Hello, and welcome to the m m QB Monday Morning NFL Podcast. On your host, Gary Brandling. I'm joined once again by Jenny brent Dis of the week Side Podcast. Jenny, it was a it was a wild Card weekend full of memories. I think we made memories this weekend. There were a lot of memories to be made, slime. There was the Browns and the Bills to fan bases that have struggled for a long time. I once did a series called The Corridor of Doom where I visited the Bills, the Browns and the Lions, um, and two of these franchises have really turned things around. And you know, the Lions still have a team and still have a team, right um Jared Goff coming in despite the thumb injury. Yeah, there was a lot to a lot to break down, Gary, there was and and it's so we had the six games. That's that's the first for wild Card weekend. I thought it was not yease that some of these games just they just provided a little bit of a break. We didn't really have to be too enthralled with them. We had good ones and then we had two really bad ones, and and that was that was kind of nice. It did work out well that Bear Saints was the Nickelodeon broadcast. I know you may have different feelings on the Nickelodeon broadcast, but it was a nice break from just being so locked into every single play I turned. On the Nickelodeon broadcast. It was a little bit more fun and it was you know, at that point, after four games on wild Card weekend, we're just staring at the TV. It was nice to just feel a little bit more casual about a viewing experience. I'm going to be such a grump on me get everyone's gonna hate by the end of this show. No, I I had. I won't be that crumpy. I did. I like the concept, there were some good things about it. Well, we'll get to it when we get to when we talk Saints Bears, but let's start. Let's start Sunday night with the with the Browns. I mean, what a what a first quarter and what's sort of a deserving swing of I don't swing of karma, swing of just good fortune falling on his team for uh, for the first fifteen iNTS of this game. That was a really stunning beginning, just from that first snap, and here you have Marquise Pouncey, who has been in the past, and I'll pro center. You have this wild snap that you know they have a chance to receive tree on the goal line, but they don't. So it's like the worst possible outcome. I mean, yeah, there's a bad snap and yeah there's a big loss, but not in this case. The brown scored a touchdown on it. So uh and then it continued to snowball. It didn't end. There wasn't one big play. You know, you think sometimes, well, it goes wrong at the start, but the Steelers are a veteran team, they've been the playoffs. They'll just get things right. But instead it just continued to snowball over the whole first half. I mean that there's a still shot. I should find it like tweeted or something if I was if I was more active on social media. There's a still shop from one of the wires where uh the the the ball is sitting on the one you have Roethloisberger and Connor both standing over about the pounds on it, and there are no Browns players in the frame, and it's just like, wow, how did this? How did this end up in the end zone for a touchdown. That is that is just a really weird thing. And uh and like you said, Marky's pounty is not this was not like an issue that's come up in the past with like bad snaps or something like that. For so for this game to start with a bad snap from your center who's been there forever, who's never had an issue with bad snaps, I don't know. Again, it's it's just the football God's just sort of being like, I think it's been enough, uh for Browns and their fans, and let's let's give him a little bit of a break here, uh for a little bit. But uh, as far as Cleveland went again, you had no Kevin Stefanski, no Joel Bettonio, no Denz Award, a couple of other assistant coaches out, including their top two offensive line coaches. And then mid game they lose Jack Conklin. They lose Michael Dunn, who had been filling in for a for Btonio, and and and Blake Hants is the guy who was referred to as guy named Blake. If you saw the Baker Mayfield postgame interview, he ends up on the field and the Browns all this sudn't have just this it's this scotch taped offensive line as they try to cling to this lead. And what was remarkable was, even with the fact that it was a scotch tape offensive line, offensive line play was one of the biggest reasons that the Browns won and really one of the biggest reasons that they had this turnaround this season. For Assistant Coach of the Year, I voted for Bill Callahan because the offensive line play was really the key to the whole Brown's resurgence. I mean, obviously, Kevin Stefanski has done a lot to institute a new offense, get Baker Mayfield playing well, also changing this long downtrodden Brown's culture, but the offensive line play has been such a key to unlocking Baker Mayfield's ability to play well. And the fact that they could do it even with new guys shuffled in without coaches on the sideline providing instruction just proves how well trained the veterans have been throughout the rest of the season two. So obviously this one got a little bit dicey, uh in the second half, and the Steelers were coming back and it seemed like, you know, everyone, everyone loves the narrative Uh, it seemed like the Steelers might come back and steal this game when it was all said and done. Uh, this was to me the turning point. And look, everyone hated the Mike Tomlin punt from midfield on the fourth and one and and and lord knows, the Steelers are probably feeling a little bit snake bitten about short yardage situations this year. But uh, the they punted away. This is what we can hate on the but this is what I loved about that the Browns got the ball back, they get the touch back, they get it at the twenty. They've gone nowhere for the first three drives of the second half. They went out not only throwing the ball, they went tempo. They just absolutely took the opportunity to take the game back. Uh. They went six plays, two minutes, twenty seconds, score a touchdown, and that was that was kind of it. I mean, the Steelers suddenly just go meek and timid and the Browns just say, okay, well we're just going to be the aggressors and win the game. It wasn't just the decision to punt, I'm with you, Gary, It was the fact that when the Browns got the ball back they were aggressive and they didn't allow themselves to collapse. That's kind of what it looked like might be happening. They have this tremendous first half, tremendous first quarter, and then you know, as has been true for the franchise, somehow, some way, they find things to mess it up. But this group was different. They resolved that they were not going to They were aggressive and Mike Tomlin was putting trust in the Steelers defense at that point when he punted the ball away because they had been playing well the last few possessions, but the Browns made that a non factor. Yeah, I was gonna say, it's almost like there's this assumption that the Browns were just gonna go run, run, pass for the rest of the game and said they just went out and we're like, okay, well we're gonna need more points, so let's go get points. And uh and again it just it was it was a six play drive, it was five passes, and it was it was tempo. They didn't run the clockdown, and it was I don't know, I thought it was just really awesome to see and and good on uh Alex van Pelt and uh and and Baker Mayfield an entire unit for getting this done when they needed to score a few more points. Uh. So the Browns go to Kansas City next Sunday. It's it's gonna be the early game. Uh. Now everyone ever in the industry gets to tweet out the same Texas Tech Oklahoma box score that we've seen NonStop for for the last couple of years. So look forward to that on social media. But as far as the Steelers go, so many questions going into this offseason, and the biggest one is is Ben Roethlisberger, who's been the franchise quarterback there since two thousand four. Uh, and look, it was an ugly performance. He ends up throwing for five hundred yards. So if if you had him in some sort of fantasy league, you were probably pretty pumped. But uh, four interceptions, two of them sort of you know, tip ball type of bad break type of things, and two