Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're never junior varsity. Back here in the Chris Westling podcast studio on the morning after Christmas here on the West Coast with my friend Patrick, Claybon. How was Christmas?
Christmas was great. They opened stuff. They had a great time. They jumped from toy to toy. They fought over toys. It's all you could hope for. Is to run back all the grief that you gave your parents, including my son waking up at 5:30 in the morning and then waking his sister up saying that Santa came.
That's what we get. That's light work. Why? Walkers up that early every day. Forget on Christmas, my family in Japan. So it was a lot of FaceTimeing, but happy that the kids and Malcolm up early and enjoying it. That's the best stuff. I was going to say we couldn't have asked for a better day of football, but we could have. It was not close games, and that's fine.
Yeah, it was the exact results that I desired.
Oh, that's a good point. So this show is going to be a little different than most. It is our Week 17 preview show, and we're going to get to all the games. But in the first block of our show, let's recap the two Christmas games. Let's go to Accresure in Pittsburgh. Kareem Hunt, the Running Back. She Step 12, 12:44 to go in the game. Ball at the Steeler, 12-yard line. Holmes will throw again. Right side with a little bit of room, slings inside of into the end zone. Touchdown.
Kansas City, a historic breakdown for Travis Kelsi, his 77th TD reception. An all-time Kansas City Chiefs record, eclipsing the great Tony Gonzales.
Oh, yeah, it's Mitch Holtes. It's a record-breaking He's down for the man Travis Kelsi, 29 to 10. This Chief's team, they're doing the Chiefs thing, although it really wasn't the Chiefs thing last year. They actually didn't play that well down the stretch, but they are absolutely playing their best football of the season at the time that the Steelers are playing their worst this game. It looked like the final score, 29 to 10. It looked like one team which is gearing up for another potential Championship run and another potential early exit for the Steelers from the playouts. We'll get to them in a second, but how impressive was it to watch Patrick Mahomes at peak Patrick Mahomes power?
It's something where I'd say Pacheco has 18 yards, Kareem Hunt has 20 yards in this game. The Kansas City Chiefs essentially played like, Okay, well, we're the best third down team in football with the best quarterback, a lot of folks, including the guy that's talking right now, I've ever seen. Why don't we just pretend like it's third down all the time? Right. And so they did that, and they executed greatly because that's how good they are, and they have the talent to do that now with Hollywood coming back, as much as it pains me to say this is the best version of the Chiefs who looked that good on defense as well, Greg, without Chris Jones in this entire game to where you've seen the flaws and you've seen just how bad things can go. Now it's like, where does that come from? Who stops this at this point?
I think the Bells or the Ravens could, but more on the Ravens in a second. But now, Kansas City will have home field advantage throughout the playoffs. They don't have to play in week 18 any of their starters who might be injured or any starters at all that they feel like resting. It's tough. It's football. You can't just rest everyone all the time. But it wouldn't be surprising if Patrick Mahome gets a 24-day break before the divisional round or 25, if they put him on that Sunday, we will have to find out. I just go back to the second drive of this game. They're already up seven nothing. They had a very efficient first TD drive, typical Chiefs. But the second drive was the one where I started thinking, Oh, they're really back. There was that third and 11 play where Patrick Mahomes is flushed out. For the The first part, he's getting rid of the ball really quick. The fastest time to throw in his career in this game in the last two weeks has been his two fastest to throw in a few years. So let's keep doing that. But this was not a play where he got rid of the ball quickly.
It's third and 11. He's just trying to make something happen. He's rolling to his left, and he sees Samajee Pirine just on the ground. And this man is so amazing that he just flips the ball high enough in the air while he's running to his left to give Pirine time to get up and catch it. Great play. Very next play, we see something that basically hasn't been happening all season for the Chiefs, a go ball. Oh, yeah. Patrick Mahomes actually has a big arm and can throw the ball down the field if someone's open for him, This time it was Justin Watson, wide open for a 49-yarder. That was against James Pierre. He's filling in for Joey Porter Jr. You saw that effect. Then to finish out that drive, I thought just as important of a play, Patrick Mahomes hits his foot at the back of his drop. He lets go of the ball on time, on rhythm, a corner route with a lot of velocity, not an easy throw to make. Again, Watson open in the corner at the end zone. That one stuck out to me, too, because there's sneaky not been a lot of those opposite hash, impressive throws that look in the rhythm of the offense out of Mahomes this year.
In that one drive alone, I was like, I saw it all. Then by the end of the day, he's got over 300 yards. He's got three touchbacks. It's like, fantasy owners that were knocked out before they ever got here are wondering, it's like, We finally got fantasy Patrick Mahomes. I tell you, we really know Patrick Mahomes is back.
Yeah, you get 2022 fantasy Patrick Mahomes because the offenses look different. They have not looked this good in a while. They run play action 14 times when Mahomes is dropping back. He completes 12 of those passes for 169 yards, but he was just as good without play action yesterday as well. I know the Steeler's defense has banged up. You mentioned Joey Porter Jr. I don't think T. J. Watt has been playing at 100% for the past couple of weeks. I know there's the old adding, Oh, it's week 17. Everybody's hurt. Some guys are dealing with more than others, and some injuries are more significant than other ones. But that being said, there was very little the Steeler's defense could do yesterday. It's like Andy was in his bag, and so was the They're just not special enough.
Ultimately, they've given up 30 points a game in the last three weeks to three of the best offenses in the league, and I think they needed their defense to be special. Now, if there wasn't a holding call that took seven points off the board, It looked like the right call took away at Jalen Warren, touched on the very next play, Russell Wilson makes the wrong read and throws an interception. And so that's seven missing points. You're saying maybe it's not the right call. Who knows? It was a close.
If don't know, Washington wasn't 6-7. I feel like It's a little more... It's like when the big man is outside and maybe gets called for travel, Steph's making that dribble.
It just seemed like-They were going to win anyways, but it would have been more-It didn't matter in the play either. It was a rough one. That's true. It would have been a more competitive game. It would have been better for the Netflix people watching, like me, just we wanted a close game. But ultimately, the Chiefs had a dropback success rate in this game of almost 60%, which is unbeatable. The Steelers were much, much worse on Offense. And yeah, I mentioned the fastest time to throw. Mike Sando, the athletic, had a crazy stat. In the 31 starts where Patrick Mahomes let go the ball the fastest, so the 31 fastest times to throw in his career, they're 30 and 1. And when he holds the ball the longest, the nine games where he held the ball the longest, he's one and eight. That's Chief's team is being one and eight. I think that's a pretty good one-to-one comparison. If he's holding onto the ball, the offense isn't working as well. Let's listen a little bit to Mike Tomlin after this game because I mentioned, yeah, they gave up 90 points over the last three weeks. I'm putting them on fraud watch.
We'll get back to that after this because they lost these games 90 to 40. You can look at it from a lot of angles. The bottom line is this junior varsity is not good enough. We got to own that. But we also got to look at what it is we need to do different. We're not going to continue to do the same things and hope for a different result. I know you're the co-executeur of Fraudwatch. I mean, you get to the biggest point of the season, you play three great teams, and you get beaten soundly by all three. What's your verdict?
The Or not, because fraud watch was reserved for teams that are abject frauds.Yeah, that's fair.As we mentioned, you could change a few things about this game, and it turns out a little bit differently, where the Steelers were still able, both Najee and Shalen Warren had over five yards of carry. They just got behind. Then in those opportunities to make plays, and big plays in the passing game, they get George Pickens back to where you finally have hoped that they're able to make those big plays. They can't necessarily make those. I'm interested in what Mike Tomlin is talking about as to how they do things differently?
There's something going on based on the postgame comments. Patrick Queens saying that some things need to change, and there's something going on. There's been all these different comments from defensive players, and there's sleoping going on in the dark corners of Steeler's Twitter and some of the reporters, maybe something about responsibilities, who's doing what on the defense. There's guesswork thinking Minka is in the middle of all this, something to do with communication and roles and guys not doing their assignments. It's unfair for me to even throw out this guesswork, but they're not happy with something about how the defense is coaching or roles are happening Then on offense, Russ is bailing a little early from the pocket, had some bad throws in this game, missed Mike Williams. I think that was a big play, took a bad sack. They had some bad fumbl luck as well. But let's just give some credit to the Chiefs. My Andy Reid Coach of the Year candidacy that I talked about early in the week, it's a real thing. They're 16 and one with a lot of flaws. That's great coaching. I think he is a legitimate candidate. He's putting Xavier worthy in the backfield.
