Thats a Wrap for NFL Regular Season: Week 18 and More Recap

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey everybody, this is Rome. Fun pod. Today we recap week 18 in the NFL and also the whole NFL season. 2024 is in the books. It's a wrap, man. Week 18 could have been bad. A lot of bad matchups, a lot of weird funky lines. We had some, some tough times talking about that in the previous pod on our weekly Thursday nights Thursday line special. But the guys did okay. About 500. I killed it. I killed it, man. I couldn't believe it. And I also had like this five team parlay that actually hit just cause I took the money lines on everything like that. It was just the spreads were too much. Didn't trust it and thank God I did because I did pretty well. So you know, now we know who's in the playoffs. The positioning, seating, however you want to call it. My Steelers putting up a stinker to end the season on a four game losing streak. I'm not happy at all. Not happy. How come we couldn't use fields? Seemed like the last game was perfect to bring in fields. Kind of change things up. Steers are so much more open to that. And then, I don't know man, it's just, it's just going to make me want to start drinking again. But I am doing dry January, just dry roses, Saumol blancs, Sancerre's dry champagne, dry cocktails. So many Gronis, Boulevardier. I don't know if I'll go crazy like that trying to start off the year slow. So with the whole recap of week 18 and the whole year, we talk about biggest wins, going to the playoffs, the off season, some things that could be happening. We're expecting a little bit more firings for a Monday. Black Monday did not happen. I didn't think it would either, but I didn't think like it was crickets basically. Mayo got fired seconds after their game ended. Guys couldn't even make it to the locker room in time before they announced that one already pre written out. That was kind of shady the way they did that. My opinion, we'll see how the rest goes. I'm expecting more dominoes to fall as the week goes. And in case you guys are curious on how our praises and picks developed over the year or over the course of the season. I kind of sprinkled some of that in too. So pretty happy with our breakdown, our predictions with how the NFL season would go. We had some wild card cards in there, even hedged some of our bets. It was on the money, more or less. So excited for what the postseason brings. We're going to break that down later in the week. But in the meantime, full recap of week 18, the NFL season 2024 and we kind of end the show with some award talk. Mvp, Defensive Player of the year, Offense Coach of the Year. Who's the comeback player of the year? Aaron suggested Joe Burrows here. He won it before. You know, it's a weird year for some of these things. Feel like we were so on the discussion for who's the best quarterback now. You know, Allen or Lamar, who's the best team? Lions, Eagles. Was the Steelers in that conversation for like two weeks in the middle of the year. So fun pod. Don't go anywhere. Sources from the SOFA Podcast End of the year recap right here, right now. Don't go anywhere Foreign the NFL season, regular season in the books. Week 18 did not disappoint. We expect a lot of disappointment, but it did not disappoint. The morning games were actually a lot of fun. Sunday night game kicked ass. No Monday night game obviously. So we have a lot to talk about. Who made the playoffs, all the, all the positioning, some big wins, little recap of what happened and then also we'll review some of our preseason predictions. Sounds like a lot of fun. So week 18 from our picks. I had a great week man. 13 3. I can't believe it. Five of those games though, to be fair were like my stay away like or like money line parlay ones. I wish I did a like real money on that because I've never done like a five game parlay and that would have been epic. But you know it is what it is. Teams that needed a tank for better draft positioning like the Pats, just couldn't do it. They couldn't do what they did all year long for one more game. And the playoff teams, ironically the playoff teams that needed the tank or that wanted to take they tank successfully. So the good teams they know when the tank and how to tank and bad teams, they don't know how to tank. Like that kind of fits the mold, right? I think Aaron, you text us like man these teams like are not following the script and I mentioned something like that. Name the Easter egg Bunny, man. They're not going to lay eggs just, just because the Titans did, man. [00:05:11] Speaker B: Smart move. [00:05:12] Speaker A: Titans. Yeah man. Number one pick, Levis. Is he done now? Backup time? More than likely. I don't know how you guys want to review this though. I kind of got a few, I got the games broken down in, in a few sections. Big wins heading to the playoffs, big wins to build for next year and then feel good wins. I think if we want, let's just start for the feel good wins, you know and then we'll talk more about the playoff stuff later on. If you guys want. [00:05:46] Speaker B: Go for it. [00:05:47] Speaker A: Sure. Yeah. [00:05:47] Speaker C: Yep. [00:05:48] Speaker A: Jets over the Dolphins was a fun game. I'm actually glad I watched part of the game. Especially when Rogers got the 500th touchdown. It was special. His teammates were, were rah rah around him. I thought it was, it was a nice gesture and it, it was pretty cool. He ended up getting three more touchdowns in that game. So four total. Put a nice, a revenge ass kicking on the Dolphins to end the year with five wins. Very disappointing. But at least Rogers looked great. Statistically he was great the last what, 10, 11 games of the season and who knows what happens next. They still have a lot of talent there. Does Roger stay, Does Rogers go? Obviously there's like a lot of things leading that he's bounces. Same thing with Adams. Devonte Adams. And then the other feel good win was the Bengals over the Steelers. I did not like this game. I did not like it. It was just, it was just frustrating and I think I tweeted out on X like this. It felt like a good time to, you know, first I thought the play calling has been not as good the last several weeks, especially on this four game losing streak. And whereas on that winning streak they were mixing in fields and open up the playbook. Pickens has not looked the same since he got injured. But I feel like this was a good time to bring in fields and they didn't. And Russell had another not so great game. Looks like he kind of hit a wall. The offense staggered. They lost 1917, but they covered two and a half points. Man, that was like a big win for us. So Bengals though, Joe Burrow if they make the playoffs, definitely in that MVP conversation. But there's like a lot of sentiment that they keep the, their, their big three going. The Bengals down the playoffs, but they led the league in passing yards, receiving yards and sacks. I did not, I did not know about the sacks until yesterday. Led the league with 17 and a half plus the other guys camera the name off the top of my head. But he led the league with 17 and a half sacks. But feel good wins. Aaron, I know you mentioned off the air that you would also put Arizona in it and go ahead and tell us why. [00:08:00] Speaker B: Why not, man? I mean you get a win, divisional rival 49ers sweep them. When's the last time Arizona swept the 49ers in a single season and you get the eight wins, man, eight wins. Something to build on that. Kyler Murray, Harrison Jr. They had it going, so they got something to build on. I know they've talked about hanging out all off season and getting on the same page. So those two are going to look to do some big things next year. And it'll be year three for Arizona. Right? I mean, I think year one, Gannon had those guys win four or five games. Now they win eight. The next steps to win a division and get to the playoffs. So for Arizona, this is a good, feel good story. Murray gets to play the whole season. Harrison Jr. Got it going, got it going late. McBride, top tight end in the league now. Let's get some improvements. Big one for Arizona, in my opinion. [00:08:50] Speaker A: I like their coach. I like, I like the hire when they brought him in, kind of goofy guy. But like the hot and cold games from Kyler Murray, four touchdowns killed it, absolutely killed it. But they go on a nice note. [00:09:03] Speaker C: Yeah, good win. As Aaron said for Gannon in his second gear, he's making the progression, steps. Expectation will be definitely playoffs in the division title next year. But it's a, it's a team on the upswing versus a Niners team which had a hugely disappointing year. It's. In NFL terms, the Niners are an aging team. Are they past their, their playoff, you know, window or championship window right now? Because you know we're gonna have to make decision Debo and you know, other things that are going to be contract time. You have to pay Purdy down the road in the next year to, you know, what's that going to look like and impact the rest of the cap situation to afford some of the skill players that have made Purdy look so great. On the Cardinals though, they got a young team in a lot of areas. You know, a huge year for James Conner, you know, for at a running back position. And they really money didn't, didn't even utilize a draft pick much. They had in Trey Benson throughout the year, which, you know, that's, it was a pretty, you know, good depth running back and he didn't really get a lot of carries because how much, how good Connor was. So yeah, upswing year for the Cardinals, it's a division that's probably winnable. Next year you got a Rams team that's, you know, they're in the playoffs but, you know, they had some shakiness throughout the year and there's a little, a little bit in rebuilding mode. So it's up for the grabs. I agree with Aaron. That's a good way to end out their season and, you know, develop more in the off season between Harrison and Murray and some other young pieces are going to be coming up. [00:10:24] Speaker A: Where do you guys put the Seahawks when they, they beat the Rams? 30, 25, they got 10 wins. I mean the Bengals are the only winning teams to not be in the playoffs this year. And I had a pretty interesting stat here. The last time a 101 team did not make the playoffs was the 2020 Miami Dolphins and before that was almost a decade ago, the 2015 New York Jets. Like there's been like crazy gaps and we're definitely in one one of those but very rare to have a team win 10 games and not be in the playoffs. [00:11:00] Speaker C: Yeah, but we talked about it last week, the imbalance between the top of the league and bottom of the league. You had two 14 wins teams, you know, in a showdown on Sunday night and then you got, that was great. And you got 10 teams that are like had three or four wins. Like it was just. You're either really good this year or these teams are really bad. And so when you, when you have that many bad teams, all these wins that are out there for, you know, the Seahawks or the Bengals and stuff like that, that 1, 8, 9, 10 games, you know, a lot of difference. And then now in a 17 game season, 10 wins just, you know, is it a half a game less than it would have been a 16 game season? When you're a 10 and 16 versus a 10 and 7 team. It used to be 9 and 7. You're on the bubble. 10 wins, maybe that 10 and 7, maybe like the 9 and 7 in the 16 game schedule right now. So I mean it was still a solid season for the Seahawks. I think they probably got the right coach in there. Gino Smith, you know, had a great last game versus the Rams here. I just don't know if that's a. Geno's the super bowl winning quarterback for them in that team. Is he a team that's always, he's the quarterback that's always going to keep this team in a conversation for the division title, but not necessarily be the guy that's going to take them to the Super Bowl. [00:12:11] Speaker A: So we'll sprinkle in some of these predictions as we go along, I think. How's that? [00:12:15] Speaker B: Yeah, well, touching base on Seattle, I mean for Gino, great last game. I mean he cashed in a $6 million bonus so that was really good for him. Had one of his best years, stats wise. But you mentioned Seattle. They just fired their offensive coordinator one year in, so he's out. So they're making a move there. They could never get the run game going. Inconsistent. And you know, Jason had mentioned Seattle. Seattle went 7 and 1 on the road this year, guys. But 3 and 6 at home. And you talk about the two teams, Rome, Cincinnati and Seattle. What do they both have in common? A lot of big home losses. [00:12:54] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:12:54] Speaker B: So really nobody to blame but themselves. I mean, if you told me Seattle is going to go seven and one on the road, that's divisional. That's divisional winning record. [00:13:02] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:13:02] Speaker B: But then three and six with losses to the Giants at home. So, yeah, Seattle, I think they got the right coach. Gino, is he the answer? Probably not. I know he's looking for kind of a new contract, but if he's worth the 25, 35 million, he's solid. He does make a lot of turnovers. He's, he's like Sam Darnold est, You know, he'll have some games where he'll go on a roll for a month and then three games where you're just like shaking your head like, this isn't the guy. Seattle, where they're at, who knows where they're going to be able to draft. Where they got Sam Howells, the backup. He didn't look good when he came in in that game against Green Bay. So for the off season for Seattle, offensive line issues, can they get the run game going? Who's going to be the new offensive coordinator? And is Geno the future of that team? [00:13:48] Speaker A: Nice. So on our preseason predictions, Seattle says seven and a half wins. Me and you and Aaron, we had them as a wild card, so we just missed out on that one. I think that's okay. But we did both have them over on the wins we predicted they would have 10. That's crazy. That's good. Jason was, I believe, the only one that had the Rams over eight and a half. And so that was a great pick over that. He had him at nine wins. And then a few of us picked the 49ers. Aaron, you're the only one to say the 49ers would win under 11 games. So those are, I think, I think. [00:14:29] Speaker B: I hit that before Thanksgiving. Man. Should have brought that up. [00:14:31] Speaker A: And then you should have, man. Ironically, man. So I, I, I forgot where I saw this from, but the Bengals and, and the Pats, right? That Week 1 win for the Pats, Week 1 loss for the Bengals screwed both their seasons over. Pat's gonna have the number one seed, and Bengals could be in the playoffs right now. [00:14:55] Speaker B: Well, it's funny. The Pats won their first and last game of the season. [00:14:59] Speaker A: Yeah. And so to the middle. Next category. Big wins to build for next year. Panthers over the Falcons. Young looked really, really good. I loved it. Penning look great too, you know, but got to give it to Young. What a turnaround this year, 2024. I'm feeling pretty confident about him taking another step next year. I think Panthers have a lot of things to look forward to. They loaded up with talent this year. It didn't click immediately. They look like. Let's just be honest. They look like maybe like, the worst team in the NFL for, like, the first half. It was them or the Giants or the Raiders. You know, you could have picked either one. Second half, I know they had a not so great record. Jason pointed out the last podcast when I was, like, re editing that thing, because I was saying 1 and 6. 