3 & Out - NFL & NFL and CFB Best Bets: NFL's Wildcard Weekend & College Football Playoff's Semi-Finals - The Herd with Colin Cowherd

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
What is going on everybody? John Middlecoff three and out podcast.
Hopefully everyone is doing well. We are brought to you
by my friends at Zone Pouches. Love those guys. Today
will be a pretty straightforward show. I will be joined
by friend of the program, fellow father why technically I'm

(00:37):
not a father yet, the child still in the belly stuck.
He is had a baby last I think a couple
of weeks ago, and I wanted to bring him on
because we've got the college football playoff game starting tomorrow.
We're going to talk about that at the end. We
ended up just firing through a bunch of NFL you know,
from the super Bowl standpoint to the game standpoint this
weekend through Monday. Start off with asking him about John Harbaugh,

(01:01):
who obviously was He's a Ravens fan, so some get
his thoughts on that, but Stucky will bang out. Uh,
he's got stats galore. We will dive into the individual games.
Not an easy week to pick, I mean, unless you're
hammering the Rams money line. These games can get weird.
This season's been weird. I would imagine some weird stuff

(01:24):
is gonna happen this weekend. So we will we'll get
ahead of it. That will be the show today. Yesterday
we discussed obviously Harbaugh getting fired John Harbaugh, h I
guess you knew that. Probably you know, from eber Flus
to Kingsbury some of those situations. I will do a
reaction to Saturday night or excuse me, Thursday night Miami

(01:47):
playing Old miss which is actually, I want to say,
in my backyard, but it's about an hour drive from
where I'm at. It's a pain in the ass to
get to. So I'm just gonna watch it on television,
but we'll do a live reaction on YouTube. After that.
I'll do a big mail bag on for Fugazi Friday
at John Middlecoff is the Instagram, So fire in those
dms and we'll do a big mail bag on for

(02:10):
Friday for sure. But other than that, you guys know
the drill. Subscribe if you listen on Collins Feed, if
you listen on you know, subscribe to my own feed
three and out feed, Apple, Spotify. We got you covered.
From an audio standpoint, we have YouTube will be live Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

(02:31):
I think Monday is going to be our first show
on Netflix, so it'll be uploaded on Netflix Monday morning.
That's the plan right now. I have another you know,
marketing business call on Friday to kind of iron out
some more stuff. But as of now, that is the plan.
We will keep you updated and again nothing changes here,

(02:52):
so we will just keep doing the same old podcast
that we've been doing for a long long time and
just keep swinging our pick, talking a little ball, talking
life and uh and yeah see where it goes. But
let's just let's just dive right into Stucky. Okay. This
is always the time of year where you start getting
a little bittersweet because you start counting the games, and

(03:15):
for me, this is one of the last probably the
lastest pure weekends of football, especially with my life. Stucky.
I have my baby has a massive head and has
flipped the wrong way. So we have a scheduled sea
section right now next week on Thursday. So I I
this this Thursday through Monday. Stretcher boy is gonna soak

(03:35):
up big time. How you doing man? This is this
is a rough time of year in a weird way
because it should be great.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah, the same thing happened to us and then we
ended up having to go even earlier, a week earlier
because they're my wife's blood pressure like spike shed like
pretty clamps. Yes, so we had an emergency sea section,
but that was the same thing that happened. And yeah,
I just count, like, yeah, I believe you are fifteen
football games left and seven of them are this weekend.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
Jeez, and put it right there.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
Yeah, this is the weekend you really got to cherish
because you got college football semi on Thursday, college football
semi on Friday, and then wild card Wildcard Wildcard, so
five straight days a playoff football, and then it'll really
hit you on like Tuesday morning, you're like, wow, especially
for you, So congrats. I wish everything. I wish you

(04:37):
well and I hope everything goes well. But yeah, this
is the this is the time it really starts to
hit you. But I am very excited for this weekend.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
I am too. And before we dive in any football,
you are a Ravens fan. Obviously. John Harbaugh is one
of the central figures of football, especially just because of
his football family. I mean, he played in one of
the most famous Super Bowls of all time. He played
against his brother. I don't think we're ever seeing that
one again unless they play each other, which you never
know if he goes to the Giants or whatever reg Wrexham

(05:07):
in a couple of years. But your thoughts, because my
initial thought was obviously you and I and it had
been out there, people kind of rumbling about it. But
when you see it, it wasn't truly a wow moment.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
I thought, yeah, now I I I didn't know if
it was going to happen, but I had a feeling
it would. And I do think that it makes sense
from an organizational standpoint. I mean, sometimes you just I
think it it will probably work for both parties. I
think that just I think Carball and the organization needed

(05:41):
a change. You've had all of these blown leads, these
heartbreaking losses to end seasons over the years, and I
think losing this, losing to the Steelers to miss the
playoffs in the fashion that they did, was the straw
that broke the camel's back. And I didn't say like
I was it was. I thought, I think Carball was
a good coach, and I think he did a tremendous

(06:02):
job over his tenure, brought a Super Bowl to Baltimore.
But I did that decision not to run another play
and get more yards, that is the hardest stadium to
kick in in the NFL, and to go back two
yards with a young kicker, I.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
Best kicker just missed then extra point, just.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
Missed an extra point. So that was just a gut
punch in a tough way for Harball to end his
eighteen year tenure in Baltimore. But I do think it
was time. And it seemed also that like the relationship

(06:43):
between Lamar and Harball was potentially splintered a bit, so
that might have had something to do with it. We'll
see how much say Lamar has in this decision and
what his how long his future will be in Baltimore.
But it's I as a Ravens fan, I'm okay with it,

(07:05):
even though I liked Harble. A lot of a lot
of fans are delusional. Like you go to any fan
base in the NFL, there's so many that just think,
no matter what, no matter who they are, they think
their coach is awful. Right, it could be anyone Like
there's there's there's a ton of forty nine Ers fans.
I think Shanahan's awful. There's a ton of any fan
base you're you find, you'll just see like Shanahan because

(07:27):
they're less like you're winning super Bowls every year.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
He shut them up a little bit this year, but
it got it last year got ugly.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
Yeah, but peoplen't realize, like winning super Bowls is hard.
Like but I liked Harball, but I thought it was
time for a change. I'm very curious to see who
they bring in and what's up.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
What's your guess.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
I'm kind of thinking maybe Chrishula is a name that
I could see them going, But I just I don't
know that they're actually they want to take what's.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
That not Jesse Minter?

Speaker 1 (08:04):
I could yeah, would mintor I could see mintor.

Speaker 2 (08:07):
Too mintor Cliff Kingsbury combo.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, that that's a lot of the rumblings are around Cliff.
I don't know if he would be I don't like
Cliff as a head coach. I think he can be
a good offensive coordinator, but that'll come down to I
could see that working with Lamar.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
But such a soft, soft offense for Baltimore, you know,
even with when they got run heavy with Rome and
it's a physical run game. Cliff, I don't know, man,
I I you're talking to a Cliff hater from a
football standpoint. Seems like a great guy.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
No, I'm not a big Cliff guy either. I would not.
Hopefully he's not the head coach. I would. I've been trash.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
That would be insane. I mean, you can't fire John
Harball for Cliff Kingsbury. If I was a raven fan,
I would I would boycott. That's not allowed.

Speaker 1 (08:54):
I would actually love if it's mentor so we'll see.
It'll it'll be an interesting offseason. There's also like the
you just can't not like Lamar in his in his prime,
in his peak, was as good as any quarterback you'll
ever see in this league. But part of what made

(09:16):
him so dominant was his speed and his ability. You
had to respect his rushing ability and his ability to
create and you know by time and scramble and then
hit plays downfield. He's not getting any younger. And the
accumulation of all these injuries, what does that do to
him over time? Hard to say. Obviously wasn't healthy this year.

(09:40):
But yeah, I'm super cute. It's gonna be a very
very interesting offseason. I think just as important as nailing
the head coach. They need to go this is my number,
this will be it, and they have a really good,
uh GM, really good, own a really good scout team.
Their number one priority in the draft has to addressing

(10:01):
the edge rush. They had no edge rush, and it
is very difficult to win in the NFL in twenty
twenty five if you can't get pressure. And I mean
that's gonna be a concern. We're gonna talk to forty
nin ers. That's gonna be a concern for the forty
nine ers if they want to make like that's probably
gonna prevent them from making a run. Is their defense
and their inability to generate pressure, and that plagued the
Ravens all year. They need to address that, whether it's

(10:21):
in for agency or the draft. This is a draft
class that's loaded with edge talent, so they need they
need to hit there because a lot of the other
pieces are there for them to make a run next year.
But it'll be an interesting offseason in Baltimore for sure.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
That's where I think it's a big advantage for you know,
the Chiefs and the blow in that game and they
draft ninth, it's pretty easy to move up a couple
spots and get all of a sudden, it's like, God,
the Chief's got the best defensive lineman in the draft,
you know, and that's that can change your future.

