The Chiefs Missed the Playoffs?! Waking Up to the Craziest Year in Football

Summary

The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Episode: The Chiefs Missed the Playoffs?! Waking Up to the Craziest Year in Football

Date: January 3, 2026
Theme: The unpredictable chaos of the 2025-26 football season, from college upsets to NFL surprises, with signature Le Batard banter.

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Episode Overview

Broadcasting from the Elser Hotel in Miami, Dan Le Batard, Stugotz, and an ensemble of guests—including Dave Damaschek, Mike Fuentes, Soup Campbell, and Dutch Mooc—explore the wildest year in recent football memory. They dissect college football shocks (Indiana over Alabama!), NFL playoff mayhem (the Chiefs and Lions both missing?), memorable moments, and broader debates about Hall of Fame eligibility, fandom, and the new realities of the NIL era. Lively, irreverent, and at times unexpectedly heartfelt, the episode mixes deep football analysis with the crew’s trademark tangents.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. College Football Mayhem: Indiana’s Miracle & Playoff Surprises

• Indiana Hoosiers annihilate Alabama in the Rose Bowl
  • The centerpiece shock: Indiana, long a football afterthought, didn’t just beat powerhouse Alabama—they “destroyed them.” (Dave Damaschek, 01:32)
  • The show muses on how everyone is now rooting for underdog Indiana, led by their quirky QB Fernando Mendoza and “sardonic Coach Signetti.” (Dave, 07:38)
• The unusual cast of playoff teams
  • Four playoff teams with no recent titles:
    • “One hasn’t won a title since 2001. One hasn’t won a title since JFK was alive… Indiana, classic loser in college football. They're there. And Oregon's been a punchline.” (Mike Fuentes, 19:35)
  • Oregon Ducks fans are cautiously hopeful, chasing memories of past heartbreak but eyeing a new chance for a national championship. (Soup Campbell, 06:55)
  • Has the College Football Playoff finally delivered the parity fans desired?

2. NIL Era Changes Everything

• Indiana and Miami’s QB factory model
  • Both programs luring transfer quarterbacks with a proven “get to the NFL” pitch.
  • “This guy clearly produces studs at QB and elevate your chances of getting drafted in the NFL. So I think it is sustainable so long as Kurt Signetti is there.” (Dave, 21:39)
  • Debate over “proof of concept”—can programs emulate what Nick Saban’s Alabama did but with direct NIL enticements? (Mike, 21:48)

3. NFL Playoff Scenario Chaos

• What the heck happened to the Chiefs and Lions?
  • Both anticipated powerhouses miss the playoffs—“stunning” news for those just tuning in. (Dave, 29:57)
• NFC South Madness
  • “Who wants the Panthers or the Bucks as the five seed in the NFC?” (Dave, 04:12)
• Steelers vs. Ravens and the AFC Picture
  • Traditional AFC North rivalry with playoff implications: “If Lamar Jackson comes back…all of a sudden, them as the four seed is a much scarier out.” (Dave, 04:12)
• QB injuries, substitutions, and the DK Metcalf suspension create league-wide ripple effects.

4. Hall of Fame Eligibility & Sports Legacy

• The Torrey Holt-Snub Rant
  • Dave rails against perceived injustice: “Torrey Holt…was definitely better than his teammate Isaac Bruce, who’s in the Hall of Fame. So by that measure, give him a gold jacket, would you?” (Dave, 11:40)
• Debate: Impact vs. Longevity
  • How long must success last to count for immortality? “If you impacted the sport for one season…then we gotta put Peyton Hillis in the Hall of Fame, and that’s just not right.” (Mike, 14:56)
• **“Durability is way down on my list…if you were Terrell Davis…then you belong in the Hall of Fame more, in my opinion, than Frank Gore.” (Dave, 15:11)

