The MMQB NFL PodcastConor Orr and Albert Breer discuss the Broncos benching Russell Wilson for the remainder of the season to preserve finalcial flexibility going forward and where the 9x pro bowler may end up next. We also break down what the Ravens did right in their dominant road win against the 49ers, why teams don't want to face a Rams teams in the playoffs led by a healthy Matt Stafford, if the Chiefs could bring back Eric Bieniemy next season, and the rest of the week 16 slate
Hello, and welcome to m m QB NFL podcast was back from Christmas. Brank Albert's here. Albert, You're not allowed to say that the best gift you got for Christmas was like the look in your child's eyes when they opened something. What was the best gift that you got for Christmas? I'm talking about real stuff, because that's what the holidays are all about. What did you get?
It's about the material things.
About the material things.
Yeah, like I would have said, like getting to play video games with my kids, It was pretty cool just because like that was like my memory. I don't know if this was your memory, but my memory is like just playing, like not showering or changing all day and just playing whatever video game I got until I passed out, you know. So that was my memory of my Christmases as a kid in the eighties and nineties. And as far as stuff I got, I don't know, you know, Like my parents always give me in me and Emily a check, which is always like nice because I think I can ear market for something. So maybe that was good, So thanks mom and dad. Cash is good. Yeah, they always feel like that's the best thing to do, which I actually I agree with that, like, I think that's a nice thing to do for somebody, even though like you're always nervous about getting somebody giving somebody cash because it looks like you forgot you know what I mean, Like and it's like, let's just still cash the problem. But a lot of times it's like the most appreciated gift too, you know, a thing that way.
I think, like my grandmother has I think at this point, like between kids and grandkids, I think there's like twenty kids grandkids and great bank grandkids. There's like twenty three twenty four somewhere in there, and there is a set amount of money and it's divided and either the gifts add up to that or you get a gift plus the remainder of that in cash or just cash. And so there I don't think that, you know, I like the fact that it's thought, it's something that you can depend on every year and you're just like, oh man, this is great, you know yep.
Yeah. And I always do feel like it's like if I'm I there was a point where I like tried to buy Emily clothes and I would always threw it up and it would always be like awkward because it would be like she would like I mean especially when we're first eating right like where it was like if I try to do something like that, she like felt like she had to sneak around me to return it and get something else, you know, like and then like you get to this point in your relationship where you're more logical about it, and it's like, I know she would rather just go buy something for herself, so I'll get her the gift card like or not mess with trying to Like I'm not were like we're way past the point about like, oh well I got to put all this thought in the actual piece of No, she would just rather buy it herself.
There is It's weird. It's like this weird biological thing that happens to husbands like at a certain time in their relationship where it's like it makes sense for me to pick out clothes for my wife and it does, like and it's like one year and you do it once and then it and then you never do it again.
Yeah, you save it up it, Yeah, get something else.
Yes, And it's just like at this point, it's like, how about the gift is a day of shopping for you or whatever you want to do? Like I don't want to, like, you know, pigeonhole it, but like, hey, if you want to go get new clothes, like I will watch the kids for the day, and I can.
Barely competently close shop for myself, so like, you know, like I I do not need to be like close shopping for a woman who has any sense of style.
Yes, yeah, no, same. So this was you know, we're going to get into the best of weeks and Week sixteen here, but just before we hopped onto the podcast, Russell Wilson got benched. And I do think that's important to dress off the top you had said, and we said we were going to save it for the podcast. Well, let me just back up because I do want to say that I had a very prescient take in the Power Rankings before we knew that Russell Wilson was benched. That was writing about the Broncos game, and I said, I believed that you could tell it was the end for Russell Wilson in Denver when they got the ball they got there was like a turnover right at the beginning of that game. They got the ball deep in Patriots territory right at the beginning of that game, and Russell. Wilson almost throws a pick two plays later, and then on fourth down they go for it and it's a it's a zone read, and so Russell gives the ball to the running back. If he would have taken that ball and either rolled out with the wide receiver or just ran it into the end zone, that that's it's an easy score. But he, you know, and and I think that I think that there's probably something to the fact that he doesn't want to run as much anymore, doesn't want to put his body out there as much anymore. And I think, like, I don't know if that was the moment for Sean Payton, but boy did it feel like it where it was just like, okay, like you're not You're not doing what I ask you to do. You're not doing what you do well anymore, and so what is the point of having you on this team? We're having you as an active player on this team.
And I don't think I think too many people like their initial reaction and says, well, he hasn't been that bad, and that's fair, but I mean, for what they're paying for him and what they owe him going forward, like this shouldn't be a quarterback who has to be so heavily managed, you know, like and that's the whole thing. It's like, we're not talking about the player and whether or not the player has anything left, because I think Russell Wilson, you know, has shown this year some signs of life that he does have something left. It's just we're talking about the contract, and I think it's not constructive for people to look at it this way because of the rolling guarantees in the contract. I won't bore people what that means with what that means, but it basically means like guarantees in future years, best early and so what you want to look at the way you want to look at his contract was there was a series of buyouts. The buyout after this year is thirty nine million dollars, which that's what he's guaranteed next year. The problem with keeping him on the roster for next year is that if you keep him on the roster for next year, then thirty seven million dollars will vest for twenty twenty five. So you're essentially looking at the same buyout if you hold on to him for another year. So whatever that like, you know, the medicine you have to take for getting rid of him is the same this year as it is next year. So if you're gonna do it eventually, you might as well just do it now. And I don't know if I explain that simply enough, like I'm trying to do the explain it to a five year old thing here, like because it is a complicated thing. But you know, like they had to make a decision. And the crazy thing about it, Connor, is you think about what they gave up, right, So it was two ones and two twos, I believe, right, Okay, so they wound up giving up a top five pick, right, two top ten picks. So one of those picks in the top five, one of them was in the top ten, and I believe the other two were like top forty picks.
Right, not to mention in there, Not to mention no Fin who, you know? I think in another like, I think he's a good tight end and when he gets the ball in Seattle, Pete Carroll just loves having nine tight ends. You know. I think No Fen's probably a half decent player. And I mean Drew Locke looked better in those two starts than Russell Wilson did the entire time in Denver.
And those picks became Charles Cross who's a franchise left tackle, and Devin Witherspoon, who was number one corner I mean I and on top of that, on top of that, like with all those picks gone, did you know Connor, that the Broncos are now on the hook for one hundred and twenty four million dollars for the two years they had of Russell Wilson when they got the contract, right, there was two years left on the contract at fifty one million also, so they paid a seventy three million dollar premium to get him signed long term and he didn't even get to one of the new years in the contract, like they had him under contract when they traded him for these two years and they paid a seventy three million dollar premium on those two years so they could have him signed through I believe it was seven years. So this is a herschel Walker train wreck, right, Oh.
It's it's it's bad. And I think what's frustrating about it too, is that now that the you pull the sheet off the whole thing, you know. I do think that we have sort of gone through this process where we looked at everything in black and white, and we said, Okay, everyone that was a part of the Broncos in twenty twenty two is an idiot. And now you know, But now I think in hindsight, it's like, like, how wasn't more of a finger pointed at the GM throughout this entire thing? Like, yeah, imagine if you had like, let's just say you had the Seahawks picks, so you got Devin Witherspoon, you got Charles Cross, and then I don't know you you eventually, you know, so you had Garrett Bowles and Charles Cross on two sides, and you had Pats or Tan and Devin Witherspoon on two sides of your team, and then it doesn't matter you have. You could put Joe Flacco back there and you could win nine games, like you would finish in second place in the division with that.
Or do you want to really get Broncos fans depressed?
Sure?
Or you trade up for C. J. Stroud?
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's it's just funny to me that the football is politics ultimately. And I do think, you know, I do think that there was a great job in Denver being like not it's that guy's fault. He doesn't know what he's doing. He can't coach quarterbacks. And now Sean Payton comes in with Cache and when he says, yeah, this guy sucks, I don't want to play him anymore, Everyone's like, oh, yeah, you're right. He does suck, you know, and he is bad.
And that was why I felt like when they fired when they fired Hacket last year, I felt like the big thing was they needed somebody who could stand up to Russell Wilson, right, And if you look I think that they sort of went along those lines because look at who they who. They were looking at Tamiko Ryans, who certainly could, right, Jim Harbaugh who certainly could, and Sean Payton, who did. And I think like that sort of illustrates what a crisis this was for the organization last year. And if you think about like the history of it too, and we really want to kind of dig into the weeds on it was this like settling because you felt like you had to get one because the team was for sale, and you missed out on your first.
Choice, right, I guess you know Becaus.
Wasn't your first choice. Aaron Rodgers, Yeah, you know what I mean. So you missed out because everything was sort of pointed towards Aaron Rodgers in twenty twenty two for them, and then Rogers, you know, comes to the agreement with the Packers and decides to stay there for the extra year. And how different does that look for Nathaniel Hackett and for George Payton and for the new ownership group if Aaron Rodgers is a quarterback.
When really, you know, it's funny, like you should have this team needed to be and still needs to be. This team has needed to be rebuilt for fight.
