Richard Sherman Podcast - Detroit Lions revival proves NFL teams shouldn't tank

Richard Sherman reacts to the NFL headlines, including Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans saying that Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson is the NFL MVP over Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen, Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce being unapologetic about beating the Jacksonville Jaguars despite it hurting their NFL Draft position, and Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell riling up his team ahead of their NFC Championship rematch against Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers. Also, Sherm reacts to Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers blowing out the New Orleans Saints, Packers RB Josh Jacobs and Philadelphia Eagles RB Saquon Barkley reinvigorating the running back market, and Cooper Rush and the Dallas Cowboys ending Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneer's NFL Playoff hopes.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Altable championship. That should always be the expectation. All right, man,
ex you go ahead.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Welcome back to the Richard Sherman Podcast, presented by our
friends and partners over at Brightling. They got me that
Seattle Seahawk Brightling, Mitchell, nice and Shiny.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Couldn't wait till I know you're excited, Richard. I you're
gonna be rocking at this Thursday. I mean, come on
Thursday night football, Seattle Seahawks, Seattle Brightling must be in attendance.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
It has to be. And I'm gonna wear a Seattle
Seahawks colored suit. I don't have a green turtleneck. That's
the only thing that's holding me back. But I might
be able to find a shirt. I'm working on it.
I'm working on it, Mitchell. But let's get to let's
get to the headlines from this week. Tomko Ryan says
Lamar Jackson is definitely the MVP.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
Sounds somewhat similar alert to what you were saying last night, Richard.
Your thoughts here. Vegas still has Josh Allen as minus
five point fifty, Lamar Jackson's a plus four hundred odds,
Saquan at plus twelve hundred and my boy Jared Goff
at twenty to one. But you still like Lamar Jackson

(01:18):
and so does Jamika Ryans. What do you think of
this take? Same thing I said yesterday. I think it's
the accurate take. And people are saying I hate Josh Allen.
Nothing's further from the truth. I love Josh Allen. I
think he plays the game the right way. He elevates
his team.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
He plays hard, they win ball games like He's always
competitive each and every year. He talks a little bit
of smack, he plays behind his shoulder pads. I'm a
Josh Allen fan, but the numbers are the number. If
Lamar Jackson has forty six, forty seven touchdowns total in
four interceptions and you tell me that's not an MVP season,

(01:55):
just tow to a ward away at that point, Mitchell,
because it doesn't make sense because on the flip side,
and you got to talk to Buffalo fans about that,
if Josh Allen had forty seven total touchdowns in four
interceptions and didn't walk away with the MVP, they would
be rioting at the league office in New York, and rightfully,
so that's what I don't get. I don't even understand odds,

(02:18):
but it is what it is. They'll probably give it
to them, just like they gave it to Lamar last
year when I thought he shouldn't get it. But Demiko's
on the same page as meet. The tape looks like
the tape looks and the numbers look like the numbers look.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Old, Richard.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
I'm still holding off for my boy Jared Goff twenty
to one odds. We'll see if he can get hot
down the stretch some crucial games for them. It's getting
to that point of the season, Richard, where teams at
the bottom of the league are really jockeying for position
in the NFL draft. And you know, fortunately or unfortunately,
when a team wins that fan bases want to lose,

(02:51):
fans kind of voice their opinions. And we saw it
in Las Vegas this weekend. The Las Vegas Raiders beat
the Jacksonville Jaggs and their win total to three on
the season, and doing so, they go from number two
in the draft to number six. Now the fan base
was booing at the end of the game. Antonio Pierce
didn't like this, and he said, we don't do this

(03:13):
to lose. We don't do this for anybody's fantasy football team.
We don't do this for anyone's draft projections. None of
the shit matters to us. The only thing that matters
is winning, and that's all we want to do. Richard
bring us into the mind of an athlete, the mind
of a competitor, because just us common fans often look
too far ahead at what could be, what could be

(03:35):
in the future. If you're on a team that's struggling,
four or five wins and you know you're down and out,
you talked about playing for pride. How much pride can
you possibly play for? Are you really getting up for
these games?

Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah? And that's how he has to coach Mitchell.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
He can't coach like he's like he's a you know,
fifteen year veteran coach. He's had a lot of jobs.
This is his first year coaching. First job. He has
to coach to win every game. And I don't remember
who it wasn't Lovey Smith with Houston, like who was
the interim coach? And they wanted to lose every The
fans wanted him to lose, and I think the older

(04:11):
might have wanted him to lose. And they won, and
he got pissed off that they win the last game
of the season and they ended up with CJ.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
Stroud instead of Bryce Young.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
And sometimes sometimes that's how stuff is supposed to happen,
and then everybody forgets about it. You know, they're so
mad in the moment, they're so frustrated in the moment
they were Houston fans were you know, oh my god,
you're sabotaging us going out like when in reality that
was a parting gift. You got c J. Stroud instead

(04:43):
of Bryce Young. And look what the fates behold now?
Is Bryce Young gonna develop into something he could?

Speaker 2 (04:52):
CJ. Stroud is exactly what Houston needed and wanted. They
got it.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
They got their franchise quarterback, the future the franchised because
Lovey Smith's team played hard and guess what, the football
gods rewarded this team for doing things the right way.
You can't do it any other way or it's not
gonna work out. How you can't tank in the National
Football League, I guess you can't. But there aren't many players,
not veteran players, that are gonna go out there and

(05:17):
be like, yeah, I'm gonna go out there and try
to lose if you're built like that, you can't turn
that back off.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
Like that's a loser mentality.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
And I talk to my son about stuff like this
all the time because I'm like, hey, like you can't
turn on and turn off like habits. Like, hey, if
you how you do anything, it is how you do everything.
So if you work hard all the time, you're gonna
work hard. If you said, say, I'm just gonna stop
working hard and then I'll start working hard later, like, Hey,
we're not gonna win these games, We're just gonna try
to lose these games. But then when next season starts,

(05:49):
we're gonna start to trying to win again. Like you can't.
It's a mentality, it's a work ethic, it's a it's
a state of mind. Remember when you're Detroit Lions Metchell
when they first started to build this culture, wouldn't they
start doing at the end of that season a season
that didn't really matter, they weren't winning.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
Games, Richard.

