January 2, 2026 • 21 mins
Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks open the show with a discussion on Michigan hiring former Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham and examine his fit to replace Sherrone Moore (0:55). Then, the guys make their Week 18 rookie draft picks (3:30) and preview Week 18 by diving deep into the three games that will decide division championships, including Panthers - Buccaneers (8:45), Seahawks - 49ers (10:39) and Ravens - Steelers (16:08).
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And now move the sticks with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
What's up everybody. Welcome to move the sticks, DJ and
Buck with you. A happy new year, buck Man, happy
to new you to you too, man.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
It's such a great time of reflection, gratitude, but also
looking ahead at the possibilities and opportunities that twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
We were, Yeah, I mean, it's it's a great year
in twenty twenty five. Really excited about twenty six. Excited
as we kind of get into the fun part of
the season. We're here down the home stretch of the
college football season, the playoffs, getting ready to crank up
in the NFL. We've got draft talk which will start
kind of cranking up a little bit here. So it's
a fun time here. Always enjoyed January, and I was
(00:42):
looking at some of the things going on in the
football landscape and I was like, you know, gosh, I
feel like there's a couple of things we didn't get
a chance to address on here. We haven't talked about,
and I wanted to get your thoughts on it because
I haven't heard it yet. But the big one to
me was Michigan has a coach and it's an old
buddy of ours, someone we've followed forever and been around forever.
Is Kyle Whittingham making the move over to Michigan after
(01:03):
he stepped down at Utah. So what's your gut on
how that's going to go down.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
I think he fits the brand. I think he fits
everything that Michigan wants to be. And I will say
that given how the Michigan franchise and brand was built,
Like let's think about bo Sham Becker and how they
always wanted to play and how it was recreated under
Jim Harbor, where they always have a certain way that
they play well. When you look at those Utah teams
and you think about the culture and all those things,
(01:30):
Kyle Winningham approaches football like bu.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Sham Beckley and those great coaches that Michigan have.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I think the recruiting will be different because he comes
from the West Coast and now dealing in the Midwest.
But in terms of stylistically feel all this, it feels
like a great fit. And even though it took them
a while to figure out who the coach is wanted
to be, I think they landed on a good one
regardless of the age.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
I think he is a nice fit for Michigan and
what they need right now.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I think if you look at the Michigan teams that
have beaten Ohio State and they beat them a bunch
until this last year or had a nice little run,
they did it by being the more physical line of
scrimmage team. And if you're going to make a list
of the coaches that have done the best job of
building through the trenches of having a physical identity, Kyle
might be the number one guy on the list.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
What they've done at Utah one d per I mean,
that's that's what they do. But it's not only did
DJ like going all the way back. I remember Utah's
reemergence first on the Irvan Maya and then the way
that Cal Winningham extended it. It wasn't just like the
physicality into toughness. I would say it was the culture.
And I would say that one of the reasons why
we used to love to shop at Utah when it
(02:40):
came for NFL prospects. Those guys always seemed to find
a way to make it because they were built the
right way. They had to write in tangibles. They they
came ready to work at an NFL level. And I
mean just think about the great pros that have come
out of that university.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
That's not I mean, that's not by chance.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
That is because they were developed and really given the
right tools to be successful as pros.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yeah, I'm excited to see how that whole thing comes together.
And it's gonna be it's gonna be fun to get
his first taste of the Ohio State Michigan rivalry down
the road there. And ironic, as you mentioned Urban Meyer,
kind of his mentor who he came up under. Urban
Meyra obviously is the one who got Ohio State back
on the right track, you know, and they'd been down
a little bit. So it'll be fascinating to watch that
rivalry going forward. Buck, we need to we need to
(03:29):
have our rookie draft here, this is the last one.
As we come down the home stretch here, I'll be
honest with you, I'm out of it. I have been
I have been hammered this year in the rookie draft.
So Rhett is in first place, seventy three points. You
have a shot here. You're at sixty nine. I'm at
sixty two, dead in the water. So I'm not gonna
(03:50):
lie to you. My focus and attention on this is
not great. I thought about conniving, you know, kind of
coming up with a plan. How do I how do
I not pick some goo's hard towards you. I was
trying to funnel some players towards you, but it's so hard.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yeah. Week eighteen we got we got people that are
not playing their people.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
So so now we're digging. We're digging in the crazy
trying to figure out what to come up within. The
one thing that we know is O Red is Red
is very resourceful when it comes to these things. He's
going to try and find a way to get this
thing done.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yeah, but Ret's not here, so Gavin's gonna have to
have to pick for him.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Gav.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I don't have this confirmed, but I think all my
good weeks came with me doing the picks, and I
think I've struggled. When you've done the picks, there's no
don't look that up. Don't don't look it up. But
that's how I'm telling myself. That's what I'm telling myself
here for how that's uh, that's where I am. So
we have got uh look at that REHD has the
first pick. It goes Red has the first and then
(04:51):
myself here as we uh, as we knock out our
final rookie draft. Buck, you got to have a good
one here. He's gonna go Tam Mac. He's going with McMillan, uh,
with his first pick here, So you are up next, Buck.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Oh, man, like man, Let's see if we can go
with the gift that keeps on giving.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Let's see if we can go at Harrow Finning Jr.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
He's hurt, he's hurt, he got hurt. Yeah, he's not
playing though. Yeah, he can't do that one.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Oh that's crummy all right.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
With Coaston Lovelin for the Bears, we have to take him.
