December 29, 2025 • 18 mins
NFL Network Insiders Mike Garafolo, Judy Battista, and Ian Rapoport share their thoughts on the Eagles after an unconvincing win over the Bills. Then they recap the Patriots quick dismissal of the Jets, as well as the Giants getting a win in the present that could hurt their future.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome inside with the insiders.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
We could still say that we've got true right now, Dudy,
that's still Laurel Duty the Pieceta here with me, Mike garro,
Polo and Rapiport.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
We'll be back along shortly.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
If in this part one, go find it and then
come back here, we'll pause.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Hey, welcome back part two of our.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Week seventeen podcasts. We're looking back at week seventeen, forward
to week eighteen, and forward to the postseason that is
to come. Let's go back to I don't even know
what that means. He just told us, sorry, chugging a
honey straw.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
I don't know what that is.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
We'll find out when he comes back. Anytimes, it does
souck it. In the meantime, the Bills a two point.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Conversion away from saying alive to the nfpast.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Josh Allen had.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
An open guy in this and see the look on
his face. I'm disappointed he was. And that loss to
the Eagles that somehow still felt like a loss in Philadelphia,
which is just typical twenty twenty five Eagle to get
to them in a second, but the Bills not being
able to capitalize on this one at home as a point,
but still.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Really dangerous because you can't imagine that there's going to
be too many games when the Bills are going to
be held to twelve points. There's just not that many
defenses who are going to be able to shut them
down like that.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
And it came.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
It was so so close to Josh Allen putting on
the Superman caep again and leading them to victory. You
just don't see Josh Allen miss a wide open receiver
that often. So they are certainly a dangerous team in
the playoffs. I mean, we can spend some time talking
about the Eagles if you'd like. That was a boy
(01:35):
the second half offense, I know every Eagles fan I
know is like despondent. Right, You're in the playoffs, You've
won eleven games, it's great, you won the division. You're
going to have a home game, and they are just
like ready to pack it in and move on to
Like when do the Phillies report to spring training? That
(01:55):
seems to be the mindset right now.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
I mean, I admittedly why them yesterday? I have some
concerns about the offense.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
The offense went completely silent in the second half. The
defense is awesome, It's just a question of when you
come up against uh, you know, playoff teams, which the
Bills are, can you keep can you count on winning
games the way you want it? Yesterday against the Bills
by holding the opponent to twelve points, I had.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Some conversations with some folks and Telly, including welcome back.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
To Anthony was doing. Here's what I was doing. I
mean you text, we already told the audience, Oh you did. Okay,
what if it was private?
Speaker 1 (02:36):
I mean, unless I don't know what honey straw is,
I think it's okay to.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Yeah, it's a great thing. So Max legs. Honey straws
is like a little it's like it looks like a straw,
but it's got honey. And my throat is throbbing because
I'm sick like everyone else, and so I just down
to honey straw and I'm like, you know what, I
feel pretty good. Also have a lot of energy, interestingly enough, So.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
It turns out it turns out I know exactly what. Yes, right,
such we're talking to Eagles here, okay, man, I instead
coming into this game. I'm Anthony Show every week. I
used to work for at any Bag in WFP in Philly,
and he said, well, maybe you should start. They should
start wrestling the Show Bang. Start wrestling guys right now
(03:17):
in week seventeen. And I said, well, that's two weeks
of rest, which is a lot of times for a
team that has a buy and doesn't play.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
In Week eight.
Speaker 5 (03:24):
Team too much, we've seen it like plus to me,
this was a going to Buffalo and beat a Super
Bowl contending team and boy, you gotta feel great about
yourself after and yet they won.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
And Judy's talking about the fan base and a lot
of folks that not feeling great about themselves. It was sloppy,
gay but Ian this this Eagles team. I'll also say
this who before I throw it to you. They lost,
I believe, two AFC games.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
To two playoff teams, the Chargers and the Broncos. They
were off big on the Broncos.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
They just didn't hold on and they probably should have
beaten the at the end there and got a little
sloppy at the end, and then they beat them. So
you've got three teams that you can potentially see in
the Super Bowl that you feel good about beating. You've
got a bunch of teams in the NFC that you've
beaten the regular season other than the Bears, and you
feel good about.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
So there's a lot of reasons to feel good.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
And yet and.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
Yet, and yet nobody feels good. The Eagles are so weird.
