2025 Wild Card Round Preview

00:00:03
Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where we are not one of the nine organizations trying to hire John Harbaugh.

00:00:09
Speaker 2: Right now, I.

00:00:10
Speaker 1: Am Greg Rosenthal, and I'm here in the Chris Westling podcast studio with my friend Patrick Clayvon and joining us from the UK, lovely Manchester, our friend Ollie Connelly. It's not Saturday, but this is the wild Card preview and I think it's a perfect time for the Sikos to come out. I'm looking forward to this one. Is this the best weekend of the year for the NFL? Ali, Howard you rank them?

00:00:38
Speaker 3: I would range this first this season. I traditionally agree the Divisional round is the best weekend. I think this season, with the matchups we have, it's a ridiculously loaded slate with how we even all the teams are, so I think this year this is the best week of football.

00:00:52
Speaker 1: I agree with that because this is a unique season in which I can see any of the AFC teams making the Super Bowl except for the Steelers, and I can see any teams in the playoffs winning the Super Bowl except who would you cross off?

00:01:09
Speaker 4: Would make me say it? Greg? See what's taking place here?

00:01:12
Speaker 2: Okay?

00:01:13
Speaker 1: I Well, it's an interesting because someone asked me, like, who's your I haven't really thought about like who you're going to pick to win the super Bowl. But the only teams that would really surprise me winning the Super Bowl would be Pittsburgh.

00:01:23
Speaker 2: Okay, I die through that.

00:01:25
Speaker 1: Carolina, certainly, I'd throw in Chicago and San Francisco and even Green Bay I guess would surprise me in the end because the NFC is a little deeper. But that means that there's nine teams right now that wouldn't really surprise me that much.

00:01:38
Speaker 5: If they want to see, yeah, it would be the two incredible Cinderella runs and everybody else.

00:01:42
Speaker 4: You know, it's it's a super Bowl champion.

00:01:44
Speaker 5: But they won't like make a movie in forty years about like like they would the Steelers of the Panther.

00:01:50
Speaker 2: And the Division Round is great.

00:01:51
Speaker 1: I think I still would go with Week one, as always to me, is always like the most exciting because it's just it's just an explosion and you have and you have so much ahead of you. But right now we're going to go through each one of these games. We're going to start in the NFC, and we'll start with the biggest point spread. I guess the one game where it seems like it might not be that great a game.

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Speaker 5: At the time of this conversation we're having across most of the planet thanks to Oli.

00:02:18
Speaker 4: Shout out to the folks in Manchester, the.

00:02:20
Speaker 5: Los Angeles Rams traveling back to the Bank of America Stadium. I don't know why I said the Bank of America Stadium ten and a half point favorites. At the time we're having this conversation. At the Carolina Panthers the over unders forty six and a half. Joe Davison g rag is back in Carolina for this one. Greg Vegas not necessarily feeling like the Panthers have a chance, you said that you would be surprised.

00:02:44
Speaker 4: Do you feel like they have a chance? It's ten and a half in the right spot?

00:02:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it is.

00:02:50
Speaker 1: And going back and looking at that game where you know the Panthers just beat them not that long ago, that's going to be a recurring theme on this show. You would think that would give you more confidence that they could do it again. But that's a three turnover game for Matthew Stafford, And it was also in terms of the running game for the Rams, the highest success rate that any team had running the ball in any game all season long, and that's kind of where I start ali that the Rams guards dominated in this game, and so we don't know if Kevin Dotson is going to be available. That's a really big injury thing to watch in this game. But I look at the Panthers and of course it could be close, it's an NFL game, but they're a bottom ten run defense in general, and they looked worse than that against the Rams. And if they if they can't hold up, I think that's that you almost start trailing by a touchdown or two right there, because I can't imagine them stopping them on the ground too often.

00:03:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, in that game, the Rams hit before the line of scrimmage rate was full percent. The league averages the done, so that is how pull thes defense was in that game. That game was one k anyway with the bad weather, and you mentioned the turnovers and Bryce hitting two absolute seeds on fourth down when it was like must have it territory. It's just hard to think that you could get that amalgamation again. I do think it kind of comes down to how Bryce s Young plays and our Chris Shuler schemes up against him, and I imagine he's going to try and make him hold onto the ball as long as possible and see if you can play some second reaction football. I thought they are really good flashes of that from Bryce in the books game, but it's not really being where he's been at his best this season. So the longer Bryce is holding the ball, I think, the more trouble the Panthers get him. But he was absolute money. I must have a situation in the first matchup, so I think it's one of those ones where unless there's real turnover flukey log, that the Panthers are in trouble.

00:04:36
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:04:37
Speaker 5: I'm looking at this from a different point of view only because when I see Bryce being able to get to that point where he's having the second reaction making plays as the plague breaks down, that's where I get the confidence because that means they didn't force the ball out of his hands early. And where this situation where it's safety Bryce. It is run on first down, short pass on second down, it's third and long like here you go, kid, figure it. I think that's the rough situation because he's not only having to figure it out on third down, it's getting a fourth down as well. I think I need in this game where it's gonna be an upset anywhere, you're gonna have to hope the defense makes turnovers.

00:05:11
Speaker 4: Be aggressive, Yeah on fourth down?

00:05:13
Speaker 5: Why don't we call those fourth down plays on first and second down a couple times?

00:05:17
Speaker 2: Well, that's the thing about Bryce.

00:05:18
Speaker 1: I do feel like he's a very hard guy to evaluate in general. But I do think the public perception of him is off because if you put the highlight reel up of his best throws of the season, it's maybe not at Stafford level. I'm not gonna go there, but it's pretty high up there, and I think that is the type of offense you're gonna have to do sometime. Then again, in the first game, they did move the ball enough. They won a ball control type of game where there weren't a lot of possessions, and they did it by preventing this Rams pass rush from ever getting to him. And I do think that's a big matchup here. The Panthers offensive line pass protecting is solid, but I was a little surprised, like only two quarterback hits no sacks in that first game.

00:05:58
Speaker 2: A lot of that is just getting rid of the ball.

00:06:00
Speaker 1: But I do find with the Rams pass Rush like they're great individually Kobe Turner and Jared Vers and certainly Byron Young, but there are some weeks where they leave me a little wanting, like, if you're going to be great, here we are, we're arriving to the playoffs as a group, Like I just want to see them at their very best, because I do find them Maybe maybe I'm wrong, but just like a little inconsistent in terms of their best play on a week to week basis.

00:06:29
Speaker 3: I think you're right with that. They're all of like a second search power space groups. But it's walking back to the quarterback unless verse just goes absolutely, you know, maniacal and just starts deathenating people in the pockets. So you'll get week two weeks where some guys can just absorb all the power and if you don't have that like crazy flash speed off the ball, you're not gonna be able to disrupt people every single week. And I think that is why this group is at the best is they are just big, lumbering, powerful guys. Why they can knock people off the ball in the rung game and they can hold up against power and passports when there's like real chock and all speed depending on the talent level of the play, where they get themselves in a buyer. So that is I think a pretty fair match of for the PANDASIC. I do agree with Patrick on how Bryce should be used. It's whether Dave Canals has the trust or not. In a giant game back in the playoffs, they are completely at their best when they go empty. It's all in Bryce's hands and he can play point guard and then drive the ball down the field. That's always where he's been productive from college to the NFL. If you look at any of the data since he's been the league, the most efficient explosive plays in football come when Bryce Hung is in an empty set. They have often gone away from that when it's a cringe time game against good teams. And I think we'll know where in the first two drives where the Canals feels his guys got it or not, and if they tried to hide Bryce Hung, I think that's when they will get themselves in trouble. They just got to go all in with the chips. It's like, let's bet on Bryce, let's bet on turnovers, and if we get you know, wiped by thirty we get wiped by thirty.

00:07:43
Speaker 4: Yeah, and that those are the options.

00:07:45
Speaker 5: What it feels like, it's either they get absolutely run out of the stadium while having a chance to win and being aggressive, or they can try to slow the game.

00:07:53
Speaker 4: The game's already going to be slow.

00:07:55
Speaker 5: They're not a generationally bad run defense like they were a season ago. They're still giving up four for almost four and a half yards per carry. Yeah, and we saw the way that the Buccaneers were able to play the second half in that game, where it's like Baker Mayfield wasn't even involved in the proceedings. Essentially, they were able to run the ball and be the window for success for Carolina gets so thin because like the number of possessions is always low.

00:08:18
Speaker 2: Right, they take it off the field. It's also just because they can't run the ball.

00:08:22
Speaker 1: And I'm going to stop talking about their running game just it really, I think is a problem for them spiritually moving forward coming off this season where they should feel good that their entire point of this team build, the offensive line has and their running backs have really let them down. That they are bottom two in success rate in EPA for place since Week ten. This is not a small sample size, it's half the season, and that is the way I think that you want to beat the Rams. I think flipping to the Rams in terms of their offense, you probably get Terrence Ferguson back this week. Maybe that's not the hugest deal in the world, but you do get DeVante Adams.

00:09:03
Speaker 2: Back this week.

00:09:04
Speaker 1: You're beloved ally who with all three tight ends that they that they like to use, we actually haven't seen like Higbee, Ferguson, and Parkinson all together.

00:09:15
Speaker 2: It's very athletic.

00:09:16
Speaker 1: I think Higby has made a difference returning to their lineup in the last few weeks. I mean they love them some h Tyler Higby, so it gives them kind of every option that they would want. Offensively, where do you think they attack, How do you think they attack in terms of the passing game?