You're gonna Lennon, Yeah, because Riley Leonard is playing quarterback
for whatever.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
So I'm gonna what that's gonna look back? All right?
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Well, uh, I'm gonna go with Warren Warren and then
I'll come back. So that's my tight end. Now I
need a running back receiver. Well, Buka's got to play. Well,
they're in a they're in a war. So I'll go
with Buka with my wide out here. Buck, you're up, man.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
So this is tricky, right because the Patriots need to
win it. Maybe whatever but then let's go to command
do Let's go with Bill, oh grossky merrit. Yeah, he
had a good game last time and gets let's go
with Bill. He's going Henderson. Oh, maybe a spring get ankle.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
And then Gatston with the Chargers kind of resting some
guys playing against the Broncos team, but has to win.
But I think Gatson probably still get some work there,
so he goes Gatston.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
God, it can't be so dependent.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
And Luther Burton had a quiet injury at the end
of the game, and I feel great about that. No, man, whatever,
Ricky Maka is gone, TMC is gone. She had the
kids from Houston, but man, you never know if it's
gonna be Higgins.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
And no, well, I don't like that got.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
There's another Ricky wide receiver we can lean on. I
think that you kind of named them all there.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
That's it right, there's there's there's nobody like.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
There's Trey Harris might be getting some work from the
Chargers with a lot of guys sitting.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Oh to throw it to somebody.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
That's a tough secondary though, and that's a team in
Denver that's got everything to play for. You know, you
do you just roll the dice on Burden playing Why
don't you roll the dice? That's your best upside play
on Burden. But I don't know if he's playing.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
I tested so bad. We may have to come back
with an.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Why don't you do Burden? And then if he's out,
you have Higgins.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
As your fallback, all right, like because he was good,
he was so good last.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Week and it looked you got a quarterback Caleb Williams
only needs what to seventy? I think, Yeah, guys, that
four thousand yard demon. I'm going to come back with Harvey.
So I'll go with the running back out of Denver
in a game that they need to win to lock
up the number one. See my picks don't matter. It's
(07:50):
all Bunky versus Rhet here. So we've got Bucky is
going to roll out Loveland, Bill Uh Toikowsky, Merrit Uh Burden.
Rhet's got McMillan, Henderson, Gatston. It's good. It's a good
threesome there. But you got some ground to close, Buck,
But it's doable. We'll see if you if you can
reel down Rett Oh be a crusher if you caught
(08:11):
him here in the last week. By the way to
watch all these rookie sign up for NFL Plus Premium
and check out NFL Pro, where you can access over
ninety five unique player and team performance stats and the
All twenty two film available on desktop and on mobile web.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
All right, Buck, let's take a quick break.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
We come back. We'll look at some of these huge,
huge division matchups we've got here down the home stretch
in week number eighteen. All right, Buck, doesn't get bigger
than this. You've got division titles up for grabs here.
Let's start first of all Panthers, Bucks, that is four
(08:49):
thirty pm on ABC. What are you looking forward to
in that game? What's the key to the ballgame?
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Man? The keys of the ball game is whiz version
of the pants is going to show up. This is
a team that has been up and down. They've taken
us on the roller coast of the entire season. Defense
is good enough to be able to get it done,
but they're gonna need their offense to show up because
I feel like Baker and the Buccaneers are going to
finally put some points on the board. To me, this
is a Bryce Young, Ted mcmilling game, t MAC game.
(09:16):
They got to find a way to connect on the
pass game, and then like they got to run the ball.
When they run the ball, everything flows from that. To me,
this is about their offense being able to control the game.
They got to run the ball, and they got to
hope that these Buccaneers bus coverages like they've been doing
the last few weeks, and maybe t Mac can hit
them over the top.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
I think they're going to try and get their past
game going a little bit early and just trying to
get Bryce Young out of the funk he was in
against Seattle last week. So to me, on the Tampa
side of things, keep him him, then control your rush,
don't let him escape and create, make some things happen there,
make him throw out of that well. And then Baker's
got to just he's just got to make better decisions,
play smart, take what's there, don't be too greedy. I
(09:55):
don't think you need a bazillion points to win this game.
I think Baker's got to kind of play within himself.
First one to twenty one wins here in my opinion,
in this matchup between the Panthers and the Bucks. By
the way, in terms of what will happen here, Panthers,
they win the NFC South to make the playoffs with
the win. Even if the Panthers lose, they can also
cleanse the division if the Falcons win against the Saints.
(10:17):
So for the Bucks to win the division get in
the postseason, need to win this game against Carolina and
have the Falcons loser tie on Sunday against the Saints,
and that would get them the NFC South title and
they would get into the playoffs. All right, complic cases,
there's a lot of complicated. It's pretty easy. It's pretty
easy for Carolina. Just win and you're in. That's all.
