Week 17 Recap, Week 18 Preview

Cecil and Joe recap week 17 of the NFL season and preview week 18, while talking about playoff scenarios.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello, ed, Welcome to thethird and the Don Football Show. I
am Joe with Mia Cecil. Asalways, we are here to recap week
seventeen, talk about Week eighteen.We have some pretty wild playoff scenarios to
go over. A lot of peopleare benching their players for Week eighteen,
probably in a way we haven't seenin a couple of years. So a
lot going on this week. Seeshow you doing, I'm good, you
know, hopefully everyone had a happyNew Year, and yeah, a lot

(00:23):
of scenarios to talk about. Absolutely, Let's start with our recap of last
week, and that will lead intoI'm sure naturally talking about some of the
playoff scenarios, and then we'll makeour picks and kind of talk about how
we think the playoff scenarios will go. So let's start with our recap of
last Thursday night, December twenty eighth. We had the Browns killing the Jets
thirty seven to twenty. Joe Flaccothrow us three touchdown passes and plays pretty

(00:46):
well in this game against his formerteam. We had mentioned it was Joe
flacker revenge game. He got hisrevenge against the Jets, who never really
gave him the chance to be afull time starter, and now he is
that for the Browns. The Brownsget the win. The Jets obviously season
wasn't the same after Aaron Rodgers wentdown, you know, a couple of
seconds into the season, they just, you know, everything kind of crashed
down. They want six and ten. Never got our quarterback that really did

(01:10):
anything there. And for the Browns, they're in a position where Joe Flaco
has them feeling pretty good and they'rethey're going to end up benching him for
the Week eighteen matchup against the Brownsand they're going to start former Cincinnati quarterback
Jeff Driscoll. So funny how thingscan change. And honestly, this Browns
defense I think has put him inthis position more than anything, right.
I think it's a good story withJoe Flacco, and you know, he's

(01:32):
been able to put all these numberson the board, but he also has
thrown some interceptions too. I meanthat's a key part of Joe Flacco's game,
one that you know, it wasa big question mark and a big
knock on him when he was astarter Baltimore for all those years. You
know, he limited interceptions in theplayoffs every year, so that's the reason
why they were able to go sofar. I mean, I don't know

(01:53):
what this all this postseason is goingto bring for the Browns. You know,
obviously, the only time will tell, you know. I think there's
gonna be a little bit. It'snot gonna be as easy it's been for
Joe Flacco. I think it's gonnabe teams that are in it to win
it. Obviously. You know,the Jets have a good, really good
defense with the reality is they're notplaying for anything the short week. You
know, at a certain point,you know, it's hard to tell a

(02:15):
team, you know, all theseguys are great and that are they even
motivated at this point this I mean, part of the Jets would have packed
it in as soon as they wereeliminated, which it seems like they have
done. So. I mean,it's a win Cleveland Browns defense is going
to be, you know, theX factor for the playoffs and how far
they go. Joe Flacco throwing theball for three hundred yards, It's all

(02:35):
great and all, but a lotof times you know that it leads to
more bad than good when those turnoversseem to happen, and we'll see it's
just it's just too big a questionmark for me. I know some people
are very high on the Browns,but you know, we've seen Joe Flacker
for three four weeks, that's notreally a full season, and we've seen
a lot of people have a reallygood, you know, a couple of
weeks of football and then fall backto earth. Yeah. For as much

(02:59):
as we talk about the Cowboys beinga team that only wins games at home,
Browns are eight and one at homethis year, a little bit easier,
a little bit better of a recordthan when they're on the road.
So they're a wildcard team. Notthe Ravens have walked up number one seed.
It's gonna be a cover route inthe playoffs than they've had, especially
with their fourth place schedule that theyhad this past year. Let's move on
to Saturday Seas. We had agame with some controversy. The Cowboys win
over the Lions twenty to nineteen.Now this controversy also has playoff implications.

(03:23):
The Cowboys now with their win andthen the Eagles loss, which we'll get
to here in a little bit,gives them the NFC East lead. All
they have to do is beat thebeat the Giants this Sunday, or excuse
you beat the Commanders this Sunday,and they have the number two seed and
they win the NFC East. Sothere's a lot of play here. It
comes down to the Lions had atwo point play that Taylor Decker was reporting

(03:45):
as eligible, but Dan Skipper wasgonna pretend to be the guy who reported
as eligible. It confused the refs, even though Dan Campbell had said so
before. Now. The refts shouldhave figured this out, especially because they
had everything explained beforehand. Taylor Deckerdid go report to him, but they
got confused. And that's just thelong list of gripes we have with the

(04:05):
officials this year. The Cowboys guardedthe play pretty well because they thought Taylor
Decker was not eligible, because everyref has to announce to the crowd which
players are eligible, so they guardedthe five guys that were eligible, and
the Lions scored two point conversion atthe end of the game to presumably take
the lead and win the game.They don't get it, and then Dan

(04:28):
Campbell decides to just keep on goingfor two point n versions despite any penalties,
any situation whatsoever. It kind ofmakes things a little bit harder on
him. I know, I likethe aggressiveness at its start, but at
a certain point you have to belike, let's just let's just tie this
up and go to overtime. Seasonit didn't make any sense. It felt
like Dan Campbell was getting too cutewith things. I know that's something you
had mentioned to me when we talkedabout this game. And so while the
Lions maybe should have won this game, or at least had the better opportunity

(04:50):
to do so, it's just Imean, they could have handled things a
little better themselves as well, right, I mean, I appreciate Dan campbell
aggresion aggressiveness in this game. Iappreciate the fake punt play when they're you
know, on their own thirty five. I like that stuff. I like
that about Dan Campbell. I likehow aggressive the lines have been all season.
It's paid off a lot of times. I like going for two,

(05:13):
you know, on the road againstthe Cowboys and Jerry World. I think
that's the right call. I wouldhave done the same thing at that point.
However, It's kind of weird becausewe have noticed that every time the
ref announces so and so is eligible, that didn't happen on this play.
That was the weird thing because Imean, I've we've watched a lot of
football games, we watch them liveon broadcasts, and every time you hear

(05:39):
it like clockwork because the ref hasto tell everyone, and I mean it's
it's like you said, and likewe talked about before, I think the
lines got a little cute on theplay. You know, if it weren't
worked great, they would have lookedlike geniuses. But the reality is it
was was complex and they probably shouldhave questioned some things as soon as the
refs kind of didn't see you acknowledgeor understand what was going on, you

(06:01):
know, should have called some kindof time out or tried to figure something
out because this is it was aweird, weird scenario. But after that,
the whole you know, you geta five yard penalty, you're now
at the sixty five or six yardline, and now you're going to try
to go for a second time.That was weird and I was like,

(06:24):
this is this has now become avery low percentage play. Why are we
doing this? Then there's another penaltyMichael Parsons is off side, and then
they go a third time, andsure you're back to where you were,
but the reality is, you know, and this is someone in the playoffs.
The coaches will talk about a lotand you only have so many like

(06:44):
design like this is my play,Like I this is my we need it.
I'm pulling it out of the back. No one has seen film on
it. We're doing it. Andyou know they did that once and then
you know two more. I meanthey did this two plays, so they
burned potentially three gotta have it playsthat they could have used for the goal
line or for a two point conversionor something in the playoffs. On this

(07:05):
game, you know, most coacheswould you know, go around and go
for two. Like you said,the scenario deems it. A lot of
coaches agree with it. A lotof coaches would have just said, it's
not our day. After the penalty, let's kick the extra point, let's
stop them and go to overtime.Make it happen. We have a lot
of momentum right now. However,Dan Campbell quit blinders on and just kept

(07:29):
going. So that's my biggest thing, is aggressing this kind of you know,
bit him in the kneecap this time, so to speak. So you
know, you can't get blinders onyou know, as the NFL head coach,
you gotta put your emotions aside sometimesand you just got to go,
Am I doing this because it's asmart thing to do? Or Am I
just doing because I'm pissed off ofwhat the refs just did? And I

(07:49):
think that's what costs me a game? Is I think, you know,
their emotions got the best of themin that situation, and it costs them
the game. Potentially, are theywould they team? We don't know,
but the reality was the situation afterthe first failure, would deam, let's
tie it up, Let's let's getour defense back on the field. Let's
make a stop. So I meanother than that, I mean, they

(08:13):
prove they could play with the Cowboys. The Cowboys again didn't have the greatest
game. Tony Pollard is doing nothingin the run game. I think that's
gonna be huge question mark with theCowboys this, you know, postseason is
are they gonna have a running game? Because any team, I mean,
the forty nine ers great against therun. You know, Eagles aren't bad
against the run. I mean we'retalking and the Lions are pretty good against

(08:35):
the run as well. I meanwe're talking a lot of key teams in
the playoffs are gonna be good rundefending defenses. So if they can't get
Tony Pollard getting more than two yardsto carry, it's gonna put a lot
of pressure on Dak and Ceedee Lamband I Ceedee Lamb doesn't continue to just
get you know, almost two hundredyards a game, which is crazy and
awesome for him. What's that gonnalead with the Cowboys offense? I mean,

(08:58):
Ferguson's been good. You know you'vegot Brandon Cooks there. You know
you've you've got guys, you gotMichael Gallup every once in a while shows
up. But you need a balancedattack in the playoffs because teams are just
are too good and the reality isrelying on one weapon isn't usually get you
very far. I'm with you.I think getting the home field advantage is

(09:18):
key for them. Obviously, weknow they're a different team at home,
so they have home field advantage untilthe NFC Championship game, unless you know,
the forty nine ers could upset.But this sets up a situation where,
yeah, they probably will beat thebeat the last wild card team in.
They're gonna be the two seed.They'll beat the last wild card team,
whoever that might be. We'll getto talking about that here in a
second. But then they have toplay the Lions again at home. Could

(09:39):
it be different? Do the Lionshave different motivations now? Because the Cowboys
arguably shouldn't have been in this positionto start with, because they could have
played better down the stretch. Yeah, and that's something they'll have to live
with here too, and maybe theycan regroup and figure some things out.
But Mike McCarthy's end up game managementstill an issue, you know, taking
time mountins at the end there whenthey could have you know, if the
Lions did get that two bunkeet version, they could have had a chance to
go the game with the best kickerin the NFL right now, Brandon Aubrey.

