Week 18 Recap, Wild Card Round Preview

Cecil and Joe recap week 18 and preview the Wild Card Round of the NFL playoffs.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello, and welcome to the thirdand the Don Football Show. I am
Joe with Mia cecil As always hereto talk about some NFL football. Cecil,
the regular season is over, theplayoffs right here, there's a lot
to talk about. Black Monday alreadyhappened and that extended into this Wednesday as
we're recording. How are you doing? First of all, I'm doing great.
I mean, it's playoff time,baby. There's nothing better on this

(00:22):
earth than NFL played to me,you know, March Madness is awesome.
You know, it's a great littlelike a great tournament because all the upsets,
but when it comes to just purelike just grit and trying to get
to the Super Bowl, there's nothingquite like it. I would disagree with
you on that one, but wewill keep it moving here. Anyway.
Let's go with our recap first.We have a lot to get to with

(00:43):
the recap, and then also thecoaches that have been fired. We'll talk
about those a little bit as wego along. See space and Rudolph is
the greatest quarterback in the history ofthe NFL. One hundred fifty two yards
one touchdown for the Steelers on Saturday. So you didn't have to do too
much. But really, this gameis already at hand. The Ravens had
benched their starters, all the guyswho were important, that's their backups usually
play pretty well. We see thepreseason exploits all the time, but the

(01:07):
Steelers get to win, they makethe playoffs as a result of other things
going their way on Sunday. Sothis is one I don't have too much
to add. It's just it's nicethat the Steelers, for the for the
Steelers that Mason Rudolf is pushing theball downfield and they're able to run the
ball out. Yeah, it's great. They're pushing the ball downfield. It's
great they got to play the BaltimoreRavens backups at the end of the season

(01:30):
to make the playoffs. So alot of nice things happened for the Steelers
this year. So the first youknow, the last team in Yeah,
it's basically look a lot better.And honestly, it's made Najie Harris look
a lot better too, because thatguy was basically dad on a rival for
about pretty much three fourths of theseason and then suddenly over the last probably

(01:53):
four or five games, he's finallythey just came onto the scene, you
know, rushing for one hundred yards, you know, big chunk play touch.
I feel fad for that guy infantasy that was waiting for that for
the entire to make the playoffs becauseof it. But that's why you don't
draft him, like everyone advised younot to. So first look, bet

(02:14):
is that gonna be enough? We'llsee. We'll talk about that here in
a little bit. But they getan easy win against a bunch of backups
in a game that didn't mean anythingto the other team in a monsoon Yes,
definitely was some bad weather going onthere. Props to Mike Tomlin and
I guess John Harball of both thesecoaches in this game, but just been
doing it for a long time.And now are the longest ten yured head

(02:36):
coaches, we think because Bill Belichick. We'll get to that in a little
bit here too, but probably thelongest ten yared head coaches by the times
next season starts. Uh. Sowe'll keep tracking that and see how these
two teams to do in the playoffs. The Ravens have in the one seed,
the Steelers having the seven. Anotherimportant thing. T J. Watt
is going to be out for thisplayoff game. He got hurt in this
game. They needed to play himbecause they had to win. But just

(02:58):
something to keep track of as wego into the wild card round when they
play the Bills. The other gameon Saturday of those seas, we had
the Texans meet the Colts twenty threeto twenty or twenty three to nineteen.
The Colts ran the ball pretty well. Jonathan Taylor was running all over the
Texans defense. But CJ. Stroud, man, he just had a great
rookie season. He's already pushing towardstop ten quarterback in the league. We're

(03:22):
both Stroud boys. Ce see whenhe plays. They're a very good team
Jamaica. Ryan's very good rookie headcoach Nico Collins has been coming out of
nowhere to be a really good receiverfor them. Nine catches for one hundred
and ninety five yards in a touchdown. I'm excited to see what CJ.
Stro can do in these playoffs seas. Yeah, we're both huge Stroud boys
here and CJ. Stroud showing whywe are. I mean, he pushes

(03:46):
the ball down field, but he'salso smart with the football. A lot
of times, you know, he'lltake what the defense gives them. If
it's zone coverage, got to keepyou know, throwing short passes, he'll
do it. He'll drive down thefield and as soon as you make him
steak, he can just throw itdownfield like it's nothing. So he also
made some plays with a little bitof you know, functional mobility he has.

(04:09):
It's not anything crazy, you know, like at justin field anything like
that, but he can move aroundthe pocket and he can you know,
if he needs a first down,he'll go get it if somebody's just playing
a you know, a deep zoneon it. So I think he played
extremely well that a decent game.That's been a big key to their offenses
ever since they pretty much got ridof day Us and Damian Pierce all the

(04:31):
time and just gave Singletary of theball most of the game. It's really
helped better. Like you said,No, Brown has been great. Really
failing in for Tank Dell which wasa huge loss for them. They seem
to have overcome it, and betweenhim and Dolt Schultz, they have some
options at you know, the receiverson tight end position. But yeah,

(04:51):
I think they've in this game.Garner Minshew didn't do anything. He really
struggled, you know, didn't evenget close to towards passing in this one,
and very much it's just all MichaelPittman almost the entire time. He
just kind of tried to focus onhim. He could connect without peers,
I think once. So it's justa very not great, you know,

(05:15):
passing game by any means. Soand it's something Shane Steiken needs to improve
on, you know in this offseason. Is whoever the quarterback is, it's
gonna be Anthony Richardson. But theyneed to push the ball and you know,
they had to distribute the ball amongstthe receivers a little more because they
have talented guys there, so don'twaste maximum talent John and possessed over the

(05:36):
last couple of weeks. It's goodto see him come back to form.
This is gonna be a good Coltsteam next year, and I'm gonna say
it's gonna be elite. It's gonnabe a hard division in the AC South
with the Jaguars in Texans. It'snot gonna be a gimme for him.
But I think Richardson comes back healthyand takes a step forward, they can

(05:58):
be a team that we want toplay everyone. Yeah, I'm with you
on that THEFC South could be apretty competitive division next year. We have
just teams we didn't really expect tobe this good and like you said,
Anthony richardson coming back, but excited, as we said earlier, to see
CJ. Stroud in the playoffs.Let's move it on to Sunday cease we
have the Bengals beating the Browns thirtyone to fourteen. Now, the Browns,

(06:19):
rest of their starters, wasn't mostmuch to play for. The Bengals
get to win. A couple ofother guys have some good games, but
you know, we've been preparing forthe offseason for a couple of weeks now,
so there wasn't much about that.The biggest news of this game was
Jake Browning's girlfriend and Jake and JoeBurrows box and not just like okay,
they show her a couple times,they show her a lot like she's Taylor

(06:39):
Swift and then people go nuts onTwitter. The Bengals radio analysts he Lapham,
I mean he's just going He's likebarking in the box, Like how
much nuts he's going it. Itwas a one of those weird times where
It's like, yeah, Jake Browningis an NFL quarterback and he's probably gonna,
you know, date attractive ladies inand stuff. It's just it was
one of the weirdest things I've everseeing. People were just so I don't

(07:00):
want to say like they were sodown bad that they were obsessing over like
she's very pretty and everything, butit was it got to a level of
like, Okay, what are wedoing here? Yeah, it got a
little weird. You know, thismight go down in the you know,
AJ McCarron National Championship game. JarededSidham's girlfriend last year when he played that

(07:21):
like one two games with the Raiders. I think it's just it's just like
the World Cup or all these sportingevents. It's just like they don't know
enough in the general audience watching it, doesn't know enough about these back hair
enough. They're just throwing shots ofpretty ladies in. Is that right?
I don't know, it's just theweird decision. You know, I'm here

(07:44):
to watch football, but you know, it's a lot of people are watching
it. I mean, the Bengalsbeat the hell out of the Browns,
so I mean you got I mean, you might as well show the backup
quarterback. I mean it's supposed tobe the back quarterback in his like fan
base and family that never get toever really sorryat anything because you're the backup

(08:05):
QB. But you know, sothey got the moment in the sun.
But it got a little It didget a little weird, especially listening to
it on radio, because it wasjust a I've never you know, they
really talk about when you especially whenyou're a play by play guy, you
don't want dead airtime. But DanHorde, the play by play guy from
the Bengals, I think it wasjust an utter shot because there was straight

(08:28):
up about ten seconds of just deadsilence, just nothing said, and just
the most awkward transition from it tenseconds later like it wasn't said. So
one of the all time Dave Laphamcolor comments. There are some other great
ones that we can repeat them hereon the podcast. Come up there always

