The Ringer NFL Show - Wild-Card Weekend Reactions and Divisional-Round Picks

Episode Date: January 19, 2022

Jason, James, and Ryan break down and share their analysis of all the first-round NFL playoff games and look ahead to the divisional round (40:00). Cowboys-49ers (00:57) Bills-Patriots (8:19) Bucs-Eagles (15:18) Raiders-Bengals (22:14) Steelers-Chiefs (28:12) Rams-Cardinals (31:21) Hosts: Jason Goff, James Jones, Ryan Shazier Production Assistant: Chris Sutton Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, everybody. I'm JJ John Gistramski. And I'm Jason Gawf, and if you haven't heard, the ringer has gone local. I'm bringing the fire. I'm bringing the rain from the Big Apple with my show, New York, New York. And I'm reping Shy Town with my new show The Full Go on All Things Chicago. We've got episodes three nights a week with all the reaction to the local teams and guests. Plus bonus episodes around all the big games and storylines.

So whether you're uptown, downtown, downtown, in the burbs, or a transplant. Make sure you follow New York, New York, and the full go on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome in to the Tuesday edition of the Ringer NFL show. James Jones, Ryan Shazier, Jason Gough with you. We got AR, we got Chris Sutton, you know, spinning the dials, as the old radio heads used to say. We had our first super wildcard weekend worth of action, a whole bunch of football, some interesting results. Let's get right to it. Debo and the 49 is going into AT&T Stadium and beating the Dallas Cowboys.

I'm going to tell y'all something right now. I'm not the guy who looks at laundry. and thinks, oh, this team is cursed and all that other stuff. It's about management. It's about development. It's about situations. And if you rise to the occasion in those situations. Losers lament is something that I hope that I don't see out of players that I root for.

And I root for Dak Prescott on a lot of different levels. When he was going through the trial of having to prove himself in his contract year and him breaking his ankle and coming back and hard knocks and the death of his brother and everything that that dude has been through. But to hear he and Mike McCarthy at the end of that game talk about the officials at all, at all, in terms of getting the ball spotted. Everybody in their mama was saying get a ball to the umpires, everybody who knew what was going on. Hey, get a ball to the rest.

He has to spot the ball. You can't start play. The 14 penalties, you know, that's the reason why you lost. The inefficiency in the red zone, that's the reason why you lost. I mean, this is the number one officer. and one of the best offenses in all of football this year. And for the 49ers to come out there and physically do what we thought they would do.

Like, I thought the Cowboys would win the, I picked the 49ers, but the reason why I thought the Cowboys had a chance, because at some point you're gonna have to keep up with that offense. But Jimmy G and Kyle Shanahan and Debo Samuel did what they do, which is out physical you, play play, play action, and get the ball to George Kittle

and those wide receivers on the edge. So I'm not the curse person, but I'm not going to believe in the Dallas Cowboys until they win the Super Bowl from here on out. I don't give a damn if they're 14 and 3. I don't care. I don't, Michael Parsons could be the next Lawrence Taylor. And I'll be happy to be wrong on all these things

because I have no personal investment. So I'm playing with house money on this one. But for them to blame the referees and all the other things that transpired, Mike McCarthy talking about, like when your coach talks about it, that's when it gets a little weird. But yeah, they lost the game

because they were undefarthe. discipline and they thought that since they were at home, they could just roll out the stars and the 49ers handled them. That's why they lost the football game. I know one thing I got to ask James before he go. After you catch the ball and you get tackle, what does the coach tell you, James? In a two-minute situation? Any situation. Give the ref the ball.

Oh, yeah, 100%. Give the ref the football, man. Especially in a time like that. Number one, I absolutely love the call. If Dak would have slid five yards sooner and gave the ball. and gave the ball to the referee, now you are at the 20-yard line. You got a hell of a shot to run any really play you want

to get a shot at the end zone. Dak ran the ball too long because he's seen all that green grass in front of him and he's like, let me get some more, let me get some more. No, boy, the clock is not on our side right now. Get down. But yes, even with that said,

when he slid, it was five seconds left. You set the ball down. Give the ball to the referee, man. And then the referee going to set it down. right there and you'd be able to spike that thing. But at the end of the day, I pick the 49ers to win the game. It's a lot of people who picked the 49ers

to win the game strictly because the way the 49ers was playing football. So it's not a surprise. You know what I mean? This ain't one of them surprises where we're like, whoa, the 9- or no, the Niners, the Rams messed up. Yep. They let the Niners in the playoffs.

They messed up. The Niners is playing really good football. They playing bully ball. They moving people out of the way. Jimmy G. is not making a mistake. He might make one a game. You know what I'm saying? But Kyle Shanahan is running the air out of the football, getting the ball in his playmaker's hand, and they amped up on the defensive side of the ball, man. And we knew it was going to be hard on the Dallas Cowboys. We knew the Dallas Cowboys really had to go out there and play their best football. You're not going to beat the 49ers with all their penalties and all that. You barely going to have a chance to beat them if you play your best football.