That's the easy part. The game of the weekend is
(10:40):
going to follow that one eight pm Eastern on ABC.
That is the Seattle Seahawks traveling to take on the
forty nine ers.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
But such a good game, such a great game.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Any of those NFL NFC West showdowns are terrific.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
List takes.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
The Niners approach man, Look, the Niners offense is on fire.
This is the best job that I've seen Kyle Shanahan do.
I think what he's been able to do with this
team is next level. Rock Crody is dealing like he
has just found his rhythm with this and the way
they are doing it like CMC is certainly the centerpiece,
but they're now beginning to get the production in the
(11:15):
passing game. Bricky Pearsall is coming on board, Jamon Jennings
is making plays a tight ends, just jumping in for
George Kill and finding ways to make plays. Tom just so,
just a really good team and a really good offense.
And I don't know if anybody can slow this team down.
I don't know if you can slow them down on offense.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Yeah. Look, Seattle's defense has been fantastic. They were fantastic
last week against Carolina, suffocating Bryce young As I was
just talking about just the way San Francisco's offense is
playing right now. I cash, you got to get twenty eight,
I would say, I mean that sounds crazy as good
as Seattle's defense has been, but San francs is got
a punt the way that they've been homming along here.
(11:54):
So to me, Sam Darnold, there's opportunities. You saw it
in that secondary last week against the Bears. William's able
to get some things going. I think Sam has an
opportunity in this one. I know Sam's probably sitting there going, gosh,
could we ever get one of these you know end
of the year games at my place. You had to
go on the road last year in Detroit and then
turn around go on the playoffs, go on the road
against the Rams. He has the big come from behind
(12:16):
win over the Rams, you know, just a few weeks
ago in Seattle. But now, man, he's got to go
do it on the road again. But I would say
this is the most consequential game. I think if Seattle
can win this game, I think that's the greatest home
field that we have in this playoff field. It would
be Seattle hosting the NFC all the way through. That
is not an easy place to go, and I think
that is going to make them not only the number
(12:37):
one seed with a BUYE, but I think that makes
them the clear favorite for me in the NFC if
they can secure home field advantage.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
And I think the Niners play would have leveled the
desperation because as a shorthanded team, being able to play
their games at home and get the buy significant advantage
because of it helped some of their guys get back
because they talked about free wan or potentially being able
to play if they played long enough in the postseason.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
But George getting rested making sure CMC is ready to go.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
And it's such a difference in having too to go
to the show than having to play that extra game.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
I mean there's a real chance that the Niners win
and they have the number one seed lose, they could
end up being the sixth seed have to go to Philly.
I mean that is the difference. Yeah, and they don't
want those problems. I will Look, I'm gonna go with
the Niners. I just look, did just so hot. Now
they can't stop him. But they don't have to play
band but don't break good offense just maybe because it's
(13:33):
recency buys just watching them go up and down the field.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
No, Seattle defense is really good, though, Buck, I just
you know, they they're terrific.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
I went back.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
I went back and watched their Week one game, and
like they had seven explosives in the air. San Francisco
did with a lot of just deep, too high safeties
from Seattle. So they hit a slot seam, they sneak
U check down the sideline, they hit a whole versus that. Look,
they're running everybody out of there with those two deep safeties.
(14:03):
He checks one down to McCaffrey. I believe and he
goes and gets a bunch of yards, and then there
was a couple opportunities down the field where they hit
and then beat some man coverage on why am I
blinking on his name? Twenty seven? This huge corner for
Seattle is it Willah yeah three qualling, Thank you for requalling.
They beat him a cup pearsall got him a couple
(14:25):
of times the stutter go, and then beat him on
a seven rout, but they only had one explosive run.
They took the run away, and I would say Seattle's
defense has played a lot more snug coverage since then.
I don't think they're going to play quite as conservative,
you know, with their safeties. I think they can pull
those guys down a little closer to the line of scrimmage.
Eman Warre's is a big time difference maker the way
(14:46):
he's kind of evolved in that defense, so they I
think Seattle's defense is really really good. But like you,
I'm just it's hard to get what we've seen out
of San Francisco's forty nine or the San Francisco offense
out of my head. So I ended up going with
San franciscoing to a close game. But I think this is
like a twenty eight, now twenty four, thirty twenty seven.
I think it's going to be a good game.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Man.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Look, I think it's very similar to the Thursday night
game they played against the Rams. It's a back and
forth affair and it comes down to the end. It
comes down to who was able to win the fourth quarter. Look,
I'm in on the Niners, but I wouldn't be surprised.
I will say this, Sam Donald's experienced last year should
help him play better this year. Down the street those
(15:29):
two games where he had to play like high end
games for the Vikings and it didn't go his way.
He'll be better prepared to handle depression. You know this,
having been able to playoff teams whatever, DJ, there's nothing
that gets you ready to play in the playoffs except
playoff game like you have to play in those games
to get used to the urgency and the intensity.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
He'll be better prepared. I think he'll play much better
this time. Yeah, and look some of the stuff they
had success with swift on the ground last week the
Bears against that team, and you see Seattle do a
lot of this same thing as you'll see some cracked toss.
