Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to the Point after show with Kyle Maurer, Marshall hesslaw, and Ian DeWitt.
[00:00:06] Speaker B: This is the show where the guys.
[00:00:07] Speaker A: Attempt to pick the winners of the weekly NFL games along with some healthy.
[00:00:11] Speaker B: Debate about current topics.
Let's go. Let's go.
[00:00:14] Speaker A: How we doing? I'm back.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: You are back. You were missed.
[00:00:18] Speaker A: I feel like I've.
I've had a couple of these this season.
[00:00:22] Speaker B: Yeah. Missing a lot of games.
[00:00:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: It's really affecting your performance, I think.
[00:00:28] Speaker A: I know this past month has been rough, let me tell you.
[00:00:33] Speaker B: Is that right?
[00:00:34] Speaker A: Well, life just kind of happens, you know.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: Open up about it. This is a safe space. Well, what have you been going through?
[00:00:43] Speaker A: No, no. There's been some family things that have happened that we had to deal with the last couple days.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:00:50] Speaker A: Or weeks, really.
But it was building up. And then we were moving at the same time as all of that, so I actually. I just moved. I'm in a new house.
[00:01:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:05] Speaker A: That was exhausting.
[00:01:07] Speaker B: Oh, it always is. There's no way. There's no escaping it. No.
[00:01:10] Speaker A: It. Well. And we had. We had to do it. It almost didn't happen, actually.
[00:01:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:16] Speaker A: And I mean, like, the day we were supposed to close was we were getting some information that it might not be happening.
[00:01:23] Speaker B: Oh, certainty.
[00:01:25] Speaker A: We were. I was in the middle of work. I'm trying to lead an event for middle schoolers, and I'm getting a call from our realtor, and she's like, we need to talk asap. And I'm like, this is the worst time.
[00:01:37] Speaker B: Oh, no.
[00:01:37] Speaker A: This is also stress inducing because in an hour, I'm supposed to go and see you to sign. So clearly something is wrong.
[00:01:45] Speaker B: Right.
[00:01:46] Speaker A: And we have found out that the guy who's buying our house had. There was an issue with some of the paperwork and, like, certain numbers weren't lining up. And because it was a FHA loan. So it's all government stuff.
[00:01:59] Speaker B: Right. Right.
[00:02:00] Speaker A: They can't sign off on anything until that's corrected. And they were trying to get a hold of the lender to get it fixed before the signing.
[00:02:09] Speaker B: Right.
[00:02:10] Speaker A: They were having a really hard time. And as of, like, 30 minutes before we were supposed to go and sign, they still hadn't been able to get.
[00:02:18] Speaker B: A hold of him.
[00:02:18] Speaker A: They were trying for, like, two days.
[00:02:19] Speaker B: Right.
[00:02:20] Speaker A: So I don't know what happened to that guy.
[00:02:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:22] Speaker A: But little Jesus miracle happened and it panned out. So we were still able to sign at the time we were supposed to. They got it figured out. It was very stress. It was like a very stressful. Like 20 minutes of my life.
[00:02:37] Speaker B: Right.
[00:02:37] Speaker A: Finding out, oh, you might not actually be doing this to. Oh, it's okay. It's fine.
So that was.
That was awful.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh.
[00:02:48] Speaker A: It got taken care of and then we moved on last Friday.
[00:02:55] Speaker B: Outstanding.
[00:02:56] Speaker A: We had a U Haul. We rented it.
[00:02:58] Speaker B: I remember helping you move the last time. Be honest.
How many things did you never unpack from the last move that you moved again?
[00:03:08] Speaker A: We had a lot of stuff in storage.
We had like this little attic space in the old house and a lot of it was just kind of tucked away.
We didn't have as much stuff the first time we moved into the house.
[00:03:20] Speaker B: That's true. You were coming from apartments.
[00:03:21] Speaker A: Right. So we just didn't have a lot. And we did this time.
[00:03:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:26] Speaker A: We just had more things.
[00:03:27] Speaker B: Of course. Yeah. When you have more space, when you get the house, you start filling it up.
Right.
[00:03:34] Speaker A: It definitely took a minute, but we got a 26 footer u haul.
We rented it out, we filled that thing to the max and then we unloaded it, drove it back to the house, loaded it up with a bunch of junk, took it to Liberty Landfill.
[00:03:51] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh.
[00:03:52] Speaker A: And then got the U Haul, returned all from the hours of nine to four.
[00:03:57] Speaker B: That's pretty incredible.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: It was. We almost didn't think we were going to make it to the.
To the landfill because they had. They closed at 4. And we were like. I was like, we had 30 minutes.
[00:04:07] Speaker B: Right.
[00:04:08] Speaker A: And we were still at the new house. And I was like, we are going to do this.
[00:04:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:12] Speaker A: Because otherwise I have no idea what we're gonna do.
We literally got back to the old house and just started chucking stuff in there because I was like, it's going to the dump. We don't need the. We don't need to save this.
Chucked it in, got it over there. It was great. Have you ever been to the Liberty land?
[00:04:32] Speaker B: Many times. Many times.
[00:04:33] Speaker A: Yeah. There's something very cathartic about just chucking something over the edge and watching it just hit the pile.
[00:04:39] Speaker B: It is kind of. Especially if you got like some glass windows or something.
[00:04:43] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:04:44] Speaker B: It can be really fun.
[00:04:45] Speaker A: So this actually brings me to the question of the day when moving, because you've done this more than me, I feel like.
[00:04:52] Speaker B: Did you. Did you help us move the. The time before?
[00:04:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:55] Speaker B: You probably. You remember our old old house?
[00:04:57] Speaker A: I do remember the old old house. The one that was more in the city. Yeah.
[00:05:01] Speaker B: And I helped you move the last time. Last time I was so bummed that I couldn't help you this time.
[00:05:06] Speaker A: It's okay, you guys.
[00:05:07] Speaker B: We had our own family situation at the house.
[00:05:09] Speaker A: I just feel like there's so many things in life.
But when you're moving because you're an expert, what do you think is, like the most essential thing and it could be underrated that you think is like.
[00:05:23] Speaker B: You need this in general, like, with the entire process.
Gosh. I don't.
[00:05:29] Speaker A: Where.
[00:05:29] Speaker B: Where do you even start? Like, with the actual, like, physical moving.
Gosh.
I think you always thank yourself for a cohesive and detailed organization system.
[00:05:46] Speaker A: Right.
[00:05:47] Speaker B: So that things end up in the right places. Like, the boxes have labels and maybe you have color coded boxes and they go to their destination. And when you open that box, it's only stuff for that destination. And. And your crew who's helping you move knows where to put things and all that. That's. That's big. And it's hard because you're often doing this very quickly and eventually you just give up and just start chucking stuff.
[00:06:08] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:06:08] Speaker B: You know, like, you've helped. We have stories of you helping friends move. And it's just like you were throwing stuff in cereal boxes.
[00:06:15] Speaker A: It was like a pair of scissors I threw into a cereal box because I was. They were not packed when we showed up.
[00:06:23] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:06:23] Speaker A: And I was like, you only have so much time. And so we had to just start chucking stuff into boxes.
[00:06:30] Speaker B: You know, it's funny because it's the same people, because I know who you're talking about. I helped them move the next time they moved. Actually one or two times after they moved. Apparently they moved them a lot. And. And then. And it was the same experience. I showed up and it was like, I don't know. And I'm like, I'm just grabbing this stuff. Okay. You just go away and I will load this truck.
[00:06:50] Speaker A: They were. I remember showing up to their apartment and they. She had said, like, I don't. Like, there's kind of. We don't really know. And it was just a mess.
[00:07:01] Speaker B: You can't be like that.
[00:07:02] Speaker A: You can't be like, it was a mess. And I was like, no way.
[00:07:04] Speaker B: Especially you can't have volunteer help showing up and being shrugged.
[00:07:07] Speaker A: You got to be in boxes by then.
[00:07:09] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: I'm showing up expecting just to pick up a box and some furniture and move it.
[00:07:14] Speaker B: Yes. Preach.
[00:07:15] Speaker A: I don't want to show up and have to pack for you, honestly.
[00:07:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:18] Speaker A: That's like, what did you expect was gonna happen?
[00:07:21] Speaker B: It's all gotta go.
[00:07:22] Speaker A: It does it's all gonna get there. And then you just open stuff. Opening stuff out, though. Man. That is actually a little bit of a stressful.
It's, like, overwhelming.
