NFL Week 17 Preview!!

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The Heed the Call Podcast

wishes you a Merry Christmas, you filthy animals!

Ah, yes.

We hope everyone had a great Christmas day.

I know I did.

Dan Hans is here with Mark Sessler, Justin Graver on the ones and twos.

We got both

Jordan and Mike coming up in a little bit.

How are you, Mark?

Doing great.

Had a wonderful Christmas.

Hanging out with the kids.

Beautiful time.

I want to apologize.

You did send, you fired off some trenchant Blues Traveler related text to

me and my throwback podcast bosom buddy Bob.

Just, you know, a lot of like fire about John Popper, lead singer of Blues Traveler, but just a busy, busy Christmas.

I I haven't gotten a chance to reply, but I do agree that Blues Traveler was a great band in the 90s.

Your Christmas sounds interesting.

Yeah, well, no, I was

on a drive later in the day.

I was listening to this.

I feel like you and Bob are one of the few text threads I'm on where I can go down the Blues Traveler road.

And you're always welcome to.

And we love that you do.

It surprises me how often you do.

Because I feel like Blues Traveler comes up once every three to four weeks now on a random text.

But that's one of the things I love about you.

There's a fascination with this band that many people have completely forgotten about.

Well, it's the first concert I ever went to

in my youth.

And it was one of the first CDs I think I bought when you could

have a CD player in your car.

And I remember driving around being like, this is my...

This is my band.

And I think John Popper is someone that's just underrated, that he's forgotten when we talk about certain things.

He's got an incredible vocal range and style.

So that's, I think, what I was trying to get across to you guys.

Should I say, save it for the throwback pod?

That sounds like something for the Patreon.

I love to do that.

And we will down the line.

We have so much to get to.

We have a full slate of week 17 games to preview.

But first, let's get into what happened on Saturday, on Christmas.

Who knows what day it is?

I mean, it's absolutely bizarre.

When a Christmas falls on a Wednesday, it completely throws one's mind

into a blender.

You know what I mean?

No, I feel completely lost.

All right, so let's start right here.

Hit me with some music.

Just it.

Because you know what this was?

This Christmas Day of NFL games,

it got mismatched.

Because if we had the

two

pretenders playing each other, like if Pittsburgh was hosting Houston, probably would have gotten a competitive game, and then we would have gotten a banger between the Chiefs and the Ravens.

We didn't get that.

We got the pretenders against the contenders, and as a result, two games that turned into blowouts.

Let's start with the early game in Pittsburgh where the Kansas City Chiefs took care of business against the Steelers team that is trending in the wrong way at the wrong time of year, scoring the game's first 13 points in the first quarter, scoring the game's last 13 points in the fourth quarter.

rolling to a 29 to 10 win.

And it is a win that, Mark,

does the job for the Chiefs, who, as much as we want to get on them, and how do they keep getting away with this?

They are 15-1.

They are 7-1 on the road, and they have clinched the top seed in the AFC for the fourth time in seven years.

You can't keep getting away with it.

The road goes through Kansas City, and they seem like a team that is getting better as the regular season comes to a close.

They really are.

I mean, it's two weeks in a row

island games where their offense has

done its job in a way that was not the case in so many of the previous matchups.

I think it is a big development that Marquise Brown has hit the scene and is productive and playing well right now, and you're not having to wait for that.

I think that's a big development across from Xavier Worthy.

It opens the field up for Travis Kelsey, who had eight for 84 and a touchdown yesterday.

We've been waiting for that.

And you don't have key players on defense, and you go out and absolutely rattle Russell Wilson.

Five sacks.

He was hit hit nine times.

This to me feels like the end of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

And we've got a lot of these teams in the AFC that like, I just can't believe in what they are because this was the game.

If you're in Pittsburgh and we're to believe in you in Pittsburgh against a Chiefs team that we felt is kind of ho-hum despite the record, like this was your chance.

Instead, it completely unseals what I think is the truth about the Pittsburgh Steelers.

They're fading.

Yeah, and

you know, you could.

There's no shame in getting beat by the Chiefs.

The Chiefs are one of the great teams in the middle of a dynasty.

But the frustration as a Steelers fan, I mean, that play where they, you know, they're down 13-0, and you get Russell Wilson, and the offense drives down to the goal line.

You score on the ground.

They cut to the crowd being ecstatic.

Like, oh, we're in the game.

Holding.

The play comes back, and then Wilson throws a terrible interception.

And, like, you just know at that point where this game is going.

And after the game, Mike Tomlin didn't pull any punches.

He knows that this is not looking good for his team that once upon a time was 10-3 3 and in the running for the number one seed.

And now they're just holding on for dear life, hoping to maybe take their division.

You know, that sucked, to be blunt.

Not the type of ball we want to play and really kind of eerily similar to our last performance in that we're not doing the fundamental things well enough.

Yeah, and

there's no way to hide from it.

The Steelers have really come down on both sides of the ball during this losing streak, and now it just becomes about can they they find a way to right the ship before the playoffs.

Getting that 10th win, obviously, now looms large for this team because otherwise we'd be talking about a team free-falling out of the playoffs entirely.

They're going to make it, but it's

not what you want.

I think it was important to see how they bounce back from the disaster of a week ago.

And instead, they just created another one.

And it's missed tackles.

It's un-Pittsburgh Steeler-like defense.

It's the offense that we were suspicious of looking suspicious.

So, you know, this whole time of year is like you want to come into the playoffs like a Green Bay Packers team that we'll talk about later.

It's like everything's starting to formulate, come together.

The coaching compliments the players.

None of that's happening right now.

And instead, I think you've got a lot of Steelers fans back where they've been before.

Like, we know Mike Tomlin is a Hall of Fame coach, but there are people that just have, there are Steelers fans that just question the Tomlin experience for being good but not great.

And this team right now is good and not great.

And that's their ceiling.

Yeah, right now they're not even good.

I mean, they played three bona bona fide contenders in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Kansas City.

They lose by at least 14 points in all three of these games.

So they're not even in the same weight class.

And then you get no-show performances.

And I don't know if TJ Watt is, you know, healthy or not, but he generates zero pressures on 31 pass rushes against the Chiefs.

It's his first game.

This via Nick Jacobs on Twitter.

It's his first game without a pressure since week seven of 2023 at the Rams per next Jim Gen stats.

So, you know, you have the killer turnover from Wilson.

You have TJ Watt not making any type of impact.

And it's just,

they're in a low point of their season.

And on the Chiefs side, again, not much more we need to say.

This team is ready to go.

They're ready to roll.

And they played three games in 11 days.

They had Patrick Mahomes in the middle of the stretch suffer a high ankle sprain that he battled through, obviously.

Chris Jones has a calf injury that he dealt with in this game.

And so we'll keep an eye on that.

But they win all three of those games, obviously, and punch their ticket to the number one seed.

It's just a really impressive close to the year and a season where, and I've been one of the focal people about it, at least on the show, like haven't been impressed by them and feel like they're vulnerable.

But this 11-day stretch changes the way I feel about them.

That I do, it does seem like they have the ability to turn it on.

Will they?

We'll see.

If they do, they'll be the first team to ever win three straight Super Bowls.

But they are obviously trending upward at the right time.

Yeah,

and one important factor that is playing out well for them is that Joe Tooney, like

elite guard, has been moved to left tackle and it's working.

They filled someone else in a guard and it's working and he's playing really well.

And so that was a major concern for them.

But you're right.

Like you get to the end of this game and you got Kelsey and Mahomes wearing these sort of like superhero Netflix overcoats rolling into the locker room and you got Andy Reid coming out dressed as Santa Claus.

Like there are other teams like the Niners that they've hit a point of exhaustion in their journey

after so many playoff years.

And the Chiefs, to me, feel like over this 11-game stretch, they went and got their gas tanks filled.

There is a different energy to them.

And I don't think we've even seen the best version of their offense.

It seems like it's happening now.

And so I'm with you in the sense that they're not a dominant hammer-dropping type of team.

They win these close games, but they do win them.

And they win them in a lot of different ways.

And whoever comes up against them gets slapped down.

And they taught the Steelers a lesson.

Yeah,

they had one loss, and they got beat fair and square by Buffalo.

They're not going to be playing for anything in week 18.

They'll probably be wresting everyone.

Certainly, you don't expect to see Jones or Mahomes, for instance, against the Broncos, but they can end up going 16-1 this year.

And even if they go 15-2, it's been a hell of a regular season, and we see what happens next.

Let's check out the other game of Contender v.

Pretender.

You know, we kept waiting for Houston to go.

Go.

Go, Houston, go.

And they've never been able to figure it out.

They've never been able to turn it on.

And they hit their low point at home with Beyonce in the building.

You know, you don't know-show with Beyonce in the building.

No.

And you get beat by a dominant Ravens team.

I'd rather get beat 31-0 than 31-2.

But they did get that one safety on a play where Derrick Henry gets taken down in his own end zone, accounting for all the scoring for the Texans.

And the Ravens, led, of course, by the great Lamar Jackson, who made history in this game, roll to an impressive win.

They're 11-5 and knocking on the door of an AFC North title.

Every concern you have about the Texans, and I think we already just knew where they are and what they are right now.

Totally revealed, totally revealed.

And like, it's just kind of a mirror of what happened at Pittsburgh, like you were saying.

Like these two teams that are getting dragged into the postseason,

this was a chance, like CJ Stroud, go get involved in a shootout.

He's getting worse.

He's devolving.

And I get there's a lot of things.

How many throws did he miss in this game, Mark?

It was really hard to watch.

You know, and I know that, I know, I know, I think, first of all, like, everything has been taken around him.

It's been taken away.

But, like, he was 17 for 31.

They can't run the ball.

Everything that there was their strength when they had their pieces together and Joe Mixon was...

added a big element.

Like it's all gone away and the defense collapsed.

Like I and it was a couple weeks ago I thought this defense might be the thing that you can hang your hat on on against some of these teams.

The pressure, the fact that they've got a ball hawking safety, like they're well coached in general in that since all of that's gone away.

And like, I know you're playing a team also that's a dominant team right now.

The Ravens look like a Super Bowl team, and they have a MVP-level quarterback, and they can kill you with the ground game.

But then to go and not even, it was a no-show.

And so it's like,

I don't even understand.

Like, if you draw the Texans in the playoffs, shame on you if you don't hammer them, whoever you are, because this team to me has floated away.

This game to me was over

in the second quarter.

It was 10-2.

As we said, Houston gets the safety.

They get the ball back.

They get a nice return off the free kick by Damian Pierce, who takes it back

45 yards.

So they're set up near midfield.

The drive stalls at the Baltimore 30.

It's fourth and three.

Stroud heaves one up near the goal line that was not really a catchable ball.

And they get a very, very fortunate pass interference.

It was not a good call.

They should have picked up the flag or not thrown it in general against Marlon Humphreys, who was in good coverage on Robert Woods.

They get first and goal at the Baltimore 10.

As a result, they get a run from Mixon that takes him down inside the three.

And then on fourth down, they try a pass to Mixon to the right, and he gets stuffed by Tredavius White and Washington.

And

that was it.

Like, you you knew, even after the officials essentially gifted them or tried to gift them with three to seven points, when the Ravens were like, nah, you don't get that.

Ball don't lie.

You figure what would happen next.

And six plays later, on a 99-yard drive, Lamar takes him in, and the game is 17-2, and it's over.

And on the Lamar side of things, not only is he, again, and I agree, I think who was on this call in this game?

Was it Orlofsky?

No, who was it?

I don't remember who it was, but whoever it was was had said that they believe that Lamar Jackson is now maybe the best or if not the best one of the best pocket passers in the league and just to talk about his growth as a player I agree I mean he is just completely under control and there is no one in the world and the likely play was a great example who uh the touchdown who can extend a play

And I mean, even more than Mahomes.