You'll see them get out to the perimeter a little bit,
so that'll be key. Get some balance to help Sam
Darnold out there.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
All right.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
The last one, it is the battle for the AFC North.
As we're recording this still not We don't know yet
if Lamar Jackson is going to start, but it looks
like he was practicing as of Wednesday. So we've got
the Ravens at the Steelers. That's eight twenty eastern on NBC.
The winner is going to clinch the division of the
number four seed. The loser is out, so it literally
(16:30):
is a loser leave town match.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Yeah, you know, did you?
Speaker 1 (16:33):
I think the best thing that happen to the Ravens
was playing without Lamar Jackson last week and being forced
to give the ball to Derrick Henry thirty six times.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
To me, I think that is the epiphany that everyone
in the building.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Has to have, Like, you know what, guys, maybe we
should get back to the recipe that works for us,
and that's running the football. And even if Lamar Jackson plays,
running the football to sit the table should create some
big play opportunities. And going into this game, I think
if you're Baltimore, you have to say the magic number
is twenty one. You can't imagine the Pittsburgh still is
scoring more than twenty one points given what they're playing with.
(17:09):
So how can we manufacture twenty one points?
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Man?
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Run it, run it, run it, kick it every time
we have an opportunity, and just keep stacking points and
see if Aaron Rodgers and company are good enough to
match in point for point.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
I just don't think they can do it.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
If I'm Pittsburgh, if I'm Mike Tomlin, I'm talking to
my defense and special teams that I'm saying you got
to give us. You got to give us something in
this one. We need some short fields, you know, whether
that's a big kick return, we got to block a punt.
Are we gonna be able to get a sack fumble?
With our defensive front healthy and back put together, we
got to We've got to help our offense out here.
(17:45):
To me, that Darnault Washington loss is huge.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
They're dead.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
You bullies had two bullies on their teams, dk Metcalf
and him and they're both out. So that's a big
piece of their offensive identity. They have got to run
the ball. They've got to throw the ball to their backs.
Baldy said it when we're talking on Monday game. Well's
the best option right now. He's their winner. He's one
who can win one on one. So they've got to
do that. They've got to make kicks, and they have
(18:09):
to have their defense special teams help them out a
little bit here.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
They Man, you talk about pulling out all the stops.
This is a trick play game. This is a fake
punt game. This is all hands on, Dick. Let's have
all of them ready because for them, they have to
manufacture points any way possible. They don't have the luxury
of being able to say, hey, we're gonna run it
down Baltimore's throater. We're gonna find a way for Aaron
Broders to dink and duck and carve them up resurgical precision.
(18:38):
This is one it's going to take, I would say
Mike Tomlin's best coaching job to be able to get
it done, because in my mind they're a heavy underdog
against the Baltimore Ravens with it without Lamar Jackson play.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
I just think though, man, if somehow they do win
and they get DK Metcalf back, it's going to be
more than likely you can get some bad weather in Pittsburgh,
They're gonna be hosting a game. It's one of those
deals to me, like, I could see Pittsburgh winning an
ugly game here and then people say, oh, their one,
and and then you don't want to go in there.
You don't want to go into Pittsburgh in the in
the in the weather. DK Metcalf back Aaron Rodgers has
(19:12):
some you know, as much experience and more experience than
anybody in the in the whole field. Might be able
to combine everybody in the field. They might have more
experience when you look at the landscape in the AFC
right now. Yeah, I think they're a dangerous team if
they can get by this week. This is a big
challenge for them. Yeah, And I would say the same
thing for Baltimore. Baltimore gets in the tournament, I think
they're dangerous in terms of being able to do this.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Hey, guys, it doesn't matter what the record is. Everyone
is owing up. Like we believe coming into the season
that we were a super Bowl team. We get a
chance to prove it all over again. They get the
benefit of a home game, They'll have played some meaningful
games getting ready to there would be a hardened sense
to them, and I think they get a chance to
edit the reset button and make of the season what
(19:55):
they want given this success in the postseason, so either.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Team can danger.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
But man, I just see the Ravens and after watching
Dick Henry just run the football down there. Any look,
he's done it the last couple of weeks where you
just run the football down people's throats.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
I am going to give it like it may be
a forty maybe a forty Krry game, DJ. It may
it may be one of those type games.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Where a dudejar on, we're gonna ride big feather, We're
gonna run him over and over and over again.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Yeah, it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be a physical affair,
and we can we can definitely agree one hundred percent
on that one. Anything else you want to add, Buck
before we get out of here on a quick, quick
little episode.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Man, nothing is better than getting ready for the postseason
and these games and the way the league has kind
of set it up where all these games are meaningful
to end it on a Sunday night, affair still is
in Ravens.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
Loser lead town match.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
I mean not in literally, DJ, We're talking about loser
leaving tally, maybe the.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Head coach might leave down all stakes robbery. Love it.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Yeah, it's gonna be fun weekend of football. Cannot wait.