Aaron Rodgers, by the way, who blew his achilles, would have been playing on grass.
Then oh that's funny, that's a good NFL moment.
I don't know, you don't need, didn't need to throw that one in there, But if you if you're in the turf grass and you really want to dig into this one, then then yeah, Aaron Rodgers would have been playing his home games on grass.
Soul is interesting to me now because it's sort of like a Carson Wentz situation on steroids, where I'm sure that he is undoubtedly better than ninety percent of the backup quarterbacks in the NFL, but how do you make him a backup quarterback in the NFL. Like, I think that there's all kinds of problems. I think that if I have a young starter, I don't want I don't want Russell Wilson behind him. I mean, you know, And.
That's the thing is like would the logical thing be like, okay, like go to Chicago and be Caleb Williams bridge, But do you want him around Caleb Williams? You know what I mean? Like so like I just I sort of look at it that way too, like where it's like, no, like the the next step for him, Okay, so he won't fit in anywhere as a backup, Like if he's going to be a bridge starter, can you do that? You know what I mean? With everything that he brings with you, is that the right guy to be the bridge because ideally you want the guy to you want your bridge to still be able to play, so you have the flexibility of course to sit the young guy if he needs that. But on top of that, like you want him to be like the right sort of influence on your young guy too.
Right, you know it's you know what it is. It's like it's like the weirdest combination of It's like it's like Baker plus Wentz plus te Bow almost because Russell also does bring like the aura of Russell Wilson ink and so there's that there's you know, what is he giving to a locker room? And I you know, Russell is you know, I don't want to like drag his name through the weeds. I mean, he's not like a bad guy, but the charity work he does is incredible. He's a good you know, like.
He's not like we're not saying that, like and it's easy to poke fun at him and everything else. He's not a bad guy. It's just you know, like I've said, we said this with Tbove two like right, Like, there's just a lot that comes with him. And I think the correct way to look at it, Connor is if there's a if somebody brings a lot extra with him, he'd better be worth it, right Like. So there are certain guys like Cam Newton brought a lot of extra stuff with him, but Cam Newton was worth it, right and then for a time, right Like, So there are certain guys that just they bring a lot of extra stuff with them and that's not even negative stuff. A lot of times again like t Bow Cam like wasn't really negative stuff, It's just there was a lot that came with them. And so when the guy's not a top shelf player and a guy you want to build around, can he be And that goes back to the whole thing, like you want your backups to be able to like sort of blend in with the furniture, right. You don't want the backup to be the biggest personality or the biggest celebrity in the locker room because that can cause problems. And again, it's not even the player's fault in a lot of those cases, but it's sort of the reality of Russell Wilson, Like, could this be the end of his career? Connor?
I mean, he's just gonna choke Like God, he's gonna make a great Patriot. He's just gonna be the perfect But like.
We're Bill, but Bill, but and I I thought about that too, But Bill and I Bill might not be there.
Anymore, right, And what what? What do the Patriots? You know they're going to take on whatever. You know, they're gonna take on whatever personality the new head coach takes on. I would say this, I'm trying to look up and down here at where Russell Wilson could fit that would even make some degree of sense, and like, you know, like could you put him like like if you're Vegas, would you do it? If you're a team, like if you're the if you're Pittsburgh, would you do it? I don't think, you know.
I guess you have to be one of these teams that needs a quarterback but it's too good to get one in the draft, right.
You'd have to be a team that quarterback that that can't get one of the draft and that has a dominant either either you already have a dominant quarterback and Russell knows he's coming in in a support role, or you have a dominant head coach that is the complete and total, un question tone center. I mean it's Pittsburgh, Yeah, it's Pittsburgh.
Gosh, I mean Vegas, depending on who the head coach is, like a little like Jim Harbaugh Russell wils something in Vegas that'd be fun.
Yeah, And you know you bring in Greg Roman, you would assume that they can put together if Russell wants to play that kind of ball like you could play, you could put an offense together that probably makes some semblance of sense.
I mean, because I think he can still play the Giants. God, that's interesting. That's interesting because but I mean, there's on the hook for Daniel Jones for next year, so like that would really screw that whole thing up. I don't think so the Giants don't make sense. I mean, I think for that reason, the Giants wouldn't make sense. Yeah, yeah, man, it's like really hard the Saints, like if they move on from Derek Carr and then like because of the offsets, they get Russell Wilson cheap, like you know, like I gotta look at the rules, but I don't think Russell Wilson can double dip. So whoever was sign him would be able to get him at the minimum, probably just because Denver's on the hook for the rest of it.
Right, So they didn't like Derek Carr down there, they're not gonna like I know.
But I know, I know, But I don't even know that he'd be an upgrade over Derek Carr. I think Trek Carr is probably a better player.
I mean, Derek Carr. We'll get to this. I actually looked it up the other day. Over the last six weeks of the season has been a top ten quarterback. Yeah, I mean Atlanta, Oh God, poor Arthur Smith. Just get Justin Fields.
Just let's I mean Atlanta. I mean I will give Arthur Smith did resurrect Ryan tanner Hill in Tennessee. He did so, So I mean there could be a a like let's throw Russell Wilson and Justin Fields into a competition and you know like that that that like that's like sort of interesting. Like I do think like Arthur would be able to, like I like my guests would be Arthur would like level with him and be like, look like if you're going to come in here, like we're not going to do any of the extra stuff, right, Like you're coming here to play football and that's it. And like I do think like there would be a like a very And that's a team that I think is actually close to I mean, I'm sure we're going to talk about them, but I think that team's actually really close to really winning, you know, and the quarterback situation is sort of sunk them, but like they're pretty good pretty much everywhere else, you know. So that's a team that I think, you know, like at least could take a swing on something like that. If again and That's why I think this maybe like they may cut him, and they're gonna cut him in February or whatever. It'll be official in March, and then I mean, do you look at like do you do you do you look at it? Like all right, this is gonna be like a May fifteenth signing, you know what I mean? Would be something like that, something after the I'm saying, after the draft, right, yeah.
You don't get who you don't get who you want, you know, and you know at that point like maybe even you know, you see some of these guys come in at the end of training camp right where you know you can avoid the whole like drag of publicity and all that stuff and really just instill in him that like, hey, you are you are here in case something goes catastrophically wrong and we need a replacement level starter Like that's it, right, the Vikings.
Yeah, I could see see. I think O'Connell would have the personality to make that. Couldn't have the personality to make that work. But if you're them, wouldn't you rather have cousins back? I mean, you look at it unless you look at it and say, we're gonna be able to get Russell Wilson so cheap that like it's actually gonna.
Help us having back up cousins, you know, right, yeah, having backup cousins. Russell Wilson comes to the Rams offense, and that would uh yeah, no, yeah no, uh.
I think they were draft classmates. Weren't they third fourth rown in twenty twelve. I'm pretty sure, right, yeah, I think that's right. We probably know each other.
Yeah yeah, I bet Bill Belichick about Bill Belichick and the Washington Commanders with Russell Wilson as their bridge quarterback. Cheepers, I'm not. I'm never like Joe Flacco was about to go and run too the AFC Championship game. I'm never going to rule anything out anymore. Like it's just the NFL algorithm is insane. The forty nine Ers lost to the Ravens thirty three to nineteen on Christmas Night brock Party through four interceptions. The Ravens started that game with Lamar Jackson tripping over an official in the end zone and taking a safety. I thought they were cooked, and they came out and played the best game that they've played all year. I thought Lamar Jackson looked awesome and in a super Bowl preview, the Ravens absolutely dominated who we thought was the best team in the league. I don't know what did you take away from this one?
I mean, so I talked to Patrick Queen right after the game and he said something to me that I thought was fascinating. He said, we play a brand of football no one else wants to play. And I thought, like that basically encapsulates like why the Ravens should be very, very dangerous. You know, they play a different style of football. They're more physical than most teams. The other thing he said to me was like when you watch the Niners and on tape, what you see is they don't think anybody wants to tackle them for four quarters, basically meaning like over time, having to get Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel and Brandon Ayuk and George Kittle to the ground is going to wear you out and we're going to run away with it in the fourth quarter. And you know, like the fact that they're able to play this different style and what it looked like going against maybe what is the second most physical team in football and the Niners, right, you'd say that behind the Ravens. Now, Yeah, I think shows what a bitch that are going to be to deal with in January, and how it's not like quite like service academy football, you know, like where it's just there. You know the college teams. You like, a lot of teams see like big time college teams that go and play Army or Navy, and they'll like struggle because or at least for a little while, struggle because it's they have to adjust to. It's just a totally different style of football. It may not be to that degree, but based on like the Ravens and what Greg Roman built there in the run game for all of those years, and then how Todd Munkin has sort of moved that forward, and then what they are on defense and the changes that Wink Martindale made there a few years ago, and what Mike McDonald has added as the new coordinator. Yeah, I think it's just created this mix where I mean, you see it and I think you saw it on Monday Night. I think you saw it earlier in the year when they blew the Lions off the field. I think you saw it earlier in the year when they blew the Seahawks off the field. It's like, if you are not prepared to play a certain style of football, like they're going to stuff you in a locker pretty quick. And that I think was what was most impressive was they took the most physical team in football presumably going into that game, which was the Niners, and said, no, we're the most physical team. And I know that that sounds a little simplistic, but I think that's sort of what it is. It's just they're a very very difficult team to reckon with right now.
