Week 16 Recap, Week 17 Preview

Cecil and Joe recap week 16 of the NFL season and preview week 17!

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Hello, and welcome to the thirdand the don Football Show. I am
Joe with me Cecil as always,here to recap Week sixteen preview Week seventeen
of the NFL season. We've gota lot to talk about this week,
Cecil. How you doing all good? You know I'm in the fantasy finals
in one of my leagues, sothat's awesome. Another interesting week of football.
I hope everyone had a happy Festivusand a merry Christmas. I sure

(00:23):
did and ready to get into thefinal couple weeks the NFL season here.
Yeah, I literally made one ofthe finals in two different fantasy finals.
Made one of them because brock Pertygot negative twelve points in a league on
Sunday night or on Monday n football. So we'll talk about that in a
little bit here and see all theimplications. It is a holiday week and
it recording late at night, sothis might be a little bit quicker.
There's also some teams eliminated that maybedon't aren't worth talking about, so might

(00:47):
be a little b quicker than alot of our usual shows. But let's
get a start at cease. We'regoing to start off with last Thursday Nights
football game. We have the Ramsbeating the Saints. It is thirty to
twenty two was the final score.It was a lot bigger margin than have
been. I mean, the Saintshad some garbage time points to make it
twenty two points, but really thisone was over. A lot needs to
be said about Karen Williams impact onthis offense for the Rams. Matthew Stafford

(01:10):
is probably should be in the MVPdiscussion with how well he's played this year
and how that roster has really looked, and Pookin Nakua has always nine receptions
one hundred and sixty four yards ina touchdown. Everything we thought about the
Saints was still true. They hadtrouble scoring and their offense is miserable,
and the Rams took advantage of that. Absolutely. Yeah, I mean,
like you said, it really wasn'tthat close a game. Karen Williams continue

(01:34):
to just dominate on the ground.Cooper Cup I don't know if he was
a little hurt. He was kindof missing some balls he'd usually catch.
That was a little weird, butyeah, Matt Safford looked really good,
Kyen Williams did, and then PookinNakua has been just an absolutely gem.
They picked in the draft this yearworks really well in the Sean McVay system.
I don't know if he necessary workedas well anywhere else, but I

(01:57):
mean the same thame with Cooper Cup. It's kind of this where neither of
them have, you know, thiscrazy athleticism where you're like, Wow,
this guy is just elite in everyway. But I mean, Sean McVay
uses them in such a good wayand they're so such good all round players
that he can just maximize anyone's potential, which is great. I mean,
the Rams are steaking into the playoffsat this point, looks like and I

(02:17):
wouldn't want to play them. Iwouldn't either. They're hot, and if
you have one game, you knowyou might be if you have one game
to prepare for as an NFL coach, you might want Sean McVay as that
coach to do it. So ifthey make the playoffs and maybe get a
decent matchup, they could win agame. A lot of hype around maybe
the Rams playing the Detroit Lions inthe first round of the playoffs, and
then we'd mentioned that I thin acouple weeks ago that'd be a lot of

(02:38):
fun. All Right, we'll moveover to Saturday, December twenty third,
that is Festivus. It was theBengals at the Steelers. Bengals were rolling
at Jake Browning, and then wekind of saw why Jake Browning is Jake
Browning three interceptions against the Steelers.The offense can never really get rolling.
The defense has problem is tackling.They let up a big pass to George
Pickens, who has two touchdowns onthe day, his biggest performance of the

(02:59):
year by fall a. Mason Rudolphlooks pretty good for the Steelers. Maybe
it makes you wonder why he wasn'tstarting all along. He is a guy
who's historically pushed the ball downfield well, and even when he was at his
like worst, he wasn't terrible.What we've seen like Kenny Pickett and mister
Whisky be pretty bad at times too. So we'll see Mason Rudolph maybe can
get Mike Tomlin to another winning seasonthis year. Yeah, I mean the

(03:23):
Bengals, I mean their flaws wereshown in this game, which is to
be expected. Jake Browning, youknow that he tried to open it up,
and he forced some things downfield heshouldn't have, you know, and
just a lot of the same problemsthat have been going on with the Bengals
team showed up. You know,Jake Brown, it doesn't always make the
best decision making, especially when he'sthrowing it a little bit further downfield.

(03:43):
If he does throw it, andthen the defense, like you said,
can't tackle people, and they letreceivers way downfield catch balls, you know,
twenty yards down. We saw thisin the Texans game as well.
They just don't have an answer.Sometimes it looks like it doesn't mean the
team doesn't have a good roster,can't be built to for success. They
also couldn't stop the run this gamewith TJ. Reader out and that was

(04:04):
a huge loss for them for therest of the season. I mean,
yeah, I mean there's really nottoo much to talk about with this game.
I mean, the Steelers could beplaying themselves into a potential playoff spot.
You know, there's a chance stilla lot of teams are still alive
with two weeks ago, which iscrazy, and I mean the Bengals still
technically have a chance too, especiallyif they went out here. There's just

(04:27):
not too much to glean because yougot two teams that have been kind of
banged up, and I mean,like you said, the biggest takeaway I
have from this is I forgot howmuch Mason Rudolph just tries to chuck the
ball downfield. This next game,he'll probably throw two to three interceptions on
deep balls and just get caught becauseteams are gonna be ready for it this
week. I think that was thebig thing is the Bengals really have been

(04:47):
used to the Steelers the last twoyears, playing conservative. They probably didn't
practice as much on these, youknow, kind of more deep plays and
expected as much from Mason Rudolph becauseI mean, yeah, if you look
at the tape, it's the satstuff he did before. But I mean
team's usual game plan on a teambased off of what their backup quarterback did
two years ago. So yeah,very weird that Mason Rudolph was just quietly

(05:11):
the third string quarterback for the Steelerstwo after being second round draft pick and
everything. Just a weird situation andhe came in and played well, So
props to him. We'll see ifyou can keep it up and get Mike
tom on that winning season again.The other game on Saturday was the Bills
beating the Chargers twenty four to twentytwo. Now, we had thought sees
that the Bills were starting to figurethings out, but really struggled in this

(05:32):
one against the Chargers. Gave Davishad one of his big games once every
four games we talked about him.Four receptions, one hundred thirty yards and
a touchdown. Stefon Digg struggled andJames Cook even not the greatest game on
the ground twenty carries for seventy yards. I guess the Chargers just had that
Brandon's daily boost. He got fired, and we know when coaches get fired
sometimes those teams get boosts. Butthe Bills, you know, if they

(05:54):
really want to be a contender thisyear, which we were thinking maybe they're
on track to be coming again,they got to beat guys like East and
Stick by more than two points onthe road when the homefield advantage isn't that
good. Yeah, I mean itwas close to the end. I mean
we're all sitting there just going,I mean, what is what is happening
in this game? The Bills kindof just showed what they've always shown is

(06:15):
they're very wildly inconsistent. You know, they could be a team that blows
out the Dolphins in two weeks.It's that simple, that that is the
reality of how this team can play. But yeah, it's it's just a
weird team. They're inconsistent. Imean again, it's like being in a

(06:35):
dead horse. Almost every team,I mean honestly, every team in the
NFL, besides probably the forty nineErs and Ravens at this point, have
been wildly inconsistent, just wildly Andsure the forty Hours had to lose.
They they had somebody, you know, the Ravens game this week we'll get
to. But besides those too,I don't think I can name other team

(06:59):
that's put together a complete season oreven close to it. You know,
most years we sat there and we'relike, Wow, there's like three or
four teams that are really good,I play really well, and I can't
wait for them to face off thisyear. I'm like, I mean,
I don't know. I mean again, are the Ravens really that much better
than everyone else? I mean,I don't, I don't really know.

(07:21):
It's that's just weird to say that. There's you know, teams with Pat
mahomes on, they got Josh Allen, the Bill is all these guys that
are proven playoff contenders year and ayear out for the last couple of years
and suddenly are like, I mean, they can lose to Easton Stick in
the regular season almost that's a especiallyin we you know, we're in week

(07:42):
sixt week sixteen of the season.This isn't Week two. This isn't we
you know, this is an earlyseason where shit happens. This is it's
postseason time, and the idea thatthe Bills are prey much trying to win
out to you know, really makeit in the NFL playoffs. It doesn't.
It's not a good luck I mean, Chargers, there's really nothing to
talk about. It's Easton Stick.He threw the ball further downfield this game,

(08:05):
which was big. Austin Ecler actuallygot the ball, which is also
very important to that team. Ifeel like, you know, he's the
big playmakers. So good job ofthe Chargers to figure that stuff out.
But you know, again, theydid much better expected. That's a good
note. Hopefully you know, theyput together some momentum going into next season

(08:26):
for themselves. Yeah. I thinkso. We'll see what the Chargers do
down the stretch and some of theirmoves. There's been some rumors of maybe
justin Herbert for the first overall pixiesfor the Bears. I don't know that'd
be an interesting little thing. Idon't think it's gonna happen, but just
don't sing. Yeah, all right, so the Falcons beat On Sunday,

(08:46):
the Falcons beat the Colts twenty nineto ten offensive explosion behind Taylor Heinike.
He has two or twenty nine yardsand one touchdown. You know, they
get the ball to be John Robinsona decent amount in this game. It
seems like, hey, that works. Probably won't be something they do in
the few cure. They're at sevenand eight now, they could theoretically make
the playoffs. I just don't seethat happening because I think they'll drop some
games down the stretch. But Ithink Tama Heinick has been a quarterback than

(09:09):
desn't Ritter, and the Colts eightand seven is still in that AFC playoff
fun. Anything could happen. Yeah, anything gonna happen in the AFC this
year. I mean even the NFC. It's it's still everything is so up
in the air this year. Youknow, Tara Heinicky has played well for
the Commanders for you know, andreally for all his years. You know,
I would never say he was theguy, and when they tried to

(09:31):
give him a little bit of ashot, it wasn't that great. So
but like I agree with you,he's better than Desert Ridder has showed so
far the season. He kind ofhas that he's gonna fight until the end
of the game too, which issomething I like out of quarterback as somebody
who he's on some bad games.He had thrown two with the Commanders,
he still fought through a lot ofthem and you know, had some momentum

(09:54):
and you know, stretches of games. So the guy should have a job
the NFL. Probably is a qualitybackup, I mean a starter. That's
that's hard to really say. Idon't think he's as good as someone like
Gardner Minshew to begin with. ButFalcons have weapons you use, Bejon Robinson,
you should have a successful season,and you know, if Falcons are

(10:16):
right there on the cusp. ButI don't think they're gonna make the playoffs
either. And the Colts, yeah, they can make it. And again
one week they beat the hell outof the Steelers after being down fourteen to
nothing in the first like six minutes, and then they have this game where
they get kind of beaten up bythe Falcons, they got beaten up by
the Bengals. I don't I don'tknow what is a good team and what's

(10:37):
a bad team anymore. I don'teither. It seems like this NFL season
like one week the teams will bereally good when he will be really bad.
A lot of teams are five hundredthat I would take over, teams
that are better records. It's it'sa crazy year and a lot of good
backup quarterback play. As you mentioned, Taylor Heineke is a guy that you
can keep around for a while.Gardner minshew. You know, getting a

(10:58):
team to eight and seven after thestarter goes to good down is pretty impressive
too, So pretty wild times.We'll see what both these teams do down
the stretch, as they do havetheir playoff hopes still alive. The Seahawks
improved their playoff chances. They wontwenty to seventeen over the Titans. The
Titans had Ryan Tannehill at quarterback becauseBill Levis got injured in a pretty brutal
hit the week before. Derek Hendrickhad a pretty solid game for the Titans.

