all year. To me, he feels like a guy that could be like the 10 Ted Ginn in that offense. Oh, boy. You know, Newton, he's always going to be sort of a low percentage passer.

I don't know if he's ever going to get to where he wants to be in terms of a completion percentage, but he does have a strong arm, not afraid to put the ball down field. And I think Byrd could be kind of the beneficiary of that next year. So I could see him show up on a couple sleeper lists as we get closer to next season. Yeah, he also, he didn't really have a role early in the, the season because distilled had Benjamin and he got hurt in October. I didn't realize he was hurt for most of the season. He was hurt for two months. And so he only came off in the I-Rerve in December. Yeah. So that's, he's interesting. I feel like he had a role in that offense when he was healthy.

It'll be interesting to see what happens with Curtis Samuel. Samuel. And I don't know if their roles overlap or whatever, but to me, he's just proven that he's a big time playmaker. And he's also, he could feature in the return game as well. I just think they'll really want to use his speed, his ability to separate. Like, we've talked about. about it a couple of times this year. The Panthers coming into this year just didn't have a lot of ability to separate as receivers. And so I think that could be a reason he's a bigger part of their offense next year. Totally. Who's next? My second guy is another really, really good athlete. This is Chris Godwin of the Buccaneers. Again, he showed up kind of late in the year in that offense.

I think he started in place of Mike Evans one week. He had two starts on the year. And in those two starts. He had eight catches for 166 yards. I mean, he's a big guy, good size, good hands, really good speed, deep speed. And the thing that really shows up kind of on tape is that he catches contested passes really well. Like five or six of his catches this year were just in traffic. And so that's big, I think, just for the panthers or for the, for the, for the, for the buccaneers in general, just because of the way that James Winston plays, the way he passes, not afraid to kind of throw the ball into traffic and play that hero ball style of football. So I think that Godwin could be a guy that, again, he kind of starts to work his way more

into the offense next year. And his athleticism could show up. So he's got to keep in mind. I agree. I think that he's a little bit redundant with Deshaun, unfortunately, in terms of like the deep option. And I don't know how well they fit together. I think that was kind of a luxury pick that they had to make because he was so good

in college. But talent wise, I love him. I think you're right. His ability to go get the ball downfield is remarkable. ball. Who's next? All right. We got Marlon Mack. I mean, he's a name that people already know, but I'm kind of looking at Colts players next year as you could probably get a few of them on discount just based on the way that things went this season. And depending obviously on what happens with Andrew Luck next year, if he's back, then the Colts offense takes a big jump forward.

And I think that, I mean, Mack to me was just an explosive play waiting to happen every time he touched the football. I mean, he made some rookie mistakes. And I don't know if Pagano ever really trusted him, you know, in pass pro and that kind of thing. He didn't get as many snaps as I think a lot of people wanted him to get, but he, he's just really explosive, elusive guy. I mean, we saw on Christmas against the Ravens, he had a couple of plays where he was breaking tackles and picking up big yards. And I think he's just an exciting player for the future. Obviously, this year wasn't a huge season for him, but people know his name because of some of the plays he made. So he's another guy that I think he'll be like a mid-rounder next year probably, depending on how it all shakes out. But he

could end up, you know, earning a pretty big role in that offense. They're just going to be better by virtue of luck being there, too, like you said, but we'll see what happens with, what's his name, Mewort. I mean, they're best offensive linemen, and then the interior is a free agent. So it's just like one more thing that hurts their running game, even if luck comes back. I mean, that team never seems to get it all together at the same time. It's ridiculous. Yeah.

It also matters who the coach is going to be. Yep. Correct. It's going to be Jeff Fisher. Oh, God. All right. Keep going, Daner. All right, so fourth guy, and this guy, he, he really didn't do a...

Danny, are you in a Formula One track? What was that? That was not, that was outside my hotel room door. That was not me. That was a motorcycle on the highway. I was wondering if you guys heard that. That was funny. Yes, I did.

I'm sitting right here. All right, speaking of speeding motorcycles, I'm going to go with Tion Green of the Lions. He was, you know, he's a bigger guy, 6'220. The Lions have less than anything that resembles the run game. So maybe this is me grasping at straw. So I thought he was really impressive in the limited action that he got late in the season. He averaged four and a half yards per carry, four point four yards per carry. Scored a couple of touchdowns.

And I mean, that's for a Lions team that averaged a league low 3.4 yards per carry this year. And I don't know if they've had a hundred yard rusher since the 80s or whatever. So, you know, it's a bit of a projection. but I think if they decide to, if the Lions decide to finally commit to a run game, finally start to do anything on the ground. I think Tion Green could kind of work his way into that rotation because, I mean, he was breaking tackles. He looks like a physical kind of between the tackles runner that they need.

Obviously, Abdullah never kind of turned into that guy. And so, yeah, he was in limited quantities. He was really impressive to me. I think that if they don't draft the running back in the third or fourth round, then it's malpractice. That's the only thing I could see kind of throwing a wrench into this. that you can't look at that roster and say, we don't need a running back in those rounds.

I feel like they have to pick one at some point. So that's the only thing I would say that could kind of screw that up. Oh, yeah. It could definitely be thrown all out of whack. Hey, Mays, guess what? Huh. Adam Sheffered just tweeted the Jets have extended the contracts of Todd Bowles and Mike McCagnon. There we go.