1 and 6. 1, 6. [00:15:48] Speaker B: All right. [00:15:49] Speaker A: All right. But nonetheless, though, like, they looked way better competitive, and it was really fun and exciting. Great win, man. It was a shootout. And I think we. We believe that that was not gonna be the case. The other one. Bears versus the Packers. Big win. They have not beat the packers in how long, Jason? [00:16:10] Speaker C: It was like, five years, and they. [00:16:12] Speaker A: Have not won in Lambeau in how long, Jason? [00:16:15] Speaker C: That. I don't even know. It's been a long time. We might have been in college. I don't know. [00:16:22] Speaker A: It's a long time, dude. It was like 10 or so years, I think. [00:16:26] Speaker C: I'm pretty sure I remember the game. I can't remember the year. There was. There was. There was a season that Julius Peppers took out Aaron Rodgers early in the first quarter. [00:16:33] Speaker A: I was a big Peppers fan, dude. [00:16:34] Speaker C: It was probably that. It was probably that game. [00:16:38] Speaker A: Very big win. It was like almost a. A replay. Deja vu. What happened in the first game, except. And to the Bears, just terrible clock management. That's just been like, their Achilles heel all year round. But they spiked it just in time. [00:16:53] Speaker B: I finally got it right. The clock management. [00:16:57] Speaker C: No, no, no. I'll defend the various areas. You said terrible clock management. [00:17:01] Speaker B: If. [00:17:02] Speaker C: If you redo the Eberfoos play on Thanksgiving Day, they did the opposite. They called the timeout early, you know, and then got everybody set and did, you know, set it all up and used it correctly in this order. So they. They just. It was. It was just a bad turnover by DJ Moore there in the last two minutes of the game. Allow that. I was like, I thought the game was on ice. You know, Willis was in. The packers were kind of just like, man, we got Love hurt. It's over. And then the Bears, I'm like, oh my God, they're just going to give this game away. Like they're just, they're going to win this game and they're just going to just give it to them on a bad turnover. But I think Caleb is. His highlights of the year have been, you know, this game in the fourth quarter, the drive in those three consecutive division games the Bears lost, but he was driving them down the field. You know, the go ahead score in that, that commander's game when it's mattered the most. Caleb's put together some game, you know, some almost game winning drives that the team's eventually blown, but this one came through. I thought that kick was getting blocked though, man. The packers had one guy break through on there. It was like, it's gonna get blocked. [00:18:06] Speaker A: It was nice. The shitty part though, like this goes against like our argument. I really want to say Quan to play, but then you have the packers on the other side. Everyone played. Love gets hurt. We'll see how his wrist looks in the playoffs. And they lose. Watson out for the rest of the season. Big loss. Taurus, acl. [00:18:23] Speaker C: So yeah, I mean the packers still had something to play for. You know, there was some seating on the line. I don't, I don't blame lafleur or any of those guys playing them. But at a certain point though, once, once Love got banged up, it's like, okay, we got him out. Yeah, you got to pull them out. And I, I, I agree with that. So it was interesting. I think it was something to build on for the Bears. I had people texting me like, ah, you're gonna get a worse draft position. Like I don't care about the draft position at this point. It was, it was between like the 8th and the 10th pick or whatever the heck they're at now. I'd rather take the win over the Packers. Something positive for the team, especially like Caleb Williams and Roma Dunes. Like they had, they had a great connection on the sideline for a, like a tiptoe catch that Adunze got. It was a big win for Thomas Brown. He's probably out the door, but it was his only win as the interim head coach. It was cool in the post game interview, like those guys like really rallied around him. They liked him. Yeah, I think they liked him and know that there's going to be a change But I think he was a, he was a guy that the players liked. It just didn't work out. It was, it was a bad hand he was dealt and, but yeah, definitely buying him. But it was, it was a good win, I think something to build on. I've said that, I've said that in years past. Now we'll, I don't want to talk about the head coaching crap now, but like we're gonna, you know that that'll be what decides the off season is who the heck they hire. So. [00:19:38] Speaker A: It was really good. I forgot I was gonna mention. Damn it. Let's visit that division real quick. So Jason, you had the Bears, obviously over eight and a half wins. Aaron, so did you. I was the only one to go under. You guys did claim the NFC north, the best division. I wrote that down in quotation marks and then Jason, quotation marks. [00:20:05] Speaker B: That's a fact. [00:20:06] Speaker A: Jason had the packers as a wild card. And Aaron, you had the Bears as a wild card and the Lions as a wild card. And I had the Lions winning the division. Lions were over under 10 and a half, packers nine and a half, Vikings six and a half. So wild, wild division. [00:20:32] Speaker C: Any other most part. I'll say the most part. Aaron and I were right about the Lions and Packers. We were wrong on the Vikings and Bears. It was just the inverse between those two teams. [00:20:41] Speaker B: We were right about three teams getting the playoffs in that division too. So like I said, where we were wrong is very minimal. Very minimal. Most of it is right, is that we were wrong. We were wrong bad. Oh, but everything else was pretty right on. [00:20:54] Speaker A: So is that stat true that the Pack and the Bears have the same division record? [00:21:01] Speaker C: Yes. [00:21:02] Speaker A: One in five. [00:21:03] Speaker C: One in five. [00:21:04] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:21:06] Speaker A: You still feel good about the pack? [00:21:08] Speaker B: Me? Yeah, I do. I'm not going to reveal my pick for that game till later, pod. But I still feel very good about the Packers. [00:21:17] Speaker A: One in five in your own division. I don't know. I wouldn't feel too good. [00:21:20] Speaker B: Well, you got to consider you got a 15 win and a 14 win team. [00:21:23] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't make the rules, but. [00:21:27] Speaker B: They lost by combined with maybe 10 points in three of those games. [00:21:33] Speaker A: So is there anybody else you guys would put in like the big wins get heading into the next year? I really couldn't find anything else out. [00:21:41] Speaker B: Like just trying to build momentum. [00:21:43] Speaker A: Yeah, playoffs. [00:21:46] Speaker C: I go back to your Panthers game a little bit just to talk about that because. [00:21:48] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, let's do it. [00:21:50] Speaker C: You know, I, I, the last three games that Bryce Young played and I Was I was giving you a hard time of what they had, you know, win loss record. But I think last three games versus Arizona, Tampa Bay, Atlanta. You know, Bryce Young threw seven touchdowns, no interceptions in those three games. And so I think if you're looking at you get the win in this last game, you know, actually won two out of three to end the season between the Arizona and Atlanta game in overtime. Bryce Young played great turnover free football in that game for what he's done. So you know what he's done so far. I think that's something positive for a team that was really bad last year, looked bad at the start of this year. You know, was able to bench Bryce, get Annie Darling some starts, have Bryce look on had to come back in, build some confidence. I think that's something for them to look forward to, whether the, the win, I guess is something. But I think overall they know what they got embrace now. Okay? Now it's up to the team to be adding something in the offseason to give him more weapons. And they got a young, a lot of young players around him because they traded pretty much all of any of the vets they had offensively kind of at the trade deadline that like, I can't remember, they were playing like three rookie wide receivers at one point. So they got a young core that they're building around is next year. You know, a year that, hey, we're just going to take a step. You know, we only won five games this year. Are we talking them kind of like the Cardinals next year? You know, this year where they, hey, maybe they're. They're an 8 and N team. The Panthers are next year and they're going to take that step. But I think it's something to build on going the offseason. I like what you said about them earlier, Rob. [00:23:22] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree, man. I mean, Bryce Young compared to where he was week 18 to where he was week two against the Chargers when they got shot out 260 and he got benched after that game, he's playing with a lot more confidence. And to Jason seven, seven touchdowns, no picks, last three games. Ironically beating two potential playoff teams in Arizona and Atlanta and finishing them off. I know Tampa won and would have eliminated Atlanta regardless, but Arizona was still in the mix until they lost that game in overtime to the Panthers. I think the key for Carolina going forward, they got to get some playmakers. Adam Thielen was really good for them, but they got a run game going and I like their coach, he's young. Roll for your Series guys, again, you got an owner that could be reckless, can get a little crazy. Will he be patient? Will he be patient? [00:24:08] Speaker A: I hope so. With this one. I hope so. [00:24:09] Speaker B: I hope so, too. Young Rice, and for Dave Canelis, I hope he stays the course, lets these guys play it out and lets them have three or four years together. And let's see what Carolina can become because I believe potentially, if they get the right players there, the way Young's progressed, this could be a playoff team. [00:24:25] Speaker A: Yeah. I would go as far as, like, I'm gonna put them at eight wins next year. We'll see what happens. [00:24:33] Speaker B: Did you have their over and under for this year? It's probably five and a half, right? Was it five and a half? [00:24:38] Speaker A: So it was five and a half? [00:24:39] Speaker B: Yeah, that's what I assumed it would be. [00:24:41] Speaker A: For some reason. I didn't put any notes for this. [00:24:43] Speaker B: I'm assuming we all went under five and a half. [00:24:45] Speaker A: I did have the Bucks winning division. You guys had the Falcons. Jason was a push on the nine and a half for the wins. For the Falcons. [00:24:58] Speaker C: It'S hard to push nine and a half. [00:25:00] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. I believe the total was eight and a half for the. For the Bucks. Because I remember we were. [00:25:08] Speaker A: Bucks was seven and a half. [00:25:09] Speaker B: Yeah. Remember I told you that was a lock of the year when we were driving home from Vegas, when people were talking about Tampa sucking. [00:25:14] Speaker A: We were talking about. Yeah, but then you went different when we did the pod. [00:25:17] Speaker B: Yeah, Well, I didn't say that we're gonna win it. Division. [00:25:19] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:25:19] Speaker B: I said they would go over seven and a half. I believe I might have had Tampa as a wild card team. I don't remember, but I think I had him as a 9 and 8 team. [00:25:26] Speaker A: I think we talked about it off there, but not on the pod. Yeah, but I can't blame you for not going against the Bucks. Any other teams that you would put in there going to next year. Momentum, something to build off of. [00:25:40] Speaker C: I think that's it for the teams out of the playoffs at this point. [00:25:43] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:25:43] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, yeah, for the teams out of the playoffs. I guess you could throw the Colts in there if you want. Maybe. Maybe Shane Steichen saved his job of that win. Rumors. Rumors that he was on the hot seat. But Jim Ursula came out and said they're all safe. But they did get rid of Gus Bradley later this evening. A lot of people safe