Saints-Packers MNF Recap + NFL Christmas Games Preview!

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The Heat the Call Podcast

is on the naughty list this year.

Hey, what do you got?

You got a sex addiction?

You got a problem with sex?

Sex?

Addicted to sex?

Sex addiction or something?

Hello, and welcome to a Monday night special edition of Heat the Call.

Dan hands us Mark Sessler.

A lot to get to today.

We had a football game played.

Well, it was technically football.

I don't know if it was a game because a game signifies a battle between two teams that are trying to defeat each other.

And I don't know.

I didn't see much of that in that game.

And we'll also preview the Christmas Day games coming up in just

a couple of nights.

What's up, Mark?

I do not understand.

It is the night before, the night before Christmas, and we've got

right.

We've got families gathered, you know, multiple generations.

It's a time to celebrate goodwill, and our producer needs to pipe in that soundbite to launch the show.

I find that, well, on brand, but untoward on some level.

And aimed at, if not both of us, aimed at one of us.

And I don't appreciate it entirely during this season.

These are the type of family values that

I come to expect this in I Dream in Red.

And that's, and this sounds like you and Tip Tip or Gore and like a he said, she said.

By the way, you have sunk the readership of that.

Like, I hope you're proud because you have sunk the readership.

And it is just simply, it's like, it couldn't be less accurate, but people out there believe the words that you say.

So, you know, thanks a lot.

Like, you know, Pet Project sunk into a lake with a, with a brick tied to a rope tied to an ankle.

Not unlike

Ted Kennedy, one of your mortal enemies.

You know, all those Kennedys you were anti.

Well, he was not an enemy at all, but I wouldn't call him pure.

He had some issues, like we all do.

You know who has some issues?

The New Orleans Saints.

Let's get into it.

Not for much longer.

The Saints became the first team this season to be shut out, which is pretty incredible.

The last game of week 16.

I mean,

I can't imagine.

Was there some type of data point about it?

Has that ever happened before?

I mean, that is, I'll go in a whole season without a shutout, but this season will have a shutout because the Saints were beat 34-0 by the Packers at Lambeau.

A game that I'm, even before it comes on, I'm thinking to myself, oh, it's weird that they didn't flex this.

I don't know if there's a reason why they didn't flex or if there was some type of deadline where the Saints were still technically alive at the time.

But this seemed like a very, very tough spot for Skyrizzy and company.

And sure enough, it was.

Spencer Rattler, obviously totally overmatched.

And the Packers, once again, showing Mark that they are a team, unlike past Packers teams that you know made their ways into the playoffs and you know if you catch them on the right day they look truly uh dangerous but there was always an Achilles heel this team feels really well rounded and and suited for January football they this is really the Brian Guttenkuhnst vision Gutaganst yeah they mentioned got to work on that German accent mark well

yeah well you can fill that part in.

But of the 53

players on the active roster right now, he's responsible for 51 of them.

They're such a young, crazy team.

And there was this one little moment.

Wait, hang on, Mark.

Turn this up.

Sure.

It's been a while.

Okay, go ahead.

Well, only if he's done.

I mean, they cut him to up to him in the suite.

I mean, I could see that just blasting.

He can play whatever he wants at this point, and it's kind of the marriage between him and LaFleur.

Like, there was this on the opening drive, there was this one little play where, and it's such a Shanahan tree kind of thing where they got a little cute.

Andy Reid does this too.

They got a little cute with a handoff at the goal line, kind of a pitch to Dantavian Wicks, and he was stuffed.

But then on the next play, like, love fires a touchdown bullet to Wicks.

And I kind of thought it was like LaFleur sticking a middle finger up to everyone

around the country saying, oh, they just got too cute.

Like, no, we didn't.

We're going to batter you.

And like, they've got, they open with touchdown drives of 10 and 17 plays.

One of them takes over eight minutes.

That's why it's halftime and it's like 6.30 because they just used Josh Jacobs as much as they needed.

And you are playing a compromised team.

I mean, I get that.

But it was like 216 yards to 31.

And just another.

piece of evidence that they are built to hammer people at this time of year.

We should note that the Packers with the victory have clinched a spot in the NFL playoffs because the NFC North is such a

loaded division.

It's the best division ever, is it?

Yeah.

I mean, it's certainly that's a conversation we could start to have because the 11-4 Packers

destined for likely 12 to 13 wins might finish in third place.

And I don't imagine that has ever happened in the NFL since the divisions realigned in 2002.

So the Packers are going to the playoffs.

And, you you know, how many times, Mark, did we,

you know, while Brett Favre or in later years, Aaron Rodgers often would be the face of the team's shortcomings, it was so often the defense that really would kill the Packers and they would not be able to get a stop and they would put the offense in a tough situation.

And against great teams, those teams would too often get exposed, the Mike McCarthy teams and some of the LaFleur teams, too, that have come up short.

But here's a good example from

next-gen stats.

The Packers pass rush pressured Spencer Rattler 20 times.

They got three sacks, generated a season-high 52.6% team pressure rate.

Eight different defensive linemen had multiple pressures.

And yes, of course, you got to understand the opponent.