Look at that. They listened to our pod before it even came up. All right. Who's your last guy, Danny? Don't stop now, Danny. It's your last dark night. Leave it all on the field, buddy. All right. My final guy is Trent Taylor for the 49ers. You know, they're a shifty little slot receiver. I'm going to, I'm going to try and use as many, you know, just white receiver tropes as possible in this description. But he is, I mean, he's a, he's a undersized guy, 5-9, 178, but he caught a million passes at Louisiana Tech. And he's kind of turned into a, you know, reliable guy for Garapolo over the middle of the field. On that catch, on that touchdown pass, you know, a lot of people were talking about Garoppolo's sidearm submarine throw, which was really awesome.

But I think Taylor made a really good play on that, too, in terms of, you know, he ran his route. It didn't happen. He improvised from there. It kind of came back across the field, saw the defense and then swung back around and went back towards the sideline and got himself open. So on plays like that, I think, you know, having a guy that you trust and have chemistry with, I think that could be huge for them. And I just, you know, Mays, I know that you're expecting the same thing. Like the 49ers offense has just, it can just go up. And I think it could be a lot better next year.

And so getting in on some of the guys that could be featured part of this offense next year could be good. How that wide receiving course shakes out is fascinating to me. Because if you look at what Shanahan's had in the past, it hasn't really had that traditional slot guy. I mean, like the Falcons didn't have that. They had Gabriel Sunu and Jones. So I think that when Garsohn comes back and you have Garsohn and Goodwin and then I assume they'll go get a number one. I mean, there's a, in free agency, you can get one. Sammy Watkins is there.

You know, Alan Robinson's there. So that guy is out there, and they may draft one. So how those guys shake out, if they use Goodwin in the slot on some of those Taylor-Gabriel routes, I don't know how the snaps and the workload is going to shake out when that is a full stable of guys. But I totally agree that Taylor is a part of this offense. I think he's going to give them something unique. Yeah, I was going to ask you about that because I know you studied, you know, Shanahan's offense last year pretty closely.

And they ran kind of a lot of two receiver sets. and they were sort of a heavier personnel team. No, they'll get four out there. It's just that they use a lot of different personnel. And I don't think their slot receiver is a traditional slot receiver. I mean, they've used guys that are more speed options in that role. And also, Julio used to play inside. So it's not, he's just never had that guy.

I mean, I think he has in the past. I mean, if you look at those Redskins teams, I don't know. I can't remember who exactly was there. But at least in Atlanta, if that's the blueprint, they didn't have a traditional slot guy. You know, they used the running backs out there. there a lot. So, you know, there's a chance of just personnel. He didn't have that. But I also think that his offense has succeeded without that option. And it's, tell he's a fifth round pick. You know, he's not like this, oh, we've drafted him the second round. He's going to be a part of

the plan. Totally. He is a useful, interesting piece. But I don't know if when they built that receiving core the way they want to, where he fits into it. Yeah. And that's a great caveat. So, I mean, that's something definitely to keep in mind. And I kind of was thinking that too. But he just impressed me over the last couple weeks. So I had to throw him in. there. But yeah, that's a, that's a really good point. Danny Hayfee went on the Seahawks this weekend. Oh, man. I mean, I think that they'll be okay. The Cardinals have played pretty well up here in Seattle, and so that's, you know, a factor. But I think they're, you know, they kind of reset and figured their, figured their shit out a little bit based on the Rams game. But, I mean,

they're still just such a hit and miss team at this point. And they need the, they need the, uh, Falcons to lose in order to make the playoffs. So it's going to be kind of pins and needles this Sunday, guys. Good luck, buddy. I'm thinking about you. Don't worry. I'm here for you. All right. Thanks, guys. All right, thanks, guys. But we'll talk to you next week. Thanks, Danny. All right, sounds good. All right, Robert, when the dust settles from week 17, what'll be next week's biggest headline start us off? I think we talked about the coaches. Obviously, that'll be a topic of conversation. To me, it's going to be, depending on who gets those wild cards, I think, trying to build the upset. You know, if Atlanta wins big against Carolina, like, here come the Falcons. If the Seahawks

have a nice win and they get in, it's, can the Seahawks knock off whoever? I think that's what we're going to be obviously because the biggest teams are not playing in the wildcard round. So I think trying to build a case and get excited for some of these lesser wildcar teams, you know, gear enough to make a run. I know that's at least what I'm going to be thinking about. And I feel like other people will be chatting about that as well. Totally agree. I mean, I just think it's pretty obvious.

It's just going to be the setup for a great playoffs. And I think in the AFC, it's two very different things. We inflicted this earlier. But in the AFC, it almost feels ordained that. barring a Jaguars Jaguars complete performance that we're going to see Pittsburgh in New England in the James Harrison Bowl

and in the NFC it's anything goes and I think I kind of like the contrasting styles there where you know we're going to be able to see two very different playoffs at the same time. I'm fired up about it and that's it we know what it looks like as of Monday.

Yeah. It's going to be fun. This is going to be a really just great weekend of football. I can't wait. Yeah. Awesome man. All right. Well, we'll be back. to discuss all of this on Tuesday and get you ready for the playoffs. As always, thanks for listening to the Ringer NFL show on the Ringer Podcast Network. Thanks, guys.