They are eleven and five. Like I feel like, if
you're a Ravens fan right now, you're like, all right,
got a shot, eight and eight, let's go. You're a
Steelers fan, missed opportunity, but like, okay, we got a shot.
Egles are eleven and five and all they're doing is
(04:38):
all their fans are upset. Kyle Brand was talking about
Good Morning Football today. I was like, this fan base
is miserable, and of course he's right. And you know
what else showed me? Like AJ Brown, who you know
we've talked about a little bit this year, went over
a thousand yards, a very good productive season, and I
was literally surprised. I do this for a living, and
(04:59):
I'm was literally surprised. I was like, wow, I guess
he's had a good season, because like, but that's the
whole team. You're like, like Jalen Hurts was kind of
I thought pretty good yesterday at times, and you're sort
of like surprised and you're like, oh wait, that's like
the Super Bowl MVP. Who this team is in the
playoffs every year and they're eleven and five, and it's
just like it's all weird.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Some of these people, uh Eagles fans and also people
in life just live to be miserable, and that's okay.
I'm like the opposite. But I don't know, like if
they win the super Bowl, and which is possible if
they win the Super Bowl and it's thirteen to ten
and Saquan has like twenty five yards on you know,
(05:42):
seven carries or something like that, and yeah, I get it.
We but like we didn't even run the ball, and like,
how do you write?
Speaker 2 (05:49):
You know, It's like, okay, it'll be such a lukewarm
feeling at the parade and they'll be calling for Patula.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
He'd be throwing things at him while he's.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
On the float for the Super Bowl. But they just
need we could The Eagles are our team. They have
been all season that we could send the entire hour
and we're not going to but one more.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
I mean every week they've been in top of gun
game day morning, which is all.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
That's like the team that I cover the most, so
it just makes it a lot easier for me. So
thank you Eagles, I guess, for making things easy. It's
twenty twenty five, not for yourself. You've mentioned A J. Brown,
Debante Smith is either he's close to one thousand. I
think he's right up against it.
Speaker 5 (06:23):
A J.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Brown having more yards than Devonte Smith is also weird.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Jalen Hurts a career high in passing touchdown, Dallas Godder
a franchise record in tight end touchdowns, Saint Quon Barkley's
over eleven hundred counting. So all these accolades and accomplishments
and the offensive side of the ball, yet the offense
is terrible.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
So anyway, the other part of this.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Whole equation that the Bill's losing was the Patriots winning
the ANFC East, not to say out of that game
playing to save up the Jets, Judy, But we will
get to that. We'll save that for another time. The
Patriots Drake May I don't know if the MVP on
a right now in the pod Star for One podcast,
the it is definitely ted and he's definitely made his case.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
He's unbelievable. They look they were unbelievable yesterday. They were
missing some you know, rather important players. Now it was
the Jets, I get it. And the Jets are you know,
not very good and looked uninspired, but still to go
out there and just demolish them, right, put up? How whatever?
(07:32):
The score was forty two points, right, Like that's just
and I mean Drake was practically might as well have
been one hundred. It was not one hundred only because
they finally took their foot off the gas at the
end after Rabo for a little while, I was like, well,
let's just call this time out first, Let's just yeah,
let's just keep going here.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
But I mean they're really good.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Listen, you you were saying before about playoff teams were
going to be like yeah, but about some of these
that is going to be the Patriots are going to
have the yeah, bought the schedule.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
Right, yeah, but I hate that.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
I mean, yes, I know, I know, you can only
play who they put in front of you, and they
have played really well against the teams they've been faced with.
But that is the question, right, Like you can demolish
the New York Jets and demolish a lot of other teams,
can they do it against the upper echelon teams, you know,
(08:27):
on a regular basis, when they come up against the
Denver Broncos, can they do it?
Speaker 4 (08:31):
And you know it gets easier obviously if they end
up as the number one seed, it means then it's
like it's it always was, Judy, you can book your hotels,
you know, through thee I mean, it's you know whatever.
So it's just just like old times. And actually I
thought the footage from the Patriots posted of them listening
(08:52):
to the game or watching the game on someone's phone,
I assume on NFL plus Go team all that it
was all cool. You know what I kept thinking of
in the draft when Drake Mayby's in the draft, he
was the guy that everybody wanted to trade up for, right.
