The Ringer NFL Show - Week 18 Recap: The Bills Win the AFC East, the Texans Win the South, and Looking Ahead to All the Wild-Card Round Games | Dual Threat

Episode Date: January 8, 2024

Nora and Steven close out the regular season by recapping Week 18, starting with the Bills defeating the Dolphins to win the AFC East. Then, they take a look at each of the playoff matchups and discuss how each team did in Week 18, and they give their early thoughts on each wild-card game (27:45). Lastly, they wrap up by talking about the Atlanta Falcons' firing of Arthur Smith and some other coaches who might be on the hot seat (55:33). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming, please checkout theringer.com/RG to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Hosts: Nora Princiotti and Steven Ruiz Producer: Isaiah Blakely Social: Kiera Givens and Eduardo Ocampo Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal and Conor Nevins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You may find this hard to believe, but 60 songs that explain the 90s. America's favorite poorly named music podcast is back. With 30 more songs than 120 songs total. I'm your host, Rob Harvilla, here to bring you more shrewd musical analysis, poignant nostalgic reveries, crude personal anecdotes, and rad special guests, all with even less restraint than usual. Join us once more on 60 Saws that Explain the 90s every Wednesday on Spotify.

I'm Nora Pintziotti. I'm Stephen Reese. And it is week 18. Week 18 Sunday night is in the books. We have the full playoff picture set. And we're going to break it all down. We're going to get into all of the Wild Card weekend matchups a little bit later in the show. We're also going to talk about some of the potential coaching changes, black Monday updates

that might be coming swiftly as soon as people start to listen to this pod. are going to start with the headline. And that is Bill's Dolphins. Bills come away with a 21 to 14 win against Miami. Buffalo will play the Steelers. That's going to be on Sunday at 1 p.m. Bills win the AFC East by virtue of winning this game for the fourth year in a row of Miami becomes the sixth seed and they have to go to Kansas City. That's going to be 8 o'clock on Saturday. That's the peacock game. Stephen, do you have peacock downloaded? I do have peacock because we have like a login from the company, like a employee login that I use. I don't know. It's so you can find it out. But that's how you're going to have to watch on Saturday

night. So watch. Okay. Yeah, this is great news that I have to watch. Solving problems already in like two minutes into this podcast. And you've already accomplished what I thought was going to be a huge hurdle for me next week. I don't pay for peacock. I want it on the record. I do not pay for peacock. Yeah, I was going to like mount a protest, but they ended up with one of in some ways the more interesting games of the wild card weekend slate. We talked last week about how the dolphins just had a lot on the line here, particularly given that a loss made it likely that they were going to end up in that slot at Kansas City. Obviously, this game, really wild game, a lot of ups and downs, but it ended on definitely. a low note for Miami with Tua running the two minute offense trying to score down seven but ending with the pick to Taylor Rap. What was your main takeaway for the dolphins? I think it has to be Tua.

We were joking before we started recording that it was kind of like unfair. Someone had, it was actually Ben Solac who had tweeted out that we shouldn't judge Tua based on that final drive, but you kind of feel like you were going to either way. And how it ended with the interception, which was kind of like a dud to Taylor Rap, I feel like it's fine to judge him based off that drive and based off this game. Double coverage to Chase Claypool makes me feel a little bit judgy. And I feel like that's okay.

Yeah, that's a K-Y-P question. That's a know-your-personel question right there. I don't know about that one. But the question with him is always like, does he elevate the offense? And this was a night where the running game got going, at least in the first half. And then you saw the bills kind of have to sell out to stop the Dolphins run game

because they were attacking the perimeter with such success off of that little fake toss, reverse action that they were spamming in the first half in Buffalo couldn't find an answer at first. And then I thought they found an answer in the second half. And that's when the passing game has to step up. That's when your MVP candidate quarterback, quote unquote, supposedly, that's when he's supposed to step up. And that's when a quarterback that you give a $200 million contract to,

in the off season, that's when he steps up and he didn't do it here. He still has a shot. We talked about this midweek on the podcast. He still has a shot in the playoffs. The shot now has a higher degree of difficulty now that they lost this game. He has to go to Kansas City against Spags. But that is a great platform for him to kind of overcome this performance because this performance was an ugly one.

And if I'm a Dolphins fan, I'm questioning him long term. Dolphins went into halftime. They're up 14 to 7. And like you said, bills kind of had to make adjustments to sell out to stop what they were doing in the run game. And it ended up being more and more on two in the passing game shoulders. And they came out in the second half. Their first drive, they ran three plays. They went nine yards.

It ended in a punt. The next one was four plays for 11 yards. They punted and the bills returned it for a touchdown, which was sort of the momentum shifter in the game as a whole. Their next drive, they ran three plays. they gained a yard and they punted. Then three, they gained three yards punted. And then the bills get the ball. They end up getting rolled short after the two-minute warning on fourth down.

Miami gets the ball back and that's the drive that ends in the pick to Taylor Rap that ends it. So it was just overall a really, really dismal second half. And it does make you wonder. how it's going to affect to a going into this off season, all of the contract stuff, whether or not this changes the internal view on him. Obviously, there's no way of really knowing that. But at a certain point,

Mike McDaniel has made such a commitment and made such a point and done such a good job as a coach there of showing his loyalty and showing his at least professed faith in, too, as their quarterback. And this is the type of game that, you have to wonder a little bit if it strips away at that, particularly given the decisions they have to make this offseason. Yeah.

I mean, who else are you putting this failure? Like if you're considering them not winning the AFC East, which I consider a failure, who are you putting it on? And if you are boiling it down to this one game and this one performance, it's not on McDaniel to me. I thought he had a good plan. I thought he called a good game for the most part, especially getting the run game going at first.

I wouldn't put it on the defense. I thought they kept Miami in it. This was a game that I thought Buffalo outplayed Miami all game long. And I thought the defense kind of kept them in the game with those turnovers. Obviously, Buffalo moved the ball well, but the defense came up when it had to. And we saw on third down, Vic Fangio, with some of those timely blitz has really paid off. So I can't put it on the defense either, really. It almost has to fall in the quarterback.

It wasn't the run game. Obviously, they have injuries. Jalen Waddle was out. He didn't play tonight. Xavier Howard was out. He didn't play tonight. They lost some guys. But this feels like they missed an opportunity.

This was like the worst Buffalo season we've seen out of the last four years when they've been on this run dominating the division. And they had a, Miami had a chance to win this division. And they let it slip through their fingers. And I thought, I thought tonight was kind of a microcosm for that. And we kind of saw the same reasons why they've struggled in big games over the last two years pop up again in this game. And I know I keep harping on it, but it always comes back to the quarterback position.

As it always seems to do. do in this league? Yeah, I think defensively, I don't think you can have a lot of qualms with them. I think they got a lot of pressure. They did a really good job. Especially later on in the game, given all of the injuries

that they've already had, and then Van Ginkle goes out, and it just feels like this war of attrition, that there's sort of no way that they can't be losing at a certain point. But they found ways to scheme up pressure, to get to Josh Allen. I find it so

hard evaluating a Josh Allen performance in distinguishing between just like, oh yeah, they really rattled him and pushed him into a risky decision or just like Josh Allen went Josh Allen and something happened. But they definitely got some critical stops defensively given the number of injuries that they've dealt with. I think it's impressive. And even just to hold these bills to 21 points, there's not a lot of. that you can complain with there.

I do think that that in that fourth quarter, especially when that defense that is missing so many key guys had lost guys during the game, you could see them get a little bit tired. You could see it just start to be like, okay, Buffalo has withstood all of these mistakes. And now they're coming. And, you know, Josh Allen's scrambling.