[00:07:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:32] Speaker A: When we were. Because we moved in on Friday, and we started unpacking some stuff, and then on Saturday, we were trying to unpack more, and I just found myself standing there looking at all the boxes like, I am overwhelmed. I don't know where anything is supposed to go anymore, and I'm not sure where I'm supposed to put stuff.
It was.
I'm glad it's done.
[00:07:58] Speaker B: Yeah. That's really cool. And you. I'm so happy for you that you got to do it, like, quickly, you know, one old house, straight to new house. Yep, done. And now you're just kind of.
[00:08:07] Speaker A: Not everybody gets that experience.
[00:08:09] Speaker B: It's. It's a special thing. Yeah. Was there a suggestion that you were going to offer? Like, you came up with a question. You know, you just went through this.
[00:08:16] Speaker A: I didn't actually have a suggestion.
[00:08:19] Speaker B: We did a lot more this time of the plastic wrap thing, which I actually really liked. Like, any. We got these big rolls of plastic wrap, long ones, and just everything from pictures, anything fragile, anything oddly shaped, we were doing. We were just wrapping and wrapping and wrapping everything in plastic. And I actually liked that more than anything before because it was so easy to store things and carry things.
[00:08:43] Speaker A: And so I. I would say the biggest thing that helped us move efficiently was the people that were helping were all very mathy people and, like, relatively organized human beings. And when you're packing a U Haul to maximize the space.
[00:09:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:03] Speaker A: It's like a game of Tetris.
[00:09:05] Speaker B: It's a game of Tetris for sure. Yeah.
[00:09:06] Speaker A: And it's like, man, like my dad. Shout out to my dad.
[00:09:10] Speaker B: Shout out.
[00:09:11] Speaker A: He was huge on, like, playing that game of Tetris. And we had a couple teachers from Lumen that offered to help.
[00:09:17] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:09:18] Speaker A: And they were equally. It was funny because I would. They were very eager to help and, like, move things.
[00:09:24] Speaker B: It's so fun. And so not everything is a rectangle.
[00:09:27] Speaker A: Box, you know, and they were like.
[00:09:29] Speaker B: Guitar or a lamp or something.
[00:09:31] Speaker A: And they were like, how do we navigate this piece of furniture out this door? And they were. They would literally be like, all right, now you got to go 90 degrees.
But it was efficient. Like, we didn't. We really didn't have that much trouble moving things. The hardest thing was the grill, which we probably should have just took the propane out, because that thing was so heavy.
[00:09:52] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:09:53] Speaker A: That was the hardest one.
[00:09:55] Speaker B: Okay. Nice. Well, you did it.
[00:09:57] Speaker A: We did it. You got a good crew.
[00:09:59] Speaker B: It's not so bad.
[00:09:59] Speaker A: And I didn't get to watch hardly any football as a result, so.
[00:10:03] Speaker B: Man. Poor guy.
[00:10:05] Speaker A: And quite frankly, that's fine because I watched the Lions game. I wish I didn't.
[00:10:14] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry.
[00:10:16] Speaker A: That's fine.
[00:10:17] Speaker B: Awkward. Sad segue. Well, we'll call it a sad way.
[00:10:21] Speaker A: Yeah, we'll. We'll talk about the lines later. I'm sure we got a question or two about them, but do we? We do.
[00:10:27] Speaker B: All right. Queue up the mailbag.
[00:10:28] Speaker A: All right, we got. Well, let's. We might as well start the Lions.
[00:10:32] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:10:32] Speaker A: Since we're already on the topic.
[00:10:34] Speaker B: Yeah, we are. We are.
[00:10:36] Speaker A: So, Tim DeWitt. My. My dad writes in Detroit's not going to make the playoffs. They would need to run the table.
I don't see that happening.
I don't think he's wrong.
Their life did just get very difficult by losing that game, and not only by losing that game, but pretty much everybody that they are in contention for in the playoffs. 1.
They are two games, I think, out of the playoffs right now at this point.
[00:11:07] Speaker B: Two games. It's a scary position.
[00:11:09] Speaker A: I think they're in the state of.
[00:11:10] Speaker B: The NFC right now. It's intimidating for those teams on the fringe. I did hear something, one, today that we are actually. If you have this sense that things are uncharacteristically close across the league, that is accurate. I heard today that this is the first time in NFL history that five different divisions at this state in the season are separated. The leader is separated by a game.
Approximately. Yeah, that's very close. That means we're. We're really coming down to the wire. There is very little that we are sure of yet in this season.
In terms of seeding and division winners.
[00:11:50] Speaker A: The Bears are the number one seed right now.
[00:11:53] Speaker B: This is crazy.
[00:11:53] Speaker A: Of the NFC.
[00:11:55] Speaker B: The NFC.
[00:11:56] Speaker A: And we are like, week 13.
[00:12:00] Speaker B: We're week 13. And we've got the Chiefs and Lions looking like they might not make the playoffs. Yeah. Who the heck called that? These are super bowl games away from.
[00:12:09] Speaker A: This season effectively being done. Like I could understand. A team like the Bears may be riding high in the middle of the season, but we're on the back half and they're still floating up top. And I'm like, okay, like, you're clearly doing something over there.
[00:12:26] Speaker B: I get this funny feeling that this is just a weird season that we're going to look back and be like, 2025. That was a goofy one. That was like everything got jostled around and like the top seeds were the Bears and the Patriots and Colts and these random teams and, you know, these big contending teams didn't even make the playoffs. And we just don't know what to say. That was a weird year.
[00:12:45] Speaker A: Yeah. And then the next year everyone's going to go back to normal. Right.
[00:12:49] Speaker B: It could happen.
[00:12:50] Speaker A: It's got, it's.
[00:12:50] Speaker B: I've got this feeling about this year that it's just a weird one.
[00:12:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:54] Speaker B: We'll scratch our heads about it.
[00:12:55] Speaker A: I've watched enough Lions since we're talking about them missing the playoffs. I mean, they are. They do have a tough road. They are effectively two games back because the closest team that they would have is the packers and they're at eight and a half wins. So they're effectively. Yeah. Two games back because the packers own the tiebreaker over them. So you can't end with the same record.
[00:13:17] Speaker B: The packers have the Lions number this season.
[00:13:19] Speaker A: They do.
[00:13:20] Speaker B: How did they match up last year?
Didn't they split?
[00:13:23] Speaker A: They split.
[00:13:24] Speaker B: They did.
[00:13:25] Speaker A: And it was the first game. Wasn't really. The Lions were pretty dominant. Yeah. That was the one in the rain. And I think they were in control of that pretty much the entire time.
[00:13:36] Speaker B: I mean, as a division rival, you play a lot. We get a larger sample size and we start to see some patterns emerge. And we're seeing the Lions struggle against the Packers.
[00:13:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:44] Speaker B: Pretty consistently. I don't know exactly what to make of it, but they've got no run game against the Packers.
[00:13:50] Speaker A: Well, this year, and I've said this before about the Packers, Michael Parsons has changed that defense.
Huge implications.
[00:13:59] Speaker B: What did he have? Two and a half sacks and.
Yeah, like, I mean, 10 pressures or something.
[00:14:03] Speaker A: Basically had like multiple game winning moments in that. I mean, he sacked golf when they were on the goal line.
Yeah. It just feels like the Lions, they have a couple problems. Their offensive woes can be pinpointed to the fact that they have no O line.
They don't. It's. They're. They're injured and Yeah.
[00:14:28] Speaker B: O line for sure.
[00:14:29] Speaker A: The interior is bad. So why they keep trying to run anybody up the middle is like.
[00:14:33] Speaker B: Why.
[00:14:34] Speaker A: Like that's your worst spot. If you're gonna run the ball, go behind Penne. Please.
[00:14:40] Speaker B: It's not that hard.
[00:14:42] Speaker A: It's just like. It's what you have to do and everybody knows it. And even if they know it's gonna happen. Right. The odds that they're going to be Able to do anything about it are very slim.
[00:14:51] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:14:52] Speaker A: So I don't know why they're keep. Keep trying. They only get a few good shots up the middle. It's. And I understand you can't be predictable, but it's like it's not working.
[00:15:02] Speaker B: I'm a little disappointed in the Frank Ragnow situation to catch people up who are not up on the. No Lions.
Very well regarded center, one of the better centers in the league. Retired this offseason kind of unexpectedly.
[00:15:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:18] Speaker B: And he was very core to the team dating back to the Patricia era. He's been a big part of this team.
Retired.
And the Lions have struggled with their interior O line. As we just discussed. He just this. It was such an awkward series of events that Too much applause.
It's like the savior has arrived where there's like news that Frank Ragnow is coming out of retirement and signing back with the Lion. He's back, baby. It was a big thing.
