Week 14 Recap: The Best Slate of the Season Delivers

00:00:05
Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily.

00:00:06
Speaker 2: We're the best slate of the NFL season, delivered in Week fourteen. I'm here in the Chris Wesleyan podcast studio. My name is Greg Rosenthal, and I'm with my caffeinated friend Patrick Claybond in my other I don't know if you're caffeinated.

00:00:21
Speaker 1: Or not, friend, Jordan rod Rieg. It happened.

00:00:23
Speaker 2: We came into this week on the schedule. Five monster games on the slate for Division lead, playoff lead, another game that was Joe Burrow and Josh Allen, and we're gonna hit all those games in this very recap and it's gonna lead to a great.

00:00:41
Speaker 3: Money I am caffeinated also, and we're.

00:00:45
Speaker 1: Gonna We're just gonna get right to it today. I don't want to know it. I honestly don't want to mess around.

00:00:48
Speaker 2: We'll be wrapping up the show with the big Sunday night game Texans Chiefs. But I think there's only one place we can start today, and that is at lambeau Field.

00:00:56
Speaker 4: They get motioned to the tight end of the right take the switch, but you left Williams looking to floats the end on the tenor secon sceptception. Ala and in oception by Kashawan Nexon Panzer, is your dagger been a Lambeau leaf to the south end zone? Stands twenty two seconds ago? Then the Packers hung on.

00:01:22
Speaker 2: Oh they wanted it, and they got it. A late takeaway by Keishawn Nixon. So many big defensive plays this year. By that very cornerback stopped a Bears drive. Packers hold on twenty eight to twenty one. Caleb Williams has a play call which they ran very similar to the Bears game just a couple of weeks ago.

00:01:47
Speaker 1: They hit that for a touchdown. He's late on the throw.

00:01:50
Speaker 2: It doesn't work out in this game, and the Packers defense holds on and takes over first place of the NFC North.

00:01:56
Speaker 5: And it's Keishaw Nixon who was benched for like a couple of earlier in the game because he was on the brunt end of a Matt lafleur rage burst because of an unnecessary roughness penalty. This game was nuts because the Bears had a chance to come down the field and at least you're thinking about tying it, but it's Ben Johnson and he had already gone for a couple of like sort of fu plays earlier in the game, including the most demoralizing third and long screen you'll ever see, and you had to think Ben Johnson's going for two if they score here.

00:02:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, the strategy at the end of the game, we can start there was interesting because Ben Johnson essentially chose to run the clock on himself before that play, and Matt Lafleur was okay with it. And I think it could have cost the Bears because if they had gotten first down on that play, then they wouldn't have had as many plays to try to go win the game. But maybe he knew they were going for the win that whole time. Everything is setting up for that play call. That's dangerous. Then again, I think he made a great play call because Caleb Williams needs to throw that ball quicker.

00:03:03
Speaker 6: Yeah, you can throw the ball quicker. And also it's a tough play, but we've seen Caleb make these types of plays. Because Dj Moore was coming open late as everybody crashed in on Caleb, where he could flip that over the linebacker and hit him at the very least get the first down. But you need the touchdown at that point because you're thinking, and I'm sure because we were having a discussion in the newsroom. Do you get the touchdown late, try to get the two point conversion, get out of here on the road with a win. But all that goes away when you start the play sequence with a minute and thirty one seconds and then you're thinking clock not necessarily first down, and you're in a gotta have it situation on fourth down with under forty five seconds to go.

00:03:42
Speaker 7: It was so different just a few minutes before that.

00:03:45
Speaker 2: It's too bad because I think Caleb Williams played a really good second half. Obviously, their offense was running the ball really well. They went touchdown, field goal, touchdown before getting down inside the red zone at the end. But when you saw the angle comets open, he's pretty wide open right away where it's like a quick decision throw. And that's the push and poll with Caleb Williams, who I think is playing well. He has a lot of holy hell, that's amazing plays, But you look at his time to throw today, it's like three point four And that was maybe the difference between him and Jordan Love.

00:04:14
Speaker 1: On a day where Jordan Love looked like a veteran.

00:04:16
Speaker 5: Jordan Love looked awesome, and he's got a number one receiver. Guys, Christian Watson had two touchdowns in this game. I want us to listen to the first one because it just was a great moment, just the daintiest of placement. Snowflake football placed it right into his gloves for a touchdown as lightly as a snowflake falling.

00:04:34
Speaker 8: Here's here's the snap blitz on they pick it up, initially bluffs the middle, come.

00:04:40
Speaker 4: Watson touchdown, praying by Packers. Christian Watson took it away, say Keevin byrd. Come up, Packers strike first twenty three yard touchdown pass.

00:04:55
Speaker 5: I love that play so much, not only because it gave Packers fans the Lambeau Leap that they just jonesing for the entire time.

00:05:02
Speaker 3: And what a cool environment too.

00:05:04
Speaker 5: It didn't quite snow flurry it did in the morning earlier, and fans helped shovel the stands and the field gut gets cleared and it feels like ten degrees for most of the game according to the broadcast. And that's Christian Watson. That was his fourth touchdown in four games. He went on to score a fifth touchdown in the same game off a really pretty little man beater that Matt Lafleur designed up and Jordan Love just had no fear like we like were used to him playing at his very best at his quarterback island. That yeah, right, because this was Jordan Love the first touchdown. He's got seven defenders pressuring him. And first of all, don't don't blitz Jordan Love. He's gonna do great things. He's got great pressure readers, he's got a great offensive line, he's got great outlets, and he's got great scheme. So perhaps, perchance do not blitz him. And the Bears backed off on that second. They were in man de man.

00:05:53
Speaker 3: Across across the stack and across the field.

00:05:56
Speaker 5: And then the Packers adjusted again to get Christian Watson these opportunities, and you know, it was a really really well called game from both sides. But I give Matt Lafleur the edge in this one because they went run past and especially run when they needed to the most.

00:06:11
Speaker 6: And so Dennis Allen, whose defense has looked really good in these past couple of weeks, where they were in bend and then break your heart mode, and then they were just full on break your heart mode, locking everybody down. They get in that Christian Watson touchdown that first Christan wathingon touchdown. They have him third and ten and a chance to get off the field, and they send the Blitz against the blitz. Jordan Love was eight of eleven with two touchdowns and the passer rating of one hundred and fifty.

00:06:37
Speaker 1: Here's the thing, now, leave ten alone.

00:06:39
Speaker 2: It comes down to players, though, and the Bears just don't have a pass rush. They are hurt either way, like on the second touchdown, which to me is just the perfect Jordan Love throw because no one can throw it that far with that ease. Yeah, to put the ball on the air under it, and Jalen Johnson kind of you know, his eyes are bad on that they're in zone on that play and he allows the defender to get you know, behind him, and everything in Brisker tries to make up for it. Once again, I think Tom Brady's getting a little better. He was pointing that out, and I just love how these two teams are so different, and we saw in tough conditions that this style of Packers can work. Because Josh Jacobs finished out the game well and was a big reason they won, but ultimately you got Jordan Love throwing twelve point one yards average up the target in this game bombs away compared to a Bears team, which has a sixty percent success rate which runs the ball down. The Packers throat really took over the line of scrimmage in the second half of this game one hundred, but they didn't have one hundred and thirty eight yards. They didn't have a single run over ten yards this whole game. So it's all just like five and four and six and patients and those two styles made a great fight, and we're gonna get to see another one in a couple weeks, I know, and I.

00:07:51
Speaker 5: Loved it, and I wonder if it almost flips the next time around, because each team will perhaps try to do the opposite thing of what they just did.

00:07:59
Speaker 3: The Bears often of line. I don't think we have to continue to give them their.

00:08:06
Speaker 5: Flowers for the way that they can just choose to run the ball in a deficit in adverse moments. They put together a seventeen play eighty three yard scoring drive that took over eight minutes off the clock. And I mentioned that screen when you're running it like that and your offensive linemen are feeling space the way that the Bears offensive linemen were and you're Ben Johnson and you got a little mean streak in you. What are you gonna do on third and very long? But run the most mean spirited bullying screen that just it and it sets up at the touchdown and it's twenty one to twenty one at that point. But then Josh Jacob says, okay, guys, hold my frozen beer. I'm gonna run the ball down your throats. He cuts on a like blade of grass, a frozen tundra grass on third and two and picks up twenty one and sets up his own touchdown.

00:08:59
Speaker 3: I mean, it was just these teams.

00:09:01
Speaker 2: I love this game. I know you can't tell you mentioned the physicality. You know, if if you're watching us on YouTube, we love you, like subscribe to the episode. There's a play where Manung guy and Edger and Cooper collide. Just a massive hit from Cooper in the second quarter of this game, and you see the helmet fly off Manung guys like like a people to help. It is absolutely ridiculous. And that is like the type of hit and hitten. This is some real menly men football. And we ended with yea, we ended with like a very handshake at the end. So I think it was like a perfect combination. Matt Lefflair would just run rain.

00:09:45
Speaker 3: It was the range of society, you know it was.

00:09:48
Speaker 2: It was Matt Lafleair just doing a drive by on that handshake. I love it because we we should have set it up during the week.

00:09:56
Speaker 5: You know.

00:09:57
Speaker 2: Ben Johnson had those quotes that he can't wait to he's really enjoyed over the years beating Matt Leaflair. Choice, Well, he's not gonna beat him twice this year, Patrick and they tried harder.

00:10:05
Speaker 6: Mat Lafleur remembered and that's why he ran fifty seven yards across the field to give a quick handshake that he would love talking about after the game.

00:10:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, I wanted to say what Laflair said. He said, he said it was a quick handshake and we'll see them again in two weeks. I think there are no good losses and we do got to move on. But I think the Bears coming back in this game, their run game traveling that it was this tight, that like, these two teams look pretty even to me, it's not a good loss, but they keep passing tests and to me, I don't think any differently. About the Bears, even though they fell from the one seed to the seventh seed. The NFC is bananas right now with one loss, they fell from one to seven and not that anyone cares.

00:10:48
Speaker 5: But behind the Texans, this Packers defense is my favorite defense to watch in the NFL. Carl Brooks made a play tonight if a trick handoff to DJ Moore where if you go back and watch it in slow motion, you can see him Reid react, diagnosed, adjust his massive body to change his direction in but a millisecond and make the play the tackle behind the line of scrimmage. That's this entire Packers defense. Smart, physical, well coached, aggressive, special and people will.

00:11:19
Speaker 7: Of course criticize Caleb on that final play.

00:11:21
Speaker 6: The Packers were all over that play call because it wasn't the exact same formation, but the execution and the where the receivers ended up ended up being the same place that they hit the touchdown to Philadelphia, and folks thinking that Caleb should have run Edwin Cooper had the corner on him.

00:11:36
Speaker 1: Oh, but he should have thrown it right away.

00:11:38
Speaker 7: Yeah, he should have thrown it fast.

00:11:39
Speaker 6: Yeah, But if you're thinking Caleb could have got to the line again fifty six was there.

00:11:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we learned a few things just about you know, how they're going to use players. Jayden Reid was back in this game and made a difference. That was good to see. Four catches thirty one yards. Bo Melton played more on offense than Marcus Golden and who else is and don Tavian Wick, so that was interesting.

00:11:59
Speaker 1: The person to nel usage.

00:12:00
Speaker 2: And yes, only one of these teams has Michael Parsons eight pressures in this game, the same amount as the entire Bears team combined, so big win.

00:12:09
Speaker 3: Monster holes against him.

00:12:14
Speaker 5: By the way, HST fans, don't freak out, geez that that arm He had an arm wrapped around his neck on the last two scramble plays.

00:12:22
Speaker 3: Yes, I mean, my goodness, guys, what are we doing?

00:12:24
Speaker 2: Laflair complained a bit afterwards, saying, I don't know what a hold is anymore, but I know what a first place team looks like. It looks like the Green Bay Packer. So the first place was decided in one North division. It was also decided for now in Baltimore.

00:12:39
Speaker 9: Clark and Ramsey back inside their own fifteen yard line and even retreating as the ball snapped in Lamar Jackson rush coming from the backside, He's hit.

00:12:48
Speaker 1: Take it down.

00:12:49
Speaker 10: It's high Smith with the sack back.

00:12:52
Speaker 8: In the thirty eight yard line, and that will do it.

00:12:56
Speaker 10: The Steelers come to him and T Bank Stadium and win twenty seven to twenty two, and they are back in first place by themselves in the AFC nord.

00:13:08
Speaker 2: M fitting ending there, great call by Rob King on WDV. The Steelers survive twenty seven to twenty two against the Ravens, and I say that it was fitting Patrick because I think Lamar Jackson in this offense needed to turn back into the old Ravens offense to get out of there with a win, and for a while looked like they were gonna do it. They finished the second quarter with a touchdown drive. They driving throughout the second half, but they can't finish the drives, whether it was officials getting in their way, or their running game getting in their way, or in that case Lamar Jackson holding the ball too long and not operating a two minute drill very well getting in their way. There were flashes from this Ravens offense of looking special again, but ultimately it was a pretty balanced effort by a game Steelers team. I'm giving them a lot of credit for pulling out this game in Baltimore, a game that we did not expect would go this way.