All the teams that were behind them were all making
offers to try to trade up, and Elliott Wolf, the
(09:13):
de facto general manager, was kind of like, yeah, I
will consider, and then they never really considered anything and
just took him. And sometimes draft consensus is right, and
I'm like, all those teams, wouldn't they just offer the
whole draft now for him? That's just all the things, right,
like another first round pick, order offer all the things,
(09:34):
because like that's the guy that keeps you employed for
fifteen years. And like, I have a bunch of friends
like you guys do who are Jets fans. I had
a couple who are at the game. I actually have
a buddy of mine who he's a Jets fan and
his wife's a Patriots fan, and all their daughters, of course,
were in Patriots gear obviously, And I'm like, all I'm
thinking is the Patriots lost, Brady lost Belichick, and two
(09:58):
years later they have this guy who is going to
lead them to probably multiple championships on some level, just
led them to their first. I'm like, this is what
Jets fans have to watch after years of watching Brady
and Belichick. Like that sucks, but reality and it's pretty
good for Patriots fans.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
I remember covering Greake mays Brode and the Patriots head.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Eight to nine. People say six seven, how about that
offensive coat?
Speaker 4 (10:25):
Well seven kind of took a quick little eggsit huh.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Grod Mayo was there, Let's not pretty bad?
Speaker 4 (10:32):
Was there?
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Ben mcado was there? Alonzo was there? So Ben yesterday.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Medke sat Ben Ben's Ben be offensive cooridator candidate coming up.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Here definitely got a raw deal with the Giants. I'll
defend that all day long.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Well, maybe he's back in a medf sating I'll leave
at that. We'll see.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
So I do remember then thinking it was not a consensus,
but I remember talking with it. Who do you think
Washington's gonna take it too ahead of you? And it
was early on in the problems. They thought it was
going to be great. They didn't think they're really injured.
So they'll see at this point, very happy that it
turned out that money for then let's move to the
NFC South.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
The Jaguars.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
I thought for a second that and the cold stadium
a run for their money yesterday. But I thought, for
a second, Phil Rivers and the couple, we're gonna win
this game. You're gonna say, well, what are they playing? Well,
they're quine Tol team that looked, but they're just they
were so shorthanded, particular defense inside of the ball, Judy,
are we not paying enough attention to the Jaguars?
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Were not give them enough luck?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
We are not paying enough attention to the Jaguars. We
are not Trevor Lawrence is playing the best ball of
his career.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
They have a good.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Defense, They have really hit a level in the last whatever,
you know, two months or so, they have really taken
a huge leap up. We are not paying enough attention.
And they had that that win against the Broncos. I
mean we like to toss around statement wins. That was
a statement win, right, I mean the Broncos are a
(12:01):
team you can see going to the Super Bowl and
winning the Super Bowl and they have a super Bowl
winning coach and they handed it to the Broncos. We
are not paying enough attention. I think a small market team,
small market team. I love how they have turned. I
love how chippy Liam Cohen is. I love that he
(12:22):
was mad.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
He's sort of like it was a motivation. He was mad.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
But I think that's great like that team because nobody
takes them seriously. He's they're right like people overlook them.
So I love that he's brought that edge to them.
But yeah, I mean, like sure, I mean, who do
you look at in the field that they can't beat
right now? Because we know that they can beat the Broncos.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
I don't know, but like, to me, like this Texans
team is as scary as it gets, Like we've been
as long as I've been doing this, which I think
is fourteen years, either thirteen or fourteen years. This might
be the best defense I've ever seen, And I think
maybe there are a couple like the the Ravens when
the Ravens were dominant, and like that was really good.
(13:03):
Like this is at least the best defense I've seen
in like ten years. They are absolutely suffocating. Every game
is bad. There was a weird penalty at the end
of the Texans Chargers game that was like defensive holding
that was sort of hotly debated. It was a fine call,
Holly debated. And all I kept thinking was like they
weren't gonna score anyway, no way, right, Like it's you
(13:25):
can't like say that, but that's I kept like, there's
no way. The Texans defense is so good, and like
I really feel like they could go to the super Bowl.
I mean, look, they might lose the one who knows.
That's how good I think this defense is. And their
weapons are good enough, they could run the ball enough.