And then he failed his physical and can't join the team.
[00:15:50] Speaker A: I know it was a roller coaster because it's like, Frank's coming back. We lost Thanksgiving.
Oh, Frank's not coming back. Part of me is like, why did you announce that?
[00:16:00] Speaker B: That's what I'm saying.
[00:16:01] Speaker A: Like, why did you do that if you're not.
[00:16:03] Speaker B: If there's even a chance that you might not be able to play? Why would you put fans through that? Why would you announce this?
[00:16:09] Speaker A: I think the only reason is they think they were trying to give people hope. Like, we are trying to do something.
[00:16:13] Speaker B: See, we're trying to call guys out of retirement to have like, what was injury? Like a torn.
[00:16:19] Speaker A: It's like a third. It was a third degree strain on a hamstring, which is effectively a tear.
[00:16:26] Speaker B: That he just didn't know about, apparently, what this is.
[00:16:30] Speaker A: Which is a kind of a big injury.
[00:16:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:32] Speaker A: Like, that's like, dude. Yeah. Like, you're not coming back.
I don't know. No. And the O line. A lot of people are obviously, like, upset because it's like, well, what did we even do in the off season to address the old line? Like, we didn't draft for it. And it's like, when did Frank retire? It was like the middle of the summer.
[00:16:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:53] Speaker A: It wasn't Earl.
[00:16:54] Speaker B: It was Right.
[00:16:54] Speaker A: Right. It wasn't announced.
So I don't think the Lions knew that he was going to retire.
So then when he did, they lost Ragnow and they were, I think, assuming they were going to replace Zeitler with mahogany. I think that was Their plan, like Mahogany, showed promise last year. We can move him up and we can get away without having to sign anybody big.
[00:17:18] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:17:19] Speaker A: But then Ragnow retires and they're like.
[00:17:22] Speaker B: It'S a good example, like a late, unexpected retirement like that can really throw a wrench in a team's plans. Because now you've missed the draft, you've missed a lot of the offseason signings, you missed all the free agencies and.
[00:17:34] Speaker A: Even like trying to get to trade deadline. You're not going to really get anybody good off the trade deadline as an O lineman because most teams are going to keep those guys. Yeah.
[00:17:44] Speaker B: To be in the best position, you need to know about those things as early as possible in the off season.
[00:17:47] Speaker A: So part of me is like, the O line is understandable. I get the O line and their secondary, which is where they're having the hardest problems. I mean, they've had injuries. Reed and Arnold and Kirby are all gone.
They're playing like limited snaps right now. I think Reed played a lot more.
[00:18:04] Speaker B: In Thanksgiving, but I think they're still a good defense.
[00:18:08] Speaker A: I think they are.
[00:18:10] Speaker B: And they still challenge their opponents. I mean, what they did to the Eagles and. And they did limit make it challenging for the packers, but the packers did seem like they're starting to come up with a better strategy.
[00:18:22] Speaker A: Yeah. And some of it was.
I mean, Hutch has been quiet the last couple games.
[00:18:27] Speaker B: I almost didn't want to say it, but.
[00:18:29] Speaker A: No, it's got to be mentioned because the noise around Hutch is like, you just got paid.
[00:18:33] Speaker B: Just got paid. We set the bar high last season before his injury.
That's kind of what we were as fans expecting.
[00:18:39] Speaker A: He started off this season pretty strong too, and it's kind of petered out and I don't know what's going on. Yeah.
[00:18:45] Speaker B: Is there so little else going on in the Lions pass rush that they can just double team him or. Or is he just really like not getting there?
[00:18:54] Speaker A: I don't know. That's. He wasn't even double teamed very often against the Giants. I mean, that one quote that came out of that line, the. The old lineman was like, he really wasn't that hard. I don't know what everyone's big deal was.
[00:19:09] Speaker B: He's had some good games this season. I just think. I'm trying to remember which was the one where he was forcing fumbles. It was a little earlier in the season.
[00:19:15] Speaker A: I just think with Hutch, I just think with the Lions in general, they're so hot and cold this season. I Mean, they're very.
They're not consistent on either side of the ball. And I think that's their biggest problem as to why they're where they're at. And is it possible for them to run the table? Anything's possible. We've seen the Giants as a good example of a team that was very much like this, and then they. They ran the table all the way to a Super bowl win.
[00:19:45] Speaker B: Right.
[00:19:45] Speaker A: It's very possible for teams to do that. Right.
But just based on the sample size, I'm skeptical they can even beat Dallas, if I'm being honest.
Dallas's offense is good.
[00:19:59] Speaker B: Very good.
[00:20:00] Speaker A: Very good. And their defense is not great, but the lines are. Maybe can take advantage of that and you're finding yourselves in a shootout. Maybe they can do that. But.
[00:20:11] Speaker B: Right.
[00:20:12] Speaker A: I don't know how they. They beat Pickens and Lamb on both sides.
[00:20:15] Speaker B: I just.
[00:20:16] Speaker A: I don't know how they do that.
[00:20:17] Speaker B: Is quite a duo proving to be a monstrous duo this year. Which then leads to opening up the run game. Very much so.
[00:20:24] Speaker A: And I haven't really. We. I haven't really felt like we've needed to talk a lot about Dallas. I know you guys did a little bit last week, but I. I'm surprised at shouting shottingham. Shottingheimer.
[00:20:35] Speaker B: Schottenheimer.
[00:20:36] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm a little surprised. They're not a Super bowl winning team like Marshall predicted, but he wasn't far off in the fact that they have definitely improved. They're. They are better.
[00:20:46] Speaker B: Some of the moves that they've made have worked out reasonably well. I think that their defense has improved as the season has progressed. I think it's still in the latter lower half of the league. By qu. A bit. It's not what we'd call a good defense, but it's making strides.
[00:20:59] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:59] Speaker B: And their offense continues to be one. Easily one of the best in the league.
Dak is playing his best ball. They're talented. Guys are all healthy.
That's a team you really don't want to play. No.
[00:21:11] Speaker A: And I'm not really looking forward to it because I'm like, this is actually not going to be an easy game. Oh, I think the lines are favored. I'm like, I don't know why the way the lines are playing. I'm like, maybe.
[00:21:23] Speaker B: Maybe. Hey. I mean, just General football lovers could look forward to a shootout. Those are always fun.
[00:21:28] Speaker A: Those are fun to watch. Yes. I do love a good. A good shootout.
Speaking of a good shootout, the Panthers game with the Rams.
[00:21:37] Speaker B: What the heck? What do you make of this?
[00:21:39] Speaker A: Yeah. So Tim DeWitt writes in, I still believe the Rams are the best team in the NFL. And I think I still buy that.
[00:21:47] Speaker B: All right.
[00:21:47] Speaker A: Yeah, I can still buy that. Stafford had a relatively bad game. Sure. Two interceptions. I think it was the first two in, like, weeks, months even. I mean, it's been a while.
[00:21:59] Speaker B: I think he set a record for the most consecutive touchdown passes without an interception.
[00:22:03] Speaker A: Yeah. Which is crazy.
[00:22:04] Speaker B: And then immediately threw one right after breaking the record. So just. Just barely broke it. But it's incredible. And devonte Adams, I think, leads the league in touchdowns.
[00:22:11] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:22:13] Speaker B: He's on my fantasy team. Yeah, I got him on one of my teams, too.
[00:22:16] Speaker A: He kept me afloat this week when St. Brown went out with a big fat zero. Oh, that injury. Which is also another reason why the Lions are in trouble. But that's beside the point.
[00:22:26] Speaker B: I love devonte. We had this offseason chat of whether devonte Adams or George Pickett would make a bigger splash. And it's hard to say. Both of them are making a major difference to their team's offenses 100%. Those are two teams that have two, like A1, A1 and E wide receiver duo.
[00:22:41] Speaker A: For Dallas, it almost feels like Pickens has done more for them because the Rams had Puka.
[00:22:48] Speaker B: Right.
[00:22:49] Speaker A: And you could argue, well, Dallas had Lamb, but they lost Lamb for multiple games there due to an injury.
[00:22:57] Speaker B: That is true.
[00:22:57] Speaker A: And Pickens carried the load.
[00:23:00] Speaker B: Oh, he did.
[00:23:01] Speaker A: And showed he can still be a.
A one, a number one for a team that wants him.
[00:23:07] Speaker B: It's crazy to see.
[00:23:09] Speaker A: Clearly, the Steelers aren't. Aren't that.
