January 17, 2025 • 30 mins
On today’s episode, Jason discusses his pessimism surrounding the idea that Deion Sanders could become the next head coach of the Dallas Cowboys and his overall trepidation surrounding the Cowboys’ interest in Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore. Later, J-Mac hits us with his Best Bets for the upcoming NFL Divisional Playoffs featuring the Houston Texans vs the Kansas City Chiefs, the Detroit Lions vs the Washington Commanders, the Los Angeles Rams vs the Philadelphia Eagles and the Buffalo Bills vs the Baltimore Ravens.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is straight fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up? Straight fire? Fam, It's me Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Straight fire.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
For Friday, January seventeenth, NFL Divisional playoff weekend is upon us.
They call it the best weekend in football all season
because theoretically we have the best teams left. I pretty
much agree with that. I mean, I don't know. Tampa,
I guess maybe deserves a spot. The top four in
(00:37):
the AFC are there. I do believe the Bengals are
a better team than the Texans, but you know what,
they weren't great all season, so they're not here. Either way.
We should have a really good weekend of football. Saturday,
the first game out is one thirty Pacific, and then
there's the night game Lions Commanders. And then Sunday you
got the late start, well noon on the the West coast,
(01:00):
but if you're on the East coast, you gotta wait
till three for the first kickoff. Ooh Eagles Rams, followed
by Bill's Ravens at the nightcap. This is tough, guys.
This is difficult for me. You know, I got kids sports.
I got I'm coaching kids sports. They got their club
volleyball and I've got a men's league game, by the way,
A quick note on the Great Foxes. So we are
(01:22):
stacked in this Torrents league, which is, you know, probably
like twenty five minutes away. But it is a lot
of young dudes, and let's just say they're hyper athletic
and just tough to guard for us old forty year
old guys. And we were mowing through the league and
then only five guys could show up last week and
we lost to a team only by eight, you know,
and I was like, we were missing some of our horses.
(01:44):
Obviously I was not there. I haven't lost a game,
been on the court for a loss in that league.
I don't think in two seasons. I'm not saying I'm
the best player on the team, obviously not. But I
do believe, you know, as the GM of the team,
I bring a certain intensity level and I'll call time
out and yellow guys, and I don't know if the
other guys are doing that, but I'm not calling out
(02:05):
any of my teammates. We got a great team. I
guarantee you if our guys show up everybody, we will
win the championship and we'll be by double figures. Anyways,
you don't care about men's basketball. Although I'm really hyped
because last night we got our schedule for the upcoming season.
That's the league we played with Richer Jefferson. Last season
we led the championship the whole way and lost by
(02:25):
two in the final ten seconds, a gut wrenching loss.
But I don't know. I've been watching a lot of
hoops that started going to the gym and just besides
lifting to get my swollen, I've been doing a lot
of shooting. I'm back, baby. I cannot wait, cannot wait
for the leagues. Yes, I'm into don't tell the wife
to start up next week. Very excited. Side note, I played.
(02:47):
You guys know Matt Leonard obviously college football legend, USC
Heisman winner, Natty all that fun stuff. You know, he
goes to the same gym as being and his son,
who is a junior. He's going to SMU on a
full boat to play quarterback. He was playing pick up
with us this week, and that guy can play. I mean,
I don't know if SMU. I think it's Andy Enfield.
I think I'm pretty sure he got bounced from USC
(03:08):
and Leonard at SMU or he knew he was going
to get bounced and beat, you know, got out of
town quickly. I wonder if he'll let Leonard play both sports.
I don't know if he could, but he's a really
good hooper. Oh my gosh. Anyways, let's get to football first.
Let me just quickly address the elephant in the room,
if you will. I don't see Dean Sanders going to Dallas.
(03:29):
I'm sorry, guys, I just I don't see it. I'm
not buying it. I mean, I understand. Jerry Jones loves
talking about the Cowboys, having the Cowboys discussed on every
TV show. This is why he gives interviews multiple times
a week. Tell me the other owners that regularly do
radio spots who want to see their name in the lights.
(03:52):
The herd. We had Jordan Schultz on, who I've gotten
to know a little bit. He seems like a really
nice guy and he's now a reporter in the league.
And what's interest is I asked him point blank. I'm like, dude,
the Detroit Lions have an amazing GM who's built one
of the best rosters. I don't hear his name ever,
He's like, yeah, that guy does not want any publicity
(04:13):
that's the guy I want. That's who I want running
my team, the Detroit Lions. I know everybody says, oh,
the Eagles have the best roster, and they have a
great roster. Are the Lions not like a close second?
The Lions? What they've built is pretty amazing. I think
they have an awesome roster. They're so well constructed. We
don't hear anything about him. I don't hear anything from
(04:34):
the GM. Dan Campbell's a talker, but the GM is
super quiet. And you know, Jerry Jones is the GM
and the owner, and he just wants the name in
the headlines all the time. And this dalliance with Dion,
if you will, I'm just I Edwarder is respected, He's
been around the league. I have in no way, shape
or form calling him out. But I am very, very
(04:58):
very dubious that Deon Sanders will be the next Dallas
Cowboys coach. Just you know, it's not so much about Colorado,
but it's like your son's going into the league. He's
worked the last I don't know, ten years toward getting
to the NFL. This is a parent's dream. Hey man,
(05:20):
go in to high school in success, succeeding that's awesome.
Way to go going to college and succeeding. Hey man,
well done. Awesome getting drafted into the NFL and playing
on Sundays. You did a damn good job as a parent, Deon,
well done. You know your kid got the grades, got
the football, didn't get in trouble, and he's in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Ar Don't you want to go see him every week?
Don't you want to go to the games watch him?
You can't do that if you're if you're coaching, it's
just impossible.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Sure, Maybe they're playing on Thursday night. Huh how often
does Dallas play on Thursday night? Once a season? Maybe?
I just I don't see it. I think Dion is
gonna is totally content waiting to see what happen weapons
a where his son lands in the draft. Could be
two to Cleveland, the rate could be six to the Raiders,
And I think he's gonna wait it out and see
(06:11):
what job he can get where he's coaching his son.
That's what makes the most sense. Now, what's interesting is,
let's just let's work through this real quick. So Dion
and Shaduur have made it known they would love Vegas.
But Vegas won a couple games late and now they're
drafting six, So all signs point to the Titans take
in cam Wore One. Two is Cleveland. Deshaun has reruptured
(06:33):
his achilles. I think it's pretty much a slam dunk.
If you're the Cleveland Browns, you go get Shador Sanders
at too. Is he the number two prospect? I don't
think so. I haven't looked around. We haven't seen the
workouts the senior but we haven't seen all that stuff.
But I think it's pretty clear he's the number two quarterback.
