September 4, 2025 • 19 mins
Wex, AC and Cole Thompson break down their thoughts on the 2025 NFL season, pick their playoff teams and eventual Super Bowl champions. Who is the WILD CARD of all wild cards? Which division features the most representation? Who ends up underwhelming this fall? Listen here!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, let's do it. Let's get to the twenty
twenty five NFL season. It hasn't started yet, but it
will for us right now, because we're gonna tell you
what's gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Yeah, NFL season starts tonight's game Friday night. The Texans
will play at three twenty five on Sunday afternoon, one
Monday Night football game this week, and then we'll do
it all again next week with the Texans having the
honors as one of the two games on Monday Night
Football when they open their NRG Stadium portion of their
seventeen game ride to a third consecutive division title, and
(00:29):
we'll see about where the predictions say they will go
after that. I would tell you we really have to
dive in and dissect and really analyze our thoughts about
the eight division winners that we think we're going to
see this year for the divisions in the AFC and
the NFC. We agreed on all of those picks, but one,
(00:50):
AC and I agreed on one hundred percent of the picks.
Both of us think Buffalo, Houston, Baltimore, and Kansas City
will win the AFC divisions. The Eagles, the Bucks, the
Lions and the Rams will win the NFC divisions. Cole
agreed on the NFC divisions as well. The only division
winner that any of us picked that the others did
not is the Kansas City Chiefs to not win the West,
(01:12):
but rather Sean Payton's Denver Broncos to take the honors,
so says.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Cole, absolutely good defense. I think bo Nicks has another
good year. I think there's regression out in Kansas City.
You get an eleven win season, it's enough to get
you right over the hump and into the divisional round,
or at least into hosting a playoff game. Kansas City's
got going a different path to the wildcard. All of
us have Kansas City in the playoffs. Cole puts them
in the wildcard spot. All of us have Denver in
(01:38):
the playoffs. You and IAC both have Denver among the
playoff teams. Non division winning Cincinnati also makes all three
of our wild cards selections among the AFC teams. But
this is where a little discussion now finally comes into play.
I have the Chargers making it is the one of
the three wildcards. AC has the Bengals and Dolphins, or excuse me,
(01:59):
be the Dolphins as one of the somewhat wild card
wild card teams, and Cole has Pittsburgh as the wildcard team.
Alo's Aaron Rodgers make your case for Tua's Dolphins.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I will admit I'm not really That's probably the least
confident pick I made on the entire page.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
So you think there are six good teams in the
AFC and you couldn't figure out who the next best
team is.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I just still think that outside of Buffalo, and I
know that the Patriots, I almost put the Patriots in
the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
It's I really did.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Patriots, the Steelers, the Bengals, the Dolphins. I don't think
there are more choices after that. Again, but any one
of them is a reasonable for reason I would have.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
The reason I almost did that with the Patriots is
because they're playing a last place crap schedule more than
anything else. I don't think it's because there's some you know,
they're not a bad team, and I don't. I'm not
willing to the jury's out on Drake May but I
just think that sometimes teams get in because they take
advantage of a week schedule, and I think that's what
will happen for them. Maybe, but I still think the
(03:01):
Dolphins are a better team.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
All right, Cole, your case for your your wild card
of the wild card teams the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Yeah, I thought that New England would be definitely in
play as well. I am in agreeance. I think Drake
Man is gonna be awesome. I loved the addition of
Kyle Williams for this offense from Washington State, but death
at taxes Mike Tomlin getting above five hundred is just
kind of expected. I think the addition of Johnny Smith
is a very under the radar move that wasn't talked
about enough this offseason. And Aaron Rodgers, he goes out
on top to at least gets you to the playoffs
(03:30):
one more time. I mean, you said everything. I totally
disagree with.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Mike Tomlin is gonna have a winning record, but they're
not gonna make the playoffs. Aaron Rodgers is absolutely positively
not going out on top. He's going out with yet
another disappointing season, third consecutive one due to injury, one
due to performance.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
This one will be better.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
But how they only won five games in New York
last year and he was out there for all of them.
They can win six, they can win seven, they can
win eight, they can win nine, and I think they'll
win nine and it'll be much better than last year,
but it will not be a postseason and birth.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
For Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I went with the Chargers, which surely on this show
won't be very popular. I think Justin Herbert is in
the top half of NFC quarterbacks, as in the seventh
best one, as in the last of the wild card teams.
I like Bo Nicks with what he does to help
his team win slightly more.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
I clearly like CJ.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Moore, clearly like Burrow Moore, and the other three are obvious.