for now. For now. We'll see what happens with that Raiders position here. [00:26:09] Speaker A: I think that. I think the Giants keeping their GM was The biggest shocker to me, we. [00:26:15] Speaker B: Could say the same about Jacksonville. [00:26:18] Speaker A: Yeah, I guess so. So big wins for teams going to the playoffs. I got Texans over the tie ins. I know you guys said it wasn't a big deal because they had their positioning already locked in. I just thought they haven't played very well on the tail end of the season. I feel like they really needed that win. That's why I was kind of going for them over the tight ends, and I thought they probably feel better about themselves now. Commanders over the Cowboys. How many? They just did what the commanders do this year. You know, come back from behind. That was really fun. Lions over the Vikings. The game was tight in the first half or going, you know, towards. Towards the end of the second. And then Gibbs scored, what, four touchdowns? [00:27:03] Speaker C: Yep. [00:27:04] Speaker A: Ass whooping. Great game. Game plan from the D coordinator on the Lions. I just thought, like, maybe it was just, you know, just a bad game from the Vikings. I'm not gonna punish them too much on that one. Donald didn't look great, but he's been good all season long, so it is what it is. Ravens demolishing the Browns. Just. Just putting the final touches on, like, a really great season. Lamar being the first quarterback to get, what, 4,000 yards, 900 rushing, 40 TDs, passing. Really impressive. Hell of a lot better than his last year when he won mvp. I can't remember who else had, like, a crazy staff from that game from the Ravens, but just putting the exclamation point of, like, them having, like, a really solid team. [00:27:51] Speaker C: Yeah, it was. It was a great slate of Saturday football for your AFC north overall. Romano, you briefly talked about that Bengals Steelers game. I think you're trying to just. Just go over it, but it was ugly. It was ugly. But, yeah, going back to the Ravens, I mean, we knew. We knew they're going to win the game. It was just by how much, I think was my first pick of the week. Give me the. Give me the 20 points. They're gonna. They're gonna cover, and they did. Yeah. Lamar really making that case, like you said, for the MVP here on the last point of the season. They were a team early on in the year, you know, schedule. When you look at that, you know, first couple weeks of the season, they're 0 and 2. That loss to the Raiders in Week 2 really was like, man, what's up with this team? I know. I. I'm pretty sure I picked them to win the division. If I remember correctly. On your stuff. [00:28:37] Speaker B: Yeah, Ravens. Yeah, the Ravens. [00:28:39] Speaker C: You can Check me on that, Rome. But I just, I just really love that organization and what they do year on, year out, the consistency of excellence and how they, you know, just build the defense and build, you know, the offensive tools around Lamar. And at 02 it was really looking shaky and then they just went on that run, you know, had a few loss, you know, kind of a bad, you know, tough loss. Wasn't bad, just a tough loss of the Steelers in midseason. Thought they were getting their momentum and they, they just finished strong and you know, they didn't take anything for granted down the stretch. You know, really taking it to Houston, you know, really take it to your Steelers a couple of weeks prior and then do what they need to do against the Browns and Clinton Division. So you know, I, I love this, love them in the playoffs. It's going to be super tight. You probably have a three way race between the Ravens, the Bills and the Chiefs from the AFC perspective. And I think this was a good win for them going into the playoffs. But going back to the Lions game, you know, that was, that was the heavyweight matchup of the night. And probably, and really in really the day, the second half maybe didn't live up to, you know, what the hype was there. But the first half was like, man, these are two high scoring offenses. Rome, you probably took the over in this game. You know what things were going to go over. I mean we thought it was gonna be a ton of offense and they locked down early. And I bring this up because you mentioned the defense for, for, for me I've been saying the downfall the Lions, all these injuries, the defense of defensive defense. Well, the defense showed up in the first half and they're like cool, we're taking out Jefferson, we're taking out Addison. You're not going to be able to run the ball here like we are. We are locked down with our second and third string. Aaron Glenn, defensive coordinator, he was putting his best audition to be a head coach in this game because he's like I'm, I'm gonna pull the fourth and fifth string guys. I think the, on the broadcast Collinsworth and Tariko were talking like oh, he was loving it. Oh yeah. Well they were talking like ah, Aaron Glenn called up all his home of his old cornerback friends like Dion and stuff to see if they'll come and play for him right now for this game because they're so deep into the depth chart at a certain point. But I, I as good as the offense and I'm you know, highlighting Ben Johnson all the time. The real star of that game was, you know, what Aaron Glenn was able to do with this Lions defense. And now like, hey, they are for real going in the playoffs. The NFC runs through Detroit and I was. I think it was a huge statement win for. For them because they even to the three NFC north playoff teams, they're like, we are the team of the nfc nar. We own it. And I really shout out to the Lions for that performance because it was. [00:31:05] Speaker A: Impressive to that postgame speech from Dave Campbell, man, gave me the chills. I loved everything of it. He's a great coach. [00:31:11] Speaker C: Who's Dave Campbell? [00:31:12] Speaker A: Dan Campbell. [00:31:17] Speaker C: Dave Campbell. Dave Campbell. Is he the guy like the Wendy's guy? Is that Dave? [00:31:21] Speaker A: I was actually thinking about Wendy's. Oh, my God. It's a water. [00:31:27] Speaker B: Yeah, man. Touch on the Lions, man. I mean, big, big get. Getting them getting back. Angelone, that was huge at linebacker. Best linebacker can play coverage one on one against the tight end. And that was big. Having him back was the lift they needed. Without him there, I don't think Aaron Gillen would have been able to do what he was able to do. Look at Minnesota. Didn't scheme up that game very good. Probably thought they could just beat these guys one on one. They didn't. They didn't run the ball enough. They ran it okay. Could have ran it more. If they do meet in the playoffs, I believe Minnesota will have a better game plan for him and give them a better offensive showing. Touching on Baltimore and Lamar, did he wrap up the mvp? That's the question. You know, he played. Josh Allen didn't. His stats are better than last year. Obviously The Ravens aren't the 1 seed and didn't win 14 games, but like Jason hinted on, they started 02. They've been rolling. They're the hottest team going into the postseason, probably outside of Detroit. So in Derrick Henry, what do you have? 1800 yards rushing. Everybody gave up on this guy. $8 million. $8 million. You're paying this guy half a million dollars a game to do what he's doing? Yeah, Baltimore, they look scary. And another big win you didn't touch on. But the Chargers, The Chargers winning to avoiding Baltimore in round one. That's huge. You drop. You drop the Steelers on the Ravens. Russell Wilson, you mentioned Rome. Like they keep taking a step back. This seems to be pretty typical for Tomlin teams once they got nine wins. [00:32:56] Speaker A: When they quit on the season. I'm sick of it. Sick of it. Right? For a change. [00:33:00] Speaker B: I mean, I. I saw the Worst wide receiver performance I've seen from a wide receiver this year. I mean that was, that was terrible. [00:33:07] Speaker A: Embarrassing. [00:33:08] Speaker B: Four drops, one catch, zero yards. [00:33:11] Speaker A: You lost a yard actually. [00:33:13] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [00:33:13] Speaker A: 900 coming to the game. [00:33:15] Speaker B: I think you're probably, that's probably the next topic. Most disappointing teams. Stillers definitely should be on that list going forward. [00:33:21] Speaker A: I didn't make that list, but we could definitely do that because there's definitely some disappointed teams this year. [00:33:25] Speaker C: Well, if we're talking about the Steelers right now though, because the one thing I was going to bring up when you brought up the Bengals win in that game and where the Steelers have been trending offensively early in the season, you brought up Fields and what they were able to do with the running game. [00:33:38] Speaker B: Active. [00:33:40] Speaker C: I don't even know because I know. [00:33:41] Speaker B: He was active, non active the game before. So I don't even know he was active and able to play. I don't, I don't remember him saying anything. [00:33:47] Speaker C: Regardless, I think the thing you want to talk about early in the season when they were winning these games, the ball control they were doing offensively and the offensive line, moving the defense and them having a three headed monster in the running game. But in this game versus the Bengals at a 1917 game, you only give Najee Harris 12 carries. You only give Jalen Warren six carries. So you're giving Russell Wilson 31 attempts right now and you had some success mid season when you installed Russ, it was like, hey, we're gonna, we're gonna stretch the field, we're gonna throw the deep ball. Like we gave them a lot of praise for that because it was an element. The Steelers hadn't seen the offense but at the same time I think they were able to stretch the field because you had all this great running games that teams were preparing for, but now you're just going away from it. You know, you can't move the ball. And I think that really have hurt the Steelers down the stretch on X. [00:34:36] Speaker A: I did I just pull up my, my tweet. I was just mentioning like the Russell advantage with him and his moon balls was gone once Pickens got hurt and he wasn't really as mobile in the pocket either. And so why not bring out fields and kind of open that up a little bit. [00:34:52] Speaker B: But right now I think the Steelers, their problem is they don't have any confidence in any of their quarterbacks. They're playing not to lose rather than going out and attacking win. I mean Russell Wilson back in week 13 threw for over 400 yards and they scored 45 points on this defense. [00:35:08] Speaker A: That's what's even more impressive. [00:35:09] Speaker B: Now granted, Cincinnati's played better defensively and gotten a lot more turnovers, but to Jason mentioned 18 carries between their two running backs. Harris did get banged up and get evaluated for concussion, so that might have to do something with the carries being limited for him. But they didn't open it up till late in the game. They got a touchdown and then they got stopped on their fourth down and since he took over and you know, basically needed out to finish that game off. [00:35:35] Speaker C: So you brought up quarterback. One thing we talked about, the jets earlier looked like Aaron Rodgers his last game. I believe I heard it, I heard it this weekend. I thought initially when Rogers left the packers that the Steelers were the best fit at that time. Is Aaron Roger is the Steelers the destination for Aaron Rodgers this off season? [00:35:57] Speaker A: He can't move. [00:35:59] Speaker B: I believe it is. Tomlin loves Rogers. He doesn't have two quarterbacks he has confidence in and Rogers going to come in on a discount. I, I, I would bring him in for a look if I'm Pittsburgh for sure. [00:36:12] Speaker C: Because you're probably getting a two for one. [00:36:13] Speaker B: You get devonte too. [00:36:14] Speaker C: You're a Devonte. [00:36:15] Speaker B: And they wanted to trade for devonte as well with Rogers in. [00:36:21] Speaker A: Yeah. That's kind of funny, guys. [00:36:22] Speaker B: I was thinking the same thing today. So, I mean, me and Jason on the same wavelength here, by the way. [00:36:28] Speaker A: Aaron. Oh no. You guys had the Steelers under eight and a half wins. I mentioned they would have the best defense in the NFL. That came true for about five games and then it disappeared. I think. Aaron, you had the Bengals winning the division. [00:36:41] Speaker B: Yes, I did. [00:36:42] Speaker A: You had Ravens as a wild card. Jason had the Ravens winning it with the Bengals as the wild card. Crazy. Totally forgot what we're talking about. So we talked about Ravens, Lions, we got commanders and Texans disappointing teams. [00:36:58] Speaker B: You want to talk about your disappointing teams or what? [00:37:01] Speaker A: I didn't make a category. But you know, Steelers, they haven't looked the same since they won that ninth game. Ninth, tenth game. It's been the pattern now for I think like the last two Roethlisberger years and ever since then and it seems like he's just burnt out. I don't know, maybe I'm starting to believe all that social media stuff. Saw a lot of memes, a lot of stuff going around about Tomlin, how he looks on the sidelines, dejected. Maybe he needs a new change of scenery. I don't know. I, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to think. Disappointing though. [00:37:37] Speaker B: I think he needs a quarterback and be excited about. [00:37:39] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:37:40] Speaker B: And I think Jason hinted at a guy just a few minutes ago. [00:37:43] Speaker A: I think we did. Yeah. Other disappointed teams though, I don't, I don't know. There's a lot of disappointment. But I think it's not just. [00:37:52] Speaker C: It's not disappointment because they won and beat the Titans. But if you're looking at the Texans right now having to play the Chargers, it was great for the Chargers and I think this Texas team has not looked