Divisional Round Recap + Bills Fire Sean McDermott

Summary

Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Berry

"Divisional Round Recap + Bills Fire Sean McDermott"

Date: January 19, 2026
Hosts: Matthew Berry, Connor Rogers, Jay Williams

Episode Overview

This episode delivers an in-depth recap of the NFL’s Divisional Round, focusing on both fantasy football implications and real-world team drama. The headline news is the Buffalo Bills’ decision to fire head coach Sean McDermott, the ensuing debate about GM Brandon Beane’s future, and the bigger context for one of the NFL’s premier jobs. The hosts break down playoff performances, look ahead at coaching vacancies, and analyze fantasy takeaways with their characteristic camaraderie and humor.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Sean McDermott Fired & The Buffalo Bills Job

Timestamps: [02:12] – [09:16]

• Surprise and Context
  • Connor: “Sean McDermott being fired, that's not the shock factor. It's that Brandon Bean has now been elevated and will lead the coaching search…” [02:12]
  • Both hosts are surprised Beane remains while McDermott is let go. They debate who should carry the responsibility for the Bills' playoff shortcomings.
• Defending McDermott
  • Berry notes the Bills’ consistent success: “Top five in wins and point differential, playoffs every year... Did they underachieve?” [02:33]
  • Argues it's odd to single out the coach and not GM for personnel moves.
• Candidate Carousel
  • Connor: “If you fire Sean McDermott, I don't understand how Brandon Bean still has a job.” [03:19]
  • Discussion on head coaching candidates and how the Bills’ job compares to others (e.g., Buffalo vs. Baltimore, AFC East vs. North).
• Bills’ Roster Holes
  • Explores the Bills’ struggle to surround Allen with weapons: Only 2 of 56 Beane-drafted players (James Cook, Dawson Knox) have made Pro Bowls. [05:49]
  • “For how many years have we said Josh Allen’s gotta put on his Superman cape and go win this because he has no one around him?” – Matthew Berry [05:49]
• Future Head Coach Search
  • Names floated: Jesse Minter, Brian Daboll, Sean McVay (unrealistically), Mike Tomlin, Mike McCarthy.
  • Berry’s “Kirk Cousins argument”: “You got rid of McDermott. Who you getting?” [13:14]
• Coaching Fit Pressure
  • “Buffalo… is the best job opening of the 10… because of Josh Allen.” – Berry [04:45]
  • Expectations: “The bar is to win the Super Bowl.” – Connor [12:38]

2. Divisional Round Game Recaps

Rams 28, Bears 24 (OT)

Timestamps: [14:44] – [23:59]

• Host Observations
  • Berry shares field-level insight from a frigid Chicago: “It was cold as shit today.” [15:29]
  • Fun sideline anecdote about burning his gloves on the heater.
• Game & Fantasy Takeaways
  • Kyren Williams: 80% of RB touches; used heavily in the pass game again; “biggest thing from Kyren here… four balls for 30 yards on five targets.” [16:01]
  • Puka Nacua & Davante Adams underperform: “If you were playing daily, those guys were huge busts.” – Connor [17:54]
  • Adams: 7 catches on 19 targets in 2 playoff games; is he showing signs of decline?
• QB Play
  • Matthew Stafford struggles: “He was not great. Last year in this same game... did not play great… wasn’t any better this year.” [19:32]
• Caleb Williams Analysis
  • A “game of highs and lows” per Connor: Describes key INT as a combo of DJ Moore misroute and bad decision, but Williams “has enough big plays where you're like, yeah."
  • Berry bullish on Williams’ fantasy prospects next year: “Long story short, yes, I’d be very excited about Caleb Williams next year in fantasy.” [23:59]

Seahawks Dominate 49ers

Timestamps: [24:09] – [33:11]

• Game Recap
  • Jay’s prescient prediction: “They ran out of people.” [24:21]
  • Purdy pressured on 55% of dropbacks, running over 400 yards to escape. [24:58]
• Defensive Identity
  • Leonard Williams brings “Dark Side” nickname to Seattle D; the crew jokes about Star Wars/Darth Vader references. [25:29]
• Fantasy Highlights
  • Ken Walker explodes with Charbonnet injured; “When Ken Walker gets work, Ken Walker’s pretty damn good.” – Berry [29:26]
  • Future concerns: Is Walker a buy for 2026 if in a committee or on a new team? Coaching variables abound.
  • Matthew wonders about Christian McCaffrey’s outlook: “All the Derrick Henry arguments are going to go to Chris McCaffrey as well… next year is going to be an interesting conversation.” [32:53]
• JSN and Rams WRs
  • Jackson Smith-Njigba quiet in a blowout win; Rams passing game underwhelms.

Broncos 27, Bills 24 (OT)

Timestamps: [33:11] – [39:52]

• Postgame Fallout
  • Josh Allen’s raw emotion: “I feel like I let my teammates down tonight… It's going to stick with me.” [33:40]
• The Controversial Interception
  • Berry & Connor dissect the pivotal reversed catch (Cooks) that ruled an interception: “In real time, bang, bang… knee down, touched... should be down by contact.” [35:10]
  • Twitter/Reddit discourse: “Apparently you don’t know ball, stick to fantasy rule, nerd.” – Berry mimicking online critics [34:16]
  • Richard Sherman’s DB take: “Ty goes to the receiver.” [35:58]
• Missed Calls & Game Flow
  • Connor calls it a “bumpy ride"—missed holding in the end zone, inexplicable PIs, general officiating chaos.
• Fantasy & Real-Life Consequences
  • Bo Nix’s broken ankle, meaning Stidham likely starts AFC Championship.
  • Berry: “All people are talking about out of this game is not, oh my God, Bo Nixon, his second year made an AFC championship... Instead… [they’re] talking about this terrible play and a couple of bad pass interferences.” [39:52]
  • Broncos lose key playmakers; AFC Title implications.

Patriots Advance, May vs. Berry

Timestamps: [41:52] – [45:40]

• Drake May Playoff Run
  • Patriots reach AFC title; Berry relives being “owned” by social media for doubting May (clips from earlier in season and now), but points out he’s since praised May as MVP: “Drake May’s my MVP and I’ve been saying that consistently throughout this process.” [44:09]
  • Berry’s tip: “Congratulations. The Patriots, they move on to the AFC championship against the Broncos, and I think they will win.” [45:40]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Allen’s supporting cast:
  • “It sounded like a Key & Peele sketch.” – Berry, on the long list of mediocre WRs Buffalo has chased ([07:30])
• On the coaching search:
  • “It feels like too good a job to, like, try a guy out.” – Berry, on whether Bills should hire a new head coach with no experience ([10:33])
• Connor on the Bills job:
  • “You take the Buffalo Bills job, not maybe win, but get to the Super Bowl.” ([12:52])
• Patriots Twitter drama:
  • Berry: “No, they take that clip from week six, and today, it’s been going crazy… But they don’t check my Twitter feed that, like, literally the thing you’re asking me about... is up there.” ([43:06])
• On the Rams’ WRs performance:
  • “11.2 fantasy points for Puka Nakua… That’s his lowest in a healthy game this entire year.” ([18:25])
• On officiating chaos:
  • Berry: “You've called it one way all game, and then to suddenly call it differently, you know, on two drives... I think McDermott's point… was absolutely right: at least take a look at it.” ([37:00])

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Fantasy Football Insights

• Kyren Williams: Playoff usage spike a function of “saving his legs” for late-season surge. Massive touch share, involved in passing game again.
• Ken Walker: With health and full workload, a top-tier RB, but offseason variables (committee, coaching changes) loom.
• Caleb Williams: “Exciting for fantasy next year… 1000%.” Volume, rushing, and system set-up all positive.
• Christian McCaffrey: Monster workload may mean he’s a fade for 2026 drafts.

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Early Conference Championship Lines & Betting Takes

Timestamps: [54:00] – [55:22]

• Seahawks (-2.5) vs Rams: Jay likes Seahawks, Connor prefers the under (47.5), Berry’s high on Patriots (-5.5) over Broncos.
• Super Bowl longshots: Jay recommends Jackson Smith-Njigba (15:1 SB MVP) and Jarrett Stidham (20:1 SB MVP) as worthy bets, especially considering each team’s structure and usage. [49:28]
• Jay: “If Denver wins, like Nick Benito would have to have what, 3 sacks and a force fumble to even be [MVP]... I like your head with the Stidham call.” – Connor [50:35]

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Tone, Energy, and Dynamics

• Maintaining their signature banter, the hosts combine rapid-fire football analysis, offbeat riffing (e.g., Star Wars/Dune debate [27:40]), and playful ego-checking (“We all we got—all we need!”) to keep both hardcore and casual listeners engaged.
• Humble takes and willingness to “own” mistakes (Berry with Drake May, officiating rants, RB predictions past and present).