(10:01):
So that's something to kind of keepnote of in the playoffs as well.
So also mentioning Ceedee Lampsey's thirteen catchestw hundred and twenty seven yards,
he becomes the Cowboys all time singleseason receiving leader, So that's really cool
for him. We'll see if hekeeps it up. As you said,
there's gonna be a lot on hisshoulders if they cannot figure out how to
run the ball. On Sunday,we had the Bills beating the Patriots twenty

(10:22):
seven to twenty one. The Billsstarted off this game hot, but kind
of let the Patriots stay in it. This is one where we think the
Bills are starting to figure things out, but you just want to see them
blow out teams more so in thismanner. The Patriots still fighting tough under
Bill Belichick. We know they're donefor the year. The Bills. If
they win, they could be ashigh as the two seed in the AFC.

(10:45):
If they lose, they could beas low as the seventh or out
of the playoffs. So this weekgame against Miami means a whole lot to
them, and I guess I wouldhave just liked to see before having more
confidence heading into Week eighteen, Iwould have liked to see a little bit
better performance before heading into that,right, I mean, this is a
huge game between them and the Dolphins, and we're gonna preview here a little
bit, so not to give ittoo much away, but you're right.

(11:07):
I mean, this is a gamewhere Josh Allen didn't really do anything for
most of the first half. Youknow, sure, he had some rushing
yards, but the passing attack wasnot there, and it just it was
a very very mid line performance,very just uninspiring. And again, I
don't know how many more weeks wecan wait for the Bills to just turn

(11:31):
it back on. I mean,they did really well against the Dolphins earlier
in the season. Maybe this willbe the one that jump starts them.
But you can't have pay you can'thave performances like this in the playoffs.
I think that's gonna be a bigthing. You know, as we look
at this last week and we lookinto you know, week eighteen, it's
gonna be these guys that are playingtheir starters, it's gonna be you know,
we got to use this game toget right. We gotta figure stuff

(11:54):
out now, we gotta if there'ssomething that's been kind of not working very
well, we need either fare outa way to fix it or figure out
an alternative way to make up forthat, because if we don't, you're
gonna come up again. You know, the top teams in the NFL,
And I mean, you don't wantto be on an off week or you
go, I don't have a runninggame and somebody takes you know, your

(12:15):
passing attack away or it's just it'sthere's no room for air in the playoffs.
That's what makes it so great.That's why it's the best in any
sport, honestly. But there's alot of things for them to figure out.
They get the win. You know, the Patriots showed more spirit than
you'd think. Bailey's apple doesn't lookhalf bad. But there's still a lot
for the Patriots to figure out thisoffseason. And you know, the Bills

(12:37):
still need to figure out a lotfor this postseason if they're going to make
it. Yeah. Absolutely, Idon't know how much faith I have in
them. I have has been ateam I've liked in the past, so
it is something where I think theycan put it all together, but they
just haven't. And then they gotto figure this out soon. The Bears
beat the Falcons thirty seven to thirteen. This is a very big performance for

(12:58):
the Bears. They they blew outa team for the first time I can
remember in recent memory. Defense isplaying pretty well. Uh. This sets
up I think some discussion for hey, let's trade the first pick and keep
Justin Fields. I don't know ifthat was something we really thought a couple
weeks ago, but that could beit. It also means that the Falcons
they can win the NFC South ifthey win their game in Tampa Bay loses
uh and then for the Bears theyare out of the playoff contention. But

(13:20):
I think they're just they already havethe number one pick with the Panthers pick,
and I think they're just happy tosee a team who can actually win
some games at the end of theyear. No, absolutely, I mean,
I mean they looked completely in control, and Justin Field's looked in control.
I mean they look they look reallygood. Honestly, young Hoku miss
his two field goal early in thegame. There's just a lot there's a

(13:43):
lot of mistakes to the Falcons here. You know, the Falcons, I
don't want to blame about the season, but themselves. You know, they
have all this offensive talent they refuseto use. They're going to be in
a game that you know, potentiallythey could be in a place where they
could win, and they could winthe eight the I know, see South,
if they had won this game witheverything that happened to the other games.

(14:03):
But the reality is, I meanthe Bears stomped him. Really,
it was really not close. Andhonestly, the Bears. I'm with you.
I mean, they have good momentumright now. Sure, Justin Field
is going to have to be paidsooner rather than later than a rookie quarterback
would. But I think we justkeep taking these rookie quarterbacks, you know,

(14:24):
for granted here, I mean,sure we have the Joe Burrows out
there, we have you know,we have all these guys that did really
well and have these success stories.But you know, you have guys like
Zach Wilson was the number two overallpick man and he's not even really as
starter your own reason he is,it's because the Jets just are dysfunctional at
this point. Turner Lawrence is great, but Trenor Lawrence has not made their

(14:48):
team amazing, to be honest.I mean even Justin Herbert has had really
good seasons, but it hasn't amountedto anything around them because the rosters and
the coaching has been questionable. Soit's not it's not all the quarterback.
There are very very few even guysare really talented. There are very few
guys are truly in that elite.They will win a game pretty much regardless

(15:09):
of everything else on the field.That's not every you know, that's not
just a number one overall pick thatdoesn't grow on trees. And you just
assuming from these guys in college whoare talented, but any of them are
that guy. There's just no wayto know about Tilly Strap an NFL helmet
on. I'm not saying Justin Fieldsis an elite amazing quarterback that I'm saying
he's above average. I think themore we've seen in the last couple of

(15:31):
games is when you use him,you use him right, and good will
happen. I think the defense hasperformed really well since they got Sweat and
traded for him from the Commanders.I mean, think about it, if
they trade out of the first overallpick. I mean, even if it's
only down a couple of spots orthey don't get the ransom they got with
the Panthers, I mean it's stillyou know, a top tier receiver,

(15:54):
maybe another you know Joe Old,or a top offensive lineman you know you
have, you need another wide receiver, you need offensive line help. You
can use some other defensive pieces aswell. I mean trade that pick,
you know, drop later in thetop five and then take guys and I
mean you'll have your own pick aswell, there's just there's no reason to

(16:17):
try to start the clock over becausereality is there's pieces to build with now,
and you just go and I'm gonnablow up the whole thing because I
think Caleb Williams in two three yearsis gonna be great. I mean that's
two three years in the NFL.Half the team's gonna be gone. So
then again, if you just getrid of Justin Fields and you put you

(16:37):
know, gets and all these otherguys, and you think it's just Justin
Field's fault, I mean, CalebWilliams, Drake May, whoever you're gonna
take, it's gonna fail just thesame way. So I wouldn't do it.
I'm all four too. You know, if you've got a guy who
you know can start, that's betterthan the unknown. And that's better especially
with the value they can get backfor that first overall pick and the top
blue chip prospects they can build ina row that can compete right now,

(17:02):
because quarterbacks usually don't compete right away. They have more recently. But the
reality is there's a lot of otherguys you can draft that could contribute this
team right now in a week.NMC North, Yeah, we both agree
on that. I think you couldtrade down and even get the second overall
pick, get Marvin Harrison Junior.You know, take a tackle, take
an edge rusher to go with MontesSweat with your tenth overall pick right around

(17:23):
there where it's gonna end up beingthat's their own. And also add up
more pack more picks to go buildthis roster up, because I personally,
I don't think Cale Williams is somedynamite prospect that everyone else thinks. I
don't think he's as good as Andrewluck was. I don't think as good
as Trevor Lawrence was coming out ofcollege. I think he's very good.
He might be just as good asI thought Justin Fields was. I give

(17:44):
Justin Fields a very good draft greed, but even then he might he might
be a little better. But eventhen, do you want to restart the
clock? Do you want to restarteverything? Have him figure things out.
If you're having trouble tailoring an offenseto Justin Fields, you might have the
same issue. I know we talkedabout this complete SOO might have the same
issue doing it with Cale Williams orDrake may or who we might draft.
So that's the interesting thing with theBears too. NFC North, the Lion's
defense has issues. I mean,they're looking really good right now, like

(18:07):
they've built something, but they couldbe beaten next year. The Vikings don't
know if Kirk Cousins is the quarterbacknext year. And when you put that
together along with the fact that thePackers are still in this rebuild mode and
figuring out if they have an offensivecoordinator a head coach next year. If
Jordan Love is really the guy,He's played very well. But even if
he's really the guy, it's justa lot of you know, you can

(18:27):
make a run out of it nextyear for sure. Next game up,
we have the Colts beating the Raiderstwenty three to twenty. This keeps the
Colts in contention for the playoffs.The Raiders, with this loss and with
some other results going on, areout of the playoffs. Although I tone
you appears I think has made agood case to be the interim head coach.
They're going to interview some other guys, including I think Carball is rumored
for it. Jim Harbaugh should sayhe's rumored for it. The Colts,

(18:49):
they are stay in contention for theplayoffs. They got Jonathan Taylor going in
this game ninety six yards and atouchdown for them. They're gonna have to
win or have Pittsburgh lose to makethe playoffs, which is very, very
possible this week. So fantastic jobby the Colts staying engaged. They weren't
expected to do much this year,and then the starting quarterback went down and

(19:10):
they were expected to do less.And Gardner Minshew has studied the ship and
they need a lot of credit forthat. Sease. No, they absolutely
do. I think I mean GardnerMinshew again to start in the NFL.
We talked about it. You andI both agree on it. He's a
guy who can be honestly if youbuild the team around him. He gave
him the tools, he gave himthe confidence. I mean, I'm not

(19:32):
gonna say he's gonna be a topfive, top ten guy, but I
mean top twenty. I think that'spossible. Yeah, I think he can
be right on that fringe of asa service quarterback. I think he's better
than some of the guys we've seenout there that people have given way more
time to. I mean, imaginehaving Gardner Minshew on the New York Jets
this year or something like that.I mean, there are teams that are
in the bottom ten that would killedout Garner Minshew and the Colts are going