If the Rashawn Slater injury doesn't derail some of the
things they want to do offensively, I think they'll be
able to run the ball a little bit better than
they were a year ago. I think they'll figure out
somebody else to throw the ball to occasionally. And I
think the magical monster opening season plus playoff game for
Lad McConkie is just the start. I think he's going
(04:43):
to production wise be unreal this year for the Chargers.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
So the Pittsburgh Steelers instead of the Dolphins making the postseason,
those are the two teams right there where. I think
it's it's not similar in their personnel because one quarterback's.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Just old and maybe bad. Now, I really don't know
for sure. I can't maybe bad. Well, I know what
you're gonna say.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
But it's like I can't put Aaron Rodgers, even if
it just ends up being the name on the back
of his jersey, on a team coach by Mike Tomlin
and just assume it's going to go poorly just because
he's fort.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Going poorly doesn't have to be accurate. I didn't say
that it would go poorly. I mean I said they're
gonna win nine games that went well. It's just not
good enough.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Was he bad because he's bad or was he bad
because he was in New York?
Speaker 4 (05:35):
He was bad?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Okay, And I think I'm not in the majority saying that,
And I'm surprised by that. In twenty eight touchdowns and
eleven interceptions, that sounds pretty good, wasn't it.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
It does. You're right, it does have.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
I mean, that is a ton of pressure this season
to get rid of that narrative. That's what it is,
except for that your father time's going against you. So
it's an uphill battle.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Yeah, he's not going to physically be better, and there
was a in my opinion, a clear physical decline in
his capabilities. You know, he talked a lot about not
being on the same page with different guys at different times.
So it may look he's throwing the ball here and
there's nobody there. It looks like he's underthrown all sorts
of reasons for these clearly obvious things. At least to me,
(06:13):
it was about playing good football, winning football, making plays.
That's what was lacking for Aaron Rodgers. And again, twenty
eight touchdowns in a season sounds perfectly fine. It's more
than he threw in this final year in Green Bay.
It's a very respectable number, even in this day and
age in the NFL. There's nothing wrong with it.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Completely.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Sixty three percent of your passes is no longer great.
It's well below par. There's a reason why his passer
rating was under ninety one in an era where almost
everybody else is above that.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
Certainly the good quarterbacks are.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
It just wasn't a good good enough player, and he's
definitely not one of the seven best quarterbacks. So he's
going to have to quarterback a team that outplays quarterback
his team to outplay a team with a significantly better
quarterback than him, because I think the top seven are
significantly better than him. I mean, I think two is
a better player than him, but I don't know that
with all the parts of their games that you'd have
to consider, I'd want him more because I'm still afraid
(07:04):
that the next hit is the last hit and it
could happen at any time. And he also played all
of last year and they had a bunch of other injuries,
but they weren't a very good team either.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Well Dantana Rubb, but with the Dolphins, their problem to
me is I don't know what you're getting out of
their supposed best receiver.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
I think there's a little bit of question mark there.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
I think Tyreek can be and he's probably a little
bit like Aaron Why was he so special? He was
just faster than everybody else, and he's a bulkier fast
player and there aren't very many of those out there,
so he could certainly take the I think the physical
nature of the game. But he's a tiny person from
a stature standpoint, but he's built like a truck and
(07:45):
he's been phenomenal. He's been less than phenomenal off his
most recent season, the only season he's played in the
NFL at age thirty. This will be the second time
he's played an NFL season at age thirty or more.
He was suited up for all seventeen Dolphins games last year,
and every year of his career except for his rookie season,
he's averaged significantly more yards per game, significantly more touchdowns.
(08:10):
He didn't even have a thousand yard season. He played
in all seventeen games.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
That's like unheard of for him.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
He had eighteen hundred yards of the year before he
led the league.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
All right, so let's get to our conference championships. Well,
did you guys go through your NFC NFC wildcards? Nope,
you got to go through the NFC wild cards.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
We have agreement in just one of those teams, Green Bay,
across the board Jordan Love, Michaeh Parsons, et cetera, and
the always winning they do with coach Lafleura.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
We got all three of us.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Have the Packers making the postseason via the wild card,
Two of us have San Francisco, and there myself in
ac Cole's got Arizona and Minnesota. I also have Washington
AC You've got Seattle. Let's start there. Seattle decide to
flip it at quarterback, Out goes Gino, incomes Darnold out
of the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Why because I believe that Sam Donald is the guy
you saw in Minnesota for the majority of the year
until proven otherwise, Because if it was see this is
why I have the question about New York. Maybe it
really is a New York thing, or maybe he was
just on a really good Vikings team last year. But
if Gino can do that with a lot of the
(09:21):
same personnel, and I saw what Sam Donald can do,
admittedly with probably the best, if not one, a receiver
in the NFL, I'm gonna give him the benefit of
the doubt in that division. I might add, until proven otherwise.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Let me ask you a question before I ask you
about Arizona cole Who's better at playing quarterback in the
NFL in twenty twenty five based on what you've seen
from them prior to twenty twenty five, Sam Donald or
Gino Smith island Geno Smith. That's what I think is
why most people won't love what Seattle did this offseason.