(11:20):
But you know, mostly I'll talkabout the Seahawks. Here seas Gino
Smith looking pretty good, looking prettyhealthy after that growing injury a couple of
weeks ago. Two unred and twentyseven yards, two touchdowns. He's been
trying to use more of his widereceivers, spreading the ball out little bit
more so Tyler lockehead eighty one yards. You know, Dk Metcalf has had
his big games Jackon Smith and Jig, but had his big catch last week
or two weeks ago. Now atthis point, they're eight and seven,

(11:41):
They're right, you know, theRams are eight and seven. There's a
lot of NFC West teams in thisplayoff picture, so we'll see if maybe
they can push through too. It'sgonna be a wild couple weeks with this
NFC West matchups. Yeah, itabsolutely is. I think both teams.
I'd like both of those teams tomake the playoffs. We're talking about who
I think will be the most excitingthe NFC playoffs. I think, you

(12:03):
know, obviously Eagles slash Cowboys aregoing to be in. There is the
you know, the five seed iswhoever doesn't win the Division of the East.
But I mean when you look throughthe rest of the roster. I
mean the NFC North, I don'twant the Vikings there. The Packers are
pretty much out of contention this point. You know, in the NFC South's
at absolute dumpster fire. And yeah, I mean the NFC West has been

(12:26):
one of the more interesting divisions andit's really come on strong at the end
of the season this year. Youknow, the Seahawks and the Rams got
off to some rough starts, butI mean I'd love to have both those
teams in. And again, Idon't think those are easy outs necessarily for
someone. I don't think they're gonnamake deep playoff runs. But they have

(12:46):
a good coach. They have goodcoaches. You know, solid quarterbacks,
you know, Matt Stafford obviously betterthan Gino Smith. And they get a
lot of speed on the periphery andthe perimeter with their receiving corps. They
got good running backs and defenses thathonestly are flying around at times. They're
not perfect by any means, butyou know, if you get hot,

(13:09):
you know you get the turnover ata key moment, you can easily won
a playoff game. Yeah, Ithink the NFC playoffs have some pretty interesting
matchups. Seas we have the Cowboyslikely playing the NFC South winner, which
is looking like the Bucks. TheCowboys have struggled on the road. We're
gonna talk about them a little bithere. The Bucks have been a pretty
good team, honestly. And thenwe have the Seahawks and Rams if they
make the playoffs, maybe going upagainst you know, the Lions and the

(13:31):
Eagles, and the other two matchupsin the first round. I mean,
I don't know which way we wouldgo with those games. I mean I
think the Eagles maybe with their strugglesthis year, I mean, maybe win
the game, but it's a closemargin. Maybe maybe we pull some upset
picks there too. I don't know. Next game upseas the Lions we just
mentioned one thirty to twenty four.They won the NFC North for the first

(13:52):
time in its history. Remember thereused to be in the NFC Central and
they weren't really doing much in thenineties after Barry Sanders were hired and the
early two thousands and everything like that. Jamir Gibbs played very well eighty yards
rushing, two touchdowns, had ahighlight juke that is going kind of wild
on social media right now. Wetold him to put the ball in his
hands. I finally started to givehim more and more work. At the

(14:13):
end of the year, he seemslike he's pretty fresh and can do some
damage for them. Nick Mullens forthe Vikings four interceptions, he's showing like,
hey, he's gonna be a gunslingerwhen he gets into the game.
He's gonna throw the ball out atights windows. Sometimes it'll work out,
sometimes it won't. But for me, I'm with you. I don't want
to see the Vikings make the playoffsbecause I don't think this team is very
good. I'd rather, you know, the Lions win this when the NFC

(14:35):
North get everything locked up, andnow that the Vikings have that extra loss,
it's looking a little bit harder forthem to make the playoffs. No.
Absolutely, you can see some scenesthere with Kevin O'Connell. You know,
you can lip read a little bitwhen they have all these super close
ups. I mean you just seehim kind of on the sidelines going as
you know eight Mullins walks off thefield or Nick Maullins, I should say,

(14:56):
and you can see him literally mouthjust straight up to him. You
can't throw that like you can seeit or for a word, it's very
obvious what he's saying, and it'strue. I mean, you know,
that's the downside to a gunslinger,and that's something that NFL coaches. Some
of the throws and interceptions he made, we'll pull your hair out. Also,

(15:18):
t J. Hopkinson's done for theyear, so that's a big blow
for them. Obviously, they gotJustin Jefferson back, who had a great
one drive where he just like blewup and just destroyed the Lions. So
it was good to see Justin Jeffersondo his thing. But yeah, I
mean again it's a little too little, too late. Again, you couldn't

(15:39):
trust whoever the quarterback is for theVikings. I mean, who knows,
maybe they re unearthed the pastronaut.You never know, he's still there waiting
in the depths. But yeah,I mean the Vikings, it's over for
them. Lions again, good game, Jared Goff had some good passes and

(16:00):
yeah, I mean both running backshad good games. And I mean again,
keep giving the ball Jamier Gibbs.And honestly, I kind of like
this where Jamier Gibbs is getting theball, you know, early on in
the game and then kind of throughoutthe you know, the two middle quarters.
You know, you kind of conserveDavid Montgomery for when you have that
lead and then you just pound itdown the field. I think that's a

(16:22):
great strategy. I think that's exactlythe Dan Campbell style of football. He
wants to run. And it makessense because imagine having someone fresh legs.
It's like dam Montgomery, who's justi mean a North South guy. You
know, he's not as elusive asJamier Gibbs, but man, that's it's
like a you know, it's notexactly like Derrek Henry, but the same
thing with Derek Henry. Right,it is hard to tackle. And when

(16:44):
he's just sat there, just basicallyrested up for a quarter, he's just
gonna start running straight at you.Sure you're gonna know the play, but
you got to summon enough willpower tostop that, you know, for less
than three hours each time. Easiersaid than done, you know, in
an offensive line for the Lions orpeople movers, but they move on.
Congrats are finally winning your division.I can't believe this is the first time

(17:07):
ever. That's rough. But youknow, again, this Lions team,
it's it's all gonna come down tocan they win that playoff game? On
their home field regardless of who theyplay. It's hard to say for sure
because they've struggled so much at times, but they keep putting together good momentum
like they put in this week overthe next two weeks, you know,

(17:30):
and they got a big game againstthe Cowboys this week, So I think
that's gonna be a big, youknow, taste test to see if they
are actually going to have the stuffto make it a deep run. I'm
with you, and I do likeDavid Montgomery end of games, like defense
has already worn down. You cansteal a game with David Montgomery after Jamior
Gibbs gives you the gives you thelead and everything. It'd be interesting to
see if Detroit did play in thecold weather they're they're obviously in a dome,

(17:52):
what he would be able to do, like you know, the Derek
Henry effect, like you said,we always said Derek Henry at the end
of seasons. But they're playing ina lot of I mean, they just
played in the vikings, you know, in a dome. They're going to
be having a couple of games homegames down the stretch in the dome and
the playoffs as well. So interestingto see what they can happen with this
Lions team. I'm with you,I think they're one of the more intriguing
storylines. And if they do getpaired up with Matt Stafford, God blessed

(18:15):
Detroit fans because their hearts might breakif they lose to Matt Stafford in the
first round. Next game up,we have the Jets beating the Commanders thirty
to twenty eight. They went upbig time in this game. In the
first half. They were up twentyseven to seven, but then Washington brings
in Jacoby Brissette for Sam Howe.Jacoby Brissett's proving he's a top thirty two

(18:36):
quarterback in this league. He outplayedDeshaun Watson in Cleveland last year. Right
now he's out playing Sam Howell,who had a pretty good stretch for about
two months there, but the lastmonth it's a pretty rough and he gets
them close. They scored twenty eightpoints and call it come all the way
back, but the Jets are ableto get the win with a Greg zer
line field goal with five seconds left. This is a game that means nothing,

(18:57):
so I won't add too much toit than Jacob for you man,
Yeah, good for Jacoby, Jetsmagically have an offense again against a team
that's given up on the season.So it's really all there is to it
both these teams. You know,the Jets are gonna hopefully pray Aaron Rodgers

(19:17):
comes back next year, which couldbe interesting, you know, maybe upgrade
the offensive line and get him somemore offensive weapons, because yeah, there's
still some room for improvement. Youknow, the defense is great, but
the offensive side of the ball canuse some upgrades in several places. And
Commanders, again, it's a newownership group. They're gonna do a full
rebuild and a fool just reshuffling thewhole deck. I mean, again,

(19:41):
Sam Hoow looked good for a coupleof weeks. I'll give it to him,
But again, is that enough toreally stake your franchise when you're a
new owner. I wouldn't say Samhell is my guy. I mean,
it didn't really matter what he did. It's it's just one of those things
where you know, we're looking athis his kind of his ceiling is like

(20:03):
like top twenty quarterback, and reallyhis floor is you know, out of
the league. So that's the reality. So I wouldn't start a franchise with
that guy. Either the new ownerknows probably what it's it's gonna take a
couple of years, and he's gonnafind the right staff, you know,
the right general manager, and they'regetting just build it from the ground up.

(20:26):
Definitely looks like Ronrivera maybe was givingup and then Jacoby Brissette goes in
and keeps him there. And nowJacoby Brisset is gonna start the last two
games. I don't know if thatI would start, Sam Howe, honestly
like at least keep giving more reps. He's a young guy, you know,
Jacoby Brissett's not your future guy,as much as I do think he's
a top twenty thirty two player.Just you know, start Sam how You

(20:47):
need to know what's gonna happen inthe future. But I guess maybe Ronovera
knows he's gone anyway, so that'skind of what's gonna happen, all right.
Sees. The Packers beat the Panthersthirty three to thirty. They went
up pretty early as well, andthen kind of blew the lead late,
but they were able to hang on. Bryce Young had his best game as
a pro three hundred and twelve yardsand two touchdowns. Story here in this
game, though, is you know, the Packers go seven to eight,

(21:08):
now, probably not gonna make theplayoffs, but there's a whole heap of
a mess going on here. Idon't know how to describe it. You
know. We could use our favoritehorror movie Texas Chainsaw Massacre Next Generation to
describe it, but could also bethat one movie we watched I think it's
Friday Night Freddy's or whatever the heckthat horror movie we watched with u ces.
But it's it's about you're sitting therelike laughing about what's going on here.