of them just really really bad interceptions. Uh the ball was just not coming out of his hand. While he had that one throw in the second quarter where he stepped up in the pocket. I think it was Deonte Johnson he had coming back to the ball, uh downfield on the left side line and it just it came up like twelve yards short, and it was just sort of a reminder that, yes, we knew he was in physical decline here, but uh, it was pretty sharp this year. Uh. And it has to be frustrating for him, and you saw him emotional on the sideline after the game. Uh, it has to be incredibly frustrating for him, a guy who was such a dominant physical force for the bulk of his career to just not be able to do the things that uh, he used to do and and just not even to be able to come close to doing those things anymore. Yeah. I think that's really well said, Gary, because at his peak, he was a player with a really strong arm and a player that you just couldn't sack, right. That was always kind of the joke, because that you just couldn't get big bend down. He was standing tall back there. He was this massive man and it was really hard to bring him to the ground. And ultimately now you have a quarterback who I think that it was the first interception. I believe that came out as a very fluttery pass and the pass that you just detailed about being well short of Deonte Johnson um and also just his lack of physical mobility shows up in so many different ways. I think it has really held the offense back in terms of scheme doing many of the things that we see other offenses around the league doing, they just can't because of his lack of mobility. You wondered if that was also a factor in his not diving for the ball on the bad snap on the opening play. Kind of seemed like he was standing around waiting for someone else to pounce on it or seeing how far away the Browns players were. Um, you know, he's really been physically diminished and coming off elbow surgery. The talk from the Steelers was that he was going to be back and better than ever, and he looked to be in good shape. But ultimately the Steelers limped to the end of the season because Ben was limping to the end of the season. Yeah. And uh, you know first half the season when they sort of rolled out some this motion stuff, some this horizontal attacking stuff, and it was new and it was working because it was new. Uh, it was kind of like, Okay, well maybe we have something going forward here, but it just it never it never expanded off of that, which is really what you have to do, and you just have to ask yourself. Number one, Ben has to figure out whether he wants to do this going forward. When you play a style of football where it's it's only quick game, it's only quick strike, the ball has to come out of your hand right away. Uh that's uh. That that The fact that he played that style of the entire season kind of tells you how he feels about his body holding up. But number two, it's like you, you can't you can't go through this again. If you're the Seals, you can't play an entire season like this and trust that your defense is gonna stand on his head and your offense is gonna be limited. You have to figure out a better solution with what they're doing, because again, they struggled to run the ball game, excuse me, all season. But part of that was because every defense just got to put all eleven defenders within like, you know, ten yards of the line of scrimmage because he knew the ball wasn't going down field. So a lot of answers here. Uh, James Conner is a free agent. Juju Smith Schuster is a free agent, and you're you're going to hear you're going to hear me talk about this wide receiver free agent class to an obnoxious extent because it is quite good, but it's also completely flooded, and you have a great draft class coming in. And I think a lot of these guys, whether it's jud Tomith Schuster, t Y Hilton and Corey Davis, will Fuller, these guys, I think they're expecting to get paid and I don't think they're going to And I think it's going to be a very interesting offseason here as far as that goes, and I think the Steelers have a lot of team building questions to consider. Ben after the game said he would like to be back if the Steelers would have him putting the ball in their court, which was unusual phrasing. And I think this was sort of a bad time for the Steelers to have a lull in the other areas of their offense. Right the offensive line play had not been what it was a couple of years ago. They didn't have the same transcendent abilities at the skill positions. So it was not only was Ben diminished, but the rest of the offense was diminished, and that ultimately resulted in the kind of loss we saw Sunday night. Yeah, and so you wonder with any great defense, you wonder what the window is because it is difficult to to stay at that level for year after year after year. And uh boy, really interesting offseason coming up here for Pittsburgh. Uh let's uh and by the way, we're gonna go reverse chronological order in these games if you do want to skip around, although why would you possibly want to skip around on the show? But uh, let's go to the Sunday mid afternoon game. That would be the Saints hosting the Bears. And and as expected, just sort of had a comfortable win in this one, though they were a little bit sloppy offensively in the first half, and and you wondered, Okay, are the Bears gonna stick around and sort of get a few bounces and maybe, uh maybe make this interesting. But no, no, that is not what happened. Yeah, I thought the sloppiness in the first half for the Saints offense did matter. The Bears have been a good defense, they have Khalil Mack. You know, it was not au. It was not a you know, a game in which they would face no resistance. But you know, you're going into the next weeks of the playoffs and you want the offense to be clicking. And you know, Michael Thomas makes his return and he looked good, and maybe it just you know, they need a little bit more time to hit their peak form. But I would not say this was the peak form for the Saints offense. It was Michael Thomas back in the line. He looked good. I think that was your your most encouraging thing here for the Saints, besides from the fact that you won the game with relative ease and you get to play another playoff game next week. So that was that was good there. Um as far as the Bears go. And there was sort of this thinking emerging late in the season that Mitch Dubiski had sort of found it and they had figured it out with him, and you know, maybe he's not in the quarterback of the future, but he's a guy they bring back next to are etcetera, etcetera. Uh, what you saw for the second straight week was a coach that didn't trust his quarterback, a very scaled back offense. I just don't understand how, uh, considering how they called the game in these in these last two weeks, I don't understand how they can bring Drabinsky back, uh and sort of keep these training wheels on them. And this this is not this is not the offense that Mannaggie wants to run. This is not the offense that Mitchell Rubinsky is is apparently comfortable winning. So I don't understand how they, uh don't just make a clean break at this point. And Gary, I know you're a little bit down on the Nickelodeon broadcast, but I will say that Nick Merlison's explanation of the Robinsky situation on the Nickelodeon broadcast was perhaps one of the best situation explanations I've seen of it, basically likening it to being grounded. Trubisky was grounded when full started and then he was ungrounded, but he still had restrictions and he couldn't leave the yard. And that was exactly what we saw in this game. They just don't trust him enough to give him the freedom that you need for a quarterback to win games. And there were some better performances down the stretch. Obviously that there's rallied a bit to get to the playoffs. Um, but he can't be the answer. In Chicago. We talked a couple of weeks ago if he could be a bridge and I still don't think that's a terrible idea. UM, but you need to figure out some other plan um, and you need to figure out how you're going to make that work. He was he was voted the m v P and of this game. So that's that's that's something to go out on. He threw a touchdown pass on his last throw of the