The Ringer NFL Show - Week 14 Recap: Chiefs Edge Out the Chargers, Rams Outduel the Bills, and More

Episode Date: December 9, 2024

Sheil, Steven, and Diante return to discuss, debate, and share their expert takes on their favorite games from the Sunday NFL slate. Chargers-Chiefs (2:09) Bills-Rams (14:57) Seahawks-Cardinals (24:27) Next, they examine the playoff races in both the NFC (31:37) and AFC (46:09), and offer early speculation on which teams will ultimately make the playoffs. Finally, they survey the league and offer superlatives and awards to the players, coaches, and teams who made newsworthy contributions to the Week 14 headlines (58:45). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Sheil Kapadia, Steven Ruiz, and Diante Lee Producers: Chris Sutton, T Cruz, and Mark Panik Production Supervision: Conor Nevins, Arjuna Ramgopal, and Daniel Comer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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subscribe, and get ready for the McShay show on the ringer, Spotify, and wherever you watch or listen the podcasts. Welcome to the Ringer NFL show. Shield Capadia here with Deontay Lee and Stephen Ruiz. Good to have you watching on Fanduil TV. We're listening on Spotify. Week 14 is in the books. We got four more weeks left to figure out who is going to be in the playoffs. We're going to break it all down today. Tell you what we saw on Sunday in the NFL. Deontay, how we feeling? Much better than I did when you guys were recording a preview show. Obviously, had to miss that. It was a little under the weather. So definitely feeling better and glad to be talking ball again. And I think that this is probably the first week where I really felt like, okay, what I thought about this team's mid-season, when I said

that I felt I had a good feeling how the season were going to play out, I think that we're about there now, right? Like, I don't think I necessarily have a lot left to learn about a lot of these teams. We're just kind of seeing how things shake out from this point forward. Famous last words in this league. Said that last time. Fast forward to the playoffs. Time to fast forward to the playoffs. All right, we're going to go over our lessons, what we learned here to start off the show. I'm starting off with what I learned, and I can't believe I'm saying it, given all the words we've wasted this year on this team, but the chiefs are in great position for a three-peat. I mean, that is what I learned in week 14.

Now, pay careful attention to like the phrase I use there, in great position. I'm not telling you, wow, what I saw with the new left tackle and what they came out, with against the Chargers. I'm convinced they're back. They're a great team. That's not what I'm saying. But they beat the Chargers 19 to 17, another one score win. Their 10th one score win in the season. This has not happened this century where a team has been 10 and 0 in one score games through week 14. So there's another conversation about how good are the Chiefs or are they going to win the Super Bowl. But this Sunday couldn't have gone any better for them. The bills lose to the Rams. The Chiefs win again. And they've now got a two-game lead over the Buffalo Bills with four to play.

So as long as they don't lose two of their final four games, and this is still Patrick Mahom's we're talking about, they're going to get the one seat. And the road to the Super Bowl and the AFC is going to go through Arrowhead. So if you would have asked Andy Reid, Mahomes, Spags, whoever else before the season, where would you like to be? They would have signed up for this obviously in a heartbeat. So all the ups and downs, all we've talked about what's wrong with offensive line, the passing, the offensive scheme, the defense. And here they are, they're still in a great spot to potentially contend for a three-peat here, Deontes. So that's the big thing I learned in week 14. Yeah, I'm with you.

I was actually watching this game and I was like, all the things that I've said that I've complained about with this team in the middle of the season, it's not that those things have disappeared. And I don't want to come across saying, like, oh, they've turned a new leaf. This is a different football team. very much the same team that had to take it to the end against Denver. This is the same team that needed a pass interference against Cincinnati in order to pull that game out. I would just say that the same credit I give to some of the teams we talk about that are not in contention to be the one seed for the top overall team in the NFL that don't beat themselves. All those same things have to apply when we talk about Kansas City. Obviously, that's Patrick Mahomes as a

quarterback. You know, I think that the Sunday night football team did a great job of just highlighting the beating that he's taking in the pocket. And the fact that he is still as efficient as he is from the pocket as a passer knowing when and how to extend finding guys deep down the field. I thought

that he faced a really tough defensive game plan from Los Angeles and he was able to execute. And I think on the other side of the ball, well, I don't think things are fixed. I do think that still Steve Spagnolo, regardless of what's happening with the defensive backfield and whether or not, they can get edge rush against a team like this where they know how to just

crowd the line of scrimmage and take away the downhill run game and force you to win out on the perimeter one-on-one. That style of play is going to win you a lot of football games more often than not, especially when you have a quarterback advantage in every situation in a way that they do. Yeah, and especially when you got Greg Roman calling the plays on the other sideline. I'm still, all my concerns from before this game are still present after the game. And the game kind of went like how we discussed it might go on the previous show shield, where the past defense still is a concern.

I saw Stone Smart have a career night against these guys. I saw Josh Palmer. Josh Palmer had a great day. Getting wide-ass open downfield all night long. That's a concern. But the Chargers kind of fell into that trap where they want to be this run-first team and they want to be able to run the ball

when the other team knows they're running the ball. And that just played into the strength and the weaknesses of this Chief's defense. I think this should have been a pass-first script for the Charters. And it wasn't. The Chargers actually ended up with a lower pass rate than the Chiefs in this game, which is just bonkers considering the fact that, one, they didn't have an advantage in the run game. Their advantage was in the past game.

And then, two, they were behind for most of this game. So the game script called for a pass-heavy approach. But, yeah, I mean, the Chiefs won. They won again. They're going to be the one seed. They're probably going to run through the playoffs. I don't want to talk about this team again in the A-block until the playoffs. Can we agree on that?

We don't need to talk about this team again because they defy analysis. Like anything we say about them doesn't matter in the end, because they're just going to win off a banked in field goal. Are they going to block a kick? Are they going to get a pass interference call? Or something's going to happen. I mean, it's a testament to Mahomes, honestly. Like, I think it's mostly Mahomes doing this work.

Like, Andy Reid, I think the offensive play calling has left a little meat on the bone. I think the defensive, the defense has been called well by Steve Spagnullo, but the injuries in the secondary and the changes to the roster in the secondary over the offseason have kind of held him back. And that's the reason for the past defense taking a step back. But, yeah, I mean, I still remember. the Buffalo game. And if Buffalo plays them in the playoffs or Baltimore plays them in the playoffs or even if the Charters play them again in the

playoffs, like I might think about picking against them. Yeah, I mean, they're obviously it sounds so stupid to say. They're beatable. Even though they are 12 and 1. I mean, history just tells us there have been 15 teams, I think, since 2000, that have had

12 wins at this point in the season. They've all had at least a plus 100 point differential. The Chiefs, I think, are plus 54. or plus 56 right now. This is like unprecedented what they're doing right now. And you're right, Ruiz. I think the only, I think this was the last thing to discuss.

It's like, well, you know, now unless they lose the one seed, I don't know that there's a lot to say. Like they're, you know, cycling through their left tackles. Who comes back and is healthy? Those are the big questions. But other than that, you know, they've just got to kind of take care of business here down the stretch. And unless they stumble, which they could.

It's possible they lose two of the next four. But not likely when you just look at who's, playing quarterback for them. There's not a whole lot of other stuff to discuss with them until we get to the postseason. Let's do a little exercise. And I totally made up this game just now on the spot. I've never heard anybody else do this game before. Try to guess the line in the Brown's Chiefs game.

In Cleveland or in Kansas City next week? It's in Cleveland. In Cleveland. All right. So the Browns were what, six and a half point dogs today in Pittsburgh. But now they're at home. I would say eight, Chiefs by eight? I'll say five and a half.

You guys split the difference. It's actually six and a half, but I think the chief's only being favored by a touchdown or less than a touchdown against this Brownstein, which has been a disaster all year long. And James Winston has turned back into James Winston throwing interceptions. I think it's just a testament to the lack of faith in this team,

not only to cover, but to look like a Super Bowl champion on any given Sunday. When's the last time we saw them look like a Super Bowl champion? I'm looking at their schedule right now, and maybe that 49- game. That was a good game. Yeah, they played well in that game. Yeah, that was the last time. But yeah, I mean, they don't cover. And the offense didn't play that well in that game either, if I recall correctly. They got three picks on Brock Purdy. So if you're betting against the Chiefs every week, you're making Achille. I thought that this was the game where the line adjusted. I took the Chiefs. We talked about it. Ruiz on the preview show. I'm like, all right, they've adjusted three and a half. That's a low number. The Chargers are not built for this. I was feeling okay early. And then by the end, you look up. And it's 19.

17. I don't know the last thing on the Chargers, though. I mean, you mentioned it. They finally start passing the football in the second half. Justin Herbert completes 10 passes in a row at one point. And you're just thinking, like, why was this not the game plan in the beginning? And then, by the way, third and 16 at the Kansas City 24. I know that's not a high percentage, like you're going to get it. But this isn't a great defense. And you do have Justin Herbert. There's 521 left on the clock. Like, how are you handing the football off there? for five yards and kicking the field goal. You're just going to go and then you're going to give them the ball back

where they just need a field goal with Patrick Mahom. So conservative kind of all around for the Chargers. And that sort of been a theme for them this season. Yeah, they did the same exact thing in the Cardinals game. Yeah. They also gave away where, like, Herbert was just cooking them in the second half. And then they go away from it at the end of like a drive to take the lead. They settle for three points.