I don't think he's right. I agree but we'll see.
(10:01):
I mean, Seattle, I think they did something they thought
was best. They were going to spend the money either way,
shows to spend it on Darnold. Remember the division winner
in the NFC West last year went ten and seven.
The Seahawks went ten and seven in the NFC West
last year but did not make the playoffs because of
a tiebreaker, and the Rams did and they didn't. All right,
(10:21):
cole an explanation on your thought with the wild card
of your wildcard picks, which I certainly think is Arizona,
But also you've got JJ McCarthy making the postseason in
year one as a starter.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
I just think the Vikings have an elite defense, their
top to bottom, top five in every single area of
that size. They have a good overall arsenal and a
good offensive line. You need them to be competent. I mean,
that's literally all you're asking for. And you get Kevin
O'Connor as your head coach, it's a pretty good spot
for Arizona. There's one team every single year that we
don't talk about that comes out of nowhere that goes
(10:53):
to the playoff.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Last season, it was Denver. I like the schedule.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
I like this defense, I think you are going to
see a breakout year from Marvin Harrison junior. Michael Wilson
is a really good wide receiver. Number two, I think
James Connor is gonna have a career season, and Kyler
Murray's kind of got to show it that he is
the right guy to lead this team for the long
term or else they're gonna hit reset.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Now. I went back and looked at the information you
guys sent me your predictions like ten times, and then
I typed him up and put him on the graphic
that everyone on Space City Home network can see. And
I'll ask you here to reconfirm what I tried to
confirm ten times. Neither one of you has the Commanders
in the postseason? Is that correct?
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Nope? Nope?
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Why Why can't he have a sophomore slump? No, I'm
I just want I'm curious. Is that what you There
is something to be said for having film on a guy.
He's not gonna be sneaking up on anybody, but I
wouldn't be surprised if they do, because I think the
team around him is very good and his line did
improve at left tackle, you would think so, I.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Will say for me, Cliff Kingsbury is going to be
this year's Bobby Slowick, where a lot of people oversaturated
what he did last season, become a head coach, came
back for another year.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
He's just not able to duplicate that same magic.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
That very well could be the case. Two of us
have the Niners in there, and that was the one
I had the least confidence in. Ac also had the
Niners very much a bounce back season. Clearly, I think
easily said that means Christian McCaffrey has to be healthy
for all seventeen of their games. Perties got to play
to the contract he has earned. And as I tease
ahead to what we have for our AFC title game
(12:26):
matchups and winners and Super Bowl matchup and winners, I
like Washington a lot more than those two guys do.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
That's right, everybody else in the world.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
It is the eight team Sports Sox seven ninety Space
City Home Network as we wind down our picks and
get to the conference championship games and the Big Game.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
Oh wait, can I say that here? Can I say
what it is? You say the Super Bowl? A super Bowl?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
I won't give it a number, you can give it
a location. You can say Super Bowl on a billion
times over bunch of Roman numerals and.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
So I mentioned just before we hit the brake, I'd
like the Commander's outfit a little bit more than these
guys did. We once again had very little to disagree
with on the AFC side of things. When you get
to the title game, we have the same matchup all
three of us, the ravens Lamar Jackson, the Bills, Josh Allen. Nobody,
(13:26):
Nobody put Kansas City in the AFC title game. I mean,
why would you they never make it to the AFC
Title Game. I guess they don't. Not Here on the
A team, two of us have Baltimore winning. We sit
in this studio, Cole has Buffalo winning, and all three
of us have the AFC champion being the NFL champion.
(13:48):
My NFC title game is the aforementioned Commanders and Eagles
repeat of last year's NFC title game, but not a
repeat of the result of last year's NFC title game.