The opponent is no good.

Saints think,

even with Sky Rizzi having them playing hard, they were outmatched.

But

there are waves of dogs on this defense at different levels.

And if I'm a Packers fan, I'm feeling different this year.

And I'm feeling confident.

And I know I might not win the NFC North and I might have a really hard path through the NFC, but do not count this team out.

What they have going on both on defense and then on offense where you have Jordan Love now back to playing at the level that we were accustomed to in the second half of last year.

Josh Jacobs, the perfect complement,

and then

that range of receivers and tight ends that all can make plays.

Just a balanced, good-ass team.

That's what the Packers are.

They are a good ass team.

Yeah, and they're enjoyable.

I like their style of play on offense, especially.

And to have Jeff Hafley come in from college and run the defense and have it work right away, the way that it is, that says a lot.

And they have like Edrin Cooper, who they, every time you watch one of these games, they're talking about him now.

He's bloomed right away.

And they're in that window.

Like, very few teams can claim this window where, and it's going to come, it's going to be real tricky at some point if they don't get to the Super Bowl.

And you've got like 14 or 15 semi-stars/slash stars to pay at the same time.

That's when things get real tough for your boy up in the front office.

But I would say this, like, and now I don't want to say his name because I can't say

I can't say that I don't do the German accent as well as you.

So we're going to go back down the road of the anthem, like the goodie.

Like, I mean, that's when it's going to be tough for him to.

The goodie?

You mean Brian Gunther Karnzler?

That's what I mean.

We're back here.

If Justin is still awake.

Justin.

He's in Dallas.

Come on, bud.

Not to dox.

He's not good enough.

You're in Dallas.

I closed that one after we played it.

No, we're going to come back to it.

Lesson learned, right?

Lesson learned.

There's a thing on the show that we do sometimes called Callbacks.

He's like, exit out, delete it, take it to recycle bin, permanently delete.

You know, I thought you might just be happy and proud that I still have this drop because, like, there is a chance I didn't.

Initially, that's

in so many ways.

He's very high, everybody.

As you were saying, Mark,

well, no, I just, I think, like,

it's they've got this window.

It's like, it's, it's just, it's wide open compared to, like, look, look, where are the Niners?

They just seem like plagued with all these offseason looming questions.

They got taken out of the mix for a while, in my book.

And, like,

the Packers feel like they just came here this season.

I know they made the playoffs last year but they feel different than last year's team uh this is a nice comment and thank you to everybody uh watching along on the stream uh here on a uh late monday night uh before christmas forrest elliott this packers team as a sixth seed is absurd dissolve the division seeding system i

i don't hate that i don't i i completely hate that ball is completely different than basketball no it's in 1984 no but like it's if you're gonna add more and more wild card teams and you get these crazy crazy like records in here It's absurd that one of these teams has to go to the Falcons to a stadium that once bragged of like piped-in noise.

It seems wrong to me.

I think that's yeah, that's what it's about to me and you know those

Panthers teams or you know, I think the Rams one year where you're you have a 500 record and you're hosting a home game and it's like what are we doing when when you could have a 13 and four dominant Packers team and we don't get a home game at Lambeau It's something I would I would hope somebody at the competition committee or one of the teams presents it and lays out a compelling case because I think there is

something to that.

Anything else on this game?

Because

I don't think we need to linger here.

This was a hideous mismatch from the start.

Yeah, the only thing one Saints note, and yes, this was not the real Saints team, but like there's this even talk tonight and Aikman is...

I always know he's listening to something somewhere, and it could be the fact that Mickey Loomis would probably like to take a nap until mid-April.

But the idea that they're keeping Sky Rizzy,

I think I would point to the clock management at the end of the first half, which was just negligent.

Like it was outrageous.

It was like if I suddenly got thrust onto the sideline to run a high school game and had no headset, that's what it looked like.

It was that awful.

Like, I mean, it was just like

they had no idea what was going on at all.

And like it was happening on an island game, now an ugly island.

But like, I don't, I think little things like that matter to come in and show you can take control of certain situations.

And this was a floundering wipeout.

As much as I love Connor.

Oh, Connor just says crazy stuff.

His worst take of the year, and I was very open with him in the moment, like Sky Rizzi getting a head coach.

It was never going to happen.

I mean, you heard what happened in that locker room with the strobe light.

This is, he is the most interim head coach.

that has ever existed.

And his job is to take us to the second week in January.

We thank him for his work, and then we send him on his way.

Or maybe he gets absorbed by the new coaching staff.

I hope he gets a head coach of the 2025 Saints.

Yes, Justin.

Skyrizzi was asked if he should be made the permanent head coach of the Saints, and this was his response.

Never, ever, ever, ever, ever.

Okay, ever.

Got me.

Nice done.

Nicely done, Justin.

You're back, baby.

I like that.

All right, good.

I was a little mad at him because he didn't have the proud to be American drop ready when we were talking about I Dream in Red, but now he, with his killer Skyrizzy bit there, even Steven.

I favored that miscalculation on his part.

All right.

And by the way, just a reminder for you, for me,

for you, the audience, to Justin, to Jessica, anybody.