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Timestamps for Critical Segments

• Bills/McDermott firing & job analysis: [02:12] – [13:14]
• Rams-Bears OT recap & Kyren Williams talk: [14:44] – [18:43]
• Caleb Williams analysis & fantasy QB ranks for 2026: [20:06] – [23:59]
• Seahawks-49ers, Dark Side D, Ken Walker: [24:09] – [33:11]
• Bills-Broncos wild finish, officiating controversy: [33:11] – [39:52]
• Patriots/Drake May “take” saga: [41:52] – [45:40]
• Betting lines, Super Bowl MVP longshots: [49:28] – [51:43]

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For the Listener Who Missed the Episode

This episode is a crash course in not only who to blame (or not blame) for Buffalo’s letdown, but also why context matters as much as talent in the playoffs, fantasy analysis, and coaching hires. The biggest takeaways: The Bills are at a crossroads—marquee job, but pressure’s on to win now; fantasy values are shifting as playoff usage reveals coach preferences and aging stars; and as always, don’t trust early narratives (especially your own), because the NFL—and fantasy football—are defined by second acts, plot twists, and plenty of “what just happened?” moments.

Transcript

[Matthew Berry]

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[Connor Rogers]

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[Connor Rogers]

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[Connor Rogers]

Ken.

[Matthew Berry]

And then, hey, finding a way to end the mother.

[Commercial Announcer]

Where's me?

[Connor Rogers]

Missing.

[Matthew Berry]

The thicket signs right for Seattle. Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Barry. Welcome to the Fantasy Football Happy Hour.

[Connor Rogers]

That's right, just Matthew and I. Jay will be joining us after his big NBA duties.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah, he's got some NBA duties. But you know what, Connor? We all we got.

[Connor Rogers]

That's right. That's all we need.

[Matthew Berry]

All we need. There you go. All we got. All we need. Big jam packed show today.

[Connor Rogers]

A lot to get through an awesome divisional round. But Matthew, some news at the top that surprised me a little bit. Okay, Sean McDermott being fired, that's not the shock factor. It's that Brandon Bean has now been elevated and will lead the coaching search for the Buffalo Bills as the Bills move on from Sean McDermott after their divisional round loss to the Broncos.

[Matthew Berry]

I mean, so we're going to talk about the Bills Broncos game coming up here in just a little bit. So we'll get into that. Which it seems like that's one of the reasons why he was fired. And so you can debate whether you think McDermott deserved to be fired. I mean, this is a team that was, you know, top five and like in wins and point differential, like throughout McDermott's career, made the playoffs a ton of time. You know, every single year. Did they underachieve because they've got, you know, they've got a generational star at quarterback.

[Connor Rogers]

Maybe.

[Matthew Berry]

But my argument here would be, Connor, is that if you are. It's the same thing that we had with the Giants. If you're going to fire Brian Dabel, you need to send Joe Shane out as well.

[Connor Rogers]

That's my take.

[Matthew Berry]

And if you. If you're firing Sean McDermott, I don't understand how Brandon Bean still has a job.

[Connor Rogers]

That's my exact take. It's. It's got to feel tough for Sean McDermott, who I think, if he wants. And it sounds like he does another job because we still have, I believe, eight vacancies filled. All that's been done is the Giants wisely got that ink dried on John Harbaugh's contract this weekend because he could have pivoted to the bill. I know Kevin Stefanski will be coaching the Falcons and there's a couple finalists in certain areas, but this thing is wide open. I think Sean McDermott is going to be a head coach next year.

[Matthew Berry]

I think. I think you're probably right here as well. I think. I feel like. I mean, Harbaugh got $100 million, so Harbaugh was probably still going to the Giant. And a lot of power. And a lot of power. But Stefanski, I mean, it's an interesting debate as to what's a. You know, in Atlanta, like, you. You have Bijan Robinson, you have a decent defense. Like, you have. There's a lot of pieces. Falcons team, just not sure they have a quarterback. I know you're a big. Michael Penix guy. I think the.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, but if it doesn't work with Penix, it feels like Stefanski will now be given his shot.

[Matthew Berry]

Right, Exactly.

[Connor Rogers]

Rather than like, here's the Sean Watson, here's Shadur Sanders.

[Matthew Berry]

Right.

[Connor Rogers]

It was chaotic in Cleveland.

[Matthew Berry]

It was chaotic in Cleveland. Be interesting to see if they draft a quarterback this year or does he try to make something with Kirk? So we'll see about Stefanski. But. But Buffalo, which has a lot of deficiencies on both sides of the ball, and we'll get to that in a second. But like, you got Josh Allen, like, you have 17, you have a shot in every single game.

[Connor Rogers]

It's time to win the Super Bowl.

[Matthew Berry]

Right. And so it is. I think it might. I think there is a strong argument made that either that or Baltimore. And I'd actually make the argument that Buffalo, that is the. Is the best job opening of the 10 that are now open because of Josh Allen. And I get the Lamar argument. My only counter to that, I think I'd rather have Josh than Lamar just because I feel like Lamar just misses too much time, you know, over the like. One of the reasons why Harbaugh is looking for a job is that he had to start Tyler Huntley for however many games he had to this year. Right. And that's something that has come up a decent amount. I think I'd also rather be overall, I'd rather be in the AFC east than the AFC north as a division just in general.

[Connor Rogers]

It's just the Patriots, like the jets and Dolphins feel so much further away. And this is from Eden Harditz, of course, the Bills have signed the polling wide receiver since 2020. Josh Palmer, Curtis Samuel, Brandon Cooks, Gabe Davis, Elijah Moore, Matt Collins, McColl, Hardman, Tyrell Shavers, Leviska Chenault, Quintess Cephas, Chase Claypool, Marques Valdez, Scantling, KJ Hamler, Jalen Virgil.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah, hard to believe. Mapletron, Chase Claypool. It didn't work out for these so great tweet. But I mean that's the point is like for how many years have we said Josh Allen's gotta put on his superman cape and go win this because he has no one around him? Ben Solak. Shout out to Benjamin Solak. He tweeted this out. Since drafting Josh Allen In 2018, the Bills have drafted 56 players. Two of them have made the Pro Bowl. That's James Cook and Dawson Knox. Again, two out of 56 under Brandon Bean's watch. And now again, the counter argument there is like, hey, part of Sean McDermott's job as a coach is I'm sure he's obviously in the player evaluation room. He's in the draft room. I'm sure he has a say. And part of it's also when you get a player developing him. And so if you want to make an argument that he hasn't developed some of these guys, it's not like, I mean, Keon Coleman, right? I mean Keon Coleman was a guy that was considered a first round pick coming out like a late first round fringe. Fringe. But. And hasn't developed. But so. Right. But as Scott McClory8312 says, Look at all those meh receivers. Bean should have been fired. That's the point.

[Connor Rogers]

Yep. And I think it was telling. Some people caught this, but going into the Jacksonville wild card round game, Sean McDermott was hyping the acquisition of Jacoby Myers for them to the point where I was sitting there and I was like, yes, I think he likes Jacoby Myers, but I also am wondering, did he want Jacoby Myers or anything? Like.

[Matthew Berry]

Sure.

[Connor Rogers]

We saw Rashid. She moved for nothing at the deadline. Pretty sweet kick return to open things up for like, it. It felt like. I don't know if there was a disconnect there. I'm not in Buffalo to know that. But Valiant. Vince said half of those names, names sound.

[Matthew Berry]

It sounded like a Key and Peele sketch.

[Connor Rogers]

Right?

[Matthew Berry]

It really did.

[Connor Rogers]

Like Jalen Virgil.

[Matthew Berry]

Exactly.