That's why a lot of people pick the San Francisco 49ers to win that game. You know what I mean? So, I mean, at the end of the day, it was a good game. I mean, the Cowboys battled back. They tried to make it a game at the end of the game. But it was just too much Niners, which a lot of us thought. You know what I'm saying? But as for Dak Prescott and Mike McCarthy, to be honest with you,

I feel like Coach Mike is letting that start him, that Dallas Cowboys star on the side of the hell, but kind of get to him a little bit because I played for Mike for seven years. You know, Mike was always my husband. fault our fault ain't got nothing to do with nobody else that that's strictly how mike was i learned a lot from mike i teach my kids that now i tell my quarterbacks and all that now you throw a perfect pass and they drop it's your fault i just want them to build that you know hey i'm the leader of the ball club i take it all on my chin it's my fault like i tell the kids after every game we win lose whatever it's coach's fault you know i know my son out there fumbling but it's my fault that's how coach mccarthy is though

You know what I'm saying? So for me, when I heard him say that, I'm like, come on, Mike. Don't let Jerry go off on you like that, man. I know Cowboys Day should put a lot of pressure on you and all that. But, hey, that's our fault. You know what I mean? They play it better than us. They beat us.

Right. You see him shooting his man, some bail there. You see the back door. Like, you know, it must be the storm. It must be Jerry. Man acting different. Right. Yeah.

I'm only saying that because I don't know Jerry and I know Mike. That's it. Must be Jerry. That's it. You know what? Right. I'm just going off. I'm just going over what I know, but that, but that ain't Mike.

But when I say that, I'm like, come on, man, get a Niners, they credit. You know what I'm saying? I know at the end of the game, you're Cowboys fans with the ref and them, all that doing in the way. But you got to, like Ryan said, you got to hand the ball to the day where, especially when you're dealing with a couple seconds. I can't wait to see because we went through this with Jimmy Graham a few years ago, right, where he was lining up a wide receiver enough that he wanted wide receiver money. I can't wait to see what's going to happen the next time Debo Samuel will get paid because, you know, the characters. that he's getting. Is he a more receiver?

Yeah, he's going to get a receiver much. He's kind of getting ran into the ground because of how versatile he is, right? So if I'm getting six or seven targets, I'm getting, I'm getting 11, 12 rushes a game. Like, we talk about MVP's. It's going to be the sneaky, the sneaky, like, inside football pick to choose him as your MVP or vote for him in the top three as your MVP. But there's not a lot of people that bring a lot, the energy that Debo Samuel bring on a weekly basis. The Andre Hopkins got the market set right now at I think about 20 a year.

Devante Adams going to shatter that. Debo going to be right under Devonte. He's a number one receiver? He's a number one. Easy. It ain't even a question. Debo is a monster. No, he's a monster. He's a better, he's like a better courtierreiser than Cordero. He can't even put Cordell Patterson in the same sentences. He a playmaker, but he a much better receiver than any other playmaker receive playmaker that we've ever been around like dbo is a true receiver he just a monster with the ball in his hands running and cow like shoot i can put him at kick return it's going to be hard for him tackle him so i might as well toss it to him and hand it to him and they can't bring him down anyway you know what i'm saying and then i'm going to get him in this past game and it's going to be one-on-one

tackles and it's going to be right but he devo going to get 20 plus a year hey all right it's time for us to get to my buffalo bills i want i don't know if you're i saw yeah yeah we yeah we We to that point now. I don't know if y'all saw the drive chart, but it went touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, Brian Daybowl is walking into all these interviews, putting his feet up on your conference room table and saying, what you got for me because I'm the touchdown maker.

The Patriots got worked and it's poetic justice. Because all the things that happened throughout this season, like college football for me for a long time, I couldn't get into it because your quarterback didn't matter enough. And then it transitioned to like, okay, your quarterback has to matter. You can't just win a national championship with a game manager. Mack Jones is going to be a fine quarterback. But the way the game was taking out his hands in certain instances throughout the season

and only relying on defense, only relying on the special teams, and then allowing him to make a few plays here or there. Yeah, they treated him like a rookie quarterback should be treated. but at the same time, I was waiting for the NFL to treat him like a rookie quarterback. And when you get jumped on and you got to start shooting from deep and you don't have shooters, that's what happens. Like they got jumped on. And you don't want to be shooting from deep against that defense.

Right. Exactly. You know what I'm saying? I mean, shoot, that's that ain't in the number one defensive football. But to be honest with you and Ryan, I don't know if you watch the game the same way I watched the game. But I felt like in that game that the Buffalo Bills said, y'all remember last time they came in our building, y'all remember we stood on this podium and they said, did them boys bully y'all?

You know what I'm saying? What happened? Like a high, Jordan Poyer were hot. It's just the energy and the effort that I see from the Buffalo Bill's across the board. It was unmatched. I'm like, it ain't even close. They're not even playing as hard as these dudes.

You know, like, it's like you go into a game and you don't really like somebody, but they don't know. And through that game, they're like, they're right. What's wrong with him, right? He's trying to smack me every play. Like, man, you know, he's getting up, he pushing my head on the ground on. And what's wrong with him? That's how the Buffalo Bills was playing that game.

Like the Patriots was looking. at him like what's wrong with him what you mean what's wrong with him hey you know what it was it's a fight on the next block that your boy ain't tell you that you got beef on the next block quit and you just you just walk on the next block like hey man what what happened over here like i'm a fight with you they ran the football the way the patriots were supposed to run the football we've been talking about the bills running game all year long devon singletary went in there what 16 carries for 81 yards josh allen played damn near a perfect game i mean that that if they're going to put up 40 on on Bill Belichick and the pay.