00:09:32
Speaker 3: In whichever way they please. I think it's be pretty brutal. The Penders today, Credit tried to draw up a bespoke game plan that was completely counter intuitive, which you like to be a theme. I think of these teams who've played each other already the season when they met earlier in the year, and it just wasn't effective. I mean Matt Steff have made I think two of his best throws the season this game, and then just missed some layups that he's not missed all season. Then he at the dodgy turnovas, which is so unlike him. But they will wide open opportunities everywhere, and I just something the Panthers have any kind of like schematic curve ball they could throw away that would freak out Matthew Stavid and they certainly don't have the man to mantallenge just go toe to toe wherever it's the thirteen first name of the McVeigh chooses to spread it out and but more receives on the field, So I just think it could be the pen's in a blenda throughout the game.

00:10:15
Speaker 5: It's it's a rare opportunity for a team playing the Rams that at least in some aspects personnel wise, between Mike Jackson and j. C. Horn, they have a chance. I feel like they have a better chance oddly enough against Vonte and Puka than they do against the tight ends in the run game, where it's any litany of options that McVeigh has to really take advantage of a defense struggle in there.

00:10:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the last thing I have in the rams is just I like this Sean McVay after getting fourth down religion, and I really think it could possibly be the difference of them going all the way, like just these little margins that he is not afraid in the first game against the Panthers reminded me of it when I went back to look like he is so not afraid to run on third and medium lion style and then go for it on fourth down, which in this game especially, I think it's kind of lead to a lot of points, but I think it could it could end up being a big difference during this entire run. Before we move on though, from this game, let's listen to Dave Canalis talking about, you know, the knowledge of being such a massive underdog, are they being disrespected?

00:11:17
Speaker 6: Well, while I understand that there's always there's always the favorites, and there's always the points spread and all those things, we can't really think about that, you know, And I know that the guys are aware of it. I know I'm aware of it. I see it on TV. It doesn't matter, you know. What matters to us is to play our best football.

00:11:35
Speaker 5: All right, Gotta play the play your best football when not worried about what people are saying.

00:11:39
Speaker 4: You know, unless the Panthers try extra hard.

00:11:41
Speaker 5: On Saturday, Ali, we get an opportunity to watch on Prime video Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreet calling a football game in the NFC North that's actually a wild card game between the Green Bay Packers. Were favored by one and a half on the road against the Chicago Bears team that one at home. These two teams split, they both won when they were playing at home, the over unders forty five and a half. Do you see a break in the trend or does the home team win once again?

00:12:09
Speaker 3: It's really really difficult to say, and that's a cop out. The first game was so strange, The second game was so strange. Both teams completely shape shifted how they've played everyone else during the season to play each other. Do you just repeat that again when it's the third go around. I don't fancy my chances allowing Ben Jonson to see two game plans that were kind of completely different to everything we've done all season, letting him have a third crack at that. So this, to me, I think is the most difficult game of all of them to pick.

00:12:35
Speaker 1: I agree that Weather's two. I think this one and the Bills Jags to me would be the two. Not that that's a hot take or anything. But when you say that that you thought that the Packers defense did something different each time they played the Bears than what they did all season, what do you mean by that?

00:12:52
Speaker 3: I mean that Jeff Hafley's game plan and I'll just say this, and I hope I'll get in trouble. I thought he was disrespectful to Caleb Williams. You go and look the cover zero rate and completely against trend from Jeff Haffley at Boston College all the way up to the Packers. It was night and day different in terms of the depth of the defense, how much pressure he sent. And the only other time he's done that to that degree with all our pressure look is against JJ McCarthy and Jalen Hurts. So that is what he thinks of Caleb Williams. And I think if you give Ben Johnson a third go round with that. And I thought they caught them really well in the first game that Ben Johnson had built up plan to attack Hafley's traditional defense halfley throw as the curveball. They caught them cold. They just did slightly in the second game, though I don't think quite as well and just more Caleb played better in spaces in that second game. I don't think you can give Ben Johnson that kind of head start in a third go round.

00:13:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it was.

00:13:40
Speaker 1: It was the highest splitz rate that that Caleb Williams faced when these two teams played against each.

00:13:44
Speaker 2: Other, and overall it worked.

00:13:47
Speaker 1: I mean, look, the Bears, I don't know what to think sometimes about their offense because obviously it's a great running game. Caleb has improved a lot. He's gotten out to QB Island. He the throw he made to win this game against the is our throw of the year, and it wouldn't surprise me if he just has some moments that are the difference in this game. On the other hand, as as a total offense, you think about the first half of that Packers game, right, three points, seventy one yards. That was where all the blitzers are coming. Then they come on late in that game. In the second game, they had three points at the end of the three at the end of the third quarter, and that was it was a little bit more about complimentary football and the Packers holding the ball in that game and not quite finishing drives. There was some weird play call, and then I even think back to last week, and I know Ben Johnson kind of said afterwards, well, it wasn't our most complex game plan, which almost felt like he was making excuses for losing to Dan Campbell.

00:14:40
Speaker 2: Again.

00:14:41
Speaker 1: I mean, they didn't score in the first three quarters of that game. So it's hard for me to like see them as like an elite offense lately. They've kind of been in every other week offense, and they have been elite every other week. Like you think that Browns game, they were awesome, you know, the forty nine Ers games. Certainly they were awesome. But I'm not sure if I'm like quite there with trust seeing the Bears as an offense compared to like, let's say, the Rams or the Patriots or many of the more consistent offenses.

00:15:08
Speaker 5: Including like a Philadelphia Eagles team that's also been like spottedly inconsistent.

00:15:13
Speaker 4: But we've seen the sustained success in the past.

00:15:16
Speaker 5: And you have to go back to those weeks where you go against the forty nine ers team with no pass rush right right, that's once again famously giving up the most passing completions in NFL history in a single game to Jacoby said, like we get the games of the year, Like, I hope we get a re era on a NFL network.

00:15:33
Speaker 1: They used to ask they used to ask me to do that, to just to do that. I don't think they did last three. I gotta see what's going on.

00:15:39
Speaker 5: Any rature of Greg Rosenthal in a great game there. But it's a big part of how you can affect this team. But since the Michael Parsons injury, the ability to affect the pass rush er, I know they have to scheme up ways to do it. Now it becomes a little more difficult. You're giving Ben Johnson more time now in terms of what the the full limitations of what Hathley has available in terms of options to affect Caleb Williams and where you could look at those first halfs and say, oh, the Bears, I don't know, but you can also look at the second half right right in the end of those games and say, when when the all of the circumstances are available to what the defense is going to present, can they execute.

00:16:19
Speaker 2: They have right?

00:16:20
Speaker 1: And the running game is obviously going to be so big, and that is what you trust in more than anything. If you were guessing who the guys that the game plan is built around Ali. You know, I think about the fact that DJ Moore makes that catch. Since that moment, it was very recent, He's only had two catches. You know, It's like he's had eighteen yards in and he's not part of the offense that much, And it feels to me like it's a Luther Burden Colston Loveland offense. You think you get Roma duns A back potentially this week. He is back at practice, it does, you know, kind of sound like he's possibly back. Kyler Gordon is also back at practice. They haven't activated him off They are just going through injuries. While I'm here, CJGJ. The safety might be out Johncy Gardner Johnson for this game, and Zach Tom sounds like he might be back for Green Bay. So a lot of important injury stuff there. But where do you think like they build the passing game out of in Chicago?

00:17:17
Speaker 3: Has to be Colston Loveland? And I think DJ mod doesn't get the ball because he readily just quit some plays mid plays. And I don't think Ben Johnson, who is like a footballing psychopath, is down with guys just having like a highlight career moment and giving up on plays as they tried to make the playoffs. To day, what Halfley did in those first games was not just blitz, but he blitz with two deep safeties. He basically mimicked the Brian Flores defense to GoF to Caleb Williams. And actually though Caleb's game against Minnesota where the stats win that great, was his best pure quarterback game of the season. If you're gonna do that, you just naturally leave you think about this, five or six guys in the rest of the two guys deep, there's just a big void in the middle of the field, which is typically where Ben Johnson has most of his success. So I think it all comes down to Coulston Loveland. If a Dunes is available and you have that kind of big body in the slot, that would be really beneficial. And it comes down to Caleb recognizing and picking up what he's seeing and then just having a quick trigger. And he's got to have a quick trigger to Colston Loveland, and hopefully it's designed up pretty well by Ben Jonson is to get him some pretty easy boockets early in the game. But I think it's Loveland here who could decide the game.

00:18:11
Speaker 5: If you're watching us on YouTube and you see the litany of Caleb highlights where he's out on the edge making plays, I think Manunguy obviously Manunguy and Swift having success in the run game early sets it up where Caleb can be able to get out on the edge it make plays and not to limit the amount of options that the Green Bay Packers offense has, but it's tough to see a healthy Jordan Love with almost the full compliment of offensive skill players minus the massive absence of Tucker Craft late in the season against the Bears team that needs to make turnovers.

00:18:49
Speaker 4: To get off the field. Yeah, so that's the only way they go.

00:18:51
Speaker 1: We haven't seen Jordan Love since that game either, since he took that. It is really weird to play three times in five weeks.

00:18:58
Speaker 2: That's what it is, right.

00:19:00
Speaker 1: It was fourteen week fourteen sixteen, and I guess nineteen, So three times in six weeks.

00:19:05
Speaker 2: Whatever it is. Yeah, it spread it out a little. It's just a very.

00:19:08
Speaker 1: Strange way, and it's probably annoying for the coaches to happen. But the consistent part of these two games, more than anything Patrick is is like the Bears defense given up yards, like they're not getting stops. And if you even just look late in the season, and that's including the Bears game the Packers game, they've given up four hundred and thirty eight yards per game the last three weeks, whether it's you know, the Lions or whether it's the Packers here and look, I'm excited. I kind of wanted Jordan Love on QB Island, but he didn't make it. He got booted off at the last second. I didn't really I didn't stand up for it, so I own it. That was my decision. I ultimately like he wasn't there the last few weeks of the season, and Caleb Williams had some great moments. But as a Jordan Love fan and thinking about like the experience that he has and getting Zach Tom back and you mentioned the health, like it is exciting to think of about him versus this defense because he has some of the most dramatic pressure non pressure splits in the NFL. And his his splits wall pressured aren't terrible, it's like they're like average. But when he's not pressured, he's it's him and Drake May and Matthew Stafford like he's the like, he's right there with the two MVP guys, and so if you can protect him, which you know usually you can against the Bears, you're in you have good standing.