5. Fan Perspective: Fandom, Empathy, and the Long-Suffering

• Sports as a unifier
  • “The number one thing about [sports] is…look how happy it makes everybody. And even better when it makes people you know and care about super happy.” (Dave, 10:07)
  • Text threads, old friends, and the joy of “sharing the improbable” are recurrent themes.
• Emerging from the wilderness: IU fans’ disbelief
  • “We didn’t play football until about 18 months ago…How sad am I going to be if we lose a game?” (Dave, 25:59)
• Annoying fashion choices and fandom stereotypes
  • Light-hearted roast of Alabama fans: “Every Alabama male fan wears those same weird brown square toe boots like they’re about to go out and bail some hay.” (Dave, 25:57)

6. Shecky Awards—What Would Shock The Comatose?

• Special bit: If you fell asleep New Year’s Eve 2024 and woke up today, what would sound most absurd?
  • Chiefs & Lions miss the playoffs (Winner)
  • Alabama crushed in the Rose Bowl by Indiana
  • Micah Parsons traded; Jimmy Kimmel’s government-mandated removal-and-return from TV
  • Coaches fired midseason at blue-blood programs
  • “Your winner is…the Indiana Hoosiers beating Alabama in any game, anywhere, anytime…let alone in the Rose Bowl to advance to the last four teams.” (Dave, 29:57)
• Calls for listeners to submit their own takes via YouTube comments.

7. NFL MVP Race & Final Picks

• MVP Debate: Drake May, Matthew Stafford, or Christian McCaffrey?
  • “Drake May thing does feel like…it does feel like a done deal.” (Dutch Mooc, 39:47)
  • “CMC—1,000 yards rushing, 1,000 receiving…he’s basically single-handedly…kept the Niners in these games.” (Dutch Mooc, 39:49)
  • Dave highlights how narratives and “recency bias” shape MVP voting. “We remember beginnings and ends better.” (Dave & Dutch, 39:47)
• Big Game Picks
  • Niners vs. Seahawks
    • “I think the Niners win it by two TDs.” (Dutch, 45:39)
  • Steelers vs. Ravens
    • “I will always predict the final score is 20 to 17…” (Dave, 50:48)
    • Lamar Jackson’s “malaise” and motivation questioned.
    • Steelers’ depleted offense = uphill battle.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Indiana’s breathtaking rise
  “The Indiana Hoosiers didn’t just beat the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Rose Bowl. They destroyed them.” (Dave Damaschek, 01:32)

• On the current CFP field
  “Four teams in. One hasn’t won a title since 2001. One hasn’t won a title since JFK was alive and they claimed that national title. Indiana, classic loser in college football. They’re there. And Oregon’s been a punchline.” (Mike Fuentes, 19:35)

• On empathy for Bama fans (or lack thereof)
  “They terrorized college football for like 15 years. So now that Nick Saban couldn’t pay them illegally anymore, and everybody else gets to equally pay them…you take your three points and you go back to Tuscaloosa and you yourself have a sad New Year’s Day.” (Mike Fuentes, 09:34)

• On the joy of sports
  “The number one reason they’re great is because how happy it makes the people in your life... to see those teams do well.” (Dave, 10:07 & 33:18)

• On annual sports heartbreak (and hope!)
  “Is this the end? No. As long as Cage Sink is there now he is the mercenary you want to go and work with if you have aspirations of playing in the NFL and you’re a QB…” (Dave, 33:54)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• [01:32] – Opening chaos: Indiana over Alabama, playoff scenarios
• [04:12] – NFC South tiebreakers, AFC playoff permutations
• [11:40] – Hall of Fame gripe session: Torrey Holt, party of one
• [19:35] – College Football Playoff’s unlikely final four
• [21:39] – Indiana, Miami, and the new NIL “QB farm” model
• [25:59] – Fandom soul-searching: what if IU loses?
• [29:57] – Shecky Awards: “if you just woke up, what would blow your mind?”
• [33:13] – Dutch Mooc reflects as Ducks/Niners fan, picks Oregon
• [39:31] – NFL MVP race: Drake May vs. CMC vs. Stafford
• [45:39] – Week 18 picks: Seahawks-49ers, Steelers-Ravens
• [50:48] – Steelers-Ravens preview and the Lamar Jackson conundrum