(06:54):
So Cleveland drafts him. Well. Stefanski, who has been Coach
of the Year, just had a rough year, but he
had no quarterback. If Stefanski gets Shaduur and let's say
stumbles and they win five games the way Caleb Williams won,
you know whatever games with Chicago, they would likely run
off Stefanski right and bring in Dion. That makes sense. Now,
(07:20):
the Raiders one is interesting. There is a lot of
chatter that the Raiders want to get their hands on
Shad or that they would move up. I personally think
that is silly. If you're talking to me about giving
up Max Crosby and another number one whatever, that's a
big price to pay. And I will point you to
the Bryce Young trade that set the Panthers back a
couple of years and has been a total disaster. And yeah,
(07:42):
Bryce Young played kind of well at the end, but
this franchise still is devoid of talent because they gave
up the picks. And DJ Moore like, you can't do
that unless the quarterback is Patrick Mahomes, and nobody knew
Patrick Mahomes was going to be Patrick Mahomes. So I
don't think there's gonna be a trade. I think Deon
stays at Colorado. My guess is Kellen Moore lands in Dallas.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Now.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I am not super into Kellen Moore. I don't totally
understand it. He hasn't been great this year with the Eagles,
and you know, we'll get to that game shortly. But
by the way, Kellen Moore is doing three job interviews.
He did one Thursday, he'd doing one Friday and one Saturday.
Now the limit I read is three hours. That's how
(08:26):
long the interview can be. Can you imagine spending three
hours on a zoom with a team and then the
next day doing a three hour zoom. Have you guys
done a one hour zoom? That could be exhausting? Now
now make it three hours. And oh, by the way,
you're prepping to play the Rams, who just smothered the
hell out of Sam Darnold. How is this a good thing?
And before you counter with what about Ben Johnson? What
about Aaron Glenn? A the Lions had a bye last week.
(08:51):
B This Lion's core has been together for a few
years now. Ben Johnson knows them extremely well. Okay, Aaron
Glenn knows them extremely well, and they are huge favorites
against the Commanders. And yes, I know the Commanders could
be plucky. We'll get to that shortly. But I don't
think it's in apples to apples comparison with Ben Jonson
(09:11):
and Kellimore. Kellimore has been with the Eagles. This is
first year guys, and their offense is not humming the
way the Lions is now. It might against the Rams.
We'll get to that, but yeah, I don't know. I
don't love this. If I'm an Eagles fan, listen if
you never want to blame the offensive coordinator for interviews,
and yes, every year tons of OC's and DC's interview everywhere.
I saw a number of the Jets interviewed thirty guys
(09:33):
for head coach just I just vomited my mouth saying
that out loud. Anyways, let's get to best bets. It'll
be a long best bets because I've got a lot
in the chamber.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live. The only thing better than sitting on your
cow watching the game. He's making money while you do it.
(10:04):
Here's your best bat, all right.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
You never want to go overboard, but listen. Last weekend
was so incredible on the gambling front that I am
kind of sort of loaded up here for Saturday and Sunday. Now,
I will preface this by saying, if somehow the Kansas
City Chiefs lose or only win by one, your boy
is going to be hurt and badly. They are in one, two,
(10:31):
three teasers of mine that are significant. Now here's the
other thing. I as soon as the lines came out
on Sunday, I started laying the lumber. Sorry, I guess
Monday for some of these games. But the first wager
I made was a looks like a six point teaser. Yeah,
KC minus two Detroit minus two and a half. I
(10:52):
like the Chiefs full game minus eight and teasers. I
have him at two one and a half and one
and a half, so I'm kind of it up. The
only Houston angle I have is first half under the
potential potential that the Chiefs are a little sleepy off
of the three week layoff. Patrick Mahomes has not taken
(11:13):
a snap in an NFL game since Christmas. There's a
chance for RUSS. Now. I know Andy Reid off of
Byes amazing and I'm sure it's gonna be good. But
that being said, this Houston defense did kind of sort
of play play casey tough just a few weeks ago.
Remember at the Tank Dell touchdown where he broke his
leg in the end zone that was going to tie
(11:35):
the game. Then the extra point was missed after the
long delay and it was like, oh well, they kind
of fell apart after that. Some quick numbers. I don't
know how much you guys care about this stuff, And again,
don't bet trends or listen a trend betters. Patrick Mahomes
in the Divisional round six and oho sixteen touchdowns, zero picks.
I mean, he's really freaking good.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
He is.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Now they're getting Watson back in the secondary. He's their
number two corner if and we talked about him earlier
this season. Once he was injured and went on ir
their secondary kind of sort of got lit up. Now
they started to figure it out down the stretch, and
now he comes back. Now, don't I don't think he's
gonna play a full game. But you know, other than
Nico Collins, who scares you on Houston? Is it Mechi?
(12:15):
I don't think so. So the guess here is keep
an eye on Dalton Schultz, a battle tested pro who's
been to the playoffs. He could take advantage. Remember the
Kansas City linebackers against tight ends eh and against running
backs out of the backfield, they're not very good. I
did see another trend that this Kansas City Chiefs have
(12:38):
favorites of seven or more O six and one against
the spread, so they don't cover these big spreads. So Jay,
why are you taking it?
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Well?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Why do you have him in the teasers? They're in
those seven games as big favorites are seven or noh
straight up they don't lose. Now here's the weird part.
If the Chiefs happen to lose this game, remove the gambling,
I would be thrilled. We will get New Blo in
the Super Bowl. We will almost certainly get Buffalo or Baltimore,
whoever wins that game. And I'm not disrespecting Houston. I
(13:06):
just don't think they're very good. I mean, again, that
drive they had late in the first half, fluky shit
against the Chargers down six nothing. It looks like Stroud
has a safety because he just threw it away, but
they're saying he was outside the tackle box. On the
next play, it's like third and forever. He bobbles the snap,
should have been a fumble, and then he completes like
a bomb to a guy who's wide open. And that
(13:28):
breakdown really was a springboard to the Texans scoring on
that drive, and then the Chargers quick three and out.
Texans get another field goal, and then it was just
a turnover fest. But Herbert did not play well obviously, Listen,
Houston didn't play well for large stretches. I know they
ended up I know they ended up significantly up in
yards and yards were playing all that fun stuff. Let's
(13:49):
remember the Chargers were on their third straight road game
and ran out of gas. So I am so Texans
first half, Chiefs full game, and then cheez. I even
have Chiefs tied to Ohio State. Teaser, folks, that's how
good teasers have been to me. And you know what,
they fall apart eventually. So maybe it's this weekend. And
by the way, anybody who's shouting to you that, hey, hey,
(14:09):
the last time these two played, the Chiefs were only
minus three and a half against Houston. Now it's eight
or nine. Just take a deep breath and do some homework.
That was the week after Patrick Mahomes was injured. Do
you guys remember that Mahomes was like kind of sort
of knocked out of the game. It looked bleak, It
was a knee tweak. He was like carried off the field.
(14:30):
He finished the game, but it was like, oh, that's
got to be a high ankle. Two to four weeks
for Mahomes and Houston was actually favored initially in that
and then of course, by like Wednesday, Mahomes is back
at practice. Bionic Patrick Mahomes is back. He was not
close to one hundred percent and they still end up
winning and covering easily against the Mahomes. It wasn't one
(14:51):
hundred percent. And I am gonna quickly look this up
against Houston, Patrick Mahomes five carries thirty three yards not
one hundred percent. Okay, guys, just let this stuff sink in.