season. That's also a nice ending if it if it ends that way again, I don't think mit Robisky is unsalageable. I think he just has to go somewhere else and and and sort of get a new set of coaches in his ear and and just go from there. It's just this, this, this match, this marriage is just not going to work. And I think the last two weeks were sort of a a reminder of that. UM. I didn't. To be clear, I didn't. I didn't hate Nickelodeon broadcast. I liked the concept. I like some of the stuff they did. Uh. I will say I did have a live focus group in my house uh age six months to ten years, and we did put it on and I was curious to know what they would think. Uh. And look, I I my my first role at SI Kids, excuse me at sports Octary was at SI Kids. I was there for eight years. Uh. It is a tricky thing to put on these presentations because you have like at s I Kids are are are demographic was age eight to age fourteen. If you know an eight year old and a fourteen year old, those are not Those are not things that cross over very much like you have to. You have to be very cognizant of of what your audience is, and it's a very wide ranging audience. It's not like it's not like adults. So as far as my it went, they were they were very uh, they were very interested early on. Uh they are they're sort of just getting into football here. Uh. They liked the the slime canon. That excited them. Uh, But as far as just the explanations some of the learning stuff, it just wasn't quite there for them. I don't know if some of the things could have been explained a little bit better. And then when it came down to it, it's very tough to do this over a three three and a half hour game because they're just not that many wacky things you can you can mix in there. So my kids had both left the room about twenty minutes into the into the thing, and that's that's so. You know, on one hand, I feel like they didn't really learn that much about football, and on the other hand, they also it didn't it didn't keep them interested in actually sitting there and watching the game. Yeah. No, those are fair points, Gary, And you know, holding the attention of the infant. They really have a long line that regard he stayed. He stayed in the room the longest. He stayed until the bitter end, which was like, I don't know, fourteen to three or something like that in the third quarter. Least mobile of your children, Yes, yes, that is that is Uh, that is very true. The most ambitious as far as mobility goes, but the least mobile. Uh so, yeah, I didn't. Again I'm I'm a grump, but uh yeah, I appreciate what they did. I just think they'll learn and they'll they'll make it better going forward, because I'm sure they'll do it again. It seems like it was a relative success. Uh. As far as the Saints go, they host the Bucks. That'll be round three between those teams. The Saints obviously just sort of smashed the Bucks in both their meetings this year. Um, and we'll we'll talk about it a little bit. But I'm really interested to see what the Bucks offensive line does because this seems to be some sort of kryptonite when they when they face New Orleans. Yeah, and it's very hard to beat a team three times in one season, it is. That is very true. All right, Hang on one second, Jenny. We still have four games to go, but it is now time for the fantasy segment presented by Draft Kings. I joined uh once again by Michael Fabiana at least here every Monday, which you already knew. I don't know why I have to keep on saying that, but Fabs, we're gonna run through sort of the uh, you know, a bit of a bit of the impact of some of the some of the performances this weekend and and some of the quite get some of the contract situations coming up with some of these guys. But let's start with and and look, if you if you play postseason fantasy football, this was this was a big bummer if this guy was on your roster. Uh. And quite frankly, despite his great performances season, there might be some question marks with Derrick Henry going forward as far as his value in in fantasy coming off a two thousand yards season, Well he was. He was held in check uh eight points against Baltimore. That was it. I did a wild card weekend draft with my guys on Fantasy Dirt over at Sirious XM and I had the No. More and overall pick and I took Henry over Camara. Yeah, well that did not work out well for me. And I will tell you this, Derrick Henry has been great the last couple of seasons and he could very well be great again in one go. And take a look at the history of running backs who have had a two thousand yards in a single season and what they've done the following year. And obviously regression is going to come, because two thousand yard seasons don't come all the time, but the level of regression is is scary. In fact, the only two thousand yard rusher who went ahead and finished in the top ten among running backs the following season was Chris Johnson and two thousand and ten, and Chris Johnson saw a one hundred and twenty point decrease compared to his two thousand yard campaign. I'll give you a quick overview. Eric Dickerson four, he was the RB three. He average aged twenty points a game. The following season, he was the RB nineteen. The average sixteen points per game. Adrian Peterson two thousand and twelve. That was that crazy season. Remember where he came off the a c L and he had actually gotten He had gotten drafted like third fourth round in some leagues because at that point everyone was concerned about players coming off of a c LS. He had averaged almost twenty two points per game. He was the RB one. The following year average seventeen. He was the RB A letter Jamal Lewis, he's liked to forgotten two thousand yard rusher. Now he only played twelve games. The following year, he averaged thirteen point seven points per game. The year after his two thousand yards season, during which time he averaged twenty points a game, Barry Sanders twenty one point eight points per game to fifteen. Terrell Davis. He got hurt the year after his two thousand yards season. So you can't even really put him into this, uh into this list. But the fact that he got hurt, I mean, that's you know, that's something to be noted. I mentioned Chris Johnson, he went from twenty five points per game to seventeen. Seventhing is still pretty good, especially you know at that point. But it's a big decline. No, I I was. I was surprised, you said, Chris Johnson, because uh, as a guy you sort of retained top ten status because he was a disappointment that year. He was a number one in every draft. And then O J so O J I mean o J. I mean he averaged twenty points a game in seventy three, which is also the year of my birth. God him getting old the following year twelve points a game. So and I know it sounds weird, right If I had told you last year at this time that Lamar Jackson was going to be the QUB ten and you would have thought I was absolutely out of my freaking mind. Folks. Even the greatest players, look what happened to Michael Thomas this season. Even the greatest players, UH, can have serious declines. Be whare the magical season? Put that Put that phrase. I've used it for decades. Be where the magical season? With Derrick Henry, I'm just telling you he'll be a first round pick across the board. And if I'm drafting and he's available. Depending on where my drops it shas, I'll probably take him. It might be a mistake, we'll see. It's fluid that you know. There are a couple of guys though Henry was a bummer, But there are a couple of young backs or young ish backs, I don't know. James Connor still still qualifies as young at this point as far as running back age goes. But cam Akers real nice day in Seattle and James Conner, you know, I mean that. See those running game that just disappeared for weeks and weeks it was it was back. Everything else went wrong on Sunday night, but they could run the ball. It was crazy with with acres. Like this guy he must be made of adamantium because I thought he had a high ankle sprain. Remember like and and a week later, you know, he misses one game and then he's he's putting up you know, plus touches and didn't have a huge game in the finale. But last we I mean, geez, Louise, he had a touch share. I hope this is a sign of things to come. I really do. If this is a sign of things