I WANT YOUR FLEX - Wild Card Weekend Recap, Divisional Round Preview

It's Fox Sports Radio's official fantasy football podcast! Dan Beyer and Mike Harmon start with their reactions to a somewhat underwhelming NFL Wild Card Weekend that wound up featuring only one truly competitive game. Even so, the guys go through each and every matchup, breaking down what led to each outcome, and highlighting the best (and worst) performances of the weekend from each team. Later, the guys set the stage for this weekend's Divisional Round, previewing every matchup, and giving their picks/predictions for each.

Hosts: Dan Beyer, Mike Harmon

Producer: Ian Roddy

#fsrweekends #jss #douggottliebshow

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ladies and gentlemen.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
You want experience during your football season, well, buckle up,
sweet cheeks. We've got all the experience in the world.

Speaker 3 (00:12):
This is I want your flex with Dan Bayer and
Mike Harmon.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Mike and Dan break down everything you need to set
your lineups, from position rankings.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
To starts and sits.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
The guys help you make those hard decisions. And now
let's get your flexod. Here's Dan Bayer and Mike Harmon.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Wild Card weekend is in the books, and honestly it
was anything but wild. He is Mike Carmon hit him
up at Swollen Dome and also on Blue Sky at
Mike Harmon. You could find me on Blue Sky at
Dan Byer An on ex at Dan Byer on Fox.
And Ian Roddy is the executive producer. Remember he is
now on both the Blue Sky Ian Dash Roddy on
ex at Ian Roddy Underscore. All right, Mike, I said

(00:56):
there was no wild in the weekend? Was there any
good from this past week? One of these six games
that we had to start the NFL playoffs?

Speaker 3 (01:02):
Now, the sunder Night game gave us some thrills and chills,
some spills, and you know, some headshaking about clock management,
Baker mayfield ball security. But whenever we get to elevate
somebody to you know, that elite status, which is our
knee jerk reaction. Jayden Daniels has been crowned king of
a small nation, I think, after his latest heroics against

(01:25):
Tampa Bay. So that was the game that stands out.
Obviously a lot of thoughts where we operate from Los
Angeles with the Rams and Vikings on Monday Night, the
tributes to the firefighters, the LAFD wear right hats, and
the herculean effort by Kelly Stafford and the Rams brass.

(01:45):
They did a great job of getting a bunch of
fans out there for the game. So that was kind
of cool, But otherwise it kind of played deform. I guess.
The other was I enjoyed the SpongeBob telecast of Houston
Los Angeles. I thought there were a couple the calls
that might have changed that game early, but ultimately it
wasn't a game late as Houston rolls on, which might

(02:06):
have been, you know, other than the point spread of
picking upsets right, which we did in the the Rams
and Washington were both technically upsets. The fact that Houston
got off the mat and handled the Chargers as they
did was a bit of a shocker, but yeah, not
a lot of great play necessarily to make make you, you know, shake.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
Your head going wow, yeah Sunday. And I can only
do so much for that, and even for the great
ending that it was and the playmaking, I'm not sure
how great of a game it was, but it still,
you know, gave us something in the other five games
that we really didn't have much of.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
It was late and close. Dan, That's.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Yeah. Yes, I don't know if I am bursting the
bubble of the Commanders. I don't mean to do so,
but I am going to be fading everything Jayden Daniels
and Commanders in twenty twenty five because if we've learned
anything from these playoffs in this season, sometimes that sophomore
slump is a real thing. And we look at CJ.

(03:12):
Stroud and the great play that he had on Saturday
against the Chargers, but I'd say it was pretty rough
season for CJ. Stroud this year. Jordan Love didn't take
off like we thought last year that he would after
his playoff appearances against the Niners in the in the Cowboys,
so commanders enjoy it. Now. I don't think they're gonna

(03:34):
farewell against the Lions, but couldn't surprise me again, But
I am fading all commanders in twenty twenty five. But
until that starts, Washington can enjoy it all.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
Yeah, I think there's something to be said for that. Obviously,
Dan and Quinn enjoying this season a lot, because remember
he was the guy that gave up the perfect hundred
and fifty eight to Jordan Love.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yeah, last right again boys DC, and all of a
sudden he leaves down.

Speaker 3 (03:59):
Mike McCarthy no longer has a job after this season.
But we'll get to the coaching stuff in a minute.
But yeah, Washington, it's also a year of living dangerously.
Everything that could bounce right literally and figuratively did, going
all the way back to the Bears and the Hail
Mary that was thrown short tip, pat tip, drill touchdown

(04:20):
and their season catapults from there, all these you know,
last possession wins that I alluded to. That's five straight right,
the year of living right. Terry mclaurin's a beast, And
we thought coming into the year as we opened the
podcast that personnel wise that they were better off than
I think many expected. Now other than McLaurin, did you

(04:41):
really have a week to week fantasy hero? No bits
and pieces? Right, Daniels ends up as your team's leading
rusher and it has himself a fine fantasy season because
he's on the strength of nearly nine hundred rushing yards
to go with his passing acumen. But yeah, I mean,
we watched Houston through the year, even add Joe Mixon,

(05:02):
very uneven injuries come and get you. Offensive line play gotcha,
c J Stroud at times getting the same curse we
saw with Caleb Williams and others, like you're holding onto
the football. Hell, that was the tale of Sam Donald
against a four man rush. Eight of nine sacks on
Monday night were only a four man rush.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
Ouch. That is not good.

Speaker 3 (05:23):
So telling you where their line was, Darrisol'll be back
next year. Sam Donald's got to lose the mustache. I
think it was really the mustache that did him in.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
Well, I look, I will also say this is not
the foreshadow too much, because we will look ahead at
the end of the podcast. I think gets it's that
what's going to be such a factor against the Eagles?
Can the Rams be able to do that. It's one
thing to do it against the Vikings offensive line. That
would be another to do it against the Philadelphia Eagles.
So but we shall see. Yeah, that will be later.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
Out of the Pod, Lions nine and a half point
favorites against the Commanders for the coming week as well.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
Yeah, that's hey. Again, enjoy it not while you can,
because that doesn't that makes it sound like it's going
to end this week. But enjoy it while it's going on.
And maybe it will go to the NFC Championship game.
Maybe it will go to that point for Washington. Maybe
they pull the upset and shock the world and they
make it to the conference title game. But I just

(06:20):
I'm not high on it for twenty twenty five. I
will say this. In watching the Texans and the Chargers,
we talked about the Chargers and quite the debate came
up over the weekend of quarterbacks and does Justin Herbert
get the criticism that other quarterbacks would have if they
have the performance. I'll just say this from the Texans
side of things, there was a if their offensive line

(06:44):
could play up to what we thought they'd played last year.
We know about the embarrassment of Riches really offensively because
you mentioned Joe Mixon. But in playoff time, if you
get a running back and you get a wide receiver
and you we have a quarterback and in these one
game scenarios, Mike, I'm not saying they're going to go