(08:50):
something. But yeah, Bengals win. It doesn't really mean suck, I
can tell you that much. Butit'll be interesting to see what the Bengals
are able to do this offseason.They have a lot of cap room.
They got a lot expiring contracts thatkeeps it so it's gonna be an interesting
offseason for them, and I'm interestedto see if they learn anything from since

(09:13):
Shoeburrow went down and they run thisoffense and these packages a little different than
they were before he went down.So we'll have to see for the Bengals
next year. But it's about whomade it now at this point. Yeah,
we're gonna be tracking this offseason forthe Bengals specifically. I think there's
a lot of options with what theycan do. Yes, they're gonna have
a lot of contracts tied up,but when you have eighty million in cap

(09:35):
space for next year, that,yeah, you can pay to Higgins,
you can save money for for JamarChase. You can maybe sign some one
year deals and have a run ofthe Super Bowl like we want to see.
So excited for the Bengals offseason,as much as it pains me to
say that they're not gonna be inthe playoffs after going nine to eight,
and they have the eighteenth pick inthe draft, which is the last pick
out of the teams who did notmake the playoffs, so that is also

(09:56):
not the greatest. But we'll digressand keep on going. The Lions beat
the Vikings thirty to twenty. NickBullen started for the Vikings in this one,
did what he always does, throwstwo touchdowns, but also there's two
interceptions. The Lions went up earlyin this one. They have the running
game top five in the league wherethey can just if they get up,
they'll just run the ball and doa good job with Jamir Gibbson and David

(10:16):
Montgomery, So a good win forthem. They were kind of playing their
starters in this game because they theyif the Eagles and Cowboys both lost,
they could be the number two seed. Didn't end up working out that way.
Dan Campbell not a guy who wouldlike to bench his starters anyway.
Sam Laporta dig it banged up inthis game, and there's an outside chance

(10:37):
he plays in the wild card game. But I can't blame Dan Campbell for
playing the starters knowing that you couldmove up a seed and have home field
advantage till the NFC Championship game ifyou win and some other teams lose.
Right, I mean, you gottaplay. You gotta play out all the
scenarios because you feel like a realidiot if you sat your starters and then
the Eagles and Cowboys both lose,you'd feel really stupid at that point.

(11:03):
So I mean they went for it. You know, they weren't doing crazy
things. Sam Laporta did get hurt. That sucks. Yeah, maybe you
know time, but at the endof the day when it I think they
really wanted to wash the bad tastesout of the mouth after what happened with
the whole two point conversion scandal twoweeks ago. So I think they try

(11:26):
to rewrite the ship here, getright for the playoffs. I think they're
a team that you know, theycan just eat clock. And I think
you know, they're not beaten downand down that much because they haven't had
a crazy hard schedule either, SoI think they're gonna be ready to go
for the playoffs. It does suckwith Sam Laporta probably not playing this week,
but it's just, you know,it's it's something that happens in the

(11:48):
NFL weekend and week out. Peopleare gonna get hurt. You know,
if it's a one week injury,it could have been a lot worse.
And you know, as they dois win this game and it'll probably be
back in the lineup for them whenthey're really gonna need it, So,
yeah, Lions kind of cruise here. Vikings kind of been doing what they've
been doing all season, where it'sjust can score a lot of points but
also give up a lot of points. And you know, they're just kind

(12:11):
of at a weird place this allseason with Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson's gonna
have to get paid a lot ofmoney. So we'll see how that all
shakes out as well, because there'svariables with that team. Definitely a lot
of variables with that team, andmaybe they'll take some I take a quarterback
with their pick too. There's there'sa lot to figure out in the Lions.
We'll see what they do in thewildcard round. You're right, you

(12:33):
know, Laporta probably not gonna play. I'd be very surprised to the way
his knee looked like at Ben's.But a couple of weeks could do him
some good. So if they ifthey could win this game, it would
be really good to see him back, all right. The AFC South matchup,
the Titans beat the Jaguars twenty eightto twenty A little bit of an
upset here. Derrick Henry has hisvintage game against the Jaguars nineteen carries one

(12:54):
hundred and three yards in a touchdown. He after the game kind of said
it farewell to the fan. Hekind of expects us to be his last
run with the Titans, so thatwas kind of good to see him have
a go out on a high note. The Jaguars have one of the biggest
collapses I've seen in my history ofdoing this, and just all downhill after
we thought they could get the oneseed like a month a month and a

(13:15):
half ago. So that's just somethingthey have to figure out. And you
know, honestly, don't really haveany words for that. And then sees
on Tuesday the Titans decided to fireMike Rabel, not something I really agree
with. He had a couple downyears here, but really the roster wasn't
really that good. And I don'tthink that was all his fault because he's

(13:37):
just the coach and he did havesome roster decisions this year, but it
was just this year that's kind ofcrazy. And then the owner, I
think your name is Amy Adams Strunksaid we didn't want to trade Mike Rabel
because it could take a couple ofweeks. That's to me very lazy from
an owner to not want to tradeif you can get a pick back,
even if it's like a third roundpick, fourth round pick, if you

(13:58):
can get something him back for yourcoach, who twenty five NFL teams might
want or at least may maybe theydon't want him because they just signed someone.
But like you know, all thecoaches who have open spots, at
least six or seven teams would wanthim, then maybe you should try to
trade him. That's just my thought. Yeah. First off, congrats on
either the intention or unintentional Derrick Henry'slast run as a running back too.

(14:26):
Yeah, I mean the Jaguars,they got no one to blame for this
missing playoffs but themselves. I mean, Trevor Lawrence is not quick toss the
interceptions, making bad throws. Idon't it has to see the injury.
It's weird because isn't or anything likethat. It just seems like he's just
he's just not feeling it and thatcan be an issue, especially with your

(14:50):
quarterback. Made some key mistakes,especially Trevor Lawrence, so that's unfortunate.
He gets kind of the blow ofthe aim in this game. But again,
the Titans offense has barely done anythingall year, and the Jaguars defense
didn't do anything, so they deserveto go home. You know, this
is one where they played a lotof you know, in a row for

(15:15):
the off chances. He sends themhome in multiple, multiple weeks. They
could have punched this and they justdid, so that sucks for them.
Titans, you know, it's gonnabe looking team. I think I don't
necessarily like the you know, firing. I think, yeah, you leave

(15:37):
him out there trying to get atrade done. I think team does need
some new offensive minds though, andI don't know if you can really get
that in a quarter, you know, in an offensive coordinator. Right now,
offense is coming out of premium inthe NFL, especially guys that can
kind of be that guy on theoffense where you don't have a head coach

(16:00):
doing it basically. So I cansee the organization wanting someone that's offense first
to develop Will Levis and you know, figure out what they're going to do
because right now there's not a lotof solutions. And to be honest,
the defense hasn't been doing as wellas they probably should with some of the
guys that have been on that team. In recent years. And I love
Mike Frable, but the reality ishe hasn't really want anything at all,

(16:25):
and it's a league where guys getfired for things that aren't necessarily fair.
And I would have kept him aroundpersonally because what are you going to replace
him with? We'll see, Butit's just kind of one of those It's
not that he's not getting them overthe hump, and you know, I
don't know what they kind of wantand what they're gonna have to do with

(16:47):
kind of a lot of rebuilding here. I feel like because this isn't just
a simple solution, and it reallyhasn't been for the last couple of years.
Yeah, I get the fresh startthing. I just would have said,
if you wanted a fresh start,then trying to trade him get something
back to help with that fresh start. So for the Titans, it's gonna
be a new look everything next year. It might be to Ryan Tannehill'll probably
be gone, Derek Henry will begone, Mike Rable will be gone,

(17:08):
and they're really gonna have to fixthat offensive line too, to give Bill
Levis really a chance to be successful, because he did look good and spurts,
but with that offensive line being sobad. It's just it's not very
sustainable. So they have an offseasonto look forward to of a lot of
change. The Jaguars need to regroupsomehow after that. They've had, you
know, last year in the playoffs, they're able to have to pull off
the big comeback against the Chargers.A lot of hype going into this year

(17:30):
and just totally fell on their face. So a lot to figure out for
that. The New York Jets beatthe New England Patriots seventeen to three in
a bad weather, snowy game.No one was throwing the ball that much.
Breise Hall ran the ball thirty seventimes, one hundred and seventy eight
yards and one touchdown for a huge, huge game. Bill Belichick had made