We'll be back next week to wrap it all up
for you as well. We appreciate you guys hanging with us.
We will see you next time right here on moving sticks.
And now move the sticks with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
What's up everybody. Welcome to move the sticks, DJ and
Buck with you. A happy new year, buck Man, happy
to new you to you too, man.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
It's such a great time of reflection, gratitude, but also
looking ahead at the possibilities and opportunities that twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
We were, Yeah, I mean, it's it's a great year
in twenty twenty five. Really excited about twenty six. Excited
as we kind of get into the fun part of
the season. We're here down the home stretch of the
college football season, the playoffs, getting ready to crank up
in the NFL. We've got draft talk which will start
kind of cranking up a little bit here. So it's
a fun time here. Always enjoyed January, and I was
(00:42):
looking at some of the things going on in the
football landscape and I was like, you know, gosh, I
feel like there's a couple of things we didn't get
a chance to address on here. We haven't talked about,
and I wanted to get your thoughts on it because
I haven't heard it yet. But the big one to
me was Michigan has a coach and it's an old
buddy of ours, someone we've followed forever and been around forever.
Is Kyle Whittingham making the move over to Michigan after
(01:03):
he stepped down at Utah. So what's your gut on
how that's going to go down.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
I think he fits the brand. I think he fits
everything that Michigan wants to be. And I will say
that given how the Michigan franchise and brand was built,
Like let's think about bo Sham Becker and how they
always wanted to play and how it was recreated under
Jim Harbor, where they always have a certain way that
they play well. When you look at those Utah teams
and you think about the culture and all those things,
(01:30):
Kyle Winningham approaches football like bu.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Sham Beckley and those great coaches that Michigan have.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I think the recruiting will be different because he comes
from the West Coast and now dealing in the Midwest.
But in terms of stylistically feel all this, it feels
like a great fit. And even though it took them
a while to figure out who the coach is wanted
to be, I think they landed on a good one
regardless of the age.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
I think he is a nice fit for Michigan and
what they need right now.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I think if you look at the Michigan teams that
have beaten Ohio State and they beat them a bunch
until this last year or had a nice little run,
they did it by being the more physical line of
scrimmage team. And if you're going to make a list
of the coaches that have done the best job of
building through the trenches of having a physical identity, Kyle
might be the number one guy on the list.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
What they've done at Utah one d per I mean,
that's that's what they do. But it's not only did
DJ like going all the way back. I remember Utah's
reemergence first on the Irvan Maya and then the way
that Cal Winningham extended it. It wasn't just like the
physicality into toughness. I would say it was the culture.
And I would say that one of the reasons why
we used to love to shop at Utah when it
(02:40):
came for NFL prospects. Those guys always seemed to find
a way to make it because they were built the
right way. They had to write in tangibles. They they
came ready to work at an NFL level. And I
mean just think about the great pros that have come
out of that university.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
That's not I mean, that's not by chance.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
That is because they were developed and really given the
right tools to be successful as pros.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yeah, I'm excited to see how that whole thing comes together.
And it's gonna be it's gonna be fun to get
his first taste of the Ohio State Michigan rivalry down
the road there. And ironic, as you mentioned Urban Meyer,
kind of his mentor who he came up under. Urban
Meyra obviously is the one who got Ohio State back
on the right track, you know, and they'd been down
a little bit. So it'll be fascinating to watch that
rivalry going forward. Buck, we need to we need to
(03:29):
have our rookie draft here, this is the last one.
As we come down the home stretch here, I'll be
honest with you, I'm out of it. I have been
I have been hammered this year in the rookie draft.
So Rhett is in first place, seventy three points. You
have a shot here. You're at sixty nine. I'm at
sixty two, dead in the water. So I'm not gonna
(03:50):
lie to you. My focus and attention on this is
not great. I thought about conniving, you know, kind of
coming up with a plan. How do I how do
I not pick some goo's hard towards you. I was
trying to funnel some players towards you, but it's so hard.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yeah. Week eighteen we got we got people that are
not playing their people.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
So so now we're digging. We're digging in the crazy
trying to figure out what to come up within. The
one thing that we know is O Red is Red
is very resourceful when it comes to these things. He's
going to try and find a way to get this
thing done.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yeah, but Ret's not here, so Gavin's gonna have to
have to pick for him.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Gav.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I don't have this confirmed, but I think all my
good weeks came with me doing the picks, and I
think I've struggled. When you've done the picks, there's no
don't look that up. Don't don't look it up. But
that's how I'm telling myself. That's what I'm telling myself
here for how that's uh, that's where I am. So
we have got uh look at that REHD has the
first pick. It goes Red has the first and then
(04:51):
myself here as we uh, as we knock out our
final rookie draft. Buck, you got to have a good
one here. He's gonna go Tam Mac. He's going with McMillan, uh,
with his first pick here, So you are up next, Buck.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Oh, man, like man, Let's see if we can go
with the gift that keeps on giving.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Let's see if we can go at Harrow Finning Jr.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
He's hurt, he's hurt, he got hurt. Yeah, he's not
playing though. Yeah, he can't do that one.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Oh that's crummy all right.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
With Coaston Lovelin for the Bears, we have to take him.