(07:05):
to Kansas City and beat the Chiefs. It's going to
be very difficult. But for all that they've went through
with Tank Dall, with Stefan Diggs, with the poor line play,
they still have Nico Collins and they still do have
Jill Mixon, so at least they have a puncher's chance. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:17):
I mean the other thing they have is a defense
that'll get at you, right, Daniil Hunter. Yeah, Vikings could
have really used him on Monday night in their game.
Looking at Will Anderson and what he's translated to. That
defensive front can get after it. Now, does it necessarily
take Mahomes out? No, But I'm ready to watch at work, right,

(07:39):
We're ready to see what they did because they did
a great job against a Chargers offensive line. We talk
about the tackles a lot. The interior offensive line was
bad all year long, and they exploited that right coming
straight up the gut bull rush so Herbert in terms
of trying to get his feet under him and to
be able to make the plays downfield, he had Maconkey

(08:01):
and that was it. So like the obvious glaring issue
for the Chargers going forward. But for the Texans, I
don't know. They came into the year. Look I faded him.
I had them as a team missing the playoffs because
I thought the division would rise up, and quite clearly
they all failed spectacularly. Right, So you win ten games

(08:22):
and you're just like, how good are they? I don't know,
but for one day looked pretty good and that defense
is enough maybe to hang your hat on. So yeah, CJ. Stroud,
the opportunities there, as you say, you've got mixing, and
I think Nicocollins once upon a time considered a bit
of a fluke. All right, this won't work. Still getting
them the ball, still making spectacular plays, and look at

(08:45):
the receiving corps around him. Man, hell they had to
activate Deontae Johnson.

Speaker 1 (08:50):
Yes, right, I was like eighty two.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
Wait, you know all it's left. A bunch of them
are on IR but they get to keep their jersey numbers.
Oh yeah, just crazy. I mean, Dalton Schultz, was you know,
basically a non factor. So yeah, to be able to
rise up and have the game they did. Again, I
brought up, you know, the two players that you know,

(09:15):
not that we're gonna do deep dives. I mean that's
long in the rear view and you know, reu reuh.
I don't know. Adjudicating all of this is silly. I
thought they got away with one. We're stroud it was.
To me still an intentional grounding should have been a safety.
Instead they get to keep the possession, keep going. Yeah,

(09:39):
and then you know there's no consistency on rulings of
catches or interceptions and whether the ground helps or not.
That seems to be a very huge sliding scale. Go
back to the Arizona Rams game a couple of weeks ago.
Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't, but we treat them differently,
like the Derwin James. Was that an interception? So times

(10:00):
it seems like it gets held up, sometimes it's overturned.
It's like, I want to know how much how much
of the ball do I have to have, you know,
and which guys in the booth reviewing it. I got
to make Charlie, make sure Charlie's on the job. So
I'm going to get the reversal.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
The the It's one thing to have the refereeing crew,
it's a whole Now another thing of like, all right,
who what kind of mood? Whoever's looking at the stuff
in New York is sort of thing. And if you're
bouncing from one game, you know, it can be a
complete mess. I'll say this about the tackles sort of thing.
With all the technology we have, how do you not

(10:38):
just put if it's if it's significant enough, because let's
be honest, those plays are worth yardage. Why can't you
just put imaginary lines outside the tackles? Yeah, and use
it like an a lot of scrimmage sort of thing. If
there's a part of the body that's outside the tackle box,
you know, perfect or however you want to rule it.

(10:59):
But to your point, Mike, of being just subjective to
all right, this crew is going to say that he
got out of the pocket. This crew is going to
say he didn't get out of the pocket. This crew's
gonna say it's a funnel. It's not a fumble with
at least if you're scrabbling and you're throwing it and
you're trying to get outside the tackle box. That is
something with technology that they should be able to figure out.
And I know it may may not be fair to

(11:20):
maybe getting two down to too much down to the details,
but it would be something that would at least be
able to be corrected.

Speaker 3 (11:27):
Yeah, the letter and spirit of the law of some
of these things, like the stafford, was it intentional grounding?
Was it? Was it an incomplete pass?

Speaker 1 (11:37):
Right?

Speaker 3 (11:37):
As he's getting pulled in the ground because Kyron Williams
and Pukin Takua run into each other, they're technically near,
but there's no a tent. Shouldn't there have to be
an attempt on catching the football?

Speaker 1 (11:50):
I'll tell you what this you know this is. This
is something that I had learned in my in my
years of playing golf. It's not to not to bring
up golf foro you guys, but it's the fact of
the rules of golf are so stringent. But the rules
of golf aren't necessarily always there to penalize you. They
are there to help you as well in figuring out

(12:13):
a way of All Right, if I know the rule,
then I can use it to my advantage. And in
that case, I don't think that there's I totally agree
with the staff. There's no intent. There was no way
that that was going to be a completed pass. But
he did use the rule to his advantage and was
able to take a touchdown off the board, incomplete passed,

(12:35):
no intentional grounding the whole bit.

Speaker 3 (12:37):
Oh it's brilliant. Yeah, no, absolutely, Look I don't I'm
never going to fall to good strategy here, Dan, sure,
one hundred percent, And I think using the golf analogy
is one hundred percent dead on here. He knew exactly
what he was doing and immediately went to the referee
to make his argument of Hey, I got two guys
that are eligible, you know, four feet away or whatever

(12:59):
it is. They're both both of their backs are to me,
and they're not looking anywhere near where I'm quote unquote
throwing this pass. But hey, letter spirit of the law,
use it to your advantage, take a touchdown off the board.
And how huge would that have been in that moment?
Normal Minnesota, with everything that had gone on early, great

(13:22):
opening drive from the Rams. Then they come back and
they tack on a field goal. You know, you stop
the bleeding, you get a big play here. Nope, not
so fast. Much like the Chargers. Right, there was a
chance there, while you're up and still in the game
that this becomes a huge Instead it's sitting Nah, close enough,
he's outside the box.

Speaker 1 (13:43):
Yeah, I'm going to say this about the Rams Vikings
as well. Like I look at the Vikings and I
think about if I'm a Vikings fan, I mean, two
weeks ago, you're sitting there saying we could be the
number one seed and we could have a first round
by and now your season's over, like what a great
season it was, and it's just over, just like that.

(14:05):
And we've talked about playoff seating in the whole deal.
Here's why I can't Here's why I can't be be
mad at the situation because the Vikings lost four times
this year, and all four of their losses are to
the Lions and the Rams, and they both happened in
back to back weeks. And so that tells me that

(14:26):
the Vikings aren't better than the Lions and they aren't
better than the Rams, And so I can't feel bad
because they didn't get to play an extra weekend because
by my reasoning, they wouldn't be able to play in
the championship weekend because they aren't as good as Detroit
and they aren't as good as the Rams in that scenario.
So for as great of a season as Minnesota has had,

(14:49):
and I feel like it's, you know, two weeks ago
as they said, you're thinking, man, this could really be
a special season, and now it's over. I just can't
feel bad because the best of the best in the
end proved to be better than what Minnesota.