Speaker 1 (10:56):
You know, the other rad so Raiders to make a sixty.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
But you had mentioned it last week once the Cowboys
started tanking at halftime, which a little ironic because I
didn't even own they don't own their pick, right they
have the Packers picks or didn't even matter. I don't know,
I mean classic Cowboys. What a win for uh? Jet
the Jets? Yeah, the Jets have their The Jets had
a pretty good day, right, I mean the Jets, Uh,

(11:24):
obviously they stink. But the other thing is I saw
Stefanski spend a couple of days with the Giants, and
now you know Harbaugh. You couldn't hire Stefanski over Harbaugh.
But if you're Stefanski, if you've just been with the
most dysfunctional organization or one of them in all of
sports for a while, what do you just want to
take a deep breath? And if I'm Mara, the easiest

(11:47):
way to get people like Okay, John you're back, Convince Harbaugh.
Use him as your offensive coordinator. Hey, Kevin, all you
got to do is focus on offense. Will pay you
like five six million dollars a year. You might just
be one and done. You don't want the Cardinals, the Titans.
This that's the same thing you were just dealing with.
Come here and you'll have the pick of the litter
and you'll stock where. I wonder if they're trying a

(12:08):
little package deal. Obviously they didn't know Harball was gonna
be available when they first got Stefanski. But if I'm them,
I double down Stefanski and be like, listen, come here
with John. He'll let you run the offense. Can you
imagine that if you're a Giants fan and you got
Harbaugh's head coach Toefanski in that list. I know people
are gonna want Stefanski as their head coach. But if
you're Stefanski, why would you want these organizations where people

(12:30):
just go like two and three and done all the time.
I wouldn't touch these teams that are available.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
I mean, that would be that would be very intriguing
if they got Harball and Stefanski, because yeah, I mean
STEFANSI he was just put in a position where how
was he going to succeed Number one in that division?
Number two with it Deshaun Watson, and he made it
clear they got that his team got that hour away
that he disagreed with the Watson trade.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
Is that leaked in the last couple of days. I
didn't even see that.

Speaker 1 (12:56):
They got leaked like an hour after it was announced
he was fired. So yeah, he was just putting. I mean,
two time Coach of the Year, by the way, the
last five besides O'Connell last year, all of the coach
of the year since twenty nineteen were fired. Variable who's
obviously been rehired, but Harball Stefanski twice, Who's who's on

(13:22):
the Why is his name slipped me? The Bears coach
at Naggi got fired. It's pretty crazy how quick things
can turn in the NFL. I think that would be great.
And then maybe there's like Harpball convinced Wink Martindale to
come be the defensive coordinator. But if they just need
to address like the secondary a bit, and if they

(13:43):
can get that, and I think it's Stefanski offense, but
the way he wants to operate his offense with a
mobile quarterback in dark, yeah, there's there's potential there. So yeah,
that's I think that would be a great landing spot
for Stefanski. And I think that would be a win
for the Giants, that they can pull that off.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
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(15:56):
the NFL. We'll get to college a little bit later.
But I just wrote down a question. I'll I asked
this to you, and this is what I wrote down.
I said, who can win the Super Bowl? Let's start
there before we even dive into the games. And obviously,
if you're a one seed, you just got to win
two games both one seeds could get to the super Bowl,
and if you can get to the super Bowl, you
can win the Super Bowl. Right, And then I wrote
down in the AFC, I wrote down the Jags, the Pats,

(16:20):
the Texans, and the Bills. And in the NFC I
only had two other teams beside Seattle, and that was
the Rams in Philadelphia. Now people be like, what about
the Bears. I'm sorry, if your defense is equally as
bad as the forty nine ers, I just can't take
you seriously as a Super Bowl contender. So I got
the two one seeds. I got four teams other than
that in the AFC and two in the NFC. So

(16:40):
I got a total of eight teams. Obviously the forty
nine Ers would have been one of those teams. But
they're just the Attrician is just falling off a cliff.
I can't take them seriously. And again the Bears, I
put them in a similar bucket with their defense is
just horrendous. It's just bad, and you can't they have
to win three games just to get there, and then

(17:01):
at fourth I can't even Bears fans would have to acknowledge.
And the ironic part about that is their defensive franchise.
Now they have this offensive wizard and their defense stinks.
It's not even necessarily their fall. I mean, Jalen Johnson
looks really slow. Their dbs just look slow. And now
I get it's Saint Brown and Jameson Williams are good,
But you could I knew the Lions. It was so obvious,

(17:21):
like this is a classic Dan Campbell's spot, He's gonna
play with Pride Bears a little bit of a calm down.
It wasn't even just the Niner game. They had a
pretty crazy month, two Packer games. You know, it felt
like they kind of came out a little slow, and
those two receivers just running left and right. So do
you think that's fair? Do you have anyone else in
that mix? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (17:41):
I mean, look, the Bears a great year for Ben Johnson,
stud like should be one of it. It was in
should have been in the running for a Coach of
the year. What he did with them and Caleb Williams
was tremendous. But this is a team. They were the first,
They were only the second teams as nineteen eighty or
the strike here in eighty two that won a division

(18:03):
with a losing division record twenty ten chiefs with the
other team they usually could have been owed six in
their division. They had an on side kick recovery against
the Packers and that crazy win, and then then they
needed a long kickoff return to beat the JJ McCarthy
and the Vikings. Otherwise they would have been owned six
in the division, and they had NFL record six wins
when trailing under two minutes. They usually could have lost
to the Raiders, the Commanders they beat both by one.

(18:26):
The Bengals with Flacco they won in the final seconds there,
the Giants they won in the final seconds there, the Vikings,
the Steelers with Rudolph, and the Packers with Willis Like,
this team easily could have lost eleven games. So yes,
I guess I'll start in the NFC.

Speaker 2 (18:47):
To those their division record. They got swept by the
line four and they split with the other two teams
because JJ beat them week one.

Speaker 1 (18:53):
You're right, yeah, two and four. Only two teams since
nineteen eighty two won their division with a losing division record.
Wild Yeah, so especially in that division that the fact
that they still want it is pretty crazy.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
Someone asked me, actually in a DM, could the Bears
be one of the first teams ever to win their division,
and like, you could make the argument that they're the
worst team in the division. He's like, well, I Minnesota
to me with their quarterback situation, the Bears quarterback situation
is dramatically better. So I I would argue that the
Packers clearly would have won that division if it didn't
just fall off a cliff in December with.

Speaker 1 (19:28):
Injuries, right, Yes, yes, I agree.

Speaker 2 (19:31):
And the Lions.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
The Lions injury.

Speaker 2 (19:33):
Coaching situation, but the Lions had coaching situations. It's like
Johnny Morton got fired, Dan, I thought you fired him
like two months ago. You know, he just got to
keep his office.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
Yeah, the Lions had a bunch of injuries too, defense,
offensive line, but yeah, the their coordinator losses and and
the coaching stuff definitely didn't help. But all right, so
I'll start in the NFC, Like, yeah, you it's so
wide open because I can nitpick at every team, Like
the Rams, yes, obviously, the Panthers, no, clear, No, they

(20:03):
cannot win it. The Eagles, yes, although that offense it's scary.
The forty nine Ers, No, it's the defense not good enough.
So I have the Eagles, Rams, the Seahawks. Can I
see Donald winning a Super Bowl's hard, but they're the
one seed. With that defense, you have to put them
in there. So that's three. The Bears, No, not with

(20:25):
that defense. The Packers, I'm gonna say yes.

Speaker 2 (20:35):
Did.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
The defense has fallen off with the injuries, especially to Parsons,
But I think they beat the Bears. I mean they're
the seventh Sea. That's tough. They beat the Bears, and
then they would play the Seahawks like, could you get
a Donald game? Sure? And then like it's hard for
me to see them beating the Rams. But I'll hesitantly
put the Packers. Like their offense is going to be

(20:55):
healthy now they can just outscore teams. So that's four
in the NFC. In the AFC, your Broncos the one seat,
so you have to put them there. Steelers no, Texans
with that defense, yeah, Jags yes, Bills yes, Patriots, Chargers no,

(21:19):
with that offensive line, I guess Patriots yes. So as
the two seed, I'm not a full on believer yet.
We'll get to that, but yeah, I mean I I
in the AFC, honestly, the only team I can't see
winning it is the Steelers. The Charter's offensive line is

(21:39):
gonna make it tough. But with that defense, Harvall Herbert,
I mean, you can't completely count them out. So I
think the FC like, you can tell me any team,
but the Steelers got to the super Bowl, and I
wouldn't be shocked.

Speaker 2 (21:51):
Okay, let's just start Saturday afternoon. Rams, massive favorite on
the road against a team that lost in a winner
get in game because it wasn't actually a winner get
in game because Atlanta, as we saw, won the game,
which for a split second it felt like Tyler Shuck
was going to lead him down the field and win
the game that he throws the pick. I don't I

(22:11):
haven't even checked the weather in Carolina, but it can be.
This isn't you know. I think when you say some
of these southern places, you know, in Tampa it was raining,
but it wasn't cold. Carolina could get cold. What I
know you're a weather guy because you what's the outlook there?
This is just stay away from me. The ten and
a half, that's a huge number, I thought the Rams.

(22:33):
If Jacobe, if that play doesn't get called back, I
think it called it a personal foul on the offensive
lineman Wilson caught like a seventy yard bomb and it
was twenty three to twenty felt like they were gonna score.
It's gonna be twenty seven to twenty three, and you're like,
what is going You could see the look on mcveagh's
face where he felt a little lost, like I don't
know what to do here.

Speaker 1 (22:53):
Yeah, in a game where he wanted to play the
starters to play better.

Speaker 2 (22:56):
He was trying to win.

Speaker 1 (22:57):
Yeah, what is going on against a team that has
been that is just basically a practice squad with all
our injuries, that's been getting blown out every week. Wilson.