And then the Cardinals come down and kick a game winning field. It happened again. And it keeps happening. And we can call it. Like we called all of this on the, on the, Friday show. When that's the case, like, you have a problem. And I mean, the charges are winning and they're overachieving, so it's hard to, like, nitpick anything with this coaching staff. So maybe next year, we can really yell about Greg Roman holding this team back. But for now, like,

as a Herbert Stan, I don't even know what do we call herself? A herbervore? Is that what I should call myself? Okay. I don't hate that. Herbert, Boar? Stephen, you said something that was really, that's been really interesting to me. And I would say that, like, Greg Roman does bear a little bit of the responsibility in it, especially when it comes to like run game design. I think it's just really frustrating when you watch this offense operate because I thought what they were calling in the passing game made a lot of sense. They just missed out on a couple of Josh Palmer deep passes. They tried to set up some double moves to attack these safeties, which is something you

have to do. Otherwise, Kansas City is really going to sit on you, especially in the intermediate areas. I thought they did a good job, getting guys out into the flat where you can go get yak opportunities. That's how they were able to get the ball to Quentin Johnson a bunch in this game. So I thought there was a lot that was drawn up in the passing game that makes a lot of sense, which makes it frustrating that they don't lean on their quarterback to figure things out or to go make a play for them. You can't always manage and mitigate down in distance situations,

especially against the defense against like Kansas City that knows what you want to do in the run game. I know they're missing Lab McConkey, but I don't know if his absence alone was enough for us to see what we saw in the first half, which almost just felt like they were trying to speed to the end of the game. in a lot of ways. It was run on first down for nothing, run on second down for a couple yards. And then Justin Herbert trying to scramble waiting for a guy to separate. When they were passing on early downs, I thought all the designs were great. So I do want to see them trust him in the way that they did, you know, in November and late October, when it seemed like they were finally starting to cut him loose, especially early in football games.

I don't know why it is that they would go away from that, especially in a game like this, where you know beating Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs is going to require your quarterback to be, you know, the Spartan god that he is oftentimes. Yeah, it's similar to like the conversation we have around the Shanahan offense, but obviously like the Shanahan offense is a way more successful version of it, where like, yeah, there is, Greg Roman's going to be great at drawing up plays off of his run actions, and you're going to see a lot of like good shot plays and a lot of good like play action plays.

But the more you see of his dropback passing game, the worse it looks. And then that's when you start to notice the little details that are lacking. and like the spacing and stuff. And so maybe like if we did see more of the passing game, it wouldn't be as effective that like that tends to apply to any situational play call in football. But I mean, you got Herbert and he's your only chance at winning this game. And he's doing it with these like no name receivers. Like I don't know.

I just want to see them let Herbert cook. And until we do, this team isn't going to be one that I take seriously as like a playoff contender. I like that theory. Maybe Greg Roman is the most self-aware coach in the NFL. He's like, no, trust me. I only got 15 of these. I only got 15 good ones. Let's keep those efficiency numbers what they are right now.

The more volume we get, this is going to get ugly quickly. So Chiefs get the win, 12 and 1. Chargers in good position for the playoffs still at 8 and 5. All right, let's take a break. We'll come back, find out what Ruiz and Deonté have for their lessons. Get ready to tackle the NFL action with Fandul, America's number one sportsbook, because right now new customers can bet $5 and get $150.

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$5 first deposit required. Bonus issued as non-mustrable bonus bets, which expires seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook. Fandul.com. Gambling problem, called 1-800 gambler, or visit RG-hash-help.com. All right, we are back on the Ringer NFL show. Ruiz, what do you got? What did you learn in week 14? Yeah, my lesson comes from the Bills, Rams epic. I don't know what else to call it, the quarterback duel, maybe the best quarterback duel of the season in a season where we've

gotten like five elite quarterback duels between Josh Allen and Matthew Stafford. But my main takeaway from this is the same takeaway I've kind of had on this Bill's defense all year long is like I respect them against most quarterbacks but against a good quarterback they're going to get torn up and against a good coaching staffs are going to get torn up and we saw it in this game

I mean Stafford made a handful of unreal throws. Nakua made a handful of unreal catches Cooper Cup looked like vintage Cooper Cup. I thought McVeigh kind of dusted off the old offense like they were getting undercentered getting some boot action getting Stafford outside the pocket

you got the run game going for a little bit there. But I thought it just looked too easy at times for Stafford to kind of know where his options were and where his outlets were. And it was just like easy in the same ways that it typically looks easy against the Bill's defense, against its own coverage. When you're not getting a pass rush, and they didn't sack Matthew Stafford once in this game, it's really hard for that defense to look good, especially with the pieces they have on the back end now. Like three years ago, four years ago, they had some stars back there. They had Poirier, they had Mike Ah, they had Trey White at the top of the,

of his game. Terran Johnson, obviously, is still there, but he was a good player back then, too. I don't think they have the dudes back there now to kind of go to war with these offenses when they're really clicking. We've seen them beat Kansas City, but we've talked about Kansas City's issues with putting up points. I want to see it against a quarterback like this, and the example we got on Sunday wasn't a good one. Yeah, and there's been other games. I mean, they play the Ravens earlier this season. Ravens take it to them, score 35 in that game. So I think it's fair. I know you were mentioning it last week. And the thing with the bills, it's like it's not just kind of what we're seeing this season. I mean, in the past, they've gone into the playoffs with defenses that were better than this defense, but they get in a one-off game against a good quarterback or a good offense. And they get picked apart there. So I think it's a, it's a, it's hard for me to know whether it's like, I should be very concerned about the bills or just like we've seen Stafford and McVeigh and Nakua on a heater in other games. Not that it's every week. They can't do it every week. But when they do it, man, it looks pretty.

They look so unstoppable. This was one of the best games by any offense. By the way, both teams. If you look at it statistically, these were two of the best games by any offense the entire season. The Rams had eight possessions, five touchdowns, one field goal, and two punts. I mean, Stafford, 320 yards, two touchdowns, doesn't take a sack, doesn't throw an interception, doesn't have a fumble. This was the second best quarterback performance of the season. statistically based on EPA for past play.

So Deonte, when you look at it, are you going more, as fun to watch the Rams when they can still get to that level? Or are you more, Bill's like, got to figure some things out defensively? Well, I feel like we talked the last couple of weeks about Buffalo and how close they are to be considered the NFL's best team at different points. And the one thing I said is that I was just waiting to see whether or not this coverage unit could take that next step and start to, you know, kind of look a little bit more like what you want see from a top level Super Bowl contending team.

And I thought that the return of Matt Milano would go a long way towards that. And obviously they looked good in the snow last week against San Francisco. But this was the kind of game where I needed to see Taylor Rap and DeMar Hamlin step up and be able to take away those intermediate throws. And what we saw instead was Matthew Stafford basically pick on those guys. He was able to find wherever Taylor Rap was and he was going to attack him with an endbreaker. You know, he was able to find DeMar Hamlin and manipulate him with his eyes. That's something that I've talked about multiple times is that.

But for Taylor Rap, he's not necessarily the top-end athlete. So the marching for error with him is really tough against an offense that's as precise as Sean McVease, especially when you have a quarterback like Matt Saffert there. And with DeMarne, he could be a bit of a gambler. And against an offense like this, if they know that you're not going to be at the exact spot you're supposed to be to take away a dig, to take away a post, Matthew Stafford's going to lay it out. DeMarcus Robinson looked good deep downfield.

They didn't need a bunch underneath from Cooper Cup. And you just saw Pooka Nakua just pick on them again and again and again. in the same areas of the field, out on the sideline in the intermediate area, in the middle of the field in the intermediate area, they were able to design whatever they wanted for their receiving core and for their quarterback. And I think that for Buffalo, it's not necessarily that this is going to be a disqualifying factor for them, as much as if they lose to Kansas City, if they lose to Baltimore, I think we all know what the conversation is going to be about why it is that that happened.

It's probably going to be because this coverage unit didn't have enough juice on the back end to be able to take away explosive offense and that was on display today. I actually love this. This is a great game. Let's play this game right now. So you're saying if and when the bills lose, we'll be talking about their coverage unit wasn't good enough.

They got cooked defensively. And that's why they didn't get to the Super Bowl or win the Super Bowl. Ruiz, you generally agree with that? Or would you have another one for the bill? No, it's definitely going to be bad. I would agree with that too. I mean, their offense,

they might have the best offense in the NFL right now. All right. Chiefs. If the Chiefs lose in the playoffs, let's say before the Super Bowl or even in the Super Bowl, Deonte, what do you think is the most likely thing we are jumping on the mics after that loss and talking about what aspect of the Chiefs? And then we'll do it with the Ravens afterwards. The only way I can see it happen is if you get the Patrick Mahomes of the beginning of the year, where you're just getting that one turnover, one or two turnovers per game. And he throws an untimed interception early in the game, and that puts them behind, and then they're just always trailing

a possession, and a team like Buffalo or Baltimore is basically able to hold them at arm's length. I don't think it's going to be anything other than that, the more I watch them. Okay. I think my head went to that Super Bowl, they lost to the Bucks when they couldn't protect. And watching that left tackle situation, the tackle situation again, I think that would be number one on my list. Before I was all like, their past catchers aren't good enough, but watching him get hit this amount, it's like jarring.

It has not happened. The amount is not just the stacks, but the quarterback hit. So I think if they lose, we're going to look at that offensive tackle situation as the number one reason. That's my guess at least right now. Ruiz, what do you think? I think it might end up being the defense, especially if they get into like a shootout type game, like they did with Philadelphia, but obviously, you know, the result would swing. But under no circumstances when you have Patrick Mahomes on your team, should you be,

should you have to bank on the defense to win a Super Bowl? So, like, I think it would just come back to both to the receiving issue and the offensive line issue. I think it's hard to kind of separate those two, especially when you're observing or trying to figure out why the deep passing game has just totally disappeared over the last couple of years. I think it's been the tackle play. I think it's been the receiving play. I think the last person I would blame is Patrick Mahomes. I would put Andy Reid ahead of him on that list, too. How about the roster building, by the way?

