The around the NFL podcast. We'll pick shook's game this week from the Chris Wesseling podcast studio. It's around the NFL. I'm Dan Hanzis. I'm a hero, but I'm not alone.

Let's start there.

Greg Rosenthal, Mark Stessler and Mark, we've made it to the end of the yellow brick road. It's the week 18 preview show after we finish today's show because it's the.

Last week of the regular season, you can go into the Hollywood Hills and.

Just slumber until September.

Just kidding.

We're like halfway through the season.

I mean.

Brief stop along the way.

This does feel, I do love the feeling of this being the last preview. It will be the last time we preview an eastern stick Chargers game or some of these teams. So it'll be different. It'll be different next week. Well, black Monday when we do the previews, it'll just be on six games. We'll be diving in a little more, but it won't be as many teams.

I think it's good to appreciate the eastern sticks of the world. The last time you'll ever hear gift Smith's name. These are important things because these are people.

But I would argue that I normally want to get rid of a lot of these teams like in early November, but the NFL finally got what they wanted because as of like a week plus ago, all but four teams were still essentially alive. I think the NFL has fought against itself on one level. I was thinking about this. You greedily add an extra week, right?

We'll edit out the greedily.

Well, you did. And it's like had you gone with what always worked, where it ended last week you would have had a slobber.

Knocker of a week.

Incredible amount of teams more alive than ever before. But this week you've gone into Ko.

Would have been eliminated just a week before. It would have been the same thing.

No, they would like still, I know what he's saying.

He's saying more teams were alive.

It would have been, would have been tight.

I know, but they wouldn't have been alive because the season would have been ending early. It changes everything.

This extra week, though, this extra week added a lot of garbage. And I just said coming from but.

Then we like the Bears would have been dead a week before. Everyone would have been dead an extra.

Week just to get to another lineup.

Of garbage I don't think you can fix.

And the Super bowl is like on Valentine's Day, the final week. I'm saying it's not overall, like the argument is not now to go out a week.

So for people to wonder why I started the show with a joke to mark that he was going to be able to rest in the Hollywood hills, that's what's going on in his head at all times.

But, you know, they're adding a week 19 soon.

Sure.

I do think that they should actually.

It seems silly that they're doing an extra home or away game, but my.

Attached note, does this be an extra bye week?

I think only twelve quarterbacks have started every game.

Yeah.

So that's the argument against these extra weeks from a court. Now, I'd say this year it's been charming. It's been charming. The backups have.

I could tell.

No, but the backups, a lot of them have been good stories.

But the first five minutes of every show is complaining about, we have the, it's.

I think it's also fair.

No, I'm not complaining.

Look at the league and say, hey, guys, let's be careful because if you go add six more teams and eight more weeks, the NFL changes.

Yeah, I'm with you. I think the first thing they'll do is add a week, not a game.

But that's just me. Like a bye week.

Can I say, mark, that you were making a lot of salient points there?

Yeah.

But then I lost your paisley shirt today, which is great. I like this one big paisley. I call, I call him Brad Paisley.

Got it from the handful of them.

So you got the extra button down. So I get a little bit of the hair, but also I'm getting a little midriff from the bottom. From this angle I'm on.

What does that mean?

It's almost like you're dressed like, it's like a Drew Barrymore outfit from the Batman forever premiere. And I love it.

I take the lowest button on the.

Shirt and I unbutton it because it.

Lays out nicer in the chair.

But I'm seeing skin up top and down low. Well, you are, and I'm not complaining.

And I don't want you to be, so I will move in a little. Anyways, Greg, sorry. I know we need to get to the.

No, we don't. We don't. That was. I want more of that. Here I am, more taco meat. And I'm looking, whatever else is going.

On, I'm looking at Mark's bare torso and Greg's arguing about how perfect the NFL is. And Mark's, like, going off the deep end about how terrible it is. And I'm just staring at man's skin.

You know what? You have to self scout. You have to be able to critique.

Your own product, right?

Or do you just company man everything until the end of time, right? You just hang around.

That was what I felt like my role. I was self scouting that.

Madison, we're just going to start the show in the first five minutes.

Complaining. Every show is probably not what I would want.

All right, that's not what you'd want. Everybody, let's rein this in and get to what we need to get to. Because as we know this late in the season, final week of the regular season, there are no buys. Lot of games to talk about.

And let's start on Saturday, the last.

Saturday of the regular season. Remember, there are playoff games played Saturday as well. So this is not the last of Saturday football. Let's start though on Sunday.

How about that?

I threw a little curveball to you because that's the game everybody wants to talk about regular Sunday night.

Recover from that curveball.

Hang in there.

I think we'll be all right.

Sunday Night Football. It is the game of the week. It is the game to decide the AFC east. It is the ten and six Buffalo Bills traveling to Miami to face the eleven and five Dolphins.

And it is the Miami.

It is the Bills.

And you know what?

It tells you so much about this season with the Bills and this general.

Idea of what the Bills are capable of.

And there's been so many ups and downs to this season.

It's been a topsy turvy year up in Orchard park. They're getting three points in this game.

So at least the desert and the public feel like despite all the ups and downs, despite the fact that the Bills haven't even played well the last couple of weeks, the fact that the Dolphins have a track record of bouncing back from disappointment, and hell, God knows they were disappointed after getting a 50 burger dropped on them by the Ravens. It is the host Dolphins that are an underdog in a game that decides the division. And as you said, greg, for the Bills, it could be as high as the two seed and home field for the playoffs, except for, of course, if they meet the ravens or missing the playoffs altogether. So the stakes are very high.

I can't think of another game like this that we've covered as a podcast.

With that much variance.

It's not even they might get the two seat. They will get the two seat if they win, and they're likely to miss the playoffs if they lose. That's wild. We kept looking at like ten wins probably gets you in in the AFC. You probably don't need to get there in the NFC. Well, it turns out nine wins gets you in in the NFC. Ten might not be enough in the AFC because the Bills are at ten wins and if they lose this game and either the Steelers or the Jags, if they both win, then bye bye Buffalo, which is crazy because it might be the end of an era. Like, is Stefan Diggs back on this team next year? What other kind of changes could possibly happen to this team? And I just wonder which Josh Allen's going to be. It's crazy. Josh season. It's like going to be great or it's going to be rough. Like it kind of was last week against New England. Like, can Miami force Josh Allen to go into hero ball mode because he got a little wild last week against the Patriots and almost threw away the potential playoffs right there?

And yet the way this Dolphins defense has been playing is hard to figure out because they were great for so long, but they're great because of their pass rush and they lose chubb on top of having already lost phillips. What does Fangio do? Can he create pressure county on the guys up front, or does he get a little crazy sending pressure at Josh Allen, which is not really what they've been doing?

Yeah, when I look at the spread, I think a number of things are at play, like a lack of confidence in the Dolphins against winning teams. And the last two weeks have been a disaster.

Oh, they beat the Cowboys, but yes.

Last, well, last week was just, I.

Think, their biggest win of the year two weeks ago.

I mean, last week was a perception altering loss.

Right.

But I think also, to be fair, like you mentioned, Bradley Chubb, Xavier Howard, Raheem Moster did not practice yesterday. Devon Achan is banged up. You've got a potential issue with Tua, who may not be 100%. So you don't have this version of the Dolphins that have been so good at home. They've been seven and one at home. It sounds like Jalen Waddle might come back, but that variance for the Bills feels perfect, a perfect way to finalize this regular season because they've been that team all year round. I just cannot imagine an AFC playoffs. I'm not that high on the Bills in terms of us being a true.

Super bowl type of team the way.

They have been in the past. But an AFC playoff picture without Josh Allen feels really mixed up to me.

And they need waddle. They need waddle.

He's the guy yet. And Eric the producer. Listen, man, think whether or not you're confident in week 18.

I'm curious if you are. I just have this feeling that the.

Bills, it would be fitting if the.

Bills had one last let down here and it would not be off brand. And I think as much as people seem to be confident about Buffalo now, Eric, I worry about this game because I guess I'm putting more into what we've seen the last two weeks than other people are. Some people are looking, oh, they haven't lost since their bye week. I look at a team that was not sharp in the last two weeks with their season on the line, and now you're going to Miami, who, listen, McDaniel's a very good coach. They're coming off a blowout loss and he's saying, look, everyone's picking against us. They still have Tyreek Hill. They got two setting yardage records. They have a chance, obviously, to win this game. And the Bills, I feel like, are more vulnerable than people realize. Where do you come down on that?

As a Bills fan? You're kind of groomed to expect the.

And the season itself has just been a hard watch. I mean, last week Greg kind of mentioned against the, was there was points of that game, like, well, we're going to lose today.

And they lost the Pats already this year.

I mean, their best game of the.

Season probably was that early season game against the Dolphins.

I will give them that. But I mean, yeah, there's too many.

Scars and too many kinks in the armor this season.

I mean, Tyree kill has lit us up in the past, albeit it was on the Chiefs. But you can't be comfortable going into this game with practically a must win game. I mean, Josh Allen has said this is a must win game.

It is a must. You're not going to make, you'll know because Pittsburgh will have already played and so will the Jaguars.

So then maybe it won't be a must win game.

There's an outside chance it won't be. But the ODS are. They'll know when they line up that they have to.

I mean, Josh Allen, hero ball is always fun, but it's a wild horse. It's a fun ride until you get.

Bucked off the back end.

Here's the thing, though. Their defense has been fantastic. They're totally different than they were back in that week four game for good and bad. Like, they lost Milano and Trdavius White.

Who were in that game, and they.

Have a different coordinator. Everything's different. Diggs is no longer like part of the offense that's weird and not a great thing.

I'm sure that will go well if they lose this game.

I do wonder if he's on this team next year either way, but the defense has adapted. I think Sean McDermott's had one of his best coaching years defensively. They've settled down all those post those injuries. They were awesome last week against the really, their defense has been awesome. Daquan Jones is back. Benford's turned into a really good starter. Razul Douglas is like the pickup of the year. Bernard and Dotson, their linebackers have settled in play well. And if there's no Jalen Waddle in this game, it really struck me last week. It's like, man, they have a pretty big drop off to the rest of their guys when you need Cedric Wilson and Claypool and Craycraft.

I saw Chase Claypool almost like a play and I was like, wait, chase.

Claypool's on this team? It's too big of a drop off to keep up. I think in a shootout, two is always so good in these early portions of the games, and then it tails off. I think it's got to be a close game. I'm with you that I'm not counting on the bills, but I'm picking the bill.

It also matters, like what version of Jalen Waddle because he's dealing with ankle. It sounds like he's got a ankle play, but that as a wide receiver.

Does he make it through the game? Does Tyreek make it through the game? It's just a weekly thing with them and their lineman, like everything with them has been really bad luck.