Speaker 2 (23:05):
Wilson looked like Puka Naku in that game. He's making
sweet plays.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
Yeah, he was. He was incredible, incredible year for him. Yeah.
So this if this is at ten and a half eleven,
which would be the largest road favorite in NFL playoff history,
which is pretty insane. These two teams played in November.
The spread closed ten. The Panthers won outright, but it
was extremely fluky. I mean, the Rams in that game

(23:32):
had a sixty percent success rate. They led the league
for the entire season at fifty percent. They had a
seventy six percent rush success rate, which is insane, by
the way, they led the league there at fifty percent.
So but what happened in that game while you had

(23:53):
Stafford pick six, you had a fourth down bomb, another
fourth down bomb, and a third eight thirty five yard touchdown.
Like not sustainable. The Panthers in that game they only
had a thirty thirty eight percent success free which would
have been like bottom four in the league. They didn't
do much except hit these like very high leverage plays

(24:14):
and they rams turned it over three times. However, I
will say in that game, they didn't have any of
their linebackers who were hurt. They didn't have j. C. Horn,
who had a concussion, their top corner. They didn't have Morigg,
They're starting safety who was suspended for the at the
end of the forty nine ers game the week before,
so they were extremely shorthanded on defense. They still forced

(24:36):
Stafford into a bunch of mistakes. And I will say,
for whatever reason, this Stafford has really struggled against his
old coordinators Raheem Morris and everro I think he's faced
them four times and he has eleven interceptions. And ever Roh,

(24:57):
who I think he's a really good defenseve coordinator. He
doesn't really have a lot of talent to work with
in Carolina. But that McVeigh Shanahan Tree this year, he
kind of owned them. I mean you had Stafford who
had the three turnovers and they were completely decimated. Brock
Purdy had what three picks against the Panthers, and Jordan

(25:17):
Love lost outright to the Panthers at home. So like
their defense has something on this, and Stafford historically has
struggled with defenses. You don't want to blitz him, and
I don't think Carolina will blitz say Historically, don't the
defenses that disguise their coverages post snap Stafford has struggled
with if you want to, like go in to where
Stafford struggles. The Panthers disguise their coverages post snap at

(25:39):
the highest rate in the league. So I think that
they're going to try, you know, they're going to play
a ton of Cover three, disguise their coverages, try and
take away explosive plays. So I think they think Baby
can hang a little bit more than some people think.
And also you have to think is Kevin Dotson healthy?
The offensive line for the Rams is not the same
without him. His the hell healthy? Is Devontae Adams right.
He had two touchdowns in the first meeting. So all

(26:01):
this is to say that I'm looking at an under.
I want to get a forty seven. It's at forty
six and a half right now outdoor totals. By the way,
in the wildcard round above forty four thirty one to
ten to the under since two thousand and thirty, that's
seventy six percent. Just an incredible clip. But I think
that the Panthers defense, which will be healthier this time around,

(26:22):
play out of zone? Can Can they keep the Rams
to like twenty eight? Sure? And I do this Panthers offense,
it's I can't see them doing much like there are
they going to hit a bunch of fourth down bombs again? Maybe?
But the rushing offense is broken. I mean this is
since week ten. They're twenty seventh in rush success right
twenty ninth and rush EPA. Their backs are worn down

(26:47):
like Bryce Young, I can't see him shredding this Rams defense.
So what is the ceiling for the Panthers. It's seventeen,
But I wouldn't be shocked if they only scored ten points.
It's hard for me to see them doing much. Maybe
there's some home playoff voodoo with the crowd, which should
be excellent, but I think the number is about right.

(27:08):
I'm looking at an under here. This to me, I
project this like twenty eight seventeen Rams. Wouldn't be surprised
that it's like twenty eight ten Rams or or twenty
four fourteen somewhere in that ballpark. Another really small little thing.
These are two of the best kickoff teams in the
NFL as far as opposing starting field position. They both
do it really well. So that's just like, you know,

(27:29):
an extra ten maybe fifteen yards on some drives that
the other offense will have to go. Weather should be good,
though it's like going to be like sixty I think
not much wind, but it is outdoors. But I'm looking
at the under. I do think the Rams should advance
unless it is an extremely fluky game and the Rams
still had a chance to win that game despite all

(27:51):
those flukes. But I'm looking at under there. I don't
really love anything.

Speaker 2 (27:54):
Though, Okay, if I had to list the top five
games of just that I enjoy the most during the
twenty twenty five season, I think both Bears and Green
Bay games would be there. The first time they matched
up in Lambeau was just the second half was thrilling,
and obviously the ending in the second one is one
of the crazier things you saw all season long. These games.

(28:16):
The Ben Johnson thing has resurrected this rivalry which did
not exist because, as Aaron Rodgers would tell you, I
fucking own you, and he did. It was a joke.
And I just think there's something cool about this matchup.
Now they get to play. I heard a stat that
they've only played twice in the history of the playoffs,
and they've both been in Chicago, one going back to
the forties, and then one was that Cutler game in

(28:36):
two thousand. I guess it would have been like January
twenty eleven. But listen, the Bears never led in either
game to the final play, right, so it took beyond
side kick. I just I don't know. There's something about me,
and I'm a guy that had money on green Bay
to make it to the Super Bowl, a cash out

(28:57):
of that one as it started getting ugly. But I
I've said I don't even like the Bears because of
their defense to make a legitimate run, But I don't
know if Green Bay's the team they could take advantage
of that. Now. Obviously they get essentially gave themselves a
bye last week, right, so that's gonna help. I think,
you know, Tom's coming back. They got some reinforcements coming.
You think it serves Jacobs, you know, a little bit,

(29:19):
to get a breather. I think the problem is I
see with them, and I've always supported Jordan Love, but
Malik Willis has gave their team a rushing element. I'm
not calling him Lamar Jackson, but he was huge for
them right movement wise, and that's not really how Jordan
Love plays. So this could be extremely cold. The thing
that was so cool about the second game is, you know,

(29:42):
in most of our adult lives, you know, unless you
go way back to like the Irlacker Briggs days, these
Bears home games just haven't mattered. And at night, and
we get so used to watching like the Ravens and
the Steelers and those plays rocking at night or Lambeau
rocking at night or Kansas City. Now you just kind
of forget that place will had a collegiate feel to it.
I mean, that place is gonna be on fucking fire.

(30:06):
I'm taking the Bears in this game play. You know,
as a home dog Ben Johnson. You know, I get
Lafloor might be fighting for his pre Bay job, right.
I mean now, he would immediately get another job with
one of these franchises, but there is a chance that
they don't extend him, right if he were to lose
this game by like ten points. Obviously, the Green Bay
Packers are well coached, but I'm gonna ride Ben Johnson

(30:29):
and a little bit of that Washington Commanders last year,
Ferry Dust on the franchise this year.

Speaker 1 (30:34):
Yeah, this is the first home ploff game for the
Bears since the double doink, so crowd will be fired up.
I played the Packers plus one earlier this week since
I made them a favorite. I just went over the
Bears like a pretty fluky year. I mean, they also
were plus twenty two turnover margin, which led the league.

(30:56):
The Packers were I think dead even The Bears led
the NFL and takeaways and fewest amount of giveaways, and
they still needed like six miraculous wins against bad teams.
And I do you mentioned last week. I don't think
that that's insignificant getting a vibe. They tried. They tried, Yeah,

(31:19):
the Bear, but the Bears like week eighteen. Both these
teams had up. The vibe was in Week five. They
both had early season buys and then have dealt with
a number of injuries. The Packers literally took the week off,
spent the week prepping for this game, and I mean
they did nothing the Packers. If anyone watched that, yeah,
I've bet the Vikings in that game the Packers that

(31:41):
I think seven passing you aren't or something. I mean,
they literally just didn't do editing.

Speaker 2 (31:45):
Gave Minnesota last week that was like a favorite bet
of the week.

Speaker 1 (31:48):
Yeah, they did they did nothing. I mean they you
could tell that they just sat everyone. So they are
going to be rested. They're going to be healthier on offense.
Getting Tom back is huge, love has been if you
look at EPN and has been the best quarterback in
the NFL. With a clean pocket. Well, the Bears can't
get fresher. He's gonna have a clean pocket here, He's
gonna have his weapons, his offensive line is gonna be healthier,

(32:10):
and it's I just trust him over Caleb right now.
I mean Caleb, he's had a munty. He was improved
this year, but I mean he was still bottom three
in bad throw rate. You look at completion percentage over
expectation and EPA composite. Love was third, Caleb was twenty eighth,

(32:31):
early down drop back success rate, Packers seventh, Bears twenty six.
There's so I could go on and on. I mean,
the Bears.

Speaker 2 (32:39):
Defense, it's the big plays with Chicago offensively.

Speaker 1 (32:43):
Yes, but the Packers still do a good job of
limiting explosive plays. The Bears do not, and the Packers
hit as many explosives as any team. Like I think
that fate could face the favorite Green Bay. Now, Chicago's
gonna have success running the ball, and the Packers defense
has fallen off since week eleven, Like they were trending
towards the top five, top ten unit, and then you
lost Wyatt and then you obviously lost Parsons, who's massive,

(33:05):
and the trickle down effect from there is it can't
be overstated. So they've been bad. They've been like a
bottom ten defense since week eleven. The Bears are gonna
success running the ball. They do almost against anybody, But
I think the Packers can limit the explosive plays here.
I think Love can do his thing against it. I mean,
this Bears defense is bad. I mean, if you remove turnovers,

(33:26):
they're thirtieth in EPA per play, they're twenty six and
early down dropback success or without turnovers. Like they can't
stop anything. They can't get pressure against, out run against,
out the pass. So and this Packer. While the Bears
are pretty lucky in turnovers in close games, the Packers
were pretty unlucky. Like they went zero to three in
games they didn't punt. The rest of the NFL went eight. No,

(33:47):
it only happened eleven times. So yeah, and here's another
stat that it's gonna come up in a couple of games.
Caleb has been better this year, still has his warts,
and I think John and we'll slowly keep him, keep
getting him better. But this is his first playoff start
since two thousand and three. Quarterbacks making their first plaoff

(34:08):
start against the quarterback who has playoff experience twenty and
thirty nine straight up, twenty and forty twenty thirty nine
and one, excuse me, twenty and forty straight up twenty
thirty nine and one against the spread. Very very bad
also applies to May versus Herbert, so love. You just
never know this first playoff game, even at home, there's nerves,

(34:31):
there's Jitters and historically hasn't gone well, especially when you're
facing a quarterback who already has that playoff experience under
his belt. So I did play the Packers when they
were a dog.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
I think the crappy part for Bears fans if you
lose this game, if they would have drawn the forty
nine Ers or they would have drawn the Rams and
you lose in the first round, I think people been like,
dig it a couple of weeks and be like that
was an awesome season. I think losing to the Packers
would take it a little bit. Especially coming into Chicago,
that would suck. There's just a lot of there's a

(35:04):
sneaky lot on the line before. I think the way
we look at the Bears moving forward for la Floor,
I mean, that's another kind of elephant in the room.
No one's really talking about. Ed Policy said this offseason like, yeah,
we got to see now it's the NFL not college.
He technically come back on a one year deal. Shane
Stikeen and Ballard are doing it, but Green Bay doesn't

(35:24):
really operate like that. So it's it's gonna be interesting.