00:20:21
Speaker 5: And another reason that's a great matchup because Jordan is a chance taker. He will take these chances against the defense that relies on them. But can they can they do so in a way that facilitates a pass rush that's not going to have Christian Watson running free in the secondary of no CJGJ. It's I think I think there could be a capacity score fest here.

00:20:45
Speaker 4: I like it. This is an exciting game.

00:20:47
Speaker 1: I'm feeling I'm leaning Packers a little bit. I know, you know you're a fan of Love. He's coming off the concussion, so that's a little tricky that you know, he isn't in the flow of the offense right now. But I think it was a huge advantage for them to rest in Week eighteen. The Bears didn't, and I just think that that could benefit the Bears a lot. Lafleur is, according to some people, maybe coaching for his job. I don't really buy that, But what do you think he's gonna look at with Dennis Allen in this defense and try to attack.

00:21:23
Speaker 3: Probably all those crazy pressure totals that you've been talking about for weeks now that they just send a maniacal amount of pressure, but they don't get home with it. Only saving grace for the best passage I would say is their fourth quarter rate really spikes up, which in postseason games when it's tight and it's one score and we've seen them have this come back after comeback, that is a massive difference make When you get down the stretch, you can go find teams have solid format pressure rate figures throughout the season. I think to cross the championship threshold, you have to check the fourth quarter past first rate. Two is how deep does the bench go, how does the staff have just in the fly that is the one thing they have in their favor. But with the amount of blitzer is they're sending in Jordan Love's ability against the blitz and him being a hoop like Patrick said, He's just gonna let the thing fly, and you kind of think, get yourself in just kind of like three er full high variance throws. Who's gonna come down with that? I'm gonna probably bank on Jorden Love to win that match.

00:22:09
Speaker 1: It is a fun matchup with those guys in the secondary though, because you know it's they have a like they they are big personalities, including Jaunc Gardner Johnson, but just they have it like frisky playing personalities for lack of a better word, like Nasehn Wright and Tyreek Stevenson and Jalen Johnson who's maybe not been like full Jalen Johnson since the return. Like I kinda if they're gonna win, I feel like it's gonna be back to front and maybe Kyler Gordon ends up being a huge X factor. I mean, if he's fully healthy, he's the best player in that secondary, and you could see those playmakers being a big difference in this matchup and ultimately being able to cover what the Packers and what Lafleair throws at them.

00:22:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, and as much as correct, Kyler Gooden is probably the best individual litzer in the league. So if you're looking for what can decide a one possession game, is it going to be a strip sack fummal? Is it gonna be Jordan Love thinking I can go win a championship on one throw and Kyla Golden comes screaming into the backfield. If I close my eyes and think about how did the Bess win the game, that's probably more of what I pitch than then just going like locked down for two or three drives, just get off the field.

00:23:18
Speaker 2: I do like to think like big picture too. It would be it would be crazy annoying. If you're a Bears fan.

00:23:25
Speaker 1: I mean, you're gonna feel good about this season anyways, but if your season ends on three straight l's and one of them is to the Green Bay Packers, it's not going to be as sweet, you know as it felt three weeks ago when when they're in the one seed. Let's actually listen to Ben Johnson kind of asked about everything that's happened and changed for this organization, just.

00:23:48
Speaker 7: Like I told those those guys after the game. You know, we're mentally prepared to play for five more weeks, and so that's our intent.

00:23:56
Speaker 2: How do you do that?

00:23:57
Speaker 7: You go out and you win the first one, and so we're going to come in today and we're gonna have a great day today, meetings, walk through, short week, opponent that we know, and we're gonna get ready for this one, and we're going to go and go all out for this game, and we'll worry about the future when when that time comes. But now it's not the time to look back and reflect.

00:24:20
Speaker 2: And I love that. I love the coaching matchup.

00:24:22
Speaker 1: I do love that it's both teams are as healthy as they've been maybe all season. The only one out of practice right now is Gardner Johnson, Ozzi Drappila, who's their left tackle, is practicing. Braxton Jones, who they could decide he hasn't played almost all seasons since very early they could decide to start him at left tackle. But Adunza, Kylie Gordon, they're all there and that that's great news. Like if the Packers lose, they'll be on what like a four game losing streak to end the season for four or five. There are real belief from smart people who are tied in that this Lafleur Packers thing could possibly come to an end. I tend to believe that, like he's trying to get as much leverage, whether it's money or whether it's power in the organization. And maybe that's why we're hearing about these things because it would be crazy for I mean, the crazy part of the coaching cycle is there's a chance here that like the Bills lose, that the Steelers lose, and that the Packers lose, and that any one of those three head coaches who are you know, great coaches could shake loose and the Packers is the one that I don't believe. I feel like it's some sort of posturing.

00:25:37
Speaker 2: I don't know.

00:25:38
Speaker 5: Well, yeah, there's the graph right on coach danger and then the conversation related to coach danger, and the conclusion of the contract is where those things from a sect where there's a whole lot of conversation from people to other people whose job is to provide, you know, whatever side of one conversation is being had to another person. Because this metal flore would like to be compensated better probably than Recked seventeen in terms of coach compensation, and the Green Bay Packers would probably like him to stay there.

00:26:07
Speaker 1: That seems to be part of it, is that maybe they're a little cheap with their coaches. Sometimes there are also you know, some whispers about, like you know, with the new president, that Guda Kunst is maybe kind of elevating, and Lafleur doesn't want to be reporting to Gouda Kunts when.

00:26:21
Speaker 4: They palace intrigue.

00:26:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, where they used to be separate.

00:26:26
Speaker 3: I will say this though, Greg, it makes no sense given how good is he authored.

00:26:31
Speaker 2: I agree, That's what I'm saying.

00:26:33
Speaker 3: Fifteen years covering the league, he authored the best offense I've seen in my entire time. For him to not already have like a five seven year contract extension, to me is laughable. And I get there some game management stuff. You can go find a dork out of Harvard to help you with the game management. Still to do the age over the course of your career building an offense is really difficult. He navigated from one era from Rogers to Jordan Love, was instrumental in the play development, and yet Ed Palsy has come in there as the president and it seems like he just wants to change the pack away. They spend big in free agency, they draft a wide, receive it to get the funfare on the TV show during as the host and the draft. And the fact that he has said publicly that I don't like having a lame duck coach, but he won't sign the Guide to a contract extension going into the final year of his deal, make think there is a bit more smoke and I will just point out, ever so kindly, the agent of John Harball. His dad is the former president of the Green Bay Packers. And we're talking about who is this extra team who's been calling about Harbor forty five minutes after he's fired, and who employs a coach was sniffing around and taking a look. I'll just connect some very you know, disparate dots.

00:27:37
Speaker 5: I would have made a trade forty I know, sure, yeah, good luck.

00:27:44
Speaker 1: Honestly, I mean maybe Matt Leafleur would take that trade too, and I'm I would think the Baltimore Rainers.

00:27:50
Speaker 2: But so maybe you get your yeah, your best wishes.

00:27:53
Speaker 1: The reason I, yeah, I don't buy it is it just doesn't make any sense. I'm with you, Ali, that is gonna be really fun. That's on Saturday night. Let's take a break and we'll wrap up the NFC with a banger. The number one slot, this is the number one draft pick, is the Sunday afternoon game, and so forty nine.

00:28:12
Speaker 2: Ers Eagles is apparently that game this year.

00:28:21
Speaker 1: Back on NFL Daily, Big Game Sunday Afternoon, Big playoffs ahead for the man calling the game, Tom Brady, Oh.

00:28:32
Speaker 2: You know I heard, I'm a big break.

00:28:34
Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of Craig Horrelback, who I did The Bringer Fantasy Football show, very talented as on the mic as a producer over at the Ringer. But he's still giving Tom Brady grief about, you know, the quality of his broadcasting. I think he needs to update his take because I think Tom Brady has improved a lot, and I think he's going to prove it with this playoff runt.

00:28:55
Speaker 5: Yes, I agree, Greg Roseenbald, especially fresh off of the game on Saturday night, the Sam Francisco forty nine ers on the road at the Philadelphia Eagles, who are favored by four and a half points. The over under is forty four and a half. It is a rematch of the NFC Championship game a couple of years ago. Brock party tenrors his ucl he's practicing throwing left handed on the sideline. Josh Johnson finishes the game. The Philadelphia Eagles go to the Super Bowl, lose to the Chiefs, and now it's time for revenge. Kevin Burkhart, the aforementioned Tom Brady on the call, who wins the football game?

00:29:28
Speaker 4: Correct?

00:29:29
Speaker 2: I mean I'm going to Eagles.

00:29:30
Speaker 1: Certainly, this you know, in the middle of the week, we don't even know if Trent Williams is going to play.

00:29:36
Speaker 2: That's massive. He did not practice on Wednesday.

00:29:40
Speaker 1: Ricky Piersall did not either, which I think is a significant injury. Pearsaw sounds less likely to play than Trent Williams, but that was one of the biggest issues with the forty nine ers last week against Seattle. The left side of their offensive line now I forget who's the guard Burford like the two of them. It was like you hurt two positions by losing Trent Williams, because you go from like a first ballot Hall of Famer to a sub you know, below level starter at left tackle, and then the left guard spot looks worse two And you think about that matchup against Jalen Carter and against Jalen Phillips, and it's great that they got them some rest last week, and that just it feels like, no matter how you look at this game, I just feel like it's gonna take something special from Perdy.

00:30:30
Speaker 2: I think he's capable.