Remember,

the first two weeks of the season don't mean shit.

The Saints were

kings after two weeks.

And how many conversations did everyone have

about the offense and how everything was different?

And we were all stupid because the Saints were actually gnarly.

They ended up since that point, they are, what's their record now?

What, five wins?

They were, well.

Yeah, they won their first two games and have lost 10 of 13 since.

So

that turned out not to be true, that they had revolutionized offense.

Basically, the league made like two and a half tweaks, and the offense was forever shuttered, even before Derek Carr got injured.

They were the highest scoring team the first two weeks, and they were the first team to get shut out this season.

How about that?

A lot of talk.

We did a wild talk.

Like a wild uncle you take out back.

All right, let's take a break, and when we come back, we'll do a quick news catch-up and then the Christmas Day 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.

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Welcome back.

One more note, and this is something that popped up a couple days before the game

you know, I'm going to miss the Saints coaching staff when it's gone.

Quarterbacks coach Andrew Gianoko took Spencer Rattler and the rest of the Saints quarterbacks into a walk-in freezer in the team's cafeteria on Saturday to run through plays.

The freezer was like 10 degrees, according to Rattler.

I think there's something funny about the fact that it was actually like 33 degrees, which is balmy for Green Bay this time of year.

So they went through all that for nothing, but I like the originality of it all.

I do too.

They cut into him on the sideline, the QB coach, and it kind of struck me as a theology professor up on a hillside.

He looks cold and looked like he didn't quite belong there, but he's creative.

I think he said he saw it from Cool Runnings.

He got the idea from Cool Runnings.

The John Candy Dougie Doug vehicle.

They mentioned that.

I'm not sure what the full story is there, but that was an inspiration that gave him an idea.

So they're trying the Jamaican bobsled team.

Good movie, I thought.

When I saw it, you know, as I recall, it was pleasurable as a film.

All right.

I think we have sound, actually, from the freezer.

Okay.

Sure we do.

So they were excited, obviously.

All right, let's see.

It works.

All that matters is it worked.

Yeah, man.

Look, we work 80 hours a day.

All right, 80 hours a week.

Staff, players come here, you know, they're 40 plus hours

to work.

We don't do this to lose.

We don't do this for anybody's fantasy football team.

We don't do this for anybody's drafts projections.

None of that shit matters to us.

Our name matters is winning.

And that's all we want to do.

I'll tell you what, man.

If you want one head coach, speaking of interims, if you want one head coach that will absolutely take your organization to the highest level from about December 15th to January 7th when that team is five to eight games below 500, Antonio Pierce is your guy.

He's the guy.

He is correct about one thing.

They did do nothing for

our fantasy football teams collectively.

That is a team that was not dedicated to helping anyone tremendously on that front.

Just the tight end.

The tight end would be

the lone exception.

Otherwise, mission accomplished.

All right, let's get into it.

Here is something.

Did you know that Aaron Rodgers is still doing weekly hits on Pat McAfee's show?

I I do because I see it.

I mean, I checked Twitter enough where I think I saw last week, so I think I checked out what he had to say.

He was irate, wasn't he a little angry about stuff?

Well, I think he got upset.

Last week, I think he said something about like he was going back to

2021 and getting after people about vaccinations.

And then I think he also, the thing that got all the ESPN talking heads fired up was he took a not-so-vague shot at them, which, you know, got the Ryan Clarks of the the world up on their soapboxes to feel big about themselves.

But

this latest commentary from Rodgers comes from a place that I think is a little bit newsworthy, which is if you're reading between the lines, it sounds like Aaron Rodgers knows there is no future with the New York Jets.

And he's now mentioned multiple times

in the last couple of days that he believes he'll be or the idea that he could be released the day after the season ends.

And it could be a decision made by one of Woody Johnson's grandsons.

This has been reported and confirmed.

Some of the athletic reporting has been a little sensationalistic to me to the point where it's like, I want to hear like the Saminis of the world come in and confirm it.

And Samini did confirm that Woody Johnson's grandsons, one name is Jack and the other one's names, you can't make this up, Brick, Brick Johnson,

have indeed had a voice for the organization in terms of decision making, which is outrageous.

Obviously, they're like teenagers.

Anyway, here's Aaron Rodgers talking about his uncertain future, perhaps dropping hints and having a little bit of fun with the Woody Johnson saga.

I've never been released before, so being released would be a first.

Being released by a teenager, that would also be a first.

So, hey, you know, like I'm open to everything.

And, you know, I find the comedy and all of it.

If that happens, hey, you know,

like

it's a great story.

I think, Mark, the way this is going to play out,

Rogers was gaining some momentum, and there was

an idea that he could make sense for next season.

But the way that Rams game fell apart, and then now they're going up to Buffalo to face a Bills team that obviously needs a win, and he's banged up again.

It's going to be cold and miserable.

I can obviously see that going very poorly, and that kind of closing any conversation amongst the Jets about the future with Rodgers.

That's just the sense that I get right now.

I'm with you.

