What do the Steelers do Now? Inside Mike Tomlin's Uncertain Future

Summary

Scoop City: Inside The NFL

Episode: "What do the Steelers do Now? Inside Mike Tomlin's Uncertain Future"

Date: December 1, 2025
Hosts: Dianna Russini, James Palmer, Chase Daniel

---

Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the fallout from NFL Week 13, spotlighting seismic playoff shifts, contender struggles, and especially the unraveling situation in Pittsburgh with Mike Tomlin’s uncertain future. The team provides expert analysis and insider context on the NFL’s hottest stories, including the playoff race, emerging teams, and why the Steelers' legendary head coach—and franchise—may be facing a crossroads.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

NFL Week 13: The Playoff Picture & Surprising Leaders

• Unexpected Conference Leaders:
  • Bears top the NFC at 9-3, Broncos lead AFC at 10-2.
  • Both teams are winning despite giving their fans “cardiac arrest” style fourth quarters.
  • Bears destroy Philly; Broncos survive overtime vs. Washington.

Who’s More Believable: Bears or Broncos?

(06:43)

• Chase Daniel: Leans Bears due to their run game and opportunistic defense, even with inconsistent Caleb Williams at QB.
  • “The more you think about it…he [Caleb Williams] wanted it to be like the Detroit Lions run game. And it’s just so smart…The quarterback raises his level of play just 20%...Chicago Bears fans should be excited.” (07:27)
• Diana Russini: Emphasizes momentum and how the Bears have changed perception.
  • “They’re no longer a team you doubt…There’s nothing boring about a run game that works in December.” (08:50)
• James Palmer: Makes the case for the Broncos, citing historical 10-2 records leading to Super Bowls and elite defense/special teams.
  • “Every time the Denver Broncos have been 10 and 2, they've gone to the Super Bowl…I think this is one of the best defenses in football.” (11:20)

---

Super Bowl Contenders Struggling: Chiefs, Eagles, Ravens

Chiefs: Are They Out or Can Mahomes Fix It?

(13:23)

• Chase Daniel: “The one thing I know about this team is that you have the quarterback I trust the most in the entire NFL…But this year, you finally have to get over these one-score games.”
• Diana Russini: “They’re on life support…They lose the tiebreakers to Buffalo, Jacksonville, Chargers, and the Broncos.” (15:26)

Quarterback Conversation: Who’s Playing the Best?

(16:08)

• Chase Daniel: “Dak [Prescott] …there’s no one better playing the position right now in the NFL other than Matthew Stafford.”
• James Palmer: Praises offensive line adjustments and gives special mention to Dak and Stafford for pre-snap awareness and playmaking.

Cowboys: Turning a Corner?

(17:31)

• Defense turnaround at trade deadline; Dak’s in the MVP conversation but must prove consistency.
  • “If Dak plays well and they win Thursday night, you will start hearing like Dak Prescott MVP stuff.” – Chase Daniel (19:54)
• Diana: “My only problem…they can beat the best teams, but they could also lose to the stinky teams.” (19:54)

---

Philadelphia Eagles: Locker Room Dismay and Play Calling Issues

(22:12–32:30)

• Diana Russini’s on-site reporting:

  • Fans’ negativity palpable even before the game; lack of answers in the locker room postgame.
  • “It was like nervous energy…if we're just negative, maybe they'll get so mad on the field that they'll start playing better.” (23:46)
  • Key player insight: locker room frustration isn’t aimed at OC Kevin Petullo specifically, but at systemic team malaise.
  • “Saquon says, ‘Forget the blame. Everyone’s gotta ask what they can do better.” (25:41)

• Chase Daniel: Pinpoints play-calling as a core issue.

  • “It’s very boring. It’s very in the gun as a quarterback.” (31:34)
  • Calls for more creativity and perhaps more under-center plays, adapting the scheme to players’ strengths.

• James Palmer: “You can still be creative…you don’t just run what the quarterback can run, you manipulate it as the OC.”

---

Ravens: Injuries, Run Game Woes, Derrick Henry’s Decline?

(33:00–35:06)

• James Palmer: Raises concern that Derrick Henry may have finally “lost a step” due to historic workload.
  • “Even just the smallest little step can change the way things operate.” (34:08)
• Diana Russini: “The last thing I was going to be worried about…the Ravens was the run game…Now it's a hard conversation to have because of what [Henry’s] done for the game.”
• Consensus: Red zone offense and injuries hamper the Ravens, whose season has taken a worrisome turn versus preseason expectations.

---

Steelers at a Crossroads: The Mike Tomlin Question

The Steel Curtain is Fraying

(37:06–43:32)

• Bills run for 249 yards; Steelers expensive defense gets “murdered.”
• Chase Daniel:
  • Says the Steelers have stretched this era too long, stuck in “fringy playoff team” territory.
  • “It just starts to show its face a little bit that you’ve extended it further than you thought…You gotta tear that place down. It’s a rebuild.”
  • “Mike Tomlin needs a Sean Payton moment, an Andy Reid moment…at a point where he needs a change.” (37:57)
• Diana Russini:
  • Notes more head coach-search conversations around Tomlin than ever before.
  • “He’d be at the top of every list…but I also wouldn’t be surprised if he stays.”

Mike Tomlin as Free Agent?

• Discusses fit with the Giants, job market realities, and Tomlin’s enduring “love of football”—but also his fatigue.

---

NFC West: Are the Rams Still Elite After Shocking Panthers Loss?

(43:38–46:35)

• James Palmer: Not panicking about Rams (“They’re fine…still had a chance despite Stafford’s bad day.”)
• Chase Daniel: Praises Panthers’ QB Bryce Young’s big throws and Dave Canales’ coaching.
  • “They’ve hit on their coach…The Panthers are building something.” (46:35)
• Diana Russini: Surprised at how quickly Canales has brought life to Carolina.

---

AFC South Chaos: Colts, Texans, Jags

(47:12–55:47)

• Colts: Once division favorite, now sliding; upcoming tough schedule may keep them out of playoffs.
• Texans:
  • Momentum, creative playcalling, C.J. Stroud empowered at the line; defense a playoff-caliber unit.
  • “If the offense can get 7 instead of 3, they’re dangerous.” – James Palmer (53:54)
• Jaguars: Quietly stacking wins, looming as a threat.

---

College Football: The Lane Kiffin/Coaching Carousel Debate

(59:00–68:41)

• Lane Kiffin leaves Ole Miss for LSU immediately after 11-1 season; not allowed to coach playoffs.
• Chase Daniel: Blames NCAA’s “Wild West” calendar and transfer portal chaos, not Kiffin:
  • “Do not blame Lane Kiffin…blame the NCAA and the structure.” (61:28)
  • “You're having free agency, coaching changes, and the draft all in the middle of the season.”
• James Palmer: “National signing day is in 48 hours, the portal is wild, there’s zero control.”
• Diana Russini: “Aren’t you better off having Lane Kiffin coach the playoffs—who does the NCAA help with this?” (65:01)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Chase Daniel, on the Steelers:
  “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over…and expecting different results. It’s been the same result. Fringy playoff team. That’s just not good enough for Steelers fans anymore.” (38:56)

• Diana Rossini, on the Eagles’ mood:
  “Inside, there was…nervous energy and almost like, if we’re just negative, maybe they'll get so mad on the field they'll start playing better.” (23:46)

• James Palmer, summarizing Tomlin’s crossroads:
  “He still has the love of football in him. But he’s tired.” (42:15)

• Chase Daniel, on college football chaos:
  “You’re having free agency, you’re having a coaching changes, you’re having the draft in the middle of the season…that’s the system in place.” (61:04)

---

Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• Week 13/Playoff implications: 02:23–06:43
• Bears/Broncos Deep Dive: 06:43–11:20
• Chiefs’ Crisis: 13:23–16:08
• Dak Prescott & Cowboys: 16:08–20:47
• Eagles Frustrations (Dianna’s reporting): 22:12–32:30
• Ravens, Derrick Henry segment: 33:00–35:06
• Steelers’ fate/Tomlin future: 37:06–43:32
• Rams/Panthers upset: 43:38–46:35
• AFC South chaos: 47:12–55:47
• Lane Kiffin/NCAA chaos: 59:00–68:41

---

Tone & Language

The discussion is sharp, insider-driven, conversational, and at times humorous—especially regarding fan reactions and Dianna’s on-site stories. No punches are pulled regarding controversial issues (Steelers’ stagnation, Eagles’ playcalling, NCAA dysfunction), but respect is maintained for individuals like Tomlin, Kiffin, and struggling teams.

---

For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

• This episode is a must for fans tracking the playoff race, Pittsburgh’s franchise crossroads, locker room dynamics among contenders, and the college coaching carousel’s fallout.
• You’ll get locker room reporting, schematic analysis, and context on coach/GM decision-making that mainstream coverage overlooks.
• Highly quotable, loaded with player/coach insights, and full of “insider buzz” you won’t hear elsewhere.

---

Transcript

[Verizon Announcer]

This holiday, Verizon is helping you bundle up incredible gifts and savings. You'll get the latest phone with a new line on MyPlan and a brand new smartwatch and tablet. No trade in needed even on our lowest price plan. That's two gifts for your family and one for you. Or two for you and one for someone else. Or three gifts for you and only you. Either way, you save big on three amazing gifts at Verizon, all on the best 5G network.

[Diana Rossini]

Visit Verizon today.