(17:51):
a career out of dominating the pageor dominating the Jets. Excuse me,
but that is now over. Whenasked after the game, what was gonna
go on, Bill Belichick said,I might step down from some of my
responsibilities, which most people thought likecould be the GM stuff he does.
But still no coaching change officially.See so both these teams aren't going to

(18:11):
be in the playoffs. Both theseteams currently are going to go forward with
their head coaches, you know,three days after the season. Yeah,
I don't know. I guess that'sgood for both. I don't know.
I thought maybe a change of sceneryfor Bill was coming. Yeah, it's
a weird you know, you gota Hall of Fame coach, right,
like same thing with like an olderveteran player star. You know, it's

(18:34):
kind of a weird moment to goMaybe we should go away from somebody who's
brought us as a franchise so muchsuccess, right. I think if Bill
is willing to let someone else beGM again, I think that's when they
had the best gie. Tom Bradykept them very relevant, very good for

(18:56):
a long time past that point.I think finding guy that can at least
be a voice of reason and bein charge of personnel and to the Bill
just telling everyone what he's gonna do. I think it can work, honestly,
because I think Bill Belichick he knowshow to coach a defense. He's
really good at defense. I knowthere's been some issues and they have some

(19:18):
aging people on that team, butthe real reality has been they haven't used
their money wisely in the cap whenthey've made these signs of like tight ends
and weird stuff going on there,and you know, it's just a carousel
of who's coaching the offense every year, and really the GM should really have
some more say and would really createsomething that maybe has a semblance of looking

(19:41):
like a functional franchise again, becauseright now, you know, Bill is
just doing it all and that's notalways great. Bill is a great coach,
Bill's a Hall of Famer, butthe reality is he's not a general
manager. And it's showed it forthe last probably ten years that he's not.
He's made weird draft he's made weirdsignings, and I don't know what

(20:03):
it is if he's just trying toreinvent the wheel here, but the reality
is he's taken too many swings tolet him keep, you know, getting
up to the plate. So Ithink there's a world where if he truly
accepts this and this isn't going totry to just basically disregard or fight everything
that a GM or somebody else incharge does, I think he can work.

(20:25):
Yeah, I don't know. Ithink once you're the guy to have
all that in charge, I don'tknow if that's something you're gonna want to
do. I can't wait till theGM says, no, we can't hire
your friend Matt Patricia to be theoffensive coordinator just because he's out of a
job, Like, can you mentionthe arguments that I'll be ahead of,
Like the GM is saying like,Bill, this is stupid, and Bill
being like, well, I've wonthis many Super Bowls and done this as

(20:45):
many things for the Patriots, Like, I don't know. I think it
could be tough, but you're right. The biggest Achilles seal for Bill Belichick
isn't necessarily the x's and o's oranything. It's just player evaluation, and
that's something that GM could help outwith. Let's move on to the Saints
beating the Falcons forty eight to seventeen. Both these teams showed up a little

(21:06):
bit too little, too late tomake the playoffs. The Saints finished nine
and eight. We expected them tobe a team that could make the playoffs.
Their offense never really fully got going. Dennis Allen has had a rough
year as head coach. Now toget to the drama at the end of
the game is a lot of fun. Jamis Winston goes into the game.
You know they're trying to get JamalWilliams a touchdown. Jamalso hasn't had a

(21:27):
touchdown, and they're trying to gethim a touchdown because they're trying to buy
into the whole, you know,team thing. Well let's get this guy
going, and Jamis is the guywho fight for his guys. So Dennis
Allen calls for the victory formation.The team votes to do a handoff,
a fake knee handoff to Jamal Williamsto get him a touchdown. Couldn't be
seen rubbing them, you know,nose in it, you know, winning

(21:49):
forty eight to seven after this,but the team decided to do it.
Was a team decision on the field. After the game, you know,
Arthur Smith goes nuts on Dennis Allenfor this decision. Turns out Arthur Smith
gets fired after this game, notbecause of this decision. I mean it
was gonna come. It was cominganyway, especially with all the fantas and
people going to burn down his housebasically if he didn't get fired. And

(22:11):
then we had Dennis Allen after thegame saying, you know, this is
not what I called. I didn'tsay victory formation. And then you had
Jamis saying, yeah, we madea team decision. So there's a whole
mess. Heear Dennis Allen is beingkept on as Saints head coach, which
is weird in it in itself becauseyou had a bad season, your team
took till week seventeen or eighteen andreached your full potential. Your team basically

(22:33):
said they just did whatever the heckthey wanted, which I would agree.
I love what the players did,but that's just still kind of crazy.
And then on the other side,the other guy gets fired. We kind
of saw that one coming because ArthurSmith has just done a terrible job with
the Falcons, right, Like,imagine, for example, most NFL organization.
So yeah, let's pick our lastexample. Imagine if some players did
that on a like a Bill Belichickteam, what would happen to them?

(22:57):
Like they probably I don't even knowwhat happened. Like, is there is
there something worse than just being cutthe next day? Like that's kind of
the level, Like you know it, it's a respect thing I get.
Like your coach is calling victory formation, the game's over, Just just end

(23:19):
it, right, Like it's justlike, why are you risk because somebody
could get hurt. It's just stupidness, right, It's fun that's great,
but the reality is like you justlike went against what your coach told you
to do. And yeah, youget audible plays and things like that in
game situations where you see something different, but the reality is like it's just

(23:40):
it is very just. It doesn'tlook great. It looks like it's just
a disorganized mess where you know,any player can just do whatever the hell
they want and there's not gonna berepercussions for it. I mean, if
I'm Dennis Allen, I mean,what am I gonna do the next day?
Am I gonna sit there? Imean, I'd be pissed. I'd
be like I got chewed out coach, because you guys just decide you can

(24:00):
just do whatever the hell you want. Like if it was another level of
football, I mean that you wantto talk about like discipline and things like
that, that's will be happening.It's just that that's the reality of other
levels of this sport. But inthe NFL, you know, you can't
really do that, and it's justa it's a respect thing because you're you're
professionals, right, you know,each everyone has their job to do,

(24:22):
and they just kind of disregarded that. So I don't know what the Saints
team's gonna look like. Derek CarrStirle the quarterback. I guess it's just
I just don't see any end insightto the mediocrity is the problem. Yeah,
they have to. I think theyshould fire Denis al and I think
they should restart. They're the teamthat kind of manipulates the cap the most

(24:44):
and kind of puts them in aposition where it's not a fresh restart,
and I think that the team thatneeds it the most is probably the Saints.
So they're gonna run back next yearand maybe in the NFC South,
if no one improves again, maybethey can have a shot to win it,
especially if they start off the yeara little bit hotter and some guys
don't get injured. But yeah,it's it's just a weird, weird situation
for the Saints, weird situation forthe Falcons. We'll see what goes on

(25:07):
there. It's kind of be anattractive coaching position for the Falcons. A
lot of young talent on that teamand probably a chance to maybe move up
in the draft and drafted quarterback orsigned with someone in free agency. The
other NFC South game cease, wehad the Buccaneers beating the Panthers nine to
nothing. It was boring. There'snothing to talk about. The Buccaneers did
their job, they got to theplayoffs, but boy was that a bad

(25:29):
NFL game. Yeah, it kindof used a little more bizazz going in
the playoffs instead and just not beable to punch the ball in the end
zone. It was just kind of, you know, baker have anything.
They should have just tried, becauseI get they don't want to lose the
game with the reality is like thisis they need to ratchet up before the

(25:51):
playoffs. It's that simple, andyou know, it just it was gross.
It was a gross looking game.And I get the Panthers are a
good again, especially against passing offit was just a very very middling performance.
And yeah, we're gonna talk abouta two teams that just look like

(26:12):
crap going into their matchup. We'llget to the Buccaneers Eagles game here in
a little bit, yes we will. That's it's gonna be a fun one,
I think to watch for people whoaren't fans of those teams. You're
fans of those teams, you mighthave a little bit of struggle watching that
game. But for the rest ofus might have some fun. The last
of the one PM games is theother NFC North game Seas we had the
Packers beating the Bears seventeen to nine. That helps them get into the playoffs.