And here's just the pure stats because we have talked about, and they did because it wouldn't be fair to say look over the Cowboys win because that was a great win where they hung with them and then made the big drive to take the game at the end. But Dolphins defense versus winning teams this season, last in points allowed or 31st in points allowed 35 opposing completion percentage 73.6 passing yards per attempt 9.4 that's dead. Last passing TD's interception allowed 16 one opposing pass rating nearly 140. So when they play big boys, their defense no shows and the quarterbacks light them up. Will Josh Allen do it? He obviously has the ability to do it. Josh Allen is a superstar quarterback, but hot damn, was he terrible the last time we saw him. So we'll see if he's in a slump or if that was just an aberration against the, uh oh to the Cincinnati zoo.

Hey, guys, we have a video weighing.

In on this particular matchup.

And you know how these videos go.

Maybe it's a big week for the zoo after a tough loss. Yeah, Greg might want to listen to this one closely.

Okay, I'm sure.

Hello, heroes. I want to tell all your listeners out there what a coward Greg is. I text him earlier today and said, hey, I have to pre record these things and I want to do a lock off. You know what this guy wouldn't do? He wouldn't even tell me who he's locking. I told him he could have whatever favorite he wanted. No, he's like, hey, I'll take the Dolphins. Without half their team. You can have the bills. You've been hyping them up the last eight weeks, how they're going to win the Super bowl or something.

This is crazy.

Why don't you be a man? Lock off against me. I'm taking the Dolphins. I have no idea if you're going to do it or not. You take the bills and we'll see what happens. You can't be that afraid of me. Your four games up with five to play. Get out of here. Do it, Greg. Be a man.

All right, so love it, love it. Great character work by Nick.

So it's such nonsense because he's all nice and doesn't say any of that stuff in the actual text.

He's a showman. But let me say this.

I didn't say I could take anyone.

Let me say this, Nick. I know you know Greg well, but Greg, it's built into his personality that he will not do what he's like. It's intrinsic to Greg's entire being that he feels like being told what to do is somehow backing off from life or a challenge or makes him feel small.

True.

It's the opposite of cowardice.

So by telling him he won't do it, and I know how annoying that is because it would make it a better show. And I hope that this is what happens, but I know Greg, and just because you told him to, he's not going to. And that's know lesson learned, I hope.

Well, Dan is trying to jedi mind trick me by saying that I won't do it. So now he's superseded what Nick's trying to do. I see what you're doing there. What the heck? Let's go for it.

I will lock up the bill.

Sorry to the.

Well, you believe in the bills?

I have.

It's a good lock.

All year I've picked them up.

I'd be nervous about it on the.

Road island game, inconsistent all year.

Did put up 48 points on the Dolphins.

I am four up.

So I would still have plenty of.

Wiggle room here if I were to lose this. But if I were to win it, the lock competition would be over before the playoffs, which would be as close as I think I'm going to get to ending the lock competition, which is what I've sort of.

There's a major race for second place, though. Well, you don't care.

I don't think Mark cares.

Maybe Nick does.

I don't want to be in last, which I am currently tied.

Looking at the standings, I'm 15 and two.

Wow.

I would say it's been a down season for some of us.

Yeah, it has been.

Greg has made it.

No stepped in poop this year. He's won 15 of 17. You got to respect it. And good job, Greg, because.

He did.

Challenge you and it's not the first time. Every time, though, he's challenged you, you've kind of shoot him away. And finally we have a lock off between one and two. I'm excited, even more excited to watch the game now. Let's get to the other Saturday games now, starting with the Pittsburgh Steelers at the Baltimore Ravens. Here's the call on this one. Chris Fowler, Lou Riddick, Danny Orlovsky, Laura Rutledge on the sidelines. This is the Steelers getting three and a half. Steelers getting three and off in Baltimore. How is that possible? Here's how it's possible. Lamar Jackson's not playing and John Harbaugh, as my mother would say, might be spitting in the sky on this one because they're going to do the same thing they did in 2019 when they were the top seed. They're going to rest their guys in the final week of the regular season. They're going to have, obviously a buy for the first week of the regular season, then hope they hit the ground running in the playoffs. And obviously for Mark, for all the earned anxiety based on what happened last time they were in this situation and they got waxed in the first round of the playoffs.

It's the right move.

I absolutely think it is. I don't think you toy around with this. I think the concept of too much rest, suddenly they get soft and kind of forget the goal. I don't think football teams, you're not.

Going to win the Super bowl anyway, if that was a concern about your team, right?

They're not built that way. I mean, by the way, this is a special Ravens team that is like 24 and one in the preseason over the past however many years. So their preseason team maybe give the Steelers a fight I don't have. But I mean, it's not just Lamar Jackson, it's guys like you don't want to lose like a Roquan Smith or these other linchpins to your. I just. I think that's the only way to do number you've gotten to this far. Don't have anything wacky happen at this point. I do think it's interesting that it's the Steelers though, of all teams because if you let the Steelers in the not in terms of these two teams, that's not a good storyline. And this is a different Steelers team like Mason Rudolph, we've talked about it before over the last couple of weeks. This offense is completely a new creation. He has as many 40 yard completions in these two games as Kenny Pickett and Mitch Trubisky had in 14 games combined. And I think it just speaks to the fact that he has keyed in on George Pickens and I think that's a smart thing to do in general, but it's really worked.

He's brought a vertical element to the passing game and Naji Harris and Warren have been awesome on the ground too. Like all elements of this offense that you were waiting for for so long have finally come together at the perfect time and it's like a completely different watch.

They're not going to get to your twelve wins mark.

Well, if they get into the playoffs.

But win a couple of games, I like that.

Nice move.

Why do I feel like they are going to get into the.

I do too.

That would mean I lose my lock because that means the Bills lost. Look, I think this is a better lock than the Bills. I am definitely giving up my old, my usual like just pick the best one because to me the Steelers are going to win this.

Greg robot voice.

Yes, that's what you guys say. Just like very analytical. To me, the Steelers are going to win this game. I'm much more confident the Steelers win this game. I'm with Mark. I think they're different.

You know what stand out to me?

The first 3rd down of last week, Mason Rudolph. It's like a third and nine and he's looking to the right side of the field and no one's open there. And he gets to his third read like so fast and it's Deontay Johnson who's wide open on the total other side of the field and he got there fast and I'm just thinking, of course Deontay Johnson's wide open because he's Deontay Johnson. He's awesome at running routes.

And Rudolph got to that receiver in.

A way that just Pickett wouldn't have or Trubisky wouldn't have. He's been a different quarterback. I know it's only two weeks and so it might not continue and this is a tougher matchup, even against backups, but he's been a different quarterback and he's letting their best players shine. Pickens is suddenly like, has 1100 yards on the season because of two games with Rudolph Johnson. Friarmouth, it's only two weeks, but they are third in EPA in those two weeks. They are the number three offense. I think they roll. And I wouldn't be shocked if TJ Watt like, sacks Huntley three times in an island game here. It's like that could get him some DPOI votes here. He's at 16 and a half sacks, something like that. Oh, you could completely see that. You could see him having a crazy big game and getting to 20 sacks and then suddenly he wins the award.

Mark, I thought initially when you mentioned the Ravens in their preseason success, I didn't know quite where you were going.

Because they had won 24 in a row and then they lost. I don't know what.

I don't know because the preseason, famously, is utter nonsense.

Well, their backups are good.

I'm just saying they're good.

Can I finish?

Sorry, guys.

Oh, okay.

Just say I'm getting to my point. However, I think there's something to that.

That the John Harbaugh, this team, they.

Always compete, and he is a master motivator. There's a reason why they had that type of streak, because it mattered to them to keep that going. I think it absolutely matters. The idea, the chance to knock out.

The hated dealers, I think that matters.

Backups, it's almost more of a flex and something that they would be more proud of than just beating them with the regular guys. Like, look, we could beat you with the backups and ruin your season and ruin your 2024. So I think he's going to be pushing all those buttons. And they are. They're a deep, excellent roster. Playing at home. I'm a very nervous Steelers fan because all of a sudden, for all this, like, Mason Rudolph mania we're having right now, Mason Rudolph on the road in early January with the playoffs on the line. How confident can you really be?

I'd also ask because that's why it's.

Only three and a half, right, Tyler.

Huntley has been in this situation in week 18 years in a row. You're not throwing someone out there that's a total newbie. But how much of the roster do you sit and how long do you.

Can'T sit that many?

That's the thing you're talking, Lamar. That makes a huge difference.

But.

And probably some skill position guys.

But it's Lamar, it's Odell who's not practicing. It's zay Flowers, it's Kyle Hamilton, it's Humphrey, it's guys who have injuries, maybe a couple guys like Roquan and Queen.

But you can't sit that many.

Just the numbers don't work. So I'm with you. I think it could be competitive, and I give the Ravens a chance, but I think this is a different Steelers team.

December 29, 2019 the Steelers lost to the Ravens backups in Baltimore to miss the playoffs. So there's history here, too. And that was John Arbaugh.

I remember the bills starters once losing to the Steelers backups. I think it was 2004 to miss the playoffs in week 17. That was with Drew Bledsoe. And it happens. It happens. There's a reason why it happens more when it's like the one seed resting players, which was the case in the Steelers and the Ravens because, well, their team's good. Like, the backups are good. They can still win.

Interesting.

That was. Yeah.

2019. So the Ravens were then flat two weeks later against the Titans. They kicked the Steelers ass in that spot. All right, let's move to the other Saturday game. That would be the Houston Texans against the Indianapolis Colts. All right, Greg, I'm going to need your help with some tabulations on this one. There are three teams that are nine and seven in the AFC south entering week 18. The aforementioned Texans and Colts. Yes, the Jacksonville Jaguars. What happens when one of these teams wins on Saturday? Tell me, who wins this division?

How does it work?

They're in the playoffs, which is exciting.

And loser is done, or are they still alive?

The loser is not done. They'll have to wait, I believe, to find out.

But the winner gets to wait till.

Sunday to find out if they win the division. The Jaguars are essentially in pole position, and if they win. Okay, that's what I was looking for.

So the Jags destiny is in their hands for this division, but the winner of this game has. Obviously, they're going to the dance and have a chance to get that home game as well. Yes, that's a lot. That's a lot at stake here.

Playoff game. It's a playoff game.

I like it. I like it.

Who do we like in the game? Gardner, Minshew and the Colts. Do we have, by the way, we have Minshew.

Oh, I love this.

Do we have the Minshu was playing the Raiders last week. Nice win. Minshu makes a big throw, touchdown pass. They beat the Raiders. Keep their hopes alive. And Max Crosby, this should not come as a surprise. A maniac on the field keeps on calling him what a sit down little boy. He kept on calling him a little boy, I believe. And here's Minshu on the sideline expressing he's almost puzzled and a little bit offended that Max Crosby doesn't respect his side. Dude, Max Crosby is so damn angry, bro.

The thing is, he's not really that angry.

I know, right? He keeps calling everybody little ass boy.