[Connor Rogers]

Tyrell Shavers was actually making plays before he got hurt.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah. Tyrell Shavers, Brandon Cooks started the. Started the year with a Saints. And I mean, I think in the off season it was with the Cowboys, right. I mean, like he was a leading wide receiver, right, Going into this game for Josh Allen. And so listen, you know, James Cook obviously was a find and, and you know, you know, and whatever. Dalton Kincaid hasn't made a Pro bowl, but he's a nice player. Right? I mean, there's other guys there, but basically, look, they. Under McDermott, the Bills have been a top 10 defense pretty much every single year. This year they struggled in run defense, but their secondary was pretty good. I don't know, man. I just, you know, it just, it feels weird to me that you're going to sit here and say it was the coaching but not the, not the player personnel.

[Connor Rogers]

And that's the decision they've made. So they'll move forward looking for not only a new head coach, but led by Brandon Bean and ownership, while Sean McDermott, as you heard Matthew and I say, I think he will, he will get a job. I think he might actually have his choice of a couple different options.

[Matthew Berry]

McDermott. Yeah, maybe. I think the interesting thing though is conversely, okay, Stefanski is off the table. Harbaugh's off the table again, whatever you think of those guys. But those, those were kind of two of the biggest names here.

[Connor Rogers]

Tomlin not expected to coach.

[Matthew Berry]

Tomlin doesn't want to coach. Although maybe, you know, that would be like. I know you said you don't want to coach, but did we mention we have Josh Allen?

[Connor Rogers]

Right.

[Matthew Berry]

You know, is there. But I'm just trying to think, right, so the packers just re signed LaFleur. I mean, like, where is. Who should. If you're a Bills fan, who are you rooting for other than the fact that you're rooting for him to be fired?

[Connor Rogers]

I think honestly, Jesse Minter would be the guy I would go after. And you keep Joe Brady. But what, like, not saying, what's the difference? But it's like, wait, why don't we just fire Sean McDermott?

[Matthew Berry]

It feels like you. And so I'm going to. I'm going to send out a crazy idea. I have a crazy idea.

[Connor Rogers]

All right.

[Matthew Berry]

That people are going to hate, but I have a crazy idea. Brian Dabel.

[Connor Rogers]

It's not as. It's not crazy because of the relationship with Josh Allen. He's coached there before. He's been a head coach, and it looks good for a while with the Giants. Until it wasn't.

[Matthew Berry]

That's right. The talent he won. He won a Coach of the Year award with, you know, with. With. With the Giants. As a head coach. As a head coach. And again, there was a failure there. I mean, and so, like, part of this is going to be. I'm sure that there's a problem with that. They'll ask Josh's opinion.

[Connor Rogers]

All the leads that eroded for the Giants this year under Dable.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah.

[Connor Rogers]

The Bills problem has been closing games, getting over the hump. It feels like they needed a guy that would even been a tough sell for Harbaugh with this job.

[Jay Williams]

Right.

[Connor Rogers]

It's like we fired a guy because he couldn't get us over the hump and close games, so we hired the other guy in the conference that can't.

[Matthew Berry]

Get over the hump and close.

[Connor Rogers]

I don't know what the answer is here.

[Matthew Berry]

I don't either, because it doesn't feel like you can mention Jesse Minter or anything like this, but it feels like. It feels like too good a job to, like, you know, try a guy out. You know what I mean?

[Connor Rogers]

Like, let's find out if this guy's a head coach.

[Matthew Berry]

Right.

[Connor Rogers]

Which is what you say about Jesse Mitzer. We excited about him, but we don't know.

[Matthew Berry]

Right. I mean, like, the. The road is littered with the. You know, think about whatever Josh McDaniel. There's. There's a lot of failed head coaches that were awesome coordinators, including day ball.

[Jay Williams]

Right.

[Matthew Berry]

I mean, like, you know, I mean.

[Connor Rogers]

Like, so nonstop around the league.

[Matthew Berry]

Right. I mean, like, so there's a lot of these guys that are, you know. You know, I mean, it's. It's interesting. Like, I might. I might. If I was the Bills, and I don't think they'll do this. And I don't think. I don't think. But if I was the Bills, I might think about trying to pull a Broncos and trade for, like, again, like, the Rams would say, would Hang up the phone. But like in a scenario where the Rams lost last night, could you call, could you call the Rams and say, what would it take to get Sean McVay? You know, like again, I'm like a bit.

[Connor Rogers]

You're like big game Hunter. Big game Hunter thinking. Which is the Tomlin route as well. Tomlin obviously wants to do tv, but Tomlin's under team control. You have to trade for him.

[Matthew Berry]

Right.

[Connor Rogers]

And if there's anything that moves the needle. Mike Tomlin hasn't had a quarterback since Ben Roethlisberger.

[Matthew Berry]

That's right.

[Connor Rogers]

And now it's like, hey, you dangled Josh Allen like a carrot.

[Matthew Berry]

That's the, that's the best.

[Connor Rogers]

What is the, what is the big game hunting? Like, Shanahan's not going anywhere.

[Matthew Berry]

Right.

[Connor Rogers]

I just. And usually you can't see these things because you're always surprised when a coach is traded. That's why it doesn't happen a lot in NFL history.

[Matthew Berry]

Why do I think, why do I think this is going to be like freaking Mike McCarthy? I'm going to throw my hands up.

[Connor Rogers]

I mean, he's probably. If there was odds theoretically out there, like if DraftKings made odds, he'd be on the board.

[Matthew Berry]

Right. Because he's one guy. He's one way to open the play. I had Rodgers, I had Dak, look at the numbers I put up, you know, blah, blah.

[Connor Rogers]

Look, all his playoff losses.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah. I mean, but it does feel like after getting rid of McDermott, you need to go with an offensive minded coach.

[Connor Rogers]

Well, because the bar is to win the Super Bowl.

[Matthew Berry]

That's right.

[Connor Rogers]

Like that's the problem with this job. Like you look at the Titans and the Cardinals out there. The bar is to can you get us back to being a 500 to fringe playoff team in the next three years? You take the Buffalo Bills job, not maybe win, but get to the Super Bowl.

[Matthew Berry]

Absolutely.

[Connor Rogers]

Who's the name? There's not a name out there that you just pivot to with that.

[Matthew Berry]

No.

[Connor Rogers]

It's fascinating. I'm wondering what this conversation.

[Matthew Berry]

That's always the thing here. We'll move on, but it's always the thing. It's just like I call this the Kirk Cousins argument. Right. Just because it's a scarred Washington football fan. For years. For years.

[Connor Rogers]

Twice now.

[Matthew Berry]

I know we're getting close. Jay's not here. Thank you. I got up at 3am in Chicago to try to get here for you lovely people. So, yeah, I am spry. But yes, there's definitely take some odds on Whether or not this gets all over me at some point during the show, but what I was going to say is it's the Kirk Cousins argument, which is when I was in Washington, fans just desperately, we got to get rid of Kirk. Why? You know, we got to get rid of Kirk, and I would always be like, who we getting? Like, you know what I mean? Like, we never had Washington, never had a draft pick high enough to go get a good quarterback, and there weren't any free agents out there that you felt like, oh, that guy is a significant upgrade over Kirk Cousins. I'm like, you can win with Kirk Cousins. Is he going to lead you to a Super bowl the way that a Josh Allen could? No, but, like, if you surrounded him with good defense, you know, and he can run a system, he, like, at his peak. This is back, you know, back in the days, like, he could run a system. He was running Sean McVeigh's system.

[Connor Rogers]

Be careful what you wish for.

[Matthew Berry]

Very well. And that's my point. Right? Like, okay, fine, you got rid of McDermott. Who you getting? I just don't know who you. I mean, like, there's. Sure there's offense coordinators out there that you like, but.

[Connor Rogers]

Right.

[Matthew Berry]

Josh Grizzard, like, what are we doing here?

[Connor Rogers]

Upgrade.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah. What are you just. I.

[Connor Rogers]

We'll revisit this during Bill's Broncos. This is far. And I'm sure we're gonna have more news on this when we do our show Thursday, of course, as well. Let's get into the divisional round recaps and start with Sunday Night Football, which was absolutely electric. Obviously, Matthew, you were there for the Rams overtime win against the Bears. It was cold thriller. It looked very cold. Kyron Williams, far and away the most productive fantasy performance here with almost 28 fantasy points. The next tier down is DJ Moore, who only had 17 points. A huge win for Stafford and McVay, who spoke on it after the game. It's a team effort. We got a resilient group.

[Matthew Berry]

Love being a part of it.