Now it's a different situation. We'll get to what they got coming up this week. But yeah, man, I think that was the statement of the week. Not just the 49ers, but the bills and what they did to the Patriots. No, they basically say, I'm tired of hearing all y'all talking about what we can't do. I'm tired of this saying we're getting bullied out here. Hey, hey, I'm about to turn up on you. And that's exactly what they did.

And the thing is that's so funny. It's like, everybody's like, man, you can't think. in that cold weather, they was like, damn right. We can't. You damn right, we can. With 13 degree weather, they ain't give a damn bar,

none of that. They didn't give a damn by none of that. Yeah, that defense was all over Mac Jones. And yeah, like you said, Jay, that's the really first time that he's really been behind the eight ball and you got to bring his team back. You know what I'm saying?

And like I said, that's the wrong team to try to do that against because, I mean, they're a big-time defensive football team, you know what I'm saying? And they got 70 linemen that they rotate in and out of that. They were on his head, but it was, it was really a true beat down.

You know what I'm saying? And like I said, like I said, I blame Bill Belichick on this for not having this team ready to play. And you don't never really say that. You ain't never ever, never, ever said that about a Bill Belichick team, not ready to play. You know what I'm saying? You say that about the other team. But he didn't have his boys ready to play for this energy and all that type stuff that

Buffalo brought. You know what I mean? You could tell playing the game, it meant more to Buffalo. But you know, but James, you know, you did to them last week, I mean the last time you saw them. You know that you, you know they're going to come out. You pass the ball three times. And that's why it's key that you get your football team ready for this emotional ride

that's about to go on and how it's about to be a challenge in that. We know all the X's and O's is the same, but they've been to come at you, man. You know what I'm saying? Like Buffalo ain't playing. Like, y'all are the standard you build Belichick and the Patriots, even with Tom ain't there. Y'all last time y'all was in this building, you threw it three times. Like they've been to come at you. not have his team ready to go mentally.

Because they got out there and got hit in the mouth and mentally they never responded ever. All I know is by part 11 or 12, I said, man, Matt Jones is playing well, but I don't believe in him if he can come back and win the game when he need to. I don't know if y'all remember that. We remember it.

But now we're saying it. Now we're saying it in the playoffs is just sometimes situations just getting put in front of you. Hey, you know when you play Spades, you're looking at your hand, you're like, man, my hand, fire. My hand, fire. And that's exactly what Matt Jones made in all season. They did them boys in the playoffs.

They dealt that, them, dealt them cars. That boy looked at his hands. Yeah, the three of diamonds. He had the five of hearts. They bought a run a dime on this really quick. They trumping everything. They trumping everything, man. I ain't got no stage.

You get that first. You get that cut. on your first card like oh you're cutting already huh every time he threw they yada too they they were playing with him you went down 14 and nothing and from that point on you were going to kind of say and listen these are the moments that careers are built on right because if mac jones goes on to have himself a stellar career he can come back to his first playoff game against the buffalo bills where he was down early and couldn't you know didn't he hadn't he hadn't enough experience to go through what he was supposed to go through in that first playoff game

or whatever the case may be. But I'm, you know, I haven't believed in the Patriots thing the entire year, right? I mean, at some point, you're going to have to put up a decent amount of points in playoffs to make a long run. They only score 17. And of course, Buffalo took their foot off the gas a little bit. So they move on now to a much tougher contest. The Buccaneers Eagles game, I mean, we could have kind of, you know, the way the Eagles was going to stay in that game is moody chains and run the football as much as they had the previous five or six games. Tampa Bay wasn't about that, even though Tampa Bay came out kind of shaky in that first quarter. Like, Philadelphia had a chance. They had an exploitable window in the first two or three possessions of that game, but they could never get it going offensively.

I felt bad for Philly. And I didn't feel bad for Philly from the standpoint of, you know what I mean, you're going up against Tom and they're just better. Philly is really better than that, man. You know what I'm saying? They're really better than that. Like I know everybody's putting up stats now. They ain't beat no playoff team and all that type of. Like we always say on this pod,

you play who on your day and schedule. But what Philly did to get into the playoffs was run the air out of the football and play good defense. Man, they come out in the game and you letting Jalen Hurts try to go blow for blow with time. Yeah, 43 throws. Man, hand the ball off and run the, That's what you've been doing.

Utilize Jalen Hertz legs. That's what y'all been doing. The coach, when the Eagles fans was yelling, run the ball, he was passing the ball all over the yard. Then he said, I'm finally going to listen to these Eagles fans, and they went on this win for him. He went back to doing what he did when they was losing games. You know what I'm saying?

I love Jalen Hertz. He needs to work on his accuracy. We all know that. He has to develop that accuracy. You got him drop back in in this pocket. Yes, dudes is open, and you looking at the players. after the thing on the little iPad, whatever you're looking at,

you know, the little surface, Microsoft Surface and all that. But at the same time, that's not you guys. You guys run the ball and play defense. Your defense was getting after time playing lights up. If anything, run the ball, and maybe you look up in this fourth quarter because you didn't ate up some of this clock

and it's 7-3, 14-10. You don't know, you know what I'm saying? But he's coming out of there. They're getting stops, and he trying to throw the ball all over the yard, man. I'm like, running the ball. This is not Philadelphia football this season. Y'all going back to doing what you did when y'all was losing games.