[Verizon Announcer]

Rankings based on rootmetric Truth score report dated 1 each 2025. Your results may vary. Service plan required for watch and tablet. Additional terms apply with no fees or.

[Capital One Announcer]

Minimums on check banking accounts. It's no wonder the Capital One bank guy is so passionate about banking with Capital One. If he were here, he wouldn't just tell you about no fees or minimums. He'd also talk about how most Capital One cafes are open seven days a week to assist with your banking needs. Yep, even on weekends, it's pretty much all he talks about in a good way. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See capitalone.com bank capital1na member FDIC.

[James Palmer]

Parle tu Francais? Hablas espanol Parl Italiano. If you've used Babbel, you would Babbel's conversation based technique teaches you useful words and phrases to get you speaking quickly about the things you actually talk about in the real world. With lessons handcrafted by over 200 language experts and voiced by real native speakers, Babbel is like having a private tutor in your pocket. Start speaking with Babbel today. Up to 55% off your Babel subscription right now at babel.com acast spelled B A B B E L.com acast rules and restrictions may apply.

[Diana Rossini]

You sound like me telling my family when they're like, are you crazy?

[Chase Daniel]

Well, you didn't want to work on Christmas. They don't want you to work on Christmas.

[James Palmer]

Oh, the. The.

[Diana Rossini]

The Italian Catholic guilt in this house since I told them is extra.

[James Palmer]

Whoa.

[Diana Rossini]

And it's both sides, which, well, you.

[Chase Daniel]

Got to get in good with Netflix now. Come on, they're gonna be running things here in a few years.

[James Palmer]

I.

[Diana Rossini]

Trust me, there is not a thing I could say to both sides of my family that would make them go, oh, that makes sense to them. It's how could you do that? You're a mother.

[James Palmer]

So welcome back to Scoop City on a Monday. I'm James Palmer. We have all the fallout from week 13. It was a huge week and it's leading into maybe even a bigger one with playoff implications in week 14. We'll get to all of that. Don't forget to like and subscribe. Smash that like button. That's what they say on the interwebs. We have a lot to get to. Chase, Daniel, Diana, Rossini and myself in this one. We're going to talk about the Rams. That loss to the Panthers. What did that mean for both teams? How about the bleeding the NFC and the AFC in the Broncos and the Bears? Who do we believe in more? We'll get to that. Also some contenders really struggling. Both teams from the super bowl of last year in both the Chiefs and the Eagles trying to find their way still. And the Ravens, who I think were my super bowl pick and they are struggling as well. Let's bring in Chase and Diana right now. Diana, I think you were. You and I were both Ravens at the start of the year, were we not? We were.

[Diana Rossini]

Yes. Oh, my gosh. It feels like so long ago that. That I had all this confidence and belief, and I actually even had it as of a couple weeks ago.

[Chase Daniel]

How do you feel now?

[James Palmer]

But I don't feel very good.

[Diana Rossini]

I. I don't know if this works and you guys tell me the rules. So, James, in season one of Scoop City, we did the same thing and I picked the Texans. Can I now go back to that pick?

[James Palmer]

Go back.

[Chase Daniel]

You're going to go back to the Texans?

[Diana Rossini]

Does it carry over?

[Chase Daniel]

No, absolutely not.

[James Palmer]

No, absolutely not. Chase says. Chase says. Absolutely not. Real quick, everybody. Thanksgiving weekend was. Was dynamite.

[Chase Daniel]

What we. Okay.

[Diana Rossini]

Yeah. I gotta say, probably one of the best holiday weekends I've had in a long time with my family. Why a lot of fighting, which is always entertaining. You know what the. The time together was really good. I felt like the spreading out of the football games. You know, four days of. Just made every day feel like it was the holiday. So it was like four days of Thanksgiving.

[Chase Daniel]

In my mind, it was less stressful to have all these games on Sunday. I like like three on, like four before. Yeah.

[Diana Rossini]

Like, you wake up, you're like, oh, we got some games today. You know, and then it just made. It made the time together better because you could just talk about football. But we did the whole. Thanksgiving's over. Christmas is here fully in our house. We did all of the decorations. And so we are Christmas. Christmas fied. Santa fied. The elf is here. All of it. Do you have an elf?

[Chase Daniel]

Wait, wait, wait. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. You do elf in the shelf yeah. No, you do not.

[Diana Rossini]

I do.

[Chase Daniel]

That is, like, the number one thing I tell parents never to do.

[Diana Rossini]

No, I agree.

[James Palmer]

Like, on the support groups I'm a part of, I tell all these parents to.

[Diana Rossini]

Not I, I agree. But Peter, that's our guy's name, and they now want to change it to Saquon. I, I. No, but it's funny that you say that, because my son just yells out AJ Brown randomly in our house, and I'm like, what are you. What are you talking about? And he's just A.J.

[James Palmer]

Brown. The Elf on the Shelf could be A.J.

[Chase Daniel]

Brown, who find him once in a while.

[Diana Rossini]

That's their new name. That's the. And, like, you can't change their name. You know, the way Philly fans want to change maybe their quarterback and maybe their play callers, depending on what day of the week it is, is the way my kids deal with Elf on the Shelf. But it works, though. So, look, I'm with you on the. I should have never done it. But there's nothing better than two screaming little toddlers. And then I go, peter's watching, and they stop. So it works.

[Chase Daniel]

Don't you run out of ideas.

[Diana Rossini]

I don't go crazy. I'm not like my sister who, like, you know, makes herself a candy cane and, like, puts the elf in her ear, like, all that weird stuff. I don't do that. They just. Pete just is in different places in my house. I don't really get creative. It's just. He's just there.

[James Palmer]

Okay. Just there. Got it. Okay, Pete. Well, listen to this, Pete. We have two teams atop the conferences in the NFC and the AFC that we completely predicted at the beginning of the season. You have the Bears leading the NFC. You have the Denver Broncos leading the AFC. Bears at 9, 3, Broncos at 10 and 2. Both these teams, guys love to give their fans pretty much cardiac arrest in the fourth quarter, but find a way to win. And we had the Bears just absolutely destroying the defending super bowl champs this weekend. And then we had the Broncos going to overtime against a backup quarterback. So what I asked both of you, and I'll start with you, Chase, out of these two, which one do you have more belief in? Maybe for a postseason run, maybe staying at that number one seed, but breaking down these two teams right now, sitting at the top, who do you have more belief in?

[Chase Daniel]

Yeah, this is difficult, but I'm going to go Bears. And I almost went Broncos because of their defense. The. The one thing that I think separates these two teams and the fact that they can Go on a run in the postseason. I don't trust the NFC conference at all. Like, I trust the AFC a lot more than I do the nfc, if that makes sense. Like, even the Rams loss, we'll get into all that. Here's the thing that separates these two, Broncos and Bears, though, in different conferences, the Bears have a freaking run game. And they have a defense as well. It's not as good as the Broncos defense, but it's really good at taking the football away. I don't know if there's anyone better in the conference and taking the football away.

[James Palmer]

So I like the fact.

[Chase Daniel]

Yeah. And they spent a ton of money, and when they did, and a ton of resources, the Bears did. Really solidifying the interior, three offensive linemen. And when you do that, the first thing that comes to my mind, because I'm a quarterback, it's like, oh, man, Caleb Williams, step up into the pocket. And it's sort of how Sean Payton built the Drew Brees Saints teams, like, hey, step up. And. But the more you think about it, it was because he wanted it to be like the Detroit Lions run game, and he wanted it to be like the Detroit Lions offensive line. And it's just so smart. And the thing about it is, is you have a number one overall picket quarterback, and I don't know if he could play any worse right now. It's not like he's playing, like, awful, right? He's getting in and out of sacks, and he's just missing open guys. He's dead last in qualifying quarterbacks in terms of completion percentage. It's like 57. He's dead last. And the Chicago Bears are the number one seeds. So before I let Diana shop, if. If I have this run game and I have this opportunistic defense and I have not played well at quarterback, think about it. The quarterback raises his level of play just 20% over the next six, seven, eight weeks. Like, that's what I think Chicago Bears fans should be excited about.

[Diana Rossini]

And I think the. The magic touch on all of this is that they're finding ways to win. They've got this momentum right, where you no longer doubt them. You know how some teams you watch and you're like, they're gonna lose this thing. They're on the other side of it. And I do think it's such a basic football fundamental terminology that we use this time of year of the run game works. But when you look around the league, Chicago, Buffalo, Carolina, Miami, Seattle, the Chargers, even when the run game is working and they lean on It. They're always coming up on top. Right. Because the passing game has been figured out by a lot of these defenses, especially this time of year. Also, obviously, weather is part of this. Not for every team, especially the teams that play indoors, but I think that is a big factor. And it was so evident that the run game was too much for what I think to be a very good Eagles defense. And so. So for me, look, the Bears hold the number one seed in the NFC. The last time they had this was in 2006.

[Chase Daniel]

Crazy to say.

[Diana Rossini]

Johnson, their head coach, was a backup quarterback in college time. Right. They. They went on to the super bowl that year. So it's been that long. Which I had to Google that a few times to make sure that was real, because that just seemed.

[Chase Daniel]

I was a sophomore in college.

[Diana Rossini]

2006. That's crazy. So here they are. And not only did they win by just playing really good defense, having a strong run game against the Eagles, they kicked their butts.

[Chase Daniel]

They pushed them around. Yes.