[00:23:12] Speaker B: But the Steelers haven't had a great quarterback. Well, in a lot of years.
[00:23:15] Speaker A: Speaking of which, my. My dad also writes in Rogers needs to retire.
So.
Although did he play this past weekend?
[00:23:23] Speaker B: He did play.
[00:23:24] Speaker A: I thought he had a broken wrist.
[00:23:26] Speaker B: He had a cast on his left hand. He couldn't go under. Under center. As a result.
It was a difficult game and they lost to the Bills.
[00:23:35] Speaker A: But he still plays seven points against their. What, like 20 or 30. Some points that they got.
[00:23:41] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:23:42] Speaker A: Who's their backup? That they are just. They cannot put out there and they'd rather just love.
[00:23:47] Speaker B: Is it Mason Rudolph?
Yeah, they recently. Because they had to play him after. After he busted his wrist. He had missed one game and they. They trotted him out and it was. It was. It was even worse. If it could. If you could imagine that.
[00:23:59] Speaker A: Yeah, well. And the Steelers were getting booed.
[00:24:04] Speaker B: Yes. Steelers fans are not.
[00:24:06] Speaker A: They had what they. Apparently it's like a tradition to play renegade.
[00:24:10] Speaker B: And they were booing.
[00:24:11] Speaker A: And they were booing when it came on, which is like happening. That's bad.
[00:24:14] Speaker B: Ticked off.
[00:24:16] Speaker A: We do this every year with the Steelers, though, lately.
[00:24:20] Speaker B: You got to. I mean, you got. You can empathize a little bit.
[00:24:23] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:24:24] Speaker B: It's a tough spot to be in. This is very frustrating to be just like mired in mediocrity for so long.
And also to.
It's not like they're not trying. I would accuse some teams in the NFL of not trying that hard to put together some. A great product on the field. But the Steelers, they have the highest paid defense in the league.
[00:24:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:44] Speaker B: And that defense sucks.
It's trash. They put a lot of money into that. They got Jalen Ramsey, they got T.J. watt, they've got all these slays over there. Like they've put together a very expensive roster of proven defensive talent and somehow it's trash.
[00:25:00] Speaker A: It's not performing. I don't understand.
[00:25:02] Speaker B: You should have a great defense that's carrying your team. You should be able to ask the offense to give you 17 points and we will win. But if right now, if you put up 17 points, you know, our mediocre offense, the defense is going to give up 30. Yeah.
[00:25:18] Speaker A: I don't, you know what this team needs. And I, I've said this before, that they need a reset.
And this team reminds me of the Andy Reid Eagles.
[00:25:30] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:25:30] Speaker A: Where they were just stuck.
[00:25:32] Speaker B: It's a fair comp, I think.
[00:25:34] Speaker A: And they were just stuck. And then I think everybody was just like, we just need to. We need to move on. It's not that you're a bad coach. It's that it's just not panning out right now.
[00:25:45] Speaker B: Right.
[00:25:45] Speaker A: You know, and you could argue it didn't pan out great with Chip Kelly right afterwards. But in the long run, they eventually got where they were going and it worked out for Andy Reid, obviously, very clearly for him.
[00:25:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:25:57] Speaker A: I just think that's what this team needs. They just need something fresh.
They need. And Tomlin needs something new.
[00:26:04] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:05] Speaker A: Like he needs to just go to a new organization and you know, like the Titans. I don't know. Don't go to the Titans. Tomlin. That's going to be a disaster.
The Giants. Oh, the Giants would be great for.
[00:26:18] Speaker B: I like that because the Giants look like they have promise. They have. They could have a future.
[00:26:23] Speaker A: They have two offensive players that are, I think, going to be very core to that team for a while in SCATTER boo and neighbors.
[00:26:32] Speaker B: Oh, I thought you were gonna say Malik.
[00:26:34] Speaker A: Okay. 3.
[00:26:35] Speaker B: And they have some defensive studs. Yeah. So Dexter Lawrence is on that team.
[00:26:41] Speaker A: The more we're talking about it, the more I think Tomlin should go over there.
[00:26:46] Speaker B: The Giants quietly have an interesting roster with some ascending talent. With the right coaching staff and. And Jackson Dart actually, like, finding his play, his rhythm. It could be competitive in the games.
[00:26:59] Speaker A: That Dart, when they've had everybody, they look good.
[00:27:04] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:04] Speaker A: Like, they looked very competitive. Yeah. I mean, I didn't blame Day Ball when he was running into the blue tent. Be like, give me my quarterback back.
I don't want to put Russ out there.
[00:27:16] Speaker B: That's super goofy.
[00:27:18] Speaker A: See, that was not a great choice, but I can understand it to an extent.
[00:27:24] Speaker B: So whether Rogers should retire or not, I. I guess I kind of am pre pro. The guy's about to turn 42, I think this week.
That's very old. Like, we forget how old that is, how rare that doesn't happen, actually. Do we forget sometimes that that doesn't happen? It's like in the NFL, other quarterbacks are old at 32. This is, you know, they're the veterans losing their edge.
[00:27:43] Speaker A: This is the age where I think a lot of these quarterbacks are shown to, like, massively fall off. It happened with Peyton.
[00:27:52] Speaker B: No, not this age. Like five years before this age. Most of them.
[00:27:56] Speaker A: True.
[00:27:56] Speaker B: When we're talking about the Roethlisbergers and the Drew Brees and the Russell Wilsons and all these guys in their late 30s, like, oh, they don't got it anymore. The Matt Ryan's and the Philip Rivers and all these late 30s, they're dropping off, and then everybody having this conversation about the time is done. You were great, but you're in your late 30s now. It's over. This guy's early 40s, that never happens.
[00:28:15] Speaker A: Tom Brady skewed this for people. He made people think that, oh, no, you can play till you're 45 and still win Super Bowls.
[00:28:25] Speaker B: Right.
[00:28:25] Speaker A: Like, he really.
You can't compare him to anybody else though.
[00:28:31] Speaker B: Right.
[00:28:32] Speaker A: He's an anomaly.
[00:28:33] Speaker B: Right.
[00:28:33] Speaker A: It's like he. The. What he did and how he maintained that body. And it was weird with Brady, especially because he was a quarterback that I felt like when I was watching him in his 40s, he was better than when he was in his 20s and sometimes in his 30s. I don't know how.
[00:28:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:51] Speaker A: What deal he made.
[00:28:52] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:53] Speaker A: But you can't use him as the benchmark anymore.
[00:28:56] Speaker B: No, no, no, no. Heavens now.
[00:28:58] Speaker A: Because it's just not most of these guys all time great quarterbacks that are going to go down in the hall of Fame. They all have hit that age and they just look garbage.
[00:29:08] Speaker B: I, I genuinely don't think that the Steelers think they're doing as good as they could in the quarterback position. You know, there's no denying the fact that you're not working with like a major ceiling or floor razor at this point. But if I could be defend their predicament and, and Rogers just a little bit, it would be.
That was kind of probably known going into this season.
We've just got disappointment all over the field for that particular team. We already went over the defense. If you're putting, they're putting together a team where their strategy is to win games, maybe championships with defense by assembling again the most expensive roster in this 32 team league and then have a competent offense. They went, they did go and acquire DK Metcalf who has also been pretty disappointing for that offense. Not really contributing very much.
And then they put in like a functional quarterback who when this offense is, is working and in rhythm. He can do his job. Yeah, he's not losing them game. There are quarterbacks who go out there and lose the game for their team. He's not going out and doing that. He isn't raising the bar. He isn't winning them games necessarily, but he's not going on losing games. They're not like in the mix and it's just the quarterback that's feeling them. So I'm not saying that they're out there with some star and he's underrated or anything like that or that he should keep playing. I wouldn't really go so that go so far. I'd be fine if he retired at the end of this year. I think he's had a good run and with his bloody face and broken hand and everything like he looked is the picture of like what are you, what are you doing?
Why are you still here?
[00:30:51] Speaker A: That just reminded me of like you look. I feel like the last big quarterback that came through here ended up looking very similar to you.
[00:31:00] Speaker B: But I would still say that I don't think that their vision for this year was to have some high flying offense with MVP Rogers of old, you know, throwing 400 yards a game. No, nobody thought that was going to happen. They had a strategy, they thought it would work. It's. It's just not working all around.
[00:31:19] Speaker A: Yeah, they're going to, I don't know what they're going to do the off season for them is going to be interesting.
Funny enough, I don't think they're completely out of the playoff picture because their division is so tight.
[00:31:31] Speaker B: Right? That's true.
[00:31:32] Speaker A: In a bad way. Right.