to come for this kid, He's gonna be a top thirty or forty overall pick at worst. And you mentioned James Conner. He ended up with his best Fantasy game in a while. Now, most of his production came as a pass catcher, right he had five catches for thirty yards. He did score a touchdown on the ground, so that helped. But and Leonard Fournett surprisingly was the guy for the Buccaneers because Ronald Jones couldn't get uh that quad loosened up. Apparently he was. He was dealing with swelling, so he couldn't he couldn't go. And four NET came out of nowhere, and no one drafted for NET if you were playing in like a wild card weekend scenario. But the biggest surprises are Henry and David Montgomery was bad. I mean David Montgomery had a thirty two touch share and he scored three points. And let me tell the audience right now, David Montgomery was great down the stretch. He was a league winner. Pat him on the back, congratulate him. Don't draft him in the top twenty next season. Just don't do it. I feel like he could end up being a bust because of the expectations, folks. He put up great numbers against some of the worst run defenses in the league, and he did exactly what he should have done. Let's see what his schedule is like next season, and uh yeah, a couple of guys maybe maybe moving teams, maybe moving on. We talked about Ben at the top this show, but uh this this Steeler's offense might look a whole lot different as far as the skool position. Guys, Ben, what's his future? And then Juju Smith Schuster, is is he coming back? There? From a fantasy perspective, I hope Ben is back. Uh. The the top five wide receivers this weekend based on Fantasy points, three of them are Steelers, and Deante Johnson has been great all year. Chase Claypool he he started to see his numbers declined in the second half, but the man was a touchdown machine. Juju, I don't know where he'll end up. I don't know, he said after the game. He wanted to remain a Steeler. I wonder if there's gonna be a little stink on him though, because of the TikTok crap and talking trash about the Browns giving them some sort of you know locker room. You know bulletin board material. He might be the odd man out. I don't know. I hope the Steelers just remaining Where else are they going to go at a quarterback? Like, I mean, who who Who's their future is Mason Rudolph. I don't think so. So let's hope that Ben stays there for one more year. The Steelers organizationally go ahead and and try to figure out who their their their future quarterback is going to be. But ju ju, I mean, James Conner is a free agent two mm hmm. That's something to keep in mind. And I will be writing a column on my one offseason wish list here once we get through the postseason, so make sure you check that one out. It's always fun. Well, there you go. I mean, FABS is here every Monday, but he's there every day s dot Com slash Fantasy s I Fancy Podcast. Uh, FABS will have for more to go next week and uh, we'll see what the fantasy implications that come out of a divisional playoff weekend or conference semifinal we can that's what it should be called conference semifinal weekend. We'll see what goes on there. Yeah, and then I'm looking forward to these games. I wonder what the Browns can do for an encore, right nobody, I'll tell you it. Nobody thought they were gonna be Pittsburgh outside of the state of Ohio. Nobody. Or Browns fans nobody. And you know what, nobody thinks they're gonna beat the Chiefs. Nobody. Imagine if they go into Arrowhead and beat the Chiefs. Goodness gracious. I mean, like people like to be cliche and say anything can happen. I don't think anything could happen. But some stuff did happen this past weekend. And their head coach, they get there, they get Joe Attonio, they got Denzel Award back reinforcements coming that game got Uh, it got a lot more interesting, Let's put it that way. It's gonna get a lot more interesting with with those players back, with Stefanski back on the sidelines. I wish we had a life cam of Stefanski's wherever he was in the basis, at his mom's house, whatever it takes me. That would have been a lot of fun. But uh, the Browns and the Rams too. I didn't expect the Rams to win, honestly, Seattle. That's another thing that we're gonna talk about probably in the off season. Russell Wilson. Yeah, after an historic start statistically, well, Russ wasn't cooking in the second half. They need to figure out what they want to be offensively there. And Chris Parsons a free agent too. M hm. So we got a lot of stuff to talk about. Man, there's no offseason never never is alright, Fabs, Well, we'll talk to you next week, all right, man, go easy, alright. So the Ravens Lamar Jackson finally, I mean, this guy's been choking for decades in playoff games, so uh he finally gets his his playoff win h three days after turning age four. So uh that is I don't know. I'm I'm thankful not to be able and to or not have to listen to the Lamar playoff narrative anymore. And I'm hoping the Lamar comeback narrative goes away very soon. I'm not sure this game quite did it though, but uh uh, when it all comes down to it, Lamar Jackson has won a playoff game, and aside from one ugly interception the first quarter, he won it in the way that the Ravens want to win. Games. Yeah, I think a lot of narratives were corrected in this game to Gary. You know, they've lost to the Titans twice in the last year. There was Marquis Brown mid season was frustrated about not getting targeted enough over the last few weeks of the season, and also in this game. That has certainly changed. But the thing about the playoff narrative with Lamar Jackson, I'm totally with you, it didn't matter. I mean, it was unfair to be putting it out there as if it was this longstanding failing you know, his first year, he took over as a starter midway through and then they lose the playoff game. Last year it was, you know, just a lot of reasons. The defense didn't play well, the offense got out of its identity early on. But what I will say is Lamar Jackson didn't just wave off the idea of this narrative like he confronted it and he said he wanted to change the narrative. That was his message all week. He wasn't saying that it was unfair. He too wanted to win a playoff game and the two playoff losses in his first two seasons. He also thought were failures, not failures in a way of some kind of referendum on his career, but they were failures to him nonetheless. And so I think he had a good approach and saying I want to change the narrative because that means I will then have won a playoff game, which will keep my season alive and keep me on track to winning a championship. So I liked the way he handled it, and I thought this performance was exactly what you want. You know, he rushed for over a hundred yards. That is a big part of the Ravens identity, but he also used his legs to make plays in the passing game. Uh. You know, there was one um that he kind of kept the play alive. Dory Jackson was kind of charging towards him and Lamar Jackson was able to kind of scoot out to the right sideline and complete that past to Mark Andrews, which kept alive Baltimore's first scoring drive. Uh that led to a field goal after they've fallen into a ten zero deficit, you know. And then of course, obviously his touchdown run. It was what was at forty eight yards GARRYA I have off the top of my head forty eight yard touchdown run where he reached a peak velocity of more than twenty miles per hour. So it was just a combination of all of the things that make Lmar Jackson good as a quarterback. It was not perfect. The interception was really ugly the first you know, the first two drives of the day were ugly for the Ravens offense. But he did the things that you need to do to win games and to you know, make defenses kind of give up as some of the players seem to do on that touchdown run and the the I'm glad you brought up the Adori Jackson play because you know, if you're the Titans, you're blitzing a Doory Jackson because he is a he's a former track star. He is I don't know what he ran at the combine, I'm gonna get it was like it for three nine. There you go. I was gonna say high for threes. But yeah, I mean that's the reason you blitz him is because okay, well Lamar won't get away from him, and he did. And this was