[Diana Rossini]

Them around. The link at home in front of a crowd that. That was pissed. Uh, well, I know we're going to talk about the Eagles in a little, but I think, you know, we talk about statement games. This told me a lot more about the Chicago Bears and the fact that they were able to be the only game in town in Philadelphia in a hard environment with a team that's trying to get back on track and pants them and.

[James Palmer]

Oh, pants them. What a term. I love it.

[Diana Rossini]

Well, pants them. Ben Johnson took his shirt off, so either way, I'm glad. I'm glad he was the shirt.

[Chase Daniel]

He's sort of yoked up, man. Yeah.

[Diana Rossini]

Usually coaches are so stressed out they're fat. Right. Because they. They're stress eaters. Like, he must be like a salah. Like, they. Their stress makes them work out more.

[James Palmer]

He's a stress elliptical writer.

[Chase Daniel]

Yeah.

[Diana Rossini]

Yeah. Just. He's probably on one of those crazy schedules.

[James Palmer]

Two backs, too. Which. Which you're not even doing with one back. Doesn't matter which guy you put in there. Right now. They're running the football. I'll go with the Denver Broncos because you know what, guys? Every time the Denver Broncos have been 10 and two, they've gone to the Super Bowl. And I look at what this team has. I think this is one of the best defenses in football. I think this is one of special teams units in football, which always is important in December in the postseason. Darren Rizzi's been doing an outstanding job with that group. I think their situational coaching has Been outstanding, which you would expect nothing less from Sean Payton and his group. And then the one thing that jumped out at me in this game that they won over Washington was are we going to start seeing Evan Ingram, the joker, as we all were told when they signed him, start to emerge? I had a conversation with Evan a few weeks back where he was like, it's just not meshing for me within this offense. I'm trying to find my way. I'm just having a little bit of time to figure this out. Well, he led the team in targets. He had nine targets. He had really, that, that, that, that kind of juke in the middle of the field there. Chase, where he was left in all that space against, against Bobby Wagner, who goes 41 yards to kind of help it out. If that comes a part of their offense, they could take a step. I'm still a little nervous with Bo Nix and the way they've simplified things for him and the way it's been up and down, but he seems to make plays in big moments in the lack of run game. That's the issue compared to the Bears. Yeah, no jk. If they had JK Dobbins right now, it'd be a RJ Harvey. I remember having conversations with people back in training camp, always wanting Chase to bounce things out outside. That's what he did in college.

[Chase Daniel]

Speed, speed, speed.

[James Palmer]

Staying between the tackles has been an issue for him, but if they can do that. I still like a lot of the things that the Broncos have. These are the guys that have surprises, whether it's Chicago, whether it's Denver, the contenders, the teams that were in the super bowl last year. Well, it's the Chiefs, whether it's the Eagles and then the Ravens, as we talked about. Let's go right down the list here and start with the Kansas City Chiefs. Chase, I know after you watch that game against the Dallas Cowboys and they lose 30, you now know that this is a win every week. The rest of the way out, more or less have to do it. It's against all AFC teams. What's your pep talk to all those people you know and love there in Kansas City to be able to do that?

[Chase Daniel]

Yeah, look, I, I thought they were going to pull it off for. For whatever reason. I thought they were going to pull it off on Thanksgiving in front of 40, 50 million people, whatever it was that watched it. And the Chief's backs are up against the wall and it's a such a weird thing to say because we' during Patrick Mahomes career at all because the worst he's done is reach the AFC championship game in every single year that he's done it. Have teams caught up, have team. Look, the one thing that I know about this team is that you have the quarterback I trust the most in the entire NFL. You have to keep it close. And you have to finally find a way this year to get over these one score games. Because I think they're one in six or like there's something crazy going on in these one score games. And I don't know if it's your team, the Kansas City Chiefs, not having that attention to detail like we used to have last year or if it's just a heightened awareness by other teams when it's on the line to just do this one thing a little bit better than the Chiefs have done. So it's, you said it. It's a one game season. Like if you lose to the Texans, like put a fork in you, you're done. But I'm never going to give up hope. I'm always going to ride with you because I know that you have one of the best, if not the best coaches in the NFL. You have one of. No, no, not one of you have the best quarterback in the NFL. And you have to figure out a way this year to prove everyone else wrong. Because I'm telling you, there's a lot of people that have been written off the Kansas City Chiefs. And so it's literally. Forget about all the outside noise. Coach Reed will always say, hey, put on the horse. BL Put on the blinders right here. It's a one game season and this is against the Texans team, which is, they're, they're playing unbelievable right now. Like the defensive side of the football. CJ Is starting to come on. So it's not going to be easy. So if you can beat a really good team in the Texans, maybe some outside belief in you, but it's, it's all that matters is one game.

[Diana Rossini]

Yeah. They're number 10 in their own conference. They lose the tiebreakers to Buffalo, Jacksonville Chargers and the Broncos.

[Chase Daniel]

Yeah, right.

[Diana Rossini]

They're on life support. You don't want to hear it, but they are.

[Chase Daniel]

They are.

[Diana Rossini]

This is going to be.

[Chase Daniel]

They're not out of it yet.

[James Palmer]

One game season.

[Diana Rossini]

Next Monday when we do this show, this is going to be, this will be the lead thing we talk about because this is going to tell us a lot about who this chief's team is. I still can't figure out if this is just lack of big plays that they can't make. Is this the offensive line? Chase, you just say one thing, you know, and I agree with you. And Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback in football, but who is playing the quarterback position right now? The best in football, like right December 1st. Who's the best quarterback in your opinion?

[Chase Daniel]

Dak.

[Diana Rossini]

Dak. Yeah, that's who I was thinking when you said it.

[Chase Daniel]

You and Dak James.

[James Palmer]

Those are. No, those are the two. Right now it's Matthew Stafford still, even after this blip, and we'll get to it a little bit, and Dak Prescott. I think those are the two I would mention. Diana and Chase, you both mentioned that offensive line. There's three injuries on that offensive line we're going to monitor throughout the course of this week. You have Trey Smith with the ankle. You have, I think Juwan Du Taylor's deal with an elbow and then the wrist for their left tackle. And Josh Simmons, the rookie. Oh yeah, you have the Texans coming in with that defensive front. That's going to be something we're really going to focus on the rest of their season. By the way, Texans, Chargers, Titans, Broncos, Raiders, Texans, Chargers and Broncos all top 5, roughly top 10 in sacks this year. So that offensive line, really, I have my focus on them. You mentioned Dak Prescott right now. Chase, let's go to those Cowboys. They took down the Chiefs. They're six and five. John Machado, by the way, who covers the Cowboys brilliantly for us, laughed in my face a couple weeks ago or maybe a week ago when I said, hey, they could go three and O in this, in this 12 day stretch and he was like, I bet they win one. Well guess what, they're two and oh, and it looks very plausible they can beat this Lions team on Thursday with the way that they're playing. So Jon, I want receipts. I'm bringing them right now. What do you see from Dak and what he's able to do and why this offense is working on another level with George Pickens and Javante Williams and CD Lamb and Ferguson. It goes on and on.

[Chase Daniel]

Yeah, look, I the story of the season, I mean it's been Dak Prescott for the Cowboys. However, Dax been playing like this from week one. I think the, the real story is a turnaround defensively at the trade deadline. What they're able to do because now they're able to be in games and when they're in games, Dak Prescott has been absolute nails. And it's, it's, we said this early, I think early in September and I'm going to say it again. There's no one better playing the position of quarterback right now in the NFL other than Matthew Stafford. And I don't know if there's more being asked of Dak pre snap out of anyone. And I think that's where he's winning a lot of these battles and a lot of these games is he's seeing stuff, changing plays, maybe changing it again based on. And you saw this so many times against the Chiefs and it just looked like straight man to man coverage. And you know how Spags is. He's. He's spinning safeties, he's blitzing corners, he's doing all this stuff. I mean, there's a couple plays against the Chiefs, which I think is really top, top 10 defense that, that stand out. And there's no, there's no more play, I think than this, than this touchdown when they needed it the most. You're going to find the running back in the flat. And I think the biggest thing too is like he has George Pickens wide open on a corner, but he, he's able to scramble around. He's able to, to just do this like Houdini thing where he just doesn't really get sacked. He just finds ways to get people open. He missed the read right there and he still was able to just get on to that next play. And I think this is the microcosm of the entire game, really, but also the entire season because look, I don't know and I don't think Dak Prescott will win mvp. Right. If they go undefeated, maybe. And he's the reason why they do it the rest of the way. But it's always, he's always in that conversation. It's always in that close conversation. Everyone's like, well, you know, he hasn't done anything in the postseason he hasn't done. Okay, so like when he does the invitations of people, Cowboys team was on freaking life support and now they're one of the hottest teams in the league. If they can win Thursday night. I do think if Dak plays well and they win Thursday night, you will start hearing like Dak Prescott MVP stuff. Like it will be out there along with Stafford, along with Drake May. And it's just, it's cool to see the whole progression and how this Cowboys team has really taken. Taken off.

[Diana Rossini]

Yeah, I do like that point that you make about the transformation. Right. We started this whole year being like, what is wrong with your defense? I mean, this is a wreck. I remember talking to Jerry Jones at the owner's meeting like what are you gonna do here? It has to get better. And they knew it. They knew it wasn't good enough, and they kept leaning on the fundamentals and. And backing it. Eber Fl and. And. And now you're seeing it. It come together. My only problem with it, Chase, is I'm still at a point where I feel like the Cowboys are like the Panthers. They can beat the best teams, but they could also lose to the stinky teams. You know, like, they haven't proven to me that they can be consistent against the good and the bad yet. So, look, I think, obviously, like you said, Thursday is. Is huge for them. It's huge for the Lions as well. But I want to start feeling better about them. Collectively, I'm all in on Dak with you. Like, let's go. But I just don't know if collectively.