I'm going to save this for another show. But I think that is like the thing that gets swept under a little bit. bit. It's tough, though, because the receiving core that they have on the field now is not the receiving core they envisioned in August. Injuries, yeah. They had She Rice. They had Hollywood Brown who still might come back. They still might get Jalen Watson back.

I think that would fix some of the defensive issues. But, I mean, I think you could argue with the tackle play and the acquisition of the tackles over the past couple years. I think they've made some, like, not silly mistakes, no doubt. Mistakes that I think a lot of analysts would have been like,

oh, I don't know about that one, even at the time when they made those moves. So I think that's the big one from the roster construction point of view. But I mean, I think Brett Feach has done mostly a good job of the last couple of years. All right. Now, I said we'll also do it with the Ravens. Is that disrespectful to the Steelers? I didn't. The Steelers are, okay, you're saying, Ruiz saying no, Steelers fancy.

You can take your wrath out on him. All right. The Ravens, if the Ravens come up short in the playoffs, yet again, Ruiz, what do you think the reason will be we're talking about? This one's much, much harder. Yeah. Part of me wants to say Todd Monkin, but the other part of me just wants to say the defense,

the easy answer, the secondary or the penalties. I mean, with the Ravens, it's never one thing, is it? Like, you go back and look at all their playoff losses. The play calling has been bad. The running game disappears. The defense forgets how to cover, especially deep. Justin Tucker misses a bunch of kicks. Oh, that's the one.

I'm doing Tucker. I'm saying if they lose, we're talking. Justin Tucker kicker watch. My answer is everybody but Lamar. That's always your answer. That's my answer as well. We're blaming everybody but Lamar. And it's a good answer. Have you seen him play?

All right. Everyone but Lamar, they say, I say Justin Tucker. Kyle Hamilton, too. He has immunity from all blame too. He's Lamar of the defense. All right. There you go. So Bill's loose this game.

Costly loss in the AFC playoff picture only because I'm sure they were eyeing that home field advantage. That by, again, still have a chance, but now you need the chiefs to lose two of their last four games, to even have a shot at that. And by the way, the bills still have to face the Lions on their schedule here. And Rams, you're back in it. We're going to talk some more Rams in the next segment as well when we go over the

playoff picture. Deontay, what do you got? I don't know if this is a new lesson as much as just affirmation of the last time these two teams played. And that's what Mike McDonald can just game plan with the best of them when he needs to. And I thought that this week, it played out a lot differently than what it was when they matched up at Lumenfield in Seattle. You know, I thought that in that game, it was more about them taking away the run game. At least Seattle's taking away Arizona's run game, really dominating up front.

This week, I think this was them knowing exactly what Arizona wanted in the passing game, especially in the first half. You get the two interceptions, being able to make adjustments in terms of coverage and playing the passing windows that you know that Kyler Murray wants to be an anticipatory thrower in. obviously the interception that landed Seattle, basically in the red zone. You're playing cover two. You try to throw the ball to a dig, thinking that the linebackers turn the other way, but they know what the routes are.

The second the linebacker opens his hips. The ball is basically waiting right in his lap. And then in the second one, you get Kyler Murray, kind of trying to attack the line of scrimmage and loft the ball deep toward the left side line. And I think a DB gets underneath it. I don't remember who that was. Kobe Bryant, I think that one was.

Yeah. But I think that in both of those scenarios, you're looking, can look and say what were the other options and you're looking at other receivers and the rest of the concept isn't open, which to me says that they had a clear understanding of in different personnel groupings, this is what they like to do. We know that they're going to probably try to counter us after the day that we had against their run game when we saw them a couple of weeks ago. And I just loved their game plan from that perspective. And then on the other side of the ball, you get good, you know, you don't have the turnover problems that he's had at different points

in the season. And a lot of that, I think, is helped by the fact that they were able to finally run the football reliably, pop a few explosives, and now you're not asking Gino to always work from these obvious passing situations and have to put the ball perfectly in the position. And now we're just seeing, I think, what the Seahawks maybe always want it to be this year, which is a team that can distribute the ball to D.K. Metcalfe and Jackson Smith and Jigba, who's looked really good over the last month and a half. And then defensively, I think that they've got the right combination of playmaking up front with Leonard Williams. And I think that back seven in general, it's less about any one breakout guy, even though Devin Wether's been really good and more just about them

kind of congealing around the right kind of defensive identity for Mike McDonald, which is just sitting on routes and forcing quarterbacks have to be perfect down in and down out. If I had a bank on a defense to ride through this playoff, I mean, Philadelphia is the obvious answer in the NFC, but I'm not so sure I wouldn't take McDonald just for that game planning edge. I think Vic Fangio is a fine game plan, game planner, but we've seen his defense kind of be susceptible to certain styles of offense, especially offenses with quarterbacks who can move around. With Mike McDonald, there's no such problem. And like, you could see

him kind of craft his game plan, to Deontes point, to the quarterback he's facing. The game plan changes based on how the quarterback processes and how the quarterback thinks. Like when he plays Joe Burrow, he'll play into that, you know, that style where Joe Burrow will like to dink and dunk early to open up the defense down, down the field, and he'll, like, pray on that against Joe Burrow. When he plays like a Jared Gough, you see him take away the endbreakers, not so much in the game earlier this year, but you see him try to force those throws to the outside with

Murray. He kind of shows him one picture at the beginning of the snap and then takes it away and then gets into those windows that Deonté was referring to after it because Kyle Murray is such like a field player back there. He's not like really, he's not like a bald noer, so to speak. He like feels the thing. He said that he's said this before. And this was another example of it.

think just in the NFC playoffs when you're going up against these quarterbacks who are limited in some ways. Like, Jared Kauf is having a fantastic year, but it's clear that he's limited in terms of moving off of his spot and creating out of structure. We've seen Jalen Hertz's weaknesses throughout the season. We definitely saw it against Carolina on Sunday. Like, the teams that you have to reckon with in this division are in this conference, I think can be had with a great game plan, which really works in Seattle's favor if they make

it to the playoffs, which it looks like they're going to. make it. Yeah, very, very encouraging performance by the Seahawks. I mean, you guys mentioned defensively, offensively. I just thought like the sort of, I don't want to say unexpected guys, but Charbonnet comes in and has a 51-yard touchdown run. You mentioned Jackson Smith and Chigba. He had that shoestring catch in the middle of the field. That was incredible, and he's been doing it for weeks on end now. And maybe the biggest thing, Gino Smith doesn't get sacked in this game. And I know the Cardinals don't have a talented front, but they have been doing a much better job like the last three, four weeks, especially on third down, scheming stuff up,

getting free rushers, and even you saw it against the Vikings just last week. I mean, they got Sam Donald, what, three or four times on third down. Gino Smith doesn't take a sack in this game. So you're looking at that offensive line, which we always have to talk about with the Seahawks, and it looks like, all right, it's not perfect, but no one was expecting it to be perfect. It was get past this certain threshold where you give the rest of the offense a chance, because you've got players on the rest of that offense, and maybe. Maybe this thing can work. So you've got to be excited if you're a Seahawks fan.

I mean, they still have a tough road ahead here. They've got the Packers, the Vikings, and then at the Bears and at the Rams. But they've gone on a roll here. Four straight wins. You beat the Niners. You beat the Cardinals twice. We were talking about you just faced the Cardinals a couple of weeks ago. Hey, what's it going to look like now?

That's going to tell us a lot about these coaching staffs. And Mike McDonald does it again. So two for the Seahawks. Cardinals going in the opposite direction. they lose three in a row here and now their playoff chances look slim. I need to see it from the offense for a second straight week. This is a do it again league, the NFL.

Do it again. I don't want to get excited because you did it one week when you spent the first part of the season just crapping all over yourself, especially on early downs in the run game and then in pass protection. But no, like you said, it did look good against a Cardinals defense

that can give offenses like this problems. But I think next week is the real test against a Packer's defense that we've talked about is very good in obvious passing situations, but not so good in run situations. And I think that's like the inverse of the Seahawks offense. So it could be a Stiles makes fight kind of deal with this. And I really want to see how the Seattle offense comes out of that matchup.

Do it again league, Deontay. Has he been hanging out with NFL coaches or is this a Ruiz original or what's going on? I like it. I like that. Actually, I think I'm might have to steal that. I'm going to steal a little of future. You're going to make that part of the show too. We've got a lot of catchphrases going on today.

All right, let's take a break. We're going to come back and we're going to do a little playoff selection committee. The Ringer's playoff selection committee is here. All right, we're back on the Ringer NFL show. The only playoff selection committee that matters is the Ringer's playoff selection committee. So we're going to go conference by conference, division by division. We're going to talk about who we think's going to get in. And then also, if we actually were just a, you know, playoff selection.

committee, who do we think the best teams are that we would kind of like to see get in to the postseason with four weeks left here? All right. So some of these, we don't really need to have a discussion about the NFC East. The Eagles are 11 and 2. They have a 98%. You guys interrupt me. If any of the ones I say, we don't need to talk about it. If you're like, hold on, I want to talk about this, then we can get to it. But Eagles have a 98% chance to win the NFC East after their victory today. The Lions are 12 and 1. They're in a great spot. in the NFC North. Then we get to one of the most,

I was going to say most interesting, but I don't know how interesting it is, but there's still a lot to be determined. And that's the NFC now, the NFC South, where the Tampa Bay Bucks get a victory here in week 14 over the Raiders. They are now 7 and 6.