Little ass boy.

I'm like, I'm little out here, but not always. That was from inside the NFL, by the way. He's a hard guy not to like, obviously, but he has a chance here in a year where he started out as the backup to Anthony Richardson, who goes down early and he keeps the Colts relevant. And now here it is. Mark your guy Minshew with a chance to take the Colts to the playoffs.

They've been really consistent in terms of points produced. I think with Minshew, the story week to week has been which version you're getting. They're five and o when he doesn't throw an interception and they a markedly different team when he crumbles. And so I think that matters. You're playing a Texans defense that is completely different under this coaching staff. I think this is a cody off. Like a coach of the year off between Shane Steichen, Ryan's. I mean, they have to be in the top three coach of the year in terms of narrative.

Let's check out the draft king, I.

Think, et cetera of the year.

If you're the voter, that doesn't say like, you know what, we should just give it to Kyle Shanahan, which doesn't happen.

Your boy is the favorite.

Stefanski is a heavy favorite right now, but Ryan deserved.

Here's and this is why you're not off though, Mark. So Stefanski a heavy favorite, but Ryan's and Steichen are both plus 1100 on draftking. So in terms of how the ODS makers see it, they have done an equally good job in terms of the story and what they've done with their teams. So maybe like us with our picks, it's for second place.

It is for second place because I don't think anything the Browns with no starters in there do would affect.

Well, it's also assuming that the ODS makers have this have it correct, which I don't think that's a monster favorite, giving them almost no chance, and I don't agree with that. I think if the Texans win this game in exciting fashion, Ryan's would have a chance.

I think he should because it's also his assistance the way that CJ Stroud's developed the worst matter either way, both of them. But one thing's on my radar and it's a small sample size, but the numbers for Stroud post tank Dell are pretty interesting. Like his yards per attempt dropped by like 2.5 yards, almost. His passer rating dropped by twelve points. It's not a big sample size, but it just reminds you that tank Dell and him worked so well together and they were so dynamic. But I still think about like I talked to them about this Colts team a bunch, but the team that I want to see in the playoffs is the Houston Texans. I mean, I feel like they could do something kind of freaky and unpredictable. I think the Colts are going to be that glass of vanilla milk that we absolutely expect one way or another.

I think that those numbers post tank almost got to get tossed out because he gets hurt and then they go to the Meadowlands and play in a rain where they get shut out basically before he goes out with an injury and their stats were terrible there. So there's not a big sample size. I believe he has the ability to make it work without Dell Collins, right. We've talked about Collins and what a year he's had. I think there is dynamic offense in this team post Dell. Maybe we see it here.

I agree and I was really curious to see how he looked last week after the injury because I think his season peaked in that Bengals game, one of the best games of the year. After that. I don't think he's played at like a top five QB level. The whole think, which is an enormously high bar for a rookie. I think he did play at that for like a month and that month was November. And for the five game since, he was kind of back to where he.

Was before that, which is like ten.

To twelve area of quarterbacks in the NFL, which again is exceptional for a rookie. But looking at what he did last week, I thought he was very good. His feet looked great, he was extremely accurate again, he was taking what the defense was giving him. I thought it was a really encouraging game. For him to come back and makes me feel good about picking them this week because I just think they have a little more. They've shown an ability on defense and hopefully they get Granad back this week. Will Anderson's also not practicing. Neither is Malik Collins. It's a little worrisome, but I'm guessing Collins and Anderson play, but they found a way to just bring new guys in and make it work. Like Derek Barnett is on this team, by the way. He was on the Eagles halfway through the season, couldn't get on the field. He's got more pressures over the last two weeks by far than anyone on the Eagles almost doubled them. So they just put guys into this offense and it works. I'm just hoping it happens because he's a little more dynamic. But I do think Minshew is playing his best ball of the year right now.

He only has three PFF games all year, over 70.

It's three of the last four games.

He's been a little mistake free and just kind of moving the offense. And it's funny, they run the same offense that I would have expected with Richardson. It's like all rpos and they have.

You're right.

And this is a primetime game. This is, by the way, CJ Strahd's first primetime game as a pro. Minshu probably hasn't played a ton, I would imagine, in his NFL career, and he's an excitable fellow. Hopefully he doesn't get too fired up by the moment, starts trying to play hero ball if he stays within himself. I think the Colts have a good chance here, but I do love Stroud having a chance to do this under the lights as well. He seems like the type of guy who could blow up. Know the game's going to do a huge number and everything, and everybody's going to be watching it.

Troy and Joe, how about that?

A true coming out party for Stroud in primetime to punch a playoff ticket. I like the Texans.

I need to correct a mistake. I apologize. This is an elimination game.

Think of you.

You know what? It was because I had the tie thing in my head that technically they weren't eliminated.

Tabulate, baby.

But no, you lose, you go. Yeah, you lose, you're out. You win, you're in.

Period.

It's very simple.

And then wait and see if you win the division.

Yes, you wait and see if you win.

Hear that? That's the center of the retabulation.

You're eliminated.

You know, sometimes when you have the old t 800 calculator you hit that one wrong button, it's a wrap.

That's what happened.

That's true of all calculators, but.

Yeah, but that t to 800.

Yeah.

For those who know, back to the.

Drawing point, to your point on primetime, this is actually the only game all year the Texans have played that's not at 10:00 a.m. Pacific t 800 game.

Might actually, they did not have high hopes for the.

You might predate the t 800 mark in your education because you're years older, but think.

So what about in western mess? Was the t 800 huge?

Yeah, it was like, this is the highest of technological advance.

Wait, is the t 800 Arnold from Terminator? Or was it. What was the name of that calculator?

Something like that. Sounds right to me.

Ti. Let's see.

Calculator.

Texas instruments.

We need to tie to that instruments. 98.

Then three games.

Oh, there it is. Oh, that son of a bitch. And it would make the.

Show it to me.

I'm going to show it to you right now. See, it's the TI 83.

Oh, yeah, no, I had that.

That thing was annoying. Well, yours. It had the crank and everything. Yours.

No, it did not. Dan, I'm literally like five years younger than you or something.

You had to actually weirdly put.

Dive in.

You had to put coins into it to work.

Damn.

It still cost $220 to this day. Why would people want to.

All right. Why?

Anyway, I want that thing.

I don't know.

Maybe it's a relic calculus. You need it basically because you would.

Have to type in the theory or.

Whatever and then cosign all that.

And then you want the chart to do something. That is the correct answer. But then it would be like, it's like you blew it.

I wonder why they can charge it. Because you don't have any other options. Like, they've cornered that market.

They did it, those bastards, at Texas Instruments. All right, we'll see what the Texans do. Let's take a break and then we'll.

Get to the draft one.

Welcome back to around the NFL. The week 18, by the way.

Preview.

Yes, I fixed this button down here. I could throw me off that.

You're, like, looking at my midsection.

This is why, I guess we were, we, our roots are puritanical and you.

Grew up in England and Connecticut, so.

I think it's telling that you think that's fixing the problem.

Like, I want to see another button off.

Well, no, I want more. That's for another time. We're not doing that during the. During the show.

The preview of week 18, and it's not for another time. Beachbody.

All right, let's get to the draft. Let's start with the first overall pick presented by DraftKings Mark Sessler. You are on the clock.

Two of the games we just talked about. There's a lot of ways to go here, but I'm going to go Jacksonville at Tennessee, which is kind of like part B of that Saturday night AFC south matchup. The Jacksonville Jaguars have been a real mess. I'm concerned about them in this game because you still have Trevor Lawrence dealing with multiple injuries, but right now they're listing it as shoulder. He's practiced Wednesday on a limited basis. I don't know what kind of version we're going to get from him. They do have Christian Kirk back. He might be back. I think his absence has really affected their offense a lot. Flip side, though, one of the reasons I want to watch this game is that there are a couple teams in the league that we know are going to with coaching changes and other stuff vastly look different a week or two from now. And I think this is the end of Ryan Tannehill. This is the end of Derek Henry in Tennessee. It's very possible that DeAndre Hopkins is a very easy cut post June 1. He could be gone. And I really wonder if there's a chance that Mike Rabel, there's whispers that Mike Rabel could do the New England thing.

He could do a couple of things. It's like Mike Rable in this Tennessee experience. It's like he's been really good, but their record in the regular season over the last like 20 games has been abysmal. Unless you really believe in will Levis, you don't have a quarterback.

Could you be, maybe.

Could someone dream you into a New England Patriots head coaching job? I don't know. But in general, the Titans that we have known for four or five years are over.

Yeah, this was the year know they ceased to be a playoff contender and now they have an aging roster and a coach who seems like he's got 1ft out the door. And it does. For the Titans and their fans like Gravedigger and everyone else, this was a tough year to swallow, but you kind of begin to reboot in earnest. Hopefully, if you believe in Will Levis, you have brighter days ahead. The Jags have no excuse here. I mean, with everything I just said, the Titans are a team in a down cycle playing out the string of a lost season. And I know you're beat up at quarterback, but you're a team that had a division title last year, you won a huge playoff game with an epic comeback, gave the Chiefs a scare the next round. You cannot, you cannot blow this game. It would be a massive setback for the organization, and I think Lawrence, even though he hasn't been the player I think a lot of us thought he would be this year, and he's obviously not healthy. I think he finds a way and plays a game that gets his team to the next step.

Yeah. His status is looking up. He was at the throwing portion of practice jersey, so I think the biggest question is you, right, mark, what version do we get? Kirk has been aiming, according to Doug Peterson, for this date for a while, so I think they're hopeful. He helps a lot. Josh Allen, the Jaguars version, he's another guy where, look, if he gets three sacks in this game and gets up to 20, I don't think he's a crazy player.

That's like what Lamar did last week. Like, having that last big week can put you over the top like five.

Guys, and it's important for them, I think, to get into some sort of offensive rhythm, obviously, to make the playoffs because it would be a catastrophic loss, but also because you got the Browns next week if you win this game and you better get ready. I'm with you on Vrabel.

I'm getting some mid career Sean Payton.

Vibes where there's a lot of rable chatter, and seems like that chatter to me is coming from Mike Vrabel. So that's interesting that maybe there's been reporting that he wasn't happy with the GM ran carthon, that they gave him that that was kind of an arranged marriage, and he's a little antsy. They've lost a lot of close home games. They're usually very competitive. They almost beat the Seahawks a couple of weeks ago. They almost beat the Colts home. They just, like always lose by three. He sounded very edgy this week, asking why it's important for him to win this week.

Because it sucks to lose.

Trey ever need to show you anything?

Did you have another thought or.

No, I'm just curious why it sucks losing.

Awful.

That's why I want to win.

Because you don't sleep.

You want to win for the players that bust their tail.

That's it.

That is Gentry Estes, who's a columnist for the Tennessee. And it's almost like when your mother would call you by your full name when you were in trouble as a child. When the reporter goes one of two ways.

Yeah, right.