Lamar Jackson's ability to extend a play, dodge pass rushers, keep his composure,

not sweat a lick, and then deliver on target.

He is outrageous.

And this came on the same day he broke the NFL's all-time record for rushing yards by a quarterback.

He's like 27 years.

He's 27 years old.

Here's John Harbaugh on the great Lamar Jackson.

Sometimes I just shake my head and say, that was really a great play.

That was a great play.

You know, you see a lot of great plays from Lamar Jackson.

And I told him I was proud of him.

I'm not just proud of him just because he makes great plays.

I'm proud of him for all the things that go into making the great plays And also for all the things he's overcomed along the way.

Yeah, I mean, you know, if we're going to talk about the Chiefs as a team winning three games in 11 days, the Ravens have just done the same thing and outscored their opponents 100 to 33, 400-plus yards.

It is Lamar on the ground with 87 yards, but you are right.

By every metric, he is having his finest season.

He is completely grown.

I think he's grown mentally.

This team feels to me viciously obsessed with going and answering the narrative about the playoffs.

And I think one thing that's happened over the last two weeks, weeks, and it was Humphrey who talked about this, that the defense has held meetings and talked to themselves about shoring things up.

They were penalty-laden.

Last week they had two penalties total, and this week it was three.

They have cleaned things up, and guys like Ardarius Washington

are growing up very quickly and making that big play, the fourth-down stuff of mixing along with Tradavius White.

It's just another team that's rounding into shape at the right time, like the Chiefs.

And I've always had my doubts about the Ravens and Lamar.

I just something about it.

And now I do not.

Only a full road right now.

One last note.

Lamar obviously not doing it alone, but he's been made even better by Derrick Henry, whose debut season with the Ravens.

You want to talk about history?

One of the great debut seasons ever by a veteran player

on a new team after spending, obviously, all of his career with Tennessee.

Previously, he is up to 16 touchdowns on the year, 14 rushing, two receiving, and he is at nearly 1,800 yards.

He's probably not going to do it, but if he ran for 217 yards in the finale, he would eclipse 2,000 yards rushing.

And while Saquon Barkley gets all the credit and all the kind of juice in terms of coverage of what a great running back year is and that he's an MVP candidate and all this, like Derrick Henry has had an unbelievable year in Baltimore.

So what a great job by the Ravens recognizing what he could do for their team.

And yeah, it does, I'm not going into the

offseason or the playoffs mark thinking Baltimore is going to fall on its face again.

Could they?

Yes.

Could Lamar come up short again?

And it just underlines all these questions about him?

Sure.

But man, AFC players are going to be fun.

They are some dogs that are going to be playing football in January.

Yeah, can you just clean out the trash as soon as possible?

Wild card weekend and beyond.

And we want to get the best teams in showdowns.

I'm with you.

I think the Ravens feel different to me.

But the problem is there's three other teams that feel different to me, too.

So who knows what will happen?

That's great.

And, you know, the one thing I would love is for

these said teams, the Texans and the Steelers, both to be gone

by the division round.

But it could line up, Justin, if I'm not mistaken, where they play each other in the wild card round, and then that guarantees we have one of them still around.

Is there a way to just

get him out the door?

Wouldn't be bad.

Would it be bad for anything?

There is a way.

You need the Chargers or the Broncos to rise up to the five seed and the Steelers to lose again and fall to six or seven.

Because right now, Texans are going to get the four seed and will host the Steelers in the first round if it started the way it is now.

Who said there's no drama in the AFC playoff picture?

Let's just rearrange the chairs there and make it happen.

All right, let's take a break and we'll get into week 17, the preview.

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You know, Dan, we had a softball team for years and I touted myself as the manager and it's because I couldn't see anything.

Yeah.

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all right we are back christmas day games in the rear view and now we spin forward to the rest of week 17 the proper preview

mark we have michael sean dugar as he always does joining us just in a little bit right now is our great friend jordan rodriguends

formation, I don't understand.

I don't know anything about the water rings.

But if you do, sugar references are captivating.

Hmm.

Well, that tickles my 90s alt-rock funny bone.

Jordan Rodrigue, what's up?

That was so good.

Who did that?

That was so awesome.

That was John Bukovach, who has submitted songs in the past to the former show, to this show.

Thanks, John.

Thank you, John.

Oh, that was like my pun intended, genre.

Like, that was awesome.

Like, that ruled.

That sounded a little bit like pavement almost.

There was definitely that kind of

indie aesthetic to it all that reminded me of 1996.

And you know,

he spent probably hours and hours

with you on his mind, Jordan, crafting a song that fit your brand, your essence.

Do you think he's single?

Could be.

Could have a copy of Catcher in the Rock.

He's single, probably.

Just be careful.

All right, Jordan.

Like I said, Mike coming in a little bit.

And Jordan, you have to get over to Rams, the Rams facility.

You know, it's a funky week.

It's Christmas week.

Everything's a little bit different.

So we only get you for about 45 minutes.

So let's make the most of it.

Dig right into the primetime games of week 17, starting with the number 19 Atlanta Falcons traveling to Landover to face the Washington Commanders.

Commanders laying four and a half points of wood here.

Sunday night football.

And Jordan, this game has juice that otherwise it probably wouldn't have had.

Once upon a couple weeks ago would have been like, oh, Kirk Cousins makes his return to Washington, blah, blah, blah.

No, that's the old fun storyline.

The new fun storyline is we got the kid quarterback Panix in their game two, but this time a challenge on on the road against the commanders team that was looking like they were getting their juice back a week ago with Jaden Daniels in one of the games of the year.

Yeah, this is going to be so much fun, you guys.

If this was not a primetime game, this would be the game that I can't freaking wait to watch this week.

And I can't freaking wait to watch it anyway because.

Easy with the language, Jordan.

Oh, my God.

Heck.

Like, I'm so, like.

It was so cool watching the calmness and the composure that Mike Pennix had going into that game, I think obviously huge credit to him and a huge credit to, like I mentioned, Zach Robinson and KJ Black, who both of those guys got Baker Mayfield ready a couple years ago on a short week to play after arrival in LA.

So they've done this before.

They know really what it takes.

And now it's like, okay, can you sustain?

The Atlanta Falcons are still fighting.

They're still in this.

A lot will depend too on what happens with the Buccaneers this weekend as well.

But I loved that they could run their offense.

They were booting him out.

He was calm in the sense that he didn't look to run.

He looked to work and move his pocket in very schematically aligned ways, and he made some great throws.

And then on the other side, you have Jaden Daniels, who's just electrified us all season.

And even with the ribs injury in the middle of the year, has still, you know, put together just an astounding rookie of the year type season.

This is going to be really fun.

This is like rookie quarterback game of the year, or one of them at least, in my opinion.

Yeah, you mentioned calmness, and I thought, well, you could be talking about Michael Pennix, or you could be talking about Jaden Daniels, because for rookies, like, it's pretty astonishing to see what Daniels did a week ago.

Like, the team is barraged by turnovers and mistakes, and it's like they shrugged it right off.

And, like, to me, I love that about quarterback play.

And it is suddenly a game with incredible juice.

It's, um, you know, these guys got lucky in the primetime slot because I think Pennix came in, and it's like right away they trusted him to use his arm.

He, like, the 10-plus air yards passes went up over 10% from Kirk Cousins, and he didn't really even have to use his feet.

And I think that's another thing he brings to the element to the offense.

And so there is a world where the Falcons can still get the number three seed.

I know they don't feel like a third-seeded team, but there's this vision or this journey where it's like, what happens to them now?

Because suddenly you have Michael Pennix, a rookie quarterback, taking them into the playoffs, maybe and doing something that we would not have expected with Kirk Cousins.

I'm not going there yet, but

there's a different energy to the team.

There's a different energy to the offense.

Absolutely.

And I feel I'm very happy for Zach Robinson, the OC, and Raheem Morris.

How frustrating must it have been to not be able to use your playbook?

And as the season's circling the drain and feeling like you're getting criticism, you're like, you don't understand.

Our quarterback's washed, and we're kind of caught up in this mess.

So to be able to open that book back up, that makes excitement.

Now, yeah, it will be Grinch now.

They did it the right way.

They got Penix in the lineup against the worst team that we've seen this season in the New York Giants.

Perfect way to get his feet wet.

Now you're going on the road in prime time under the lights against a Washington team that's, you know, they're not, this is not a team that's going to win the Super Bowl, but they're going to be a much tougher challenge and it's going to be a great test for Pennix.

So I'm not ready to talk about them, you know, moving up the seedings chart and being dangerous in January.

I want to see what happens in this game first, but

without a doubt, this team is now more exciting.

Let's welcome in Michael Sean Dugar, by the way.

What's up, Mike?

Mike that had a little tech diffs, as we call it in the industry.

What's going on?

What's going on?

Oh, I got a round of applause.

I should be literally a hotel vibe.

Yeah, I'm in Chicago for Thursday night football.

Yeah.

Hooray.

Sure.

And, you know, you did, you did, not to get sidetracked here, but when you were in New York, you didn't have the pizza.

Are you going to do the pizza in Chicago?

That's a good question.

I just hit up my homie.

Which is more a casserole than a pizza, but go on.

So

I think I gave my pizza take last time.

I do prefer like the pie deep dish version over the New York.

But like, I just, for some reason, I guess Chicago must be like the food city of the world.

Cause when I get food recommendations here, it's paragraphs.

It's not like a few joints here or there.

I just asked my homie who's from here.

He sent me like a million things.

Me and Jordan were colleagues with Robert Mays.

And like his pinned tweet, I think, is, I clicked on it.

I never clicked on it before.

It's like a Google Doc with food rec.

I'm thinking it's a few here and there.

It's like hundreds of places.

I had to just hit Robert Up.

Like, yo, man, just give me a couple.

Because, yeah,

that's too much.

That almost made my brain go crazy.

But I do want pizza.

That's on my list.

All right.

Well, let us know how it goes.

We were just talking about Sunday night football.

Where you stand on the Washington side of things, do you think, do you think, because there's two ways to look at the last Commanders game, obviously electrifying comeback over the Eagles, but they also turned the ball over five times.

They got a couple of real big breaks.

Did you come out of that game thinking, oh, this is a dangerous team in the NFC, or is this a team that is sloppy to you and could be exciting, but not necessarily dangerous in the big picture?

Definitely exciting.

I really like watching Jaden, even though I've been here not much of a Cliff Kingsbury guy.

Although, credit to him, because boy, that looks like that was a Kyler thing, not a him thing.

We can talk about that a little later.

But yeah,

they're super exciting, super fun.

And something I wrote out in my notes after watching that game

on the commander side was Jaden Daniels reminds me a little bit of Russell in that like when he has that deep shot going, like when Russ has it to George, and then when Jaden has it to Terry, oh, he's about as good as anybody in the league this year.

Like when they're connecting on that, that is what is like their cheat code thing.

Oh, shoot.

I didn't know that was coming.

That is like their

cheat code kind of button on offense.

It's not Jaden's legs.

I don't think it's not their running game.

You know, I really think it is like, all right, you can almost do a flowchart.

Did Jaden hit a deep shot to Terry?

Yes.

Okay, then they probably won the game.

Did Jaden hit a deep shot to Terry?

No.

Okay, then they probably lost the game.

Like, that's kind of where they're at right now.

I think they'll beat the Falcons regardless.

But yeah, when I watched them, that was one of the things in my notes after the Eagles game and every game mostly this season, other than Jaden Slump.

It was like, yo, these guys are fun whether they win or not.

One thing to your point, like the target, his passer rating to Terry McLaurin is 143.2.

It's the highest in the NFL over the last six seasons.

Yeah, and Terry McLaurin's on the injury report this week.

So that is something to keep an eye on.

I wonder if, on the other side of things, you know, that defense, they are missing some pieces.