[Connor Rogers]

Obviously, things we can do better, but.

[Matthew Berry]

We found a way to win the.

[Connor Rogers]

Football game and, you know, in January and February, that's what matters. I'm really excited because I can dive into this and I can be better for us, and we'll have to be against a phenomenal defense next week, but guys just kept battling, they kept believing, and that's what it's about. You know, there's no style points. It's about being able to survive in advance, and we were able to do that in a Tough, hostile environment. And it was cold as shit today.

[Matthew Berry]

Yes, coach, it was. Yes, I do. Yes, I do. And you know, and I had the tough, I had a tough call of, you know, do I go Beanie? No beanie.

[Connor Rogers]

You didn't go Trapper Hat?

[Matthew Berry]

I didn't go Trapper hat. They didn't.

[Connor Rogers]

Plus 800. Did not. Cash.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah, exactly. I thought about Trapper Hat, but it just didn't get there, unfortunately. But I did. I also. If you. So if you watch the video of my. I did my Berry's bet, which by the way, cashed again. Caleb Williams over 32 and a half passing yards. Nine in a row again. I've hit nine in a row because again last week. Omarion Hampton.

[Connor Rogers]

That's right.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah. We got the early exit. Mr. Crown, Mr. King. Mr. King bailed us out with the early exit. So it wasn't a loss at any rate. But also on gloveless. So if you look at the, if you look at the hit on my social media, like, I went without the cap.

[Connor Rogers]

You and Ben Johnson.

[Matthew Berry]

Me and Ben Johnson went without the cap. No gloves. I had gloves on originally, but like, it was so cold. My fingers were so cold. We had these heaters down there on the sideline. And so I held my hands just by the heaters and the heater was probably where you're sitting and I held my hands here and they had it so fired up that I didn't even look. And I looked down and the plastic on my, on my gloves had burned away. And so like it was nothing but like stuffing sprayed. And so I was like, I can't go in there like this. Take it off air. But not like a homeless person on television. Yeah, exactly. Normally I only look like a homeless person when I'm off air. I don't like to do it on air. I don't know that there's a big fantasy takeaway here, obviously for people that are still in playoff leagues that are doing Guillotinis. By the way, you can do, you can actually draft a three person [e-mail] if you want to do that. One team will be eliminated in the championship round and then of course, last two will play in the Super Bowl. But it was nice to see to me, the biggest thing from Kyron here, obviously that, you know, the Blake Corum stuff seemed to go away here in crush time. 80% of the Rams running back touches, it was his highest. He had a 68% rush rate. That was his highest since week five. And I think what's interesting is there for the longest time Connor, they weren't using him in the passing game and in this one they did. You know, he catches four balls for 30 yards on five targets. He's now had at least three receptions in four, the passing five. So it does feel like and I don't know if that was a function of just like guys recovered. It was weird. It didn't. I was surprised that Puka couldn't go off. Adams seemed to be like a non factor until the controversial call late like so this here. But so credit to the Bears defense because they showed up in a way that I didn't expect.

[Connor Rogers]

I'm with you all the way. We went through this weird wave this season. Like the middle of season we're like, we think they're trying to save Kyron Williams legs for down the stretch and Corum's getting more involved. Then Corum got so involved, we're like, wait a second, did they just like Blake Corum and now in the biggest game of their season, it's like, no, they were trying to save Kyron Williams to be fresh down the stretch with the 21 touches, 21 rushes and like you said, the four catches, seven combined catches for Puka, Nakua and Devonte Adams with no touchdowns. So if you were playing daily, those guys were huge busts. On the Sunday slate, they were projected as the number one and number two picks in Daly.

[Matthew Berry]

11.2 fantasy points for Puka Nuku on 5 for 56. That's his lowest in a healthy game this entire year. Right. And Devonte Adams has 19 targets in two playoff games. He's caught seven of them. Is Devonte Adams like, are we hitting a wall with Devonte? Like it doesn't start to look like it.

[Connor Rogers]

He does not look nearly as fast. And maybe that's some of the soft tissue injuries down the stretch, but he's had those every year for three years. He doesn't look like Devonte Adams. Even the impressive 30s. Yeah, 30s version of him.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah, I mean like again, like you haven't noticed it this year fantasy wise as much because he's been scoring so many touchdowns. But he's, you know, he's not a guy that was getting like volume. No volume. And again, you're on a team with Puka, Nakua and a team that runs the ball well, you know, and that they have, you know, not one of the tight ends is consistent enough that you feel good starting about any of them. Although I think if I had to pick one for next Year it'd be Colby Parkinson right now.

[Connor Rogers]

I'm with you.

[Matthew Berry]

But they throw to the. You know, if you just think Rams tight end they throw to, you know, those guys combined that it's take some target share away here.

[Connor Rogers]

Terrence Ferguson with the game on the.

[Matthew Berry]

Line, I mean, what are we doing?

[Connor Rogers]

It was like Terence Ferguson down there would like to win the game.

[Matthew Berry]

So it was a bad game, bad day at the office. You know, he was, he wasn't great. Last year in this same game, which we had, which NBC also had, it was the Rams at Eagles, right in the divisional round last year. And we were at that game. And I just remember Stafford did not play great in that game. And he was. That was. Yeah, but that was a better. I mean that was the Eagles defense versus what the Bears have been rolling out. Credit to Dennis Allen, he called it, I thought a really good game. Those guys played tough. But yeah, Stafford did not look great in this one for Caleb Williams.

[Connor Rogers]

Game of highs and lows. The highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Of course, the 14 yard and I say 14 yard because it's over 50 yards in the air. Tying touchdown, some rushing and the interception that Cam Crowell caught in overtime.

[Matthew Berry]

What's your take on that? Because some people like think of that. DJ Moore just got on the route.

[Connor Rogers]

I watched the All 22 this morning. And as soon as he starts to like break in towards the middle of the field, he totally drops down to a different gear where you're like. And he doesn't, he doesn't flatten, he kind of drifts higher and Caleb's. And by the way, not a smart throw like you watch Kyle Menong guy chips the pass rusher and releases. It's second and eight. If Caleb Williams, who's been good at this this year, just checks the ball down, it's probably third and three at its longest. Kyle Mangai could break a tackle and it's a first down. It's probably third and three, right. He takes a chance. It's a bad route. It's not a great ball. And Cam Crawl makes a great play.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah. And it's second and it's second down. And there's no time constraints because it's, it's the playoffs. Like you ain't running out of time. Like they're playing until somebody wins.

[Connor Rogers]

And you probably have four downs with Ben Johnson.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah.

[Connor Rogers]

Like you probably treat it like, man, if I get this, the third and three and we don't get it, our head coach, knowing how he is, probably goes for it.

[Matthew Berry]

I mean they were going for it all game and they've always been going, you know, that's, that's traditionally how they've been playing this year as well. Yeah, it's a shame because by the way, DJ Moore had a great game overall. He's had a great playoffs. And like it's not like, it's not like we're sitting here like what are you doing? Game on the line, you're throwing to a lamede Zacchaeus, right. Cut to Lamide Zacchaeus saying like, why am I catching strays but me. But yeah, I mean it just, it was just a tough route. And yeah, Kam Kroll made the, made a good play. Former commander, great cam curl.

[Connor Rogers]

That's right.

[Matthew Berry]

Washington, I don't know. Former Washington grade. I don't think they were the commanders when Curl played for us.

[Connor Rogers]

He was good though.

[Matthew Berry]

He was great. He was great. And once again I've somehow managed to turn it back. I've managed now to work the commanders who aren't in the playoffs and weren't and weren't overall. Yes. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Connor Rogers]

It's back to the commander.

[Matthew Berry]

But I've managed to work. By the way, I've managed to work them in twice.

[Connor Rogers]

More commanders talk on this show. We'll get there. The highs and lows of Caleb Williams, does that make him exciting for fantasy next year? Because it feels like who cares about the interceptions or the misses. He has enough big plays where you're like, yeah. And he runs.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah, probably run more 1000%. This was his first year in Ben Johnson's system too.

[Connor Rogers]

Right, right.