And you combine that with what has been sort of a stunning you know. I wrote this a couple of weeks ago that I just can't imagine when Lamar Jackson was like, quote unquote available when the Ravens placed the non exclusive franchise tag on him. And I understand the durability concerns, and Russell still does run about twice as often as Patrick Mahomes, so the injury risk is there, but I would say that he runs like Patrick Mahomes this year and that it's not a run because that's what I'd prefer to do. It's like a run because Okay, I don't see anything else and here's a window, and I'm gonna take it, and I'm gonna pick up a first down. But he's playing football like he did at Louisville. I mean, he's dealing the ball. And what Todd Munkin's been able to do is install a system that I think Russell has been telling all of us for years that he was capable of running, and everyone's like, no, no, no, you're better doing this and just throwing your body in front of the truck everything. Lamar, Oh my gosh, that's a clip.
It's okay, it's okay, going keep going.
Yes, and you know, instead of you know, now, instead of throwing his body in front of the cement truck. Every every week he's you know, like that that one touchdown against San Francisco. Watch him, he just he moves the defense, looks everybody off and and and and looks open his receiver. I mean he is, He's an elite NFL quarterback on the ground and with his arm, and it just blows my mind that nobody else was like, yeah, I could probably do that with that guy.
Like I think it's I think like this is where we also give credit to like Character Costa and Joe Ortiz in their personnel department too, right, because I mean, like they lost their number one skill player, probably their number one and number two skill players coming into the year, what a lot of people thought they were and what they have been for the last couple of years when healthy, which is Mark Andrews and JK. Dobbins. Right, Like, they lose those two guys, and they have so much more depth now than they have the last few years. And what Zay Flowers has become almost right away as an NFL player, What Odell Beckham has brought to the table, which isn't what he was five years ago, but is still still a guy. You got to account for Isaiah likely being able to draft him, you know, Gus Edwards, like they the depth they have at the skill positions now, Like there's actually like there's guys around Lamar like better than there have been in the past. And you know, I think it's just and and I think you look at the way that the team's put together and so much of it's so logical, you know, it's just it feels like it's a really good organization that this year in particular is firing on all cylinders, with a couple of new coordinators, with some new players in the roster, and now we're seeing like, all right, this is what Prime Lamar looks like.
I'm I'm not you know even now right like everything changes again, and I think that the forty nine ers are more than capable of adjusting if they see Baltimore again. And I wouldn't expect that the game goes exactly the way it does. But I do think that we can confirm the fact that, Okay, the Ravens kind of won the regular season title. They are the best NFL team of this regular season. I don't think it's close. They walked out of the toughest division. They are by far the best team in the most difficult division in the NFL. They beat the best teams in the NFL with regularity, and they've improved in all facets.
I also think I would say they have the three best wins of the season, just as far as like when you weigh the score, the eye test, and then the opponent, like, I think there are wins over the Niners, the Lions, and the Seahawks the three best wins in the NFL this season, the Niners obviously being able to do that on the road the way they did. For everything that happened on Monday, night, and then just the sheer dominance of like really good teams in the Lions and Seahawks. I think those might be the three best wins that any team has in the league this year.
I still like the forty nine ers as in the Super Bowl? Is that bad? I still like the forty nine ers.
I don't know. You might wind up on a bulletin board like Mike Florest. Is that right, Mike Florest? I think is.
The fact that anybody I forget there was Mike Florio does a great job of pro football talk. I think he wrote something about how the forty nine ers were gonna just pulverize the.
They weren't kick their ass. I think was the verbiage.
Something like that, and the idea that I love this ecosystem that we're in that all players are like these writers have no idea what they're talking about. But then somehow, if we have an loud enough opinion, it gets back and serves as some sort of legitimate morsel of disbelief in the team, which is hilarious to me. Like, I mean, it got to the point where Nick Saban used to make them up. He used to make fit like he would There.
Was a story about like a championship game where he had fake news favorite clips or something and.
It was and it was it was so obviously fake. It was like he wrote on the bulletin board national media Cole and Alabama too soft to win national title and like Alabama had won like forty consecutive games at that point. We were just like, who was saying that, I find me one person?
I think the whole. I think the like the crux that story, wasn't it that like Alabama got so good that there was no bulletin.
There was nothing. He literally made it up.
I mean he could like there's no way like that he could find anything at that point to like fire his team up. And he calls it rat poison, right like when people say good things about his team, but clearly he looks at it the opposite way when people say negative things about his group. And I yeah, I mean, I I just wish, like I wish people got to see shout out to our Mitchill Golditch. How I fill out my pick sheet and the amount of effort that I put into it every week because I can't say that it's a lot connor I say have all my acts at work That's probably the thing I put the least effort into.
I am at the point now in our weekly picks call him where I am. We're all just chasing Claire. And Claire has been like phenomenal, another one of our great editors. And I think she's something like thirty and twenty on upset picks like she has like uh, she's just had a phenomenal season, and I think her and Mitch are very close to being in first place together. So now what I do is I pick the complete opposite of whatever Claire and Mitch pick in a very desperate attempt to try to close grounds. So I think I have like eleven upset picks this week or.
Something like that. I hate to tell you, I just found this out. I'm actually I'm actually leaving Claire by six by six Are you really? Yeah?
Right after you said you don't even care about it, she's one eight, No, now I care, Now it matters.
I'm also twenty one and nineteen in my upset picks. Wow, only I'm the only person with a winning record in my in the upset pick I have the most mistake? Did you mistake me? From Claire?
I might have mistaken you for Claire.
I'm actually I'm actually kind of flattered I have.
I have the most upset picks, though nobody has gotten more upset picks correctly than I am than I have. But don't tell anyone nobody has gotten more wrong than I have either, So.
Oh, yeah, you do. You definitely got that's like a pretty wide margin too.
Yeah, I'm uh that's the part like if I you' rolling the dice a lot.
Huh.
Once I get fired, a.
Lot of money lines being played here.
Yeah, once I get fired and I start my gambling podcast, I'm going to be like, no one at Sports Illustrated correctly picked more upsets in the twenty twenty three season, Okay, and I'm just going to leave out the fine print there.
So just to put this in perspective for our listeners here, Connor has picked seventy upsets this year. I have picked forty, so I have picked You picked almost double the amount of upsets I picked this year.
Am I?
This is thirty forty. I'm thirty and forty in upset picks.
You're twenty six and forty four. Oh okay, I'm twenty one and nineteen, so I have almost as many upset picks correct out of forty as you have about at seventy.
Yeah, it's not uh, it's not quite with you.
The most conservaive might be the most conservative. No, no, no, John Plum has thirty eight, so John Plum is the most conservative. No oh no, Matt Erbert Verderami is the most conservative. He only has twenty nine upset picks. So I'm not the most conservative. God, but Claire does have the most upset wins. She has twenty eight. You have twenty six. I have twenty one.
Okay, so let's keep that in mind. And we're talking about quote unquote prospective bulletin board material. I don't know what I'm talking about.
If you're looking to if you're and if you're looking to play the odds this week with you know, a sharp like me, right, because I'm twenty one and nineteen my upset picks. I've got three upsets this weekend. Packers over Vikings, Falcons over Bears, Lions over cowboys.
Take it to the bank, dude, I went completely bananas this weekend because again, I'm just trying to make up so much ground. So I have I'm lone wolfing, meaning I'm the only person picking one three, so just to give seven, they're.
Bold, right like so so so Mitch goes in and he bowls the upset picks right like Connor's whole freaking or Connor's whole freaking row is bold.
The Packers over the Vikings. I have the Chargers over the Broncos, I have the Pittsburgh Steelers over the Streets.
Over the Bills. You're still hanging out, but.
Right, I mean like that, that is that is such a Sean McDermott thing to do is to lose that game to the Patriots.
The Ravens beat them Dolphins to open the door. And then and.
Then yeah, yeah, I mean I've talked myself and all of it.
And how about Miami winning to the.
Cardinals beating the the Eagles. Come on, Jonathan Gannon knows exactly what to do to Jalen.
Do you believe all these upsets or is it's just an effort to catch up?
It started as an effort to catch up. But then what I do is I very quickly intellectually rationalize all of them and then put myself and the in the UH in the intellectual high ground. So I'm saying to myself, Okay, I picked I'm the only one who picked the Cardinals over the Eagles. However, the Eagles are in kind of a tailspin, and Jonathan Gannon knows how to stop Jalen Hurts better than anyone else. He could probably do something weird defensively, and then all of a sudden, Kyler Murray is a good game. You know, it's not impossible, like none of these are impossible. Also, the Browns, you know, if Quinnin Williams gets loose in this game and just like breathes on Joe Flacco, he could break two of his ribs.
I'm just saying to realize you picked the Cardinals. I'm just saying, but I mean, that just feels like you're trolling everybody. By the way, we don't pet against it. We don't pick against the spread, but we do it's.