[Chase Daniel]

When you get to a certain place. Because that's a really good point. When you get to a certain place as a team and your backs against the wall and you just. You have to go out there and you have to compete and you have to win. There's something about a psyche of a team like, hey, no one picked us to beat the Eagles. No one picked us to beat the Chiefs back to back those super bowl teams, right? And so when you do that, it gives you a certain amount of confidence, like, hey, if we can stay into games, we just up our level of play. And look, they're not perfect by any means, but it's just something about that level of psyche in the locker room where you get on this run real quick. Like we were with the. The Saints in 2011. I think we were 3 and 3 or maybe 4 and 3, and we won like 10 in a row, and we just did. And the offense started going and the defense started playing and we started feeding off each other. I'm not saying this is what the Dallas Cowboys team is going to do, but, man, we both thought going into that Philly game and going to that Chiefs game, I was like, man, there's no way. There's just no way. And John, really good teams.

[James Palmer]

Yeah, well, listen, you mentioned rattling off some wins here. They. First they have to beat this Lions team, which, due to our playoff odometer, that's what I call it, a different name. Every time they beat the Lions, they get up to a 42% chance of making the postseason. They lose, they're down to a 9% chance. But these are all winnable to finish. Finish the season at the Lions, Vikings, Chargers, Commanders, Giants. That's the Rest of their season.

[Chase Daniel]

Yeah, I mean, this is a big, big.

[James Palmer]

This is a big game. And it's set up. Set up pretty well. It's been fun watching them move George Pickens around. He was sitting on the boundary whole first part of the season, Chase. And now that are moving them around, it's getting even more complicated for defenses to handle all of this talent. The Philadelphia Eagles. Diana, you were in a very miserable Lincoln Financial Field in South Philadelphia over the holiday weekend. It was. It was a place a lot of people wanted to be before kickoff. And then. I'm not sure how many left early. I'm not sure if you. You stayed till the end. I know you did because you spent some time in those locker rooms.

[Diana Rossini]

Sometimes at their jobs, you have to stay all the way through. So I had to. But, yes, I was tempted. I did a little bit of a hybrid game where I sat in the stands for a little bit, and then I was up in the press box. I kind of was jumping around just to get all the different perspectives. But just to take you through my day, just the scene, like the tailgate, it's like everyone in that city was attending that game. It was packed. I had a lot of really nice Philly people boo me to my face. Like, straight up double finger boo. And we would, like, laugh. It would be great. And. And obviously there's. Everyone is just so tense in Philadelphia right now about their football team. And this was even before the game, so you can only imagine what it was like leaving the game. So look inside. There was a. A mix of. It was like nervous energy and almost like a thought, like, if. If we're just negative, maybe they'll get so mad on the field that they'll start playing better.

[James Palmer]

Negative.

[Diana Rossini]

Right? Like, let's just boo them. And because the booze started early, I mean, the chance, the. The crowd yelling at Jeffrey Laurie's suite. Like, there was so much going on in terms of just action in the stands from. Because everyone is so sick of it. It's been so inconsistent. We'll call it the boring offense. Right. Which is kind of what the reputation is right now. It's not working, and everybody knows it, and everyone sees it and you feel it, and you don't even need to know football that well to watch the Philadelphia Eagles and go, this ain't it. This is not it. And I was able to talk to some of the players in the locker room after the game, and it definitely feels a bit like old hat. Like they're just. They're almost like used to the way this feels right now, that they don't have answers. And that was my biggest takeaway from talking to a lot of the main players on this team, that nobody knows what it is. It's almost like everyone's kind of blaming someone or something else because they're just so unsure of what it is. Right? Like, you have someone like A.J. brown who, you know, had a good game, right? He had two touchdowns, and he's sitting in his locker. He's miserable, right? Because it's not good. Devonte Smith, miserable. And when I say miserable, I don't mean, like, sitting at their locker with a towel around the head of. They just look like they can't figure it out.

[Chase Daniel]

They don't have answers.

[Diana Rossini]

They don't know what to do. That's what is. They don't have answers. And I'm talking both sides of the ball. I mean, my. I. I'll say, like, my opening line in every conversation was, what's wrong with you?

[Chase Daniel]

You know, Great opening line. Yeah. Waiting for someone to open up.

[Diana Rossini]

I was just sick of dancing around it. Like, I just. I didn't want to do the whole.

[Chase Daniel]

Like, people appreciate that, though.

[Diana Rossini]

Just like, whatever I think it is, right? And everyone just had a lot of different thoughts as to what was going on. And look, my favorite takeaway from it was probably from Saquon, where he. He was so beyond the blame. He's so over the blame. Like, he's like, forget the Kevin. It's not Kevin Petullo's fault. It's not Jalen's fault. It's not our O line's fault. It's not my fault. Like, he actually didn't say my fault, but I was the one who was like, it's not you. He's healthy. He's just not feeling like he's found his groove yet. His point was everyone's just got to start taking the blame themselves. Like, we got. We got to stop thinking it's something else. And just everyone take two seconds to be like, what can I do better? What can I do better? And maybe that can help this Eagles team. Now, I can tell you from talking to people around the league, they think they're going to need more than that. They're going to need some scheming. They're going to need some change in their play calling, some things to figure out. So defenses that they face don't know what they're going to do, because right now, it's just too obvious.

[James Palmer]

Diana, let me ask you that about that real quick. When Saquon says, I haven't really found my groove, I haven't really figured it. And he said the other week, I'm in a funky. Are we Just to me, that jumps out going, like, why? Like you were with these. You returned 10 of 11 starters on offense. Like, it's the same group. It's relatively the same offense. What. What does he mean when he hasn't found he's a. It's not like he's a young running back. I mean, what.

[Diana Rossini]

The O line protected really well last year, and even at the start of this season. Right. They moved people around. They were able to do some things that. That they want to do the way Philly wants to run the offense. I think with some of those injuries, them getting older, I think. I think that's certainly part of it. I just think that they have to make some modifications to get Saquon going. And I think he knows that he's not hurt like that. That. That's always, like. You always think players lie because they don't want to admit that they're hurt. He's not. And I don't think he's lying to me.

[James Palmer]

No, you never.

[Diana Rossini]

Right?

[James Palmer]

You never would. No.

[Diana Rossini]

I just think that they're all frustrated. They all have their own demons that they're dealing with, with their own personal gain. But I will tell you this. Listening to Philadelphia sports talk radio and listening to fans after the game and the fire, Kevin Patullo, I didn't get that sense in the locker room from the players. Like, nobody was saying to me, this is Kevin Patullo. And look, maybe. Maybe they're doing that because they're protecting their coach and they just don't want to throw him under the bus. I'm not sure. I can just tell you I did not walk away going, this is Kevin Patullo's fault. Or at least that this is what the team thinks. We'll see what changes, what modifications they make. But for now, you heard Nick Sirianni. He's sticking with them.

[James Palmer]

There it is. Well, listen, I have to bring this up in our production meeting before this show started.

[Chase Daniel]

I'm glad you did, because I was going to.

[James Palmer]

Yeah, I got you, Chase. I got your back. Because Chase's pockets, his cell phone do Apple pay is a little bit. A little bit more full right now because. Because he called it. He called it two months ago, and he said, Diana, I believe I was the one who said it. Diana said she was the one who said it. And Jeremy brought some receipts. Mac, roll this it's way too early.

[Chase Daniel]

To say this, but it just. It. It looks like. Remember that they were barely winning games or they were finding ways to win, and we were like, oh, man, this.

[Diana Rossini]

Is with Brian Johnson. This is two years.

[James Palmer]

This is two years ago. That's why there play callers mixed in here, guys. Yes.

[Chase Daniel]

Yeah, it's still Jalen hurts. But that was two years ago. Remember how we were like, oh, man. Like, okay, they're. They're finding ways to win. Exactly what you just said. And they're. And they're good. And then they started really struggling down the stretch as teams figured them out. I don't think that's going to happen this year, but I do feel the start of the game and the start of this year, even though they're finding ways to win, they haven't been dominant. And I like that they're finding ways to win. I'm just saying, like, that's what I'm going to keep my eye on. The next few weeks is like, two years ago. Keeping my eye on it is correct.

[James Palmer]

Oh, man.

[Diana Rossini]

Cut my hair again.

[Chase Daniel]

Should I put my hat on backwards?

[James Palmer]

Is it the same hat? No, it's not good.

[Chase Daniel]

So just quick. Like, it feels like that. In. In. To Diane's point, you're like, what's changing? What something has to change. Like. Like, they have what we thought, James, and they have what we thought was the best roster in the NFL. Yeah. Like, top to bottom.

[Diana Rossini]

Don't you feel. Chase, don't you think we could stop right now and be like, okay, let's blame the O line, and we can rip through the O line. Then we can be like, all right, let's blame Jalen. Then we can rip through Jalen.

[Chase Daniel]

What's the one thing that's changed? Hold on. What's the one thing that's changed?

[James Palmer]

Just.

[Chase Daniel]

Just throwing this out there.

[James Palmer]

Yeah.