00:14:10
Speaker 7: Yeah, we got.

00:14:10
Speaker 6: We got to go back a few weeks to week eight for a Aaron Rodgers completion with ten or more air yards and they get it against a defense that's kind.

00:14:18
Speaker 1: Of They got three over twenty in this game.

00:14:21
Speaker 6: That's just well right there, defense that struggled to make plays on the ball late. You know, the last play of the game, the Ravens are in a hail Mary situation. They're in twelve personnel. Lamar's holding the ball. Nobody's at the ten yard line even yet, because you got you got two tight ends on the field and you know he's waiting, he's holding the ball too long, which was, as you pointed out, the curse of the last drout. But it's difficult to look away from the game because clearly, you know there's stripes involved every single pay and you'd like to make the plays.

00:14:50
Speaker 7: But there are a couple of key ones in this game that have you have you questioning the way things go in the book.

00:14:56
Speaker 2: So there was an unnecessary roughness call on a Steelers field goal, which was very confusing and led to the Steelers scoring a touchdown, and that that was one play that was just a curious call it happened. Also, there's no rule that the Ravens defense just has to lay lay down and give up a touchdown there. The Steelers offense did a good jock similar to how the end of the game played out. And yes, the Isaiah likely overturned touchdown with under three minutes to go is one of the most controversial calls to me of the season. It's first and ten, there's about two minutes and forty three seconds left to go. The Ravens are coming from behind, they're down five points at this point, and it looks like they take the lead and Likely catches the ball. He takes two steps, maybe he got the third down, maybe he didn't, but the ball gets poked out there and they decide upon review to overturn the touchdown. After the game, the NFL did release a statement the pool report, and they said he did not get his third step down. And the problem I have with that is it's so close and you're supposed to have clear and obvious evidence to overturn the call. And that's my problem with it, like if they had called that on the field, it's a bang bang play.

00:16:16
Speaker 1: Mistakes are going to happen. I do not understand them overturning that call. This is crazy.

00:16:22
Speaker 5: Yeah, it looks too close to make an actual decision on it for me. And you know you kind of got to be Greg Olsen to get that one.

00:16:30
Speaker 1: I guess. Oh wow, she did it.

00:16:32
Speaker 7: She loved it.

00:16:33
Speaker 2: She said it in the news German.

00:16:34
Speaker 7: She said it again because it's a great line.

00:16:38
Speaker 1: It's an amazing line.

00:16:39
Speaker 6: There was also the play where Aaron Rodgers had a ball tip back and he catches it. They give Aaron Rodgers credit yes for catching well, okay, and having his knees on the ground, which I'm wondering, do you need to make a football move when you have knees.

00:16:49
Speaker 1: On the ground or is you don't? The play was over. I think that was the right call.

00:16:52
Speaker 7: Give you a possion of the ends on the place.

00:16:54
Speaker 1: I think that was the right call.

00:16:55
Speaker 5: The ruling on from the league about like anatomy in general, because one he equals to feet but three feet does not. I mean, I just I sneed a little bit more like body part clarity. I think from the league off.

00:17:07
Speaker 2: A lot is going on here, and yet I don't want it to get lost. The Aaron Rodgers played his best game of the season, go front to back. They and this is why this game was tough to have, like one big takeaway, because I think the Ravens defense and their miscommunication and their total lack of a pass rush and them getting dominated frankly by the Steelers offense for three quarters of this game is the biggest reason I believe that they lost. Then again, they did get three and outs in the fourth quarter and like set up the Ravens with a chance to get this comeback. But it was twenty seven points on only six drives. That's three touchdowns, two field goals, and one punt. And they did not get a quarterback hit in this game. They did not get a sack on the old round in the NFL podcast that's called the Goalston. They had a Goalston in this game, and they couldn't get pressure when they didn't send anyone, and then when they did actually they were on the Steelers were on their third left tackle because they lost their left tackle. They also lost Darnault Washington to a concussion, and you see the Ravens kind of like see blood in the water and they send the house. They go empty against Aaron Rodgers on a third and long and they don't get anywhere near him and he hits Calvin Austin down the field. DK Metcalf goes for seven to one forty eight, and so yeah, like they definitely got a good whistle. I'm not particularly confident that the Ravens defense would have gotten a stop if they called that a touchdown anyway. So I just think there's a lot that the Ravens and their fans I'm sure should be upset about with when it comes to the Ravens too, because it's just a team that is not playing well enough right now.

00:18:42
Speaker 6: And the unfortunate thing about all those things, if the Ravens had purely played this well over the past couple of weeks, this might not have They wouldn't be in this situation on defense. But yeah, well on defense, especially on the Jalen Warren screen pass where there's nobody on that side of the field. It wasn't even a scream. I don't think it was just a swing to Jalen Warren. He makes one guy miss and like there's nobody for Pat Fryerman.

00:19:07
Speaker 2: Can we actually watch and listen to that play? We have that play because that was that was typical of what we were seeing in this game.

00:19:14
Speaker 1: Warreners did the wright.

00:19:15
Speaker 9: Rodgers in the shotgun, gets a snap back to pass, rows to one wide open scooting down the right sideline pass room.

00:19:22
Speaker 8: There is nobody there and he's in for the score. Jell and Warner's short pass out to.

00:19:28
Speaker 10: The flat and he goes thirty eight yards in for the touchdown.

00:19:32
Speaker 8: Pittsburgh Steelers add their lead here.

00:19:34
Speaker 6: Touch Yeah, so you adding things like that, the nasty rashod Bateman drop on third and four in the red zone where it's again credit to the Pittsburgh Steelers for the pressures that they did get.

00:19:44
Speaker 7: TJ.

00:19:45
Speaker 6: Watt adds another great great plays to his great resume. But there's aspects of this that we're also a donation.

00:19:52
Speaker 2: Sure, I agree, but he can't run the ball. And like I said, well, Rogers played well. Like for instance, there's like a third and want escape early that he gets. He had three or four dimes in this game two DK The one to Austin was a beautiful ball. He ran in for a touchdown. So he's making plays. And then on the other side, here's my stat I had it circled. I didn't want to forget it. I didn't want to forget it. The Ravens had eighteen runs I believe in the red zone today, right, that doesn't seem right, However, many runs they had in the red zone, and I will confirm it. Do you want to know their success rate on it?

00:20:27
Speaker 1: Patrick? Tell me the success right, it's a big fat zero zero.

00:20:32
Speaker 2: And that's where I think about that miss touchdown call at the end where okay, you get likely you know, doesn't complete that play. They are set up on a third and two on the five right after that because they have a good second down, and what does Derrick Henry and this offensive line do right after that? They lose three yards on the next play, and then Lamar has a chance to just like make something special happen. He can't pull off like a very difficult throw to Andrews. And there were a few times like that in this game where Lamar maybe had a chance to do something special and he didn't. Particularly, I think he's looked much better in terms of his legs the last couple of games. For what it's worth you, he runs for forty three yards in this game, including a touchdown. He looks healthier, but like, I don't know, you can't run the ball and you're letting Aaron Rodgers make plays all over you.

00:21:16
Speaker 1: Like, I don't feel that bad.

00:21:18
Speaker 5: This was the ultimate greg and Patrick game because not only did Aaron Rodgers play probably one of the best, if not his best game of the entire season, but also Jalen Warren got in the end zone. So everybody loses.

00:21:30
Speaker 1: I lost. I mean, I was rooting for the Ravens. I'm not lying about it.

00:21:32
Speaker 6: And I get the Jalen Warren thing is a joke or another Gregor whur. I enjoy Aaron Rodgers discount double checking and celebrating and being all salty in the.

00:21:40
Speaker 1: Post But I do, yeah, I have to, like, I have to give I have to give credit where it's due.

00:21:46
Speaker 7: Indeed, which he.

00:21:47
Speaker 3: Did have some postgame salt, I think, right, Aaron Rodgers did.

00:21:51
Speaker 1: Like in terms of his hair color or what are you talking about?

00:21:54
Speaker 5: In terms of his attitude? I thought, didn't he don't? We have some sound of him talking talking a little smack in the post game.

00:22:00
Speaker 7: I'm sure, I'm sure it's it's out there.

00:22:02
Speaker 1: We got my Tomlin sound. Let's listen to that.

00:22:05
Speaker 11: You know, we knew what was on the line today, and that's why you go do business with a guy like Aaron for thick days like today. He's been there, done that guy. But beyond the experienced component of it, he relishes it. You can just tell.

00:22:21
Speaker 5: And that's the benefit of having a guy like ar You know, Chris Pabona is doing a great job filling in for the great Eric Roberts behind the glass.

00:22:29
Speaker 3: That one's on me. I take on that one. I read the rundown wrong. Also, I'm I'm also having a.

00:22:34
Speaker 2: Thing he sometimes sometimes Chip Kelly calls the wrong play in the huddle.

00:22:38
Speaker 1: You got to be able to figure it out on the field.

00:22:40
Speaker 2: That's what matters. That's what Chris Babona did right there. And I was talking about giving credit, by the way, in terms of red zone that's Dan Pezuda, who's a great follow on on Blue Sky, by the way, who works for their FTN, gave me that stat in terms of zero percent success right in the red zones. I wanted to give him credit, and I wanted to give credit to everything that happened in Buffalo. I think we got the game of the day Bills and Bengals, so good that we got to bring Nick Chuck into this show early. But first let's hear from Chris Brown and Eric Wood on w R.

00:23:18
Speaker 12: Brown alone setback receiver to each side and it's intercepted.

00:23:23
Speaker 4: Jumping over the air is Bedford gets away from Burrel thirty twenty ten five dr AFC Defensive Player.

00:23:31
Speaker 1: Of the Week test.

00:23:33
Speaker 13: Jutted again Christian Bedford with a go ahead touchdown.

00:23:40
Speaker 2: A great call there by Chris Brown put that in the play cause of the year, giving you more work. But bona somewhere someone in the office of the Players of the Week office.

00:23:51
Speaker 1: Is like, yes, big pop in a big spot. Someone finally cares about our awards.

00:23:56
Speaker 7: We got a dedicated room for it.

00:23:58
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it's just one guy's I sat really near him. I can't believe that's a full time.

00:24:03
Speaker 2: Gig, especially in today's day and age, Like you get a pension as a scud missile.

00:24:08
Speaker 1: It's crazy. Thirty ninth to thirty four shook.

00:24:12
Speaker 2: I'm surprised we led with a defensive play, because man, this was a lot of great quarterback play, a lot of great offense.

00:24:20
Speaker 1: What stood out to you most in this courageous Bills victory.

00:24:24
Speaker 12: Well, yeah, we started with a defensive play because that was the moment when I realized, and I think everybody in Himark Stadium realized, oh my god, the Bills actually can win this game. Because for a good portion of this contest, Joe Burrow and the Bengals had a step and a half on the Bills. They had a twenty eight to eighteen lead in the fourth quarter, They had three straight touchdown drives to start this game. They could not be stopped, and it was snowing pretty heavily for most of this game didn't affect him at all. Josh Allen also having a pretty good game. It was a great example of two quarterbacks overcoming inclement weather to find success.

00:24:55
Speaker 14: But the Bengals, they were better until that moment.

00:24:57
Speaker 12: Until that moment and the moment right before it, when Josh Allen faces a zero blitz, finds a running lane and takes off through one of the widest spaces of open field you're going to find in an NFL field for a forty yard touchdown.

00:25:10
Speaker 14: Just rapid fashion.

00:25:12
Speaker 12: The Bills went from being like, oh god, there's like eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, we're really going to lose this game to the Bengals. The Bengals who are so desperate they need every win possible to keep their dwindling playoff hopes alive. That we thought weren't even going to be a possibility before Joe Burrow came back and instead, in a quick, just transition of a couple of plays, the Bills are on top and they ride that wave all the way to victory. It was one of those games that felt like a playoff game between a team that was eight and four versus a team that was four and eight.

00:25:41
Speaker 14: It was that much fun.

00:25:42
Speaker 2: Well, it looked like a playoff game, the playoff game they played a couple of years ago when the Bengals went in there and ran all over them that they've been playing that game on NFL Network all weekend long.

00:25:52
Speaker 1: You mentioned the Josh Allen rushing touchdown. Let's hear it. Here's the staff back to pass blitz going.

00:26:00
Speaker 8: Up the market, thirty down.

00:26:02
Speaker 1: To the twenty.

00:26:03
Speaker 8: Allan looking for the zone and he's.

00:26:05
Speaker 14: In for a forty yard touchdown.

00:26:09
Speaker 8: Rip the piece has been released. My goodness, what a touchdown run by Allen.