great all season. Stroud's definitely had a bit of the sophomore slump and I think disappointment going to the playoffs is this team's right for a first round exit against the Chargers and them kind of searching for some answers in the off season. So I don't know if it fits the category of what we're talking about right now because they just beat a lowly Titans team. But the Texans haven't been it all year, especially down these last couple weeks down the stretch when it kind of mattered the most. And this was a team that Aaron, I think believe picked to go to the super bowl at a certain point. And they, the step that they were supposed to take, they. They mostly look like they have regressed this year. [00:38:38] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean Texans, we'll see what happens with them playoffs. I mean Dolphins, they've got to be a disappointment. I mean, I know Tua got hurt, but me and Jason, as you mentioned off the air Rome, we had them pick to win the division and do some big things. So that was a disappointment. That's another destination that I believe. You know, if it needs a quarterback or somebody to back up to if he wants to be a backup quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, I think he can still play pretty well in that system. [00:39:08] Speaker C: Well, it's interesting more with the Dolphins too, that Tyreek's basically saying I'm out. So he's done. [00:39:16] Speaker A: He's still two years left, I think in his contract. [00:39:18] Speaker C: Yeah. But he's, he's given the. I think he posted a picture of Antonio Brown on his Instagram today or something like that. [00:39:24] Speaker B: So running, running out. Running out of MetLife Stadium or what? [00:39:28] Speaker C: Yeah, I think it was that picture. So for a T, for a team that the hopes were high, what McDaniel able to do what this offense looked like last year, you know, this was a team that was. Was investing to be in the super bowl and be a Super bowl contender and own that division. I think that's what Aaron and I were so high in them is like, hey, offensively they got to figure it out. And defensively, they had some. Some moves to make. But overall, the offense is what let them down. They had no backup plan that was great behind Tua for a quarterback that had the concussion history and everything to go around with it. So once he went down, the offense wasn't the same. When he came back, it was kind of too little, too late. And now if you're saying I'm losing Tyreek, what's the identity of this offense with Miami, you know, going forward? And is it already kind of on the downslope for McDaniel here? Because the question end of the year, if we talk to the AFC east picks, we're. I was definitely wrong. And Aaron was wrong, too, was the Bills, because I think we both had him on the outside looking in Rome. I'm guessing you had the Bills winning the division by your manners there. [00:40:34] Speaker A: You guys talked me out of it. I was really pissed off. I remember the way after week I was like you guys, because I had. [00:40:40] Speaker C: A winning that you could say that's where we were wrong. Yeah, we owned up to that very early in the season because that first month really played out where they. Yeah, they. Josh Allen was not missing Stefon Diggs. It didn't matter who they were around him. He was proving that he's going to make the players better around him. And that was the prove it aspect of Josh Allen. Now, I think you're just all in how whatever you surround Josh Allen with, he's going to make the most out of it and this is going to be his run. But now. Okay, cool. He's going to own the division. Now, going back to the Dolphins, what is their path going forward? Because the Bills are going to own the division. I guess they're only saving graces. The Patriots are terrible and they're in the mix of a rebuild that's going to take a little time. And the jets were supposed to be super bowl contenders and now they got to kind of blow this thing up there, too. So that the only saving grace for the Dolphins is they have, you know, other teams in their division have more as much or more drama as they do, but it's very disappointing for the Dolphins because you don't know what direction they're going to take. [00:41:33] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, the whole Tyreek Hill thing with Miami, I. I get him out of town, get some draft picks, get some capital. I don't think Miami's far away. I mean, defensively, we came in with a lot of questions. I Thought that was the strength of their team. They hired, you know, they hired a new coach from Baltimore. He brought in that basic, that raven scheme that's been so great for the last 20 years. And that worked out. They got some players there. They still got waddle. They got a nice wide receiver in Washington, the tight ends. But again, the quarterback situation, like, are you going to put all your eggs in a basket on Tua? Are you going to go out and get a backup quarterback? Because they, they just didn't have that. I mean, like Jason said, when Tua came back, they won some games. They beat the Rams in LA on a Monday night, already beaten the jets, played the Bills tough a couple times. But you know, Tuas, you know, like we've said, he's, he's one hit away from being in the retirement home. So, yeah, that with that they need to bring in a backup quarterback and, you know, Tyreek Hill doesn't want to be there. That's fine. You always want guys that want to be there. He's got two years left on his contract, but you can still get some players for him. Whether it's a second and a third, whatever is. Yeah, definitely. [00:42:47] Speaker A: What do you think if he ends up with the Carolina Panthers? [00:42:54] Speaker C: I don't know if that's the, the person you put in a lot. So light. [00:43:01] Speaker A: I mean, it's, it's somebody like that. [00:43:04] Speaker C: Yeah, someone like that. But I, I. With a young team like that, I don't know if they're away. Yeah, no. [00:43:10] Speaker A: Yeah. So disappointing teams. Dolphins, jets, jets especially, man. So I had the jets as a wild card, but I think I end up switching them to winning the division. Do you guys remember what you guys had? [00:43:24] Speaker C: The jets as we had them in the wild card. I think you already said this, right? [00:43:29] Speaker A: No, I know. [00:43:33] Speaker B: I mean, we had the, we had the jets making the playoffs. I had the Jeffs getting to the AFC Championship game and getting beat by Houston. I know that for a fact. [00:43:41] Speaker A: Jason had the. Well, let me go backtrack, Aaron. You had Texans versus the jets in the AFC championship. [00:43:51] Speaker B: Yes. [00:43:53] Speaker A: And then Jason, you're right. You had him a wild card. You had the Dolphins winning the division and possible super bowl run. That was your prediction. [00:44:01] Speaker C: Possible? I'm pretty sure I had the Ravens and Chiefs in the championship. [00:44:05] Speaker A: You did, yeah. With the Chiefs winning. Cool. Other. I think besides the Bengals, That's Bengals and Colts. For the rest of the afc, those are like the most disappointing teams. Colts should have been a playoff team. [00:44:20] Speaker B: I think, I think another disappointment. I'm Just going to throw it out there. The Falcons, given how big of a divisional lead they had to blow that and see Kirk Cousins dwindle like he did. Shocking. Shocking. Given where they were, I believe Atlanta probably had like an 80, 90 chance to make the playoffs and win. That's, that's why I was happy that. [00:44:39] Speaker A: The Panthers won the last game. Just, you know, it didn't provide any hope. Just put the nail in the coffin. It was really beautiful. [00:44:46] Speaker B: Well, just a bright spot. Pinnock's junior was the right pick for them and he's sure he's going to be a nice little addition for them going forward. [00:44:53] Speaker A: People ridiculed them for drafting a quarterback at that position, but now that we know everything that's happened after the fact, you know, the medical reports coming out. [00:45:03] Speaker B: Stuff like that, I mean, let's put it this way. Pinnocks would be a top 10 pick again in this upcoming draft. Probably top five. [00:45:08] Speaker A: So yeah, they, I was gonna say. [00:45:10] Speaker C: He might be the best quarterback if he was coming out this year. [00:45:12] Speaker A: They hedge the bets very well. So props to them. Man. I'm excited for Pennix next year. I, I thought they have a lot to look forward to next year. We'll see how he, how he does. [00:45:22] Speaker C: Speaking of that, Aaron, there's a lot, I mean we talked about Pennix there for a second, but a lot of rumors this week that the Vikings are going to have to extend Darnold and are they going to make JJ McCarthy available? Because basically he is probably the best prospect. He could be basically the number one overall pick in the draft if he was coming out this year. [00:45:42] Speaker A: That's what they said. Yeah. [00:45:43] Speaker C: Do they make him available for a draft haul right now to one of these teams that isn't in love with, you know, Shadura Sanders or some of these other guys in this round? [00:45:52] Speaker B: I think. Well, I think we're going to judge Darnold off what he does these last two games against the packers and obviously the Lions and the playoffs. What I saw, I'm franchise tagging Darnold and I'm keeping J.J. i don't think Darnold's a long term answer, especially the struggles there. And if he struggles again here in the playoffs, you can't Invest, you know, 200 million in them. [00:46:14] Speaker A: I think he's a starting quarterback but JJ is also one of the collegiate level. He's pretty solid, was a hardball guy. I think that kind of translates to NFL pretty well. So yeah, I like JJ as well, but they could probably. What do you think they can get for him. [00:46:33] Speaker C: Yeah, three, four first rounds just depends on. I mean you could look at, you could be looking at what the. The Bears hall for Bryce Young. That was basically a pick swap and another, another first and a second and like if then there's an impact player. But I agree with Aaron, I just brought it up but I agree with Aaron. You keep them. Especially what Darnold looked like last night in prime time for the world to see even though he's had a great year. But he's going to be judged on these moments coming up. And if you could have the two quarterbacks and use what Aaron's Green Bay packers have done as a model, you don't need to rush this decision. You know, if you have a capable backup that's under a rookie deal right now, you can play this out for a few years and get JJ McCarthy ready for when he eventually takes over. [00:47:19] Speaker B: Well yeah, I mean that and JJ's been hurt the whole year so he's not practicing, he's not getting any reps. So to me if you're Minnesota, we talked about it before the season even started. They hadn't announced who the quarterback was going to be. And then JJ gets the meniscus tear and is out for the season. And Darnold just, you know, skyrocketed. Had a great year but really struggled. You know he missed Justin Jefferson for quite a few open passes and couple touchdowns last night. Again he's going to be judged by what he does in the playoffs. If he happens to make a deep run, maybe you reevaluate it. But to me probably franchise Darnold, that's what going to be 45, $50 million one year deal. Prove it again and then if he does great, maybe the quarterback class the following year is probably not going to be that great. So JJ could be two years there. You could still deal them. People would still be interested because you get years three and four, look at them before you have to extend them on a rookie contract. So they've got options. Minnesota, that's a good thing for them. [00:48:21] Speaker A: Yeah. Other disappointing teams would you guys put the Colts, maybe the Jaguars there. Aaron, you had the Jags as a wild card team. You and Jason actually. [00:48:36] Speaker B: Did I? [00:48:37] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:48:38] Speaker B: Okay. I don't remember about the Jags. [00:48:42] Speaker C: Yeah, I would put the Jags as a disappointment. It's so, it's so hard to remember just early in the season them starting at Owen, Owen 4. At a certain point we were talking about job security for, for Peterson there as they were going into that London trip versus the Bears, whether he was going to come home or not. But I'd say on the upside for the Jags right now, if you're looking into next season, they nailed their first round pick in Brian Thomas. Like, incredible year for him. Trevor Lawrence. I'm still not the biggest believer that, you know, this guy's A top 10 quarterback is for all the hype he got out of college, but I don't think so. Is there, is there a head coaching candidate that's, you know, looking at that and they see something different, you know, irritated me last week. You're talking about Ben Johnson, you know, but honestly, honestly, you're not even wrong. There's local Jacksonville people are talking about and I mentioned the last time that he could be the, that could be the place for him. And he's interested. And you look at, hey, there's a ton of weapons that they have around him, you know, at the skill position, you know, good running backs, you know, great wide receiver that they picked up. And does Trevor Lawrence turn into almost a redemption project that he can get out of? What a Trevor Lawrence that, you know, that he got out of golf. And so there's, there should be some similarity stuff and stuff to like there. So. But I would say it's a disappointing year because you look at Doug Peterson, this guy won a Super bowl for the Eagles that, you know, this, the, the super bowl that they could never win in Philadelphia. And then they'd always like you, you know, you win a Super bowl in Philly, they're going to build a statue on all this stuff. I mean, this guy wins the super bowl. [00:50:11] Speaker A: Gets him out so