He's keeping the ball in his hands. And that can be there to their, successor to their failure, but sometimes it does become sort of inevitable. So I think they had, you know, it's not like a, it's not a blame thing defensively. It's just they're so banged up. And at a certain point, it starts to show. But no, when when the questions for Miami come this offseason, whenever that offseason happens, they're going to start a quarterback. They're going to start on the offensive side of the ball, but they're really going to start a quarterback. And that's okay. I mean, they are at a decision point with their quarterback,

but obviously it's not what they were hoping for going into the beginning of this season. For Buffalo. Speaking of injuries. Yeah. Yeah. It's getting bleak. Even the Taylor Rapp pick at the end of the game unclear exactly what happened there, but it seemed like he came up hurt after making that.

play. This was definitely a game with some casualties. Were you going to bring something up in particular? Yeah, Gabe Davis goes out in this one and returns in street clothes. Russell Douglas goes out. Dionne Dawkins at one point, I'm not sure if he came back, but he went to the locker room late in the game. And obviously, this team has already compiled a lot of injuries throughout the year.

At a certain point, and obviously they're riding high going into the playoffs and their path is easier having won the division. But at a certain point, like, you run out of players and you can't keep losing your best players and they've lost maybe like eight of their 20 best players. They still have the quarterback to sell Stefan Diggs. That's been enough so far. But you had to feel like this is going to take a toll eventually. It's going to take a toll very soon once you get into the playoffs when competition is, is harder. Well, it's, they've already been doing such a good job of overcoming injuries. It's like how many waves of that are withstandable.

The Steelers matchup, that first, that early window game on Sunday, the Pittsburgh offense, at least in terms of the defensive challenge for the bills, regardless of their injuries, feels manageable. But how do you think Buffalo matches up with the Pittsburgh defense? I feel like T.J. Watt being available is a big question in that one. You have to, first of all, Pittsburgh has to. to win on early downs. They have to get Josh Allen into these situations where you can throw blitzes at him like Miami did tonight. And the only way to do that is to win on

first and second down against the run, stop James Cook. And if Watts out there, I think they have a chance. If he's not out there, I don't think they have a chance. I'm leaning Buffalo no matter what, whether he's out there or not. But I think if Pittsburgh has a chance to make this a weird game and win this game, like they've won so many games over the last couple of years under Mike Tomlin, I think you need a playmaker on defense like Watt out there. We've seen them lose a couple guys at the end of the year. Minkum Fitzpatrick hasn't really been playing. He's another playmaker on defense.

High Smith is a very, very good player. I don't want to take anything away from him. He's not a game-changing player at this point. He's not a game-changing superstar at this point. And I think you need those in matchups like this when you're going up against a quarterback like that. So J.J. Watt this afternoon tweeted that the best case scenario for T. was a grade 2 MCL sprain, everything else looks pristine,

couple weeks of rest slash recovery. So we'll see if there's any chance that he would return during the playoffs at some point, but it seems like that's pretty unlikely in terms of next week, obviously further testing and updates to come there, but it seems like they probably won't have TJ Watt defensively

in Pittsburgh, I agree with you, makes it really tough. Just no silly Josh. That's why one question. Silly Josh stays home for this one. I think Buffalo wins this easily. If he shows up, then it's going to be a close game. That's what it comes down to.

I mean, he certainly showed up this afternoon. I don't know. I mean, do you say he got it out of his system or is it just silly Josh can win if he shows up? He might show up and they can still win. But if he doesn't show up, it's going to be, it's not going to be a competitive. game. And this shouldn't be a competitive game based on paper. Like, it's Mason Rudolph. By the way, should we talk about the weird Mason Rudolph, Kenny Pickett, Bench, not Bench,

still our franchise quarterback dynamic because we all know what that is. Pittsburgh can lie to us all they want. This is a benching. Absolutely no one, Mike Thompson. You don't play. That would be like Tennessee last year when they brought in Josh Dobbs to play the Jags on like two days notice and then Tennessee turning around and be on, by the way, we still believe in Malik Willis. We still think Belik has a chance to be our franchise quarterback. No, you don't. You don't. It's over. But I think Buffalo wins this game. And the only way that they don't is if it's like a Steelers weird game. And the only way that happens is if Josh Allen participates. And he's very liable to participate. If it's a weird game, whose weird game is it? Is it there's something that like,

that, that I don't know exactly how to define Great Lakesy kind of kind of area. something weird's going on up there. Because I don't know whose energy would take over. I think like Josh Allen would be able to, I don't think Josh Allen's going to show up silly, but I think he's going to see the Steelers on the other sideline getting weird. He's going to be like, I can't have myself. I got to do it.

What was the silliest thing that happened at this game? I mean, I think the, and this is not Josh, but like Ty Johnson getting stopped at the one right before half time and having the clock run out. A little bit. I mean, it seemed like Sean Germann thought it might have been on Josh.

McDermott definitely put it on. McDermott was so bad at Josh Allen. It was so funny that he was getting questions about Josh Allen. And it's just a terrible setup for him because like he has to know the only reason he has a job is because of that guy. And at the same time, that same guy is making his job.

living hell every Sunday. Well, think about it from his perspective. Like, yes, I kind of, in a weird way, even though it's wrong, I feel for coaches. Because, yes, in reality, your success is mostly or failure is mostly determined by like the raw talent and practically supernatural abilities of these people. And it's really not like, you can have your best laid plans and coaching is important. But the talents of someone like Josh Allen and having that or not having that, that is the most important thing. But at the same time, your job is to like organize and plan and assign order and structure and strategy.

And he's not going to help you do that. He's going to get in the way of that. But the thing is, Sean McDermott is kind of wrong. like he's kind of an asshole for not like letting Josh Allen be Josh Allen and just embracing it. But at the same time, like you can't be a head coach and have that mentality. You can't be like me and just be like, oh, fuck it, who cares? Josh Allen, who cares if he throws two picks? He's going to win in the end anyway.

Like as a head coach, you can't have that personality and that view towards these plays. You have to be like Sean McDurban and just be pissed at halftime because your quarterback did that. That's sort of, it's interesting because I think I haven't thought about this at length, but just like off the dome, the coach who is the best counter argument to that is Mike McDaniel is the most like, fuck it, we ball,

like throw the pick. That's different though. That's different. Josh Allen doesn't have to live like this. He doesn't have to do this. Tua has to play like this. Like he has to like throw those picks to even play like this. So it's like a failure of two,

like Tua doesn't have the capacity to play better than he is right now. Josh Allen can avoid these bozo moments very easily and he still does it. Well, the Josh Allen like razor edge conversation to me actually has more to do with how much he runs the ball than how much he throws the ball. And there's always some weird correlation to games where Josh Allen is just like, screw it. I'm talking and running all the time and weird stuff happening. On a related note, Josh Allen had 15 carries in this game. That's where like that's where the the, that's where all of. the weird energy gets charged up.

Like that's, I firmly believe that every Josh Allen carry just like injects a game with more bizarre potential. See, see, I have, I think you have it backwards. There's like a weirdness meter that he fills up at the beginning of the game. The only way to get it down is to run the ball. He has to like run off the weirdness. And that's why he ran the ball so much because he threw those picks early. His weirdness meter was filled to the brim and he had to get rid of all that weirdness.

And he ran it off. The second pick really didn't hurt them. The second pick was probably better for field position than an incompletion. The first one was bad. He might have had Kincaid open in the flat, though. I think Collinsworth pointing that out on the replay. He might have. It was like fourth and three.

It was like, it was like fourth and two. It was 50-50, but I still would have liked that more than just like throwing it up into the end zone to no one in particular. There was a scenario that I was really excited about potentially happening, where if the dolphins had managed to score on that last drive. they would have been in a situation where objectively the best possible outcome for Miami was going to be to tie because that was the scenario in which they were playing Pittsburgh, which if I'm Miami, I would have rather played the Steelers in round one than having a rematch with Buffalo or going to Kansas City. And I just, we don't need to talk about it because it didn't happen and it didn't come close to happening and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. but like I just want to put voice to the fact that I was really looking forward to potentially even being able to root for that or just like live in a world where we had to figure out how a team would manage that situation.