You're gonna Lennon, Yeah, because Riley Leonard is playing quarterback
for whatever.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
So I'm gonna what that's gonna look back? All right?
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Well, uh, I'm gonna go with Warren Warren and then
I'll come back. So that's my tight end. Now I
need a running back receiver. Well, Buka's got to play. Well,
they're in a they're in a war. So I'll go
with Buka with my wide out here. Buck, you're up, man.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
So this is tricky, right because the Patriots need to
win it. Maybe whatever but then let's go to command
do Let's go with Bill, oh grossky merrit. Yeah, he
had a good game last time and gets let's go
with Bill. He's going Henderson. Oh, maybe a spring get ankle.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
And then Gatston with the Chargers kind of resting some
guys playing against the Broncos team, but has to win.
But I think Gatson probably still get some work there,
so he goes Gatston.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
God, it can't be so dependent.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
And Luther Burton had a quiet injury at the end
of the game, and I feel great about that. No, man, whatever,
Ricky Maka is gone, TMC is gone. She had the
kids from Houston, but man, you never know if it's
gonna be Higgins.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
And no, well, I don't like that got.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
There's another Ricky wide receiver we can lean on. I
think that you kind of named them all there.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
That's it right, there's there's there's nobody like.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
There's Trey Harris might be getting some work from the
Chargers with a lot of guys sitting.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Oh to throw it to somebody.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
That's a tough secondary though, and that's a team in
Denver that's got everything to play for. You know, you
do you just roll the dice on Burden playing Why
don't you roll the dice? That's your best upside play
on Burden. But I don't know if he's playing.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
I tested so bad. We may have to come back
with an.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Why don't you do Burden? And then if he's out,
you have Higgins.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
As your fallback, all right, like because he was good,
he was so good last.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Week and it looked you got a quarterback Caleb Williams
only needs what to seventy? I think, Yeah, guys, that
four thousand yard demon. I'm going to come back with Harvey.
So I'll go with the running back out of Denver
in a game that they need to win to lock
up the number one. See my picks don't matter. It's
(07:50):
all Bunky versus Rhet here. So we've got Bucky is
going to roll out Loveland, Bill Uh Toikowsky, Merrit Uh Burden.
Rhet's got McMillan, Henderson, Gatston. It's good. It's a good
threesome there. But you got some ground to close, Buck,
But it's doable. We'll see if you if you can
reel down Rett Oh be a crusher if you caught
(08:11):
him here in the last week. By the way to
watch all these rookie sign up for NFL Plus Premium
and check out NFL Pro, where you can access over
ninety five unique player and team performance stats and the
All twenty two film available on desktop and on mobile web.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
All right, Buck, let's take a quick break.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
We come back. We'll look at some of these huge,
huge division matchups we've got here down the home stretch
in week number eighteen. All right, Buck, doesn't get bigger
than this. You've got division titles up for grabs here.
Let's start first of all Panthers, Bucks, that is four
(08:49):
thirty pm on ABC. What are you looking forward to
in that game? What's the key to the ballgame?
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Man? The keys of the ball game is whiz version
of the pants is going to show up. This is
a team that has been up and down. They've taken
us on the roller coast of the entire season. Defense
is good enough to be able to get it done,
but they're gonna need their offense to show up because
I feel like Baker and the Buccaneers are going to
finally put some points on the board. To me, this
is a Bryce Young, Ted mcmilling game, t MAC game.
(09:16):
They got to find a way to connect on the
pass game, and then like they got to run the ball.
When they run the ball, everything flows from that. To me,
this is about their offense being able to control the game.
They got to run the ball, and they got to
hope that these Buccaneers bus coverages like they've been doing
the last few weeks, and maybe t Mac can hit
them over the top.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
I think they're going to try and get their past
game going a little bit early and just trying to
get Bryce Young out of the funk he was in
against Seattle last week. So to me, on the Tampa
side of things, keep him him, then control your rush,
don't let him escape and create, make some things happen there,
make him throw out of that well. And then Baker's
got to just he's just got to make better decisions,
play smart, take what's there, don't be too greedy. I
(09:55):
don't think you need a bazillion points to win this game.
I think Baker's got to kind of play within himself.
First one to twenty one wins here in my opinion,
in this matchup between the Panthers and the Bucks. By
the way, in terms of what will happen here, Panthers,
they win the NFC South to make the playoffs with
the win. Even if the Panthers lose, they can also
cleanse the division if the Falcons win against the Saints.
(10:17):
So for the Bucks to win the division get in
the postseason, need to win this game against Carolina and
have the Falcons loser tie on Sunday against the Saints,
and that would get them the NFC South title and
they would get into the playoffs. All right, complic cases,
there's a lot of complicated. It's pretty easy. It's pretty
easy for Carolina. Just win and you're in. That's all.
That's the easy part. The game of the weekend is
(10:40):
going to follow that one eight pm Eastern on ABC.