You know what I mean? So I was just sitting here watching the TV. And I'm like, it's only a matter of time before Tom Brady didn't them strike because the defense's tired. They've been out there all game. And then it don't help that you muff and punts and throw them picks and turning the ball over. You know what I'm saying?

The Eagles had to go out there, run the ball, play good defense and not turn it over. They play good defense for about a quarter of, a half. They did not run the ball and they turned it on. And that's what happens. You get blown out playing against Tom Hatt on the road. Boston Scott had one carry for 34 yards. That was the touchdown. But other than that, 16 carries for 61 yards on the day for a team that needed about a buck 20 at least if they were going to beat this Tampa Bay Buccaneers team. They needed about 30 rushes. I will ask you as a defender, Ryan, situationally, like we talk a lot

about how well, the teams of this record, this, this, when they run the ball 25 times. Obviously, if you run the ball 25 times straight in the beginning of the game, you're going to lose. So when you see a team who's usually a run-based, run-heavy team not be able to get their run game on track, what are the determining factors, especially in this game? Like, is it just play calling? Is it a look that they're being shown in that Tampa Bay, Philadelphia game? Because Nick Siriani is a guy who, you know, we had commended him for, you know, not planning on having Jalen Hurts being your starting quarterback.

but molding your offense and your play calling around having him be your starting quarterback. So when they don't reach that number, when they don't get that, what is it? Is it the run fits that you're showing? It's a few different things. So basically going into the playoffs, obviously the playoffs are a little harder or you're playing better teams. But you know the identity of the team that you're going against. There's a few teams that have like a balanced identity, but it's not a lot of them. And one team that does not have a balanced identity is the Eagles.

So basically going into the game, Tampa Bay, it was like, first of all, we're getting Shaghanberry back. You know, we're starting to get healthy and we get Levanti David back. Everybody's saying we're not stopping to run well. But if you get two all pros back, you immediately stop the run better. Immediately. You know, so there was trying some things on the, on the, on the offensive side of the ball.

but when you start to get guys that have experience and knowledge of the game and understand what you're trying to do, they're always going to be a step ahead of you. And then they already know that we're not scared of you throwing the ball. We're not scared of you throwing the ball. And we understand that our defense, the weakness is our past defense, but your past defense is a lot stronger when you're not scared of somebody else throwing. You know, so basically they already said we're stopping to run.

We're going to force jettling the past. every time they ran the ball, they did a read option a few times Jail and getting tackled in the back foot. They did runs. You get in one or two yards. Now if you're getting third and eights, you're forcing Jellin to make a play.

And then like you said, you know that Tom Brady's going to step up in a matter of time. I remember when I was playing with the Steelers, when we had A.B., Ben, Martavius, and all those guys, we was like, man, if they start off slow, we know all we got to do is stand up for a little bit

because they're going to catch, they're going to turn on. They're going to turn on. And that's exactly what happened with Tampa Bay. They start off a little slow, but their defense, we're going to stand up for you. And then after a while, when you're down 14, it's hunting season because now we know, like 14 in the first quarter, you know, they can still run the ball,

but, you know, they're going to be more pass heavy than run. So you already know in your head, it went from 70, 30 run to 50-50 or 60-40. You know, and then now you're kind of like, man, I'm, I'm ready. I'm ready for this past game. And when you're, when you're focused on stopping the past and you know that's all they're going to do, it games over. They shut down Dallas got her.

They told, they said Devante Smith ain't about to get nothing. Y'all going to beat us with everybody else. And obviously, Jalen Hurts does not trust everybody else enough or he's not accurate enough to throw it to everybody else. And the defense just feeds on whenever they, when you try to do something. And his two picks, I mean, there were mental lapses. I mean, you can't. jump pass, you know, a bracket coverage over Levante David, and then the late ball in the corner

of the end zone, the second pick. I mean, you know, you got to take care of the ball, especially when you're going up against a team that can, you know, put up points. They don't, no A.B., obviously, no Chris Godwin, but they still got Rob Kronkowski and Mike Evans. I think people forgot what Mike was three years ago, and when we were talking about him being one of the top six or seven receivers in the league. So, yeah, the outcome was what I think everybody was. expected just not in that way, not in that fashion, not in that manner with Jalen Hurts throwing the ball 43 times. And now we're going to get to the two games that my, my partner is in crime may not want to

really get to. We'll go Raiders, Bengals first. The Bengals get themselves a home playoff win, not just a home playoff win, but a playoff win for the first time in 31 years. Yeah, Bengals fans crying into. My lifetime. Yeah, right? Don't you making this feel old out here.

ride, calm down, bro. I'm 29. They're 31 years. That's crazy. Again, points those stands. You're making us feel old out here, bro. It's a momentous occasion in Cincinnati. And Joe Burrow, Jemar Chase, Joe Mixon, said it a couple of weeks ago just because they got

the striped helmets and they got that orange and black on, if this was any other team with a different uniform with a, I guess, an expectation to be this good, I think we'd be treating them a little bit differently. They, you know, the Bengals might mess around and get themselves to the AFC chance. championship, man. Yeah, the Bengals is problems, and I knew that going into the game. I picked my Raiders just because, you know. Right.