(19:56):
to be possibly a playoff team orright outside of it because of the Garden
Minshew. I mean, Jonathan Taylor'syou know, been in and out of
the lineup. So Zach Moss isa huge contributor. Well, he's been
hurt, but I mean he reallyhelped, you know, shoulder the load,
while Jonathan Taylor's been injured often andhad a lot of different disputes going
on with his contract. That beingsaid, Jonathan Taylor was using this game,

(20:21):
grew a lot at the beginning,and then they kind of tapered off.
If you're the Colts, I mean, I think that's your pathway to
success, man. I mean peoplewere talking about how valuable Jonathan Taylor is
using that way. He has freshlegs. I mean, he wasn't a
leg injury he had early in theseason, but after that it's been a
it's thumb like his legs arrested.Man, Like, give him the ball
and run the ball. That's whatyour offensive line is good at. I

(20:44):
mean, Gardner Minshew will take shotsdownfield, so I mean, he had
the perfect lethal combo for play actionright there. But you just got to
commit to it and let Jonathan Taylorrun it for one hundred and twenty yards.
I mean, there's no reason notto. He's that kind of guy
and we saw it. We've seenwhat Kyron Williams and the Rams have been
able to do. Do the samething with Jonathan Taylor, and I promise

(21:06):
you it will make a much betterteam overall. Made the Colts are forced
to be reckoned with in the playoffsor not, so they got to recommit
to that. You know. Obviouslythe Raiders, I think Coach Bierce should
one hundred percent be the head coachnext year. You know, I get
the allure of you know, JimHarbaugh if he comes back from Michigan,

(21:26):
how great that can be. AndI'm not denying that that maybe the only
candidate I could see. You know, the switch for reality is outside of
him. None of these other guysare gonna have a proven track runner as
an NFL head coach. You know, you're talking about guys like Ben Johnson.
I mean, Ben Johnson's the offensivequarter for Lions, and they've done
a lot with Jared goff, butthere's still things that aren't perfect. There.

(21:48):
There's guys lining up five yards fromthe Lion scrimmage on third and one
trying to do a you know Iformation with no fullback and try to you
know, get plummeted in the backfieldfor three yards. Like there's no NFL
coordinator right now that I would takeover what Pierce has already built, because
one you're starting over, and two, I just I don't know what you're

(22:08):
going to get extra that you don'talready get in Pierce. You know,
you've got Dan Quinn, who's adefensive guy, but so it was Pierce,
And I mean the defense has beenreally good under Piers, So I
don't think it's really that much ofan upgrade considering what you already know.
So I would trust the guy Ihave, unless Jim Harbob besides, he
wants to come. I can seethat because you know, there can be
development, they can build an offense, and I think that could be helpful

(22:30):
for them in the long run aswell. But outside that, Pierce is
my guy, And if it wasup to me I had both guys on
the table, I would keep Piercebecause I mean the players love playing for
him. He has a future inthis league, and I don't think the
Raiders can screw this up twice.You know, you have a track record
here, you have a performance that'sbeen very good. He almost got into

(22:52):
the playoffs, just like an otherinternment coach almost did two years ago.
Let's just make this, Let's makeit official, give him the title.
Let's build something for the Raiders theycan be proud of. Let's create a
tenacious defense and find the right guysrun that offense. Yeah, he's four
and four this year. Raiders areseven to nine overall. So he's doing
better than Josh McDaniels. Was justnot too much of a surprise. But

(23:12):
you throw into the fact that thestarting quarterbacks aid and O'Connell. No one
cared about Aidan O'Connell until he playedwell in the preseason. He was not
a highly touted draft prospect. Youknow, he's done decently well, But
they're winning games at the rookie quarterbackthat had zero expectations. Their defense has
not been that good historically. Thelast couple of years, Antonio Pierce figures

(23:33):
out the defense. He figures outto get the players that you have on
your team that are x factors thefootball and they're doing some pretty good thing.
So I would hire Antonio Peers too. I would say save pretty much
anyone. I don't think they careif it's Jim Harball or anyone else.
I think you keep him and keephim running. I do understand the probably
have to interview some other people,but Antonio Pierce has gotten more out of
this team than I thought they probablywould have. At the end of the
year, and the Colts will seehow they do. We'll see if they're

(23:55):
eight week eighteen result, get themin the playoffs, and then they have
Anthony Richardson's coming back next year.Either way, probably gonna be one of
the more hype teams for the twentytwenty four season next year. The Rams
won twenty six to twenty five overthe Giants. This is a game where
Kyron Williams really proved that he wasa fantasy god, scoring three touchdowns.
A very good player for the Ramswhen he's healthy. So they get the

(24:17):
win. The Giants will say,you know, Tyra Taylor comes back in
the lineup and plays pretty well.Again, their season's over. Don't have
too much to add with that.They're probably be looking for another quarterback in
this offseason. Brian da Bowles jobis probably safe. I mean he's you
know, just quarterback issues and everythingelse needed well last year. But for
the Rams, they lock up thesixth seed in the NFC. I believe
even if they lose, they can'tgo down to the seventh seed. But

(24:40):
they definitely cannot have the five seedbecause the Eagles are in trench there or
the Cowboys if the Cowboys lose andthe Eagles win this week, so they
don't have too too much to playfor this week this week, which is
this upcoming week, which is avery big endorsement for what Seohn McVay has
done with this roster. Sees,we talked about it all year. Not
the most talented Matt Stafford came back. It looked like he's not as injured

(25:02):
as he was last year. Theyhave tons of guys that are built through
this past draft, including Puka Nakua, Kobe Turners having a good year on
the defensive line. It's it's ateam they really built through. Obviously some
free agency and some returning guys,but one draft has a lot of depth
adding to this and they're all rookiesand all playing well, so hell of
the John Biden McVay this year absolutely, I think Sean McVay has really proven

(25:25):
once again why he's one of thebest coaches in the NFL. You know,
this year, he doesn't have theelite, you know, elite players
that he's had. Sure, thereare guys that were there from the Super
Bowl team, but you know,last year was rough. Matt Safford was
hurt and they have had no depthsince all those trades, which were the
right move at the time, itpaid off, but this is you know,
they've been living through the aftermath ofall those mortgage in the future and

(25:48):
they've been paying up for the lasttwo years. But Sean McVay has made
things happened with this roster that wecould have never expected to come, you
know, this beginning of the season, or even you know know a third
of the way in they were theylooked like they were going to struggle a
lot. But they've gotten the bestout of this offensive line and Kyra Williams
has been like a revelation for them. We talk about it every week.

(26:11):
He's the key to this team.Popakua has been great, Cooper Cup has
always been good. They've got agood offense. Their defense isn't great by
any means. You know, theGiants played their hearts out, and I'll
get Brian Dable that as well.The team is still trying to compete Tyrod
Taylor. I don't think if youcan't get somebody in the draft or you

(26:32):
can't build somebody, you're stuck withDanny Dimes either way on your roster.
I mean the heck, let Tyrodand him battle it out in camp.
If Tyrod's a better one starts torud, I mean, that's that's simple.
I like, I think Tyro Taylorin the last two weeks is impressed.
I think it's a guy who doesn'tget a fair shake anywhere he's gone
because the injuries, and he doesget injured a lot, and you know,

(26:56):
there's freak things that happened, likeif they did with the chargers and
the punctured lung. But he isathletic. He can throw the ball around
and he's able to push the balldownfield, which is something that a lot
of NFL quarterbacks can't do effectively.So I'll give him that. I mean,
again, there's probably better options betweenboth. Between those two, there's
better guys outside, but the realityis of your hamstrong because of salary,

(27:18):
because of Daniel Jones. I don'tthink Tyrod's the worst thing to have in
this roster. By that being said, when it comes to the Rams,
I don't. I've got a feelingabout them, and it's mostly just because
they know the forty nine ers thatthey can be a team that might be
a dark horse in NFC. Idon't, you know. It's it's their

(27:38):
defense worries me, obviously, buttheir offense has got going over the last
half of the season. Kyrien Williamsreally entrenched himself as a huge cog in
that offensive machine. And I thinkit can be an interesting matchup if they
go to San Francisco. I thinkthey might, of anyone have one of
the better shots to beat them,just as much as anybody else does.
And I think they have such anunderstanding McVeigh and Kyle Shanahan do that they

(28:03):
might have the edge over some ofthe other teams that will play them.
Now, are they the most talentedteam, No, but they know them
and that's something that could come uphuge in this season. That's why I
put a little, a little smallwager down because the odds are so great
on maybe a Rams potential playoff run. Now I'm picking Super Bowl champion,
but we'll see how things work out, because if they at the march into

(28:25):
San Francisco, I'm not going tobet some crazy fourteen points spread or anything
like that. I think it'll becloser than people think. Yeah, a
lot of points of Vancas I agreewith. I think the Rams could be
a dark horse in the NFC becauseif you're not taking the Cowboys or the
forty nine ers at this point,I don't know who you're taking, and

(28:45):
we're gonna get into that here ina second, but just a lot of
other teams who have fallen off themap. So that's that's definitely a good
point. And we will definitely haveMcVeigh as the biggest offensive guru if he
ends up winning that game against forNiners in the playoffs, and we'll have
that documented. He'll have the thirdand the Dawn Official Award as the best
offensive Guru. We'll give him acertificate and everything. And for the Giants,

(29:08):
I'm with you, see Tyrod Taylor, Gardner, Minshew Baker Mayfield.
Much rather have those guys a fourmillion a year than some of the contracts
we're seeing, Like, imagine ifthe Giants would have said, all right,
Tyrod, you're our guy and savedthat money in spent to elsewhere,
they could have been a way betterteam, or you know, any number
of guys that they want to move. I know there's limited spots in the
NFL to be a starting quarterback,but that's just something to think about this

(29:32):
offseason with a lot of these gms, is just you team can be a
lot better. And Tyrod Taylor actuallyin the past was a very good started
quarterback for the Bills, but thenthey took Josh Allen and like, you're
not gonna not start Josh Allen.So it wasn't a bad decision by the
Bills, But I don't know,you can tell me another team couldn't have
used him, couldn't have had himas the starter and not taken a rookie
quarterback. Obviously the thing with theChargers and Herbert replaces him after the punctured

(29:53):
long and everything. But yeah,I think there needs to be the reset
of the quarterback market because if you'renot one of those playmakers we talked about,
elite players like Joe Burrow, likePatrick mahomes like Josh Allen when he's
playing well, even like Dak Prescott, even down to that level a little
bar, then you're probably not worthmore than thirty five million dollars a year.