(26:37):
Jordan Love has looked really good,especially down the stretch. Three under
sixteen yards, two touchdowns. Inthis game, Aaron Jones decides to step
on the gas. The last severalweeks of the season. Doesn't help me
with my fantasy season because it's away past you know, fantasy regular season
time, and I missed the playoffs, But you know he does. At
the end. I love Aaron Jones. He's just a great player. I
think he had the most rushing yardsthrough the last four weeks of the season
or something like that. So theyget to win. The Bears finished seven

(27:02):
to ten. Good season for them. They have the number one pick.
They can either trade that take callWilliams and talked about that before. They've
decided. The only coaching change they'regonna make is they got rid of Luke
Getzy. They decided to keep MattEberflus. You know they're gonna have a
just appeels to have an uphill battleof learning with the new offensive coordinator unless
they're gonna draft Gil Williams. ButI think that's probably the right call.
We've had her complaints with Getsy Eberflus. I think has shown improvement as a

(27:25):
team. The offense just hasn't takenthat step forward, right. I think
the Bears defense has definitely gotten better. But yeah, the reality is,
I mean, I'm not a bigfan of Keithing eber Flues because I feel
like sometimes he's too busy with thedefense to actually figure out what's going on
with the offense. Who's the strugglingpart of the team. That's kind of

(27:48):
the one criticism. But I meanthat's having coaches. The reality is they're
going to have, you know,a lot of focus on one side of
the ball because that's who they haveto act. Should we see and figure
things out for same thing we playcalling head coaches for the offense. I
mean, it can be fixed ifthey find a guy who you know,

(28:10):
and usually the formula has been youngoffensive head coach who calls plays and some
really old school old defensive coordinator whohas head coaching experience or been you know,
a well respected coordinator in the leaguefor a long time. You know
to McVeigh and Wade Phillips back inyou know the Earls and when they went

(28:30):
to a Super Bowl and that Ramsdefense was absolutely dominant. I mean,
it's harder because the offensive guys there'snot as many old guys, which is
kind of weird to say. It'snot a lot of old school offensive coordinators
because it's such a changing position.So I don't know if you get the
same type of thing, but findsome young up and comer somewhere to really

(28:52):
manage this offense and really be incontrol of it, because reality is eba
Flus isn't gonna be making most ofthose calls, or do you get that
guy? I don't really know.It's it's diamond the roof, right,
because usually those guys within an organizationdon't usually leave you. If they do,
they leave because they're gonna get headcoaching jobs, and they get they

(29:14):
they go pretty quick, and alot of them go way before they're even
ready to. So that's a heckof a hunt for an offensive coordinator.
And again college and the NFL isweird too, so you know, you
don't really get the stoke the fireas much there because it's it's a different
kind of game. But yeah,so good luck for the Bears. The
Packers have been rolling. They playedreally well their last two games. Those

(29:38):
two games have been the Bears andthe Viking, so lean from it what
you will. Some ung hope Packersfans are very suddenly in a different mood.
If anything. As someone who likesthe Packers, I'm kind of bummed
out because this is another season ofJoe Barry. It's more I I don't

(30:00):
like Matt Lafour. I just don'tlike him. I don't think he's really
that good of a head coach.We'll see if this middling team Jordan Love
and the very mediocre Packers do something, we'll get those picks here in a
little bit. But it's nothing aboutthis team is ever going to excite me.
And that's the problem is you can'tbe a very middling team in the

(30:21):
NFL or you will die on thevine like Vikings have over the last probably
five years. So that's where thePackers are. They're the new Vikings.
Oh boy, they're not gonna likeyou say in that season. But yeah,
I'm with you. I'm with you. And the team they'll be playing
in the first round is the DallasCowboys. Cowboys win thirty eight to ten
over the Commanders. This was ablowout. Nothing to talk about there.

(30:44):
The important thing for the Cowboys isthey lock up the two seed. They
have home field advantage until the NFCChampionship when they would be in San Francisco
and the San Francisco loses. TheCommanders, on the other hand, have
decided to fire Ronavera. But we'vetalked about him being a lame duck coach
for the last month or two evenwhole season. Really since ownership changed.
You knew it was coming unless theydid something crazy like won the NFC East,

(31:06):
and even if they made the playoffs, it wasn't even like a guarantee
he would stay as coach. Soyou know they're gonna be going through the
process of trying to find the nextguy. It'll probably be a more attractive
location to be the head coach atnow that Dan Snyder's not in charge,
but still a lot a lot ofunknowns with Washington and for the Cowboys,
like I said, it's it's goodto get the home games. That's all
I gotta say. After the teamwent four and five on the road this

(31:27):
season. Yeah, it's definitely importantfor them. Also important that this didn't
become some kind of weird trap game, which is very bench cowboy thing to
happen where weather's not great, it'sa rival, it's on the road,
it's a surefire we're gonna beat thehell out of this team, and next
thing you know, they're fighting fortheir lives. It's that's difficult Cowboys trap

(31:49):
game, and they overcame it.They don't let they didn't let that happen.
They kept a single focus. Theyplayed well on offense, the defense
played, I mean, they playedwell on all facets of the game.
They should be ready to go forthe playoffs. I think they should be
too, and hopefully at least takecare of business with the with the home
games and win more than one playoffgame. Would be nice to get to

(32:09):
an NFC championship at some point.Ever, at this point for people who
are around my age, so CowboysPackers will be the pick we make later.
I'm moving on with the four PMgames. The Raiders beat the Broncost
twenty seven to fourteen. This islike a terrible game in the sense of
Jared Stidham starting against Aidan O'Connell.Antonio Pierce does a really good job down

(32:30):
the stretch to get the Raiders toeight and nine. They're still seeming like
they're gonna interview with a bunch ofpeople, like, you know, including
maybe Jim Harball is like a bigrumor right now, Sean Payton. You
know, the big news with themright now is that Russell Wilson. It's
not an end all be all.He might come back next year, which
is very awkward if he does comeback. So both these teams have a
lot to figure out, but theydon't you know, these teams aren't going

(32:51):
to the playoffs. So I don'thave much to say because I don't even
know where they're going to be,like in the next week. I don't
know. Yeah, I don't know. I think Antonia Pier should probably be
coach. Broncos had a weird assseason, and you know, the Raiders.
What is fascinating me is where arethe Raiders if they signed someone like
Jim Harbaugh. Where the hell arethey getting the money for all these head
coaches because they still are paying JohnBruden. I'm pretty sure Josh McDaniels didn't

(33:19):
come cheap. What the hell arethey gonna pay Jim Harbaugh Lee Michigan.
I for a team that like asof like five years ago when Khleio Mac
trade went down and it basically beingbecause they didn't have any money to put
in escrow because of the move toVegas. I don't know where the sudden
money flow is coming from. Butyou know, maybe maybe you know,

(33:42):
Mark Davis has had some fun atsome local casinos and maybe he's feeling lucky.
So who knows, that's some thing. I think he's playing the slots
seas he just hit a big oneof these times. He saw pictures of
him like on a date or somethingwhere he was like just sitting at the
slots and he must have hit itbig that night. So we'll see what
he does with Antonio Pierce. Andjust you know, he would be a
cheaper option because he's an INTERM coach. He's not like you have to go

(34:05):
buy him out from Michigan or paysomeone and ruler them away. He's already
there, So that's what I woulddo. But we'll see what happens.
These two teams have a very interestingfutures coming very soon. Next one up,
we have the Giants meeting the Eaglestwenty seven to ten. Tyrod Taylor
is two hundre ninety seven yards ina touchdown. The Eagles have some injuries
in this game and end up benchingtheir starters when they find out that the

(34:28):
Cowboys are likely going to win thegame against the Commanders. AJ Brown has
an injury. Jalen Hurts has aninjury. Sidney Brown, who was Chase
Brown from the Bengals brother who bothgot drafted this year. He used the
safety for the Eagles, all gothurt. Sidney Brown will probably not be
playing in the playoffs. AJ Brownand Jalen Hurts will probably will be playing
in the playoffs. Will be playingthis week because of what the expectation is

(34:50):
cease. I will say really quickly. Good for the Giants. Tyrod Taylor
gives you something, and they probablygonna have a new quarterback next year because
they don't want to go Daniel Jones. Martindale has been fired or they've been
they've parted ways because they Brian Dabelefired some of his right hand men on
defense, and Wank hated that,so he just he hopped on a flight
to Sarasota. There's pictures of himon Twitter. He's just going to Sarasota

(35:13):
and he has like all the stuffhe wears on the sideline every week.
It's the same thing. He's notlike dressed in like an Hawaiian shirt or
anything. It's really cool for theEagles. They are a bad football team.
They are terrible. They are bad. They could maybe could beat the
Bucks because it's the Bucks, it'sNFC South, but otherwise, I don't
know if I take them to beanyone in the playoffs NFC AFC, I