And obviously, went out and tried to get Marshawn Lattimore, then tried to get him on the field like over weeks and weeks and weeks.

And they know that they're missing pieces, but they play so hard.

And really, the inside linebackers make that front better.

And the front is pressuring quarterbacks much better than they did last season.

And the linebackers play really well.

I know Mike's really familiar with Bobby Wagner.

I got to to cover him for a year as well.

Dude's still going, still got it, but they're not making him do things that he can't do at his age, right?

And Frankie Louvu has really come alive as a pass rusher in their scheme.

Frankie Louvu is one of my favorite players in the entire NFL.

He just plays, he plays so hard.

He plays so ferociously.

He pressures

all the time.

They can send him on these blitzes that I think if you're going to try to actually rattle Mike Pennix, Dan, to your point earlier about, hey, you played a pretty relatively calm and down-in-the-dumps team last week.

Well, now you're going to play a commanders team that is surging higher than they've been in forever and entering this new wave and this new energy in this era with Dan Quinn and a 10-win season and Jaden Daniels.

And Frankie Luvu is one of those electric like vibes players that really comes to life with that type of energy and could really change a game on the pressure front

if possible.

I mean, he's got the third most pressures among off-ball linebackers in 2024, and he's got the third highest pressure to sack conversion rate right now of those players.

So this is a special player who could really bring this pass rush to life and try to get Mike Pennix a little bit more frazzled than we saw last week.

Last point on the injury side.

Marshawn Lattimore, so important to what Washington wants to do.

And, you know, we all like the trade when it happened, but he missed a bunch of time waiting for the hamstring to get right.

He left the game, his showdown with A.J.

Brown with hamstring tightness.

Hasn't practiced this week as of when we're taping this.

And Dan Quinn said they won't have any real update realistically until later Thursday today.

So keep an eye on that, whether Lattimore can go, and if he does, if he is the Lattimore they need him to be.

All right, let's move to the other primetime game.

It is our Detroit Lions, number two in the Heed the Call Power Rankings, traveling to, man, this is a bummer, Santa Clara, to face the number 2249ers.

A couple months ago, this looked like it could be the showdown of the year and a preview of the NFC title game.

Instead, it's the Niners with nothing to play for and just now in evaluation mode heading into a dark uh january and alliance team that obviously needs the w mark sessler because they have a hellacious division with the packers and even more pressingly the vikings breathing down their neck winning every week i mean if i had to pick one of their wins and there's a lot to pick from that showed me who they are, it was last week, where it's like, all we're talking about is the laundry list of players that aren't available and won't be available.

And it's like they don't care.

And that's that's coming verbally from their coach.

It's like, we don't care who's here or not.

We're going to find a way to do it.

And the emergence of, I think, this offense to me, because it's like,

could they be the same offense missing one of their key running backs?

Instead, Jameson Williams steps up and is an absolute dominant force a week ago.

And I just had complete trust that they won't blink, that they're not going to have the kind of game against a lesser team like the Niners this week where they let down.

And I can't imagine if you're Kyle Shanahan that you can say, you can look at this season and we'll talk about it all offseason.

Like, we were banged up all year.

We were never able to be who we are.

You're looking across the field at a coach, a roster, and a team that's like, we could say that same thing, but we don't, we've not let up.

And I think it's a tale of two different organizations in a different place.

Like, the journey is beginning and is wide open for the Lions.

And the Niners, to me, feel after many years of going so deep into the postseason, tired, old, exhausted, filled with question marks.

And to your point, Dan, like, they're looking at their quarterback, who's 13th in EPA over the last like month plus and asking, is this a guy we go drop tons of tons of money on or not?

And how do you really evaluate him at this point in the season in this offense with a team that feels broken to me?

I think that's beautifully said, Mark.

It's way worse written in my notes, but I have it in my notes that this Lions team is the team Kyle Shanahan wishes he had right now in terms of coming back from adversity, battling through injuries.

Some things are insurmountable.

I understand that.

But my God, the Lions look like they're dealing dealing with insurmountable adversity every week, especially on defense.

And yet they just keep playing.

They keep playing so hard.

And this is going to be sort of the start right now, especially because they've started shutting players down and they've started to talk about, you know, get just, like you said, evaluation mode and looking ahead and kind of just getting limping through to the finish line after they were mathematically eliminated from the postseason last week.

They are

going to, they basically opened the door to silly season with Brock Purdy.

This is all, and us included.

And I know we're gonna talk about it with excellence and prescient takes and nuance.

And I know we're gonna do that.

However,

however, this is gonna be fucking annoying all off-season.

This is what's gonna happen.

But this is what this is what they signed up for.

This is gonna be the do they pay Brock Purdy or do they not experience, especially when this is gonna be the recency bias of the last sample size of work that Brock Purdy has amassed, which is with a banged up team with no postseason future in 2024.

So this is going to be an interesting game.

I have no doubt that the Lions will go and handle business.

This just seems obvious to me, and they need to, but they're playing like the okay bet team, you know, like, oh, you cut off our leg.

It's just a flesh wound kind of Monty Python-ass team, right?

Like, it is one of those teams.

And Dan Campbell lives it.

I mean, Justin, I know you and I were giggling over the Christmas sweaters even that the entire Campbell family wore for Christmas on beam this year.

Check out the show on YouTube, hashtag 48.4.

Have big, beautiful balls.

Oh, I have big, beautiful balls.

See, that is awesome.

The wife and daughter wearing it too.

That takes it to the next level.

But I love the facial expressions of the kids, too.

Like, that is so

somehow wholesome.

It's just like, all right, well, we love him.

So, you know, we're going to do it.

The son on the far left is like, God, I don't want to take this picture.

Neither does the daughter, it looks like.

Mike, so if it makes you feel better, Jordan, with the

we've been around this block a time or two,

and it doesn't matter what year it is, there will always be the quarterback who slots into the offseason conversation point.

Last year, I guess it was probably Tua.

Should we pay him?

Should we not pay it?

Is he worth it?

And it's just like, that is the gruel for the machine.

And it is purity.

I'll say this, Mike, that San Francisco, and we'll keep moving after this.

But Mike, San Francisco, to me, is in a very tricky situation because you could easily look at this and be like, yeah, it wasn't our year.

And next year, we're going to get hopefully Trent Williams back healthy, Christian McCaffrey, Brandon Ayuk.

Maybe if Debo Samuels back, he locks in better than he did this year.

And then Brock Purdy will be better as a result.

So you don't want to overreact to this year.

Or you could say...

This should be the pivot point for the franchise.

And maybe we shouldn't pay a good quarterback, great quarterback money.

And we should rethink how, like, as Bono once said, go away and dream it all up again, Mike.

You're one of your heroes.

I mean, for me, I feel like I'm in just this very small minority, like smaller than the number of people that

are in the Sam Donald Hive, or at least to start the season that we're in there.

And I think it's a no-brainer that you roll with Purdy.

Like, he's been really good.

Like, look at the other guys who are making like 55 million or whatever.

And look at the season they had.

Okay, boom, me and Jordan are here.

We got drinks.

We're good.

We got food.

All right.

We're set you got to come up with something it's not a hive what is it you'll think the purdy the purdy herd

okay we're gonna keep we're gonna work

yeah you know if you think

whatever it is the purdy herd the purdy party we're we're here you know uh purdy party yeah we're here because i mean for me

For me, the sample size is big enough, and we've seen him in big enough games, you know.

And if you were another team, then it wouldn't be a no-brainer.

But if you're just going to keep him with Kyle Shanahan, then yeah, I think it's a no-brainer.

Like, I feel the same way about Sam Darnold.

Another team shouldn't cash out, but the Vikings, if they were like, let's keep rolling with this guy, that would make sense to me because the marriage is so good with the play caller.

You look at like Tua's body of work before cashing in.

It's not as good as Brock's.

You look at Trevor Lawrence's body of work before cashing in, not even close.

And then you look at Jordan Love's body of work.

It was good, but it was like nine games or something like that and a couple playoff spins.

So, I mean, if you're going by market and you look at what these other teams have had and what the other quarterbacks have done before getting cashed in, it's a no-brainer.

I also think that I understand the economics of the NFL very well, having done this for a few years.

But also, you got to look at some of these super teams, quote-unquote, that have been put around guys.

They're not just bought.

you know, like you are hamstring a little bit by paying your quarterback, but you look at the team they put around Brock when he wasn't making anything.

It wasn't like they were going out here and breaking the bank for new dudes.

They were drafting really well, you know, and they were getting good value out of their draft picks too, with like guys like Fred and whatever round he was and Kittle and whatever round he was all these other guys Lenore who they just paid you know Ward and I think they had to pay Ward, but he was cheap when they got him So like I say all that to say they should be fine if they roll with Brock you know and continue to be a competent front office.

You know, I think they'll be fine and also the same situation that the Seahawks are looking at if they want to move on from their guy.

All right, well then what are you going to do?

It's not a lot of guys better than Brock out here on the market.

I tend to think that like the most important thing is that Shanahan agrees with you.

I think that's I think Shanahan has basically said it verbally that he wants Brock Purdy.

Does Johnny Lynch agree, though?

Yeah, that's important too.

Well, who's in charge there?

All right,

let's move on to the games.

We cannot wait to watch.

I jumped into this dock.

Almost illegally, some people thought.

There was some talk that maybe the dock had an officially.

Well, it was very Dan-esque.

It was very Dan-esque.

What do you mean?

What do you mean?

Well, because illegal,

we're not policed here, but there was an etiquette, and you decided, like, I'm just going to jump into the dock before anyone even knows that it's available and then explain it away

now and to Justin and I.

What a dagger from my friend.

Don't forget that I'm an asshole.

So, Dan S can be great too, but there's just two sides to the coin.

This was the other side of the coin.

And

we have no choice but to tell you how proud we are of you.

Big Dan Energy.

Get weird.

All right, let's talk about it.

The game that I jumped into the dock and made everyone proud proud of me, apparently.

The Green Bay Packers

are on the road in Minneapolis to face the Vikings, the number seven Packers in the Heat the Call Power Rangers.

And I think they should be higher.

How about that?

Against the number four Vikings.

I love it.

Shout out to Sunday Matinee Games, Getting the Love, 425 Eastern, Burkhard, Brady, Andrews, Rinaldi.

It's such a big game.

We got to have double the sideline reporter, do we?

Do we, really?

But they do.

So let's get to it.

I think the Green Bay Packers are playing football at as high a level as any team in football right now.

Because while there are teams like

the Bills or the Lions, for instance, who are garnering the headlines and top our power rankings, you have a team in the Packers, Jordan, that I think is so balanced right now that I wouldn't want to go near this team in the playoffs.

And we know they could win in the dome, and we know they can win in the conditions, and we know they could run the ball, and we know they could throw the ball, and we know they could defend.

This team has everything you want.

And that's why I think the Vikings are in for the biggest challenge of their season on Sunday.

Yeah, I agree because this is going to be a full-on substance versus substance game.

This is not going to be one of those

sort of, you know, the flashy style points, like sort of glamour teams.

This is going to be really, really good football, I think.

And it's going to start up front.

I am most curious to see how Josh Jacobs and the Packers offensive line,

who, you know, Josh Jacobs forced 44 missed tackles over the last six games, which is just astounding to think about per next gen.

And he's tied currently for the second most forced missed tackles in the NFL for a season, tied with Derrick Henry, our king.

And it's just astounding watching that offensive line move people.

I know I've gushed about this for a couple of weeks now, and it's making it so that the Packers truly are bona fide contenders, not just obviously for the postseason, but for the Super Bowl.

The Vikings run defense has been really good all year.

They've been a little bit shakier over the last couple of weeks, but overall, they have been a dominant group.

And I think that this is going to be, and they don't, and they don't miss tackles to the point with the matchup on matchup.

They don't miss tackles.

They're the third lowest missed tackle rate team since, especially since the middle of the season.