Speaker 3 (06:06):
The season that mattered most for this organization was when
they went on the road two years ago and knocked
off Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
They kicked him out of this division. They had nothing
to play for.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
The la Rams had gone in with Baker Mayfield and
tried to bend your Seattle Seahawks, and Seattle ultimately pulled
that game off in overtime. Detroit was on the Sunday
night game with nothing to play for, but that game
meant more to this fan base than anything because it
kicks started what is now this massive momentum shift. For
the first time in my life being a Detroit Lions fan,

(06:41):
I wasn't looking on websites seeing our draft position after
Week eight because these games finally mattered for once. I
can sympathize with the Las Vegas Raiders fan base. They're
thinking of dream scenario. They're thinking that Dion Sanders and
Shador standards in Vegas. I mean, that's what a lot
of these folks were definitely thinking of.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
Look, if you're thinking that way and you want them
in Vegas, then Mark Davis will find a way to
do it. I don't think Mark Davis is gonna get
rid of Antonio Pierce right now, but if he does,
I'm sure Diann will be high on the list.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
Dion says he's staying at Colorado. Do I believe that.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
I think he can be persuaded to do other things,
But I think right now he's creating and he's building
a team to play for in Colorado next year. He
just got his quarterback, got his young quarterback. He's continuing
to build that culture. He's continuing to speak that way,
recruit that way, get transfers in the portal that way.
So everything points to him staring at Colorado. So if
that's the case, he does want his sons in Las Vegas.

(07:42):
And I understand the frustration of fans, and you want
it both ways. You want your team to compete every week,
but you also want him to lose when they's supposed
to lose. It's not always gonna work out that way
at the end of the day. Just count the record
when the season ends, and look where you're drafting and
make the best of it, and your team will make
the best of it. Are there Jacksonville Jaguars going to
take a quarterback?

Speaker 2 (08:02):
I don't know. Maybe.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
Are the New England Patriots going to take another quarterback?
I don't know. Maybe I doubt it. The Giants are
Are they going to take cam Ward or are they
gonna take your door? Well, there'll be a quarterback left.
Like let the stuff play out like it's supposed to,
because when you do things the wrong way in football,
it always comes to bite you in the end. You

(08:24):
sit there and be like, oh, let's tank, let's tank,
and you'll get the quarterback you're not supposed to get
and think he's supposed to be something, and you'll end
up with another bust and it'll be like you'll think
back and take it all the way back to when
you lost on purpose, and that's where it all began.
So I agree with Antonio. Play to win, Richard. It's

(08:45):
kind of an extend this topic a little bit further.
We saw DJ Moore.

Speaker 3 (08:49):
He was interviewed in the locker room pregame or prior
in practice leading up to the game against the Lions,
and one of the reporters asked some something along the
lines of what are you looking forward to, and he said, vacation.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
You've played in this league a number of years. Have
have you ever been privy?

Speaker 3 (09:04):
I mean, I guess you were on so many competitive teams,
so you never were in total mailout seasons or games,
But like, have you heard stories of other players just
cashing it in late?

Speaker 2 (09:15):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (09:15):
I have.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
My first year, my very first year in the National
Football League, I started the last teen games of the season,
so this was probably like my six or seventh start.
We were still kind of in the playoff race. You know,
we need some things to go our way. We need
to win some games. We didn't end up winning, but
there there was like a little bit of an argument

(09:37):
and some confrontation from you know, our young players, our
young naive players who just want to win.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
We like, hey, we're balls to the wall, we're hair
on fire.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
We just want to win every game, play the best
defense we can and get to these playoffs and trying
to win a super Bowl. Like that's all we think about.
Earl cam myself, Brandon Browner at the time know we got,
we got good d line, we got and I'm not
gonna put any names out there because I don't need
to put anybody in a bad light. But the guy

(10:09):
came up to us and we're like, we're like, yeah, man,
we just got to do this to make the playoffs,
and he's like playoffs, Like why would I want to
make the playoffs? I take a plate pay cut in
the playoffs. I take a play cut, a pay cut
to play more games and harder games and games that
matter more. And I make less money. I don't want
to play in no playoffs, And mind was just like

(10:31):
I couldn't believe when I was here, Like I'm in
the National Football League, just my rookie year, and I'm
playing my butt off, and the guy says, I don't
want to make the playoffs because in reality, by the
letter of the law, he's correct, Like he was making
about three hundred and four hundred thousand a game in
the playoffs in the first round, Mitchell, we make twenty
thousand dollars twenty grand. Everybody unless you got like a

(10:55):
bonus or something in your contract individually, the standard check
that everybody receives twenty k our twenty twenty six and
some change.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
I gotta go.

Speaker 1 (11:05):
Look, but that's before taxes, So it ends up being
like thirteen thousand, which is money, you know what I mean. Like,
let's not let's skot get out of hand here, but
compared to three hundred grand, I mean, he's totally correct.
You go from making three hundred grand regular season games,
and then you go to the harder games, the games
that matter, the games that everybody's watching and define your
career and your legacy over and you're making thirteen thousand

(11:25):
after tax fourteen. Whatever it is, didn't change it for me, Mitchell.
They got rid of him the next year, they got
rid of a lot of guys like him, and you
had a lot of us left still trying to get
to a championship and win it.

Speaker 3 (11:37):
Yeah, I mean, that's gotta be things that obviously gms
are trying to sniff out before signing a player drafting them.
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Speaker 3 (14:22):
Richard, let's talk a little bit about this upcoming weekends games.
My Detroit Lions are looking for revenge. They're heading out
to San Francisco. I know you are going to be
rooting for the Niners, and I respect that, But we
already talked about what left the forty nine ers have
to play for. We already said they've got a lot
of guys on the injury list throughout this week, already developing,

(14:44):
so we'll see who in plays. But Dan Campbell is
going on the road with the mission. He said, we
are bringing everything we've got into this game, and we
are playing and I don't care what it looks like
and where it's at, or with this or with what
We're going out to win this game out on the
West Coast. Richard, I know you like Dan Campbell. I mean,
how motivating is this guy to the Detroit Lions locker room,

(15:09):
especially after all they went through. Richard, he was on
local sports talk radio talking about this team getting back
to its roots and eating molded bread. Everyone's getting so
used to eating that filet here in Detroit and they
forget that we used to survive on molded bread. That
was his quote, and he got this old city riled up,
rich and motivated. How does he do it? Have you

(15:31):
seen anything like this from a coach in your playing days.

Speaker 1 (15:35):
Well, not from my coach, but yeah, I've seen motivation
in different ways.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
You know.

Speaker 1 (15:39):
Pete was a different way of motivating than Kyle Shanahan.
Both of them got their teams to Super Bowls. Dan
is doing it a different way. Dan seems like the
kind of coach that would that would turn the hot
water heater off in the building and just say it
was adversity and say, hey, fellas, this is the adversity
we got to deal with this week, and we can't complain,
don't wind, don't anything, and his team's gonna respond to it,

(16:02):
and all of a sudden, they're gonna be talking about
how the world's against them and somebody cut their hot
water off, but it didn't matter because they went out
there and.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
Practiced in the cold, and I love it.