I mean, if you are serious about playing another year or two,

if there's a team that really needs you, like, just to be real, it's not a jet shot, but the chances and percentages are that that might be a healthier place to go because there's just been a lot of bad energy.

And you just, you, you, like, you philosophically opposed

the actual owner, like, because he owns an industry, like, power that you philosophically don't agree with.

Like, we've skated through that, but now you've just called the acting owner if he's actually a teenager, a teenager, and it's making news.

So it's like, if you're trying to build men fences or stick around, like,

and you're going to put this on a new coaching staff, I think Aaron Rodgers probably could be productive next year.

I kind of just think it needs to be somewhere else.

And for the Jets, they need to find someone else.

If I was Aaron Rodgers, I would be taking the first ticket out of town if I still wanted to play with the Jets.

I get my 500 touchdown.

Bench me if you want after that.

Just let me get the one more touchdown pass here.

And I agree with you.

I think Rodgers, because I think because Rodgers is so easy to root against,

because he does come across as a little bit pompous and disconnected from the real world at this stage of his life.

And he could be, you know, some of his opinions can kind of come and rub people the wrong way.

And it's done it for me, too.

I think it would have helped and people would have celebrated him being terrible this year.

And some people have conflated the Jets' failure this season with Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers has not been terrible this year.

And I think Rodgers in a healthy setup could actually be a good player for a team next year.

You just got to manage expectations.

He's no longer the MVP player, but he could be a good quarterback in the right setup.

It just comes down to, does he want to do that again?

Does he want to start over somewhere else?

And he's not going to be, the Jets are a zoo.

There's not going to be another place that's going to give him full control of the operation.

So he's going to have to be part of a group.

And I don't know if he has that in him at this point.

Or he could be like a super Joe Flacco, like a Joe Flacco times five if things went right.

Like if he doesn't start with a team, if he doesn't want to be, I don't think he wants to be the backup or part of a collective where he's, you know, conditioning a young quarterback to be the starter by week five.

No way.

I don't think so.

Well, he was, in fairness, he was.

Jordan Levell say that he was very good with him in a way that Favre wasn't with Rodgers.

But I see your point.

I don't think he'd be cruel to him, but I don't think that's like, what's the plan now versus where you were four years ago, right?

And just real quick before we move on, because I obviously wasn't there for the conversation on Thursday, I think all of this stuff coming out about Woody Johnson and the Jets as this laughingstock hive of dysfunction.

The only way I could kind of spin it in my mind that is positive is that it gets to a point where the billionaire oligarch doesn't like being a horse's ass and be the become the new face face of the worst ownership group in the NFL.

And it turns into some type of eureka moment that causes him to take a step back, get out of the way, and maybe he learns lessons.

Now, it could go the other way too.

He could actually get worse from here as he gets older and approaches his 80th birthday.

But

maybe this is getting so bad and so embarrassing for the Johnson family that it causes change for the organization.

And if that's what happens, thank you to the athletic athletic and all the other reporting that has kind of shined a light on the dysfunction that is the New York Jets because the way it's set up now obviously is not going to create a winner.

And the concern, you know, that how do you attract high caliber football minds to an organization when it is public knowledge that the owner won't get out of the way and is a problem.

It does happen, but what I tend to see what happens is because it's such a massive investment and it's kind of the toy you bought after working in all these other industries.

Like I can think of Jimmy Haslam.

He kind of handed over the mouthpiece of it to his wife and then he goes quiet, but he's not selling the team.

And Johnson's already handed it off to what, his son when he went over to Europe.

His brother.

His brother.

Okay.

And then now it's this, now it's a teenager.

It's like he is slowly, he's not, I don't sense that he wants to give up the team, but he's going to get out of the way so that the crosshairs go somewhere else.

Because it's kind of helpful that you lose like Zach Wilson.

you lose the coach, you lose another coach, you lose the GM.

That's like, we've got no one else left to blame.

And by the way, you're the one we should be blaming because you're the one B line through one of the worst sports experiences in America.

So, yes, it comes down on you.

Thank you, Athletic.

And Motel Guest, you'll get 60 years of Brick Johnson.

What if Brick Johnson?

I'm just throwing this out.

Maybe he's great.

Maybe he's a genius.

What if Brick Johnson is a fucking genius?

You know, whenever you watch these shows about lineage that go through like the medieval times and stuff, there are good sons and there are quality leaders couched in between a bunch of chicanery.

So it's possible.

All right.

In other news, we'll roll through the rest of this.

Deontay Johnson had obviously a really speaking dysfunctional, dysfunctional relationship with the Ravens after they traded for him.

They eventually released him.

And now the Texans claim the wide receiver and the Texans claim a wide receiver because Tank Dell is not playing football for him anymore this season and his long-term future includes some level of doubt.

The knee injury that he suffered on Saturday looks like it was as bad as it looked.

It is a dislocated kneecap.

It is also a

torn ACL and other damage.

And there is concern that he won't even be ready for the beginning of next season.

So terrible news on Dell and we'll see if Deontay Johnson can play the guitar in Houston.

Trent Williams,

future Hall of Fame left tackle for the 49ers.

He's done for the season.