And this is going to be where it starts for both of these teams.

And then some of the creative, cool, really aggressive play calling can kind of come out of it.

I think you see really both of these teams are the definition in my mind of complimentary football.

They're doing it in different ways.

Kevin O'Connell and Brian Flores complement each other perfectly in the controlled aggression and schematic aggression and some of the mind fks that they can put people in on both sides of the ball.

Meanwhile, Matt LaFleur, who is in his bag recently, and also Jeff Hafley, they feed off each other very clearly.

When the Packers' offensive line sets that front and gets that ball rolling and Jordan Love settles in and clicks, you immediately see a spike in how aggressive Jeff Hafley calls this game.

And so I think that these are two awesome coordinator pairings.

They've got great teams around them.

And we're really going to see what the Vikings are made of, in my opinion.

I think it's like the Vikings' defense has been...

Really stout against the run.

And so that puts the Packers into an interesting place.

I wanted to see that battle.

You're right about that.

They have allowed, and I think part of it is because they've been so good against the run and they've

beaten teams up here and there.

They have allowed like the seventh most kind of explosive pass play.

So that's a big spot for Jordan Love.

I just think this is also quickly an interesting time for Sam Darnold and the Vikings in general because you close the season here against Green Bay and then you play the Lions.

And there's a world where you very likely play those two teams again in the playoffs.

So it's like, that's that's when you have to do that, it puts so much pressure on you.

But you're right.

I think the Vikings are so well coordinated and coached right now.

But the Packers are just that way.

I'm with Dan.

I think they're the team that should be higher in the power rankings.

I don't remember where I put that.

That was days ago.

I was in a mind haze.

But at this point, to me, we're looking at a team that really doesn't have a known weakness to me.

And they're built to play football this time of year, and they're healthy.

And so the green bay to me is like

they could just elevate.

and change everything in this NFC playoff race.

And this is absolutely, they were smart.

There's only one other four o'clock game, and I I think it's Cleveland, Miami, which four people are going to watch.

And so this is sitting right where it should

TV-wise.

Mike Sando of the Athletic

had this little dispatch.

Sam Darnold will be a Viking next year unless he bombs in the playoffs, read a text from a veteran NFL player agent.

And Money Mike, this is also a nice nugget, Sando shared.

The Vikings, and you know, I like to go to you for desert stuff, Mike.

The Vikings have already exceeded their Vegas preseason win total, which was,

what do you think the Sam Darnold led

over under,

Jordan?

Over-under is the amount of wins, and you either could wager above that number or below that number.

I don't know.

I never know with what you know about that world.

Do you know that one?

I thought it was like,

I thought that was the minus thing that you see when you put it in the rundown.

Anyway, what do you think?

I'll ask you, Mark.

What do you think their over-under was before the season started in the desert?

Six and a half.

That's a lot.

You look that up.

What do you mean?

I think we literally brought that up before because it's like

they thought the season was lost and no one had faith in Darnold.

The preseason win total was six and a half, and that is now their, what are they at now?

They're at 13 and two.

That is tied for the second best differential among 1,711 teams through 15 games since 1989, according to Pro Football Reference.

Mike,

they have blown away expectations.

And now it's fair to ask whether this team can be like the only team that was in front of them in that particular conversation, the 1999 Rams, who were at five and a half in the desert.

They went 13 and two, and they went on to win the Super Bowl, as you may recall.

Yeah, I remember that game vividly.

Of course, I was seven.

I do remember that.

That's actually the first Super Bowl I actually ever remember watching.

Like, I remember where I was and everything.

Anyway,

that's funny.

Because I remember my first Super Bowl, also seven, Doug Williams, 35 points, second quarter on the Broncos.

That's when my Super Bowl turned on as well.

Well, mine was Marcus Allen against Washington.

So I am way older than both of you put together, it feels like.

I would have guessed Vince Lombardi with cold air blowing out of his mouth.

Yes.

Yes, Justin.

How old are you?

I was seven when the Titans went to the Super Bowl for the first time, and I remember that Super Bowl.

What happened at the end of that game?

Oh, that's messed up.

I forgot.

That's messed up.

My God.

That is messed up.

Because of my memory, I know that is a messed up question.

So with the Vikings, who I just saw up close, they're very good.

And I just saw the Packers up close.

Also very good.

I think the two very good things that, or two interesting things about how they are very good is that, and this goes into whether you pay a quarterback and yada yada, is that they have two different ways of going out about quarterback-friendly offenses.

Like Matt LaFleur is about as committed to the run as pretty much anyone in the NFL right now.

Shout out to the homie Ben Baldwin, who runs rbsdm.com, which stands for runningbacksdon'matter.com, which is hilarious.

Like

he tracks pass rate in early down situations, excluding blowouts in two minutes.

So basically like, all right, this is the game's within reach.

It's not third down or two minute.

Who's calling passes?

Who's calling runs?

The Packers have the lowest pass rate rate in the league in those situations.

The Vikings are third and the highest pass rate, but you don't think about them as like this team where they're putting a lot on Sam's shoulders in part schematically because Sam is like top 10 in play action rate as well.

So like you've got two teams, one who passes a lot in early downs, one that runs a lot in early downs, but they both do everything.

humanly possible to make life easy on their quarterback.

And that's how it should be, whether you pay a guy or whether you have a rookie, which is why I don't really get too caught up in like, do I pay a guy or not?

Like if I think he's the guy, it's because I think I can build an offense around him at whatever price point.

And both of these guys, you got Sam on the cheap, Jordan making a big bag, and Jordan love, not our Jordan, Rodrigue, but

not yet, not yet.

But I think just that they both, price point be damned, they're getting, they're well-coached teams.

You know, that's just looking at the offense.

And I was down on the Vikings defense for a little bit there in the middle of the season, but they are just nails.

And what they do, and what I think they will do against the Packers is they commit so much to the run.

Like Mark was just talking about, they're like daring you to throw almost.

And I think that goes to the lack of respect maybe that their pass catchers get.

You know, you probably trust your corner, Stephon Gilmore, to be one-on-one with Christian Watson.

You trust Shaquille Griffin to be one-on-one with Romeo Dobbs or whatever.

You trust your safeties to roll down and get these little Jaden Reed fly sweeps and screens.

and stuff like that.

And that's how you can also have a good run defense and be nails like they are.

So I like the Vikings in this one.

I think they're actually a step above the Packers.

And if I had to give my input on the power rankings, I think the Packers are appropriately ranked.

I think the Vikings are just a badass team, top to bottom.

One last note.

If the Vikings win out, they go 15-2.

Another 15 number for you, Mike.

Last six games, Sam Darnold, 15 touchdowns, one interception.

Darnold Nugget.

Oh, you're handling it yourself now, Dan.

Yes.

And Jordan Love, after all the hand-wringing about his turnovers earlier in the season, hasn't thrown a pick in five weeks.

So he has cleaned up his game as well.

This is going to be a great game.

All right, let's move on to the game that Jordan can't wait to watch.

Yes, okay.

I legitimately, you guys might not think so, but I legitimately cannot wait to watch this game.

Especially because Dan took what, in my opinion, is the best game of the week.

I have Carolina at Tampa Bay.

That's the Eagle Charles Davis and Evan Washburn game.

I I picked the Jordans' pet team game because I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Baker Mayfield and the Bucs offense, especially play all season long, how interesting and creative they've been.

They've been very fluid and adjustable depending on what adversity that they've faced all year.

And on the other side, I've really loved watching Bryce Young's confidence build every single week.

This is the short king bowl for quarterbacks as well.

While I don't think either one of these teams is is obviously going to the Super Bowl this year,

I do think that there are some very clear 2025 like wish list items that will immediately make these teams much better.

And we'll continue to talk about them as teams on the rise, which I think is really important.

You know, the Bucs, they basically could be as about as complete as possible if they just keep Liam Cohen this offseason.

I think that's going to be absolutely crucial for them.

I want them to extend Chris Godwin.

And I want a last ride year for Mike Evans after he hits the record this year, which I believe he will do.

And then on the other side, and I want them to get healthier on the back stretch, and I think we could talk about them really as a legitimate Super Bowl contending team next offseason if they do and are able to do those simple but crucial things.

And then for Carolina, they just keep they keep getting better.

I'd like to see really what their identity actually is.

We came in this season not knowing what they would be under Dave Canalis, but we've seen improvement and we've seen confidence and belief in this quarterback.

And I think that's been a really beautiful thing to watch.

And probably one of of the biggest stories of the season, in my opinion.

I want another receiver for them.

I want a dynamic pass-catching tight end.

And I want a young pass rusher and a corner.

Is that too much to ask for?

I mean, my God, after all the shit that Carolina has put us through over the years, this game is actually really interesting on the Bucs side because the Bucs are still in the hunt.

Our friend Aaron Schatz, the creator of DVOA, does great work, says the Bucs have a 63% chance to win the division.

The Falcons currently have a 37% chance.

If the Buccaneers lose this week, the swing is huge.

If they lose, they only have a 13% chance of making the playoffs.

And if they win, they have a 65% chance of making the playoffs.

So this game is just fun.

It's just like junk food for me, but it's also really important if you're the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

I think like this, obviously Dave Canalis, the fingerprints are all over this game because of the relationship with Baker Mayfield, the growth that Baker Mayfield had under him.

It got Dave Canalis a job.

Dave Canalis is doing that with Bryce Young.

So

we his talents there.

And it's really incredible to me.

That was a killer loss to the Cowboys.

Like I watched that and that kind of broke my heart a little bit for Baker and the rest because if people, if anyone just goes out and does their job the way that Baker Mayfield has done his this year, like you will thrive.

You will find a way.

And I really hope that these Bucks too, it's like I'm kind of openly.

rooting for Baker Mayfield to get into the playoffs and do something surprising the way he did last year.

They are a complete team.

There's something about the Mayfield experience, and it's kind of great day that it's happening with Sam Darnold at the same time, that kind of gives you hope for the quarterbacks that are struggling right now.

And Bryce Young has done all of that in one season, where last week I thought to have the resilience and come back and play as well as he did and with such confidence and with his head completely different than it was earlier in the season.

After a week of previous where he really blew up and we're like, is this a mirage?

Is it false?

It's like, it's not.

And it's because of coaching.

And it could be, maybe we'll see another one of these coach QB relationships that just worked, that are linked.

And so to me, it is two teams that have found a way because of the chances and the decisions they made over this season, during the season, last offseason.

So arrow up on the division, which has been a bit of a milquetoast division for years in a row.

Yeah, the Bryce Young.

I thought he really needed that game against Arizona, so I was very happy for him.

And since week 12, Mike,

he's 17th in EPA per dropback, which isn't great, but it's progress.

He was dead last at 32 before his benching.

So you have him trending in the right direction, and it would be a huge surprise if they don't roll with him at this point, in my opinion.

And on the Baker side, Mike, he is also having a great year by his standards.

He's via the athletic set, he is...

has the best EPA per drop back in his career, the best passer rating, which is now 103.5 Baker is at, and yards per attempt, 7.7.

And especially when you factor in the injuries injuries at the wide receiver group, the fact that his production hasn't dipped, Mike, tells you how much Baker has continued to progress as a passer now in his seventh year.

And we got another matchup of some short guys last week in Bryce's game as well, going against Kyler Murray and Mark's Cardinals.

And the staggering thing from re-watching that game, till you didn't get a chance to watch it live, is like you watched it.

And if you were just like a neutral observer, you say, hey, which team is settled at quarterback for the future?

You know, based on watching the Cardinals and Panthers, you'll be like, Uh,

I don't know, maybe the blue team.

You know, it's like it wasn't very clear, and you kind of thought it would be with uh, especially everything that was at stake for the Cardinals in that game.

But yes, it speaks to where uh Bryce is.

I still not sure if I'm totally sold because I think I might be like, Is there a thing?