(35:35):
would, you know, we justtalked about the Bears. I think I
would take the Bears straight up ona neutral field right now over the Eagles.
They are bad. Yeah, Imean they're bad. I mean you
take them all right. You knowwhat, I'd love to see that.
I'd love to put some money downand enjoy that. Remember Week one when
I said that the Eagles covering likefive points was like a block of the

(35:59):
week, can't miss bet. Yeah, yeah, And that was true.
It did hit. It did onehundred percent. So all you out there
that think that the Eagles are trash, I can't believe the things he said.
We didn't know they were trash,and they weren't necessarily trash until this.
I don't know, Like if they'vebeen dancing on this line for so

(36:20):
long, it's it's hard to whenthis happened. Were they always ride or
they secretly this whole season garbage?What's that mean for all the other teams
that they played. I don't know. I don't know what to say.
Cease, but I'm excited for thisfootball game on Monday night that you mentioned
earlier. I think it'll be ina way we like good football. I

(36:45):
think for a playoff game, itcould be a chance to be a shit
show, and I just love that. You know, we have a coach
who might be fired, Nick Sirianni, because of Howie's maybe I don't know,
lost the locker room, lost coachingfootball in the last one and a
half. It's to be a lotof fun. So, yeah, the
Giants get the win. Good forthem. We'll see Wink Martin Dale in

(37:07):
Sarasota in a couple of weeks maybe. But next game up we have the
Seahawks beating the Cardinals twenty one totwenty. Didn't end up mattering. The
Packers won and they get in theplayoffs. They had to come from behind
to get this win. But thebigger news out of this game. For
these teams, Pete Carroll is basicallyforced out of the coaching job and into
the front office. He had apress conference where he was like, no,

(37:28):
I fought to keep this job.I wanted to be the coach.
I met with the players on Monday. I thought I was the coach,
and then the Seahawks today decided tosay, no, you're not the coach.
You're movie getting me to the frontoffice. So Pete seems like he's
kind of pissed one upset to threestill wants to be coaching, and I
like, Pete, I think youknow so, like you mentioned Cecil before

(37:49):
the show, like some of thedrafts have been weird. He's gotten better
at some of the drafts the lastcouple of years. A lot of that
is John Schneider, the GM,and not him. I'm sure he has
some input, but he's got somuch energy for a seventy two year old.
He's like, he's more energetic thansome of these thirty five year old
coaches that are getting hired for thefirst time. I'm gonna be so sad
not to see Pete Carroll on theSouth the sidelines next year. As something
I'm gonna miss like I would muchrather. Besides, like we want to

(38:13):
talk about head coaching candidates and guys, you know, vacancies. You know,
I'd like Mark, I take MikefraB or Pete Carroll over a lot
of the like Ben Johnson. LikeBen Johnson is good. I mean,
the Alliance offense has done a lotof stuff, but also there's been some
stupid ass play calling at the sametime. You know, some reason,

(38:36):
Ben Johnson is like the gift ofthe earth of this coaching cycle. For
some reason, I think he's good. I don't think he's great. I'll
think he's this kid nader. Youknow, you never know until somebody really
puts on the headset, so tospeak, and it's the one call and
making all his decisions. So Idon't know. I think there's other guys
that have proven in this league thatthey can coach, and I'd much rather

(38:59):
have than some random coordinator be myhead coach. I think I would too.
I mean, you've proven winners inthe NFL are tough to find,
and I guess Vrabel you can kindof maybe the argument that he's as he
winner, is he not a winnerbecause of the LAS two seasons but Pete
Carroll Man, if that guy stillwants to coach, it's not like he
like this is an NFL job.Like people can help him out with the
personnel. People can help him outwith the x's and o's and everything.

(39:22):
He can show up and still bea very good head coach. It's not
like college football where you have torecruit in the offseason. There's no breaks
like spring practice and then this andthat and that. Like, I'm so
sad that he's not gonna be there. So I'm with you. I take
both those guys. Over twenty fiveish coaches of the league. I think
there's about seven or eight. Iwould take over them maybe, but that

(39:43):
might be it. So just somethingto think about. It was to move
ahead and maybe Pete takes another jobin the NFL and the you know,
one of these openings he just getsenticed by. So we'll see, all
right. A game that did notmatter as well. We had the Chiefs
beating the Chargers thirteen to twelve.Seas the backups run for the Chiefs.
Chris Jones did play to get anincentive in his contract, so there's that.

(40:06):
But the Chargers had Easton Stick atquarterback, still, you know,
it was a bad game. It'swhatever at this point. It's just at
the end of the season, they'regonna have some duds like this. The
NFL will. Yeah, I've neverI didn't care about this game for a
second, and I have literally nothing to say about it, So hell
yes, it's exactly what I wantto hear. Sees. The Rams beat
the forty nine Ers twenty one totwenty in the other NFC West matchup that

(40:30):
we've mentioned, the Pete Carroll matchupbefore, again did not matter. The
both teams had started had benched somestarters. Carson Wentz gets some action in
this one and actually has a lotof carry seventeen carres in this game.
It did not matter, though,Rams win twenty one to twenty. Cool
for Sean McVay. I guess,I don't know. Yeah, it's fun

(40:50):
to watch the Foreign Airs offense stillreally be really good with like none their
actual starters, Like watching Sam Darnoldand they're back up running back Jordan Mason
like put up numbers and just havethese really good runs and just like dominant
performances. It's just fun to watchand be like, Wow, this team
just just feels like a machine likeit really does. That's what you gotta

(41:15):
love about Kyle Shanahan. So we'llsee by the end the who by the
end of this playoffs, and yougot to see who the guru m That's
truely a long, long seated debatefor us of who the guru is.
I'm with you, see Sam Donaldwill be I mean, if Rock Party
goes down, they'll have Sam Donaldthis year in the NFC Championship. We

(41:37):
could see Sam Donald possibly in theSuper Bowl if Rock Party has one injury.
I'm not wishing that on anyone,but last year it obviously happened where
all their quarterbacks got hurt. Sojust the crazy times were rain. If
Sam Darnold does get to that point, maybe shows you sometimes it's about the
organization and not not the player.You know. It's just one of those
things, all right. The lastgame of the NFL regular season, the
Bills beat the Dolphins twenty one tofourteen. That wins them the AFC East,

(41:59):
that get the number two seed inthe AFC. Not something we really
thought we would say, given howthe Bills were kind of about five weeks
ago, where they were and howthey were playing, and even how they're
playing now, is that the greatest. It's still up and down, but
got the job done here. Itwas impressive for me, Cease because I
thought Dolphins were winning this game athalftime fourteen to seven, and then for
the longest time they were kind ofholding on. Then there's a part return

(42:22):
touchdown and it all went to shitand they ended up losing the game.
Just a bad collapse for the Dolphins. They don't really as you mentioned,
didn't beat too many good teams onthe year, so there's a lot of
concern going into the playoffs, andthen obviously with the matchup they have,
which we'll get to here later.For the Bills, this is very important
because I'm not out on the Bills. I'm not totally in on the Bills,

(42:43):
but they have home field advantage untilthe AFC Championship game, and that
could be that could be huge.Right, there's one word for Bills here
that is gonna matter in the playoffs, probably more than it does for any
other team. Overs. Holy crap. The reason the Bills were driving the

(43:04):
ball, I mean it's they weredriving down the field the whole game.
So it looked like the Dolphins werewinning at halftime. But it was closer
than it looked on the scoreboard.Because reality is Josh Allen had an interception,
Josh Allen had a really kind ofbad looking strip bumbled. It could

(43:25):
have been a much worse game forthe Dolphins than it was in the first
half if they had not turned theball. So I think this Bills team,
like you said, it worries mewhen I look at everybody in the
AFC right now. Ravens are probablythe only team that has played complete football
over the last couple of weeks.But you can feel confident in most games

(43:45):
to be favored in everybody else outthere. I don't know what the hell
to expect. You want, youknow, Bill Machine and all awesome,
then you've got you can't say Chiefswhere it's like, is Pat Mahomes ever

(44:10):
gonna like? Is he gonna throwfor more than two hundred and seventy yards?
Ever? Again? Is he evergonna hit three hundred? Are the
receivers ever gonna catch a deep ballfor him? Is Rashi Rice literally the
only person on that team? Now? Question he a good team? It
seems like. And Tua in thisgame looked awful on the second half.