(21:33):
They look like they're getting back intocontention, and then everything hits the
fan. We have Joe Barry stillhaving a job, still having guys play
fifteen yards off defenders on a lastminute drive when all they need is a
field goal. So Pete teams theGiants against them just took ten yard passes
and then ended up getting a fieldgoal to win. We have Gyro Alexander
not being a captain, going outand taking the coin toss anyway and saying

(21:56):
basically, I'm doing it because I'mGiro Alexander. He almost batches the coin
and now he's suspended for a gamebecause of conduct detrimental to the team.
Laflora has lost the locker room,and he also needs to like to hold
his defensive coordinator accountable and probably lethim go. I don't know at this
rate if l the floor gets fired, Like yeah, they're they're doing okay.
Jordan loves developing a little bit,like probably showing him that he's an

(22:18):
okay quarterback. But like, Idon't know how they settle this thing down.
Everything's like spinning out of motion whereSeaun Gary is like on the sideline
almost crying after games, like becausehe's playing his heart out. Nothing's coming
coming good out of it. It'sit's a weird situation in green pay seats.
Yeah, it really is. Itreminds me a lot of you know,

(22:38):
you know, Lord of the Rings. We're gonna do another film here
when basically sealed or for all,We're gonna go nerd in this get ready
Ready the very beginning of the firstmovie, there's the flashback he cuts the
ring off this hour on Vank takesit and then everything from there just goes
as shit. It's like Aaron Rodgersdiscovered social media and from there just everything

(23:00):
collapsed. He just he went off. He ended up just dying, shredding
his knee, going to New York. And the Packers' organization has just completely
fallen apart since that point. Soit can happen. You know, he
got corrupted and now the Packers arejust terrible. And it's not all,
Oh, Aaron Rodgers left, Wesuck. It's just like Aaron Rodgers as

(23:25):
much as a he wasn't like theproblem in Bay as much as he is
a lot to deal with, andhe's become a nuisance at times. Then
was still winning a lot of footballgames for a very long time, even
with all this stuff going on inthe background. Reality is the organization over
the last probably pretty much since thatpoint that Aaron Rodgers had his down year

(23:49):
and they drafted Jordan Love. Thatis kind of where everything has gone downhill.
That was like the moment you canlook pretty much, honest to god,
it's pretty much since Ted Thompson retiredpretty much since that point because Brian
uh got Koons. The current GMpretty much took over right then, I

(24:10):
believe in Matt draft or the draftright before. It's not been good.
It's been a very slow burn ofyou know, Mike McCarthy got fired,
and that was the right decision.Matt Lafloor came in. Instead of finding
something that worked with Aaron Rodgers andMatt Laflore, it just became like this

(24:30):
weird coexisting hatefully. Aaron Rodgers didn'twant to play mattlfloor system. Matt Lafloor
didn't really want Aaron Rodgers to dothings his way. They both just happened
to keep winning games, so itkind of just existed. But it was,
you know, attention boiling over foryears. It's led to what we
see now. But they weren't.They didn't hit on draft picks. I

(24:55):
mean we're talking, you know,reaches with like Koy Walker. We just
see reach after reaching recent drafts.They finally got receivers after all these years,
young guys that will probably be goodover time. But again, they
could have started this all three yearsago and not drafted Jordan Love. Take
in T Higgins or one of theother receivers. You know, we're talking

(25:17):
Michael Pittman, you know, guys, Brandon Ayuk. These are all guys
that are drafted after Jordan Love wasand it's one of them. It could
be a number one receiver, andyou know, Aaron Rodgers may have not
missed DeVante Adams is bad. DeVanteAdams may have never left it. He
didn't feel like the Aaron Rodgers wasbasically trying to leave Green Bay at any
damn time. Like so, youknow, it's an organization as no one

(25:42):
really to blame but itself. Imean, at this point, I think
the GM, I think the coach, I think it's just you got to
go in a different direction because thereality is this team is it's not good.
And I don't think it's just gonnabe, oh, you strapping new
head coaching and they're gonna start winninggames. I think it's just I don't
know if they're fundamentally figure. Idon't think they're fundamentally doing what they need

(26:07):
to do as an organization to continueto win. I think Aaron Rodgers put
prop the team up for about threefour years and then you kind of just
saw everything was wrong. And ifMattlahorror doesn't get fired, for the love
of God, Joe Barry Better,I'm with you on that seas. I
do think things will get worse too, because they're not a team that usually
signs a bunch of free agents.A lot of their young picks are having

(26:27):
to start producing now and they're notreally living up to the hype. Some
of their older picks, you know, like guys like Aaron Jones, Dia,
Alexander Rashan Garry are probably trying tofind their way out of Green Bay
at this point. You know,like if they're free agents in the next
couple of years, they'll probably leave, and then if they don't sign the
free agents to replace them, they'regonna go back to mediocrity. They're really
gonna need Jordan Love to step upand really draw some free agent talent to

(26:49):
Green Bay. And he's done fine, don't get me wrong, but he's
not at that level where he's gonnadraw players into green Bay. Next game
up season, we have the Brownsbeating the Texans thirty six to twenty two.
Joe Flacco elite again. We're gonnatalk about him again. Three hundred
and fifty eight yards or three andsixty eight yards, sorry, three touchdowns
and two interceptions. He's throwing interceptions, but it's not in like areas that

(27:10):
are critical either, which is importantfor the Browns because there's getting guys going
to Lamari Cooper at eleven catches,two hundred and sixty five yards, two
touchdowns. Rip. If you hadhim on your fantasy bench this week,
it's just a tough week to havehim there. Case Keenum loses his first
game as starter of the Texans.Really, what I think this game shows
is CJ. Stroud is very goodand very important to this team. I

(27:30):
think there there've had some injuries likeTank Doll and everything, but probably a
different game if he's avail. Well, absolutely, I mean c J.
Stroud is definitely the most important partof the Texans. I mean the Browns.
Joe Flacco is honestly, Joe Flaccocan make mistakes, Joe, So

(27:52):
that's the thing. And it's kindof like the infamous Jamis Winston, like
thirty touchdowns, thirty interception year.You know, it's just one of those
things where it's like you're gonna scoresome points and you're gonna have a lot
of turnovers. But the Browns havea good enough defense to you know,
bend, don't break, and youknow, score create some scoring opportunities our

(28:12):
own. But if you're telling me, I I will take three hundred and
sixty yards three touchdowns and two touchand two interceptions with that Browns defense every
day of the week, one hundredpercent. Unless you're throwing those interceptions right
on your own like goal line orsomething, there's a good chance they're not
gonna get a touchdown off of it. And I will take I'll take it.

(28:33):
I will one hundred percent take thatwith the team that's constructed, and
it's a lot better than what DeshaunWatson was. So I'm sorry to ask
a question of what do we gottado to keep Joe Flacco and Cleveland If
you're Cleveland Browns jam at this point, I mean, are you really gonna
put de Shaan Watson back there?Like Deshaun Watson has not done any of

(28:55):
this yet in a Cleveland Browns uniform. Joe Flacco seems to be doing it
weekly, So my question is,and the offensive line is more banged up
than ever was. And also,you know, people want to say,
oh, Deshaun Watson has played football, Joe Flack was sitting on a couch
for half a season like you wouldn't, I mean basically semi retired because he's

(29:15):
I mean, he wasn't doing anything, wasn't getting worked out it wasn't doing
shit. So yeah, the DeshaunWatson, they're stuck with him either way.
But the reality is, you know, if you got pay him to
hit on the bench and Joe Flackowas giving you the most chance to win,
you guys want to postseason game withJoe Flacco. I can you try

(29:36):
to sign Joe Flacco for cheap andif you can start his ass? Yeah,
I'm with you. I think yougot to go with the players who
help you the most. I wouldhave said, hey, maybe you should
keep Cobersett, but they didn't wantto do that either. You know,
Jacobe has a good game. Jacobeis a good quarterback. Joe Flaker is
playing well. If you can gethim to turn another season. That seems

(29:56):
like the fans of Cleveland deving withhim, the locker rooms having with him.
That's the best case scenario. Withhow this offense operates, He's doing
very well in the Stefanski offense.Big time throws that in some of the
mistakes too, But like you're rightwith you have that defense role and that
doesn't matter. So they have tenwins this year. I'm not sure we
thought that this season will go thisway. For them, Very good for
that defense, Very good for JoeFlacco. We'll see what they can do

(30:19):
down the stretch too. I thinkthey're a team that I don't think a
lot of teams want to play inthe playoffs because of that defense and Miles
Garrett is being able to demolish themteams. Next game up Seas, the
Buccaneers beat the Jaguars thirty to twelve. This was, I mean pretty much
over by halftime, they were twentyto nothing. Trevor Lawrence is banged up,
trying to play through multiple injuries atthis point. It seems like he's

(30:41):
getting hurt every week, but theyhaven't. The Jaguars were eight and three.
They've lost four straight, some ofthem to backup quarterbacks. It's been
bad. We were talking about themas a possible one seed and now we're
talking possibly missing the playoffs and abanged up quarterback. It's kind of crazy
how that works out to the Buckseight and seven. We've talked about them

(31:02):
all year, like beating the teamsthey should be, Baker Mayfield being a
valued quarterback man. Sometimes like whenwhen all the movie studios nowadays are going
for these big action blockbusters that taketons of money to make. Sometimes in
good old fashioned two thousands comedy,you just slide Baker Mayfield in there,
four million dollars on the salary,and he just gets the job done.
You know, you put the moviein. It's not gonna get any awards.