Speaker 3 (15:02):
Is in the end. I saw a number of our
guys charchy in right from Guillotine Leagues in front of
the podcast and ours for a long time, Dan, I've
known them in this fantasy industry, and a bunch of
other guys there in Minnesota. To a person coming out
going the loss to the Lions hurt so much more

(15:24):
and not even like compartmentalizing into what it would have
meant in terms of home field advantage or whatever, just
from a emotion that they were so invested in that battle,
right the division battle and everything else. And no matter
who you are, if you have you know, a heart
beating in your chest, I mean, no matter where you're from,

(15:45):
everything going on here in Los Angeles, you know, you're
just like, Okay, it sucks to lose to them, but
after the week they've all had. I mean Stafford had
two of his kids in the hospital. Yeah, I mean,
you just keep going on down the lines, all right,
it's not the same visceral response. Yeah, it sucks that
the season's over because this is the final one. But

(16:07):
the loss to Detroit and the way it happened, and
we talked about it last week, right, all those red
zone decisions early, uh, and just not being able to
make a play in those circumstances and then you see
the rams come out and just kind of bludging you defensively,
you know what Shula was able to do, and consistent

(16:28):
pressure and Donald you know, we started using the ghost
sounds on the show again. But get rid of the ball.
You got playmakers. If you can't trust them in a
one on one situation, just just quit.

Speaker 1 (16:44):
Man so tough. Yeah, it's so abrupt, and the Viking
stock and the Sam Donald stock is all just tanked
at in two weeks, just like that, out it goes.

Speaker 3 (16:58):
Yeah, just like that, all the good will, all the excitement,
and you know for a lot of these teams, right,
you know, the old house money. I don't believe how
in a house money like you're playing in the playoffs.
The I'm happy we got here doesn't work for me,
it really, it really doesn't. You know, we're ahead of
schedule and all that other crap, because you know what,
it takes a lot to get to that point and

(17:21):
there's no guarantee you're replicating that like we're talking about
with the Texans, right, It's like I bring up all
the time the Bengals fans, you know, leaving the Super
Bowl loss to the Rams a couple of years ago. Oh,
we're just getting started, Like no, everything has to go
your way, yeah, from health, winning close games, avoiding catastrophic

(17:43):
you know, last minute collapses, a guy dropping a ball,
something that gets ruled you know, funny by officials, like
all of that you know can come back and bite you.
So you know, Denver had a great run with Bonecks
evidently playing with three three broken bones in his back,
right like that report, So what does that mean right forward?

(18:04):
Like he got through it? Right, It's just crazy, but
you got through it this year. For the Steelers to
win as many games as you did, that was a
completely flawed squad. And then you went out and got
housed for the Packers. Do you have your guy I
don't know. Maybe you do. Maybe you don't like all
of this stuff. You know, the house money thing, forget it.

(18:25):
It's a bad argument for me.

Speaker 1 (18:26):
I'll tell you what. We're going to dive into the Packers,
plus there's some coaching news, and then we'll also look
ahead to the divisional playoffs as well. Ian you want
to get an in on any of this wild card
stuff before we take a time out.

Speaker 4 (18:38):
I just think the Sam Darnold conversation becomes really really
interesting this offseason because these two games were arguably the
two most important of his career and he fell flatten them.
So it's like, at the end of the day, how
important does the fourteen win season actually? You know, how
much weight does that actually end up holding when you're
you know, talking about extending in this offseason.

Speaker 1 (18:58):
Yeah, don't know. I think it's a I think it's
a really big deal. Really. I think the Vikings now
have an opportunity to just be like, you know what,
this is why we drafted JJ McCarthy, like we want
him to be our guy. We took him with the
first overall pick. I really think that these last couple
of weeks are enough for them to say, all right,

(19:20):
even if Sam Darnold is great, how high can he
take us? Did we see him at his absolute peak
this year? And if we did, were the other parts
of our team also peaking at that time which would
make it a complete max out, Maybe then JJ McCarthy
could take the team higher. I think this gives them
an enormous out and to be able to stick with

(19:42):
JJ McCarthy.

Speaker 3 (19:43):
What was funny is a few weeks ago on our
Sunday morning show, so do an hour with Andy Furman
and Bucky Brooks, and then Bucky and I chop it
up about anything and everything and just throw stuff against
the wall. We started talking about this very scenario right
before the line ins game whatever as it related to
Sam Darnold. And you know JJ McCarthy's had multiple surgeries

(20:05):
now right, They said they had to go in a
second time. And everybody's ahead of schedule until it's time
to play, right. Ah, he's recovering great, like until he
has to get on a field and play football. That
those are empty words, right, It's like, it's great. It's
it's a placebo effect to make fans and everybody happy.
He brought up the fact you've got Daniel Jones sitting

(20:28):
there and obviously he was elevated for the Monday game.
Wondering if Kevin O'Connell and his in his bag of
tricks doesn't think he can't coax the same Maybe not
thirty five and twelve, maybe not forty three hundred, but
you still have Hockinson who came back from injury, you
still have Addison, you still have Justin Jefferson that maybe
in that offensive Aaron Jones and whatever else you do

(20:50):
around there, Darrisaw comes back to your offensive line that
maybe you could coax decent numbers if you needed to
out of Daniel Jones, so you don't have to pay
Sam Donald.

Speaker 1 (21:01):
Interesting theory for sure, that would be because Donald is
going to get money from somewhere. But if you don't
have to pay it, and you can get Jones on
the cheap, it's the backup and still have JJ McCarthy
there to be your quarterback in the future.

Speaker 3 (21:14):
I thought it was just an interesting theory, right if
you don't think it's crazy cheap, so you don't have
to pay Donald, even the whatever the franchise tag would
be forty million, yeah or whatever, because I mean, some
team's going to come over the top, whether it's three
years seventy or eighty or what was Gino's three for
seventy five or something like that.

Speaker 1 (21:34):
Yeah, gosh, that's to look. I think it was about
thirty three.

Speaker 3 (21:38):
Let's say something like that. Say it's three three for
one hundred or three for eighty or ninety. Somebody's going
to do it because.

Speaker 1 (21:45):
They three for seventy five. Yep, you're right, right.

Speaker 3 (21:48):
I mean, you look at the quarterback position. There's not
a lot of guys we're trusting in the draft, and
even those that are projected to go, and we know
guys go early. There's varying reports of how much people
love or don't love war Sanders or go on down
the line, Tom a quarter or whoever the LS pops
onto the radar. And then the free agency market is
what go get Aaron Rodgers, Kirk Cousins or Russell Wilson.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
So yeah, that's that's about it.

Speaker 4 (22:17):
Yeah, justin fields there, maybe right field, but the point
a lot of inspiring options.

Speaker 1 (22:22):
Yeah, we're talking today on Monday on Cavino and Rich
and we're just throwing salaries out there for Russell Wilson,
and I just I don't see anybody giving him a
long term deal. No, I just I think it's another
one year sort of deal. And if you feel comfortable
enough with him, then then so be it.

Speaker 3 (22:40):
There's just such a dearth and void for quarterbacking, and
we do this all the time, right when we do
it for fantasy purposes, It's like you get to that
middle and you're like, all right, I can take any
one of these eight guys because I don't expect anything
from any of them. Anything beyond you know, one eighty
two hundred and a score would be huge. And the

(23:04):
back end of the quarterback class, I mean, come on,
it's it's a joke in terms of what starters are.
We got to our sixty I think by time the
year ended.