They they did not. Oh no, Pacheco did carry nine
times in that game. Kareem Hunt was still the bell Cow.
They had Worthy, they had Brown, they had Hopkins. And
(15:14):
now they get a full hundred percent Patrick Mahomes. We
get playoff Travis Kelce, which is a thing. The Chiefs
are not losing this game. They're not, which brings us
to the Saturday night game Washington at Detroit. Several different
ways to look at this game. I do not have
a bet on the side. I am indeed like many
tempted to look at Washington and Jaydon Daniels, there are
(15:37):
some numbers that really scare me if I'm a Detroit fan.
No defense has given up more yards rushing to quarterbacks
this season than Detroit. They play a lot of Manda
Man in the Aaron Glenn's defense, and you know what
happens to Manda Man. You're turning your back running down
the field chasing Jerry McLaurin and Diame Brown, and that
(15:58):
opens running lanes for Jayden Danie. I think we talked
about it on go listen to the podcast with David
Baker this week. You know that was a scenario all
season where Detroit gave up big rushing chunks two quarterbacks.
All right, So what does Jaden Daniels have in him?
I don't know. The problem is can Daniels keep up
with Detroit, which is really really going to shred Washington.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Now.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
I know people, oh, well, Detroit's off of bye, it
might be sluggish. I don't know, guys, I don't know
that that's going to be the case. Washington's defense has
not been good at all. They have been one of
the luckiest teams in recent memory. And that's not a
knock on Washington. These are just facts. They have won
(16:44):
seven games this season. I charted it out. Let me
call it up here, seven games either at the buzzer
or in the final six seconds. So the Tampa playoff
game field goal at the buzzer Dallas in Week eighteen
touchdown with three seconds left Atlanta game Sunday Night Football
was a touchdown in overtime at the buzzer, no need
for the extra point. They beat the Eagles on a
(17:07):
touchdown with six seconds left, thirty six thirty three. I
think that one was they beat this. They beat the
Saints twenty nineteen. The Saints went for two failed and
Washington wins twenty to nineteen. I remember that game. I
had Washington and they did not cover. They won, but
didn't cover. They beat the Bears on the Hail Mary.
And they beat the Giants in week two on a
field goal with zero seconds left. It was tied at eighteen,
(17:27):
so it would have gone overtime. Seven wins at the buzzer.
Can that cardiac stuff continue? And then I'll toss in
this whole fourth down stuff, which has become I think
we were early on this earlier this week. It's everywhere now.
But I mean, guys, this is the best fourth quarter
team in recent NFL memory. Not just lucky, but now
we're fourth downs. They completed eighty six percent of their
(17:51):
fourth downs. That's unheard of. That's unsustainable. There's no way
that continues, right, and so now you have to go
to Detroit. This is a just a brutal Detroit running game.
David Montgomery's back an awesome offensive line. I don't see
how Washington gets stops. I saw a stat that Washington's
(18:14):
defense loves to play man to man, right, they play
a high rate of man to man. I think it
was six or seventh. According to Adam Chernoff, you're never
gonna guess who's the number one quarterback in the NFL
by EPA all that stuff. It's Jared Goff because Ben
Johnson schemes up awesome stuff and Amaran Saint Brown, Jamison Williams,
(18:37):
Sam Laporta. I mean, he's the number one quarterback against Manda.
Man to me, I think this could be more likely
a Detroit blowout than a Washington upset. So for fun,
I did take two props Detroit to win by thirteen
or more plus one seventy five, and then kind of
calling my shot Detroit to win by ten to twelve
(18:59):
points plus seven point fifty would be a nice payday.
And that's simply a ten point win, right, And that
could be You're up seventeen. Jayden Daniels doesn't stop chucking
and ducking, and he scores a touchdown in the final minute,
and the Lions are up seventeen. And they only win
by ten and boom, oh my gosh, it just cashes everything.
So again those Casey teasers I talked about Casey minus
(19:22):
one and a half Detroit two, k C two Detroit
two and a half, and then the other one Casey
Detroit and Ohio State. If the Chiefs or Lions lose,
and your boy's gonna be hurting badly, so I'll go,
you know, I'll go forty to thirty Detroit wins. I
think Detroit's gonna be able to do what they want. Now.
(19:43):
The one part that gets squirrely for Detroit is this
whole fourth down high variance. You know, Washington running hot.
You know, you sit down at a craps table and
you run hot for twenty minutes and it's an amazing stretch. Well,
what if Jayden Daniels on fourth down goes three for
four and Dan Campbell gets unlucky and goes one for
four and Washington's out getting the ball in advantage territory
(20:08):
like it? It could go sideways on Detroit with this
high leverage stuff. But I just trust Ben Johnson, Jared Goff,
Montgomery get I think they're just too good. And I
did hear someone I forget who it was, made a
good analogy of a team that nobody expected much from, right,
(20:30):
they exceed their win total, they get to the playoffs,
they win a playoff game, and then they go to
the second round and they get smacked. And that was
the Houston Texans last year. Is that the Washington Commanders
this year? I think it might have been turnoff as well.
Who had this? And he mentioned the New York Giants
two years ago. New coaching staff Daniel Jones was a holdover,
(20:50):
but there was nothing expected from the Giants that make
the playoffs, they win in Minnesota, then they go to
Philly and they get destroyed. I think it was like
forty to seven or whatever. So there's a chance that
Washington's all geeked and hey, we got a playoff win. Oh,
my guys, is amazing. And you know, they just no
show here on the road. We'll see. I got a
bunch of DC fans who are friends and listen to
(21:11):
this pod, and I'm kind of sort of rooting for
them to be interesting, but just do not be Detroit
in this one.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot Com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Let's go to Sunday's games. Eagles Rams. This is a
tough one for me because, for whatever reason, a lot
of people seem to like the Rams. Here, the number
I think is dipping down. I think I saw five
and a half at times yesterday. I don't know. Obviously,
there's some angles that are interesting with the Rams. I
(21:51):
just can't ignore Philly here. I'm sorry, guys, I have
them in teasers as well. Are the Rams going to
change tendency? That's the big question. So, like offensively, I
looked at their five outdoor games. It's interesting. A lot
of people want to bring up, Hey, remember the last
(22:13):
Eagles Rams game. It's so far. Yeah, that was close
for a half. It was it was it was close.
It was also indoors. And then you know, you see
the Rams Bills game indoor and you're like, man, the
Rams game play with anybody. But you know, if you
want to try to be successful at this, you've got
to drill down deeper than that. And I start looking
at the Rams when they have to go outdoors, and
(22:35):
that's where it's like, oh wait a minute. Is this
a different team? So the Rams outdoors, We're going to
remove the Seattle game. They went to the New York Jets,
looked awful and one nineteen to nine. They went outdoors
to the Niners and won twelve to six. They went
(22:57):
outdoors to New England. That was the only game where
the offense was good, and they barely won twenty two
against New England. They went to Seattle kind of sort
of got lucky there in overtime to pull off the win.