(31:22):
Critics aren't gonna love it, butfans are gonna laugh. It's gonna
have a good time. That's theBaker Mayfield experience for the Bucks this year,
eight and seven probably can win theNFC South. Yeah. Man,
just just turn out that money.Maybe hopefully we'll get a sequel next year.
Probably won't be as good with Bakerin the box, but you know,
people will still watch it, andthat's what's important, you know,
as long as you get enough peopleto show up in the theater to recoup

(31:44):
your budget, or you know,you could be you know, Kyle Shanahan
the forty nine Ers. Man,we'll talk about it, but it didn't
go great this week. But Imean, yeah, look at those really
low budget films like Rock Purty.Man, Rock Purty's making absolutely nothing.
Ye know, he's probably I mean, you want to talk about val I
mean there's some probably sabermetric stuff likethis, I know, they do it

(32:05):
for the NFL as well, youknow, value versus like for like value
versus like average replacement or something likethat, whatever the actual stat would be
called. I mean, brock pertieshas got to be one of the highest
of all time at this point forthis season. I mean for six hundred
and like sixty nine thousand dollars orsomething like. As a hell, I
mean, people were talking about MVPup until you know this week's result basically,

(32:30):
so that's a hell of a replacementlow budget movie. I mean,
watch out paranormal activity. I mean, rock parties coming your way. Absolutely,
So Bucks stay afloat NFC South likelygoing to win it. Good for
them. Mike Evan's continually killing itand just keeps on moving up the ranks
of all time, receiving ranks everyweek too. That's exciting. And you're

(32:52):
right, I think Baker Mayfield deservesthe second chance here, second second season
with the Bucks. He might theBucks may have to pay a little bit
more, but I think they'll gladthey do that with how well he's played
this year. One of the lastgames on Sunday, well, one of
the last games will recap on Sunday. We have the Bears beating the Cardinals
twenty seven to sixteen. Justin Field'splayed pretty well. They were able to

(33:13):
run the ball. This Bear's defenseis different, you know it just we
kind of saw this at the endof last year, this Bears team playing
better and some pieces we like,whether it was Justin Fields or Jawan Brisker
and the defense. And then itlike the start of this year, they
were like, let's put in anew offense, let's make Justin Fields a
pocket passer, and it didn't work. And now they're getting back to where
they were at the end of lastseason. So all they got to do
is just not reset the whole franchiseagain by changing the way they do things.

(33:37):
Now, maybe they're going to betaking quarterback with the first pick,
but as we talked about last week, Justin Fields and Cale Balliams have similar
different you know, things that theydo, so you might be doing something
similar there anyway, with just makingsure you don't have them be just dropped
back passers. We have to playwith timing. That can ruin some things.
But good win for the Bears.I think they needed some hope,

(33:58):
you know, more than anything.They still have the Panthers pick so tanking
isn't really something they are really focusedon. But there's six wins. Now.
I didn't think we'd be talking aboutthe Bears with six wins at this
point of the season, right,I mean they are right in that,
like right under that tier of everybodyand their mother trying to get a playoff
spot for like the six or sevenseed in both commences. So if anything,

(34:19):
they're sitting pretty because they're gonna getbasically a draft pick. You know,
they might get one right at thetop ten, to be honest,
and everyone else is there's gonna belike a six way tie for you know,
the twelve through like eighteenth draft picks. So honestly, it's a it's
a big win for them. Tradeout of the number this is what they
should do. Trade out of thenumber one pick. You know, if

(34:43):
they can trade out from like one, like from one to two or one
to three, grab Marvin Harrison andthen grab Joel I mean, that's that
would be an ideal draft haul.And honestly, you could then take another
impact first rounder that because you'll stillhave your own thing so or maybe you
know, you can figure it out. You can move up and down,

(35:05):
you can find some guys. Butif you can find a quality left tackle,
you can find you know, someonelike again, you can find a
high quality receiver like Marvin Harrison topair with Dj Moore. We're talking about
a pretty good looking offense because you'vegot some guys at running back you already
have, you know, Dj Moorethere, Kolka Mett's been a really good

(35:27):
receiving tight end for them. Andthen the defense, you know, maybe
you find some really good defensive youknow, lineman or defensive end, especially
if you can't sign you know,Josh we So or Montes. What is
to say, but yeah, Imean again, the Bears have a lot
of ability to do a lot ofthings this year. I think just again,

(35:49):
keep doing what you're doing with justinfields. Now, see how if
it keeps being successful. Gore committingto this, because otherwise I don't think
resetting the clock is really going tobe worth anything to you and anything.
I'd say, try to put adeal together with him and honestly try to
sign him as soon as you canfor cheaper. Then you're probably gonna be
able to get him in two years, so as soon as he's eligible for

(36:14):
an extension, try to be like, hey, man, like we're gonna
take some risk here, We're gonnapay you thirty five million a year.
Yeah what happens, You're right.I would do the same thing. So
I would keep Justin Fields. Iwould if everyone has this value of Cale
Williams, like he is this generationalprospect or we can't miss on him,

(36:34):
then trade him for a king's ransomof picks, just like they've been doing
the last couple of years with thetrade downs. And when you do that,
you can move to two or three, get Marvin Harrison Junior, and
then with your own pick, whichis around like ten ish, there's this
is a deep tackle class too.This is I this is a totally ideal
situation. If you get if you'retrading the number one pick, you're likely
getting a second round pick or athird round pick this year as well.

(36:57):
It's you could get like several impactplayers. You can go from me a
team who wins six seven games thisyear to winning ten next year, especially
that division. You know, talkabout the Packers and uncertainties. The Vikings
don't even know who the quarterback isgoing to be next year. The Lions
will probably still be good, butyou know, still have some some Jared
goof moments, So there's you cantake Cale Williams, but then like you're
restarting the clock, but you're alsorestarting the development process. You're not gonna

(37:19):
have as much of a team toput around him as you could be if
you trade the pick. So withyou on that one, I would like
to see them keep Justin Fields.Would like to have Marvin Harrison on that
offense. I think it'd be alot of fun. The Fraud Bowl had
the Dolphins beat the Cowboys twenty twoto twenty, I'm not sure it makes
me feel better about either team inthis situation. Jason Sanders was the game
player of the game for the Dolphins. A lot of field goals in this

(37:42):
one. Cowboys played well at times, but other times they forgot cdee Lamb
was available or something like that,because when they did throw them the ball,
he was like the best player onthe field, which is saying something
when you have you know, toand Dak and Tyreek Hill, raheem Mooster
who's had a great season. Sothis game was was was close, but

(38:04):
but I don't think like at theend of the day, I'm not sold
on either of these teams being ableto go win these tough playoff games.
After watching this game, no,I mean we're talking about a Dolphins team
that just literally stalled out at thefifty. It felt like for the entirety
of the game, like it's justit was kind of painful of points,

(38:24):
especially as someone who has Tyreek Hillon their fantasy team, someone who is
you know, has to us,someone who who's watched the Dolphins all season
and knows they can be Like theywere explosive and you know, they have
like a play and they move theball down field and then again, but
dy r line happened, and youknow, they get to the forty five

(38:45):
and it be fourth and four.I'm like, let's go for it.
Let's make something happen, and nowis another field goal and you know,
I mean up being a winning strategy. But yeah, I don't know,
I mean, yeah, I don'tfeel good about either of these teams.
That I've never come out of agame where two top rated teams play each
other, and even the victor,I'm not even like, yeah, that

(39:07):
was good. I'm just like itpretty much showed that neither of you have
enough ability to really just wit likeit would have been better if they had
just had a shootout of touchdown aftertouchdown, I feel more confident. But
it was a lot of field goalsand just drives stalling out in the middle
of nowhere, a lot of puntsand long field goals. So yeah,

(39:30):
that doesn't usually get it done verylong in the playoffs. Again, if
it's in Jerry world, is ita different outcome? Probably honestly than what
the trends say. But you know, Dolphins get the win. They needed
it. You know, it's keyfor their playoff hopes. But yeah,
overall, like you said, I'mnot really confident. Can't really know what

(39:52):
to really take away from this.Yeah I might either. I know there's
a lot of injuries on the bothoffensive lines that really affected play as well.
You gotta rest those guys up andget healthy because something's got to change
with these offenses stalling out for theDolphins and for the Cowboys. Just dumb
thing like see try to get yourbest players of the ball, get ceedeelamb
the ball there. So these teamsare very solid, right, but I

(40:14):
just I don't know where we're gonnago here. I don't know if I
could pick them in the first roundeven at the playoffs, which is crazy
to say because they're ten to fiveand eleven and four in a year where
that is actually a really good record. At this point of this season,
Sunday Night Football, we hit thePatriots beating the Broncos twenty six to twenty
three. Bill Belichick pulls one outof the hat. Here Chad Ryland kicks
a fifty six yard field goal toget the win. We kind of make

(40:36):
fun of people for taking kickers,but we'll give him the props too.
He hit the field goal. Hesaid, maybe not the best season of
anyone, but hit the field goalto give him the win. They have
four wins now in the season,maybe playing themselves out of the way of
drafting a quarterback. But we don'tknow what the whole future is gonna be
like with Bill Belichick anyway. Now, the actual story with this game probably
is with the Broncos. Russell Wilson'sactually played fine this season, but we're

(40:57):
starting to get to the airports ofmaybe some Trump in Paradise. Because he
is playing well and they were ona winning streak and try on the track
to make the playoffs, they wantedto bench him because he would not wave
his injury guarantees and then what thatends up happening. This happens like five
so weeks ago after the Chiefs win, they decide like they threatened to bench
him because of it. Now they'rebenching him in week seventeen because of he

(41:20):
won't wave his injury guarantees, whichmakes no sense because he got him to
a point where they're at least stillin contention for the playoffs. It's a
wild time. And Sean Payton wetalked about, was never attached to Russell
Wilson. But I don't think I'veever heard anything like this where they just
like, hey, this is likea toxic worker buyer. But I don't
I'm not a Russell Wilson guy whatsoever. But this is like so messed up

(41:43):
in my head that they would dothis right. It is really weird this
whole Like you're it's guaranteed for injury, Like if you get hurt, you're
like they're screwed. Basically, it'slike it's a weird contract thing. I
mean, it's not fun for football, it's not fun for Russell Wilson.