Speaker 1 (16:11):
I love it, Mitchell, because then they're gonna take this
team Mitchell, and he's gonna take a team that's been
eating steaks all season long and make them feel like
they've been eating top ramen. And I love that because
that's what a good coach can do. He can take
a team that's really talented and continue to find ways

(16:33):
to pull the right strings, to push the right button,
to make guys feel frustrated, motivated. I'm sure he's gonna
show them tap of the NFC Championship game from last
season and how that game went, especially in the second half,
and the things that went wrong, and the way this
team celebrated the way they were feeling before and the
way they felt after and try to get those feelings back.

(16:54):
But the San Francisco forty nine's are in a much
different place. I don't think they're gonna be as motivated. Obviously,
they're gonna go out there and try to win this game,
but they're really banged up. They don't have the horses, obviously,
the offensive lines banged up, the defensive lines banged up,
the secondary's banged up, and receiving corps been banged up.
You saw the mistakes made. The running backs are all

(17:17):
banged up. Grindo, it's out. They're down to their fifth
and sixth is it fifth and six now? Running backs?
But you know, it's the National Football League, and they'll
go out there and they'll have to go put a
put a good showing on and and try to play
for pride because the Detroit Lions owe them nothing and
owe them no quarter. And I don't think they're gonna

(17:37):
be giving them any quarter. And so they haven't given
anybody else any quarter. Mitchell, they're they're the team that
will blow them out and go for two. And and
I think San Francisco understands that they they gotta they
gotta bring their hard hats, regardless of the circumstances, regardless
of the situation, you know what's who's coming to town
and what mindset they're coming with, so you gotta match
that mentality or are you gonna go home embarrassed.

Speaker 3 (17:57):
I'm gonna double down on the in the last topic here, Rich,
would you be more upset if the Niners won this
game and got their pride or lost this game and
improve their draft position? Which one would you find as
a bigger benefit for these Niners?

Speaker 2 (18:09):
Right now?

Speaker 1 (18:10):
It's always winning. Winning is always the bigger benefit. You know,
draft is gonna happen, how it's gonna happen. You never
know who's gonna be there. You never know how it's
gonna play, or what players are gonna actually be good
pros that were good college kids. So I don't I
don't put a lot of stock into how these kids
are ranked coming out. You know, if you look at
the top tens of some of these drafts, you'll see

(18:30):
some players that aren't even on rosters anymore. Two three
years later and you were looking like, man, I can't
I hope my team gets him, and oh my god,
we missed out on him, and the guy you got
instead of him ends up being All Pro and it's like, well,
maybe we just lucked out. No, it happens how it's
supposed to happen. So winning, winning is what I think

(18:51):
they should play to do. It's gonna be a hard
game for them to win. Detroit is a bully. They
playing the game the right way. They're built the right way.
So we talked about their deficiencies on the defensive side.
That's the only thing that will give the San Francisco
forty nine ers a chance, and that's just a puncher's chance.
And if they can find a way to somehow get

(19:11):
to the quarterback, get to Jared Golf, that'll give him
a puncher's chance. But it's gonna be a tough game
for them to win, as banged up as they are.
But you know, this is the National Football League, and
anything can happen. We just saw the New England Patriots
take the Buffalo Bills to the wire. We saw the
Browns beat Pittsburgh and the Baltimore Ravens, so anything had happened.

Speaker 3 (19:34):
Certainly can well, Richard, we already talked about it yesterday.
But this year's we've got football on Christmas, which is
a Wednesday on Netflix. Like apparently Beyonce's performing at a
halftime of the Houston Texans Ravens game, and Lamar Jackson
wants to see it. He says he's never seen Beyonce perform,
and that's it. It's at their game. So sorry, carbass,

(19:56):
sorry fellas, I'm not even thinking about the lead. I'm
just about seeing Beyonce for the first time, no disrespect.
I mean, Richard, I know where you'd be if Beyonce's
performing at halftime. Are you surprised by this at all
from Lamar Jackson, the leader of the team.

Speaker 1 (20:14):
Yeah, yeah, I'm pretty surprised. But you know, I understand
what he's saying. But Lamar Jackson has a lot of money.
He made a lot of money in this league. Beyonce
has many concerts and she performs all over the globe.
I'm sure there's a time Lamar Jackson can go see
her when she's not performing at halftime while he's at work.
But if his team allows it, if his coach allows it,

(20:36):
if he's bawling out in the first half, has three
four touchdowns and are double digits, I don't think anybody
will have a problem with it. I think people will
be like, man, he went out there, made a statement,
watched Beyonce and walked away with a dub. It'll be legendary.
And that's the stuff that makes sports fun. That's what
makes sports amazing. That's what is inspiring and entertaining about
these athletes in these scenarios. But tied or losing, I

(21:03):
think you'll watch John Harball walking into the locker room.

Speaker 2 (21:06):
Richard.

Speaker 3 (21:06):
Let's get to some of these games here. We got
a game to night Monday Night Football. Not a whole
lot going on, the Green Bay Packers hosting the New
Orleans Saints. This New Orleans Saints team is not the
team we're used to seeing. They seemed to have lost
their mojo. They have been riddled with injuries at key
positions throughout the year. Green Bay took advantage. Green Bay

(21:28):
is now eleven and four. We talked about it at length,
but this NFC North is absolutely ridiculous. Two teams at
thirteen and two and third place team with Green Bay
at eleven and four, Richard, have you seen anything like
this in a division being this dominant, at least when
it pertains to the record.

Speaker 1 (21:46):
I think we had one year when I was in
Seattle where we were maybe thirteen and three. I think
San Francisco might have been twelve and four, and then
Arizona was like ten and seven or something, and they
didn't make our six and they didn't make the playoffs
that year because there were only six teams that made
it at that time. Outside of that, I can't think

(22:07):
of a time where it's been this this crazy, you know,
I mean this many double digit win teams, uh, this
closed late in the season. And obviously the league is
doing a great job of having these matchups the way
they are. I mean, even the Saturday matchups that we
just had this weekend were incredible. Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers,
the Houston, Texas, Kansas City Chiefs, and all they doing,

(22:30):
all they're doing on Christmas Day is flipping those matchups.
So the Baltimore Ravens are playing the Texans, now the
Chiefs are playing the Steelers. It's great December December football.
And I'm sure the NBA is probably really frustrated because
nobody's gonna be watching those NBA games because the best
games you can watch are on on or in the NFL,

(22:52):
and those games are gonna be really good. They're gonna
have really monumental stakes, especially in the AFC. If if
bought both Baltimore and Pittsburgh win, the end of the
season is going to be up in the air who
wins that division. If one of them loses, it's still
gonna be meaningful at the end of the season.