So also for our listeners. We do have a separate with our gambling vertical. We have an expert roundtable where every week we a couple of us do picks against the spread. I am two and twelve this year, two and twelve. That's not even like, I mean, that's horrifying. If I were to actually spend money on gambling and football. My family wouldn't have a house. That's how bad I am at that nobody should listen to me. Bad takes so Anyway, the fact that I'm saying that the Ravens I think would lose a second game to the forty nine ers probably great news for the Ravens, your eventual Super Bowl champions. Let's move on because we've got a lot to cover here, and some of these we can just kind of go through pretty quickly. But we're talking about most consequential games of the weekend. You know, the Rams and the Saints started us off with Rams one thirty to twenty two. They're now eight and seven. Them and the Seahawks, who barely squeaked by the Titans. We have this fun little NFC West kind of battle between these two teams to try to back into the playoffs. I know you like the Seahawks to start the season. I think you had them winning the division if I'm not mistaken.
I didn't have, but I had the surprise like the dark Hors Super Bowl, like could they make it?
Yeah? Yeah, But I'm I am ready to pose to you that I think that we should retire our interest in the Seahawks, and we should go all in on the Rams. This is a more fun team to watch. They have a better quarterback, and I think they're the Rams are totally capable of completely screwing up the playoffs and knocking off like a number one seed.
Yeah, I mean, I think the Rams are the Rams are gonna be a problem because I think you look at like a their coaching staff and like how well put together it is, and like all the experience those guys have, and you know, then I think you look at how this is like a team coming into the year that was carrying seventy five million dollars in dead money, and I think at one point they had like nineteen rookies on their fifty three man roster, so it's like they've already fought through all of that and now it looks like they're ascending. And you know, you look at like the young guys on their on their defensive front, like Byron Young. You look at the you know obviously like in the skill position group like Poka Nakua, and you know, Kyra Williams isn't a rookie anymore, but effectively this is his first full year as an NFL player. It just like looks like in a lot of different areas, the Rams are going to continue getting better, and they already have a guy in Matthew Stafford who I think is playing great football again, who looks like he's having fun again, who looks healthy again, and is at as healthy as as he's been as a Ram, including the Super Bowl year, And god, you put all this together, and I don't anybody wants to see them in the playoffs, including the Niners, Like I think I think they're going to be a bad draw for someone in the first round, and obviously because they're not going to win the division because the Niners already clinched that they're going to be going on the road in the first round. But you know, if you're if you're the Lions, do you want to see Matthew Stafford coming into that building on the second weekend in January, I would say.
No, what and then?
Because but that, by the way, is what it looks like it's going to be, right.
Yeah, yeah, of the what we're you know, I'll lump the Seahawks and the Rams together. My takeaway from the Rams is that I'm just amazed at this point that you know, and I don't know what it is, but you know, someone like Karen Williams, it's really hard to be a running back in that offense because you're not just an outside zone team, you're not just a mid zone team. You're not just a gap scheme team. You're basically, and this is true of a lot of NFL teams, but the Rams are running like a graduate level running offense that basically heals the most out of like five or six really good successful schemes and they're just gashing people with it. But you have to be really smart, you have to be really versatile. And here they pick a guy out of the fifth round that's able to do this, and I feel like that's what they've been doing, not only at the running back position, but you know, middle linebacker, at the cornerback. You know, all these spots they're adequately filling valuable roster space. You know, Pukin Aqia second wide receiver with mid level, mid round talent, and it's just it's super impressive. I mean, it's just it's really cool.
I think it's interesting because it's sort of similar to what the Niners have done. Yeah, like and not saying like these guys are going to become Fred Warner, Deebo Samuel or George Kittle. But I think it's sort of a result of like a coaching staff knowing exactly what it's looking for and giving the personnel department the tools. And this is what the Patriots were when they were firing on all cylinders, right, Like when you have a head coach who knows exactly what he wants in every position and it's so well defined, it allows you to go out and like look through a narrower lens that like, okay, like this is exactly what we're looking for. And for the Niners it was Fred Warner, right like who is I believe like a safety linebacker hybrid at BYU and they're looking at him and they're saying, okay, like this guy really fits what we want. George Kittle like needed some work as a blocker coming out, but like showed like, okay, he can be a very real pass catcher coming out of Iowa. Deebo Samuel like the type of guy that you can move around and play in different positions and is really good after the catch. I just think, you know, like you look at the rams and the way they're able to identify guys like Ernest Jones, guys like Byron Young, guys like Kyron Williams, guys like Poka Nikua who maybe had more value to them than any other team. And that doesn't mean you think you're going to be the guy's gonna be a superstar when you're taking him in the fourth or fifth round, but you have like a vision for him already when he's coming in. And that, by the way, is also the power of continuity, isn't it right? Yeah, Like, if you're drafting into one system under one coach for an extended period of time, well that gives you a huge advantage because that means you're not dealing with guys who are drafted by two or three different people, where you're trying to fit every guy into, you know, into maybe a role that he wasn't drafted for in the first place. So I think it's really impressive the way that the Rams have sort of flipped their roster over the last two years. And you know, and now they've got again like they're gonna go in next year and this is I know they're putting this is moving two steps ahead, but I think they're gonna have forty or fifty million dollars in cap space, and they're gonna have their first round pick for the first time in nine years or eight years or whatever it's gonna be. They're set up to be like the aggressor again this offseason, which is really really interesting.
Any any thoughts on the any thoughts on the Seahawks game. I mean, I just think if they if they can't run the ball effectively with Gino, they just take away that demand to the point where it doesn't make sense. I mean, their offense is very Rams inspired, and I think if you you know, if you're Kenneth Walker and you're gaining three point four yards carry, it just stops a lot of the stuff that you can do dead and it's tracks. And I mean Jackson Smith and Jigba, as good as he is, is a lot like Cooper Cup in my mind that he is at his best when the run game is working well because he's so intricately tied in with the way everything works there. And so you know, if you know, credit to the Titans, they're a tough team to play in that regard. But you know, I'm just I'm just a little bummed. I mean, I thought I wanted like a big Seattle season, and I don't think I'm getting that, And the QB injury is hurt, you know, but it's at the same time, it's like I don't know I wanted. I wanted more.
I still think but but now you still think that they're headed in the right direction, Like you look at the players they have, and it just I don't know, like it feels to me like there's still like a team that's like going the right way, you know, like a lot of their best players are really young.
And yeah, we can argue about Gino. I think Gino's are pretty competent, you know, pretty competent veteran quarterback good Bridge, like I sort of view him like as what like Alex Smith was in Kansas City, you know, like it's like he's gonna he's gonna get you to the next guy eventually. And I really I still really like their young talent, like they keep hitting on draft picks, you know, and between like Walker and Charbonnet at running back and Metcalf is still pretty young, and and Smith and jigbut receiver and Cross and Lucas at tackle, and you know, on defense with Witherspoon and you know, all the boy of Mafe, like all the young guys that they have on that side of the ball. It's just it feels to me like it's still a team that's going in the right direction, but it's been bumpier this year than we expected it to be.
The Steelers beat the Bengals thirty four to eleven on Saturday, and I love the the narrative that, like, Okay, Mike Tomlin, why didn't you just go with Mason Rudolph all along? Mason Rudolph. George Pickens scored like an eighty four yard touchdown, which accounted for like a third of his total passing yards. And it was on a quick slant and the entire Bengals defense was just totally out of position and there was nobody there, like two guys bumped into each other. Like it's just it's how that happens. Sometimes. You can't tell me that Kenny Pickett or Mitch Trubisky couldn't have made that throw, right, Like they've run a lot of quick slants to George Pickens. It just so happens that this one everybody you know tripped and fell. I don't know what the future is for Mason Rudolph. But I will say my observations here were that I was more impressed with Pittsburgh's second drive when they went up fourteen to nothing, because that was just an efficient offensive performance. It mixed in a lot of different players. It forced Mason Rudolph to play small ball. He didn't get any you know, didn't get the big play. And then you score again on a really good defense, and you have Najie Harris kind of like bowling his way into the end zone towards the end zone at the end of that drive. So that to me is more of a complete stealer victory. I don't know what's gonna happen in this division at this point. To me, it looks like the Jake Browning thing is kind of flamed out, and if you don't get an A plus performance from your defense, it's not gonna matter. But long term, the quarterback position situation in Pittsburgh, it's just like whatever, Yeah, you're.
Just looking at it like you're looking at it like yeah, I mean, the long term view of the whole thing is like, you know, on one side, you got Jake Browning flaming out, but like they're gonna have Joe Burrow back.
It doesn't matter.
So it's not like that like edge that they have on Saturday is in any way sustainable. I sort of look at the Mason Rudolph thing and I just say to myself, like, what a great luxury to have a backup, have a third string quarterback who's been there for six years, you know what I mean, Like that you can just and I think it's like a good probably, like I think the best way to look at a good piece of team building that it was like worth bringing Mason Rudolph back, so you know, like you can at least get level at the quarterback position, which I think is all they really needed because mister Bisky was so bad, you know, at the end, it was like, let's just get a guy in there who can bring us to level ground. And I think that's like what Mason Rudolph was able to do, which allows you to get more out of George Pickens, which allows you to play a game that's going to be more conducive to what you're trying to do on defense. The other narrative that was great was like, oh see, like George Pickens has just shoved it in all of your faces. As if it was okay for him to like quit on a run play and jump over the pile.