just sort of a reminder. Uh. And I don't know if people have forgotten, but he hasn't played you know, Lamar Jackson hasn't played h primetime game in a while. But uh, he just moves at a different speed and pretty much anyone in the league at this point. And you saw it on the touchdown run, and you saw it on that play which absolutely should have ended in in a sack and and it didn't inside and end up in in a pretty big play there. Uh. The other thing I'm gonna throw out narrative wise, as long as we're talking about narratives, I don't like uh this. You know, Ravens can't come back to a narrative. Steve Levy and mentioned on on the broadcast that it had been the last four years they had not come back from a ten point deficit, uh in any game, and obviously they have now. But uh, Lamar Jacson is only that they play with the lead, they get the lead. That's why they don't have a whole lot of opportunities to come back in these games. You know, the Titans had an opportunity to come back ten times this year. Uh that is that is a literal, uh ten times, not a not an approximation, Uh, Lamar over the last two seasons. This was only a seventh time he's trailed by ten points in a game. Uh, one time. If you go back over the last two times before this game, Uh, it was the Steelers loss mid season where he came back, they took the lead, he gave them the lead back in the fourth quarter, and then they ultimately lost the game. So I guess he doesn't get credit for a win there, obviously, But uh, he did come back in that game. And the other one was the that monsoon, that Sunday night monsoon in Foxborough, where I'm not sure anyone was going to come back in that game. So you have this incredibly small samples eyes, and these stats sound so damning when you put the time frame on them and you don't actually say it's been x amount of games and just everyone's kind of running with them. And he's not the first guy I'd pick if I needed to score a lot of points late in the game. But uh, he's not problematic in these scenarios. Wow, this Gary. I love how you just break down statistics and point out whether they're actually valid or not. And that was that. When you hear the number of times he's even had the chance to do that, that really changes those numbers lot. Also, the Ravens have had a pretty good defense for most of those four years, so it makes sense that they would have fewer times when they have fallen into a large deficit. Thanks Jenny, that was very complimentary. That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me. Good start Monday. Now I'm all now, I'm all flustered here. Uh, let's go back, let's yell about stuff. Let's yell about bad punts. Uh, Mike Rabel. I love Mike Vrabel as a coach. I will take Mike Vrabel as the coach of my organization anytime. Um. Two things he did on Sunday that I really disliked, and the first of them was this punt on fourth and two from the Ravens forty in the fourth quarter, because, uh, look the way this game was going, Derrick Henry did not have it going. Uh. This Ravens front absolutely dominated the game. You know, last time they met the season, Brandon Williams is out, Clays Cam was out. Those guys were back. Derek Wolfe was great in this game. Pernell McPhee and Matt Judean were spectacular in this game. They were, uh, just completely controlling the line of scrimmage. But uh, if you are Mike Rabel, you have this high pedigree offense and you need two yards and to put it on your defense and has struggled all year, and it kind of it ended up the way you would think it would end up. The Ravens got the ball back. Uh, they go on a nearly seven minute drive, they kick a field goal to stretch the lead, and that was that was kind of it. I totally agree Gary was a head scratcher of a decision. They only gained twenty five yards of field position from the punts, so you're at a point in the field where there isn't a lot of benefits to punting. Also, you know there was ten minutes left in the game, okay, but you know that the Ravens have the ability to drain the clock when they get the ball back. You know that they are offense that is capable of a lot of run plays that take a lot of time off the clock. So you were somewhat in a crunch and it was a day when you had not scored a lot points. He would score thirteen points in your have ten minutes ago in the fourth quarter, So it seems like you have the opportunity to gain those two yards and that would have been That was a very baffling decision. It was uh, it was hard to figure out. And then obviously they get the ball back one more time. Ryan Tannehill, who had a had a shaky day, which which happens sometimes when they're playing from behind and and they sort of have to change what they do offensively. And Tannehill has again that they had ten fourth quarter comeback opportunities. He delivered in five of them, which is which is all good. But he misses a J Brown down the left sideline uh and and tries to force the throw to uh Calif Raymond, and Raymond ends up getting uh he falls down or gets knocked down, however you want to look at it. He fell down is how I look at it. As he fell down as well. Gary I was surprised to see that this was even a point of contention and the post game, but Rabel really seemed bothered by that. He was really bothered by it, which again it's it's the officiating isn't always great in the NFL, and sometimes you have to blow off some steam and that's whay it goes. I I haven't watched every play and every every interaction in this game, so maybe there is something will come out where I, you know, and kind of say, okay, I guess Rabel had a point. I don't think he had an argument on display. On top of that, they benefited from a pretty blatant offensive pattern interference on their only touchdown of the game, which which is which is fine? I mean, you know, it's it's a physical game. They let Aja Brown get away with a little bit of push off. It happens, it's it's not shocking. But then you had a tickie tack offensive past interference called that took away a Raven's fourth down conversion. I thought the Titans, and again we'll see what all the interactions were and and maybe some things were missed just watching the broadcast, but I thought the Titans got the better side of the officiate. I thought they absolutely benefited from the officiating in this game. So to get upset about this where your quarterback makes quite frankly, just a really poor decision and forces to throw up the scene that is probably not going to get completed anyway, maybe you say, okay, it shouldn't have been ended in an an interception, but it was not going to be a good play for the Titans. I don't know, it just seemed really petty and uh and disappointing to hear him sort of railing on the officiating of all things, uh in this game. Yeah, absolutely, Yeah, the A. J. Brown touchdown, he clearly extended his left arm, so a flag was warranted. But okay, so if you're not going to call that play, then it makes sense you're not going to call whatever rebel thought might have happened on the Marcus Peters Khalif Raymand interaction. Yeah, and even that, I mean, I still just don't think even if you're calling it tight, I just don't think it was anything that would resemble the penalty on that. And I feel the name sometimes just what are it's It's an emotional game. You get, you get fired up. I'm sure he didn't like the the Ravens stopping on their painted grass after they had yelled at each other about the Titans stopping on the Ravens painted grass earlier this season. And uh, that's just that's just the way it goes. It's an unlikely rivalry, it is. It's pretty cool though, And uh, if you are one twelve years old. Like I am, you remember very well these old you know, Steelers Oilers and then Steelers Titans type rivalry games, and so it's nice, too nice to get the Titans sort of involved in this. And uh, they're they're sort of a faux a f C South team as far as I am concerned, they belong in the a f C North, and they they should have these games with with these a f C North teams all the time. That's totally fair. Uh, as far as the Ravens go, they go to Buffalo Saturday night in what is just going to be a mind blowing performance, and because we're also amped up for it will probably disappoint. It will be like a six to three game or