00:30:31
Speaker 1: Of doing something special, but without Trent Williams, it's gonna be like another level of how special it would have to be.

00:30:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think not just special from Purty, but special from Shannah and this one of those ones. Whay, if he wins this thing, if Williams is out and you go through Ayu, comboser and personal, you should just give him a gold jacket walking off the field and so you can with it through the rest of the playoffs, because he's gonna have to scheme receivers open against that secondary and washing out eligibles because he's got to try and bail out for the fact that the lefts out of his line is imploding on every other red. So it just feels like too tall of a task for as poor as the Eagles offense is, it's still I think a slight advantage over the Niners defense. And then it just becomes down whether it's becomes I think a rock fight or a track me. If the Niners can move the ball effectively, and I think al Hina can do anything. But this is about as toll a task as he will have had against that group with what he's having to roll out there with, then I think the Niners have a chance. If they can get to even twenty eight points, they maybe have a chance. But I still think that's a toll Adder with what's going on with the injuries.

00:31:31
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think the only chance is to take advantage of the run game off tackle, where they haven't been able to have that success here recently, because what Vic Fangio and the Eagles can do where Cooper Degene has been deployed right around that spot ten yards around the line of scrimmage, just off the edge of the tackles, where it's like, okay, well what's our what's our CMC plan? You have to have a CMC plan so the forty nine ers aren't getting four and a half yards every single time brock Perty drops back. I think the Eagles as well as oddly enough, the Seattle Seahawks are the two team best position to do that, and the forty nine Ers are having to play them in back to back games, and then I don't think the pass rush is going to be able to bother Jalen Hurts because I don't think they can bother anything, right.

00:32:10
Speaker 1: I just it it was an unfortunate way how it had to end. They obviously had to play last week. It was such a big game. I don't want to like overreact to that Seahawks game, but it could be possible that this team runs out of gas at the end. That was their second straight short week against the Seahawks, and so that won't be the case this time.

00:32:29
Speaker 2: They'll have an extra day in theory of rest.

00:32:32
Speaker 1: But having to play these two physical teams in back to back weeks, that there is a recipe of just the Eagles bodying them on defense, which I think would be scary. And it's it's as healthy as the Eagles defense has really been all season long. So I'm sure Vic Fangio is ready to forget about putting Kyle Shanahan with a gold jacket off the field. I don't know if Vic has already earned it in your mind, Allie, but like, let's get some core ordinators into the Hall of Fame. Vic Fangio would be close to the top of the list.

00:33:05
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, my own personal shrine of coordinators I have at home. Vic has his own there. I think Vickers are going to be fascating this game when he plays Kyle Shannon and he blitzes a lot more than he traditionally does. I think to wash the back out of the equation. So if you just start running through how are we going to prevent the fact we've lost Trent Williams for the game, if he doesn't play, or if he's limited in some way, if you're able to wash Christian McCaffrey out because he has to stay in to protect, or they're going to start messing around with we'll keep a TI ten nimble, put an extra tackle on the field, will chip that way, it just starts becoming a nightmare. Who do actually throw the ball to? And then with Purdy, I think he's been incredible since his return. He's been a much better playmaker, I think than he's been at any point during his career. He's not taking sex in a way he hasn't done throughout most of his career, but the turn of a rate in the turn of a worthy player, rate has shot up in a different way. And they just have to play the cleanest of all games and hope you can just rally to the ball and Jalen Hurts has brain far after brain far, and they can tackle because the Nights cannot tackle, and it is a pretty fortunate thing for them. The way the Eagles offense design doesn't give a lot of yack opportunities, but they have to be able to finally tackle and hope that Jalen Huts brains Faus the game away.

00:34:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, I did see a stat that from next Gen Stats, I believe that the Eagles ran the second highest amount of hitch routes, you know, just like coming back to the ball of any team in the NGS era, it was the it was the Justin Fields Bears. I think we're a team that was on that list as number one. Yeah, Kyle Shannan's just look, you're gonna have to manage You're gonna have to manage the game really well.

00:34:30
Speaker 2: And I to.

00:34:31
Speaker 1: Get just like big picture, I do think cut Rock Perry could have a moment because he's not quite at the at the like Herbert Drake may Stafford level right now, but he's he's not far below it, where like you could see him carrying the team in a way that even he wasn't able to do a couple of years ago when he nearly won the Super Bowl. We also gotta wonder like if if playoff Jalen Hurts comes out, that's that's the hope for all Eagles fans. Let's actually listen to Nick sirian I kind of talk about how this Eagles team finally got back to where they wanted to be. They got a home game, they're in the playoffs, and they can try to put all the drama of the regular season behind them.

00:35:12
Speaker 8: I mean, we were here in this spot because you want to run it back, and you want to and you want to play and compete again. That's part of the reason why you're here. I mean, that's any game I don't like. If I'm playing Sorry with my kids and I win, I want to play again and go again. So I don't let them win that often, but sometimes I do. But but yeah, that's that. I think that's just the competitive nature of and why. You know, there's a reason that the people are in this building that are in this building because they have that that hunger.

00:35:42
Speaker 1: I mean, they might be watching that press comfort and then you know Dad is letting him win. There is a world that what we were you going to say about the Sorry.

00:35:49
Speaker 5: Well, I was imagining because I'm sure people are going to ask Jalen Hurts, the consummate competitor.

00:35:54
Speaker 4: Yeah, in terms of quotes, how he feels.

00:35:56
Speaker 5: And I thought about before the show when I heard that sound, how Jalen might and he would say, if our children are allowed to win.

00:36:04
Speaker 4: It's because we've already won.

00:36:07
Speaker 1: He's already he's got he's got a quote for every situation, and you know, he is the Jordan brand ambassador and part of the myth if it if it even it's not a myth. Part of the story of Jalen Hurts, and I guess this Eagles team is that Jalen Hurts has played his best, you know, in super Bowls. Not maybe not always in the wildcard round for what it's worth, but he has played his very best in the playoffs. There is a world and I think it is the perfect matchup for them, like this or the Bears would have been perfect for them. There is a world where they just show up in the playoffs and they're freaking awesome because they have awesome players. And specifically, the way that they could get back to just looking like a team that's gonna go win the super Bowl is to have some favorable matchups for the offense and get get on a roll, start feeling a little more confident, and realize like, oh yeah, we have aj Brown and DeVante's and this is the perfect matchup. To possible do that and put up thirty five points.

00:37:01
Speaker 5: You would need to get that cohesion where everybody's on the same page about how they're going to attack a team. The thing that I'll remember about the twenty twenty four Eagles is that moment in the Super Bowl where they want to run the specific call. Jalen's waiting for it, and Sirianni calls it, and they know that once they execute it that they're gonna they're gonna throw a touchdown to DeVonta Smith and they're able to do that where I think they all have the confidence that they can execute there, but I don't know if they're all currently agreeing on how they're gonna go about that. And I would hope that you know, all those hitches are just side adjustments, and you know it's what the defense is doing because they have that talent. But a lot of it feels very familiar, very predictable, and it's it's been the overall critique and not that they need to go out and try a whole bunch of stuff and do a whole bunch of stuff. I would just like to see them execute to the way that they have in the past, because we know we can do it, like with this group of players can execute.

00:37:53
Speaker 3: The problem they have is that I think as Patrick Alida's I think they all unified in what they want it to look like. Stinks they hit routs, the go routs. Everything is a return to the quarterback route structure, so Jalen Hurts gets the big target. I think the receivers, as we have kind of seen, are probably upset with that. One was like a little bit more play design in there. But the idea of them getting hot in the playoffs I think boils down to well, Kevin Petullo is still there. The offensive line is nowhere near the same as when he had the two best games of his life Jalen Herds in the Super Bowl, so that that to me is the major differentiending factor. And then even the defensively, I think this idea like the pasts has come alive. Those guys run so hot and cold week to weak, and yes they have dominant one on one players when they turn up and play at their best, but the format pastors still has not been through the final five six weeks to the season anywhere near the level they should be with their talent. They're still behind the Bears, the Titans, the Bengals. In just straight fore man pass rush since Week twelve of the season. That is nowhere near where they should be out if you just lined up who they have one on one and they could just turn it on for the playoffs. Defensively, I believe that that's possible. But I just don't see some magical formula where Kevin Petullo is suddenly in his bag and Jalen Hurts is is rolling around and making plays in the I'm Auldrell like he's done in the super Bowl.

00:39:01
Speaker 1: No, it's just it's just the offensive line specifically playing better somehow and maybe and that's probably unrealistic to happen.

00:39:08
Speaker 4: Against this opponent.

00:39:09
Speaker 1: I don't know, right, Yeah, Lane Johnson is very questionable for this game. They sounded as a team pretty optimistic, but it's a hamstring injury.

00:39:19
Speaker 2: It's a serious injury.

00:39:20
Speaker 1: And then Brian Baldinger, who like literally works out at Lane Johnson's house on Tuesday on his show said like he doesn't He kind of said he didn't think Lane Johnson was gonna play, which who knows. He was at practice for what it's worth on Wednesday, so he's doing something at practice. But I don't think they really know if Lane Johnson's gonna play what kind of lane Johnson it's gonna be, And in my head they they improve their running game down the stretch, but then when you look at it, it's like it was really just like a Raiders game and a Commander's game and like one big run at that Chargers game that I went to, and even in the Bills game with that they're trying to win like that. I don't know if we're feeling much better about Saquon Barkley and the running game going into the playoffs. Probably the thing you feel better about is like the linebackers for the forty nine ers right now are literally coming off the couch, like Eric Kendricks is probably starting in this game. We don't know if d Winters is going to be available, but they lost another linebacker, and so then they signed Kaisier White, an old favorite, but like wasn't in the league until a week ago, And so if they had a good play caller, they would just circle ali those linebackers and they would figure out how to take advantage. But I'm not really sure that Jalen Hurts has thrown to the middle of the field, and I'm not really sure they can take advantage in the running game enough, but that's a pretty big weakness for San Francisco.