Speaker 1 (35:28):
It would be a sour ending for the Bears, and
then especially because then you're like, we lost the Packers,
we didn't win a playoff game, he lost it at home,
and now we have a first place schedule next year.

Speaker 2 (35:39):
Yeah, that's too because they had the last play schedule
this year. Yeah, and they still want to And for
the division, I didn't really for some reason, I thought
three and three. But Sunday if I was, if we

(36:04):
treated the NFL like we did college football, I think
there would be people voting Jacksonville's number one team in
the country. Like they are red hot. You watch them,
they look fantastic. I mean, the team speed, the physicality, obviously,
how good their quarterback looks. But defensively, I mean, and
I get it was the Titans, but there was a
moment in that game when the linebacker had the pick
and they were just vibing. You're like, God, this feels

(36:26):
like a college team right now. That is just rolling.
That being said, I'm taking Josh Allen. I don't feel
great about this at all. And if Josh, if the
Bills lose this game, which it wouldn't shock me, if
we look up and the scores like thirty five to twenty,
and I'll bet on Jacksonville from then on, foward. I
think they could win the Super Bowl. But if not now,

(36:48):
then when there's no Lamar, there's obviously no Mahomes. It's
never been this wide open for them. They have clearly
the last couple of years. It's like Baltimore Kansas City,
who were better teams than them. Kansas City we could debate,
but definitely that year, you know, they beat Baltimore and
then they lost to Kansas City. I thought Baltimore was
better last year in that second round game. And I

(37:11):
just think that that thing could get really weird, really fast.
I just wonder if you just get Josh Allen on
a mission, and maybe I'm being an idiot even thinking
like this, and Jacksonville rolls them. But speaking about the Bear,
speaking about you know, some of these places, Kansas City forever,
what Seattle's gonna have? You know what you guys had

(37:31):
in Baltimore when you get home games, Jacksonville doesn't really
have a home field advantage. So I don't think that really,
like phases Buffalo, this isn't going on the road to
Kansas City, which they are very very comfortable. I mean,
they've been in these environments now for how many years,
playing in these the biggest playoff games of the year, right,
They've lost a lot of them. But I'm taking the

(37:53):
Bills here. I do not feel great about this, and
I think if he gets by this game, I think
they could go on a legit role and they could
win the Super Bowl.

Speaker 1 (38:02):
Yeah, it sucks. This is the first This is the
matchup in the first round, because the Jags are as
hot as any team, and then the Bills with Alan
I don't worry about my homes and Lamar like this.
This looks like their year and one of these teams
is going to be sitting at home Sunday night. So yeah,

(38:23):
I think the winner of this game is very live
to win the AFC.

Speaker 2 (38:26):
Are you surprised that the Bills, Like, I mean, the
Bills are favored in this game. Is it just based
on history? Because if it was reversed and Jacksonville's going
to Buffalo, but you know, the Bills were playing like Jacksonville,
and I think Jacksonville just had the season the Bills had.
I feel like the Bills would be favored by like
seven points if it was reverse.

Speaker 1 (38:47):
Right, Yeah, I mean the Jags. Look, the Jags come in,
They've won eight in a row. Now you could. Now
the schedule hasn't been great.

Speaker 2 (38:58):
Some Titans colts in there.

Speaker 1 (39:00):
Of Titans, a lot of colts, and they are the Jets.
But you have to there is merit to it when
you blow out the Chargers, blow them out of the water.
And then you went to Denver and you beat them
handily in Denver? And so what has happened to that?
And by the way, eight games, so they won eight
in a row. The Bills have lost eight straight road
playoff games. It's been a very long time. McDermott is

(39:23):
zero and five on the road now, most of them
one and four against the spread. Most of them have
come against Kansas City, one against Jacksonville way back I
think in like twenty seventeen. And the Jags have they
have been very good at home this year. There's seven
and one against the spread. That's the best cover mark
in the league, covered by fourteen points per game, and
they're six and two against the spread in the first half,
covered by over seven points per game. The Bills in

(39:45):
the first half on the road against the spread three
and five. Why do I bring that up? I played
the Jags first half, so first half money nine. But
maybe just let me first touch on the Jags improvement.
So what has happened, Well, since they went and got
Jacobe myersho's been a revelation for them. I mean their
their top four drop back success rate and drop back EPA,

(40:09):
so Lawrence has really benefited from that. But there's other
things that happened. BTJ got healthier. Cole Strange, their star
tight end, came back from injury. Also just a natural
improvement of the Liam Cohen offense as they started to
get a handle of it in his first year there,
and then they moved Cole van Lannon, they inserted him
at starting tackle, kicked Walker a little inside in Van
Land and they just signed him an extension. Has been

(40:29):
a revelation at tackle. Little has really struggled. There looks
better suited for the guard. So like a tight end,
you know, offensive line changes, you add Myers, you know,
you get healthier pass catchers. Like, there's reasons why this
offense is starting to hum and it's not like this
Bill's defense is great. Additionally, the Jaguars defense, Monteric Brown
has been a revelation at corner. After Jordan Lewis went down,

(40:53):
Jerry and Lewis kicked back into the slot. They They
are also getting healthier, and they've been dominant against the
run all year, top five rush success rate. There's Antonio
Johnson at safety's playing really well out of nowhere, So
there's there's real thing. Their's special teams are incredible. They
have a kicker who's an alien. He can make them
from seventy seventy yards and sixty.

Speaker 2 (41:14):
Eight the other day.

Speaker 1 (41:15):
Yeah, seven sixties. And I love Liam Cohen and if
you look Trevor Lawn and Trevor Lawrence, a lot of
those improvements since all those things I mentioned have come
against zone defense. Right over the first nine weeks of
the year, he was a nineteenth and success rate against
zone since week ten he's third. Why is that important?

(41:38):
Of the Bills play a ton of zone So why
am I playing the Jags first half? Well? Number one,
The Jags in the first half of games have been incredible.
A lot of that is the Liam Cohen script, and
Trevor Lawrence in particular has benefited from that. In the
first half. Lawrence thirteenth in EPA plus completion percentage over
expectation for the full season fourteenth adjusted EPA per play,

(41:58):
if even better than that since week ten that the
full season. In the second half, Lawrence thirty second in
A EPA plus completion percent of joe of expectation and
twenty first and success rate. His numbers fall off. That's
a lot of the script wearing off right and a
lot of what Liam Cohen does early on in games.
How about Josh Allen first, hast He's twenty fifth in

(42:19):
EPA plus completion was un joe of expectation twenty first
and adjusted EPA per play twenty fourth and success rate
second half, second, second, first, fourth quarter first first first.
The Bills have not started well many times a year,
and why will they come out? And they want to
run the ball. That's by design, that's what they want

(42:40):
to do, and they want to wear teams down. But
you still have Josh Allen, but they their script isn't great.
They just want to run the ball that's going to
go into the teeth of the Jags defense. So JAG's
at home with his script. I think they get a lead.
Where are the Jags still vulnerable? I do still think
it's their secondary. So Allen from behind in the second half,

(43:01):
I'm not betting against that against this Jags defense. So
once like Alan has to be unleashed. I think it
could be a flood coming for this Buffalo offense. But
I think that there's some distinct advantages in that Cohen
script early on that Jacksonville can take advantage of. So
I did play them first half moneyline against Buffalo. I've
just seen it too many times. And also keep in

(43:23):
mind Buffalo's kicking situation. Prayther got hurt. Prady got hurt
last week. We'll see if he's healthy enough or they
have to work out a kicker's big kicking advantage for Jacksonville.
But I did play Jags first half. That's kind of
how I see this, where like I think Cone's gonna
have some amazing screens drawn up and they're gonna have
success early on. But Josh Allen once he has to once,

(43:47):
they just have to unleash him against the you know,
a zone heavy defense. Uh, it could be trouble. So
that's how I think it probably plays out. I think
like Jags get out to a lead and then they're
gonna have to hold on and it's probably Allen that
leads the Bills back to victory. And I agree with

(44:08):
you if they win this, If they win that game.
I think they probably go to the Super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
Okay, another team that was Super Bowl aspirations because they're
the defending champs. The Eagles minus four and a half
at home according to Hardrock Bet. The forty nine ers
injury list got way uglier last week. They lost both
linebackers who won. You know, Tatum Bethune was already banged up.
He's Fred Warner's replacement. He's out out for the year, right, yeah, done.

(44:37):
And if this was October, he'd be in Troy. He'd
probably be a season d winners got injured. He's in
major trouble. Ricky Piersoll, by all accounts, reinjured his PCL
or whatever. I think he is major up in the air.
And we saw how important he was when they got
rolling in those games against the Bears and the Colts
for their offense, and you felt his absence, you know,

(44:59):
Trent I I would guess that he's gonna tough it out.
But I mean he's got a legitimate hamstring injury, not
even counting all the other injuries that they have. I
just don't think you can have that many injuries on
defense when your defense was already you know, on the
front seven was in shambles and have a chance, and
the Eagles would be crazy to not basically run at
every play, And if they do, I don't know. They've

(45:21):
been waiting all year. Unleash Jalen to move around a
little bit. That could also be a huge advantage. So
like the forty nine ers have guys. Eric Kendricks is
going to start. Eric Ndricks was unemployed. I mean, but
that shows you where they're at. So, I mean their
best players are up in suites with casts and Nie
leeves on. I just don't know how they play defense

(45:42):
because their margin for era on offense, which is now
banged up, like it's a lot different in there with
pearsall with a healthy Kittle and Juwan than when he's missing.
It's crazy how you know dependent they are on them
and Philly rests everybody. They're getting Lane Johnson back, who
I mean, this is not a big challenge for him
against the guys the Niners are rolling out. I mean,

(46:02):
Huff's not bad, but I just don't think. I think
the forty nine ers just had a gas. They're like
a car that's been on empty for a while. That
that Bears game they were able to win because the
Bears defense is atrocious. But you saw last week inst Seattle,
they just they made Kenneth Walker and Sharbonay look like
the best running back duo in American history. It wasn't.