(42:04):
It's very awkward, and you know, can build a lot of distrust within
your organization. You know again,you know a lot of us will sit
here and play you know, GM, get in the GM chair and try
to be like I could do this. I just make these rooves, these
moves and these moves, and youknow, just put a bunch of numbers
together and go, I've just builtthe perfect roster. But the reality is

(42:25):
football isn't just that. Otherwise wehave very much different outcomes that comes to
championships and top teams. It's notall about that. The reality is you've
got a head coach who doesn't wantthe quarterback that's there, which they spent
a ton to bring there, andthey're trying to basically drive them out of

(42:46):
town. If they can't drive himout of town, at least make it
palatable so when he does get hurt, they're not screwed. I mean,
I think John Payton just goes.I can win with or without him,
and I'd rather find another quarter backif I can. It is unfair to
Russell Wilson because I mean again,asking a player like can you just wave
your your right to dury, I'mlike no. I Like, if you

(43:09):
were an employee and your employer askedyou to do that, you would absolutely
never do something like that, likeone hundred percent of the time. Like
and that's the thing I think alot of us go, you know,
treat the NFL players like it's somethingElson is, but it's like, you
know, this is their career,this is your job. We're talking you
know, millions and millions of dollarswhich they work for and earn, and

(43:31):
they negotiated into a contract like andfor them to do them to just go
back and be like, actually,no, like we don't want that.
I mean I would do the samethat Russell Wilson would say. I'd be
like, I mean, I playedwell enough to get us to this point.
And now you're basically telling me ifI get hurt, you're not going

(43:51):
to pay me. Like that's whatyou're telling me, is that you just
you don't you just want to renegon what you've already kind of said,
Like you said, like, Ijust it doesn't look good. And you
know, again, maybe looks goodin a video game. You know,
I would do it in a videogame one hundred percent of the time because
I go, yeah, let's unloadthis contract. Let's find somebody younger,

(44:14):
cheaper that I can build around withmore weapons. I mean, sure,
but the reality is, what's thecenter of the other players. If you
sign a big contract in Denver,you're gonna get canned really quick, basically
if shit goes wrong, like you'renot gonna be there like very long and
your organization's not gonna treat you well. And yeah, that's that's a bad

(44:37):
look for an organization, especially onethat's going to need to sign some free
agents and build stuff because they don'thave a lot of draft capital. So
weird move. I don't necessarily agreewith that. I think it's it's bad
for the brand of football. Understandyou know, if you're the GM of
the Broncos specifically, you may justwant to do whatever you need to to

(45:00):
load Russell Russell Wilson sour, whichI agree with, you should unload.
It doesn't look good though. It'sbad optics. I think it's bad for
the brand of NFL football we're tryingto go for, which is competitive and
fun to watch and all facets andevery game is entertaining and everyone has something
to play for. That's what thefans want, and that's what as analyst
wants. But the reality is,I understand why they're doing it just doesn't

(45:22):
sit super well and you know,Russell Wilson could get hurt though. It's
just the problem is the Broncas shouldhave never made that deal in the first
place, and they've just spent alot of time trying to dig themselves out
of the hole they've they've had overthe last couple of years. Yeah,
two more points on the seas.If you put a blind resume with with

(45:43):
Russell Wilson, Baker Mayfield, MatthewStafford and Patrick Mahomes, Patrick Mahomes would
probably be like the one you wouldn'ttake. If you put the line resumes
out there, they would be withthe last one. So like, there's
guys who are playing good football andPatrick Mahomes is playing runing into the game
in a second. He's not playinggreat, but he's still you would take
him over a lot of quarterbacks.So it's funny that that's happening. And

(46:04):
they're also doing this so Sean Paytoncan see Jared Stidham in his system.
I think we've seen enough of JaredStidham personally. That's just me. I
mean, you tell you what you'regetting. They're gonna need a quarterback this
offseason and that it's gonna I don'tknow. I does Russell Wilson go to
Atlanta? Does you know where?Does where? Does where? Does Teump
Payton go for his quarterback? Doeshe actually stick with Jared Stidham because it
seems like he's a crazy man rightnow, but that he wants to do

(46:25):
this? I have no idea.We'll figure that part out later mentioned.
We're gonna get to the Chiefs gamenext. The Raiders beat the Chiefs on
Christmas Day twenty to fourteen. Antoniopears doing a very good job with this
Raiders team. It's a lot ofrunning the ball, playing defense. Josh
Jacobs was out for this game,but Zamir White steps in. The rookie
out of Georgia twenty two carries onehundred and forty eight yards forty five yards.

(46:49):
He had a very good game.The Chiefs time to start talking about
One is Taylor Swift cursing? Thenwe've talked about it plenty of times.
Two, Yes, the receivers aren'tgood, but it's Patrick Mahomes not playing
well too, because two hundred andthirty five yards, one touchdown, one
interception against a Raiders defense who againis playing better at Antonio Pierce, but
still the Raiders defense. I don'tknow. I think the Chiefs have some

(47:10):
pretty big problems. I thought,you know, I think maybe you two
sees, but I thought personally theywould figure it out by the end of
the season. It's the end ofthe season. They have not figured their
issues out. If anything, they'regetting worse. That's what's really concerning.
I think. I don't think TravisKelcey. I don't think it's Taylor Swift

(47:31):
per se. I think Travis Kelceyis. I think it can be a
distraction to him. I don't thinkit's a distraction of the team as much.
I think it might be a personaldistraction to him. I think he's
very busy, kind of trying tobuild his post football career. And I'm
not saying like their relationship as asham. That's not what I'm saying.

(47:51):
I'm just saying he's got a lotof things that Travis Travis Kelsey has been
focusing a lot of things. Still, it's Pat Mahomes all time. I
mean, they're in a billion commercials. You know, Travis Kelcey's got the
podcast now, it's it's just awhole thing, Like there's just a lot
of distractions, a lot of extrawork he's putting on himself. And two,
I mean Travis Kelce's getting up there. You know, he's in his

(48:15):
mid thirties basically at this point.I mean mid thirties for a tight end
that's supposed to be you know,athletic, kind of strong, you know,
beat you up, but also havekind of shifty speed. That's hard
to keep doing in your like midthirties like that, especially for a guy
who was never really known for hisspeed or anything like that. Like I

(48:38):
think Travis Kelcey is still a greattight end. I think Travis kelce a
most pretty much every team in theNFL would get in line to have Travis
kelce on their team, you know, contracts, his side and everything,
one hundred percent. He's the besttie in the NFL right now. But
he's getting a little slower, andI think too, the season's wearing on

(49:00):
him. I think that's a bigthing. These are long season for these
guys. And again it's it's easierto do it when you're younger, but
you know we're talking you know,four months of just basic punishment to your
body. Wee get a week outand again teams are keying in on him.
It's it's harder for him to doanything because there is nobody else on

(49:21):
the Chiefs. For she Rice isthere and he does some things at times,
and Asayaba Checko runs the ball,but I mean, when it comes
to the red zone or anywhere ona key play, Travis Kelcey is just
getting destroyed the line and there arejust two guys all around him at all
times. But that's just that's whatI would do as a defense too.
It's just go, I don't Idon't care what's happening. We're gonna jam

(49:45):
up the line. There's gonna beanother guy to help with leverage, and
it's it's not gonna be Travis Kelcey. That's the reality is, I'm not
gonna let Travis kelce catch this ball. Some when else catches it, that's
fine. And the reality is theseguys dry balls, and it's a lot,
you know, honestly, drop ballsare a lot like you know,
bullpens in baseball. Year to year, they're unpredictable. It's really hard to

(50:08):
tell what's gonna happen. But they'vecaught it bad this year, and I
mean, they've they've got guys andthey that aren't they aren't clutched, they
don't catch the ball a lot,they drop it. We knew that about
Marquez Valdez Scandling, and you know, these guys are young. They weren't
necessarily the most talented guys either.Dadarius Tony's probably the most talented in their

(50:29):
receiving corps. That's there. Theproblem is he is just a he just
doesn't put time into his craft.So and you know he doesn't have the
best awareness as we start with thatoff sides penalty as well. So again
I thought, yeah, Chiefs willbe a safe bet. You know,
I think there'll be a team thatwill be there in the ANFC championship game
and probably go to the Super Bowl. Gap now after this game, I

(50:52):
mean, like me, just likeit's a weird to just sit there and
go Patrick Mahomes is the answer,Like, yeah, I get elite quarterbacks
can take you far in the NFLand can take you far in the postseason
runs. We've seen it. Butthe reality is some like all those teams
I've seen that where the you knowMVP, you know, top quarterback in

(51:15):
the league or the Tom Brady islike they still have weapons that would catch
the ball at points like it's quarterbackscan't do it, like a running back
can continue to run the ball.You know, in the years where running
backs were more important, like innEmmitt Smith or an Adrian Peterson with Danian
Thomlinson, they could take over agame. They didn't need anybody else to
do that. Quarterbacks do need help, like they do need someone to catch

(51:38):
the ball. You've had my homesalmost have fifty rushing yards in this game
just because they couldn't do anything.That's pretty sad that. It's like you
have one of the you have thebest quarterback in the NFL, one of
the better talents in NFL history,honestly, and it can't get somebody to

(52:00):
help him besides Travis Kelsey, who'sgreat. But the reality is, you
need more than one weapon on anoffense. And I can't believe it's gotten
this bad, and there's really beenno there's been no addressing to it.
They just kind of let it happen. They didn't go out and get a
receiver at the trade deadline. Wellthey did. They got Cole Hartman back,

(52:22):
which that's not anything. And Imean if Tony Appears should have this
job for the Raiders, so youknow, to talk about that side of
the game. I mean, atthis point, you stigny the Chiefs despite
their problems and everything. I mean, no Raiders team has basically beaten the
Chiefs with Pat Mahomes. So theydid it with an interim head coach.
You know, they put two backto back wins against divisional teams in their

(52:46):
division as big wins for them.So I'm officially on the we need to
sign Antonio Pierce as the next coachof the Raiders because, honest to God,
I don't know how many other coachesthat are high quality are gonna want
to go there and deal with thedysunction that's been there. Antonio Peers has
proven that he can get the teammotivated. Is proven. You know,

(53:09):
he can handle himself and honestly canhandle situations where they're winning like he is
a guy that is It's fun towatch this team. It's fun to see
them, want them go out thereand play, and they are. They
figured out a strategy to beat theteams they could never beat. They can
never beat the Chargers here for alittle bit, and they absolutely cannot beat

(53:32):
the Chiefs, So yeah, Antoniopiers Can, hats off to you.
I don't know what Pat Maholmes needsto do. I don't know if any
read like, I don't know howto do it, but they need to
find a way to scheme Travis Kelceyopen. I've seen it earlier in the
season on some kind of rough playstowards the end zone where you know,

(53:52):
there's that kind of those crossing playsand nobody can do anything because it's within
so many yards. But they gotto find ways to get Travis Kelcey back
in because it's just the only thingI see him do nowadays is it's just
like a catch over the middle forlike eight yards and then he maybe runs
for a yard and gets tackled.Like that's just the only play I see

(54:14):
him get involved in anymore. Andit's just not that's it's just not very
creative either. For a team thatwas known for its creativity and Andy Reid
and all that, they they've becomethe most predictable, boring, frustrating team
to watch an offense every week.It's it's honestly becoming hard to watch Chiefs
games. And that's weird. Iwatch them for just my sheer love of

(54:40):
you know, watching them just fumbleaway a dynasty off of for no stupid
reason. And I know their numbersare out because Taylor Swiss dating Travis Kelcey.
But the reality is it is notgood football to watch. It has
been one of the most frustrating seasonsto watch. It's the most frustrating team
to ever try to bet on inmy life. I mean, between this

(55:01):
and again, they're not beating teamsin their own division, thank god.
Everybody else in the AFC West isso bad this year. But they lost
the Broncos, They've lost the Raidersnow and god, they beat the Chargers
and the Chargers imploded because Justin Herbertgot hurt. But the reality is they
barely really deserve to win this division. It's the weakest division I think honestly