[Matthew Berry]

And so as the year went on, you saw that they, they started to get rid of some of the bad habits in terms of holding the ball too long and then like. But the, you know, but then the holding the ball too long also leads to like brilliance. Like the fourth down play last week and the, the touchdown to Comet last night. And so yeah, I think, look, I had Caleb Williams as a, he was on the love list in the preseason and he was like a top 10 guy for me in the preseason. I believe he finished in the top 10 on a points per game basis this year. And so for sure, especially when you think about for Caleb Williams, second year in Ben Johnson's system, but also second year with Colston Loveland, you know, healthy Roma, Dunze, you know, you expect Luther Burden now to have a full time role. You know, he wasn't, he was a non factor for the first half of the year. They're pretty low. We'll see if DJ Moore comes back or not.

[Connor Rogers]

But really, no.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah, probably not. But they'll get somebody.

[Connor Rogers]

Doesn't matter.

[Matthew Berry]

They'll get somebody. Right? You know, whether they draft somebody, whether they get a free agent. Like for all my. By the way, Lombard is Aks as there are much worse third wide receivers in the NFL than Llamas Akis.

[Jay Williams]

Right.

[Connor Rogers]

And he's fourth.

[Jay Williams]

Right.

[Matthew Berry]

And that's my point. But my point is if DJ Moore leaves and that in essence, Alameda Zacchaeus is your fourth pass catcher after the two wide receivers in Loveland, like you'd be fine, especially assuming they have. You know, I don't know if Swift is going to be back probably, but they'll have somebody like him plus Manungai, you know, and.

[Connor Rogers]

Right. Both running backs catch the ball.

[Matthew Berry]

So I mean, I'm just not a big deal. It's a. Yes. I. Long story short, yes, I'd be very excited about Caleb Williams next year in fantasy.

[Connor Rogers]

All right, our next game. Not much of a game at all. On divisional weekend. The Niners got blown out at Seattle. This one was pretty much over after the opening kick return.

[Matthew Berry]

This, this. Exactly. And by the way, this is exactly what Jay predicted When we were talking last week, Jay was just like, you know, I love my Niners. I'm a Niners man. I've got a lot of money invested in Kyle Shanahan. But like it's the line 7 and a half and they're going to kill it.

[Connor Rogers]

They ran out of people.

[Matthew Berry]

They ran out of people. They just, they, they just, they did. They ran out of bodies on this one. Like Trent Williams is limping into this game. Like, Brock Purdy was under pressure constantly as well. 55% of his drop backs. Brock Purdy was pressured on 55% of his dropbacks. And according to Next Gen stats on his 33 drop backs, Brock Purdy ran 413 yards. Like, that's a crazy stat. He was running for his life so much. Literally ran over 400 yards. Rushed for quote, quote, unquote, rushed for over 400 yards in this one. But how about Cooper Cup? There was a Cooper cup sighting in this one.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah. 11 fantasy points feels like a lot in this era for Cooper Cup. And you mentioned Brock Purdy running for his life. A big reason for that was Leonard Williams in that defense who've given themselves a nickname that Matthew, I don't really understand. Listen to this, okay.

[Matthew Berry]

This defense is amazing. It just is fun to play with them. I think we, we trust in ourselves. We trust in the guy next to us, and we get the job done. And it's amazing to not let them score. What's in the briefcase anyway? What's that? The briefcase.

[Jay Williams]

What do you got?

[Matthew Berry]

So this is the Dark side game plan right here. We were so hyped to see, like, some Darth Vader guy out there today on the screen. And, like, we're like, okay, we're finally getting our credit. You know, we've been talking about the dark side. We've been, you know, showing up. Not just talking about it. We've been proving it as well. And especially in a big game like this, we showed up. Okay, so on the one hand, I sort of get it on the sense that dark side, okay, like, they're. They're mean and bad, and, you know, they're coming for you and, you know, but also, like, the dark side, like, the dark side's bad. Like, it's bad people. Like, you know, they're the bad guys. They're not the people you root for. They're not. I understand. You haven't. You haven't watched the Star wars this spring.

[Connor Rogers]

It's like one of my top three goals.

[Matthew Berry]

Sure, sure. Yeah. I'm going to come over to your house, and I'm going to go into a different room, and I'll watch Godfather Part 2 while you're watching.

[Connor Rogers]

And Jake will be upstairs watching whatever. Has Jay not seen a movie?

[Matthew Berry]

Magnolia again? No, he's seen all the movies. Just all the bad ones. Jake and Jay can watch Crocodile in Los Angeles. Rousey nominated. No. So I guess. But the Dark side, it's just like, again, like, they. They kill people.

[Connor Rogers]

Like, not like, well, they tried to kill Brock Purdy.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah, for sure.

[Connor Rogers]

Aloha bricks. That's regular of the year, by the way. Aloha bricks. Conor is wondering if Vader is a new cornerback who plays the Seahawks. Like I said, I. When he said, I have no idea what he's referencing, but I'm glad Leonard Williams is having a good time.

[Matthew Berry]

Stop it. When you say. Now, I know you've never seen the movies.

[Connor Rogers]

I know. But. Yes, you heard Darth Vader.

[Matthew Berry]

You've heard Darth Vader. You've heard of the Dark side. You have enough pop culture.

[Connor Rogers]

Yes.

[Matthew Berry]

Right. You know, again, I've never seen Godfather 2, but I know that, like, you know, what does it keep the gun hold the canal. Right. Oh, is that the first one? I got all my quotes mixed up, but, like, I don't know, some of the.

[Connor Rogers]

I know it was you, Fredo.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah. I know it was you, Fredo, and. And Mo Green with the eye.

[Connor Rogers]

Right.

[Matthew Berry]

And everything like that. Yeah, yeah. So, like, I know enough, like, reference references that like, you know, Vinnie in.

[Connor Rogers]

The chat said Star wars was a system franchise. Dune has a top three defense. That's a take.

[Matthew Berry]

That is a take. Especially because, by the way, Dune's only. There's only been three Dune movies, one of which was a remake. So they did the first Dune movie and like, no one watched it. No, the very first. No, not the Chalamet one. There's one with like Sting, I think, from many years back.

[Connor Rogers]

I didn't even know this.

[Matthew Berry]

It was a bomb. No one liked it. Then they remade it again, which is.

[Connor Rogers]

Kind of remarkable that they decided to remake a bad movie.

[Matthew Berry]

Right, right. The books are super popular. The first movie with Chalamet is like, it's super long and expositiony. Very like, it takes a long time to get there.

[Connor Rogers]

It was a cross country flight watch for me.

[Jay Williams]

Yeah.

[Connor Rogers]

And I needed the whole flight.

[Matthew Berry]

Listen, and we love Timothee Chalamet, love Zendaya, but like, it's a little bit of a slog, that first one and then it finally gets into some good stuff. And then the second one's great, but like. And I'm looking forward to the third one, but. But like, stop it with a Star wars is so much better. I will go to my grave with that take. Yeah. On this game. On this game. I mean, like, you know, we've always said this. When Ken Walker, you know, when Ken Walker gets the full time gig, when, you know, he's awesome. And that's what I mean. Listen, the 49ers were not bad. Run defense as well. Charbonnet leaves this game early with an injury, but. So it will be interesting to see what happens if Sharps can make his way back next week. But like, over the last four games, this guy who's averaging six yards per carry, they're using him finally in the passing game, 19% target share in this one. He's had at least three receptions in six of the past nine games. And so in games in which he gets at least 18 touches. Excuse me. And this includes the. Includes the playoffs. In games with at least 18 touches, he's averaging over 18 fantasy points per game, which is just a dumb stat which tells you what to know when Ken Walker gets work. Ken Walker's pretty damn good.

[Connor Rogers]

And when he's healthy because he's a guy that gets banged up. The question is, can we buy into Ken Walker again next offseason? He's a free agent though. Matthew. So this is going to be interesting. If one, if he's back, which then he'd probably be in a committee again because that's what Kubiak likes. Assuming Kubiak's back. Or two, does he get signed to a decent money deal somewhere where he blossoms as the lead guy and do you trust him to stay healthy to do this? There's so many variables.

[Matthew Berry]

So many variables because again, Kubiak is going to be a hot coaching. I mean, there's eight coaching vacancies now right now because Giants and Falcons are filled, but there's eight coaching vacancies out there.

[Connor Rogers]

There's not a lot of like offensive scheme guys that are interval. Like you look at Salah as a finalist for the Titans job. Chris Shula will get like. It's a lot of minter.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah.

[Connor Rogers]

Like how many guys are young, offensive scheme skewed kind of guys.