(46:23):
I mean that it was a joke that that third
and what was a seventeen when I was a backbreaker
John Lynch wanted to jump out of a third.

Speaker 1 (46:32):
Seventeen sweep that that that goes for a first time,
that should only happen in like the Mac on a
Tuesday night.

Speaker 2 (46:37):
And honestly kind of easily. It's not like you had
to break three taps. I mean, I just think so
Saquon Barkley, the running ability. The one advantage the forty
nine ers have is that Philly, that place can just
get weird. It doesn't feel like the fans really love
this team. They've been a tough watch. They've gone into
these huge spells. If they do have trouble scoring against

(46:59):
the forty nine ers, then I think is fair just
I'm out on the Eagles. I'm just completely out.

Speaker 1 (47:04):
Yeah, I want to.

Speaker 2 (47:05):
I like, I like Philly in this game, and I
think the forty nine ers it's impressive what they've done
with their injuries. The reason Kyle makes a lot of
money because a lot of these coaches did losing all
over the league would lose in this situation with all
these injuries, and he got to twelve wins and you
can tell me the schedule that they still won. I
mean that Bears game is a game that most coaches
in the league can't pull off.

Speaker 1 (47:24):
Right, Yeah, Now, Shannon did an incredible job. I wanted
to fade the Eagles. I'm totally out on the offense,
but I just can't hear in this particular matchup with
all the injuries. I mean Luke Giffert too, the other
linebacker for the fort Niners, you know, on the quad
injury Like they could have their top four linebackers all out,
including Warner. It's bleak. Now, I will say the Eagles

(47:49):
offense legitimately just beats itself against It doesn't matter who
they play, will beat itself for like a whole half
every week. Ah So, I mean, go look at the
Dallas game. Dallas is an atrocious defense. They didn't score
in the second half in that game. There's a number
of examples of like they just can't do it, and
like the what they do have an advantage with Sola

(48:11):
versus Patula, Like that's a huge advantage. So what is
Salo going to do here? I assume, like because the
forty nine defense since all these injuries has been really bad,
especially Warner and Bosa. But then you just add all
more interests and makes it worse. The one thing they've
done is they limit exposed to place both on the
ground and through the air, and they hold up well
on the red zone. Like that's got to be their
goal here, just limited exposed to plays, make the Eagles

(48:33):
drive the field, get stops in the red zone. Now,
the Eagles are number one in the league in red
zone touchdown rate seventy percent. I don't buy that. That's
a very highs A lot of variants in that stat
from season to season, and like last year they'd have
way better offense they were fifty five percent. So I
could see some potential, like there's some looming regression coming
with the Eagles, Like they could just end up setting
link for a bunch of field goals here. So I

(48:54):
ended up playing the under here outdoor under there's going
to be impactful wins. It's hard for me to see
that forty nine offense having much success. I don't think
Piercell's going to be hundred percent. I'm not even sure
Williams will go and this and this Eagles defense will
be rested. Fangio historically has gotten the better of Shanahan.
I think they've met five times head to head, whether
Channon's a coordinator head coach. Shannan has you have to

(49:14):
clear fifteen points, has averaged about ten and a half
points per game. So yeah, and like the Eagles are
number one against tight ends, they're number one against short passes.
Like the one weak area of this Eagles defense is
their their second corner on the outside, which is will
be beautiful, be very nice to have a healthy Piersoll
to take advantage of that. But that that that's not

(49:35):
even the case here with the pcl injury. Not even
sure he suits up.

Speaker 2 (49:39):
So their their linebacker play is just so good against
the Niners run game, which you know you throw Jordan
Davis some of the bodies they have. I mean, Fangio's
turned Hunt into a pretty high end player. See he's
got he's got three picks and he had three more
picks in the Jets.

Speaker 1 (49:54):
Yeah, I insane. So like it's hard for me to
see that the Ford and you look at this nine
ers off as you mentioned pearsall they exploded down the stretch,
but when they had to play, when they had to
step up, you know, against the Seahawks, when even all year,
when they stepped up in class against defenses like they
average only seventeen points against the seven top ten defenses

(50:15):
that they played. I think that's like their ceiling here.

Speaker 2 (50:18):
They're they're all lying. Got worked against Seattle. I mean
that's destroy the Jalen Carter and Hunt and the linebackers blitzing,
got to be licking their jobs to go up against
these guys. I mean pleasant if he's got to play.
I mean it was a tough matchup with Jesus. I
mean there's you talk about a fall from Trent to
that guy. I mean pretty big. Yeah, mckibbitts. The Niners

(50:40):
love them, but I mean, I let's not let's not
pretend he's Lane Johnson or anything.

Speaker 1 (50:45):
Yeah. So so I played the under like I think
the forty nine ers ceiling here without flukes and Eagles
don't turn the ball over seventeen points? Can the forty
hours hold the Eagles under twenty eight? Like keep them
the twenty eight or below. I think so, like the
Eagles only got the thirty plus four times this year

(51:05):
against the Raiders. They got to thirty one against the Giants,
which is their only explosion. Really, they got to thirty eight.
They got to thirty one against the Bucks, and then
they got to thirty three against the Rams when because
of a fuel goal block with no time left. So
really only three times all year, and they played some

(51:25):
bad defenses. And there's a there's a real scenario here
where the Eagles are up two touchdowns and there's no
one better that just bleeds out the entire second half
with like a twelve minute drive. They're like a service academy.
I mean, this is a team that won two games
as you were not completing a pass in the second
half the NFL record, So I played the under I
would lean Philly with you. It's I think the injuries

(51:46):
to sanfran are too much to overcome on the road here,
and the defense just isn't good enough. It's too hard
to win the NFL and you can't get pressure.

Speaker 2 (51:55):
Look this morning, Hard Rock Bad had the Chargers getting
four points on the road in New England. I Mike
I'm gonna keep this pretty simple here. Harbaugh Herbert on
the road against a team like the one thing you
would say about New England that they're not exactly rolling
out Jalen Carter and Hunt coming after you from a passer.

Speaker 1 (52:14):
Standpoint seventh adjusted pressure, right, so you.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
Can't take advantage of their offensive line. I have seed Harbaugh,
I like, like Shanahan in a situation where he you know,
Shanahan doesn't have enough right now, but Harbaugh has enough
to like win a playoff game. I like the Chargers
in the spot plus four.

Speaker 1 (52:31):
Now.

Speaker 2 (52:31):
I don't know if they win the game, but this
is the spot. Now. There's a pressure on Herbert right
plays that playoff game last year, all the haters came
out of the woodworks because it was ugly. I mean,
it's probably the worst game he's ever played in his
entire life, going back to like peewee football. So I
think he's got a lot to play for. I just
think the the Harbaugh mentality, and this goes back Fanjio

(52:52):
was talking about this when I ask about some of
his teams back in the day with Jim. They are built,
you know, from a physicality standpoint, from a toughness stand point,
how just their mentality on defense. Now they got to
run the ball. You know, I've been a little you know,
I'm not the biggest Hampton guy. But I like the
Chargers in this spot now New England. There is no disputing.

(53:15):
You know, from a coaching standpoint, they're gonna be ready.
I mean, Josh is how many games has Josh been
an offensive coordinator in in January games? My guess would
be like fifty. I don't know. It's got to be
close to an NFL record for being the pure offensive coordinator,
not offensive coordinator in you know, the head coach like
Mike Shanahan or and Andy Reid. I'm just talking the
only I'm only an offensive coordinator. He has to own

(53:36):
the record. Uh And obviously I Vrabel's had a ton
of success in playoff games. Some of those right came
on the road, though he did lose the home game
against Cincinnati. In fairness to him, Tannehill played like me
or you in that game. He's throwing a bunch of picks.
It was atrocious. But I like the Chargers in the spot.
I know their offensive line. I'm not like picking them
to go on some crazy run here, but I think

(53:58):
they are an extremely live dog going on on the
road against New England. First time you brought a first
time playoff games you have a rookie quarter or not.
He's not a rookie quarterback, but.

Speaker 1 (54:06):
First started against the quarterback vis Clovv experience. Ye, historically
that has not gone well, even at home.

Speaker 2 (54:10):
And he and listen, I know he's been awesome. I'm
not some Drake Meyhader at all, but a little like
Kleb Like at USC, they didn't only play that many
important games. He definitely didn't in North Carolina. So it's
not like, well he started Obama for two years or
LSU or Ohio State like this is his first year
kind of in the bright lights. Let's be real.

Speaker 1 (54:29):
This is also the hardest defense by far he'll faced
all year. I mean the Chargers are second and epall
out over the past ten week ten weeks, I mean
the Pats played nobody all year. I mean you want
to and then their defense, given their defense, these are
they only played one team with a winning record all year.