You got to. Like I said before the show, once a Raider, always a Raider. I picked my Raiders, but I knew it was going to be tough, man. You know, the Bengals came in this thing playing really good football, beating up on the Chiefs. You know what I'm saying? Jamar Chase, Jojo Burrow, T. Higgins, Tyler, Boy, they got it going, Jojo Mixing. Only thing I was disappointed in that game is the Raiders defense. We've been playing solid defense on the defensive side of the ball.

Mad Max Crosby and Gokway getting after the passer. You know what I'm saying? Moving them off the spot. I want to say start of the fourth quarter, they had one punt. You know what I'm saying? Number two, we was out there kind of like the Dallas Cowboys, 3,700 penalties. Yeah.

I'm like, man, is we going to hold on every play or what? What are we going to do? That's the Raiders for you, though. You know, you beating yourself up on the penalties and your defense is not getting off the field. That's a formula for losing. I was even surprised that Derek Carr had a chance with the ball in his hands at the end of the game to go win it. I mean, to go tie it. Or if they're going to go for two, whatever you're going to do.

But to have a chance to go win that ball game. And they really was a couple of plays away because if the ball don't bounce off buddy helmet, Darren walking in for a touchdown. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? I do not like the last play at the game because I feel like I love Zay Jones, but I feel like the ball needs to go to Riffro or Darren. period and the ball need to be in the end zone.

Dan Waller on that clearout, if Derek would have waited a little bit longer on that clear route, that out route, you know, you saw the concept, slant, slant for the wide receiver, out route for Darren Waller. I'm thinking the same thing. Like, last second shot, I need the money. I need the money. Last second, I got to go with Hunter Renfro. I got to go with Darren Waller.

And then not only that, even if they catch that ball, so you are short. I mean, but at the end of the day, I mean, shoot, when you get out there and you on the road and you have all them penalties, you really not going to have a chance to win the ball game, especially against a high-powered offense like that. You know what I'm saying? Like, Jojo Burrow, that is a high-powered offense. Wherever they go, it's going to be tough to stop them. They go into Tennessee.

It's going to be tough for Tennessee to stop Jojo Burrow. And that high-powered office, they're clicking right now. You know what I'm saying? And if you get penalties and all that, you're not able to sustain drives. Like the Raiders wasn't early in that game, and they're giving Joe Burrell and that offense, multiple shots to go down there and score points. It's going to be tough. You know what I'm saying?

And the defense, like I said, they wasn't getting no three in outs. They wasn't forcing any punts. It was tough, man. But, hey, kudos to the Raiders and everything they've been through. You know what I mean? To get up in that point, the Cincinnati Bengals was just too much, man. You know what I mean? They had to go on the road and play their best game.

And they've been in playoff. I took them too because they've been in the playoff mode for the last three weeks. Yeah. And all your games the last three weeks been win or go home. So I'm like, okay, Cincinnati ain't been win or go home. I like the Raiders. They don't have been battle tested and all that type stuff. But Joe Burrow, the real deal.

Yes, he is. Joe Joe, Joe Burrow, the real deal. He's back there cool and calm. He, like, ball in my hands. You know, everything's going to be all right. Name four quarterbacks better than him right now. It's going to be tough. And if you do, it's going to be an argument.

Yeah, right, right. Right. Hey, hey, Ray, was that the coronation? Is there, is there a new? King in that division? All I'm saying is the L.C. North is a very strong division. You know, there's a very strong division.

And, you know, the Raiders, they're in the very weak division. Oh, man, here they go. The Raiders in a big division now? Hey. Just a team that went to the Super Bowl twice in a row in the division, one of the best young quarterbacks. Yeah, they didn't beat me. They been beating up on that Sard division.

They destroyed Ryan's division this year. Right, right. Just Justin Herbert in there. Chargers beat up on the Steelers and all that. Just Justin Herbert, Derek Carr in there. Bronco is just a quarterback away from continuing. That's it. This is all I'm saying, though.

That's all I'm saying. The Broncos trash. Chargers, trash. Wow. Raiders. They didn't make the playoffs. They didn't make the playoffs. Wow, man.

Y'all shouldn't have been in the playoffs, man. They got the same record as y'all. Y'all needed 17 games in a tie to get into the playoffs. What's the record for the Charger? I just know they beat the Steelers. They're 8 and 8 or something, right? No, they're 17, 9 and 8. Oh, they're 9 and 8, right?

You know, we only got 7 losses. Y'all little tied saved y'all, man. Y'all don't really beat up on each other. Y'all just air it out and, you know, y'all play air raid over there. You know what I'm saying? Y'all ain't playing football. I play at 7 on 7.

Hey, no, but the thing is, I'm being, I'm being funny. You know, they got really, they got really good teams over there. I'm going to be honest, you know, like, To be honest, the whole season, everybody been knocking us, the whole season. Like from week, I think we started with one in three or something like that, though. And deserve it. Deserve it. That's not true.