Speaker 2 (23:12):
But to talk about the.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
New Orleans game, In this Green Bay game, green Bay
looked really dominant. Lake Ford wanted to see how dominant
they can be. All three phases. They looked dominant. Didn't
turn the ball over on offense, didn't give up a sack,
really efficient, Josh Jacobs ran the ball well. They were
able to get the starters out and for most of
the fourth quarter they were able to get some young

(23:34):
guys in there and get some run. Our guy Keisha
and Nixon friend of mine for end of the program. Uh,
sack force fumble in the game that that you know
had an impact, had really good coverage all game and
starting to come into his own and and gonna I'm
gonna be looking to get another payday soon from from
one of these games, and just got one. But yeah,

(23:55):
they look like a really formidable team. Their defense pitching
a shutout. Uh, this is the National Football League, no
matter how how easy you think the game is, how
bad you think the team is. It's hard to pitch
a shoutout. Jeff Hafley is doing an incredible job with
this defense. Obviously they got an interception in the game.
They could have had two. I thought our boy Xavier

(24:17):
McKinney got another one right before the half on the
Hell Mary, but couldn't get his other foot inbounds. They
look like a really complete team, and I think that's
what makes on a dangerous team in the playoffs is
because they both sides of the ball. They're really complete.
They don't have to depend on any one player or
any one side of the football. They got a good
d line, they got a really good linebacker play. They
got some emerging stars. Cooper the the linebacker slash end

(24:41):
or whatever. They got him listed as emerging as a
really elite player both in the pass and run game.
Rashaan Gary's having another good year. Xavier and mckelly, he's
having an All Pro Pro Bowl year. We talked about
Key Sean and the impact he's making both in the
slot on end on the outside. Jay r Alexander when
he gets healthy, he it has, you know, reputation speaks

(25:02):
for herself been one of the elite playmakers. And again
Jeff Haffley came in here and is making an incredible difference.

Speaker 2 (25:08):
In his defense.

Speaker 1 (25:08):
It seems like guys are starting to buy in more,
starting to understand what he's what his mindset is. I
think players relate to him. He's one of the better
player coaches who listens to his players, who communicates with
him throughout the week, has an open door policy, lets
guys come in and out and really hear's their thoughts,
and I think all the players have spoke to that.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
It looks really good. They're a very unique team.

Speaker 3 (25:31):
They've got no true number one wide out. They've got
a bunch of guys that are high level number two receivers.
It kind of reminds me a bit of when you
were playing early on with the Seahawks and it was Doug,
it was cursed, it was you know, Golden Tate. It
was these guys that were, you know, trying to really
prove their name in this league. The question I have
for you pertains that Jordan Love. I mean, we've seen it.

(25:53):
You know, granted, Green Bay's pulling away with this game,
there's no reason to throw the football, but statistically speaking
at a thirty four and out the blow. You didn't
expect to see a stat line of sixteen for twenty
eight and a touchdown and what easily could have been
an interception as well. Do you think this version of
Jordan Love can take Green Bay to the Promised Land,
can take them out of the NFC and at least

(26:15):
get them in the Super Bowl with a chance to
bring home the trophy.

Speaker 1 (26:18):
Yeah, Mitchell, I've seen it a lot of different ways,
depending on how your team is and if your defense
is playing well. We did it and our quarterback didn't
need to do a ton, you know what I mean.
He just needs to make sure he didn't turn the
ball over. I think he had three total passing touchdowns
in the entire playoffs. During our run to the Super
Bowl and Super Bowl win. We had three games he
had through three touchdown passes and we won the Super

(26:39):
Bowl by what was it thirty five points? And so
so yes, the formula can work, but you need elite
defensive play. You need a great run game, and they
have that. They have a bruising back and Josh Jacobs.
They're drawing it a scheme that pits for him. He
does a great job of wearing defenses down as they go.

(27:00):
They get turnovers on defense. They found a way to
be really sound. That secondary is flying around, Their coverages
are moving, they're adjusting on the fly, They're trusting each other.
You can see the chemistry, the camaraderie and special teams.
They're they're opportunistic. They McManus is kicking the ball well.
Whether it's in the code or in under great conditions,

(27:23):
he's doing a great job. So yeah, you can get
it done like this. You don't need the quarterback to
throw for five hundred yards and five touchdowns necessarily to
win you the ball game. You just have to avoid
the turnovers. And that's gonna be the thing. And I
think that's what Lafloor is preaching right now to Jordan
love Is, Hey, this is where we need you at.
It's almost like Hitch Mitchell, Hey, this is where you're at.

Speaker 2 (27:44):
Mitchell. We don't need any of this, We just need
you right here. Mitchell.

Speaker 1 (27:50):
Just stay right here, Just stay right here. You don't
do anything crazy. We got a chance. But it's when
things start to go haywire and you start trying to
get cute and you start to want to Hey, I
want to show how talented I am mm hmm right here.
Don't go anywhere but right here, Mitchell, And if they
stay right here, back straight to the basics, and you'll

(28:13):
they give themselves.

Speaker 2 (28:13):
The best shot. Well they got they got in a
game of the week.

Speaker 3 (28:20):
Uh next week for sure as they go on the road,
they can play the Minnesota Vikings with so much at stake.
You know, both of these teams in terms of seeding
potentially and in the division. I know you like the
Minnesota Vikings, but these teams are very similar in makeup
and how they've been playing through the season. Do you
think Green Bay can go on the road and still
a win from Minnesota?

Speaker 2 (28:42):
No.

Speaker 1 (28:42):
I think their best chance was to get them when
they when they came to Lambo, Minnesota got away from earlier.
They were able to roar back into the game and
make it competitive and have had a chance to win it.
I think it's going to be tougher than to go
into Minnesota. It's a much tougher place to play than
people give credit. It's a really tough place to play,
and they're playing really good football. I think Seattle should

(29:03):
have got him last week, you know, without a few mistakes,
a few bunder blunders, a few mental errors. Uh, they
could have won that game. But you got to give
Minnesota and Sam Darnold a lot of credit. Kevin O'Connell
the way he's drawing it up, they're really talented team. Uh,
Brian Flores, the way this defense is playing. They have
all the pieces in place. The gink the Kinkler, Metchell.

(29:28):
The Kinkler is out here having a Pro Bowl type season,
really fitting well in this defense.

Speaker 3 (29:33):
Grenard is having a really great y natural over there.
Rich It's just like he's the perfect fit for that Viking. Look,
if he doesn't want to play for the team, maybe
go be the mascot afterwards.