[Chase Daniel]

Thank you. And everyone, really, the people on my old show, I was. I kept saying this about Petulo. Petulo. How do you say it? Petulo.

[Diana Rossini]

What is everyone struggling with his name? Kevin?

[Chase Daniel]

It's hard to say it.

[Verizon Announcer]

No, it's not.

[Diana Rossini]

Everyone messes it up. It's so funny.

[James Palmer]

Anywho, if it ends in a Val.

[Chase Daniel]

Diane, he mentioned when Kellen got the job and I had mentioned, and I got so much blowback. Oh, it's Jalen hurts. It's Saquon. Anyone. Anyone can call that offense it. Can anyone. What's the one thing that has changed? You said it. I didn't say it. And. And so you have to understand who your quarterback is at such an extremely level in what he does and what he doesn't do. The players are pretty much the same. The defense is pretty much the same, the defensive coordinator is the same, the head coach is the same. What's the one thing that is not. And I'm not saying he should, but it's the oc. I'll just leave it at that.

[James Palmer]

No.

[Diana Rossini]

So you're.

[James Palmer]

You.

[Diana Rossini]

You think the play calling has been poor. You want to see better play calling.

[Chase Daniel]

It's very boring.

[Diana Rossini]

Okay?

[Chase Daniel]

It's very. It's very. It's very in the gun as a quarterback.

[Diana Rossini]

No, it is. And what if the play caller sitting with the quarterback and the quarterback says, I don't want to do this, this, this, this, and this, and the OC is like, well, I got to call the plays that the quarterback is comfortable running.

[Chase Daniel]

Yeah. Well, how. How's that gotten you? If that's the case? How's that gotten you? At some point you have to say, hey, I'm the coach, you're the player. We want to have this collaboration together.

[James Palmer]

We have.

[Chase Daniel]

There's something has to change. I know Jalen doesn't like being under center. At least what I think it's not. Put him more understand or get the play action shots. You have to. At some point you got to go hard, stop and just flip it on its head and like, say, hey, we're going to run the ball 45 times, I don't care. And we're going to have to win with our defense and we're going to have to do this and we're going to have to do that and just. It's not working.

[James Palmer]

It's not working. I do remember talking to people in that building last year when everybody, remember when Kellen Moore came in, everybody said, okay, here's a guy from the outside. After the Brian Johnson thing didn't work, why does the offense look relatively similar? Chase. And essentially I was told, well, he's running what the quarterback can run, but at the same time, you can still be creative in how you do it and manipulated how you do it and do all the different things that you can as the offensive coordinator, to work within the parameters of the personnel you have. And I think Kellen Moore, after you talk to people after the season, did a very, very good job with that in managing how the offense is structured and run with the talents and the strengths and the weaknesses of the people that are operating within that. I wanted to get to the Ravens. I know we've been chatting a lot. I just wanted to mention this is another team that we're kind of going, oh my gosh, this was Diana and I's pick at the start of the season. One of the also best rosters in football and we haven't seen them playing the way they're playing. Chase and I broke down a lot of what has gone wrong with Lamar Jackson and the injuries and people really not even respecting right. Chase. We did that last week of the run and. And the way it's operating with the multiple injuries he's dealing with. The other thing that I heard kind of making some calls this weekend, that this. It's like, it's like you never wanted to hear this because you never thought it would happen. Has Derrick Henry finally like lost a little bit of a step? I know he's. I told you before, I think he's Thanos. I think he's invincible. I think he is just unstoppable. But the guy has 2,550, 52 carries. That's 24th all time. I went looked at a list. The next active player is Joe Mixon down at 55th. Like he is in rare territory right now among running backs that are in the NFL and this is one of the greatest players of all time. But I was kind of told at his size and the way he plays, even just the smallest little step can change the way things operate. And I think that's a little bit part of the red zone struggles that have been something with the Ravens and Lamar not being able to move the way he usually can with the way they operate in the red zone. It's just been fascinating to see. I. I never wanted to bring it up. Maybe I shouldn't have. I feel terrible saying it, but I watch him go for it. I hope he does.

[Diana Rossini]

This is a t. The last thing I was going to be worried about when it came to the Ravens was the run game. Right. It was the defense we were flipping out about and now they went back to Ravens ball here.

[James Palmer]

Defense was all right.

[Diana Rossini]

They've got a good defense which, you know, like they've improved. Look, I. It's a hard conversation to have because of what he's done for the game and just how good he is. And I think we both can close our eyes and see him ripping off a run, you know, in the playoffs. I still think he has it. I just don't think it's just the same version of Derrick Henry that totally.

[James Palmer]

And you'll still see the flashes and you'll still see the 100 yard games and they'll still happen. But the what's made him better than anybody is the consistency at that level has been unbelievable. And I think that's the thing you look at and I mentioned the Ravens because we're going to go to break here because the Ravens play the Steelers at the top of that division right there. Those two teams for the division. Next week we'll talk about Steel Curtain and what could be changing in Pittsburgh next on Scoop City.

[Verizon Announcer]

This holiday Verizon is helping you bundle up incredible gifts and savings. You'll get the latest phone with a new line on my plan and a brand new smartwatch and tablet. No trade in needed even on our lowest price plan. That's two gifts for your family and one for you or two for you and one for someone else or three gifts for you and only you. Either way, you save big on three amazing gifts at Verizon, all on the best 5G network.

[Diana Rossini]

Visit Verizon today.

[Verizon Announcer]

Rankings based on rootmetric Truth score report dated 1 each 2025. Your results may vary. Service plan required for watch and tablet. Additional terms apply.

[Diana Rossini]

Hear that? It's holiday cheer arriving at Ulta Beauty with gifts for everyone on your list. Treat them to fan favorite gift sets from Charlotte, Tilbury and Peach and Lily. Go all out with timeless fragrances from.

[Verizon Announcer]

Ysl, Ariana Grande and Carolina Herrera and.

[Diana Rossini]

You can never go wrong with an Ulta Beauty gift card. Head to Ulta Beauty for gifts that.

[Verizon Announcer]

Make the holidays brighter and even more beautiful.

[Diana Rossini]

Ulta Beauty gifting happens here. Ladies, stop what you're doing. Democracy clothing's 40% off Cyber Monday sale is live and the jeans women call life changing are going fast. Our best selling AB solution Fit technology smooths, lifts and fits you perfectly. They feel like leggings and you'll look.

[James Palmer]

Like a million bucks.

[Diana Rossini]

Sizes 0 to 24, petite and tall. Best jeans, Best price free shipping.

[Verizon Announcer]

No code needed.

[Diana Rossini]

Don't wait. Get the jeans. Women swear by for 40% [e-mail].

[James Palmer]

Welcome back to Scoop City on a Monday. James Palmer, Diana Rossini, Chase, Daniel with you and I mentioned it. The picture Pittsburgh Steelers people. It was a brutal one 26 to 7. The Bills rushed for 249 yards. It felt like they were running exactly the same play just to opposite sides, back and forth and they just kind of just murdered the most expensive defense that is out there right now in the NFL. We it looked like a one handed Aaron Rodgers was a shell of himself that we're used to seeing through the course of his career Chase is. Is there a. A vibe? Have you ever been around it to where you. You tried to keep the band together maybe just a little too long, and a lot of these guys getting extended, and it's like, you know, there's talent. There are so talent. We're just talking about Derrick Henry, but, like, it. It just starts to show its face a little bit that you've kind of just extended it further than you thought.

[Chase Daniel]

Yeah, I mean, I think so, and I think that's sort of probably what's happening right here with the Steelers. And it just. It's so hard to question Mike Tomlin and. And just because he's been so good for so long, and we've talked about this time and time again. I feel like at the last two years, it's like, I truly believe, like, Tomlin is such a good coach, but he's. He's sort of at the point in his career where he needs a change. He needs a Sean Payton moment, he needs a Andy Reid moment, and it's hard for the Steelers to let go. But you got to tear that place down, man. Like, you. You like. And I say that, and it's. It's hard to understand and say that, but they're just. It's. It's old. And the. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting different results. It's been the same result. You've been like a fringy playoff team. Get in. First round exit, fringy playoff team. Get in. Excellent.

[Diana Rossini]

It.

[Chase Daniel]

And that's just not good enough for Steelers fans anymore. Like. Like, I get what Rogers is doing, and it's great. And his time's coming up. Do they want to resign them? I don't know. I. That's for you guys to figure. I do think, though, like, if they really want to turn this whole thing around, if they really want to, like, start on a rebuild, because it is. It's not a revamp in Pittsburgh. It's a rebuild. I truly believe this. If they want to get to where they're going, and the AFC north is always really difficult, they got to get a quarterback. They got to get a franchise franchise quarterback. They got a hit on a franchise quarterback. It might not be this year, but the next year, they got a hit on a quarterback that they love and trust. And here's the thing. Why haven't they been able to do that? Well, they haven't drafted well, obviously, I don't think that Kenny Pickett was the answer. And here's the Thing, though, you're always in that middle to upper tier of drafting because you've won nine games and you're drafting like, 18, 19, 19, 20. And that's never enough to get to the front of the draft. And I think that's just sort of the vicious cycle they're sort of stuck in. Like, no one expects them to go win Super Bowls. No one expects to do all this stuff. And respectfully, like, I. I do think, like, Mike Tomlin needs. Needs a reset, and I do think this organization needs a new quarterback. Until you have those things, I just don't know if you're going to be expecting in the next five years for the Pittsburgh Steelers to be a Super bowl champion.