(55:22):
right now. It's maybe a bitstronger than the NFC South, But the
reality is it's probably the second weakestdivision of football this year, and the
Chiefs are winning it by literal defaultat this point. They've not had any
major victories in weeks, and againis inconsistency is wild. It can't keep

(55:44):
happening like this, and I'm justtelling you, man, it's gonna be
the weirdest playoffs I've ever seen,because this does not even this doesn't look
anything like the Chiefs teams we've seenover the last couple of years. They
didn't have Tyreek Hill last year either, and somehow they won the Super Bowl.
So is Juju Smith Schuster that goodquestion mark? Like, is that,
like what the hell happens? Theyjust need a guy who knows what

(56:07):
he's doing, and just what JuHe just at least knows what he's doing.
I mean, it's it's crazy whatit's coming down to. I'm with
you, it's gonna be the craziestplayoffs probably in the history. At this
rate. We're gonna see a BrownsLine Super Bowl at this rate, and
it'll be fun time. So,yeah, Raiders get to win. Their
playoff hopes are still alive somehow,and the Chiefs have a lot to figure
out before the playoffs, and againthey're not even a for sure thing to

(56:29):
make it now. So we'll seethe next game. On Christmas Day,
we had the Eagles beating the Giantsthirty three to twenty five. Looked like
they had this one pretty much wrappedup a halftime, they were up twenty
to three, and then they benchedthe passic piez On. They benched Tommy
DeVito. The Italian Consulate will neverforgive them ever. But Tyron Taylor comes

(56:50):
in and makes it a game.They keep it within one possession. He
helps the Giants keep it within thespread. That's always fun. Now Tyrod
Taylor's back as the starting quarterback forthe Giants really just continues the theme though
for me that even when the Eaglesplayed teams that they should beat or should
you know, win by like twoor three scores, they struggle in those
games. They've already lost some ofthe games they should have won or that
they would love to see them winagainst the forty nine ers and the Cowboys,

(57:15):
and now they're having the issues wherethey should be blowing out this team.
They're up by, you know,twenty to three, up by at
halftime. You got to close thedoor on this game, and they didn't
do it. Again, that's justadding to our This is going to be
a crazy playoffs because anything could happen. Yeah, ty Rod's back, I
mean, that's good for his career, but yeah, it was a weird,
unceremonious benching as well, because itwasn't like I've seen some bad first

(57:39):
hals where teams bench their quarterback,but I kind of walked out of that.
And even I mean Brian Dable,I mean the sideline reporter for Fox
basically said they talked right before halftime, and they didn't say anything about it.
There was no real like talk.Wasn't really like we're making a change.

(58:00):
It just literally you came out atthe beginning of the second half and
Tyrod Taylor was out there. Itwas literally it and we didn't really get
much of an explanation other than Iguess they wanted to throw the ball more
downfield, which is what Tyrod did. Is that better than Tommy Davito.
I don't know. Tommy DeVito ismore probably consistent underneath, but you know

(58:23):
we're talking about two, you know, replacement level quarterbacks. Brian Dabo can
do what he does. Obviously,it worked, they almost got back into
this game. But yeah, Eaglesneed to finish out teams a little more.
And I feel bad to Tommy DeVitobecause I feel like he just got
benched based off of him not justtrying to throw the ball forty yards downfield

(58:45):
at all times, and that's notreally fair because of honestly, the momentum
they put together. But nobody's jobsafe in the NFL. No one is
that. He even said that afterthe game, you know everyone's trying to
come for your job. You gotyou gotta step up, so at least
you have some awareness with it.Hopefully he can monetize and maximize the couple
weeks of good football we saw fromhim because we may not see him for

(59:05):
a long time. He'll probably havea backup job at this rate. But
as with Mason Rudolph, Wines,he Mason Rudolph for like two or three
years. So that's how it goes. The last game of the week,
Bunda Night Football, we had theRavens and forty nine Ers somewhere saying it
is a future super Bowl preview.If this is a few Super Bowl,
then wow, we have the Ravenswinning thirty three to nineteen on the road.
Really honestly killed him. There waseven the play where Lamar Jackson gets

(59:30):
tackled by the ref for a safety. That's fun. But Brock Purty throws
four interceptions. Forty nine Ers actuallyable to run the ball pretty well.
If Christian McCaffrey fourteen rushes for onehundred and three yards. Not something you
think you would say against the Ravensdefense, But the Ravens offense puts up
thirty three to keep on forcing turnoversat defense. That's it wasn't that they

(59:51):
couldn't move the ball in the Ravensdefense, it was they kept on turning
the ball over and Kyle Hamilton hada big day. Big We've been big
Kyle Hamilton podcast over the years,back to his Their Dame days. This
was a game where I think itcould be closer if they played again.
I do think the Ravens matchup betterwith the forty nine Ers than other top
teams. So like this week,the Ravens are going to play the Dolphins.
That's a totally different matchup than theRavens playing the forty nine Ers.

(01:00:14):
Good win for them. I thinkit shows that they they are step above
this year than what they usually are. You know, mar Jackson's healthy.
Todd Monkin is a great offense coordinatorand he's showing that. So good good
win for the Ravens. The fortynine Ers have some things to clean up.
Yeah, absolutely, I think theyplayed I mean the Ravens played really
well in this game. I meanyou could just dell watching this game how

(01:00:35):
hard the Ravens were hitting, Likeyou could see them come off the ball
session in the second half fo theyhave that lead. That defense was flying
around and you see that from theforty nine ns a lot too. I
Mean you see these strong physical teamslike that, and you see truly kind
of where this like elite banner cancome in because both teams kind of really
try to show that in this game. Like you said, I think this

(01:00:58):
game is a lot closer play Again, if it becomes the Super Bowl,
I think it's gonna be very differentbecause reality is, you know, people
got stopped the goal line, andI mean half those turnovers were fluky deflections
and they picked him up in theair. And you know, once you
throw two three interceptions, I meanyour confidence for the days kind of shot.

(01:01:21):
I can see why it looked likebrock Perty kind of wanted to go
back in, but Kyle Shahan wasjust like, it's it's just not worth
it. You know, there's justgonna be days. And the forty nine
Ers did this to a lot ofteams this year that are elite, like
the Cowboys and Eagles. There's justgonna be a game sometimes where it's just
not your day. And I mean, shit, four interceptions is almost impossible

(01:01:42):
to come back from. I mean, the amount of NFL games you come
out with a win, especially againstan elite team like that that then could
pen its ears back and just startrushing. I mean, Trent Williams got
hurt towards the end. He hadkind of a growing issue, and they
decided to rest him. It's justlike, you don't get down so much.
And then the second half started andanother freak interception happened, and again

(01:02:06):
like, are you gonna blame thisall on brock Purdy? I don't think
I can. The worst one wasprobably the first one. The rest of
them are kind of just stuff thatare gonna happen. And again, christophccaffrey
looked good. I mean, theforty nine ers were playing until the end,
and they were starting to move theball. Again. Sure, it's
more of a cushion defense at thatpoint, but the reality is, I

(01:02:27):
mean, they they had a chanceand opportunity to try to win the game
towards kind of close to the endof the fourth quarter. And I mean,
if this matchup's played again, Ihonestly will probably still take the forty
nine ers because I think if theydon't throw four interceptions, if they throw
two, I think the forty nineers are right in this game because a
lot of those happen. A keypoints are right at the beginning of drives

(01:02:50):
where they were at the twenty yardline and the Ravens got you know,
touchdowns off the second dairy ones theygot Phil willis the first part. So
I select the forty nine. Istill think the four harrison win the super
role even against the Ravens or Ravenslook really good right now. But again,
like you said, the matchups forRavens, I think they're a team
that tries to physical use I'm interestedto see. You know, we'll talk

(01:03:14):
about the preview here with the finessekind of speed and you know, some
of the physicality the Dolphins have aswell, but also the speed and motion.
See how that pairs against the Ravensteam that really hasn't had a chance
to see much of that kind ofthing. Yeah, definitely with you on
that one. We will see howthese teams do if they do play in
the future. It'd be an interestingSuper Bowl after they met about ten years

(01:03:36):
ago at this point, So we'llkeep your eye on it, Cecil.
That's the recap for the week.Let's get to our picks. We have
Thursday night football, the Jets atthe Browns. Browns favorite by seven and
a half points. Currently. Itis a Joe Flacker revenge game. Cease,
it is a Joe Flacker revenge game. I'm gonna go Browns to win
it. I'll do the cover twobecause one it's in Cleveland too. The

(01:04:00):
Browns are playing to clinch a playoffbirth that's a reality right there. I'm
they win, They're in. Ithink Joe Flacco knows the Jets defense more
innately than a lot of people willbecause he did play there last year,
so I think he's more familiar withthem. There's gonna be some turnovers.
I don't love seven and a half. I really don't. It's a very

(01:04:23):
because here's the thing. The Brownscan score team a lot of bunches.
But this could also be a gamewhere Joe Flacco just doesn't continue to have
the streak of throwing for three hundredyards a game, or he throws for
three hundred yards, but he hadsome bad interceptions, which we've seen his
career at time. So I thinkthe Browns win it. I think there's
everything they've got there playing for inthis game. But this is a game

(01:04:47):
that I like kind of the Ilike the underplaying a lot in it.
This might be a game where youknow, the unders thirty five, you
know that creates up the thirty six. I think about taking that under because
I don't know how many points theJets are going to score with Trevor Simeon
in there, I really don't.I don't know how much they're even going
to try to push the ball downfield. So I'm interested to see how this

(01:05:11):
game turns out. I think theBrowns win it. I don't think it's
going to be a blowout because it'sthe Jets defense. But you know,
one hundred percent pick Browns. I'lltake seven and a half. But again,
if you're betting, maybe you know, try to find a way to
get six and a half points onthis. Yeah, I'm going Browns to
win, but Jets with the points. Just a weird Thursday night matchup.

(01:05:31):
But a lot of teams are ondifferent schedules now too. That something will
be a theme in our picks thisweek with games on Thursday, Saturday,
Sunday, and Monday this past week, it's it's just going to be crazy.
I still think the Jets are playinghard. The defense is still pretty
good. Trevor Simeon doesn't make asmany mistakes as the other quarterbacks they put
in. So the Browns can winthis game, maybe by six or seven.