Nobody is over there playing super well. Even the Ravens aren't, like, fantastic. I mean, obviously they had. They went one in five and we know they had Lamar out, but. Yeah, I mean, they just.
[00:31:46] Speaker B: They've still lost a lot of game. They still look. Yeah, something's not right. Something's not right. Working with that team. I don't know.
[00:31:51] Speaker A: Well, and the. I mean, the Bengals, I mean, they're. They're pretty much out of it, but you got Joe Burrow comes back and they get trounced by them. So.
[00:32:01] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:01] Speaker A: Yeah. I don't know, man.
[00:32:03] Speaker B: Anything else in the mailbag?
[00:32:04] Speaker A: We got Rick Baxter writes in 13 weeks in what's the defining identity of the league right now? Are we seeing a defense led correction and offensive explosion or something else entirely?
[00:32:18] Speaker B: Interesting. How you feeling about this? The identity. The league identity. We do watch, you know, if you watch for years, you see trends, you see the actual makeup of the league evolve a little bit.
Any takeaways?
[00:32:31] Speaker A: I. I feel like when I'm. And we were kind of talking about this a little bit, it's hard.
I feel like it's kind of an identity crisis more than anything else because there's such a weird dynamic of teams going on. The best teams currently by record have had relatively softer schedules. And so the Broncos and the Patriots are like, way up there, maybe inflated a little bit. I think Indy was inflated for a little bit there, too. And they're kind of coming back down to earth.
[00:33:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:12] Speaker A: The Bears, I feel like they're a little inflated. I thought that. And then they beat the Eagles, and then I'm like, I guess I don't know what to think about you anymore. Like, I thought you were just kind of inflated because you've had, like, lesser teams that you've been beating, but then you go and beat an actual good team and that we couldn't. The Lions, couldn't even beat them.
[00:33:35] Speaker B: I can't help but kind of enjoy some of those things.
What I don't want is predictability. What I don't want is the script. What I don't want is the outcome that we expected to always be the outcome. And so I like the surprises. I like the oh, I thought I knew you kind of moments with a lot of these teams. And they're giving us those in abundance this season, 100%.
[00:33:56] Speaker A: And well, you know, for the Bears, there's something fishy there.
You get a Chicago American Pope and then all of a sudden, that's right, you're the number one seed in the nfc. And I'm like, yeah.
Do they got the Lord praying for this team?
[00:34:15] Speaker B: Is this like they're on a mission from God?
[00:34:17] Speaker A: Angels in the end zone type of situation?
[00:34:20] Speaker B: Angels in the end zone. Wow.
[00:34:23] Speaker A: Legitimately. Why have they not made a movie like this? I know. I mean, they have angels on the outfield. Why not?
[00:34:29] Speaker B: Angels Love that movie.
[00:34:30] Speaker A: Yeah. It's a classic movie.
[00:34:32] Speaker B: Very good.
[00:34:32] Speaker A: The amount of times I still, in magical moments, will flat my arms slowly trying to be like, come on, you.
[00:34:42] Speaker B: Yeah. I think a lot of we're going back to fundamentals.
Yeah.
Yeah. What else is in the mailbag?
[00:34:50] Speaker A: Do you want to read off the commission report?
[00:34:54] Speaker B: Let me do that commission report we've got from the one and only Adam Silver. He wrote in his report this time.
Great.
As a reminder, in case this isn't clear from reading this or if you're a new listener to the show, the commish Adam Silver is a Niners fan and writes US reports about the Niners every time.
Adam writes great special teams. Game played mistake free on a cold, windy day on the road against an elite level defense. The offense did just enough to put the points necessary on the board, but the defense was stellar once again. Can't overstate the job Salah has done with that unit. Well deserved and needed. Bye week upcoming. And then a very winnable home game against the Titans. The Panthers delivered an early Christmas present by knocking off the Rams and in the process keeping the chances of a division title alive in a competitive NFC West. Hashtag taking care of business. Adam is right. The NFC west is competitive right now. They could be the Seahawks. The Niners have a shot. The Rams are kind of the favorite in this position, even with that loss. But each of those teams has a great shot at the playoffs. And it's crazy to think that at least one of them is probably not going to make it.
[00:35:57] Speaker A: They're all at. Those three teams are all at nine wins together.
[00:36:02] Speaker B: That is nuts.
[00:36:03] Speaker A: I was just looking at that.
[00:36:04] Speaker B: That was nuts.
[00:36:04] Speaker A: Like, that's. I think that might be the best division in football, based on record, at least.
[00:36:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:36:13] Speaker A: Yeah. It's definitely. It's up there for sure.
That's incredible.
Yeah. I don't know. I didn't. I haven't watched a lot of Niners this year because they haven't been on prime time very often. True. Yeah. And we just don't get them over here. Yeah. So I'm not. I'm not really. I always like the commission report to give me a good idea of I know where they're standing because I kind.
[00:36:36] Speaker B: Of wrote them off a little early in the season when they just got hit. They got. They got slammed by injuries, but then they.
[00:36:42] Speaker A: They wrote it out, though. Mac Jones actually played well. Right. I remember watching him play well.
That was actually when I was convinced that you. The. The Niners are not reliant on their quarterback to win games.
If the. Mac Jones looked good in that offense. Right. It just feel like that's why they can get away with a guy like Brock Purdy is because Jimmy G was the same way.
[00:37:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:37:08] Speaker A: Right. It's just the offense that Shanahan likes to run is always going to be effective over there.
[00:37:13] Speaker B: Right.
All right. We got through the mailbag.
[00:37:17] Speaker A: We did.
[00:37:17] Speaker B: Good job.
[00:37:18] Speaker A: Any big news?
[00:37:21] Speaker B: We touched on it. I just thought that the most notable thing from this weekend was the team that we thought was the best in the league, the Rams, getting knocked off by the Panthers. What's going on with that team in particular, you know, with this. Any given Sunday game. What's happening with Bryce Young and the Panthers? This is kind of interesting to follow.
[00:37:36] Speaker A: Kind of a little bit of a resurgence that started last year and it's starting to kind of carry over.
[00:37:41] Speaker B: Yeah. I kind of like when this happens because it just infuses so much hope in all the other, you know, hot seat. We talk about hot seats in terms of coaches often, but it's the same for the players.
And there's a lot of, like, J.J. mcCarthy types, you know, and now we've got these examples of, like, the Sam Darnolds and maybe the Bryce Youngs and the next examples of, like, you can revive your career.
You may maybe our lesson again, as I've said a few times, these guys, they need a lot of reps. They need a lot of time.
[00:38:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:15] Speaker B: And. And there could still be a future for a lot of these. Even if their first season is rocky, even if their second season is rocky and they spend a season as a backup or whatever. Look at what Sam Darnold has done with his career.
And look at Bryce Young looking like the guy. Fans getting kind of excited. They've got a winning record right now, do they not?
[00:38:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:34] Speaker B: Very much in the hunt, competing with Tampa Bay for the division.
[00:38:36] Speaker A: Panthers are 7 and 6.
[00:38:38] Speaker B: That's crazy.
[00:38:39] Speaker A: They're in the hunt. They're very much officially like and they're.
[00:38:43] Speaker B: Going to have a very interesting contract discussion at the end of this season about him. He's one of those tough ones. Like, do you pick up a fifth year option? Do you let this contract play out? Do franchise tag him after that season? Like, what are you going to do with Bryce Young? He's one of the harder ones.
[00:38:55] Speaker A: The. Sam Darnold is an interesting one just because this is two seasons in a row he has been a very key figure in a very effective offense.
I mean, the, The Vikings were very offensively good with him, and the Seahawks are offensively, potentially one of the best in the league right now.
I mean, they're huge. Yeah, I don't think that's.
I, I don't think that's a coincidence, Aaron, anymore. Like, I think that's like a.
Yeah, a trend.
[00:39:31] Speaker B: Much like with the players needing a little bit of leash in time. I think Mike McDonald, you know, it didn't look that pretty last season, and he was. Had high expectations after being like, putting together an amazing Ravens offense before that. People thought it would be instantaneous. Well, maybe it just took another season for him to get all the pieces in place and his system implemented. But now Mike McDonald's defense looks great and he is living up to his expectations as a defensive master.
[00:39:57] Speaker A: And I think Mike McDaniels over in Miami might be saving his job over there because they keep winning and they're kind of. They're getting pretty close to back to.500. Their team has obviously still got a lot of issues, but I, I like. I like McDaniels. Yeah, I think he's just a. He's a goofy guy, and I, I love a good goofy guy.