[Matthew Berry]

McDaniel's the first one that comes to mind.

[Connor Rogers]

Right. Of retrain.

[Matthew Berry]

Right. But he's gotten interviews. He's got. He's absolutely gotten interviews.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah. I mean, from the Jaguars might get the Browns job.

[Matthew Berry]

Right.

[Connor Rogers]

I mean, once again, these are like Kubiak's had more hype than most of these guys as the rising coordinators.

[Matthew Berry]

Oh, for sure. And does. Does. Does Cliff get a gig? Cliff's out there. Cliff Kingsbury.

[Connor Rogers]

Right. Him and Dable will play somewhere.

[Matthew Berry]

Matt Nagy's getting interviews.

[Connor Rogers]

I mean, that's just.

[Matthew Berry]

I saw Josh Grizard is getting some interviews. Like, you know, just when you talk about offensive guys, like. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I don't know.

[Connor Rogers]

We'll see what Ken Walker.

[Matthew Berry]

But yeah. And Mike McCarthy will be back out there again and like, you know, anyway, so it'd be interesting here. But yeah, tough game, obviously, for Jackson, Smith and Jigba. In a game in which, you know, they score over 40 points, you would think that JSN would do better than 3 for 19. He does. He catches a touchdown. He didn't need to. That's been a lot. That's been the problem with the Seahawks from a fantasy perspective is that they often don't need to throw that much. They don't want to throw that much.

[Connor Rogers]

Right. Darnold was hurt going to the game. This is perfect for them.

[Matthew Berry]

Oh, I know. When they were like, you know, I remember the report came out while I was traveling and it was just like, oh, Sam Donald, by the way, no big deal. But Sam Donald hasn't practiced the last two days. Drew locked football hasn't run a football. Drew Locke's taken all the first time stamps. You're like, wait, what? I mean, right?

[Connor Rogers]

You know, they're probably lured a lot of people, the Niners.

[Matthew Berry]

All right, so cut to like a crazy game. Some turnovers, everything like that. And then Sam Darnold hurts his shoulder. Re injures his shoulder. And then we're looking at Jared Stidham and Drew locke. Super Bowl 60.

[Connor Rogers]

Unbelievable.

[Matthew Berry]

Only on NBC. And backup core quarterback.

[Connor Rogers]

Super Bowl.

[Matthew Berry]

Can you imagine?

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, I don't think we individually are rooting for that.

[Matthew Berry]

No, we are not here at NBC. And the proud peacock. We would very much like big stars in the super bowl here as well. But by the way, the dark side defense and Jackson, Smith and Jigba, all very big stars. Seattle, I don't know that there is anything. The bigger question for me on the 49ers before we move on real quickly is just what do you do with Chris McCaffrey next year? We'll have all offseason talk about it. He stayed fully healthy. He was great. But he's on the wrong side of 30. Wasn't super efficient this year. Under 75 yards from scrimmage in his last two games against Seattle, by the way, and will have touched the ball 400 times. Something times.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, 400.

[Matthew Berry]

Plus he's going to. All the Derrick Henry arguments are going to go to Chris McCaffrey as well.

[Connor Rogers]

I'd probably fade again and I was clearly very wrong on that this year. But I wouldn't just go by high now.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah, I mean, I was in on McCaffrey this year saying like I was very much planting my flag like this is the year he's going to stay healthy. And it obviously worked out for me on this year. But next year is going to be. It's going to be an interesting conversation as well.

[Connor Rogers]

Okay, let's get back to the Bills who just another, you know, gut punch kind of loss for Josh Allen in the playoffs. Bo Nix, the top fantasy scorer and this one who broke his ankle and is now out for the playoffs, which is so many bizarre storylines from this game. Marvin Mims, the second highest fantasy scorer with 23.3 points. But of course, the talking point in this game is around Josh Allen, who was very emotional after this loss.

[Matthew Berry]

It's extremely difficult. I feel like. I feel like I let my teammates down tonight. Just missed opportunities throughout the game. It's been a long season. I hate how it ended and it's. It's going to stick with me.

[Connor Rogers]

For a long time. Four turnovers in this one. One of them may be the most controversial call of the NFL season.

[Matthew Berry]

I don't get it. And I posted. So I posted a picture of Brandon Cooks and devontae Adams. You know, the.

[Connor Rogers]

Like, screenshots.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, screenshots. And I said, make it make sense to me. And I shout out to the Denver Broncos fans because they are very much online and constantly looking for this because, like, my comments were flooded. Like, well, one was a catch and one wasn't. It's very obvious. Like, apparently you don't know ball. Stick to fantasy rule, nerd.

[Jay Williams]

All the.

[Matthew Berry]

All the. All the tropes came out there, and I just. They were like, oh, it was clearly moving. And I'm like, no, it was not clearly moving. Like, to me, Cooks catches the ball knee down, and then he gets touched, at which point he should be down by contact, right? And then he falls on the ground, and then you're taking it away. And, you know, and then people are saying, like, well, well, people are arguing. This is the argument that Devontae Adams made a football move then. Then was down and then down by contact. So the play's over, whereas the ball was still moving. With Cooks.

[Jay Williams]

That's the.

[Matthew Berry]

That's the most. He didn't complete the catch. That's the most coherent argument in my mentions here as well. I just. I don't know. In real time, bang, bang. He clearly. McMillan doesn't get. The Denver defender does not get his hands on the ball until Cooks has the ball and has a knee down. Like, I feel like that's indisputable. And so I guess the argument is that Cooks didn't have full possession. But I don't like. I mean, Richard Sherman, you know, Richard Sherman, who's just like, you know, now I'm talking with Deb McCourti, obviously, another, like, defensive back, and they're all like, sherman said this publicly. And, you know, Devin said this in some as well. But Sherman was basically, like, even we know that. Like, you know, I'm always going to root for the defensive guy. I'm paraphrasing here. But basically. But, you know, Ty goes to the receiver.

[Connor Rogers]

He said he's never seen it go that way.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah.

[Connor Rogers]

Because people then started to attack him, and he's like, I have no dog in this fight. I'm just saying, as a defender, I've never seen it go that way. I think defenders are coach where, like, you're not going to get that benefit of the doubt. My counter to this and love or hate the call. And there's a lot of reasons to not like the call, especially the process of the call.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah.

[Connor Rogers]

I thought. And they would never end a playoff game this way. I thought it was a holding for a safety on the drive.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah, yeah.

[Connor Rogers]

In the end zone, like wrapped around the pass rusher's head. Josh Allen standing in the end zone.

[Matthew Berry]

Yep.

[Connor Rogers]

In a regular season game, that's a safety. But could you imagine if this game on a walk off. But it was.

[Matthew Berry]

Right.

[Connor Rogers]

So it's like at the end of the day.

[Matthew Berry]

And that's by the way, some of the Broncos fans have pointed out.

[Jay Williams]

Yeah. Well, how about this?

[Matthew Berry]

And they.

[Connor Rogers]

I get.

[Matthew Berry]

I get it. But by the way, I mean, there were like, there were missed calls on both. That's.

[Connor Rogers]

That's the point.

[Matthew Berry]

That's.

[Connor Rogers]

There was. Should have been interference, I believe, earlier, like. Yes.

[Matthew Berry]

Oh, go ahead. Sorry.

[Connor Rogers]

No, no, the point is, like, it's just. I called it a bumpy ride. This whole thing was a very bumpy ride.

[Matthew Berry]

It was just very frustrating because Brandon Cooks in another play, like, he clearly gets his armed grab and they don't call pass interference on that. But then they call two PIs down the stretch after that interception. After the controversial interception of Josh Allen, the Brandon Cooks play. There's two PIs in the following drive that. Get them down there now, Bosa, that was clearly, you know, can't see that. You can't. No, you can't do that. Dumb play. Dumb, dumb, dumb play. But still, like, it's just like you've called it one way all game, and then to suddenly call it differently, you know, on two drives, like, I don't know, man. Like, it just that. And I think McDermott's point in his last press conference as Bill's head's coach was absolutely right. Like, at least take a look at.

[Connor Rogers]

It, you know, like the process.

[Matthew Berry]

Walt Anderson, his quote after the game. Walt Anderson, who, you know, communicates for the officials, like, said that they wanted to keep the. The flow of the game going.

[Connor Rogers]

That's not the time.

[Matthew Berry]

Come on.