Speaker 1 (23:12):
It might have been it didn't top last year, but yeah,
it was close, Yeah for sure. Oh man, all right,
we'll take the we'll take the time out. I think
we had sixty seven last year, but that was right, Yeah,
that was the official number.

Speaker 3 (23:25):
All right, twenty twenty four. I gotta do this.

Speaker 1 (23:27):
I'll tell you what. You do it during the break
because we are way long on this. Yeah, so we'll
take a time out. He's Ian Roddy. That's Mike Carman.
I'm Dan Byer. It's I Want your Flex. Player of
the wild Card Weekend was blank and Disappointment of wild
Card Weekend was blank. We'll fill in those blanks plus
coaching news and how it affects Fantasy next year, and
I want your Flex. Welcome back to I Want your Flex.

(23:50):
He's Mike Harmon. I'm Dan Byer. That's Ian Roddy. I
gave you guys a bit of a quiz and it's okay.
There's cheating a lot. If you want. Player of Wildcard
Weekend was blank and disappointing Team of Wildcard Weekend was blank.
I'm just gonna go first, not that I want to
get my guys out there. The players that I think

(24:13):
Player of wild Card Weekend for me was actually CJ. Stroud,
just for the simple fact of the turnaround and for
the season that they had for him to play the
game that he did in a game where again Rex
Ryan was saying the Chargers were gonna have a buye.
We didn't really believe in the Texans. I don't think
they're going to go to Kansas City and win that game.
I hope they fare better than they did in Baltimore

(24:34):
last year in the Divisional playoff. But I'm going to
give it to CJ. Stroud and the disappointing team was
probably the disappointing team down the stretch as it was. No,
not the Pittsburgh Steelers. They didn't deserve to be longer.
Green Bay Packers to me to have that sort of
performance in what was a gettable game against Philadelphia. Jalen
Hurts still remains out of sorts coming back from the concussion.

(24:57):
Philadelphia didn't do anything great, didn't do anything spec tacular.
Green Bay was my disappointing team. My player of wild
Card weekend O CJ.

Speaker 3 (25:04):
Stroud Ian, what do you got? Uh?

Speaker 4 (25:06):
Yeah, I'll go with the player first. It's got to
be Derrick Henry for me. One hundred and eighty six
yards rushing and two scores. I think he really was
the missing piece for that Ravens offense. I don't know
if I can see anyone beating them right now. It's
it's yeah, they're a wagon. But most disappointing team gotta
be the Vikings, all right, Yeah, just because I had

(25:27):
such high hopes for them and Sam Darnold. I was
really rooting for him as a Jets fan, I was
kind of hoping for him to go out there and
do something, but no, again, as we alluded to last segment,
he really just came out there with not only this
week but last week, just two of the worst performances
he could have had in two of the biggest games
of his career. Thing and again it wasn't all on
Sam too. That's the thing that makes them the most

(25:48):
disappointing team is the fact that the whole team kind
of came up a little flat.

Speaker 3 (25:51):
So yeah, I was the curious curiosity of whether you'd
have a hangover effect from the Lions loss and then
the Rams. You know, as we alluded to a bit,
and Smith and I certainly talked about it on our
show as the game was going on, you had no
idea what the Rams coming out of the week that
they had right homes, personnel, like all of this trying

(26:16):
to rally in logistics. Not that going and moving the
game to Arizona for the team is necessarily that big deal,
right It's an hour road trip, but just trying to
compartmentalize football amongst the week I think was kind of
the interesting part. And you know, they showed up like
Champs the player of the week. I'll go with some

(26:38):
of the chalk and just you know, Jayden Daniels finds
a way only thirty six yards rushing, but two touchdown throws.
The throw to mcglaurin in the end zone was a
dart and the brown touchdown him rising up in a
big spot against the Buccaneers, who found a way to lose.

(26:58):
But I'm not going to make them my appointment because
I'm not shocked like I think if we were all
just saying I have to pick an upset this weekend
that the Buccaneers were unlike every other team to play
in this wildcard weekend. Guys, they were the only team
with a negative turnover differential.

Speaker 1 (27:16):
I think a lot of people liked the Commanders in
that spot just because I think they're a trending team, Mike.
But to your point, I don't know really how good
Tampa Bay was. The defense isn't the same difficult too
as well? You had actually a couple of games like
this this weekend green Man Philadelphia and Tampa Bay and

(27:38):
Washington rematches from Week one. Sure, and Washington did not
fare well in that game against Tampa, but Jaydon Daniels
stat wise did and it was kind of like, okay, well,
Tampa ended up dominating Washington's first game news regime, you know,
no big deal, but man, you see where those two
teams were, you know, from week one to now if

(28:00):
you will, And yeah, night and day, and I kind
of liked I liked the Commanders in that spot on
Sunday Night. I think a lot of other people did
as well.

Speaker 3 (28:08):
Yeah, I think the most disappointing I'm going to go back.
You had the CJ. Stroud as your player, right, rising
up in the moment, just the charger shrinking away, right,
opportunity to really put a hurting on him early, and
you settle for a couple of field goals, right, you
get a good drive field goal, you get the never

(28:28):
mind the dicker stupidity later on on the.

Speaker 1 (28:34):
That's just one of those that it adds insult.

Speaker 3 (28:37):
Result injury. But you get a turnover from Houston and
you had multiple turnovers. You did nothing with them. Your
offensive line, as we talked about, just absolutely blasted Alt
wasn't good. You had on the defensive side to where
Boso was so out of sorts and playing so miserably
in terms of containment and getting up field that you

(28:59):
actually and substitute for him as the game goes on.
I was, OK, I get kind of funny here at
times where you know you go and sync up. And
obviously we know a bunch of folks that work with
the Chargers. My executive producer Justin Frosberg doing the broadcast,
Matt Smith, who does you know the afternoon drive on

(29:22):
AM five to seventy LA Sports as listened to, and
Isaac Lohancrown doing their post and pregame show. I always
flip on their broadcast that you'll know within about fifteen
seconds where the game is going, and their sentiments about
how an individual player or group of players are playing,
and there was no hiding just their frustration would be

(29:45):
the kind word for the way the defensive front, for
the Charges we're playing, and the interior offensive line. You know,
Justin Herbert wears it because you have four interceptions and
he was bad. There's no mistaking that they were oftentimes
kind of like Sam Donald on Monday Night, I don't
think he had a chance, thank you.

Speaker 1 (30:06):
I agree with that all.

Speaker 3 (30:07):
Right, where it's you know, yeah, you got to get
rid of the ball. And I kept screaming for Donald,
get rid of the ball, find the read, get through
your progressions faster, or take out the backside and run.
You can't take another sack. And for Herbert, you know, yeah,
the Disley ball was terrible, you know, and agregious. You know,
should have been a catch, but you know, trying to

(30:29):
think you've got the arm strength to throw a gross
your body across the field entirely, it was just asinine.