00:26:19
Speaker 2: Oh Man back to being one of the most successful plays in football, the Josh Allen run. And I just think considering where they were at with the injuries that their defense had down a couple scores in this game, to respond the way they did and set up such a big game next week in New England is just It's a big in terms of the story of this season and the story of the AFC. It also all but eliminates the Bengals from having a little hope.

00:26:42
Speaker 5: I think it's good when you see a defense like this that's been through what they've been through, and certainly I have not been shy of criticizing them on that and today absolutely porous on third down and that was a huge reason why the Bengals were able to stay in the game and to make the Bills play from behind through much of this game. But when your defense responds to something insane that your quarterback does but not just doesn't just do that once, but does it time and time again, makes a couple of pivotal takeaway plays splash plays at the end of the game when it matters, After Josh Allen, after the button has been pushed right, you guys are always talking about when when does Joe Brady up in the box, just press press the release, press yes, and then the defense showed up in a big spot and return the fever. That's better complimentary football than we've seen from the.

00:27:31
Speaker 3: Bills in a while.

00:27:32
Speaker 6: Yeah, the biggest button moment here was it was fourteen to three and the Bills had a goal to go. Situation gets to fourth down and they run. Of course, it's Joe Brady. It's a mesh alteration and there's nobody open at the top of the drop and it's classic Josh Allen. He's buying time, he fakes a defender back, he's rolling to his right and he throws a seeing eye touchdown to Khalil Shakir.

00:27:56
Speaker 7: That saves the game, like it saves the game.

00:27:59
Speaker 6: And there's I'll say, like Lamar's hurt Mahomes that's it in terms of making this like fade away throw, roll into your right like on fourth down where that's it. And there was also a Dalton kin k touchdown later in the game that happens within structure and Josh didn't have to do all this. I feel like that's been the first one in weeks where it's been like that for the Buffalo Bills. Where it's I mean it's seventeen and as long as seventeen as they got a chance to do.

00:28:27
Speaker 12: Even the touchdown that they scored to essicially put this game away was out of structure. It was Allen suddenly has all day to throw its fourth and goal and he finds Jackson Hawes for a three yard touchdown to give them an eleven point lead an eleven point lead that seemed impossible just a few minutes earlier. The sequence that followed that basically preceded the Benford play. Take this for example, James Cook having a great year. They're riding him on the ground. Everything's cool, They're deep in in Bengals territory. He fumbles the ball into the end zone. Bengals recover. Boom, there's their chance to score gone. Bengals respond with a touchdown drive Mike Koseiki puts them up to one to eighteen, and then all hell breaks loose. The Allen touchdown, the Benford picks six. Then aj At Panessa catches a deflected pass, they go down and score. That's the Hawes touchdown to give them suddenly a thirty nine to twenty eight lead. It just happened in such rapids pocession, and I felt like it was an illustration of the difference between a team that has found success for the majority of the season, has overcome adversity, and has positioned themselves now at nine to four to be in a great spot, versus a team that has tried to overcome adversity, has been held back so many times and is ultimately not going to reach the postseason.

00:29:28
Speaker 14: And it's unfortunate for the Bengals.

00:29:30
Speaker 2: Like, what a way for this Bengals season to essentially end that you have a twenty eight to eighteen point lead.

00:29:35
Speaker 1: I'm glad you pointed out the time element of this.

00:29:37
Speaker 2: With eight minutes left in this game, and you end up giving up thirty nine points and I know set seven of those is on Joe Burrow and the offense, but it's it's just like another kick in the teeth and you wanted at least to watch took that second T Higgins touchdown. And while we do that, like, I want to let you whax on what this Bengals offense did today, because you could argue this one handed catchwa while T. Higgins is getting dragged down, is not even the best Te Higgins touchdown of the game, his first quarter touchdown was absolutely ridiculous. This is an awesome game, But what did you see out of the Bengals offense in the Bills defense today?

00:30:18
Speaker 12: An offense that was really fortunate to get Te Higgins back, An offense that almost lost to Higgins again when he crashed down to the turf and had to be examined check for a concussion after his head hit the turf and he was frozen there obviously, and they were just really fortunate to have him in there. But another example of how Joe Burrow elevates this team like exponentially. This is an offense that could put up points with Joe Flacco for certain stretches earlier in the season, but we saw over the last two or three starts that he had they had struggled. Now, they didn't have Jamar Chase in one game and they Higgins was in and out.

00:30:45
Speaker 14: Whatever it might be.

00:30:46
Speaker 12: Burrow, at one point I thought like, could he be if he were able to lead them to the playoffs with performances like this and this was a super impressive one until it all fell apart. Could he potentially be in the running for MVP? Because that's how valuable he is to this.

00:30:59
Speaker 1: Team, right, I'm not putting him in the conversation.

00:31:02
Speaker 14: But the game doesn't matter.

00:31:05
Speaker 1: Do we have anything?

00:31:06
Speaker 2: Well, they lost, but I'm saying if they had won this game in an alternate universe, I was allowing for the fact that the Steelers and Ravens are looking shaky enough that I was allowing for the fact Bengals could get back in it.

00:31:15
Speaker 6: But now I'm not feeling the points structure. Isn't that possible for Joe the conversation.

00:31:21
Speaker 2: Okay, so we've been mentioning, but Bona killing it behind the glass the whole crew. That means Eric Roberts is in Buffalo and we have a special message from Eric.

00:31:32
Speaker 1: I have not heard this yet. I'm looking forward to it.

00:31:37
Speaker 9: Daily.

00:31:38
Speaker 1: We're out here, they're flowing the field. It's snowing on us.

00:31:44
Speaker 7: Wear that.

00:31:45
Speaker 1: Hopefully this is sprinkled on top of a Bill's win recap. If not, I'm gonna sit here.

00:31:52
Speaker 8: I'm freeze to my seats.

00:31:54
Speaker 14: And contemplate life because.

00:31:55
Speaker 1: I flew all the way out here for Joe Burrow to ruin my felling vacation. You're probably running late, Greg, take a break.

00:32:04
Speaker 15: Chris Bona, get him to break now, gold Bill's baby.

00:32:12
Speaker 1: That is a real producer right there.

00:32:14
Speaker 7: Eric, keep him warm by.

00:32:17
Speaker 2: That looks like an amazing scene. He knows that we're over time. He's telling me just get to your break and stop honking. But before I do that, I will say, just just check out Eric on Instagram because he had some great shots, great seats. Good job by the Roberts family. Whoever got those tickets. If it was Eric himself, way to go. And he he saw some of the best plays of the game from up close. I was happy for him, and I'm happy it sets up an awesome game in the AFC East next week. Let's take a break on the flip side. We're gonna talk about a game that could help decide the AFC South. So many big ones today, Chris, get him.

00:32:55
Speaker 1: To break, dropping again, looking again, fires in the right side of the endo pot, touchdown.

00:33:08
Speaker 8: Jacoby Myers caught it in.

00:33:10
Speaker 4: The right side of the hands out, fourteen yard scoring strike.

00:33:15
Speaker 2: What a throll, What a throw? What a day for Trevor Lawrence h thirty six to nineteen. The Jaguars roll over the Indianapolis Colts takeover first place in the AFC South feels like a long time ago. The Colts were seven and one and on top of the conference that was Frank Frazi. By the way, on wj x L, some people are saying Jacoby Myers the best trade deadline pickup of the year, and in many years that's some people where it was Patrick Claybonn in the break leading up to it. Unfortunately, Jordan like as great as a Jaguars performances is, and we'll get to it. It did feel like the biggest news of this day was what happened with the Colts.

00:33:58
Speaker 5: Yeah, so at that time that put the Jaguars up fourteen to seven. It was still a beautiful time when both teams were relatively healthy. They were going to compete and this is going to be a ballgame. Blows are being traded back and forth. But in the biggest game of the Colt season to date, they lose their quarterback, Daniel Jones do an achilles injury that Shane Siken postgame did not have an official update on, but said does not look good. A non contact injury on a throw in the first quarter and he knew it immediately and he slams his helmet down and by halftime he's on a boot in a boot on the sideline for the rest of the game, and it is an uphill climb for Riley Leonard at that point.

00:34:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, and this Jaguars defense has been playing better yet great, you had your eyes, you know, on Riley Leonard the rest of the day. But to remind the listeners, Anthony Richardson suffers that freak injury with the exercise band that it breaks his eye socket. We have no word on when or if he's going to be available again, so we'll just have to wait and see. Riley Leonard is a late round pick, Nate Tyson's guy out of Notre Dame. But it's just hard to see this Colts team competing now. You remember, of course, they gave up their first round pick to the Jets to get Sas Gardner. He's currently out with a calf injury. And suddenly some of these teams, like the Bills, for instance, we just talked about like you can almost cross off the Colts. I have a feeling because they have such a brutal schedule down the stretch too. For Riley Leonard and this team to play a team that was already kind of showing signs of decline.

00:35:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it started with the run game with them.

00:35:45
Speaker 5: It was the biggest crack until you know, Daniel Jones broke his leg and was trying to play through that entering the game. Was their run game that was really struggling, and all of their losses this season, teams have held Jonathan Taylor for eighty six yards or less and this game was no different. Now, the Jaguars defense, I want to say, it wasn't just that they were playing lesser quarterback competition.

00:36:08
Speaker 3: They played really, really well.

00:36:10
Speaker 5: It started with Devin Lloyd who picked off Daniel Jones on Daniel Jones' very first pass from scrimmage, which you know you say omens and signs all the time, Greg, this was a big one and it got they They swarmed to the ball and they covered really well and they just were relentless. They ended up taking the ball away three times, including forcing a fumble on a Jonathan Taylor carrey, and like I said, bottled up the run game really really effectively. And that's where I think this Jaguars defense has improved. But Riley Leonard did not play back play poorly in my opinion. The statistic I think he played better than what his statistics showed, and they show that he was eighteen of twenty nine with no passing touchdowns, rushing touchdowns, and of course the interception.

00:36:54
Speaker 3: But he made a couple of really tough throws.

00:36:56
Speaker 5: He showed that he wants to push the ball, that he understands how to run the offense, that he can push the ball and he can create out of structure, which he did a couple of times. He made a couple of really tough throws, including a possible pivotal throw, which really was one of two moments that could have helped get the Colts back in this game. That was a touchdown that was called back to a very suspicious penalty and there were.

00:37:20
Speaker 3: Calls on both sides.

00:37:21
Speaker 5: Guys before I get it in my mentions, but that was a tough That was a tough one because you could see the Colts defense really kind of turned to Riley Leonard after he made that would be touchdown pass and they were like, all right, we got a chance, and they ended up forcing a stop on the other side against Trevor Lawrence and the Jags offense that played had a really really good game today.

00:37:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, the design success rate for the Colts thirty four twenty percent, and it's been it's been falling in recent weeks. And that's that's I think what's gonna maybe get forgotten in this Colt season that like, unfortunately the seven and one fall was happening before these injuries. Now, I mean, it's crazy to think about what are they They're eight and five, so they've won, you know, one game since that great star and uh, let's give the Jaguars some love.

00:38:07
Speaker 5: Yeah, I would love to, because tem trev it's a good day for team trev I'm so hard.

00:38:11
Speaker 3: On Trevor Lawrence.

00:38:12
Speaker 5: I own that and I recognize that, and I am always lamenting the roller coaster that is the Trevor Lawrence experience. But he took care of the ball so well today Patrick and in a downpour it looked miserable in Jacksonville. It rained buckets the entire time, but he took care of the ball. He didn't turn it over. He ran a couple of times, including a sneak. It was really important for the for the Jaguars, and he made a couple of really incredible throws, including this video that I would like to present. Oh, both I know, and it's me doing it as a possible Throw of the Year candidate, because this is a pouring rain throw right here to Tim Patrick down the sideline and you see the water dripping off the camera Lene. So it's Trevor rolling out throwing on the move down the sideline, doing so on the move as his body's floating away.

00:39:01
Speaker 3: In the pouring rate. Now, I don't know if it wins Throw of the Year, but it's not.

00:39:04
Speaker 1: It's not gonna win, no.

00:39:05
Speaker 3: Of course, but it's Trevor.

00:39:06
Speaker 1: It's nice to be nominated.

00:39:07
Speaker 5: It's Trevor Lawrence, who I feel like I owed a nomination to at least one time during the seaton.

00:39:11
Speaker 3: I've been pretty hard on him.

00:39:13
Speaker 1: He's playing his best football the last couple of weeks, and like.

00:39:16
Speaker 6: That a throw where Trevor Lawrence can make it look routine by making the right decision at the right time, getting the ball to come down in the right spot to Tim Patrick where it When he makes it look easy, it's like, oh, okay, well, yeah, anybody could have done it.

00:39:29
Speaker 7: When Trevor does that, that's when everything is working great.