(54:49):
That's it. One team Bills, the Bills, and they spill
with them. And then their schedule, which is the easiest
in twenty five years was even easier than that because
they faced the Ravens with Tyler Huntley, they faced the
Saints of Spencer Rattler, they faced the Browns or the
Bengals with Joe Flacco. They faced the Browns with Dylan Gabriel,

(55:11):
the Jets with Justin Fields, the Dolphins with Quinn Ewers,
the Jets with Brady Cook. I mean eleven of their
fourteen wins basically came over rookies or backup quarterbacks or
quarterbacks that were benched. It unprecedented easy schedules. They're hard
to price. But like, who's the third the third best

(55:32):
quarterback they faced or the second because Lamar only played
like a quarter, like a quarter and a half, so
they played Josh Allen. Who's the second best quarterback they faced?
I guess I would say Baker. And that was in
the second half the year where he was either hurt
or I don't know what happened. He was one of
the worst quarterbacks in the league over the second half
the year and they were missing like a bunch of
weapons out And then the next how about the third

(55:54):
best quarterback they faced this year? I don'tly Bryce Young.
I don't even know, uh Flacco, Maybe I have no idea.
So this will be a big test for their defense,
which is dealt with injuries late in the season. And
Drake May and Drake May has been incredible is deep

(56:15):
ball is incredible, But this is the Chargers defense under
Mintter that takes away the deep ball as well as
any defense in the league. And May he did get
away with a number of throws this year. I mean
he finished thirty one touchdowns, eight interceptions, but twenty six
big time throws, seventeen turn of worthy plays. You go
back to that Ravens game, should have thrown a couple picks.
So I wouldn't be shocked if Minter tricks him in
to a couple interceptions. The Pat's also pretty lucky when

(56:38):
it came to fumbles this year. They also went eighteen
of twenty five on fourth downs and their opponents went
just ten of thirty.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
And so like they got a little Banders thing to him, Yes.

Speaker 1 (56:49):
Very much so. And here's where so Minter is going
to run a ton of zone prevent exposive plays, make
the Pats score in the red zone. And the Chargers
two straight seasons have been elite in the red zone.
Chargers offense isn't great in the red zone, but this
Pat's defense was bottom three in red zone defense and
they played I just told you the schedule they played,
so yeah, I agree. And Herbert, by the way, twelve

(57:11):
to two and one against the spread is an underdog
of more than a field goal. To wrap it all
back to what you said initially, I wrote this game
up for Action Network, Narrah, this is my sentence. I said,
I'll happily take an elite quarterback in Staff with the
clearly superior defense catching over a field goal in the
playoffs against a quarterback making his first career postseason start. Yeah,
give me the Chargers here.

Speaker 2 (57:44):
Okay, well we will get the nightcap on Monday with
a team that took a windy missfield goal from not
even being in this spot. Now they do get dk
metcalf back Cam Hayward looked like he was twenty eight
years old in that game.

Speaker 1 (57:58):
Who was presentible?

Speaker 2 (58:01):
You know? TJ was a step slow and that last
play to likely and then he blasted Lamar. But felt
like you felt the pressure from other guys. Now, maybe
if you go back and look at the all twenty
two they were keeping an eye on him more. I mean,
Jalen Ramsey blew that that one play clearly, he bit
on it and he was in no man's land and
Jay Flowers just walked to the end zone. I mean,

(58:22):
this defense, I just hard to trust the Steelers in
this spot now, underdog at home. They haven't lost a
Monday night football game since like nineteen ninety one? Am
I getting that stat right?

Speaker 1 (58:33):
Yeah? I think three years.

Speaker 2 (58:35):
Yeah, so it's been a while now.

Speaker 1 (58:38):
They lost him Monday afternoon game in the COVID year.

Speaker 2 (58:42):
Don't count. Don't count.

Speaker 1 (58:43):
I know it doesn't count, but I'm saying I was
looking back at it. It was weird they moved a game
to like five o'clock that year was there was like
Tuesday games, Wednesday games. But yeah, thirty three straight.

Speaker 2 (58:53):
Do the Texan strengths take advantage of what Pittsburgh stinks at,
Like he'll get rid of the ball fast, he's not looking,
and he might throw a lot of pass attempts, but
it's not like he's running around back. There is there
a little upset potential here. Now I'm gonna I'm rooting
for the Texans here. I'm gonna take the Texans minus three.
But I could see where this thing is a little

(59:13):
close at halftime. You know, we talked about the voodoo,
the magic in Pittsburgh. Hell, we just saw it bounce
off like three guys bounced off guy's chess. I mean, hell,
even the touchdown for Rogers, I mean the dB slips
all down. Now, in fairness, that was happening to Baltimore too,
then blowing coverages, but that whole thing just got wacky

(59:35):
for both guys. You know, if they lose this game,
is Tomlin next? I mean, are we does Hardball get
fired on a Tuesday? Does Tomlin get fired or slash
traded or go to TV next week? Who knows? I
you know, I could see Pittsburgh putting up a little
fight here. But I do think if the Texans offense
just shows up, I don't know, it's gonna be tough match,

(59:57):
especially because the dB play, I mean, you Lassiter and
Stingley you know, can neutralize. I mean those guys can play.

Speaker 1 (01:00:03):
So Last has to play. I believe they just held
him out for precautionary reasons last week. So he's been
dealing with an injury. I'm assuming he'll let go, like
not d MP or limited practice in full on Friday
and play. Uh the drop off to treymont Smith, I
think is it's a crater if he's in there. Yeah,
it's hard for me. Like Petrie will be huge in

(01:00:24):
this game, defending a lot of what the Steelers want
to do. They might miss Darnel Washington here. You gotta
remember the Steeers offense wasn't doing anything against the Ravens,
who can't get any pressure until Kyle Hamilton might be
like the most valuable defensive play in the league he
went out. They average like three point five yards before
Hamilton went out and then six point eight after. I

(01:00:45):
mean he's basically like an all playing like an All
Pro linebacker. He does everything for them.

Speaker 2 (01:00:51):
When you put Petrie kind of in that world, I
mean he's a pretty unique place.

Speaker 1 (01:00:54):
Yeah, he can because he can defend the run.

Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
He'st I love that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:59):
Yeah, I love him. They really missed him last year
when he went down. But yeah, I mean, like this
is historically Dome teams, these indoor teams that go on
the road in the playoffs when it's under thirty degrees.
I think they're like one in fourteen their last fifteen games.
They don't do well, and now you go.

Speaker 2 (01:01:18):
To Texans had to account for a lot of those right,
for a lot of those JJ watt shob teams. They
would win at home and then the second round would
go on the road to New England, go on the
road to whoever and lose.

Speaker 1 (01:01:29):
Yep. So yeah, how did the Texans handle that? The
Steels are gonna blitz a ton I assume, and Stroud's
been very poor against the blitz Ken, their offensive line
hold up, Rodgers been bad against pressure. I assume it's
gonna be a lot of quick passes, a lot of game. Well,
the totals thirty nine and a half, so like this,
this spread was three and a half. I think it
made sense. I wish I took some three and a

(01:01:51):
half to clear out the three and hals in which
would be a low scoring game. Probably comes down to
like a fluky player too, could see the Steelers winning.

Speaker 2 (01:02:00):
How about the one Roger scramble where he kind of
found himself a no man's land. I was stopped. It's like,
what was that?

Speaker 1 (01:02:07):
That was hilarious? So if I had to, I take
the points, but would have preferred three and a half.
I'm still gotta dig into that some more on on
Monday night. By the way, if I had a quick question,
I always I don't think i've askeding before. If you
had to pick, if you were if I you were kidnapped,
and you were held in a TV less prison and
they allowed they allowed you to leave for one weekend

(01:02:30):
of the NFL playoffs, would you choose wild Card weekend,
Divisional round or conference championships.

Speaker 2 (01:02:42):
I'd probably choose the second round because you get more games.
So I get Saturday and Sunday, so I get a
couple of days of life. It feels like by then
you got the best teams, kind of get rid of
the riff raft.

Speaker 1 (01:02:55):
This we don't have like Panthers Rams game.

Speaker 2 (01:02:57):
Yeah, so I'd probably choose Now you get a little
more inventory, you know. Do I get three days away
from my captures, you know, like a Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
So I mean, but I would probably choose the second round.

Speaker 1 (01:03:09):
Yeah, I think in that scenario.

Speaker 2 (01:03:14):
So let's let's get out of here on college football
like we did with the Super Bowl, you know, I mean,
now we're at fourteen. I think it's fair to say
all four teams could win the national championship. Ole Miss
pretty heavy underdog relative to the other two. Indiana heavy
favorite right now, like plus one twenty to win the Natty.
I do think Miami. I mean, I will get into this.
I like Miami a lot in this game, and I

(01:03:38):
just think they're, you know, to get them three to
one to win the Natty where the Natty is gonna
be at home if they which is a pretty pretty
cool for them. I mean it's you know, Indiana's had
the turnout they've had in these games rightfully, so at
Ohio State or and the Rose Bowl. It just feels
like these Indiana home games that would be the first

(01:03:59):
time where it's like this. That Miami thing would be
pretty special. Uh, Mario the offensive line. I also think
Oregon and I was telling Coward this. You know a
lot of Dan Lannings things like his whole mantra and
his pregame speeches. They're favored in a lot of these games,
so he's having to like manipulate them a little bit.

(01:04:19):
And I think he's learned this from Saban and Kirby.
Now he's like a legitimate underdog, Like I don't think
you're gonna meet many people that aren't, Like, yeah, I
think Indiana's gonna Most people pick in Indiana or win
the national championship, and they are legitimately an underdog on paper.
I would just imagine most people are not picking Oregon.
Did he You know the thing with Saban and Kirby,
they didn't get to be the dog a lot of times,

(01:04:39):
but when they did, they could go into fucking rare form.

Speaker 1 (01:04:42):
And against a team that beat you on your home field.

Speaker 2 (01:04:45):
Yeah, so they've played. I saw their linebacker being interviewed yesterday.
He's like, you know, coming off that Penn State game,
we might have had a little bit of just overlooked them.

Speaker 1 (01:04:53):
Uh. I wouldn't either, because then you say nothing to
say you have all that advantage in house. I wouldn't
have said anything.