Is it like how there's aegist and all that?

Uh, is there one for like height?

Is it like heightest?

Is there well, yeah, but like try going on a dating site?

I'd say that's probably

that.

Thankfully, Thankfully,

that meme is like a 6'3 car.

What is it?

Jordan, do you know what I'm talking about?

No, it's like when the guy on the dating site, it's like the meme of the guy who walks into HR and talks to the girl, and he's like,

he's 5'9, and

the first one is 6'3.

And he goes and interrupts the girl in her cubicle, and she has a lovely conversation with him.

And then another guy comes in, and he's 5'9, and she calls HR.

So, whatever that is, I'm kind of that for quarterbacks.

Like, the short QBs are not really my bag.

Though, this, I do, I'm intrigued, as is Jordan, obviously, you know, by this game.

The Bucks have just really impressed me by their resilience, too.

Very like a lesser version of the Alliance.

I think I might have mentioned that before.

It has a lot to do with Baker and what he's able to do.

But, yeah, I really am rooting for the Panthers, too.

They're like not my pet team because I don't want the curse that Marcus put on Arizona to be a thing.

I'm done doing that with any time.

That's good.

But I think watching you did it to the eagles yeah it's currently happening to the eagles well not official you're not you're not on board with the panthers are you mark like please i i'm just anything from a i'm intrigued at a distance with multiple teams but i'm not getting close okay

they're not touching any of them intrigued at a distance it is probably the way to go you toxic male stay away from all those cute lovable teams that are innocent yeah i think uh dave canales of the of the coaches that got hired in this cycle man he's doing just an excellent job.

You can kind of feel the identity of the team through him, which we talked about on the show.

Like, that's really important to me.

When I'm assessing a coach, like, I really just want to feel the team is a version of you week in, week out.

It doesn't mean you're just going to blow everybody out or something every week, but like your confidence, your identity, what you want to do.

And he's very limited.

That roster is not good.

That Panthers roster.

It is not good at all.

But they're making it happen.

And they're super competitive every week.

You know, I read some stuff about like the Patriots and how Gerard Mayo's like seat might be warm over there.

And if you're Robert Kraft, you're probably like, yeah, I knew we weren't going to be good, but why can't we be like the Panthers?

You know, which is a weird sentence, but like you watch the Panthers every week, you know what I mean.

Like they're competitive every week.

You know, whether it's the Bucs game, I think went to OT.

The Chiefs game, I think went to OT or down to the wire.

The Eagles game went down to the wire.

Like in this game, they won an overtime, this game being the Cardinals.

So the way they are competitive towards the back end of the season, like the inverse Cardinals, which is really cool to see.

And And I actually like them in this game against the Bucks.

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6'5, blue eyes.

Finance, trust fund.

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Oh, this was a dance, wasn't it?

Yeah, it was.

6'5?

Blue eyes.

Finance.

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6'5.

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Well, for some, not for some in society.

Yeah, it's very clear who there's no hope for, I guess, based on

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This is why some people rely on the hat fishing technique.

I'm just saying.

Some people.

That's fair.

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Le Cafera Man and Finance.

All right, let's go to the game that Mark Sessler can't wait to watch.

Yeah,

I cannot wait to watch this.

So I'm going to tell you, I'm going to sell that to you right now.

Denver,

I do feel this way.

Denver at Cincinnati.

So Denver clinches a playoff berth with a win or a tie.

And no doubt, like Sean Payton, he has crafted a, I think, a somewhat anonymous beast because I keep forgetting that the Broncos exist on some level, but they do.

And

they've been well coached.

And their defense is one of the bigger surprises.

And all of that's a positive.

But it's like the Bengals are the team that we all aesthetically want to see in the playoffs, right?

I mean, it's like they're in this weird place where

they're in that place, Dan, we've talked about like they're in the playoff bracketing, like they're down low enough where there's no comment next to them, and there isn't even like the dash.

That's like, we just, we'll see what you do.

But, like,

for me, like,

I cannot believe that they would lose out potentially to the idiotic Colts or Dolphins in some sort of tiebreaking scenario.

They're behind both of them, yeah.

They are, and that, that, that to me speaks to how frustrating this experience has been.

Joe Burrow is obviously like an MVP-level quarterback.

They're fifth in E-passing EPA.

And each week it's like, I feel like we're just saying the same thing about the Bengals over and over.

It's like, I want you there.

I want you in the playoffs.

I want you to go take care of business.

The defense has gotten better, but it starts to feel a little bit like Soviet propaganda to keep pitching them because I don't really know if they're going to actually do anything down the stretch to make this happen.

The stretch is the next two weeks.

They are, I want to see them go play the Bills, the Chiefs, teams like this.

And instead, we're not going to get them.

I just don't think it's going to happen.

I think their destiny is to fall short.

But you do have a chance if you take care of business against the Broncos.

So I would like to be surprised for once by the NFL.

I would like to be surprised and have this happen.

Come on, Mark.

The NFL surprises us all the time.

Maybe this could be, it's been a little bit.

Really?

To your point, it does for me.

I mean, look at our predictions before the season starts.

Well,

I want this particular surprise.

How about that?

Here's the thing.

They're not going to make it.

It's annoying.

They might win.

They might lose another shootout loss.

It's annoying seeing teams like the Steelers and Texans fall on their face on Christmas knowing that a glorious Joe Burrow shootout loss in the wild card playoffs was waiting for us if things broke a different way.

And filed under Mike, the Chiefs ruin everything.

Hashtag.

By clinching everything on Christmas Day, even if the Broncos do fall against Cincinnati, they get the Chiefs against all their backups, which isn't to say they'll definitely beat them, but even that loses some juice, which is frustrating.

So I get, Mark, where you're coming from.

I just want to see Cincinnati close out 9-8 and somebody maybe stumbles because I want them in.

Yeah.

Well,

they're kind of that they had the potential to be that team that makes a run, you know, and just gets super hot in the back half of the season.

I think the Packers were that a couple years ago in 2022, last year.

I think it was the Packers again.

Honestly, last year, actually, the Rams.

They did that when they won their last Super Bowl with Rodgers.

That was the team that got hot, got a wild card, and won the whole thing.

Yeah, so the Bengals look to be that team.

I was looking at like some potential award voting stuff.

I don't have a vote.

I kind of feel like I should now.

But anyway, it's time.

Yeah, it's time.

I feel like it's time.

I feel very

comfortable.

Good luck if you're a short quarterback because you're never getting.

Yeah, you're never getting anything.

If you're too short for a bunch of people.

Looking for an island finance.

Hall of Fame vote.

But I think,

I was looking at some award voting stuff, and if the Bengals were just like competent, they'd have like, they'd be sweeping awards.

Like Burrow would win MVP.

Jamar Chase would win offensive player of the year.

Trey Hendrickson might win defensive player of the year if they were just competent.

Like they really, all three have very strong cases.

Their team just stinks.

I do actually think they're going to win this game against Denver.

I do know that Denver is a thing every week, although I can see Mark Highland just seem irrelevant.

They're very boring to watch, unless you just really care

about their defense, which is another reason that I was looking at them with awards voting because I was like, man, TJ Watts that much of a favorite?

There's got to be other people that are balling.

And then, yeah, two of them are on the Broncos.

Right.

It's Patrick Sertain.

And I don't know how to say the pass rusher's name.

I know his first name is Nick.

I don't know if anyone here is.

Bonito.

Bonito?

Bonito.

That's fire.

But yeah, he's playing super well.

So their defense is a fun watch.

Their offense, not so much.

But I do share in the kind of wishing the Bengals, we could just kind of college football playoff committee them in, you know, throw them in there.

I don't think they'd win their opening round game, but it would just be so much fun.

And as a neutral observer, I'm just kind of here for fun, which is part of why I think the Bengals will win.

But also, I kind of think right now, like today, they are a team trending the right way.

And I think the Broncos are just kind of meh, which we saw in their last meeting.

So, yeah, and I think the Bengals will win.

The Broncos, their defense has carried them, but they've given up 30 points in two of their last three games.

So, I think Denver, Jordan, as Jordan has to sign off in a minute here, so to get to her

facility, as they say.

But your thoughts on Denver, Jordan?

Are we being a little hard or overlooking them?

Because I could picture Broncos fans being annoyed by just the general

take of this preview segment.

Well, I think they've gotten better, you know, even though the points, the point totals sometimes don't reflect that against the defense.

I think as a complete team, they've gotten better as time has passed.

And I think they could be really dangerous if they do get a shot in the dance.

And it's going to be...

To me, they're a bad matchup team, really.

Like, Sean Payton knows how to play matchup football in the postseason, which is basically where you just plan one game at a time every single week.

And that is exactly what Sean Payton would be able to do with how just complete that this team has come along to being.

With the Bengals, they are exactly what they look like, guys.

Honestly, like they're a team that whose defense can only play well against bad teams and bad quarterbacks.

They're on a really good three-game stretch, 10 turnovers and only 18 points per game allowed on average.

That's against Will Levis and Mason Rudolph, that like joyous combo.

Cooper Rush and DTR.

So they've played really well against bad teams defensively, and their offense has just been elite all season.

But Dan, I hear you about them.

They're just, I know that they're not going to make it or whatever.

Like, I hear you.

You are speaking logic and truth.

But as I sign off, I have to tell you, I'm a silver linings person, and there's a quote that I like to live my life by.

And I just re-watched it last night as per tradition with me and my sister.

Hope remains while the company is true.

And I think that the Bengals have a good team, that they have each other's backs, and they've stayed together.

And that, if anything, is what's going to get them.

If they can make it, there's a sliver of hope, and it remains while the company is true.

And that's what could get them through the playoffs.

The company being their offense freaking rocks.

And with that, I like that.

Salute.

That's a great way to sign off.

See you guys later.

That was a great way to sign off.

Yeah.

And, you know, Al Davis also said a good quote on this.

Just win, baby.

Just win.

Win the two games and see what happens.

Yep.

All right.

One more.

Should we take a break before hitting Mike's game?

Okay, let's do that.

We'll We'll be right back.

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All right, we're back.

All right, one more game that we cannot wait to watch.

Money, Mike Dugar, what do you got?

All right, my game that I cannot wait to watch is the Arizona Cardinals, Mark's Arizona Cardinals, at the Los Angeles Rams, Jordan's Los Angeles Rams.

Number 22 in the Power Rankings are the Cardinals, and number 10 are the Rams.

One reason I just can't wait to watch it because I have to.

Not just because it's a game in a division, but this game could potentially decide the Seattle Seahawks' fate.

If the Seahawks win tonight against the Chicago Bears, they desperately need a Cardinals win in this game to avoid being eliminated from the playoffs.

If the Rams win, they're not totally eliminated.

They just need a bunch of other things to go right, like a six-leg parlay, basically, of wins to try to win that strength of victory tiebreaker.

So this is an interesting game from that standpoint, just from the Seattle perspective.

I think it's also interesting.

I was talking about the Cardinals earlier when mentioning the Panthers.

The Cardinals are just a really disappointing team.

Like, Mark curse aside, you know, they were really good going into their bye.

They were 6-4.

I think they had the week 11 by first place in the division.

Well, that's why, Mike.

That's why everybody's connecting Mark to it because everything pointed to them being a team on the rise.

And yet.

Well, they were inconsistent from why they've been inconsistent from wire to wire i would say that

i i want to i want to give mark some grace here i want to share mark gets to share the blame for the cardinals it's him and then it's kyler murray because i just i keep waiting to watch a consistent little stretch here where i'm like yes Kyler's the guy.

Like the Cardinals, if they wanted to move on from him, are in that same conversation of like we were mentioning with Brock.

Like, well, what the hell else are you going to do?

So you probably keep him.

But how many different seasons are you just going to wish he played played better in the second half of the year?

You just can't keep doing that.

You can't get beat there, Mike.