You can't really, it's just impossible to play for a tie because then you're just at too much risk of losing. But I really, I loved that that I loved that little little kernel of schedule outcome. No, objectively like that would have been the better outcome for Miami is, Then even winning is playing Pittsburgh in the wild card round. And I think, like, as a coach, this is like similar to the McDermott thing. It's like you can't think like that. But also I feel like the Rams kind of fell in a similar boat today. They rested a lot of starters.

But them losing that game, if they would have ended up losing it to the 49ers, they would have had to go to Dallas instead of playing Detroit. And I just feel like those are two totally different games. And the fact that they weren't actively trying to avoid going to Dallas just like boggled my mind. But it ended up working out. Carson Wentz led them to a win. And they don't have to... That one in some...

That one is actually, I think, more striking. This is a curiosity to me. I don't think you can really play for a tie in any situation other than like a true end of game situation. Because it's just there's too many... You're playing with too much fire, right? Because then... Although I suppose you could do it here because losing is arguably... Yeah.

The way that it worked out, I think definitely it's worse for Miami to have to go to Kansas City than to have the home field and have Buffalo. But not by as much as it seemed like it might have been when Jacksonville still seemed like they were going to win the South. And some of the outcomes were different. Pittsburgh being the seven seed sort of changed things. But anyway, they're going to Kansas City. That's the deal. You had brought up on the midweek show that the weather was looking bad. The weather continues to look bad.

So it looks like they're going to be going to be Kansas City. It's going to be like 10 degrees. Yeah, that's going to be bad. I wish the Rams would have ended up losing. Then I could have started his McVeigh ducking Jared Gough, a little agenda. He was scared to compete. I would love that. I would love to zoom out that campaign.

All right. Anything else you want to hit specifically from Bill's Dolphins before we take a break and go through the wildcard games? Does this result this game change your view on Buffalo ceiling? I think it does change by view on Miami ceiling. I was willing to entertain the possibility of them making a Super Bowl. I thought in a rematch maybe they would have a better chance against Baltimore. but at this point, with this route through the playoffs, I just don't see it happening.

And I see it being a one and done season again like it was last year, which would be really disappointing because this was supposed to be a year. They take a step forward in Mike McDaniel's second year. So this was a devastating result to me for Miami, especially with how it ended, with them having a lead going into the fourth quarter. I thought they were going to win the game. It felt like they had the game in control and then to lose it. That's tough.

They have a shot. against the chiefs. I don't, I wouldn't pick them. But I think there's still a world, just because I think that Kansas City is so, is so limited offensively.

There's always a world and some of it depends on health, particularly, like, I don't know what, what they're saying about Waddle and having a little bit more firepowering.

on offense, but there's still always a world with Miami where they come out and they get two plays where somebody busts the coverage and they're up by 14 points. And I don't like the chiefs in that situation. That's kind of how it has to go for Miami to have a shot, I think. But it's not totally out of the question because I still think this defense, man, you wish they were healthier, but they're still playing hard. And it's not that they can get lucky on offense. It's just they, those playmakers can still have special moments, even if I don't trust

them to be a consistent ball moving offense. So I don't think it's, I don't think all is lost. But no, I don't, I don't think that this team has a Super Bowl ceiling. They're just too vulnerable in too many different ways. Yeah. They are going to be healthier. than they were Sunday night. Like, they're going to get Waddle back, presumably.

They might get Zavon Howard back, presumably. So they should be a little bit healthier. What about Buffalo? I still think that this team is, it's a little more shaky than the current win streak implies. I do not analyze the Buffalo bill. That's a good. That's good point.

I can't give you an answer. Do I think they can win the Super Bowl? Yes, I actually do think they can win the Super Bowl. I don't think they will. but like I'm not going to tell you that this team couldn't string together three insane games in a row. It's funny because I feel like there's a hundred percent chance of them that they're not going to win the Super Bowl. But at the same time, I agree that they still have a chance. Even though it's absurd and it's not going to happen.

I'm saying that in one breath and in the next breath I'm saying they still have a chance just because there is no like this is they are a there's no game like if they needed to. If they had to play a 49ers Ravens super team in a week, I'm not going to totally count them out of that. Like, I'm just not going to. I just, it's just not the right thing to do with this team. But I don't think that, like,

they're going to screw this up somewhere. But they're an interesting team. I think, you know what, for all they've been through, for all of the mistakes, for all of the ups and downs. Like, I think they're a worthy two-seed.

I was thinking about this at one point in the fourth quarter, just like which of these teams has two-seed vibes and which has six-seed vibes. And, like, the dolphins definitely have six-seed vibes. And I was trying to answer the question to myself, do the bills feel like they should be a two-seat? The bills just don't feel like they should be anything more. No, they're a four-seed or something. Yeah.

But there's, but when, man, when, when Josh Allen goes to that place, I, I do think that it's, it's just special. So on that level, I suppose, I'd granted to them on a technicality. So I don't know. They're, they're not winning the Super Bowl, but if, I'll use your framework from earlier in the season when we were talking about teams that could win the Super Bowl. They could win the game. They're just not going to get there. Yeah, yeah. It's a good way to say it. All right, let's take a break and go through the wildcard games.

As good as the regular season is, there's nothing like NFL super wildcard weekend, six games, three days. For these teams, it's winner go home. But you always have a spot in the playoffs with Fandul, America's number one sports book. Vandle has so many ways for you to pick up a W this wildcard weekend. If I was betting on the games, I would take the Buccaneers pulling off an upset over the Eagles. I'd also think about the Rans pulling off an upset over Detroit. So if you want to follow my picks, go to Fandul right now. New customers get $150 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet.

Just visit fandul.com slash ringer NFL to join today. That's vandal.com slash ringer NFL. Make every moment more with Fandul, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL. 21 plus and present in select states. First online real money wager only $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. see terms at sportsbook.

Fandul.com. Okay, we are back on dual threat. Let's take a really early look at Wildcard Weekend, and we can go through some of the results from Week 18 while we do it. Let's start with Saturday. The 430 game, first game of Wild Card Weekend, super wildcard weekend, is Cleveland at Houston. I was super impressed with the Texans. win over the Colts on Saturday, which is how they wound up in the playoffs and actually

ended up winning the AFC South in a way that made me feel more confident in the Texans as a team that definitely could beat the rounds, but could make a little run just because it seems like C.J. Stroud has fully gotten back to form having come back from. the injury that he missed a little bit of time with towards the end of the season. And the way that that that defense is playing and the way that that passing offense works, I just, again, not going to say that they're going to win the Super Bowl. I don't think that that's their ceiling. But watching them play against Indianapolis and that's not a great defense, but it is a defense

that gets some pressure and make stuff happen. I came away feeling like this team could make a game with pretty much a game. anybody. And that is what we were seeing them do earlier in the season before some of the injuries hit. How are you feeling about Houston? Yeah, I feel really good about this team. And if you had asked me about them two weeks ago, like even with the knowledge that C.J. Straub would come back. And even if you had told me that C.J. Straub was going to return to the formulae was playing at before. Like, they had suffered injuries to their skill group. They had lost Tank Dell, for instance. And I thought that was a big loss that they would struggle to overcome to find explosives. But against

Indianapolis, it looked fine. And since Stroud's been back. he's looked like the quarterback before his injury. I feel like Houston should be slightly favorite in this game. I know the Browns beat them by like 20 points two weeks ago or in week 16. But CJ Stroud didn't play in that game. And one thing I will say about that, that game, the Browns average under two yards per carry on the ground. And the reason why they lost is that was the game when Joe Flacco like just blacked out. It was throwing dots all over the field.