[Connor Rogers]

It's not the time.

[Matthew Berry]

It's too much is at stake. Literally. Jobs are at stake.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah.

[Matthew Berry]

Playoff, like, it's just. The stakes are way too high. It was just awful. And I saw this again, like, no one ever roots for injury. Awful break of Bo Nix, who breaks his ankle. He does, in fact, drink for free because that's a shame. You lead your team to the AFC championship game and you don't get to play. You break your. And it's super weird because it's all of a sudden like, wait, what?

[Connor Rogers]

Well, it's like remarkable that he was just out there on a broken ankle.

[Matthew Berry]

And no one knew.

[Connor Rogers]

It did not happen when he was celebrating for the world out there that no, this happened during the game.

[Matthew Berry]

I know. And.

[Connor Rogers]

But he truly probably didn't know until the full X rays.

[Matthew Berry]

No, he didn't. But I've seen some people say, like, that's like, that's a ball don't lie moment. Like, you know, like, again, never rooting for injury. Not trying to make fun of the injury at all. But I just think that is a comment that is. I hear you. I'm just saying that that is the sentiment from Bills fans. All the Broncos fans are like, they're clearly different plays than bananas.

[Connor Rogers]

What are you doing here?

[Matthew Berry]

And all the Bills fans are like, well, ball don't lie. That's why that happened. I don't know about that. What's a shame, though, it was an awesome game. You know, there's back and forth and you hate that. You know, Bo Nix had some brilliant plays. Josh Allen, it was a sloppy game, but still, it was a very fun game. Back and forth. It's a really entertaining game. And all people are talking about out of this game is not, oh, my God. Bo Nixon, his second year made an AFC championship. Just like Drake may. Just like, you know, Caleb Williams in his second year, makes it to the divisional round and has to go to overtime. Jaden Daniels last year made it to the NFC Championship game. What an amazing draft class. Not talking about the, you know, the fact that the Broncos, in their, you know, reclamation project under Sean Payton, are now playing for a shot at going to the Super Bowl. And Sean Payton can join the very small list of coaches that have taken two different teams to the Super Bowl. Instead of talking about any of that, we're talking about this terrible play and a couple of bad pass interferences. Yes. And the missed safety call and like.

[Connor Rogers]

Right.

[Matthew Berry]

And it just. And that part sucks. We now. But I don't know that there's more. We did a lot on the. On the Bills. The last two things I want to mention here quickly, on the on the Broncos, Pat Bryant leaves this game with a concussion. Troy Franklin leaves with a hamstring injury. So the Broncos already shorthanded at quarterback. Now Jared Stidham may be out there with just, you know, just a couple of guys. I know people are saying, like, the Mims touchdown, the ball seemed to be moving a little bit as well. Just tough. Like, you Just. You hate to see that. Okay, so the Patriots made the AFC championship. So I want to get into this here. So congratulations to the Patriots and Drake May. And so what I would like to say, you see some of the fantasy performances here. It was a bad game overall. Treveon Henderson, just a brutal game from him. Stroud, really tough game. We'll get into that in a second. No big fantasy superstars, maybe if you want to squint, you know, Kayshawn Booty had a nice game here. May did you know? Just enough to get you there. But. Okay, but let's talk about this very quick. So Dev McCourty can now. Can now talk to me. I will allow Dev McCourty to talk to me now that Drake May has made the AFC championship. And you're like, what are you talking about, Barry? All right, so anyway, we do this thing called the Football Night in America pod after every Sunday Night Football. It's, you know, it's. It's Maria Taylor, Jason Garrett, Dev McCourty, myself and Mike Florio. And so in week six, we were talking about Drake May. They had just beaten the Saints, and we were talking about this. And so this clip happened in week six of this season on the Football Night in America podcast. Stephen, roll the clip. There's an excitement. Drake May, the best quarterback from the 2024 class, Matthew Berry. Stop that. Stop that. Jaden Daniel. Stop that. Let me know when Drake May get to an NFC championship game or even an AFC championship game. He plays in New England. They only count Super Bowl. Yeah, okay, that's fair enough. All right, so that made the rounds. But last night, this is what I tweeted out as soon as the Patriots made the AFC Championship.

[Jay Williams]

Good night.

[Connor Rogers]

Good PR move.

[Matthew Berry]

I completely own it. Okay, this is me tweeting. Okay, mcourti, now you can talk to me. Laughing emoji. I still have faith in five, of course, but what a season by Drake May and the Patriots. Congrats on a well earned AFC Championship berth. So I completely own it, right? You know what I mean? Like, smart movement. This is what. By the way, I was having this conversation in Week 6. Patriots are 4 and 2 in Week 6. But they've lost to the Raiders at that point. They've lost to the Steelers. They've beaten the Dolphins and the Panthers. They had the big win against the Bills. Give them that. But anyway, my point is, is like Drake May, who was on my preseason love list. I'm merely saying, like, I don't know that we can after six weeks, because May was not great in his rookie year. I can't say that after six weeks, he's definitely better than Jayne Daniels. Okay, fine. But that's the clip. And so I immediately admit, right? Like, I have fun with the clip. I immediately post it out as soon as the game's over. I eat crow. I own it. Right? I post it on Instagram, threads, Facebook, Twitter, every social. Yes, everything is actually on threads. Yes, it's actually on threads. Wow.

[Connor Rogers]

I don't even have my login anymore.

[Matthew Berry]

And so. So anyway, so. So I do that. But the New England sports blogosphere.

[Connor Rogers]

Not a place you want to find yourself.

[Matthew Berry]

No, no. Well, God forbid they, like, check my. You know, doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. No, no. They take that clip from week six, and today, it's been going crazy, and I've been getting tagged like crazy. As, you know, Boston Forts fans, you know, a lot of very civil debate in terms of it. And so what drives me nuts is, like, I don't care that you guys want to crow that, you know, Drake May. You want to clown on me for that take. That's great. Listen, own it, right? I completely owned it. And credit to Drake May. But they don't. They don't check my Twitter. They all tag me, but they don't bother to check my Twitter feed. That, like, literally the thing you're asking me about. Hey, what about now, Matthew? You mean the thing I mentioned literally, like, eight hours ago? Yeah, it's. It's up there. And here's the other thing, because they're clearly big watchers of the football night in America pod. They take the week six clip and they're throwing it everywhere, but they don't show this clip. Take the Stephen, show the other clip. This is from week 18. Stafford and May. I wouldn't be upset if either one of them won, but I'm going with Drake May. I think he means more to his team.

[Connor Rogers]

Say that again.

[Jay Williams]

He means more to his team.

[Matthew Berry]

I think. I think player that means more to their team than Matthew Stafford. He threw 44 touchdown passes. He's unbelievable. He's been amazing. He's. He's 46.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, right.

[Matthew Berry]

Researcher comes in handy.

[Connor Rogers]

Led the league in passing.

[Jay Williams]

These are historic numbers he's putting up out there.

[Matthew Berry]

There's no question about it. But you're telling me you think the Rams are a worse team without Stafford than the Patriots are without Drake May. I just. I just think there are. There's more talent around Matthew Stafford on the Rams than there is around Drake May on the Patriots. That's right. Drake May's my mvp and I've been saying that consistently throughout this process. Yeah. No. And like Garrett's like, you got to be kidding me. But. But no. Does the Boston blogosphere take that? No. Where I'm sitting here defending you against, you know, I'm taking Drake May and everyone else is. Well, Devin McCourty obviously has Jake May, but like everyone else is like, oh, Matthew Stafford here. Yeah, it's tough. Like I guys, I don't turn on me like you already did.

[Connor Rogers]

You need to go on NBC Boston and I might and do like a.

[Matthew Berry]

Full, I might add a podium.

[Connor Rogers]

We're turning the bar into a podium.

[Matthew Berry]

Exactly like a full. Where you at? I got to go do something. I got to. I got to do some press in New England. Anyway, congratulations. This is the Patriots. They move on to the AFC championship against the Broncos and I think they will win. I'm picking them to win like I did against the Texans. Not everyone did that. Like I did against the Chargers. Not everyone did that either. I've been, I've been on this bandwagon for a while now.

[Connor Rogers]

All right, we're taking our first break. When we're back. Jay finally joins the show for Back to the Futures after this.

[Matthew Berry]

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[Connor Rogers]

Line free via monthly bill credits.