You can't with your season on the line.

And I know we all like the Panthers now, and they're this ragtag bunch of kids trying their best.

But like, you got to go win that game.

You got to go win that game.

And Kyler Murray got a chance in overtime to go win the game.

Couldn't do it.

I think what you're getting at is what I believe.

I think the Cardinals should move on Kyler.

I think there's a lot of teams out there that would love to have Kyler Murray and the potential that comes with him and be willing to give up a lot because there's more teams in our league, as usual, looking for a quarterback than teams that have a quarterback that they believe in.

Here's Jonathan Gannon, who I think Jonathan Gannon's fine in terms of his seat.

But at the same time, this has not been a positive year for them the way the last month and a half has gone.

Here is Gannon Aston if he's been satisfied by the offense and, you know, by...

connection, Kyler Murray, through 15 games.

I'm not satisfied with the performance of the team.

That starts with me.

So what I'm really saying, that's an indictment on myself.

I'm not

satisfied with myself.

Great coach.

Yeah.

What are we going to do with that?

Their offense

isn't great.

It's just kind of underwhelming.

Statistically, it's not the worst thing in the world.

Statistically, it's not the worst thing in the world, but it's just underwhelming.

Like, I didn't expect their defense to be good.

I've been saying all year, it's Buddha Baker and a bunch of guys, and that's what it looks like.

All of their draft picks should basically be defensive players.

But I just can't also get around, in this game, they'll have their

two starting tackles, by the way.

Put both of them on IR.

Bad news.

But on top of that, I just can't get around the fact that

it seems like

they don't care about getting Marvin Harrison the ball.

Like, it just should be a working certain effort.

Yeah.

They're just kind of like, well, if he's in the progression, we'll get it to him.

I was like, what are you talking about?

Go get him the ball.

It's almost like I would rather

go ahead.

He's coming to say five yards twice.

Do you guys think that there's something more to the Marvin Harrison Jr.

Cardinals situation that we're perhaps going to learn via reporting down the line?

It just seems like there's something missing.

There's a missing piece of like this, you know, out of this world talent that we all were told was going to hit the ground and be an instant impact star.

And he's, sometimes it feels like he's barely in the game plan.

And I mean, what, like, he's not going to be able to do that.

I wondering

there might be I mean sure I think there's a to me you know having been you know fallen fallen for the Cardinals what I find frustrating is that kind of situation right there he's crossed 65 yards twice in 15 games

he was dazzling in college so and he comes from like elite NFL bloodline so I think the hype was well placed

but to me that's coaching I mean we're watching like the teams that we're fascinated with find a way to maximize their players.

I think they did maximize someone like James Conner, who also might not play this week.

He's banged up.

The Rams are getting him at the right time.

The thing for me, it's like, I'm with you on Kyler Murray at this point.

And I was there in the past, too, where it's like, when do you, do you envision a campaign where Kyler Murray tugs them through the NFC playoffs to a Super Bowl?

No, I simply do not at this point.

I really think that you think about moving on.

And you're right, Dan.

Like, I think there are teams out there that would trade for him.

And you move on with this and you check out what what this offense can be with someone else.

I didn't love his body.

He looked kind of banged up to me against Carolina, but it was another game, and this has happened in the past with Kingsbury, is I don't love the Kyler Murray body language.

And I hate that argument in general, but like he was just sort of slumped over on the bench down and out.

And it's like, you got to go take care of business there.

Now instead, the Rams get the Cardinals exactly where they want them.

Depleted offensive line, you might not have your running back, and you've got something to play for, and the Cardinals found a way to not.

And they are disappointing.

They're a disappointing team.

They're like my version

of the Bengals in the NFC, except with less aesthetic juice than the Bengals.

The Bengals are pleasant to watch, and the Cardinals to me are frustrating.

It's the same thing year after year.

And so I'm not doing this again

with the Cardinals.

I'm not.

Till next year.

Yeah, we'll see.

This, Mike, we're going to talk about your Money Mike picks of the week in a little bit, but this is a smash cover for me for the Rams.

I love them in this spot.

I think I could see the Cardinals no showing in this game.

I could see the Rams running over a defense that could be playing indifferently on the road in this spot.

That's just where I think the Rams are in great shape to get a very big win for them as they look to clinch a playoff spot in that division.

And I think a no-show, I'm still kind of torn on who I think will win the game, but I think a no-show would, you mentioned Jonathan Gannon C.

This would make me think about it.

Because in comparison to when the Seahawks needed the Lions to win a couple of years ago to get into the playoffs, this was in 2022.

They had nothing to play for, and they went into Lambeau in week 18, and they were the Sunday night football game, and they played like that was their Super Bowl, you know, and that I already had faith in Dan Campbell at that point, but that was, that was the punctuation.

It was like, okay, Dan is going to have these guys ready no matter what it is.

Week one, week 18, playoffs, no playoffs.

Like a no-show would make me really question Gannon, too.

You know, I think he's doing okay, but you, again, you got to have your guys up for every game.

Every game still got to matter.

And you got to get more out of your quarterback.

And it's really, and the last thing on marvin harrison uh it's it's also really frustrating watching him in the game plan because you see what it can look like with other rookie pass catchers like i know the raiders they suck to watch but when you watch them you see they're trying to get brock bowers the ball Watch the Jaguars.

They're trying to get Brian Thomas Jr.

and doing a great job at it, by the way.

You know, this isn't like Marvin Harrison.

This isn't like last year when the Seahawks didn't get Jackson Smith and Jigba the ball much.

Well, then it was like, okay, well, they're throwing a DK.

They're throwing a Tyle Lockett.

That made sense.

It's just Trey McBride.

That's it.

That's the only other guy you're throwing to.

So it just doesn't make sense.

I'm with Mark.

I'm done with these guys.

And that guy doesn't have a touchdown.

What the hell is going on?

He's not even scoring.

All right.

Let's.

It sucks that Jordan's not here because it's always good to get her horrified reaction to this drop.

But let's jump into the gravy boat.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

No, we listen to that now.

Well, maybe we can just simply, you know, sit back and enjoy the gravy boat in a way that we don't feel bad about Jordan's.

Yeah, you're right.

You know, we just enjoy it.

I was going to say along those lines that, you know, we're 15 or 16 weeks in hearing that.

Still love it.

Still makes me smile.

And I don't know.

I almost took my headphones out to try to mimic Jordan.

But

I got new AirPods for

Christmas, and it's the pro ones.

And I don't really know.

I'm old.

I don't know if I walk them yet.

Well,

I put them in for the first time at the airport on my way to Chicago, and all the sound around me went away.

Kind of like in the movie where a bomb goes off near the main character, and their ears are ringing.

And I just froze in the middle of the airport.

I was like, What's going on?

I had no clue.

So I don't want to take them off now because that sound kind of scared me.

Technically smart.

That is the greatest

war movie trope is the bomb goes off.

You just heard it.

Let's dig that up, Justin.

The bomb goes off.

You just hear that,

and then everything's in slow motion.

And then you see your buddy in the platoon, like, we gotta go.

Right, suddenly everyone's speaking slowly.

Saving private Ryan dips into that on a few tangible moments.

Yeah, he looks over on one side.

It's the guy going, we gotta go.

He looks over the other side.

It's his best buddy bleeding out, and they're trying to dress the wound.

It's like, how many times have we seen that exact scene?

We did that on this show when Mark went to his fantasy corner early in the year and it exploded.

Okay,

gravy boat.

That's right.

It was very dangerous on Mark's fantasy corner this year.

I mean, it got deadly.

I think Mark died on fantasy corner.

He did.

This is AI, Mark.

All right.

All right, what do we got?

Let's roll through this, okay?

Okay, Chargers at Patriots.

The Chargers can clinch a playoff berth with a win, setting up the Patriots with a berserker opportunity.

Yeah, it is.

That's the setup, Money Mike.

And I don't know.

Do we trust the Chargers to finish this off?

I kind of do.

I think they're going to get the job done and punch their ticket here.

Yeah, this spoiler is going to be one of my Money Mike games this week.

I really just like how the Chargers are playing despite being banged up.

They still feel like they have an identity when they do.

And Jesus, Justin Herbert is nails.

But I feel like I'm one of like maybe 12 people on the West Coast that actually watches Drake May with any regularity.

And he's playing really well.

Like really, really, really well.

He's another guy where if you watch and you're like, oh, are they set for the future?

You're like, oh, yeah.

Like the quarterback is the thing.

Just go fix literally everything else around him.

Yeah, that Chargers are set up better than anyone in terms of trying to clinch a playoff spot.

Two road games, but at New England and at Las Vegas.

So if they don't get this one, they should get the next one.

But either way, good shape there.

Next.

Next game,

Jets at Bills.

With the Chiefs having already clinched homefield advantage on Christmas Day, the Bills are now just looking to maintain their grip on the two seed.

If they slip up, they could fall to number three because Baltimore has the head-to-head tiebreaker and they're only one game back.

All right.

So Buffalo number one in our power rankings.

They're getting, they're given nine points here.

And Mark, this speaks to tough slate for CBS in week 17.

This is the Nance Romo-Wolfson game.

They're like, just putting all the eggs in the Josh Allen is going to be awesome today, basket.

And I think he will be.

I think Josh Allen's going to win a lot of fantasy leagues with a monster performance against a Jets team that in addition to being 4-11 is banged up on that side of the game.

If Josh Allen didn't lose a lot of fantasy leagues for people a week ago, that was a down performance.

I was kind of monitoring what's up with the hand, the throwing hand, because he was in clear pain.

But he's practiced fully, so that matters.

They show up in this, absolutely.

I think they probably didn't plan to be in the battle they were with New England at all.

I think they were caught by surprise there.

My concern with Buffalo in general is not Josh Allen or the offense.

They've got a lot of pieces and they use them well and they're running the ball.

James Cook was a star last week and they're very balanced and more than I thought they would be coming into this season.

It's the defense.

They have given up nearly 36 points in a row, three games running.

And they're missing people.

Their secondary is banged up.

I just would like to see them show up on defense.

And the Jets have a compromised offensive line right now.

Can you go make life difficult and drop a hammer and kind of be the bills that we expect?

Not another letdown.

Yeah, the Patriots got off to a 14-0 lead in that game, but I suppose

put the clamps on from that point forward and allowed them to take care of business.

Maybe you kind of need those, if you're like hoping for a Jets upset or to play the Bills tight.

I don't see it because I think they did get a scare from a bad team in the Patriots.

And this feels like a a roll pop uh possibility for buffalo game over at halftime i guess your only concern is from a fantasy perspective by the way is that josh allen's not playing by the end of the third quarter because they're resting and they're blowing him out next

that's what happened to lamar jackson um all right next game cowboys at eagles Philly will clinch the NFC East with a win, and there is still a chance for them to get the number one seed if they win out.

The Vikings and the Lions both lose this week, And then in week 18, the Vikings beat the Lions.

So a lot has to go right for Philly to get that first round by.

But it all starts with them just beating Dallas on Sunday.

And they should.

They're home here.

Dallas is playing better, but obviously a down year.

At the same time, Philly coming off a disappointing loss.

So you do want to see, Mike, how they bounce back from letting one get away against the commanders.

They're favored by eight here.

Yeah, so that line suggested to me that Jalen Hurts is okay then because when they didn't have

he's still in protocol right now.

I mean, I'm about to say this is the non-finance that he's

yeah, that that that worries me.

This seems like Mark, if I or Dan, excuse me, if I had to pick a smash cover this week, that might be it.

Uh, because the Cowboys have been really competitive, a lot more competitive than I thought they would be.

I think what happened myself and probably a lot of people did is we just kind of ignored or overlooked all the injuries on defense when their defense was just basically a traffic cone.

Because once they healed up a little bit and particularly got Micah Parsons back, they were competent to good, you know, with their, which they are right now.