It's either the reporter likes you and is having some fun and he's like, yeah, Gentry. You know what I'm talking about? Or because it sucks Gentry. And it's like, uh oh. Daniel, get over here.

It's a the.

Do you have anything else to add to, like, to the reporter?

It's like, well, like laser shooting out of his eyes.

And there's a second part to that whole answer. And the one thing I could see going through Mike Rabel's like mine was I was a little harsh on this guy. And so he starts to ease up and get a little more. Phyllis.

Another question was asked and he went back to Gentry. But it was a good job by Gentry because he picked up on something variable, said how important it was to win and then just quickly asked the follow up, why is it important? He knew he was going to get there.

Have you ever met a person named Gentry before?

No, but if I did, I would that they live in Tennessee. The Titans are five point underdog.

Greg. Putting all the gentries in a box in this game.

I am. It's a southern name.

And the Jaguars.

Oh, gentry minus 225 over under 40.

I must say, gentry pretty low. It's a great question, Gentry.

I think you're onto something with the Josh Allen thing.

Greg.

PFF has ranked the Titans offensive line dead last two years in a row.

Oh, yeah. That tells you a lot.

Why that offense is hard to watch.

I like the Jaguars to get it done.

I do, too. But if Lawrence is more hurt than we even know and he doesn't play, all bets are off.

All right, Greg, I am so excited. To me, there was a clear number one in this draft right at knew.

You said you wanted it and I'm.

Happy to give it to you. That's very nice.

Give me a break here.

Look.

Very nice.

Give me a break.

It's Bears. It's Packers. Packers. Settler's forehead favored by three. Stupid -162 it's Nance. It's Romo on Bears.

Packers.

Got to do great. Give it a pick. It's got to be the pick.

425. I think it's because I love watching Jordan love play right now and I've really enjoyed watching Justin Fields and the growth of this Bears team. I believe that this is a big Bears win. Not, not like they win by a lot, but I think they're going to win this game. I considered locking this up, so I'm actually glad Nick, the big Bears win. I just think they'll win if they win this game. I think it mean a lot to them to knock the packers out of the playoffs, to solidify some of what the underlying numbers say. Right now, for instance, in weighted DvOA, they're the number seven team in the NFL, and I kind of see that it's a really good defense, and then this could be final, you know, ego piece of art here. Let Justin Fields, who's throwing the ball as well as he ever has, go up and down the field anti art. And the defense makes just enough. I think this defense is really playing well and can at least slow down the packers, although the packers are getting healthier all their receivers. Watson is Wicks Reed all back at practice, which is a big deal for them.

We've lost Dan for the remainder.

I appreciate what you just said.

Gentra says you're fired.

I'll say you're gone.

Clear out your desk.

That matters how healthy they're getting? Because I think that love is like thrived with a lot of those guys in and out of the lineup. And he right now has 34 offensive.

Touchdowns, which kind of, I don't know, like that, Mark.

You know, they. This has been on our joint radar for years.

Damn.

Packers did it again. They got another long term starter. I mean, you got to credit them. That's incredible.

Two other quarterbacks have more offensive touchdowns than him this year. Josh Allen and Jill and her.

He has been, on balance, a revelation for it.

They got killed for that pick. I always defended it. I always said the process isn't crazy. We'll have to see.

I was going to say, I was going to give the credit to Jordan. Eleven, the packers, but we must give it where it truly belongs, Greg.

Well, what's the point of having all these arguments four years ago if we can't remember them?

No, I mean, they held the fort. They waited out the Rogers melodrama. Even when love wasn't lightening it up, when he got a chance to play, they never moved off the plan.

And hot damn, he is a player.

He's got 30 touchdown passes and 34 total. As you said, mark. And I see a guy that might be scratching the surface here and could become a true star in the league. But I like what you're saying, too, about the bears. And I saw our budy, rank big Bears fan down in the dressing room before we came up today.

So did I. I must have just missed you. He was actually dressing in. He was getting dressed in clothing. Like people just walk in there and just walk around. Yeah, he was actually going through the process of walks around. No, I mean, just like there's a lot of know jabbering, but he was like doing what you'd actually do, getting.

Dressed in the dressing.

Good for him.

And I reminisced with rank about I was on his Bears podcast in the offseason and we're talking about all the optimism around that team and the idea of keeping fields and trading the number one pick and building around them. And a year later we're kind of having the same conversation where there's optimism around the bears and there's this idea, do you keep fields and trade the number one overall pick to build more around them? And I've been very loud and boisterous on this pod the last few weeks about keeping fields and we talked about it, Greg, on our last show that this game really does matter because I almost feel the final one. It would cement it if he lights up Green Bay here and he can against that Green Bay defense, it's all.

Set up for him.

I feel like we're being a little down on the packers just after a year ago. I think this matters like they were embarrassed. What was one of the more indelible images of the year last year was when Aaron Rogers throws that interception. The Lions win that week 18 game and Aaron Rogers walking out of Lambeau with a look in his eye where we were sitting together thinking like, I think he's gone. We didn't know that for sure.

He walked off the field like arm in arm with Randall Cox.

Yeah.

And it's like, I just think this guy's gone.

But now the same record, week 18.

Jordan love a year later who's played better than Rogers did a year ago in many ways has the same chance. I don't think this team is just going to go and lay an egg to the Bears in the same defense, though. Let another NFC not about love NFC north team.

They're not going to lay down. It's a coin game. I just kind of like, I mean, the packers are favored by three.

Do not trust their defense.

I just don't.

But I will say for all the Joe Berry stuff, and I know that it was a rookie in there for the Vikings, but that was a positive performance for that defense a week ago against the Vikings.

Sure.

But I'm doing it over the course of the season and I think it's very tough to run on this Bears team. So Aaron Jones has really added a lot of juice and Lafleur has been cooking. He deserves a lot of the credit for making this all work. Think it's a really positive season for them even if they lose this game. But it would be a bitter pill to swallow. You're right, Mark, to have the same thing happen.

I mean, you can't. That's what the Cowboys do in the playoffs. You can't do that in week 18 if you're the packers.

All right, so I'm up. I got two picks and I got to go hunting for just playoff games that matter. Right. Games that have big ramifications. So let's start running out of them. Yeah. Let's start with.

Let's go to the NFC south.

Not my favorite division in the world, but the Atlanta Falcons.

At the New Orleans Saints.

I'm gentry and an actual professional reporter.

That you've now characterized Saints given three.

And a half here. This is the catalon barber, Ryan Booth.

Three.

Three seems like a lot. I think any professional broadcasting outfit, you don't need three people. Two is fine.

I wonder maybe I thought you meant.

The point spread was a lot. I see. You're saying, I think three.

They thought maybe Matt Ryan could go play quarterback for someone in a year where there's 50.

I just don't think you need like three or even two people to do a show about football.

I'm going to make more than three. I'm with you.

I'm going to make an edit. You just, what, cross off tiki barber?

Better.

How come you're, every time I have any criticism of someone in the booth, you're like, oh, that's not right. You clutch your pearls. But now Tiki takes an arrow between the eyes.

I've watched this group a lot, and that's my opinion.

But God forbid I say something bad about Jonathan Vilma.

You're like, oh, God, I like Jonathan Vilma. It's just a personal preference.

All right?

But I think Matt Ryan's very solid and Tiki's always shooting from the hip stuff. Make it sound like he did.

Tiki sounds like a guy that's on WFAN, right.

He sounds like a guy who does a New York radio show five days a week and is not totally on the rest of the league.

I don't mind that as someone that grew up listening to that. But what you're saying, too, sometimes it's.

Like you were pointing to the same.

Person to be taken out of the booth, too, right?

No, who? You. Who tiki? Yeah.

Get Tiki out of here.

All right.

But because of what I'm saying, I'll let you know if I don't like somebody in the booth for some reason. With Greg, it's only Tiki, right?

Oh, a New York giant. 42, 47, 46. Sorry.

Was he there for those?

I don't think he was for either.

Actually, but he represents there in 2011, that was Ahmad Bradshaw.

Legacy grudge.

So legacy grudge. All right, let's figure out this game. I can't because obviously the Falcons are a team that I do not believe in and haven't believed in all year, but they just had a chance here to steal a playoff spot.

Still the Saints.

What do you expect from the Saints here now?

Derek Carr, I'll say this, playing better.

He really is. The vibes all of a sudden, all the reporting around the Saints, it's also been on my radar. We're starting to see articles pop up about like the Saints have stayed together in tough times and their leadership has really helped keep this team together in trying times. Are the Saints going to somehow, despite all the negativity around them and the struggles they've had, steal this division? Well, I think they got the right opponent. They're at home against an Atlanta team that I think is ready to go home. So I do like the Saints a lot in this game. Is it enough? Does it get them in the playoffs of the win?

Greg?

No, they need the fabulous baby. They need the Bucks to lose to the Panthers to win the NFC south, and they need to win this game. If the Bucks win that game, then they need either the Seahawks or Packers to lose and they could slide in as a seven seed and we'd get two NFC south, which is fairly reasonable. And it means they'll still be alive. Like going into Sunday Night Football. They might be the team. That's, and that means hoping to get in.

Would they be playing each other in.

The wild card round?

No.

Right. So that means an NFC south team could be in the second round. Okay, never mind.

Because they need two teams. We don't need two of these teams.

No, we certainly do not. So maybe the best thing for football fans is the Falcons pull off an upset because they're dead and we're dealing with the Falcons.

They're not dead. They can win the division at eight and nine. They win the three way title.

This division is broken my brain.

What you really need is Tampa Bay to be Carolina. Yes. And that's the most likely scenario of all these. And then some of this other nonsense is I don't like this for the sake. I want to see what's going to happen with Alvin Kamara. Like, he left that game last week. He's got an ankle injury. Not wonderful for them. But Derek Carr, you are right. Four straight games with multiple touchdown passes, that ties a career mark for mean. I think he's been mean. The one thing about Derek Carr, like him or not, and I'm not a Derek Carr guy, but he's played through a lot of pain in his career and he's been doing that most of the season and I think that can explain some of the wonkiness with his play. But in general, what's happened of late, it should be happening right now at the most important time of the season. Guys like Juan Johnson have stepped up. I kind of feel like that matters a lot in this rivalry. These teams hate each other. To be in New Orleans, it's like whether or not you're on this bus, Saints fans, I know it's been a rough ride.

Show up to this one and be like knock out the.

It goes either way though. If they fall down a little early, like the negative energy and the booing.

And all that, but the booing seems a little more isolated to this season. That is just not a place where that was happening.

I just mean there's a lot of pressure. You're right, they want the coach. I feel like everyone thinks Dennis Allen's totally safe.

I feel like it's a blowout.

Loser. Coach goes home. I keep hearing Arthur Smith safe, okay, you get blown out by the Bears and the Saints.

The last two weeks really change.