something like that. Uh. This Lamar Jackson versus Josh Allen they played last year. Uh, Lamar Jackson obviously was in the midst of an MVP season. Josh Allen was not quite at the level he's at now. But see these two young quarterbacks go at it will be uh just just kind of wonderful. But uh, let's let's let's go back to this past Saturday night with the Bucks taking on the football team in Washington and the Bucks do win this game. Uh. The The big thing for the Bucks and this one was the offensive line held up really well. And you look at what they did to finish the season. It was good. But it was also against a lot of teams that don't have a pass rush. Washington has a pass rush. Uh and look Tampa, Tampa held up. They gave up a couple of pressures, a couple of sacks after Alex Cappa, the right guard went down and uh Ted Larson, kind of a veteran but kind of a limited veteran, went in there and and couldn't quite hold his own. So, yeah, that's a little bit problematic. But overall they won the battle of trenches in this one. Yeah. I was watching that for most of the game, expecting that to be the most intriguing thing that came out of this game. Taylor Heinegi, which will get to in the second was an unexpected surprise, but Brady was clean for most of the game. He referenced the three sacks, but other than that, he didn't have a lot of pressure. He had plenty of time to execute. I believe one of the sacks came on uh play six seconds into after the snaps, so that wasn't on the offensive line, UM. And I was watching some of the ways that they were mitigating that Washington front and watching Donovan Smith versus Chase Young was was really interesting. And basically Smith did whatever he could to impede Young's path to the quarterback, and a lot of times that kind of involved pushing him wide and long so that he was going past Brady and it would just be a longer route to get to the spot, and by that time Brady would have gotten the ball out. So I think the books are in a really good position moving forward, and to your earlier point about how they'll match up against the stats front, um, but they have a lot of UM. You know, this was a very affirming game in terms of how they can handle their strong front and that has always been the key to any quarterbacks performance. But Brady's you know, will he have time, will there be pressure up the middle, can you get to him or not? Um? That was obviously the storyline and the Super Bowls that he's lost. So UM, I think that was a really encouraging performance for the Bucks and an indication that, you know, this could be a team that could go a long way. I will say, you know, the the there were some other parts of the performance that were less encouraging, however, and the fact that it was such a tight game against the Washington team that uh, you know, we didn't think would contend at all. I know Taylor Heineke, so I don't know where Taylor heneck he was all year. Um. Part of this is and and and we all got a little bit carried away because they their quarterback play has just been unacceptably bad all year, and and they've been running out three guys who just you know, Alexman is a great story, Kyle Allen, a nice sort of guy to have around since you know the system, Dwayne Haskins and we kind of know what what went down there. But uh, none of those three guys played a level of quarterbacking that uh belongs in the NFL. And I'm not quite sure how else to to put it, but Taylor Honeke goes out there, and all of a sudden, you have a guy making plays with his legs but also just getting the ball downfield like the the intermediate deep, intermediate levels in a way that they just haven't done. I mean that Terry McLaurin is on this team, and I feel like people forget that because he just doesn't get used in the way that he should be used. And you know, Cam sims is making the plaze downfield. It just looked like an NFL passing game for quite frankly, probably the only time all season. Yeah, I mean you would see him have plays third down plays and he would convert the down and that was kind of unheard of for this Washington offense. Right if they got into a bad situation, it just seemed like there was you know, they got behind the sticks, it seemed like there was no way out, and Heineke figured out ways to keep the ball moving. And I mean, clearly his his touchdown dive was the most thrilling play, but there were a lot of other smaller plays, you know, twenty four yard passed and in eighteen yard passed, keeping drives alive u both with his legs and with his arm that were pretty impressive. I mean, I don't know what they do at quarterback. They have to address it in one way or another. I don't think Tyler Heineke is the guy who they're counting on to be their starter Week one next year. But I absolutely he's earned a right to be on that roster next year. I would not be bothered if you know that they sort of treated him as a bridge guy depending on who they bring in. Let's say they go get Trey Lance or someone like that, the North Dakota State guy who might need a little bit of seasoning. Uh, it wouldn't bother me at all. Of Taylor Heineck was the guy they went to for the first month or so of the season. But he I think he just show that he is going to be in the NFL, even if it has a backup and there's nothing wrong with that. But um, he can go out there and and and just have an offense function as it's supposed to function. Yeah, and there's probably some takeaway here about how messed up the NFL's developmental channels are for quarterbacks. That is why there had been a push in recent years for leagues spring leagues like the a F and the XFL. Heineke was part of the XFL. He was a backup. He he didn't get off the bench, so, um, it wasn't like he put a lot on film there. But that was his employer at the start of this year. And uh, it's just kind of a wild turn to think that you have this quarterback who was signed to Washington's practice squad in December, who could make a playoff game against Tom Brady interesting and you just wonder how many players would have the skill sets that have just fallen through the cracks over the years. Yeah, and uh, I mean, we don't have to rehash tom Brady's origin story. Tom Brady was a six round pick who might have never gotten on the field for New England if if Drew led, Zoe does not get hurt. So it's it's been a it's been an ongoing thing for decades now. And uh, people are trying to find solutions, but they're they're maybe not quite there yet. Uh. As far as Washington goes, yes, they you know, they'll they'll address the quarterback position in some form this offseason. Obviously they feel good about what they do defensively. And as for the Bucks, they go on to New Orleans, uh for round three. And again, I think in the only person in the world who can say I I really like Donovan Smith. I think there are people who like Donovan Smith. I really like Donovan Smith. I appreciate the fact that he's sort of been the left tackle and been asked to single block in so many different variations of an offense that just asked the quarterback to hold on the ball for so long. Uh. He just he's not in a scheme that does a left tackle any favors, and he's sort of just held on as a quality player for a while. He was really good in this game on Saturday Night. I don't know what happens when they play the Saints. Uh they just Trey Hendrickson turns into Reggie White and uh, Cam Jordan just completely dominates. And Uh, I don't know. I I worry for them going into next week's matchup because it's just the way it goes. Yeah. I believe Ali mar Pet was out for the last Saints matchup. Is that correct, Gary? Yeah? That that Sunday night game in Tampa. Yeah. So, and he's been a great part. I actually voted him All Pro. Um. He been And I think the fact that the line and the offense struggled more in the games the handful of games he did miss this season reinforced what he brings to that line. So um, that will be one potential difference in the playoff matchup. Mid afternoon Saturday, we have the Rams going up to Seattle another Round three match up. Here, the Rams get this one. They they sort of just had the Seahawks number for the most part of the last couple of years. And and look, this was the defense was was absolutely dominant. Uh, even after losing Aaron