[Matthew Berry]

Credit stop if you cancel any lines. Qualifying credit required.

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[Connor Rogers]

Power.

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[Jay Williams]

First is Giannis over 29 and a half points the story of Milwaukee season is that with Giannis on the court, the Bucs net rating is second only to the Thunder. And when he's off the court, only the Wizards have a worse net rating. So individually, Giannis is as good as he's ever been. And the Hawks, who allow the fourth highest frequency of shots at the rim, should have no answer for his scoring. Second bet, taking CJ McCollum over 17 and a half points. CJ's only average 17 points per game on the dot in his first four games as a Hawk. That's mostly just because he's shooting 13% from three. His usage rate in Atlanta has been by far the highest on the team. I expect his shooting to regress today and for him to hit the over.

[Connor Rogers]

Jays plays Celebrate MLK Day on NBC and Peacock with a full day of basketball NBA action all day long starting in a few minutes at 1pm on NBC. And it's all streaming on Peacock. And we welcome back the man himself for Back to the Future as you were doing much more high profile work.

[Matthew Berry]

Thank you. Yeah, you were literally down the hall doing Jay's plays. Very clever. Did you come up with it yourself or was that a think tank? Did you guys workshop that name?

[Connor Rogers]

Did they tell you that's what they call it?

[Jay Williams]

No, I didn't. I didn't know that. J's plays. I like that. It's like Blue's Clues.

[Connor Rogers]

Very good.

[Matthew Berry]

Very similar, very similar.

[Jay Williams]

But no. Yeah, just using my versatility like Nick Emanwari moving around the formation. But yeah, let's get into these. These Back to the Futures plays. Sticking with the Seahawks, we're going to make one bet in the Super Bowl MVP market. I think it is Jackson Smith in Jigba who's 15 to 1. He was 15 to 1 a week ago. Yeah, his price didn't move even Though he won the football game. And I think that the inefficiency here, the thing that's wrong is that Sam Donald can't be plus 250 and Jackson Smith and Jigba 15 to 1. When Jackson, Smith and Jigba gets 45% of Sam Donald's yards.

[Matthew Berry]

That's right.

[Jay Williams]

Is saying that Donald is like a 70% chance to win MVP if the Seahawks win the Super bowl and JSN is only a 15% chance. I think they're like a coin flip against each other. And I understand that Ken Walker is more of a chance if Charbonnet is either hurt or not able to play, but jsn, who just had one of the greatest wide receiver seasons in NFL history, he can't be 15 to 1.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah. He's surprised that it seems like he was higher than Puka, too. Puka Nakua. I mean, lower. I mean, sorry, not higher, but lower.

[Jay Williams]

Yes. But the other one that I want your thoughts on. Connor, Jarrett Stidham. So The Broncos are 11 to 1 to win the Super Bowl. He's plus 2000. Now, I understand they have a good defense and they may win off the back of their defense, but if they're actually going to win the Super Bowl, I think Stidham has to be the driving force.

[Connor Rogers]

And there's no player in their offense that stands out.

[Jay Williams]

That's right.

[Connor Rogers]

Like when you look at Seattle and Darnold was really good this year, but JSN was great. Yeah. When you look at Denver and as you highlighted, Jay, these are long shots for a reason. You're not saying it's likely. You're saying it's the right long shot to play 20 to 1. It's that if Denver wins, like Nick Benito would have to have what, three sacks and a force fumble to even be. And he's awesome. What are the odds that Sir Tan gets votes?

[Jay Williams]

Yeah.

[Connor Rogers]

So I like where your head is at with the Stidham call.

[Jay Williams]

Yeah. And I think like Stidham is high variance, I think. And he's shown flashes where I remember he had a stuff of the Raiders against the Niners a few years ago where he was lights out in that game against an elite Niners defense. So look, I think it's going to go great. I think they're probably going to lose the Patriots. But Jarrett Stidham I think is the high variance play. Last one here. DraftKings has markets on like the hypothetical super bowl lines. Looking at these, if I was the back one, it'll be the Patriots plus three against the Rams and I think the the key reason why is that Patriots of Milton Williams back Christian Gonzalez healthy. I think this defense just goes up a tier particularly it's a run defense and also Matthew Stafford has been pretty shaky now for six weeks. He was not good last night Stafford and I think that the fact that McVay called the pass on third and 10 at the end that was kind of an indicator that he's not super comfortable with Matthew Stafford and how he's playing.

[Connor Rogers]

Yeah, I mean he hold last night.

[Matthew Berry]

Ramsey Patriots defense is peaking at the right time. I think to your point they're also getting healthier as well. Whereas it feels like the Rams defense like you know they got gifted a couple of things last night but like you can throw in the Rams. They have not they've been good against the run but they have not been great in the secondary.

[Jay Williams]

They had they had no answer for Bryce Young. Before we go to break, a few things while I was off camera. 1. I think Dune part 2 is actually better than any of the Star wars movies. I think that Lizan Al Gaib scene is better than anything that Star wars ever produced. 2 I was very happy but fair. Yeah, I was very happy to learn, Matthew, that you didn't burn your hand off in Chicago. Quite a near miss. Well, yes, with the gloves.

[Matthew Berry]

Thank you.

[Jay Williams]

And then three, the Brown and Cook play was definitely an interception because if the ball had hit the ground and just rolled away then it wouldn't have been a fumble. That's why it's an interception.

[Matthew Berry]

That's good stuff I get but if.

[Connor Rogers]

You after this.

[Matthew Berry]

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[Connor Rogers]

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[Matthew Berry]

Stop if you cancel any lines.

[Connor Rogers]

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[Matthew Berry]

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[Connor Rogers]

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[Matthew Berry]

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[Connor Rogers]

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[Matthew Berry]

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[Connor Rogers]

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[Connor Rogers]

Giraffe King Sportsbook is an official sports betting partner of the NFL and new customers can bet $5 and get $300 in bonus bets. If your beta wins, download the app and use promo code FFHH when you sign up. Giraffe King Sportsbook hey, the crowd that is yours. Last yours early line alert for conference championship weekend Jay, what do you have your eye on?

[Jay Williams]

You gotta take the Seahawks minus two and a half. Wouldn't be surprised if this closes minus three. Huge rest advantage for the Seahawks. Rams is the third week in a row going on the road. I don't think Matty Stafford likes the cold. I think he likes it out there. It's gonna be cold in Seattle on Sunday night. I think this defense is the best unit left in the playoffs and will define this game.

[Connor Rogers]

I'm going to take the under in that game. The Rams ran the ball 20 times in the fourth quarter in overtime. I think they're going to be stubborn with the run. They don't have to be efficient, but stubborn with the run. And 47 and a half points. It's a lot of points. I just don't think they're playing the style of offense that blows the doors off of teams like we saw in the regular season. But the total is still indicating that they are.

[Matthew Berry]

No, I get that. I'm taking the Patriots minus five and a half. That's right. You see, because I'm on the bandwagon. It happened for a while.

[Connor Rogers]

Buy it at 12 and a half.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah, exactly. Whatever you got to do. Yeah, exactly. I'm taking a ladder bet. Exactly. I think they kill him. Yeah. Give me the Patriots. Give me the Patriots to to cover and cover significantly. By the way, I have some video. We were in out Chicago. Out in Chicago. This is me and backup producer Pete.

[Connor Rogers]

Terrifying. This is it.

[Matthew Berry]

We're a tow. We're a tow. Yes. And so we. We like a bunch of colleagues. Yeah, that's what was on my surprise. But a bunch of colleagues were like, let's go for drinks. And then drinks led to more drinks, which led to more drinks. And this is like our third bar of the night. And next thing you know, it's late at night, and me and backup producer Pete just keeps going, me and Mama.

[Jay Williams]

How many people in the club are wearing a beanie?

[Connor Rogers]

None.

[Matthew Berry]

But I'll tell you why. Because everyone else in the club was.

[Connor Rogers]

Young, and they were just.

[Matthew Berry]

Yeah, exactly. I felt so old, I didn't even want to go there. But next thing you know, that's where the car. There's like 12 of us in the street, this group going. And I'm just like. And I look around, I'm like, good God, I feel so old. And so I wore my beanie so I didn't look as old as I was. All right. Anyway, we're back on Thursday for a preview of the championship game for Jay and Connor on Matthew. We'll see you Thursday. Peace out.