You're seven and ten, you're lucky to be there. Dennis Allen keep hearing he's safe.

Okay?

You lose to the Falcons.

This is a rivalry.

I think that means more than any other. You get swept by the Falcons and that's how you end your season.

I think the optics of how this.

Game goes matters, but it seems very saintsy to me. To win this game, to get to nine and eight and to not make the playoffs, unsatisfying all around. You keep Dennis Allen and I was wrong before. I keep messing this up. The Saints need everyone to lose. They need the Seahawks to lose, the Cardinals, they need the packers to lose. They're last in line. But if the Seahawks lose and the packers lose, so they will find out at least if they get the first part of that in the afternoon, part of me wonders.

And again, white shoes plugged in told us that Smith is safe. There's other reporting out there. Arthur Smith has a good chance to return. Is there something we don't know about this?

Is there something, let's say I'll just.

Throw out a hypothetical. Arthur Smith did have reservations about Desmond Ritter and it was kind of like, we want you to give it a try with him and if it doesn't work out, we promise you. Is there something else to the story that we don't know? Because based on just what we know, three seasons of essentially failure and no real growth should get a coach gone almost 100% of the time. Why would he be an outlier?

The two things I could point to is I think Arthur Blank's pretty patient. And secondly, when we were at the Super Bowl a year ago, Arthur Blank was not far from us giving an interview. And what happened during some of that interview was he was so strongly in support of Desmond Ritter, no questions asked. We believe in this guy so much and so I wonder if some of that is at play. But Arthur Smith, it's been a like, it hasn't been a complete and utter disaster. It hasn't been like a public embarrassment this season.

I agree.

But this season's been close to it. Like after all that, Ritter with him, Heinecke is not healthy this week. He's not practicing really. And yet they're like holding out hope. So now it's gone from like we're going to keep playing Ritter to like we hope we can get 60% Heineckey to run back out there. And what's been embarrassing I think for Smith is they can't run the ball like not consistently and this is a team the Saints that you can run against. They ran for 228. I remember that game last time because they were both coming out of the buy and I thought it would be very telling who comes out of the buy better. And the Falcons ran all over them and I thought ooh, the Falcons are back. And that was like the last time they looked like that where they could run the ball so well. So to me they should be able to run in this game.

Maybe it is an upset.

We shall see. And Alvin Kamara, as Mark mentioned, he went down with that ankle. I don't know how high up on the ankle is this spring.

They don't tell us.

Not spotted in practice on Wednesday. I just did a quick search to see if we have any updates so far on Thursday I don't see anything yet, but he has been good for them this year. And carr I think needs a healthy.

Camaro to keep that offense -170 money line, by the way.

Here we go. Getting that in there.

Like it. I will go with the snake picks. So another game that has playoff ramifications even if it isn't necessarily competitive potentially, but you never know with the Dallas Cowboys, Cowboys at commanders. Eleven and five, Dallas coming off that dramatic, controversial win over the Lions, 20 to 19. All the two point business. But I think it did overshadow that. I thought the Cowboys played a good game in a big spot against a very good Lions team. I don't want to wipe away that effort and I don't want to wipe away that Dak is playing his best football in crucible moments down the stretch.

And the Commanders are a bottom five.

Team in the NFL, maybe a bottom three team in the NFL right now. You could argue they have the worst defense in the NFL, the worst pass defense in the NFL. The game is in Washington where the Cowboys anywhere away from Gerald World, they're simply not the same team. They've been a 500 team this season, maybe even sub 500 actually, when I look at their eleven or five and undefeated at home. Right, so here we go. I mean, there are no excuses. Mark, you need, absolutely need to hammer the Commanders and win the NFC east. Anything less would be a disaster. The idea of not winning this game and then going to the playoffs and going on the road just would be a disgusting idea for the Cowboys and their fans. Hammer the Commanders, steal this division from the Eagles and you go into the playoffs hosting a home game and feeling like this year's different.

This was the game a year ago where we were introduced to Sam Howell, who will be starting after some back and forth last week with Jacobi Brissette unable to go. Howell came in not too bad out of the gate. A disaster down the stretch. He's been sacked a league high 61 times, the most interceptions in the league. This Dallas defense, you can run on them. I don't think that's a big factor in this game. I think you want to get turnovers. You want to kind of have one of these games where you kind of set the tone for the playoffs. And no defense beyond Washington allows more yards per game to wide receivers. You can take advantage of that. CD Lamb is coming off a monster performance. I'm with you. Keep it clean. Just go take care of business. And like no Cowboys narratives coming out of this game.

No, you just got to stay healthy. This is like that, too.

Tyler Smith got hurt, which the Pro.

Bowl came out last night and he didn't make it, which was a little bit of a surprise for me. He's been fantastic. I don't think he's going to play in this game. Look, this is something where they should be cognizant of, let's get it to not like they're going to give a pregame speech talking about it. But it'd be nice if they got it to 40 to seven and could just rest their starters in the fourth quarter and start looking ahead. You never know what kind of week you're going to have. You might be playing on that Saturday. It might be a short week for you. And although would they stick the Cowboys on a Saturday? Maybe Saturday night. There's no reason, definitely Saturday night that Washington is going to be competitive. It's sad for Jacobi Brissette that he got hurt in practice last week because otherwise he would be starting this game.

And this is the end of an era. Ron Rivera is definitely going to be out the door. So the last game for Ron and maybe the last game as a head coach in the NFL, period, we talked about defensive player of the year being wide open here. Micah Parsons, another guy if you have the Lamar game, we'll call it the Lamar game. Even though he plays on the other side of the ball, he has 13 sacks entering this game. If he goes off for three in this game, all of a sudden his resume looks that much better. And I want to correct a wrong.

Especially because in a lot of ways.

You could look at his success this year. Going back to this podcast and certain.

Comments made by Zuzzer CD Lamb was.

Unbelievable in that Lions game. Completely uncoverable every time they needed a big play. C d Lamb made a huge play and he is having quietly a historically great season at the position. Have we heard anything about him for offensive player of the year? We haven't heard a thing.

I think Tyreek Hill kind of took.

Narrative for it's hard to say that he's been better than Tyreek Hill, so he's just getting boxed out.

Here are some just data points from our research.

Numbers aren't too far.

He needs one catch in week 18 to join the top ten of the most receptions in a season in NFL history. He's got 122 catches. He needs 72 yards, which he's going to get probably by the end of the first quarter in this game to join the top ten of the most receiving yards in a season in NFL history. His season average this year, his average. And by the way, I understand there's an extra week played and you factor that in, but this is different. He has averaged 103 yards per game this year, and if you want to even look closer at the numbers, you go from about the midseason point maybe around week seven, I would say he's probably about 120 a game. Scoring literally.

Literally.

Maybe with the exception of one week. He scores every week and sometimes multiple times a week, and I think he's not going to win offense player of the year. But he certainly deserves to be in the conversation because when he came into the league for the Cowboys, there was huge expectations and he was immediately very good. And then he kind of got a little bit better and then he got a little bit. But this is the year where he fully realized that number 88 potential and they have a superstar top three wide receiver in the league, in my opinion.

Yeah, Detroit had no answers for him. When you watch the Ravens offense, it's like teams don't know what they're doing to stop the Ravens. But like CD Lamb put that same kind of magic on the Lions last week. And I think it helps when you've got Dak Prescott and Lamb connecting the way they do. Like the one throw, the 90 plus yard touchdown for CD Lamb was one of Dak Prescott's greatest throws of all time, one of the more magical quarterback throws. You'll see an entire season, maybe the best play of the year, but it takes CD Lamb being in the right place and also making the play as well. He's incredible.

Yeah, people kind of got on the.

Cowboys because Jefferson's in that draft, chase.

Is in that draft, and they got to their superstar status first. But you're right, 1651 yards, the Cowboys, by the way, 13 point favorites in this game. That doesn't even feel like a lot of wood money line -800 which is like, what are we doing here, people?

Just, why bother, by the way, just.

From a historical standpoint, when the Cowboys.

Do get to the playoffs, whether it's the division champion or as a wild card, and it's probably going to be a division champion, I do get a little. Remember Kurt Warner, Larry Fitz in eight when they just tore through the playoffs?

Yeah.

Couldn't you picture Dak and Lamb just.

Being nuclear this month?

Yeah, the good version of the Cowboys like that. Yes, I can picture.

That's a tandem win, too, though games. Sure, we can talk about the ghosts of the Cowboys, but if we do believe this team is a little bit different, Lamb's one of the reasons why they're different this year. This guy is outrageous. I mean, I love Des Bryant, too. I mean, he was a great number 88, but I think CD is their best receiver since Irvin and it matters to have true hall of Fame level players like that agree. All right, let's keep moving. It is back to you, Greg.

Okay, I'm going to take the Buccaneers minus four and a half at the.

Panthers money lines minus 225.

I mean.

Buccaneers in a must win game, get to see a team win.

A division, a surprising team. If they can do it or see everything crumble and collapse in a surprising fashion, that's week 18 to me. These are the types of week 18 games you get, like the culmination of what they've been building towards because I don't think they're going to win a playoff game, although the Eagles would be a pretty winnable matchup for them. I want to see Baker bounce back, although it's more his health. I just am a little worried about he's missing practice this week and they're not like totally locking in that he's playing. But he did speak to the media, which is usually a good sign. He had a rib injury, which may explain his troubles in that game, but I didn't even think he played that bad once I watched, just they never had the ball. Their defense is not good by the like. That's one of the problems with Tod Bowles is they have all these stars on defense, the defensive guru, whatever. It's a mediocre defense and they were terrible last week and I thought Mayfield played quite well in the second half. The game was kind of over, but you made a lot of really good throws, so I don't think the injury affected them.

I think they will be chastened from that experience. They also will know that the Panthers gave them a hard time just a few weeks ago in Tampa and did not take it too lightly.

Whereas the Panthers are just playing out.

The string there and coming off one of the most depressing games of the entire season, getting shut out. 26 nothing to the CJ Bethard Jaguars. And that's why for the first time in a while, despite having a sterling record this week, I do forecast a little rain here, Carolina. I think the Bucks blow this team out. I was going to lock it up, but I'm giving Nick a little late Christmas present by going for the bills. The Buccaneers roll baker with four touchdowns. They cover that four and a half.

So brave.

Well, actually, every single rainmaker would be equally brave because it's 50 50 according to right.

But if you were going to be locking against the Panthers, that would have not a great look for a 15.

And two star fair to pick fair. That was in my head, too. But rainmaker wise, I started this season by drafting the under on Carolina as my number one overall pick in the wins over underdraft. I piled up a bunch of shoots.

Out of your mouth.

Yeah, I piled up a bunch of wins in the locks, going against them early before everyone knew they were trash bags. And let's wrap it up with some rain.

If you put a gun to my head, I would not remember what I did in week one in terms of my picks to Greg. It's all categorized, roboticized like it's all there in a data internal database.