00:40:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, and they can't tackle anyways. I alluded to all three levels. So really it should be we just get the ball to the middle of the field, we get the ball to Saque in space, and we'll just take over from them. I mean, the idea of not just throwing the ball little crosses to the bunk to Smith and letting him take it to the house and beat two guys. That should just be the number one play in the game plan. And yet it's probably still going to be a nauseating amount of like hitches outside the numbers where all that stuff becomes quickly irrelevant. So I'm prepared to be very frustrated as Eagles bind them way at the end of this game.

00:41:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel mostly the same, but I feel pretty good about the Eagles.

00:41:18
Speaker 2: I think I'm going to take the Eagles and the points take them to cover.

00:41:21
Speaker 5: Yeah, just say what would like the forty nine ers defense? And I know Robert Saliz accomplished a lot considering the circumstances, just talent wise things. Leaning birds there onto uh Sunday at one pm, grit that's right, all right?

00:41:37
Speaker 4: The Buffalo Bills.

00:41:38
Speaker 5: One and a half point favorite sally over the Jacksonville Jaguars, who were so hot down the stretch. The over under is fifty one and a half games. On CBS, it is Jim and Tony on the call. Are the Jacksonville Jaguars ali being disrespected by this line?

00:41:57
Speaker 3: I think they are being disrespected by the line. I do think whoever wins this game will go to the super Bowl. That's my pot. Even comes out of this will do it, because it'll even mean the Bills have got a little bit more in them, and some of the second off production has made its way over somehow into the first half of games. They never went on the road in the playoffs, so that will be mcderm and getting over some kind of a thing if they're able to do it. And I think this Jacks team is an absolute wagon. And if you took the Dcals off, this would not be anywhere near a one point spread. It would be six or seven or something like that. But because the Josh Allen effecta you've got to you know effect that in two obviously, but I just think the Jacks are significantly better team all the way around.

00:42:34
Speaker 1: I tend to agree that it's just well it's the Bills, Well it's Josh Allen. And actually the line, for what it's worth, I think started even or even won for Jacksonville. And so the public is going for Buffalo, and as you like to say, Patrick, it's just on based on you know, getting as many people to bet there we.

00:42:52
Speaker 2: Go as possible.

00:42:53
Speaker 4: But I've effective Greg, but.

00:42:54
Speaker 1: They also they don't want to be wrong, but maybe they're seeing the money's all going on Buffalo and they feel move right, and that's I like to me, the Jaguars should be you know, at least two three point favorites, plus they're at home. You're thinking of the different ways that the Bills can win, and I think this is the toughest, one of the toughest games to pick. And I think you look a little below the hood at the numbers of the Jags defense, which has been outstanding. Like they're they're third overall in EPA per play allowed on defense, Their DVA is all great, the strength the schedule has been great. For what it's worth, they're nineteenth against heavy personnel. So that's either with two or three tight ends on the field that I don't know if that is a sign because they're kind of a lighter weight defense that it doesn't hold up as well.

00:43:44
Speaker 2: They're not as versatile.

00:43:46
Speaker 1: I'm not smart enough to know, but that is something that the Bills should be able to lean into. Dalton Kinkaid was one of the few Bills who played the entire game just about last week, and he looked good. They wanted to get him back and fresh. You got Dawson Knox, you got our guy Haws, and I think they can go heavy and I think the running game can work out of that, and certainly Josh Allen and using the tight ends and James cook in the passing game. Ty Johnson was out of practice on Wednesday, which is interesting, But that to me is the recipe. Can the Bills offensively kind of overpower the Jaguars a little bit and make it a high scoring game, but make it like a physical high scoring.

00:44:24
Speaker 4: And that's the difficult needle to thread.

00:44:27
Speaker 5: Where you want this physical game where you've got seven tight ends on the field and Josh Allen's having all these runs of James Cooks running, but you're trying to get up to thirty five points because the Jags, who have struggled to run the ball, well, what can cure a rushing attack like the twenty twenty five Buffalo Bills rush defense. And so I think ETN is gonna have a solid game on the ground, and I think the pass rush where you have it's I mean, I'd probably say it too much. People are almost as sick of hearing it as they are about lines being the spur action. But if you have athletes at edge that are gifted enough to where Josh Allen can't completely disregard him and run away from him like they're not even there. And I think between these two where Walker has been so much better, especially against the run, where I know, against heavy personnel the numbers look a certain way, but that's the entire season and it's different context where this is a particular, one particular game that I think the Jags have at home, where I may be more confident in this game being in favor of the Jags that I am in any other game.

00:45:28
Speaker 2: Wow, more than the Rams Chargers, I mean Rams Panthers.

00:45:32
Speaker 5: They beat the they beat the Rams, okay at that stage, but at that level, that is amazing.

00:45:39
Speaker 3: I love the point Patrick made about the heavy personnels because that's heavy personnel against the rest of the league and not Josh Heines Allen, Trayvon Walkers. You're a heavy edged defenders. The way the Jags fit the runde are just absolutely wild, the way they can come down and just brain people from light to personnel groupings. And I just have this sense of are we really going to go through a Bills game where that decision making is we the way to attack the Jags is just throw the ball on the perimeter. We don't like our Primmeter targets were mentioned Keon Coleman all the time, So you we'll just get as heavy and condensed as possible, hand the ball off all the time against a world class run defense. And then what Josh Allen has three third downs, so triumphlay herible to decide the game. I just feel like we've seen them do that so consistently that I'm not willing to buy in that'll be so different this go around. And so if the Jacks can just even hold that neutral, which is a strength that thea is obviously run the balls to strength of the Bills too, I do lean slightly that the Jags can stone the thing more so than the Bills can push them off the ball, and then if you get into third and long against this Jags defense, even with Josh Allen, obviously you always want to side with Josh Allen, but I would just give the edge episode slight to the Jags that too, because the receiving call.

00:46:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, Jordan Lewis is not coming back. He is out for the season. It was playing really well as a slot corner and had that injury late late December, So it's Jerry and Jones.

00:46:50
Speaker 2: I don't know if he's a guy to pick on.

00:46:52
Speaker 1: He's actually, to my eye, played pretty well and I don't think there's a lot of areas to pick on. Maybe it's some of the second depth for Jacksonville, but again that's more on the outside where Buffalo doesn't really have the horses to take advantage. Josh Allen's taking a lot of sacks this year, more than ever in his career, so it could be a big Josh Allen sacking Josh Allen moment, which he also had like five years ago. Like we actually we went through this all before, but it could be a really big moment for kind of America to realize how special this duo is because Heinz Allen. He started off well this season, but man he finished great. And Trayvon Walker also was outstanding down the stretch. And I think people are gonna see those two guys and see Devin Lloyd and have a chance to realize like, yeah, they're really special.

00:47:42
Speaker 2: Like the Jaguars might be the favorite in the AFC.

00:47:46
Speaker 1: It's hard for me to pick a favorite, but I agree with you in terms of like taking the decals off the jerseys, they might be the favorites.

00:47:54
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:47:54
Speaker 3: I think the problem for the Jags even is they get into the vicinity of people a lot. They ball the people, they don't always finish the deal. This is a game where you got to get Josh Allen on the floor. E you're gonna try and knock them off in a playoff game. And if there's anyone who is less unbothered by this guys being around in it being a muddy pocket and having does stick one arm out and throw someone off, then go make a throw. It's it's obviously Josh Allen. So I would like to see Heinzellen have an excellent game way even if there's a limited pressure rate, you would almost take away like we'll take away ten of the pressures. If we can get even one or two of the sacks, you just got to find a way to get off the field and not have Josh Allen extend drives.

00:48:26
Speaker 1: Yes, Sean McDermott was interesting for a few reasons in his press conference, but this is obviously a big moment. The dumbest take in sports media this week is how, like the Bills have no excuse now but to make the super Bowl or I win the super Bowl now because Burrow and Lamar Jackson and I'm like, no, they're underdogs this week. What are you talking about, Like there is an excuse they have a shot. I'm I'm with Ali if they could get past this game, like they have as good a chances as anyone to make it. And yeah, you could look at it experience a couple of ways. There's there's a lot of older players on this Bills team, but they have been together a while. I think that continuity overall is a bonus. This is McDermott on their playoff experience.

00:49:13
Speaker 9: The experiences we've I've been here, We've been here, and so that comes with, like I guess it brings some level of called seasoning, and you would hope, poise and composure as we prepare this week and go through our process.

00:49:34
Speaker 1: I I look at when I think about their continuity and you think about the guys that they're going to need to step up this week, it's like it's Epanessa and it's Rousseau, and it's Joey Bosa, who hasn't been there a while, but he's obviously a veteran player. We don't like, they have some real old old Guard guys out there, Milano and Jordan Poyer, and it's those guys stepping up. But more than anything, it's this offensive line which has been together like untouched for three I think now both guards are are free agents this year. Maybe not quite as good this year as previous years, but still really good. And if I'm thinking of like a route for them to win, it's like it's a group that's been together forever. They could just be the best offensive line in the league for a month, go play like that. It's a pretty great recipe. If you have the best offensive line in the league, or one of them with Josh Allen and James Cook, like that can win any football game.

00:50:26
Speaker 4: Yes, they can absolutely do it.

00:50:28
Speaker 5: And it's not like to discredit the Buffalo Bills and the players that they have, and again, they have that experience because they have talent, and the talent is what has them in the playoffs consistently, and that's what experienced. It highlights the continuous, the continuation of sustained success for a lot of these guys, even guys where the Bills have decided to part ways with them, and then they realized, hey, maybe this was actually the best option for all of us, and glad to see like God's like Tradavius White, where we thought it was over back playing huge plays for the team.

00:51:01
Speaker 1: Although you know his status in this game might be really important.