And most of his success. came on first down off play action. And I think Houston is going to have a better plan for that this time around. I trust D'Amico Rines to adjust. And I don't trust Joe Flacco to replicate that performance because that was the best performance of this Joe Flacco resurgence so far. And if he has to do that again, like the run game isn't working again and it's on his shoulders.

I don't think he could do it again. I don't think he could do it twice in a month. That was the game where Amari Cooper. had 265 receiving yard. Yeah. So there are some things from that game that probably don't seem replicable. One of the interesting things, though, is that, I mean, Derek Stangley didn't allow a reception against Indianapolis and finished, you know, has finished the year playing really, really well. So what they do with him, what they do to try to slow down that Cleveland passing attack, which definitely was having a.

day of it the last time they played, but that's what they'll try to do again, particularly if the results against the runner are similar, is going to be really interesting. So I think I'm excited for that game. That game seems like it should be hopefully high scoring, relatively evenly matched, interesting angles on both sides. And then look, I think going forward, the Texans probably seem like they have a little bit more juice, but Flacco, man, he's got nothing to lose. Okay, let's be honest, though. This should have been in the peacock game.

Yeah, this is the honorary peacock game. It should have been the Nickelodeon game. It might be. It might double as the Nickelodeon game. There might be an MVP up for grabs in this one. And Flacco winning MVP, that feels like a storybook ending to this season. You don't have to win to win the MVP. I think people forget that.

Mitch Trubisky was a loser in the game that he won his MVP in. It's just like the world turns in mysterious ways because for all of the negativity, well deserved about the Cleveland quarterback situation, if this season ends with like a genuinely joyful experience of Joe Flacco on Nickelodeon, Like, that's just, that's a little bit of, that's a cosmic wheel turn that I didn't see coming. The actual- Yours isn't one they deserve. They do not deserve that, but that's another-

I think Joe Flacco can deserve it. Okay, yeah. The actual peacock game, Miami and Kansas City, we talked about, when we talked about Bill's Dolphins. So if we go on to Sunday, we also talked about Steelers bills a little bit, but then the 430 game is Green Bay at Dallas. So that's coming off a big Cowboys win against the commanders. And then the Packers beating the Bears, 17 to 9. Game, I think that score is misleading.

Green Bay was pretty dominant, particularly offensively. And Jordan Love looked great in this game. 27 of 32 for 316 yards and two touchdowns. I thought he just was in total command of that offense against a defense that's been very good in the second half of the season. And do you think that, do you think it's overly optimistic for the Packers to say that I think this is an interesting matchup with Dallas? No, I, no, I don't think so. Who coaches the Dallas Cowboys? Mike McCarthy.

Yeah, so I think they have a chance. But even beyond that, even beyond like the memes about McCarthy, like, blowing games in the playoffs. When we saw these teams play last year, I think that was like the first sign that the Packers could be all right this year. Like that was the game when it happened around, I think it was like early December was the Christian Watson three touchdown game where they were just like scheming stuff up for him. They got their play action game going. They had the run game going. I think they were on a bit of a win streak at the time. And everyone was feeling good about the Packers.

And Aaron Rogers, it seemed like he bounced. back. Obviously, the Packers weren't able to carry over that momentum for the rest of the year, but I think they did carry it over to this year. And we're seeing a similar offense and a similar offensive build. And I think it just would work against a Dan Quinn defense. We've seen Dan Quinn have trouble against this style of offense. The wide zone, I know that's not what they necessarily do now, but like the Shanahan wide zone play action offense has given Dan Quinn in particular problems. And I could see it happening again. It gave him problems last year against a work Green Bay team, I would argue.

And I could see the game playing out in a similar way. Well, and they've hit a stride with that style in the latter half of the season in Green Bay, where Aaron Jones is running really well. He leads the NFL and rushing yards since week 15. The play action game off of that is working really well. Jordan Love leads the league in yards off of play action since week nine. he's been playing really clean. He's not turning the ball over.

It adds up to a style that to your point can give that defense a lot of trouble. And it also seems like, I mean, they just seem, they seem walked in. They seem like they're not scared of the moment that they're excited about the challenge. This is the youngest roster in the NFL. It's the youngest team to make the playoffs. But I don't know. Maybe things change when all of a sudden. sudden it's not week 18 it actually is a playoff game but they just they seem ready for it at least

on the offensive side of the ball the question is what happens to the defense right that's always the question who's guarding cd lamb what is joe barry's game plan and is this going to be just an unmitigated disaster let me preface this by saying you never have to hand it to joe barry i've been a joe barry skeptic ever since i joined this company and join this podcast feed. But I will say this. I think his style of defense is the best style of defense for Dak Prescott in this offense. I think when we've seen teams be able to put a roof over their passing game and cut off

explosive plays, which we know, like a Joe Berry defense at least aims to do that. Like that's the overall aim. And you force them into this 12 play, 13 play, 14 play drive situation where it's like five hitch routes just to get past midfield. I think that's when you see Dak make the mistakes. When you put that on his plate every single time when he has to drop back 50 times to sustain the offense, I think that's when you see him throw the interceptions.

We saw it the last time they played the Packers last year where their offense struggled against Joe Barry. Maybe I'm putting too much weight on last year's result, but I think these teams are still built in similar ways. And I wouldn't be surprised at the Packers struggle in this one, and we're talking about another one-and-done disappointment for the Cowboys in the playoffs. At the same time, like, when this offense plays its a game, they can beat anybody.

So I'm not ruling out like the Cowboys winning. I'm not picking Green Bay by any means, but I would not be surprised if that's a close game. I love a defense that allows 30 points to the Panthers who have not scored since before Christmas. the Carolina Panthers have not scored a point since before old St. Nick came down the chimney or whatever. And yet is a good design against the Dallas Cowboys. I agree. It's an interesting matchup and that's what's exciting about it. This is a styles make fights piece of analysis for me right now.

I still think Dallas is a better team. They're going to win. But I do think it's close. So what's the best in that's, I mean, I get what you're saying in terms of how Joe Barry likes to defend. But what type of game plays into Green Bay's hand here? I think if they could stop the run. If they could stop the run and now in order for Dallas to stay ahead of the chains, it's

Dak Prescott, quick game every first and second down. Because after a while, like, if that's the game plan, he has to do that 40, 30 to 40 to 40 times in this game, there's a chance that two of the times he makes a mistake or a receiver runs the wrong route and he throws it to someone in green. Like, that's enough. Whoopsie. I can't believe you're not taking a massive Jordan Love victory lap right now. I know, look, 17 points is not that many points.

I thought he looked awesome today. Yeah. He's been, I thought people were questioning him too early on in the season. Like, it was very clear. He wasn't putting up numbers. But if you watched them play, it was very clear that, like, Nobody on that offense actually knew how to run the plays. Well, that was the problem.

It wasn't him. It was just the offense looked really bad and disjointed. So he was never going to look good and whatever the opposite of disjointed. He was never going to look jointed. And now that the offense has come together, I think we're seeing the best of him, like the best of this version of him. And it's what I thought he would be. I thought he would be a above average starter with very impressive tools. and if you put a good infrastructure around him

and a good play calling system, which they've gotten from LaFleur, this is the result I expected and this is what we're getting. I think he could pull off an upset. If they were playing the Packer or the Lions, I would be picking them with confidence. You would be picking them.

Yeah. Yeah. The thing that's really, the thing that's funny about this or sort of compelling about this is that love seems like the real deal, the Packers, to me, are a genuinely good team.

And while it would qualify as an upset, if they beat Dallas, I would not be shocked by it at all. And in some ways, if that happened in a way where it was just like, they went in there and bawled out and sometimes you got to tip your cap, it's kind of understandable because I do think that the Packers are a good team. You know who I don't think is going to have a lot of patience for no, actually the youngest team that's ever made the playoffs is good and Jordan Love is good and so it's okay is Jerry Jones. So there are some interesting potentials to consider if they did manage to pull it off.