Right know, Yeah, Like we can do dumb things and then great things, and those can both be part of the picture. One does not excuse or erase or negate the other, you know. But that's how we live in a week to week NFL world, especially with idiot people and social media being allowed to have accounts. The Pills beat the Chargers twenty four to twenty two. I'm gonna be honest, like every victory is every victory in the NFL is well earned and you should just count it as that. But after the Chargers got sixty two hung on them by Vegas and then fired their coach, I thought this team would be deader than dead. And I'm a little surprised that Buffalo looked kind of mediocre in this game. And they were another team too that benefited from a huge play. I mean that gave Davis touchdown was massive. Without that, do they fly across the country and get beaten by the Chargers, I don't know.
Yeah, you get a little like the dead cap balance, I guess with the Chargers, which I'll give I think I've used that term before give Tom Curran credit for that term. It's pretty descriptive, and I think it kind of can describe the interim coach thing sometimes.
But that would in particular, like a lot of other teams go to like the Firebrand, Like you're the Browns and you fire Hugh Jackcient and you just like Greg Williams, like the craziest person on earth be the interim head coach the Chargers fire Brand and Staley, and then is the interim head coaches named JIFFI giff.
Like It's like it's like it's like a It's like a gift with an extra F. Right.
Yeah, it's like the web file with an additional F. Yeah, like you didn't throw in Kellen Moore, you didn't throw in Like who do they have the defensive coordinator?
Yeah? Is right?
And then they have all Right, this is bad Mike Francesca Like in uh in show googling, but I'm trying to also talk while googling.
Charging four years, I'm.
Taking every uh, Jeff Smith, there was a there was like a notable former player on.
This, Derek Ansley, the defensive coordinator.
Yeah, I mean you know why not? Uh, by the way, do you know who's on that staff. You know, it's an offensive assistant on the Chargers.
Who Pat White, that West Virginia Pat Waite, Yeah, very cool, Nussmeyer and that staff too. He would be potentially a candidate. I mean, I think that the reason they didn't go with like Callen Moore there is because they want to start over and they didn't want to make like like I felt the same way about Chris Taber getting the job in Carolina, right like, instead of going with Jiro Everro there is like when ownership wants to start over, the last thing they need is for some young hot shot coach to come in and just crush it right and make it so much harder for them to move on, you know, right like, And I think like last year the Panthers went through that, like with Steve Wilkes, like like legitimately, like there was a good argument to keep him on as the head coach after the year, which made it harder for Carolina to move away from it. So I think they went the other way this year. So instead of promoting Giau Everro, they just say, like, let's give it to Chris Taber so we can hit the race at button hard in the off season, and I sort of feel like this is the same thing with the Chargers, where it's like they use that word reimagining. I think they're going to be reimagining things this offseason, and they didn't want like Kellen Moore getting hot at the end of the year to get in the way of that.
What would you be more scared of? Would you be more scared if you were Josh McDaniels of losing to Jeff's Saturday in his first game like six days after he left television to PreTect to do the like Tom Hanks and Big and pretend he was an NFL football coach. Or would you be more scared of losing to a man named Giff?
I mean, I guess, like I guess you got like the whole thing, like under the cover of night, like people maybe maybe certain people wouldn't notice that you lost the guy named Giff. Where it's like if you lost to Jeff Saturday, it's headlines everywhere.
Everybody noticed that. Yeah, I think I would just I'd be like looking across the field and I'd like giver uh. The Jets run hard knocks and there was the when they played the Giants in the preseason and it was the first time that Victor Cruz had walked on the field, and there was a clip of then Jets defensive coordinator Mike Petton watching Victor Cruz walk onto the field and saying, who the hell is that? Are they playing an option quarterback? No idea who Victor Cruz was, and not that he should. I mean there is a preseason game, doesn't matter, but like that would be like I would be like coaching and be like, all right, we got the Chargers this week, we got the Chargers this week, and then like Friday afternoon, I'd be like, who the hell is coaching the Chargers and like can someone get me that information? And then what do we know? And then I would have done the same thing on him, Like case his name pronounced giff jiff. I can't lose to it.
I'm looking at his history now. He was brought to the NFL. It looks like by Chan Gaily when Chan Gailly went from Georgia Tech to the Bills in twenty ten.
Mableton, Georgia.
Yep, I think we're probably on the same Wikipedia page. Fifty five years old, Georgia Southern Graduate, and you know, like I do think to somebody's like, I think if you lost to Jeff Saturday, it's not like he would be happy for Jeff Saturday, right, maybe as like a guy who's in the industry.
True, you'd be like, this is nice for Gift Smith.
Right, like like the the career assistant, Like he's got like a nice thing that he'll be able to remember forever.
Yeah, the wall, Yeah you would.
You wouldn't. You wouldn't think of that with like Jeff Saturday at all. For sure, he'd be like, I can't believe I lost this guy who's never coached before.
You know, the Falcons turn it on twenty nine ten over the Colts. Taylor Honekey looked really good and all the Colts players and Shane Steichen were saying after the game, you know, I watched some of the post game stuff too. Is that you know?
And you can see it.
Taylor Heineke did a really nice job of moving in the backfield to create space for wide receivers. And I don't know why Desmond Ritter couldn't do the same thing, and maybe that comes with the experience, but Heinikey is just like, you know, it's a Ryan Fitzpatrick light thing where you're gonna have games like you did now where he was in control, and then two weeks later he's gonna throw four picks. I think it's a little too late. I think the Falcons are now they have to win out and they need a lot of help. They're down to like I think that New York Times has it at like sixteen or seventeen percent chance of making the playoffs. But it's a bummer because you see what it can be. You know, Kyle Pitts catches a long touchdown, you know, like this team looks good.
Looked really good.
Jean looked good.
Yeah. So I think that's one of my two thoughts. Like one of my thoughts here would be Yes, the Falcons team is ready to win, like the Falcon, That Falcons team is ready to win. I had them as a dark horse going into the year, and I think to some degree, you know, making this like a developmental year for Desmond or really stung them right like and and like undermined where this team maybe could have been at this point in the year. My second thought is, like, is could Taylor like could.
The rest of no, No, I know you're gonna say no, no.
I'm not gonna say, I'm gonna here's what I think like and I love like, I love Taylor. He's like he's a great guy and like he here's what I think though, like and it's not that he can be somebody's starter. When you have like a young quarterback in like year three, is he the guy who you bring in where he's going to be able to like, having him on the roster is going to tell you whether or not the guy, the young guy you have as a guy he should go forward with, right in other words, like he's the barometer, Like he's like your quarterback and barometer where you bring him in. And if you're like, oh my god, we should go to Taylor heine Keep, well then you've made your decision on your young guy, you know what I mean, Like, because I do think like Taylor is at that level where he is significantly better than a failing young quarterback. So having him on your roster well essentially tell you if your young quarterback is not good enough, you know what I mean.
Taylor Heineke's the guy you bring in. I think to.
You didn't like my you didn't like my Mike. He's like the quarterback Brahma, I like you didn't.
Like, no, no, no, I What I thought you were gonna say is could you talk yourself into bringing him back and having him be the quarterback for next year? And I was like, no, absolutely not. You cannot cannot do that. Taylor Heineck is the guy you bring in to let to let everybody know that they're on notice, right, Like Taylor Heinike is what's like the real.
World because because Taylor. The thing about Taylor is too he's gonna like win the locker room.
Like he said, yeah, Like he's gonna bang around, He's gonna just like throw crazy touchdowns. You know, he's he's gonna do. It's almost like it's like when the board brings in a consultant and then the CEO is like, oh no, I'm in trouble. Like if you're the quarterback in retrospect, in retrospect, who's that the worst thing possible to put behind Carson Wentz last year? When you look back, probably yeah, like a.
Guy who struggles to relate with his teammates, who's never won the locker room in all those years in the NFL, and you bring in Taylor, it's the worst thing you possibly do.
Yeah, sorry, Charlie. The Colts, meanwhile, I think are still hanging The Colts are still hanging on to that last playoff spot. But I really do think, I mean, there are some surging teams behind them and at like at this point, so the Colts are holding onto the seven seat. But then you have the Texans, you have the Bengals, you have the Steelers, you have the Raiders, who Raiders still in it, could could win out, I mean, you know.
And then Jared Stidham in the Broncos.
Oh, I didn't even think about that.
They're right there, yep.
So I I think the Colts had a wonderful season. I think we should recognize how good that is. I do think they're running a gas a little bit. They could not protect Gardner Minshew and they couldn't get after Taylor Ronicky and that's a bad combination late in the season.
But on balance, like great first year for Shad. I still nomenal first year, and it does look like they're going places now.
I wrote that he could be a Coach of the Year. I still believe that. I still think he should be. In the conversation, Lions beat.
The Vikings, running away with that one, I think, but.