(30:14):
I know. That's how the marketis trending, where everyone gets over
thirty five million dollars, but youjust aren't. So that's what I want
to see this offseason. If I'ma GM, I don't want to see
any of these other average quarterbacks toget these big deals. But it probably
will happen. That's just how itworks. Next game up seees. We
mentioned that maybe the Rams are aNFC dark horse this playoffs, but a
lot of that is because the Eagleshave fallen on their faces. The Cardinals

(30:34):
win thirty five to thirty one.Eagles are now eleven and five. They
in pretty much the last month.Remember they were ten to one at one
point. Now they're eleven and five. Defense is totally falling apart. Their
offense is turning the ball over toomuch. It seems like there might be
some locker room issues. The rumorsare that to a J. Brown and
stuff going on there, but whichis not too surprising given how much he's

(30:57):
been caught on camera complaining about gettingthe ball on the sidelines quickly. With
the Cardinals, Kyler Murray has beencemented as their franchise quarterback. Jonathan Gannon
said it in a press conference thisweek. But also, they're winning enough
games that they're not gonna have atop two pick in the draft and not
gonna have a top three pick Ithink anymore either. With the Patriots,
we'll see how this last week shakesout, but that's that means he's probably

(31:19):
gonna be the starting quarterback that allowsyou to build the franchise a little bit,
especially because he's already locked up ona deal, but mostly because the
Cardinal season is pretty much over.I'm so the Eagles, I don't even
know if they can count as frauds. They're just a bad football team over
the last month and a half orso. Yeah, Frauds are people who
barely get wins and don't look gooddoing it, and people are saying they're

(31:41):
good because of record. Like we'veseen teams that are, you know,
eleven twelve wins, go on theplayoffs, that didn't really play anybody,
and you know, in a coupleof games against bad opponents, they look
bad Eagles are just dropping games,like just lost after last. You can't
be a fraud if you literally lose, you know, like you said,
they've lost and they got one infive in the last month or so,

(32:05):
a low month the last six games. That's horrible. I mean, there's
just no, there's no sugar coatsin that. I mean, sure they
played some hard teams, but thoseare the teams that are all in the
playoffs. I mean, if youcan't beat any of them, and it's
sounding just like, oh, theywere all close games, it's like,
no, you got destroyed by theforty nine ers. He got destroyed by
the Cowboys. Now lost with theCardinals, who looked left for dead halfway

(32:28):
through this season. So yeah,I mean, gosh, you're gonna be
probably the five seed against an NFCSouth team, like probably the Buccaneers will
see. But a reality is thatgame a month ago, it would have
gone, well, the Eagles slashCowboys over the five s. He's gonna
trounce the NFC South opponent. Butnow if it's the Eagles for the Buccaneers,

(32:50):
I don't know, like it's justone of those things where you go,
maybe Baker Mayfield goes off because thisEagles secondary is so terrible and the
Eagles offense just struggles like they haveand turn over the ball again. So
yeah, I mean they've got alot to prove against the Giants this week.
If I'm them, I'm going outthere and trying to score one hundred
points. I'm gonna try to figureout anything I can to make this team

(33:14):
look better going into next week,because I don't really feel like going in
and just one having a close gamewith the Giants, who we have no
business being close to. After almostyou know, we were talking about the
Giants, Cardinals, Giants here,and the Eagles have not had a good
performance in any of those games soor in those first two. If they

(33:35):
come away against this one again witha poor performance, I don't think I
can pick them in their matchup withthe NFC South champion right now. So
it's disappointing. Cardinals, it's beengreat. I mean they've gotten four wins,
which a lot of people didn't thinkwas possible. So hats off of
them. Let's see if they cancap off the season, you know,
in a feel good moment from winningpotentially five games this year, that would

(33:59):
be quite the tape Ill again,you get somebody like Marvin Harrison Junior,
or a top receiver in the draft, or you know, just something to
really help Kyra Murray. Maybe wesee a turnaround on this team quicker than
we thought. Yeah, we're gonnapick the game later season, but Tyrod
Taylor might just end up screwing aroundand beating the Eagles in the last game
of the season, and it mightnot matter because they're the five seed and

(34:20):
the Cowboys. If they simply beatthe Commanders, it you know does but
you still want to see their offenseget back on draft and honestly their defense
too. That's both have been prettybad. So we're also talking. I
don't know how serious it is,but one from Nick Sirianni taking the team
to the Super Bowl being the toastof the town to literally in the last
month starting to have the rumors oflike, maybe he's gonna be fired because
he doesn't have things together, Andthat's just crazy to think about one year

(34:44):
to another. And I don't thinkI don't think it's all smoke. I
think a lot of it is smoked. That it probably won't happen, But
that's that's just crazy, all right. The Saints finally came alive. They
win twenty three to thirteen. Theyimproved to eight and eight, which is
interesting because they beat the Buccaneers.We were just starting to get a little
bit high on the Buccaneers and saying, okay, well to win the NFC
South. Well, there's a lotto play for in Week eighteen for the

(35:06):
NFC South. There's still three teamswho are able to make the playoffs depending
on the results. So the Buccaneersplayed the Panthers, likely going to win
that game, so there's not toomuch to sweat about. But the Saints
just turned it on too a littletoo late, and the Buccaneers, you
know, trusted to Bake Baker Mayfieldand it paid off, even though this
game was pretty awful. Yeah,Baker Mayfield lad up a dude in this

(35:28):
one. There's really no way aroundit. And again we talked about it
with Baker. We like Baker onthe show. We like what he can
bring, and we like what hecan bring for the salary that he commands.
But again, there are flaws ofBaker Mayfield's game. Neither of us
have ever been running around saying BakerMayfield the top five, you know,
fringe top ten guy. Honestly,you know, I think he should start

(35:51):
in this league. But they're flawsand they were all very apparent in this
New Orleans game. He practiced theball downfield sometimes where he should. He
makes bad decision making, you know, his gunsling, your mentality can bite
him at times against teams that areable to know what it is, know
what he likes to throw to andmask the coverage for him. And he

(36:12):
struggled a little bit in this one, and I mean they lost because of
it. The Saints look better,you know, Derek Carr very through the
ball downfield, so that was something. I mean, the Bucks let Taysom
Hill beat somebody in coverage, sothat was a very regrettable moment. But
yeah, I mean the Saints arenot a great team. They're team with

(36:34):
a good coach and Dennis Allen.They've had good players. It's just you
know, a lot of people pickedhim to win the NFC South, possibly
this year, and I think they'reright on the cusp of it. They
really can. The Bucks blow ofthis game, which again we'll get to.
I mean, they can make itthe the playoffs, win the NFC
South. It's just a little toolittle, too late in my eyes.

(36:57):
And my question is where when arethey gonna have a really complete game,
because again, this game was theywon, but the reality is the defense
came, it took advantage of BakerMayfield. But Derek car didn't really do
that much in this game. No, he did not. Not the greatest
year for Derek Carr, not thegreatest year for the Saints. And yeah,
the Buccaneers so probably gonna go tothe playoffs. And that just makes

(37:20):
us feel a little bit smarter becausewe would talk about Baker Mayfield and his
talents and what he can do,and his limitations don't bother me as much
at four million dollars a year,so good for them. We'll pick those
games later just to confirm that.But let's move on, Ceac. The
forty nine Ers beat the Commanders twentyseven to ten. Nothing surprising here.
The forty Niners lock up the numberone seed. I'm neither concerned about the
forty nine Ers. I mean theCommanders. We knew Ron ri Vera is

(37:44):
gonna get fired at the end ofthe year because the ownership change and because
they're just not very good. ButI don't have too much more to add
on this when we expected it,it is what it is. Yeah,
I mean the result was exactly whatwe thought. They covered the spread.
I was a little closer at timesthan me to expect, but I mean
christ McCaffrey lets some fantasy owners down. That is a key takeaway here if

(38:06):
you want to talk to Fantasy angle. No touchdowns in this one, you
know, kind of got hurt JordanMayte before that, Jordan Mason got his
touchdown. That was a rough,rough thing if you were betting on Christian
McCaffrey out there. So yeah,that's the only other extra thing to add
is all those guys that thought theywere gonna be in a Fantasy championship and
wrap it up with Christian McCaffrey didnot get what they expected. No,

(38:30):
they did not. And he isgoing to sit out next week because if
anyone does have Week eighteen championships,I know we do. We have two
week championships in one of our leagues. Are two of our leagues actually,
just because NFL is stupid, ithas bie weeks going through Week fourteen and
it just makes it tough. Butyou know they're gonna they have number one.
You've locked up. They have noreason to play, So Sam or

(38:51):
Sam Howe, Sam Darnold, andElijah Mitchell will be leading the forty nine
ers in their last game of theseason. The next game, see the
Jaguars beat the Panthers twenty six tonothing. CJ. Bethar looks okay at
etn really carries the team on hundredtwo rushing guards two touchdowns. They get
the wind staying contention to win theAFC South. It's gonna be a barn
burner at the AFC South games thisweekend that we'll be watching. But you

(39:15):
know, the Panthers don't have thenumber one overall pick that they sent to
the Bears, and their owner,who just took over the team a couple
of years ago, is quickly becomingthe worst owner in sports. And I
think he's aided by the fact thatDan Snyder sold the Commanders. Don't get
me wrong, but he threw adrink on a Jaguars fan while he was
sitting in a box in Jacksonville overI'm assuming something he said. It's crazy.