But ultimately this is a team. Oh they went outdoors
to Chicago early in the season and looked very rotten folks.
(23:21):
Five outdoor games with the starting offense and they totaled.
They see thirty thirty two points in the first half. That, yes,
is an average of less than seven points in the
first half. They can't fall behind to the Eagles because
you know what Philly wants to do. They want to
run the ball with say Quon Barkley. The Rams, what
they did last week was, oh, we're gonna sit in
(23:42):
the zone. We're going to mix up things for Darnle,
make him hold the ball and get get to them
with pressure. Well, that'll work against the Vikings, whose offensive
line was I think it graded out twenty first according
to Pro Football Focus. They lost Cam what's his face
the left hand, Darisout Christian Darris House without him, their
their offensive line struggled at the end. That being said,
(24:05):
the Eagles have the number one offensive line in the NFL.
Jordan Malata is the number one graded left tackle in
the league. You think versus gonna be going crazy against Mylatta? No,
he's all pro obviously, versus very good. But he's a rookie.
They said, monster Eagles front. If the Rams go with
the light box and play their zone with the two
I safety and say we're taking away all the big plays,
(24:26):
Saikwan's gonna have thirty carries and the Eagles will win easily.
So then so what do you do? Do you go? Man? Well,
then AJ Brown's gonna tear you up. How do you
get to Hurts and rattle him and make him vomit
up the football? And that's the tall order and I
don't know that the Rams defense is capable of that.
We will see about Hurts, though, I saw some success
(24:46):
rate numbers last week that were horrendous for Hurts. I
didn't again, I was coaching my kids in hoops. So
I missed most of that game, but what I watched
on YouTube, you know you could do the condensed version.
It's all highlights. They're not showing spray interceptions and poor play.
But they're expecting very cold weather. There are some numbers
floating around about Stafford and cold weather outdoors not great.
(25:09):
I don't know. Some of that might date back to
his date time with Detroit when they were terrible. But
this will not be easy for the Rams. I don't
know if they get waxed here. I remember dealing with
the fires, then had to go to Arizona, then fly
back to La now to Philly, cross country trip on
a short week. It's just it's not a great setup.
The only reason I'm concerned for the Eagles is I
(25:30):
just I don't know how healthy Jalen Hurts is, and
he has not looked sharp, certainly last week and then
in the game he was injured, he didn't look particularly
so when he got the concussion, he didn't look incredible.
I do like the Eagles here to win, and in
most money line parlays, I've got them as well. Finally,
(25:51):
the best game Bills Ravens. I am on the Baltimore
Ravens first half minus one, and I'm going to get
involved with the Bills full game. I don't have it yet.
I have a Bill's teaser with Kansas City up to
seven plus seven for Buffalo. I don't see them getting
blown out here. It's just gonna be a great game.
(26:12):
And I'm not going to get into all the chess
match stuff. But the big factor here for me is
Zay Flowers is out, and I think that is enormous.
I think that is the kind of injury where Greg McDermott,
who you know, is a defensive coach and has a
tendency to stick to his guns. I wonder if he
(26:33):
will change things up, does he decide, you know what?
We got a really good cornerback in this kid, Christian
Benford Young fellas sixth round pick, one of the top
cornerbacks in the league. We trust him in man coverage.
We're not afraid of Rasul sorry not Rsue Bateman, Rashad Bateman,
We're not afraid of him. We got tarn Johnson back.
He missed the last one. Rasul Douglas not having great year,
(26:55):
but he's a talented cornerback. Like, is there a world
where McDermott says, you know what, we're gonna stack the
box and we're gonna play single high safety and Manda Man. Now,
they don't do a lot of that, but they are
capable of that now down the stretch they've done a
little bit of it. And I wonder if it was
to set up for this game and say, you know what,
lamar Hey, you're a great quarterback.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
We get it.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Go ahead, beats beat us deep without your best weapons, Flowers,
let's see it. And I don't know if on any
level they're scared of and yeah, listen Batman Mayhall in
a deep touchdown that could happen. I don't know that
they're you know, you're worried about Tylan Wallace or Nelson
Aguilar Aglare just drops everything. I think you're worried about
(27:36):
the tight ends Andrews un likely. I'll be looking at
Isaiah likely props because he played a ton last week.
But they you've got to load up and stop Jackson
and Henry. And you know, you look at last year's
Ravens Chiefs game in that AFC Championship and the game
plan was just freaking puzzling as hell from Todd munkin.
(27:56):
You know, there's zero chance he's not gonna be like
run run, run, run run in this one. And if
Buffalo doesn't change tendency and load the box, and yeah,
they're gonna get run over. I just McDermott's too smart
to stick to his guns and really try to win
this playing at my way. That's just not smart. I
have seen some stuff about how, oh, well, the Ravens
(28:17):
are playing the best football in the league. There, Oh okay,
they're playing well of late. Let's just quickly go through
who they've played here down the stretch. They played a
Steelers team that nobody believed was good despite the record.
They played a terrible Cleveland Browns team. They smothered a
Houston Texans team that was reeling thirty one to two.
The other win against the Steelers, and they beat the Giants.
(28:40):
The last time they played what I would call a
very good team was the Eagles, and they lost. You
remember that twenty four to nineteen, A difficult loss for
the Ravens. It kind of exposed some things. Now, the
Bills don't have the Eagles run defense, but the Ravens
did lead that one nine to nothing. And I know
Tucker missed a bunch of kicks, but I'm very curious
(29:02):
to see if Josh Allen just refuses to let the
team lose. I know that's a cheesy thing to say.
I'm not gonna let him go down, but I'll be
looking at Josh Allen props again. I think I gave
out the over forty two and a half last week.
I definitely bet it, and he landed forty six. I
would say that could go even higher. I know some
people are saying this is gonna be a shootout. I
can see the quarterback slugging it out, but ultimately my
(29:25):
guess is we're gonna see a bunch of new stuff
here defensively, because you know, I don't see a scenario
where the Bills just say, Okay, we're gonna We're gonna
play our thing. And Derek Henry, if he's gonna go
for a buck fifty years. I think his first touch
in the first meeting, he won eighty seven yards for
the score. Now, they were down four defensive starters in
that one. At the time, I'm fairly certain Baltimore was desperate.
(29:47):
This was a young Bill's team. Kean Coleman was like,
you know four games in still wet behind the Ears.
They hadn't traded for Amari Cooper yet. Like, I don't
put a ton of stock in that one. So I
have Ravens first half because they're a strong starting team.
But I ultimately think Buffalo wins. I'll go something like thirty. Well,
(30:09):
now that's too high. I'll go twenty four twenty three.
Buffalo Bells get the win and advance to the AFC Championship.