He's got a bad ankle and they're eliminated, so that's not a surprise.

The Chargers officially opened the 21-day practice window for running back J.K.

Dobbins coming off an MCL sprain, and they place safety Marcus May on injured reserve with an ankle issue.

Mark,

you put a dot on this little segment while I turn off my heater that kicked on.

Well, I think the J.K.

Dobbins news matters most because Trent Williams in the future with the the Niners, who knows?

Deontay in Deontay's like turned off like four teams at this point.

Low factor there.

But J.K.

Dobbins matters for the Chargers.

When they get into the playoffs, it should happen.

And you get him back.

The running game has been really different without him.

So are you okay with the heat off?

It sounds nice.

It's gone quiet.

I'm still thinking about Bricks being like a combination of

Vince Lombardi,

Bill Belichick.

Don't do this.

Can I just say don't do this?

We're about to head into the

month away from the offseason, and we're going to just.

Again, it may be a teenager who's

failing Algebra 2.

So I think it's probably not a teenager, though.

Imagine 13-year-old Brick Johnson going down a parade float on the Canyon of Heroes after next year's Super Bowl.

Just picture it.

That's all.

If you can.

All right, I'll give that some thought.

All right, let's move to the Christmas Games preview.

There are two games to be played.

The NFL has come for the NBA's throat.

It started last year and now continues in perpetuity, starting with both games on Netflix, by the way.

Do you have a Netflix account, Mark?

I do, but I know that there was, I read that there was a, like a high octane boxing bout on Netflix, I think, over the weekend, and there were a lot of technical issues experienced by many.

So are you referring to the Mike Tyson?

No, no, no, no.

It was super

super fight.

If I'm not mistaken, I think it happened, like, I read something about the Paul Brother.

No, I mean, I watched that.

I think we all watched that.

Because that had some glitch issues as well.

It did.

It definitely.

So there was another one.

You're saying there was a more recent box.

I think even this weekend, there was one, if I'm not mistaken.

Now, like, Justin can cut this out of the show if I'm wrong.

But no, I read something like, uh-oh, will it carry over to

the NFL games?

And that's going to have a much larger audience.

Like, that is a concern, you know?

Bandits.

Absolutely, Mark.

Especially, which game has Beyoncé playing at halftime?

God, I don't know.

I don't think so.

Baltimore, Houston, because Lamar Jackson, I don't know if this was a joke, but apparently Lamar Jackson said he would rather watch Beyonce do the halftime performance than be in the locker room.

Oh, he told Hariba that he was going to go watch it.

You're right.

Right.

That's like when Michael Irvin

at 27 went out to watch MJ at the Rose Bowl.

You know, sometimes you got to come out and see a halftime show.

Oh, yeah, that makes sense because Beyonce's from Houston.

All right.

Anyway, Case at Pittsburgh.

And by the way, you got to give the NFL some props there.

You get Beyonce to play halftime of the Christmas night game.

I mean, not since Rocky Drago has there been a sporting event that's going to attract more eyeballs

from different areas of the household than this one.

That's pretty good.

I think it also

is ironclad proof that the NFL will never

exit out of the Christmas Day scenario, no matter what day of the week it is.

Absolutely.

The Chiefs are three-point favorites at Pittsburgh against the Steelers, Iron Eagle, Nate Burleson, and J.J.

Watt on the call.

No doubt.

No doubt about it.

No doubt about it.

Had a podcast for a certain amount of time.

I just saw that

Nate is hosting the new syndicated version of Hollywood Squares.

And it did cross my mind, I hope he gets more than one episode.

Well, yeah, I mean, what.

Do you think you'll get more than one episode, Nate Burlson, of Hollywood Squares?

Yeah, because I think that's a good idea.

No doubt.

No doubt about it.

No doubt about it.

Mark, lay out, bud.

Sorry.

Lay out for the bit.

We'll see, but I think they film like six in one day, typically.

All right, so here we go.

You know, I'm very concerned about the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mark, and I think this game

is either going to

eradicate those concerns, and we'll go into the playoffs thinking what we've thought about Pittsburgh for most of the year,

which is, wow, not only is this team, as we all know, well-coached and disciplined and plays badass defense, but they could score some points this year and they could throw the ball downfield a little bit and they have a little bit of balance on offense.

But these last couple of weeks, where the Steelers have been handled easily by contenders, first the Eagles, then the Ravens, has been a little bit of an eye-opener.

In fairness, both those games are on the road.

They're missing a key part of their offense in terms of a downfield receiving presence, obviously.

And we'll talk about that with Pickens.

But they are home against the Chiefs.

And I really...

And Steelers fans agree, we really need the Pittsburgh Steelers to show up in this game and tell us that they're not a team that's either going to free fall out of the playoffs or even if they make the playoffs, end up being not even cannon fodder, because you could imagine how a Steeler playoff loss would play out, like, you know, 21 to 9.

And I don't want that either.

So

bring me back the Steelers that kind of caught our imagination for most of the season, and this would be a good platform for them to go get it.

Well, certainly considering it's the Chiefs.

Like, I think they have a lot to clean up, and it goes beyond George Pickens, who sounds like he will potentially play.