fast. [00:50:13] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, he was out so fast. Gets this job after Urban Meyer, you know, you know, messed up down there and, and you'd figure this would have been the right fit for him to turn that around. And it, it just, it just didn't. [00:50:25] Speaker A: This year never materialized. [00:50:27] Speaker C: No, it was unfortunate because I, I think Peterson's overall is a pretty good coach, but I mean, something, something internally there where he's now gotten fired from these two places and the guys, he's one of the. I don't know how many active coaches have won Super Bowls right now. There's like four. [00:50:42] Speaker A: He's probably not going to get another coaching job, though. Head coaching for like a little bit. He's. He'll probably. [00:50:48] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, he's probably not getting another head coaching game, but he'll get an OC job for sure. I mean, look, he went 98 his first two years with a playoff appearance and one of the biggest comebacks in playoff history when they came back and beat the Chargers when they were down 27 to zero. And they gave. And they gave a chief. They gave the Chiefs a good matchup during the divisional round when the Chiefs went on to win the super bowl, most definitely. So we expected Jason and I obviously thought they would at least stay 9 and 8, 10 and 7 and take that next step and compete for the division. They didn't. Every time it seemed like Doug Peterson was going to get fired, Rome, he was like number one or two on your hot seat. They'd win a game that they weren't supposed to win. You go, oh, this is what the Jaguars look like. And then they go back to disappointment. Your guy, you love, Mac Jones, you know, he performed, you know, okay. Kept him in games, won a game here and there. But yeah, Trevor Lawrence, I'm not as high on him. I agree with Jason, but he is talented. He's got a decent arm. He's. He's mobile. I believe if they get the right offensive mind a guy in there, he can be kind of a turnaround project like we saw with Sam Darnold. I think he's just as good, if not better than Sam Darnold. And Sam Darnold can win 14 games in this league with the right seat in weapons. Trevor Lawrence, I don't know. Trevor Lawrence is better than Sam Darnold. I take him over him today if you gave me the choice. But yeah, Ben Johnson, like the sources are saying. The sources are out. That's a hot topic right now. You get the running back, Evan Ingram at tight end, Brian Thomas, rookie of the year, wide receiver wise, there's a lot to like there and the young defense, too. [00:52:20] Speaker C: The only thing about the Jags, I'll tell you, is overall ownership with them too. You know, Shad Khan, who's on this team for a while, you know, he. They were all in with Urban Meyer. That was a big mistake. And they made rush. There was a. There was something recently I read on X a couple hours ago. I don't know. He was. Shad Khan was doing an interview with somebody on the interview with the gm, it looks like on the call, Trent Bulkey. Shadcon basically said if they're a prospective coach gave him a reason why that GM should. By. Trent Bulkey shouldn't be there, he would consider still hiring this coach and getting rid of the gm. So that's the guy you're still entrusting to be GM of this Organization. Trent Bulky. Right now, you. I'm willing to get rid of them if. If a head coaching candidate makes, you know, makes a good case for why he. I need to bring in my own guy. [00:53:05] Speaker B: I like that. Does. I like that from an owner that's keeping an open mind, I guess. [00:53:09] Speaker C: But it's like if you're. If you're that iffy on your gm, you don't believe in his vision, cool, Then get rid of the guy now and get the right person that you're looking to do this organization. But, yeah, Rome, you're right. It does sound like the Bears. The best organizations are the one that have that synergy between ownership, general manager, front office and the head coach. And tons of these teams do this in the wrong order and don't have that aligned. And those. That alignment, you know, when it comes to player development, you know, player personnel moves like. And doesn't align with what the coach wants. That's what leads to dysfunction in the organization. And that. That's a question mark to me. [00:53:46] Speaker A: Bears, Jags, Giants, they shall fire their GMS right now. Start fresh. Let's see. AFC South. Did we talk about that yet? Yeah, we did. [00:54:05] Speaker B: We just got off of it. [00:54:06] Speaker A: Yeah. What's left, guys? Should I just review some of the other picks? Do you guys remember who we had in the NFC Championship? [00:54:17] Speaker C: Well, I know I had the 49ers, so. [00:54:20] Speaker A: We all had 49ers. [00:54:22] Speaker B: I don't believe I. I don't think I had the 49ers. [00:54:24] Speaker A: You did. [00:54:25] Speaker B: I'm pretty sure I had Lions versus Packers in the NFC championship game. [00:54:28] Speaker A: Yeah, Packers, 49ers. [00:54:31] Speaker B: I don't remember that. I'm gonna have to go back. [00:54:33] Speaker C: I have. I had lions, 49ers. [00:54:37] Speaker B: I think you have Eagles. Chief. Super Bowl. Jason. [00:54:40] Speaker A: Jason. I had the Eagles against the 49ers. [00:54:42] Speaker C: I had the foot. I had a rematch. [00:54:44] Speaker B: Okay, I remember you had one way for rematch. I didn't remember what year I had. [00:54:48] Speaker A: The lions against the 49ers, with the Lions moving on to the super bowl. And then for the afc. [00:54:59] Speaker B: I know you jumped on the Texas. You put the Texas in the bandwagon room. You jumped on the Juice with me on that one. [00:55:04] Speaker A: Yeah, I remember that one. Yeah. [00:55:08] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:55:09] Speaker A: You had Texans being the Jets, Jason. Chiefs over the Ravens, and for some reason I didn't write this down. Texans. Yeah. Texans being the Ravens. I don't feel good about that pick anymore, man. Jason, do you feel good about your Chiefs still your Chiefs pick? Now's the time for us to make new picks. [00:55:30] Speaker B: Well, I think we should take that for Friday. [00:55:32] Speaker C: Yeah, we have to look ahead to Friday. I mean, they're the number one seed. Everything goes through Arrowhead Had. But I. I think they have two challengers right now with the Ravens and Bills that can. That can theoretically knock them off in the playoffs. And I don't know at this point. Was it a month ago, the Chiefs, just like they hit the. The kicker hits the upright and it still goes in. Everything just seems to go right for this team. I. [00:55:57] Speaker A: That's why I asked to go wrong in the playoffs. [00:55:59] Speaker C: And maybe. Maybe I believe. [00:56:01] Speaker A: We all have to believe. [00:56:03] Speaker C: I'll stick with my pick right now, but we'll. We'll talk about it probably game by game at this point. [00:56:08] Speaker A: Yeah. I don't remember who's. Oh, these are Aaron's picks. You remember who you had? Mvp. [00:56:15] Speaker B: I don't. [00:56:16] Speaker A: Stroud. [00:56:17] Speaker B: Okay. [00:56:19] Speaker A: Rookie of the year, probably. [00:56:22] Speaker B: Caleb. [00:56:22] Speaker A: Yep. Coach of the year. [00:56:25] Speaker B: Coach of the year. [00:56:27] Speaker C: It's got to be your guy from the Colts, probably. [00:56:30] Speaker B: No, that's Rome's guy. It's either D'Amico, Ryan's or probably LaFleur. One of those two. [00:56:37] Speaker A: Yeah. The floor. [00:56:38] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:56:39] Speaker A: Yeah. Jason, I'm still trying to find our picks. I wrote them down somewhere and I can't find them. I'm about to listen to the pot again. [00:56:46] Speaker C: It's all right. We don't need to revisit. [00:56:50] Speaker A: Yeah. I just have errands. I'm like. And then I. And then I scribbled out some other things I can't read. But. Yeah, let's see other divisions that we didn't talk about. You guys had the Chiefs winning the division. [00:57:03] Speaker B: We got every team right. I think in pecking order, we had the order. [00:57:06] Speaker A: Chiefs, Chargers, Raiders, Denver. [00:57:10] Speaker B: I probably had Denver ahead of the Raiders, but possibly. I'm pretty sure I did on that one. [00:57:17] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. [00:57:18] Speaker B: I think they all had Raiders. I'm pretty sure we all had the Raiders last. [00:57:21] Speaker A: You guys had my Steelers last. That AFC North. [00:57:24] Speaker B: Okay. Really? We had Cleveland over them, huh? [00:57:28] Speaker A: Yes. You guys did. Yeah. [00:57:30] Speaker C: I think we did that just to troll him. I don't think that was what we really believed. [00:57:33] Speaker B: I think we did that for weeks 14 through 18 is what we meant. [00:57:40] Speaker C: I don't even. I don't even think the Browns beat the Steelers in 14 through 18. [00:57:45] Speaker B: They did win a game, right? [00:57:47] Speaker C: I think they beat the Steelers. [00:57:48] Speaker B: Yeah. That Thursday night in the snow. So there you go. That started a losing streak. So. [00:57:54] Speaker A: Yeah. Let's see. NFC East. Jason. You had the Cowboys as a wild card. [00:58:04] Speaker B: I had the Cowboys not making the playoffs. [00:58:07] Speaker A: So did I switch that one? I know that one. [00:58:11] Speaker B: I don't think I had Washington making the playoffs, though. [00:58:13] Speaker A: I had them not making the playoffs, but I still had them over the nine and a half wins. Go figure. [00:58:17] Speaker B: They were nine and a half wins this year. Washington. [00:58:20] Speaker A: Cowboys. [00:58:21] Speaker B: Oh, Cowboys. [00:58:22] Speaker A: Washington was six and a half. [00:58:24] Speaker B: All right. I was gonna say Jason had the. [00:58:26] Speaker A: Eagles winning that division. [00:58:28] Speaker B: I believe we all had the Eagles too. [00:58:34] Speaker A: Like, why are these notes not complete? We're kind of out of the podcast here. I didn't do all my homework. [00:58:43] Speaker B: Yeah, you just did. You just did my notes homework. I got right. [00:58:51] Speaker A: NFC North. We talked about that one already. Yeah. NFC South, NFC West. Yeah, we had the wild card. Jason had the Rams as a wild card. Good call. [00:59:09] Speaker C: At least I got one, right? [00:59:11] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Because we all had the 49ers. Although Aaron had them under 11 wins guaranteed. [00:59:19] Speaker B: He said guarantee there. I'm glad I put the guarantee on that one. Any other guarantees or is that the only one I gave you? I'll take a one to no on guarantees. Can't beat that, man. [00:59:33] Speaker A: You guys both had the Bears over eight and a half wins. [00:59:38] Speaker B: Yeah. Disappointing. [00:59:40] Speaker A: Jason had. [00:59:42] Speaker C: I was looking really good in week seven. [00:59:45] Speaker B: Looking really good. With about like three seconds ago in. [00:59:48] Speaker A: That Washington game, Jason had the Lions winning the division, but Bears second in the pack third. [00:59:54] Speaker B: The pack did finish third. [00:59:56] Speaker A: Aaron had the packers winning the division. [01:00:03] Speaker C: Yes. Packers, Lions, Bears. [01:00:06] Speaker A: Is really interesting here. We did say the Giants had the worst offensive line. Oh, no. Aaron, you said that the Bills missed their window. How good is actually Josh Allen? Oh, it ended up being really good. We all got suckered into the Jets. Ravens have the fourth toughest schedule to begin the season. We did talk about how we were concerned about Lawrence's injuries with the Jags question mark around Richardson. [01:00:46] Speaker B: Well, that got answered. [01:00:48] Speaker A: And we had questions about the new coach and Henry gone with the Titans. We nailed that one. So I had the Chargers in the playoffs. [01:01:01] Speaker B: Was the Chargers over under nine wins? Nine and a half. [01:01:04] Speaker A: Eight and a half. [01:01:05] Speaker B: I believe I had the over. I think we said 9 and 8. I think that's where I thought they would finish about 9 and 8. 