That being said, as I told Baker, the only thing
I care about is whichever team can beat the Chiefs
next week. That's why I want to win this. If
it's Baltimore, fine, I don't care. So I don't have
a lot invested here. I did forget one bet as
(30:31):
I look at the sheet. Here Eagles Rams first half
under twenty two and a half. Too much juice for
twenty three, which is a key number. Under twenty two
and a half Rams Eagles first half. So that's all
the wagers, guys. Should be a phenomenal weekend. We'll do
more on the National Championship Monday. We'll talk to you then,
This is straight fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up? Straight fire? Fam, It's me Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Straight fire.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
For Friday, January seventeenth, NFL Divisional playoff weekend is upon us.
They call it the best weekend in football all season
because theoretically we have the best teams left. I pretty
much agree with that. I mean, I don't know. Tampa,
I guess maybe deserves a spot. The top four in
(00:37):
the AFC are there. I do believe the Bengals are
a better team than the Texans, but you know what,
they weren't great all season, so they're not here. Either way.
We should have a really good weekend of football. Saturday,
the first game out is one thirty Pacific, and then
there's the night game Lions Commanders. And then Sunday you
got the late start, well noon on the the West coast,
(01:00):
but if you're on the East coast, you gotta wait
till three for the first kickoff. Ooh Eagles Rams, followed
by Bill's Ravens at the nightcap. This is tough, guys.
This is difficult for me. You know, I got kids sports.
I got I'm coaching kids sports. They got their club
volleyball and I've got a men's league game, by the way,
A quick note on the Great Foxes. So we are
(01:22):
stacked in this Torrents league, which is, you know, probably
like twenty five minutes away. But it is a lot
of young dudes, and let's just say they're hyper athletic
and just tough to guard for us old forty year
old guys. And we were mowing through the league and
then only five guys could show up last week and
we lost to a team only by eight, you know,
and I was like, we were missing some of our horses.
(01:44):
Obviously I was not there. I haven't lost a game,
been on the court for a loss in that league.
I don't think in two seasons. I'm not saying I'm
the best player on the team, obviously not. But I
do believe, you know, as the GM of the team,
I bring a certain intensity level and I'll call time
out and yellow guys, and I don't know if the
other guys are doing that, but I'm not calling out
(02:05):
any of my teammates. We got a great team. I
guarantee you if our guys show up everybody, we will
win the championship and we'll be by double figures. Anyways,
you don't care about men's basketball. Although I'm really hyped
because last night we got our schedule for the upcoming season.
That's the league we played with Richer Jefferson. Last season
we led the championship the whole way and lost by
(02:25):
two in the final ten seconds, a gut wrenching loss.
But I don't know. I've been watching a lot of
hoops that started going to the gym and just besides
lifting to get my swollen, I've been doing a lot
of shooting. I'm back, baby. I cannot wait, cannot wait
for the leagues. Yes, I'm into don't tell the wife
to start up next week. Very excited. Side note, I played.
(02:47):
You guys know Matt Leonard obviously college football legend, USC
Heisman winner, Natty all that fun stuff. You know, he
goes to the same gym as being and his son,
who is a junior. He's going to SMU on a
full boat to play quarterback. He was playing pick up
with us this week, and that guy can play. I mean,
I don't know if SMU. I think it's Andy Enfield.
I think I'm pretty sure he got bounced from USC
(03:08):
and Leonard at SMU or he knew he was going
to get bounced and beat, you know, got out of
town quickly. I wonder if he'll let Leonard play both sports.
I don't know if he could, but he's a really
good hooper. Oh my gosh. Anyways, let's get to football first.
Let me just quickly address the elephant in the room,
if you will. I don't see Dean Sanders going to Dallas.
(03:29):
I'm sorry, guys, I just I don't see it. I'm
not buying it. I mean, I understand. Jerry Jones loves
talking about the Cowboys, having the Cowboys discussed on every
TV show. This is why he gives interviews multiple times
a week. Tell me the other owners that regularly do
radio spots who want to see their name in the lights.
(03:52):
The herd. We had Jordan Schultz on, who I've gotten
to know a little bit. He seems like a really
nice guy and he's now a reporter in the league.
And what's interest is I asked him point blank. I'm like, dude,
the Detroit Lions have an amazing GM who's built one
of the best rosters. I don't hear his name ever,
He's like, yeah, that guy does not want any publicity
(04:13):
that's the guy I want. That's who I want running
my team, the Detroit Lions. I know everybody says, oh,
the Eagles have the best roster, and they have a
great roster. Are the Lions not like a close second?
The Lions? What they've built is pretty amazing. I think
they have an awesome roster. They're so well constructed. We
don't hear anything about him. I don't hear anything from
(04:34):
the GM. Dan Campbell's a talker, but the GM is
super quiet. And you know, Jerry Jones is the GM
and the owner, and he just wants the name in
the headlines all the time. And this dalliance with Dion,
if you will, I'm just I Edwarder is respected, He's
been around the league. I have in no way, shape
or form calling him out. But I am very, very
(04:58):
very dubious that Deon Sanders will be the next Dallas
Cowboys coach. Just you know, it's not so much about Colorado,
but it's like your son's going into the league. He's
worked the last I don't know, ten years toward getting
to the NFL. This is a parent's dream. Hey man,
(05:20):
go in to high school in success, succeeding that's awesome.
Way to go going to college and succeeding. Hey man,
well done. Awesome getting drafted into the NFL and playing
on Sundays. You did a damn good job as a parent, Deon,
well done. You know your kid got the grades, got
the football, didn't get in trouble, and he's in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Ar Don't you want to go see him every week?
Don't you want to go to the games watch him?
You can't do that if you're if you're coaching, it's
just impossible.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Sure, Maybe they're playing on Thursday night. Huh how often
does Dallas play on Thursday night? Once a season? Maybe?
I just I don't see it. I think Dion is
gonna is totally content waiting to see what happen weapons
a where his son lands in the draft. Could be
two to Cleveland, the rate could be six to the Raiders,
And I think he's gonna wait it out and see
(06:11):
what job he can get where he's coaching his son.
That's what makes the most sense. Now, what's interesting is,
let's just let's work through this real quick. So Dion
and Shaduur have made it known they would love Vegas.
But Vegas won a couple games late and now they're
drafting six, So all signs point to the Titans take
in cam Wore One. Two is Cleveland. Deshaun has reruptured
(06:33):
his achilles. I think it's pretty much a slam dunk.
If you're the Cleveland Browns, you go get Shador Sanders
at too. Is he the number two prospect? I don't
think so. I haven't looked around. We haven't seen the
workouts the senior but we haven't seen all that stuff.
But I think it's pretty clear he's the number two quarterback.