[James Palmer]

Just saying.

[Diana Rossini]

I feel like we can run back a lot of what you just said for the last few years. Right. We get to this point every year, and it's in December where we start having conversations about what is the future in Pittsburgh? Do they need a reset? Do they need a change? Do they need a new quarterback? Ever since Ben Roethlisberger, it's been in this space. And I will say, I think from around the league, not in Pittsburgh, not in their building, but outside. I think this is the season where a lot of people are wondering what Tomlin's gonna do next. Could this be one of those situations where they have a conversation, he sits with ownership, and they decide together that moving on is the best for both of them? But from all the years where this becomes a topic, because it just. It always does, I said I've heard from more around football this year about the future of Mike Tomlin than I ever have before. And when I say that, I mean, when you're talking to people who are planning on hiring coaches, when you're talking to other coaches looking for head coaching jobs, everyone always uses Tom. And as. As maybe an option in there. He's like, on the list now.

[Chase Daniel]

He'd be number one on every person.

[Diana Rossini]

I don't know that. And look, I think a lot of people believe that, that. That Mike Tomlin will be. Get snatched up the second he gets fired. And. And yes, it's easy to see that it doesn't always work out like that.

[Chase Daniel]

That.

[Diana Rossini]

Remember when Mike Brable got fired? Oh, it'll be two. Say he won't. He won't even walk out of that room. He spent a year in Cleveland, like, doing. I don't even know what that was. Right.

[James Palmer]

And I think he had nine jobs.

[Diana Rossini]

He did. He had, like, all the. And they, like, they loved him there. But and look, it worked out. He's in the place that he should be, so we'll see. And, and one thing that I, which sticks in my mind from my interactions with Mike Tomlinson, he still has the love of football in him. That is without a doubt.

[Chase Daniel]

Oh, yeah.

[Diana Rossini]

But he's tired.

[Chase Daniel]

Maybe he needs a reset year like Bravel.

[James Palmer]

Maybe he's a reset.

[Diana Rossini]

There is definitely something to him where you're like, man, you've been doing this a long time, you know, So I don't think Pittsburgh, like, I don't think the reaction would be horrendous if, if he decided at the end of the year that he just. That he was good.

[James Palmer]

You know, the Giants jump at that. Diana, do the Giants jump at Mike. Mike Thomas?

[Diana Rossini]

Oh, yeah. I could definitely see the New York Gian finds having interest in Mike Tomlin. I think from what they're looking for in a candidate, he. He checks off a lot of those boxes, right?

[Chase Daniel]

Heck, what is ocb though, with dart?

[James Palmer]

That's.

[Chase Daniel]

You got to build everything around dart.

[Diana Rossini]

This is why I love having a quarterback on this show, because that's his first thought. Like, I'm thinking about the situation of him, how he handles New York and just all this, all the crap that actually doesn't matter. But what you just brought up up, can we hire Brian Table?

[Chase Daniel]

Yeah, you got. Yeah. Wow, that. Now that's crazy.

[Diana Rossini]

Well, yeah, no, that would be a big time. No, I, I think if, if Mike Tomlin were to decide to move on, I think his, I do think his market would be pretty good. Damn good. Right? It just. We'll, you know, we'll see how this shakes out. Because I also wouldn't be surprised if he stays.

[James Palmer]

Right?

[Diana Rossini]

Like, I think there's a world where he stays too. So we got some time.

[Chase Daniel]

We got some time.

[James Palmer]

Okay, listen, let's. Let's shift over to the Rams, who we thought going into this week was the clear cut. It's the first time I officially decided. I don't think it means anything to anybody outside my home. Maybe my wife cares that they're the clear cut, best team in the NFL. Then they go and get upset. Maybe the upset of the season with the Panthers, their biggest home win. You don't think it was an upset of the season? Biggest home win in several years for the Panthers? Oh, yeah, certainly. I'll just put this out there. I don't think there's a panic for the Rams by any sense. A rain game that impacts. Impacted some things. You see Matthew Stafford turn the football over Three times. That just doesn't happen. Throws a pick six, turns it over in the red zone, the short red area. You don't see that very often. And they still had a chance to win. They rushed the ball for 152 yards. The average 7.4 yards a play. Like they're fine. I think the Rams are okay. I heard some things about the speech that McVeigh gave in the locker room afterwards. A lot of guys loved that and where they were at. And so just let's, let's give the Panthers a little bit of love here. Check Chase and Bryce Young. Maybe a little bit of love here. And what did you see from Carolina and their quarterback specifically converting two fourth downs for touchdowns?

[Chase Daniel]

The, the Rams are the most bipolar or. Sorry, the Panthers are the most bipolar team in the entire NFL. Like you lose to the Saints, which I love the Saints. Saints are great. Saints are great. But 17 to 7 and then you beat the best team in the NFL and the biggest upsets of the season. Yeah, yeah, that's what I'm saying. You have two of the Green Bay and, and the Rams and look, I, I think that one, I, I do think and I want to show some film of, of Bryce's fourth down touchdown because it is, it is impressive and I think Bryce, he's going through a process right now where it's just not quite consistent enough. But as you can see on these fourth down conversions that we're going to show you one, I mean this fourth and three, they're going play action. Rams have everyone and their mom at the line of scrimmage and this is covered, but he throws it to a point to uncover the receiver and it's such a good throw because I've seen so many of these and this is a great view to see it. A lot of quarterbacks just try to literally drive the football to tap, but right here he goes through his progressions, he throws it over top the defender who's trying to step in front of, of it for an interception. It's not great coverage, but it's the throw. And we, we see these throws a lot with Bryce Young. But then, then you know, you look at his, his film against the Saints and I don't know if it's because it's division foe or not, but it just seems like he's right there on the cusp. I think the bigger conversation, and you guys would agree is, is the head coach like just what Dave Canales has been able to do there is like I, I do believe they've hit on their coach, and I do believe a lot of it has to do with him. There's some Bryce Young stuff that say he's taken the next step as well. But I think this conversation with the Panthers just starts and ends with Dave Canales.

[Diana Rossini]

Yeah. Which I think is still surprising some people. And this is not a shot at Dave Canales. I just don't think he was. Look, he's in a small market, and I get all that, but I don't think he was a name that a lot of people around the league were thinking at as a coach that is going to be able to turn this thing around. And he really has given this entire organization, along with Dan Morgan, some life here, and I think it's been really, really impressive. James, I love what you mentioned about Mike Sando in terms of ownership.

[James Palmer]

Yeah. Haven't seen Tepper around lately, which is a great thing. Which is a great thing. Drinks aren't being thrown. Stuff's not happening. Everybody can grow. I think Dave Canales is growing as a young head coach. I think David Tepper's growing as an owner. I think he's learning the job a little bit. I just think when you think of Dave, and I know him a little bit, and he may be the most positive individual in the entire NFL, it's just. It's almost like, are you really like this? But he is. And you go, all right, where'd he come from? He's the most positive guy in the NFL. He's running the football very effectively. The Rams ran three plays in the third quarter. That's it. He's playing good defense, running the ball, getting some chunk plays in the passing game. Who does this look like? Does this look like his mentor, who he spent time with? Pete Carroll? Does this look like Pete Carroll? I mean, it's. It's. It's been interesting to watch. I think, you know, we were questioning whether it was the right head coach and whether it was the right quarterback in Carolina. I think the second one is still tbd, but maybe the first one is like, all right, at least we're building something here with the head coach. And I think that's. That's as important as it can be. Okay. Let's stick in that region of the country, though, in the AFC South. And we had a big one between the Colts and the Texans go down, and Houston ends up winning this one. I will say this on that touchdown drive, the PI on Kenny Moore is still, I think, one of the worst calls I've ever seen. I don't even know if there was any contact at all. But that leads to a, to a, to a touchdown drive for the, for the Houston Texans and they end up winning this one. I want to know where everybody's concern level is with the Indianapolis Colts right now, who were at one time the one seed and now have a 36% chance of winning the division. Chase.

[Chase Daniel]

Yeah, the Colts aren't winning the division. And, and it's not, it's really not that hard to. To say that. If you just look at where they've gone, obviously the last three or four weeks and Daniel Jones, I mean, fractured. Like why, like you're playing like, huh. And then your defense just is. And then the run games, you know, and it. Do they sneak into the playoffs? I don't know. Like, I, I can make a. An argument that I don't even know if they're going to make it to the playoffs. I probably think they do. It's just. It says more about, I think, where the Texans are coming and where the Jags are coming. And so all of a sudden it's like, man, like the Jags team has sort of been such. They've been sneaky because it's been up and down and they just keep winning football games and no one keeps talking about them. And I think that's exactly what they want to do. And then this Texans team, I mean, like, along with the Broncos best defense in football. And if their offense can just not mess it up like they, they got a shot. And when like this, this comes back to the conversation, man, when you start winning games, you start gaining confidence. When you start losing games, you're like, well, was it just a fluke or should we have like, the, the Colts like the Colts game and the Bron, like the Bronco, they probably shouldn't have won that game. And then like, we're winning games, we shouldn't. So I don't know. It's just, it's a very interesting division. And honestly, probably division, probably the number one division along with the NFC south that really no one talks about or thinks about until playoff time. And that's just, just. That just is what it is. Like, you know, But I do think the, the Colts, man, it's just, it's. It's hard to, to watch the decline. And it starts with the run game and then the quarterback with the turnovers and is he turning back into that? But also you put in like the Texas. It's just.