(39:36):
Just never thought we'd see the day. He's been fined three hundred thousand
dollars by the NFL that amounts tonothing in terms of fines, in terms
because of how much money he's worthand how much he makes. But we're
seeing a day where owners are throwingdrinks on people in broad daylight with cameras
for flashing it's great. I mean, I don't know, it's just a
it's Panthers fans. I feel badfor you. It's gonna be a long
time before your team is good ifthat's what ownership group is doing. On

(39:59):
top of the fact that, seewe've talked about all year, you haven't
ruled the coaching staff and wanted BryceYoung. He fired a coach after one
season and then did it again,like it's it's not a it's not a
good job. It's not a goodtime. It's gonna be it's gonna be
a tough cuss letting for Carolina fansfor a long time. Yeah. No,
I mean he's just not letting.I mean for a guy who's made

(40:20):
billions of dollars, you know,you know runs you know, you have
to run large companies. In orderto do that, you have to be
a very suctressful businessman. And partof being a very successful businessman is being
able to delegate and trust the peopleunder you most of the time. Any
CEO will tell you that if youdon't have people around you you trust and
you can't give some of your responsibilitiesto them, you're not gonna be a

(40:45):
very good leader, and you're notgoing to able to lead a very successful
organization. And that's exactly what hecan't do. He can't trust the people
around him. You know. Youknow these people who their entire life and
career has been watching NFL tape,you know, grading prospects, watching college
games, knowing you know what canbe successful or not, and just overruling
them and the coaching staff and justgoing I have a gut feeling because I

(41:08):
watch NFL on Sundays at one o'clooff, but I know better than them,
And that's just that's stupid. Likeyou're you're a very successful person,
like obviously you have enough money tobuy ANFL franchise for a billion dollars like
that. No one's saying that you'renot a successful, smart person. The
reality is this isn't your field andyou should have the the ability and the

(41:31):
temperance to understand that and put thepeople in the right position that you believe
do know better than you and youcan trust to make the right decisions.
He's shown he can't do any ofthat, And now throwing in the drink
on a fan is just the stupidestthing I've ever seen. I mean,
the idea that he's letting a JacksonvilleJaguars san get to him, Like this

(41:55):
is Jacksonville, Florida guys, Likeit's it's it's the panhandle, Like come
on, like, you can't obviouslytell me that you're that have said that
this idiot, yeah, talking trashyyou that you, as a billion dollar
person throw a drink at him likelike a five year old, Like it's

(42:15):
it's hilarious. Actually, it's likeyou can't take the high Like take the
high road, bro, Like whyare you child? Why are you even
child with this guy in the firstplace? And you know you don't have
too big an ego or too biga temper or you know, but you've
messed up so bad if you're gonnalet this guy get to you so quickly.
So yeah, it's it's a differentlevel. I mean, what's the

(42:37):
NFL gonna do? Fine? Yeah, I mean he just he just made
an embarrassment of himself, and honestly, I think It's kind of hilarious if
you're that Jacksonville Jaguars fan and youjust go, yeah, I pissed off
the owner of the Carolina Panthers sobad he threw a drink at me.
That's a legendary story, you know. So if Panthers sucked the Jaguars,
I mean, they beat the worstteam in the NFL, and all the

(43:00):
little townspeople will cheer and go yay. But the reality is, I mean,
it comes down to this week,and it comes down to what team's
gonna show up in the NFL playoffs. I don't know, they drop this
game, They're not eve gonna winthe AFC South, which that's a big
letdown if you're the Jacksonville Jaguars,considering where you were. Harry Lawrence did

(43:21):
play. I assume he'll play thisweek. We'll get to that preview.
But yeah, it's just again anotherteam that had high playoff expectations and it's
just completely fallen off in the secondhalf of the season. See, if
I'm not Jaguars fan, I thinka piece of ice got in my eye,
or I fell because of this filleddrink, or I'm jumping into the
box and throwing hands. But that'si'd neither here nor there. I guess,

(43:44):
I don't know, just weird behavior. And they vent these people and
make sure they don't get owners whoare gonna do stuff like this, and
then finds out that like, notonly is this guy bad at running an
NFL team, which is bad forthe league, but also he's doing this
stuff. Yeah, it's not great. So and also the fine of three
hundred thousand dollars with everything he makesin his worth when you're finding practice squad

(44:06):
guys for a lot of money forpreseason hits. Sometimes, Oh, I
don't know about that one, allright. So the next one up,
we have Lamar Jackson maybe sealing theMVP race already. He wins with the
Ravens fifty six to nineteen, threehundred and twenty one yards passing and five
touchdowns. Now they lock up thenumber one seed, So he's sitting in
Week eighteen, but I think hisnumber is still good enough to do justice

(44:28):
that he's gonna win the MVP.Dak Prescott's probably a second, but it's
not really a close second. Atthis point. Dolphins lose this game,
not gonna beat the allegations that they'refrauds, even though they did play the
Cowboys well the week before. Butmore importantly now in this game, Zavian
Howard goes down early and then latein the game, they're down by thirty
and Bradley Chubb's still in the gameand he tears his ACL. No reason

(44:51):
for Bradley Chubb to be in thegame at that rate. Should have pulled
them. It's something that's gonna hurtthem in the playoffs. Now. Bradley
Chubb has had a couple of differentinjuries over his career, and that really
is on fortunate for him. ButDolphins went from a team a couple of
weeks ago that we thought, hey, maybe they could they could make a
run. They just need to provethey can beat someone good, and then
neither played the Cowboys stuff where theyking, Okay, maybe this will be maybe
they'll get something going here, andthen this happens, and it's kind of

(45:14):
like with all the injuries they alreadyhave sees, especially on the offensive line,
I don't know. I think it'sgonna be a it might be a
rough couple of weeks here, andeven if they win against the Bills,
what's the next step here? Whenyou go to the playoffs, it could
be another tough game. So yeah, I mean this was an absolute nightmare
game. Nightmare scenario for the Dolphins. They got thrashed by the Ravens.
That's all you can really call it. Two was making bad, bad decisions

(45:38):
with the ball in this one.A lot of turnovers that those two interceptions
were bad, Like they were notgood decision making. You know, he
was just not seeing the coverage rightand guys just straight up slid up and
took advantage of it. I'm inthe same page, Radley. Chump should
not be in that game too.It was our reality game. Like you

(46:00):
were down by forty points, like, just it's over. I get the
pride that your defensive guys want to, you know, go out there and
continue to try to contribute, butyou got to go up to them as
a coach and just go, heyman, your day's done. Like I
get your competitor, but the realityis this is a you're not competing for
anything, like their backups are goingin like this is this isn't healthy for

(46:21):
you to be out there, Likecan serve your body, can serve the
hits because we got a big gamethat we got to win now next week,
and that's where your focus should beat. Your focus shouldn't be at
Oh, I'm mad that these guysare beating us so bad. I'm gonna
go out there and make some playsand try to, you know, get
somebody. It's like, no,you're done, man, Like you're too
valuable to this team to be riskingstuff like this. And this is what

(46:43):
happened. You know, it's hindsight. You know, a lot of guys
and professionally defensive guys were playing gamesso the end. They don't like to
sit. They don't like the rest, they don't they don't like that,
and I get it, but badmove. It was a nightmare scenario.
Two got a little hurt on hislast snap with the slide down. It
just really was if you're a Dolphinsfan, just an absolute like punch in

(47:05):
the face. Not only you getdestroyed by the Ravens too, you're honestly
two of your top five guys andyour roster are hurt in this one in
garbage time and meaningless moments. Soyeah, if you're the Dolphins right now,
I mean you're hitting the panic buttonand you're just you're just praying this
week because I don't know what youdo. I mean, you got to

(47:27):
try to beat the Bills. Youcan't just sit there and see your starters
and just hope for the best,because the reality is you don't look like
you're playing your best football. Andthis is the product that you show.
Come the wild card round here,you're gonna be toast. And two like,
you don't want to lose potential homefield advantage through most of the playoffs
until the championship game, and youknow, if somebody beats the Ravens,

(47:49):
you could be in the championship athome Miami. So a lot of things,
a lot going on. It's arough day if you're the Ravens,
though, you gotta be feeling great. You just blew out to the better
teams in the NFL. You know, forty nine ers off, people say
are the best team in the NFL, and you blew them out. So,
I mean they're the favorite going inthe Super Bowl. I think they
should be. I think they're playingtheir best football right now. We'll see

(48:13):
what you know they're gonna do withresting starters and things like that, and
you know how the buy will affectthem. But I don't think they're unbeatable
by any means. I think it'sjust they've gotten up on teams quickly in
the last two games, and theyhaven't really let up. I think that
can change quickly in the playoffs.I don't know, you know, they

(48:34):
keep getting off these hot start sure, and I think they could come up
against a team that just doesn't makethe mistake first and they have to play
from behind, and that's where issuescan arise really quickly. This ragnant team
is beatable, believe me. It'sjust they've looked really good the last two
weeks because turnovers. I mean,they generated turnovers when the other team was
starting to get a little momentum.They change the game over and over and

(48:54):
they more importantly capitalize and score touchdownson all those drives. So that's what's
really creating this huge depisite. Yeah, definitely, I'm kind of concerned,
like you are, two weeks offfor some of their important players. It's
hard to come back from that andjust to go right in the thick of
things. I'm not sure. I'ma believer that you play your starters in

(49:15):
the games, and maybe you pullthem at least just to get them some
reps. But even then they're gonnabe off next week because of the bye,
So that's just my philosophy. Itprobably would have some bad, bad
results coming that way, or alsosome good results in other times. I
just never know. But they're evenstill look like one of the favorites to
make the Super Bowl. See theTexans beat the Titans twenty six to three.
Will Levis started this game for theTitans, gets bounced out with another

(49:37):
injury, or Ryan Tannehill steps in, But really CJ. Stroud returns for
the Texans, and that's the differencehere. They win twenty six to three,
they stay alive in the playoff race. That's all it really took.
Yeah, I mean it was reallyit. I mean, the Texans took
care of business. So our teamthat we were higher on, you know,
a couple of weeks ago before CJ. Stroud got hurt. You know,

(49:58):
they're rounding in a form. Itsucks some of the injuries they've had,
especially at wide receiver, but thereality is this can be a good
team at times and if CJ.Stroud plays well. I mean, how
many times have we seen an NFLteam just take off in the playoffs because
their quarterbacks playing out of his mind. CJ. Stroud has that potential.
We'll see if they make it inone. That's gonna be a huge factor

(50:21):
with this week's upcoming matchup. ButI saw a lot. I saw the
defense playing extremely well. I saw, you know, Devin Singletary has been
playing really well at running back forthem, and I like what they've been
getting out of the other receivers thatare still up and able. So again,
another team I'm not gonna pick ismy favorite for anything, but a
team that you know, it's nota horrible potential dark horse bet for somebody,

(50:45):
because the odds are out there foryou, if you're into the gambling
sphere, you know, put acouple of dollars down on it and see
if something crazy can happen. Becausewe've seen a lot of wild card teams
make it to the super Bowl recentlyin recent years. A lot of times
they have the advantage because they havenot They're they're playing with house money.
As you'd say, right, they'renot supposed to win any of these games.