Donald for the fourth quarter of this game, they just stayed dominant. They completely just had a beat on what the Seahawks wanted to do offensively. And uh, I mean, my goodness, Brent Staley is very firmly in head coaching conversations because of performances like this from his unit. Yeah, and really that was good coaching scouting by Sean McVeigh to bring Staley to his staff, you know, make the defensive coordinator change, brings Staley to his staff. He obviously recognized that he had the ability to lead a defense like this and there was a little bit of a jump there, you know, in his career path. Um, And I think that's what you see, that's what makes staff successful. I was thinking about, you know, some of the offensive coordinators that Mike Rabel has had. You know, he had Matt Lafleur. Now he is Arthur Smith, and it's being able to identify a coach perhaps on the other side of the ball from what you coach, that will be able to lead that unit well. And Brandon Staley has has really done an amazing job. They're they're obviously well coached. No better example of that than the Darius Williams interception that led to the pick six. Um was all films study. It was all anticipating, knowing exactly what was going to happen on the play and being in position to snatch the ball away. Boy, that was breathtaking. There really was. It was. There are very few things you see during an NFL game that are maybe once or twice a season where you're legitimately shocked and you've just never seen that scenario before, and uh, that was that was one of them. Yeah, it's uh as far as this defense goes again and and people will say nice things about Brandon Salley for a long time, so we don't need to go too deep into it. But uh, they came into the season and you looked at this defense on paper and he said, wow, this is you know, they have Aaron Donald, they have Jalen Ramsey, but that might be kind of it, Like there's just not Uh, you know, John Johnson is a really good player. Uh. Taylor Rapp, who who's out right now, is a nice piece on the back end too. But it was just kind of like, you know, do they have enough outside of those two guys and the fact that just guys like Darius Williams um they just sort of fill out the roger and they trusted these guys to be taught properly and to be coached up. And it's it's happened and and that's why you see them able to do what they're what they're doing again, even after losing Aaron Donald in this game. Uh, lots of lots lots more injuries on the RAM side. John Walford leaves this game the first quarter and Jared Goff has to come out and play through the thumb injury. And it wasn't it wasn't very pretty, wasn't very good overall. But you know, you sort of give him the credit for playing through the recently cut up thumb here and uh, he certainly golf did enough in this game. Yeah, And to be honest, I thought he deserved a little bit more praise on the broadcast for playing through And I mean they had that zoomed in shot where you could see that the thumb was not normal. One of his his left thumb was able to point straight up and the right thumb was kind of in this feeble like position. Um, it's really remarkable that he was able to come into the game and he you know, McVeigh didn't believe that he was healthy enough to start, but yet he plays all enough for the Rams to win against the Seahawks in Seattle. Yeah, and he uh looked, he stood in. He took some hits. Uh. And again, I I don't like giving just tough guy points for the sake of giving tough guy points, but uh, he gets some tough guy points for this game because he took some hits and you could sort of see him trying to protect that thumb on the way down when we got knocked down a couple of times. And uh, I don't know the fact that they tried to sneak for the game clinching uh first down there on on a fourth and inches. I don't know how I feel about it. I don't think it was particularly wise to do that, but uh, I kind of kind of shows that I guess there's some confidence in it going forward. Yeah. And one thing I was thinking of after the game you mentioned the other week Gary that when the Rams lost to the Seahawks. I think you mentioned, well, it doesn't really matter. I mean, as long as you get in the playoffs, seating this year isn't quite as important. All the one team gets a buy in each conference and home field advantage hasn't been a thing this season. Road teams won more often than home teams and won't be as huge a factor in the postseason. Um. And that was kind of the Rams mindset going in that it didn't matter that they lost Seattle in Week sixteen and thus lost the lost the division title. Um, whatever, We're on equal footing here, We're going into Seattle. We can enter season now. And that was clearly a motivating force that they felt like the Seahawks really celebrated that win and winning the division and their point was ultimately didn't really matter, and they came in and got their vengeance when it did really matter. Yep, we had a road teams had a winning record during the regular season. They also won four of the six games in wild card weekends. So, um, we're seeing it that there's not in the home field advantage that there used to be, although perhaps there is when you go up to lambeau Field and and the conditions are a little bit different. Is where the Rams are going Saturday afternoon, Uh, Andrew Worth was back in the lineup and for the Seahawks game, Cooper Cup left with neber sitis at the very end, sort of a non contact injury. Uh, I'm not quite sure what his status is going to be, So lots of lots of questions here. By the way, nieber sitis is sort of a classic Madden injury friendly who played that game in the the mid offs or so, a lot of guys leaving games with ber sitis. But yeah, Whitworth, back, Cup, Donald and Golf and Wallford all various varying degrees of question marks as they get ready for the Packers here. Um, and as far as the Seahawks go again, just sort of a weird season offensively. It was let Russ cook early on, and then they backed off of that when there was just a rash of turnovers that came mid season, and it's sort of tried to turn back to defense and ball control and play action off of that, and it just never really, it never really felt right all season for Seattle. Yeah, and they haven't. I don't know, they have a lot of questions now to answer in the off season. Two. I mean, I think these are both difficult off seasons for the Seahawks and the Steelers. And you look back at Seattle's recent history and they haven't made it past the divisional round since they won the Super Bowl. They've either lost on wild card weekend or lost in the divisional round. So, uh, it has our excuse me, sorry, since their last super Bowl appearance. Yes, they won the Super Bowl and they went to the Super Bowl the next year lost the Patriots. But since then they haven't made it past the divisional round. Yeah, and look at the last four years or only postseason win was over the Josh McCown Eagles in Philadelphia last year, so, uh, they have some things to figure out. We'll see. The defense was better down the stretch. Do you have something there? You gotta figure out something different to do with Jamal Adams and asking him to cover all these slot receivers all year because that was a that was not working, including in this game. Uh. And let's uh, let's finish our trip, uh back to the past or whatever we're doing here but the first game of wild Card Weekend Bills Colts, which was a real good one. And and look at if you've listened to the show for years, you know how I feel about the Bills, and and and the entire region of western New York. Uh. So please don't take this to personally, but the Colts outplayed the Bills in this game. And I think they outplayed them pretty thoroughly. The Bills just didn't bring their a game to this one. The Colts did. Uh. And just a number of moments, every one of those moments that sort of decide games, those like eight to ten plays, they all just none of them broke the Colts way. Yeah, that's a great way to describe it. And Frank Rick got a lot of criticism for decisions that I think we're defensible. Um. And I think ultimately the Colts really hung in the game with a very talented Bills team, um, until they didn't anymore. It was so the Colts end up no