I don't think anybody wants to play this Texans defense.
(13:47):
That yeah, I don't know. We talked about a.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Part one of the podcasts, Who's got the Momentum? Who's
that wild card team?
Speaker 4 (13:54):
There's momentum, great momentum.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
On the side of the Texans. I know people to
clay bout our colleague NFL. Never is a momentum denier.
They don't believe in momentum when it comes to football.
I've seen it. I've seen it that two thousand and.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Seven Giants team freely had momentum on It's not as
the eleven team as well.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
It can happen. It is a real thing. The Texans
have it right now.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
And Judy back to you about Trevor Larks. What's interesting
is I agree with you, this is the best Crever
Larkin I've ever seen. The numbers actually don't like you
look at it and go, oh, actually, it's a completion
percentages as low as it's been in four years. Yards
per attent, interceptions are off the twuve like it really
from a numbers on paper standpoint, you can't see it,
(14:36):
but you can see it with your eyeballs, and I
have seen it.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
I think Krevin Larks playing basketball off this year.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
We'll be back with more from the Insiders come down
the home.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Stretch of The Insider's Week seven Team Monday podcast.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
So let's get right to it. Giants ragers Ian.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Both teams leading up to the game looked like they
were trying to affect the outcome with.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Regard to who's playing. In the end, the Giants teak
and the Giants staking given.
Speaker 4 (14:59):
It's yeah, they tried. Both teams tried. Raiders put a
bunch of their good players on IR for the betterment
of their players so they could go into the offseason
fully healthy, which they are. I saw Max Crosby playing
basketball instead yesterday. The Giants had actual injuries. Uh, not
that the redist didn't, but the Giants had actual injuries
(15:20):
to put a bunch of guys on IR. Look, I
think people will argue and they will say, you don't tank,
and it's like, you don't tank, it's not a real thing.
Organizations will try to, you know, sort of create an
outcome that they would like, but players are always like, yeah,
I don't care. Like Jackson Dart went into that game,
Judy and I don't. I'm sure he didn't hear me
(15:41):
what I was talking about on TV, but I was
talking about how the Giants get the number one pick.
They're going to evaluate Mendoza and they're gonna look at
their options a quarterback and see where it takes them,
and Jackson Dart took that and was as they should
took that and was like yeah, cool and stuck it
somewhere where, you know whatever, and led them to a win.
(16:02):
And they're not going to get the number one pick
now probably and he's probably going to be the quarterback
next year. No matter what. They're still gonna have a
good pick. But players do not tank, and yes, it
will hurt them as an organization, I think, but teaching
them how to win also helps. So I could sort
of go either.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
Way, and winning a game when you've just had a
miserable season and haven't won many games counts for something
for a team like you have to learn how to
win games, right, and they have not. I mean, all
we've talked about this year is how they've blown leads
and haven't been able to close out games. You have,
and I know it's the Raiders, And I know the
Raiders maybe weren't trying as very hard as they could
(16:39):
have been trying.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
But it coaching staff was the cook.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
But they you have to learn how to win, and
so every win is good for something, and I you know, listen,
the Giants have been in this position in previous seasons recently,
and we sort of look back and lament like, oh,
they could have gotten Drake May. We just said that, Yeah,
you just can't tell players to lay down.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
That's not going to happen.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
If the Giants find up at the number two pick,
that's the team could potentially still want to come up
for a quarterback. There.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
You saw the impact that Abdill Carter had yesterday. You
can get a player.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
He's coming on.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
This is this is what we saw in trading camp.
It did not translate to the early part of the
regular season. Now it is translating. So now you've got
pieces to work with and a quarterback you feel good about.