(51:06):
They don't have the expectations on them. They're out there just trying to
play their game. And I mean, I'm not gonna say I'm picking the
Texans and Rams or something crazy likethat. But I'm saying I think those
teams have potential and I think theycan really, you know, make something
happen these playoffs that people may notbe quite expecting, especially with how on
the teams and the upper seeds havebeen playing down the stretch. Yeah,

(51:29):
a lot of the playoffs is coaching. And Jamaica Ryans is I think proven
already that he's done a fantastic job. It could be a good coach.
And you know, you mentioned theRams as well, Sean McVay. You
know another good coach has won aSuper Bowl. That it could come down
to good coaches beating coaches aren't asgood. So it's something to keep in
mind as we move forward. Let'smove on to the four pm Eastern time
window. Games started off with theChiefs beating the Bengals twenty five to seventeen.

(51:52):
Bengals had the lead seventeen to thirteenat halftime. They failed to score
a point the rest of the game. That a lot of issues with their
offer. It's a line stepped up. Jake Brown kept on getting sacked.
There were times where we wouldn't throwthe ball away. T Higgins left the
game with the hamstring injury, endedup coming back in and battled tough with
his teammates to try to get awin. Bengals have been eliminated from playoff
contention. Now, there was somecontroversy in this game too. You know,

(52:15):
Jake Browning had an intentional grounding callgo against him, shouldn't have been
called and maybe affected things. Butat the end of the day, just
the Bengals did not have the seasonthey would have hoped. A lot of
it had to do with injury,you know, not just Joe Burrow,
but DJ Reider, and it's youknow that's very important for their defense and
the Chiefs, you know, getthe win here. Still not very satisfied

(52:36):
with how they're playing as a team. Don't know if I'm gonna pick them
to win the Super Bowl. ButI get why people still might be like,
oh, Patrick Mahomes still figure itout. I mean, That's what
I've been thinking all year, andthey just haven't done it. I mean,
shit, they barely figured it outin this game. It wasn't for
she Rice like they wouldn't have TravisKelsey didn't do anything for most of the
game. Marquez Voadez Scanaling continued hisdrops, you know, but Checko looked.

(53:00):
Thank god theyve Isaiah Checko on theirbackfield. I think that's something they've
been missing, you know, whenhe got hurt. I think that's really
the one thing that's keeping this offensealive is him and Rashid Rice man Like.
It's it's rough to watch the times. I mean, the Bengals were
giving up chunks on the ground.I mean, but check O, they

(53:21):
might as well have just kept running. But the Bengals employ the same technique
ast the Chiefs year after year.They just try to conserve time and they
just keep trying to like just runthe ball down the field and get timely
first down and create sustainable drives.It's hard to do in the NFL,
right, Everyone talked about, youknow, the big plays. You want
the big plays. The reality is, when you're going against an explosive team,

(53:43):
you want to be a team thatcan turn out a clock. Is
what the Ravens have done for years, very effectively. The Bengals are employed
against the Chiefs every year and almostworked again that The reality is, the
Chiefs are a better team, evenwith their offense being a shell of what
it should be. Their defense canplay well at times. I mean Jake
Browning and his offense, they justaren't good enough. It's a reality.

(54:05):
I think it's hilarious that the Chiefsdefense is letting Jamar Chase get in their
heads. That horribly bad in aseason where the Bengals really have no chance
of doing anything, Like you know, you're a team that's on the rocks
when you're you're just getting upset aboutthe stupid is stuffed, like just like
you're frustrated because you're almost losing toa Bengals team. There's no chance if

(54:29):
this was a year ago with theteam the Chiefs used to have. So
I'm the same way. I can'tpick him in a matchup right now.
I don't know what it's gonna looklike. And people just saying Pat mahomes
is gonna figure it out is notgood enough because it's like I've been waiting
for Pat Maholmes to quote unquote figureit out for weeks now and it's not
getting figured out. The reality isreceivers are untalented or she Rice is the

(54:52):
only guy they cover him, it'swhatever. And Kelsey is a great tight
end. He's a Hall of fameguy. But the reality is, he
looks we're down right now, andif he's wearing down on top of everything,
that's just that's spelling doom to mefor this NFL team. So I
can't pick them again. Can ithappen? Sure? A lot of things

(55:13):
can happen in this playoffs we've beentalking about all year. There are no
really guarantees of much of anything,because the reality is we've got a bunch
of teams underperforming and teams that haveshown up out on the blue that who
knows, they just turn it upto an extra gears. It's gonna be
all about who can find the extragear in the playoffs. You know,
it's a different game. Margin freyeris super low and the Chiefs have been

(55:34):
playing with a huge margin of airall year, and that's going to dissipate
really quickly. Yeah, I don'thave much faith in this team heading into
it. I could see them figuringit out. I just I'm not going
to be putting any money behind it. I'm not gonna be putting any picks
behind it. They might win agame in the playoffs, but after that
anything could happen. So I wouldhave liked to see them figure it out
for just so we can understand itmore than anything at this point. But

(55:57):
they just have it this year andI don't know what's gonna happened next for
them. Let's move on to theSteelers and Seahawks game. The Steelers win
thirty to twenty three. Now wethought the Steelers maybe the season wasn't going
the way they would have thought,But Mike Tomlin now has another non losing
season. We didn't know Mason Rudolphwas the greatest quarterback in the history of
the NFL. Put him in andthey start this offense, starts lighting it

(56:19):
up after they've been terrible all year, and Augie Harris the stiff arm and
dudes into the earth. He hadone hundred and twenty two yards and two
touchdowns. George Pickens is no longerpouting. He had seven catches for one
hundred and thirty one yards. MasonRudoffs is helping them push the ball downfield,
which is opening up everything else forthis offense. So it really has
been a godsend for them. Theyget the win, which means if they
win and either Buffalo or Jacksonville loses, they are in the playoffs. In

(56:44):
Week eighteen. Not something we thoughtwe'd be talking about. And the Seahawks
loss here really hurts them because theyneed to win and they need Green Bay
to lose in Week eight team tomake the playoffs. That's not something we
thought for the Seahawks a couple weeksago either. Yeah, the Seahawks really
messed it up in this one,to be honest. So, yeah,
the Steelers look great with Mason Rudolphback there. The defense is much more

(57:06):
agile because they're not having to beon the field all the time. Like
you said, Nagie Harris looks likea different running back. This is really
a fail on the Pittsburgh coaching staffto really just not think Mason Rudolph might
have more in the tank, becauseagain, he was the third string quarterback
going into this. So why washe the third stringer? I could get

(57:27):
you invested draft cattle and can youPickett? That's fine, But the reality
is why wasn't he the number twoguy? Like? What is going on
out there? So questions abound?Will not know, but man can throw
the football downfield? Again, howsustainable is it? Don't know? I
think it could change a little bit. Seahawks have a very questionable run defense.

(57:49):
They'd been one of the worst inthe NFL. So I'm not gonna
say the Steelers offense is suddenly great. I think they beat up on a
not very good defense and Mason Rudolphhe's able to hit some shots downfield.
Again, I probably won't continue inthe playoffs against some of the higher seeds
and better defenses. But yeah,I mean, Mike Tomlin again has proved
everyone wrong. And I want tosee where all the Steelers' greates are that

(58:09):
we're saying that they've lost their way. As you know the Steelers, you
know, mentality is gone. SoI want to see where all those guys
were that were in the media twothree weeks ago. Yeah, we need
to find the people who are sayingthat Mike tom wats to be fired and
just like I don't know, tryingto like push them upwards in the Steelers
organization and like, hey, maybehe should be fired, because I think

(58:31):
it is tough being in the AFCNorth as Bengals fans like we are,
and you had to play John Harballand Mike Tomblin, who are I mean,
top five NFL head coaches and justcontinue to get the job done,
even if they don't have all theparts. Like the last couple of years
the Steelers, I would argue shouldhave had a losing season with the roster
they put on the field, butthey just didn't. You know, they
had teg A Wattmas and time andeverything. So a lot of respect to

(58:53):
Mike Tomlin. You know, JohnHarball is good as well. I'm interested
to see what happens in the playoffs. They do make it if Mason Rudolff
can keep this up. But reallyit does go to show like Mason Rudolf
at his worst was worst, wasnever as bad at least Maybe it's just
you know, I'm not remembering thingsright ceas, but like he was he

(59:13):
ever as bad as Kenny Pickett athis worst, or even mitstr Biscuit his
worst. I like, none ofthem have been great, but like I
don't think the valleys have been aslow with Mason Rudolph. So I'm with
you. I don't know why hewasn't the second stringer either. It make
no sense, all right. Lastgame of the last game of the four
pm Eastern time window, the Broncosbeat the Chargers sixteen to nine. It

(59:34):
was Jared Stidham versus Easton stick Cease, I got nothing here. These teams
are heading home after this year orafter this upcoming week. It's over for
them and I'm not going to gleananything from these this. This was awful.
Yeah, I mean, both teamsdon't have their starting quarterbacks. Both
are trying to figure out a lot. There's gonna be a lot of roster
turnaround for the Broncos, there's gonnabe a lot of coaching changes for the

(59:57):
Chargers. So yeah, there's reallynothing really take away you about this game.
All Right, We'll keep moving.Then we had the Packers beating the
Vikings thirty three to ten on SundayNight Football. This was the last game
of the week as the Monday Nightfootball broadcast was on Saturday night to accommodate
the college football Playoff, which wasentertaining in its own right. Jordan Love
had a pretty good game, turnfifty six yards three touchdowns, really kind

(01:00:19):
of cementing his spot is like he'sgoing to be the guy next year.
It also has the Packers in aspot where they can make the playoffs and
if they win, they do so, so not somewhere where I thought the
Packers would be. I think alot of it is due to a mediocre
NFC behind the top two or threeteams. But yeah, I mean,
this is making the playoffs with thisroster I think is actually really good.