I'm still just like I'm trying to work out the scenarios where Bill Belichick becomes the coach of the Dallas Cowboys. So that's my answer. Yes. One thing Stefan Gilmore left the game with the shoulder injury, but he said after the game he's fine. it seemed like he was maybe, yeah, he went out and it was not totally clear if he wasn't going back in because they were up big against Washington. Although, do you think it ever occurred to anyone to try to lose that game once it was clear that the Eagles were losing? Because if they lost that game, they might be keeping Drake May out of the division just by losing that one game. You think Mike McCarthy is thinking on that level?

No. If I were a head coach. Stick to what's happening in the game. If I were head coach, all like it's not, I mean, you know, competition is wonderful and blah, blah, blah, blah. I love figuring out how tanking can help someone. The idea of winning by losing to me is just so lovely. But like, I'm never any more excited than being like, the dolphins shouldn't actually win or the Cowboys shouldn't actually win.

You should lose the game. It's, but I take it. It's Washington. It's Washington. They're going to screw it up somehow, to be honest. Ah, the commies. All right. And then last game on Sunday, the 8 p.m.

slot on Sunday. Matthew Stafford's return. The McVeigh, Goth Bowl, Rams at Lions. I'm just going to give you the floor, Stephen. Oh, my God. I can't wait for this game. This is a perfect, this is a Sunday night game? Yes.

No, no, it's perfect NFL. This was like usually good things. You're going to sing the Carrie Underwood theme song. I will if they would let me. I'm just going to record it and put it online. I will wear the same outfit. I will hit all the same beats. Are there dance moves?

I think there are dance moves. I will do the dance moves. It's actually not a lot of choreo. It's a lot of like strike a pose, look to the left, look to the right. There's really only two lyrics. I think that you need to change. to be situational. You can have something in there.

I haven't been waiting all day for Sunday night. I've been waiting, what has it been? Two years since I trade. I've been waiting two years for this game. They did play a couple of years ago, and Stafford played an excellent game. Goff played a poor game. But this is different.

It feels different now because now golf has a fair chance. When they played in 2021, Detroit was horrible. He didn't have a fair shot. Oh, man. I feel like McVeigh, go to Rahim Morris, the defensive coordinator for L.A., and be like,

throwing a couple cover zero blitzes, just for me, just as a treat. I just want to see him squirm a little bit from the other side. We can have a little cover zero as a treat. It's going to be, the golf element is going to be interesting. I think all of the pregame and blah, blah, blah, blah, it's all going to be like, Matthew Stafford going back to Detroit, but in some ways, I think the other side of it is a little bit more fascinating. Defensively, I mean, okay, they get their little sprinkling of cover zero and we see how Jared Gough handles that.

Do you think that the Lions run game will be a tough challenge for the Rams defensively? That's a tough question. I think it changes based on Leporta going out today. And it seems like he's going to miss at least one game. It seems like Detroit got good news and I don't think he has a major injury, but it sounds like he's not going to play in this wild card game. And I do think he's a player who changes the math for the defense. Like you have to worry about him. And I think him not being out there just makes it a little bit easier to defend the run, which in turn, as we all know, makes it a little bit easier or a lot bit easier to defend Jared Gough when you can defend the run like that.

So on paper, if Laporte is not playing, like, I think the run. Rams maybe run away with this. This is the type of game why you want a Matthew Stafford over at Jared Gough. I know Detroit's defense isn't something to celebrate at all. But Eric Glenn does, he does have some pitches. He has some funky pitches in his bag that he gets throw at you and keep you off speed. And I think like a quarterback like Jared Gough might be susceptible to that. But Matthew Stafford, I don't think that's going to be an issue.

I think he's going to be able to see what Detroit is doing before the snap. I think McBay is going to have a good plan for him. and I really think LA's offense is going to be the difference in this game. Yeah, I mean, also, Aaron Glenn's funky pitches, maybe they, that's all well and good. The Vikings gained like 400 yards of offense in this, in this game. And if they hadn't turned the ball over a lot, it might have been a little bit tighter for Detroit. So I'm, I'm with you in the sense that I think there's a solid chance that the Rams kind of run way with this mostly because some of it is is the golf stuff and obviously there's a lot of knowledge

there with McVeigh. But I just don't really know how the Lions defense is going to stop them. Obviously the game that LA played today, you know, it was Carson Wens. They were playing the 49ers, backups, whatever. They did keep Pukin long enough to break the rookie receiving record and go over 1473 yards, which he did in the 139.7, which he did in the 13. quarter and then immediately Sean McPay was like, get him out of there, get them out right now. But we've talked about it sort of all year with this offense. And when it's a healthy Stafford, when they've got their receivers, it's kind of enough. Like, they can make a really hard to defend passing offense out of that.

And I just, I think this lion's defense is pretty bad, even if they have their moments, largely I think they are pretty bad. So I just, I don't have a lot of confidence that they'll be able to stop them. And if it turns into a tough golf game, which I think Leporta being out would be a significant blow in that direction, it just starts to seem maybe a little bit less competitive. But obviously we'll see and we'll see on some of the hell stuff. if Leporta does miss that game and Khalif Raymond also went out

not sure with the status of that injury is there's some you know this was the team that that played the starters and paid a little bit of a price for it. I don't want to overstate that like Khalif Raymond is going to play in a game if the starter

or Gleaf Raymond is playing in this game no matter what. Sam Lipporto may be a slightly different discussion. But it does seem like they're going to be a little bit weaker than they would have been going into this game if they'd made slightly different decisions in terms of resting players. But that again, the Vikings moved the ball.

So, and it was still meaningful for them to go and win. The only other thing for the Rams that I wanted to bring up, Brett Maher missed an extra point again today, and the Rams special teams has been a big issue. So just to plant the colonel. Maybe he's kicking next week, maybe not. But that's been a big issue for them, not just in the kicking game, punts, returns,

all of the above has not been very strong. And this is the type of scenario where, that starts to be a little bit more costly. Yeah. This goes one of two ways in the playoffs. Either like the special teams, specifically the kicker has like a just blacks out in the playoffs and makes every kick or it's just a disaster.

It's the reason why they get eliminated. But I really feel like this Rams team, like I know they wouldn't have this current setup if they didn't trade away their star players over the last couple of years. But I really feel like this team is like two or three players from being away from being a legit Super Bowl contender. Like if you give this team a lockdown corner like Jay, and maybe another edge guy like von miller not this year's version of von miller maybe

lennar floyd's a better example and then maybe one more offensive lineman this is a super bowl team this is the second best team in the nfc if that's the case they might be the third best team at this point but i don't know they're closer than i think people think like one good off season we could be talking about this team at this time next year winning a championship it really i i think mcvieve McVeigh's the coach the year. He should be. He really should be. And honestly, less need executive of the year.

Yeah. Fuck them picks. Print the t-shirts. Even though now it's, now they're all the picks. I don't know. I lose track. Very good job. Okay, the last game.

The Monday nighter. Eagles at Bucks. What a game to go out on in this segment. So both of these teams had absolutely. putrid performances in week 18. The Bucks won, at least, but they won nine to nothing against the

Panthers. They did not score a touchdown. The Eagles lost 27 to 10 to the Giants. The Eagles who have had meaningful stakes in their last two games have not been able to

beat the Cardinals or the Giants to close out the last two weeks the regular season. I just like the defense can't do anything. The offense is struggling in a bunch of different ways. They're turning the ball over. They can't find the explosives. The dropback passing game with Hertz has rarely looked worse. There's just not a lot of good that you can say about Philly right now.

now. But then on the other hand, the Bucks looked pretty bad today too. So we've already seen this, we've already seen this game play out this year. But that was a long time ago. They played in week three on Monday night. And I don't think, I think the Bucks are basically the same team. They were back then. The Eagles just feel totally different. And that was one of the games early on when you were like, okay, the Eagles have been struggling, but this is, this looked like last year. And that's how they won the game because they just ran the, ball over and over again. The Bucks couldn't stop the run. The Bucks couldn't run the ball on the other side and they were pressured on third down. That was the formula we saw from Philadelphia in 2022.