(44:31):
I mean we're talking too bad interceptionsthat just did not like. It just
looked like he's just trying to forcestuff that is not there. He's not
looking at the safety. It's justit's lazy. That's what it looks like.
If for a guy who's played sowell for so long, it's over
the last couple of weeks, he'sgotten a little desperate at times, and

(44:52):
that's kind of concerning. So theDolphins have a lot of question marks and
everybody on their defense is now hurt. Van Ginko went down, so that's
another key defensive starter that's down.All they need now is jalb Ramsey to
break his ankle in like the firstdrive of this playoff game and they'll be
complete. Besides that, you know, you have the Steelers who are utter

(45:15):
garbage. They're not going anywhere.I'm not gonna try to they do well,
they don't do anything. They justgot lucky based then retire playoff picture
and the Browns. Browns have aJoe Flackham who could have a bad game
in any moment. Then they're completelyrelying on their defense dominating another team,

(45:38):
and they aren't as good away asthey are at home. So there's all
breakdown for you. But the realityis the Bills of all those besides the
Ravens of all the other teams,I'd probably picked the Bills right now to
beat any of those other teams,because the reality is Josh Allen can lose
the games, but Josh Allen canalso win them. I don't want to

(45:59):
sound like Chris Collinsworth or Tony Romobecause I swear to God, it's some
of the worst football commentator to everlisten to, because they just act like
Josh Allen is great, and Imean, he can be really good,
but the reality is they don't reallyever get on him for the stupid turnovers
that happen, and that sort ofupsets me. It's like, that's fine
if you want to say that JoshAllen is a freak athlete, he is,

(46:22):
but the reality is he throws,he makes stupid decisions with the football,
really stupid stuff, and if itwas any other quarterback in the NFL,
they'd be ripping them apart. Andthat's a sad thing. He's getting
paired to John Elway, which Ithink is a fair comparison because reality here
is I think, like we've talkedabout John Elway is one of the more

(46:43):
overrated quarterbacks in NFL history, andthe reality is he is a lot like
John Alway because John Elway choked awaya lot of games and made a lot
of stupid decisions a lot in histenure before at the very end of his
career where they wont those two SuperBowls. So, yeah, maybe it's
an after comparison, but not inthe way you think it is. Yeah,

(47:06):
that's why Josh Allen rant. Thatbeing said, there's an early season
bad with the Bills and forty nineErs making the Super Bowl. So I
bought in Bill's mafia. If Icould get one of those grand Foobar hats
to put on, I would allright, Well, I will say,
Cees, I do think the topseeds in each conference are like so heavily
favored right now in most people's mindsof like, all right, it'll be

(47:29):
forty nine Ers Ravens, right,But you're right, teams two through seven,
there is a lot of leeway.Anything could happen type of thing.
There's teams that have been labeled frauds. There's teams that have had good times
in the season, bad times,up and downs. It's gonna be a
fun NFL playoffs. If it endsup being one versus one in the super
Bowl, at least we'll have agood super Bowl to talk about. But

(47:49):
like in between that time and this, like this, this could be some
fun games. So let's get toour picks for the wild card round here.
The game that we're gonna start withis Saturday, the Browns and Texans
in Houston. Cleveland is favored bytwo and a half on the road season.
Yeah, I'm gonna go with mystroud roots here. I'm gonna pick
the Texans in the upset because Ithink quarterbacks. You know, every one

(48:14):
says defense wins championships, but Ithink more importantly having a quarterback too much
further in the play Yes, it'sgonna be a huge thing here too.
It's gonna be in Texas, sothey have the home field advantage. It's
gonna be in a dome. It'sgonna be nice. Again, that's something
that Cleveland doesn't get to do aswell with. You know, a lot

(48:35):
of Cleveland's dominic games this season havebeen in Cleveland where the utter, the
weather has been utter trash. Soit's gonna be a little bit different for
him. I think the Texans fanbase is gonna be fired up because,
uh, you know, they've gotno pressure on him. Really, there's
no pressure in the world on theseguys because the reality is they just basically
see South. Yes, I Ijust think it could go. I mean

(49:01):
it's gonna go either. I thinkit's gonna be either. We're gonna know
early on this game what kind ofgame it's gonna be. And you know,
the Browns get up early, it'sgonna be probably that kind of dominant
defensive performance all game. CJ.Stroud's able to kind of avoid that pass
rush with his mobility a little bit, which I think he can do.

(49:22):
I think he can take advantage ofsome stuff and you know, the kind
of middle layer of the field andtake some shots as well. And I
think his mobility will limit Myles Garrettand that defense a little bit so.
And I again, the Browns offense, it's gotten better a couple of weeks
because show flat see that. There'sa lot where everyone kind of just assumed,

(49:51):
you know, Joe Flacco is gonnaplay this way through the playoffs.
I mean, he has playoff experience, sure, but the reality is,
I mean he he's prone to havea bad game. I think this is
gonna be the game. I thinkit's gonna be a tough on the road
game. And I think, youknow, you make somebody two and a
half point dogs at home, that'sa good bet to take. I mean,

(50:15):
really, you take it three anda half. I mean, I
think you should take that all dayif the duo teases up, because I
was feeling it might. Yeah,same pick here, Houston to win.
If you're gonna give me points,I'm gonna take them. This is all
about the Stroud Boys, all aboutCJ. Stroud. Five interceptions on the
year, he only really had oneor two bad games. That's not typical
for a rookie. We really seea rookie struggle most of the time.

(50:37):
Four thousand yards passing and this isn'tan NFL where like the leading passer in
the league had like forty six hundredyards. It wasn't a year where people
had five thousand yards passing. Sothis is he is the truth. He
is good. Jamaica Ryans will beable to game plan pretty well for that
defense. There are some holes inthe defense, but some of their young
guys Derek Stingley mainly have stepped up. I do think that their offensive line

(50:59):
start off the year rough, butthey've held up better than you would have
expected, especially at the tackle spots, so Miles Garrett can be neutralized a
little bit. Maybe you're not gonnastop him completely any time you play him,
but I think the Texans could defendtheir home turf. And like you
said, Cees, Joe Flacco,he's had interceptions this year. Like It's
not like he's played flawlessly. TheBrowns have been able to overcome a lot

(51:20):
of that with the running game anddefense. If there's a point where he
needs to make plays, I trustthe veteran in him. But sometimes he
still makes interceptions. And the Brownsstill have a lot of injuries on the
offensive line themselves too. So I'lltake the Texans at home could go.
I think this game really is acoin flip. I'm not really understanding why
Cleveland is favored by two and ahalf on the road. I think it's
probably closer to a pick them.But you know, if they want to

(51:40):
doubt the Stroud Boys, everyone doubtedthe Stroud Boys from the day. One
man, like we had Bryce Youngas number one quarterback. Some people had
them and we had c. J. Stroud. That's how it works,
So Texans, for both of us, the Saturday night game now cease.
Before we make our pick here wehave to say that it's on Peacock.
It's only on Peacock. This isvery stupid by the NFL to have a

(52:00):
playoff game only done by Peacock,but they gave one hundred and ten million
dollars to be able to do this. Now, two things. One,
I think the Swifties are gonna gonuts because they have to figure out how
to get Peacock and you know,watch the game and everything. Number Two,
everyone who's around our age can bethe smart guy in their family.
They can teach everyone, hey,you have to buy Peacock. This is

(52:21):
how you set it up. Youknow, you can't watch an NBC and
then you get to act like you'resmart, because that's pretty cool. But
now that we get to our pick. But now that we've gone over that,
Dolphins at Chiefs Chiefs every by fourand a half points, now cease.
The big story going into this game. I think both teams have kind
of struggled down the stretch and everything. But the big story is the weather
is projected to be negative one soa lot a lot of fun with that

(52:45):
one. Are we getting weather oris it just going to be that cold?
Is it gonna be just win?I think it's just that cold.
I don't That's the only thing.The ESPN bug that we talked about all
the years given me. I haven'tseen anything either. I've just heard really
cold. That's all I've been told. It's gonna be cold. So without

(53:06):
all the in mind, the weatheris going to play a factor here.
I think you gotta go when it'sthis colde out. I think you gotta
go with the team that has thebetter defense, and that especially with all
the Andrews Miami has had his Kantsay Chiefs. So I'm gonna take the
Kancy Chiefs to win this game.But four and a half points is right
in that wheelhouse where I like theDolphins. So I'm gonna take the points