(01:00:42):
I don't know how Lafleoor did it. We talked, we criticized him this
year, we criticized Joe Barry ondefense. And I think a lot of
it might have to do with justthe division they're in where the Bears were
so bad for a long time.The Vikings don't have Kirk Cousins, you
know, and the Lions are susceptible. But hey, they've They've managed to
stay in it somehow. I don'tknow. Yeah, I'm not. I'm
just I think it's everything to dowith the weakness of schedule and the people

(01:01:06):
they played. I mean, Ilike the Packers. I liked the Packers
for a lot of years, soI'm not upset to making the playoffs.
That's great for them. But thereality is it is just this roster is
not good. It's it's not agood looking team. Sure, Jordan Love
has played better than expected, butagain, I mean they're playing Jaron Hall
and the Vikings like, like,what are like these games they've been playing

(01:01:30):
recently are not anything impressive. They'renothing to go, oh my god,
they played so well. I'm likethey've been playing the bottom feeder of the
NFC for like five straight weeks.It feels like. And sure, they're
getting wins, they're beating teams theyshould, but the reality is they're not
beating anybody a record like it doesn'tmatter. It's like you're gonna walk in

(01:01:52):
and get thrashed by the Cowboys.Probably you're gonna go to Jerry World and
just get stopped. Like that's that'skind of where you're at. You're signing
up for the seven seed at thispoint in the career, in the season,
and they're not a better team thanthe Seahawks, like Seahawks are a
better overall team. It sucks becausethey lost a matchup against another playoff team
and again Packers beat a Vikings teamthat has tried to figure out the quarterback

(01:02:15):
position for the second half of theseason. Laugh Kirk does it, so,
yeah, it's I guess good formattle laforre but the reality is it's
it's not been pretty and it's notbeen great, and I get wins are
important, but the reality is ifyou put them up against some of the
other schedules, some other teams thatare on the fringe of the AFC NFC
playoffs and played, I mean,we'd be talking about a team of five

(01:02:36):
or six wins. I agree,But we'll see what they can do with
we kight teen seas. Let's getto our picks for a Week eight team.
Now. I love how they didthe schedule this week. We often
complain season that there's not, youknow, as many one pm games,
four pm games, but they havethe whole all the playoff applications, all
the games going on at the sametime for each division. But there's there's
games for it out between. There'stwo Saturday, there's a couple, there's

(01:02:59):
there's a decent amount of one pmSunday, decent amount of four pm Sunday.
We have a lot to watch thisweek. Let's start off with the
Saturday games. The Steelers are gonnawant to win this game, obviously,
as we just talked about, they'replaying at the Ravens. The Steelers are
every by four. They've already saidLamar Jackson's gonna bench for this one.
You know, we saw this asBeangals fans last year, though, playing
the Ravens with some of their backupsin seas is not always the easiest thing.

(01:03:21):
The Steelers favorite by four. Whoare you going with? I'm going
Steelers to to win and cover.I mean, it's the player. The
starters aren't playing the whole game.I think this this game is everything in
the Steelers, right. I mean, we got a team that's been playing
better, you know, with allof Lamar Jackson. I don't think the
offensive Ravens books anywhere near the same. I think still, yeah, it's

(01:03:43):
not gonna be some kind of blowout or anything. But I'm picking the
Steelers here. I just you gotto trust a team that has everything to
play for is going to be ableto beat a divisional ride on this one.
So I'm gonna get them a winningcover. I'm going with them too.
Offensive's a lot different on mass mudoffthere. I think without some of
their stifle in, they'll be ableto run the ball a little bit,
should be able to get the win. I could see your aggression back to

(01:04:03):
the norm and the raven sneaking awaywith the one, but I think they
went and coverage based on everything we'veseen in the last couple of weeks with
Mason Rudolphin quarterback. We have onSaturday night the Texans and the Colts.
The Texans are favored by one onthe road seas. We don't have any
reports on whether the Colts are goingto open the windows or the roof.
It is cold out, but thatwould benefit them as they have the good
running game with Jonathan Taylor. Also, the Texans have not played a game

(01:04:26):
outside of the one pm on Sundaytime window all season long. That's got
to be some sort of record.Yeah, I mean it's as far as
scheduling right. No one expected themto do anything. And I mean it's
one of the things if I'm Jimirsay I open the whole stadium up.
Let's make it freezing cold in there. Let's make it interesting and not tell
anyone. Just the day of youtell your team, hey, it's gonna

(01:04:48):
be cold in there. They practicallyget ready for it all week and then
the Texans come in there and it'sfreezing. I think that would be an
awesome move for them. I'm abig fan of it. I think that
would be awesome. But the realityis, I like what the Texans are
doing. I'm gonna pick them awinning cover because the reality is, I
think they are a team with thebetter quarterback. As much as I love

(01:05:10):
garnerman Chew, c J. Stroudhas potential to be a great quarterback in
the NFL, and he's showing itweekend and week out. I think their
defense is playing really hard for DemicoRyans, and I just I like them
in this matchup. I think they'rejust a talented team that is going to
get right at the exact time youwant to come playoffs. I'm going to
Houston too. I mean c J. Stroub being back healthy is the main

(01:05:31):
reason they do have some of thereceivers coming back. Obviously not Tankdll,
but Nico Collins played last week.I think this is a solid team.
I think they've done a really goodjob. I can see it going either
way, but I'll take the Texansand I'm with you. Open up,
open up the roof, open upthe windows, and just let Jonathan Taylor
run has got to be the gameplan for the Colts. Were moving on
to Sunday games. We have theBrowns at the Bengals Cecil. Thankfully we

(01:05:57):
did not buy tickets to this game. The Browns already in the playoffs.
The Bengals are out of the playoffsbecause of the Browns are in the playoffs,
the arresting some of the starters alreadymentioned Jeff Driscolls and to be starting
a quarterback for the Browns. Bengalsfrom every by seven right now, I'll
take the Bengals to win. Andand I guess cover if I mean,
if Miles garrett isn't in there,I'm not that worried. I don't know

(01:06:19):
if Miles Garretts is gonna play orif he does, how much he's going
to If that being said, youknow, their offense probably isn't gonna do
a ton if you're Cleveland. Andthen two if the defensive key guys are
gonna be sitting. I think theBengals are getting playing for pride as much
as I don't think it's beneficial forthem to win this game. They they're

(01:06:40):
gonna try to win it anyway,and kind of ended a high note.
Bengals have really done a good jobof almost winning every last one of their
you know, last home games ofthe season. You know they're closing game,
they usually end strong, which alot of times it's because they've been
playing for a lot, or theyend up playing opponents are already sitting someone.
So I think that trend will continue, and I think they're able to

(01:07:01):
cover the spread. I think sotoo. I'm not scared of the Browns
backups for the Bengals. I thinksome of the guys in the bagles might
set out to just the guys who'vebeen nursing some injuries. But I think
they win and cover. I areason why I think these If you're gonna
gamble week eighteen, because it iskind of weird, do it early in
the week you could have had.I think the Bengals were heard by four
earlier in the week. It's allthe way up to seven just because the

(01:07:23):
Browns announced that. But we knewthe Browns likely weren't going to be playing
people just there was no incentive forit. So just if you're gonna gamble,
get Tuesday morning, Monday morning,do it. Then we'll move to
our excuse. We have some otherSunday afternoon games to get to Atlanta Falcons
at the New Orleans Saints. TheSaints are favored by three points right now
sees Both teams could make the playoffsif the results go their way. Three

(01:07:46):
points at home. Know the Saintsto win and cover. I think they
win this game and a good homefield advantage. I think it's a huge
game for both teams. But Ilike the life the Saints have been showing
recently. Again, I don't trustland Up for anything, So give me
Saints to winning cover. I'm gonnago Falcons in the upset. I don't

(01:08:08):
like either team, and I justthink my mind's telling me Saints and it
just means like it's gonna go backwardsbecause I'm trying to believe in the Saints
all year, like we talked about, it just hasn't worked besides last week.
So I'm gonna go Falcons in theupset. I think there's gonna be
a lot of teams who are likevuying for the playoffs that lose to some
teams that they shouldn't be losing to, and even the Falcons win and probably
not gonna end up win in aresult where they make the playoffs. Jacksonville

(01:08:30):
Jaguars at the Tennessee Titans. Thisone is having the Jaguars favorite by five
points. He's yeah, I'm gonnago Jaguars to win and cover. They
should win this game for all tensof purposes. Again, They're an inconsistent
team that I worry about, Butif Trevor Lawrence is gonna play, I
have confidence them to be able towin and cover. Yeah, I think

(01:08:53):
they can win and cover two.Titans have not been great this year.
You talk you throw in the offensivelineup being good on top of the quarterback
injuries and you know Will Levis lookedgood at times, but you know,
just been banged up the last coupleof weeks. It's time for them to
have an offseason and just reset andfigure some things out. They think having
Will Levis there has been nice,but not as much to play for here,

(01:09:14):
and the Jaguars will want more.So Jaguars winn't cover. Next one
up, we have the Minnesota Vikingsat the Detroit Lions. Now, this
is one where the Lions of everybodythree and a half seas. We have
not gotten any reports from I thinkthe Vikings on who they're starting. I
don't think we've gotten any reports onthe Lions players possibly sitting out. They're
trying to win the game because ifthe Cowboys do lose, they couldn't move

(01:09:36):
up a seed level. Yeah,I'm gonna go Lions to win and cover
because I think even if they didn'thave that much to play or they didn't
have anything to play for, Ithink right now Dan Campbell wants to go
out there after how the last gamewent down, because you don't want that
ride mean for a week on yourteam. You want that in the rear

(01:09:56):
view year. So I think that'sa big thing for them. We'll see
kind of what happens from there.But I get lines all the way,
lines all the way from me.Vikings have better defense this year, but
it has been like Spurty and thenthe offense, obviously not figuring out the
quarterback position has been tough. NewYork Jets at the Patriots. This game
won't mean anything. Patriots favorite bytwo. Yeah, I mean it's a

(01:10:24):
weird one. I'll go Patriots atwo at home. I think it's it's
that time of year where things weatherkind of plays a factor, and I
think Bill will want that kind oflast win, the kind of cap off
the season, which one might bethe last one he has for the Patriots.
Yeah, they've been fighting tough,they've been playing better than I would
expect it. So I'm gonna takethe Patriots to win and cover at home.