It's all going well for the Chiefs right now, and they are cruising to the one seat. The Steelers losing early. Then maybe they got their streaming set up on the plane so that they could watch the Ravens and just hope that maybe the Ravens would lose in Houston and leave the division open. Let's go to NRG Stadium. Triangle formation in the backfield. Lamar, five yards deep. He'll fake the hand up to Henry, comes to the right side, crossed the 40. Lamar to the 30, He's gone. 20, 10, 5. Touchdown.
Lamar Jackson.
A 48-yard run.
And if Beyoncé didn't wow you, Lamar Jackson just did.
Good job by Jerry Sandusky, and it's true. The Ravens and Texans game, second half just felt anticlimate after what happened with Beyoncé and what happened after that breakdown run, 48 yards. Later in the half, he becomes the all-time NFL leader in rushing yardage. What a performance by Lamar Jackson, 31 to 2. Your Ravens didn't even make you sweat. You got to kick back. Who knows? Maybe you weren't even watching by the end of the game. I wouldn't blame you. This was a complete blowout. The Texans getting their only two points on a safety.
Yeah, I was able to go do some more toy manipulation and pair there, because if eight's playing, I'm watching. And slowly, as that second half goes on, I'm like, All right, all right, Coach. We've seen enough eight and 22, by the way. But Derrick Henry actually stayed in longer than Lamar did in this game that was on offense unmarred other than Derrick Henry doing his Derrick Henry thing on the goal line, which is try to score 99 yard touch downs. And he bounced that play. Not probably, shouldn't have And then the Texans get a safety, and then they get a stop after that. And there's people on the timeline talking about momentum, and it didn't necessarily work out for them because they go on to lose the game 31 to 2. But all of these things, it was a fun It's been a great opportunity to see Lamar back on a consistent playing surface where he has only lost four games in his career indoors. It's been a while, actually, since he's had a loss indoors. But to see him on a couple of plays where Daneel Hunter was pretty much the victim on those plays.
There was a third down scramble where Hunter is running into the flat, and he has the angle on Lamar, and Lamar hits the extra special gear that he only hits every so often. Scrambles for that first down, he hits it again when Will Anderson takes Derek Henry on the option give. These past couple of weeks, Lamar is undefeated, whatever the number is, on making the pull give decision with Derek Henry. Good call. He's He's been so on cue with that that it's made these run defenses look like they're getting blasted. But really, he's just making the right call every time.
Are you talking about that it was a 25-yard scramble on the very first drive of the game where he hit that turbo button? You're so right to point that out because I was just thinking, Man, Lamar just looks like he's got that extra. Then I think about it, it's like, Oh, yeah, he's not playing in the freezing cold on some grass. There is a difference. Imagine his career if he played it towards the whole time. I mean, it looked unfair. He had what was his fastest time, according to next Gen stats, on that breakdown. He said after the game, he was jogging, and he was right. The seas opened up for him, and he could have run even faster. If he had gotten more time to run on that scramble, he would have broken that record. But on that first drive, also had a dot to Zee flowers up the seams where he's so good throwing the ball. And then you saw some really special juice from Derrick Henry, who if you can have underrated season at 1,800 rushing yards that he is now. Most years, he'd be a legit MVP candidate. When I'm watching the postgame show and Jamie Erdahl is trying to make them eat the football cake, and she's like, How does it feel to be sitting next to the MVP?
I'm sure Derrick Henry is not like me, but I thought for him in a second, I was like, Man, I'm pretty good, too. I got 1,900 yards from scrimmage. I'm leading the league in touch. I have 1,880 83 rushing yards. It's like, I could be the MVP, but he's not because of the plays that Lamar is making like that one with Daniel Hunter in his face. Let's actually listen to that. That's the countdown to Isiah likely.
So Ravens come to the line.
On second down.
Play action. Lamar rolls right, pumps once, pumps twice.
Now he steps back. Backpedaling, fires to the end zone. Touchdown. Isiah Likely. And Lamar Jackson He does it again.
Daneel Hunter was applying the pressure, and Lamar just kept backpedaling, sidestepping, salsa dancing.
That was just outrageous. It's unfair. He only threw 15 passes in this game and ran it four times, and he had nine great highlights out of those plays.
The problem for Daneel Hunter is not being able to see eyes in the back of his head there because it's Stingley on Ozeya Likely. It's going to be very difficult for him to separate. Lamar just needs time. And once Daneel makes that decision to dance with Lamar, it's over. You're not going to be able to dance with him.
Just go Adam, just try.
And you're having to defend a part of the field that you can see, and he can see everything that you can't see. And so you have to just pick his shoulder and go, but it's very difficult to do when you did that, and Lamar already stopped and cut back. It's a bind where this Texan's defense, as good as it is, these past few weeks, has just been put in a position by their offense where they have to try to make plays, and sometimes you just can't.
They remind me a lot of the Stealers. I think they're a worse version of the Steelers, and these two teams might play in the first round of the playoffs. I'd probably take Pittsburgh in that scenario. But it's hard to build around defense in the year 2024. I say it every year, and you get to the end of the season, and here, they've basically been dominated twice in a row, not as badly as their offense has been, but they're not good enough to win games against great teams. They're one of the worst nine and seven teams. I think we've seen in a little while. I actually think that may be over stadium, but to me, all season, they have felt like a sub-500 team that has gotten by on schedule and a couple of great things happening. I know the defense has been good. But C. J. Stroud, this was one of his worst games of his career. I've been trying to see the positive. I thought he played better coming out of the buy, made a lot of good plays. But this game, he took some bad sacks. If he holds the ball, it plays almost over.
At least it was in this game. He was two for 8 for 37 yards when he held the ball more than two and a half seconds. And the Ravens' defensive improvement is here to stay. They more than doubled them up in yardage. They only allowed 211 yards. Justin Tucker is hitting 50-yard bombs through the middle. Josh Johnson actually had a nice garbage time drive that got anyone out of there early. It was like a six-minute long drive. It is all happening for them. And I do wonder with this Texans team, yeah, they should rest everyone next week because they're going to have the playoffs in two weeks, but they just had a bye week. I don't know. I'm almost torn. It's like they need to... I don't know. They need to reset, but they haven't shown any ability to reset.
Well, the reset, the schedule has a factor in that. I know the loss to the Jets is egregious. This Ravens team lost to the Raiders. The losses here- That was September, though. Coming to... Yeah. But ultimately, my point, Kansas City, Baltimore, Detroit, Green Bay, Minnesota. These losses other than the anomalies, aren't necessarily coming to Our Lady of the Valley. When you have the deficiencies on offense, especially the offensive line, because we could talk about Stroud struggles, one of those struggling throws into the flat. Upon further review, Laramie Tuncil is stepping on his upper calf and bending his ankle back. He didn't really play well after that. But the pressure, I'm not sure if it's in his head. I can't go into that. But he hasn't been put in great situations relative to last year to complete those downfield passes because he's such an aggressive passer. Then when they lose Tankdell, the options become limited downfield, where it's Nico or nobody, and defenses know that, especially this Ravens defense, where Nico had some opportunities, but there just weren't enough.
Yeah, Nico had one bad drop, but CJ missed him a couple of times. He struggled with some of the out patterns. Not to psychoanalyze, I think he's an emotional player, CJ, and you see him holding his helmet after all these throws. He's a young player who I think is just going through some ups and downs and feeling it when it's not going well for him. The Texans are locked into the four seed, and so that's what I was mentioning about possibly resting people. No matter what happens, they are the four seed. The Baltimore Ravens are now in first place in the AFC North. If the Bills win on Sunday, the Bills will be locked into the two seed. If the Bills happen to lose to the Jets, and that could be up for grabs. But either way, the Ravens basically have a magic number of one here going into the final week. They need to either win their game. Who do they play? They must play the Browns. Then the Steelers have the Bengals in week 18. If the Steelers lost to the Bengals, and I'm sure they'll have them play at the same time, then Baltimore wouldn't even need to win the division.