I have the Eagles losing to the Commanders in the
NFC title game. Ac you have the Eagles beating the
Lions for the NFC champions and call the opposite the
(14:11):
Lions beating the Eagles for the NFC championship. So I'll
start there. The Lions losses, most notably their almost entire
offensive coaching staff. Not enough to jump off the Lions bandwagon.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
Not enough.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
I still like their defense. I still think they have
one of the better secondaries in the NFL. They have
one of the better pass rushers in the NFL. Aiden
Hodgson's gonna go off this year, knowing that he is
about to get paid. I think that you look at
the offensive line, very solid, good wide receiver room. Another
player who's gonna get cashed in this offseason, Jamison Williams,
one of the best one to two combinations in Jamier
(14:47):
Gibbs and David Montgomery, and I just think Jared Goff
is going to find a way to get it done.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
I kind of believe Williams, Ross Saint Brown, Laporta, Gibbs,
Montgomery at those skills positions, and maybe a different teams
five is three wideouts are running back in a tight end,
while their five is this five. I think it's hard
to match that. I think it's about as well outfitted
as any outfitted as any offense in the NFL. Is
(15:14):
they utilize their personal tremendously well, presuming it continues under
new leadership. I think people may be jumping a little
bit far off of them, even though I don't have
them in the title game, and both of you guys do.
But that's the hurdle they're trying to get over, and
they do want to repeat of last season. For Jared Goff,
saying that here in Houston might feel weird because he
threw five picks here in Houston, but he basically didn't
(15:36):
make any mistakes the entire rest of the season and
they were awesome because of it.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
If he repeats that, they'll be right back where they were.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
I said the AFC was going to win the Super
Bowl according to us here on the A team Cole,
you have Detroit making the Super Bowl AC as well,
but neither of you have them winning it. Baltimore beats
Detroit from AC, Buffalo beats Detroit from Cole, and I
have the only one, little, tiny, tiny air of the
country gets to truly enjoy the Super Bowl with Baltimore
(16:04):
and Washington meeting up in the last game of the year,
and two of us think Lamar Jackson is gonna win
his first super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Why, Uh, it just feels a lot like it's not
only it's not just as simple as oh, it's their year.
I mean, they're always right there in the mix. You
could say the same thing about Buffalo. Buffalo's got to
be thinking, which, by the way, that's that's what makes
Cole's pick completely reasonable. As long as they don't run
into Kansas City, they should have a pretty good shot.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
But are we thinking that Baltimore or Buffalo is going
to reach the Super Bowl out of the AFC by
beating Kansas City.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
They're gonna have to well, I mean it's.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Not automatic that they have too. Well, what they need
to happen is what the Texans haven't been able to do.
If Kansas City is the one seed again, which is
very much up in doubt I think this year, and
we know they were down last year. Clearly Kansas City
was down except for their record. Yeah, they they made
(17:01):
you come see them. If they do that again, then
the door would once again be open for a four, five, six,
seven seed to meet them before Baltimore Buffalo would They
would have to obviously beat each other, but could get
that we don't have to beat Kansas City.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Help from somebody else.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
But but aside from all of that, more in just
my opinion, more of this just comes down to they
are so stacked Baltimore. I just they've added pieces to
a already potent. They didn't lose anything that I think
is gonna make them, you know, take a step back,
and the regression factor for case that Cole mentioned, it
(17:40):
might not be Mahomes. You know, Mahomes is not like
it's not like he's getting old or something. That's what's
so sick about what he's already done. He's going nowhere.
But Kelsey was not unless you were the Houston Texans.
Kelsey was ineffective last year. Ineffective, not mediocre, not he
was ineffective. A lot of weeks. You'd look at the
the box score and it's like, was he out there? Mahomes?
(18:03):
You know, he finds a way, but you can only
do that so often. Brady didn't go to Super Bowl
every year either. Uh No, he was the I bring
him up because he was the king of making his
weapons look better than they probably are. And I think
Mahomes has a little bit of that gene in him.
But this, to me, this is more You're always talking
about will take care of your business. This to me
(18:25):
is more about Baltimore just being that time, and I
hate it because I hate them and I hate that
they're going to be in the way the Texans doing
what we want them to accomplish.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
They're good now.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
If the one thing that I do think has held
them back and Lamar back, he has not been at
his best in the postseason. I'm not saying he's been
a disaster. He hasn't cost them games here more recently.