Speaker 1 (29:45):
Richard, I don't know, he's the face of the franchise.
The franchise, but they're they're doing. Aaron Jones is running
the ball, well, they have a good chance. You know,
they got to make sure the same things that apply
to him. You can't turn the ball over, you can't
be fumbling the ball if you're Aaron Jones. Defensively, it's
it is a feast or famine kind of defense because
you know, they put a lot of pressure and then

(30:07):
they pop out into that cover too, or they bring
to zero blitz and then they got to play zero
and they disguise things and put Harrison Smith all these
different places. Fits pretty much said you should assume it's
covered two every time when they pop out, and if
it's something else, then you throw the hot as if
it's zero coverage.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
But I think that's what Jordan Love has struggled with
this season.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
He struggled with it when we went to Detroit and
we had that game against the Detroit Lions. That's what
they did. That's how Aaron Glenn attacked him. He brought
pressure consistently. And that's the thing that's been Jordan Love's
achilles heel this season and a little bit of last season,
is dealing with pressure in his face. And I think
they're going to try to bring a lot of pressure
this game. Obviously, that's what floor is, that's that's that's

(30:49):
what he lives off of, you know, That's that's his mentality,
that's his reputation, and I think that's what's gonna happen.
And if Josh Jacobs continues to run the ball like
he he's doing, He's going to continue to get awards
and be up for all pros and be up for
things like our Player in Prime Time, brought to you
by our friends and partners over at Brightling.

Speaker 2 (31:11):
Mitchell.

Speaker 1 (31:11):
He's running the ball as well as anybody, obviously seventh
in yards right now. But when you look at the
every game the eye test, you see him go in
and he's just bruising, bruising, never goes down from the
first tackler. It's always two three guys breaking two three
tackles each carry. He's a big reason why this team
is having so much success. While the mentality has changed,

(31:33):
they're much more of a bruising, physical team, and they
can finish games. They can close games out, and he's
been doing that. So obviously he deserves to be our
Player in Prime Time this week, brought to you by Brightling.
There are very few backs playing better than him. Obviously,
Saquan and Derrick Henry have a case. We can't really
talk about that.

Speaker 3 (31:52):
You know what's wild about all three of those backs,
Rich is they were given up on by their former
team last year. You know, it's the three I was
just gonna say this, The three guys you just mentioned
all were giving up upon. I mean, it's it's the
resurgence of the running back. Richard Dare I say the
running back has made a comeback because you're seeing teams

(32:12):
like the Lions that are spending high first round picks,
like the Atlanta Falcons with Bijon Robinson, and now teams
are starting to pay these guys more. It's wild to me,
and it's you can kind of understand the trajectory of
two teams. The Raiders give up on Josh Jacobs for
absolutely no reason. It's not like he got paid a
ridiculous amount of money. He got paid what he was

(32:34):
worth and frankly, maybe a little bit below what he's worth.
And then you look at Saquan in New York. I
mean that might be a firewall offense. I know Jamarrow
was was very very you know, it hit him hard
when he realized that potentially lose Saquon. I know, what
is it shown is that his name the GM with
the Giants. He's new into his tenure. I know he's

(32:55):
taking a couple of swings. You know, he got the
d N from a burn from the Panthers and made
a couple other moves in the draft. But I think
not coming from not signing Saquon might ultimately result in
the door closing on him. What do you think, Rich,
I mean, the decisions like that, do you think you
could get this GM another shot or you think he's

(33:16):
gonna be on the hot seat because of the decision
like that.

Speaker 1 (33:18):
I think they'll give him another shot just because he
says the right things. And sometimes if you look the
right way, Mitchell, when you say the right things, you
get time in this league, even though you make obvious
and and and the worst part about this is that
you could see it is that they were doing the
hard knocks, and we got to see the behind the
scenes stuff between him and Mara and the conversations between

(33:39):
he and Saquon. It made it look ten times worse
because you could clearly see Saquon wanted to be there
and clearly see they didn't see the value that they
had in him. And what was frustrating to me, It's
not like you guys are paying a lot of people.
It's not like you are an elite team that are
paying all these crazy and you gotta really count the

(34:02):
salary cap and Penny Pinch like he's your home run hitter,
he's your franchise player, and you're valuing a quarterback who's
unproven and should have never got that kind of money
over a back that's been homegrown and been a superstar
for you played hard, never never really you know, cheated
at you never try to take take games off or
give up on your team.

Speaker 2 (34:23):
He wants to be in the city.

Speaker 1 (34:25):
And you could see these franchises taking those dives that
did this. Derrick Henry, what are the Tennessee Titans now
in disarray? Las Vegas Raiders? What are they right now?
In disarray?

Speaker 2 (34:39):
Go on, New York Giants, they're gonna be picking number
one in the draft.

Speaker 1 (34:43):
Disarray got rid of the same quarterback they chose over
Sakuon Barkley. That's why it's a fireball of fence, because
what are you doing? It's clear and obvious, and it
almost you gotta be blind or some kind of weird
biased like I don't know if he's blackmailing or something
to not see that. And if you can't see those

(35:03):
obvious things, what makes you think that you're gonna see
some obvious talent in the future, Like you can make
great decisions in the future. So I would get rid
of him, but they're not going to. He's gonna get
another chance and another chance, and then once he gets
fired from here, somebody else will give him another chance.
And that's how the league works. Even though he made
an awful decision, his thought process throughout the decision to
get rid of sa Quon what's terrible. You disrespected the

(35:25):
guy throughout the entire process and you felt like, ah,
he's disposable nobody else. Hey, go out there and see
what they're gonna give you, and then come back to
us and we'll sign you for what we told you.
We're gonna sign you for. You Like, that's not how
you treat a guy like that. You say, hey, name
your number, we'll do our best to match, and if
we can't, I'm sorry, we've got to let you go.

Speaker 2 (35:42):
But we gave you our best shot.

Speaker 1 (35:44):
You're not paying anybody, so that's why he knew you
could pay him what he needs to pay him. And
now you're watching him have an MVP season for a
division rival, Like that's what makes it a fireable offence.
You watch your team win two games and then Mars
watching the Philadelphia he goes in Takuon run for what
appears to be two thousand yards.

Speaker 2 (36:04):
This season a career year do.