10. [01:01:10] Speaker A: Jason was under on that. But yeah, we did have them over Raiders. They were six and a half. [01:01:18] Speaker B: We had to take the under, right? [01:01:20] Speaker A: I hope so. I. I did. I'm pretty sure I didn't write notes on this one either. [01:01:23] Speaker B: I'm pretty sure we had him as like A five win team out of all the predictions. [01:01:27] Speaker C: Them heading Garter Minchu as their starting quarterback. [01:01:30] Speaker A: Last in that division at least. [01:01:32] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:01:34] Speaker A: Chiefs, Denver and then Raiders. I don't know where the charges fit in there. [01:01:42] Speaker B: I'm pretty sure we probably had the Charger if you have the Chargers playoffs and you can have them second. [01:01:47] Speaker A: So I. Chiefs, Chargers, Denver and then Raiders, I believe. [01:01:50] Speaker B: I believe we had that Division 100. Right. And probably the AFC South, I'm probably. Sure. Well, maybe not Jacksonville. [01:01:57] Speaker A: Yeah, the, the Colts and the Jags switched places. So that kind of jacked us up. Some good calls, some misses. But I, I would say overall pretty solid picks throughout the year. [01:02:11] Speaker B: I think the big miss for me, and probably Jason too is on the Bills. That, that, that one really stung because it hit early that it was an obvious mess. [01:02:21] Speaker A: God damn. And that's why I think it was. [01:02:23] Speaker B: Kind of Bengals kind of redeemed us a little bit by bouncing back, but when they were 4 and 8, that wasn't looking very good either. [01:02:29] Speaker A: It was not looking good. [01:02:31] Speaker C: Yeah, I, I own that. On, on the Bills though, I think we owned it. We owned it early and, and it was really a question. What was this? This is the prove it time as a quarterback like we talked about for Josh Allen. And hey, you, you go, you go through that contract cycle and now you got to pay the big contract. You lose some of your weapons. What's generation two around you and can you build new guys? And I, I think that was the. Prove it. [01:02:54] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:02:55] Speaker C: So. [01:02:57] Speaker A: All right, I think that's it for all the games. Right? Week 18, week or year 2024 onto the playoffs. You guys want to talk MVP real quick? Who do you guys got? [01:03:09] Speaker C: Who. [01:03:10] Speaker A: Here's my case for Josh Allen. [01:03:15] Speaker B: Well, you give me a case, but who do you got by giving a case? It makes me seem you're throwing this off and use the scent and you got somebody else as your mvp. [01:03:24] Speaker A: You know, it can go either way. I can see how Lamar deserves it. His. His stats are phenomenal. One of a kind. One of one. This guy's a beast, arms and legs. He does have some weapons around him. I think Henry really changed the game up for the Ravens. Is the second year with their current offensive scheme offensive coordinator and it really shows. They kind of struggle in the middle, but they are rolling on all cylinders now. Really big point differential. Bills 13 and 4, could have been 14 and 3. They laid the A on the last game, resting all their guys. But for Allen to do that with not as much talent around him almost like what? No Pro Bowlers. This guy killed it. Stats are almost comparable. He did it with his legs and his arms. Not as impressive as Lamar Jackson's, but less turnovers overall, took care of the football. I don't know. I'm rooting for Allen, but would not be upset if Lamar wins it again. Deserves it. [01:04:31] Speaker C: Yeah. If you look at the stats, Lamar has more passing yards, more touchdowns, more rushing yards. [01:04:38] Speaker A: Yep. [01:04:38] Speaker C: So statistically, when you're looking at it, it's tough to take it away from Lamar and where they're at. But did the defining kind of moment for Josh Allen in that Patriot. I know the Patriots game, the Chiefs game, where the Chiefs and Bills are kind of like this Patriots Colts rivalry of, you know, of our youth when it was Manning versus Brady every year. And now it's Bills versus Chiefs and it's Josh Allen being playing the Manning character of. I can't get over the hump of the Mahomes like Brady, where he's got to defeat him. And I know they beat him in the regular season before, but it was just such a. Such a performance in that moment. Then you had the other one where he, you know, like, pass it to himself and everything like that and had that game like that. So there was some moments. I know this isn't the Heisman Trophy where generally, like, you need a Heisman moment to win the mvp. I agree with you, Rome. I don't think I'd be surprised if either one of them won. But I think just from a voter standpoint, I think Josh Allen has the edge because he's kind of been the favorite all year. And that's kind of where the chalk's been lying. But I think statistically you probably make the better case that Lamar Jackson should win the mvp. [01:05:51] Speaker B: I think Jason brings up a great point. Josh Allen has those moments, those Heisman quote moments. Right. The passing touchdown to himself, basically. The game against the Rams where he drops 40, then comes back the next week, drops 48 on the Lions. I mean, that looks really impressive given where the Lions are right now. [01:06:12] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:06:13] Speaker B: And Rome, you said it. He had one receiver coming in that had 40 catches or more in the season. Only one on that active roster at the time. A bunch of rookies, a bunch of young guys. You know, James Cook came on the scene, had a great year this year. Kind of started balling out towards the end of last year, but really took it to another level. So if you just kind of look at like those big game moments and those big victories, Josh Allen has More. But it's hard to argue with stats with Lamar. Like, Lamar's stats are just crazy, ridiculous. But this might get to a point where people are like, hey, Look, Lamar's won two MVPs. We expect this. Josh Allen hasn't. Kind of similar to the NBA where it's like, we're just gonna. We're gonna give it to someone else. I gotta. Because it's been. It's a hot topic. You can't go wrong either way. I mean, they did play head to head in the regular season, and Lamar took it to Josh Allen's Buffalo team Early back. [01:07:07] Speaker A: It's early four. [01:07:09] Speaker B: If you were giving me a choice between mvp, if you had to vote. [01:07:13] Speaker A: Today, what would it be? [01:07:17] Speaker B: I'd go with Lamar. [01:07:18] Speaker A: Yeah. To be fair, man, the talent around Allen is really good and they're going to develop really nicely. That second window just opened up. I definitely see them winning a Super bowl sometime in the next five years. [01:07:41] Speaker C: Yeah, the. [01:07:42] Speaker A: I think Lamar has to do it now either this year or next year. Because Lions, I think they're my favorite going in. [01:07:51] Speaker C: I. The only thing with the Lions, Baltimore has earned this particular thing is year over year. They're always in the mix. The Lions are hitting their first championship window in seven years. Yeah, something like that. So, like, this is the team now. You expect Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn to be gone now. Campbell's got to replace those guys. Then, you know, other coaches maybe get poached, other players and kind of rebuild. Why I respect the Ravens so much is they. They always find a way to get their guys a little bit like your Steelers drone. But I think the Ravens just been a little bit more successful recently than the Steelers at that. So I think the windows a little bit more wide open. The Ravens, and you kind of speak to the Bills, feel like they just. They need to get over this hump. They've had it. Had it right there, and it's time for them to do it. Going back to the. Yeah, but going back to the MVP thing, I just want to talk through that real quick. [01:08:54] Speaker A: Stack out here. Jason's a stack guy for next year. [01:08:57] Speaker C: I am. Because when you look at the stats, he's not going to win it. But Joe Burrow, like 4, 900 passing yards, 43 touchdowns and only nine interceptions. The league leader in passing and what he had done. I mean, when you come about value to the team, they're not 9 and 8 without Joe Burrow. Like, this is a team drafting in the top five of the league. If Joe Burrow goes Down, down right now. So when you talk about if you're going to go that, that old argument of Most Outstanding vs Most Valuable Player, man, this team was, this team needed every bit of Joe Burrow to win those nine games. [01:09:36] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean Burrow is going to win comeback player of the year. I believe he qualifies for that award because he missed half it last. I'm not sure I, I believe he does. [01:09:44] Speaker A: You know what I mean? There's like a player. [01:09:46] Speaker B: The only reason why you can't give it to Burrow is you can't say a guy's an MVP if you can't get his team in the playoffs. I mean, unfortunately, like you just. I mean, if you're that great, no matter how, how many hiccups your team has, you still have to muster into the playoffs. So had they gotten to the playoffs, Burrow would have gotten my MVP vote. But since they don't like and he went 02 against Lamar in the regular season. Lamar had big games against him. They both did in those matchups. But they have that one shootout. Was it like 40, 138 early in the year and then another shootout, 35, 34. So yeah. [01:10:23] Speaker A: So Joe Burrow won the comeback player of the year award already. He won it in 2021 because he was ended his rookie year. [01:10:31] Speaker B: Well, who is going to win comeback player of the Year? It's not Rogers. It's not Kirk Cousins. I mean it's not going to be Dobbins with the Chargers though. He had a pretty decent year. It's got to be dog, right? [01:10:45] Speaker A: Well, he missed half the year. They were 9, 8 last year too. [01:10:50] Speaker B: But they, when he got hurt, they were on the road to the playoffs at the time. [01:10:55] Speaker A: Can you win the coming. So I think there should be some rules. I, I was listening to Rosilla's podcast and he said there should be some rules for this comeback player of the Year word. You can't be an MVP player, get hurt and come back and still be an MVP player. And I'm like, that's kind of valid actually because Hamlin, he died, came back to life and got beat by FLACCO because the 40 year old had a couple good games for the Browns, you. [01:11:22] Speaker B: Know, but the thing is Joe didn't even want to win the award. He basically said, don't vote for me. [01:11:29] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:11:32] Speaker B: And Hamlin wasn't even a starter. So that was. [01:11:34] Speaker A: He didn't play. He didn't play this year. [01:11:36] Speaker B: He did play as a starter. [01:11:37] Speaker A: I was impressed. He did really well, at the end. [01:11:40] Speaker C: Of the day, though, who. Who cares about the comeback player of the year? [01:11:43] Speaker B: All right. [01:11:43] Speaker A: I kind of like the board. [01:11:46] Speaker B: It depends if he's on your team, right? I mean, like, if Caleb Williams gets hurt in the off season and doesn't get to play all next year and then comes back his third season and makes the playoffs, Jason's gonna be like, man, I love comeback player of the year. I love this guy. [01:11:59] Speaker A: So hearing other talk shows and stuff, talk about coach of the year, I want you guys to do your pick right now, too, because, Jason, we had a deep conversation about this earlier in the year, and you brought up some. A really good point. And I've been thinking about it for, like, the last few weeks. I was like, oh, we got to talk about this again. Because everyone's like, Campbell has to win. Coach of the year is Campbell or Washington. And you looked up who's one coach of the year. Every single year, it's always a guy that brings a team that was dead and they make it to the playoffs, or at least they're competitive. So is that hardball, right? It's never like the coach that does. I don't know. Campbell has done a hell of a job with. With the lines. Even if they were favorites, they've. They've overcome every injury, every hurdle. 14 and 2 or 14 and 3 is a fit. 15 and 2, 15 and 2. Really impressive, man, with everything that's gone wrong for that team. But do you think we break the cycle this year? Is it Campbell? It's not LA Floor. [01:13:04] Speaker C: I think it's Kevin O'Connell. [01:13:06] Speaker A: Ah, him too. Damn. [01:13:11] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, I don't think it's gonna. [01:13:13] Speaker A: Everyone's falling in love with him recently. [01:13:15] Speaker B: I don't think it's gonna be Dan Campbell because just the success they've had and Ben Johnson getting so much credit, I think that takes away from Dan Campbell. It's unfortunate, but I think people look at the line success and think it's more Ben Johnson than Dan Campbell. [01:13:29] Speaker A: I don't think anyone thinks that. [01:13:31] Speaker B: I. I do. [01:13:32] Speaker A: That's you, man. You think that too, Jason? [01:13:37] Speaker C: Yeah, I do. [01:13:38] Speaker B: Yeah. I think a lot of people in the league do. And I agree with Jason. I think Kevin O'Connell, he's the guy. I mean, Flores, great job of that defense. And Dan. Dan Quinn, either one is one or two in my book. And I think Jason brought this up, like, a month ago when the odds came out. Those were like, one and two. I think Quinn was one and O'Connell was two. I don't know if it's flipped or not, but those are the top two CH choices and then I would probably put Hardball three. I mean what he's done with the Chargers from five wins to 11 wins. Not a lot of talent on offense to get them to a five seed and he's probably gonna finish in the top five. I put him number three. [01:14:14] Speaker C: Yeah. DraftKings has O'Connell minus 750. Dan Campbell plus 400. Those are the two front runners. Dan Quinn's down to plus 4000. Sean Payton plus 2500. [01:14:23] Speaker A: He's doing pretty good here. [01:14:27] Speaker B: Jaden Daniels. That's a wrap or what? [01:14:29] Speaker A: That's a rap dude. Yeah, that's the easiest one. [01:14:33] Speaker B: Who's the defense? Who's the defensive rookie of the year? [01:14:38] Speaker A: Actually I think I. I give Bowers an outside chance of taking it. [01:14:42] Speaker C: Well, he plays offense so that's going to be tough. [01:14:44] Speaker A: No, no, I meant for offense. [01:14:46] Speaker C: Oh I don't think any. Any chance. [01:14:49] Speaker B: No. [01:14:51] Speaker C: The media crown Jaden Daniels early in. [01:14:53] Speaker B: The year he earned it. I'd probably put Bowers, Neighbors, Nicks and Daniels probably in the top four or five guys there. I'm not sure if that's what that is but. And then I throw Brian Thomas in there too. [01:15:07] Speaker C: I'll say not Brian Thomas would be over Neighbors. [01:15:10] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:15:11] Speaker C: Thomas had 1200 yards, neighbors had a 100. [01:15:15] Speaker B: Neighbors had 109 catches missed two games with no no quarterback quarterbacks I guess I mean Brian Thomas and Neighbors you could flip flop I either one of them is fine with me. [01:15:27] Speaker A: Defense don't know man. That's a tough one. Also wasn't keeping track of defense all that close to this year. [01:15:34] Speaker C: Well it was a. Remember this draft it was all offensive players like for the first like 16 picks or something like that. [01:15:40] Speaker A: Heavily offense. [01:15:42] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm trying to remember who was the NFL who's a defensive rookie of the year who are the odds? [01:15:49] Speaker C: Jared Verse. [01:15:50] Speaker B: Yeah. With the Rams. Fisk had a better year