I do think he did that earlier in his career,
but he just he does have to play better. Josh
Allen has played incredible football in the postseason and they
still haven't reached the pinnacle. It's not the only thing
(18:56):
that has to happen, but it's definitely one of the
things that needs to happen.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
The ad won Sports Talk seven ninety
All right, let's do it. Let's get to the twenty
twenty five NFL season. It hasn't started yet, but it
will for us right now, because we're gonna tell you
what's gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Yeah, NFL season starts tonight's game Friday night. The Texans
will play at three twenty five on Sunday afternoon, one
Monday Night football game this week, and then we'll do
it all again next week with the Texans having the
honors as one of the two games on Monday Night
Football when they open their NRG Stadium portion of their
seventeen game ride to a third consecutive division title, and
(00:29):
we'll see about where the predictions say they will go
after that. I would tell you we really have to
dive in and dissect and really analyze our thoughts about
the eight division winners that we think we're going to
see this year for the divisions in the AFC and
the NFC. We agreed on all of those picks, but one,
(00:50):
AC and I agreed on one hundred percent of the picks.
Both of us think Buffalo, Houston, Baltimore, and Kansas City
will win the AFC divisions. The Eagles, the Bucks, the
Lions and the Rams will win the NFC divisions. Cole
agreed on the NFC divisions as well. The only division
winner that any of us picked that the others did
not is the Kansas City Chiefs to not win the West,
(01:12):
but rather Sean Payton's Denver Broncos to take the honors,
so says.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Cole, absolutely good defense. I think bo Nicks has another
good year. I think there's regression out in Kansas City.
You get an eleven win season, it's enough to get
you right over the hump and into the divisional round,
or at least into hosting a playoff game. Kansas City's
got going a different path to the wildcard. All of
us have Kansas City in the playoffs. Cole puts them
in the wildcard spot. All of us have Denver in
(01:38):
the playoffs. You and IAC both have Denver among the
playoff teams. Non division winning Cincinnati also makes all three
of our wild cards selections among the AFC teams. But
this is where a little discussion now finally comes into play.
I have the Chargers making it is the one of
the three wildcards. AC has the Bengals and Dolphins, or excuse me,
(01:59):
be the Dolphins as one of the somewhat wild card
wild card teams, and Cole has Pittsburgh as the wildcard team.
Alo's Aaron Rodgers make your case for Tua's Dolphins.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I will admit I'm not really That's probably the least
confident pick I made on the entire page.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
So you think there are six good teams in the
AFC and you couldn't figure out who the next best
team is.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I just still think that outside of Buffalo, and I
know that the Patriots, I almost put the Patriots in
the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
It's I really did.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Patriots, the Steelers, the Bengals, the Dolphins. I don't think
there are more choices after that. Again, but any one
of them is a reasonable for reason I would have.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
The reason I almost did that with the Patriots is
because they're playing a last place crap schedule more than
anything else. I don't think it's because there's some you know,
they're not a bad team, and I don't. I'm not
willing to the jury's out on Drake May but I
just think that sometimes teams get in because they take
advantage of a week schedule, and I think that's what
will happen for them. Maybe, but I still think the
(03:01):
Dolphins are a better team.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
All right, Cole, your case for your your wild card
of the wild card teams the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Yeah, I thought that New England would be definitely in
play as well. I am in agreeance. I think Drake
Man is gonna be awesome. I loved the addition of
Kyle Williams for this offense from Washington State, but death
at taxes Mike Tomlin getting above five hundred is just
kind of expected. I think the addition of Johnny Smith
is a very under the radar move that wasn't talked
about enough this offseason. And Aaron Rodgers, he goes out
on top to at least gets you to the playoffs
(03:30):
one more time. I mean, you said everything. I totally
disagree with.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Mike Tomlin is gonna have a winning record, but they're
not gonna make the playoffs. Aaron Rodgers is absolutely positively
not going out on top. He's going out with yet
another disappointing season, third consecutive one due to injury, one
due to performance.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
This one will be better.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
But how they only won five games in New York
last year and he was out there for all of them.
They can win six, they can win seven, they can
win eight, they can win nine, and I think they'll
win nine and it'll be much better than last year,
but it will not be a postseason and birth.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
For Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I went with the Chargers, which surely on this show
won't be very popular. I think Justin Herbert is in
the top half of NFC quarterbacks, as in the seventh
best one, as in the last of the wild card teams.
I like Bo Nicks with what he does to help
his team win slightly more.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
I clearly like CJ.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Moore, clearly like Burrow Moore, and the other three are obvious.