Speaker 3 (36:07):
You think they can even make eye contact at this point, Richard,
because that's all I think about. I think mar is
just watching Saquon run wild, and then the GM's coming in.
I can't even imagine them in the same room and
watching Saquon highlights in Philly. It's to see what he's
doing and how he's elevated. That Philly offense is insane.
And to let that talent walk out the door, it's

(36:30):
mine numbing. Let's talk a little bit about the Dallas Cowboys.
They're on a hot streak here. I did not see
this coming. I don't know if you saw this coming.
It looks like Cooper Rush has really settled in and
found his pace. Unfortunately, it's too late in the season
for them. They're already eliminating from the playoffs, but they're
playing for that pride you talked about, Richard, How surprised
are you with this Dallas Cowboy win. It comes at

(36:52):
the cost of knocking the Bucks out of the playoffs
for the time being and needing the Atlanta Falcons to
lose at some point later in the sea. How big
of a losses is for Tampa, Richard, And I was
surprised you to see it come out in the win
column for Dallas.

Speaker 1 (37:07):
This is a devastating loss for Tampa because you know,
I obviously they had a lot of momentum going. They
were playing really good, seemed to be in control of
the NFC South Atlanta seemed to be going and trending
in the other direction with the way Kirk Cousins was
playing and throwing the interceptions, and then it all falls apart,

(37:28):
and it has.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
To be disappointing.

Speaker 1 (37:31):
Because it looked like at the end of that game
they were going to rally and Baker Mayfield was going
to come up with another miracle. He throws it to
Rashad White on like a just a flip because he
was he was in the grasp and about to get sacked.
He was trying to avoid the sack, got the fallout,
Rashard White broke a tackle and then Deran Bland makes
an incredible play takes the ball from him and that's game.
And that's that's the most frustrating thing, because I think

(37:53):
he was going to drive him down the field and
set him up for a game winning field goal. What
they would made the field goal or not, I don't know,
but it seemed like with the way Baker was playing,
they were gonna have a chance at a game winning
field goal. So if their season just went to is
over because of a guy fumbling football, you know, in
that situation, I'm sure it's going to be really devastating

(38:14):
and disappointing, especially knowing the way that Bucky Irving had
been playing, and he wasn't in a game at that time,
and that might be their season. And that was a
team that you know, you thought could be dangerous, you know, Bowls,
and this Buccaneers team is always dangerous in the playoffs.
And Atlanta is playing Pinnix now and he had a
solid game obviously at the interception, should have had a touchdown,

(38:34):
but Kyle Pitts dropped the football, and that calls the
actual cause the interception because it was a ball in
his hands and he just let it go. He seems
disinterested in playing in the National Football League right now,
but that's just my opinion. But yeah, the Cowboys are
playing good football.

Speaker 2 (38:52):
You know.

Speaker 1 (38:53):
They they're a talented team, and when you came into
this season, you thought they would be competing for the
NFC East Cram.

Speaker 2 (39:00):
They have enough talent.

Speaker 1 (39:01):
You talked about how they paid Dak Prescott, how they
paid Micah Parsons. You know, they had Treyvon Diggs who
just went out for the knee surgery, says he's gonna
be out eight months. But Deron Bland had the incredible
season with all the.

Speaker 2 (39:13):
Pick six is.

Speaker 1 (39:14):
It's surprising because of how the season had been going.
But you can see this team as playing for pride.
Cooper Rush is finding his legs, Ceedee Lamb continues to
have a really productive season, and it's good for them.

Speaker 2 (39:26):
You know.

Speaker 1 (39:26):
I think at the end of the season, it's gonna
be another one of those things where they're gonna look
up around draft time and they're gonna be picking at
twenty one. They're gonna be like, what happened? I thought
we had a bad year. It's like, not bad enough
to pick low. But you know, it's a good win
for them. They played the Philadelphia Eagles next week and
we'll see if they can play with that same kind
of intense ty, maybe you know, pull out an upset.
Then the Bucks play the Carolina Panthers, who's who've been

(39:50):
giving people a much better game. You know, they beat
an Arizona Cardinals team that had a chance to still
be competing for that last playoff spot, that last that
NFC West Division title, and they really ended that dream
right there. And I think you got to give teams
like that a lot of credit that continue to play hard,

(40:11):
that continue to show up.

Speaker 2 (40:12):
Bryce Young is starting to develop.

Speaker 1 (40:14):
You could see him taking the next step and the
next step, So it's good for them.

Speaker 3 (40:20):
Or let's go on to buy or sell. This one
is a weird situation. It involves two of your favorite
I guess quarterbacks, and Kirk Cousins and Aaron Rodgers, and
your former team, the San Francisco forty nine Ers, Richard,
with the state of the Niners and the Rock Purty
situation looming. Buy er sell the forty nine Ers will

(40:43):
sign Kirk Cousins or Aaron Rodgers this offseason.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
I doubt it. I doubt it. I'll sell that. I
don't think you.

Speaker 1 (40:52):
I don't think the forty nine ers are going to
sign either one of those because they won't back up
Rock Purdy unless Kirk is willing to take that role,
which I highly doubt out because he still believes he's
a starter in this league and I'm sure there's a
team out there that will need him to either mentor
a young guy or be a bridge quarterback or something
like that. He's probably reaching that point in his career,

(41:12):
made enough money obviously, but still has the pride and
you know, the ability to play at a high level.
But that Achilles is gonna wear on you, you know what
I mean, And it's really impacted his performance. Has impacted
his physical abilities and his ability to push the ball
down the field. And you can see that. You can
see it from game one. You can see it in
their run game. He's not the most mobile quarterback in

(41:33):
the National Football League, but he's a lot more mobile
than he has been. And you can see the differences
when Michael Pennox is in there, you know, just casual
pocket movement, you know, getting out of there a little
bit sooner, you know, running for a few yards here
and there, making negative plays positive plays. And that's something
Kirk just couldn't do with that Achilles. And I understand
that it takes a really long time for that to

(41:54):
come back and snap back the way you expecting it to.
And I never played quarterback in the National Football League,
but I'm sure it affects his mechanics driving the ball
down the field. It'll be better next season. But I
don't see him or Aaron backing anybody up. So I
think if Aaron's not in New York, I think he
hangs them up. And I think if Kirk's not in Atlanta,

(42:19):
another team will be calling him to have him at
least compete for a starting job. Let me really think
about it, Tennessee or team like that that just doesn't
have the quarterback and doesn't have the draft position to
really get the guy that can come in make an
immediate impact.

Speaker 3 (42:36):
It's just wild to me, and specifically the Atlanta Falcons organization.
What in the world is the GM's decision making process
with signing Kirk Cousins and then really reaching on Michael
Panic's junior. He certainly looks like a hell of a
quarterback and a steal at number eight. What goes through
your mind is a GM, why in the world would

(42:56):
you make that decision, especially now facing the reality of
cutting Kirk and leaving millions and millions and dead money
cap hit for the next two seasons.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
Again, that's one of those concerning decisions that is kind
of legacy defining in terms of, like with your team
and they're going to be I'm sure Arthur Blank is
going to be taking a real close look at what
happens from here on because it essentially looks like they
paid Kirk Cousins ninety million dollars for fourteen games, and
it removes.