Now you've got to get a new head coach. We
will not be Marcus Freen and Notre Dame's coach was
on the potential radar, but he is standing in Notre Dame.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
He has made that clear. All right.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Well, plenty of talk about the draft, but we've got
a lot more football left from the season Week eight
team right there, the postseason as.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Well coming up. So lock in say with us the Insiders.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
You can find us on NFL Network and NFL Plus
throughout the weekend.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
There is your schedule for this week.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Next week we're going back to the NFL Network Monday
through Friday. But we thank you for finding us everywhere
you possibly can.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
So for Judy be dsa I and.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
A rapping board, me myself like there, although there's top
outsa up there.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
He'll be thank week we are signing up. Thanks for
joining me. Hm hm
Welcome inside with the insiders.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
We could still say that we've got true right now, Dudy,
that's still Laurel Duty the Pieceta here with me, Mike garro,
Polo and Rapiport.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
We'll be back along shortly.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
If in this part one, go find it and then
come back here, we'll pause.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Hey, welcome back part two of our.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Week seventeen podcasts. We're looking back at week seventeen, forward
to week eighteen, and forward to the postseason that is
to come. Let's go back to I don't even know
what that means. He just told us, sorry, chugging a
honey straw.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
I don't know what that is.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
We'll find out when he comes back. Anytimes, it does
souck it. In the meantime, the Bills a two point.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Conversion away from saying alive to the nfpast.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Josh Allen had.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
An open guy in this and see the look on
his face. I'm disappointed he was. And that loss to
the Eagles that somehow still felt like a loss in Philadelphia,
which is just typical twenty twenty five Eagle to get
to them in a second, but the Bills not being
able to capitalize on this one at home as a point,
but still.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Really dangerous because you can't imagine that there's going to
be too many games when the Bills are going to
be held to twelve points. There's just not that many
defenses who are going to be able to shut them
down like that.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
And it came.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
It was so so close to Josh Allen putting on
the Superman caep again and leading them to victory. You
just don't see Josh Allen miss a wide open receiver
that often. So they are certainly a dangerous team in
the playoffs. I mean, we can spend some time talking
about the Eagles if you'd like. That was a boy
(01:35):
the second half offense, I know every Eagles fan I
know is like despondent. Right, You're in the playoffs, You've
won eleven games, it's great, you won the division. You're
going to have a home game, and they are just
like ready to pack it in and move on to
Like when do the Phillies report to spring training? That
(01:55):
seems to be the mindset right now.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
I mean, I admittedly why them yesterday? I have some
concerns about the offense.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
The offense went completely silent in the second half. The
defense is awesome, It's just a question of when you
come up against uh, you know, playoff teams, which the
Bills are, can you keep can you count on winning
games the way you want it? Yesterday against the Bills
by holding the opponent to twelve points, I had.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Some conversations with some folks and Telly, including welcome back.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
To Anthony was doing. Here's what I was doing. I
mean you text, we already told the audience, Oh you did. Okay,
what if it was private?
Speaker 1 (02:36):
I mean, unless I don't know what honey straw is,
I think it's okay to.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Yeah, it's a great thing. So Max legs. Honey straws
is like a little it's like it looks like a straw,
but it's got honey. And my throat is throbbing because
I'm sick like everyone else, and so I just down
to honey straw and I'm like, you know what, I
feel pretty good. Also have a lot of energy, interestingly enough, So.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
It turns out it turns out I know exactly what. Yes, right,
such we're talking to Eagles here, okay, man, I instead
coming into this game. I'm Anthony Show every week. I
used to work for at any Bag in WFP in Philly,
and he said, well, maybe you should start. They should
start wrestling the Show Bang. Start wrestling guys right now
(03:17):
in week seventeen. And I said, well, that's two weeks
of rest, which is a lot of times for a
team that has a buy and doesn't play.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
In Week eight.
Speaker 5 (03:24):
Team too much, we've seen it like plus to me,
this was a going to Buffalo and beat a Super
Bowl contending team and boy, you gotta feel great about
yourself after and yet they won.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
And Judy's talking about the fan base and a lot
of folks that not feeling great about themselves. It was sloppy,
gay but Ian this this Eagles team. I'll also say
this who before I throw it to you. They lost,
I believe, two AFC games.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
To two playoff teams, the Chargers and the Broncos. They
were off big on the Broncos.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
They just didn't hold on and they probably should have
beaten the at the end there and got a little
sloppy at the end, and then they beat them. So
you've got three teams that you can potentially see in
the Super Bowl that you feel good about beating. You've
got a bunch of teams in the NFC that you've
beaten the regular season other than the Bears, and you
feel good about.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
So there's a lot of reasons to feel good.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
And yet and.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
Yet, and yet nobody feels good. The Eagles are so weird.
They are eleven and five. Like I feel like, if
you're a Ravens fan right now, you're like, all right,
got a shot, eight and eight, let's go. You're a
Steelers fan, missed opportunity, but like, okay, we got a shot.