If the Rashawn Slater injury doesn't derail some of the
things they want to do offensively, I think they'll be
able to run the ball a little bit better than
they were a year ago. I think they'll figure out
somebody else to throw the ball to occasionally. And I
think the magical monster opening season plus playoff game for
Lad McConkie is just the start. I think he's going
(04:43):
to production wise be unreal this year for the Chargers.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
So the Pittsburgh Steelers instead of the Dolphins making the postseason,
those are the two teams right there where. I think
it's it's not similar in their personnel because one quarterback's.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Just old and maybe bad. Now, I really don't know
for sure. I can't maybe bad. Well, I know what
you're gonna say.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
But it's like I can't put Aaron Rodgers, even if
it just ends up being the name on the back
of his jersey, on a team coach by Mike Tomlin
and just assume it's going to go poorly just because
he's fort.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Going poorly doesn't have to be accurate. I didn't say
that it would go poorly. I mean I said they're
gonna win nine games that went well. It's just not
good enough.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Was he bad because he's bad or was he bad
because he was in New York?
Speaker 4 (05:35):
He was bad?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Okay, And I think I'm not in the majority saying that,
And I'm surprised by that. In twenty eight touchdowns and
eleven interceptions, that sounds pretty good, wasn't it.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
It does. You're right, it does have.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
I mean, that is a ton of pressure this season
to get rid of that narrative. That's what it is,
except for that your father time's going against you. So
it's an uphill battle.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Yeah, he's not going to physically be better, and there
was a in my opinion, a clear physical decline in
his capabilities. You know, he talked a lot about not
being on the same page with different guys at different times.
So it may look he's throwing the ball here and
there's nobody there. It looks like he's underthrown all sorts
of reasons for these clearly obvious things. At least to me,
(06:13):
it was about playing good football, winning football, making plays.
That's what was lacking for Aaron Rodgers. And again, twenty
eight touchdowns in a season sounds perfectly fine. It's more
than he threw in this final year in Green Bay.
It's a very respectable number, even in this day and
age in the NFL. There's nothing wrong with it.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Completely.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Sixty three percent of your passes is no longer great.
It's well below par. There's a reason why his passer
rating was under ninety one in an era where almost
everybody else is above that.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
Certainly the good quarterbacks are.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
It just wasn't a good good enough player, and he's
definitely not one of the seven best quarterbacks. So he's
going to have to quarterback a team that outplays quarterback
his team to outplay a team with a significantly better
quarterback than him, because I think the top seven are
significantly better than him. I mean, I think two is
a better player than him, but I don't know that
with all the parts of their games that you'd have
to consider, I'd want him more because I'm still afraid
(07:04):
that the next hit is the last hit and it
could happen at any time. And he also played all
of last year and they had a bunch of other injuries,
but they weren't a very good team either.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Well Dantana Rubb, but with the Dolphins, their problem to
me is I don't know what you're getting out of
their supposed best receiver.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
I think there's a little bit of question mark there.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
I think Tyreek can be and he's probably a little
bit like Aaron Why was he so special? He was
just faster than everybody else, and he's a bulkier fast
player and there aren't very many of those out there,
so he could certainly take the I think the physical
nature of the game. But he's a tiny person from
a stature standpoint, but he's built like a truck and
(07:45):
he's been phenomenal. He's been less than phenomenal off his
most recent season, the only season he's played in the
NFL at age thirty. This will be the second time
he's played an NFL season at age thirty or more.
He was suited up for all seventeen Dolphins games last year,
and every year of his career except for his rookie season,
he's averaged significantly more yards per game, significantly more touchdowns.
(08:10):
He didn't even have a thousand yard season. He played
in all seventeen games.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
That's like unheard of for him.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
He had eighteen hundred yards of the year before he
led the league.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
All right, so let's get to our conference championships. Well,
did you guys go through your NFC NFC wildcards? Nope,
you got to go through the NFC wild cards.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
We have agreement in just one of those teams, Green Bay,
across the board Jordan Love, Michaeh Parsons, et cetera, and
the always winning they do with coach Lafleura.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
We got all three of us.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Have the Packers making the postseason via the wild card,
Two of us have San Francisco, and there myself in
ac Cole's got Arizona and Minnesota. I also have Washington
AC You've got Seattle. Let's start there. Seattle decide to
flip it at quarterback, Out goes Gino, incomes Darnold out
of the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Why because I believe that Sam Donald is the guy
you saw in Minnesota for the majority of the year
until proven otherwise, Because if it was see this is
why I have the question about New York. Maybe it
really is a New York thing, or maybe he was
just on a really good Vikings team last year. But
if Gino can do that with a lot of the
(09:21):
same personnel, and I saw what Sam Donald can do,
admittedly with probably the best, if not one, a receiver
in the NFL, I'm gonna give him the benefit of
the doubt in that division. I might add, until proven otherwise.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Let me ask you a question before I ask you
about Arizona cole Who's better at playing quarterback in the
NFL in twenty twenty five based on what you've seen
from them prior to twenty twenty five, Sam Donald or
Gino Smith island Geno Smith. That's what I think is
why most people won't love what Seattle did this offseason.