The Falcons go to Minnesota. I really thought they were going to be in that game. It was competitive for a little bit. And then the Vikings run away with it in the fourth quarter. So the Falcons drop to 6 and 7. on the season. Now, the Falcons do have the tie break because they've beaten the Bucs in both of their head-to-head matchups. Deiante, NFC South right now, according to the New York Times as a

playoff simulator. Bucks are 63% chance to win it. Falcons are 36% chance to win it. Who do you like in the NFC South as we go into the final four weeks? I mean, if it's about what I trust, I trust what I see with the bucks on a week-to-week basis much more than what I'm seeing with the Falcons right now. We've seen this Falcons defense get lit up on multiple occasions by different styles of offense, different calibers of quarterbacks. And I just think for them offensively, the book on them has just been so clear, basically since week one of this season. And teams have really been able to take away or just cause them to go cold for long enough in games, especially over the last month. And I think that that's been a big reason why they've fallen out

of this picture right now. And obviously, like you said, they've still got the tiebreaker. So it's not necessarily like it's an emergency situation quite yet for them. But if I'm looking at the rest of this season, the Bucks have got a pretty friendly schedule. The Falcons, I think, still have to see one or two teams that can at least compete with them credibly. And for those reasons, I think that the Bucks probably should feel like they've got a clearer picture to win the division and get into the playoffs. Yeah, I would go with the Bucks too.

I think the Falcons have wasted whatever margin for error they had. The Bucs go to the Chargers next week, which is a game where the Falcons could have made up some ground and maybe that tiebreaker comes back into play. But I don't think the Bucks are losing a game after that. They play the Cowboys who are obviously fading without their quarterback. They play the Panthers at home. I know the Panthers played them tough in Carolina, but it's a home game. So you would expect them.

I don't know, to pull that one out. Then they get a Saints team that has already kind of given up and will probably have totally given up by Week 18. So, I mean, I almost want to see the Falcons in the playoffs just because I think they're more interesting from an offensive perspective. they would be funny to laugh at Kirk Cousins in the playoffs one last time. That would be, if the playoffs, if the actual college football playoff selection committee made choices like that,

that this guy would be funny to laugh at or like Brian Kelly looks like so annoyed on the sideline. Oh, Miami would have made it. Mario Cristobal would have been in the playoffs then if that were the case. Oh, yeah, just for the game management errors. Can I pick Bama for the NFC South in the same region? That'd be fun. Better chance of maybe the same chance of making a Super Bowl. But no, I think Tampa Bay is going to take this one.

Even though, like, we didn't see the best version of Baker Mayfield today. We kind of overcame, but a bad Baker-Mayfield performance, especially in the first half, thanks to whatever the Raiders are calling their quarterback situation right now. It's going to be another Bucks Monday night game in the playoffs, huh? The Bucks at least have an offense that works if executed properly, I think. I mean, we've seen, like, it might not always look like that. It might not look like that in the playoffs. But, like, the Falcons are tough.

that 496 yards of offense today. You know, today I thought was as much about their defense as it was their offense. They couldn't get a stop. Sam Darnold was just carving them up. Their minus three on turnovers, they have a special team's fumble. Of course, last week, Kurt Cousins, you know, has the four interceptions. So I'm like on the fence about this one. But yeah, I thought the bucks have been the better team.

I mean, you just look at point differential. They're plus 54 on the season. The Falcons are minus 55 here. So I think Tampa's a better team. I don't know who would be more interesting in the playoffs. Honestly, you might be right. For the narrative, it might be Kirk Cousins, or if the Falcons go to Michael Penix.

I know they say they're not going to. If you told me Falcons get in with Pennix, then that would get me pretty interested. But I don't know, Bucks could be a little frisky against some of these NFC teams. Todd Bowles against Jalen Hertz, part 45 or whatever it is. Who knows? That could be one of the matchups.

That Falcons game, though. like Kirk Cousins was looking good early on. The PFF coordinator, Zach Robinson, was mixing it up. They were going under center calling play action passes, which they haven't done enough of this season. I don't know why. Maybe it's because of the injury Kirk Cousins is recovering from. But he took a hit.

It was like a free runner at some point in the second quarter, a huge hit on a play action from under center. And they called one more under center play for the rest of the half. It was all shotgun from there. And the one under center dropback was the interception from a clean pocket. He looked rattled after that moment, and that was like the end of the game right there. That was on my second screen. I swear there were about seven instances where I had to do.

Is that a fumble or an incompletion on that? Because he was just getting hit. And I'm like, well, the ball's flailing in the air. I'll wait and see if that's a turnover or not a turnover there. The end zone angles were so funny in that game. Like Kirk's face, he's just grimacing with every throw. Not fun. Not fun for Kirk Cousins.

All right. So we're all on the bucks. That's kind of boring. We're all on the bucks in the NFC South. NFC West, Seahawks are now 8 and 5. Rams are 7 and 6. Cardinals are 6 and 7, and the 49ers are 6 and 7. Ruiz, start us off.

Who do you have in the NFC West? I think I'm taking the Rams. Yes, let's go. I think I'm taking the Rams because Seattle has a hard schedule over the next two games. I just told you I don't really trust that offense right now, and I don't know how much of the Mike McDonald coaching advantage is going to matter against the Packers who have a guy that I've been touting as the best coach in the NFL this season in LaFle.

And then Kevin O'Connell, who might win coach of the year. So I think it's going to be mitigated to a certain degree against those coaches. And I think we're going to see their offensive problems really come to light, especially against, like, I think Jeff Hathley has done a decent job at calling the defense in his first season. And I definitely think Brian Flores has what it takes to take advantage of a Ryan Grub offense, especially one with past protection questions. Deonti, I believe you had before the season the Rams in the playoffs if memory serves. Do you think they have enough where it's not just recency bias of this game against the bills

that they have enough in the final four weeks of the season to overtake the Seahawks or are you taking someone else? Before you go, Seattle and L.A. play in Week 18 in Los Angeles. Which is probably more than likely end up being for the division, I think, but the way the season's going. I'm taking the Rams here as well. But I'm going to take a page out of your book and say, I think that Seattle's maybe a more reliable team. I just have so many problems with the Rams defense. They have not shown enough signs of life in the second half of the season for me to trust them. And it's been against all manner of offense.

Miami, outside of like the turnovers and the ridiculous two of sacks, we're basically able to get a lot of whatever they wanted in the passing game against them. Obviously in the Eagles game, they just got absolutely mashed at the point of attack. And then in this game, you know, this week against the bill, they were able to push the ball down the field. You see the lack of speed in their secondary with all the yak plays from Khalil Shakir and the rest of the receiving core. They don't have guys that can go on the perimeter either.

I just think that this is a matter of schedule games now when you're talking about these teams. Stephen kind of laid out what's ahead for Seattle. You look at the Rams. They've got the 49ers. And I think that that's the kind of game for this Rams defense where you've kind of got to be crossing your fingers if you're picking the Rams to win this division. But I could easily see the 49ers finding. something in the running game and just dink and dunking that defense and being able to stay in

the game just long enough to have a shot to win. And then I've got to see the Cardinals again. And the Cardinals basically ran them off the field when they saw each other in September earlier this season. So it's still, I'm kind of, you could sway me in either direction. I do think that Seattle's a better team, but just because of the way that the schedule is playing out down the stretch, I'm going to go with the Rams as a stance now. This is week 18 Sunday night comes down to a really, I've gone back and forth on this. I've I wanted to make sure we all didn't pick the same team. I wrote down the Seahawks.

I was like, but if they go Seahawks, I might switch it to Rips because I'm on the fence. I'm going to stick with the Seahawks here. I think they may be the most well-rounded team, maybe, you know, on any given day. Like how can they win? That Rams offense, though, man, today. That was, I was like, are we going to see that? Are we going to see that again this season? And so that excites me, the thought of them getting in the playoffs and potentially

going on like a three-game run. Remember last year, like you play that NFC playoffs out, you know, 10 times last year. There are definitely examples where the Rams are getting to the Super Bowl. They lose in the first round there against the Lions. But I wasn't sure, like was the Stafford McVeigh thing? Was it over? Is it not over? And today was a reminder. It's still in there somewhere. Can they do it for a full four more weeks here, week in and week out? And their margin fair, like you said, Deonté, with that defense, if they're not pressuring the quarterback, it's over for that defense. They have one answer,

win up front with those young defensive linemen, and if that doesn't happen, they're not stopping anybody. So I'm going with the Seahawks and the Seahawks in a one-off game plan. You guys just mentioned it.

McVeigh and Stafford versus Mike McDonald, week 18, playoffs on the line? Come on. That's going to get the juices flowing a little bit there. All right. That's the NFC West. So now we get to the wild card.

So Vikings and Packers basically have two of these spots locked up. The Vikings are 11 and 2. The Packers are 9 and 4. Now, after that, it gets kind of interesting. You could pick whichever team you didn't just pick for the NFC West. You could pick the Washington commanders. They are 8 and 5.

You could just surprise us all and go, you know what? I kind of do like that Falcons team. Or stop, you know what? Cardinals, they're going to sneak in. Or don't give up on the 49ers. Those are basically your options for that last wildcard spot. Deante. So assuming you've got the Vikings and Packers in, and correct me if I'm wrong about that, who do you have as your third wildcard team? Minnesota and Green Bay, I think, are pretty well

solidified now with their position in the wildcard picture. I think that this is something that I've been saying over the last couple of weeks, even while they were starting to slide a little bit. I just think the commanders banked too many early season wins for them to fall out of the number seven seed. I don't know if that means that I like them the most of the teams vying for the seven seed. I would like to see, I would like for that, you know, week 18 matchup between Seattle and the Rams to be kind of safe for both teams. It's just a matter of, are we hosting or are we on the road in the wild card round for both those teams? I think that those are probably the two best teams that are left in this conversation. But I do think the commanders end up winning this.