And then the offense, you lose Dak, you're like, oh, well, they're kind of screwed.

And I forget which season it was, but they had a season a few years ago where I think they went like undefeated without Dak, I think, with Cooper Rush, won like four games or something like that.

Yeah, so like they know how to operate.

They just need their defense to just not be food.

And then Cooper Rush just makes sure you get the ball to number 88 and you'll generally be okay, which has kind of been working for them.

So I actually like them to cover in that one danger zone for Philly if they don't have Jalen Hurts, I think.

But yeah, this game, I can see, like, if you're Fox, like maybe two months ago, like, oh, this is going to be great.

Week 17, Eagles, Cowboys, we're all going to get Christmas bonuses or 2025 bonuses off the ratings we're going to get for this game.

And instead, you might get Cooper Rush and Kenny Pickett.

Well, this was the 425 game.

It got flexed back to one.

There you go.

I did did it.

Oh, yeah.

I'd say

one thing about Hurts, if he's not in, like, go watch what happened to Saquon Barkley with Kenny Pickett in there.

He had 34.

He opened, he had like 150 yards or something in the first quarter.

And it's like MVP back in the MVP conversation, he had 34 over the last three because they just lined up and said, we're stopping you, Saquon, and you can try to beat us with Kenny Pickett.

And Pickett is not any better than he was when he flamed out with Pittsburgh.

But he also has a rib injury, too.

I mean,

the Eagles today signed Ian Book to the practice squad.

So you have the Hurts concussion.

So that's Murky.

You have

Pickett is dealing with a rib injury.

And we're not still talking about Saquon as an MVP candidate, right?

That's Josh Allen versus Lamar Jackson.

I think absolutely.

But he could break,

he still was in the running to break Eric Dickerson's record, which is more important in a way.

Like that,

that to me is huge.

But I don't think that happens if you don't have Hurts in there.

I think it's bad news for Saquon if he's the one person they can focus on um also do we count the rushing record if he does it in an extra game i don't like i feel like he's got to do it by the end of this week

but that's isn't that just how sports work like we're gonna have to deal with that just for everything now this is my take i mean i think dickerson did it in 16.

yep well so i i would i i get it though i understand it's the same conversation with uh barry sanders' record uh with aston gentee at boise stay i think barry did it in far fewer fewer games.

So I understand, but it's just so damn special.

I just love it.

And it's happening to a running back now in 2024 removes the asterisks for me because there aren't running backs doing this at all.

Right.

And that is to Dan's question about the MVP.

Derek Henry is not far behind.

I wouldn't give Saquon the MVP, but I mean, man, that's because we focus too much on the V in the MVP, the value part.

A running back will just never be more valuable, as we're kind of alluding to with the missing Jalen Hurts.

But you just talk about who's the best player in the league.

Like, if we just change it to MOP, like they do in college, the most outstanding player, college basketball, Saquon would easily have an argument, particularly.

I'm a big like, you break a record, that means something to me, especially one of these ones that's been around

since Mark was watching Lombardi games live.

Like, I think that that matters.

So he won't win it, but man, he has a really argument for being the best player in football this year, particularly if he was able to get that record.

All right, let's move on.

And by the way, one last note on the Cowboys.

Mike McCarthy seemed very much on the hot seat.

I feel like if they even split these last two games, they're probably going to move forward.

They're playing for him.

They're playing for him.

That Bucs game, I think, sealed his job.

I think he stays.

All right, next.

All right, next game.

Raiders at Saints, a battle of the most stereotypical interim head coaches in the league, even if Antonio Pierce is more than that for now.

Mark, I got nothing.

What do you got?

I would say this, in the world of records, that Brock Bauer is kind of hidden.

We are all following, but the Raiders are an eyesore, so no one's watching these games.

But he's 10 yards away from breaking Mike Dicka's rookie record.

I'm kind of surprised that hasn't happened already with any of these guys, but he's been outstanding.

That's who you build this team around at this point.

Other than that, man, the Saints, you want to talk about a no-show?

Like, that was an embarrassment.

That's the biggest no-show I've seen.

And I know they were depleted and they didn't have, you know, a bunch of starters, but so do a bunch of other teams not have a bunch of starters, including the Cowboys we just talked about.

So to me, that was an embarrassment.

And this is the game that I will try, I will humanly try to avoid watching one snap of.

Oh, man.

I was talking to some of my friends and we were surprised that there was a shutout, you know, because that was the first one, obviously.

But man, you look at, I went back and looked at the game book.

Look at the offensive roster

of the starters for the Saints.

That might be the worst lineup of talent that we've seen.

seen from quarterback no kamara no quarterback there are pass catchers i was wondering why they kept throwing it to like dante pettis i was like wait why does he keep getting targets at least i think that's who number 17 was like why is he getting the ball and i looked and i was like oh my god it's either throw it to him or jawan johnson or or something but yeah this is this is this is really bad i'm i'm with mark this is the nba league pass uh game of the week this is just awful brock bowers though speaking of break yeah i'm with you i'm with you on he's a guy you throw into the offensive rookie of the year conversation.

If you're record-breaking, it reminds me of the Justin Jefferson, Justin Herbert year.

I think Justin had broke like one of Randy's records with receiving yards for a rook, and it was like, ah, we got a quarterback.

So offensive rookie of the year.

Getting down though, man.

Not winning that award wouldn't sit well with me.

But

absolutely, he's been a stud.

By the way, the Saints, in addition to being the first team to be shut out this year,

they're 63 million over the 2025 salary cap.

And it looks

shows, doesn't it?

And we've been talking about it for years and years.

They've actually, it's something that's been a badge of courage for the Saints.

Like, oh, they can manipulate the salary cap and find a way.

How about we don't anymore?

How about we just tear this thing down to the studs and restart?

Because I feel like you didn't, not that I was high on, you know, the last coaching staff or obviously not Sky Rizzy as much as I like him, like, is not the future either.

It's like, you got to give the next regime an actual fresh start.

And you give them a young quarterback and you clear your salary cap books, and you suck for a couple of years, but you actually start building something.

It just feels the way it's set up right now is not conducive to.

And they haven't won more than nine games since 2020.

It's not like that, you know, they've been pushing things forward to build a contender the last few years.

They just, they're stuck in this, like, parked in this cul-de-sac of mediocrity that they've now, like the neighborhood is now like crumbling around them on top of it.

Just like, yeah, and you got like a drunk Mickey Loomis asleep in the front yard.

We could have it.

We could have it.

All right, next.

Next game, Titans at Jaguars.

This game is one of only three this week with spreads smaller than a field goal.

And you got Mason Rudolph against Mac Jones.

Sounds like this could be a very exciting matchup.

Number 30, Titans versus number 29, Texans.

Next.

No, not going to do it.

Not going to waste anybody's time.

Next game, Colts at Giants.

Indianapolis could still make the playoffs, but they have just a 15% chance they would need a lot of help from the opponents of the Chargers and the Broncos.

These scenarios get very complicated.

I'm not going to talk through them.

Let's just focus on this aspect.

In order to keep those slim hopes alive, Indy has to win.

I'm curious, Mark, if we're going to see more of...

what they did to beat a similarly terrible team in the Titans last week, where Richardson runs the football Well, Anthony Richardson throws only 11 passes.

Is that now as the Colts try to find a way to sneak in the playoffs?

We're going to hide our quarterback and hopefully the game plan allows us to do so.

Doesn't seem conducive to long-term development, but they're trying to win nine games right now.

I was critical of

that box score for Richardson, but right, you're playing a Giants defense that's missing guys up front.

If you can run the ball, why move away from that plan?

Get into the playoffs and and do whatever you can.

Anthony Richardson right now is a threat to break Tim Tebow's low completion percentage mark from that ridiculous season that he had.

Like, it's real.

This is the problem we have with this quarterback.

So if you can run the ball again like you did last week, I don't move off that.

What's so funny, Mike?

Just the ridiculous Tim Thibault.

It's crazy.

He was so bad.

Tebow was so bad.

And there were people trying to convince us he could.

I'm sorry.

I just

wanted to say that.

The fact that Richardson is in that conversation, like Tebow was outwardly like, oh, but this is cute.

He's not a quarterback, right?

Like, he's not.

But we're not having that conversation about Anthony Richardson, at least not yet.

But the fact that his data points, his numbers, are in that club is certainly troubling at the very least.

I know the Richardson army out there is going to push back

with four different things.

But when you're passing data at the end of year two connects to Tim freaking Tebow's passing data, you might have a problem.

We've got issues.

Yeah.

Oh, they definitely.

47%.

Just look this up.

47%.

That's his completion percentage.

That is, I don't care what the circumstances are.

And he's not even in top 10 at like drops, I think, or anything, you know, drop rate by his guys.

So it's not like he's throwing them a bunch of catchable balls and they're just hitting him right in the face mask.

You know, speaking, you mentioned how

the formula they had for winning.

And that reminds me of the game, you guys remember when they played the Packers, I think it was week two, and that was the first game that the Packers didn't have Jordan Love because he got hurt in Brazil or wherever they played that first game.

And I think Malik Willis only threw a ball like 13, 14 times.

And Josh Jacobs went nuts.

They ran the ball with Jaden Reed.

They ran the ball with pretty much literally everyone else, you know, and they ran it down their throats.

And it was just a very QB-friendly game plan.

And there's just, and they were hiding their quarterback because it was Malik Willis, right?

So the Colts probably think that Anthony Richardson is better than Malik Willis.

But the idea is something I would have thought that Shane Steichen would have looked at that and said, huh, we can help our quarterback that way.

And I think Anthony ended up throwing like 30 passes or something, a bunch of picks.

And that game wasn't a blowout.

I think the Packers only won by six.

So I feel like that should be the takeaway from the Colts, whether they win this game, make the playoffs, or not.

It's like you can help Anthony by having him do a lot less, unless the game gets out of whack.

But just when these games are close, man, he doesn't have to be Superman like we saw him be a few times at Florida.

He can just be, you know, an okay guy, help him out.

And you have some offensive pieces to really help him do that.

All right, finally in the boat.

Last one, Dolphins at Browns.

The Dolphins are in a similar position to the Colts.

They need to win, and they need some help.

You know what's annoying about this?

Because nobody wants the Colts.

All due respect to Colts and Dolphins fans watching and listening right now, but nobody wants those teams in the playoffs.

So you kind of want to float them away, Mark, ahead of week 18.

But they get two of the worst teams in football in the Giants and the Browns.

So it's very likely they will get that win.

They will essentially eliminate the Bengals.

And it's just, you know, the AFC wild card race leaves something to be desired.

Yeah, and I think all these teams we're talking about will be wiped out, you know, a week into the playoffs.

But we might have to wait till then.

And, you know, you're getting Cleveland at the ideal time if you're the Dolphins.

It's absurd what the Browns are doing.

Like, they, they, at this, Dorian Thompson Robinson is banged up.

Jameis Winston has some sort of a shoulder injury.

There is a world where Bailey Zappi starts against the Dolphins.

Um, David Najuku is not hurt.

They are tanking.

They are shut.

They've shut down.

And I feel bad for someone like a Miles Garrett, who reaches 100 sacks as the youngest player in history a week ago and is asked in honest, answering honestly about the state of the team.

And it's like,

I don't see players playing hard at this point outside of the Miles Garretts of the world.

Their defense has talent, and their offense has capsized the entire thing.

So if you're Miami, I do think it's like not looking at the weather, it is not meant to be 12 degrees.

It looks like it's going to be better than that, which is arrow up for the Dolphins.

But you've got to go win a game on the road here and do it with Tua.

And what could be bad weather, we'll see.

But that, I feel if Mike McDaniel ever slipped up here, I start to worry about the future of Mike McDaniel in Miami.

We've talked about it a little bit, but like you've got to go take care of business against a team that folded the tent a month ago.