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Episode Tone & Final Thoughts

With their trademark blend of insider analysis and fan excitement, the show dances between deep football dives and wacky digressions. The crew express wonder at the unlikely twists of the football universe, poke fun at each other over their fan anxieties, and riff on everything from Hall of Fame politics to square-toed Alabama boots. “No jive” honesty reigns, as always.

Despite the chaos, the overarching spirit is one of gratitude—for improbable sports joy, enduring friendships, and football’s uncanny ability to surprise.

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For more, visit [YouTube channel] and join the debate about what would have stunned you most if you awoke today!

Transcript

[Sponsor/Announcer]

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[Dave Damaschek]

I understand the enthusiasm confusion. Even the Hoors aren't just beating Alabama, they're kicking the out of them. And I'm pretty sure this is this is the Rose Hoo. Let's go baby. Weird times. Foreign. Miracle in Sports since the 1980 U.S. hockey team moments away from three NFL division titles being settled. Hi and hello and Happy New Year, my fellow football Americans. Yeah, it's a whole new world order. The Indiana Hoosiers didn't just beat the Alabama Crimson Tide in The Rose Bowl. They destroyed them. Welcome to NFL Week 18. Welcome to, I guess in between college football playoff rounds two and three. Welcome to Football America. Episode number 39. Presented it as ever by our pals over at DraftKings. DraftKings. The Crown is yours. We have a lot to cover here. Only two, maybe three really important pro football games. We're going to dig in on those. Also going to look back at some college football stuff, maybe even get to a Shecky award. Good times for sure if you are a fan of the U. The Ducks Ole Miss Wild game wild fourth quarter against Georgia. But it's still only kinda good times I think if you're Ole Miss because Lane Kiffin may or may not be trying to take some of the assistance off of the Ole Miss sideline and bring them over to LSU sooner rather than later right in the midst, right before the semifinal. And and of course, good times, nay great ones for IU Hoosiers fans, implausible though they may be good times for the NFL teams in the playoffs already. We'll see if that group includes the Pittsburgh Steelers or the Baltimore Ravens. We'll see if it includes the Buccaneers or the Carolina Panthers. If the Falcons beat the Saints, then it's the Panthers when winning the bum NFC south, no matter what happens in their head, to head with the Bucks. Do I have that right? I think that's right. You do.

[Mike Fuentes]

It's very confusing. You have it right. You have it right.

[Dave Damaschek]

Okay.

[Dutch Mooc]

Yeah.

[Mike Fuentes]

Right. Yeah. No, if the F. I think what you say, if the. If the Saints beat the Falcons.

[Dave Damaschek]

Oh, the Saints beat the Falcon.

[Mike Fuentes]

I think if the Saints beat the Falcons, the Panthers are in no matter what. But to be, to be fair, the way that the Buccaneers have been playing, I almost rather have the Panthers at this point. Buccaneers not been very good.

[Dave Damaschek]

Yeah, well, who, who wants the Panthers or the Bucks is the five seed in the NFC and the five seed in the afc. Once the winner of the AFC north, so long as it's Pittsburgh, it takes on a very different hue though if Lamar Jackson comes back and looks anything close to Lamar Jackson, all of a sudden them as the four seed is a much scarier out than they would have been a week or three ago. And of course if DK Metcalf hadn't gotten suspended for two games, that hash would probably already be settled and Aaron Rodgers wouldn't be playing this Sunday. Instead we get to see him on Sunday Night Football against Lamar Jackson. We'll get into that game in just a little bit quickly as we do at the top of every episode. By the way, that was just the voice of Mike Fuentes. I only barely remembered. It's been so long since he shadowed our digital door here on the. On the podcast. Welcome back, Mike. And how was your New Year's? A lot. Well, I assume it's pretty good. You were watching the U after all.