I don't think he's right. I agree but we'll see.
(10:01):
I mean, Seattle, I think they did something they thought
was best. They were going to spend the money either way,
shows to spend it on Darnold. Remember the division winner
in the NFC West last year went ten and seven.
The Seahawks went ten and seven in the NFC West
last year but did not make the playoffs because of
a tiebreaker, and the Rams did and they didn't. All right,
(10:21):
cole an explanation on your thought with the wild card
of your wildcard picks, which I certainly think is Arizona,
But also you've got JJ McCarthy making the postseason in
year one as a starter.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
I just think the Vikings have an elite defense, their
top to bottom, top five in every single area of
that size. They have a good overall arsenal and a
good offensive line. You need them to be competent. I mean,
that's literally all you're asking for. And you get Kevin
O'Connor as your head coach, it's a pretty good spot
for Arizona. There's one team every single year that we
don't talk about that comes out of nowhere that goes
(10:53):
to the playoff.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Last season, it was Denver. I like the schedule.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
I like this defense, I think you are going to
see a breakout year from Marvin Harrison junior. Michael Wilson
is a really good wide receiver. Number two, I think
James Connor is gonna have a career season, and Kyler
Murray's kind of got to show it that he is
the right guy to lead this team for the long
term or else they're gonna hit reset.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Now. I went back and looked at the information you
guys sent me your predictions like ten times, and then
I typed him up and put him on the graphic
that everyone on Space City Home network can see. And
I'll ask you here to reconfirm what I tried to
confirm ten times. Neither one of you has the Commanders
in the postseason? Is that correct?
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Nope? Nope?
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Why Why can't he have a sophomore slump? No, I'm
I just want I'm curious. Is that what you There
is something to be said for having film on a guy.
He's not gonna be sneaking up on anybody, but I
wouldn't be surprised if they do, because I think the
team around him is very good and his line did
improve at left tackle, you would think so, I.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Will say for me, Cliff Kingsbury is going to be
this year's Bobby Slowick, where a lot of people oversaturated
what he did last season, become a head coach, came
back for another year.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
He's just not able to duplicate that same magic.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
That very well could be the case. Two of us
have the Niners in there, and that was the one
I had the least confidence in. Ac also had the
Niners very much a bounce back season. Clearly, I think
easily said that means Christian McCaffrey has to be healthy
for all seventeen of their games. Perties got to play
to the contract he has earned. And as I tease
ahead to what we have for our AFC title game
(12:26):
matchups and winners and Super Bowl matchup and winners, I
like Washington a lot more than those two guys do.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
That's right, everybody else in the world.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
It is the eight team Sports Sox seven ninety Space
City Home Network as we wind down our picks and
get to the conference championship games and the Big Game.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
Oh wait, can I say that here? Can I say
what it is? You say the Super Bowl? A super Bowl?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
I won't give it a number, you can give it
a location. You can say Super Bowl on a billion
times over bunch of Roman numerals and.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
So I mentioned just before we hit the brake, I'd
like the Commander's outfit a little bit more than these
guys did. We once again had very little to disagree
with on the AFC side of things. When you get
to the title game, we have the same matchup all
three of us, the ravens Lamar Jackson, the Bills, Josh Allen. Nobody,
(13:26):
Nobody put Kansas City in the AFC title game. I mean,
why would you they never make it to the AFC
Title Game. I guess they don't. Not Here on the
A team, two of us have Baltimore winning. We sit
in this studio, Cole has Buffalo winning, and all three
of us have the AFC champion being the NFL champion.
(13:48):
My NFC title game is the aforementioned Commanders and Eagles
repeat of last year's NFC title game, but not a
repeat of the result of last year's NFC title game.