[00:40:19] Speaker B: He's just so different. He's just so. He stands apart so much from all the other characters in coaching positions.
[00:40:26] Speaker A: It's. He's the kind of coach where I'm like, the NFL is better when you are in it type of guy because it just makes the league more interesting instead of getting the same old type of coach that gets up there and is just like, oh, yeah, we're on to Cincinnati.
[00:40:44] Speaker B: You know, like, we just got to do better next week.
[00:40:46] Speaker A: We just gotta do better next week. What do you want me to say? Yeah, the quarterback play could be better, right?
[00:40:51] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:40:52] Speaker A: The. The buck stops here with me.
[00:40:55] Speaker B: Yeah, right.
[00:40:56] Speaker A: Is this boring? Come on, get out.
[00:40:58] Speaker B: Press conferences are so boring. Gosh.
[00:40:59] Speaker A: You know, this is why people like Dan Campbell, this is why people like McDaniel. This is why people loved the Duvall. Yeah.
[00:41:10] Speaker B: What's that guy's name?
[00:41:12] Speaker A: Theon Cohen or something like Liam.
[00:41:14] Speaker B: Liam. Liam Cohen. Oh, Ethan Cohen is the director, I think.
[00:41:17] Speaker A: Yeah, I think this one's Liam Cohen.
[00:41:20] Speaker B: That's right. I think you're right.
[00:41:21] Speaker A: I couldn't even tell you the name of the Tennessee Titans coach. No idea who that guy is.
[00:41:27] Speaker B: Frank, now you're gonna make me. Yeah, Like, I can't even remember.
[00:41:32] Speaker A: It's like Callan or Dave Canales or.
[00:41:36] Speaker B: Is he a coach elsewhere?
[00:41:39] Speaker A: I know this is how bad the Titans are.
[00:41:41] Speaker B: I know there's a lot we just don't talk about. I'm sorry. If you're listening to the point after and you're a fan of a team that we don't discuss, you should write in and we will correct that.
[00:41:48] Speaker A: I would love to talk about the Titans more.
[00:41:51] Speaker B: Would you?
[00:41:51] Speaker A: No.
[00:41:53] Speaker B: Let's do your segment.
[00:41:54] Speaker A: All right. All right. So I kind of waffled on this. We are. And we. We've been talking a lot about playoffs because they are right around the corner. We are officially in that time zone where you're going to see if you're going to tune in to any sort of sports media, NFL show, whatever. Playoffs are going to be a constant thing that they're going to bring up and how one win or one loss or what they need to do is going to start setting, you know, what the. The seating and who's getting in and who's getting out and the bubble and all this stuff. Because we're only people. We're only five games away from the regular season being done. And so a lot of these games start to feel like they have big, bigger implications because your past sins can all be erased if you just win out.
But that's really hard to do in the National Football League. And so what I wanted to do is play a little bit of a game, and it's a very simple game. I love games, but this game has stakes attached to it.
[00:43:01] Speaker B: Oh, I love stakes as well.
[00:43:03] Speaker A: Now, Marshall, unfortunately, not being here does not get to participate because we didn't.
[00:43:07] Speaker B: Even mention that at the show. Maybe people thought he was being quiet.
[00:43:10] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:43:12] Speaker B: Marshall's not here.
[00:43:13] Speaker A: Marshall's not here. We got so wrapped up in the moving thing. Marshall, we love you. And if you've gotten to this part, I'm so sorry.
It was not intentional. It really wasn't.
[00:43:25] Speaker B: We're just trying to keep this train rolling.
[00:43:27] Speaker A: We are.
[00:43:27] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay.
[00:43:28] Speaker A: We hope you feel better. He was sick.
And I would have loved Marshall to have been in this segment because it would have been better.
[00:43:35] Speaker B: Okay, we're still gonna do it.
[00:43:37] Speaker A: But we're still gonna do it because this is the only thing I had on my head.
[00:43:40] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:43:40] Speaker A: Oh, I actually had a second one, but it wasn't as good.
[00:43:42] Speaker B: So I like this. This is going to be our. Our prince raining at the halftime show moment where it's the purple. We're gonna make the most of it.
[00:43:50] Speaker A: We are.
So what we're gonna do is we're gonna play a little game with some stakes attached to it where if you win, I.
At our after the pod steak dinner.
[00:44:05] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:44:06] Speaker A: I will buy you dessert.
[00:44:07] Speaker B: Oh, nice.
[00:44:08] Speaker A: But if I win, you have to buy me dessert.
[00:44:12] Speaker B: Oh, really?
[00:44:13] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:44:14] Speaker B: Often we don't have room for dessert.
[00:44:16] Speaker A: After that steak, but you can put it in a box.
[00:44:18] Speaker B: Okay, that's fair. That's fair. I won't scrabble over those silly things. Yes. So with you, I dig it. So dessert is on the loser.
[00:44:25] Speaker A: Correct.
Now, this is a very simple. In the fact that I feel like.
[00:44:30] Speaker B: I have to consent to this.
[00:44:31] Speaker A: Do you consent to this?
[00:44:32] Speaker B: We'll explain the rules and then I will.
[00:44:34] Speaker A: Okay, well, all we're gonna do is we are gonna go through and pick who we think is going to be in the playoffs, very simply. Okay. But we're also gonna pick not only who do we think is going to be in the playoffs, but their seed order.
So are they going to be number one or number two or number five? Fascinating, all of that.
[00:44:51] Speaker B: Okay?
[00:44:52] Speaker A: And if you guess a team correctly, let's say, and it's point based, okay? So if you guess a team correctly, they're in the playoffs and you got their seed correct.
[00:45:02] Speaker B: Okay?
[00:45:02] Speaker A: You get one point, you got the whole. The whole smack.
[00:45:05] Speaker B: Okay?
[00:45:05] Speaker A: Now let's say you got a team correct, but not their seat. So that you got them in the playoffs, but you didn't put them in the right spot, you get a half a point.
[00:45:13] Speaker B: Why not just do one point and two points?
[00:45:15] Speaker A: Because I like half points.
[00:45:16] Speaker B: Okay. All right.
[00:45:17] Speaker A: As my teacher, in me, one point means you a hundred percent.
Got it.
[00:45:23] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:45:23] Speaker A: Half points. You got 50 of it. Correct.
[00:45:26] Speaker B: I follow. And technically, Marshall could fill his answers in after, you know.
[00:45:30] Speaker A: Okay.
Because this, this is not dependent. We're not doing like a draft here, right? You can pick whoever you want to pick.
[00:45:38] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:45:39] Speaker A: To put wherever you want. It's what your own personal opinion. And if you want, because you guys did this last week, we can pause the pod, right? So you can think about this and then we can go through and fill it out.
[00:45:53] Speaker B: Okay?
[00:45:54] Speaker A: Now, to discourage people from trying to have the same exact met, like, I'm gonna match you.
So that way, you know, we're all. We're all even, and then no one wins.
If that happens, then no one, Nothing happens. So we're gonna try to vary it up a little bit.
[00:46:14] Speaker B: Got it.
[00:46:15] Speaker A: Does that make sense?
[00:46:15] Speaker B: Yeah, it makes perfect sense. Okay.
[00:46:16] Speaker A: And then we can have it. Yeah, we can have Marshall fill in his picks later. Okay.
[00:46:22] Speaker B: I already put mine in.
[00:46:23] Speaker A: Okay, fine.
Why don't you.
Wow. You already did this.
[00:46:28] Speaker B: Yeah. It's not a very hard exercise.
[00:46:30] Speaker A: Well, it is a little bit for me, so pause it so I can fill my head because I don't want to think of pot for a second.
[00:46:41] Speaker B: Okay, we're back.
[00:46:42] Speaker A: That. That was a little trickier than I thought it was going to be.
[00:46:45] Speaker B: Yeah. That took about 45 minutes.
[00:46:47] Speaker A: There was a. There was a couple things.
There was a couple things. Well, that were a little tricky to figure out on both NFC and AFC side. I actually feel like AFC side was a little harder.
[00:47:00] Speaker B: I agree.
[00:47:01] Speaker A: NFC side. So let's do the NFC side first. So who you got as your number one?
We might as well both say it at the same time.
[00:47:06] Speaker B: Nfc. We both picked the Rams.
[00:47:07] Speaker A: Yeah. Rams. I don't really see that changing.
Our number two is different. I went Eagles.
[00:47:13] Speaker B: You picked the Eagles as a number two seed. I put the packers above the Eagles.
I kind of feel like they've got a shot at finishing with a better record. And the dysfunction is just so high over there in Philadelphia. Yeah.