They are one up, but things are really looking good for them. Marlon Humphrey, great game. Ardarius Washington, great game. Then I really want to just give a little bit of pop to Lamar Jackson, breaking the all-time quarterback rushing record. Let's listen to Lamar after the game.
I'm feeling real. To be honest with you, man, I just got fired all the time. Great for me because that's a record that's been going to happen for ever. For a long time, it might have been one of my favorite players.
I just wanted to hear the genuine appreciation there. I know there's a lot going on in that locker room after the game, but I don't know if not enough has been made out of this, but it's a great award. I mean, a great record to break for him to do it in his eighth season now or seventh season, Lamar Jackson is incredible. Just as a reminder of like, wow, this is an all-time great right in the middle of his prime. He could add a lot of rushing yards to that record.
Yeah, and when you looked at that, and maybe that's why it's not getting the pop because we expected it. You get the year six, year seven. Oh, Lamar is going to eventually catch and pass Michael Vick. But to Lamar, to those who've grown up watching somebody and really what it means to play this position in your own particular way. There were people who came before that. There's the Steve Youngs, the Randalls, the Mike Vicks. To see that passed on and to see Lamar have that very genuine reaction after he wasn't able to see Beyoncé at halftime. It means something to him, and I think that's cool.
I think it's amazing because Lamar is the best example of, yeah, the position has has really changed. Even the baseline of how much you need to rush as a quarterback has totally changed. But Lamar is the greatest at that particular part of quarterbacking, and he's an example of how the position has changed, and it's awesome setting that record. We could talk Beyoncé Half-Time show for another 15 minutes, but we got to get on to our preview. That was an incredible performance, though.
No, it was great. The production, the execution, perfect.
Maybe better in any halftime show I've ever seen, and that's no slight to anyIncluding Beyoncé. Yeah, that's no slight to anyone. And yes, justice for Sweet Honey Bucket and Shibuzi in a big spot. Back in a couple of minutes. Back on NFL Network. I don't know. Nfl Daily. It's a big week for NFL Network. It is. Actually, we're on the NFL channel, not NFL Network. You can watch Patrick and I on your fast channels if you're into that thing. But yes, Saturday, it's a triple header, and NFL Network lucked out here because two of the three games are among the biggest of the week, and the first one's got two of my favorite quarterbacks.
Oh, so much juice. In this game, we will go chronologically with our NFL Network triple header. Chronologically, the root word there being chronos, Greek for time. Many folks think of mythology in the being chronos and how he was once all that matters. All that matters to Greg Rosenthal is Drake May, his New England Patriots, playing host to the Chargers who are four and a half point favorites. Yes, all these games on the NFL Network, Chris Rose, Ross Tucker, and Steve Weish on the call where, Greg, we saw your Patriots give the Bills a very close scare. And the past two weeks of the Chargers, it's like, who are they? The team that sees the Bucks go all over them in the second half or the team that pulls away from the Broncos late. How do you see it going?
The most surprising part of the Chargers-Broncos game was that their defense didn't play well. I know they got some stops in the second half there, but their defense, which had been so good all year, is quietly, They're collapsing a little bit down the stretch. I've been tracking what their DVOA is all season. They were like, one, two, three. Now, they're down to 13. So you figure where they're at lately. And amazingly, the Patriots offense has been increasing efficiency. Shout out to Alex Van Pelt, as long as they're not throwing backwards passes. They've gotten the running game going since the bye week, and the chargers run defense has really struggled. So Ramondre and Antonio Gibson, again, when Ramondre is not putting the ball on the ground, have been pretty efficient. And so I'm at the point now with how consistent May is from a week-to-week basis that I actually think their offense can keep them competitive most weeks. It's the other side of the ball that I'm more worried for the Patriots, at least.
Yeah, I look over at where Derwin is playing right now, which reminds me of where Kyle Hamilton was playing at the start of the season, right around the line of scrimmage. Derwin's playing 10% of his snaps around the line of scrimmage as a slot corner, as a safety, as a linebacker this season, where he's far up. I feel like they're having to move Derwin up because they're having some deficiencies, probably in the his linebacker position and on that first level, where teams have been able to have success later on as this season goes. On offense, the quarterback in Justin Herbert is the only quarterback in the entire NFL who has not thrown an interception when not pressured. The whole season, he's got the lowest interception rate in the league. If Herbo has time and he's protected, the ball is pretty much going to go where he wants it to go. Now, the chargers receiving leaves a lot to be desired. I don't know that that is... Well, I don't feel like it's that as much of a problem against this New England Patriots team.
No, I do think Christian Gonzales is an all-Pro candidate, certainly should be on the Pro Bowl, and is in the mix with Sertan as one of the best cornerbacks in the league. But the chargers are a perfect example. Yeah, maybe he could fly around with McConkey. I don't know if he's going to go on the inside, but you can only take away one guy, and Herbert will find the open guy. We might We have J. K. Dobbins back in this game. He was practicing, which would be absolutely huge. The Chargers can clinch a playoff spot. They are not in the playoff as of yet. They have a 94% chance to make the playoff according to next-gen stats. If they If they were to lose, they would only have an 84% chance. They actually have an outside chance to climb up to the five seat and pass Pittsburgh now that Pittsburgh lost that game. I think that five spot would be nice. It would be the difference of potentially going to Houston or going to Baltimore. Those are two very different potential outcomes or even Buffalo there. It does matter for them. Ian Rappaport reported that the Patriots, they want to keep Gerard Mayo, and As long as things don't collapse down the stretch, and they had a pretty good performance last week.
I do worry as a Patriots fan about the lack of improvement. In fact, I think they've gotten worse on the defensive side of the ball. Overall, they don't communicate well. They're not great up front, and they don't seem overly well coached to come up with a good game plan. But they did last week against Buffalo, so we'll see. Fun game. If you're going to have a mismatched game, at least have two great quarterbacks and then have a broadcast crew which leads the big in knowing me the most of any broadcast crew that's ever existed. Because I spend my Sunday nights in the film room there watching the Sunday Night game with Chris Rose, and done that for years, know him really well. Start We started out with Ross Tucker in New York. We did a lot of things together at Rota World, Yes Network, back in the early blog days. Then Steve Weiss was on this show. This is my crew. I'm looking forward to it.
Yeah, this is the Greg Rosenthal crew, and you should.
And your crew, I do. Maybe you don't know Ross. No, I don't. You don't know Ross.
I got two out of the three in my phone.
To give Ross a little bit of love, and we should move on. Ross has always known his stuff, but we're always trying to get better. I think I'm better than what I used to be. Ross has become one of the best broadcasters in the game, like in-game broadcasters. He is absolutely one of my favorites. I think he's gotten better and better over the years.
Absolutely. He's Ross Tucker in a big spot. Good there as we go to our second NFL Network game. Again, a Saturday triple header on NFL Network. It is the Denver Broncos at the Cincinnati Bangle's. There was a tiny voice in the back of my head a couple of weeks ago that said, The Bangle's aren't out of this. And there is still, there is still, slight, some things to happen that you have to try in week 18 or something that dooms the whole thing. A slight chance that they make it to the playoffs. Three and a half point favorites against the Denver Broncos team who just saw those chargers pull away in the second half. The over-under is 49 and a Kevin Harland on an NFL Network, which is my dream. Trent Green and Melanie Collins on the call. This Broncos team saw everything. The doubt creeps in, at least to me, with the Broncos last week. How do they bounce back and do it against Cincinnati?
By playing the defense that they've played for most of the season, for them to get really picked apart by Herbert was quite surprising. They didn't get enough pressure. The Bengals look like they will have Orlando Brown and Amarius Mims back for this game. In the second half of that game against the Browns, they were down to one starting offensive lineman, and neither of their tackles because Mims got hurt in that game and Brown was not out there. I was thinking, they're This season is going to end against Denver because of that. But you get your tackles back against this Bronco's pass rush. It gives Joe Burrow yet another chance of seeing if he can just raise a team that doesn't really deserve to be there. And yet on offense, like, Man, Chase Brown is better than you think. He's playing really awesome. It does look like Tee Higgens is going to be back for this game. So it's a big day for Joe Burrow MVP ballot voting. He's not going to win the MVP, but you got to vote for five guys now. And Joe Burrow can and will still beyond some of those ballots as the third, the fourth, the fifth guy.