But they had given up 400 yards once as of three weeks ago.

They've done that twice in the last two games, and it's the way they've done it.

They've been missing tackles all over the place.

I think it was double-digit missed tackles in each of their last three road games, and that extends to the game in Cleveland, and that was a bit of a different situation.

But they are not playing Pittsburgh Steelers defense the way that we think.

And I don't think the Chiefs are a team like the Ravens that are going to take advantage of that because you don't have Derrick Henry breaking them by halftime.

It's a different offense, but

I do think that Pittsburgh, like

you, the division floats away if you can't handle this at home.

If it weren't Kansas City, I'd kind of think like, well, the Steelers had been revealed for what they are, but this is what I've said about them all along, that the Steelers at home, and it sounds simple, but they really are this different creation in Pittsburgh, that I think they are built to win a game like this against a low-octane offense like Kansas City, but you've got to do it without the mistakes.

Like they really, they've been killing themselves with, I said, missed tackles, like the Russell Wilson turnovers.

We've got to get back on track.

And I think, I kind of feel like they're going to play a clean game.

I really do.

I think they're more aware than any of us, obviously, about what the tape has looked like the last two weeks.

And the Chiefs don't blow out teams.

We know that.

So the Steelers have no excuse to get blown out of their own building here.

And Pickens might be citing the number one Steelers fan we know, Dave Damashek, the Janga piece of that attack.

Without him as the downfield stretch the field presence, they're down to 248.3 yards per game.

He hurt the hamstring pre-game, I believe, before

the Bengals game.

He's missed the past three weeks.

Right, since against the Browns either, I think.

So, yeah.

Okay, so they went from averaging 325 yards a game to 248 yards a game.

So that's a big drop.

They've also seen their ground game as defensive now, because they know that Russ doesn't have someone to attack downfield with, they're stuff in the box.

And they've gone from having the, they went into this non-Pickens era with 10th in football, averaging 126 yards on the ground.

They're down under 100 in that category as well.

So there's a lot being put on Pickens.

We're assuming that to be the case.

Now, in reality, it's not always that simple.

There might be a lot of different things that are causing this offense to falter, but Pickens not being there is a big part of it.

How about on the Chiefs side of of things, Mark?

What are you looking for in this?

I want to see if someone like Marquise Brown becomes a bigger and bigger factor because I don't think a team, there's, I can't think of too many teams that have had to add pieces kind of midstream and done a better job with it.

And you suddenly have with Xavier and Marquise Brown an element that they thought they would have at the beginning of the season.

They didn't.

And so you do that.

And I think that they've learned through all of this that they can be a really balanced offense that uses a lot of different characters.

I think Mahomes completed passes to like eight different people like out of the gate last week.

And I like that kind of an offense because you're going to lose people, you're going to lose them for quarters, for drives here and there.

And so I kind of trust the Chiefs at this point.

And like, who, I guess, who wouldn't agree that they're just going to look like they keep looking?

I mean, and we, and we know that Mahomes is fully healthy at this point.

He showed it last game.

So it's like,

just go be who you are.

I don't know if they can really be something completely different, but I like adding like a Marquise Brown to the mix.

Yes.

Uh, with DeAndre Hopkins,

you have something there with the rookie.

There's some options here.

Kelsey is obviously not the same player anymore, but he's not the only tight end that's a part of this offense now.

So they are changing and having Pacheco back obviously helps them.

It feels like they're getting in a better place offensively, even if they're never going to be...

lighting up the scoreboard like we remember, at least not this season.

Mahomes, for the record, he says he's not fully healthy, but he says his ankle is in a, quote, lot better place this week.

So there's no concern.

He can't keep getting away with it.

And yet he does.

So don't expect Patrick Mahomes to be on the bench in this one, but do expect if TJ Watt and the Steelers' pass rush can come to life and make life difficult.

You know, that puts Mahomes at risk at aggravating the ankle or in general, not being as spry as he usually is.

The challenge will be greater this week against Pittsburgh than it was for Kansas City in week 16.

All right.

Should we swing over to the other game?

Yeah.

Let's do it.

Week 17, Mark.

Can you believe it?

The Baltimore Ravens 10-5.

So look at this.

We got the AFC North.

It's coming down to the wire, and you have the two teams sitting at 10-5, playing in different windows.

The Ravens, 10-5,

traveling to Houston to face the Texans.

We told you about

Houston having a scramble to beef up their wide receiver core after the terrible Tank Dell injury.

So that is going to be something to watch here because, you know, the frustrating thing, and there's a lot of frustration as a, I almost said Astros,

as a Texans fan,

is that every time it seems like you're about to kind of be able to get into a place where you start to build,

you get another injury to knock you down.

So now that you had Collins back on the field, you had Tank Dell, obviously, now Dell is gone.

So it's back to Collins and maybe Deontay Johnson is someone that helps him, but don't expect it right away.

And you just wonder if C.J.

Stroud can raise his game in a spot like this when you know Lamar is going to show up and you know Lamar is going to put 30 plus points on the board for the Ravens.