Egles are eleven and five and all they're doing is
(04:38):
all their fans are upset. Kyle Brand was talking about
Good Morning Football today. I was like, this fan base
is miserable, and of course he's right. And you know
what else showed me? Like AJ Brown, who you know
we've talked about a little bit this year, went over
a thousand yards, a very good productive season, and I
was literally surprised. I do this for a living, and
(04:59):
I'm was literally surprised. I was like, wow, I guess
he's had a good season, because like, but that's the
whole team. You're like, like Jalen Hurts was kind of
I thought pretty good yesterday at times, and you're sort
of like surprised and you're like, oh wait, that's like
the Super Bowl MVP. Who this team is in the
playoffs every year and they're eleven and five, and it's
just like it's all weird.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Some of these people, uh Eagles fans and also people
in life just live to be miserable, and that's okay.
I'm like the opposite. But I don't know, like if
they win the super Bowl, and which is possible if
they win the Super Bowl and it's thirteen to ten
and Saquan has like twenty five yards on you know,
(05:42):
seven carries or something like that, and yeah, I get it.
We but like we didn't even run the ball, and like,
how do you write?
Speaker 2 (05:49):
You know, It's like, okay, it'll be such a lukewarm
feeling at the parade and they'll be calling for Patula.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
He'd be throwing things at him while he's.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
On the float for the Super Bowl. But they just
need we could The Eagles are our team. They have
been all season that we could send the entire hour
and we're not going to but one more.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
I mean every week they've been in top of gun
game day morning, which is all.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
That's like the team that I cover the most, so
it just makes it a lot easier for me. So
thank you Eagles, I guess, for making things easy. It's
twenty twenty five, not for yourself. You've mentioned A J. Brown,
Debante Smith is either he's close to one thousand. I
think he's right up against it.
Speaker 5 (06:23):
A J.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Brown having more yards than Devonte Smith is also weird.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Jalen Hurts a career high in passing touchdown, Dallas Godder
a franchise record in tight end touchdowns, Saint Quon Barkley's
over eleven hundred counting. So all these accolades and accomplishments
and the offensive side of the ball, yet the offense
is terrible.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
So anyway, the other part of this.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Whole equation that the Bill's losing was the Patriots winning
the ANFC East, not to say out of that game
playing to save up the Jets, Judy, But we will
get to that. We'll save that for another time. The
Patriots Drake May I don't know if the MVP on
a right now in the pod Star for One podcast,
the it is definitely ted and he's definitely made his case.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
He's unbelievable. They look they were unbelievable yesterday. They were
missing some you know, rather important players. Now it was
the Jets, I get it. And the Jets are you know,
not very good and looked uninspired, but still to go
out there and just demolish them, right, put up? How whatever?
(07:32):
The score was forty two points, right, Like that's just
and I mean Drake was practically might as well have
been one hundred. It was not one hundred only because
they finally took their foot off the gas at the
end after Rabo for a little while, I was like, well,
let's just call this time out first, Let's just yeah,
let's just keep going here.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
But I mean they're really good.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Listen, you you were saying before about playoff teams were
going to be like yeah, but about some of these
that is going to be the Patriots are going to
have the yeah, bought the schedule.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
Right, yeah, but I hate that.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
I mean, yes, I know, I know, you can only
play who they put in front of you, and they
have played really well against the teams they've been faced with.
But that is the question, right, Like you can demolish
the New York Jets and demolish a lot of other teams,
can they do it against the upper echelon teams, you know,
(08:27):
on a regular basis, when they come up against the
Denver Broncos, can they do it?
Speaker 4 (08:31):
And you know it gets easier obviously if they end
up as the number one seed, it means then it's
like it's it always was, Judy, you can book your hotels,
you know, through thee I mean, it's you know whatever.
So it's just just like old times. And actually I
thought the footage from the Patriots posted of them listening
(08:52):
to the game or watching the game on someone's phone,
I assume on NFL plus Go team all that it
was all cool. You know what I kept thinking of
in the draft when Drake Mayby's in the draft, he
was the guy that everybody wanted to trade up for, right.