[Diana Rossini]

Well, don't you think that this, this came later than we expected? How Many times did we see people talking about the Colts, especially, like, during pregame shows, and everyone kind of was talking about them the same way, which is. This is an amazing story, obviously, with Jim or, say, passing away, Daniel Jones coming in, reviving Lou Annorumo, you know, showing off at times. I think even on defense, with some of the play calling, I. I just. I think that we. We kind of expected this, so no one's really as surprised, right? We just thought it would come in October. And so now here we are in December, we're like, oh, well, maybe this is the pumpkin we were planning for. Now. I. I still think they have so many good parts of them. We've compared them to the Eagles before, right, where they have a good offensive line, a strong run game. Jonathan Taylor, when. When Jonathan Taylor runs the ball, they win games. It's like that simple. It's like back to that conversation of if they're able to get their run game going, they're gonna have success. So I don't think they're dead in the water. Like, it sounds like you have a little less confidence in them than I do. But on the other side of it, the Texans are emerging as this team that we've wanted them to be all year. I feel like you especially, I have been on. I've been like, willing this team to try to be good, and like, there's just like, nothing. Nothing was working in offense. I thought this was maybe another year where CG Stroud was going to. To go through a transition of another play caller with some offensive line issues. And they just had just like a. They just seemed messy on offense. Like they just couldn't figure out how they wanted to do it. And now it's coming together. And so you mix that in and we're going to see spots and flashes of the old CG Shroud. Perhaps we're going to get the full package. You put this whole thing together with this defense, with d', Ameco, like, they're going to be a problem in the playoffs.

[James Palmer]

That's the. I think that's the linchpin. And you mentioned it. Another new play caller. I think Nicali's done a good job lately.

[Diana Rossini]

He has.

[James Palmer]

When you ask people down there, it's. It took them minute. You revamped your entire offensive line. A ton of new faces in front of C.J. stroud. You've given C.J. more liberty at the line of scrimmage, something that he asked for. And it's finally, if you talk to people there starting to come together they thought Nick caught a really good game this past week against Indianapolis, that the play action game was done really well. He got C.J. in his first game back. It wasn't perfect, but more into a rhythm a little bit chasing. You know how important that is between a play caller and a quarterback. To play more in rhythm. They know they need to be better in the red zone. C.J. stroud talked about it after the game and I think that's really true. That's the only thing holding this team back. You had a quarterback two years ago have one of the best rookie seasons or three years ago. Two years ago. Three years ago. One of the best rookie seasons we've seen in recent memory. The defense isn't a question. Special teams isn't a question. I think we know they have the right head coach if this offense can get seven instead of three. You saw the creative design, something I was. They were working on for a long time on that Nico Collins end around kind of that ends up being a touchdown. A really creative play call. I think Nick's been a big part of maybe this or will be if they turn this around in a huge game against the Chiefs. But I think there's a lot of momentum in Houston right now and they feel like they've established their identity as an offense.

[Chase Daniel]

I couldn't agree more with you. The Chiefs game's crazy. Let's go back real, just real quick because I threw some stuff out there that I just want to. And Diana is a blank believer about the cult. Right. So what's their record right now, James? Are they.

[James Palmer]

They're seven.

[Diana Rossini]

I feel like you, singular. The Colts, you're like the cult.

[James Palmer]

The cult. The cult.

[Chase Daniel]

What's their record right now?

[James Palmer]

Right now they are sitting the Indianapolis Colts.

[Chase Daniel]

They 7 and 5 or 8?

[James Palmer]

8 and 4.

[Chase Daniel]

Okay, so they're 8 and 4. So look, I, I just looked at their schedules and because I want to like there's, there's five games left. Okay. They got, got a massive, massive game against the Jaguars on the road. 10am or 1pm start. It's sleepy at the Jacksonville Jaguar Stadium.

[James Palmer]

Like they have not won their chase since 2014.

[Chase Daniel]

Okay, well see, there you go. Come with them. Notes. That's what I'm talking about. So potential loss right there. Then they go onto the road to the Seahawks. Okay, they're losing that game. 49ers come to Colts. I mean that's going to be a tough game with the way they're playing. Then they got Jags again and then they have Texans at The end of the year, like, it's not crazy for them to get to 10 and seven and then just 10 and seven. Two, they win two other next three. That's what I'm thinking based on this schedule. Maybe they win three. If they get to 11 wins, they're in the playoffs. But you get to 10 and seven. I don't know if that's enough to get into the playoffs.

[Diana Rossini]

And so it's not a crazy fibula. Like, we're saying it.

[James Palmer]

Like, that's getting better, isn't it? It, Chase, that's not going to get better. No, it's not going to get better.

[Diana Rossini]

You know how you get better? You don't play. You rest.

[Chase Daniel]

Yeah. And so this, this schedule, like, if you win three of the next five, like give it to you, you deserve it. But like, you get three against AFC south teams, then you got 49ers and Seahawks. It's not an easy schedule.

[James Palmer]

No, it's not. You want to hear what Houston has left? Go. Houston has this monster one at the Chiefs.

[Diana Rossini]

Oh, this is.

[James Palmer]

And then they have Cardinals, Colts. When Raiders. When at Chargers, Colts depending on Justin.

[Diana Rossini]

Herbert and what's going on with his hand.

[James Palmer]

But it's different. Those, those, those other two. Like you mentioned, Chase, the Colts have Seattle and Seattle, Gosh dog. They have the Cardinals and the Raiders, essentially. And if you look at it from.

[Chase Daniel]

That perspective, I don't know, it'll be interesting to watch.

[James Palmer]

It really will be. And you know what? The Texans have made the postseason last couple years, and they made some noise at Arrowhead last year in the postseason when they had no players actually in that playoff game. And they played pretty well in that game. It's going to be a big one for us to watch they win that game. They have an 85% chance of making the postseason if the Texans beat the Chiefs in that game. So that's a big one. All right, coming up, we got to talk about Lane Kiffin. This is something that Chase was very passionate about. I believe he in the production meeting said, I don't even want to talk about it right now. I'm saving it for the show. Well, we're gonna get that next. You're gonna get that next. On Scoop City.

[Verizon Announcer]

This holiday, Verizon is helping you bundle up incredible gifts and savings. You'll get the latest phone with a new line on my plan and a brand new smartwatch and tablet. No trade in needed. Even on our lowest price plan. That's two gifts for your family and one for you or two for you and one for someone else or three gifts for you. And only either way, you save big on three amazing gifts at Verizon, all on the best 5G network.

[Diana Rossini]

Visit Verizon today.

[Verizon Announcer]

Rankings based on Root Metric Truth score report dated 18 2025. Your results may vary. Service plan required for watch and tablet. Additional terms apply with no fees or.

[Capital One Announcer]

Minimums on checking accounts, it's no wonder the Capital One bank guy is so passionate about banking with Capital One. If he were here, he wouldn't just tell you about no fees or minimums. He'd also talk about how most Capital One cafes are open seven days a week to assist with your banking needs. Yep, even on weekends, it's pretty much all he talks about in a good way. What's in your wallet? Terms apply see capital1.com bank capital1 NA member FDIC.

[Chase Daniel]

Hair loss isn't just about hair. It's about how you feel when you look in the mirror. HIMS helps you take back that confidence with access to simple personalized care that fits your life life. HIMS offers convenient access to a range of prescription hair loss treatments with ingredients that work, including chews, oral medication, serums and sprays. Dr. Trusted clinically proven ingredients like finasteride and minoxidil can stop further hair loss and regrow hair in as little as three to six months. For simple online access to personalized and affordable care for hair loss, ED, weight loss and more, visit hands HIMSS.com Athletic24 that's HIMSS.com Athletic24 for your free online visit HIMSS.com Athletic24 Individual results may vary based on studies of topical and oral minoxidil and finasteride. Featured products include compounded drug products which the FDA does not approve or verify for safety, effectiveness or quality. Prescription required. See website for full details, restrictions and important safety information.

[James Palmer]

Welcome back to Scoop City on a Monday. James Palmer, Diana Rossini, Chase, Daniel with you. Before we close things out, we've had plenty of NFL discussion. How about to the college game? We know Chase calls college games, so he's ingrained in that. You know my Ohio State Buckeyes are number one in the country, guys. You know we had a big game against the team.

[Chase Daniel]

Julian saying just start up, take it. Took you 2,400 days to get it done. My gosh, guys, we went like a.

[James Palmer]

Million straight before these four years. I'm not sure, but there's a curse. Okay, Dave Portnoy, give me a break, okay? Yeah, but Lane Kiffin, we went on a head coaching issue over there with Ryan Day. We had a nice plan. From Urban to Ryan. Lane Kiffin goes six years at Ole Miss. This year he has 11. One. And now he is departed. As I watch video after video chase of fans yelling behind a fence with barbed wire at the top, flipping off Lane Kiffin as he gets on a plane. They put his clothes still on the rack out of the facility. I guess you could go grab him if you wanted him, if you were the same size.

[Diana Rossini]

He's got a Black Friday sale.

[James Palmer]

Was a Lane Kiffin Black Friday sale. And he is now headed to lsu, and he will not finish the season with Ole Miss. He will not coach the rest of the way out, which we can get to. But, Chase, you're very passionate about this. I think there's a lot of questions we have. I'm not sure the NCAA has any answers, but where do you begin?