For the record, Miles Garrett, who's a future Hall of Fame player, he said in the media last week he doesn't want to be a part of a rebuild.

And, you know, he's a guy, he's entering, what, his late 20s now.

He's got a few years left where he's an elite player.

It's one of the things that you stress out about.

Like, I stress out about

Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson as you hear the, you know, these guys eventually get sick of losing and they want to go play like their buddies who are playing on winning teams.

So Garrett is at least starting to get a little bit concerned about the future of the Browns.

And, you know, I mean, every year.

It's one lost year after after another.

So I get that.

On the Miami side, yeah, we'll see.

McDaniel is someone that is,

I think, a subject of suspicion at this point, but they should be able to get this win.

Any thoughts on this one, Mike?

Yeah, I think Max Crosby, if he hasn't already, should take that same soundbite that Miles Garrett gave the Browns and the Browns media and just play it for Mark Davis.

Play it for Tolesco, the GM.

Like, yo, I'm not trying to, I'm tired of this losing stuff too, man.

Get me a good team or get me out of here.

You know, I feel Miles on that.

A guy who we were talking about with the Bengals, like he and Denzel Ward are having like award finalist type of seasons.

I think Denzel leads the league in PBUs with like 17 or 18 or something, which is a crazy number as a few picks as well.

Like him and he and Miles Garrett are balling and their teams are just going absolutely nowhere.

And Cleveland is in a similar situation to the Saints where they should blow it up.

I'm with you, Dan.

The problem is they've structured a lot of these contracts in a way that even if they did have a fire sale on the players who were worth a damn, they don't save much money.

So it's like the worst place to be, and you're almost forced to run it back.

And the guys at Over the Cap and Spot Track do a good job of tweeting about and tracking all this stuff.

Like, if you cut such and such a player, they wouldn't make any money.

Yeah, neither of these teams could really get rid of anyone worth a damn and get much back in terms of financial relief, which is just bad, bad, bad management by the two front offices there.

And just to tie these together, Max Crosby has a podcast, The Rush with Max Crosby.

Okay.

And he cited Miles Garrett's comments and

added some of his own that were even more on the nose than

Garrett.

Here's a little of that.

You know what I mean?

It's been six years of inconsistency.

You know what I mean?

It's new coaches every other year and this and this and that and new teammates.

And there's been plenty of times where I'm like, damn, like this D-line is cold.

And then I come back and every single one of them is gone.

So there you go.

I mean, he's obviously very frustrated.

And he added also on that show that he has no more guaranteed money.

And he said, obviously, there's going to be a lot of things that need to be talked about.

And I'm looking forward to those conversations.

I'm really looking forward to this offseason and the process.

With all these guys, I think that the B line is meddling ownership or incompetent ownership.

Get out of your way.

What's he looking forward to, Dan?

What is he looking forward to?

He's looking forward to

the offseason and the process the process no doubt no doubt about it no doubt about it that was a podcast once upon a time the process and they gave your man my very own podcast all right let's take a break and then we'll uh wrap things up

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All right, we are back.

Couple things before we close the doors on the week 17 preview.

Money Mike, how did he do last week?

Justin Graver.

All right.

Last week, Mike had Commanders plus three and a half.

That was a solid win.

Seahawks plus three.

That was a push.

So I don't know how to score that in a parlay.

I think that just knocks you down to a two-legger.

And then Texans plus three and a half, which obviously they lost by, I think, nine to the Chiefs.

I love Sting.

I love Sting.

Mike, we gotta.

I'm not saying that you're in, you know,

Jonathan Gannon territory here with

your three legs, but we gotta get a W here.

That Texans game was so frustrating because they were there.

They had the ball.

They were down five, I believe, with the ball.

Like, they had a chance to, like, if they stalled out, kick a field goal and still cover if the Chiefs just led the clock.

Like, I could see it all in my head.

Seahawks, I knew they would figure they would lose by three.

That was on the nails.

And then Jalen Hurts helped me out.

But we're going to try to bounce back this week.

We're at another weird.

You lost, like, we did mention you that a lot of people's, you know, it's tough times, like Christmas funds on the line.

And, you know, you sent people down a dark road.

You know what?

I'm going to blame it on.

I'm not going to blame it on Tank Dell because that would be unfair.

I'm going to blame it on the guy that ran into him.

Because where were you going?

I thought the game changed.

You could see the game change right then.

It was so bad.

CJ's over here crying on national TV.

The kicker couldn't even make the P-A-T no more after Tank got hurt.

It just was one of those, like, I feel bad for the players.

You know, I was just telling some of my friends about that.

Like, being around, being around the players has really helped me humanize them.

That specific thing is like, oh, hey, your boy just got

carted off the field in the ambulance.

First and 10, line it up.

Like, what?

There's no time for anything else.

That part, I do feel for them.

I'm also, because I feel for you, I'm picturing you and like, you know, the guy in Vegas that's wearing a suit that he's probably had on for two weeks.

It's all ripped up and tattered.

You have your tickets in your hand slumped against the wall.

And you're like, where was that receiver going?

It didn't even make sense.

It's like, Tom,

that was definitely, that was definitely me.

That's the idea.

I texted my guys who cover the Texans.

I was like, yo, what was that?

You know, like, you know, and then I see how bad tanks hurt.

And I was like, okay, I feel a little bad now.

But then, you know, I, I, that went away.

All right.

What do we got?

What we're going to get a win this week, though.

What do we got for week 17?

17?

Okay.

There's a lot of games on Saturday.

Weird.

That's probably a reason for it.

But let's roll with the Saturday games.

We can try to collect all our bread at once.

I had these in front of me.

Greg Olson three-legged parlay of the week, by the way, everybody.

Yes, Greg Olson, G-Reg from the seventh floor parlay.

We're going to go with the Chargers money line, Rams money line, and Joe Burrow over 250 yards passing against the Broncos.

We should get a W there.

I don't know know who's going to win that Broncos Bengals game, but I'm confident Joe will throw it all over the art.

I agree with you.

All right.

And one last bit of business: our

fearless predictions.

Let's look at what happened in week 16.

We'll talk about Jordan first, who's not here at the Rams facility.

We get at least one trap game upset.

Jets beat the Rams.

No.

Pats beat the Bills.

No.

Almost.

Bears beat the Lions.

No.

Mark Sessler, four four teams win by 20-plus points.

No.

That's two.

You know what's annoying about that particular one is that had 12 points collectively gone in a different direction, I would have won that.

I know that's like

great, great to say that, but like it came close, but just not close enough.

Anyways, yeah.

What are you talking about?

Dan Hansis, Trey McBride scores a finging touchdown.

That was rough.

Oh my God.

I think I'm on a 13-week losing streak.

And you know what?

Like, he was, they are clearly, the Cardinals are such a joke at this point that, you know, this is all they have left to do.

They're eliminated.

Get Trey McBride a touchdown.

This is historically absurd.

And yet he was interfered with on a target in the end zone in the latest game.

So I fall to 2-14, Mark 3-13.

What a showdown for the two hosts of the show.

Justin Graver, Mike Evans records his season high in receiving yards at least 160.

That That did not happen.

What did he have, like 70?

Yeah.

It wasn't his one catch in the second half, I think.

And then here's the guy that knows what he's doing in this game, and it proves in the record.

Seattle's wide receiver group will be the highest producing receiving group by yardage.

They were not.

No.

I don't know if Justin did the bath.

Yeah, they were outside the top 10.

It was.

Do we know?

You're seven and nine.

You're okay.

In the lead.

I don't know who was.

I can tell you.

The Bears were up there.

Yeah.

I know the Bears were up there.

No, it was the Bears.

The Bears, yeah, you're right, Justin.

They smoked everybody.

The Bears were out of like.

I thought maybe the Commanders would have been close, but yeah.

No, I wasn't really.

All right, Mike, what's your prediction for week 17?

Fearless.

All right.

We're going to go with an MVP theme here.

I think that Josh Allen is going to see what Lamar Jackson did on Christmas, like we all did, and then ball out.

A win over the Jets, 350 yards, passing and rushing combined, and three touchdowns on Sunday.

All right.

I totally see that.

Justin?

Mine is that the AFC playoff field will be set by the end of this week.

So no more if the Colts and the Dolphins and the Bengals and do this and that and that.

So the matchups will be locked in too?

Everything locked in?

Well.

Or the teams.

They won't technically be locked in because there is still a chance that Baltimore and Pittsburgh could flip, but I don't believe that they will flip.

So

my prediction is that there will be no more movement after the games end this week.

I like that one.

How about Jordan's?

Jordan's is extremely complicated.

I'll just read it.

I'll just read it exactly how she texted it.

A minimum of three quarterbacks will throw or run for exactly as many touchdowns as they throw interceptions or lose fumbles.

Meaning, if they don't turn it over, the only way I win this is if they also don't throw

or run for a touchdown.

That is really random.

As many total touchdowns as turnovers for three or more quarterbacks.

So what about, like, see, this is why you got to read the fine print with these Jordan ones.

She's tricky like that.

What if, like, a Jalen Hurts scenario where you go out with an injury early, you finish zero and zero?

Does she cash that?

I feel like we got to police that ourselves.

I think the only quarterbacks that can qualify should have to start and finish a full game.

Otherwise, you'll have way more than three quarterbacks who sit on the bench the whole game, just going zero and zero.

With the exception of someone that gets pulled out from a blowout or something.

But you can't.

Okay.

Got it.

Because their team is winning the blowout or losing as well.

Either.

I think I'm okay with either because that means they're playing deep probably into at least the third quarter, you'd think.

Okay.

And if that

chances are, if they're getting pulled, whether they're winning or losing a blowout, either they have more touchdowns than turnovers or they have way more turnovers than touchdowns.

And that's why they're getting blown out.

So it probably won't even apply.

True, true, true.

Mark, how about you?

I actually submitted one that I found it was duplicative of someone else's.

I said that this would be the week that Trey McBride was going to score a touchdown.

I was told that was not eligible.

So I am going that we're going to get a 50 burger.

Finally, we're going to get it.

Maybe we have this year.

I don't know, but we're going to get a 50 burger this week.

Someone's going over 50 points.

We have gotten multiple.

The Lions have done it multiple times themselves, but yeah.

And thank you for stepping on my bit, Mark.

Trey McBride will score a touchdown, running it back for another week.

I thought at least if I, my argument was that I could join you, join forces with you.

But that doesn't help us because we're in a competition, you know?

Well, I think that's why I moved.

I could see that argument formulating before.

So I just made it.

And just a heads up,

since we're here, like I will take this for the rest of the regular season.

If he doesn't score this week, I will also use this as my prediction for week 18.

Okay.

Briden are dying with Trey McBride the rest of the regular season.

Mike, thank you.

As always, you are the man.

Enjoy that Chicago deep dish or whatever you get into there.

Yeah,

Robert Mays hit me back up and sent me like, well, it's like six paragraphs of stuff.

So I'll decide.

I'll see.

Apparently, Chicago.

Because now, like, the fact that Mays put in that effort, it's almost like you are beholden to him to invest in that.

You really are.

Yeah.

In these suggestions, in a way.

It's a tough spot in a way.

Yes.

Well, also, I should have mentioned to him that I have a dietary restriction.

I don't eat red meat.

So that probably rules out like half of the stuff that he sent me.

So

we'll see.

But yeah, he sent me a lot.

All right.

Well, good luck.

God bless you.

I will report back next week on how it goes.

All right.

And thank you to everybody for checking out the show.

We'll be back.

We got the TNF recap later tonight.

And then Friday morning, check out the Patreon where we do the draft with Connor and Justin.

And then Sunday, we recap every game that we just drafted or we just previewed here.

Until next time, do what you must.

Heed the call.

Finance.

Finance.

Finance.

I'm looking for a man in finance.

Trust fund.

6-5, blue-eyed.

Finance.

Trust fund.

6-5, blue-eyed.

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