Speaker 3 (43:26):
The benefit of drafting Michael Pennix and having them on
a rookie contract. I mean, the financial benefit from having
a rookie is gone now because you're still stuck with
this cap hit from Kirk Cousins. It's one of those
moves man. When it happened, I think it shocked everyone
because you don't make it for a number of reasons,
and the biggest being financial.

Speaker 2 (43:46):
So I just I don't get it, man, And.

Speaker 3 (43:48):
Like you said, I think this could be legacy defining
for certainly this team. This this next one pains me,
but it's it's an oncoming reality. Ben Johnson's one of
the hottest names on the upcoming head coaching sir get
He's the OCI for the Detroit Lions, and we see
him get creative every single week. This week was the
fake fumble touchdown pass to Samaporta. Betan Johnson will be

(44:12):
the next head coach for the Chicago Bears by or.

Speaker 2 (44:16):
So I can buy that.

Speaker 1 (44:18):
I can buy that because they're They're probably the best
job out there, unless the the Dallas Cowboys job comes up,
and it appears that Jerry Jones is gonna stick with McCarthy,
at least as he is. He hasn't fired him yet.
The team is playing better. I think they're fom one
over the last five so all indications point to him

(44:42):
continuing as the Dallas Cowboys head coach, to I'm sure
the chagrin of the Green I mean Dallas Cowboys fans.
I don't think he wants to take the New Orleans
Saints job. I think Doug Peterson is going to be gone,
But if he's not, I don't think Jacksonville is really
a pealing job. Depending on what they do in Las Vegas,

(45:03):
still not better than the Chicago job. The New York
position isn't better than the Chicago job either either.

Speaker 2 (45:10):
One.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
I don't think they get rid of Dave Bowl, but
I don't think the Jets is going to be appealing
to anybody. The way Woody Johnson treated Salah and treated
that whole situation, and just their their GM coach dynamic,
the way it was built wasn't something that would be
acceptable to a lot of coaches. So I think Chicago
is the only place that really makes sense for Ben Johnson.

(45:34):
If he wants to be a head coach in this league,
he'll have his pick up a litter. I think other
coaches may be more desperate and may take one of
these other jobs just because they you know, they won't
have the pick of the litter. They will have to
just take the job that allows them to be a
head coach in the National Football League. But he'll get
his pick, and I think the best pick out of
all these jobs is probably going to be Chicago.

Speaker 3 (45:58):
Moving on nonsports related, it's somewhat sports related, Richard. I
know you're a big holiday guy. I know you love
I know you love Harry Potter and dressing up for
Halloween and all that stuff. But buy or sell Christmas
is the best holiday.

Speaker 1 (46:13):
Bye bye bye bye bye Metro. I have to buy it.
It's not even close. It's not even what other holiday
is even competing with Christmas. Halloween. I can eat candy
anytime and dress up. I could wear Harry Potter stuff
on a random Tuesday in March.

Speaker 3 (46:33):
Fourth of July is nice and warm, dude, you're out
on the lake, I mean Thanksgiving, you're eating a nice
turkey with your family.

Speaker 2 (46:40):
Fourth of July.

Speaker 1 (46:41):
We want to honor the country and honor you know,
everything that happened. But no, it's not Christmas. Christmas means
so much more because it's bringing people together. You got
the clay Christmas cartoons and shows, you got the Grinch,
you got all the storytelling, all the pageantry around it,
all the giving and receiving energy, just positive. You know,

(47:04):
you got the song all I want for Christmas? Yas
Mariah Carey is still making millions off the song, probably
the best thing she's ever done in her life. Mariah,
what a what a song? Christmas? Mitchell. Sometimes I catch
myself in July listening to Christmas songs, and if I'm
listening to songs from a holiday that's six months away,

(47:28):
that's probably the best holiday.

Speaker 2 (47:30):
And that's where I'm I don't know why that doesn't
surprise me. Man.

Speaker 3 (47:32):
I could just envision you right now driving down the
road and listening to Mariah Carey on repeat, and it
would not shock me one bit.

Speaker 2 (47:40):
Richard.

Speaker 3 (47:41):
Look, we talked about we got Christmas. Christmas Day football
by your cell. The NFL playing on Christmas is awesome.

Speaker 1 (47:49):
Bye bye. Sucks for the NBA, but you know we're
football guys.

Speaker 2 (47:52):
Here. Give it a movie game, movie game. Get hey.

Speaker 3 (47:58):
I got advice for you, get better, and that's that.
But Richard, you're gonna go and watch your Seattle Seahawks
this Thursday, take on the Chicago Bears. It's time for
our TNF preview, presented by Ryan Video. Richard, it's gonna
be cold. I hope you better bring a scarf man,
bring your bring your park up, bring whatever you got

(48:18):
and you might want to wear.

Speaker 1 (48:20):
I thought that negative three point five was the was
was the weather.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
It was the temperature for the game. I said.

Speaker 1 (48:26):
I got a little concern. I said, yeah, I gotta
go jump in a cold tub at some point.

Speaker 3 (48:30):
Again, Richard, it's not it's not gonna be negative three
and a half degrees, but it is a negative three
and a half point spread in favor of your Seattle Seahawks.
The Seahawks must win to keep any hopes of the
playoffs alive. Richard. The Bears have lost nine straight. They're
struggling teams. Players on the team looked like they're checked out.

(48:51):
But then again, you're playing on the road, You're going
to a different time when you're playing in a very
cold environment. What do you think the Seahawks this week
on Thursday? You think they can come out with a win. Yeah,
I think they will come out with a win. Their
defense has been playing well. They played well last week
except for a few bonehead plays, a few mental errors
that doomed them at the end of the game. Obviously,

(49:12):
but I think this will be a game. You know,
they can help them feel better about themselves. It will
help their d line feel better. You know, they should
get a lot of pressure on his quarterback. I'm sure
McDonald will put a lot of exotic looks in front
of him, make them hold the ball even more than
he already does. He's likely top three and most sacked

(49:33):
quarterbacks in the league this year, so I expect that
to continue.

Speaker 2 (49:36):
So this is this is a stat pad game.

Speaker 1 (49:40):
This is a game the Seattle Seahawks should be licking
their chops to get after the quarterback. You know, get
four or five, maybe seven eight sacks. Geno Smith having
efficient game. This defense though, This defense still can play
and they have some playmakers on defense. That's what makes
them attractive team for head coaches because they do have
a good defense and say have the pieces in place.