And back in September, we were like, oh, this could be a sign that this team is turning things around. Obviously, that has not happened. And I think all of the advantages that they had in that week three game, kind of flipped to the other side. I think the Bucks are more likely to be able to run the ball in this game. I think they're more likely to have success on the passing game in this game, especially if AJ Brown is out, and especially if Jalen Hertz's finger is messed up on his throwing hand. So it almost feels like, I know like the Eagles opened up as a favorite by a point in a half.

I feel like Tampa should be favored by at least a field goal in this game. They're my pick at this point in the week. Yeah, I think I agree. I mean, the first question that I'm asking myself about this game is just like, what are the Eagles doing defensively to handle Chris Godwin, Mike Evans, and I don't have a good answer for that. And that seems like the most, I mean, if there's if there's one,

if I feel like being a coach and a matchup, you feel good if you feel like you have something that you can really exploit, that's the first thing that I would point to is just like, those guys are better than the guys who are going to be defending them. And this iteration of the Philadelphia defense, I don't think. think they're going to have any answers. Yeah, that's your main concern, but like, this is one of the worst run defenses, too. So now you, like, add that layer on top of that. We know what a Baker may, like a successful Baker Mayfield game and play action passing. And like you said, like, what do the Eagles have on defense that makes you think they could stop this setup for the

bus when it's going well? I think it's going to be going well in this game. I can't believe Baker Mayfield hit a million dollar contract in this. He was trying to score a touchdown against the panthers. He was trying his hardest not to get that money. This was a bad game. Absolutely wonderful stuff. He did not look good this afternoon. Now, the last month or so of Baker Mayfield, I think,

has looked significantly better than what they had going today. So maybe that flips back. I don't know. Playing a Panthers team that is not very good, but still even factoring that in, I still come back like you do to some of the matchups against the Eagles defense and just they haven't, they haven't had anything. And I would expect that to continue on Monday. Adam Schaefter has just informed me, not me personally, but the internet that the Falcons have dismissed Arthur Smith. Do you want to take anything else on this game or should we take one last quick break and then we'll get to some of the coaching stuff? No, I've been dying to talk about the Arthur Smith thing.

Okay, me too. Let's end this discussion right now. All right, we'll take one more quick break and we'll come back and we'll do a little Black Monday preview. All right. We are back on dual threat. And at Adam Schaefter, it's not Adam Schafter or anything like that, says that Arthur Blank and Rich McKay with input from Falcons general manager, Terry Fontno, will lead the Falcons search for a new head coach. Arthur Smith has been fired. this is of course

following the falcons loss to the Saints and subsequent sort of meltdown from Arthur Smith because of a play at the end of the game where James Winston who is in in relief

went rogue overruled Dennis Allen to have the team line up in victory for at the one and then called an inside handoff to Jamal Williams in order to get him a touchdown and run up the score, although I don't think it was about that. The last image of Arthur Smith as Falcons coach will be his response to that, which was to just like have steam blowing out of his ears run over to the sideline. he kept yelling that was bullshit

at Dennis Allen and they had a very funny interaction I gotta say I thought this whole thing was hilarious yeah I think Arthur Smith is mad because you can make the argument that James Winston outcoached him on Sunday

like he drew up his one play and he scored a touchdown and we've seen he has to know the fronts he has to know like that run play is going to work out of that odd formation that they're not that's a knowing ball moment from James Winston there.

That was a great call. Sean McVeigh does that. Sports Center wouldn't shut up about it for a week. But James Winston does it. And Arthur Smith is jealous. And now he gets, now he complains to Dennis Allen about it. Okay. Can I, I want to be very clear.

I love that this happened. I, I, my opinion of everyone involved rises because this happened. A little part of me thinks Arthur Smith had a point. Not in running up the score thing is. stupid. Like, just stop them. Yeah. Doing our victory formation is, is, is that's sneaky. That is sneaky.

I would be a little test of that happened to me. No, he was right, but you don't say anything about it. Like, you just take your L and you, so no one notices it. He made it worse. He made it way worse. You know, this is like some Geneva Convention stuff. Like you, you've signaled. You've signaled surrender.

but James Winston is never done until you've got four zeros on the clock. I agree with you. You just have to, you have to be a good sport about it and not flip out the way that he did. Although I will say,

I think if anyone got out-coached, I mean, in a literal sense, James Winston went to Dennis Allen and said, I want to do this. Dennis Allen said, no. And James Winston said, sorry, but I am the captain now. We were joking they had a player's only huddle before the play. Right.

He said afterwards, I loved, we decided as a team to do it. It's just like fully, like, completely overruling his own head coach. Yeah. I mean, Dennis Allen almost comes out looking worse because not only does that happen to you, but he also got berated by Arthur Smith or something he didn't even decide to do. He also had a really funny response to Arthur Smith. Like he just looked, actually that he handled that very well because Arthur Smith was clearly just like screaming and really having a moment. And I'm forgetting exactly what it was, but Dennis Allen seemed like he mouthed something at him like, okay, I understand that.

And it was just very like talking to a toddler. I really, I would have questions about Dennis Allen as head coach after this. And I think he's done a reasonably good job with the Saints. You can't be getting overruled by James Winston. It's kind of funny that like the Saints have a plus 75 point differential. They have a top 14 offense by EPA. They have a top five defense. Like it's kind of sad that they're not making the playoffs.

but nobody's going to say that because they have Derek Carr at quarterback. But this is one of the better teams in the NFC, and they probably should be making it over the Eagles and they won't. And they had, I mean, look, they had a game that, you know, until the end, but for much of it, they entered it with stakes, clearly came to play, played a really good game, scored a bunch of points. Became the first team ever to score a touchdown from the victory formation, I would guess.

That's history. I just like, if you're, I can't, I really can't tell if I'm kidding right now. If you're another player on that team, like, what do you do when you go into work the next morning? What do you mean? Like the team that got scored on? And just be like, James is the head coach now. He makes all our decisions. That's what it is.

I don't think Dennis Allen, it seems like there was maybe some question about his job security. Obviously, they would have preferred to make the playoffs, but they held up there under the bargain. Seems like he is at least he seems safe. Arthur Smith. I mean, it's not just about the end of game situation. It was just that was a disappointing game for the Falcons. And then in particular, he, those critical situations, like they've got third and goal, fourth and goal. And the players that he ends up trusting with the ball are Corderole Patterson and Desmond Ritter and Bejohn Robinson is not touching the ball.

They're not. They just don't, don't use their best playmakers in critical situations. And there's so much stubbornness. And it's pretty inexplicable. I would have liked to see that whole falcons idea come together a little bit because it's interesting. I think Arthur Smith's philosophy is interesting. We've talked about it a little bit. But it's just it's an idea and the actual execution of it has been pretty universally bad.

So that's the way that's the problem. There was too much Desmond Ritter involved for the very start. I think what's the problem? Fair point. It was the Desmond Ritter of it all. And honestly, it wasn't a bad bet by them, like not going after Lamar Jackson or like maybe even like, I don't even know another name, but a more established quarterback would have made more sense for them.

But I think you could have talked yourself into Desmond Ritter taking like a second year leap and an offense that presumably was going to have this great run game was going to be play action heavy. He is like a quarterback with pro style experience. We've seen him run the play action style. We've seen him draw comparisons to Ryan Tannahill, who had a lot of success in this offense. But he just had too many of those moments.