So I'll probably beat up on some of these, you know, NFC South teams. I think they see a couple of weak teams there. I think they've got the Giants again. So they should be able to kind of rack up some easy wins, I'm coming down to stretch and get to a double-digit win season and kind of walk into the postseason. Ruiz? I'm taking Seattle. Okay. So you think they both get in?

Yeah, Washington is going to lose next week to the Saints in New Orleans. I'm calling it right now. I'm spoiling one of my picks on the Friday show. I'm picking New Orleans to win that game. Rizzy? That game against the Titans, which was a little, I don't want to say fake, but like the game got out of hand in a hurry. And the Titans almost chipped away there at the end and made it the game, but didn't, couldn't.

but I don't like what I've seen out of Washington, like in the prior three weeks before that Tennessee game. We saw them give up 34 points to Cooper Rush, and the offense didn't look good in that game at all until the end, until they scored a couple of touchdowns late, like on one-play drives. So if I'm comparing them to Seattle, the Seattle team I've seen over the past couple weeks, the defense I've seen, I think Seattle is the better team.

Right now they're even, dead even on record. And I wouldn't be surprised if Washington drops a couple of these games down the stretch. I think they'll lose to the Saints in New Orleans. Of course, that Eagles game's going to be tough the week after that. And I think the Falcons are still a team that can give them problems, especially if they can't get pressure on Kirk Cousins. And then they play the Cowboys in Dallas, a team they've already lost to in the final week. So I wouldn't be surprised if they slip up in games that we wouldn't expect them to slip up, even if they have banked a couple of those wins that gave them such a big margin for error. Like, what was it,

four or five weeks ago? This team was eight and two, nine and two, and looked like a lot for the playoffs. I think it's at least a question mark right now. Yeah, so Seahawks are just as a as a refresher. Packers, Vikings, at Bears, at Rams. And the commanders are at Saints, Eagles, Falcons, at Cowboys for their four games. Maybe you're right and I'm putting too much stock into that Titans game, but I did think that their offense looked a lot more like it did earlier in the season. You know, they had that three game losing streak and it was even longer than that way. They thought, all right, they're coming back down to Earth. I know they got the turnovers early on and like what, Will Lev, they were down,

Titans were down 28 nothing or whatever it was. By the time Will Levis attempted, it is sixth pass. But the offense was moving the football. The run game was back. And Jaden Daniels was, you know, connecting on those short and intermediate passes. It looked like what it looked like early in the season. So I'm going to stick with the commanders there. They get in as the seven seed.

But it's tough. This is the question. If you're listening out there, there's basically the question. you have to answer Seahawks or Rams, who's winning the NFC West, and then is the other team getting in as a wild card or is the commanders getting in? That's what's to be settled, basically, in the NFC. Now, it's not totally over for the Cardinals and 49ers, but we're talking about low percentage chances that those teams still get in.

So there you go. What's a worst look for Tennessee's defense, giving up 42 to Washington, or giving up 10 to Mac Jones? Good question. It's a coin flip there. It's tough to say. Tough to say. I don't know the exchange right there.

Yeah, I'm not sure. All right. We are going to the AFC. The AFC East is decided. It is the Buffalo Bills. And we get to a fun one. The AFC North, the Steelers saying, give us some freaking respect. Finally, we are 10 and 3.

All we do is keep winning week in and week out. Your beloved Ravens, the media darlings are 8 and 5. There are two games behind us. And we beat them. Deante, who are you going with the Steelers or the Ravens in the AFC North? I'm going with Baltimore. I mean, the Steelers just have a murderous row. It's like a murderers row of the next three weeks for them.

I just don't know how they get out of that feeling as good now, feeling as good then as they might right now. You've got to see Philadelphia who even, you know, for all their issues in today's game against the Panthers, you think about their style. defense. I think that that's going to give Russell Wilson a lot of trouble. I don't think it's going to be as easy for him to just, you know, kind of dink and dunk the way he did against Cincinnati when they tried to play to take away all the deep passes down the field. And we know that the Eagles can take away the run game. So I do think that that's going to be a difficult game for them. And then you've got to see the Ravens again on the road. You know that that game is going to mean a lot to Baltimore. I think that that'll probably be one of those weeks where you

see the Ravens show up as their best selves, right? The way that they play, when they're playing Kansas City, the way that they play when they're seeing Buffalo or Houston, the other teams that they feel like they absolutely have to respect on their schedule. I think you're going to get that version of Baltimore when they see each other again. And then it's Kansas City after that. And I mean, we've talked, you know, ad nauseum about the way that the Chiefs win. To me, like, that game against the Steelers plays right into the way that Andy Reeves had this team playing all year long. Like, oh, you want to play tight coverage and be tough and make us win in a box at the line of scrimmage?

That's what we've been doing all year long. So I do think that it's going to be difficult for them, even though they've played really well, especially the more time we've seen with Russ as a starting quarterback, I think that we're seeing him really take command of this offense. I've liked some of the answers that they found in the passing game. You know, I mentioned that Cincinnati game where the Bengals are really trying to sell out to not give up deep passes outside the numbers,

and he was able to take checkdown to start working the middle of the field in a way that was kind of foreign to the Russell Wilson that we had seen as late. But I look at Baltimore, I think that they've played a lot of their toughest games already. I do still think that they've got, you know, they still got the Texans game, which matters. Obviously, you have that Steelers matchup. But I think that for them, the margin of error is just much wider. If they're healthy, if they're at their healthiest and this team is not shooting itself in the foot with penalties and special teams, I think that Baltimore should win the division. Ruiz, give us the biggest upset in Ringer NFL podcast history. Come on. Get that terrible towel out.

No, no, not happening. Definitely not happening. It's because of the schedule. I do think they banked enough wins. In a vacuum, you would expect them to be able to land this plane over the last couple of weeks. But the matchups are just horrible. The Chiefs past defense has been bad, and I've been railing on it for weeks now, but they don't give up explosive plays.

And if you're not getting explosive plays, like if the Steelers aren't getting explosive plays, and they're not really moving the football. So I think that's going to be an issue. And we've already talked about why they don't match up well with the Eagles. And I think the Ravens are just going to blow them out. I think the Ravens are going to be really ready for that game. They've caught them off guard in the past when they've upset them. There's no catching them off guard this time.

They have to win this game. I don't think the Ravens are going to screw around over this last month. That's usually when they lose games, is when they screw around. And I know they have a lot of opportunities with the schedule coming up, but it is an easy schedule, and I think they're going to manage it. I think they're going to end up winning this kind of comfortably. I think by week 17, they'll have it wrapped up for the most part. Wow.

I'm thinking of that stat about how the underdog, in Raven Steelers with like Tomlin Harbaugh has covered every time and wins outright. So everyone's going to be picking the Ravens, probably including me, in that game because of the stakes and clinging to what we've seen all season long. I'm curious to see what that line will be. That Chiefs game, this Steelers pass rush, though, again, their edge rushers against those tackles in that game is going to be very interesting. That could be the panic gets ratcheted up a notch with the Chiefs because, I mean, that group is incredible with, T.J. Watt with Highsmith and with Herbick, who played well when Highsmith was out there. So that's an interesting one. I wish I could just be the mayor of Pittsburgh and just be like,

nobody believes in you. I believe in you by Pennsylvania brethren, but I can't do it. I mean, I think the Ravens went out at Giants, Steelers, at Texans, Browns. I think they went out. I think they finish 12 and 5 here. I think that will be good enough to have them ahead of the Pittsburgh Steelers. You guys mentioned it. It's a tough schedule. Now it's like they've had tough games and they've shown up. They've beaten the Ravens.

I thought they're going to lose to the Bengals a couple of weeks ago. Not that that's tough, tough game. So who knows? They could surprise us right now. The Pittsburgh Steelers are a plus 85 point differential second in the entire AFC to only the Buffalo bill. So they keep taking care of business, but I can't pick them. I've got the Ravens as well.

I feel like even Steelers fans, no. They know, right? They know that where this is good. It's a good question. I don't know that they, I don't think that they know. No, I don't think that they look at it that way. I think you're wrong. These fan bases need to have higher standards for themselves. This is a franchise that is one the most Super Bowls of any team. They've watched like legit Super Bowl wins, like the 70 Steelers, the Tomlin Steelers of last decade, Coward Steelers. It doesn't look like this. You know what a Super Bowl team looks like, Pittsburgh. Don't fool yourself. See, I think the thing is that this

actually does look like a cower team, which might be why they've got a little bit more belief. This is not the Tomlin Prime Ben Rathosberger era Steelers by any means, even though the scoring numbers have been up. And like you said, The point margin has really kind of looked good for them throughout the year. I just think that when I look at these two teams and the quality of opponents that they play and the way that they've played against them, you know, I kind of have to be reminded as I was going over these scenarios, the Baltimore's way to hell of a schedule up to this point as well. They've seen a lot of the league's best quarterbacks, a lot of the league's best defenses and offenses so far this year. For them to come out eight and five, and basically the

problem be not that, you know, the defense is still an issue and not that Lamar Jackson couldn't replicate his successes that we saw at the end of last year. But just that this team can't make kicks when they need to make kicks. And I've had a lot of inopportune penalties for that to be the issue with this team more so than anything else. I just feel very confident about where they are and who they are right now as a team. And I think that they should be feeling pretty well primed to be able to make a big run like Steven said going down the rest of the schedule. What an edge for the Steelers in the kicking game over the Baltimore Ravens.