Speaker 1 (30:38):
I'll say this. I did think Denver would give Buffalo
a challenge. And I know the final score is not indicative,
and I'm not going to go back on things that
I say before, like when people say yeah, so and
so on with Alabama. So yeah, Alabama wears you down.
This is the Nick Saban Alabama, not the Killing de
boor Alabama. But it was, yeah, maybe seventeen to three
at halftime and you think you have a chance, and

(30:59):
then the final score is four you one to three,
Like that's that's what playing Alabama is. And that may
have been the case with Buffalo, but Broncos hung in there.
I miss a field goal late, you know, it's a
three point game at a halftime, six point game. Early
in the third quarter. It just couldn't match that just
really couldn't hang with Buffalo, couldn't keep their offense on

(31:19):
the field and get their defense off the field. But
so as much as I like the Commanders, I also
did like Denver at least to give Buffalo a bit
of a bit of resistance, and they did for about
i'd say two and a half quarters.

Speaker 3 (31:32):
No I did eventually, you know, it's the boxer, it's whatever,
it's you know, you get the lean. We watched this
all the time, right where you can have time of
possession and you're hitting a bunch of body blows right
the Derrick Henry Saquon Barkley, whatever. When you've got a
runner like that. And James Cook did something that we
haven't seen a lot against Denver where you get that

(31:55):
kind of repetition to where eventually you get the lean
and your offensive line just beat you down. And that's
exactly what you got. All Right, there's Josh Allen over
eight carries, So there you go. Who's seven and a half.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
We'll do coaching news in the last segment and even
how it affects the fantasy. But since we're talking about
these matchups, the divisional matchups, we've got the schedule for
those of you that may have missed it, Texans Chiefs
start things out on Saturday afternoon. The Saturday night game
is Commanders at Lions, Rams at Eagles start things on Sunday,
and then the Ravens and Bills in the late window.

(32:31):
The obvious marquee game is that late AFC matchup. But Mike,
you take us where you want to go with these
four divisional playoff matchups.

Speaker 3 (32:40):
Now, First, from a television standpoint, Chiefs always early, Yes,
all right, I should say the Texans are always early,
the Chiefs. You know, I would have thought they'd have
the juice.

Speaker 1 (32:51):
You would think so. Last year they played in that
late window with Buffalo as well. But there's also an
advantage for going early because you had the week off
and then you get an extra day for championship weekend. Sure,
and if you're at home, it's even better because then
the other team has to travel. So I don't think
Kansas City minds playing that early game on Saturday because

(33:13):
they can get that extra day of rest.

Speaker 3 (33:14):
Yeah. Just from the it seems the Texans are forever.

Speaker 1 (33:19):
Forever Saturday afternoon.

Speaker 3 (33:20):
Yeah, that's it.

Speaker 1 (33:21):
But they make a Super Bowl agin We're going to
move at the Super Bowl Saturday.

Speaker 3 (33:24):
That's it.

Speaker 1 (33:24):
Florid glock Eastern.

Speaker 3 (33:25):
Set new precedent. Let's go, guys.

Speaker 4 (33:27):
Speaking of the Texans really quick. That was one more
player of the game that we can't not mention was
Derek Stingley with his two interceptions and five pass break.

Speaker 3 (33:35):
Go Stingley was great. Had to give it. Absolutely, got
to give a little love, no question about it. You know,
whenever we can highlight a defensive guy, because I mean
I was going to give a game ball to the
full Rams defensive front, but we already did that and
gave them their flowers. Try to all yeah, all right,
So we got Texans and Chiefs trying to pull up

(33:57):
all our spreads and everything as it were. Kansas City
seven and a half, Detroit's nine and a half over Washington,
Philly five and a half over the Rams. I saw
that one open at six and a half, so a
little bit of downward pressure already. And then the Ravens
are a one point favorite on the road at Buffalo

(34:17):
for that Sunday night tilt. In trying to find an
upset in this one, I'm I'm loath to I want
to pick against the lines just on principle because they're
the last team remaining for me from the NFC North.
But and you know, because everybody's jumped on board that bandwagon,

(34:37):
would be fun to see the Commander's up end and
all the great stories that flow out of there. Magic
Johnson is now your mouthpiece running around so he gets
to own a lot of real estate there. But I
don't know that I see a big, swinging upset out
of here.

Speaker 1 (34:55):
I'll say this, I look at the schedule and I
think the Lions are gonna Cinderella run of the Commanders.
It just fits to the script. They get a week off,
they get rest, and just physically, I don't think Washington
is going to be able to match up.

Speaker 3 (35:12):
Right, the Lions just come in and run over them.

Speaker 1 (35:15):
Yes, like that, they run over them. That's like how
I feel Saturday is going to go. And I mentioned
earlier Texans had a great game against the Chargers and
love ow CJ. Stroud played. I just don't think they're
going to beat the Chiefs. But on Sunday, I with
the Ravens being favored and the Rams doing what they've done,

(35:35):
I can see both of those teams winning and the
Jalen Hurts conversation is going to continue. The AJ Brown
book thing is, you know a conversation that somebody else
have had, and I just don't think everything is right
in Philadelphia, and I give the Rams the coaching edge.
I think you could see the two home teams win
on Saturday and the two road teams win on Sunday.

Speaker 3 (35:58):
With the Rams, the curiosity is, can you follow the
blueprint that you ran up on Darnold and company to
where the pass game is invisible? Because we obviously have
seen with the Eagles passing game struggles. The AJ Brown
book thing. Either laugh at it or you try to
read a little deeper into If it's not a twelve

(36:20):
point win and you're rolling around, everybody can chuckle after
a w but if suddenly something happens and Green Bay wins,
now it's magnified into a whole other issue. Forget about
the anytime touchdown gripes that people had with Saquon Barkley.
But if you can get pressure consistently against the Philadelphia

(36:41):
front and again their offensive line better than what the
Vikings were trotting out at this point, for sure, that
maybe hurts an extra week removed from the concussion and
everything else you can find, and Goddard back and fully healthy,
that maybe you find a little more in the pass game.
But yeah, I could see that one five and a

(37:01):
half seems like it's too large a number to me
for sure. Just with the Rams, can they score enough?

Speaker 1 (37:09):
Yeah? Right? And this is this is also a rematch.
That's when Saquan had two fifty five against the Rams.
The Rams got after Sam Donald, and they can get
after Sam Donald. But you mentioned the the line of Philadelphia.
You're not gonna be able to get after Donald like
you get after Jalen Hurts like you did Donald, just

(37:29):
because of Hertz's mobility. However, it's just the sheer size
of Philadelphia's offensive line, Mike, and and you know Jared
Verse is going to a Pro Bowl, great rookie season.
They just maybe physically more imposing then you know against
that Rams defensive line. But you know, I'll take a

(37:50):
shot in a rematch that the Rams just you know,
run this run this thing going, because you know what
it also does. It sets up something that if you
had a Rams Lion Championship game, all of these Matthew Stafford,
Jared Goff, Detroit Rams rematch rematches that we've had wild
card last year start of the season this year, they've

(38:13):
all went Detroit's way and not every single one is
going to And so I'm just wondering, all right, is
this Rams team or team of destiny? I don't know.
We'll see, But if I had to go outside the
box and say both road teams went on Sunday.