00:39:32
Speaker 6: Yeah, And we saw like the fully implemented design for BTJ as well, who's catching deep balls on the side likee doing what Brian Thomas Junior is supposed to do out on the edge. And you know, it's fully as symbol to this point where ETN and the run game, especially taking advantage of those early Colts turnovers, the one from Jonathan Taylor, which was backbreaking in hindsight, because Dimes just goes down and I'm sure Jonathan Taylor thinks, yeah, I got a grind out every single yard and he's trying to reach for an extra when the ball gets poked out. You can credit the Jacks defense from that. And Devin Lloyd has continued his you know, dpoy cannibacy. After missing a few games, he comes back. He gets Dimes again with the play he's got almost every quarterback they've played this season, lining up right at the line of scrimmage, dropping out, hotting but behind the line, and popping up for another pick.

00:40:22
Speaker 7: He does it all.

00:40:23
Speaker 1: What a ride this Jaguars team has been on.

00:40:25
Speaker 2: Like they started out hot and then they were they don't look great before the bye, and suddenly it just felt like it went from MESSI fun to just messy. And now they're at nine and four everyone's contributed to ETN with a long touchdown run you mentioned. I know it's slowed down a little bit later in this game. And yeah, we've kind of wanted to see Trevor click with Liam Cohen. That's been the one thing we haven't seen. I thought he had his best game of the season last year. You can play well even if it's the Titans, and I think what he showed on tape was good last week. You could see how fired up Liam Cohen was on the sideline and he was a little fired up after the game too. Team that feeds on disrespect, how do you does that continue to go when maybe the respect starts to come, which might be where you are ever.

00:41:07
Speaker 8: Really get it.

00:41:08
Speaker 1: So that's the beauty of it.

00:41:09
Speaker 8: I ain't coming.

00:41:10
Speaker 3: You know that it's not so And that's the beauty of it.

00:41:13
Speaker 14: And that's totally fine.

00:41:15
Speaker 1: All right. He's putting that chip money for Massachusetts. Uh, maybe I didn't.

00:41:20
Speaker 7: We get no respect.

00:41:21
Speaker 1: The chip is on the shoulder.

00:41:24
Speaker 2: The Jaguars are nine and four currently the three seed, and talk about no respect. They haven't allowed the Indianapolis Colts to win a football game in Jacksonville since twenty fourteen. That's four thy, one hundred and two days. According to our friend John Shipley, that includes some pretty garbage Jaguars teams over over the years.

00:41:45
Speaker 7: Who rusher in that game for the Colts Trent Richardson.

00:41:48
Speaker 3: Also Liam Cohen.

00:41:51
Speaker 5: Hello, we named the Jacksonville Jaguars the messy fun team of the NFL Daily Podcast, which I know you organization is aware of.

00:42:01
Speaker 1: So blow.

00:42:02
Speaker 3: The disrespect is not in the building over here.

00:42:05
Speaker 2: That's kind of like backhanded compliments. But I'll if I'm them, I would take it as respect at least we're talking about Wait, we had a blast with that episode.

00:42:12
Speaker 6: Absolutely, unlike somebody else that's sitting at the stable. I picked the Jacks to win this game, So okay, I now the respect is is all.

00:42:19
Speaker 5: It was a direct comment toward Greg Rosell. I understand everything.

00:42:22
Speaker 2: I'll take that out because I think they were winning this game, whether Dana Jones finished it or not. After watching that, Okay, So that that's who's atop the AFC South. Let's see if we found any separation in the Great NFC West.

00:42:36
Speaker 15: To Possession and plus Terrible tour short set a ball fake, he wheels, he deals jumping at the.

00:42:42
Speaker 4: Five book.

00:42:46
Speaker 15: One play, a thirty one yard strike, puss up Lukula with a new career high in touchdowns.

00:42:55
Speaker 1: Wow, thanks for playing m J. D.

00:43:00
Speaker 2: Yes, I'll see for it. I'll see you in the film room in like an hour or so. Watch that Sunday night football game. Yeah, that was the Pukainakua drive. One catch drive, nice and efficient. It was the Pukainakua game. Seven catches, one hundred and sixty seven yards and two touchdowns, much of those in the first half. Almost felt like Patrick he was trying to top himself, like, Oh, you thought that catch was good, how about this catch? The Rams win forty five to seventeen in a game where Stafford got to just chill for a lot of the fourth quarter.

00:43:31
Speaker 7: And I'm glad that he did. It's always it's always a couple drives longer.

00:43:35
Speaker 6: Or I started to complain about it early because this one was out of the question to the point where I'm I'm arguing with next gen stats because there was a couple of Stafford throwaways targeted that get credited as a target towards Pokunakua. Or I don't think they should count because he caught everything as he has for the past few weeks. He was spectacular. To get a chance to watch this game and you're worried about the score, it's worth it just to see how Pooka was playing the start of the fourth quarter. Was Jimmy g in the game because the offense for the Rams was averaging almost nine yards of play. Stafford does retake the lead in the conversation as the Patriots were a bye, so I'll get a full score update coming out probably on Monday night. But the Rams defense is what made this one laughable. They pressured, were set on forty eight percent of his dropbacks. He completed less than half of his attempts when he was under pressure. The offense looked disjointed and clunky for the vast majority of the afternoon. He was a negative six in terms of completion percentage over expected, so he was under expected in terms of that stat on the completion percentage. Michael Wilson in that one role where he can play because there was no Marvin Harrison Junior there.

00:44:43
Speaker 7: But it's scarcely difficult to call this one a football game.

00:44:47
Speaker 6: And late Lake Korm had a long touchdown where I wondered if that was the beginning of the end of the Jonathan Gannon Eric I.

00:44:54
Speaker 5: Think that was the longest Rams touchdown of the season. Actually, they hadn't had They don't do a lot of explosive running Blake Rum really I mean into blocking on that.

00:45:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like we keep hearing again in safe and Monty Austin for It's safe. They're showing Monty Austin Ford in the owners you know booth, you know, sitting next to it's a good place to bed. Well it is, So that makes me think he's more likely to stay.

00:45:19
Speaker 1: But I've just seen this enough.

00:45:20
Speaker 2: We've seen this over and over in the years, where insiders say these guys are safe or they're trending.

00:45:27
Speaker 1: Oh, they're not going to be in trouble at all.

00:45:28
Speaker 2: And that's early December, and then they get their teeth kicked in, and then there's another week and they get their teeth kicked in again, and then there's another week and it's like this month, it's a long way to go. It feels like the Cardinal season is over. But they got to play four more of these games and they keep getting embarrassed. I just it's hard for them to make a case if it continues to go like this, especially in this division where he's had a chance now year three to kind of show, Okay, what can I do defensively against these teams and everyone's putting up a forty burger on them. The forty nine ers are that the Seahawks are and now the Rams are. But yeah, you mentioned the run game, Patrick, they go for two hundred and forty nine yards on the ground. I don't think it's like a secret weapon, but I think if the Rams win the Super Bowl, and I think they have as good a chance as any team in the league to do it, their running game is gonna be one of, if not the biggest reasons why it looked great today.

00:46:24
Speaker 6: And again you know the Cardinals caveat Although in defense of Jonathan Gannon and the Cardinals.

00:46:29
Speaker 7: The close losses did pile up the course of the season. It hasn't been like this. It has gotten there late.

00:46:37
Speaker 6: But it was whether it was Williams, whether it's Corn, whether it was Ronnie Rivers late in the fourth shot out to Ronnie Rivers, who had a lot of garbage done it today because there was a.

00:46:47
Speaker 7: Lot of it available. Well partly kind of my games today, by the.

00:46:52
Speaker 1: Way, Yeah, that's unfortunate.

00:46:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was thinking that your game's early ye had some blowouts too, but then you got the good win lat the great one.

00:47:01
Speaker 5: This was back to the thirteen personnel way that we've seen from Sean mcfay, which is fascinating. I've been talking to some people around the league about this over the last couple of weeks, and there's this theory that's being played out, and I think we're just gonna need a lot, like just more data from the entire season to just see kind of what matches what. But that it's so easy for him to skip right over twelve personnel and go directly to thirteen, not just because he has the tight ends to do it and the skill level of the tight end position to do it even without you know, guys banged up, But it's a lot of the same eleven personnel concepts and route patterns that is just being run out of a heavier personnel and when they go against the defense that is a little bit more of a matchup based deef. So Jonathan Gannon scheming a matchup week by week, which we know he tends to do. This is their version of just loading up and what other teams say We'll load up and run the ball down your throat. This is their version of it, except they keep their passing game open as well because of what they're their tight ends can do and what Pukakua can do.

00:48:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, I saw Tarah Barsap with the ESPN said they had more yeah, thirteen personnel, three tight ends on the field in the first half of this game than any game all season. So they they loaded up, they pushed them around. It was nice to see their pass rush get after it again. They had nine quick pressures in this game, a million pressures in general. As Patrick mentioned, they've been a little quiet at points lately, and Nate Landman did his thing again with a crazy, awesome interception in the second half.

00:48:29
Speaker 1: I'm now gonna put Bobona on.

00:48:31
Speaker 2: The mic for the first time in his show, and this is a legacy game for Bobona, and I'm gonna give you the decision. As we just talked all about these tight ends, do you want the Colby Parkinson touchdown in the show or do you think we should make up some time and move along?

00:48:48
Speaker 7: Now you're you're gonna play it because I cut it.

00:48:52
Speaker 8: What third and goal helmet high snap looking left pros medal. It's a touchdown.

00:49:00
Speaker 15: Larkishon. How about the Sean McVay flu game. The head coach and play callers sick on the road in Arizona. Five drives, five scores, Stafford surgical in la is blowing out Arizona.

00:49:20
Speaker 1: That is awesome. You know, it's a blot when we spent the second half wondering like what what was his sickness? Maybe it was the flu. JB. Long knows all. And I like how spicy Chris gott.

00:49:31
Speaker 7: I just want to add, yes, Sean McVay is not the only one who had a flu game. I spent the last forty eight hours in bed.

00:49:37
Speaker 1: There we go, came here, there we go.

00:49:38
Speaker 7: I delivered. Yeah, I've been kind of Sickleye.

00:49:41
Speaker 1: We haven't reached half a Yeah, Chris, so you know, don't a lot of game.

00:49:46
Speaker 7: He's pointing out the score game McVay. Yeah.

00:49:50
Speaker 2: I also, I also shouldn't be too surprised because Chris is a RAMS fan.

00:49:54
Speaker 3: Of course I know he's dead that of course we played the highlight. He's got his cap and his jacket on.

00:49:59
Speaker 2: Well, not everything was in Rams fandom today because they had to watch the Seahawks put it on the Atlanta Tawk shhed.

00:50:07
Speaker 14: The deeper of the two back on the goal line and here comes to kick end over end.

00:50:10
Speaker 9: Shaheed from the goal line near right side, numbers up the field ten twenty looking for a gap.

00:50:16
Speaker 8: He's got one.

00:50:17
Speaker 7: He's off to the racers.

00:50:18
Speaker 8: Lookout.

00:50:18
Speaker 1: This could be at fifty forty thirty.

00:50:21
Speaker 8: They're not gonna touch him.

00:50:22
Speaker 1: Ten five.

00:50:23
Speaker 8: He looks back, touch down Sheeahawks. What a way to start the second half.

00:50:31
Speaker 4: Kick the ball to Rashi shed and take no baby for a hundred yards.

00:50:36
Speaker 8: And he does so.

00:50:39
Speaker 2: The score was tied at that point, six to sixth Yeah, halftime. The final score was thirty seven to nine. We can go in a lot of directions here. I appreciate the great call by Steve Rabel here on KIRO, but how about we start this way.

00:50:53
Speaker 7: Let's do it.

00:50:54
Speaker 2: Raheem Morris got those three points by kicking a field goal when twenty three to nine inside the ten yard line on a fourth and two. That's the most gutless field goal I've seen all year, and the most pointless.

00:51:07
Speaker 1: What are you doing, Raheem? Let's give the love? Actually, yeah, it was just it was a very very sad field goal, and it's saddest. That was the saddest. It was the twenty three to six.

00:51:20
Speaker 5: That's the clack like, what is it the claxon horn of field goal?

00:51:24
Speaker 6: Wow, we will we will give that the twenty twenty five sad field goal Award, Thank you for the Falcons. Where As a tail of two halves, that's the start of the third quarter where the Falcons have somehow managed to have this a six to six ball game. Rashijied has that touchdown. By the way, the average length of Rashik si Heat's touchdowns in his career in the NFL is over fifty yards. This one hundred yard kick return definitely helps that, but consistently because we're years into this, uh and he's still doing it. So after the game, Raheem Morris said that that was a backbreaker. It costs the team the momentum. Kirk Cousins was asked about that and said, quote, who cares. We have to find our way back. You have to play your way back from that. So in honor of Kirk Cousins, Falcons are officially eliminated. Other than my linkage to Terry Fontea after putting him up there in the GM rankings. There's no reason to discuss Kirk Cousins and the Falcons anymore. So we'll honor Kirk's request and thank this Seahawks essentially on the way. Although Jean Robinson crossed the thousand yards and Kyle Pitts had ninety plus through the air, let's talk Seahawks because against man Blitzes, against the defense that was the top pass defense in the NFL at one point, Sam Donald had an interception in the first half, a rough first half, but this late season, Sam kind of went away in the second half. He had three touchdowns against Van Blitzz. There were two JSN touchdowns where he won that one on one battle with Ajterrell and they got one quick pressure did the Falcons on Donald? The passer rating win pressure today was one hundred and twenty seven. So the folks that were watching this Donald decline, it definitely went away. I understand as Kirk Cousins says, who cares a much better game from Sam? Slinging Sammy today? In a dominant Seahawks performance when they go on a thirty four to three run to close it out.