00:51:05
Speaker 2: He is playing. But they are not deep at cornerback.

00:51:08
Speaker 1: And I noticed Sean McDermott say a couple interesting things in his presser this week. First of all, he noted how they only had three active cornerbacks for that Week eighteen game because the team was so thin at cornerback, they didn't have the normal amount that they have on the roster, which felt like h was that like an indirect shot at the Darius Slay trade and how the team was built. And then he mentioned his absolute love for how great Jacoby Myers is. How underrated Jacoby Myers, What a great acquisition Jacoby Myers is.

00:51:37
Speaker 2: And I don't know.

00:51:38
Speaker 1: I couldn't help like putting one in one and one together and thinking like we got Brandon Cooks and we got Darius Slay who retired, and meanwhile, you know, this team has Jacoby Myers, and my defense is going to have to deal with the force of nature that is second half.

00:51:53
Speaker 2: Trevor Lawrence.

00:51:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't really know what this experience is that he's talking about. They're zero to five on the road in the playoffs with what is the great experience? And from what I understand, they've had heartbreaking loss up the heart breaking three of them.

00:52:06
Speaker 1: Three of them in Arrowhead to be fair like at the peak of Mahomes, and the others were kind of like Tyrad Taylor and early Josh Allen, but fair enough.

00:52:13
Speaker 3: Fair enough and heartbreaking loss. Off the heartbreaking loss, I think the experience matters when you go to a Super Bowl and you got to deal with the two weeks off. Otherwise it's not like the NBA where the game change is dramastically dramatically in the playoffs outside of like the blitz rates and stuff, change like that ever so slightly, but it's not so discreet as it is if you're playing in the NBA or something like that. So I'd rather just have the better rosta And I think that the answers he's giving on the second half of that where he talking about comes is indicating he thinks he doesn't have the horses the Jagons a compan.

00:52:44
Speaker 5: It's the the ability to make plays in space that has been the problem for the Buffalo Bills defense like season long, and then I'm thinking about etn out in space Parker Washington, where you know, especially the offense changes so much when Britain Strange comes back, and then there's just so much talent and so much space for them to cover where it's like, all right, Josh, here you go, get out there and do it, like smash yourself into oblivion for four quarters and give us a chance to win.

00:53:11
Speaker 1: Do you think McDermott's got it in him ali to have a great designer game plan with the roster that he has that that does confuse Liam Cohen and Trevor Lawrence. It's a great coaching matchup when the Chagwarts at the ball, it.

00:53:26
Speaker 3: Is a great coaching matchup. I think he's been unbelievable this season at just seeing in game, and so if it's tight in the fourth quarter, he might have a couple of like goodies up the sleeve to maybe catch Trevor Lawrence with one. I think if they Jacks jump out to an early lead, he's in deep trouble. They just have terrible team speed. They have no speed at the second level, the third level. Again talking about their experience, a lot of those experienced guys are pretty much fried at this point frankly, and the guys who should be the peak powas just haven't been playing all that well. So if it's an early leaf for the Jags, I think they are in massive, massive trouble if they can just keep it tight going into the fourth quarta. The fourth quartera pressure rate is absolutely through the roof, competed to the rest league, and a lot of that is designed stiff Robin just having one on one killers all the way up from.

00:54:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know who they could use in this game is Ed Oliver, who you know that he's sort of in that prime and they're lacking that. You gave me an idea just now in terms of that team speed that I'm going to be using on Game Deview later this week. Oh and it's whatever Brian Thomas Junior's number is this week.

00:54:22
Speaker 2: Let's let's get out.

00:54:23
Speaker 1: Let's have a two for eighty nine Brian Thomas Junior game. And whoever that friend that you met on the golf course that was a big fan of Game Deview this week, Well, we'll see me.

00:54:36
Speaker 4: Pick that game.

00:54:37
Speaker 1: How about Patrick Claybon getting recognized in the wild Yeah, oh my, if.

00:54:40
Speaker 2: You work with Greg Wilson.

00:54:42
Speaker 4: Now that's other conversation.

00:54:43
Speaker 2: Let's take one final break and we'll wrap up.

00:54:46
Speaker 1: I think the best games of the week are actually in the AFC.

00:54:49
Speaker 2: We'll finish there a few back on an Fell Daily.

00:55:01
Speaker 1: It's been a while since I experienced what Patrick did the other night, and that I will experience on Sunday night, which is watch my team in the playoffs and then immediately go into recording a show. It'll be me, you and Nick Shook taping a recap of the Sunday games because they gave Sunday night football to Chargers Patriots.

00:55:29
Speaker 2: This is such a the AFC is.

00:55:32
Speaker 1: I love the AFC matchups, but these last two Bills, Jags and Chargers Patriots are my favorite games of the week.

00:55:38
Speaker 5: And hopefully, gregor a better result for you perhaps, although I know maybe maybe a little house divided situation with the with the folks here in La or that.

00:55:49
Speaker 2: I mean, I'll be happy.

00:55:50
Speaker 1: I'll be happy for Justin Herbert to get to get a big time win and watch them go on their journey, and my allegiance will change if they win the.

00:55:58
Speaker 4: Immediate Jersey swap.

00:56:00
Speaker 5: As we discussed the Los Angeles Chargers, Yes on the road at the New England Patriots too or three and a half point favorites. The over under is forty six and a half. It is Mike Turico and Chris Collinsworth who called a heck of a game last week in that matchup between the Ravens and the Steelers. A potential good one here, Greg, where you'll wonder if the matchup of a defense that hasn't really shown a lot of ability to affect a quarterback against the offensive line and a team that have allowed their quarterback to be very affected here in twenty twenty five.

00:56:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, starting on that side of the ball. Like, I'm really curious if Jamari Sawyer is playing not a big name, but he stabilized their left tackle position at just a normal rate, and he's like their third left tackle. But once you got down to fourth and fifth, it's just a total disaster. And the Patriots are getting healthy at the right time. They had Milton Williams back last week. It sounds like they will get Harold Landry back this week. They also could get Tonga back, who has been a good, you know, run stopper and just like pocket pusher in the middle of their defensive line.

00:57:04
Speaker 2: It makes a huge difference.

00:57:06
Speaker 1: Like Harol Landry's another injury that kinda has gotten slept on, and so if you can get after Justin Herbert, like that's great. But these two quarterbacks have kind of proven all year that they can get it done when they're under pressure. And if I'm the Chargers, like, this was the matchup I wanted because it's the pass rush I'm I'm least afraid of even if everyone is healthy, and like I think, I think Justin Herbert and the passing game and the Chargers offense is just gonna be fine. I do not think this is like a difference making Patriots defense.

00:57:39
Speaker 4: Now.

00:57:40
Speaker 3: My only fear is the Jim Hobon Greg Roman pull up like the run game film of the Patriots over the past ten weeks, the season sixty, which has just been hamorrhaging stuff against the run. Decide that is the path forward. We'll get just into third and manageable, and it ends up being third and long and it just becomes a nightmare evening where he's running for his life. I think you just have to go in and say we'll win the Bowl. And justin sounds like the twenty five Fulty times. We're you're gonna knock this team off on the road or not. I'm gonna go down with just and just trying to dice them up. And I think that's that's the best opportunities has to spread the pageots out as much as possible, try and pick on the corners who haven't played as well to me as the front has played, and then that would be the path they would have to success.

00:58:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's been a strange Christian Gonzales season. I got some like pushback from people online. They're like, oh, you don't have your guy on All Pro and it was like I didn't even really think about it, and like not that he's been bad, but they I just don't think he's been at the level that he's been at in previous years, and this like this Chargers team has explosive players like quit. I can absolutely see in my mind's eye Quinton Johnson just dusting Carlton Davis for a long touchdown, and Herbert making really great third down plays and picking on them over the middle of the field, whether it's to Gadsden or Alan or or McConkey, and it just being kind of a a great showcase for like two of the best couple quarterbacks in the entire NFL. I was really surprised to hear last week Greg Olsen calling the game and he was just so complimentary of what a great defense the Patriots are. And I do think they're playing better now maybe overall, but they're not a great defense to me.

00:59:12
Speaker 5: I think they have a lot of holes and in terms of the holes, how they can patch those up. Because it was interesting watching and looking back at Mike Rable's availability from today. We're having this conversation on Wednesday, and there was discussion about the problems that Greg Roman has created for him in the past, when a lot of those problems were really just Lamar Jackson in terms of I don't know. I don't know that the scheme that Greg Roman is cooking up is presenting Mike Rabel with a whole bunch of things that's going to keep them up. It's the players and the way that at times the offense can put Justin Herbert in a position to be successful. A lot of that, a lot of that's just ten be and ten. But the opportunity for him, I think, to not play last week is the reason that you can have some call for positivity and belief they can go in here and pull off this upset because it's a lot it's a lot like the the game that the Buffalo Bills are gonna have. It's the quarterback, despite all the all of the circumstances against them, going up against another team that is more on the same page on offense, is more consistent on offense, and they're able to do what they do, which is get buckets consistently in making explosive plays where that that's been a thing all season and I don't care what the schedule says. If it's that easy, everybody would do it.

01:00:32
Speaker 3: The one thing I will say on the on the the Lamar Jackson point is Mike Rabel's head does melt down against scrambling quarterbacks. I think it like offensive sensibilities, seeing a guy that's like run around the og and take off for eight yards, and he starts adding more and more bodies to the line of scrimmage. Then he starts getting ripped over the head and you can just see his brain kind of frazzled mid game. And so I think that if the Charges really commit to this a just in't feel justin Herbert scrambling designed run game. Let's get Brabel in his own head and then we'll open up those one on one shots you mentioned Twinton Johnson and Gadsdon and McConkey down the field. I think that is the best path forward for them in this game, because Rabel really doesn't a tendency just get frustrated by scrambling quarterbacks.