(06:54):
So Cleveland drafts him. Well. Stefanski, who has been Coach
of the Year, just had a rough year, but he
had no quarterback. If Stefanski gets Shaduur and let's say
stumbles and they win five games the way Caleb Williams won,
you know whatever games with Chicago, they would likely run
off Stefanski right and bring in Dion. That makes sense. Now,
(07:20):
the Raiders one is interesting. There is a lot of
chatter that the Raiders want to get their hands on
Shad or that they would move up. I personally think
that is silly. If you're talking to me about giving
up Max Crosby and another number one whatever, that's a
big price to pay. And I will point you to
the Bryce Young trade that set the Panthers back a
couple of years and has been a total disaster. And yeah,
(07:42):
Bryce Young played kind of well at the end, but
this franchise still is devoid of talent because they gave
up the picks. And DJ Moore like, you can't do
that unless the quarterback is Patrick Mahomes, and nobody knew
Patrick Mahomes was going to be Patrick Mahomes. So I
don't think there's gonna be a trade. I think Deon
stays at Colorado. My guess is Kellen Moore lands in Dallas.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Now.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I am not super into Kellen Moore. I don't totally
understand it. He hasn't been great this year with the Eagles,
and you know, we'll get to that game shortly. But
by the way, Kellen Moore is doing three job interviews.
He did one Thursday, he'd doing one Friday and one Saturday.
Now the limit I read is three hours. That's how
(08:26):
long the interview can be. Can you imagine spending three
hours on a zoom with a team and then the
next day doing a three hour zoom. Have you guys
done a one hour zoom? That could be exhausting? Now
now make it three hours. And oh, by the way,
you're prepping to play the Rams, who just smothered the
hell out of Sam Darnold. How is this a good thing?
And before you counter with what about Ben Johnson? What
about Aaron Glenn? A the Lions had a bye last week.
(08:51):
B This Lion's core has been together for a few
years now. Ben Johnson knows them extremely well. Okay, Aaron
Glenn knows them extremely well, and they are huge favorites
against the Commanders. And yes, I know the Commanders could
be plucky. We'll get to that shortly. But I don't
think it's in apples to apples comparison with Ben Jonson
(09:11):
and Kellimore. Kellimore has been with the Eagles. This is
first year guys, and their offense is not humming the
way the Lions is now. It might against the Rams.
We'll get to that, but yeah, I don't know. I
don't love this. If I'm an Eagles fan, listen if
you never want to blame the offensive coordinator for interviews,
and yes, every year tons of OC's and DC's interview everywhere.
I saw a number of the Jets interviewed thirty guys
(09:33):
for head coach just I just vomited my mouth saying
that out loud. Anyways, let's get to best bets. It'll
be a long best bets because I've got a lot
in the chamber.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live. The only thing better than sitting on your
cow watching the game. He's making money while you do it.
(10:04):
Here's your best bat, all right.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
You never want to go overboard, but listen. Last weekend
was so incredible on the gambling front that I am
kind of sort of loaded up here for Saturday and Sunday. Now,
I will preface this by saying, if somehow the Kansas
City Chiefs lose or only win by one, your boy
is going to be hurt and badly. They are in one, two,
(10:31):
three teasers of mine that are significant. Now here's the
other thing. I as soon as the lines came out
on Sunday, I started laying the lumber. Sorry, I guess
Monday for some of these games. But the first wager
I made was a looks like a six point teaser. Yeah,
KC minus two Detroit minus two and a half. I
(10:52):
like the Chiefs full game minus eight and teasers. I
have him at two one and a half and one
and a half, so I'm kind of it up. The
only Houston angle I have is first half under the
potential potential that the Chiefs are a little sleepy off
of the three week layoff. Patrick Mahomes has not taken
(11:13):
a snap in an NFL game since Christmas. There's a
chance for RUSS. Now. I know Andy Reid off of
Byes amazing and I'm sure it's gonna be good. But
that being said, this Houston defense did kind of sort
of play play casey tough just a few weeks ago.
Remember at the Tank Dell touchdown where he broke his
leg in the end zone that was going to tie
(11:35):
the game. Then the extra point was missed after the
long delay and it was like, oh well, they kind
of fell apart after that. Some quick numbers. I don't
know how much you guys care about this stuff, And again,
don't bet trends or listen a trend betters. Patrick Mahomes
in the Divisional round six and oho sixteen touchdowns, zero picks.
I mean, he's really freaking good.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
He is.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Now they're getting Watson back in the secondary. He's their
number two corner if and we talked about him earlier
this season. Once he was injured and went on ir
their secondary kind of sort of got lit up. Now
they started to figure it out down the stretch, and
now he comes back. Now, don't I don't think he's
gonna play a full game. But you know, other than
Nico Collins, who scares you on Houston? Is it Mechi?
(12:15):
I don't think so. So the guess here is keep
an eye on Dalton Schultz, a battle tested pro who's
been to the playoffs. He could take advantage. Remember the
Kansas City linebackers against tight ends eh and against running
backs out of the backfield, they're not very good. I
did see another trend that this Kansas City Chiefs have
(12:38):
favorites of seven or more O six and one against
the spread, so they don't cover these big spreads. So Jay,
why are you taking it?
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Well?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Why do you have him in the teasers? They're in
those seven games as big favorites are seven or noh
straight up they don't lose. Now here's the weird part.
If the Chiefs happen to lose this game, remove the gambling,
I would be thrilled. We will get New Blo in
the Super Bowl. We will almost certainly get Buffalo or Baltimore,
whoever wins that game. And I'm not disrespecting Houston. I
(13:06):
just don't think they're very good. I mean, again, that
drive they had late in the first half, fluky shit
against the Chargers down six nothing. It looks like Stroud
has a safety because he just threw it away, but
they're saying he was outside the tackle box. On the
next play, it's like third and forever. He bobbles the snap,
should have been a fumble, and then he completes like
a bomb to a guy who's wide open. And that
(13:28):
breakdown really was a springboard to the Texans scoring on
that drive, and then the Chargers quick three and out.
Texans get another field goal, and then it was just
a turnover fest. But Herbert did not play well obviously, Listen,
Houston didn't play well for large stretches. I know they
ended up I know they ended up significantly up in
yards and yards were playing all that fun stuff. Let's
(13:49):
remember the Chargers were on their third straight road game
and ran out of gas. So I am so Texans
first half, Chiefs full game, and then cheez. I even
have Chiefs tied to Ohio State. Teaser, folks, that's how
good teasers have been to me. And you know what,
they fall apart eventually. So maybe it's this weekend. And
by the way, anybody who's shouting to you that, hey, hey,
(14:09):
the last time these two played, the Chiefs were only
minus three and a half against Houston. Now it's eight
or nine. Just take a deep breath and do some homework.
That was the week after Patrick Mahomes was injured. Do
you guys remember that Mahomes was like kind of sort
of knocked out of the game. It looked bleak, It
was a knee tweak. He was like carried off the field.
(14:30):
He finished the game, but it was like, oh, that's
got to be a high ankle. Two to four weeks
for Mahomes and Houston was actually favored initially in that
and then of course, by like Wednesday, Mahomes is back
at practice. Bionic Patrick Mahomes is back. He was not
close to one hundred percent and they still end up
winning and covering easily against the Mahomes. It wasn't one
(14:51):
hundred percent. And I am gonna quickly look this up
against Houston, Patrick Mahomes five carries thirty three yards not
one hundred percent. Okay, guys, just let this stuff sink in.
They they did not. Oh no, Pacheco did carry nine
times in that game. Kareem Hunt was still the bell Cow.