than him though. [01:15:54] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:15:58] Speaker B: What are the other. [01:15:59] Speaker C: Mitchell is another one I've seen on there. [01:16:06] Speaker A: We haven't really talked about all that much this year. [01:16:10] Speaker C: Well it was a heavy offensive draft so I don't. I don't. You were. I think this is where all with so many quarterbacks, wide receivers everything taken. [01:16:24] Speaker B: Yeah Verse looks like the favored surprised he'd win it but yeah that's the way it's. It's looking. [01:16:41] Speaker A: Yeah Mitchell's been really good. [01:16:45] Speaker B: Now does they do I think the NFL does They do like I know they have mvp, but they do like Offensive Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year awards. Separate. [01:16:56] Speaker A: Yes. [01:16:57] Speaker B: So I, I believe Burrow is probably going to win Offensive Player of the Year, even though he's not going to win the mvp. [01:17:02] Speaker A: Yeah, I think that's fair. Or does Lamar clean sweep it? [01:17:10] Speaker B: No, I don't. It's not gonna be a clean sweep. So I think Offensive Player of the Year, given stats that Jason mentioned, Burrow was going to win that, and then somebody else will win comeback Player of the Year, Maybe Dobbins, like you said, since he was out the whole year. [01:17:25] Speaker A: How about Defensive Player of the Year? [01:17:31] Speaker C: I don't know. [01:17:34] Speaker A: I'm kind of embarrassed because usually defense like my strong pursuit and. [01:17:37] Speaker C: Yeah, well, your guy, your guy TJ Watt might be up there. Pat your tan may be up there. [01:17:42] Speaker B: Miles Garrett, potentially your guy Hendrix with the Bengals. He said 17 and a half sacks. He's got to be up there. There was a few defensive backs of eight, nine interceptions. They're probably going to be up there. [01:17:55] Speaker A: Who's that guy on the Eagles that they switched over? He's up there. I'm just trying to blank right now. Well, let's see. [01:18:09] Speaker B: Let's see what the odds are. [01:18:12] Speaker A: This sounds like our hockey segment. [01:18:14] Speaker C: Yep. [01:18:18] Speaker B: Well. [01:18:23] Speaker A: Apologies. [01:18:24] Speaker B: No, I mean, it's just all talk right now. So it looks like, Looks like Sir Tan's the favorite. [01:18:32] Speaker A: Yeah. Is there any other award that we should talk about? [01:18:39] Speaker B: I think we're good on that. [01:18:40] Speaker A: I think we're good. Yeah. A lot of dead air time here. [01:18:45] Speaker B: Any coaches you expect to get fired that haven't already? [01:18:50] Speaker A: I, I, I figured we weren't going to hear from a lot of teams, especially when they changed the rules for, like, interviews and all that stuff. And I was kind of iffy about, like, what, The Colts, the Giants. [01:19:00] Speaker C: You had, like, nine guys getting fired. [01:19:03] Speaker A: Yeah, but, you know, the Colts one was iffy. The Giants was iffy. I said the Raiders would probably, like, there's a good chance they might keep their guy. It looks like that's still in the, in the running right now. [01:19:13] Speaker B: Sounds 50, 50 from what I'm hearing. [01:19:15] Speaker A: You know, and then I got, I got, I kind of got stuck on some message boards last night. Fell asleep, like, at, like, half asleep. And. Yeah, it seems like everyone's also, like, they don't know what's happening with the Raiders. And I was kind of surprised, though, of how quick they fired Mayo, though that was. They knew they were gonna fire him before the game. I think they probably Knew that like a week ago. And it was too fast, too quick, too choreographed. And then craft giving all this like take of like how, how he feels bad. I don't think he feels that bad. Do they give him a lot of weapons to be, you know, competitive just like, you know. [01:19:57] Speaker B: And I guess I think that's where a crowd feels bad is he gave him such a bad team. He put him in a no win situation. [01:20:02] Speaker A: Same record as Belichick from the year before. Yeah, games. [01:20:08] Speaker C: It was a curious coaching hire. I mean Mayo had been considered even when he was playing, like as a guy that was a coach on the field for those Patriots teams when he was playing and that he had, you know, these attributes and stuff to be a leader and a coach. And I don't think this is his last go around. But I'm not quite sure if it was fair to him in this point was, you know, to set you to give him the rope that he needed to be able to turn this thing around. But after one year, if you, if you were to actually go this route that you weren't truly invested in him at the moment and you were going with another reason, whether it's because he had ties as a player or this is what, you know, hey, Belichick had referred to because yo, Mayo was kind of Belichick's guys. I think that's probably the most disappointing thing is when these teams go through these processes and whatever the decisions are when you hire someone, you know, what's your long term vision? Are you hiring for long term vision? Are you just like, hey, this is right in the moment. I'm willing to move on because some of these, some of these decisions are like, that's what they feel like. [01:21:05] Speaker A: When I was reading more up about it and I totally forgot about some of the stuff. Mayo was interviewing for head coaching position for the last several years and so Kraft was afraid of losing him. So he put in his contract that, that he would be the successor. It was lauded by other executives around the NFL. It's like smart business management, you know, sports management, even good Dale commented on it. But it was obviously the job was a little too big, a little too much and he just had like too many gaffes in the, in the public as well. Didn't do any favors calling the team soft, saying Bursa was the best quarterback on the team when they had May Mays. Phenomenal, man. That's if anything like the fire makes sense. Because you don't want to ruin a, an asset like that because May looks Like the real deal. Not like a fake real deal. Like, like the way Jones was. I, you know, I know the similarities are. Are striking. I think May is the real deal, though. [01:22:05] Speaker C: He definitely has tools. It's going to take the right coach there. And, you know, if you're reading the message boards, that that's a. That's potential destination for Ben Johnson, too. They're talking about. So. And then Variable. I mean, we were chatting after it happened, you know, last night or this morning, whenever it was like with. With Variable being possibly. He was a New England guy back in the day too, and he's now, but he's got a little more of the, you know, experience and the pedigree of turning something around. [01:22:31] Speaker B: So. Yeah, I mean, Vrabel seems like the guy. I'm even hearing rumors of Josh McDaniels coming back. [01:22:38] Speaker A: No. [01:22:39] Speaker B: To be the O.C. [01:22:41] Speaker A: Oh, well, he's a great O.C. [01:22:43] Speaker B: Yeah. So that's, that's kind of the rumor of Rabel with McDaniels as the OC. [01:22:48] Speaker A: And IF radio makes it back past her volume for a wild card next year. [01:22:52] Speaker B: Well, if that's who Craft wants, which by all occasions, it sounds like Lane, he. He's gonna make it happen. [01:22:58] Speaker A: Do you guys hear the rumors? Like, who's. Who's interviewing for these jobs? Like the Jets? Nagy. [01:23:04] Speaker B: Well, they're interviewing Rex Ryan tomorrow. [01:23:07] Speaker A: Who's the OC for the. For the Cardinals. I was on. Not on X but like the other one threads. And all the Arizona Carlos fans are like, take them, take them. We don't want them. [01:23:17] Speaker C: The Bears are interviewing that. Or the Bears are interviewing him. [01:23:20] Speaker A: Oh, I mean, Bears. My bad. [01:23:23] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, all these teams interview. [01:23:24] Speaker A: These guys isn't interviewing for the Bears job. I should apply, man. [01:23:29] Speaker C: I think I can at this point. They. I even saw their interviewing former Stanford coach and current Broncos David Shaw. So I told a bunch of my friends were just hackling because, like, the. They're like, the Bears are going to mess this up. And I'm like, oh, they 100 are. [01:23:45] Speaker A: I feel like they're interviewing too many people now. It's, It's. They're going to check this thing out too. They're going to get in their own heads. [01:23:50] Speaker C: There's two. There's two schools of thought. So if I'm defending the Bears in this moment, it's like, hey, we're. We're casting a wide net and first round of interviews, we want to hear everyone's thoughts, yada, yada, yada. But all and Then you know, secretly in the back of my mind, do they know who they want? And they just want to want to hear stuff around the league of maybe some sparks of something that they can do with Caleb, of what these coaches are idea of Caleb. But I, I 100 think they mess this up, they're gonna fall in love with somebody that is going to be wrong and they're going to have all these rationales about leader of men. [01:24:22] Speaker A: And some people just interview really well too. There's going to be one or two of those candidates that just interview really well. [01:24:29] Speaker B: Well, yeah. I mean, you got to remember the more times you interview for all these jobs, the better you're going to get. So if you've got to be like on your fifth time cycle, you're going to knock it out of the ballpark because nothing's going to come out of the ordinary for you. [01:24:40] Speaker A: One thing I do know about this is that NFL is a, you know, a special club and they all share the information. They're going to interview candidates anyways just to gauge on how people are doing on their development. Maybe that's why Naggy's getting more interviews again. Some of these guys that failed before it, you know, they're kind of circling around and see what it's like going to jail, you know, or PR person, are you ready for parole, Are you ready to, to immerse yourself back with the public? And I feel like that's the way. [01:25:09] Speaker B: It is interviewing these guys. If they don't get the job, you may hire another guy that wants to bring these guys in as an OC or a D. Since a coordinator that's a, you know, co offensive coordinator, pass game coordinator. And you might say, you know what, that guy interviewed pretty good. He's not ready for a head coach. But this head coach likes him, is going to bring him in as an offensive coordinator. I like that. And a GM might like that as well too. So these guys aren't just only interviewing for, you know, possible head coaching gigs. You know, they could be going from, you know, run game coordinator, pass game coordinator to offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator with these guys and the new staff that comes in. So, you know, Matt Nagy's interviewing with the Jets. Hey, if he gets the job, great. Because then Eric B. Enemy goes back to Kansas City. It's just how it works. [01:25:54] Speaker A: Madam is still not getting any offers. Wait, just take taking on the job or. [01:25:59] Speaker B: No, I don't believe so. [01:26:00] Speaker A: No, he took another college job where. [01:26:02] Speaker C: He got, he, he left his job. He left ucla. [01:26:05] Speaker A: I know he did but he was supposed to go somewhere else because supposed. [01:26:08] Speaker B: To go to the NFL. That's why he said but that wasn't happening. [01:26:12] Speaker A: I could have sworn something else happened guys. [01:26:14] Speaker B: The reason why he say he mutually agreed to part ways of UCLA because he wanted to go back to the NFL. So if Matt Nagy happens to get a head coaching job then he just goes back to Kansas city as an O.C. [01:26:24] Speaker A: How do you spell B enemy? [01:26:26] Speaker B: Like B, I, E, M. And then some weird after that because he said. [01:26:30] Speaker A: I was going back to ucla but then. [01:26:36] Speaker B: UCLA hired Indiana's co offensive coordinator is offensive coordinator. Can't think of his name right now but that's who they hired. [01:26:45] Speaker A: I like what you said. He's doing any other takes man, regular season's done. [01:26:52] Speaker B: I mean I. I just want to know from Jason if the Bears don't get Ben Johnson, who's choice number two man. Wait, who do you want? We already went through this. I don't remember it was last. [01:27:01] Speaker A: It was just last pod. [01:27:02] Speaker C: Yeah, it was last podcast you got. You brought up Stefanski, which just doesn't look like it's going to happen right now. It looks like he's tied in there, which seemed intriguing. I don't know. Like it's. It's tough on who has division. They're bringing up a lot of defensive coordinators which is. Hey, I'm. I'm tracking for someone who's a leader. The cell in that room. I probably not going to be happy with it but those defensive coordinators are really going to have. What is your plan for this offensive Kayla Williams? Because you go back of every Bears coach that they've gone through, they cannot get a viable offense together. And now you have the best quarterback that you've ever drafted. That needs to be the focus. And then you hire some great defensive coordinator. That's. That's my position. If you're the opposite, you want a defensive guy and a leader and then they got a plan for who they're bringing in for offensive. Like if you have the variable stuff like I wasn't the biggest bravel guy but if hey variable comes in, you say I got Josh McDaniels as my offensive coordinator. [01:27:55] Speaker A: I love that. [01:27:55] Speaker C: And this is. And this is X, Y and Z plan for Caleb Williams and how I turn this into the next Tom Brady. You might be able to get the city of Chicago and me on that on that train. So I'm not going to be happy if it's not Ben Johnson. I'm saying that now Because I think when you look at Kevin O'Connell and LaFleur and McVeigh and all these guys, like