Did you know that Greg's children squared off against each other in that?

I did hear about championship, yeah.

But I believe it was sort of a blowout.

Right, but that's not the point.

Yeah, the point is that out of like a twelve team league, Greg also had his children. It's like when you hear about and your children have japanese heritage, how organized everything is and how you look at the school systems there and everything. You have everything completely on lock right now, Greg, with your picks and your kids and the football universe, you're in complete control of it right now.

There's a lot of luck involved here. And Walker did it all by himself, which I'm very proud. And did you make it obvious he came in second?

You told him you loved him less though, right?

No, I did not. I did not. In fact, we knew as a household no one was going to mention the finals because of the result. If he had won, there had been a lot of conversation, but since he lost, we just have to give it a day or two for him to emotionally, well, it's recovered.

I think this is a great rainmaker. I'm feeling good. And for those that maybe overspent and Santa was expensive this year in households, this might be a nice way. But of course we do not say what to do.

We don't tell anyone.

Yeah, I would never do that. This is a quick episode here because we do got to keep moving, but.

We got to have it.

It's a very special episode of Tepperby Talking. It's kind of a satellite episode. It's Tepperby tossing. And we were told to stand down for a few days. In the story Tepperby tossing he in the waning moments of that 26 nothing loss to the Jaguars, got into it with some fans. This is the owner of an NFL team got into it with some fans and in a moment of frustration tossed the remnants of a drink with some.

Ice at either Afan or a group.

Of fans, threw the cup down and walked away right with his general manager right next to him. This was all caught on video because everything is caught on video. And after a couple of days of radio silence, the NFL fined Tepper $300,000 for what the league called his quote, unacceptable conduct during the loss. And here's a quote from the league. All NFL personnel are expected to conduct themselves at all times in ways that respect our fans and favorably reflect on their team and the NFL. And then Tepper again. After multiple days of radio silence out of Charlote.

This is when he was talking.

Now this is an episode of Tepperby.

Talking, which is not the same as.

Tepperby Tossin satellite app.

Dean please.

Welcome to an episode of Tepperby talking. He says I should have let NFL stadium security handle any issues that arose. I respect the NFL's code of conduct and accept the league's discipline for my behavior. He said he is passionate about his team but regrets his behavior. But no apology from Tepper. This is one of the worst years for any team in the history of this podcast. And this is kind of a fitting cherry on top.

That's well said.

$300,000.

I mean, it's a lot of money for just throwing a drink. And yet it could have been a lot more.

And I feel like the ultimate punishment is like, this is what he is going to be remembered for for a long time until proven otherwise. Not just the Bryce young trade, not just how bad this season has been.

But the punishment is like, poor Panthers.

Fans are the butt of jokes. And this will live on past this week past this year.

Yeah, it's been bad football. It's been bad front office work. It's been bad in terms of the stories you're hearing about the actual vibe behind closed doors. I remember as a kid I went to a Mets game with my friend Matt Bluestein and some father that worked somewhere else. Got us these special seats and we were right over the left field and Kirk Gibson of the Dodgers was playing down there. And we spent the entire game just shouting at Gibson, fuck you, Kurt Gibson. Fuck you. And what happened ultimately was around the 7th or 8th inning finally, because I knew he could hear us, he finally looked up and just f you. And it was like, if you're a player, I get the boiling over. And if you're a coach, that happens too because you're right there. But it's like, come on, owner. Owner. Can't do it.

I feel like it's a rite of passage. I remember in the bad old days for the Yankees in the early ninety s, me and my cousin Matt went to an otherwise completely empty upper deck of right field in old Yankee Stadium. And Mel hall was the right fielder of the Yankees. And in like the 7th inning of a twelve two game. We were just going Mel hall. And finally he just looks up at us and just like, holds his arms. Like what?

We're like, I don't know.

But Kirk Gibson shouldn't have done that. You were children, but you shouldn't be yelling.

I kind of think, no, there was some other parent that wasn't even our parent, but I think he should have done that. And I don't have a problem with a player doing that in that situation. But if you're an owner, you just can't be.

Well, that's way different. That's what I'm saying. Throwing a drink is but an owner way back. Like an explanatory that's not that big a deal. I mean, there's that jets player who I love, who's like a new meme of just pointing out all the people in the Browns crowd that he's saying, f you too. That's a beautiful.

Well, they're getting wet.

That's fun. Throwing the drink on. The person is. He's probably a little concerned he might get sued or something.

Yeah, that's the other thing you risk. And just to put a good button.

On the whole thing, as someone who's.

Lived through it, when you have ownership.

That you don't have faith in necessarily, you realize that that is the key to everything.

Everything starts at the top of organizations, and if it's dysfunctional or there's just.

Not a strong base up top that can lead to not a year or.

Not years, decades of issues. So if I'm a Panthers fan, and I don't need to tell you Panthers fans, you're very nervous about the trajectory right now of the organization.

Well, you also got to convince a top level coach, in theory, to come coach this team. Good luck with that, Joan of Arc.

Yeah, yeah. There's a lot going on there. All right, let's keep moving.

Mark, you're up.

Am I win bucks? Just win that game.

All right, I'm going to go.

Eagles at Giants.

I'm taking one of these late games because they've spread this slate around.

There's a lot of late games today.

Well, it's kind of half and half.

Six early, seven late.

Yeah.

So I'm going Giants hosting the Eagles.

Let's see here.

Let's take a look at the spread.

You handle that, Greg. Why I get involved with this game here?

Let me tell one more story about yelling at people.

Sure.

I used to go to a lot of preseason games, like my dad at his company. Those tickets would float around because of fans have to buy preseason games with their season tickets. So there'd always be jet preseason games floating around. So I would go to these games, went to one of the games with my budy Bob, who I do the Throwback podcast with, and we were sitting the first row right behind the jets bench and there was a reserve offensive tackle, I don't even know if he made the team named Jonathan Haggood. And we were just screaming in the fourth quarter, ha. Good. How good is it, Gats? And again, Jonathan Haggood, wherever you are, good men, looks at us and he's.

Like, what is wrong with you? Yeah.

All right. I gave you enough time there, Greg. That was a little filibuster.

I have found it, actually. The Eagles are giving up five points, a minus 230 money line check in on Giant Hagood. That feels fair to me.

That spread, you could have tweeted him today.

That's what's different. Back then it was your only access to him was like, you have to.

Shout at him at some point when you become an adult, you realize, oh, these are other humans.

Right?

I should probably not be doing this unless it's really warranted.

I think you're absolutely.

But it was also before social media and stuff, the idea of even connecting with these things and people and it's.

Just a different world now. You're right, Dan. Thank you.

All right, we're signing off for the day. I can't find any record.

The Giants, the only team the Eagles.

Have beaten since November.

If you think about, know, we dug into them on our last episode and it does feel like an inflection point. It's not just this game, but it's what happens in the playoffs and how it looks. I was thinking, though, later, because not to circle back entirely on all that, but the idea that Sirianni would get canned kind of blows my mind because we're talking about a coach that's going to have three straight playoff berths, just went to a Super bowl. Things are a little up and down, but that feels a little dramatic for how the Eagles do business in general. But this Eagles team is just not a good team right now. Like, their defense has been a disaster. They have a minus seven turnover differential, which would mark the lowest in franchise history for an Eagles team that also made the playoffs. And it's looked like it, and some of it obviously has come from Jalen.

Hurts, but Jalen hurts.

Like, Greg, you pointed this out. He's not this guy that you can just focus on is the entire problem. I think the giveaways have been an issue. But last week he had PFF's second highest score for a quarterback.

I mean, the offense played well.

The offense was not a problem last week. So it's like, how about just clean it up against the Giants and hush some of this nonsense up and we'll see. But I think there's no doubt that you talk about these other teams that have gone through some adversity. If the Eagles do wind up winning a couple of playoff games, you'd have to look at them and say they went through a lot to make that happen. Right?

It would show a response to adversity that they just haven't since they lost that first game that started this streak. I guess it was against the Cowboys. They just are soft. They're a soft defense. It makes no sense. They tried to load up against the run last week against Arizona. They were playing five man defensive lines, as Bo kind of pointed out, and they got steamrolled. So that's the whole problem. It's all the defense. I know Hertz has struggled a little late in games. They're not excellent, but we wouldn't be having these conversations about them collapsing if the defense just wasn't embarrassing. And who knows, Saquon could be his last game for the Giants.

Sounds like it is.

He's cooled off the last three weeks, fighting through some injuries after a really good season overall, but they could run the ball on them. And then it's Jalen hurts versus probably wink Martindale's last game. He's got to go out with a flurry. And Hertz's numbers, they've been out there from next gen stats this week versus the zero blitz teams. Zero blitz him more than any in the league and he hasn't handled it well and that's what the Giants like to do.

So if you told me this game.

Is up for grabs in the final few minutes, it would not surprise any.

Confidence around the Eagles right now is just kind of hoping for the best rather than watching them week to week and knowing this is a team that's just struggling. So the Giants on paper seem like a good get right opponent. But also the Giants at home. Dable is going to have them ready to go. They're going to have to earn it. We'll see how it goes. By the way, he was J. Haggood. He turned 50 last August. Happy birthday to J. Haggood.

The same age as I am.

That's right.

So that would have been. How does that make any sense?

It was in 1990. It must have been like the 97 or 98 preseason because that's when he was on the jets.

So you weren't like a young child.

17.

Okay.

I was yelling how good as it gets. I mean, just idiot.

A thug basically more or less.

Tyrod, by the way, starting this game. He did not start that other Eagles Giants game when ended up pretty close. He closed that game. That's where DeVito. They are a totally different team with Tyrod. They have a legitimate quarterback.

All right, Mark, snakes to you.

All right, I'll take the matchup. You know, a week ago it looked like it could have been intriguing. It is not going to be intriguing in terms of the stakes. The Bengals eliminated all these Cinci games.

On the schedule a few weeks ago. That look hot. Are turning out not to be.

No. And they looks like they could have been a fun playoff team and that's not the case. Cleveland sitting Joe Flacco and a flock of others and they need it. I do want a flacco. A flacco. I wanted to do a little, if we could.

Sure.

If we have the sound and if Greg doesn't mind. Greg owns the rest stop program. But I want a little spinoff called the rest stop vending machine. When you go into the rest stop, if it's not a total, you can buy something there. The Browns right now, if you think about it, yes. Thursday Night Football was their last game. So between then and now and Sunday, ten days, Amari Cooper, who was a little banged up, didn't play for another four days before that. So that is extended rest for Amari Cooper. Everyone else is getting rest this week. They don't play for another week. That's 17 days of rest and about 21 days for Amari Cooper. That's a nice rest. Now, do you trust Cleveland if we're going to be all up in arms about the Ravens showing up flat after a two week rest? I was going to say, Cleveland, this could be team that has maybe the coach of the year, but how does the coach of the year handle a 21?