(53:30):
here. With the Dolphins, Ithink that they can beat that spread basically
or cover it. So I'm gonnapick the Dolphins the points. But I
think can say Chiefs. I thinkthe defense is really well. I think
they're gonna be more ready for theseconditions than the Dolphins are. I mean,
the reality is the Dolphins. Ifthey can score twenty eight points,

(53:52):
they can win this game. That'sthe reality of the Chiefs offense right now.
I think they can get to twentyeight they can win. Are they
gonna get to twenty eight points?I don't think they probably only get maybe
they get one or twenty four.I don't think they get four touchdowns they
do they win. This really stingythis year, So let's meet the Chiefs

(54:21):
and get Papahomes out. But Ijust think this weather the way it is
and it being in kanasit something likethat. I gotta go with the home
team with the victory. I'm goingDolphins in the upset. I'm not gonna
abandon two quite yet. He didnot have a great season at times,
but he still threw for forty sixhundred yards twenty nine touchdowns. Hey,

(54:45):
you know what, it's all rightbecause I kind of have something in the
back of my head here A coupleof things. One, I think having
Jaalen Waddle out is huge. He'sgonna be a difference this. It opens
up the field for more. Ifyou look at their third through fifth receivers
on this roster, it's arguable theyshould not be even on NFL row.

(55:07):
You got Braxton Barrios, sorry AlexEarl if you guys know who that is.
You got Cedric Wilson, who hasdone nothing since being there. You've
got River Craigcraft, who has themost fun name to say ever from Washington
State days back with Mike Leach.But and God love them, but it's
just it's just not a great situation. Chase Claypool, who we all love.
I guess, so there's that.I think Jayel and Wattle being back

(55:29):
is huge. Rahem Moster being backis huge. I kind of think mac
McDaniels maybe held onto a little bitfor the playoffs this year. I think
we'll have some more cool play designs, like with Devin h Chan and I
do think they run the The rundefense has been good. You're gonna to
play good run defense against the Chiefsin the cold weather, and they also
run the ball well, So I'mgonna go Dolphins in the upset. I

(55:50):
think the Chiefs betching some of theirstarters is gonna maybe be rusting to start
the game. I think the Dolphinscould take that early lead. And if
they get the early lead, Ithink that's huge. I'm not you know.
Usually I'm a third type of guywhen you get the coin toss in
this game, if you're if you'rethe Dolphins and kind of get the running
game flowing and set up to itto have passes that are open because the
running game, everyone's stacking the boxto stop the run. I think it

(56:10):
is something you have to consider.So I'm going Dolphins in the upset.
I can totally see the Chiefs winningthis and then winning Bout fourteen and me
looking like a sucker. But Istick to my guys, Cee. You
know what I do. I stickto my guys two and nine, the
Strap Boys. I'll take them anyway. Let's move on to Sunday games.
We have three on Sunday. We'regonna start off with the Steelers and Bills,

(56:30):
which is probably gonna be the worstone of the day, at least
projected by the betting lines. Asmentioned, TJ. Watt is not going
to play for the Steelers in thisone. It is in Buffalo. They'll
be pretty rowdy. The Bills arefavored by ten points right now. Yeah,
give me that. Give me tenpoints all day Bills to win and
cover. You know, maybe ifyou're parlaying this, maybe you get the

(56:53):
nine and a half. You know, get out. Wait, I want
a stupid ass push on ten points. If it's straight up bo you should
take ten because we're say she gettingmoney back, so I think it'll be
more than that. I'm just justthere for all you gamblers. Don't get

(57:14):
too greedy. It's the reality hereand every bet don't get too greedy.
Don't think that everybody's just gonna explodeon your team. So yeah, but
the Bills are going to dominate theSteelers. I think, you know,
could I see we're off getting along pass downfield? Sure, I think

(57:34):
he gets one, but that's notgonna be consistent offense. I think Rasull
Douglas should be back for this afterhe kind of took got some injuries in
the Dolphins game. I believe heshould be back, they said. And
other than that, I mean,I think they've got a good front.
I think the active in this gamefor the quarterback. And again, I

(57:57):
think Josh Allen and the offense arejust gonna have a field day. Reality
is about t J. Watt.I mean, it's just not gonna be
the same kind of pass rush.But he's not the same about t J.
Watt rushing against next one. Youknow they have plenty of time to
prepare. It's gonna be in Buffalo, which is gonna the weather's gonna suck,

(58:17):
and that's gonna play the Bills favorand you know Bill's mafia is gonna
go absolutely nuts because, to behonest, they've got the best chance to
make it to the AFC Championship game. They got a home field advantage until
the Ravens, and again the Ravensaren't perfect. So yeah, Bill is
gonna be in full throat. I'mgoing Bills to win Steelers with the points

(58:40):
in this one. Now sees they'reprojecting this to be a very windy game,
like over thirteen miles an hour.So if you're betting out there,
even though the over under is thirtysix and a half, take the under.
A lot of these games with alot of wind will take you have
to take the under. We sawthe game a couple of years ago Bill's
Patriots. I believe with the windyconditions that really best things. I do

(59:00):
think the Bills win because they canutilize Josh Allen's legs and that'll be huge.
But I think the final score mightend up being like like seventeen to
ten or seventeen to thirteen or somethinglike that. So I think the Bills
will win. I think it couldbe even like they control the clock,
they're and control of the game thewhole time. But I think the Steelers
are able to keep it close justbecause of the weather, because of defense
is pretty tough still without DJ Watt, even if it's not going to be

(59:23):
the same elite defense that they usuallyhave. So Bills to win, Steelers
with the points. Let's move onto the four thirty PM game, Ceise
the Packers at Cowboys. Cowboys areat home, they are favored by seven
and a half, and we dohave a Mike McCarthy revenge game on our
hands. Oh yeah, I meanI'm going Cowboys, don't. I'm not

(59:46):
even entertaining that with the Packers inJerry World. Seven and a half points,
you know I'm gonna go. Ithink the Packers keep it as it's
I think they lose by a touchdown. I think that's the reality of it.
Here are the things that are happening. I think the Packers they've played

(01:00:08):
lesser recently, but hasn't playing better. Jordan Love has been pushing the ball
downfield, Jayden Reid's been playing prettywell for them, and then obviously Aaron
Jones has been running around like amad man back there. Cowboys are soft
against the run and have shown thatover the last you know, kind of

(01:00:29):
quarter of the season. I thinkif Aaron Jones can get going in this
game again, it will open thingsup for Jordan Love and there will be
opportunities for them to stay in thegame. Is there a chance that maybe
Jerry World's so ratcheted up that theyexplode and went by twenty points? There
is. The Cowboys are much moretalented team, But I think there's things

(01:00:52):
that Mike McCarthy and always worried me. One, block management has been an
issue through his career. Two it'sthe pack against the Cowboys, which always
worries me. And don't worry mein this case because the Tackers are nowhere
near as good as the Cowboys,But I think they can make it more
of a game than it should bebe spread six and a half, I'm

(01:01:12):
taking the Cowboys, but seven anda half, I'm gonna beer on the
side of caution and pick the Packershere. But I have no doubt The
Cowboys are gonna win this game.It's just a question of how much and
how well are they going to exit. All Right, sorry since we lost
the another second, but yes,you took the Cowboys to win Packers with

(01:01:36):
the seven and a half points spread. I'm gonna take the Cowboys to win
and cover. A lot of thishas to do. I think some of
their offensive line will be healthier forthis game. Cowboys are dominant team at
home. They beat the teams theyshould beat at home too. That's just
this how it's gone all season.I do have those same concerns with Mike
McCarthy clock management. I think thehope here is that there's no clock management
meant to worry about at the endof the game, and that's something they

(01:01:59):
can worry about later in the playoffs. But also I think Joe Berry's defense
there's still like X's and those thingsthat he does that just make no sense.
And I think with a week toprepare for what they do with a
guy like Ceedee Lamb, who's noone can guard this season, I believe
second and receiving yards to Tyreek Hillthis year, I think they'll be able

(01:02:22):
to do to be able to winthis game and cover now back in my
mind, Am I still freaking outbecause it's the Packers? Yes? Do
I as freaking me out that AaronRodgers has done this so many times and
Jordan Love looks like he could bethe third straight good Packers quarterback. Yes,
but I think the Cowboys can winthis game for the second straight year,
win a playoff game, and thenwe'll see what happens after that,
because I think it's a little bitdicey. Also Block of the week,

(01:02:45):
if you're looking for a prop bethere, we've got he. We got
Tony Pollard at sixty one and ahalf rushing yards, cawboy of the worst
rushing defenses in the NFL, thebottom five. So hit that all day,
folks. Sixty one and a halfTony Pollard. They're gonna have to

(01:03:05):
try to run the ball and ifthe Cowboys get up, you know he's
gonna get a lot of carries.All right. Put the house on that
one, as we might ever wantto to bet responsibly, of course,
Sunday Night football seas we have anotherstoryline here. We've had the Deshaun Watson
you know team against his old team. We've had you know, the two
of us, the Tyreek Hill returnedto the Chiefs and Tuoa and everything else.