00:53:07
Speaker 2: Like that is how the Seahawks play football, though they have now four This was a graphic during the show, four thirty point halves this year, and I'm like, that can't happen too often. They've done it four times. The rest of the NFL combined has done it six times. So they explode whether it's special teams, defense or offense. But I do think on a day where they didn't run the ball too well, we kind of know their special teams and their defense is gonna be good.

00:53:36
Speaker 1: That's not a surprise to me.

00:53:37
Speaker 2: I think they got to feel good to have such a positive Sam Darnold performance where he did get Shahat involved too as a receiver. Cooper Cup gets a touchdown and JSN gets back on the MBP track.

00:53:48
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, it's not gonna happen.

00:53:51
Speaker 6: JSN does get the points from this game with the two scores on the road, and so yeah, it's back in the positive in the conversation.

00:53:59
Speaker 7: But you know the vibes in general and their offense all the way up.

00:54:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, he beats aj Terrell like on an inside move and then dust him on a catch and run early. That was their second touch down of the second half.

00:54:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was incredible.

00:54:11
Speaker 5: He had five passes on seven targets when matched up against Ajterrell for eighty one yards down according to next jen Stats, this is maybe the best.

00:54:21
Speaker 3: Team in football. Uh one through three? Pick one and put him there, right, And you mentioned that.

00:54:28
Speaker 1: Who is three Packers?

00:54:30
Speaker 3: Okay, put the Packers there.

00:54:31
Speaker 1: It's cool.

00:54:32
Speaker 3: It's all NFC teams in my book.

00:54:33
Speaker 2: Anyway, I feel like because a body of work I put the Rams in Seahawks about But you're right, I think Packers gets.

00:54:38
Speaker 1: In the age today.

00:54:40
Speaker 5: Yeah, that what that defense did today. I think, first of all, great for Sam Darnold. This is exactly when you want your quarterback playing some of his best football, especially problem solving against some of the pressure. Look, you know that Jeff Ulbrich did not make it easy on him with some of the blitzing that that Atlanta likes to do. And also you mentioned Greg that the Rams were probably really sad watching the Seahawks cruise, but they got a draft pick that good. Watching a little bit closer than that, I think Atlanta is giving them a pretty high high value first round pick.

00:55:10
Speaker 2: Atlanta right now has is projected according to tankathon, for the number nine pick. That trade looking better and better since I didn't watch this game really almost at all. Patrick ok, I do want you to tell me something you found interesting about the seahawks defensive performance against your guy Kirk oh other than the fact that it was they were covering a man named Dylan Drummond who had four or five catches.

00:55:34
Speaker 6: Yeah, and David Sills also getting back in the game of this high line Falcons offense where they had Nicki men Wury matched up, and I know col Pits had a great game, but really allowing nick Eman Worriy to to get involved in man coverage against Kyle Pits like use, It's two incredibly large, fast gifted athletes and Pitt's got the better of them on honestly, Kirk Cousins best throw of the game. But to have that amount of faith in the rookie because it was still a game at that point before the second half offensive explosion, where it's I know that there's the rookie wall theorizers out there, but you get Nicky Man Worriy in these situations where they're able to provide pressure from so many different places. It was that the vintage Seahawks were we haven't been concerned with the defense but just in the deployment of the talent that they have available.

00:56:24
Speaker 7: It's a really good spot.

00:56:26
Speaker 2: Three more quick pressures from DeMarcus Lawrence, who's turning this from like a great story to just like is he an All Pro this year? Like he is getting into that with just one of my favorite players of the last decade. And I loved hearing Jackson Smith and Jigba after the games saying, yeah, nick Emon, worry was that guy in practice that he's been picking on all year because he thinks he can be special, but that he's kind of put an X on his back. I'm going to make you better by trying to embarrass you in practice. And now he's out there just balling as a rookie. So the Seahawks take care of business. Would another division leader who is play in today, the NFD South leading Tampa Bay Buccaneers, do the same.

00:57:04
Speaker 7: I've got the new right tackle is Sherman Shuck.

00:57:08
Speaker 1: Oh. Here they come up to the middle.

00:57:09
Speaker 8: We got away from one, he got away from Baya. Here he goes touchdown his second touchdown run today. Shot from thirteen Kevin how that was amazing.

00:57:32
Speaker 7: Yes, it was the best of the game.

00:57:34
Speaker 1: I do not know, I do not know.

00:57:37
Speaker 2: Great job there by Kevin Harlan and uh Trent Green with an excellently timed question, and oh wow, that boy can move Tyler Shuck. What's the difference in this game on the ground and not making many mistakes through there? There was that one interception seven runs for fifty five yards to touch downs from Chuck on a day that was played in a driving rainstorm for much of the game. Jordan's given me a curious look. Why are you giving me such a curious look?

00:58:14
Speaker 5: You know, Greg, It's just because I'm just I'm just so confused, you know, because all I heard from you, uh, leading up to the draft and then after Saints drafted Tyler Schuck was that he runs from pressure. He spazzes out against pressure. He fritz it so on that play it looked like like he navigated pressure and then like didn't run backwards right or get moved backwards like I'm just making sure I'm seeing it.

00:58:41
Speaker 1: He's he has done a great job using his feet.

00:58:44
Speaker 2: This game might not be the best spot for that negative twenty percent completion percentage over expected when under pressure so much better holding onto the balls, taking sacks. But I don't want to rain on that parade. It was raining so hard that hurt the passing game in general. And you said it like these like they basically were given him. The Taysom Hill plays, there's a design run in the first half for a touchdown, and his ability to play well late in the fourth quarter and his ability to run has been a total game changer for this offense.

00:59:16
Speaker 1: And he's looked better each and every week.

00:59:18
Speaker 6: And it makes me kind of look back to that last season at Louisville where he breaks his leg in twenty twenty three. He's coming back, he's trying to play. He's already a little bit older through this process, and I'm wondering if our evaluation of Tyler Shuck was based on early coming back from that broken leg and playing on it, trying to get a chance in the NFL where you start with Spencer Ratler for the first few weeks of the season, and now this is the fully formed and fully healthy Tyler Shuck playing in a mud slop field where, yeah, the passing numbers weren't great, they were better than Baker Mayfield.

00:59:54
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and he had you know, a few like just zone passes over the middle to Juwan Johnson or Foster Moreau. He had a few dump offs where he got through his read that were good. He avoided, you know, mostly big mistakes. But the plays that impressed me the most in this game were his two throws to Devon Vley late in the game where they are trying to kill clock and Kellen Moore does show a little bit of faith in his young quarterback, you know, calling four passes late while they're trying to kill clock, and he hits Veley for thirteen yards on the sideline. Really nice throw, and he keeps doing that on a third and five, and that was a few plays after he did a very similar third down completion to Velea, and it's like he's making those plays late in the game, whereas Baker Mayfield gets the ball back with all the time in the world and they go four and out and one of those four should have been an interception but just was dropped by Jonah Sanker, and the Bucks go three of thirteen on third down and two of seven on fourth down, many of which were runs. But it was another day where Baker was just not great under pressure, not great in terms of intermediate throws, just just not great.

01:01:07
Speaker 5: Yeah, he's really struggling, and you're starting to see some of the They've had a very few games where their entire line has actually been completely healthy and complete. And obviously Tristan Worth's not being a part of this one as well is a factor. But yeah, he has not played good football for weeks now, and yes, part of it. You know, you have to wonder how bad is the shoulder hurting him And obviously that's not the I don't think that's the throwing arm of still the pain of it, and all of.

01:01:33
Speaker 2: That year he ran really well. Today that was probably the best thing he did. Yeah, that was good to see.

01:01:37
Speaker 5: And he has to you if you can't. He's been such an inconsistent thrower. It's almost like he's trying to force plays. And in the early weeks of this when he I guess in a way he was still forcing plays and pushing the ball.

01:01:52
Speaker 3: It's just they were working.

01:01:53
Speaker 5: And so that was our particularly preferred brand of Baker Ball chaos, and in this case it's just not working. And I know, I'm I was, you know, being all tongue in cheek about the Tyler Sheck thing, but I think it's a It's a cool testament, Greg, And we've talked about this of like how a quarterback can change and grow up over the course of a season, and how a lot of times it's happening on a really bad football team and not a lot of people are actually watching it happen.

01:02:15
Speaker 3: But I know that you've been watching his.

01:02:17
Speaker 5: Tape really closely and understanding a little bit more about like how he is starting to actually handle what's coming at him pressure wise and seeing a lot of different types of it week over week two, because other teams are coming at him with that consideration of what they saw on college.

01:02:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a different test And the Buccaneers chose to not blitz almost at all in this game, and it made sense because they still got a lot of pressure. But like like we said, he handled it pretty well for the most part. I do feel bad because early in the day I just send notes as we're doing it, and I did have a with toating Nominefrostuck, which was interception, so but this was it.

01:02:59
Speaker 1: Was more of a it was more of a miscommunication. It's just.

01:03:03
Speaker 2: His receivers stopped on the route and Alave read it differently, and I don't know who was that fault there, But it's always just funny when he just just throw the ball and there's no one else, you know in the area.

01:03:14
Speaker 1: I do he played great.

01:03:17
Speaker 6: Yeah, we've seen both Lamar and Mahomes have bumbles this year where they try to get the check swing and the ball comes out. That's the one where you see why it happens because Shuck, he sees the receiver stop, but he's already in his throwing motion.

01:03:33
Speaker 2: Lay this thing out here and look, I know the Saints might have messed up their drafts, you know, standing for a little bit right now.

01:03:39
Speaker 1: But the big takeaway here is obviously that the Bucks lose this game.

01:03:42
Speaker 2: They're still in first at seven and six, now tied with the Panthers, two games left against the Panthers.

01:03:48
Speaker 6: And the Panthers sitting at home and watching, and a guy who's got a chance to be the offensive rookie of the year in Tedoral McMillan watching a fourth quarter a Mecca Buca out and up where Baker actually does get on the ball and he stonehands it right there in the end zone down the stretch for a Buka. It's tough.

01:04:09
Speaker 2: It's been one big drop a week enough where I think it's impacted his Rookie of the Year chances for sure.

01:04:16
Speaker 1: It doesn't mean they're over.

01:04:18
Speaker 2: But that ball was maybe like a little high and like a little hot, So it wasn't It wasn't quite as easy as it looked when they when they did show the replay, and I do have to repeat, most of this game was played in the most disgusting conditions.

01:04:33
Speaker 1: It was all mud.

01:04:35
Speaker 2: Everyone's uniforms were insane. There's giant divots in the ground. The reason why the Bucks like went two for seven and fourth down is like they kept going for these fourth and shorts in spots where it made sense, and like you just couldn't get any push, like the traction.

01:04:49
Speaker 1: It was disgusting. There is in a great way.

01:04:51
Speaker 5: There was no baking and as we head into a break a teaser also very little cooking sunday.

01:05:00
Speaker 1: Mm hmm, it is not a yet not a lot of baking. Let's take a quick break, as Jordan teezed, and yes we'll come back on the other side. Jets don't.

01:05:16
Speaker 7: First and ten at the twelve yard line. Bitch pay hm left side trying to get a wrong.

01:05:22
Speaker 8: Of courts back in ten pints style, Dolphins.

01:05:27
Speaker 4: Patience, and then the great burst once the blocks were set up to take off and get in the in zone.

01:05:34
Speaker 7: Man, the Dolphins are having fun.

01:05:38
Speaker 1: Sounds like it. Dolphins win in the Meadowlands thirty four to ten.

01:05:43
Speaker 2: That was Jimmy Cefalo, Joe Rose maybe in the mix on WBGG. Devon h Chan been one of the best players at his position in the entire NFL.

01:05:55
Speaker 1: Unfortunately got hurt in this game. Before the break.

01:05:58
Speaker 2: You made a great punt, That's what Jordan does, referring to a man named Brady Cook, And it went over my head in the moment.

01:06:06
Speaker 5: I was thinking of those goofy passes.

01:06:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, Brady Cook comes in for an injured Tyrod Taylor, and that was kind of all. She wrote in a game that the Miami Dolphins were dominated on offense even before that.