Joe Flacco's running away with that. Lions thirty Vikings twenty four. I'll just say this. I mean, great for the Lions, the first time they've won a division title since nineteen ninety three. I think this is a I think this is a push. You know, when when the Dan Campbell Higher was made, were a lot of people, you know, and the coaching industry is of particular interest to me, and I cover it kind of in particular over above everything else in the NFL, and just because I think it's fascinating. But the Dan Campbell higher was not popular in the coaching world. I thought a lot of people thought he was just sort of this motor mouth that would come up and say a bunch of ridiculous stuff and didn't have the ability to put a staff together. The Lions were patient, they saw it, and I would argue that the Dan Campbell thing was almost the precursor to a lot of these trends that we're seeing now, like the Demico Ryans thing where you need a former player who's in alpha to be in charge of that locker room A and B. You know, in a way, was sort of the the precursor to the whole Dion craze, right, Like, you need someone who's out there, you need someone who's going to take the heat. You need someone who's going to put it on them and so and Dan Campbell was that guy to Pierce. I think he's going to get that job.
I mean, I think it's like honestly, so, I think it's like this generational thing that a lot of us is a blind spot for a lot of us that are that are older right in that, Like, I this is gonna sound stupid. I We'll go back to the third grade football team that myself was on this year. I like one thing I noticed like coaching, is how we had a great group of kids. They were awesome, But it's so hard to get this generation for them all to pay attention to anything at once. Whereas like when we were kids, you'd be scared not to listen to your coach, right, like when you were a third grade, fourth grade like legitimately afraid not to listen to your coach because of what might happen after. Yeah, it's just different now. And so like I when I watched that d I watched one of the d On videos. I saw it was he was in a practice, and I don't know why it stuck out to me, but it stuck out to me how every guy, every kid on that field, their eyes were locked in on him right, like they were just they were all like just hanging on every word. And I just thought about how hard that is to get with this generation, right, with this generation of kids that comes up differently that you know, just they need to know why they aren't automatically going to follow you, right, And so I kind of like look at it, like, okay, like when Mike Vrabel stands in the front of a meeting room, right, all those guys are paying attention. Right, When Dan Campbell stands in front of the meeting room, all those guys are paying attention. When Demiico Ryan stands in front of the meeting room, all those guys are paying attention. And like, eventually you do have to show that you can really do the job right, Like that's part of it. Like, so eventually you have to show that you're going to give the guys in the locker room the tools to be successful or you become, you know, a glorified cheerleader. But the advantage that you have, like how you're playing from ahead when you have that to begin with Connor like, right, because we all look at scheme and like who's got the best offense and who gets the most But like at the beginning of it, you have to have that. You have to have investment, and those guys can get it right away. Yeah. And so if those guys are good coaches beyond on that, like they walk in and from day one they have that investment, right, you're playing with house money. And like we can laugh about what Dan Campbell said in his opening press conference, all we want you know what he you know what he had, He had his locker room from the start, yep. And so when you start to teach them things and you're putting in systems and you're doing all of this different stuff, it's yes, sir, no, sir, Like they're listening to you. Yeah, right, Like you don't have to get the buy in, so that makes the job less complicated. And I think, like, so I think it's like a big advantage that a lot of these guys have. And then if they sure they can coach, like, well now you're rolling right and you know, so like that's why I think it's I think you see with Antonio Peers. You know, like I it's just if you've got the respect of the locker room and they're going to follow what you say, well, then okay, like now you've already cleared the first hurdle. If you have great answers and you have great stuff you're teaching and you can't get them to listen, well, and all that other stuff's worthless, you know what I mean, It's just worthless. And I remember having a conversation with Mike McDaniel about this like a few years ago, and it's just something that kind of has taken on different context when I think about all of this stuff. But it's a conversation I was having with him, I don't know, three four, five years ago, and like it was a very real comment that like I need to be the smartest guy in the room to have a chance, right, you know, right, And he knew it, and he's so self aware. That's why that works, right, because he knows he has to clear a hurdle that Demiko Ryans and Dan Campbell and Mike Rable have already cleared when they take the job.
Yeah. My only other thought on this game was that if you played me the last Vikings drive of the first half and the first Vikings drive of the second half, I would have said, this is the best team in the NFL. And Nick Mullens is an absolute firebrand. But Nick Mullens, I don't know if anyone remembers this him Nick Mullens. There was like a Monday night football game like four years ago when he was on the forty nine ers and he through like four touchdowns and during the postgame show, they had Brett Farv call in because Nick Mollens was like on the TV set after the game and Nick Mallens went to Southern miss and so they had Brett Farv call the the NFL network set to congratulate him, and he was like crying, and I was like, this is a great moment. And then we never heard from Nick Mollens again. And now he's back, which is great. I think he's great. Pay no attention to the four interceptions. He's going to lead the Vikings to the playoffs. Just watch. I like Nick Mollens.
They're right there too, They're right there.
They're right there. And forgive me, by the way, I'm battling through a vicious Christmas head cold because apparently no one tells anyone they're sick anymore. We did that for a little while during the pandemic, and now when you gather with family, it's just like surprise, you're gonna go home in the world.
So it's worse than before. It's worse than before because you're afraid that if you tell somebody you have the sniffles, the room will clear out. So like now you're going the extra mile to hide it. Sometimes probably right.
I know, it's gosh. Now it's like all you just load up on makeup and addvilt colden sinus and you try to get through it. Dolphins twenty two, Cowboys twenty My observation here was that I really wanted to see the Dolphins win a game like this, and not just a game like this meeting a team with a winning record, but in the rain, Tyreek Hill not necessarily a major factor. You had to rely on physicality, and two had to manage some mucky situations. And I'm not saying he was phenomenal, but he got out of there with a victory. And the defense, I mean, this was a very physical game. I mean some of the hardest hits I've seen in a game all season and the Dolphins were like, Okay, we can win this way now. And I do think that's a big confidence builder for them.
That third and two at the end of the game too, like shaid everything, Like I think I think that third and two that was like not to get too technical technical, but that was a gap run. It was your third string running back running behind a palling guard, you know what I mean. Like that is like about as downhill as it gets. And like, I think the confidence Mike McDaniel had to go to Jeff Wilson in those you know, at the end of the game and being able to put that thing away I think speaks It speaks loudly about like how far they've come. And I know all those guys had talked about how they collapsed in December last year, and like being in position now where you can play competent defense and you are physical enough to grind out those yards, Like there are a more versatile group than they were last year. Like last year, they were explosive, they were fun, they were all those different things. Like I think, like what we saw in that Cowboy game was like this is a team that can win in different ways now, doesn't need to just you know, throw for three fifty and have Tyree go for two hundred yards. Like they're multi dimensional. And I think that that's really really important because when you get to the playoffs, like you have to win games different ways, Like there might be one game where you're winning at ten to six, there might be another game where you're winning at thirty one to twenty eight, based on the elements, based on the opponent, based on whatever it is. And like the Dolphins look way more equipped now to win different types of games where I think, like last year, if you took them out, took them out of their element a little bit, and like forced them to play left handed, they'd be in real trouble.
Literally forced them to play left handed right.
Well, yeah, I guess. I guess in their case, it will be forced them to play right handed. Right.
The Cowboys are kind of like they're now wearing the Dolphins hat, where it's like, Okay, your one signature win this year was kind of Philly, you know, and now how does that look? You know what I mean? And do you get into this situation where you're kind of being pushed around And I know them way ahead of myself, but you know, we're talking about head coaches and all that kind of stuff. And you know what, if you know, you and I had both kind of written a little bit about Seattle Pete Carroll retires, dan Quinn could go there. It's a nice story. You know. If Seattle decides they don't want to go with an offensive play colle which they might because you got Sean McVay and you have, you know, Kyle Shanahan in your division, you might need to score fifty points a game and you might want to go in a different direction. But let's say Seattle shows some degree of interest in dan Quinn. If you're Jerry Jones and you're stumbling down the stretch again, you get smoked in the playoffs by one of these teams in the NFC, do you all of a sudden say, uh oh, like you know, I either got to hold on to dan Quinn, I gotta fire everybody, I gotta start over. Like Dallas to me is one of those where I got my finger on the button there. I'm like something, something's gonna happen.
Yeah, So Dallas is interesting just because I think you know the age of the owner, the makeup at the roster, like you know is now the time and does Jerry view it as like I'm gonna lose Dan Quinn if if I don't make a move now that game, like I believe, is that is that Sunday night, Monday night, No Saturday night, right, Oh, Cowboys line Saturday night. They're taking another Saturday away from us.
Yeah, Connor's got to stop this, you know.
Yeah, yeah I will. I will, And later in the show maybe I can defend myself on my Christmas take Saturday Night. I know you agree with it. Yeah, So I mean I think like if now you've lost three straight, you know, that Commander's game to me is irrelevant. Like if you win that Commander's game, congrats, But if you lose three straight and then go out in the first round of the playoffs, where does that leave you?
I mean, it's just different, right, And I.