[Chase Daniel]

Yeah, I mean, look, I'm passionate about it, but it's not for the reasons you think. Like, there's a lot of. Of narratives going on around Ole Miss and Lane Kiffin. And. And the first one is like, hey, Lane Kiffin is to blame. He's. He's the reason why this whole stuff is not working. And he's all about himself. He's like, look, I. I do agree. Like, Lane loves him. Some Lane, like, Lane Kiffin, like, thinks that. And. And you have to have almost a certain. Certain amount of, like, when you coach college. And. And my issue here, and it's. It's just systemic, and it has to do with the ncaa. Like. Like the ncaa, like, you can't actually look at the facts and look at the schedule and look at the system that's in place right now and blame Lane Kiffin for leaving. Like, you can't do that. Like, Lane Kiffin, to me, he probably has goals towards win a national championship. First of all, he's getting paid $13 million a year to go to LSU. He's been at Ole Miss. It's, like, for six years. And he probably has something like, he's like, hey, I want to go to my. That's exactly what he said. I want to go to my next challenge. I want to go to the next thing. And so when you get offered $91 million and you get offered $25 million to pay your players, Ole Miss kids can't. Can't stick up to that. Like, they can't stack up to that. They. They just. They don't have the money. LSU is a top five job. Ask anyone that covers college. They're A top five job, probably top three job in all of college football. So when that comes open, you're probably going, here's my thing about it. You're having free agency. You're having a coaching changes. You're having the draft in the middle of the season. And you can only do that because that's the system in place. So do not blame Lane Kiffin for that part. There's a thousand other things you can blame Lane Kiffin on, okay? He's going through the process. He's going through the process of what's going to happen. Now, I do believe that the chancellor and the president and the AD made the right decision, bro. Lane, you're out. You ain't coaching.

[James Palmer]

Oh, yeah, you're not cheap, coach.

[Chase Daniel]

And so I've heard a lot of people in a lot of different places saying, hey, allow him a chance. No, you absolutely made the right decision. You walked out on our team. You decided to take another job in the best season that Ole Miss has had in quite some time. You're getting kicked to the curb, my man. But don't blame Lane Kiffin for actually going through a process of getting a better job for most more money. Now, I will say, yeah, it is a little crappy with the kids, and you got to deal with that, but the kids are allowed to do it. And, and, and so if you're the coach, you're like, you want to do that and you're probably going to take your kids, you're probably going to take that. I just think it falls on the ncaa. More importantly, what a lot of people aren't really talking about, and I'm not specifically sure what type of school schedule they're on, but it comes with the school, because the school schedule in, that's how it's set. Like, you can only enroll certain times at universities you can only like, is it. Is it. Is it semesters? Is it trimesters? What is it? So then the school sets it so the NCAA follows that. There has to be a schedule like the NFL that puts all of these players. I mean, Penn State's guy, we got him, Emazzou, he transferred out before the playoff began last year. Bo Pribula, he transferred out during the College Football Playoff. And that's the schedule that you're going to see this continue. Unless we fix the schedule.

[James Palmer]

Yeah, I'll mention the schedule real quick, Diana, just so everybody knows, kind of the schedule and then we'll get it. So essentially, this is why Chase is so upset. National signing day for guys coming out of high school into the collegiate ranks is about 48 hours from now. Like, it's a couple days essentially now. And then the conference championships happen essentially after or during national signing week and then during the playoffs. When that's happening, the portal opens up, as Chase mentioned, so players can transfer while other teams are still playing in the College Football Playoff. So if you wanted coaches to essentially change, think about it. From the NFL, you cannot talk to a coach during the season. There's certain rules in place during the playoff aspect to where you can't talk to certain coaches. And so that is just a free reign in chaos of wild west of the ncaa. I'm not sure what the NCAA actually does. Chase might know more than me.

[Diana Rossini]

I was gonna ask that, like, what do they do? I like to think, what does it.

[James Palmer]

Mean to do here?

[Diana Rossini]

Am I putting two. What is it that you do here? And I say this respectfully, but you're telling me that there aren't a few smart people on the NCAA right now who aren't going, wait, this doesn't work. And Chase, here's my question for you, too. Isn't, Ole Miss has a program right now? Aren't they better off having Lane Kiffin there to get them through the playoffs? Like, I understand for the future of them, you're like, get out of here. We don't. But like, what about for those student athletes right now? Why not keep Lane and try to win? They're not better without them.

[Chase Daniel]

No, they're not. And honestly, that's a great point and one that actually the cfp. There are rules and regulations of the cfp. Like, I will not be surprised to see Ole Miss drop down in rankings because if they.

[Diana Rossini]

The.

[Chase Daniel]

The community affect coaching changes, player changes, player injuries, and so he's. They're going to get docked by this. I would agree that there's no doubt Lane Kiffin's the best for the job. But you got to think about this. Could you imagine the conflict of interest. Oh that Lane Kiffin would have if you were running to the biggest SEC programs at the same time. And if you keep winning, you're continuing to run programs, two of the massive SEC programs at the same time until January. They're rivals. And so that's exactly what you don't want. Yes, he's better for that and yes, he screwed his kids and yes, he did all this stuff, but at the end of the day, he wanted that. There's just no way. There's no way you could allow a guy one. You're going to Try to poach all the coaching staff and all the players from Ole Miss. We're going to pay you double what you got at lsu. They're like, kicking them to the curb.

[Diana Rossini]

Can Brian Kelly go to Ole Miss and just take over there for a little bit?

[Chase Daniel]

They already hired their head coach. Or D.C. got the head. Not the interim job, the head job.

[James Palmer]

Chase, do you think this will lead to more in season firings at the collegiate level? Just because of the time? Look at the James Franklin situation. Like, yeah, well, I do think it's free reign now to go look during that whole period of time.

[Chase Daniel]

I do think it'll. You'll see way more. And I think this is the first year actually people, like, tried it out and the coaching carousel was nuts because there were so many major jobs, including SEC jobs that were open. Penn State, Virginia Tech, all this stuff. I do think that it's going to be hard to, To. To make a coach make it through a year. Because if you're a coach, think about this from the coach's perspective. If you're a coach, say, like, James Franklin and. And you probably know, hey, things are trending bad. Fire me now because I want to go to my new job. I want to get a head start on the process. I want to recruit these guys before national signing day, which is December 3rd or 4th, whatever it is, and then that way I can get a head start on my other job. So almost coaches are wanting out. And then think about it from the. The. The college that's doing the firing. We want a head start on someone else. Even though we're doing. And we have to. We. We. Here's the thing, too. We. Not only it used to change. It used to be different. Different James. And we can end this after this. But like, it used to be different because you didn't used to. As a head coach of a program, you didn't have to recruit your own guys, so you had to just recruit other guys, including high school and portal guys. You have to recruit everyone on your team every single year to continue to come back or you're going to lose your program.

[James Palmer]

God, the NFL looks so sane compared to all of this. Like, they actually seem to, like they have it figured out. All right.

[Verizon Announcer]

This was.

[James Palmer]

This was out. Outstanding. I'll say this also outstanding job by Marty Smith to get that interview with Lane as he was getting ready.

[Chase Daniel]

I'm not gonna lie.

[James Palmer]

I've also said, like, Lane didn't seem like he was even that confident that he made the decision. He was kind of like I guess this is the right move.

[Diana Rossini]

It's kind of his vibe, though. I watch a lot of his stuff.

[James Palmer]

He's kind of has like it was on brand. Yes. Well, we'll see how it goes. We'll see how the NCAA continues to do, I don't know, nothing or something. We'll see. We have a lot to get to the rest of this week on Scoop City. Make sure you stay tuned because this is a huge week 13. That Texans, Chiefs game is massive. That Cowboys, Lions game is massive. I mean, they're all over the slate and we're going to break them all down. Stick with us throughout the rest of the week. Diana Rossini Chase, Daniel James Palmer Chase. I appreciate the enthusiasm at the end of the show. Thank you.

[Verizon Announcer]

This holiday, Verizon is helping you bundle up incredible gifts and savings. You'll get the latest phone with a new line on MyPlan and a brand new smartwatch and tablet. No trade in needed even on our lowest price plan. That's two gifts for your family and one for you. Or two for you and one for someone else. Or three gifts for you and only you. Either way, you save big on three amazing gifts at Verizon, all on the best 5G network.

[Diana Rossini]

Visit Verizon today.

[Verizon Announcer]

Rankings based on RootMetric Truth Score Report dated 1 2025. Your results may vary. Service plan required for watch and tablet. Additional terms apply with no fees or.

[Capital One Announcer]

Minimums on checking accounts. It's no wonder the Capital One bank guy is so passionate about banking with Capital One. If he were here, he wouldn't just tell you about no fees or minimums. He'd also talk about how most Capital One cafes are open seven days a week to assist with your banking needs. Yep, even on weekends, it's pretty much all he talks about in a good way. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See capitalone.com Bank Capital One NA Member FDIC.

[James Palmer]

Hey, it's Adam Grant from Ted's podcast Work Life, and this episode is brought to you by ServiceNow. AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into. That's why it's no surprise that more than 85% of the Fortune 500 companies use the ServiceNow AI platform, while other platforms duct tape tools together. ServiceNow seamlessly unifies people, data workflows and AI connecting every corner of your business. And with AI agents working together autonomously, anyone in any department can focus on the work that matters Most. Learn how ServiceNow puts AI to work for [e-mail].