He's almost like if Josh Allen was bad also, though. Like he doesn't have the high highs as Josh Allen, but he has those turnover plays, and he had a couple of them in this game. And you just can't overcome that when your A game isn't as good as like the other top guys in the league. And Desmond Ritter just didn't have that ceiling. And I think that's what ultimately led to his failure.

and their failure. Right. The Jaguars. I think Doug is fine, but this was a tough one. I mean, this is,

you know, I think we talked about it a little bit in the midweek show, but again, this is a team that was eight and three in the two seed in the FAC in December.

They lost five of six and missed the playoffs. And they looked bad. I mean, this was a game in which, I thought the most striking striking thing was that just defensively they had absolutely no interest

in tackling. They gave up 175 yards on the ground to a Titans team that didn't have anything to play for but played harder and played with better technique. Derek Henry had 154 of those yards might have been his last game as a Titan.

There's some stuff with Trevor Lawrence who does not seem to be totally healthy, at least to my eye. That we can talk about. He had two interceptions, one of which was definitely his fault. The other one was more on Evan Ingram. But, I mean,

it's a pretty striking meltdown over the second half of the year. The injuries, particularly the one to Trevor, are a large piece of that story, but they can't tackle. The offensive line isn't very good.

There's not a lot of creativity. in the play calling and the offensive design to try to get the best players that they still do have into the most impactful spots. And I do wonder if, you know, to what degree it's being considered a referendum on the job that Doug Peterson is doing. I should give you credit for like in the middle of the week, you called this.

Kind of. When you said if the Jags lose this, I think there's going to be questions about Doug Peterson. I was like, I don't know. I think there's going to be questions about Trent Falky. Tonight, I'm with you. I flipped. All my questions are about Doug Peterson. Like, I don't agree with the price that Trent Falky has paid to construct this roster.

I think he's overpaid in a lot of places. But one thing you could say about him is he's brought good players to the team. Like even like Walker, the first overall pick. I don't think he's been played like a first overall pick, but he's been a good player. That's a good player. Christian Kirk, I don't think he's earned the money that he got the $20 million a year, but he's been a good player. Obviously didn't play today.

Evan Ingram has been a good player. The fact that he's catching over 100 passes for your offense, probably a bad side that Evan Ingram is the centerpiece of your passing game, but he's a good player. Calvin Ridley, the same thing, he's a good player, but maybe he hasn't lived up to the hype. They have a lot of talent on this team. This coaching staff hasn't gotten the most out of it. And I think they haven't gotten.

the most out of Trevor Lawrence and that's the most damning thing and I thought today's game it's gonna get blamed on Trevor because of the two interceptions because of the ugly missed on fourth down at the end of the game but this was a tough game for him

it was a rigorous game for him he had a 2.2 average time to throw and it was still averaging like nine yards per attempt at one point in the second half and still getting hit and still getting hit like he was only pressured 16% and you're like oh that's a good offensive line that's good pass protection

No, it was all Trevor in this game. Because when he ever held the ball for longer than two and a half seconds, he was getting hit, like you said. They got eight yards off of play action passes today. They had two passes, two play action passes, and they got eight yards. They had two screen passes. They got one yard total out of it. That's nine yards total off of screens and play action passes, which, again, on Biker Crosum for this season, everything has just been placed on this quarterback's shoulders.

No run game, no pass protection. Get rid of the ball in 2.2 seconds. That's the only way you're going to have time. in the pocket. No creativity. Like you said, I was watching their early down offense over the weekend because I was planning on writing about them because I thought they were going to make the playoffs. They didn't. And like every play on early downs, every passing play is just like this uncreative black and white, just ugly offense. It's just like a one vertical route and then like a quick out route. Or then sometimes they mix it up by running a double move off the quick out route.

They did it a couple times in this game when Tennessee started jumping the outrout. But that's the whole offense. Like, why? You have Trevor Lawrence and you're running the same offense that you ran for Nick Foles. Five years ago, seven years ago. What the fuck? I think I, like, Press Taylor, Doug Peterson's infatuation with Press Taylor, maybe got him fired in Philadelphia.

Might get him fired in Jacksonville if he doesn't clean houses. Like, you have to. move on from him. And then here's another thing. This is not a serious take, but it kind of is. Take off the visor, Doug. That's what it is. The visor.

No more visor coaches. You know, you can buy one on, like, Amazon or whatever that has the spiky gray hair. He's probably wearing one of those for all we know. No. Take off the visor. That's how you know the game's passed by. Because he's still wearing that by them.

Cover your head. Doug Peter's. may have mismanaged a team that has one of the best quarterbacks in football and had no business, not winning this division and missing the playoffs. He may have a completely inexplicable attachment to Press Taylor that is costing both him and his team and his players on a weekly basis, but that man has a glorious head of hair and you will not take it away from him. then take the visor off

and go no hat. Okay, that's okay. That I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm here for you with that. And change the uniforms. While you're at it. The uniforms are terrible. They need to go back to like their old uniforms. They need to do the Bucks thing.

The Bucks went back to like their early 2000s uniforms and immediately win the Super Bowl. That's what the Jaguars need to do. Right. And by the way, we're talking about Dennis Allen, getting, getting tucked by James Winston on the goal line. Trevor Lawrence changed that play to the QB sneak. At least James Winston's play worked out.

You got overruled and you still didn't get the play, get the touchdown. Maybe James needs to coach the Jags. Oh my gosh. Yeah. No, no, Jameson's does not need to go back to Florida. Let's keep everyone out of Florida. It seems like it would be for everyone's own good. I don't, I bring up the Jaguars,

mostly so that we can talk about the Jaguars because this was one of the more interesting results of the week. It doesn't seem like Doug Peterson is in real jeopardy there, but the seat's got to be warmer than it was at the beginning of the day. And that was definitely, I mean, probably the most disappointing outcome for any team is Jacksonville because all they had to do was what. The Patriots. Bill Belichick, this is maybe funniest to me as former Patriots beat reporter, but the Patriots lost 17 to 3 to the Jets. Bill Belichick has a meeting tomorrow with Robert and Jonathan Kraft. And do you know what time Bill Belichick called his press conference or conference call with New England media for? No.

7.30 in the morning tomorrow. Oh, my God. he's on Coughlin time. He's amazing. He's just like honestly it brought us it brought a smile to my face probably because I don't have to be on it. But that's just like you got to hand it to him with the consistency. That is a Bill Belichick move. Of course he'll be able to, you know, that that meeting might be at 8 o'clock in the morning.

And he made damn sure that he would be able to to not answer every question and say we haven't just got in, barely started to look at the, look at the tape from yesterday. Wouldn't know anything about that. I'm sure you'll be the first to know. Like, it'll just, it's just going to be great stuff. But this might be the end of an era. It seems like it's, it's probably going that way, although we'll find out. Um, losing to the Jets, uh, for the first time in a while.

Maybe it wasn't the, the exit he had in mind. But sometimes that's the way that, that's the way that it goes. And I mean, we'll see. This is, this is in some ways the most interesting story of the offseason is how they manage this. Because I think it's pretty clearly. a done deal, but how it gets done. And whether it's a mutual parting of ways or maybe they try to do a trade in some way, whether it happens quickly, whether it takes a long time, how the personnel angle for

Belichick, whether or not that's important to him to keep final say in his next stop, wherever that that might be. All of those pieces are not that easy to fit together. So I don't know that I think, you know, I don't know if I would expect anything to come out of that meeting tomorrow. I mean, we'll find out. But it's the first step to one of the biggest stories of this offseason. And I'm fascinated to see what happens.

Yeah. And I think it's one that creates a sense of urgency for other teams around the league. I think with Belichick out there, that Mike McCarthy conversation has to take place no matter what. I think any team around the league that is thinking about their coach and having questions about whether he's the coach that can lead them to a Super Bowl, I think you have to pay attention to what happens with Belichick over the next couple of weeks. But it certainly feels like that was the last game that he ever coached that team. That's how it felt all day long. and when he loved.