Speaker 3 (38:27):
I kind of dig that. Yeah, the Ravens, as we said,
a narrow favorite here Buffalo. I don't know what I'm
getting In the passing game.

Speaker 1 (38:37):
I don't either. I mean, Shurtis Samuel was scoring right.

Speaker 3 (38:41):
And James James Cookie is a good back. We celebrated
him before the year and certainly trumpeted it on the
iWatch Flex podcast.

Speaker 4 (38:49):
Ty Johnson a touchdown, right, Ty Johnson to a touchdown?

Speaker 3 (38:54):
So that's the thing. Where's my offense going? And are
you going to be able to stop the current iteration
of this Baltimore run game.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
I don't see it.

Speaker 2 (39:06):
No.

Speaker 3 (39:06):
And that's the thing, like and and the hard part
and Smith that I started the discussion Monday night and
it'll be something throughout the week is unfortunately, the loser
of that game on Sunday every everything is no matter
how much good you've had, just gets thrown out the
window again.

Speaker 1 (39:26):
Yes, yep, right, what a waste kind of.

Speaker 3 (39:30):
Like these well, I mean, say we do get the
Stafford golf becomes the same thing, right, if golf loses again,
all right, he's garbage. And if Stafford loses, suddenly he's
old over the hill and should retire. Sure, even though
he's been running with one receiver this whole time and
he missed a chunk of the season. They did lose
to the Bears, though, like I gotta, I do have to,

(39:51):
you know, kind of keep bringing that up. That might
as well have been five seasons ago. But to make
myself feel better, the Bears did win this.

Speaker 1 (40:00):
This is the crazy thing too, about that that matchup,
because I look at the I look at the era
and you and I know your Jets were a factor
in this at some point, so they kind of are
a part of this conversation, but it's not really. When
Brady was winning his Super Bowls in New England, Manning
was also in Indianapolis, but so is Roethlisberger, and then

(40:22):
Philip Rivers would pop up here and then the Jets
would be good, and you get that sense that you
could have that in this AFC, but I don't remember.
It always just felt like we ended up with Manning
and Brady and then maybe a Manning and you know, Roethlisberger.
And I'm thinking back in my my my point is

(40:43):
actually changing because I remember the Roethlisberger tackle on the
fumble and the whole deal. But I was just saying,
it feels like the Ravens and Bills are kind of
canceling themselves out and then whoever's left standing has got
to be the one to knock off the Chiefs. And
we've had this run of Chiefs in this Super Bowl,
and it just felt like in those other years that
it was more of a not an exact rotation. But

(41:05):
Steelers are in one year, okay, then the Colts are
in and then guess what Patriots are back? Guess what
Steelers are back in? I guess now the Colts are in,
and we don't have that in the AFC right now.
It's just Ravens aren't in, Bills aren't in. Ravens aren't in,
Bills aren't in. It just seemed like it was more,
you know, it was different fifteen years ago.

Speaker 3 (41:22):
Well, we had that long stretch, right if it wasn't
one of those four or five quarterbacks, add a Flacco
emergence or you know whatever, you know to the Roethlisberger Manning, yeah,
and Brady trifecta, right, and then you'd have a Philip
Rivers and there would be the one offs. But it
was pretty much all those guys every year in some combination,

(41:44):
which again owes to my I always thought, you know,
Brady and New England got a you know, the short
shrift of all of this, when in some of these
other divisions it was a pretty good walk except for
an outlier year. Right, It was Indianapolis pretty much every year,
except okay, Tennessee would PLoP on the radar a couple
of times. In the NFC South, it was pretty much

(42:07):
Peyton and Breeze running the show, and occasionally in Atlanta
or maybe Tampa or whatever, but it was you know,
short lived and they had their run for forever. Yet
it's always hey, Brady and those guys. Wow, all those
teams in the AFC sucked for all those years, like
no other teams had that advantage too. It wasn't just

(42:28):
happening in one division.

Speaker 1 (42:31):
It was it was you know, you're right, And I said,
Peyton Manning covered up the AFC South for like how
bad it was, because you always like Peyton Manning, Peyton
Manning and the Colts, And now you're like, oh, geez,
this is what this is how you get the Texans
always playing Saturday at four thirty Eastern time in Wildcard weekend.
And by the way, if it wouldn't have been the Texans,

(42:53):
it probably would have been the Titans. And it probably
would have been the Colts and and Anthony Richard or
Joe Flacco. Although the Jaguars did play a Saturday night
game against the Chargers a couple of years ago. We
do remember that one and how that one turned out.
All right, we need to take a time out. We
will talk about the coaching news to wrap up. I
want your flex, Mike rabel in and New England, Mike

(43:14):
McCarthy out in Dallas, and all the other stuff that
comes with it. He's Mike Carmon, I'm Dan Byer, that's
Ian Roddy. This is I want your Flex. All right,
Let's get to the coaching news. I actually think the
Dallas Cowboys parting ways. Mike Harmon with the with Mike
McCarthy after five seasons surely changes how we may look

(43:35):
at the Dallas Cowboys, all depending on who they're going
to hire. All of the odds makers say that the
likely candidates, or the top candidates according to Las Vegas,
are all offensive mine. So maybe it doesn't veer too much.
But Dallas did give us see thee Lamb. It did
give us Dak at times, and now I'm curious to
see what Dallas could give us with whoever's in charge

(43:57):
of this new regime.

Speaker 3 (43:59):
Yeah, it's curious. Right of denying the Bear's requests for
an interview a week ago. In theory that meant you
were near the goal line, and then you have conflicting
reports of how close there were years versus really anything
substantive offered to McCarthy. Either way, he's out looking at
the odds. Joe Brady a leader. There was a statement

(44:23):
from Dion Sanders having talked to Jerry Jones, which really
didn't say a whole lot.

Speaker 1 (44:28):
Dan.

Speaker 3 (44:29):
It was I'm glad to talk to him, I'm intrigued,
and then I really like things in Boulder, yes, which
really didn't say anything and give you any kind of lean.
But he's the second favorite, then Kellen Moore coming back
after running as the Eagles OC. Bobby Slowick's still in there,
Ben Johnson a little bit of a long shot, Jason Witton,

(44:51):
who we know Jerry Jones has professed his loved for
coaching some high school ball. So yeah, and then you
go into the long shot of you know, Gruden or
Belichick because of his relationship to the Jones family. But
the question is, and we said this, for any of
the jobs, how great are any of them really when

(45:12):
you think about ownership, structure, front office as constructed or
as gets resurrected. But for Dallas, you got Dak coming
off of a serious injury, You got CD and then
you got a giant question mark of everything else. Right,
you still got to pay Micah Parsons on the defensive
side and restructure everything that went on there because they

(45:34):
were not good. A little bit of a run towards
the end of the season as you saw also with
you know, backup quarterback play, and they played hard for
McCarthy down the stretch. But how many of these guys
you really want to come back? With your offensive lines
not very good, your secondary receivers are, for lack of
a better term Jags. Ferguson played okay, and then he

(45:59):
got hurt your tight end, so.

Speaker 1 (46:02):
Hey, just add Tyreek Hill I said. Everybody was saying all.