You go out there and you beat this Broncos team, and you play well, and you're going to play Pittsburgh. It's going to be one of the more impressive seasons ever for a team that has eight or nine losses. Yeah.
I think the benefit of 2024, there are years where this Joe Burrow year would have been lost and underappreciated. But more people see what he's accomplishing. Lamar Chase is going to win the Triple Crown.
If it was last year, I actually think there'd be a decent push for Burrow as a MVP candidate. Maybe he wouldn't have won it, but this year, the candidates are just much better. This is how it happens. Lamar's year last year might have been fourth on this crop. That's all I'm saying.
Yeah, and there needs to be a league-wide, maybe planet-wise discussion on MVP and what it means and how we have these discussion and what the concept of a race looks like on a season-long award and how vibes go into it. But don't let that take away from what could be a fun game with two teams. I'm interested to see because when you look at both the player location for Jamar Chase and for Patrick Sertan, it's not like either these guys are locked in to one spot. In fact, they're everywhere. We could see them going up. Then I think about Tee Higgins leaving the game. We think he's going to play here, but Raleigh Moss hasn't played since before Thanksgiving.
He's practicing, though. Sounds like he will be back for this game. So that's big. Yeah, it is big. If he's healthy.
If he's back and healthy, because it ultimately could not matter what Patrick Stant does with Jamar Chase if they can't cover Tee Higgins.
I think this line is crazy. Bangles favored by three and a half. I know Vegas has liked the Bangles generally all year, but I'm taking the Broncos straight up. The best case for the Bengals is that their defense has played better lately against some bad quarterbacks, but some of their young players, Chris Jenkins, McKinley Jackson, Jordan Battle, have made some plays lately. Nicks has two straight games under a PFF passing grade of 60, which is the first time that's happened for him since weeks one and two, so he needs to bounce back. Ultimately, I think they're a better team overall, and I think they win this game.
There is rain and wind in the forecast on Saturday. I don't know how that makes you feel about the rookie quarterback who's had the ups and downs. We know Sean Payton's not hiding.
It doesn't help Joe Burrow either. This is a high-flying passing attack, but yeah, might be an ugly one. Football in the elements.
We're real men or watching at home with their slippers on. Let's go to our final game on NFL Network. It is a game that would have been so much bigger had things worked out differently for the Arizona Cardinals in the past couple of weeks. The Cardinals across the street in Sofie the stadium against the Rams, who are favored by six and a half points after a dud of an offensive game against the Jets, the over-under 47.5. Rich, Kirt, and Jamie Erdahl on the call. Jamie is traveling the globe right now. I just saw her downstairs in the green room. I thought she was doing GMFB from home or from the hotel room. No, she was here. Wow. There's a lot peaked behind the curtain there. She's going everywhere. She's back out for this game where despite a bad offensive output last week, we're looking at a huge number for the Rams against the Cardinals, Greg. In the division, by the way.
I was surprised how the Rams are favored by six and a half. Then I did my homework. It's Christmas. I'm putting in the work to be ready for this preview show for the listeners. And the Cardinals are expected to be without both their starting tackles in this game. And Cynthia, who maybe we'll talk about this on the Man versus Machine show, I don't know if this will be one, but for her model, when you remove a tackle, it makes as big a difference as anything other than removing a quarterback. You remove both your starting tackles for what had been a strength of this Cardinal's team, and you're going up against Jared Verce in this Ram's pass rush, and you think about how the Cardinals have struggled throwing the ball anyways, and then that six and a half starts to make a little more sense. Because I think it's fair to say, Patrick, their passing game for Arizona, led by Kyler, is the most disappointing part of this team. That's what you thought would be the best part of the team, and it's just been okay to a little less than okay, and that's disappointing.
Yeah, you go back these last few weeks, Marvin Harrison hasn't had more than 59 yards since week eight. The the one game was when he had 60. It's not like the targets have gone away. I mean, a couple of weeks ago, he had 12 targets, he had eight last week. The places where you expect this passing game to be explosive, they're just not. Then you just want them to stay on schedule, convert some third downs, and they've had problems with that as well. It's hard to picture that getting better without tackles against the Rams. I think it's going to be another slugfest where the Cardinals rely on the search bar and hope that there's a bad weird, weird Stafford game like last week where he throws for 110 yards.
Well, I've got a theory about that. Is Matthew Stafford an indoor cat? Oh. Because if you look at some of the results this year, he had that game against San Francisco. They had that game against Chicago. You put Stafford there on the nice friendly environment of Sofi. Our producer, Jason Kleinman, stepping in today in the big chair here. People out sick, get better height than soon. Pointing out, they're going to have a real home crowd because this is Saturday night. It's the Cardinals who don't travel that well. It's trying to not quite clinch a playoff spot, but basically clinch a playoff spot. If they win the game, there are some other results they're counting on for strength of victory that might happen even by the end of this weekend. And yeah, I think it'll be rocking there. But I do wonder if like, Matthew Stafford, maybe he just needs a nice environment at this time. He's older. He hasn't played very well with pressure. I don't know. Maybe there's something to it.
There might be. He gets a consistent playing surface and met life traditionally. Not the most.
Well, in the week before, too. It's easy to forget, though. This was the game where Kyler went absolutely nuts the first time around. Matthew Saver did not play great in that game either, and that was indoors in Arizona. They got smoked by the Cardinals the first time around, and the teams have changed a lot. Now, I think the The main thing I think about the Rams are they're a Kyren Williams team. They are a run-heavy team. It's weird because it's McVay, but he always wants to have a great running team. I think if they can run the ball 35, 40 times, they will, and they've been pretty good at it He's definitely very good at it.
No, very good, especially down the stretch where they've needed to make those plays. Both Blake Corm, who had a big run, called back by penalty, but Kyron, especially, they've had to in these games, maybe like the one in that life, where things have been bad playing surface-wise, and our conditions haven't been great. But even in the game, indoors against the New Orleans Saints, it was that second half run game from both of these guys that really powered them towards a win.
James Connor is practicing on Thursday, and so he is expected to play, and Trey Benson is also practicing. There was some question about that. That's good news, at least, for the Cardinals. And yeah, I mentioned the playoff scenarios. How it comes down to is the Rams, if they win this game, they all but win the division, and they need four out of a potential seven other teams to win over the weekend to clinch the strength of victory. If that does not happen, they will have to wait until week 18.
Or the Chicago Bears could do the Rams solid.
That would help, but it actually wouldn't... Oh, yeah, it I would clinch it with the one you're right.
But it depends on when you're listening to us with regards to that. So the Rams get that win against the Jets. The Jets now go on the road to actually New York to take on the Buffalo Bills who are favored by eight and a half points. The over-under is 47. It's CBS team one, Jim, Tony, and Tracy on the call, where, Greg, the Bills are back at home. They survived a scare at home against the division opponent. Could Aaron Rodgers and his division opponent provide a similar type of scare this week?
They could.
Okay.
They've been playing better offensively, right?
They have. I thought I was setting you up for something different there, but no.
Could? I mean, I don't expect they will. They have turned into the offense, and I know they only scored nine points against the Rams, but they moved the ball the whole day. They didn't punt. There's that maxim. It's like, offenses now. They want to make you just go on these long drives, and eventually, they'll make a mistake, and they won't cash it. Like the Jets are to that offense. They go on the long drives, but then they don't quite finish it off because of some penalty. They won't be with Olufashinu. This week, their left tackle, which is a big loss for them. Now, I've talked myself out of it. I think the bills are going to smoke them. They know this is like what the Chiefs had on Saturday. If they can just win this game, they buy themselves, at least some of them, a nice break because they'll clinch the two seed, they won't have the one seed, and Josh Allen in his MVP campaign will likely be over because they'll likely sit some key players in week 18.