[Mike Fuentes]

It was. I have kind of qualms about the New Year's game because you either, man. Like. So, Mike Ryan, some of our friends are out there watching the game in Dallas. Great New Year's for them. Fantastic New Year's if you're on the other side. Gotta be the worst end to a year possible. No way. It's bad. You spend all this money to go to Dallas. You're up there in Jerry world. As we all know, Arlington's like, a few. Maybe like, 45 minutes away from Dallas. So now you're stuck out there in the middle of nowhere at, like, a holiday in suites, trying to figure out what went wrong, why your true freshman quarterback had, you know, Desmond Bane stuck in his butthole all night. And Desmond Bain.

[Dave Damaschek]

Look at me.

[Mike Fuentes]

Reuben Bane, his butthole all night. And now you got to find a way to get out of there. As the ball drops and everybody else from around you. You got Hurricanes fans flipping you off as they're leaving the thing. Terrible. New Year's. Great for me, though. I had lobster and steak and the canes.

[Dave Damaschek]

Wonderful. I'm glad. Well, those are that. Yeah, you got the. The hat trick there. And you just worked in a twofer of butthole in the span of about. So Mike Fuentes is back, everybody. There's Soup Campbell up in the Pacific Northwest. Welcome and happy New Year.

[Soup Campbell]

Oh, Happy New Year.

[Dave Damaschek]

Congrats to your Ducks, I guess. All right. We don't need that. No.

[Soup Campbell]

Yeah, sorry. It is one of the most annoying things, like, when you're. When you're fighting like, you. Your intimidation is. Is a duck call. It's pretty bad. But, man, Dave, I'm elated. I am, like, on cloud nine. The Ducks, like, dialed it back. We've got the gang Green defense is back. Just thump.

[Dave Damaschek]

Texas Tech.

[Soup Campbell]

And it felt really, really good. And I gotta say.

[Dave Damaschek]

Thump.

[Soup Campbell]

First time.

[Dave Damaschek]

I don't know if I think. Thump. Thump. They didn't shout.

[Mike Fuentes]

Yeah. Isn't a shutout a shutout is a thumping. Yeah, a shutout is a thumping.

[Dave Damaschek]

Thumping.

[Soup Campbell]

Totally a thumping. But the thing that's amazing is. And I don't want to, like, I don't want to jinx myself, Dave, but we actually have A shot like there's a pathway for the Oregon Ducks to climb out of. Climb out of our sadness, climb out of our nightmare of Kajana Carter in Penn State, climb out of our nightmare of Cam Newton and Auburn. Just climb out to just get to the victory point of a national championship. But there's this team called Indiana that is in our way, and I think that actually might be coming up.

[Dave Damaschek]

What's fun about the real national championship. You are now, through no fault of the Oregon Duck program. I guess maybe Mr. Nike has, you know, made them into an elitist Uncle Phil.

[Soup Campbell]

Uncle Phil.

[Dave Damaschek]

But they are through no fault of their own. Now everybody is going to be rooting against them. All objective football fans. Anybody who tunes in loves this miraculous story. That is the Indiana Hoosiers led by Fernando the dork and sardonic Coach Signetti. I was there, as you heard, at the top of the show. We'll dig in on that in just a second. But let's settle the hash that we do at the top of every episode. This is episode number 39, and we honor the player or players who wore that jersey. Number best in football and sports history. Pretty short list here in pro football. Larry Zonka gets it. The. The old mustachioed guy for the Miami Dolphins. Shout out to him the clear cut, number one, but fast Willie Parker, also a Super bowl, which could have been a Super Bowl MVP. Super Bowl 40. He breaks off the big one against the Seattle Seahawks in the second half. That really was the signature play, or I guess the one a Heinz Ward catching a touchdown pass from another. Oh, how about this? Complete the circle. Indiana University quarterback Antoine Randall, then a receiver for the Steelers, threw a touchdown pass to Hines Ward. By the way, New Year's Eve I. Because you mentioned that, Mike. I. The the greatest, one of the greatest sporting events I've ever attended was on New Year's Eve. And it started, if I, if memory serves, it started at 4pm local time. It was in 1988 when Mario Lemieux scored five goals in five different ways. Regular strength, shorthanded power play, penalty shot and empty net goal. Literally an unbreakable record. And I can't imagine anybody ever equaling that one. That was good. But as one of society's great empaths, I did sincerely take a moment in the second half at the Rose bowl to, to look around and feel sad for the Alabama people who went to the trouble of making the trip.