Where's the vending machine?

Yeah, that's true.

Where's the vending machine coming into this?

I gave it a different name.

Oh, no, that's just an episode of Rest Stop.

You got to integrate the vending machine in some way. Are they now like treat you got? Have they been eating stale Twinkies? No.

You just stole the ip then.

Trying not to stamp on the same name. If he didn't enjoy, if he just.

Would have asked, it would have been totally cool. A lot of rest, but then to give it a little bit of a different name, but then do the segment that feels.

This is the first thing I thought of. Like a rest stop was like a little vending machine. I thought I'd just throw that on there.

What about a bathroom? Not the first thing I'd want to discuss, but you're right.

That's why you go to a rest.

Good app. Good app.

I do think there's so stressed out about the.

No, no.

I'm checking some injuries there is.

Rest stop has got versatility because I'm on the corner of too much rest stop. I do not want Joe Flacco disappearing for two weeks, two and a half weeks here. Right. I like Joe Flacco staying in the mix, but again, it's the right play as you keep the big man upright because she got big games to play ahead.

How exciting is that, Mark? It's pretty.

It'd be interesting to see who they play.

Nothing better than having playoff games to look forward to. I kind of remember it.

Ben Greg favored by seven in minus 298. So that is a reflection of the.

Browns sitting all their starters and the Bengals not. Although I figure what T Higgins is like banged up, they're not going to force wait is Garrett to play week 18, but Jamar Chase, it sounds like he'll play like they're trying to win. The Bengals are owing five in the division. I think they want to win one game before.

I wonder what they'll do with Garrett.

Because he has hardware on the line.

Potentially he does, but he's.

I wouldn't play banged up, too, sitting.

Six in sacks right now, but I know the awards about other things, but I wonder what he'll want to play. I would imagine, but he's got this like band around his shoulder still.

I don't think he's going to play in this game.

All right, Greg, I think it's back to you.

Is that right? Is Mark.

I've taken two.

You have taken two?

Yeah.

All right, so I will take another early game. I will take Vikings at Lions. Lions are favored by three and a half. The money line is -205 they're sending Joe Davis and Darryl Johnston, Moose, Pam.

Oliver putting them on a plane.

I think that's their number probably flying right now. Number 30 team. The Lions have said they're playing to win tomorrow.

Makes sense.

They're timing wise in a week where everyone's sitting, guys, the Lions are not, and they don't really have anything to play for, so they're going the other route.

This is one situation where I don't.

Have like crazy hot take. I think that's okay, too, if that's what Dan Campbell thinks is best. And Belichick was interesting when he would add the opportunities, and I think this is the right way to do it. He would do it sometimes and he wouldn't do it other times.

It would depend on factors of health.

And how the team is.

Ask Wes Welker what he thinks about that plan.

Blew out that ACL that one year. It's really unfortunate, but I just think like, I don't know, it's football and.

If you think it's best to play and try to win and get this back, then that's fine. The Vikings defense has struggled. Maybe he'll do the thing where he plays the starters for a little while and then takes them out, and then.

This line is going to look silly.

Because the Vikings should be favored. Nick Mullins is back as the starter and I think Jared Goff showed a lot a couple of weeks ago when he played this defense and they just had answer after answer. The Vikings defense entered week 15 third in the league in EPA per play or fifth in the league. They were the number five defense on the league for the season.

The last three weeks.

They are second to last. They've been terrible. All this talk about the quarterbacks, it's like, I get it. That also makes sense. But the defense has kind of turned into a pumpkin.

Maybe it was a little, I don't.

Know what the word is. What word would you use?

Lipstick on a pig?

Yeah. Like fake?

Like bugazi. A charade. It was a charade a little bit. I mean, but they only last into.

The year with they were trading players away before the season. I think Brian Flores did a pretty great job.

He did an incredible job and even overall it worked. But it's like you can only win maybe with scheme so long, the Lions might get back and the Vikings are.

Not out of the playoffs. What about that? Nope.

There's a chance.

How should we. Yeah, because that's why.

But it's the path. They're the team around the NFL, so.

We should know what they need.

I wouldn't call it a path. I'd call it like a path with like machine guns firing.

But they have not been eliminated. They have a lot of good tiebreakers on their side. They need to win. They need the packers to lose. They need the Seahawks to lose, and they need either the Saints or the Bucks to lose. So basically, look at it like there's four teams. It's not that crazy. There's four teams in line for that.

Like laying up for us.

I mean, it's crazy enough. I think winning this game might be hard enough, especially if the lines really try, but there's four teams in line for the wild card. Packers are first, Seahawks are second, Saints or Bucks are third, and then the Vikings are fourth.

Kind of like in the later levels of the old Super Mario brothers. When you get to Bowser's headquarters and you have to make the seven jumps in a row and then the big fireball wheels going around, then there's another fireball, and then you got to get under that and you have all those like, what are those? Remember the brown things? What were they called?

I didn't get to Bowser's headquarters that often.

You didn't?

I don't know. It wasn't my favorite game, but I watched people play it a lot.

Didn't like Mario.

I did not like it.

I just was like I had other interests, other diversions. Like what?

Other Nintendo things I liked.

Like what?

Kid Icarus was one kid iris. The minute, like, tech mobile came out.

Little obvious.

But what about the hockey one where you could pick the fat guy or the thin guy?

You always go one of each.

Yeah, you got to pick them.

Ice hockey.

It was coaching.

Learning about coaching as a team.

You could win with two fat guys and a little.

Two fatties and a little. I like to have a mid guy there, though. Mid guy keeps things balanced.

All right, I'm up.

And this one will be no stafford.

There's like 42 minutes of fat.

How about this? Let's take a break and then we'll finish up.

Only one game that matters left.

All right, we'll be right back.

Darry.

Welcome back. We have a few more games to hit here. Week 18. I will start with. Man, this was the game that I really had circled on the calendar for so long, at least before the season started. Jets at Patriots. There's been so many things that went wrong with this jets season, and we don't need to relitigate it, but it has been a crushing year in so many ways and one that I think fundamentally changed me as a fan. When Rogers went down four plays. Think and we'll see. I think it extinguished the last of my. What made me a little different as a Jets fan, that I always had some optimism that there was something good around the don't. I feel like this is a team that is just destined to always destroy me. Now, until they prove otherwise, I always looked at this game in Foxboro with Aaron Rodgers as like they'd be clinching the playoffs or they would be winning a division and would be beating Belichick on the road and slaying all these demons instead. They're kind of a joke and they're going in the wrong direction. And they just got blown out by Cleveland on Thursday night and the owner, for whatever reason, gave everybody a pass this year.

And we'll see what happens when they run it back with the same gang and a potentially healthy Rodgers next year. And now it's just playing out the string against a dreadful Patriots team, which is somehow, and this tells you a lot, getting two points against the Jets. Zach Wilson has played his final game. Yeah, as a jet, 99.9% sure. He never got cleared from concussion protocol. So his concern internally that the jets would get him hurt, he was absolutely correct, if that's indeed the true story, because he got his head beat in and then has been basically out of the mix now, and maybe he wasn't rushing to come back either, and I wouldn't if I were him. Now, the Patriots, Greg, this is a big game for them in terms of the draft standing, really for both, but especially the Patriots because the way the schedule sets up here, New England finds a way to lose to the jets, which they never do. They never lose to the jets, but if they somehow do find a way to lose here, they most likely get one of the top two quarterbacks in this draft. Right.

The way the schedule has played out and last week helped them, if they win, then they kind of fall back potentially into a more crowded mix. But from the tank perspective, which I don't love to focus on, but given what the trajectory of their season has been and potentially Bill Belichick's last game, a loss would help them in the long run.

It would. They could be anywhere from the two to the seven pick their most.

I mean, that's a big wing.

It's a big difference. And it could be more like the six if they won. That's strength to schedule stuff. Even five. They're probably not the two pick, though, Dan. They're probably the three pick. Washington is likely the two pick, but there are strength of schedule variables that can change, basically the opponents that the Patriots play. They got to hope that they lose and vice versa. There is a path to them passing Washington in strength of schedule this week. Yeah, it's possible, but it's unlikely. If you look at what they would need, a lot to happen. So that said, I just see that someone responded to something I wrote on Twitter and was like, oh, I was just like saying, belichick's going to play the hits. He went back to the my face and tweeter or whatever. He intentionally mispronounces the social media sites. And he went back to that this week when they were talking about strike the schedule, all this stuff, or like, what's going on in terms of rumors.

He's playing the hits and what's the ultimate Belichick hit?

I mean, at the end of the show, this feels like the end of the show.

The war horse that has everyone is.

Just waiting for him to play it.

You got to play with or without you.

For arcade Fire, for instance, it's wake up. They have to play wake up last. For Belichick, it's beaten the jets for the 16th straight time. I can't pretend that some guy was saying it's like, oh, he would torpedo their future if he loses the game. Okay, calm down. The difference between the three and the six pick, it might mean a lot. It might not mean a like, it might be better for you. You actually don't know, so just shut up about it. It's not that big of a deal. I kind of think the Patriots will win this game.

I'm doing this for Dan and for the future of the jets because a Jets win doesn't help their draft stock either. It's like, let's just don't worry about a win.

No, they could move up a few.

Spots, but I'm saying if they lose, some of their meaningless wins in previous weeks have only tarnished their draft stock sitting number eight right now. But you don't want the Patriots coming out of this post. Bill Belichick experience picking one of the great quarterbacks of the future in the AFC East. I want them falling back down to six or seven. So I think Belichick is going to do everything he can going out against the jets to win. I'm locking up New England with confidence, but it's for the Jets.

I like it, by the way.

I missed mine before. I completely forgot. I am locking up the Lions against the team around the NFL. Let's get that on the record.

It's become soiled.

It's over on that front. Yeah, it's Trevor Simeon on the road against a pretty good New England defense.

And it sounds like it's Bailey Zappi after Throwing like three interceptions.

Have you watched how the jets defense is closing?

Just that Brown Patriots defense.

They're ready to go.

It sounds like it's going to be potentially a snow game, too.

It's a minus 135, moneyline minus two. We don't have to say the over under, but this one's so funny. I want to. It's 30 30 and a half.

Is that a low for the entire season?

Well, there was that Steelers Patriots game which turned into a shootout in the first half.

The jets aren't just Rogers away from contending. Their defense has been good, better than great this year. They got lit up by Jake Brisket in the second half against Washington and then destroyed by Joe Flack.

Well, be happy. Greg Zerline is the reason why the Patriots don't have the number two pick. Because he hit that freaking kick. So the jets should be very proud of themselves.

Very proud. They have plenty of reasons to be proud. All right, let's keep moving. I will take one last look at the Kansas City Chiefs before the playoffs. They travel across the sidewalk here to face the Los Angeles Chargers.

It is the Chargers getting three and a half points. Well, you know why that is. No.

Patrick Mahomes.