Never would have thought that because I thought Mike McCarthy was doing a great job this year. But this, this Lions game, almost even though like we know the Cowboys are in the playoffs and everything else, like this feels like almost like I don't want to say, like a a must win for that coaching staff, but a very important one for the coaching staff.
Yeah, I agree, you know, and I don't even know if the answer is keeping dan Quin at that point, you know what I mean, like you might and it's they've put themselves in Belichick. Yeah, I would love.
It if the Cowboys make a change. I would not roll that out. Really, I would not roll that out. Yeah, I hope, and I don't think that I look right now, I'd say, like Mike, Mike deserves the benefit of the doubt and the respect for what he's done there and all that, you know, But if they're going to make a change, I would not rule out Jerry taking a swinging Bill.
Jets commanders, Jets went by the way.
Just just just just take note of what just I mean, like if you want to look at like take note of like the things that Bill said about the Jones family earlier in the year too, like he was he threw them a few bouquets. So ah, yeah, yeah, you have to.
If he says more than two words at a press conference, you always kind of perk up a little bit. And it's not and it's not about special teams, then you know, you know you got something there.
It's usually not for no reason. Jets sometimes sometimes the reason is to wear the media out, but not in this case.
The Jets be the Commanders thirty to twenty eight late rally by the Commanders who are now going with Jacoby Brissette for some reason like that. That makes sense if you're Ron Rivera. But really the nugget out of here is that Brian Costello, who's awesome from the New York Post, broke that Robert sal is coming back for next year. You and I both wrote about it. I think we have a similar take here in that you know, everybody's just like yeah, because Aaron Rodgers, I don't think so. I think Robert Sahl earned that fourth year because he cleaned up an absolute trash pile in that organization. And if you go back and you put another head coach in this situation and you have the quarterback going down, you have the Zach Wilson thing, you have all these weird leaks in the building who have been there forever and will always be there, and it's just like this weird hailstorm of nonsense. I don't think another coach walks out of there on his own two feet. And I think that Robert Sala has calmed that place down. He's gotten it to a spot where people actually want to play there. I think Aaron Rodgers is gonna be a lot of fun next year, and he deserves that. I think if I Rady Johnson, you had to recognize that.
Yeah, you know, I talked to talk to Robert after the game on Sunday about kind of the feeling in the organization on September tenth and the morning of September eleventh, and then at seven forty five on the night of September eleventh when Aaron Rodgers is walking out with the flag, and how there was like this sentiment in the organization right like, and that it felt like it felt different now that all changes four plays later and Aaron Rodgers goes down. But you know, I do think like that's not just Aaron Rodgers. I think like like Sala was able to build a really good feeling in that building and it felt like a place that was on the come. And you know, even at points this year when that quarterback situation made it impossible, they were still scratching out wins. Yes, and look like he's got blood on his hands too, that they didn't go out and get a Joe Flacco. Like now that we've seen what Flacco can be and they had the Flacco on the building last year, you know, he has blood on his hands for all of that too. But the way he was able to sort of manage the situation and play the cards he was dealt here, I don't think he did the worst coaching job in the world this year either, you know. And so look, I think it does make sense if you're Woody Johnson to a press reset and try to find out what was going to be in twenty twenty three when you get to twenty twenty four. And the good thing is, and this is something that Robert and I talked about too, is you're able to do it with more information now, Like you have information on what your offensive line is, you have information on what you've got on your coaching staff, you've got information on on the guy's errand wanted to bring with him. Right, you're Randall Cobbs, your ALM lizards. You've got more information than you did a year ago, and that's going to allow them to build in a really responsible way. And so, you know, I think there's a chance that you know, we get to May and June and you know, let's look out for the Jets again. And I do think like Sola's ability to kind of keep everything together in what was a little bit of a house fire early in the year is a big part of that.
I I I think you know, there's a in here in New York. The narrative is sort of you know, everyone's saying, well, we could have been the Bengals and we could have lost our quarterback and we could have still been in playoff contention. Yeah, but you could have also been the twenty twenty two Broncos, you know what I mean. And I do think that there's and I'm not saying, you know, it could be worse, it could be worse except what you have, but it could have been a lot worse. And I think in the Jets case, things get a lot harder and a lot worse faster traditionally without solid and so yes, yeah, so that's kind of, you know, that's kind of where.
If there's a silver lining too, they're going to be drafting right actively. I think they might be on the edge of the top ten. And this is a really good tackle draft. I know, we're not gonna probably won't turn on listeners to hear about that this early, but like, you know, Ola Fashana from Penn State, Joe Alt from Notre Dame, you know the tackle from Georgia. I'm Marius Mims. Like, there's like a handful of really good, high level tackles, and it looks like the Jets are going to be drafting high enough to get one of them.
Two games that I want, two more games that I want to talk about, and then we'll kind of just lighten around the rest of them one very quickly. The Giants thirty three or the Eagles thirty three, Giants twenty five. It's so doom and gloom in Philadelphia, which is just hilarious. And I love it that this team is eleven and four and it's like the sky is falling. The reports that it's the most miserable locker room that you've ever heard, blah blah blah. I think this is just a realization of Philly is the best.
I have so much Philly is. I will say this, the Philadelphia fan is like exactly who I am as an Ohio State fan. When I'm sitting on the couch firing everybody and trying to take kids scholarships away, you know, my third butt light and like telling you yelling at the TV like I have a I feel a real connection to the way that Philly looks at their fans. Don't apologize for having standards. Eagles fans.
Are you bud light drinker during the game?
Is that what you drink? Uh? You know, I've tried to go with the light beers. I did. I p A's for a while and that can get that can get that can get a little hairy fast.
So do you have like bud lights.
I've done bud lights, bud light, Medello, cores l like Cores lights, like usually the one actually.
You have, like you have like cores light in your house in your fridge. You could go, you could walk upstairs right now and get a Cores light.
Yeah, I have I p as and Cores lights. Yeah.
Nice, Okay, interesting.
I just I'll send you a picture.
I always I did want to know what you're It's like cribs.
I just wanted to be I will give you photographic evidence so this can be verified after the game. Yeah.
I just think everybody likes to know what's in what's in another peo. I wanted to know what you got for Christmas? And I wanted to know what's in your refrigerator.
But but but the Eagles, like I don't honestly, like I I say this, I don't blame them for the hysteria because I here's where I do relate with it. It's like where I think, like when you're a fan and you see like what you think is a special group of players and you feel like it's slipping away, you are going to be upset, you know. And I think that that's probably the way the Eagle fan looks at it right now, is We've got this special group of players. We've got like Lane Johnson and Brandon Graham and Jason Kelcey and Fletcher Cox, and those guys are going to be gone soon. We've got like a corner Darius Slay and James Bradbury and those guys are going to be gone soon. And so like you look at it, you see like a bunch of like really good players in their prime. Then the older players who are going to be gone. You've got a quarterback who, like you, just signed to a big time deal. Like, I don't blame them, Like you, you'd be a little on edge too if that was your team, wouldn't you sure, because you feel like you've got that, you're in this window of opportunity. And if it feels like the season slipping away, well, you know, I know how that feels. That can feel like ten seasons is slipping away. Yeah, it's like is this are we losing? We are we missing our chance? Now? I think that's what that is.
I think it's just coming back to what it's always been, like you know it was it was it was a schemed up offense last year. Ye Shane Steiken did a lot to put Jalen in a lot of good spots. And two things can be true. Jalen can be a really good quarterback and an offensive coordinator can do a really good job putting him in spots where he can succeed regularly. Right, those both both can be true. But if you look at you know, the Eagles, like if you look at the Jalen contract versus like the Lamar contract for example, Like and part of that was leverage, certainly, but like if you talk to people whose job it is to you know, write these things and negotiate these things, the Lamar contract is far more befitting of a franchise quarterback. You know what I'm saying, like the Jalen one is like, Okay, you're gonna get like like a quarter of this money, you know, and then we'll see where it goes. Whereas Lamar is like most of your money you're getting like one hundred and eighty million in over two years, where Jalen's getting like sixty.
Well, you know what it is, Connor's the benefit of doing the contract early. Yeah, that's what it is. Yeah, it's the benefit like the Ravens played it out and like rand it all the way to the point where they didfranchise him, right where the Eagles are coming to Jalen two years before the expert, two years before the expiration of his rookie deal because presumably he'd have the fifth year option picked up. And so like that's the benefit in going in and doing the deal early. Now, there's risk when you go and do the deal early, obviously, because it's going to cost you more in the here and now. We just talked about that with Russell Wilson.
You're not going to be gaining him sixty five million dollars a year in three years, you know what I mean?
Right? Right? I mean, so, but like that's the benefit of it is that you're like, you're going to be able to spread the cap out, You're going to be able to do all those different cap tricks, and you're probably going to get him to take a little bit less in guarantees than if you you force them to take on the two years of extra injury risk and you have to put a tag on them.
I am you know, I still think they're going to win like two games in the playoffs, you know what I mean? And is it like, is that a failure if you almost make it back to the super Bowl after losing the Super Bowl? No, historically not.
You know, well, unless you're looking at Connor Orr's picks, you have to say that they went out right and they got the Cardinals of the Giants.