I have the Eagles losing to the Commanders in the
NFC title game. Ac you have the Eagles beating the
Lions for the NFC champions and call the opposite the
(14:11):
Lions beating the Eagles for the NFC championship. So I'll
start there. The Lions losses, most notably their almost entire
offensive coaching staff. Not enough to jump off the Lions bandwagon.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
Not enough.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
I still like their defense. I still think they have
one of the better secondaries in the NFL. They have
one of the better pass rushers in the NFL. Aiden
Hodgson's gonna go off this year, knowing that he is
about to get paid. I think that you look at
the offensive line, very solid, good wide receiver room. Another
player who's gonna get cashed in this offseason, Jamison Williams,
one of the best one to two combinations in Jamier
(14:47):
Gibbs and David Montgomery, and I just think Jared Goff
is going to find a way to get it done.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
I kind of believe Williams, Ross Saint Brown, Laporta, Gibbs,
Montgomery at those skills positions, and maybe a different teams
five is three wideouts are running back in a tight end,
while their five is this five. I think it's hard
to match that. I think it's about as well outfitted
as any outfitted as any offense in the NFL. Is
(15:14):
they utilize their personal tremendously well, presuming it continues under
new leadership. I think people may be jumping a little
bit far off of them, even though I don't have
them in the title game, and both of you guys do.
But that's the hurdle they're trying to get over, and
they do want to repeat of last season. For Jared Goff,
saying that here in Houston might feel weird because he
threw five picks here in Houston, but he basically didn't
(15:36):
make any mistakes the entire rest of the season and
they were awesome because of it.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
If he repeats that, they'll be right back where they were.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
I said the AFC was going to win the Super
Bowl according to us here on the A team Cole,
you have Detroit making the Super Bowl AC as well,
but neither of you have them winning it. Baltimore beats
Detroit from AC, Buffalo beats Detroit from Cole, and I
have the only one, little, tiny, tiny air of the
country gets to truly enjoy the Super Bowl with Baltimore
(16:04):
and Washington meeting up in the last game of the year,
and two of us think Lamar Jackson is gonna win
his first super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Why, Uh, it just feels a lot like it's not
only it's not just as simple as oh, it's their year.
I mean, they're always right there in the mix. You
could say the same thing about Buffalo. Buffalo's got to
be thinking, which, by the way, that's that's what makes
Cole's pick completely reasonable. As long as they don't run
into Kansas City, they should have a pretty good shot.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
But are we thinking that Baltimore or Buffalo is going
to reach the Super Bowl out of the AFC by
beating Kansas City.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
They're gonna have to well, I mean it's.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Not automatic that they have too. Well, what they need
to happen is what the Texans haven't been able to do.
If Kansas City is the one seed again, which is
very much up in doubt I think this year, and
we know they were down last year. Clearly Kansas City
was down except for their record. Yeah, they they made
(17:01):
you come see them. If they do that again, then
the door would once again be open for a four, five, six,
seven seed to meet them before Baltimore Buffalo would They
would have to obviously beat each other, but could get
that we don't have to beat Kansas City.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Help from somebody else.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
But but aside from all of that, more in just
my opinion, more of this just comes down to they
are so stacked Baltimore. I just they've added pieces to
a already potent. They didn't lose anything that I think
is gonna make them, you know, take a step back,
and the regression factor for case that Cole mentioned, it
(17:40):
might not be Mahomes. You know, Mahomes is not like
it's not like he's getting old or something. That's what's
so sick about what he's already done. He's going nowhere.
But Kelsey was not unless you were the Houston Texans.
Kelsey was ineffective last year. Ineffective, not mediocre, not he
was ineffective. A lot of weeks. You'd look at the
the box score and it's like, was he out there? Mahomes?
(18:03):
You know, he finds a way, but you can only
do that so often. Brady didn't go to Super Bowl
every year either. Uh No, he was the I bring
him up because he was the king of making his
weapons look better than they probably are. And I think
Mahomes has a little bit of that gene in him.
But this, to me, this is more You're always talking
about will take care of your business. This to me
(18:25):
is more about Baltimore just being that time, and I
hate it because I hate them and I hate that
they're going to be in the way the Texans doing
what we want them to accomplish.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
They're good now.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
If the one thing that I do think has held
them back and Lamar back, he has not been at
his best in the postseason. I'm not saying he's been
a disaster. He hasn't cost them games here more recently.
I do think he did that earlier in his career,
but he just he does have to play better. Josh
Allen has played incredible football in the postseason and they
still haven't reached the pinnacle. It's not the only thing
(18:56):
that has to happen, but it's definitely one of the
things that needs to happen.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
The ad won Sports Talk seven ninety
Popular Podcasts
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com