That is the Seattle Seahawks traveling to take on the
forty nine ers.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
But such a good game, such a great game.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Any of those NFL NFC West showdowns are terrific.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
List takes.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
The Niners approach man, Look, the Niners offense is on fire.
This is the best job that I've seen Kyle Shanahan do.
I think what he's been able to do with this
team is next level. Rock Crody is dealing like he
has just found his rhythm with this and the way
they are doing it like CMC is certainly the centerpiece,
but they're now beginning to get the production in the
(11:15):
passing game. Bricky Pearsall is coming on board, Jamon Jennings
is making plays a tight ends, just jumping in for
George Kill and finding ways to make plays. Tom just so,
just a really good team and a really good offense.
And I don't know if anybody can slow this team down.
I don't know if you can slow them down on offense.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Yeah. Look, Seattle's defense has been fantastic. They were fantastic
last week against Carolina, suffocating Bryce young As I was
just talking about just the way San Francisco's offense is
playing right now. I cash, you got to get twenty eight,
I would say, I mean that sounds crazy as good
as Seattle's defense has been, but San francs is got
a punt the way that they've been homming along here.
(11:54):
So to me, Sam Darnold, there's opportunities. You saw it
in that secondary last week against the Bears. William's able
to get some things going. I think Sam has an
opportunity in this one. I know Sam's probably sitting there going, gosh,
could we ever get one of these you know end
of the year games at my place. You had to
go on the road last year in Detroit and then
turn around go on the playoffs, go on the road
against the Rams. He has the big come from behind
(12:16):
win over the Rams, you know, just a few weeks
ago in Seattle. But now, man, he's got to go
do it on the road again. But I would say
this is the most consequential game. I think if Seattle
can win this game, I think that's the greatest home
field that we have in this playoff field. It would
be Seattle hosting the NFC all the way through. That
is not an easy place to go, and I think
that is going to make them not only the number
(12:37):
one seed with a BUYE, but I think that makes
them the clear favorite for me in the NFC if
they can secure home field advantage.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
And I think the Niners play would have leveled the
desperation because as a shorthanded team, being able to play
their games at home and get the buy significant advantage
because of it helped some of their guys get back
because they talked about free wan or potentially being able
to play if they played long enough in the postseason.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
But George getting rested making sure CMC is ready to go.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
And it's such a difference in having too to go
to the show than having to play that extra game.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
I mean there's a real chance that the Niners win
and they have the number one seed lose, they could
end up being the sixth seed have to go to Philly.
I mean that is the difference. Yeah, and they don't
want those problems. I will Look, I'm gonna go with
the Niners. I just look, did just so hot. Now
they can't stop him. But they don't have to play
band but don't break good offense just maybe because it's
(13:33):
recency buys just watching them go up and down the field.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
No, Seattle defense is really good, though, Buck, I just
you know, they they're terrific.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
I went back.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
I went back and watched their Week one game, and
like they had seven explosives in the air. San Francisco
did with a lot of just deep, too high safeties
from Seattle. So they hit a slot seam, they sneak
U check down the sideline, they hit a whole versus that. Look,
they're running everybody out of there with those two deep safeties.
(14:03):
He checks one down to McCaffrey. I believe and he
goes and gets a bunch of yards, and then there
was a couple opportunities down the field where they hit
and then beat some man coverage on why am I
blinking on his name? Twenty seven? This huge corner for
Seattle is it Willah yeah three qualling, Thank you for requalling.
They beat him a cup pearsall got him a couple
(14:25):
of times the stutter go, and then beat him on
a seven rout, but they only had one explosive run.
They took the run away, and I would say Seattle's
defense has played a lot more snug coverage since then.
I don't think they're going to play quite as conservative,
you know, with their safeties. I think they can pull
those guys down a little closer to the line of scrimmage.
Eman Warre's is a big time difference maker the way
(14:46):
he's kind of evolved in that defense, so they I
think Seattle's defense is really really good. But like you,
I'm just it's hard to get what we've seen out
of San Francisco's forty nine or the San Francisco offense
out of my head. So I ended up going with
San franciscoing to a close game. But I think this is
like a twenty eight, now twenty four, thirty twenty seven.
I think it's going to be a good game.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Man.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Look, I think it's very similar to the Thursday night
game they played against the Rams. It's a back and
forth affair and it comes down to the end. It
comes down to who was able to win the fourth quarter. Look,
I'm in on the Niners, but I wouldn't be surprised.
I will say this, Sam Donald's experienced last year should
help him play better this year. Down the street those
(15:29):
two games where he had to play like high end
games for the Vikings and it didn't go his way.
He'll be better prepared to handle depression. You know this,
having been able to playoff teams whatever, DJ, there's nothing
that gets you ready to play in the playoffs except
playoff game like you have to play in those games
to get used to the urgency and the intensity.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
He'll be better prepared. I think he'll play much better
this time. Yeah, and look some of the stuff they
had success with swift on the ground last week the
Bears against that team, and you see Seattle do a
lot of this same thing as you'll see some cracked toss.