Speaker 3 (46:04):
That, actually like like what what is the magical? Yeah,
because he's a great locker room guy. Did he start
reading a book on the sideline? I mean, like all
of that to say, it's great to have the star,
but Jerry's still going to be Jerry. How much do
you really want to like be the Dallas Cowboy coach?

(46:26):
It's one of thirty two? Is it any Is it
really any better than any other other than you know
you're gonna get a bunch of primetime games.

Speaker 1 (46:34):
I have always said, even as a Seahawks fan, if
I could be an NFL player for a day, I mean,
if I wasn't a Seahawk, I'd choose to be a
Dallas Cowboy because of the stature. Not because I like
the Cowboys, but I just think that I think it
would be neat to be like I played for the
Dallas Cowboys, you know, so unique in that way. But

(46:55):
I also get the livelihood and the stuff that you're
talking about, the stuff that Troy Aikman's talking about these
If you take a job. The likelihood of you getting
a second job in the National Football League is not guaranteed.
And I know we always say there's only thirty two
of these, but there's there's usually five or six every

(47:16):
year that pop up. And if you keep your options open,
there could be better opportunities here and there. And I
don't think it's a great spot to sit there and
have Jerry Jones be your general manager. As much as
I would love to be a Dallas Cowboy, I can
get why there might be some trepidation and why, you know,

(47:39):
like why someone like Ben Johnson wouldn't want to take
that job just because of Jerry Jones. I could totally get.

Speaker 4 (47:45):
It, you know, Dan, for all, for all of Jerry's flaws, though,
I will say one thing, you know, when when looking
at what would make it an attractive destination, the fact
that he gives you time. You know, like in a
in today's league, you got guys like Gerard was fired
after one one year. But Jerry Jones, you know, with McCarthy,
Jason Garrett, beform. He gives you time to get it right.

(48:07):
So at least that going.

Speaker 1 (48:08):
We've talked, We've talked about that a bunch and even
before your time. Yet he is the most loyal owner
of the National foot He gave he gave Dave Campo
a job. He made Dave Campbell the head coach, the
Dallas Cowboy Like. It's crazy to think Wade Phillips was
fired for a year and a half before Jerry Jones
actually pulled the trigger. It seemed like he had stuck

(48:28):
with guys.

Speaker 3 (48:29):
Even though you're still an above five hundred coach too.
That's the that's the crazy thing for the Wade Phillips era,
as much maligned as it is, Dan, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (48:39):
He is. He is extremely loyal to that point. I mean,
he didn't fire Mike McCarthy. He let him ride out
of his entire contract. Yeah, it's it's he didn't that
with Jason Garrett too. It maybe yeah, maybe it may
be cheap, it may be that way as well as
I'm not going to spend the extra money. But yeah,
he does. He does not move on from them. It's
just the point of, yeah, you may be there for

(49:01):
four or five years, but what are you gonna as
Bill Parcell sets, what kind of groceries are you going
to be cooking with? And that's the thing that I'd
be concerned about with Jerry Jones or Stephen Jones or
whoever is ultimately making those decisions for the Cowboys.

Speaker 3 (49:17):
Yeah, and you have a number of players that are
on the roster at least found the books for twenty
twenty five that are into that double digit millions. That
hamper your ability to really add and restructure short term. Now, again,
if you're building long term a program and you get
a bunch of say, and I think that's the curiosity
for a lot of these these openings, dan is and

(49:40):
Ian is trying to figure out, well, what kind of
assurances do I have that I get to align myself
with a GM that we're in a in concert together
and they're not on their last leg, right, that'd be
my fear. Like going to Chicago. I've called Ryan Poles
an empty suit. They keep saying that he's the guy

(50:00):
that not only may get a contract extension, but he's
making the call and Jacksonville, Yeah, Trent Balky, Like, we
saw the video that was the funniest damn thing I saw.
Did you see the last week Dan, where it's like, yeah,
if a guy came in with the right vision and
approach and he might be able to convince me as
Balky's still on the zoom call with him. Yeah, Like okay,

(50:22):
so how much am I trusting the stability over there?
Not to mention what am I going to battle with
for next year? Right, Jacksonville lover hate Trevor Lawrence. He's there.

Speaker 1 (50:35):
There's there's also the point with Shad Khan in doing
that press conference where it's a split screen, so the
visual is it's it's a zoom call. Yes, really yeah,
And it's just I fully like Sean Kahn's invested in
the Jaguars. They're going to be doing the whole new stadium,

(50:56):
the whole deal. To your point about you know, Trent Balke,
it is interesting that you're making this enormous decision and
firing a head coach and now you're meeting with the
media and you have to blur your background because you're
at home or you're at one of your probably twelve
houses somewhere around the world that you couldn't be back
in Jacksonville just for the day to be able to
handle those questions like that does say a lot.

Speaker 3 (51:17):
And as you're answering the question, it's like, yeah, well,
I mean he could still be fired if the guy
comes in with the right speech, like Okay, so if
I'm Ben Johnson, like or anybody that's got leverage. Right,
there's a bunch of these guys that we understand in
the in the hiring cycle that are excited maybe to
get the shot. Right, the Mike Tomlin approach in Pittsburgh

(51:40):
of not expected to get the job and now nobody
ever expects him to leave right seventeen years later, right,
he gets the interview, he blows him away. He gets
the job after coward, after Coward is gone. But like
in Jacksonville, he's like, all right, I'm gonna go in
interview and I basically have to tell him right off,

(52:00):
this guy needs to be fired. That I need say
in who my GM is going to be right, and
how much if I'm one of the top guys, how
much I really want that job or Chicago with this
guy that could be fired and go on down the line.

Speaker 1 (52:16):
I'll also say this top guys does not equal immediate success. Yeah,
Seahawks won ten games. Mike McDonald was one of the
top guys last year. I would say top three. It
was him Ben Johnson, who obviously didn't take a job
and Jim Harball was number one, but Mike McDonald was
very sought after. And I think you'd say Harbaugh's season

(52:38):
was a success and that McDonald's season was a success,
but no one probably had more success than Dan Quinn,
who was the last one hired and was the one
that was like, well, this doesn't really infuse a lot
of excitement amongst your fan base, and what do you know,
dan Quinn's still coaching right now. So those hires the

(53:00):
way that they can go. If you're the last one,
if you're who ever, may not necessarily signify if you
get the best candidate that it's the best situation. Maybe
the guy that you bring in. As I said, I
think ultimately Dave Canalis may be the best hire of
last year's coaching cycle. I've thought what he's doing with
Bryce He.

Speaker 4 (53:17):
I thought that about Dan Campbell before a few years ago,
the same year that Robert Sala was hired to the Jets,
Like the Lions were one of those jobs that it
was like, who's even gonna take that? And they ended
up hiring Dan Campbell, this guy you know from the Saints,
the tight ends coach. Turns out he was by far
the best hire of that.

Speaker 1 (53:34):
Cycle worked out all right.

Speaker 3 (53:35):
But it's about building culture, building, structure, cohesive, you know,
kind of vision of where you want to go. And
Campbell was pretty well regarded right worked in Dallas than
he's with Sean Payton for a number of years.

Speaker 1 (53:51):
Yeah, it's time in Miami.