The key players being Josh Allen, James Cook, Greg Ruso, who's been great. I think maybe they're-Von Miller, who had a good game quietly against the Patriots, was one of the better games I think he's played all year. Late stage, Von still producing. But Aaron Rodgers is getting rid of the ball very quickly. That's been the case all season long. The big plays and just the head scratchers from this team have doomed them late But there's an opportunity for DJ Reid and Sauce Gardner who have been very good. The Bills rely on James Cook in this run game where the Jets have not been great against the run, but what What if they are, Greg? What if they can't be?
No.i'm doing all I can.They could be. Between them and the bears, they're two of the best 4-11 teams I've ever seen. They should not be 4-11, neither one of these teams. Those teams should be 6-9, 7-8. They're really not that bad, but they found ways to lose. The last thing I'll say on this game is just Aaron Rodgers, multiple times this week, questioned already pre-coping about the Jets cutting him, said on Pat McAfee, Well, I've never been cut by a teenager before. Those are fighting words. He said that on McAfee, and then at the podium, he doubled down about it. It's about, well, it's up to Woody, whether I'm here next year. It's like, man, he's challenging them. He either knows he's gone or he's just trying to act like, well, you didn't fire me. I'm firing myself because it seems like he's firing himself.
Or he's dodged consequences perplexingly for things that he said for years. Why would he be extra careful about his language at any point?
As always, Patrick makes a great final point. Also, Garrett Wilson has been some grumbling unhappiness with Garrett Wilson that's picking up. Just not good vibes. I take it back. Bills by 40.
Bills by a million. Greg, we'd like some points in this next game because the last time we saw it a few weeks ago, there were not a lot of points. The Tennessee Titans at the Jacksonville Jaguars were favorite by one. Shout out Jones, 39 and a half, the over-under. Spiro Didis, Adam Archaleta, and Adidi Kikabwala on the call. It's the Mason-Rudolf edition of the Titans this time around, Greg. Is that disrespect to Mason-Rudolf, the Jags are favorite here?
It is a little bit of disrespect. I'm taking the Titans. It's a big game for draft seeding. They are third and fourth in tank-athon. There are nine teams that have between two and four losses, only one that has two. So eight teams between the second and the ninth pick at three or four losses. You could fall far if you lose this game. This is probably Doug Peterson's last home game as a Jaguar's coach. Shout out to Doug Peterson. Got them competitive, got them to win a playoff game. Was a tough rebuild, and it's gone sour. And not going well for Brian Callahan. This is the worst Tennessee season. It feels like Tennessee has been bad a lot, but they haven't been this bad. This is their worst season in almost a decade, and it just keeps getting worse and worse. I think Mason Rudolf gets them a victory. Let's take a break We're going to come back on the other side for the game that is saving the Sunday Slate. Absolutely one of the best games of this NFL season because of where it comes. That's Packers, Vikings. Back in a minute. I said we were going in chronological order.
I lied. Sometimes a game is so good, you got to come out of the break with it. It's the one game at 4:25 on the East Coast, 1:25 out here on the best Coast. The whole country is going to be watching Vikings and Packers.
They should because it's time for hot matchups presented by wingstop, the Green Bay Packers, favored by one.
Oh, wow. Really?
The Minnesota Vikings who are pushing for a chance to play the Lions in the final week of the season for the overall one seed in the The entire conference, the over-under of 48.5, Kevin Burkhart, Tom braided, Aaron Andrews, and Tom Rinaldi on the call. The packers favorite here, Greg, should they be?
No, but I get it. The numbers all say the packers are one of the best teams in the NFL. They are now up to third in DVOA. That's total efficiency. That's ahead of the Bills and the Eagles. They're third. They're just behind the lines and the Ravens. That's it. Since the buy, the packers, any metric you look at offensively, they're in the top five. What's different is that they're in a number of metrics defensively in the top five and the rest in the top 10. They really have forced a lot of turnovers without making big mistakes. The schedule has been part of that. That's why I say this is a perfect game at the perfect time of season, because as good as the packers have been, and you can make a pretty good argument, they're one of the best five, six teams in the NFL. They want to win one of these games. Yes, all their losses are to 13 win teams or whatever, but it's like they want to win the Super Bowl, so it's a perfect game for them. They're going to be able to rest their starters next week, probably either way, and they'll be locked in to where they are.
And so go win a game against another playoff team, maybe move up in the seedings, maybe not, but show that you can do it before you take a week off and get ready for the playoff.
It was very difficult to pick this game. The initial thought was watching how Josh Jacobs in this packers run game in offense can really execute early, middle, late game. It doesn't matter. But then I just keep picking against the Vikings because I'm thinking, Oh, we're going to get to a moment and Sam Darnold is not going to make the play. He keeps making the play, Greg.
He keeps making the play. But the moment you jump off of that is when they do lose. Well, we shouldn't have picked them against the Seahawks. We picked the Seahawks.
That was a mistake because what happened? It was exactly what happened all season long. The Seahawks showed how good they can be. They also showed how bad they can be in key moments, and the Vikings just continue to execute. When we forget. I know Jamar is about to win the Triple Crown, but we forget what Justin can do. But Sam Sam doesn't, and he goes to him when he needs to. Sam Darnold's averaging nine adjusted yards per attempt. He's throwing past the sticks on 45%, not just some of his throws on third down, of all of his He's not being hidden. Kevin O'Neill is not working some magic. This is just Sam Darnold playing Sam Darnold football.
These are two of the best six quarterbacks in the league based on how they've played over the last two months and based on the numbers. Jordan Love is not in your MVP conversation because the first half of the season matters and he was hurt and all that. I think about this game the first time around where he was just coming off the injury, didn't look right. They started out slow and they ended up scoring a lot. I think the way to beat Brian Flores' defense, you got to to have someone back there like a Gino, frankly, that you don't need... Nate Tice has pointed this out. You don't need to do all the play action that you have a quarterback that can just win by dropping back and throwing some missiles and knowing where to go with the ball. And that is Jordan love to me. We'll see if he makes big mistakes. But the difference that as good as Aaron Jones looks, and he's running downhill, and it's a good enough running game, I think he's running very well. I don't think they're as dynamic up front on the offensive line, and I don't think the run game scheme and ultimately just overall, I think this packer's running game is a little bit better.
The Viking's defense is better overall, too. So it all evens out. They're very even, and I'm leaning packers because I feel like they got to get one of these signature wins. They can't just keep losing them. No. I don't know. That's a stupid way to pick a game.
No, I definitely don't think it is, but we saw it late. Matt Lafleur knows it. He knew it in training camp when it was very limited. We didn't see a whole lot of Josh Jacobs earlier in the season. There wasn't the success, but they knew what he could bring to this team, and that's why they treated him the way that they have this season. That's why he wasn't playing towards the end, which makes perfect sense. He makes this game and this team different.
Absolutely. It's a young group. They're up front. Their guys haven't gotten a lot of pop. Zack Tom, I think, is a guy that could be getting Pro Bowl consideration, the star of that group. Elton Jengen has been there for a long time. Then it's going up against this group that Minnesota has who's blitzing less lately because Van Ginkl is over 10 sacks now, and Grannard has been an incredible pickup, and they're getting home without having to blitz. Josh Matellus has been great. We've mentioned these names before, but last week really pointed out to me, these guys have been together now for a minute, and they're all playing at a high level, so you don't want to take them for granted. It's a great opportunity, really, for both teams, and for Tom braided in a big spot. If Minnesota loses this game, they might not have a chance to get that one seed in the final week. So it really does matter a lot for them. Tom braided is getting slagged on so much. I saw people complaining about him on Christmas, and I was like, That's not Tom braided. I guess they thought JJ Watt was Tom braided or something.
I don't even know. They're just like, I'm so... Probably it was just one tweet I shouldn't be responding to, but I saw people were like, Man, get Tom braided off my screen. I was like, No, he's definitely not on your screen.
Maybe they were watching a different channel. They saw a commercial, or maybe they were watching 80 for braided.
Underrated movie. No, I've never seen 80 for braided, but I support Sally Field and everything that she does.