You'll see them get out to the perimeter a little bit,
so that'll be key. Get some balance to help Sam
Darnold out there.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
All right.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
The last one, it is the battle for the AFC North.
As we're recording this still not We don't know yet
if Lamar Jackson is going to start, but it looks
like he was practicing as of Wednesday. So we've got
the Ravens at the Steelers. That's eight twenty eastern on NBC.
The winner is going to clinch the division of the
number four seed. The loser is out, so it literally
(16:30):
is a loser leave town match.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Yeah, you know, did you?
Speaker 1 (16:33):
I think the best thing that happen to the Ravens
was playing without Lamar Jackson last week and being forced
to give the ball to Derrick Henry thirty six times.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
To me, I think that is the epiphany that everyone
in the building.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Has to have, Like, you know what, guys, maybe we
should get back to the recipe that works for us,
and that's running the football. And even if Lamar Jackson plays,
running the football to sit the table should create some
big play opportunities. And going into this game, I think
if you're Baltimore, you have to say the magic number
is twenty one. You can't imagine the Pittsburgh still is
scoring more than twenty one points given what they're playing with.
(17:09):
So how can we manufacture twenty one points?
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Man?
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Run it, run it, run it, kick it every time
we have an opportunity, and just keep stacking points and
see if Aaron Rodgers and company are good enough to
match in point for point.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
I just don't think they can do it.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
If I'm Pittsburgh, if I'm Mike Tomlin, I'm talking to
my defense and special teams that I'm saying you got
to give us. You got to give us something in
this one. We need some short fields, you know, whether
that's a big kick return, we got to block a punt.
Are we gonna be able to get a sack fumble?
With our defensive front healthy and back put together, we
got to We've got to help our offense out here.
(17:45):
To me, that Darnault Washington loss is huge.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
They're dead.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
You bullies had two bullies on their teams, dk Metcalf
and him and they're both out. So that's a big
piece of their offensive identity. They have got to run
the ball. They've got to throw the ball to their backs.
Baldy said it when we're talking on Monday game. Well's
the best option right now. He's their winner. He's one
who can win one on one. So they've got to
do that. They've got to make kicks, and they have
(18:09):
to have their defense special teams help them out a
little bit here.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
They Man, you talk about pulling out all the stops.
This is a trick play game. This is a fake
punt game. This is all hands on, Dick. Let's have
all of them ready because for them, they have to
manufacture points any way possible. They don't have the luxury
of being able to say, hey, we're gonna run it
down Baltimore's throater. We're gonna find a way for Aaron
Broders to dink and duck and carve them up resurgical precision.
(18:38):
This is one it's going to take, I would say
Mike Tomlin's best coaching job to be able to get
it done, because in my mind they're a heavy underdog
against the Baltimore Ravens with it without Lamar Jackson play.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
I just think though, man, if somehow they do win
and they get DK Metcalf back, it's going to be
more than likely you can get some bad weather in Pittsburgh,
They're gonna be hosting a game. It's one of those
deals to me, like, I could see Pittsburgh winning an
ugly game here and then people say, oh, their one,
and and then you don't want to go in there.
You don't want to go into Pittsburgh in the in
the in the weather. DK Metcalf back Aaron Rodgers has
(19:12):
some you know, as much experience and more experience than
anybody in the in the whole field. Might be able
to combine everybody in the field. They might have more
experience when you look at the landscape in the AFC
right now. Yeah, I think they're a dangerous team if
they can get by this week. This is a big
challenge for them. Yeah, And I would say the same
thing for Baltimore. Baltimore gets in the tournament, I think
they're dangerous in terms of being able to do this.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Hey, guys, it doesn't matter what the record is. Everyone
is owing up. Like we believe coming into the season
that we were a super Bowl team. We get a
chance to prove it all over again. They get the
benefit of a home game, They'll have played some meaningful
games getting ready to there would be a hardened sense
to them, and I think they get a chance to
edit the reset button and make of the season what
(19:55):
they want given this success in the postseason, so either.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Team can danger.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
But man, I just see the Ravens and after watching
Dick Henry just run the football down there. Any look,
he's done it the last couple of weeks where you
just run the football down people's throats.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
I am going to give it like it may be
a forty maybe a forty Krry game, DJ. It may
it may be one of those type games.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Where a dudejar on, we're gonna ride big feather, We're
gonna run him over and over and over again.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Yeah, it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be a physical affair,
and we can we can definitely agree one hundred percent
on that one. Anything else you want to add, Buck
before we get out of here on a quick, quick
little episode.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Man, nothing is better than getting ready for the postseason
and these games and the way the league has kind
of set it up where all these games are meaningful
to end it on a Sunday night, affair still is
in Ravens.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
Loser lead town match.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
I mean not in literally, DJ, We're talking about loser
leaving tally, maybe the.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Head coach might leave down all stakes robbery. Love it.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Yeah, it's gonna be fun weekend of football. Cannot wait.
We'll be back next week to wrap it all up
for you as well. We appreciate you guys hanging with us.
We will see you next time right here on moving sticks.
Hosts And Creators
Daniel Jeremiah
Bucky Brooks
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