Speaker 3 (53:53):
Time in Miami.

Speaker 1 (53:54):
It was thought a very highly when he took over
in a.

Speaker 3 (53:57):
Coach there for a bit and he goes and he
made the meathead speech and whatever else. But you're getting
guys football players to buy in. Didn't necessarily have to
work with the media. But you see they've had a
structure with their front office as to how they wanted
draft to the dan Quinn right, the last memory we
had was him giving up one hundred and fifty eight

(54:19):
passer rating to Jordan Love in a playoff game. But
to a man woman, anybody that had been around him
is like, that's a guy you can put as a
lynchpin to a culture build. In terms of who he is.
It's like drafting an offensive lineman at the top of
a first round of a draft. It's not splash it's
not splashy. It's not going to win you great grades

(54:42):
and reports in the media except for those folks that
go you know it really did need to build the
interior and build the guts, which I mean I always
looking for alignment. I would have rather had alignment than
Roma Doonza. I said it last year. I said it
on the draft.

Speaker 1 (55:00):
Is a Seahawks fan, I just want offensive and defensive
lineman drafted. That's it. That's that's all that I want
in every single round. I just want lineman. That's all
I want.

Speaker 3 (55:08):
Give me that and then we'll figure it out from there.
So it doesn't have to be pretty right, you know
in Canalis in Carolina, look what he did the second
half with Bryce Young, right. You got some health out
of Adam Thielen, And we joked about it before the season.
It's like he could become that next version of an
Kwan Bolden. Just let's move the sticks right and then

(55:29):
eventually take a shot downfield or whatever else. They got
a good year out of Chewba Hubbard. They got nothing
out of Brooks. I don't know that they ever will.
But you've got a guy that is building a culture,
setting a tone of what they want to instill.

Speaker 1 (55:43):
And he's fixing their quarterback, which is most important. In
some of these places that maybe you know, that's a
big part of the job public going to mean number
one of all these job number one.

Speaker 3 (55:54):
But of all these jobs that are available, like there's
only thirty two of them, but none of them do
you go in saying, Wow, that's that's great. Like Variable
goes to New England. He knows the ownership right, clearly
they bought into him and Mayo. Look, we can all
agree on some level. How he gets kind of jobbed
in all of this. That's the coaching business unfortunately at

(56:17):
this point. And he goes in and he's gonna he's
gonna build a culture. It's gonna look a lot like
the Bill Belichick culture that they just jettisoned two years ago,
just more energy, younger.

Speaker 1 (56:31):
I guess yeah, I think he has his own personality
that he'll bring in as as well. I am curious
to see, fantasy wise on how it all plays out.

Speaker 3 (56:40):
All right. I mean, I love me some Drake may
but yeah, you know, I'm gonna go and guess they
go find some running back that they can make the
bell cow for twenty five that hangs on to the
ball and is not named Romandre Stevenson.

Speaker 1 (56:54):
Give him a four year deal, why not try to
get another year out of it? Just kidding Romandre Stevenson,
the guy who burned me in twenty twenty four. But
that's my own fault and I'm okay with it.

Speaker 3 (57:05):
We still love you, Dan. Yeah, because he got a
bunch of us. I mean, like the assumption of he's
gonna touch the ball a ton. He did, and he
did until he started to drop it, and well that
was that.

Speaker 1 (57:17):
Well, this was a super informative, super jam packed. I
want your flex pod. We appreciate y'all hanging with us
and hanging out and having a good time. Divisional playoff games.
All right, So a week from now when we we reconvene,
I told you guys, I think it's going to be Rams, Lions, Chiefs, Ravens.

(57:39):
What's your championship games prediction that we're going to be
talking about there.

Speaker 3 (57:43):
And I'll give you the ball.

Speaker 4 (57:44):
I actually I think that's spot on, Dan. I think Rams, Lions, Chiefs, Ravens.
Those are the four I'm going.

Speaker 3 (57:49):
To go with as well.

Speaker 1 (57:50):
Okay, Mike, your opportunity.

Speaker 4 (57:52):
Actually no, no, I'm changing one. Eagles, Eagles and Ravens. I
will take the Eagles over the round.

Speaker 3 (57:57):
I think I'm gonna go with you in the in
the NFC, that defensive front for the Rams causing up
because then Sirianni gets fired and we're talking about another
coach next week, and then AFC, I'm gonna go, Well,
I picked Buffalo before the year.

Speaker 1 (58:12):
You know, you know what I did. I did.

Speaker 3 (58:14):
I'm actually thinking about it now. I had an Eagles
and Buffalo super Bowl, so they have to advance.

Speaker 1 (58:21):
Okay, that's what I gotta do too, So I gotta
do Lions Bills, So sorry Ravens, but I'll still take
the Rams over the Eagles.

Speaker 3 (58:27):
Do I think the Ravens win the game? Yeah? I do.
But before the year I picked the Bills with Allen
as the MVP, he'll finish second. And then on the
other side, I had the Eagles, so I've got to
pick those two for Sunday, and then I'm gonna take
Detroit in casey all right there it is trying to
find some chaos. But and then look, i'd love to

(58:50):
see Houston win the game just to upset the Apple card. Sure,
I just I don't know. I think we're at a
point with Kansas City's offense is actually shown some life
and the defense and Spagnolo and company are still going
to be able to make some hay against that O line.
So yeah, I'll look for the Chiefs to advance.

Speaker 4 (59:11):
This is around when they take Kelsey off off of ice.
You know they kind of have a sleep walk through
the season. Now you can really, you know, lean forward
in his chair and then you start.

Speaker 3 (59:20):
To pay attention to him. Yeah, and all of a sudden,
Noah Gray is on the other side of the dog line.

Speaker 1 (59:26):
All I'm going to say is I've I'm completely confused
on who anybody picked, and that's probably best because I
don't even know if so, So it's totally fine, totally fine.
I was the same way with you, Mike. As soon
as you said, I'm like, yeah, I have to go
with my beginning of the year picks.

Speaker 3 (59:44):
I was going to pick the Rams over the Eagles defense,
and I'm like, no, I picked the Eagles before the year.
So yeah, Eagles Buffalo, Casey Detroit.

Speaker 1 (59:53):
Okay, Eagles Buffalo, Casey Detroit. I'll go Rams, Buffalo Casey Detroit. Ian.

Speaker 4 (01:00:03):
Yeah, I've got Ravens, Eagles, Lions, Chiefs.

Speaker 1 (01:00:07):
There it is all right, perfect awesome variations. Yeah, yeah,
you're right, Mike. We got to stick with what we started.

Speaker 3 (01:00:15):
Yeah, I can't go away from it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:17):
Can't do it, can't do it.

Speaker 3 (01:00:18):
It's on the laminated sheet in the in there.

Speaker 1 (01:00:23):
That it is all right. Well, yeah, thanks to sticking
around listening to I Want Your Flex. Thanks guys for
the extra time as well, and we'll do it next
week when we'll get ready for those championship games. So,
for Ian Roddy and Mike Carmen, I'm Dan Beyer, thanks
so much for listening. We'll talk to you next time
right here, and I want your Flex