That's not true. That's not true. That's not true. I definitely said we're making playoffs. I said that. But, you know, we end up running, we end up running to the Jaggon out of the Chiefs. I feel like if we play anybody else, it would have been in the AMC, it would have been a closer game versus anybody else. And what's crazy, though, if your offense gave you anything.

As I'm watching the game, I'm like, damn, the Steelers is in this thing. Like, T.J. Watt taking it over. It's second quarter. The Steelers is up, 7-0. They kept getting the three-in-outs and getting the ball back to Big Ben. And Big Ben said, thank you, but you're back on the field in three more plays. You know what I'm like? They won't here.

I'm like, man, like Big Ben and it didn't move the ball, none, man, until the end of the game where the backups was in the game. And I'm like, come on. Like, the defense is helping y'all. Yeah, it should have been 21-17 at halftime. Yeah, T.J. Wadden, Cam Hayward and them came out there, man, I want to say they, what, three or four, three-in-outs. They had a tip pick, and they had a touchdown. All in the first half.

And the offense gets the ball, and they went three-and-out every time. And then Najee Harris chooses the worst time in this first season to fumble the football. He had fumbled in 300-plus carries. I'm just talking about in that first half, they had. had a chance to really go up in that game or even just move the ball and keep Patrick Mahomes and them over there. And even if you get up three, you're going into halftime 10-0. We know what their limitations have been all year long, though, right? I mean, it's been on the offensive side of football. T.J. Y. Cam Harrod had been, you know, outstanding. I mean, I love

Devin Bush, you know, Michigan dude. So it's just, you know, it's tough to see Ben go out like that. I definitely feel it was tough to see Ben go out like that, you know, especially with him being a Hall of Fame quarterback. Obviously, he's an undoubtedly Hall of Famer, you know. And to me, man, I know that the bills, it said, you know, kickoff, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, in the game, right? But I'm going to be honest, bro. I felt like I've never seen the teams go 28 an answer point so fast, bro.

That's because y'all was tired. The defense was on the field the whole game, man. I don't know. We just ran to a buzz song, man. I don't even know what to say. You know, like Ben could have played a little bit better. The office could have played a little bit better. Now you've been trying his heart out.

You know, he's been trying his heart out. You know, it just, and then for some, I think to me, it's just weird. Like the Chiefs, when it comes to their team, it's like every year is like, yeah, they have a terrible defense, but then playoff time, their defense just want to stand up. They flip a switch. Yeah. This year they got Melvin Ingram. And for whatever reason, that changed the dynamic of their job.

defense. Frank Clark was out there making plays against the Steelers. I mean, they have enough players on the defensive side of the football where they shouldn't have a terrible defense. And then they flip a switch and they turn into playoff mode. Rams, Cardinals,

I saw your NFL network cohorts, Andrew Hawkins and the boys, talk about if Cliff Kingsbury can hit Lincoln Riley up and say, hey, you still get that deal with Rockefeller? Because, Man, 11 points on that turf. Like, you got a fast team, and I know D'Andre wasn't out there, right? And that's a big, big loss.

Don't get me wrong. But you got to put up more than 11 against the Rams. I mean, Vaughn Miller was out there looking like Super Bowl MVP. You ain't in the playoffs. You ain't beat nobody with 11. Ain't nobody. Ain't nobody. This whole playoffs Saturday and Sunday scored 11 points.

Yeah, we scored more than that. I'm a bigger Matt Stafford fan than the people around me. Right. But the whole, oh, the narrative of Matt Stafford, never winning a big game can now be put to bed. Hey, y'all, he was the number one pick in the draft. Like, Matt Stafford ain't no bum, right? So some of those losses that he took in big games were because of him.

Some were because of the lines, don't get me wrong. And the football did he play the last three weeks of the season? There was a reason why people were talking like this. Like, people acting like it was just made up out of whole cloth. It's like, oh, don't give it. back on the Matt Stafford Bandwagon now. Like, wait a minute, dog. The results are the results.

Like, this is year 12, whatever it is, and this is his first playoff win. The things that he, that has been said about him have been deserving up until now, and he's reached that point where he's got some dogs around him. He's got a play caller that's play in Sean McVeigh. I mean, yeah, like, both things can be true. Like, he could have underwhelmed in a bunch of big game performances or big game moments previously and then did his job when it came to this one. And on top of it, Odell Beckham Jr.

was out there playing like a madman. They running the ball between the tackle. I didn't know that the Rams ran the ball between the tackles the second most in the NFL this year. Like, I know they rely on a power running game a lot more than people would think because, of course, Cooper Cup and what they could do through the air. But they got back to running the football back. They got, they got Cam Acres back, they got their dudes back,

allowed the game to be simple for Matt Staver. defense wasn't giving up anything, yeah. When he ahead, Matt Stafford looked like a lights out quarterback, you know, extraordinary. But let's not act like the moments in the previous decade didn't happen for everybody to jump on TV and jump on, you know, radio now and act like Matt Stafford should be, you know, not just celebrated, but he did his job. He's the number one picking a draft. He's had terrific arm talent and been a terrific, tangible quarterback for a long time.