In all endeavors. The fans of both Riders and the Saints who support them in all endeavors will be forced to watch. It's a very small broadcast window nationally, but around Las Vegas and Louisiana, you could see the Riders favored by one and a half at the Superdome. Over under is 38. Adam Mark Sanchez and Christina Pink watching Aiden O'Kunal against Spencer Rattler, the Saints, the first team in 2024 to be shut out last week, Greg.
Surprise, surprise. Your guy, Aiden O'Kunal, he's just a scrambling fool now.
He can't be stopped. He's got a taste for blood now.
You pointed out he had never scramble, and now he's just scrambling all the time. He was bad, though, in that game against the Jaguars, which they won anyways, but they are better with them. If I was writing and coming up with a way to get wholesale changes in New Orleans, and by that, I mean getting rid of Mickey Loomis, stopping this man from running this team like the Mafia, this is how you would do it. You would have a primetime game where you get shut out and completely embarrassed, and then back that up with a loss at home to the Raiders. That is how you have wholesale changes. If you're a Saints fan that actually want wholesale changes, I think this is exactly the spot for you to lose, and I think they will. I'm picking the Raiders again.
Yeah. The Saints fans thinking about, and again, we're in that situation where teams are pulling for losses. Teams pulling for losses for change feels different to me than pulling for losses for hopes of draft value. But also it works in both of those capacities because all those years of continued success precluded them from drafting early unless they're trading two first to go take Marcus to have-It's the wrong year, though, to go 5 and 12.
They're not going to have that high of a pick. The Raiders could fall out of the top like nine if they win this game. It's crazy. All right.
To another team that is looking at the tank-athon rankings and feeling good right now. The New York Giants playing host to the Indianapolis Colts who are favored by seven and a half. Greg, the over-runer is 40 and a half. Kenny Albert, Jonathan Vilba, and Megan Alevi on this call, Greg, where the Colts, and Anthony Richardson, and Jonathan Taylor ran all over the opposition last week. Here comes the Giants defense.
It's so funny. I remember back in week four or five when none of the spreads were over seven and a half or seven or something. There was a week like And now we've got a deeply flawed Colts team who just gave up 30 points to Mason-Rudolf and have a losing record. They're favored by seven and a half, and it doesn't feel like enough. You can't come up with enough points against this Giants team. I don't think we know who's that quarterback. Are we back to DeVito? Who knows? It doesn't matter. Imagine if Richardson had a good defense. When I was watching that game last week, that's what I was thinking about. It was the perfect Colts game. Fifty rushes runs for 335 yards on the ground. You think about those long Taylor runs, that's all true. But they had a plus 50% success rate against one of the better run teams in the league. You just think about how much differently we would think about Anthony Richardson if they had the number 6 defense in the league. Because then this whole thing would make more sense and it would work, but they don't. They do have their center Ryan Kelly back.
They have Ryman, and then Quitten Nelson was making some great blocks last week, and Kelly altogether. That's a really good side, and they were running to that side, and Kelly hasn't played all year. I think that was a big deal for them. So I think they're a better team now. Buckner has been playing great. The defense has been a little bit better in terms of making big plays. And so I do think this is probably the best version of the Colts team, we don't really know because they're just playing the worst teams in the league. They're probably going to get to nine and eight here. They're the team that's going to get in if the Broncos lose out. It's not going to be the Bengals.
You pointed out him running the ball since week 11. It's been used on 32 design runs. It's 10 more than any other quarterback in the NFL. He's also forced a mistackle on 29% of those. He's special in space. I think this run game is, and I Let's get them in the playoffs because I want to see them against teams that aren't like the Giants.
I think there's a realistic chance that it happens. Now, that would mean that the Chiefs, potentially their backups, would lose to the Bronco if the Broncos lose out. Again, I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth because I think the Broncos will win this week, but obviously, that's a coin flip type of game. I do think the Colts are much more likely than the Bangles or the Dolphins to get into the playoffs. Let's just put it that way. I do want to point out because I'm sure a lot of the listeners are busy, they're wrapping presents. They didn't go back to grind that Colts and Titans tape. I thought it was a big moment for Anthony Richardson. They had blown that lead on defense, and he had a third and eight, just a straight drop-back pass, or else they were giving the ball back to flying Mason-Rudolf at the end of the game. He had to hit an out route to Michael Pitman that needed perfect accuracy, no play action, nothing like that, and he hit it to win the game. Those are the moments, I think, as a young quarterback that you're looking for.
I'm sure Shane Steke and Anthony Richardson, when they were watching that playback, felt awesome because it's like, that's what they're talking about. They need more of that, and he did it in the biggest of spots at the end of that game. So just a quiet, nice moment for him.
Yeah, and not a lot of dropbacks in that game as well. Stat Watchers, if you want to grade his growth as a passer, Speaking of growth as a passer, we have a revenge game. Well, it depends on how you view that. The Carolina Panthers at the Tampa Bay Bucaneers who were favored by seven and a half despite falling apart on primetime against Dallas Cowboys, 48 and a half. It's Iron Eagle, Charles Davis, and Evan Washburn on this call, Greg. We've seen the ups and downs with both of these teams in the past couple of weeks, both related to the Dallas Cowboys on the downside. How does this one go?
I think the Bucks get it done. Seven and a half feels too much for the way that the Panthers are playing offense, but you do... I think of the Bucks as a good team, as a playoff team, and when you lose a game like that, and you had a couple of games on the road, you come back, you would expect them to respond and play their best at home. Shout out to Iron Eagle, though. Talk about working a lot. I mean, he was on that Netflix game, right? He was. Every Thursday night when I'm leaving work after we tape game too. Check it out on Innevill Network. I hear I and Ross Tucker. That's where I've really enjoyed his work, doing Thursday night football. I'll flip on some NBA on TNT on a Tuesday. There he is. There he is. And then If I'm on League Pass and I just want to catch some Kam Johnson action with the Nets, he's the home announcedor for the Nets, too. This is the hardest working man in show business. Have you ever heard him had a bad game? He's always bringing it. I know he's bringing it to this game.
It's one of the reasons I took this game. I'm going to be watching this on Sunday because I think it matters so much for the Bucks. If they lost this game, it basically ruins their season. They need to win these two games and hope for a Falcon's loss. I watched this game the first time around. It was very compelling. Bucks were very lucky to escape with a victory. I've enjoyed watching Bryce. Baker and Mike Evans are a lot of fun. I think this is actually the best game of the early window, and I took it.
It's very difficult because even though... Because James Connor only had 15 carries. He's well over 100 yards against this Bucs defense. I mean, this Panthers defense where there's been no change. Like a zero, Evero's run defense all season long, including this game against Bucky Irving and the Bucaneers not too long ago. He had 163 yards.
That's how they came back. They did the rare two-score. They did a comeback by running it, which you don't see too much.
Yeah, and The difficulty's there. It's tough to get any of those images out of my head. I think seven and a half, despite what Bryce and the Panthers have done, I think it feels right. I do.
They have some weaknesses, though. Tampa in terms of their defense, Livante David has been getting picked on a little bit in coverage. Part of the reason I think they have him closer to the line of scrimmage a lot of the time. Bryce is playing at a level now, though, where I just feel like that's too much, almost, to give to... I mean it. If you have an above average quarterback and that's the way he's playing, that's a lot. I remember before the season, ownership in Tampa said, What do you need to see out of this team in terms of the coaching staff? And they said, Improvement. They went nine and eight last year, and they made the playoffs. They won a game. I just think these two games are really important for bowls in the future of that coaching staff. It's a really compelling game, but two sneaky fun teams to watch all year.
A fun opportunity. How about a great father-son moment for Ryan to have him call one game on Christmas Day, and then Noah Baby Bird calls the second game? I'm thinking back to where it Noah and Nate on that first Nickelodeon broadcast and just how far both have come, Career Rise.
I was thinking of Noah on the Cincinnati Open on the Tennis channel. We lost a good one when he was coming up. It's He was having to slum it doing some master's-level tennis. I enjoyed him. Now we've lost him. I know we're far afield here, but just thinking fatherhood, son, Christmas spent apart, but they were together. The The best Christmas present I got was from my son, Walker, who's been waking up around 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning in Tokyo and texting me because he's got text on his iPad now there. He texted me, Hey, listen to your pod with Shook, it was good. That was the best present I got. He's like, Shook is funny. I was like, he is funny. Walker's dialed in.