[00:47:25] Speaker A: But that's what it was like last year, too. And they're still such a competent team. I know that defense is still so good.
[00:47:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:47:34] Speaker A: And the ceiling on that offense is really high.
Yeah. And I do. I do agree that I think the packers are ultimately going to end out winning the division, but.
[00:47:43] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that their pathway to it is better. I think they match up well against the Bears.
[00:47:48] Speaker A: Yeah. Because we basically flip flopped. Eagles and Packers. You put packers at two and I put them at three.
[00:47:54] Speaker B: Right.
[00:47:54] Speaker A: And then I put Eagles at two and you put them at three.
[00:47:57] Speaker B: Right. We both have the Buccaneers winning that division. Yep.
[00:48:00] Speaker A: So they're both four.
[00:48:01] Speaker B: Panthers are threatening, but it's really the buckler Buccaneers to lose.
[00:48:07] Speaker A: And then we both have Seahawks at 5.
[00:48:10] Speaker B: I think that they are the best wild card team. They will finish with the strongest record.
[00:48:16] Speaker A: 100 of the wild cards. Strongest record.
[00:48:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:48:20] Speaker A: And then at 6, we have a little bit of a difference. I put the Bears.
I feel like the Bears are. They Just have a huge advantage with how many wins they have right now. That's the biggest reason why I feel like they're in.
[00:48:33] Speaker B: Nine wins. Nine wins should get you in.
[00:48:36] Speaker A: Not well with seven teams. Nine at this point, I don't think nine is good enough.
[00:48:41] Speaker B: I mean. No. Nine. Finishing with nine, but being having nine right now.
[00:48:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:48:47] Speaker B: Then you're probably gonna. Because you just need like another game and you're pretty much.
[00:48:51] Speaker A: Yeah. 10 wins. I think the. The current standing is if you have 10 wins, 13 out of 14 teams have made the playoffs with 10 wins.
[00:49:02] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:49:03] Speaker A: Since they've introduced the 7.
[00:49:05] Speaker B: 7 seed. Right.
[00:49:07] Speaker A: Right.
[00:49:07] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:49:08] Speaker A: So 10 does seem likely. But I do think this year, because of how stacked it is up top, it's going to be hard.
[00:49:14] Speaker B: I don't think you're a lock at 10, but once you get to 10.
[00:49:18] Speaker A: Like, your odds go up.
[00:49:20] Speaker B: Very good. Okay. So you've got the Bears at 6.
I put the Lions there.
[00:49:26] Speaker A: I hope so.
I'm hoping.
[00:49:28] Speaker B: I have some hope that they finish a little bit stronger.
[00:49:31] Speaker A: I would love that.
And if I was going to put the lines anywhere, I'd put them at seven.
I don't see them getting in at any.
[00:49:39] Speaker B: Mostly. I mean, it's going to be interesting because a lot of these teams mostly have divisional games to finish.
[00:49:44] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:49:44] Speaker B: You know, we're going to see the packers and Bears playing each other. The Lions are going to play the Bears again.
[00:49:48] Speaker A: I think they're week 18, I guess, now.
[00:49:52] Speaker B: Yeah. And some of them will probably get what looks like a pushover game against the Vikings to finish.
[00:49:58] Speaker A: Thought the first time around.
[00:50:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:50:02] Speaker A: That didn't work out.
[00:50:03] Speaker B: That came back to bite him.
[00:50:05] Speaker A: And then at 7, I have the.
[00:50:06] Speaker B: Niners and I've got the Bears.
[00:50:08] Speaker A: Yeah. And again, same reason with the Niners. They're just already at nine wins. Yeah. And I just think they're already.
This is the biggest reason why I think the Lions are just in trouble is it's just record based. I think they're. They're really far behind.
[00:50:22] Speaker B: It's a hard path forward and it's not. I'm choosing to believe. I've got the lines in you.
[00:50:27] Speaker A: I love it.
[00:50:27] Speaker B: That's the key difference that I see in this.
[00:50:30] Speaker A: Yep. That's the NFC side. Afc.
This one felt hard to me because there's two teams that I really struggled figuring out whether I wanted to put them in or not and where to put them in.
[00:50:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:50:45] Speaker A: Which we both have one notable absentee here.
[00:50:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
Neither of us are predicting the Chiefs to Make it.
[00:50:52] Speaker A: They are only at six wins right now.
[00:50:55] Speaker B: They're in a tough spot largely because the two they have, they have lost to some of the other wild card potential teams, which means they don't have the tiebreaker. Yeah. So if they were saying had the same record as the Bills or the same record as the Jaguars, some of these other teams, they're in big trouble.
[00:51:12] Speaker A: The division is pretty much out of reach for them.
[00:51:15] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:51:16] Speaker A: They're. They can't get it. And the. Their next. The Chargers.
I think every other team in front of them has at least two wins ahead of them.
[00:51:26] Speaker B: Right.
[00:51:27] Speaker A: As well. Yeah.
[00:51:28] Speaker B: It's a tough road for the Chiefs ahead and they kind of probably need some help. Yeah.
[00:51:33] Speaker A: And the Bills were also another one where I was waffling on there. Another. In a little bit of a better position because they got eight wins.
[00:51:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:51:40] Speaker A: So they're not as far behind, but they were definitely. They're a bubble team. Like they could easily. If they have a couple more bad games. Yeah.
And they're both.
It feels like this is true about the Bills and the Chiefs and the Lions, all teams. And the Eagles, all Super bowl contending teams last year for sure.
That they're all just super inconsistent this year.
[00:52:06] Speaker B: Yeah. It's weird.
[00:52:08] Speaker A: Really weird. And I'm not entirely sure why they're all. I mean, I know why the lines are inconsistent, but some of these other teams, I'm just like. I don't understand why you're so weird.
[00:52:20] Speaker B: I do feel like there's somewhat of an absence this year in the NFL in like, juggernauts. Yeah. You know, the. The team. The Rams maybe look like a team no one wants to play, but they're obviously still.
[00:52:31] Speaker A: You can still be able. You can still beat them. Right.
[00:52:33] Speaker B: Still beatable. And all these other teams we've seen in the past, the Chiefs be unbeatable and the Ravens be unbeatable and the Bills be unbeatable and the Lions be virtually unbeatable. And all these.
[00:52:43] Speaker A: Right now you don't have a clear front runner.
[00:52:47] Speaker B: We don't have juggernauts in the league.
[00:52:48] Speaker A: Other than our top two AFC teams, which we both put one at two equally. Which is the Patriots and the Broncos.
[00:52:55] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:52:55] Speaker A: They're far. They're miles ahead of everybody else by record.
They have the most control and they're. They've been playing very consistent ball.
[00:53:05] Speaker B: That Broncos Commanders game last night was surprisingly good.
[00:53:09] Speaker A: It was good. The Commanders almost took that.
But that Broncos defense, they stood.
[00:53:16] Speaker B: They went into overtime when they commanders would. Made the gutsy move to try and go for two for the win, that was really, really brave.
And they had a tired defense out there. I understand the call, but it was crazy. It would have been very exciting for that fan base to get that W after that. That was a hard loss for them.
[00:53:32] Speaker A: I'm sure the Commanders are another team that have had a rough season in.
[00:53:37] Speaker B: Conversation for one of the more disappointing seasons of the year, for sure. I mean, but after the hype of last year.
[00:53:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:53:42] Speaker B: Crashing down, there's a little bit more.
[00:53:43] Speaker A: Understandable because they haven't had Daniels for most of it.
[00:53:46] Speaker B: Right.
[00:53:46] Speaker A: So.
[00:53:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:53:47] Speaker A: All right. And then at 3 and 4, we did another flip flop here. So I had Ravens at three and you had Texans and then we flip flopped. So I put Texans at 4 and you put Ravens F4.
[00:53:58] Speaker B: It's kind of interesting to see both of those teams at this stage looking like they're likely to win their division when both of those teams seem like they were in the dumps not that many weeks ago.
[00:54:09] Speaker A: But you rightly pointed out the Texans defense is very good right now.
[00:54:15] Speaker B: Oh, yes.
[00:54:15] Speaker A: They're. They got to be probably one of the best in the. In the league.
[00:54:19] Speaker B: Completely agree.
[00:54:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:54:20] Speaker B: And defense does what, wins championships. That's right.
[00:54:25] Speaker A: And the Ravens, I. I still feel like they're going to be able to do enough to get to the. See, I feel like Lamar is too good.
I. I know they're really inconsistent right now. A little bit too, but.
[00:54:38] Speaker B: And the. The rest of the division is too bad. Yeah.