Who would have thought? Chris Boswell, the guy can't miss. He's automatic from 50 plus wherever versus Justin Tucker. Big edge for the Steelers there. All right. AFC South is anyone picking the Colts? No. I think I tried to make the case for the Colts winning the division a couple of weeks ago.

but it's not. It's probably not going to happen. Texans are 8 and 5. Colts are 6 and 7 there. AFC West is decided it's the Chiefs. Now we get to the Wildcar team. So Chargers right now, after that loss to the Chiefs, they are 8 and 5, and so they are the number 6 seed. If you're not picking, if you're picking the Ravens to win the AFC North, the Steelers have a great shot at that other wild.

card spot, but I'm not going to put words in your mouth. And then the big one that it comes down to really are the Denver Broncos going to hold on to that third wildcard spot? Do the Colts have a chance to get in there? Do the dolphins have a chance to get in there? So basically you're looking at Chargers, second place in the AFC North, and then Broncos, Colts or Dolphins. Ruiz, who are your wildcard teams in the AFC? Honestly, I feel really comfortable picking the Colts to make the playoffs now that I'm looking at the schedule,

especially if they win this next game against the Broncos. Because if they beat the Broncos, they have a very winnable stretch of games in their last three weeks. They play the Titans, they play the Giants, and they play the Jaguars. That's like the three of the worst teams in the NFL. They should win. Well, I know Gus Bradley,

so I'm not going to say they're like definitely locks. But I don't know. I think they should win those games, especially if they give. Who are the Colts to be the should win? win team in some of these matchups. I mean, they're the Colts. What are they done?

They're the Colts, but they're not the Titans, Giants, or Jaguars. That's really what it is. They could easily lose. I can see them losing, but go ahead. You like the Colts? But also, like from the other perspectives, like the AFC South part of it, the Texans play the Dolphins next week, then they go to Kansas City, then they play Baltimore.

Like, there's a chance of the Colts, if they don't make the wild card that they could back into the playoffs as the AFC South champions. So I'm going to stick, I'm going to go with the Colts. I'm going to say the Texans win the division. I think the Colts get the final playoff spot and the Broncos, after like a season that should be promising either way, no matter how it ends, I think they end up looking on the outside end,

just because of their schedule. It's so tough. Yeah, you mentioned that game next week, huge game with the Colts taking on the Broncos. This is from, again, the New York Times playoff simulator. If the Colts win, their chances go from 26% to 61%. If they lose, goes down to 6%. 7%. So that is almost like a de facto week 15 playoff game right there. Deontay, what do you think? Do you have the same faith in the Indianapolis Colts?

Faith is definitely the wrong word. I have watched that team do the wildest thing on a down-to-down basis, let alone week to week for far too long in 2024 for faith to be what I associate with this team. But I do think that there's a legitimate viability to them making the playoffs. not only being in the picture to win the division potentially because of the schedule that Stephen mentioned with the Texans, like it's not cake for them. They've got a tough three game stretch, you know, especially look at the way that that defense has kind of started to show some cracks over the last couple of weeks. I definitely need to see them play better against the Dolphins before I felt confident about them just completely shutting the door on the division. But I do think that for the Colts, if you're able to beat the Broncos, which is definitely

a winnable game for them, I think that the schedule works. out well, and I'm glad that the Broncos aren't playing today, did not play today, so that we could all kind of take a breath from some of the Broncos hysteria that's been going on since they've been hot over the last month or so, because they've been good, they've been competent. I do think when you look at the teams that they've beaten this year, it opens a lot of questions about where you really should have this team pegged in the greater picture with the rest of the playoff teams.

I think it's been good this year, but we have not seen them play at their best against the best teams often enough this year outside of that blocked field goal in the Chiefs game about a month or so ago. But after the Colts game, you've got the Chargers, you've got the Bengals, you've got the Chiefs again. So that's an opportunity for them to really kind of stamp who they are as a team. I need to see them win multiple of those games or several of those games for me to feel confident about them truly being a playoff level team and not just one that's backing into the playoffs by beating bad football teams. You hear that Sean Payton? They don't believe in you.

All right? Let's get the clip, play it around the building. Get ready for this Colts game. I like the Broncos over the Colts. Give me Sean Payton against Guts Bradley in a big spot coming off a by anytime. He'll have it scheme down so that Broncos offense will be moving the football on the Colts. I don't trust the Colts. I think the Colts are going to have, they can be up and down.

It's okay. This season was supposed to be about them being up and down here. So I trust Sean Payton more. I like the Broncos to get in there as the last wildcard team along with the Chargers and the Steelers. All right. There you go. That was the Ringer playoff committee convening for the first time. Maybe not the last time.

Maybe an exercise we will bring back. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with our awards for week 14. All right. We are back on the Ringer NFL show. It is time to hand out some awards and superlatives. I mean, we only get a few more of these for the regular season. So, I mean, who knows what direction we're going to go in.

Deonti, start us off. What do you got? So my first one is going to be box score fraud or king of the box score, and that's Sam Darnold for five touchdown. For a five touchdown game, I think it's like a passer rating of 157.9. You watch the game. And again, and this is something that we've talked about with the Vikings in this offense, weekend and week out, where they are just able to design.

play after play after play for Jordan Addison, Justin Jefferson, deep down the field. And all Donald has to do is just use all of his arm talent to heave it. And it's not to say that he does absolutely nothing, but you can go back to last week's win against Arizona, where they're able to march the ball down quickly. And you actually watch the All-22, and those are Kevin McConnell plays, not Sam Darno plays. I just don't know how you can make the argument that what you're seeing statistically is not a reflection of the receiver talent and the head coach. just getting the balls to his best playmakers, because this has very little to do

with Sam Donald operating the pocket at a very high level. I'm so jealous of this one. I mean, this is arguably Sam Donald's best game, but I totally agree with it as well. He said he's using every bit of his arm talent on some of these plays. He's not even doing that. He got his hand hit and still threw a 50-yard touchdown

to Jordan Addison today. It's amazing. I mean, he has made a couple of high-level throws and high-leverage situations over the past couple weeks. I do not want to take anything away from him. Like, it's hard to argue against what Deontes saying. Like, it's very obvious when you're watching what's happening here. I know he hasn't thrown an interception in what, like, four games.

But this was his first game without a turnover worthy play since we came. Like, he's gotten away with a lot of dumb passes over the past month, where if those passes get caught by the defense, and usually they do, we'd be having a totally different conversation about him despite this, which I thought was a very encouraging and very good performance from Sam Darnold. But like I said, it's a do-it-again league. and we've seen Sam Darnel do this. He threw like five touchdowns in his first NFL game ever,

and he stunk for the rest of his time in New York. So I'm not going to start celebrating this one-off performance because we have seen some cracks over the last couple weeks coming into it. All right. I think my Darnel stance has been well-defined over the course of the season. I don't think we've seen him do this before over a 13-game span. That's fair. I mean, that's true.

Yeah, but he has to play with Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. And, like, of course. I saw Case Keenham do it in 2017. What did that matter? Okay. That's true. But I don't, I just think, you don't think he's playing better now than he ever has for a 13 game span in his career, even if you take the outside things aside.

I think that's nuts. He's been one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL every season he plays this long. You take this version of Sam Darnold, then you drop it into the 2019 jets. It's the same thing we get it from the 2019 version of San Darn. Like, the environment matters so much. And I think this season has proven it perfectly. like, yeah, Baker Mayfield looks like a guy worth $30 million because he's throwing checkdowns and they're going for 15 yards.

This guy just throws it up and Justin Jefferson comes down with. Like, who superlative was this to begin with? Now I'm going to become the guy that was giving him the anti-superlative after a five-touchdown game. I think coming, and I said this before the season, the likelihood of Sam Darnold, even being close to an average quarterback for an entire season, was highly unlikely coming into this year. Every body of work, we had gotten from him in over a thousand, in dropbacks or whatever it was for his entire season and different teams. And I know they

weren't in great environments. He was literally the worst quarterback in the NFL statistically. So that's all I'm saying. Yeah, you should take that and be like, hmm, maybe we should stop applying all statistics to the quarterback themselves and maybe apply it to the quarter. Like, why do we always make this same mistake? Why are we always Charlie Brown kicking the football? Like you drop a mediocre quarterback into an awesome situation and they play better than they actually are. Like, okay, I didn't even think he was a mediocre quarterback. I thought he was a terrible quarterback. So maybe my lens, you were still holding out hope that he could be a mediocre quarterback. I didn't think so. I thought I went on record saying he's going to come into this season with the Vikings and he's going to suck and you're all crazy if you think this

team's going to make the playoffs. I was wrong about that. Maybe you knew and you thought you're going to throw them in and they're going to be able to put up, you know, 347 yards and five touchdowns. I did not think that. I thought he was going to be terrible this season, one of the worst, you know, five starters in the entire NFL and then all the Darnold truthers for all the since the beginning of time we're going to look stupid and he hasn't been that they are 11 and two they have a competent offense and he's able to at least get to this level that I did not previously think was achievable for I see where the disconnect is I think all this comes down to where your initial expectations were yeah what your initial thoughts were on it for me I thought that like I said I thought the donald has was has always had a very talent has always had a lot

arm talent. I thought that his mobility is a little bit better than we've seen because he's been playing behind some really, really bad offensive lines and a really bad offensive ecosystems. And that if you put him in the right situation, he would look like an average quarterback. And to me, if you took Sam Donald out of this and you put Baker Mayfield in this situation, he could just as easily have a five touchdown performance and could put up the exact same numbers, if not better. And to me, Baker Mayfield right now is the bar for about what above average quarterback play is like. And I think that Sam Browner at his best plays at that level.