They had Worthy, they had Brown, they had Hopkins. And
(15:14):
now they get a full hundred percent Patrick Mahomes. We
get playoff Travis Kelce, which is a thing. The Chiefs
are not losing this game. They're not, which brings us
to the Saturday night game Washington at Detroit. Several different
ways to look at this game. I do not have
a bet on the side. I am indeed like many
tempted to look at Washington and Jaydon Daniels, there are
(15:37):
some numbers that really scare me if I'm a Detroit fan.
No defense has given up more yards rushing to quarterbacks
this season than Detroit. They play a lot of Manda
Man in the Aaron Glenn's defense, and you know what
happens to Manda Man. You're turning your back running down
the field chasing Jerry McLaurin and Diame Brown, and that
(15:58):
opens running lanes for Jayden Danie. I think we talked
about it on go listen to the podcast with David
Baker this week. You know that was a scenario all
season where Detroit gave up big rushing chunks two quarterbacks.
All right, So what does Jaden Daniels have in him?
I don't know. The problem is can Daniels keep up
with Detroit, which is really really going to shred Washington.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Now.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
I know people, oh, well, Detroit's off of bye, it
might be sluggish. I don't know, guys, I don't know
that that's going to be the case. Washington's defense has
not been good at all. They have been one of
the luckiest teams in recent memory. And that's not a
knock on Washington. These are just facts. They have won
(16:44):
seven games this season. I charted it out. Let me
call it up here, seven games either at the buzzer
or in the final six seconds. So the Tampa playoff
game field goal at the buzzer Dallas in Week eighteen
touchdown with three seconds left Atlanta game Sunday Night Football
was a touchdown in overtime at the buzzer, no need
for the extra point. They beat the Eagles on a
(17:07):
touchdown with six seconds left, thirty six thirty three. I
think that one was they beat this. They beat the
Saints twenty nineteen. The Saints went for two failed and
Washington wins twenty to nineteen. I remember that game. I
had Washington and they did not cover. They won, but
didn't cover. They beat the Bears on the Hail Mary.
And they beat the Giants in week two on a
field goal with zero seconds left. It was tied at eighteen,
(17:27):
so it would have gone overtime. Seven wins at the buzzer.
Can that cardiac stuff continue? And then I'll toss in
this whole fourth down stuff, which has become I think
we were early on this earlier this week. It's everywhere now.
But I mean, guys, this is the best fourth quarter
team in recent NFL memory. Not just lucky, but now
we're fourth downs. They completed eighty six percent of their
(17:51):
fourth downs. That's unheard of. That's unsustainable. There's no way
that continues, right, and so now you have to go
to Detroit. This is a just a brutal Detroit running game.
David Montgomery's back an awesome offensive line. I don't see
how Washington gets stops. I saw a stat that Washington's
(18:14):
defense loves to play man to man, right, they play
a high rate of man to man. I think it
was six or seventh. According to Adam Chernoff, you're never
gonna guess who's the number one quarterback in the NFL
by EPA all that stuff. It's Jared Goff because Ben
Johnson schemes up awesome stuff and Amaran Saint Brown, Jamison Williams,
(18:37):
Sam Laporta. I mean, he's the number one quarterback against Manda.
Man to me, I think this could be more likely
a Detroit blowout than a Washington upset. So for fun,
I did take two props Detroit to win by thirteen
or more plus one seventy five, and then kind of
calling my shot Detroit to win by ten to twelve
(18:59):
points plus seven point fifty would be a nice payday.
And that's simply a ten point win, right, And that
could be You're up seventeen. Jayden Daniels doesn't stop chucking
and ducking, and he scores a touchdown in the final minute,
and the Lions are up seventeen. And they only win
by ten and boom, oh my gosh, it just cashes everything.
So again those Casey teasers I talked about Casey minus
(19:22):
one and a half Detroit two, k C two Detroit
two and a half, and then the other one Casey
Detroit and Ohio State. If the Chiefs or Lions lose,
and your boy's gonna be hurting badly, so I'll go,
you know, I'll go forty to thirty Detroit wins. I
think Detroit's gonna be able to do what they want. Now.
(19:43):
The one part that gets squirrely for Detroit is this
whole fourth down high variance. You know, Washington running hot.
You know, you sit down at a craps table and
you run hot for twenty minutes and it's an amazing stretch. Well,
what if Jayden Daniels on fourth down goes three for
four and Dan Campbell gets unlucky and goes one for
four and Washington's out getting the ball in advantage territory
(20:08):
like it? It could go sideways on Detroit with this
high leverage stuff. But I just trust Ben Johnson, Jared Goff,
Montgomery get I think they're just too good. And I
did hear someone I forget who it was, made a
good analogy of a team that nobody expected much from, right,
(20:30):
they exceed their win total, they get to the playoffs,
they win a playoff game, and then they go to
the second round and they get smacked. And that was
the Houston Texans last year. Is that the Washington Commanders
this year? I think it might have been turnoff as well.
Who had this? And he mentioned the New York Giants
two years ago. New coaching staff Daniel Jones was a holdover,
(20:50):
but there was nothing expected from the Giants that make
the playoffs, they win in Minnesota, then they go to
Philly and they get destroyed. I think it was like
forty to seven or whatever. So there's a chance that
Washington's all geeked and hey, we got a playoff win. Oh,
my guys, is amazing. And you know, they just no
show here on the road. We'll see. I got a
bunch of DC fans who are friends and listen to
(21:11):
this pod, and I'm kind of sort of rooting for
them to be interesting, but just do not be Detroit
in this one.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot Com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Let's go to Sunday's games. Eagles Rams. This is a
tough one for me because, for whatever reason, a lot
of people seem to like the Rams. Here, the number
I think is dipping down. I think I saw five
and a half at times yesterday. I don't know. Obviously,
there's some angles that are interesting with the Rams. I
(21:51):
just can't ignore Philly here. I'm sorry, guys, I have
them in teasers as well. Are the Rams going to
change tendency? That's the big question. So, like offensively, I
looked at their five outdoor games. It's interesting. A lot
of people want to bring up, Hey, remember the last
(22:13):
Eagles Rams game. It's so far. Yeah, that was close
for a half. It was it was it was close.
It was also indoors. And then you know, you see
the Rams Bills game indoor and you're like, man, the
Rams game play with anybody. But you know, if you
want to try to be successful at this, you've got
to drill down deeper than that. And I start looking
at the Rams when they have to go outdoors, and
(22:35):
that's where it's like, oh wait a minute. Is this
a different team? So the Rams outdoors, We're going to
remove the Seattle game. They went to the New York Jets,
looked awful and one nineteen to nine. They went outdoors
to the Niners and won twelve to six. They went
(22:57):
outdoors to New England. That was the only game where
the offense was good, and they barely won twenty two
against New England. They went to Seattle kind of sort
of got lucky there in overtime to pull off the win.
But ultimately this is a team. Oh they went outdoors
to Chicago early in the season and looked very rotten folks.
(23:21):
Five outdoor games with the starting offense and they totaled.