[00:54:42] Speaker A: I still. I. I guess I just have more confidence in the Ravens just as a team to get a little of an edge above the Texans. But yeah, I. Yeah, it could happen. It could.
[00:54:54] Speaker B: At number five, I've got the Colts.
[00:54:57] Speaker A: Got the Colts.
[00:54:58] Speaker B: I've got the Colts continuing to win just enough games to stay in the wild card position, but they've definitely come.
[00:55:04] Speaker A: Back down to earth.
[00:55:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:55:05] Speaker A: So they were definitely riding high on the Indiana Jones fever, but I think they've definitely gotten cratered a little bit. And now with the Texans surging, they're definitely starting to have. They have that to deal with because I think they have to play them again.
[00:55:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:55:20] Speaker A: And then I put chargers at 5.
I like where they're at. I like what they're doing. I still think that team is in a good spot. And I put Colts at six.
[00:55:29] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:55:29] Speaker A: You don't even have the Chargers on your list.
[00:55:31] Speaker B: I considered putting the Chargers in, But instead at 6, I've got the Bills and my final seed this is an interesting one. I actually think the Jaguars make the playoffs this year as the seventh seed. I think that they've. They've got the. The edge over the Chiefs. So if there's a close one and there's a tiebreaker, they've beaten the Chiefs before.
I think that they've been playing a little bit better. Even though they're kind of a weird and dysfunctional franchise as well. I think they've got a clear path to the. Make it.
[00:55:59] Speaker A: And then I got the Bills at.
[00:56:02] Speaker B: Number seven, the seventh season.
Tremendously disappointing. And that. That's exciting, too, because that seems like for the. Maybe the first time since we've had seven seeds, that there's, like a. A team that feels like they've got the potential to contend in the seventh position.
[00:56:21] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure.
[00:56:22] Speaker B: Don't you think if they were like this, like, you've got Bills at the seventh seed. They went to play against the Broncos. Don't you think the Bills got a shot to beat the Broncos?
[00:56:29] Speaker A: 100%. I do.
[00:56:31] Speaker B: I 100% agree. Yeah, they've got a shot.
[00:56:33] Speaker A: I feel like the Bills. Their ceiling is so high.
[00:56:37] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:56:37] Speaker A: They just don't always play to it, oddly.
[00:56:40] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:56:41] Speaker A: There's multiple teams like that. Like, I just feel like they're not playing to your max.
Not every week, at least.
[00:56:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:56:49] Speaker A: And sometimes against teams where it's like, you didn't need to even play that hard, but you blew the crap out of them.
[00:56:55] Speaker B: Right.
[00:56:55] Speaker A: You know, I.
It's a very interesting year. So this actually is really. This was really, like, a fun exercise, but for sure, we'll see. And then when Marshall puts his in, what we'll do is this is my initial plan.
[00:57:09] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:57:10] Speaker A: Was I would buy the winner between the two of you.
[00:57:15] Speaker B: Oh.
[00:57:15] Speaker A: I would buy you dessert.
[00:57:18] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:57:19] Speaker A: Depending on which one of you won. But if I beat both of you, then one of you would have to. Or you would split.
[00:57:27] Speaker B: Right. Whatever. So, yeah.
[00:57:28] Speaker A: I'm still in it because I wanted to play too.
[00:57:30] Speaker B: Right.
[00:57:30] Speaker A: Right. This is mostly. I want the glory.
[00:57:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:57:33] Speaker A: Of being right. I like that more than I actually care about anything else.
[00:57:37] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:57:38] Speaker A: Yeah. You gotta.
[00:57:38] Speaker B: You gotta win something.
[00:57:40] Speaker A: Yeah. Wait.
[00:57:42] Speaker B: All right.
[00:57:42] Speaker A: I feel like my picks have been actually relatively good this year.
[00:57:46] Speaker B: Yeah, they've been okay.
[00:57:48] Speaker A: Been okay.
[00:57:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:57:48] Speaker A: Hey, man, I hit my lock and my upset this week.
[00:57:51] Speaker B: All of us hit our upsets this week, actually.
[00:57:53] Speaker A: Did we really?
[00:57:54] Speaker B: All of us hit our upsets? Yeah.
[00:57:55] Speaker A: Wow. That. Has that ever happened before?
[00:57:58] Speaker B: I'm not sure it ever has. It's very Rare to hit three upsets.
[00:58:02] Speaker A: These were.
I was proud of my upset pick, too. I don't think a lot of people were picking Dallas over Kansas City.
[00:58:09] Speaker B: That was a good one.
[00:58:10] Speaker A: But I felt pretty. I was like. I feel like Dallas's offense has got something going and Chiefs have been kind of.
[00:58:17] Speaker B: You were dead.
[00:58:17] Speaker A: Right. Yeah.
[00:58:18] Speaker B: It's a good call.
[00:58:19] Speaker A: You want to get to our picks or do we want to. Any fantasy news?
[00:58:23] Speaker B: I think we all just lost and it sucked. It was a bad fantasy week.
[00:58:26] Speaker A: I. I barely won. I won by two points.
Did you? I've already clinched myself into the playoffs. I've probably clinched to the number one seed. So I get a nice little buy.
[00:58:37] Speaker B: Wow. That's amazing. Good for you.
[00:58:39] Speaker A: Yeah. I hope. I. I don't. I'm. My team is starting to peter out, though.
I've been getting very lucky.
My last several performances have not been great.
[00:58:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:58:50] Speaker A: But I've won because the opposing team has also not been great. Yeah.
Like, I won with.
[00:58:57] Speaker B: It's all about matchups in fantasy.
[00:58:58] Speaker A: I. I won a hundred and by like, my score was 115. Like, that's not a great score.
[00:59:05] Speaker B: No.
[00:59:05] Speaker A: That kind of sucks. Yeah. It is bad.
[00:59:07] Speaker B: I did worse. My teams were trash.
[00:59:09] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. So.
[00:59:11] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:59:11] Speaker A: It'll be good.
[00:59:12] Speaker B: Let's talk about our picks real quick, our locks and our upsets. I am locking in the Broncos over the Raiders at this point. What's your lock?
[00:59:20] Speaker A: I'm taking. I felt because I got in late, I had a hard time picking a lock. But I feel pretty good about Seattle over Atlanta.
[00:59:28] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a good one. Marshall put his picks in. We'll announce him for him. He picked the Buccaneers as a lock over the Saints. That's good. How about our upsets? I am calling the Jags to upset the Colts. And the Colts continue a short losing streak. I think the Indiana Jones injury is limiting his mobility and has really hampered that offense which was high flying before. And the Jags are in a potential position to surge and try and get that wild card spot.
[00:59:56] Speaker A: There you go.
I'm taking. Minnesota is an underdog against the Commanders.
[01:00:02] Speaker B: Will they have JJ back?
[01:00:03] Speaker A: I don't know.
[01:00:04] Speaker B: Did you see how the. Their backup performed?
[01:00:06] Speaker A: It wasn't great.
[01:00:07] Speaker B: It wasn't Great.
[01:00:09] Speaker A: Not like JJ's gonna be any better. Is this probably a bad upset pick? I actually waffled into potentially taking some other teams, but I. I wanted to. I don't know. I just.
I picked it.
[01:00:22] Speaker B: Marshall is going back to the. Well, he picked Chicago as his upset last week and got a point for it. He's picking Chicago again as his upset this week to beat the Packers.
[01:00:32] Speaker A: I actually think the packers are going to be able to take care of this one.
[01:00:36] Speaker B: It's not a terrible upset pick.
[01:00:38] Speaker A: It's not.
[01:00:39] Speaker B: The Bears are showing some competence that packers fans should be scared for sure.
[01:00:44] Speaker A: I just think that it's Toyota thon.
[01:00:47] Speaker B: You're right.
[01:00:48] Speaker A: This is actually Forget about if I'm being honest, this is why I picked the packers to beat the Lions on Thanksgiving because I was like, it's Toyota thon. That's right. I also just had more confidence in their their defense.
[01:01:01] Speaker B: Anything else dope? Okay, I don't have any funny jokes, but I will thank you listeners of this pod. Making it all the way to the end of Ian and I with a one on one show. Oh yeah, missing out on Marshall. We'll have him back next week, I'm sure.
It's been a great week of football. It's been a great week of podcasting, Ian settling into the new house. So much life stuff going on.
[01:01:27] Speaker A: Oh, so much.
[01:01:28] Speaker B: Ian and I both moved this year. I wonder when Marshall's gonna.