He's dialed in. I love it. Let's go to the Miami Dolphins, who are favored by six and a half against the Cleveland Browns. 39 and a half is the number. It's on CBS, Andrew Catalan, Tiki Barber, Jason McCordy, and AJ Ross on the call. We get to see Dorian Thompson-Robinson play football again. Much to the joy of Kevin Stefansky. This continues to happen, Greg, and the Dolphins have some hope.
Well, Jameis had a shoulder injury, which I didn't know about. Little mysterious. Bayly Zappi was warming up to come into that game last week when DT CR got hurt. I didn't know. Jameis was listed as a shoulder injury, and that might be playing into the decision making there. But it's great news for the Dolphins who need a lot of help to get into the playoffs but are still alive, need the Broncos to lose out, will need the Colts to lose one of their two games, too. It's going to be tough for them to make it. I'd rather use this time. I find the Dolphins very interesting. But they finally ran well last week. That was good. I'm just going to get rid of the positive source. Jordan Brooks has been a great pickup. That just struck me. It's been great. Bradley Chubb is not going to play football this year. That's just unfortunate, coming back from his injury. They cut Shaq Mason. I mean, not Shaq Mason, Shaq Barrett on Thursday. He's been trying to return from a retirement, and they gave him his release so he could possibly sign with another team. That's interesting.
If just Shaq Barrett joins the lines, let's say, they could use a pass pressure. Chopp Robinson with a late push for defensive player of the year. It's a pretty wide open field. It's not that crazy. He's looked really good. Okay, those are all the good things. The Tyree kill stuff is weird. Have you Are you tracking this?
It's time for me to go coach?
Yeah. That was weird. He said that wasn't about anything, although he has one of those weird tweets that he has to explain every week, which is a bad sign.
He's in Miami. Teddy Bridgewater just coached his team to a state championship. We'll talk more Teddy later. I think maybe it was that.
Yeah, I don't think that was anything, but the comments he made after last week's game where he blamed his lack of production on not practicing enough on Wednesdays with Tua. It's like, these guys have practiced a lot together. Just something's odd. It was one of the worst games of Tyrie Kill's career. Last week, he is not winning in the same way that he has before. He's had a bad season. I don't think it's just the situation. He's had a bad season, and following some of the reporting around there, I just don't think there'd be a shock if this is his last couple of games as a dolphin. I'm just tracking that weirdness, whatever's going on. He'd still have trade value.
Yeah, he'd definitely have trade value. I'd wondered if he was playing through something.
He mentioned that, too. He He got in the wrist injury that he suffered before the injury, but it's just been weird.
It's been a whole weird year in Miami where there's decisions to be made, but at least to us playing in that game, we could have a battle of backup quarterbacks coming in the NFC East. The Dallas Cowboys at the Philadelphia Eagles were favored by eight and a half, with the number being 41. Joe Davis, G-Reg, and Pam Oliver on the call, Greg. But I feel like a lot of that changes if we don't know if number one is playing for the Philadelphia.
Why do you say that. I was like, That does not seem to make sense if Jalen Hertz doesn't play. Since this document was printed just hours ago, the number is down to six and a half because we don't know if Hertz is going to play. If Kenny Picket is starting, that number is too big. I think the Cowboys have been one of the best pass rush teams in the NFL, if not the best, and one of the best past defenses. You're going to make the Eagles really one-dimensional, I believe, if Kenny Picket is starting, and this could really be a competitive game. Hertz is still in the concussion protocol. As we tape this, we don't know if he's going to practice Thursday. He didn't practice Wednesday. Generally, if they're not practicing and then they're in the protocol, they don't play. Sometimes they're in the protocol, but they are practicing, and then you get cleared on Friday or Saturday. It seems to be trending towards the former, but But we don't know for sure. It's a tricky game, I think, with Kenny Picket. One, I would think that Eagles could and should win, but a tricky game nonetheless.
Yeah, against the Cowboys team that just beat a Bucs team that's in the thick of the playoff hunt. It's not like the Bucks were sleep walking in there. The Dallas defense made plays to the extent where they were making plays with Dan Quinn. Now, Zimmer's finally got the players back, I think, which is the most important part. But they're in positions now, despite not even having DeMarvian over shown, which that injury still hurts.
Or DeMarcus Lawrence or Trayvon Diggs.
Getting Duran Bland back was apparently enough.
He looked good.
Where they're able to make these plays. It's tough to get the full dynamic of Kenny Picket because the backup coming in, you've got your preferred plays. He runs those. He hits A. J. Brown on the crosser for a big first down, tries to do the same thing. Frankie Louvou picks him off. Coming back a couple of drives later where he did make plays late, and there were drops by A. J. Brown, Saquon Barkley, the most notable one, coming from Devante Smith. I don't think those guys are going to have those types of problems, but it is still scary.
It is. And yet, I wouldn't have expected you to be tuning in on Christmas Eve to Shook an Eyes recap. But Kenny Picket did get my most controversial Captain Morgan Captain of the Week for his underrated play for when he came in. I thought he played pretty well, and I don't know if he's going to always play that well, but it is the Eagles, which have the perfect situation for a quarterback. Their defense lost them that game and a couple of other mistakes on offense. They started blitzing like crazy. It was really a weird performance by the Eagles defense. I don't think it'll happen. Again, this should be a defense in Dallas, even though they're second in EPA per play against the pass since Micah's return, they're still average to bad against the run, and that's against an Eagles team, so you would think they'd be able to to mash it as long as nick Siriani doesn't get into a fight with someone. A report on Thursday. Love this. Philadelphia Enquires Jeff McClane has been at it a long time. One of the best to It reported that Zack Ertz and Siriani had to be separated by Big Dom after the game on Sunday, after Siriani made some derogatory comments to Ertz about his play in the game, and that Ertz understandably did not appreciate, and Big Dom had to get in the mix.
Then nick Siriani got on a Zoom call to apologize to Zack Ertz. Can you just make it through a week, nick, without being the main character?
From fact, Big Dom actually did the IT security on the call as well, just to make sure everybody was safe. Again, a former Eagle, where nick Siriani taking pressure off his team once again by becoming a story.
They could be the first team to make or win the Super Bowl that changed their coaches. They could win the Super Bowl, and they're just like, Actually, we're just going to make FanDio the head coach. It's just be less drama.
But if it is not Jalen Hertz, if Kenny Pickett starts this game, then Kelen Moore can get his backup quarterback revenge against Mike McCarthy and Offerey. You were holding me back. All these things where I'm having to take another job with another quarterback, and then I get another job with another very good quarterback. But you, this This is all your fault. And the Eagles push with their backup.
That's why Patrick gets the big bucks. It's the showdown. Who can coach up their backup quarterback better? Kelen Moore, revenge. I love that angle to this game because there's not much else. Philly's pretty boxed out of this top seed. They definitely want to win this game to guarantee at least the two seed and everything, but they're pretty boxed out unless the Lions and the Vikings lose this weekend. Let's take a break. We have two fun games to get That's going to be it for our preview. But yes, Sunday Night Football, it's a good one. Back on the only NFL Daily ever. To start with a recap and end with a preview. I don't know if there'll be any more. I don't think so. This was a one of one. And so is this Sunday night football game.
It is because it's a big game. Everything that had to happen to make this game important happened. The Atlanta Falcons make the decision to bench Eric Cousins put in Michael Pennix Jr, give him a game against the Woeful Giants to get ready because they knew the Dallas Cowboys were going to beat the Tampa Bay Bucaneers, and they were going to have a big Sunday night football game. Atlanta at Washington. Fevered by four points are the Commanders. 47.5 is the number. Mike Torrijco, Chris Collinsworth, and Melissa Stark on the call. Kerry Underwood in the pregame, and we get a great one, Greg, with two rookie quarterbacks who are both very, very good.