He just hasn't gotten the results. I'm going to be honest. I don't know if Matt Stafford, compared to all the other top quarterbacks in the league, has had a team as talented as this. Like every other top quarterback in the league, they've always had, like, talented teams around them. Like, not always, but like, they'll have a year or two. Like, they'll have a really talented team. I feel Matt Stafford, he'll have a talented player, but he never really had talent.

Like, he'd get like, oh, I can go to this guy. I can go to this guy. I can go. It was just like, I'm throwing into Calvin. Everybody else, I don't know what the hell you're doing. I'm throwing into Calvin. You know, but now I feel like he really has a squad that he's like, man, I can throw it the vance. I can throw it to Cooper.

I got a running back. You know, like I feel like every other, every other quarterback, like, you know, Aaron Rodgers, he could just play with, you know, Tim Joe and Harry. But still, he's, he's. Damn, you just gone. He's sitting right here. He's right here, now. They basically say I ain't help Aaron.

All the passes were perfect. That's all good. I don't know if you know who led the league and touchdowns. No, but Jay's those special. James with Jordan, James, Codd, you know what I'm saying? They got a nice running game behind them. You know, Ben had A.B., you know, all these guys. Tom Brady got all these guys.

Phillip Rivers, you know, like any quarterback you name, like got all these guys. But the only person you can really think of that, was with Matt Stafford was Calvin. Nobody else. He had Mike Williams and all those guys. He never really had a running game. He never really had the defense. The line just been bad. He had solid talent on the office

side. They tried to help him on the offensive side. But just as a team, no. And I tell people all the time about Aaron Rogers and Tom Brady. Aaron Rogers had a top 10 defense in the National Football League twice. He lost an NFC championship, won the Super Bowl.

Tom Brady has had a top 10 defense every single time he has been to the Super Bowl, won or lost. Five of those times he won it, they were a top five defense. So Matthew Stafford has had some skill positions around him, but just total team. You talk about Vaughn and Aaron Donald and his defense helping him out and what he has on the office side of that helps you. And I know they only count the wins for the quarterbacks. They don't sit there and say Ryan Shazir lost to the Ravens this many times.

And Brian Shazir's record is they don't say all that. they only count the quarterback. So, you know, that's part of being a quarterback. You're taking the wins and the losses. You know what I'm saying? But he's never had complete teams to be able to help him. He's won games this year throwing three interceptions because he's on a complete team and the defense backed him up

and went out there and got some stops and they find a ways to win game. But we all know Matthew Stafford is a special thrower of the football. I don't care what team he's on. We always going to see him making special throws. He'll turn it over every now and then, but he's a special throw. thrower of the football.

Last night, we've seen them different arm angles of him being a special thrower of the football. You know what I'm saying? And he made the play. The defense got after Kyler Murray. It was embarrassing for Kyla Murray and the Arizona Cardinals. But that's what I've been saying about Kyler all year. I truly believe Kyler is going to be a bona fide MVP in our league.

He's going to win it three four times before his career is up. He's just that talent. running throwing all he's going to win the award three or four times strictly on his talent and what he has and they're going to be just keep building around him and making sure he has the pieces around it but right now in his career and it's a podcast you can't see me but he's just up and down it's too many throws to where we say what is he doing and it's a lot of throws where we saying oh my goodness buddy about to be he that dude you know what I'm saying and he is going to be that dude, but right now it's just too many throws to where you like, what's going on?

Like that Carson Went's throw he threw from the end zone. What are you doing? You know what I'm saying? On the screen pass to James Connor firing it at him right there. Play catch with your running backs. We know running backs barely could catch already as is. You know what I mean? You got to put a little touch on that.

But it's just too many. And we've seen it in the last game. They played the rim. Just too many. And all season, too many up and down games. for him to wear his throws to where we like, what is Kyler doing? Is he going to be special? Absolutely. Do I believe he is going to win multiple MVP? Yes. But right now, where he's at right now, it's just too up and down for him right now.

Last few minutes of the pod, we get a chance to preview the divisional round starting on Saturday. Bengals traveling to Tennessee, we do not know the status of Derek Henry as of yet. They're trying to make, you know, get him, rush him back and make sure that he is part of that equation. so they can have a little bit more balance going up against a potent offense. What's your pick, guys? Bengals Titans, James will start with you. Man, I like Jo Jo Burrow, Joe Mixing, Tyler Boyd, Jamar Chase, T. Higgins. The defense is playing lights out over there.

They got this young little defense over there moving around. I like Joe Joe Burrow and them going up in there and upsetting Ryan Tannenhill. And I always go off a quarterback play. I don't see Ryan Tannenhill outperforming Joe Burrow. I don't care if he's at the local public. the park. I just don't see him outperforming Jojo Burrow. You know what I'm saying? And I love the Titans' defense. The Titans play really good defense. I love their defense. But Joe Joe Burrow and them got it going on the offensive side. I don't see the Tennessee Titans being able to slow them down.

I like the Bengals defense being able to slow down the Tennessee Titans, even with King Henry more than I like them trying to slow down Joe Burrow. I like that I like Cincinnati in this game. All right, Ryan. Let's move on to 49ers. 49 is traveling to Green Bay. Green Bay is a six-point favorite as it stands right now. It's going to be cold, obviously, a night game on Fox. Who you got? Debo Samuel versus Aaron Rogers.