They see thirty thirty two points in the first half. That, yes,
is an average of less than seven points in the
first half. They can't fall behind to the Eagles because
you know what Philly wants to do. They want to
run the ball with say Quon Barkley. The Rams, what
they did last week was, oh, we're gonna sit in
(23:42):
the zone. We're going to mix up things for Darnle,
make him hold the ball and get get to them
with pressure. Well, that'll work against the Vikings, whose offensive
line was I think it graded out twenty first according
to Pro Football Focus. They lost Cam what's his face
the left hand, Darisout Christian Darris House without him, their
their offensive line struggled at the end. That being said,
(24:05):
the Eagles have the number one offensive line in the NFL.
Jordan Malata is the number one graded left tackle in
the league. You think versus gonna be going crazy against Mylatta? No,
he's all pro obviously, versus very good. But he's a rookie.
They said, monster Eagles front. If the Rams go with
the light box and play their zone with the two
I safety and say we're taking away all the big plays,
(24:26):
Saikwan's gonna have thirty carries and the Eagles will win easily.
So then so what do you do? Do you go? Man? Well,
then AJ Brown's gonna tear you up. How do you
get to Hurts and rattle him and make him vomit
up the football? And that's the tall order and I
don't know that the Rams defense is capable of that.
We will see about Hurts, though, I saw some success
(24:46):
rate numbers last week that were horrendous for Hurts. I
didn't again, I was coaching my kids in hoops. So
I missed most of that game, but what I watched
on YouTube, you know you could do the condensed version.
It's all highlights. They're not showing spray interceptions and poor play.
But they're expecting very cold weather. There are some numbers
floating around about Stafford and cold weather outdoors not great.
(25:09):
I don't know. Some of that might date back to
his date time with Detroit when they were terrible. But
this will not be easy for the Rams. I don't
know if they get waxed here. I remember dealing with
the fires, then had to go to Arizona, then fly
back to La now to Philly, cross country trip on
a short week. It's just it's not a great setup.
The only reason I'm concerned for the Eagles is I
(25:30):
just I don't know how healthy Jalen Hurts is, and
he has not looked sharp, certainly last week and then
in the game he was injured, he didn't look particularly
so when he got the concussion, he didn't look incredible.
I do like the Eagles here to win, and in
most money line parlays, I've got them as well. Finally,
(25:51):
the best game Bills Ravens. I am on the Baltimore
Ravens first half minus one, and I'm going to get
involved with the Bills full game. I don't have it yet.
I have a Bill's teaser with Kansas City up to
seven plus seven for Buffalo. I don't see them getting
blown out here. It's just gonna be a great game.
(26:12):
And I'm not going to get into all the chess
match stuff. But the big factor here for me is
Zay Flowers is out, and I think that is enormous.
I think that is the kind of injury where Greg McDermott,
who you know, is a defensive coach and has a
tendency to stick to his guns. I wonder if he
(26:33):
will change things up, does he decide, you know what?
We got a really good cornerback in this kid, Christian
Benford Young fellas sixth round pick, one of the top
cornerbacks in the league. We trust him in man coverage.
We're not afraid of Rasul sorry not Rsue Bateman, Rashad Bateman,
We're not afraid of him. We got tarn Johnson back.
He missed the last one. Rasul Douglas not having great year,
(26:55):
but he's a talented cornerback. Like, is there a world
where McDermott says, you know what, we're gonna stack the
box and we're gonna play single high safety and Manda Man. Now,
they don't do a lot of that, but they are
capable of that now down the stretch they've done a
little bit of it. And I wonder if it was
to set up for this game and say, you know what,
lamar Hey, you're a great quarterback.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
We get it.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Go ahead, beats beat us deep without your best weapons, Flowers,
let's see it. And I don't know if on any
level they're scared of and yeah, listen Batman Mayhall in
a deep touchdown that could happen. I don't know that
they're you know, you're worried about Tylan Wallace or Nelson
Aguilar Aglare just drops everything. I think you're worried about
(27:36):
the tight ends Andrews un likely. I'll be looking at
Isaiah likely props because he played a ton last week.
But they you've got to load up and stop Jackson
and Henry. And you know, you look at last year's
Ravens Chiefs game in that AFC Championship and the game
plan was just freaking puzzling as hell from Todd munkin.
(27:56):
You know, there's zero chance he's not gonna be like
run run, run, run run in this one. And if
Buffalo doesn't change tendency and load the box, and yeah,
they're gonna get run over. I just McDermott's too smart
to stick to his guns and really try to win
this playing at my way. That's just not smart. I
have seen some stuff about how, oh, well, the Ravens
(28:17):
are playing the best football in the league. There, Oh okay,
they're playing well of late. Let's just quickly go through
who they've played here down the stretch. They played a
Steelers team that nobody believed was good despite the record.
They played a terrible Cleveland Browns team. They smothered a
Houston Texans team that was reeling thirty one to two.
The other win against the Steelers, and they beat the Giants.
(28:40):
The last time they played what I would call a
very good team was the Eagles, and they lost. You
remember that twenty four to nineteen, A difficult loss for
the Ravens. It kind of exposed some things. Now, the
Bills don't have the Eagles run defense, but the Ravens
did lead that one nine to nothing. And I know
Tucker missed a bunch of kicks, but I'm very curious
(29:02):
to see if Josh Allen just refuses to let the
team lose. I know that's a cheesy thing to say.
I'm not gonna let him go down, but I'll be
looking at Josh Allen props again. I think I gave
out the over forty two and a half last week.
I definitely bet it, and he landed forty six. I
would say that could go even higher. I know some
people are saying this is gonna be a shootout. I
can see the quarterback slugging it out, but ultimately my
(29:25):
guess is we're gonna see a bunch of new stuff
here defensively, because you know, I don't see a scenario
where the Bills just say, Okay, we're gonna We're gonna
play our thing. And Derek Henry, if he's gonna go
for a buck fifty years. I think his first touch
in the first meeting, he won eighty seven yards for
the score. Now, they were down four defensive starters in
that one. At the time, I'm fairly certain Baltimore was desperate.
(29:47):
This was a young Bill's team. Kean Coleman was like,
you know four games in still wet behind the Ears.
They hadn't traded for Amari Cooper yet. Like, I don't
put a ton of stock in that one. So I
have Ravens first half because they're a strong starting team.
But I ultimately think Buffalo wins. I'll go something like thirty. Well,
(30:09):
now that's too high. I'll go twenty four twenty three.
Buffalo Bells get the win and advance to the AFC Championship.
That being said, as I told Baker, the only thing
I care about is whichever team can beat the Chiefs
next week. That's why I want to win this. If
it's Baltimore, fine, I don't care. So I don't have
a lot invested here. I did forget one bet as
(30:31):
I look at the sheet. Here Eagles Rams first half
under twenty two and a half. Too much juice for
twenty three, which is a key number. Under twenty two
and a half Rams Eagles first half. So that's all
the wagers, guys. Should be a phenomenal weekend. We'll do
more on the National Championship Monday. We'll talk to you then,
Fox Sports Radio News
Host
Jonas Knox
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