01:06:17
Speaker 5: Yeah, well before Tyrod Taylor left the game with a groin injury. Two consecutive early scoring drives spearheaded by Devon a change who had an incredible start to this game, left with a ribs injury, and then Mike McDaniel said postgame that they held him out for the rest of the game, mostly at a precaution. He could have returned if it was a crucial game. He was already at ninety three yard including a touchdown, and just looked magical. And this game was so out of hand that when Tyrel Dodson made a great play on a Tyrod Taylor throw a little Tyrell on Tyrod violence there he corralled the ball between his knees to come down with an interception, and then the Dolphins scored on the other side of that. So it was twenty one zero in the first quarter and the Dolphins had one hundred and seventy eight yards to the Jets eighteen yards. And then Brady Cook came in a little bit later. Overall, the Jets scored ten total points and all of them were on specialty.

01:07:18
Speaker 1: Oh man, Yeah, Isaiah Williams getting it done for this, that Jets second.

01:07:22
Speaker 7: Part return touchdown on the season.

01:07:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it was nice too. He was earned it.

01:07:26
Speaker 2: We weren't familiar with Brady Cook's work before this. Patrick, did you go to school? Did you earn anything?

01:07:32
Speaker 6: Well, we were actually on that drive of the highlight on Game Day Live, and so Rod goes into the locker room and there's a player running out on the field wearing number four, And I'm telling Steve, I'm absolutely not googling who Brady Cook is right now because I was behind on my sec you know, down the down the standings Missouri quarterback.

01:07:55
Speaker 7: I was not aware of Brady Cook. If I was, I had forgotten he existed prior to today.

01:08:00
Speaker 1: It was part of a trend.

01:08:01
Speaker 2: This was the first week since Week eight of twenty three, which is, you know, October of twenty twenty three, when there was more than four non first round quarterbacks playing much less at the same time, much less all in the early window.

01:08:17
Speaker 1: But I don't want to take away what's happening in Miami.

01:08:20
Speaker 2: They have gotten a little lucky, frankly, not just that the schedule has been easy, but they had close wins against the Saints in Washington. And if I'm going to knock them for needing kind of a lucky play here there to win each of those games, we should give them some credit for just destroying the Jets sweeping the series.

01:08:37
Speaker 1: What did you like watching the Dolphins today?

01:08:40
Speaker 3: I liked everything about their offense. I'm not kidding like that.

01:08:44
Speaker 5: I know what their season is, but I have to say, like since the start to the season, Mike McDaniel, I think is coaching like one of the best coaches in the NFL right now, and so is Anthony Weaver. And the tandem really really works. And I know people could hear that and grown, but go watch the games because this scheme, he is doing things that are free or in a sense that this is what you thought he was gonna do when he took over the job. And I think a lot of times coaches start coaching into the ecosystem, and you heard a lot of stories about players getting kind of doing whatever they wanted, and there was some maybe some some voices in the room that were encouraging those types of things that aren't there at this moment.

01:09:26
Speaker 3: And so it's it's one of those things where it's clear.

01:09:29
Speaker 1: It is so clear, Tyreek, Hi, just say my name.

01:09:32
Speaker 5: Well, you know they and they moved on from Jalen Ramsey, who you know that I am a huge fan of as a person and a player.

01:09:38
Speaker 3: But also like it.

01:09:38
Speaker 5: Gets tough sometimes, especially when you're losing. And so Mike McDaniel, even despite the fact that they've had some real stinkers of quarterback games, you can see that this scheme and the way that they have these guys playing together and and fun and trying things. He's got these two tight ends working in a way where they're like they're working every angle of the field, including.

01:10:02
Speaker 3: Like retirement home Darren Waller.

01:10:04
Speaker 5: They're working every leverage point and angle in the passing and the running game on the field. They've got someone really really special in Ollie Gordon who can come in and spell and needed to today at running back. Mike McDaniel is having so much fun that he's got his drawstrings around his hoodie tied like a bolo tie, Like this is the guy that we remember years ago coming in and putting up massive scoring games against some of these defenses.

01:10:29
Speaker 3: And I think they're doing a hell of a job.

01:10:31
Speaker 5: And I want to give them props because I feel like a lot of the season and rightfully so, we're thinking this guy's out the door. I don't think it's I don't think it's crazy to talk about him possibly keeping this job at this point.

01:10:42
Speaker 2: No, we got to find out who the GM is. We got to see how it ends too. They have the Steelers, Bengals, Bucks, and Patriots, so they'll be able to write their story.

01:10:48
Speaker 1: They did get to that point.

01:10:49
Speaker 2: I've been talking about for a month that you can see a scenario where they get to six and seven. They're playing a meaningful game. It's a Monday night game against Pittsburgh. The problem is in the AFC, there's still two losses behind, so they still need to run the table. Look, they're they're testing the bounds of how little production they can get out of to a tongue of ailoa and still win a game. He goes twelve for twenty three for one hundred and fifty seven yards. I think that was last week. This time it's three hundred, you know, thirteen for twenty one for one hundred and twenty seven yard. They win the game, and they haven't top two hundred yards passing in a month, but they get to win and they're feeling good. It's always going to feel better when you're on a four game winning streak. Let's go to Minnesota, where there's a team that needs to feel a little better, and they were.

01:11:28
Speaker 15: After Sunday, fourth and goal from the two, Hawkinson emotion to the right, McCarthy back to pass, basketball right hot.

01:11:35
Speaker 8: DJ bounces off touch down Jay Hawkinson.

01:11:43
Speaker 3: What a tough guy.

01:11:45
Speaker 8: Touchdown A thirty zero.

01:11:50
Speaker 1: Tough guy.

01:11:51
Speaker 2: Touchdown by Paul Allen on Kfan. Well, you see like the injured Commanders defender just trying to recover from what t. J.

01:12:00
Speaker 1: Hockinson was thrown at him.

01:12:02
Speaker 2: I love that O'Connor went for it there on fourth down, let his quarterback try to get his third touchdown of the day, and he did it. The Minnesota Vikings got shut out last week and they win with a shutout today thirty one to nothing.

01:12:15
Speaker 6: They get revenge against the Bagel. Welcome back to JJ McCarthy, who really stepped in to all three of these touchdown throws, two of them to Josh Oliver. The first one comes up the seam against the Commanders defense that we had seen some improvement WITHDQ calling plays and they were in games they were not in this one.

01:12:34
Speaker 7: They get Jayden Daniels back.

01:12:36
Speaker 6: He goes nine of twenty at a bit of a theme where he leaves the game with an injury to the same elbow he just comes back from because he gets.

01:12:46
Speaker 7: A huge hit on a play where.

01:12:48
Speaker 6: Andrew Van Ginkle does Andrew van Ginkle and it's the Brian Flores defense suddenly materializes and these are the plays that we're used to seeing them make where aveg looks like he's gonna have another pick six.

01:12:59
Speaker 7: This problem is she's not as fast as Terry McLaurin.

01:13:03
Speaker 6: He was looking around to see how he was gonna get caught, and scary Terry comes back and gets him. But then Marcus Maroota comes in the game. He's trying to force the ball to zach Ertz, he gets high loaded and he leaves the game with a knee injury. You saw the injury on the touchdown to t J. Hockinson where it just goes bad to worse for the Washington Commanders. They get eliminated officially. Now mathematically, Greg you don't have to worry about them being on any graphics. Not sure that was going to be a concern after this one either, But the Vikings, the Vikings do still have an outside mathematical chance.

01:13:35
Speaker 2: They have not been eliminated. The Falcons Commanders they were. And it's a bummer to see Daniels leave with an injury. After the game, dan Quinn indicated that Daniels could have come back in and we'll see about next week.

01:13:49
Speaker 1: Zach Ertz.

01:13:50
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, it sounds like he tore his acl They said it doesn't look good. It wasn't confirmed, so you hate to see that for anyone, much less a veteran like zach Ertz. And yeah, Mariota comes in and throws an interception on his very first throw. JJ got more help today now he you know, he obviously was more under control. I don't know what you saw, but he also gets a running game fifty percent success rate. They rack up yards on the ground, and the defense plays like the Vikings can play defense.

01:14:16
Speaker 1: What did you see out of J Well?

01:14:18
Speaker 6: A player again, a very young quarterback, still you know, still learning things. The overstriding critique does remain. You get those big steps, but when you have space in the pocket and he's making those throws on time, where a couple of weeks ago, you know, prior to the concussion where it's it was late, he had guys open and he wasn't hitting those throws.

01:14:40
Speaker 7: He had him this time.

01:14:41
Speaker 6: And that's the up and down experience we're going to have, I think with a young quarterback where the we've seen this really intense long term viability conversation about this twenty three year old quarterback up and down all season long, and I think we're gonna hear it probably for the next couple of seasons.

01:14:57
Speaker 1: But it's he saw the growth to there, well he could, he could quiet it down, and I.

01:15:02
Speaker 6: Think Max Brozmer's performance definitely helped set people's there that did too.

01:15:05
Speaker 2: And then there was this week where like every question every press conference is about how simplified the offense is going to be and they're dumbing it down or what. I don't know what they did, but if they can have a good month, that will be great for everyone involved. And I'd like to see Jayden Daniels, Like you don't want to see him get hurt. I'd love to see him either I don't know, not play or play well because it has been a little bit of a story here when he's played this season, it hasn't gone how how they would like and it dan Quinn said they weren't lost anymore, they're lost again.

01:15:41
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, I.

01:15:43
Speaker 5: Think multiple things can be true here, which is they maximize to the to such an admirable length Jade and Daniels stellar rookie season, and then they waited too long and assumed that they could just return all of this and it would still continue to be this way.

01:16:03
Speaker 3: But football, as Patrick likes to say, it's a spheroid.

01:16:07
Speaker 5: And it bounces all different ways in terms of your injury luck, and especially has this year for the Commanders. And they got older along the way, and they got they got worse along the way, and they got more banged up along the way. And so it's kind of one of those this age old adages right in football, where do you wait until it's unquestionable that you need to rebuild lots of parts of this roster or do you do it before you get to that point and then hurt some feelings along the way. I think they chose the former, obviously, and now they're going to.

01:16:40
Speaker 3: Have to do some cleanup.

01:16:42
Speaker 2: And unfortunately they're going to be part of our lives because they're on a Saturday, big game for the Eagles. There's two games against the Eagles remaining. They're on Christmas against the Cowboys. So we will be watching this Commander's team. We will be tracking them, and we will be saying thank you to the tag team of Claybonn and Jordan Rodrey jumping off the top rope and uh winning a WWE title. I don't know, thanks guys, No problem, Greg, Let's go to Las Vegas. Cookie's gonna be join us.

01:17:12
Speaker 7: Elbo Kelly's coverage.

01:17:14
Speaker 6: Shack for the Broncos five and a half SATs Now for John Franklin Myers.

01:17:18
Speaker 4: Driving kick Mims on a gallop from the forty eight, Marvin in trouble, steps out of a tackle, and here we go. Marvin's zones play Straw Raider down the sideline, twenty fifteen.

01:17:28
Speaker 8: Ten five touchdown Marvin Mims.

01:17:35
Speaker 1: That was Dave Logan on KOA.

01:17:38
Speaker 2: When the offense isn't quite getting it done, there's a whole third element of football, shook it counts, and Marvin Mims made a count with a big punt return touchdown that gave the Broncos a fourteen to seven lead against the Raiders. They win twenty four to seventeen in a game that didn't feel that close. It was twenty four to seven with just a couple of minutes left before the Raiders tacked on some points. Take it Care of business game by the Broncos. What did you find most interesting from the Broncos point of view in this one?

01:18:11
Speaker 12: I mean, Bononix is slowly but surely becoming more consistent. And we saw, you know, when they played Sunday night against the Commanders last week. It was an inverse bow next game where he was good early and didn't have a good fourth quarter. Well, he had pretty much a good game all throughout. They converted a number of third downs in this game. I mean they went on three different drives. This is crazy. Fourteen plays eighty one yards, six minutes and six or eight minutes and fifty four seconds. That's their first drive, touchdown drive. Then they go on a touchdown drive in the second half where it's fourteen plays eighty six yards and they take up nine minutes and thirteen seconds.

01:18:45
Speaker 14: The last scoring drive took out ten minutes.

01:18:47
Speaker 12: And seventeen seconds, and it's because they were able to stay on the field by converting third downs.

01:18:50
Speaker 14: So I mean he was consistent throughout the game.

01:18:53
Speaker 12: He made a lot of good throws, sharp throws, a little bit you know, under pressure or needs to get it out, made a no look throw. Seemed like every situation. This is very typical of Raider games. But it felt good to watch the Broncos do this against them because you have so much you know, worry about how whether Knicks could be consistent or not. It's just every third down, every every situation, which you felt like they had him behind schedule. They might get a stop here, they didn't, and a lot of that was because Bo was finding guys open, giving them opportunities to catch and run and continue to drive.