01:01:11
Speaker 1: And I think about how this season started justin Herbert Week one, scrambling the little sassy slides that he had, and I think of the game I was at, yeah against the Eagles, and in so many other games where his scrambles have made the difference. And these are two of the best, if not the best, scrambling quarterbacks in the league. They are both near the very top in terms of scrambling rushing yards and scrambling passing yards, So they can beat you in structure and they can beat you out of structure. I just think that the structure overall that Drake May has in terms of the offensive system is superior, and that side of the ball is awesome. Josh McDaniels versus Jesse Minner is great, and kind of the obvious point here is like the pay aren't explosives led offense, and they're going against a team that prevents explosives as good as anyone in the league. You gotta think ali that that Josh McDaniels is looking at this Chargers defense like they can be patient. They have shown they can, but especially using their running backs and tight ends, I think against the Chargers to try to create explosives. That way might be the way that the McDaniels tries to zero in in this game.

01:02:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, unbelievable match, but I'm probably gonna have to go for a cold shower between quotes to calm myself down with these guys. That is the thing to me is who is gonna break the hand first, who will gamble first? I think that Josh mcdoonalds will be so willing to be patient and ride out and if he just has to run the ball constantly and take the checkdowns underneath them, maybe if the game is tight in the fourth quarte to let Drake May go and rip one down the field that I think he'll be so willing to just say this is totally fine with those will take five to six yos to clip and just sustain drives, and jesse mentim some way have today. I'm gonna have to roll the dice here and and the house to try and get some pressure on Drake May.

01:03:02
Speaker 5: I think the only way that happens is if there are no clear out routes. I think if the players are there, Drake May is wired specifically to play football in this particular way where I think they can call it short.

01:03:15
Speaker 4: All he wants. You got to you gotta play, you gotta play the way that the guys play. I think that would.

01:03:20
Speaker 3: Definitely And I will say that Minta doesn't change much week to week either. And you saw and that even in the Texans game, a team who lives in like we sustain drives, we can't really do an awful lot else and we kind of sustain drives that well, frankly, but they're able to hit a couple of huge explosive touchdown for us because they know exactly what the defense is going to be in base in the formation. So mcdaian's will have a rollerdex dating back twenty years now against specific look we know, and they'll probably, I would hope say to Drake during the week these the three or four we're going to get too early. Can you just kind of stay on schedule during the early stuff will go creak. The magic if you need to, trust me, will get you four three point efforts when you want them. So I think you can kind of build that in a little bit more and say, hey, it's the first playoff game. Their offense isn't very good, let's just stay in the game. I'm not trying to throw the thing away only.

01:04:01
Speaker 1: And you know, mentors, I feel like been a little more creative since their bye week in general, just throw you know, throwing some fun stuff out there, not you know, usually not against great, you know, offenses like this. Although they had a really nice game against the Cowboys that to me was kind of the prove it game for them since week ten. They are second in the league in terms of EPA per play. On defense, you have Khalil Mack, you have Tuley, you have oh Way, and you're going up against Will Campbell and Morgan Moses in this offensive line, and you know, trying to get pressure on Drake May.

01:04:35
Speaker 2: And I really do think it's just him, Like you say.

01:04:39
Speaker 1: He's got to go try to get buckets, but you know, you don't get that seventy two seventy four percent completion percentage by only going for do no, no.

01:04:47
Speaker 2: He's willing to go for it.

01:04:48
Speaker 1: And I think the difference maybe right now in terms of my confidence with them that's different is I'm way more confident in their running game today than I was at really any point in the season. Rimandre Stevenson just had like three of the best, you know, weeks of his life, and Trayvon Henderson is making these big plays, and I think overall the Patriots have quietly kind of evolved into the team that their record says they are where it's like they were a little lucky early, but I think they've actually just been a better team, especially running the ball late, and I think they'll be able to be patient against a Chargers team that likes to you know, have not as many guys up front, you know, stopping the run.

01:05:27
Speaker 5: Yeah, and there's a many different routes to to explosives, and the Patriots seem to acquire them in every different aspect where they can where I just it's a good football team.

01:05:40
Speaker 4: Greg, don't worry. Don't know.

01:05:41
Speaker 2: I mean, well, I should be worried this Chargers team.

01:05:45
Speaker 1: I I do give something to the fact that it's Harbor year two, It's Herbert Herbert year whatever it is for him that I think that is an advantage and it is a very like it's it's they have some flaws, but it's a very talent to Chargers team. There's not a team in the AFC field that I don't think the Chargers could beat. Jacksonville might be tough, that was a tough matchup for the first time. But let's say the Chargers win this game. Like, I don't think the Broncos want to see the Chargers next week. It is not a normal twelve seat it's a it's a twelve one team, it is.

01:06:17
Speaker 3: But they also have comfortably the worst position group there, maybe one of the most important position group in the entire field. And I think the Broncos will be giddy right now if you told them that was who they got a face for to that on the biggest weakness, well, now, justin herbo.

01:06:31
Speaker 1: Wa I mean they couldn't score a touchdown off the Chargers backups. I got my guy Marlo Wax looking like Fred Warner out there.

01:06:39
Speaker 2: They didn't have a freaking touchdown last week. They had twelve points on offense.

01:06:42
Speaker 3: Come on, understand that that's that's a Bonex issue. But that is that going to be any better against other groups? I'm not so sure. Like I love Jesse Minder, I think every single team the league looking for a head coach right now should the first call should beat to Jesse Minta. But it is still there's the offensive side of the ball, and is so just reliant on Can justin Herbert hero mode and cover up all of our failings or as some design failings of some personnel failings. Can he make his whole five, six, seven, twelve plays a game in a postseason against great defense? Is now, this is not a great Patriots defense, but they have significantly more difference makes up from than what the Charges will be able to put up to try and stop them.

01:07:17
Speaker 1: I am going to pick the Patriots in this game, but I might do the cowardly thing on our show where we picked the scores and do what's called thread and the needle, so that the Chargers, you know, they're closer than three and a half, but the Patriots win.

01:07:30
Speaker 2: That's kind of where I'm learning.

01:07:32
Speaker 4: There's nothing cowardly about that.

01:07:34
Speaker 2: It's just splitting the difference.

01:07:35
Speaker 5: Choosing to evaluate relative to Vegas's expectations, which are generally generated in order to make the most money that they.

01:07:43
Speaker 1: Possibly gave the final game of the weekend. How about the Steelers being home underdogs. I feel like they're setting a trap for us. You think a trap, well, I mean that the whole Tomlin thing. I usually think these historical records are completely meaningless, but something about them winning twenty three straight home Monday night football game spooks me a little bit in the Mike Tomlin.

01:08:09
Speaker 4: Of it all.

01:08:10
Speaker 5: Oh, we'll see if the Houston Texans, a three point favorite, can be ghostbusters to Greg's spookiness at the Pittsburgh Steelers.

01:08:17
Speaker 4: The over under is thirty nine and a half. Yes, it is on Monday night football.

01:08:21
Speaker 5: So Joe and Troy and Lisa Salters, the entire gang on the worldwide leader. There for a great opportunity ALI for Aaron Rodgers to show that despite what everybody has seen in twenty twenty five, he's going to hang in there and attack a really good pass rush.

01:08:42
Speaker 4: How do you see it go?

01:08:44
Speaker 3: I see it going him on his back fairly consistently high five to Zold, Round Whitland, de Send, Daniel Under and everyone. I do think the best thing going for them is Armage's brain and quick decision making and facing a defense you know exactly what you're going to see. They play the same stuff enough to down over and over again. So having a full week able to game plan against that, I think maybe gives him a slight added advantage. Having DK back is obviously instrumentally on off field numbers. With DK in the lineup as m off, the lineup are as wild as you will ever see with any individual players. So there is a path that I believe. I just think the Steelers defense is not the level it should be. Take advantage of how pull the Texans offense is being consistent.

01:09:23
Speaker 1: I think they haven't. I agree, it's by statistics the worst Tomlin defense that's ever made it to the playoffs, which is which is crazy to think about, But when you think about the other side of the ball, how we started. I do love listening to that beginning of every Mike Tomlin press conference where he just talks about the opposition for fifteen straight minutes, trying to just.

01:09:46
Speaker 2: Kill the clock.

01:09:47
Speaker 1: And he did talk about our favorite duo, Will Anderson and Daniel Hunter.

01:09:54
Speaker 10: Will Anderson and Hunter are simply the most dynamic edge rush tandem in the National flo Ball League. In twenty twenty five, they got twenty seven sacks between them. I think it's twelve for Anderson, fifteen for Hunter. They're a formidable group. You could talk about the things that you need to do schematically to minimize them and all of that. It's nothing that they haven't seen. We better stay out of a bunch of one dimensional passing circumstances because if we're in those circumstances, we're gonna be in trouble.

01:10:24
Speaker 4: Wow.

01:10:25
Speaker 2: Shots fired to TJ. Watt and Alex Heismith. I guess there.

01:10:28
Speaker 1: I would include Nick Herbig in that mix, but they only played them thirteen snaps last week.

01:10:33
Speaker 2: With TJ.

01:10:33
Speaker 1: Watt coming off of busted lung, like some of the decision making their kills me.

01:10:38
Speaker 2: He just like, Aaron Rodgers looks like he's playing a lot better.

01:10:43
Speaker 1: And then when you saw it, and I know they're season long numbers and stuff, but like when you saw it, he's still second to last for the season in success rate, ahead of only cam Ward. And it's and I think, well, is that just because you know, when he's pressured, it's just at the bottom. It's like, no, when he's not pressured, it's not that good either. It's it's still not very good. And yet they've won four or five games, like these are two hot teams, Like they've won four or five games, and they haven't all been easy opponents, and the Texans have won nine straight. I think Aaron Rodgers has actually earned like a small benefit of the doubt that he might just pull something, you know, out in this game because he has been better down the stretch.