(50:01):
Their offense is just played so badly, at least at
the quarterback position. And I know the numbers sometimes look
like he's played better than what it actually has been
because he's protecting his passer rating by not throwing the
ball away and getting rid of it and taking unnecessary
sacks to protect his stats. But this has been a
not great season for him because you got to let

(50:25):
the ball go, you know. And at times people are like, oh, yeah,
he's taking all these sacks. It's the ole line. But
some of these sacks are four and five seconds into
the playclock. And so when you hold the ball that
long in the National Football League, that's an eternity and
that's in his achilles heel. And that has been his
achilles heel even through the process of evaluating him coming

(50:46):
out of USC and Oklahoma.

Speaker 2 (50:48):
Is he wants the huge play. He doesn't want to
take the checkdown.

Speaker 1 (50:53):
You know. It's like the NBA right now, and people
are like, what's wrong with the NBA. It's like guys
can't make layups or mid ranges, but they'll shoot fifty
threes and make six and people will be like, yeah,
he's an All Star. I was like, I don't want
to see you miss forty four throws. I want to
see you I'd rather see you make twenty five layups,
you know what I mean, make fifteen mid ranges and
shoot ten threes and make two like.

Speaker 2 (51:14):
I'd be okay with that. But he's always looking for the.

Speaker 1 (51:17):
Home run and at times the singles right there in
front of him. And until he learns to take singles,
he's not going to win consistently in this league. And
whether you have a good defense and run game and
all the things that you are necessary in terms of
the formula for winning, until he learns to take the singles, well.

Speaker 3 (51:38):
It's wild to think this is the final Thursday night
football game of the season.

Speaker 2 (51:42):
Richard. It's time flies, man.

Speaker 3 (51:45):
I'm sure you've had some fun but on the road
going to all these games, but this is the last one.
So you guys have got to tune in. Make sure
you check about seven o'clock Eastern time on Prime Video.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
Check out Richard in the Gang. Richard.

Speaker 3 (52:00):
One last thing, much anticipated Power rankings. Last week, the
Detroit Lions spelled from the one spot I know Buffalo
was hot Richard, this week's gonna be kind of a
very interesting one because I think we might have a
complete cluster and I can't wait for you to line

(52:21):
these up.

Speaker 2 (52:22):
What do you got for this week?

Speaker 1 (52:24):
Well, we're gonna do it like we always do it.

Speaker 2 (52:28):
Mitchell. Kansas City Chiefs number one, Mitchell.

Speaker 1 (52:31):
They are still the top of the food chain until
they're not. And they played well enough to win. Patrick
Mahomes on a mom ankle or whatever, not bum ankle.
He ran the ball pretty well. Their defense played well.
Unfortunately Texans lost Tank Dale, but Kansas City Chiefs one.
Detroit has to be two. I'll give them to Mitchell.

(52:54):
I like it because Buffalo struggled with the Patriots, and
I know Josh Allen said, hey, we're not showing everything
we got. I've actually never heard of anything like that,
at least said publicly in the National Football League, where
somebody says we're just not showing stuff until the playoffs
because we were we don't have a chance with the
one seed. I've literally never heard anybody say that, but
maybe they have. And since they said that, I'm going

(53:16):
to go with Minnesota at three, and then I'll go
Buffalo at four. The fifth spot is where it gets interesting.
It gets very vexing. It's very vexing at five because
on one hand, you want to put you know, the
AFC North in there, Baltimore. So with Lamar and those

(53:37):
guys did, there's a chance they could go in and
win this week. They had a big win against Pittsburgh
last week, so you can't put Pittsburgh there.

Speaker 2 (53:46):
Do you put Green Bay there?

Speaker 1 (53:47):
Dominant win over over the Saints, but you know there's
a Saints and defense pitch to shut out m.

Speaker 2 (53:57):
Philly.

Speaker 3 (53:58):
I know that fan base for you to mention their
name every once in a while as well, at least
still twelve and three rich Ja they are contendered last week.
That had a lot to do with probably why they
lost that game. Assuming he's back, that team is going
to be full health heading in the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (54:16):
I do like it too.

Speaker 1 (54:18):
I do like Philly with but but but and and
Philly fans hate when I'm critical of them. You know,
every team hates to hear the bad stuff about their team.
You don't want you to just say, hey, they're gonna
win the super Bowl, even if that's not true. But
the five touchdowns Jalen Jayden Daniels threw on them thirty
six points on a defense that's been playing elite football.

(54:39):
That's where that's where the concern level is for me. Hmmm, Philadelphia, Philadelphia,
off a loss, I do them in.

Speaker 4 (54:46):
Off of them, They've still got a better record than
Baltimore by two games, still got a better record than
the Pittsburgh Steelers, who didn't play as well defensively.

Speaker 2 (54:59):
You've mince me, Mitchell, I'll put Philadelphia in there, but grudgingly.

Speaker 3 (55:05):
I like it, Man. I was interested to see how
you unpack that one.

Speaker 2 (55:09):
Richard.

Speaker 3 (55:09):
Well, this concludes Week sixteen. We're on the week seventeen.
It's gonna be awesome down the stretch. This next week
is gonna be amazing. Cannot wait to flip on the
TV on Christmas on Wednesday and Thursday, before tuning in
this weekend on Saturday and Sunday. Richard, we continue onward.

(55:30):
Please sign us off, my friend.

Speaker 1 (55:32):
Well, thank you guys for joining us on this Christmas
Eve's Eve. It's been another beautiful day for the Richard
Sherman Podcast. I hope you guys have a wonderful Christmas
Eve and a wonderful holiday with your family and friends.
I hope you do a power rankings for Christmas songs,
because number one has to be all I want for

(55:53):
Christmas is you. Number two Silent Night by the Temptations.
Number three rocking around the Christmas Street.

Speaker 2 (56:06):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (56:07):
I don't know about that because I think Jackson five
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town might be up there
for me at three. If you haven't heard Chris Brown's
This Christmas, It's got to be in there. Christmas is
the best holiday. We can do this all day, but
make sure you listen to a lot of holiday songs.
Whatever you like to listen to. Watch Home Alone, watch

(56:29):
The Grinch.

Speaker 2 (56:30):
We love you.

Speaker 1 (56:31):
You could be anywhere in the world, but you hear
with us, and we appreciate it. Here at the Rich
Sherman Podcast, hit that's up button if you're new.

Speaker 4 (56:56):
The volume

Speaker 2 (57:00):
Eight