All the teams that were behind them were all making
offers to try to trade up, and Elliott Wolf, the
(09:13):
de facto general manager, was kind of like, yeah, I
will consider, and then they never really considered anything and
just took him. And sometimes draft consensus is right, and
I'm like, all those teams, wouldn't they just offer the
whole draft now for him? That's just all the things, right,
like another first round pick, order offer all the things,
(09:34):
because like that's the guy that keeps you employed for
fifteen years. And like, I have a bunch of friends
like you guys do who are Jets fans. I had
a couple who are at the game. I actually have
a buddy of mine who he's a Jets fan and
his wife's a Patriots fan, and all their daughters, of course,
were in Patriots gear obviously, And I'm like, all I'm
thinking is the Patriots lost, Brady lost Belichick, and two
(09:58):
years later they have this guy who is going to
lead them to probably multiple championships on some level, just
led them to their first. I'm like, this is what
Jets fans have to watch after years of watching Brady
and Belichick. Like that sucks, but reality and it's pretty
good for Patriots fans.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
I remember covering Greake mays Brode and the Patriots head.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Eight to nine. People say six seven, how about that
offensive coat?
Speaker 4 (10:25):
Well seven kind of took a quick little eggsit huh.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Grod Mayo was there, Let's not pretty bad?
Speaker 4 (10:32):
Was there?
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Ben mcado was there? Alonzo was there? So Ben yesterday.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Medke sat Ben Ben's Ben be offensive cooridator candidate coming up.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Here definitely got a raw deal with the Giants. I'll
defend that all day long.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Well, maybe he's back in a medf sating I'll leave
at that. We'll see.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
So I do remember then thinking it was not a consensus,
but I remember talking with it. Who do you think
Washington's gonna take it too ahead of you? And it
was early on in the problems. They thought it was
going to be great. They didn't think they're really injured.
So they'll see at this point, very happy that it
turned out that money for then let's move to the
NFC South.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
The Jaguars.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
I thought for a second that and the cold stadium
a run for their money yesterday. But I thought, for
a second, Phil Rivers and the couple, we're gonna win
this game. You're gonna say, well, what are they playing? Well,
they're quine Tol team that looked, but they're just they
were so shorthanded, particular defense inside of the ball, Judy,
are we not paying enough attention to the Jaguars?
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Were not give them enough luck?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
We are not paying enough attention to the Jaguars. We
are not Trevor Lawrence is playing the best ball of
his career.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
They have a good.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Defense, They have really hit a level in the last whatever,
you know, two months or so, they have really taken
a huge leap up. We are not paying enough attention.
And they had that that win against the Broncos. I
mean we like to toss around statement wins. That was
a statement win, right, I mean the Broncos are a
(12:01):
team you can see going to the Super Bowl and
winning the Super Bowl and they have a super Bowl
winning coach and they handed it to the Broncos. We
are not paying enough attention. I think a small market team,
small market team. I love how they have turned. I
love how chippy Liam Cohen is. I love that he
(12:22):
was mad.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
He's sort of like it was a motivation. He was mad.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
But I think that's great like that team because nobody
takes them seriously. He's they're right like people overlook them.
So I love that he's brought that edge to them.
But yeah, I mean, like sure, I mean, who do
you look at in the field that they can't beat
right now? Because we know that they can beat the Broncos.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
I don't know, but like, to me, like this Texans
team is as scary as it gets, Like we've been
as long as I've been doing this, which I think
is fourteen years, either thirteen or fourteen years. This might
be the best defense I've ever seen, And I think
maybe there are a couple like the the Ravens when
the Ravens were dominant, and like that was really good.
(13:03):
Like this is at least the best defense I've seen
in like ten years. They are absolutely suffocating. Every game
is bad. There was a weird penalty at the end
of the Texans Chargers game that was like defensive holding
that was sort of hotly debated. It was a fine call,
Holly debated. And all I kept thinking was like they
weren't gonna score anyway, no way, right, Like it's you
(13:25):
can't like say that, but that's I kept like, there's
no way. The Texans defense is so good, and like
I really feel like they could go to the super Bowl.
I mean, look, they might lose the one who knows.
That's how good I think this defense is. And their
weapons are good enough, they could run the ball enough.
I don't think anybody wants to play this Texans defense.
(13:47):
That yeah, I don't know. We talked about a.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Part one of the podcasts, Who's got the Momentum? Who's
that wild card team?