01:19:18
Speaker 2: The Raiders are one of the most doa teams. Oh yeah, I've seen in a long time. And we'll get to the end of this game because it was hilarious. But to close the Broncos side of things, look, they have a sixty three percent success rate. I know it's against the Raiders, but that's what you got to do. Build confidence.

01:19:34
Speaker 1: RJ.

01:19:35
Speaker 2: Harvey had a crazy stat in this game that he had more successful runs or ten plays runs I believe, according to next Gen stats against an eight man box than anyone in the NFL since Dereck Henry years ago. And so you're seeing Derek, you know, RJ. Harvey getting it done on the ground and then you got your full back like Sean Payton style at Apprentice is getting off for a couple of plays and McLaughlin like those are just things that you like to see because Harvey is going to be a really important piece for them. They have a really difficult final month this season where yeah, you're the number one seed. Now you're really going to be tested down the stretch. You're going to need that running game.

01:20:14
Speaker 12: Yeah, this is your last tune up game, because it's good that you went out and took care of business. But the next four games in your schedule are all against playoff teams or teams that are in playoff contention. It's going to get real difficult, real quick, and you're gona have to be able to prove yourself. I do like the trajectory that the Broncos have been on as a team, including Bonnicks, just that they've been a little bit more consistent, a little bit not predictable, but more reliable than they've been for much of this season. I hope that it's a precursor of good things to come. We're going to find out very quickly. And again, the Raiders are not a measuring stick by any means, but some teams like the Broncos, who like to play with their foods, who once beat the Jets, what thirteen to eleven, over.

01:20:48
Speaker 1: Let's beat the Raiders ten to seven or whatever that.

01:20:51
Speaker 12: Horror FESTI because this was not a twenty four to seventeen game. This was a twenty four at best fourteen game.

01:20:57
Speaker 2: Okay, so Gino gets hurt late in the third quarter, I believe maybe like the last play, just about the third quarter, Kenny Pickett comes in and the Broncos, who only had six drives in this game. That's crazy. By the way, I've never seen a lower number, because I'm not counting the nil down at the end of the first half with three seconds left, they only finished with six drives.

01:21:22
Speaker 1: That's crazy.

01:21:24
Speaker 2: They turn it over on downs and that whole time. Pete Carroll is calling timeouts late in the game, after Kenny Pickett, you know, leads them to a touchdown drive with about two minutes and fifteen seconds left, He's calling timeouts to save time even though they're down two scores.

01:21:43
Speaker 1: They have no chance.

01:21:44
Speaker 2: I guess in theory they could have scored like immediately and then kicked an on side kick. But then they get the ball back. At this point, it's fifty eight seconds left. They're still trying to save as much time as possible, and they get a delay of game penalty on a throw from Picket which stops the clock with about five seconds left, And what does Pete Carroll do, Nick Chuck.

01:22:09
Speaker 14: He sends out the field goal team with four seconds left. Now, there's logic to this.

01:22:13
Speaker 12: You'd think, all right, you try the field goal now and try to get the on side kick. Except four seconds is the amount of time that it takes to kick a field goal. So as the ball goes through the uprights, Daniel Carlson starts to celebrate and then he sees that there's no time left in the clock and he does one of these half hearted like points to this guy like, ah, well, I guess we did just score on the last second of the game in a game that didn't matter.

01:22:32
Speaker 1: Sure, that is the all time back door cover.

01:22:37
Speaker 2: If you were watching this game, to get a penalty where Pickett throws it down the field which stops the clock makes it easier, they could have maybe had time to spike it, maybe not to set up that field goal. But also just Pete Carroll just just trying to make his team look like they're competing and look better and have anything positive to say. That's why, my friends, it is dangerous to gamble, and why I'm glad, Nick Cook we are not allowed to do so. But I will remember this because I'm trying to win for the tenth straight week on my pick Show with Cynthia Freelan and I had the Broncos minus seven and a half, So that did hurt me.

01:23:15
Speaker 12: Oh bang in a big spot. You know, you can blame Brandon Jones for laying on the receiver and giving them that opportunity.

01:23:22
Speaker 1: What a stupid UH team. This Raiders team is just just wasting our time. Let's go to UH.

01:23:28
Speaker 2: A game that was not a waste of time despite it including two teams that will be picking high UH in April's draft.

01:23:36
Speaker 15: Shudkins with white Heart in the backfield, two point conversion to tie back to Quinn shot, He's.

01:23:43
Speaker 8: Gonna fake the reverse. He's got it and now he may throw.

01:23:46
Speaker 14: No, he reverses field.

01:23:47
Speaker 15: Now he throws it back all the other way to the other side and it's incomplete.

01:23:51
Speaker 8: Oh my, what was that?

01:23:55
Speaker 5: No.

01:23:56
Speaker 2: I love Andrew Ciciliano. He's great when they win. He's great even if they fall short on a wild play. But Bona insisted he wanted Ceciliano's call was the better call.

01:24:08
Speaker 1: That's what we do. W k RK. The Titans survive against the Browns.

01:24:14
Speaker 2: Everyone's got to get on Kevin Stefanski for that play call, but it would have worked right shook.

01:24:19
Speaker 1: I just think Judkins just didn't flip the ball.

01:24:22
Speaker 14: He just forgot.

01:24:24
Speaker 12: I think Judkins took that handoff. Well, it wasn't hand off as a snap to him because's in the wildcat. Yeah, and I had been doing They've been doing wildcat near the goal line a lot, especially in the last few weeks.

01:24:32
Speaker 14: They did earlier in this game, to limited success. I think it was actually lost him in the first time they ran it.

01:24:37
Speaker 12: But I think he got the snap and took off to the right and just adrenaline took over and he completely forgot that he's supposed to pitch the ball in the reverse because he realizes that after the fact yep, and it's open on the back side. Doesn't work out. Of course, your rights, the fancy's gonna come under fire. It's those who are going to cherry pick criticism are going to look at judors stat line, which was solid twenty three or forty two, three hundred and sixty four yards, three touchdowns, and they're going to say.

01:24:58
Speaker 14: Why'd you take him off the field and then situation, I understand the call. It would have worked. It's not about taking Chador off the field.

01:25:04
Speaker 2: There, How did Chador look in this game because you know, I see a you know, a screen pass pops for a big play in the game, but also, you know a nice throw that ends up being a sixty yarder to Jerry Judy.

01:25:18
Speaker 1: Harold Fannin gets in.

01:25:20
Speaker 2: I thought the touchdown to in Djoku right early in the game, there was a one yard throw, but a nice toss and a really nice catch by in Joku was a sign of a quarterback making some plays.

01:25:33
Speaker 1: What do you think of Shadar and a losing effort.

01:25:35
Speaker 12: Yeah, you know, there were a handful of highlight throws. The one to Djoku was definitely one of them. Is a difficult throw. He was kind of off balance and he put it in a perfect spot essentially between two defenders, and the Joko makes a great diving catch.

01:25:47
Speaker 14: That's a positive.

01:25:48
Speaker 12: Another positive is the touchdown pass to Jerry Judy, not because he just threw a touchdown pass, but because he looked to his right and then came off of that point in his progression, moved to the next side, saw Judy coming open, and put it right on him where he could catch and run through the rest of the defense for a touchdown. It's a big boom for them because last week Judy and Shador were seen arguing on the sideline. So everything's all fine and dandy now because they hooked up for a sixty yard touchdown. Those were both two very good throws. The touchdown of fan and kind of came in a weird set of circumstances near the end of the game, so he had his moments. He also ran for a touchdown out of desperation, but he also did the things that Shador has done in his start so far, which is hold onto the ball too long, take it unnecessarious, sack, throw a prayer of a pass into traffic over the middle when you're under pressure and you're already holding on to it too long. That ends up getting picked off and kind of swings the game in the Titans favor. So you take the good with the bad, and it's another very small step forward for him, I think.

01:26:37
Speaker 2: So the Browns lose this game in part because they just could not stop Tony Pollard on the ground. He finishes with a season best one hundred and sixty four yards, and I feel bad We've had so few Titan highlights on this show that weren't just crazy. Cam Ward plays in a losing effort. They actually won this game. And I've put a big asterisk this whole season over that Cardinals win. If any win in the NFL does not count as a win, you know, they say a win is a win. I don't know if that Titans win over the Cardinals counts as a win. This counts as a win. So let's listen to a positive Titans highlight.

01:27:12
Speaker 10: A Conklow goes in motion, Pollard inside handle, twenty five, twenty good sorry, goodbye, good bye.

01:27:19
Speaker 8: That is a Titans touchdown, thirty.

01:27:22
Speaker 15: Two more yards for Tony Pollard, and the Titans had the lad back.

01:27:29
Speaker 1: Back and forth they go, I mean this was a score fest. Thirty one to twenty one.

01:27:32
Speaker 2: Now was Taylor Zarzer and Dave McGinnis on wg f X, And it shakes up the top of the draft a little bit. Right now, the Titans fall out at the top spot and they are down to three. The Browns are at four. I think any chance to Fanski had to save his job. I don't think he has any chance to save his job anyways. I think he's I think he's out. But this is not gonna help give me something on the Titans that you like to see.

01:27:57
Speaker 14: I mean, I love the I.

01:27:58
Speaker 12: Love that Tony Pollard got going because I'm a big Tony Pollard guy, and I feel like he's been in a rough spot with them and they're inconsistent offensive line. He's making seven and a quarter a year, a million dollars, and I just feel like he hasn't gotten the opportunity to really prove that he's worth that money. So it was great to see him pop off some big runs today, especially against a Browns defense that seemingly lost contained second level. Was a rough job for them, and so it's good for him to thrive. It was also a snowy day in Cleveland. Cam Ward only completed fifty percent of his passes. He led a very impressive opening scoring drive where he hit Iomanna for a touchdown from fourteen yards out to give them an early lead.

01:28:30
Speaker 14: He handled the pressure of the job, I think pretty well.

01:28:33
Speaker 12: Ultimately, the Browns defense did cost some issues for him, so it was nice for Pollard to be that balance. But more than anything, I'm just glad the Titans played a complete game as a team. This is probably one of the best performances they've had this year, not just because it was only their second win. They just looked like a competent team, which is what I haven't been able to say that about them in a number of different games. And I feel good for guys like cam Ward who has too often been sent to the podium after a loss and had to explain why his team is terrible.

01:28:56
Speaker 14: Today, you were not terrible. Congratulations Titans on the Yeah, it's been a brutal year.

01:29:02
Speaker 2: Shout out to Jeffrey Simmons, who had eleven pressures in this game, one and a half sacks, actually two sacks. I don't count half sacks in my book. That is two sacks three quarterback hits. So he was the best defensive lineman in a game that included Miles Garrett, who, by the way, had the lowest pass rush win rate according to PFF of his entire career, no second lowest. He only had one pressure, but it was a sack, so he moved forward in the race to break that sack record. He is three and a half away. It's gonna be tight, but he did get that one. Simmons, by the way, a couple run stuff too. He has been awesome, probably an All Pro this year, which is crazy considering he's on the Titans.

01:29:40
Speaker 1: Let's take one break. But Shook, you're staying with me. We're going to wrap up.

01:29:43
Speaker 2: I said at the top of the show, we had six massive games that would really shape these playoff races.

01:29:50
Speaker 1: We got one more to go. It's Texans Chiefs.

01:29:58
Speaker 7: Ten for the Chiefs eighte. It's punch Mahomes to throw four man rush.

01:30:04
Speaker 13: Mahomes unloads downfield and chipped and intercepted this.

01:30:09
Speaker 8: He's al Shire has it up to deflection. Another pick for the game for Houston.

01:30:18
Speaker 13: Wow, Kelsea could not hang on as he's got it hot potato pick and the Texans have the ball in Chiefs territory again.

01:30:30
Speaker 2: In that time, the Texans would take advantage with the game ceiling Kaimi Fairbairn field goal.

01:30:39
Speaker 1: The Texans win twenty to ten.

01:30:41
Speaker 2: That was Mark Vandermere on k I l t in what we might have seen tonight, Chuckie was the end of the Chief's dominance over this conference, at least for this season. But I wanted to start with that play because it's about a Texans defense performance to really top all of them that they've had this year. In the fourth quarter of this game. The Chiefs had the ball five times. They had one first down and that was in on the garbage time drive before they just spiked it. Patrick Mahomes picked off three times. The balls just a little inside there, but Kelsey could have made the catch. But he doesn't make the catch, and it's the Texans who are Johnny on the spot. What a fourth quarter? It was the last fourth quarter I expected shook because at that point in the game, the Chiefs seem like they were rolling. And I guess this is just how it ends for great teams. And yes, the Texans maybe they could be a great team too. We know they have a great defense.

01:31:44
Speaker 12: Kind of reminds me of the way the Patriots lost their last playoff game that Tom Brady era right twenty nineteen against Tennessee. I remember that being a similar I don't know, I'll go out with a bit of a whimper instead of a shout or an actual fight.

01:31:56
Speaker 14: Oh look, you're right.