Speaker 2 (01:05:05):
Yeah, I would just this game, you know. To me, Miami,
he's just a tough violence raw raw. We're gonna kick
ass ole miss. I don't even know Pete's thing, but
those two guys, Sig and Dan are classic, like use
every different angle, create a story chip on her shoulder.
I do think Oregon it's just everyone's overlooking him, and

(01:05:26):
obviously Indiana is. I mean the two game stretch he's
had the greatest two game stretch in the history of
the program. The beat Ohio State to win the conference
and then they it felt like they ended Alabama, who
feel like they're kind of in champbs right now struggling
to get transfer portal guys. But that's a whole nother Uh.
Ty Simpson just left, But I think they want to
go with the five Stars, So it's not even Ty
Simpson wasn't coming back right to be their starting quarterback,

(01:05:47):
so it's not even that weird it depending where he went.
I just I think Miami and Oregon would be interesting.
I'm not counting out Oregon in this spot. So just
to win an astal can all four teams win the
national championship.

Speaker 1 (01:06:00):
Yeah, I think so they like there's it's hard to
it's hard to really price and quantify the of like
what's old miss right now, like they have more, got
more guys in the staff aren't gonna be on with them,
Like what what does that do and how much of
an impact We We've never seen anything like this, so
there's no precedent. Like it's pretty crazy. So does does

(01:06:25):
that hurt over time? I don't know. But this Trinidad Chambliss,
I mean that's second half against Georgia, it looked like
prim Lamar looks like it was insane the way that
he's playing like, and that's gonna that's critical. He's like unsackable, unpressurable,
and that's what you need to do against Miami because
Baine and messidor just wrecking him, saying as a statue,

(01:06:47):
so he he just creates plays and buys time. That's
gonna be huge against Miami. Mario versus Joe Judge clock management,
So whoever's up with a minute ago is probably gonna lose.

Speaker 2 (01:06:58):
But the thing is they ran the ball. Obviously, Lacey
is a really good player. I was reading that. You know,
Miami is a top five run defense, but really like
the way they're playing right now, there's probably no one
better like in the country. You know, when you factor
in how they've really brought it the last couple of weeks,
if they could run the ball and got some big
spots against Georgia, who clearly, and you've been hammering, this

(01:07:19):
is not built like Miami right now. Their defensive line
doesn't look like that. This is a different level. And
so part of Trinidad, who like you said, was awesome
that game was theater. They didn't get any more entertaining
than that. Is he gonna be able to do that?
Like you're like, well you just did it against Georgia.
Well that ain't the Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith Georgia. That's
a little bit different. And I think that's why Kirby

(01:07:39):
wasn't that mad after. It's not like he thought he
just lost with his best team. He knows pretty fought well.
This Miami thing like that front that defense in general.
I do think if they can't run the ball, and
I do think it's gonna be difficult. I kind of
like I did a little alt.

Speaker 1 (01:07:55):
Lines, Mom's gonna be able to run the ball here?

Speaker 2 (01:07:57):
I don't think. I think it's possible. Miami was this
game like ten plus points and you can get plus
odds if you get like minus six and a half,
because right now it's at three and a half. But
you gotta lay some juice on Miami if you go
up to a round of touchdown. Like I kind of
I think Miami has a chance to just kind of
physically overwhelm these guys because I don't think old Missus
really felt that because the SEC physically wasn't an overwhelming conference,

(01:08:19):
which is weird to say this season.

Speaker 1 (01:08:22):
Yep, no, you're You're right, it's gonna come down the chandelists.
Kenny Ken, what kind of plays can he make? An
extending plays against that Miami front. I also kind of
like the over here. I know Miami's played under games,
but Ole miss is gonna pump up the tempo, try
to wear down that defensive line. We saw them get
kind of worn down against Ohio State when Ohio State
went to the two minutes dral. Other than that State,

(01:08:42):
it's a snail. But I think they're gonna they're gonna
use tempo air and then you're gonna see this Miami
offense I think need to do more and they should
be able to. They're gonna be able to run the
ball on this Ole Misty. They're probably gonna hit more
explosive plays. This is also on a track in Glendale
that the field conditions are very slippery and the games
will always go over here. So I kind of like
you over I think it's gonna be an exciting game,

(01:09:05):
almost special teams don't sleep on them. By the way,
that Carnero, that kicker, he's incredible. But yeah, Miami would,
and it would be an amazing story if they got the
nationalital in Miami after all the controversy of them getting in,
and then they could play Oregon, who's like bouncing all
around the country. They're playing in Atlanta, and they could
end up having to go to Miami for the national

(01:09:27):
title to play Miami. I don't think that Oregon doesn't
have a chance, but I do think Indiana is going
to win. But I need three to bet it. I
need three, like a flat three. I make it like four,
a little over four. Well, how does Indiana keep doing this?
I mean one of the if you go back to
that original Oregon game and I watched it again the

(01:09:48):
other day, it was they just beat him up the
line of scrimmage. And one of the main differences between
these rosters and is Oregon is very young, Like they
have more talent, more blue chips, but they're very young.
This year, this is supposed to be kind of a
rebuilding year for Oregon.

Speaker 2 (01:10:01):
Twenty four touchdowns by true freshman like an NCAA recorded
or led the country insane.

Speaker 1 (01:10:06):
Yeah, they lost a ton of draft picks, rebuilt their
their their lines, and Indiana is like a team of
all like twenty four year olds. So and that showed
in the first meeting. They pressured more on twenty of
his forty dropbacks, sacked him I think five or six times.
He was under fire the entire game. Indiana was able
to run the ball, Oregon wasn't. And then Indiana was

(01:10:28):
able to get pressure. Oregon wasn't consistently. So that was
the difference. And then Indiana just wins games with execution.
They are the most this team, and part of that
is the veteran nature and the coaching staff and Signetty's incredible.
But like, here's where the game could be decided. Third
down defense Indiana twenty nine percent. That's fourth in the country.
Oregon's fortieth. Third down offense Indiana fifty five percent, best

(01:10:52):
in the country by far. That fifty five percent is illegally.
You've probably seen that five times over the past ten years.
Oregon forty three percent. Still go to twenty eight. How
about giveaways, they don't turn it over point six per game,
that's fourth Oregon very good. Point six, but twenty eight
penalties per game Indiana three point four, that's third in
the country. Oregon five point two thirty third, So Oregon's
very good in all those little things, but Indiana's elite.

(01:11:14):
Like they don't turn over, they don't they don't commit penalties,
they don't let you convert on third downs, and they
convert on third downs because and their average su distance
to go on third downs the lowest in the nation.
Because they're able to run the ball, and they should
be able to run the ball a bit on Oregon here,
but I'm not laying three and a half. I think
it'll be a competitive game. The biggest X factor in

(01:11:35):
this game, and especially as an underdog, there's something about
coaches named Dan degenerate, Dan Lanning. You know, he's going
to go for it a bunch of the fourth, which
he should as an underdog. And there's I mean, he
played he went forward seven times I think against Texas Tech, I.

Speaker 2 (01:11:50):
Think less early. You know their defense was good. Agreed,
you could win this game Dan, like nine to three.
What are you doing once you go off two possessions
in that game?

Speaker 1 (01:11:59):
It was over? Yeah, I disagree with them. That's his
nature though, and like that's kind of his identity, similar
to Dan Campbell, so you know, but I think that's
that works in his favor here. When you're an underdog. Yeah,
so that that's gonna There's gonna be a couple of
swing plays there on fourth downs that could end up
deciding this game. Uh. I like Indiana the win, but

(01:12:20):
I wouldn't be completely shocked if Oregon one. I think
both both are gonna be good games.

Speaker 2 (01:12:23):
Indiana wins. They'd obviously be favored against Old.

Speaker 1 (01:12:26):
Miss seven seven seven and a half of roll Miss.

Speaker 2 (01:12:29):
What's the line against Miami?

Speaker 1 (01:12:31):
Uh? I would say probably, I'm gonna say three and
a half.

Speaker 2 (01:12:41):
The thing would be is like Miami and Indiana kind
of similar. Like like you said, Indiana dominates the line
of scrimmage. And I didn't realize the kid that broke
his leg high five in the fan was a transfer
portal guy from the.

Speaker 1 (01:12:55):
Mac from Kennas State.

Speaker 2 (01:12:57):
They had turned him into like led the league or
led the cun in TfL. So I was like, they
are finding guys. It'd be one thing. It's like when
you know you get quinch On Jenkins from Ole Miss,
he's been the SEC freshman the year and finding transfer
portals like that. It's another thing to find Chambliss from
Farris State or a dude from Kent State Like that's
high level transfer portal personnel work. That's badass. I respect

(01:13:21):
Indiana because they're transferred, even Mendoza and I get his
brothers on the team. Like it's not like he was
coming from USC, He's coming from Cow. Well did they
even have it they go to Bowl game the previous year.
I don't think they did.

Speaker 1 (01:13:31):
No. Now that Signetti is like famous for this and
like grind state and finds these chants or forty nine ers.
The year before, they they plucked CJ. West from Kent
State who turned into a stud and got drafted.

Speaker 2 (01:13:47):
Oh he's a portal guy too.

Speaker 1 (01:13:48):
God Yeah, from Kent State, and yeah this there they
might they didn't miss him last week. But like they're
blitz they're blitz packages and pressure packages are amazing. They
had or I'm curious see the Oregon adjustments because they
they could not block Indiana. Their their third down blitz
packages in Indiana some of the best in the country. Now,
obviously Oregan's gonna have a counter to that, but you

(01:14:09):
would also expect Indiana to not do some of the
same things. So I can't wait for that chess match.
But yeah, Signetti finds just incredible gems in the portal. Actually,
I think I think Indiana, Like if Indiana dominates again,
they might be depends how dominant these teams are, but
it might be like four and a half over Miami,
seven and a half overall miss But obviously that could change.

(01:14:30):
I think that's like what it would be today. But
if one of these teams looks really good, then that'll
change injuries as well.