Is this Houston team equipped to win any type of shootout game?

I just do not see it.

And so

I imagine that Beyonce is going to go home bitterly disappointed because she's really there just to watch the game, I think.

Yeah, if she's truly invested in the sporting aspect of it, I think she will be.

I think you kind of need CJ Stroud to have the best game of the season.

I think you do, and it's got to happen right now.

And you're asking him to do a lot with a little bit.

We've been waiting so long for CJ Stroud to kind of

come back to us yet.

I don't know where the fire.

I'll talk about the offense because I think it's not true the defense.

Like, where is the fire on this offense?

Like, I just don't see it.

And I get it, they've lost half the people that would have brought that fire, but they just feel to me like a team kind of being carried in a casket to the postseason.

It's just everything's gone so poorly.

And now you've got to go take on the hottest team in the AFC and find a way to stop it.

And like, I do think their defense is their hope.

Like, they've got to try to keep it low because there was this one play that I went back and watched against the Steelers with the Ravens.

And here's what I think Derrick Henry does to you.

He beat them up so hard for like, it was like 100 plus.

right away, right?

And then there is the touchdown to Isaiah Likely, where they're so concerned about Lamar And you have Derrick Henry lined up to Lamar's right in the backfield.

And it's like

Lamar just sort of pretends or has sort of a half like handoff pitch to Henry and like brings the whole defense in.

And Likely is wide open.

Like, I think that's just the effect of having to try to stop those two dudes, but especially once Henry gets going, and it just opens up all these other options that Lamar did not have in the past.

We know that.

Like Zay Flowers, like last week, 100 plus, like they're just kind of clicking.

And I don't really trust anything about the Houston offense to hang around with them if they get hot.

I'm with you.

And the Houston offense, in addition to the stops and starts of the passing game all year, have not been able to run the ball with any efficiency in the last month or so.

So you're not getting the Joe Mixon

big performances that were making this offense frisky and dangerous at the beginning of the year, even when Stroud was pedestrian in his production.

So something has to change.

I just think it's why it's such a disappointment because you want the Texans to be a team that you could take seriously going into the playoffs.

But I think that Dell injury is something that is going to really, really hurt this offense and make them even more predictable.

And you know, defenses like the Ravens are going to key in on Collins even more now.

So it's like, who's going to be the guy that can that can step up?

They love Dalton Schultz and he's a good tight end, but who else on that team is going to be a difference maker?

Otherwise, it's going to be a lot of frustration for Stroud.

Another week where they're hovering around 20 to 24 points, and that is just not going to do it against the Ravens.

I think they need a defensive turnover.

They need Fairbairn to be perfect.

They need something big to happen because here's the other thing about one little quick thing about Baltimore is like their defense is evolving and it's some young players, but they only had two penalties against the Steelers.

And the one thing about them was like man they could knock it out of their own way with with with or as their new defensive coordinator the mistakes and like maybe they're fixing that and like if they don't make mistakes against against the texans i don't see it

all right it is almost like a referendum on the afc playoffs in a certain way because you have two teams you know are going to be there in the ravens and the chiefs and are going to have a major seat at the table come january and then you have this the steelers and the texans and it's like should we take you guys seriously?

Well, let's see I'll ask you this like do you like the

Because this is probably how they have to do it I kind of do like it if you get the matchup right like one and one played three and four last week and then you flip the matchup.

It's the same four teams from

like in this in this shortened situation like Saturday to Christmas Day it's all the same four teams like there's no other real way you could do it real equitably in a certain way without they need that extra day although it still feels totally fair but what if they mistakenly picked, like, I don't know if you can flex that, I guess you could, but what if they mistakenly picked like the Jaguars or something?

We're watching them twice two weekends in a row.

I want to, you know, be thrown into a lake at that point.

Yeah, I hear what you're saying.

I think you try to go with the safest picks imaginable.

Right.

And I think they did okay in the end.

They did a good job.

Adi Adam Scalani, does anyone else get annoyed with the Noah slash Iron Eagle announcing it's like they're trying to be Jim Nance, but Costco brand.

I will not, I will not hear I like I'm not bashing.

And Noah, Noah's like, what does he do wrong?

It may not be your cup of tea, but he's certainly technically.

I guess you could say that Noah is like the Costco brand of Iron, but that's not really fair because he's literally his son.

So it's not like he's trying, he's not aping his father.

It's just he's half of his father's DNA.

That's how it works, Mark.

That's how DNA works.

Yeah, well, literally half of Ion Eagle.

That's Brick Johnson, basically, but even like another generation removed.

Anything else, Justin, from the chat before we say goodbye?

Sure.

How much you want?

I don't know.

We'll kind of judge on how good they are.

Well, first, shout out to Come On Man for reminding everyone that once the stream ends, stick around for a sec and leave an actual comment on the YouTube video because that really helps us.

Whether, according to Come On Man, whether you're a Mark Assbuster or a non-ass buster, I don't know.

I don't know what that means.

Shout out to Matthew Stapleton too, 425 in the UK.

Good for you, Matthew.

You're the best.

Thanks to everyone listening and watching in the UK.