01:31:57
Speaker 12: The Chiefs were dominating the Texans offense in the third quarter. I mean, Nick Hayley seemed to have no answer for what Steve Spagnola was dialing up to the point where I'm watching it laughing like just chuckling out loud because I'm thinking, how can you not anticipate these many blitzer that Steve Spagnola was going to send against your offense?

01:32:12
Speaker 14: Adjust?

01:32:13
Speaker 12: Guess what they didn't need to adjust because their defense took care of business, forcing Andy Reid into uncomfortable situations. Fourth down decisions they gotta go. They're deep in their own territory. Guess who doesn't get the first down? The Chiefs wide because they ran into the Texans fantastic defense, gives their offense to shortfield.

01:32:28
Speaker 14: They capitalize, and then they steal the deal. This is Texans football in twenty twenty five.

01:32:32
Speaker 2: Baby, I'm glad you mentioned that Andy Reid made decisions that Andy Reid would not normally make. Yes, you could tell that they felt that they needed this, they needed to do something different, and the sequence you're talking about was so telling. They get a fourth and one situation was more like one and a half after Mahomes just runs over a disase.

01:32:58
Speaker 1: I'll say here, if if I had.

01:33:00
Speaker 2: Just tackled Mahomes in the right spot they're punting there, I don't know how this game goes.

01:33:05
Speaker 1: But instead Mahomes kind of runs him over.

01:33:07
Speaker 2: He gets about a yard short, and they decide to go for it on their own thirty one yard line, but there's pretty quick pressure. The guys are ready on the interior, ready to stop Mahomes from possibly scrambling forward. He steps up in the pocket, it's an incomplete pass and the Texans takeover. And I do want to point out that sequence because you know what happened right after that is the Texans actually took advantage.

01:33:35
Speaker 1: CJ.

01:33:35
Speaker 2: Stroud pulled off a great third down conversion and then they ran the ball right down the Chiefs throats to get the touchdown to go up seventeen to ten. So as bad as the Texans offense looked for parts of this game, and you're right, they had negative yardage in the third quarter.

01:33:51
Speaker 1: It was one hundred and twenty eight yards to negative two.

01:33:54
Speaker 2: They have had these little moments in the last six weeks where they look normal and they don't look fully normal. But in the first half of this game they put up two hundred yards that's pretty normal. And then in the fourth quarter they at least had that one drive and they did get a couple first downs before the game ceiling field goal. Where they're just good enough and then they let their defense carry them the rest of the way.

01:34:14
Speaker 14: Exactly.

01:34:15
Speaker 12: Their offense is not going to be the most adaptable, the most versatile that you're going to see among teams that are fighting for a playoff spot this year. But that is fine because when you pair that, when you couple that with an elite defense like the Texans have this year, it doesn't matter. All you have to do is buy them more opportunities and give them the short fields that they gave them tonight, and they're gonna be an ever game. Which is why I have a lot of confidence in the Texans. Why I think that this five game winning streak that they've put together is not a fluke. It is just indicative of a team that can, that has a defense that travels and can play with anybody, and it can shut down anybody. I mean, look, I know the Chiefs have been going through it this year, right, this has been a struggle field season for them. That's how you end up at six and seven at this point in the year. But I haven't seen their offense this flummixed. Travis Kelce, this just speechless, mystified, has no answer for what's going on. Patrick Mahomes looking this respondent and dare I say dejected by the end of this game.

01:35:03
Speaker 14: Maybe? Ever, that's what an elite defense can do to a team like that in a big spot.

01:35:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's talk a little bit about Jalen Petrie here. So in the first half of this game, the Texans play fantastic. They go into halftime leading ten to nothing. It was the first time Patrick Mahomes had been shut out since the AFC Championship Game three years ago, now first time in the regular season since twenty twenty one, and part of that was Jalen Petrie and one of the plays on defense of the season.

01:35:38
Speaker 13: Second and nine for the Chiefs from their thirty six But Checko in motion to the left as Mahomes takes the snap, looking firing over the middle.

01:35:45
Speaker 7: Tip down.

01:35:47
Speaker 13: Petrie with the pick, a diving effort at the forty five yard line.

01:35:53
Speaker 8: Chips and overthrows.

01:35:54
Speaker 1: We gotta get those, and the Texans get it.

01:35:58
Speaker 8: The deflected interception.

01:36:00
Speaker 1: Great call.

01:36:01
Speaker 2: But when I think tips and overthrows, I think almost like a lucky tip over the middle. That was a great pass defense by Petrie to get it up in the air and then to track the ball and actually intercept it himself, diving like like a baseball player.

01:36:16
Speaker 1: There was incredible.

01:36:17
Speaker 2: And you think about that play, and then you think about the hit that he had on Rashid Rice in the second half. I know you were loving that. It looked like Rice might have caught that ball. It's a first down to start the drive late in the third quarter, and he absolutely truck sticks.

01:36:33
Speaker 1: Him so many good plays.

01:36:36
Speaker 2: I know you were loving this play, Schook, and I know you gotta be loving Petrie, who, to me, I think cemented an all pro slot position tonight with the performance that he had.

01:36:46
Speaker 12: Absolutely nobody embodies this Houston defense, and there's swarm mentality more than Jalen Petrie.

01:36:50
Speaker 14: It's because of hits like that.

01:36:51
Speaker 12: That is a clean throwback football hit made by a defender who's out to let you know that you're not getting any three yards. I'm breaking up your pass attempt. I'm gonna put you flat on the ground. You might ragdall down to the ground like Rashee Rice did there. That's classic old school football. We don't see it nearly as much as we used to, for better and for worse, But tonight Petri set the tone with a hit like that, and I think you know, if anything, on the national stage, Texans have been there a few times this year. They've been good in some spots, they've been bad in others. Tonight, that hit alone sends the message that everybody's gonna remember when they think of these Texans defense now, which is, oh, we got to take them seriously. They must be respected because they can flatten us like that.

01:37:27
Speaker 2: Well, you know who might have remembered it, You never know. Fourth down later in the fourth quarter, Mahomes knows the play is kind of collapsing and he finds Rashee Rice throws it a little early. It's a great throw, and Rashi Rice, like he's done a lot during this stretch run, just drops it.

01:37:48
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that the Jalen Petrie hit made him.

01:37:50
Speaker 2: Drop it, but he dropped it, and I mean, yeah, like it just the culmination of having to play this Texans defense who's banged up at safety. But you think about the plays from the secondary. Kamari Lassiter with a great interception on what was kind of an arm punt by Mahomes in the second half to start that fourth quarter, Kamari Lassiter tracking down Taekwon Thornton on a deep shot where it looked like he was beat but great makeup speed. They just got playmakers up front, and so on a night where the Chiefs were short three offensive linemen, like obviously that played into Patrick Mahomes finishing fourteen for thirty three.

01:38:29
Speaker 1: It's I can't believe I'm looking at that number.

01:38:31
Speaker 2: That played into Patrick Mahomes going ten straight passes with an incompletion or an interception in the fourth quarter, like that was part of it. But man, uh Like, I just think the Texans defense puts so much pressure on you just because of their talent, not because of their play calling necessarily, but because of their talent, and the Chiefs ultimately buckled.

01:38:53
Speaker 12: Yeah, and I can give credit on both sides here because I think that the offensive line absences, while they were a problem, it didn't look that much different than what we seen from the Chiefs for good portions of this season.

01:39:02
Speaker 1: Play.

01:39:03
Speaker 12: The replacement at left packle I thought, did a really good job for most of the night, much better than I anticipated that he would.

01:39:08
Speaker 14: But you know, we've given the Texans all the credit in the world.

01:39:11
Speaker 12: Well, I'm also going to take a little bit of credit away, not intentionally, but just because this is one of those games of the Chiefs, but they just didn't make the plays they needed to make. This is the game where they didn't do the things that they've done so often over the last decade that has led them to success, that has led them to three Super Bowl tribes, to all these appearances in AFC title games, in winning the AFC West for a decade straight. They dropped passes on fourth down, A lot of passes out of mahomes hand looked strange, a lot of nose diving out of his hand tonight, which I think handered their ability to complete some of those passes in key spots. He was a little bit inaccurate at times, didn't seem like he was entirely on the same page as some of this guys. You mentioned the interception off of Kelsey's hands that was a bit behind him, just uncharacteristic of him. So that explains that stat line. I'm not surprised to see that stat line. But for those who have watched Patrick Mahomes over the course of his entire career, you'll look at Tonight's performing, You'll look at those numbers and go, God, what did they replace him with?

01:40:02
Speaker 14: A body double? That's not who he is, and that's what the Texans defense can do to you.

01:40:05
Speaker 1: And he was their leading rusher.

01:40:07
Speaker 2: They decided not to hand the ball off to Kareem Hunt in that key fourth down situation. Ultimately, the two Chiefs running backs both finished with under three and a half yards per carry Hunt and Pacheco, and that the defense and Chris Jones was up for the challenge to start the third quarter.

01:40:22
Speaker 1: But I do go back to that CJ.

01:40:24
Speaker 2: Stroud throw to Jayden Higgins on third down where Chris Jones looks like he's gonna pull c J.

01:40:31
Speaker 1: Stroud down, but c J. Stroud evades it gets the first down. Great throw.

01:40:36
Speaker 2: I thought just avoiding the sack would have been huge because they're trying to kick a field goal there, and instead he gets the first down, they end up with a touch That's a big time play. And look, he had eight straight incompletions at one point two. The conditions were not good for throwing. It's freezing there, but he had a good first half and he made enough plays down the stretch to win it.

01:40:55
Speaker 1: What a moment here in this season.

01:40:58
Speaker 2: They are six and seven the Kansas City Chiefs, and they are gonna need to win out, they're gonna need to beat both teams in the AFC West, the Chargers and the Broncos, to have any chance to make the playoffs. They're gonna need to get to ten and seven, and they're gonna need to get help. There's not a lot of reason to think they're gonna do all of that. Then, I really felt like when you're watching Patrick Mahomes with his hands on his head after one of those fourth down fails, like a moment in time, in part because the AFC is so deep this year, and I don't know if teams like the Texans are gonna lose enough for the Chiefs to catch up.

01:41:34
Speaker 12: It's all about catching fire at the right time, and the Chiefs they hit their stride for a brief period, but.

01:41:38
Speaker 14: That feels like ages ago.

01:41:40
Speaker 12: And I know it's shocking for us to consider a reality in which we'd go into a postseason that doesn't include the Kansas City Chiefs.

01:41:44
Speaker 14: But everything changes eventually.

01:41:46
Speaker 12: Nothing is forever in this league or in life, and I think the Chiefs are realizing that right now with everything that's happened. I'm not gonna count them out yet, I'm not gonna bury it.

01:41:55
Speaker 2: I know it's annoying. It is a little annoying, like this felt final, and yet you look at it. They are two losses behind the Texans, but now they're down the tiebreaker. They're gonna really have to just win those division games, win out. It seems unlikely, but they'll be rooting Monday night while we're watching and doing our show. It's not gonna be live on YouTube this week, but they'll be rooting against the Chargers because they need the Chargers to lose some games here down the stretch. And the Texans now at eight and five for now are in the AFC playoffs, and they're looking at the other team that's eight and five out of the wild card, like the Colts, and they're thinking, hmm, that next Colts game looking a little easier right now because of what happened on Sunday.

01:42:39
Speaker 1: Man.

01:42:40
Speaker 2: The season is a long one. We thought this Texans team was in deep trouble. They are full of badasses.

01:42:44
Speaker 1: I'm so who can they.

01:42:45
Speaker 14: Think, Greg, Who can they thank for getting back here? Who started at all? Tell me right now, Davis Mills, respect neck.

01:42:53
Speaker 2: I know you were gonna say, Jordan rod reeg for picking them to make the Super Bowl before the season. It's still alive in this AFC. Every thing is still alive before we go. You also want to know who's a bunch of badasses. Eric Roberts deserve to go to Buffalo and see his team win a big time game. And so it really says a lot about Eric Roberts that he left the show in the hands of a very worthy group of men. It's not only Chris Babona who is doing it tonight. It's it's Abu Kamara, It's Devin Harris, like the whole group back there making it run seamlessly. Maybe too seamlessly for Eric's hopes, you know, but it shows that he's building a coaching tree here and they can run a top shelf game, or at least recap anytime he's gone.

01:43:39
Speaker 14: Can a producer get wally pipped?

01:43:41
Speaker 1: No, No, I don't like where this is gone. I did it. I'm sorry. Hit the music. We're so overdue to hit the music.

01:43:48
Speaker 2: But yes, thanks to Devin and Aboo and Chris Babona and of course Jordan Rodrigue and Patrick Clayban and my man Shook. Like I said, we're gonna be recapping a really fun Chargers Eagles matchup.

01:44:02
Speaker 1: On Monday night. We're not going on YouTube this time around, so check that out in the feed. Can't wait for it. See that