They're not going to play him at all.

Nope.

Playing Gabbard, baby.

I don't know if I think that's the right move.

I gotta be consistent. I have to be consistent that it is the right move. You don't risk anything. Look at the Chargers themselves and they got Mike Williams hurt. But do the chief, I guess. What could they possibly do at this point?

They're locked. I would never play Mahomes.

Yeah, they're locked into their seed. So I think they were very fortunate.

That they happen to get locked in.

Because now they get a by week.

Yeah, that's good. And they could just completely almost, you have to, which is crazy, but this is their different type of team with a different track record. So the perspective is different, but you got to flush your ten win season and just kind of move. Now, this is January and I feel like there have been the truly great teams across different sports that have had runs, that the regular season becomes this really difficult thing and then against all odds and really based on what you've watched all season, they somehow flip a switch. Could the Chiefs do that? Could the flip a switch and be proficient on offense and then pair that with a good defense? I think it's possible, but that would be almost a betrayal of what we do, which is actually watch the games all year and watch how this team has played and the scheme and the play of the guys around Mahomes. I still have big time questions about them being able to score 21 points in a playoff game. So we'll see the Chargers. We don't really need to talk about them.

Yeah, I mean, they've got fewer than 20 points in seven games this year. It's just a different experience watching this team and I don't need to kind of trust or believe or come up with concepts of why they're going to suddenly flip the switch and become what they were even in last year's playoffs. There's a personnel issue. I think they got a lot of work to do in the offseason and they masked over the Tyree kill absence last year very well and it's why there was faith they could do it again. But they missed a player like that. Just a player like that.

I think any team in the AFC playoffs can pick off this Chiefs team.

Sure.

Absolutely.

And they might end up playing the Dolphins if the Dolphins lost on 28 years old, decent stick. I think he probably earned himself a.

Couple more years in this league.

Of all the games I'm voting this one actually the least important.

All right.

No impact on anything.

All right, then let's move on. Greg, you're up.

I'm going to take Rams Niners. The Rams are four point underdogs in this game.

The 49 ers minus who's playing in this game 50.

Neither starting quarterback is playing. Aaron Donald looks like he's out. Kyron Williams is out. They announced was Cooper cup on the list of I think he was too that are also out. So the stars for the Rams are definitely out.

The Niners are doing something different, at least publicly.

Sam Darnold is starting, but according to Kyle Shanahan, at least the way he.

Explained it was, well, I only know.

This amount of inactives and we have this many injuries. We actually only have one inactive to play with. I'm going to choose my quarterback as that one. And he made it sound like he's going to play his starters and the way I just guessing how he sounded was he's going to play them for a little bit. I think he's going to like couple series. He's going to play some starters with Darnold and he explained it that we want to be more prepared than we were a year ago. If Brock gets hurt, we want some reps with Sam with the starters. And so that is why they're approaching this game this way. I mean, to me it should be bigger than four because their backups, I just feel like are going to be their backups are pretty good and they've owned this matchup lately, but who knows? I guess when it comes to backups.

Can't shake the feeling.

I've had it all year that Darnold's.

Going to be on the field in.

A big spot for this team, and.

I'm not rooting or hoping for an injury to purdy, and he's not going to get benched.

But I don't know.

It just feels like there's something in the stars. Let's see what happens.

I think it could happen. The most interesting part of this game.

That would be not what the Niners.

Want, but I hear you, is the.

Decision that the Rams are making to me is interesting.

They're starting Carson Wentz.

I don't know if they're going to.

Throw Puka and Kobe Turner out there to work on some rookie of the year stuff, but that seems silly. Puka's been banged up all year. Thank you, Walker. I do think it's interesting that they're saying we don't care about becoming the 7th seed, which they will become instead of the 6th seed if the packers win. They're just saying the risk of that happening and it might not happen isn't worth it. We want to take a rest. We're fine going to Dallas instead of going to would, and again, there's a lot of variables. Maybe it's Philadelphia, maybe the packers lose anyways, and I think that's part of it is like, yeah, you can tell.

Us we're going to Dallas, but maybe.

We'Re not because the packers are going to lose anyways, and the rest is the most important thing, but they're deciding that they don't care which.

You can make case either way there, and you can't really get on them. All right, let's close this out.

Mark.

All right, two more games, they're both mine. I will go Seahawks at Arizona. Doesn't matter what order I go in here, but we can start there. Seattle.

Let's see here.

This game actually matters.

The Seahawks can clinch a playoff berth.

If they win and Green Bay loses to Chicago, so that's not impossible at all.

I wish I took this game. I just spaced.

I'd be happy to give it to you if you want.

Okay, flip. Nice guy. Thank you.

I know you can get a draft.

Pick from next week. Make him that bad. Make him trade for it. There's no draft pick next week. Yeah, we're still doing it, right?

Do we do drafts?

Playoffs.

Playoffs.

We're all watching.

Yeah, maybe like, maybe $5 a 2024 sergeant 520 24 draft pick.

How much would it cost?

$3.

We should do it first, see if you can remember.

Would you pay him $3 to switch?

$3?

No. How about a lunch?

They can watch it anyways. You can do whatever you want.

What did you pay for Mark's lunch?

Now that I think about it. Let's keep going.

Okay. We'll deal with this later. Potentially.

Keep going.

I saw this interesting stat that the Seahawks have trailed. You know how we talked about how, like, what was it? The Ravens that have been trailed for.

Like 18 minutes or something this whole season, never trail.

The Seahawks have trailed for 7 hours, 19 minutes and 21 seconds, which is tells you something. Fifth worst in the league.

Fifth worst?

Yeah. Whoa.

Worst.

Minor miracle.

They're playing for the playoffs. They're playing the Cardinals, who are on that list, too. But this Cardinals team, I don't know, Seattle's defense just leaves you ultra suspicious. And the version we're getting of James Connor, I'm going to be talking about him a little bit on our NFL plus feature today. I think he's been talk about guys that have not just saved their career because he was already a good player, but he's in their future plans. And not only that, I thought one of the biggest news items that came out, and I love it because it solves us potentially a lot of nonsense in the offseason. I love when this happens now, is that Jonathan Gannon basically came out and said, kyler Murray is our guy. There's no any of these whisper campaigns that we could trade or we can go somewhere else. They've got a bunch of draft picks, too. So they were in that world where if they fell in love with a different quarterback, you, you could trade Kyler Murray, someone will want him, and you could move up even higher in the draft to get your guy. But he came out and said that.

And I feel like the way Jonathan Gannon's operated, the way they've operated with Kyler Murray this whole season, they've been pretty clean and fair about it and honest, like they're just keeping him and.

He'S been good because he's in a normal offense. It's nice to see there was never any motivation to trade him because you take such a huge financial penalty that it was only going to make sense if they didn't like him or if he struggled and he's looked great. They're lighting up defenses with Michael Wilson and Dorset McBride. How about we bring in a good receiver only because of the contract and because Kyler is very good, but even if you take out that it never made sense and I think they're going to win this game. I'm picking the Cardinals to win. They are two and a half point underdogs. The Seahawks are. -148 I like that for Arizona. To me, I think they're similar offense and I don't know, I just feel like this Seahawks team can't stop power running and that's what Arizona is good at.

I'm going to give Arizona some flowers for the first time in a while on this show.

I think they handled the Murray situation.

Perfectly where remember before the season started, there was this talk, are they going to trade them? Are they going to bench them for the whole year to protect their asset and then move them? But instead they said, no, we're going to do, we're going to rehab him the right way. We're not going to rush him back, but we're not going to be overly cute about it. When he's ready to play, he's going to play and then we are going to use that half season as an evaluation period. And then Kyler joined the lineup with very few skips, has really resembled his old self and I think everyone now is in a place, especially coming off last week's game is like, yeah, this is a guy that you build around and we potentially have a future with Kyler, which has always been kind of. I know they invested in him financially, but it's always been up in the air. I thought this season has been really good in calming down a lot of the melodrama around the situation and he's their dude.

Doesn't the whole organization feel in a better place in general? It just seems like there's no storylines. It's like it's well coached. Had to get that leadership out of there.

Yeah, I think they're a sneaky good coaching staff. I think petsing has done a good job offensively. Gannon at least tries stuff. We'll see once they get some players in defensively, and I think this would be a feather in their cap. I know it would hurt their draft pick, but I think they would feel pretty great going into the offseason. If they beat the Eagles and Seahawks in a row. And yeah, this could be a little.

Bit of a coach killing spree here.

They could go on. If they take out the Eagles and Seahawks, who knows in a row what could happen in Seattle on that carol thing.

Again, I don't know about him. I don't want that to happen, but.

I don't want to repeatedly an insider.

No well, I did ask about this.

But it's more my ideas.

All right, last one. Let's finish this up.

All right.

Broncos at Raiders, and it feels like a last.

Give us 1 minute on this game.

1 minute. The Broncos are getting three points. Moneyline -155 if you're on the Denver side of things, I think it matters for Sean Payton in general to close out strong, and there's a lot for them to deal with with Russell Wilson, the rest in this offseason. But I think it's a bigger game for Antonio Pierce.

Like keep this job or not keep.

This job or at they lead the NFL in scoring defense. Since he's taken over in week nine.

It'S possible he has no chance. And it's possible he's got it already wrapped up. So it's hard.

Doesn't matter.

Does it matter?

Scoring defense?

I think because it's not just that. It's like the players love him. Like there's people talking from inside the building, people coming out saying, we want this guy. It's the same thing that happened with Versace and Mark Davis didn't do it. It's the Mark Davis side of it matters.

Are we really still like, oh, if only rich passace was coaching the Raiders right now, things would be different.

So like, they go get some other retread that failed at head. Don't do that for that.

Don't do that either.

I mean, I guess you could go get.

They'll get a young offensive mind.

That has some upside.

He's a young coach, too, though. I guess. I don't know.

I kind of like it just because.

I like him and I don't know.

If they're going to do any better. Who knows? It could be the end of Devontae Adams there. You never know. Could be the end of Josh Jacobs. Definitely the end of Russell Wilson. The one thing that made me laugh this week of all the insider reports about. You're not, you're not trading Russell Wilson. No one is trading you. Anything for Russell Wilson. Stop it. Stop trying to puff up his value. I think you said. Did I?

Yeah.

Stop it.

Go ahead.

You can say it again.

You can.

It's all it.

That was it.

That's ridiculous.

Also, Dalvin Cook is a dynamic playmaker with fresh legs. You should know that as well.

That's true.

You're right. I did say this on last show. We've done too many shows.

I apologize. All right, that is the week 18 preview. This is the triple, actually, no, no longer a triple header because no, Thursday night Football. Football doubleheader, though NFL plus. Mark had a little tease earlier. The dreamatorium is open for business, so check that out on NFL plus. And then Sunday night, we recap every game that we just previewed. You got to be there for the flagship program. Till then, heed the call.