I love it. I want to speed through our recap show on Sunday night to watch as much as I can of this live. I think the number 4 is crazy. I think I'm leaning Falcons straight up. Now, if the Commanders had lost that game, which they probably should have against Philadelphia last week, this This game might even have a little extra juice because Washington would be on the precipice of falling out of the play. But what if I told you, Patrick, there's a real chance they fall out of the play as it is. It's not that complicated. The Falcons win this game. The Bucaneers win out against two teams that have nine wins combined. So the Bucaneers beat the Panthers and the Saints. And so the Bucaneers win out.
Very reasonable.
Very reasonable. Then we got the The Falcons next week against the Panthers. They take care of that game. At that point, Washington needs to beat Dallas to win and make the playoffs next week. It's a win or go home scenario if all that happens, and all of that is quite realistic. If you're a Commander's fan and you're down late in this game, you are looking at a very realistic possibility that you need to beat a pretty frisky Dallas team lately who already beat you once to make Week 18 and to make the playoff. I like that this game has so much stakes in two rookie quarterbacks. The challenge, of course, for Michael Penix is, can I possibly measure up in one of the best rookie quarterback seasons we've seen, Jaden Daniels has been awesome. It's going to be tough for Pennex.
Yeah, especially awesome late against Vic Fangio's defense that didn't have C. J. G. G. G. Johnson. That's probably a reason that you end up with Zack Bond on Jamison Crowder. But even then, if you go back and watch NFL Turning Point had a great breakdown of that throw from Jaden Daniels. Jamison Crowder has barely passed the goal line on that, and there is no part of Jamison Crowder that's visible to Jaden Daniels when he fires that ball into that window that ultimately goes to the game-winning shutdown. He's throwing with anticipation. He's making plays with his feet. But there is a Falcon's defense that has suddenly transformed after the buy that's able to get pressure on quarterbacks, Jesse Bates back in space making plays to where they can set up and just we can see the full, not full potential, because it's just two games into Michael Fennix Jr. 'S in his career, but see a little bit more about what this Falcons team could have looked like. Maybe we'll be looking back and saying, Wow, if they start Pennix earlier and they get into a better groove, they're in a better position here. But at least he has one game of leeway before they did it.
Well, They could be in the play. You win three straight here and they'll be in. They are tied at the top of the division, but they have the tiebreaker, and so it's up to them. These are two teams that I've doubted to some degree during the season. Washington without beating a lot of good teams. Atlanta never really bought them in general, and I've thought this was Tampa's division all along. And yet, because of what you say, defense after the buy, I think Raheem Morris figured some things out, like the Ravens. They're not making the big mistakes. And now you're seeing some of their players, like Ebba Ketty is playing well. Kaden Ellis has been really good on blitzes, had a really good season. Jesse Bates, obviously making plays. I think they have a real chance to win this game because I look at the two running games and I see, yeah, Jaden Daniels is so dynamic. He could go for 100 in this game scrambling. But if I'm looking at the two running games, it's not a fair fight. They have not run the ball well. Washington for a while. Brian Robinson last week, even.
They put up 36 points without running the ball to their running backs at all. Then you look at Bajon Robinson, who, to me, is just the best player in this game and is getting better and better every week. I think the running game makes more sense with Michael Penix back there and him having a little more mobility to even get out to the edge on some of those outside zone, but it's a lot of inside zone, too, and it's play action. It just makes more sense. And I just think Bajon is so good right now that I think they can go just win this this game on the backs of an epic Bajon Robinson performance.
Yeah, they can. This commander's defense since week eight, they're only allowing quarterbacks to complete 56% of their passes. Wow. It's 6.5 yards per attempt. They've sacked the quarterback 20 times in that stretch. As we talk about this Falcon's defense getting better, the commander's defense was woeful at the start of the year, but But their turnaround happened in week 5, 6, 7. They've been good, and they've gotten even better, 40% success rate in that stretch. It's just a good game. It's a good game, and I'm excited to see.
It is fun. Shaden Daniels. He was trying to be more patient last week, I thought, in the pocket. I know he had all those scramble yards, and yet he was hanging back there and waiting for guys to get open. I thought that was really good. The loser of this game is going to be very, very nervous. Super nervous. I mean, Atlanta won't be out of it, but if they lose this game and Tampa wins, then they're suddenly on the outside looking in. Washington could be, too. I know Commander's fans feel like it's different. It is different. So they probably will not lose out here. But I think this is a dangerous game. I think they're catching the Falcons at the wrong time.
It would be awful, especially for a member of the ownership team in Magic Johnson who tweeted that they had clenched after that emotional win, 10 wins. Might not get you in. We'll see how things go. And speaking of not getting in, a team that's been eliminated after losing in the Super Bowl in the closing moments, the San Francisco 49ers playing host to the Detroit Lions who were favored by three and a half on Monday Night Football, which means Joe, Troy, and Lisa on the call. They looked better in spots against Miami. Still lost, though, Greg, and the lions are the Lions.
They are. And just as importantly, it's It's MJD, Bridget Condon, and myself on the call on channel 5 on the call.We do the commercial break.You're on the call. Then we're going to come upstairs and do the podcast altogether as well.
What a coo.
That'll be fun. Little programming note there. Revenge Game. This truly is. I know they set this up as the crown jewel of the Monday night football season, and unfortunately, the 49ers are not in the mix here. But I really do think the Lions feel like they missed a major opportunity to go win the Super Bowl last year, to blow a lead like that in San Francisco. Now, they can get a little bit of revenge. I do want to see how their defense, specifically, responds against a legitimate offense. It's going to get increasingly tougher. Last week, we saw him against the bears. Frankly, even though they made a couple of big plays, that's about as good as Caleb Williams has looked all season. They gave up a lot of yards. This is going to be tougher because I know the 49ers aren't what they as it used to be. They're very short on the offensive line. They had a couple more injuries happen this week, so they're down three, four starters on the offensive line. Okay, take advantage of this 49ers offense, because if you don't, Debo looked pretty good last week, and it's still pretty back there.
We got some real legitimate players. I want to see their defense play well. That'll make me feel better about them going into the play.
Yeah, it was an opportunity for Debo, where when Patrick Taylor is having to get the majority of the carries, they just need Debo. So much more now. Perhaps in needing him, have utilized him in ways that maybe could have been done earlier on in the season, where it's Debo and George essentially in the passing game, and a big game for Brock as well because it's time. I think Brock is going to get his money from the 49ers. I don't think that there's something for Brock to prove necessarily to Kyle and also to the folks upstairs and John Lynch. But just another chance to get out on national TV against a really good team and show to everybody watching and to all those who may say he's a metric, he's a mechanic of this system and his coaching staff and the opportunity, that he's a pretty good quarterback as well, and I think he is.
I swear Divo just got faster, though, again last week. He's breaking tackles. That's the most Yack he's had in the game, and I don't know how long. He looked like old Debo. Pretty amazing. I don't think it's going to be a good matchup on the other side of the ball where the 49ers defensive line has been awful lately. Dre Greenlaw is hurt and is not expected to play again this season. Nick Bosa and that crew, I think, are playing through some injuries and just haven't been able to get pressure. So you would just assume if the weather is okay, the lines to put up more than enough points to cover that three and a half. That is tasty if I'm looking at the number there, the three and a half for the Lions. I think it's a great spot, though, if you made it this far and Brock Purdy's on your roster in fantasy for him to put up about 350 yards while trying to catch up in a 48 to 27 loss. You know what I mean?
Oh, Garbage Tom Brock?
Well, just all game, they're just going to have to throw. They're going to be trailing, and he's going to get protected better than he really should against this Lion's defense, which is not great shakes right now. Yeah, I think they could put up some crooked numbers, him and Devo and Kittle and the whole game. Why not? Even a 48 to 31 loss, something like that.
48 to What do you want? Something to look forward to, Niners fans.
It gets a little wild there. Yes, that is it for NFL Daily on this Thursday. We did it, Patrick. First ever recap/preview.
We cover all the bases because we've got a five-tool player right here.
Who's that? No. You, Greg. Play the music. We got Eric behind the lap. I'm going to praise Greg.
Greg is carrying the team on his back.
No, we're not doing a Thursday night recap this week. Just a programming note. I can't believe we are here in the second to last week of the season. Yes, when the next games are on NFL Network, Triple Head, are you know football is back?
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