Yeah. And I mean, they were, it's a snow game. It's, it's Matthew Slater, who's been such an iconic player there. It's, you know, everyone's saying goodbye to him. It did have a very, like, final feel to it. To your point, like, the pacing of what happens next is going to be interesting. Because on the one hand, you have teams like the commanders who, it seems like if they haven't, you know, if they haven't, you know, let Ron Rivera go by the end of this podcast.

It seems like they're not doing it because today is his birthday. Oh, that's rough. I didn't know about that. I heard that a lot. I saw that a lot. Like, well, they're not going to fire him today because it's his birthday. And like, honestly, if it were my birthday and I knew that I was about to be fired, just do it already.

Like, you think Ron Rivera doesn't know he's getting fired? Yeah. Don't waste the man's time. But there are already reports out there that Josh Harris is interested in Belichick, which I do think is an interesting, that's an interesting potential outcome. I mean, that's a team with five top 100 picks. They've got $90 million in cap space. I don't know if I were a commander's fan,

if I would be super excited about that or if I would want like a sort of a fresher face and somebody who you're really excited in particular about working with a young quarterback. But that's a team that, you know, we sort of know that they're planning to move on and find a new head coach. And they might influence the timeline because of a team in that position starts to try to make things happen, try to set some negotiations in place. Then that might change things for, Dallas in regards to any sort of Mike McCarthy conversation or a team like the Raiders

where they have players offering huge endorsements for Antonio Pierce and, you know, key players like Devante Adams, Max Crosby. They beat the Broncos by multiple scores today and seemed to be playing for him, be playing hard have something have a point that they wanted to make in the final week of the season even though they didn't have anything to play for but it's Antonio Pierce and and owners owners hate hiring interim coaches they hate giving that guy the job because it feels like it feels like an acknowledgement of of something they got wrong so any any moving pieces I think end up affecting there's a domino effect with other teams and other openings.

I would put Jacksonville on that list, too. I would add them to that list. I think if Bill Belichick becomes available tomorrow, I think that makes the conversation totally different on Doug Peterson. Right. Because he is the type of name. And this is true, even though, like, I don't know that I think that there's going to be five teams all clamoring for

entire Bill Belichick and a crazy bidding war or something like that. But he's the type of name that makes, he's going to force a conversation. anywhere where the door is a little bit open. So for a team like Jacksonville where it's sort of like, do you just shrug your shoulders and say, well, there's a lot that we like and tough break? Or is there something that forces you to talk about it? Like, that's the type of thing that would.

The other sort of quasi-potential opening or not is Chicago, where we had talked last week about whether, Matt Eberflus, who at one point, I was like, sure was getting fired, had played him himself or coached himself into keeping that job. This wasn't a great showing for the bears. I still, like, I've been impressed enough with Eber Flus in the last, in the latter half of the season that I would certainly understand why they might want to keep him and would probably lean towards doing that. I might take a look at Luke Getzzi after this game where they scored nine points on the Joe Barry defense that the Panthers score 30 against and everybody looks like incredible against. But there are obviously a lot of big decisions to be made there with the coaching staff, with Justin Fields. So something figures to come out of Chicago. So yeah, I feel like Everflus has done enough to buy at least one more year.

I think you force him to make a change at OC, like not only score nine points, but you had DJ Moore in the locker room after the game, kind of questioning the play call and saying, like if we, if we had the play calling, right, like we have the guys in here, we have the quarterback. Nobody tells DJ Moore that he's going to have a different quarterback next year. Seems to be the only person in America who doesn't realize it yet that Justin Fields is going to get replaced. But I think, like, I think this.

idea that you should always be like looking for an offensive minded head coach because your offensive coordinator is going to leave one day for a better job. I don't think there's like any evidence to suggest that's the way to go. Like we've seen guys from different backgrounds have success at head coach. So I would give him another year. I think he's earned it. I think we saw enough progress when he finally got guys in there to justify keeping his job. Because like if you're if you're the GM, if you're Ryan Poles and you come to him and you're like, all right, this was the offseason. and I finally gave you the pieces on defense. And it really didn't come full circle or we didn't really wrap up this building job

until the Montess Sweat trade. And then Everflus presents the results he gave you with those pieces you give him. Like, how do you say he did a bad job? Like he took advantage. He took the pieces you bought him and turned it into a defense that was playing at a top five level by the end of the year. And I don't think that was fake necessarily. So I don't know.

It's tough to justify that. I would lean towards keeping him. And I agree with you. It seems like he, I mean, he taught that defense, right? Like it was, it seemed like it was pretty clearly coaching because they played more together. There were individuals who improved on an individual level. And I could hear the argument of, okay, I think, regardless of, of how feel, Fields has looked, which I'm not today excluded, has been better.

I think they're moving on from him. I think they should move on from him. I think there are a number of teams that would be interested in trading for him, either as a backup to a mobile quarterback, someone who's going to compete for a starting job, something in between. I think they can get something meaningful there. And they, with the pick that they have, it's admirable. the job that Justin Fields has done in recent weeks, but I don't think that it should change

their calculus around that. You probably have some conversation about is this absolutely the guy that we want to pair with a young quarterback and do we feel good about that leadership? But I would answer that question with yes, just based on how Iber Fluse has coached up the young players on this iteration of the team. team. So we'll see, but I would, I would go yes. Yeah. I mean, if your question is about how he's going to develop a young quarterback, the Justin Fields he inherited, the Justin Fields he got as head coach was way worse than the version that he's leaving behind. Players have improved under him.

He has developed. And I feel like that offense did evolve. Maybe it took too long. You can make the argument it took too long to start using Justin Fields as a runner more. But it did finally find that that style of offense and it found a way to make Justin Fields, who's a very unique quarterback and a very difficult quarterback to call plays for. They made him a productive player. And I think that's a good sign. And that's a checkmark for Epperflus. All right.

Any final thoughts before we conclude the last regular season pod of the year? No, other than like, thank you to the football gods for today's results. Because we really did get the best possible wild card. We really did. It's a great slate. It's so good. We have to sit through Browns Texans to get to the good stuff, but, and we have to sit through, uh, I'm excited for Brown's Texans.

Get back to me in the second quarter when you see Joe Flagg was averaging four yards per attempt. He would never. I'm excited for Browns Texans. I'm excited for Chiefs Dolbins. I'm excited for all of these games because I mean, I don't know. Eagles bucks might be a total slop fest. But I don't know who's going to win.

And the only chiefs dolphins, I suppose, I feel pretty confident in Kansas City. But like we talked about, Bill Steelers. So Bill Steelers is probably the worst game. Yeah, for sure. Although Mason Rudolph winning that would be the funny. Like, that has the potential for the funniest outcome. And again, it's the bills. So anything can happen.

It's a great slate. We got really lucky. I'm really excited. but particularly, you know, Sunday 8 o'clock, Rams, Lions. It's going to be really special. But a lot of great outcomes from a really interesting week 18. This has been dual threat. And we're going to be back on Thursday.

Next up on the feed, Sheal and Ben will have extra point taken their deep dive of week 18. Thank you to Kiar Givens and Eduardo Ocampo for their work on socials. And to Isaiah Blakely for producing this episode with additional production supervision by Arduna Rampapal and Connor. Must be 21 plus and present in select states. Fandul is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino LLC. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit fandul.com slash RG in Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky,

Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia. Call 1-800 next step or text next step to 53342 in Arizona, 1-888-7-8-8-9-7-7-7 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut, 1-8009 with it in Indiana, 1-800-2-2-470-7-0 or visit KSgamblinghelp.com in Kansas, 1-8777-7-0 stop in Louisiana, visit MD-Gamblinghelp.org in Maryland, visit 1800gambler.net in West Virginia or call 1-800-5-2-4-7-0 in Wyoming. Hope is here. Visit gambling helpline MA.org or call 800-327-50-50 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts, or call 18778 Hope N.Y or text Hope NY in New York.