The issue to me is you can't escape what it looked like in the middle of the season after they, you know, after they weren't when they weren't just blowing teams off the field with deep passes. When teams started taking away Justin Jefferson a little bit more and when Jordan Addison was hurt and he didn't have as much of a second option, you started to see some of those turnover where the plays crop up again. You saw them taking sacks. You saw some of the bad Sam Darnold start to peek its head out a little bit more often.

often, that's still there. I think that for me, I'm on Stephen's side in the sense that when we don't see that happening, I don't know if we can ascribe that to Sam Dronal being a different player as much as the offensive ecosystem does not require him to make decisions that show some of the worst traits that are in him as a passer. I think what we're seeing is like Sam Darnold is a quarterback who's going to perform to the level of the offense around him. Like he was historically bad in New York, but he was in historically bad offenses under Adam Gase. He's in. a good offense now and he's playing

well he's playing like a good quarterback he was in a mediocre offense in Carolina I think we got mediocre results we got some good results we got a lot of bad results so I think that's what he's proving to be are you going to bet on him in the playoff shield of course not I mean I would be afraid to

honestly bet against Kevin O'Connell and Brian Flores in a playoff game I mean they they scheme up like you said they scheme up explosives so so well it's incredible it's like only a matter of time. It's kind of like, we've talked about the Eagles before where it's like, only a matter of time for AJ Brown and Saquan Park, they make a play. Like for the Vikings, it's like it's only a matter of time until he schemes up just like a 25-yarder. Even if your

offense hasn't looked good for two quarters, that next possession, he's going to be able to scheme one up. So the Vikings are kind of like the Steelers to me. I mean, when we were kicking around segment ideas today, it's like, I don't have them in that circle of teams that can get to the Super Bowl or win the Super Bowl, but we are going into week 15. And they are, pilot. up wins and they keep winning over and over and over again. So yeah, I thought the Falcons had a great chance to be more competitive in this game. It was competitive for three quarters. And then they get outscored 21-0 in the fourth quarter and the Vikings win 42-21. All right, Ruiz, what do you got? I don't got anything as hot as tearing down Sam Darnold on a five touchdown game.

That was amazing. I mean, we could just end the segment now. I mean, that was incredible. I'm going to give the most incriminating post-game comment award to Malik Neighbors. I don't if you guys saw this, but before the game, outside of the MetLife Stadium, outside of the Giants game, someone bought one of those plane banners and it said, like, fix this dumpster fire, John, first of all, total waste of money, by the way. And enough with the plane banners. Do they ever work? And what kind of messages fix this dumpster fire? You don't think Mara was already thinking that? He wasn't already like, oh, man, I just got to fix this. Give them something more to work with. But after the game, Malik Neighbors was asked about it and if he saw it. And he was like, his response was, I didn't buy it.

I didn't buy the plane. Nobody accused you on doing that, Malik. Literally nobody brought up the prospect that you were the guy behind the plane. But that was his only response. That was the end of his comment. So I'm starting to think that Malik Neighbors, he paid for that plane. One of the great new characters in our football watching lives this year is Malik neighbors. Every post-game interview in this dumpster fire of a season for the New York Giants,

you know, hopefully Malik can get a quarterback who can get him to football consistently. at some point. He can play in a good offense here at some point. Make him the coach. Make him the GM. Maybe, yeah, that might be a good idea. He should have after that. He should have been like,

and I didn't choose to not sign Seekwon Barkley either. I didn't do either of those things. I didn't buy the plane. Did not? It makes you think he did buy the plane. Right, right. I'm like, to me, that that means that the players definitely saw it. And we're talking a lot in the group chat about how they felt about the owner of their football team.

Yeah, the receiver doth protest too much. Yeah, that's incredible. All right. I've got a comeback player of the year award. Now, I don't know that this has ever happened before, but it should go to Bryce Young. Like, you come back from the same season, like where he was, the second week of the season. And I know the box score doesn't look great. I know maybe Ruiz is going to tell me on Tuesday that he didn't really like Bryce Young's film.

But I'm telling you watching live, I thought Bryce Young played really, really well in this game against Vic Fangio and the Eagles. And talk about, like, the supporting cast and who he's throwing the football. football too. Adam Thielen, I think, got 11 targets in this game and he played well. Xavier Leggett doesn't come down with a pass in the final minute where Bryce Young climbs the pocket, lays it out there for him. I'm not going to say it was like an easy routine catch, but man, he had a great shot at it where if he makes that catch, we're probably talking about the Panthers coming back as 12.5 point underdogs and beating the Philadelphia Eagle. So I thought he was accurate. I thought he was assertive. I thought he made good decisions. He only

He got sacked once. In this game, he was creating out of structure. And I'm just thinking of where he was earlier in the season, where I was like, I don't know that this guy is ever going to be a starter in the NFL again. Maybe he'll catch on somewhere as a backup to now where I think he can absolutely buy you time if you're the Carolina Panthers while you build the team around him and figure out what it looks like at this time next year. So I thought it might have been Bryce Young's best game of the season.

I'm going to keep my comments to myself on this one. I didn't hate it. I have a superlative on the other side of this game. And it's the handover the play sheet award. And I'm giving that to Kevin Moore. I think that he should just hand this over to Jeff Stoutland because that seems to be the only guy who knows how to design what this offense needs. And I know the Stoutland's job is more on the past protection and the run game side of things.

And that's been the only thing that's not gone wrong for the Eagles offense this year. Basically, even when guys were out when they were missing Jordan Milata for a little bit, bit of time, you know, moving Mackay Becht and in the guard, they have done really well moving the ball on the ground and keeping past rushers off of Jalen Hertz for the most part. But I think that even for Hertz's struggles with finding open receivers, double clutching, you can definitely see a little bit of hesitance on routes that we've seen him throw without problems before. Like I'm seeing him turn down slants and end breakers to A.J. Brown just because there's a guy on his back. And that had never been a deterrent for Jalen Hertz prior. I think that a

lot of that is a part of it. But on the other hand, when you start zooming out and you look at some of these passing concepts and how stationary routes are, that routes are always working back towards a quarterback, back towards the sticks, towards the sideline, it doesn't leave a lot of opportunity for them to push the ball down the field outside of the play action passing game where you can maybe target a certain route or a certain receiver in a particular way. So I do think that their passing offense is twofold. And knowing that Jalen Hertz is really, similar to Sam Darn are only going to be a product of the passing end that you put around him. I think that there are a lot of questions that need to be asked about Kellen Moore as a past game designer,

just as much so as I think we're talking about how Jalen Hertz is managing the pocket. Yeah, we had an extended conversation about that on the Ringer's Philly Special, where you look at this experiment for the Eagles, and it's like the Vic Fangio part has worked out great. The offense is actually worse than it was last year here with Kellen Moore. If you look at it statistically, they had 83 net passing yards. today, every Jalen Hertz dropback is an adventure. It's like, is it going to turn into a sack? Is it going to turn into a scramble?

Is it going to turn into a throwaway? Like when it's a positive play, it feels like a surprise, which is a strange thing to say for a team that, you know, potentially could come out of the NFC. But that was a worrisome performance for them. Ruiz, when you were saying the quote thing, I thought maybe you were going to AJ Brown because AJ Brown didn't say it like maliciously, but he was like, what's wrong with the offense?

And he said passing. You didn't say the passing game either. He said passing. Yeah. So it was ugly for that Eagles passing game. There's no doubt about it. And we'll see what the next four weeks look like. Yeah, that was a rough game.

Like even by the numbers, like a 5.3 ADOT with a 3.4 average time to throw. That's crazy. You shouldn't be both those things. Yeah. You can be one or the other. You cannot be both. And only have a success rate of 36% with those stats. Like that, that's not a good combination.

at all. And it's always hard to judge the passing game and what the quarterback is the decisions he's making on a Sunday when you don't have the All-22. You're not seeing what's happening downfield and whether receivers are getting open. But every time you turn on that All-22 on Monday and Tuesday, there are receivers open and the quarterback is just

not making the throws. And the quarterback is making $250 million. Like, it's, like, they've won 10 games in a row or whatever, but the vibes are still bad, especially on that side of the ball. And I don't know where you go from here. We could talk about the play calling, and the offense has been worse than it was last year.

But, like, who do you bring in next? Yeah, because you look at it, and I said this going into the season, that Kellynne Moore has court, even though I don't like, I'm with you, Deont, I'm not like, wow, he's really scheming it up. This is great. He has coordinated good passing games before with that Prescott. Top five. He has multiple seasons on his resume of like top five, top eight passing games. Yep. And it's not happening here.

They went into the game 16th and passing DVOA. this season. So this is Jalen Hertz's third different coordinator. So is it the coordinators are doing what they think the quarterback is comfortable with or is it actually the coordinator's fault there? So it's, yeah, this felt like some of their wins last year. I think that you asked the right question because there are a lot of times where when Jalen Hertz is missing certain throws or not taking windows that are available that I just find myself looking at the TV screen saying, this is what

you said you wanted all off season. You said you want a route that attacked the middle of the field. You said you want a more peer progression passing. You said you want it more on your plate. Some of the throws that he's turning down are the kind of throws that that level of quarterback needs to be able to make. And when you're not making them, I do think that there is a layer of this where maybe Kellam Moore feels forced or constrained to only call certain types of routes or certain type of passing concepts in obvious passing situations because he doesn't want to leave routes on the field that his quarterback's not comfortable trying to, you know, fit the ball into. And it waxes and wanes in ways that let me know that there's no real consistent through line for Jalen Hurts's decision making.

You look at a play action pass against the Rams and he's drilling a dig route in between linebackers. And it's like, oh, okay, I didn't know that you were that kind of quarterback. Maybe you're that kind of quarterback now where you can turn your back on the defense and still be able to deliver the ball in the middle of the field. And then the next week, he won't attempt it at all. You're looking against Baltimore and there's like no, there's really very little attempts to do that outside of like checkdowns. or guys basically running stationary routes in the middle of the field. And then Carolina was the worst, you know, this week obviously the worst example of that where it's really not looking in the middle of the field at all, can't really connect out on the perimeter either.