turnovers, only two penalties in this game. Uh. They outgained the Bills by seventy five yards. They go nine for seventeen on third down. Uh. This came down to red zone efficiency. Uh. The Bills had two red zone trips, they scored fourteen points. The Colts had five red zone trips, they scored sixteen points. Uh. The Colts rookie kicker doinks a thirty three yard attempt. Tyler Bass nails his fifty four yard attempt. I mean, there are just a number of things. And you know, Gabriel Davis on on a on a fantastic nineties six yard touchdown drive at the end of the first half, and in the final minute forty six, Uh, Gabriel Davis makes two catches on the sideline, which, depending on how they ruled on the field, that's how it was gonna stand up. They were just too close to say yes or no and overturn it on on the replay. So, uh, just those little things just sort of all went against the Colts in this one. And uh again, Bills get playing credit big time goal line stand at the end of the first half to set up that nineties yard touchdown run. Mario Addison made a great play on third and goal from the one to force Jonathan Taylor uh further outside ends up being a three yard loss when when Davis White cleans it up. But as far as that play call went and and this is why I would defend Frank right on going for it on fourth and goal from the four. He's thinking, not only can we get seven ins out of three, which obviously always factors in, but he's thinking, if we kick the field goal, we're settling for three. We're also giving the Bills twenty yards of field position for their drive at the end of the first half, and they had three time out so left, they had plenty of time, so that all factored into it. And obviously it just it didn't. It didn't work. He didn't they didn't get the touchdown, and then even worse, they give the nineties six yard touchdown drive even though at one point they did have the Bills stall and Camiko Turay just uh boy, that jumping off sides on that fourth and three was something to behold. And if you saw the the cults, Unfortunately for or to Rae, it was the camera angle had the Colt sideline in this game, and you could see how the Colt sideline reacted to uh their guide jumping off sides when the Bills were clearly only out there to dry and draw an off side penalty. That was one of those moments where you're like, did that really just happen? Man? But I mean you said no. You you see all these like drawing them off side side of things, and it's always so annoying because you have to sit there. It's like, Okay, they're just trying to draw off side, So now we're gonna sit here for twenty seconds while they do that, and then they're gonna call time out and that'll be it. And it's such a waste of everyone's time and to see someone actually it just embolded every team to start doing that for another like decade. Now. Yeah, And I'm with you, Gary. I understood Reich's decision to go for it. It's pretty remarkable that the Bills then went six yards to score. So because they failed in the fourth down attempt and because the Bills marched yards, it looked at as a bad decision, But at the time when he made the call, I could totally see why he did, and I think the reasoning was correct. I mean, I had no problem with any of Reich's game management situations, except for he had a terrible challenge where they ended up throwing away a time out in the fourth quarter. I don't know why he challenged the Zack Moss non fumble, which was clearly correctly ruled on the field, and they just threw away a time out, which obviously they ended up very much needing down the stretch because then they you could have you know, used the entire field, called the time out and set up for a potential game tying field goal. Um, as far as Josh Allen goes and and we I mean, look that that was the story going to the game, Josh Allen and just his uh, just tremendous finish of the season. Uh, in light of kind of what happened last year in Houston in the wild Car Round, where uh it was something of a mini melt down in the second half of that game. He kind of wondered, Okay, how is he going to respond on the stage this year? Kind of kind of very lamarish earntive going on maybe cooking with Alan if it had been more than one playoff game. But uh, he was good in this one. Maybe not as dominant as he had been. I thought he looked a little less decisive. I think that had a lot to do with the Colts did defensively a lotted Skies coverages. I thought the Colts went in with an absolutely perfect game plan for this one on both sides of the ball. Frank Reich, you know some of these over routes that sort of exploited the Bills zone rules defensively. We're just absolutely perfect, I thought. I thought, I think the culture a quality team that maximized their chances to win this game, and just they needed to catch just one break, just one out of like eight chances to get a break. They need to get one, and they just didn't get it. Yeah, that the margin was so thin in this game against the Bills team that had been so hot to close the regular season, I think was an impressive performance by the Colts. You wouldn't look at these two teams, and I mean, the Bills were clearly the better team, right. The fact that the Colts played them tight all the way until the end and had, you know, a chance to win the game, um, I think was was impressive. And I think because the breaks didn't go their way shouldn't take away from the fact that they went in with a really smart game plan. They played the Bills really tough, and a better Bills team just one. Yeah. The Frank Wright I thought was I thought he and his staff did as good as job as anyone did. Uh this wild card weekend here, and that includes even the Rams guys. Uh. Yeah, the Bills knocked down the hail Mary to win it in this one. I don't know how everyone felt out in that area of the country, but I imagine how it might have been when Philip Rivers launched that ball in light of the end of their last loss. But it probably felt really good when they saw the ball was going to come five yards short of the goal line. Yeah, and that was also, you know, raises the questions about where they going to put Brisette in to throw the hail Mary. And now you wonder what's next for Philip Rivers. He is unsure if this was his last season. Um, And so the Colts also have some interesting offseason questions. Now we'll see if Carson Wentz actually becomes available, they would presumably be in on that market. I don't know if they necessarily can draft a guy at this point, but uh, decisions coming out for a cold team that has a pretty good infrastructure on defense. Uh, I'm sure they would be okay with Philip Rivers coming back. That worked out relatively well, well enough better than I expected. To be honest, I wasn't sure, you know, I didn't. I didn't know that it was the answer. The Colt season exceeded my expectations. I I I thought maybe Philip Rivers was you know, he was going to play behind a better offensive line in Indie, but I didn't know if that would be enough. Um and and it was. I mean, they had a strong season. It was an impressive run. It's a good spot for him. So if he does continue playing that is that seems like what he needs, which is quite frankly, to be protected very very well. And I'm not sure there are a lot of teams out there that can that can do that for him. All right, Jenny, we have lots to talk about all week on the Week's Side podcast. Albert Breer will have his his show. It's called the Albert Brier Show, So it's it's very easy to fine if you if you want to find it, but if you don't already go ahead and subscribe to the Week's Side podcast. Jenny Connor will will have plenty more on wild Card weekend. I'm sure Connor has lots to crow about as far as the Cleveland Browns go. Lots of discuss can't wait for that conversation. The MMQB Monday Morning NFL podcast is Jenny Brentis and me Gary Gramling. We are produced by Shelby Royson, s Ey's executive producer of podcast, Scott Brody. Ben Eagle is director of Editorial Projects and product Mark Ravick is Emeritus editor of The MQB and Even Know It is the founder of the m m QB NFL podcast. Be sure to subscribe to this feed, as well as the feeds for the weeks side podcast on The Albert Breer Show. 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