the ones that are really going next level is a guy that is off, is offensive focused, that really takes control of the offense, of the team and has a great defensive staff. Like, that's. That's where it's at. [01:28:25] Speaker A: There was an interesting name that came up for the Bears today. Someone's offensive coordinator, but I can't remember who it was. [01:28:31] Speaker C: Well, it wasn't the Cardinals Offense. Corner. [01:28:34] Speaker A: No, the Ravens. [01:28:35] Speaker B: Ravens. Todd Monkin. [01:28:40] Speaker C: Yeah, they. Todd Bunkin was one of them for the Ravens. OC. That was out there, too. Oh, Mike McCarthy is definitely filtering out there. Like I said, I might just not be a Bears fan. If we're gonna. We're gonna go after Mike McCarthy. [01:28:52] Speaker B: I'd be interested to see if Jerry lets it go through and lets. I believe McCarthy's under contract till January 14th. [01:28:59] Speaker A: Yeah. I don't know. Sometimes the guy who he wants and then he's not available. Toys. The second guy that you talk about. [01:29:11] Speaker B: Guys are going to interview good. McCarthy's one of them. [01:29:13] Speaker A: He's a good interview. [01:29:14] Speaker B: He's gonna knock that interview out of the ballpark. [01:29:16] Speaker A: He's really good. [01:29:16] Speaker C: Yeah, probably. [01:29:18] Speaker B: He's gonna say, look what I did with Rogers, what I did with Dak, imagine what I gotta do with Caleb. [01:29:24] Speaker A: The reason why I wouldn't take the Bears job if I was up for it is that division is really tough. Dealing with the pack team, that's really young, they're gonna be vying for that thing for a while. Lions got like, what, like a three, four year window? Vikings, we'll see what happens. But you gotta imagine that's gonna be the same thing again. That's a tough. That's a tough place to be. [01:29:44] Speaker B: I think the Bears is a lucrative job because you got a potential franchise quarterback. That's the only. That's the only thing right now that makes the job for the Bears great. Like, if Caleb wasn't there, it's not a job. You'd probably be high on your list. [01:29:57] Speaker C: You have, you have. You have Caleb and the cap space, so you have the flexibility of what you're going to do moving forward. The weakness of the team right now is, you know, parts of the offensive line and decisions they're going to have to make there. You probably need some bigger guys up the middle defensively against the running games and bad. The Bears had a pretty undersized middle of their offensive line or middle of their defensive line. Excuse me. So, you know, the. You know how. What you're going to need to do to fix this team and what are the. What are the assets they do have? So I. I still think it's a great job, but it's. Do they put the right person in the position to make the decision? It was interesting post game when they. All the Bears players. I know we kind of talked about this a little bit, but all the Bears players were giving Thomas Brown his flowers and stuff in the locker room. The Bears president, Kevin Warren was right behind him during that time. Brian Poles was not. [01:30:49] Speaker A: So Brian Paul's got to go. [01:30:51] Speaker B: You can. [01:30:52] Speaker C: Yeah, you can. You can read into what you want. They've. They basically said he's making this decision. But to Aaron said he, like what Shad Khan said. There's a lot of people talking, like, from a Ben Johnson perspective, like, if Ben Johnson makes this sell to Kevin Warren, like, hey, I can do X, Y and Z with your team, but Polls is not the guy and I need to bring this type of person. Or these are the three names that could give me the guys I need. I mean, I'm going back on what I said with Shad Cod at this point, but, like. [01:31:22] Speaker B: He'S agreeing with me and that the con 3 is not bad. [01:31:25] Speaker A: We're watching Jason just flip right out. [01:31:27] Speaker B: I love it because I don't. This way. If Ben Johnson says he wants Ryan Poles out, then he does want his. Jason's going out there right now and getting that done. He's escorting him out of the building right now. Robert. Solid. Hey, don't even say goodbye. Grab your security. Let's get him out of here. [01:31:46] Speaker C: Let me say, it's not what I want, and it's not, I think, a strategy for a successful organization. But the Bears are dysfunctional. And if they can get the right coach, then. Okay, let's. Let's keep being dysfunctional and do this this one time. [01:31:59] Speaker B: This is why I like the Jaguars. And Con is like, if he gets the right football mind what he believes, he'll do as he's told. Like, he kind of stays out of the way. Like, hey, man, this sounds like great. Like, you want. You want, you know, him gone. You want him gone. You want to bring in your own gm, let's do it. I don't care if the guy's on the phone call sitting next to me like, he's got to go. [01:32:17] Speaker A: People want to sell the team already, but you gotta give it to him. He's not afraid of taking risks. [01:32:21] Speaker C: Oh, that Guy's not selling the team. [01:32:22] Speaker B: He owns, you know, stadium too. [01:32:25] Speaker A: Yeah, no, they want him to, though. [01:32:28] Speaker C: Who? [01:32:30] Speaker A: All their fans. [01:32:31] Speaker C: Oh, the 10 fans in Jacksonville. [01:32:34] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:32:35] Speaker B: Hey, just put another poll in on the other end of the end zone. Everybody be happy there. [01:32:39] Speaker C: I mean, you think we, we have it like, I mean, I'm not like, I don't want to throw shit in Jacksonville. One of my childhood teams when I was a Jaguars fan as a young kid, because it was, it was cool colors. Yeah, yeah. There's some facts. So. Yeah, loved Mark Brunel, fred Taylor, Keenan McCardell, Jimmy Smith. [01:32:55] Speaker B: Yeah, I love those guys. [01:32:55] Speaker C: You know what, yeah. [01:32:56] Speaker A: What's up with like, like young kids, young boys falling in love with like some mid tiered quarterback? Mine was Cordell Stewart, the Steelers. [01:33:03] Speaker C: Mine was Mark Bruno, man, he was, he was, he was left handed. They were those teal, they were those teal jerseys, man. You had Fred Taylor, you know, Tony Baselli on the left tackle, man. The Jags, the Jags were a team there in the mid-90s, NFC AFC championship game, second year in existence. That was, that was a vibe for me when I was, when I was, you know, young kid living in Chicago. But I mean, the Jags, I mean, just go back to the Jacksonville market. Like this is Jacksonville. Like, it's. I don't know what market is television wise, but it's. [01:33:30] Speaker A: I know. [01:33:31] Speaker C: I mean, it's in not a place in Florida that most people are going to, you know, so they're, I don't think they're pushing to sell the team, if anything, because they, you know, the Kahn family, they own an English Premier League team too. So they have the ties to London with that and what they do there. So they make their money, you know, being an international team into, into England, you know, more than they probably do. You know, everything they have in Jacks Jacksonville, they're trying to basically own two, two continents. [01:33:56] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, give the cons credit, man. They've put a lot of money into the Jacksonville. They could have. You know, they were rumored to always be kind of headed that London team if there was going to be a team station there. But yeah, I mean, they're renovating the stadium. He's put money into it. He wants to win. I mean, he made the big splash higher. Jason mentioned Urban Meyer. That didn't work out. Doug Peterson here now. Ben Johnson rumored from the sources to meet, you know, at the top of the list. So we'll see, we'll see what happens. [01:34:25] Speaker A: We'll see what happens. All Right. We were talking about coaches. I think that's it. Right. Because nothing's gonna happen. [01:34:35] Speaker C: Nah. They're gonna be going through this interview process and everything like that. So, I mean, we'll first round of interviews this week. Maybe you get a couple more coaches out the door here in the next week or two. But I. Given how quiet the Black Monday was for head coaching, I probably wouldn't participate many more moves on the head coaching front. [01:34:53] Speaker A: Real quick, how do you guys save numbers in your phone? Because someone just called me and I haven't saved as David Black Guy Kung Fu. So I know it's a black guy from Kung Fu, but I don't know. [01:35:06] Speaker C: Generally, I save a person with first and last name, but that's just me. [01:35:09] Speaker A: Mine's David Black Guy. [01:35:12] Speaker B: Generally the same, or at least the last name, initial. [01:35:15] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:35:16] Speaker B: And then maybe a note under Black Eye Kung Fu, if you want to go that route. [01:35:19] Speaker A: But yeah, I have a lot of these. Like Ashley Barr, Monique North Beach Monica, Peacekeeper. Melanie. [01:35:34] Speaker C: Oh, are you doing mambo number five right now? [01:35:37] Speaker A: I remember. I remember, Melanie. I'm just going through my phone book. I'm going to delete all these numbers. Time to start fresh. 20, 25. Starting fresh. By the way, real quick, before we go, I bought these Ferrer Rocher chocolates. Like, people like to give gifts. And then there's, like, three of them. I didn't know they had three. There's like, the regular ones, the gold ones. Do you guys like these? [01:36:03] Speaker C: Yeah, they're good. [01:36:04] Speaker B: Yeah, they're fine. [01:36:06] Speaker A: Then they also have this dark chocolate. I like dark chocolate. This is delicious. And then they have this coconut, which I like coconut. But then every chocolate bar that's coconut's, like, too sweet. Like Almond Joy. Way too much. But this, it has, like, macadamia nut. It's blew my mind. I've been snacking this whole thing. I've been really hungry today. [01:36:24] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, you've been eating for the last two hours on this pod. [01:36:27] Speaker A: Fried chicken, pasta. I didn't expect. I don't know. I got the munchies. [01:36:31] Speaker C: This guy's trying to be Brad Pitt in Ocean's Eleven and just be eating food in every scene. [01:36:36] Speaker A: I love that movie. [01:36:38] Speaker C: Great movie. [01:36:39] Speaker B: At least that's one movie Roman and I all agree on that we love. I thought he was gonna say it was terrible. [01:36:44] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:36:45] Speaker A: Nah, dude, I love Oceans 1113. I. I don't know. We'll have to talk about that one. [01:36:54] Speaker C: I like Ocean's 13. 11's 11's the classic I think 12's underrated. [01:36:59] Speaker A: 12'S good. Wait, which one's with the Julia Roberts? Pretend to be Julia Roberts. [01:37:04] Speaker C: That's 12. [01:37:05] Speaker A: Ah, that's the one I don't like. That's one like. Ah, it's weird. [01:37:09] Speaker C: 13'S the one with Pacino. [01:37:11] Speaker A: Oh, you know what? Damn it. I guess I'm not crazy about that one. Yeah. [01:37:18] Speaker C: 11'S great. [01:37:19] Speaker A: I would watch them all. Yeah. All right, real quick. What are some trilogies that you would watch all three? We're not talking about back the future. That sucks. I think we established that last time. [01:37:28] Speaker C: No, we didn't establish it. You just gave a terrible take is all. [01:37:31] Speaker A: You said terrible take. Aaron, have you seen Back to the Future? All three? [01:37:34] Speaker B: I haven't. It's been a while. [01:37:35] Speaker A: Dude, watch it. You're not gonna even make it past 20 minutes on the second one. You're gonna fall asleep. [01:37:40] Speaker C: That's a lie. [01:37:41] Speaker A: Let's do over Under. [01:37:44] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm gonna have. I'm have to watch it then here in the next. [01:37:46] Speaker A: We'll find out. That'll be like our. We'll do a movie that after he goes. [01:37:52] Speaker C: He goes into the Future in number two. 2015. [01:37:56] Speaker A: Just goes slow, man. [01:37:58] Speaker C: All right. [01:37:59] Speaker A: I like to watch it with you, Jake. Jason, we should go to your house movie night. I want to try your wife's famous cookies. [01:38:06] Speaker B: Jason's trying to, you know, cut back on the cookies, man, so now I want to bring them back up. [01:38:10] Speaker C: Nah. Yeah, they're all gone, man. [01:38:12] Speaker A: I make really good apple pies. [01:38:13] Speaker C: I could bring New Year to me, man. No sweets, man. [01:38:16] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm trying. Dry January only. Dry white wines, dry champagnes, dry cocktails. [01:38:23] Speaker C: I'm just drinking water. [01:38:25] Speaker A: Nice. Aaron. Milk. [01:38:28] Speaker B: Absolutely, man. [01:38:30] Speaker A: Dude, someone listened to pot on that Milk episode. And I heard back about it. They. They think you might be like a. A serial killer. [01:38:39] Speaker B: Can I drink milk? [01:38:40] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:38:41] Speaker B: Wow. [01:38:42] Speaker C: I mean, milk's great. It's just like. Most of us are just lactose intolerant by the time we're already at the levels that. [01:38:47] Speaker A: You drink milk. Yeah. [01:38:49] Speaker B: What about a gallon a week? [01:38:51] Speaker A: That's a lot. [01:38:52] Speaker B: Jesus. [01:38:55] Speaker A: Yeah, I do. I gotta find exactly what episode that is, but. Yeah, I did not. [01:38:59] Speaker B: I mean, I think it was about, like a month back. I mean. Yeah, it takes. I drink about a gallon of milk every seven to ten days. [01:39:06] Speaker A: Dude, I. I wanna. I wanna fart just hearing that. [01:39:12] Speaker B: So. [01:39:12] Speaker A: All right. That's it. Hell of a long pod. I loved it. Great season. We're done. [01:39:18] Speaker C: We're done. [01:39:19] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:39:19] Speaker A: Cool, cool.