(01:05:51):
You know, maybe it's a seventeento ten games, so again take
the under, but you know,maybe they win comfortably too. It's just
a game where the Jets never evenclose to scoring a touchdown. But these
defenses are both legit. I thinkit'll be a low scoring game. I'll
take the Jets with the points.With the Browns overall. We have another
Saturday game seas. This is aMonday night football that is being played on
Saturday, December thirtieth, because wehave on January first is a college football

(01:06:15):
Day on Monday January first. There'sgonna be the college football playoff games on
those day and on those days,and ESPN and College Football and NFL all
work together to make sure everyone canwatch all of these great games. So
we have the Lions and Cowboys playingeach other. We mentioned this earlier this
is in Dallas. Dallas is saveryby six. I'll take I'm going to

(01:06:35):
take Dallas to winning cover in JerryWorld, I think it's going to be
right around there. I don't thinkit's going to be It's a dome game,
so the adult you know, theLions weren't have to deal with the
elephant elements as much, which ishuge. Same thing with the Cowboys,
and I think the Cowboys are kindof upset. They played sil Vanilla last

(01:06:57):
week and there's a lot of thepress of them just kind of having this
you're just pointing loss. I cansee them coming firing out again. I
mean the NFC East is alive.They can take it, and I mean
there's still a chance to Eagles slipup. They can. They can be
right there. I think the offensegets moving a little bit more. I
think the Lions. The Lions canbe very spotty on defense. They can

(01:07:23):
give up a lot of points sometimesand other times they'll be a little more
stingy. But I think what's moreimportant I said, I think Jared Goff
is gonna melt a couple of timesagainst Marca Parsons. He's not gonna be
able to stay in the pocket.I think it's gonna be harder because that's
gonna get be a very loud placefor the Cowboys. I think it's gonna
cause Jared Goff to make some mistakesand and you know, it just takes

(01:07:45):
a couple of turnovers from him,or he just takes some sacks he shouldn't,
and it can be a different ballgame. So I think it'll be.
I think it'll be basically Dallas bya touchdown. So I take Dallas to
winn cover. Different team at home, undefeated home this season, they've the
Lions. I think this is likeone of those games where maybe you have
a team that you know, hadthat emotional win. They're in the playoffs,

(01:08:08):
they won the Nassee North, andnow you come back down to Earth,
you go, you know, likehave to come back and focus and
everything. That's something to get rightbefore the playoffs. But the Cowboys probably
want this game a little bit morethan they do given where both teams are
currently. So I'm gonna go Cowboyswinning cover. We have a Sunday game
cease, we have Las Vegas Raidersat the Indianapolis Colts. This one is

(01:08:29):
an interesting team game because both teamsare still in the playoff picture. The
Colts are everybody three and a half. Give me the Colts to win and
cover. Again, these are roughspreads. This week we got everyone's basically
over a touchdown or close to atouchdown, and now we have one that's
a little overfield goal, which Ithink is going to be close to the
margin here. Again, I'll takeColts to winning cover. I think again,

(01:08:53):
Vegas having to travel to Indianapolis isa good far. You know,
on a one o'clock Saturday game isa lot for them. I just think,
you know, the magic for AntonioPierce, I don't think it's going
to stay this way where you know, you have this big win against the
Chargers and then you have this bigwin against the Chiefs. I think there's
gonna be a little bit of aletdown. I think the Colts are a

(01:09:15):
team that can limit what the Raidersare going to try to do on offense.
And I think, you know,there's weeks where Garner, Minshew and
company just kind of suddenly start throwingthe ball all around the yard, and
I just think it'll be close.But I got to pick the home team
here to win and cover. Iam too the Raiders are a different team
on the road to two and fiveaway from home this year. Hey,

(01:09:39):
O'Connell, what's their Their game planis to limit what teams do pound the
rock. This is something the Coltsare already well versed in. Like they're
gonna run the ball as Ac Moss, Jonathan Taylor whoever's available for him,
and I think they be able towin and cover just because they're better at
doing it. They're also at home. No report now sees whether they're going
to have the roof open, whetherthey have the windows open. Imagine they
close it because they're getting soft.But you know, Jonathan Taylor and the

(01:10:00):
Gold will be a lot of funto watch. So Colts winn and cover.
Next one up, we have theAtlanta Falcons at the Chicago Bears.
The Bears are favorite by three.Yeah, give me the Bears a soldier
field in this late December or Iguess, yeah, it'll be December.
It's technically still December, but yeah, I think I think they've let Justin

(01:10:23):
Fields open up a little bit,use his legs. It's going to be
a hard team to tackle. Ithink the Bears are gonna be physical,
and again we're talking about a Dometeam coming in and playing the Bears.
So I'm gonna pick the Bears towin and cover a small spread. I
am too. They're better with TaylorHeineke, but the Bears are just the
different teams since they got Montes sweat. That defense is a lot better and

(01:10:45):
they're gonna be able to run theball. They you know, Clil Herbert
had a pretty good game last week. I think they were able to win
or cut excuse, win the gameand cover. At home, we have
the Carolina Panthers at the Jacksonville Jaguars. Maybe a little bit different of a
matchup than we thought a couple ofweeks ago. This one we have the
Jaguars. Everybody six and a half. I'll take that. It's a touchdown.

(01:11:06):
I think the Jaguars should win bythat. They should win by more,
honestly, but the reality is they'vebeen very inconsistent. So I will
take that one. Un comfortable takingit. I don't think Bryce Young is
gonna have two great performance back toback again. One of the top takeover
takeaway teams this year is Ben Jacksonvilleyoung rookie quarterback that's been prone to turning

(01:11:28):
the ball over is Bryce Young,So love of God, if the Jaguars
screw this up and make this tooclose a game, they don't deserve to
make the playoffs. I'm with you, he's banged up, but I do
think the Jaguars we would have winwhether he plays or not. CJ.
Bethards had some good tape in theNFL. Just get back on track with
this one, man, This isa gimme. This is what you need

(01:11:48):
one. Let's shild be some enoughmotivation there to get the job done.
New Orleans Saints at the Tampa BayBuccaneers. The Buccaneers currently favored by two
and a half. Yeah, giveme that. I mean that's a pick
them. Basically the home team uptwo and a half. Gotta do it.
Baker and company has been rolling since, been wildly up and down,

(01:12:10):
and again they're on the road.So I gotta go with the Bucks,
who could pretty much close out thedivision with this one. They've won four
straight. We mentioned they win mostof the games they should win. Seem
like they're playing a little better rightnow. I'm gonna go with the Buccaneers
as well. Baker Mayfield gets thejob done and they solidify their spot in
the Playoffs. Arizona Cardinals at thePhiladelphia Eagles are up next. This one

(01:12:31):
has the Eagles favored by ten anda half points. That's a rough one.
I'm gonna go Eagles to win andcover. Again, we're talking about
a team and a nicer you know, dome out in the desert, nice
dry heat to a rainy, sad, cold place that is Philadelphia. So

(01:12:51):
I think Kyler Murray could struggle alittle bit in this one. I think,
you know, the Cardinals are justbanged up in general. I don't
think Connor's gonna be able to movethe ball as well. I think the
Eagles are going to clamp down morethey did. I think they did a
little bit more in this last gameagainst sa Quon you know, obviously he
had some yards, but it wasn'tanything crazy that happened. I don't love

(01:13:16):
it, but again, I'll takethe Eagles to win and cover. I'm
taking the Eagles to win, butI'm taking Cardinals with the points mentioned all
season long, the Eagles are ateam that just can't put away opponents and
can't win games by double digits alot of times, or should win by
more at least, and the Cardinalsare a feisty team. They'll still play
teams tough. Yes, it didn'tgo well against the Bears, but the

(01:13:38):
Bears playing good football, and itis a road game. I think this
week the rebound and went to keepit close on the road. Eagles win,
but the Cardinals at the points.Next one up, we have the
San Francisco forty nine Ers at theWashington Commanders. The forty nine Ers are
favored by thirteen on the road.Yeah, I could see this being the
game, the get right game forthem. They're just going to wallop them,

(01:13:59):
honestly, so give me the fortynine ers two winning cover. Same
here, I did not want tobe playing them after a loss. They're
gonna need to get brock perty right. I think even if they're up during
this game, at certain points,they're not gonna take their foot off the
gas. Kyle Sanhandle make sure theyget this offense right. Los Angeles Rams
at the New York Giants. TheRams ever by six and five and a

(01:14:19):
half. Now on the road evenbetter. I would tell you in six
and a half, give me theRams to winning cover. You know,
Vike, I'm sorry. The Giantsa little more feisty last week once they
put Tyre Taylor in, but again, I don't think that's gonna be enough.
And again, the Rams offense hasbeen playing really well. I'm with

(01:14:40):
you. I like Sean McVay.I think we'll have this game planned well.
They have a lot on the lineto play for. Tyron makes me
think about it, hesitate for asecond about maybe taking the Giants because they
did play so well with him inthe game. But I think the Rams
are ultimately able to win and cover. On the road. We have the
Patriots at the Bills. The Billsare favored by thirteen points. Ceas Patriot,

(01:15:03):
I'm gonna go Bills to win.It's it's a weird vibe. I
mean, the Patriots are weird,and it's a weird Timmy year and it
gets cold. I'm gonna say theycover because I think it's one of you
know, if we've learned anything aboutthe Bills, it's good game, bad

(01:15:26):
game, good game, bad game. So I'm assuming last game was their
bad game because it's Eastern stick InCompany and the Chargers, so I assume
they'll play better in this one.So they should beat the again, they
should beat the Patriots, and theyshould beat them by two scores. The
Patriots are not any good. Butthe reality is Belichick's Belichick's had their number.

(01:15:48):
This is a I don't bet thatspread kind of deal for me.
Honestly, this is one of thosegames I'm one hundred percent staying away from
because one the trend is bad.I mean, we're talking Bill Belichick,
but it's hard to really rely onthe Patriots to cover as well because the

(01:16:09):
Bills on the firepower to easily destroya team and win by two touchdowns.
The problem is it's just there's justtoo many there's too much unreliable data to
really say what's gonna happen. Becauseif this was the Patriots team last year,
I would take thirteen points all dayand say the Patriots cover that,
we'll make it close. But again, it's end of the season. These

(01:16:32):
guys have been out there for awhile. The Patriots have nothing to play
for. The Bills have everything toplay for. I gotta go Bills to
win and cover. Bills who wantto cover for me, don't take my
word for it. I've been awfulpicking them against the spread this year,
and that's mostly because, like yousaid, these one week they're good.
One week they're bad. They can'tfigure themselves out. They go on a
little run of two game stretch wherethey play well, and then it's another
bad game against the Chargers. I'llsay they win and cover. They've been

(01:16:56):
running the ball a little bit better. That should help. James Cook has
been more feature in the offense.Joe Brady should find a way to exploit
the Patriots defense, who has beengood, but it's hard for them to
hang on when their offense is sobad. Next one up, we have
the Tennessee Titans at the Houston Texans. This one is going to be the
second matchup of these teams in thelast three weeks, so that's always fun

(01:17:17):
for the schedule makers. The Texansare favored by five points. Looking like
CJ. Stroud's gonna play this week'sseas and CJ. Stroud plays, I'm
gonna say winning cover. If not, I think this spread is gonna go
way down obviously. So I likewhat the Texans do with CJ. Stroud.
I think they're a really good team. I think the Titans have been