Speaker 4 (13:54):
There's momentum, great momentum.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
On the side of the Texans. I know people to
clay bout our colleague NFL. Never is a momentum denier.
They don't believe in momentum when it comes to football.
I've seen it. I've seen it that two thousand and.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Seven Giants team freely had momentum on It's not as
the eleven team as well.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
It can happen. It is a real thing. The Texans
have it right now.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
And Judy back to you about Trevor Larks. What's interesting
is I agree with you, this is the best Crever
Larkin I've ever seen. The numbers actually don't like you
look at it and go, oh, actually, it's a completion
percentages as low as it's been in four years. Yards
per attent, interceptions are off the twuve like it really
from a numbers on paper standpoint, you can't see it,
(14:36):
but you can see it with your eyeballs, and I
have seen it.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
I think Krevin Larks playing basketball off this year.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
We'll be back with more from the Insiders come down
the home.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Stretch of The Insider's Week seven Team Monday podcast.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
So let's get right to it. Giants ragers Ian.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Both teams leading up to the game looked like they
were trying to affect the outcome with.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Regard to who's playing. In the end, the Giants teak
and the Giants staking given.
Speaker 4 (14:59):
It's yeah, they tried. Both teams tried. Raiders put a
bunch of their good players on IR for the betterment
of their players so they could go into the offseason
fully healthy, which they are. I saw Max Crosby playing
basketball instead yesterday. The Giants had actual injuries. Uh, not
that the redist didn't, but the Giants had actual injuries
(15:20):
to put a bunch of guys on IR. Look, I
think people will argue and they will say, you don't tank,
and it's like, you don't tank, it's not a real thing.
Organizations will try to, you know, sort of create an
outcome that they would like, but players are always like, yeah,
I don't care. Like Jackson Dart went into that game,
Judy and I don't. I'm sure he didn't hear me
(15:41):
what I was talking about on TV, but I was
talking about how the Giants get the number one pick.
They're going to evaluate Mendoza and they're gonna look at
their options a quarterback and see where it takes them,
and Jackson Dart took that and was as they should
took that and was like yeah, cool and stuck it
somewhere where, you know whatever, and led them to a win.
(16:02):
And they're not going to get the number one pick
now probably and he's probably going to be the quarterback
next year. No matter what. They're still gonna have a
good pick. But players do not tank, and yes, it
will hurt them as an organization, I think, but teaching
them how to win also helps. So I could sort
of go either.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
Way, and winning a game when you've just had a
miserable season and haven't won many games counts for something
for a team like you have to learn how to
win games, right, and they have not. I mean, all
we've talked about this year is how they've blown leads
and haven't been able to close out games. You have,
and I know it's the Raiders, And I know the
Raiders maybe weren't trying as very hard as they could
(16:39):
have been trying.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
But it coaching staff was the cook.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
But they you have to learn how to win, and
so every win is good for something, and I you know, listen,
the Giants have been in this position in previous seasons recently,
and we sort of look back and lament like, oh,
they could have gotten Drake May. We just said that, Yeah,
you just can't tell players to lay down.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
That's not going to happen.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
If the Giants find up at the number two pick,
that's the team could potentially still want to come up
for a quarterback. There.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
You saw the impact that Abdill Carter had yesterday. You
can get a player.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
He's coming on.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
This is this is what we saw in trading camp.
It did not translate to the early part of the
regular season. Now it is translating. So now you've got
pieces to work with and a quarterback you feel good about.
Now you've got to get a new head coach. We
will not be Marcus Freen and Notre Dame's coach was
on the potential radar, but he is standing in Notre Dame.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
He has made that clear. All right.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Well, plenty of talk about the draft, but we've got
a lot more football left from the season Week eight
team right there, the postseason as.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Well coming up. So lock in say with us the Insiders.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
You can find us on NFL Network and NFL Plus
throughout the weekend.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
There is your schedule for this week.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Next week we're going back to the NFL Network Monday
through Friday. But we thank you for finding us everywhere
you possibly can.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
So for Judy be dsa I and.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
A rapping board, me myself like there, although there's top
outsa up there.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
He'll be thank week we are signing up. Thanks for
joining me. Hm hm
Hosts And Creators
Judy Battista
Tom Pelissero
Ian Rapaport
Mike Garafolo
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