Iced bananas, are we sure the Chiefs are still low octane?

They put 27 on an extremely good Houston D.

Having Brown back for them is huge.

Yeah, we just talked about that.

The Chiefs seem, it seems to be rounding into shape for Kansas City, which has a chance to make me look very bad because I am on record and it's too late to turn back.

They will be wiped out before the AFC championship game.

What could go wrong there?

Derek, has Mark started the Rogers Enigma documentary on Netflix?

Haven't gotten to that.

That'll leave it right there.

Football documentaries in the middle of the football season is a lot.

Yeah.

And that one specifically seemed to land at a weird time.

A perfect example.

Like, again, I love hard knocks, or at least I liked hard knocks before they diversified into like a, you know, CSI situation.

But, like,

as much as I enjoy the AFC North and the drama within it, do I have time in my life right now to dig in on a weekly hour-plus-long documentary on anything?

Well, plus you're telling me what happened last week, and we've already talked about it all week in certain situations.

I'm sure there's some behind-the-scenes, you know, fluff.

I had this conversation with Keith, by the way, about the Rodgers.

He was like, oh, yeah, Danny,

I'm going to watch it.

I'm like, I just, I'm set.

I'm just like, yeah.

If this season didn't go the way it went, I would have been all over it if Rogers and the Jets were successful.

But it's, I don't need more reminders of young people.

I'm surprised Keith's digging into that, though.

That doesn't, it's not the point.

He is retired.

My parents watch enormous amounts of streaming television.

Enormous.

It's impossible to be like, when they come to visit, hey, do you want to watch this movie?

Like, we saw it.

Like, do you want to watch this?

Saw it.

But I guess when you're retired, what else are you going to do?

You've got the time to really enjoy the product.

They ride their bikes, and

they watch Jeopardy, and my dad cleans outside the house, and

my mom, like, she's on her laptop a lot, and

they just have a lot of time.

And then they watch TV.

It's like, I envy it.

I look forward to that period of time.

It all fits together like a, I could see that all fitting together.

Favorite top three Christmas movies.

All right, Pat's fanban.

Number one for me is a Christmas story.

Number two,

going to be very basic.

Number two is It's a Wonderful Life.

Number three

would be,

I don't know, but I will, let me just throw in an honorable mention.

I'm not going to put it top three, but if you're looking for a newer Christmas movie, it came out a couple of years ago with Neil Patrick Harris as the dad 8-bit Christmas.

It's a nostalgic look back at being a kid in the 80s during Christmas time in Chicago.

Well done.

Very funny.

I'll just throw that out.

I guess I'm a basic.

No, I think it's also like what you liked when you were young, too, because I know I'll think of more later, but like Christmas Vacation, I saw in the theater with my dad, like that.

Yeah, it was always one for me.

Wonderful Life, like I am a cynical person in certain ways, but it's hard to be with that.

We've talked about this.

I consider Eyes Wide Shot to be a Christmas movie, but I know that's not where Pat's fan Ben is going here.

Well, no, but it truly is.

The imagery of it and stuff.

Maybe the themes, but

people are not yelling elf.

Elf is funny.

I like elf.

Can I give my three?

Sure.

I hate it.

Why not?

Why not?

Number one, Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

It's definitely a Christmas movie.

Don't challenge me on that.

Just

what about

it?

Paul Rudd literally sings, oh, the weather outside is weather, in reference to the season that it is, because he's going to Hawaii to get away during Christmas.

It's a Christmas movie.

Number two is Die Hard.

Yeah, let's say that

we're going to have this conversation again, Justin.

The movie takes place in December.

The setting, it does not mean it's a Christmas movie.

I don't know why people think this.

Like, I don't understand it.

it.

Agree to disagree.

Are you referring to Die Hard or every movie he mentioned?

Well, Die Hard is also a Christmas movie.

That's number two.

I mean,

that argument, I feel like we're about nine years into that being an online debate.

So I'm good with it.

If that's what you think.

It's like the Michael Bay Pearl Harbor movie.

Oh, December 7th.

You know, that's a Christmas movie.

There were Christmas lights on a palm tree in one scene.

That was in Hawaii.

Then it is a Christmas movie.

What else?

Agree to disagree.

Three is Home Alone.

Oh, Home Alone.

That's obviously

very near the top of my list.

Number, in fact, number

two is Home Alone.

So a Christmas story, Home Alone, and it's a wonderful life.

All right, one more.

Okay.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

I mean,

I just wanted to throw this coming up so I could do this.

Loser, loser, double-loser, as if whatever, get the picture, doi.

Perfect way to close it.

All right, everybody, thank you for watching, and thank you for your support all season.

Our schedule is a little different this week.

No show on Tuesday, Christmas Eve, no show on Christmas Day.

And then Thursday, we'll be back recording our recap for both the Christmas games and our preview for the rest of the week 17 slate.

Anything else you want to say to the people, Mark?

No, I'll say it when we return.

But have a nice holiday.

Enjoy yourself, you and Justin, and everyone listening.

I wish that for you.

Very human.

Thank you.

What do they call it?

Christ Mass?

Enjoy either.

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