(01:10:45):
I think the Jets maybe maybe givenup more than the Patriots have,
So I'll take the Patriots to winand cover at home. Next one up,
we have the Tampa Bay Buccaneers atthe Carolina Panthers. Buccaneers favored by
four and a half on the road. Yeah, I'm gonna go with the
Buccaneers to win and cover. Again. They have everything in the world to
play for. They're not playing anecessarily great team by any means. I

(01:11:09):
think Baker Mayfield will get back inline here and try to make some stuff
happen. So I'm gonna go withthe Buccaneers to win and covering this one.
I'm going with them as well.They've been good all season. The
Panthers have been bad. Nothing toplay for. They're just gonna want their
season to end, to be honest, and that puts us at having both
of us having the Buccaneers making theplayoffs out of the NFC South. If

(01:11:30):
they would have lost in the Saintsand Falcons winner would have been in the
playoffs, but the Buccaneers from bothof us move on to the Sunday evening
games. Again, there's more atthis time slot because of so much playoff
implications. The Seattle Seahawks at theArizona Cardinals is gonna be the first one
we talk about, and the Seahawksof everybody two and a half. I'm
gonna go to the Seahawks. Ithink they're the better team, but I
could see the Cardinals kind of comingout of nowhere just because it's kind of

(01:11:55):
a weird divisional game. I thinkagain, the Cardinals want to continue to
build momentum. I think they're kindof more dangerous team than people think.
So I'm gonna go Seahawks to winand cover that small spread, but I'm
not I wouldn't be surprised if theCardinals put up a fight. Cardinals zibn
feisty all year, but just meansmore to the Seahawks. They'll be able

(01:12:17):
to utilize their playmakers a little bitbetter, I think in this one,
and they'll win and cover, whichis good for the chances, but they
needy other results to help them outto make the playoffs. Sees. The
other game that they need is theyneed the Bears to meet the Packers.
The Bears are at the Packers.Packers faver by three points. Right now,
I'm gonna go with the Bears here. I think the Bears have been
playing really well. I think they'regonna want to put one on the Packers

(01:12:41):
for the first time in forever.And I just I just like the way
that the Bears have been playing overall. And I think the Packers again have
been playing a bunch of teams thathave just been in disarray. And I
think I think the Bears have solidmomentum and I've been allowed to propel them
in the upset. Yeah, I'mgoing Bears to win as well. Well.
I think I like the way they'veplayed as well. They're using justin

(01:13:01):
fields the way he should be played. There's a lot of confidence in the
locker room too, Like the defenseseems like they're buzzing the offense. Like
DJ Moore came out and said tothis week, like this is the quarterback,
this is the guy I want here. I hope management makes the right
decision, like it seems like they'repretty much they're they're doing some good vibing
and I think they can get towin over the Packers and kind of ruin
their season, which means the Seahawkswould make the playoffs over the Packers.

(01:13:23):
For both of US. As wemove on to the Eagles at the New
York Giants. The Eagles serving byfive on the road seas probably not something
we expected to hear earlier in theseason. Yeah, I'm gonna go to
the Eagles to win and cover becauseI think they should get better in this
one. Again, the Giants aren'tgreat by any means. I think they

(01:13:44):
put a lot on the field lastweek, and I think I think the
Eagles are going to be more preparedfor Tyrop Taylor in this entire game,
and because they just saw it twoweeks ago. So I think the Eagles
are going to win, not bya lot, but I think they win
by a touchdown. Gonna go Eaglesto win by a touchdown too. This
is a game they have to getrights. One of the games were usually
like, oh, they're playing abad team. They got to get right

(01:14:05):
this they have to get right beforethe playoffs. So a lot of emphasis
on, you know, doing thingsthe right way this week, maybe some
trick plays to get the offense flowing, just to kind of get out of
the stagnation. I think Eagles winand cover. Next, what up,
we have the Los Angeles Rams atthe San Francisco forty nine ers. You
might be seeing a lot of backupsin this one, seas we know the
forty nine ers are benching a lotof their starters. The Rams might not

(01:14:26):
have too much incentive as well,because they they either the sixth or the
seventh seed. Forty nine ers favoredby three and a half right now.
Yeah, this is a weird one. I'd stay away because it's gonna be
backups. You don't know how longpeople are gonna be playing. I'll go
I'm gonna go Rams in this one. I just think it's I think they're

(01:14:50):
gonna play more people, probably becausethey don't have the buy or I just
it's it's a weird no bet forme, But I'll go with the and
the quote unquote upset. I'm goingto hear Rams too. Not one that
people will be watching a lot ofin this game time one dow, especially
with everything else going on. ButI think the Rams might have to,

(01:15:11):
like think you said, keep theirstarters in, maybe prove they can meet
the forty nine ers, even ifit's not all the forty nine ers there,
I think it'll be a good winfor them. Next one up,
the Denver Broncos at the Las VegasRaiders. Both these teams will not be
in playoff contention, but the Raidersof every about three. Yeah, getting
the Raiders to win and cover.I think they've been playing really well.
I think their team again they wantto play for coach Peterson show that he

(01:15:33):
should be the guy. So Ithink they're all going to have motivation to
go out there. I think theBroncos again are just kind of going it's
their season's over and they're trying totransition away from Russell Wilson. Yeah,
I have the Raiders too, andnot just Antonio piers stuff for helping them
win and cover. But the Broncosalso might have like a possible mutiny on

(01:15:55):
their hands. A lot of theveterans had been like let go earlier this
season and it wasn't like handled thebest way. Now Russell Wilson and I
think all the players on the teamhave to be wondering, like, am
I next? Are they going totry to ask me to the wave injury
guarantees? Like? I think itmight be more than just like just on
the field play here. I thinkthere's a lot of emotional stuff probably going
on behind the scenes. All right, Kansas City Chiefs at the Los Angeles

(01:16:16):
Chargers. The Chargers are actually favoritein this one by three and a half
points. That is because the Chiefsare benching everyone heading into the playoffs as
they already have the three seed blockedup. Yeah, I'll go with the
Chargers because they'll be playing more people, I guess. But again, this
is a weird one. I'll givethe Chargers to uh win and cover because

(01:16:38):
the Chiefs without Pat Mahomes, Imean, there's not much going on that
often, So I'll take the teamthat's not playing as many backups Chargers for
me as well, Chiefs are gonnawant to get right, I mean a
lot of guys will be sitting,So I'll take the Chargers to win.
The last game, if you know, probably won't be a entertaining game as
we talk about some of these othergames going on, but I guess I'll

(01:17:00):
think the Chargers. At the lastof the four PM time window, we
have the Dallas Cowboys at the WashingtonCommanders. Cowboys are currently favored by thirteen
points, which is kind of abig spread, but sees if they win,
they get the two seed. Yeah, I think the Cowboys are a
full going this one. I thinkthey want to win. I think they

(01:17:23):
want to dominate, and I thinkthey want to show that they celebrate that
they're going to get the two seedsthat they win this game. So I
don't think they're going to let offat any time less are up by a
ton after halftime. I think mostof the Chargers are pretty much going to
play most of the game. Sogive me the Cowboys to win and cover.
Cowboys want to cover for me.I think they're going to be focused
and Commanders kind of look like they'vegiven up over the last several weeks,

(01:17:45):
which can't blame them with everything they'vegot going on with the coaching change and
everything else. Coming Sunday Night footballsees the one that has a lot of
implications around the league. We havethe Buffalo Bills at the Miami Dolphins.
This is an interesting one. Uh, Bills are every boy three on the
road for this one season. Ithink that's fair. I'm gonna go Bills
to win and cover here. Ithink again, the weather isn't gonna be

(01:18:12):
a factor for the you know,anybody, because it's gonna be decently nice
with it being Miami. I thinkthe Miami just got a huge blow dealt
to them. I think no BradleyChild, I think two is banged up
right now. I don't think Tyreek'sone hundred percent. I don't think Joe
Waddle, if he plays, isgonna be one hundred percent. It's just
a lot of guys are banged upin this one, and I think they're

(01:18:32):
gonna play hard and try to winthis one. But I just think the
Bills have everything the game because thereality is they're playing for their playoff lives
as well. It's not just ahome field banage or seating thing. I
think they're gonna try to win.I think they played really well against him
early in the season. I thinkthis Miami team's only gotten a little weaker
and more banged up in recent weeks. So I'll go Bills to winning cover

(01:18:56):
Dolphins. Dolphins are seven and oneat home this season. The only lost
to the Cowboys, which again weboth came away pretty impressed after that game.
Bradley Chubb is hurt. They dohave some other pass rushers, including
Jalen Phillips. The offensive line isbanked up, but it can't be as
banged up as it was. Acouple of weeks ago at this rate,
so I think they'll figure some thingsout. Jalen Wattle probably been playing this
game. If they win this one, I'm just as much as the Dolphins.

(01:19:19):
Injuries scare me. The Bills andhow they're playing also scare me,
So I'll take the home too.If you're gonna give me three points too,
I'll take those as well. Ithink a good team at home this
year should be a fun game,But I guess I'll take the Dolphins,
all right. Cease any final thoughtsfor the week. No, I think
it's gonna be interesting who ends upmaking the playoffs here. I think we

(01:19:41):
got a heck of a Sunday nightmatchup to watch and that we're excited for
the postseason to begin. Absolutely myturn to remind everyone to like and subscribe
on YouTube and wherever you get yourpodcast. That helps us out some move
forward with the show. We'll beback next week to recap Week eighteen in
preview the first round of the playoffsas we go through this NFL postseason.
For now, thanks for watching.We'll see you guys next time. See guys,