(01:03:25):
We've had the Mike McCarthy revenge game, we have the Steelers and Bills
with the college roommates playing against eachother, Sean McDermott and Mike Tomlin,
and now we have the Matthew Staffordreturn to Detroit. It's gonna be a
fun one Rams at the Lions.Lions currently favored by three. This is
a hard one. Yeah, threeis a three is obviously a weird spread.

(01:03:53):
I'll go with the Lions to win, and do I expect some kind
of crazy shit to happen. Ithink that I'm gonna take the I'm gonna
hedge it. I'm gonna take theRams with three points three and a half.
I be much more, you know, obviously confident in it. I

(01:04:14):
think it's it's going to be afield goal a game. I think Detroit
Lions have a lot more talent ontheir team than the Rams do. The
Rams have Aaron Donald on defense,and then they have Stafford, Nakua,
Kirn Williams and Cooper Cup and everythingelse doesn't matter. It seems like with
the Rams, Sean McVay has maximizedthem, and I think that's where a

(01:04:41):
lot of the struggles are gonna comein this game, so they Lions ultimately
win. These teams are both kindof my dark horse guys that maybe upset
in the NFC. It's happened tobe playing Share in the first game.
But I think these guys have allthe talent or you know, a scheme.
I think they've got traits that cantake them after each of them.

(01:05:02):
So this is probably one of thebest, and I'm super excited for it.
You know, Lions at home theirfirst game back. You know,
it'll be sad to see if MattStafford rips her hard out, though I'll
be sad for Detroit fans. Itwill be full circle, probably the most
Detroit thing of all time. ButI got a root and hope that the

(01:05:23):
Lions win this one. But it'sgonna be Razors there. This is tough
because you know how much of loSean McVay. I think he's very very
good at coaching, especially the excellsand o's, But this is a Detroit
home playoff game, the cursed franchise. They're gonna be going down. A
lot of the fans are probably comingout off the Michigan National Championship. They're

(01:05:45):
still drunk. They're gonna be drunkthe whole week. They're just gonna stay
drunk, no work. They're pumpedup for this game. I think the
environment will be freaking crazy. Andthen you have Jared Goff. You know.
I think their revenge game is gonnamean something here. They traded them
away. I think they probably couldhave won a super Bowl with him at
quarterback. They got to the superBowl with him at quarterback, but they
traded him away from Matt Stafford.Good for Matt Stafford to get the Super

(01:06:05):
Bowl. I think he's gonna playwell in this game. I think the
offensive line will be able to protecthim. Yes, the Rams do have
a lot of sacks, but alot of them is from the a lot
of them are from the interior withAaron Donald and Kobe Turner. So I'm
gonna go the line so win andcover. I think the linees went by
like a touchdown. Hopefully see somekey plays down down the stretch by Jared
Goff. And I do think akey factor in this too is that the

(01:06:26):
Lions can run the ball very wellwith both their running backs. Just get
the ball in your playmaker's hands andthey'll be able to win. So that
is my pick Monday Night Football.Don't still don't know if I like the
fact that we have a Buddy NightFootball game after these years, but we
do have one. It is theEagles and the Buccaneers. Eagles event by
three on the road cease. There'sa lot of question marks with injuries and
the way they played, but theyare favored. I get two things before

(01:06:51):
I reveal my pick. One,I can't wait until NFL gets like two
hundred million dollars to have a ThursdayAmazon Prime game for the first playoff game.
It's gonna happen. Give it fiveyears, Amazon Prime kick off the
playoffs on Thursday night, and thewhole players Union will be in a fucking
riot, but it'll happen. Two. It seems like these those Buccaneers playoff

(01:07:17):
games are just and they're always justthe worst game of the of the playoffs,
really one of the worst games always. We got Tom Brady Jalen Hurts
game, where basically I think itgot Troy eight. It was so weird

(01:07:38):
because Tory Aikman was so disinterested inthe game and he was so mad they
didn't get the Cowboys game. Itwas kind of weird. So I think
this is gonna be another one ofthose. This is sad that both these
teams are in the playoffs on kindof games Like what we're breaking down here,
we got Baker Mayfield, who willtoss the ball all over the field.

(01:07:59):
I'm gonna pick. I'm gonna pickthe Buccaneers because honestly, as much
as I think I want to pickthe Eagles a lot in this game,
I can't. And what's the spread? Are the Bucks favored the three?
Yeah? I'll take that shit allday, because here's what I think happens.
Baker Mayfield's gonna toss the ball forthree hundred yards, Mike Evans is

(01:08:24):
gonna have a field day, andI just think the Eagles offense is in
such just array they're just not gonnakeep up. I think there's gonna be
a lot of points scored in thisgame, honestly, but the reality is,
I just it's gonna be sloppy looking. It's gonna be at times where
it's like so and so just gota sixty yard pass. But also there's
gonna be three three and ounce rightafter that chunk plays on offense on both

(01:08:48):
sides, and a lot of inefficientmind you know, mind blowing, head
scratching football in the in betweens.Yeah, I'm going Buccaneers too. I
think a lot of it it hasto do with not just the way they
played with those injuries. Jalen Hurtsdislocated his middle finger on his throwing hand.

(01:09:09):
I think you might go to stackthe box against him. I just
don't know how effective he's gonna be. He did stay like in the game
for possession before they ended up benchingtheir starters, But like, I don't
know your quarterback has that type ofinjury going into the playoffs, that's not
a good sign. Also, Ilike we said my Baker Mayfield because the
Eagle secondary has been bad, andthen Cidney Brown goes down, you know
from the secondary as well, itcould be bad. I think Mike Evans

(01:09:30):
could have a field day, ChrisGottlin can have a field day. I'll
take the Buccaneers. I think ifyou're looking at it like on paper,
like I get why Eagles are favored, but like it just doesn't make any
sense to me based on how theseteams have played over the last several weeks.
There is maybe some rain gonna bein this game, but even then,
I still think the Buccaneers take thisone. I think it's you know,

(01:09:54):
just eagles to start, not theteam we thought they were, not
the team that we thought they werein October. I I don't think I've
ever seen we've talked about like theJaguars having collapsed. I don't think I've
seen a team class would be thewrong word for them. But like everyone
thought they were a good team,and now everyone pretty much universally says this
team will be lucky if they wina game in the playoffs like they were

(01:10:15):
on pace to be the number oneseed. Everything be fine to beat the
Chiefs. Nick Sirianni was talking trashon the tunnel and wow it thinks of
teaged since then, So Buccaneers forme as well. All right, see
SENI final thoughts. No, I'mjust I'm ready for my Peacock game.
I can't wait to see how manytimes Tarror Swift has seen And yeah,

(01:10:35):
I'm super excited for the playoffs.And I'm telling you sixty one and a
half, Tony Pollard lock it in. Is Taylor Swift gonna be there?
And negative one degrees. I mean, it's a big game for Travis.
I mean, what kind of girlfriendwould you be if she didn't show up
to one of the biggest games ofthe year for her boyfriend. Do they
have a tour date? She betterhave a tour date. Somebody got to

(01:10:57):
look that up. Hey, well, there was a story that was at
least this week that Travis Kelcey couldn'tgo to the Golden Globes with her because
quote, he had work, hehad to practice, because he has a
job. So all the Swift's wereeducated about the fact that he couldn't be
there. So lots of fun goingon there. I'm excited for this playoff
weekend. Like I mentioned ceas,I think we'll see a lot of good

(01:11:18):
games. I'll take this at atime. It's you remind everyone to Liken
subscribers to go through with the playoffs. It'll help us get better, help
us see what we're doing well.Comment on the videos always helps us out.
Next week we'll be back to recapthe wildcard round and preview the divisional
round. For now, thanks forwatching. We'll see you guys next time.