If they lose to the Cardinals, it will be a full scale meltdown, and I am here for it.
They if they lose the Cardinals, I'm starting out my New Year's Day by listening to Wip Baby.
That's what I'm talking about. The other big one here was that the Chiefs lost to the Raiders twenty to fourteen. And now we're talking about after years of saying, look how good this team is, going to be when we get rid of Eric B Enemy too. I hope Ron Rivera fires Eric the Enemy so we can bring him back and add some accountability to this offense before the playoffs. Is just so funny to me, like that he was holding you back. He was holding you back. I have no dog in this fight at all. But the Chiefs are so out of options. They can't add a wide receiver, they can't make anything else happen. And so right now you're looking at please God, bring Eric b Enemy back so he can yell at people because there's no accountability. Is such a funny place to be for a team.
I think this is the two thousand and six Patriots. I think this is like where like back then, if you look like you'll see and this is when Brady was really breaking through as a player and becoming a top level quarterback. The Patriots are like, okay, like, the guy's won three super Bowls, he should be able to do more than more with less. So like, let's let David Gibbons go. And you know we're in a contract dispute with Dion Branch. Okay, well that got a little too hot, so we're going to trade him and it's like, go make it work, Tom. You know, we've got a good offensive line, we got a good defense, Go make it work, Tom, with Jabar Gaffney and Doug Gabriel and you know, broken down Corey Dillon and Lawrence Maroney is a rookie, and like, I don't know if it's quite like to that point personnel wise, but I think the idea is the same where it was like like, let's see how far we can go with Patrick Mahomes and investing everywhere else and then trusting that he's going to be able to make it work at the skill positions. And I looked like I was big on, like let the second round picks develop, let Sky Moore develop, Let Rashie Rice develop, and like, let's see where that goes. I think the problem with it is I don't think Travis Kelsey's the same. I mean, whether he's hurt, whatever, he's thirty four, Like I just like I've been like I've been sort of hesitant to say it because he's an all time great player. He's going to the Hall of Fame. I just like I don't know Connor, like I feel like I've been seeing it all year, Like he just doesn't look like the same sort of like we got to build an entire game plan to stop this guy type of why been anymore? You know? And if now you're not asking Rashie Rice to be a compliment to Travis Kelcey, you're asking him to be your number one, that's a totally different thing. Now defenses can play you a certain way, and now there's going to be more on Patrick Mahomes to make it work on a down to down basis, and so like, I sort of look at it the same way I remember seeing those two thousand and six Patriots, and you know, the question then becomes, if they are out in the divisional round, do they do what the two thousand and seven Patriots did, which was go wild, yeah, and go sign Randy Moss and Wes Welker and you know all that. So, you know, I I think it's sort of where the Chiefs are right now, is like that Travis Kelcey, Like it's the combination of trading Tyreek Hill two years ago and Travis Elsie Kelsey getting older. You know. Now it feels like the dynamic around Patrick Mahomes is much different than it was before.
And it's weird too. I talked to for the year in sports this year, talk to Andy Reid, and I talked to a lot of the chief you know, chiefs offensive staff, tight ends coach, and the idea was that like, yeah, I mean Travis Kelsey is a great player, but that the best is yet to come. But you know, it does lead me to believe It's like, do we think he is a little banged up? Do we think he's a little hurt, And do we think he's just not getting Do we think he's not getting the support from the rest of the offense. You know, he's he's making a lot of openings for other people, but is he you know, is is nobody? Is nobody helping him?
You know, he's been incredibly durable, like for a guy at that position, those guys always get hurt. Tight End is like one of those positions where it's really really hard to stay healthy, which is why you see so many guys like that are out for half the year at that position or out for entire seasons at that position. And the reason why is because you're involved in both the run game. In the past game, you're running running through like linebackers and safeties to catch the ball. Like those guys take an absolute beating, you know, and so like I think eventually this was going to catch up with with Travis Kellison.
You almost said Taylor maybe in year eleven? Did you almost say Taylor Swift? You know, I heard like a Travis Swift. Hear like, I heard like a tough to you know, Tay instead of Tay. Yeah.
Yeah. So anyway, I think that that's the difference.
For them running down the rest of these I mean, we already talked about the Broncos, the Patriots, you know, good for them. Chad Ryland hit a big fifty six yard field. Well, I'm sure Bill Belichick psyched about that. The Bears just keep winning now twenty seven to sixteen over the Cardinals. Hilarious. Mattyflus is going to have this team at eight and nine and no one's going to know what to do with them. I still think they make a change and keep the GM. That's my that's my thought as of right now. But you know, justin Fields looks good.
I mean, I think Kevin Warren, I think the team president, Kevin Warren is the wild cardinal.
Yes, and I think they have everybody's everybody is on edge with that guy, you know, and he is sort of the real power player there. Buccaneers beat the Jaguars just a point disappointing. I mean I thought that the quotes from Trevor Lawrence after the game, uh he said, it looks like we're not even practicing during the week is fairly eye opening. And I'll just say this, I mean, my one takeaway here is if the Jaguars don't make the playoffs, that is one of the biggest shots to the foot that you can possibly do as an organization. The entire AFC was opening wide open for you, Like, I mean.
This is a wide fair Yeah, this is your breakthrough year, year three for your young quarterback. At one point, they're what I'm counting it up now, I think there were what nine and three? Is that right? Yeah? They were not No. Eight and three At one point they were eight and three. Now they're eight and seven. They they better beat the Panthers on on on on Sunday, man like they like. If they lose the Panther, lookout.
Browns beat the text in thirty six twenty two. No one can stop Joe Flacco. He's on my fantasy football team. He's taken us to the finals.
No way. Yeah, oh wow, that's a resourceful resourceful.
Yes, I actually have a So if you're listening to this on Wednesday, or if you're listening to this on Thursday morning, I have a column about fantasy football championships. I don't ever write about fantasy, but I really I thought it was kind of cool, and I urge you to h I urge you to check that out. So yeah, I mean, Browns just keep rolling. Joe Flacco is going to take this team to the playoffs to play on Thursday night this week. Very exciting.
I'm fired up for that one. It should be interesting.
And then the Packers barely beat the Panthers. And now they've suspended Jayi Alexander for crashing the coin toss, which is just the most amazing stupid NFL thing that I've ever heard.
How did I make They suspended him.
They suspended him because he was not one of the in game captains, but he just went out anyway and apparently almost screw Is.
This like when the backup cour This is like when if a backup quarterback started warming up without anybody.
Tlse, not even warming up, putting his helmet on, and just running into the game and he made the call. He made the wrong call, so I guess if I if I'm understanding it correctly. He wanted the he wanted them to defer, and I think JayR Alexander chose to play defense, which is different than the deferring. There's a there's a difference. And so he messed it up and he crashed the coin toss and he said he did it because he was from Charlotte and he felt like he should be out there and he got sus is so awesome.
That's just like we need to we need to wrap the podcast up so I can research this situation more. Somehow I missed.
This is this is this is like this is like if you know, oh, he also.
Used the phrase instead of it's only fitting, I don't think coach, he said it's only suiting.
Oh so good, and he like, so if anybody like, please look at this today because the media, he did interviews with the media today and he just comes out in like a pair of terminator shades like yeah, I did it and it is so good.
I mean, the.
Packers could still make the playoffs and JayR Alexander is suspended for a game because he crashed the coin toss. This is the greatest thing that's ever happened in the NFL.
I need to know everything about it. I need to know everything. He likes, what was he planning on?
Like?
Was he planning it out on Thursday and Friday? Was it a spur of the moment thing? Did the other captains know what was going to happen? I say other captains, but you know he wasn't one, so good.
Yeah that would be like that would be like me gaining publishing privileges for s I and so like like the World's like I don't cover baseball in the World Series starts and I just start hosting about the World Series on the website, just like yeah, I figured I like baseball. I figured I should.
So here's the full quote. It's only suiting. I don't think coach knew I was from Charlotte, So maybe you want to tell him. Maybe then he would have been cool with it. I don't just like like you just I think if he went to I think if j Alexander went to like Matt Lafleur and said like, hey, listen, man, look I'm from Charlotte. Like I'm not saying like you need to make me captain this week, but it'd be pretty cool. My guess is Matt Lafleur probably made him a game.
Yeah right whatever, sure, yeah no. But instead it's just you know, I I love the It's it's like having young kids. I understand it. It's like I'd rather get yelled at than to ask you if it's okay. And but the fact that it has resulted.
Better to ask for forgiveness, forgiveness than permission.
But the fact that it has resulted in a one game suspension is just beautiful. And that is where we end the Christmas podcast. Albert, thanks as always for being here.
I just found his shades. By the way, this is so good.
Just look watch it, enjoy it, and get inspired by it. Because you know what, if your boss tells you to do something or not to do something, just do it anyway.
He's like laughing during the interview.
He's gonna enjoy a week off. That guy is going to really enjoy a week off. Good for him. It's a long NFL season, and be sure it's a personal bye week. I'm gonna encourage Matt and Gilberto on the Thursday show to devote all forty five minutes of your episode to this. Thank you guys as always for listening, and we'll be back next week.