And now I think that the one thing that's missing in this offense are the vertical pushes, right? I think that you could you could wash a lot of this away if you had, you know, what Russell Wilson is doing, which has taken those deep shots down the field at least a handful of times in each half, just to see if you can find one to kind of loosen a defense up and then you can get back to the rest of the passing game as a result, you know, by forcing defenses to have to play off of you a bit because that's not happening right now, I just think that the field is going to get more and more constrained

until Jalen Hurts can show that he can manage a pocket, especially a muddy one and not drop his eyes and still be able to push a ball down the field in between defenders. Yeah, he's getting sacked on, I think 10% of his dropbacks, which the only teams allowing sacks at a higher rate are the Browns and the Titans. And we watch the film every week. This one of the best offensive lines in the NFL. I mean, he gets Chris Tien pockets.

The dude's got the time. Yeah, he's got time. So we'll see what that looks like this week and going forward for the Eagles. All right, Ruiz, what do you got? What's next? My next award goes to America. I was on Slop Game Duty this week. But guess what?

All of America was on Slop Game Duty for about five minutes this week. Because every game in the early slate went to halftime, except for Jaguars Titans. It was the only game on, the only game in town. It was about three minutes of game time in that game, but about 10 minutes in real time. And those offense, they got through three drives in those three minutes. That's how they work fast. A lot of three in outs going. And they gained 22 yards over that little spotlight time they had,

that time they had in the spotlight with all of America watching, just 22 yards over three drives. So America got a good taste of slop. The slop I was treated to on Sunday. I did actually watch the game. It was the fourth game in my quad box on YouTube TV. Not by choice. Due to local broadcast rules, I had to watch it because I was trying to watch the Eagles game at the same time.

And it was the worst game of the season so far. It was the lowest score of the season thus far, and it looked even worse when you were watching it. Just a terrible game. I can't believe Mac Jones is starting games right now. And I can't believe I have to rank him in the quarterback rankings this week. I have to write an informed opinion. on Mac Jones.

Well, good thing you watch the game. Slop Game of the week. You don't have to watch the film. You can go off the TV copy for that Mac Jones write up. We won't tell anybody. He doesn't throw it off the broadcast angle. You don't need the all 22.

I'm trusting your takeaway on the game because when the games I was watching went to halftime, I got up and found something to do in the house. I think I might have made an exchange on a dishwasher, you know, started thinking about what I was going to have for lunch around that time. I started talking to my son. So, you know, bless you for taking the time

to make sure that you saw how that game finished out in the first half because that definitely was not me. The Jags won, by the way. I know everyone wants to know. Jags won, 10-6, right? 10-6, Barn burner. All right, there you go.

All right, my football guy quarter of the week, this was during the Seahawks Cardinals broadcast. Quote, if you're going to have your schedule thrown off, this is as good a reason as any. That was the broadcast talking about Mike McDonald becoming a father and having a child, which is just like, what other walk of life is someone talking?

talking about having a child fatherhood like that. If you're going to have your schedule thrown off, this is as good a reason as any. I mean, I guess factually probably accurate. I can't say that they were wrong during that. But, you know, sometimes you got to get out of the football bubble and just laugh at the actual football bubble. So that was mine.

There you go. I love the idea of Mike McDonnell walking around the delivery room. The nurses think that he's just so concerned about his child that's on the way. And the whole time he's just freaking out about missing team meetings. He's not going to know what he's missing a special teams meeting right now. He's not grinding in a film on third and short to see what the Arizona Cardinals are going to be throwing at his defense. The issue is that, not whether or not, you know, the baby is going to get in on time, happy, healthy. But congratulations, obviously, to his family for bringing in an addition.

That is just a very football-coded thing to think in that moment. I might have to rethink picking them for the wild card. Now that I know that his attention is divided a little bit, he's not going to have those great kids. game plans going forward maybe. You know what? It actually comes full circle, Ruiz, because they said during the broadcast that Leslie Frazier was the one who put together the game plan for this game. I think Leslie Frazier actually is a veteran, very good defensive coach, but he had some

issues in some of those playoff games in Buffalo. So who knows? It comes back to the Buffalo discussion. All right, Deontay, you got anything else for us? Not a serious one. Just the unintended consequences award I'm given to the Chicago Bears, who after dismissing Matt Iberfluse coming out of that Detroit loss looked really bad in the passing game today. And I think a lot of that is because you're now dividing up the level of attention that can be given between Thomas Brown and the rest of his offensive staff because guys have got to fill different roles in the interim.

I think that Caleb Williams will be fine. I think that this was just a bad week. I think that San Francisco style of play is just going to cause that style of offense a lot of trouble because they can use those soft zones to really sit in a lot of the past. passing windows that the quarterback is trying to anticipate coming open. I mean, because that offense was simple before under Shane Waldron and probably more simple now that they've broken up so many of these offensive roles, this was probably just going to happen this way no matter what. I just think that this is something that happens when you're moving on from your head coach

in the middle of the season after you've already released a relinquished your previous offensive coordinator of their duties. It's just hard, I think, to get the kind of offensive game planning you needed to it'll get the most out of your rookie quarterback. It kind of looked like a worse version of when Seattle has gone up against this 49ers defense. And like you watched, you know, Smith dropped back and he doesn't have a chance. And even when he does have some time, he's reading out, nobody's open. It just felt like one of those games.

My next superlative is actually from that game. I got one too from this game. We're all tuned in to Bears Niners. All right. What do you got? I'm giving Isaac Greendo the best Christian McCaffrey impression. I thought he did a good job of kind of replicating that production, especially in the passing game. He catches a third and five option route out of the backfield to move the change, which looked a lot like Christian McCaffrey.

He caught one of those like wheel routes that I think Brock Purdy hit Christian McCaffrey on one of these against the Eagles last year for a touchdown. He hits one of those for a deep pass. He had some good plays in the run game. And he even nailed the subtle details of a Christian McCaffrey impression by leaving the game with an ankle injury at the end. Oh, did he? I missed that. I didn't even say that because Garrendel is going to be swinging some fantasy leagues here. I mean, this is, he is a, a big time player in that respect.

But yeah, 15 carries for 78 yards, two catches for 50 yards. My graphic of the week came from this game. Total yards, 49ers, 310, bears two. Actual graphic late in the first half. I will say this. I was going to say this earlier. I mean, Shanahan had his fastball in this game. Like the Shanahan, Purdy, everything they've been doing over the last three years that works, you know,

well together. and Purdy can operate the offense. They were just going up and down the field. I don't know if it's the first, I don't want to say it's the first time all season, but it's the first time in a while where it was like, oh, okay, yeah, 452 yards, 22 first downs. They just lose a bunch of these tie breaks, or I would have been tempted to be like, maybe they might be able to reel off a bunch of wins in a row here.

But I think probably, you know, they would have to win out. And even if they do win out, I don't think they're necessarily definitely going to be in. They still got the injuries. they've still got the defensive issues. But this was a reminder for any of the conversation. I think Shanahan had to answer some questions after the game about does he want to be there and stuff. It's just like I think there's just going to be, and maybe this will be an offseason discussion, but I just think there's going to be some overreaction to this year for the 49ers where I've said it before.

I think it's mostly bad injury luck, bad like in-game luck stuff and bad special teams. Like if they would have just won one of those games and we're at. seven and six, I would probably be picking them to get to the playoffs right now. So we'll see if it happens or not. But yeah, they killed the Bears today, 30, 13 in a game that was not competitive at all. All right. Anything else here? Ruiz, you got anything else?

Or are you all throw? No, I'm all through. I was going to give Jonathan Gannon an award. He went for a field goal on fourth and two again in the fourth quarter down nine. But like, I'm tired. It's the third week in a row where he's gone for it on fourth and two in a bad spot where the numbers tell him not to. So I was going to give him the leaning into the bid award, but I don't want to award him. And I would have lit Nick Siriani up if the Panthers would have finished off that drive after the decision to punt in his own territory and give the Panthers ahead of the two-minute warning an opportunity to go ahead.

That they came close. They had a few drops. And then ultimately, I think guys just ran out of gas. But that was when I was staring at. Like, I don't know if this was the time to get conservative. regardless of how much you trust your defense. Well, listen, I think we all would have the Eagles and the Ravens among our like six teams that could potentially win the Super Bowl. And they both got kicker problems.

Jake Elliott misses another from 50 plus today. He's 0 for 5 from 50 plus. And in that spot, they could have kicked a 53 yarder where if you have one of these guys, Boswell or Aubrey or something, you probably kick it. You go up nine in that spot and you win the game. But they didn't want to kick the field goal there with Jake Elliott. Yeah, all these teams are flawed. All these teams are, think of all the teams we talked about today that can win the Super Bowl.

And, man, there's some glaring stuff where you can be like, yep, that's probably how their season will end here. But yeah, Johnny Gantz. Come on, man. Yeah, I've got that right here. They kick the field goal there after last week. And now they've lost three in a row. Last one, I'll give a shout out for. I thought Toriko killed that call on the doink for the division at the end there.

I was like, man. Michelle was like, you're a little too prepared for this. Yeah. How did he know? Yeah, normally you're like, all right, that was prepared. Nice try, but you don't know that it's going to be a doyink and him just yelling at the top of his lungs. Doink for the division. Nice job out of you, Mike Tarrico. All right, that's a good one to end it on.

Thank you to Stephen Ruiz. Thank you to Deonté Lee. Thank you to Christopher Sutton for producing additional production supervision by Conornevins and Arjuna Ram Gopal, along with our friend Dan Comer and appreciate T-Cruz for your. the video production. We will be back later this week. Everyone have a good one. We'll talk to you next time on the Ringer NFL show. Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-Gampbellor

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