01:11:21
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean he won that.

01:11:22
Speaker 5: He won that game, which is essentially a playoff game with with Adam Thielen and Scotty Miller and Calvin Austin.

01:11:29
Speaker 1: And needing touchdowns multiple times in the fourth quarter to make it happen.

01:11:32
Speaker 5: Yeah, And you know we could you know, all the the lack of ability of the Ravens to generate a pass the rush, Well, this will but even then, like we saw the ability to kind of constrictor down the field six five yard completions over and over again, keeping the other team's offense off the field, where I don't think that's as much of a priority.

01:11:51
Speaker 4: I know Houston has been better as the season goes on here, but.

01:11:54
Speaker 5: It's really about surviving and sustaining drives and being able to get those two or three plays. And Aaron Rodgerson definit that not to me and Aaron Rodgers, it's just when they're not able to do that, what does it look like?

01:12:05
Speaker 4: And I think it could go left rapidly.

01:12:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's gonna need to be a big Jalen Warren and team MVP Kenny Gain with all type of game it is, I.

01:12:14
Speaker 3: Still think it will come down to Rogers at this stage of his careers, gaming rady of the ball so much quicker than everyone else. In a playoff game, which doesn't look like it's going to be but could be his last game in the NFL, is he willing to stand in and just get absolutely rocked? Three times to make big time throws. I think he actual he might for a playoff game, may do, I'm not so sure. If he does, then I think the Steelers do have a chance. I just don't know if the Texans offense can put together enough sustained drives and can convert in the red zone. They're so poor in the red zone, so predictable in the red zone. The game will, I think, be open and there for the Steelers. And then it's just as I said, whether Rogers was willing to stand in He's not gonna be able to move and create. He's done it sparingly all seasons. So is he willing to take one giant shot to the ribs to rip a throw down the field? And I think with a playoff game, legacy stuff on the line, he might be willing to do it.

01:13:01
Speaker 1: It's a fair thought that you know a guy like Aaron Rodgers, who is you know, clearly trying not to get hit. The comp to him was always Tom Brady, and in those like forty plus, especially forty two plus playoff runs, Brady had it in Tampa at the end of New England. He was a little more willing to take a hit at the very end of the season, when it's like when it mattered more and when you can see the finish line. I do think the best hope for the Steelers to win, and this season hasn't been a great reason to believe it could happen. But looking at the names on the jerseys and their individual talent is just that this Steelers defense balls out, that Cam Hayward is his absolute best, and Derek Harmon is his absolute best, and TJ. Watt and high Smith has been awesome lately. I definitely have concerns about the secondary, but you think of that group and her big going up against this Texans offensive line, which is better but is certainly not great by any means, and just thinking that they could have a couple tip passes and a couple negative plays in terms of sacks, and that they dominate against a Texans offense which is better but still below average by basically any measurement, Like they've improved to average, which they're getting pats on the back to, but it's like they're not good.

01:14:18
Speaker 4: Well.

01:14:18
Speaker 5: I think there is a risk for the Steelers team to be too aggressive and wind up in a situation like last week. Whether they're you know, instead of looking at say Flowers running away from they're looking at Nico Collins or Higgins in you know, any number of ways where if they do try to get too active around the line of scrimmage and have guys flying at C. J. Stroud where we've seen them blow coverages all season long. Like it's just been a circumstance the Steelers have not been able to prevent. And I think sometimes that is trying to make plays. You know that we have Mike Tomlin with a Super Bowl championship that comes on a James Harrison play that James Harrison probably should have never made. Right, Like, they take these chances because they have success with them, but when it goes wrong, it goes wrong. Unfortunately for them, Tyler Luke misses the kick and they don't have to worry about.

01:15:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, the Steelers obviously have the personnel and the individual players who could just take over the game. And it's like three drives are just detonated on arrival by Hayward or what or Herbig or Highsmith taking over. But the stat I look at to evaluate a defensive staff more than any of the stat is third down and three to six. That is a coaching stat the Steelers are thirty second in the league and debaper play in those situations, and it is a chasm between them and thirty first, And think about the Cowboys and the Bengals and the leftable defenses we have in league. It is embarrassingly bad how they've been in those situations. And that is basically where the Texans live is like third and three to six, and usually we're not staying on the field, and so for the Steelers to be in that spot, and I think if you look at some of their run game stuff over the past few weeks, the numbers have trickled up, but if you watch them play, it is really just like a crazy one off play over and over again from either high Smith or Hayward. I just don't know if that can sustain throughout a playoff runner, even through a playoff game. So I leaned slightly head to both.

01:16:03
Speaker 4: Of the texts.

01:16:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do as well.

01:16:04
Speaker 1: It is funny to think about the history of Tomlin because even the you know, you think about the Super Bowls, you know one he gave up you know, thirty points two Aaron Rodgers, And maybe that's why you know, all these years later, he's always wanted to have him, and the other one he gave up two fourth quarter touchdowns and over four hundred yards to Kurt Warner. Like their defense tried to gag that game away, but san Antonio Holmes, maybe the greatest catch in NFL history, saved him.

01:16:28
Speaker 2: Some of the numbers with Tomlin are crazy.

01:16:31
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you guys an open ended trivia here. Let's see who can win. You might have like a slight delay, so that's a disadvantage for you, Ali. Mike Tomlin right now has the third longest tenure of any coach without a playoff win. I was at the game that started this losing streak, which was the twenty sixteen AFC Championship. Can you name the other two coaches with longer droughts without a playoff win?

01:17:00
Speaker 3: On Shula?

01:17:01
Speaker 1: Nope, I mean one I thought was going to be really obvious because it's just, uh, it's sort of related here.

01:17:12
Speaker 4: Jason Garrett.

01:17:13
Speaker 1: No, nope, I thought head coach Jason I mean one. One was in the division here with the Steelers. I thought you guys would have had had this. No, No, it was Marvel, Marvin, Marvin Lewis and and Jim Mora with the Colts. You know, he had he had that long run, but he could never get a playoff win before they finally great. So that's a long time it could be. Who knows if if if the twenty three Street you know, winning streak thing ends and it's your seventh straight playoff loss. I don't know if speaking of streaks ending, this is the first time the Texans have ever not played in West of US. I didn't realize that on the first weekend. They have played in the Saturday afternoon slot eight straight times, so this just might feel uncomfortable to them, and they were. They're six and two in those games. Maybe it's DK mecap. My last question for you, Ali, is there any concern about your beloved Texans defense over the last month.

01:18:19
Speaker 2: Gonna throw a couple numbers at you.

01:18:20
Speaker 1: Twelfth in EPA per play allowed, eighth and success rate allowed. I know that includes some of that second half backups in against the Colts, but overall not quite as dominant the last month of the season. And what are you kind of looking for with that DK matchup against those great cornerbacks.

01:18:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think some of that too, with the injuries of some of the guys in the secondary playing some games and then kind of back and forth who is available at linebacker two. So if they of all fully healthy, I think they should be okay. Because they are. It's like the most prectable defense in the league against the most predictable offense in the league, and one has superior talent to the other one. I do think that level of predictability. Although it is fun just see a team body up and say this is what we doing. We're better than everyone in football, I do think that will catch you out towards the end of the season. When you just put that much film down against the beat. There are degrees of like, Okay, this guy is not quite this good and this elite of a play at this one specific thing. Let's target him in that fashion. So that could be something particularly I Rudge's just running the game himself with the line of scrimmage be into that more than just like ar the Smith's game plan. So that would maybe be the thing. Can they find a way just get one or two explosives to DK that really mattered converted to touchdowns, either big shot the converts in the red zone or finding him for touchdown itself. But even then, I just think there's so much more overwhelming talent for the Texans defense than what the Steels are rolling with.

01:19:36
Speaker 4: They have, especially late in games, I had some trouble making tackles.

01:19:41
Speaker 5: I know it's a very good defense that they can get into position, but you go all the way back to the Buccaneers game on that final dropt for both Bucky Irving and Baker Mayfield making plays in space, and a Steelers offense that gets sixty five percent of its passing yards after the catch where you know, tackling DK and team V.

01:20:00
Speaker 4: Thank you for always pointing it out, Greg, since it's happened.

01:20:03
Speaker 5: Kenneth Gabe, Oh forever, I'm best running back on the Pittsburgh steel Yeah.

01:20:06
Speaker 2: At forever.

01:20:07
Speaker 1: I'm gonna mention twenty twenty five team MVP Kenneth Gainwell for a team that went to the playoffs and won ten games.

01:20:13
Speaker 9: Uh.

01:20:13
Speaker 1: Last thing here, the kicker matchup. I mean Boswell's not He's not Chris Boswell anymore. And you got my favorite kicker in the league, Kayimi Fairbaron, so that that could be, uh, that could be where it turned.

01:20:25
Speaker 5: My apologies to the Steelers for putting the putting the onus on Chris Boswell, calling him the best kicker of the generation.

01:20:31
Speaker 1: A total downhill, total serial killer. And I love that we're getting Joe and Troy on this call. I think it's going to be their last call of the year.

01:20:39
Speaker 4: I don't think.

01:20:39
Speaker 1: I don't think they get a divisional run game. That's unfortunate. We are going to have YouTube gentlemen throughout the playoffs. Of course, Patrick will be back on Sunday. Ali will be joining us next week at a time to be determined. I am really looking forward to this wild Card weekend. It's no longer Super Wildcard weekend.

01:20:58
Speaker 4: By the way, did you know that? I didn't notice, But no, I know.

01:21:01
Speaker 1: I think this is now multiple years we were making fun of Super wild Card weegand business.

01:21:06
Speaker 2: They don't use it anymore. It's everyone just knows.

01:21:09
Speaker 1: We'll be back in the feed on Friday, Cynthia and I with our picks against the spread. I'm coming off at three and oh week We'll see you then.