Speaker 2 (01:14:38):
Would it be the craziest thing we've ever seen? You know?
I don't you know, I know when Jim Valvano jumped
up and down in NC State, like back in the eighties.
But I mean I was born eighty four. It doesn't
feel like we've had now. It's a little different. I mean,
he's spending a lot of money, right, I mean he
is buying these guys the transfer portal. You wouldn't even
had access to the Kent State guys, right because you

(01:15:00):
couldn't transfer to have to sit out. So it's it's
not an apples to apples comparison. It's more realistic, like
what he's doing now, you're more capable to do that
with the rules. But still, even with the rules, no
one in a million years, Even last year, I thought like, ah,
great year. It's like they'll come back to earth a
little bit and they are clearly dramatically better, just in

(01:15:23):
terms of like unfazed by the bright lights. I mean
that game against Bama was like Jesus, I get Bama's
not great, but that was that looked like a SABAN
team would do to a team that didn't belong to
be there. That's what happened to them last year against
Notre Dame. It's like you don't belong to be here.

Speaker 1 (01:15:38):
Yeah, I mean an album quit that game. I mean
back to say, held to Alabama in Ohio State with
all those receivers, the thirteen total combined points.

Speaker 2 (01:15:46):
I can't quarterbacks really good and you got the number one.
That's the other thing. They have the number one pick,
a quarterback on a team that clearly is really good
with a bunch of I text an NFL buddy, I'm like,
how many high end guys like they don't have too
many high end guys like they're they're left tackle. That's
the you know, he's I think a lot of people
view him as a future guard, but he's an NFL player.
But it's not. No one's viewing him like Trey Williams

(01:16:06):
or something right. So they got a lot of guys
like that, you know, sarat really good college player. He's
not gonna go He's not gonna be like a top
ten pick. He's not my league neighbors.

Speaker 1 (01:16:16):
Yea, Camarons. A lot of these guys will get drafted,
but they're not like top ten picks.

Speaker 2 (01:16:20):
Yeah, they're just full of guys that are gonna go
from like pick one hundred to two hundred. Beside the quarterback.
But if you're well coached, you're tough. They're just I mean,
they're beating teams with technically more talent on the roster
than them from a recruiting standpoint.

Speaker 1 (01:16:33):
Yeah, they're just out executing everyone and they're they're grown men.
It's pretty Yeah, I can't think of a parallel. Like
like six said, it would be a hell of a
movie for a coaching job like this and then for
this team to come out of nowhere and now be
the favorite doing the national title Indiana Indiana football. But
this Oregon winning would be the least surprising thing as

(01:16:54):
far as like how you look at college football, even
though they're an underdog in a semi because the other
options are Miammy wins it, who like no one thought
they were going to make it the collegeble play. They
didn't even make the ACC Championship. Oh Miss wins it
after Lane Kiffin left with a skeleton staff. Or Indiana
football wins the national title like crazy, like Oregon would

(01:17:14):
be the most normal outcome.

Speaker 2 (01:17:16):
If you didn't know much about college football, though, and
you just watched Miami the last couple of weeks, you'd
be like, they feel like an NFL team.

Speaker 1 (01:17:22):
Yes, the one thing that could hold him back that
I need to see and he'll need to be He'll
need to do more in this game because they're not
going to hold all Miss to nothing. Is Carson back
in a big game, Like, I mean he's only thrown
for like two hundred and twenty or't he doesn't had to.
They just run it and their defense dominated. But Beck
is going to have to not make mistakes in critical games,

(01:17:43):
which he has.

Speaker 2 (01:17:44):
Been their second best wide receiver beside the true freshman Daniels.

Speaker 1 (01:17:48):
But I mean he's not great, Like their passing attack
isn't great. They just want to they want to run it,
play defense, and they want to get the ball to
Tony as much in many creative ways as possible, but
Beck is gonna there's gonna be a moment where Beck's
gonna have to make some throws. That's that's my biggest
question for Miami. Uh but I think we got we

(01:18:09):
got two good semifinalss with tons of storylines like the
old Miss is just it's a crazy Can you imaginef
Ole Miss went the national title without Lane and then
Lane never wins a national title again in his career?
Like that is.

Speaker 2 (01:18:24):
I want to chance. I mean, Lane's no lock to
just be in the final four the next couple of hours,
right far from it. How about this, I'll get you
out here on this. Obviously, you know there's a fluid

(01:18:45):
story the Washington quarterback that he's probably headed to l
s U and they're gonna get sued. It is classic Lane.
I don't blame him for doing it. There are no rules. Uh,
but that is At first, I'm like, god, this is
a crazy story. You signed this four million dollar and
then of course it's yeah, he's gonna go to Lane.
I'm like, oh my god, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:19:06):
It's messy. I mean college basketball, that's a whole other
story with like NBA guys now playing on college teams.

Speaker 2 (01:19:13):
Did you watch the Baylor kid?

Speaker 1 (01:19:15):
Uh? Yeah, look he looked Okay, I mean it wasn't.
I don't think it's like gonna. He's not changing.

Speaker 2 (01:19:24):
Brand.

Speaker 1 (01:19:27):
But yeah, like how now with lawsuits like this is
just a new world. But what what what ends up?
Of course Lane is in the middle of it. What
ends up? And we have like Sam Levitt who was
now I think it's gonna he was supposed to come
potentially Kentucky, but I think he's now gonna go to
Alabama or where LSU because Simpson's going to be the NFL.

(01:19:51):
But what so what like now they're suing him, Like
say you sue for him to stay, But then what's
that situation? You wanted to go make more money and
then you have a quarterback who doesn't, who's hate is
mad at you, And how that's gonna to me?

Speaker 2 (01:20:10):
What you have to do because where you're angry, it's
like even if you were gonna leave, if we would
have known we had some big time money to buy
someone sweet and we didn't get to play that game
because we just assumed, I don't know, a week ago
signed the contract. You got to be the people that
blow this up. And you sue it, and you make
it so ugly that you get to the point where

(01:20:32):
he doesn't get to play for L s U and
he screwed And like that to me is now the
mindset because like you said, what what are you gonna do?
Sue him? So he comes back like he's already kind
of moved on. You know, it's it's an ugly but
I think you sue, and I think a lot of
people are kind of gonna root for this to blow
this situation up, because if you were on well if

(01:20:55):
we sign a four million dollar contract with the Volume
or Action Network and then like a week later we're's like, yeah,
we're doing this other thing, and just like you get sued.
That's how the real world works. There's once you get
to a certain number in life with business, like people
come after you and you know in college like well
they're just kids, like those days feel a little over
and this feels is ruthless. Like this guy just signed

(01:21:16):
the contract a weekly he's like, I'm coming back and
then he just clearly laying they offered more. Who knows
whatever the odor.

Speaker 1 (01:21:23):
I think it's two million more as the rumor.

Speaker 2 (01:21:26):
So I I think that that that that can't that's
not the way that you know. It's one thing like
a guy commits in the NFL during that tampering period,
but he hasn't signed anything. And remember Emmanuel Sanders like
backed out. Yeah, but no one signs their contract and
then a week later like, oh I signed with the Chiefs,
but now I'm gonna go play for the Cowboy. That's
not the way it works, because that's the way the
real world works when you sign the contract. And I

(01:21:49):
think this is the first time where it's like I
could see this thing. This is where the ending kind
of comes from the contract standpoint, because this guy's back
have I think the times a little uncomfortable, like do
you signed the contract? And you signed the contract, do
you want thing? Well, he's only paying them one hundred grand.
This is four million dollars right.

Speaker 1 (01:22:07):
Yeah, And as you said, it kept them out of
the quarterback game.

Speaker 2 (01:22:11):
Is he that good?

Speaker 1 (01:22:13):
He has potential? I mean, I mean you looked at
because I mean he can run, he can throw, but
like all the big games this year, shorter, Yeah, he's
he's his His size is is definitely the problem and
like in all the whenever he had a step up
against the better defenses. It wasn't pretty, but you might
be right that this might just be needed and a

(01:22:34):
necessary thing to fix, and they're they're eventually, it seems
like inevibly, there's just gonna have to be some kind
of scapegoat in a lawsuit and that ends up getting
screwed and and this might end up being like good
for the long term of the sport because it's just

(01:22:55):
like the Wild West right now, there's and there needs
to be oversight and or structure, and there's just no rules.
It's completely lawless, and the calendar needs to change. Look
at all these teams in the playoffs that had coaches
that were already took jobs elsewhere. You now have a
team in the college football semies without a head coach
who went to Arrival, and now some of their staff

(01:23:16):
is not staying on. I mean, it's a disaster.

Speaker 2 (01:23:21):
You can't have a guy. I have no problem. Let's
say you go to the draft college or the NFL
and I get drafted, like you know, in the sixth round,
even in the college football, and it's like, I want
to go back to school. I never played in the NFL.
I would be like, I can kind of get that
screwed up the kid that was drafted thirty first if
he wanted to immediately come back, but you can't just
go pro for several years and then come back. Yeah,

(01:23:43):
he played wem Bin Yama in the summer league. There's
like the pictures of him guarding. It's like, no, that's
that's like. That's where I do agree with the coaches,
like what are we doing? How did they even know
to contact this human being?

Speaker 1 (01:23:55):
It's insane. We're in the We're in the wild Western
College athletics. So yeah, it's gonna take some kind of
big moment to work lawsuit to fix it. So I
think you might be right.

Speaker 2 (01:24:06):
Okay, stuck. You will enjoy the week and enjoy the
baby and enjoy life, and I will talk to you.
We'll figure out a time talk next week. Not quite
your own schedule. Who knows. We had a contraction. Last night.
I was like, oh my god, but a buckle up.
It's good to happen soon, you.

Speaker 1 (01:24:19):
Know, Well good luck, but havn't sooner, brother, and I
will enjoy the football as well, maybe your last free weekend,
and I'll talk to you next week.

Speaker 2 (01:24:28):
See you.

Speaker 1 (01:24:29):
Cheers. The volume

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3 & Out - NFL & NFL and CFB Best Bets: NFL's Wildcard Weekend & College Football Playoff's Semi-Finals

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