Where are you going? The spread six, they're going to win by like 15. I understand they're a physical team, they're a real physical team, but it's nice being physical in 70-degree weather in San Francisco and inside a dome in 70-degree weather in the dome. When it's, you know, 13 degrees in Lambo, it's a little bit, it's a little tough of being physical out there. You know, and so I'm going to have to go with Aaron. You know, he has all his weapons available.

He has a really solid defense. I think this is going to be a match made in heaven for the NFC, I mean, the NFC championship. So I think Aaron will pull this one off. I'm glad you said that, but I'll be lying if I said I was scared. Boy. I'm worried, too. Man, I am. It's going to have to be the AJ Dillon game.

It's hard for me to go against Ann Rogers at the crib because, I mean, buddy don't lose at the crib too much. But it's just something about clicking and feeling like you untouchable at the right times. And I don't know why I just feel like that about the Niners. I just feel like they're clicking. They feel like they untouchable. I'm scared for my Packers.

I hold my Packers cool them off and kick them up out of the playoffs, man. But this is going to be a good one. This is going to be a good one, man. Yeah, I think this is going to be the best game of the weekend, to be honest with you. Rams, Buccaneers, James, where are we going? You got Hollywood versus Tom Brady. I think Tom is out early. Tom is out early.

I mean, Tom Brady, we all know to win a Super Bowl, you need luck, you need skill, but you need a lot of luck, a lot of luck. A lot of things have to go your way. I tell people all the time, man, when I think about us going on the Super Bowl run, we needed a lot of balls to bounce our way. We needed a lot of luck. That's just part of it. Was we a good football team once we hit the playoffs?

Yeah, but we needed a lot of luck. If you look at Thomas Brady run on the Super Bowl, he's made a lot of plays, but it's certain plays, you're like, boy, that is so lucky. He's had a lot of luck to go. And I just think the luck runs out, man. I think too much Bob Miller, too much Aaron, Donald. You might not have your best offensive tackle, your all-pro tackle and Christian

Warps. And you trying to go out here and stop Leonard Floyd and Von Miller and Aaron Donald. And we've seen what Phillies defense did to him early in the game. I just think this is the game that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers get exposed on offensive side of the ball. The main reason they do not have Antonio Brown and Chris Godwin. I think this shows up big this week. They was able to cover it up against Philly. You know what I'm saying? Because Philly couldn't score and Tom and them defense was putting them in really good field position on. But this

game, I think it's going to show up that they need Antonio Brown and they need Chris Godwin. I think this defense Jaylor Ramsey and them going to get after Tom. I think Tom and them boys going home. All right, the final game of the weekend. Two young guns going at it, Josh Allen versus Patrick

Mahomes. Bills traveling to Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. The Kansas City Chiefs are only a two and a half point favorite. So Ryan will start with you. Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, that builds defense versus Andy Reid's offense. What do you got?

I'll be honest. I'll say both of these teams are going to be out early this season and both of these teams are still here. So I do not know. This is going to be a really good game. I know y'all said that 49 a game will be a good game. I think it's going to be a good game.

I think that the bills might pull it off. And the reason I feel the bill is going to put it off is because of their defense. The Kansas City has a really good playoff defense. They play really well in the playoffs. But I feel like the bills have something to prove, especially after the last few games that they've been playing. They've been just showing everybody that we're not messing around right now.

Josh Allen, I feel like he's on fire. I just feel like he's in a nice little groove. Him and Stefan Diggs. And the chiefs have nobody to handle Stefan Diggs at all. And I just think that they're just, they're cooking with gas right now. might have to go with the bills on this one. I just, it's hard for me to get that first game that they played this season out of my

head. The bills beat the brakes off the boys. And the bills, I feel, is better than they are this time going in there than they were last time. You know what I'm saying? And I know the Chiefs is playing a little better, but I think, man, I think Josh Allen and Buffalo is going to make another statement. Yeah, I'm going with the bills as well because I've been riding with the bills all year long.

So I'm not going to change that now. All right, there it is. We got through this thing. No skirmishes, no arguments. Both y'all teams got eliminated. Everybody stayed cool. I'm feeling good about this. Oh, here you go.

Gotta end it with that. My team may get eliminated. I stay the Rams making it to the Super Bowl. Hey, Pack's still in there. Pack still in there. Raynor? Look at both of them. Ladies and gentlemen.

Pair's a little bit. Pack still in there, man. Look at these two young men running from reality right now here on this podcast. I'm just waiting for Brian Dayball to be the next head coach of Chicago Bears and Justin Fields. That's all. I'm just sitting in the cut. I got no dog in the fight right now.

All right, we thank you guys for listening to this episode, the Tuesday edition of the Ringer NFL feed. Next up on the Ringer NFL show is the Wednesday show with Kevin, Nora, and Mallory. We'll be back next Tuesday. Check out the full go with me, Jason Golf every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday night on Spotify, wherever you get your podcast. Our engineering credit goes to Chris Sutton on this episode with production supervision from our guy, AR, Arjuna Ram Gapal, for James Jones and Ryan.

I'm Shazir. I am Jason Gough. Thank you so much. Everybody out there, make sure you take care of each other. And please be safe. We'll talk to you next two.