(01:17:41):
a really spotty team and they've beenletting teams stay in games with them.
I mean, they just lost thatgame. I mean, they just lost
that game the Seahawks, they petpretty much won, they just kind of
let it fall through their hands,probably the last three four minutes of the
game. So I got to picka team who's been playing well with their
young rookie corn I'm going Texas towinning cover too. I don't think the

(01:18:03):
Titans had much to play for.I think there's a lot of I would
say out and not apathy, maybeapathy from the players. But like Tama
Hill knows he's gone. Derek Henry'salready talked about maybe it being like the
last couple of games with the Titans. There's nothing to play for. It
doesn't seem like a good situation.I'll go Texans to winning cover in this
one and to a lot to getcloser to that playoff spot. The last

(01:18:26):
of the one PM games on Sundayseas the Miami Dolphins at the Baltimore Ravens.
Ravens are currently favored by three anda half. It's in uh,
it's in Baltimore, in Miami,Baltimore. Yeah, giving the Ravens to
winning cover again. I think we'retalking about a team that struggled on the

(01:18:46):
road, especially, you know thistime of years is rough on some of
these nice weather and dome teams,So I'm gonna go again, it's not
a very high spread. I'm veryinterested to see how the Ravens react to
this team is in particular because itis a very like finesse and I mean
they won't just be able to beable to like the Ravens won't be able

(01:19:09):
to just run straight at him likethey did the forty nine Ers at full
speed, because they can get justthrow it beat up that way, I
think. And I think Mike McDanielsruns a similar offense to Kyle Shannon but
different, and I think Hill he'sdefinitely gonna watch some of the tape he
saw from this forty nine Ers Ravensgame and try to figure out ways that

(01:19:30):
he could do it better than KyleShahan this week, so he basically gets
a second crack at it with asimilar offense, and again, I think
the Ravens win it. But andI think it's just too low spread to
pass up. But again, Icould see the Dolphins pulling this one out
just like they did against the Cowboysout in the same fashion. But they're

(01:19:50):
a team with a lot of speedand that's something I think the Ravens will
struggle more with than people believe theywill. Yeah, that's why I'm going
with the Dolphins. Right with thepoints. I think the Ravens are coming
off an emotional win. They're comingback home. They have one one less
day of rest than the Dolphins do. Dolphins have had time to prepare,
They had time to watch this gamelive and see what maybe the forty nine

(01:20:13):
ers were doing, and know whatthe forty nine ers were doing because you
know Mike Daniel was with that offense. I'll think the chances with the speed
it's gonna be forty five degrees,doesn't look like there's gonna be any bad
weather. That could always change.But where we're sitting now, I'll take
the Dolphins. I think they gotthe big win over the Cowboys. Let's
get the momentum going. Maybe theycan beat a couple of good teams and
go from maybe being a fraud tobeing maybe not a fraud after they beat
the Ravens. Sunday evening games,we have the Pittsburgh Steelers at the Seattle

(01:20:38):
Seahawks. A lot of playoff implicationshere with both teams being eight and seven
Seahawks. Everybody three and a half. Give me the Seahawks at home again.
Tough place to play. I don'tthink Mason Rudolph's gonna have the same
success two weeks in a row andthe Seahawks solid again. This is a
league that learns quickly. There yousee exactly what just happened. And I

(01:21:00):
think they have a better young secondarythat's kind of gotten better. And they've
got you know, Reek woolling backthere, Guys like that that are gonna
stick like glue to George Pickens andthey're gonna disguise some stuff and make Mazon
Rudolphs screw up. So it's atough place to go to on the road.
I'm going with the Seahawks winning cover. I'm going to Seahawks too.

(01:21:20):
I have been a solid team allyear and maybe some skids here and there,
but gotta get the win here.The Steelers with Mason Rudolph on the
road across country and everything, youknow, I just I don't think they're
a great team to start with.I don't think this is one they can
win with how tough that environment's goingto be. Knowing that that team needs
a playoff win or needs a winto get the playoffs. We have the

(01:21:43):
Chargers at Broncos in the next gameup. The Broncos are currently favored by
three and a half ceas we've gotJared Sindham versus East and Stick, I'm
gonna go. I like the Broncosdeep better. I'm gonna go with them
to win, but it's gonna bea weird game, so I'm gonna throw

(01:22:04):
in the Chargers spread here. I'mgonna take the points with them. Again,
too many unknowns. I wouldn't betthis game, but we were gonna
pick them all. So Brown goesto win, Chargers to cover, Broncos
to win and cover. I mostlybecause I picked it earlier in the week
with Russell Wilson playing, and Idon't want to go back on my pick
that I already had. I'll saythey win and cover. With Jared Sidham,

(01:22:30):
you know he's had time in theoffense now. If Sean Payton wants
to see him, maybe maybe hecould do a good job. I don't
know. The defense is still goodas well, as you mentioned. Then,
the Chargers don't have that boost ofjust firing Brandess daily this week.
They already used that last week.So I think the Broncos winning cover.
Last of the Sunday evening games,we have the sinc Ani Bengals at the
Kansas City Chiefs. This one isa spread of seven and seven points for

(01:22:51):
the Chiefs. Honestly, if itwas seven and a half, I'd picked
the Bengals, honest to God.But I'm gonna go to the Chiefs to
win and cover. It's in Arrowheadagain. I think this Bengals team is
gonna run out team a little bit. I hope they win. I hope
some crazy shit happens because it's theChiefs and Bengals. But it's just it's

(01:23:16):
just a weird it's a weird Chiefsteam. It's a weird Bengals team that's
been inconsistent. I don't think it'sthat. I mean, honestly, if
you're if you're a crazy person,put maybe a hunch money line better on
the Bengals to see if something crazyhappens out there, because I think there's
a chance of it. The waythe the way the Chiefs have looked is

(01:23:39):
really bad. And I think theBengals team, I mean, these teams
don't like each other. That's juststraight up a parent and I think the
Bengals are gonna be playing for morebecause they have to play to really keep
their playoff hopes a lot Chiefs don'tnecessarily have to. And I think I
think the Chiefs can overlook the Bengalsin this one. I think that's going

(01:24:01):
to be a key factor too,is that they underestimate them or you know,
it's just there's so much going on. Again, it's a rough week
because there's just so much that happenedlast week. There's a lot of,
like you said, different games thatwere played at different times. I gotta
go with Pat Mahomes and company withoutJoe, and these games have all been
really close with Joe Burrow. Ijust don't see it being as close without

(01:24:26):
him. So Bengals, I'm goingto take the Chiefs to win and cover
at seven points, I'll take theChiefs to win, But Bengals with the
points. Just don't like the waythe Chiefs have been playing. Extra day
arrest for the Bengals, extra twodays to rest for the Bengals, a
lot of time to prepare. Iknow their facility still wants to play for
a playoff. Berth, you gottawin this one if you want to do
it. If they win this one, chances to make the playoffs I think
go up to like fifty six percent. Obviously easier said than done, but

(01:24:49):
I think they can keep it withinthe spread. Chiefs overall Bengals with the
points, We're gonna get me seven. With the way the Chiefs are playing,
even more so than the way theBengals are playing Monday night football seems
we got the Packers at the VikingsVikings everybody to both these teams likely not
gonna make the playoffs, but notnecessarily eliminated either. Give me it's a

(01:25:13):
rough one. Give me the I'mgonna go Packers to win. And what's
the spread Vikings of everybody too?So you're taking the points there too.
Yeah, give me the upset pickwith the Packers. I like their quarterback
better right now with Nate. ThenI like Jordan Love more Nate than Nick
Mullins. And again I just don't. I think there'll be some interceptions.

(01:25:34):
Both these teams are kind of ina weird spot. I don't know what
it is. I just trust JordanLove more than I trust Nick Mullins.
I'm going Vikings to win and cover. I think that locker room is a
mess, and I don't want anypart of it. For the Packers,
the defense has not played well.Joe Barry could easily give up a big
game to Nick Mullens. I'll takemy chances there. I think it's the

(01:25:57):
game that we've mentioned a couple thatyou don't want to bet. This is
one that I wouldn't bet either,with the way the Packers are are being
in the way Nick Mullens, NateBullens use Nick Bollens. You got me
saying that sees the way he's beeninconsistent as well. So I think I
would take the Vikings to win itcover, but I'm not gonna I'm not
gonna put any money down on thisone. So those are the picks of
the week. See sell any finalthoughts. Pray for me in our Fantasy

(01:26:20):
Championship League. It's not our combinedleague, but all viewers and listeners senone
up for a championship because I wantit really back. I'm gonna ask you
one question on the pods. Ihave a dynasty league where I have Rashi
Rice. It is a PPR dynasty, and someone is offering me in the
Championship week. Austin Eckler and Davidand Djoku for Rashi Rice. Should I

(01:26:45):
do it? Because if I,if I have this one week playoff,
you know, just got to winthe chaff, I win the championship,
I win the whole thing. That'sa tough one. It's a dynasty league.
It's a dynasty league. So Idon't I don't know if I want
to do. How old is AustinEcar, Now that's a good question.
Let's find out. We'll find outlive on the pod. Twenty eight yep,

(01:27:10):
May birthday too, so he'll betwenty nine by next season. Yeah,
honest to god, I'd stay withher, she writes right now,
because I Ackar's maybe got maybe oneor two good years left and again the
Chargers have been weird. And twoI mean if she Rice gets better in

(01:27:31):
his second year, we're talking aboutpotential number one to Pat Mahomes and that
could be worth a lot in twoyears. True, So I would.
I would if it was some otherplayers plus in Djoku like who the hell
cares? I mean honestly, whatlike the guy is replaced with level tight
end. So Austin Thatcker entices me. It'd be one thing if Ecar is

(01:27:55):
having a good season, but they'vebeen on a downturn this whole year with
him, So again I take thepotential over sheet Rice. Right now,
I've kind of been playing with housemoney. I was the last seed into
the playoffs of one two straight matchups. Again brock Parties four interceptions helped me
to get here. They do spreadson the website that I'm doing this on
the other person is favored to winby like one point. I'm thinking of

(01:28:16):
just playing with hoss money. Stickwith what I got. If I win,
I win. If I don't,I don't, but I still got
some. It's a PPR league,so like you know, aus Nicoler could
be valuable, but I love havinga stockpile of receivers. Inter Sheea Rice
is a good guy to have thisweek because the Chiefs are gonna want to
get that offense right. So gladto have your opinion on that. Seas
my turn your mind. Ever oneto like and subscribe wherever you get your

(01:28:36):
podcasts on YouTube, all that goodstuff. We'll use that to get better
in the future. We'll be backnext week to recap Week seventeen preview Week
eighteen. For now, thanks forwatching. We'll see you guys next time.