[Mike Fuentes]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Listen, listen. They terrorized college football for like 15 years. All right? And all of a sudden, now you can pay players. So now that Nick Saban couldn't pay them illegally anymore, and everybody else gets to equally pay them now. So now, you know what? I'm good. Don't want to do this anymore. You know, I get it. I get it, Nick. Enjoy retirement. But I don't feel bad for them. I don't feel bad for them one bit, okay? They've had this coming for a long time, okay? You take your three points and you go back to Tuscaloosa and you yourself have a sad New Year's Day.

[Dave Damaschek]

I did. It was great. You know the thing that's great about sports? I know I sing songs about it, and I'm sorry if it's a little cheesy for. For. For your taste out there. The thing that I love about sports or the number one thing about it is look how happy it makes everybody. And even better when it makes people, you know, and care about super happy. And so it was splendid to the text change with my cousin Meg, who's an IU grad, and then with the. All the. All the pals back there spread across the Midwest and the rest of football America. And just in the last few days, because of this Rose Bowl, I got to catch up with guys Vandy, Dr. Wang, the urologist, the hog doctor, Ted the dentist, and JV. These are real people with stupid nicknames. And speaking of guys with stupid nicknames, we have a guy who won our fantasy football league this year. He beat Jon Hamm in the. In the. And Trevor in the final. And it's the Dutch Mooc, Paul Cohorst. He's going to join us. And I'm going to pull back the curtain here because no jive is my policy. It's. It's the only way we roll. No jive. We attempted a live show earlier on Friday, and it went famously. It was a great time. He's a, The. The Dutch Mooc happens to be an Oregon Ducks fan and a San Francisco 49ers fan. So I thought, who better to talk to between a big game for the Niners and after a big win for the Ducks? The problem is we had audio issues, and so now we're doing a decent chunk of it. Before we have, I think, coming up here in a little while, we'll. We'll hear some of our conversation, and it'll be brand new for you if you didn't watch it live. Great news. It's going to be fresh years for you. Great stuff. We'll pick The Niners and Seahawks. We'll pick the Steelers and Ravens and we have that upcoming. Okay, I got sidetracked there. Number 39. My favorite. Number 39. One of my all time favorite athletes, the Cobra, Dave Parker. I'm so glad he got into the Baseball hall of Fame just before he passed away. As a reminder, that's a great New year's resolution for 2026 and really, anytime, let's make sure we start celebrating people while they're still around to enjoy it. I'm glad that the Cobra got to know he was a Hall of Famer after waiting way too long to get in there. As it relates to pro football, we haven't talked much about it. We haven't had an occasion really to dig in on this, but a couple of things about the the new list of finalists, to me, of course, now that Dave Parker's in the hall of Fame, the weirdest omission out there in any of these halls of Fame is Torrey Holt. He wasn't just one of the great receivers of his generation. Maybe he was the best receiver for a stretch, for a season or three, the best pass catcher in all of pro football. But one thing's for sure, he was definitely better than his teammate Isaac Bruce, who's in the hall of Fame. So by that measure, give him a gold jacket, would you? Already also, Reggie Wayne maybe suffers from the same thing of being the sidekick ish or the 18 of Marvin Harris. And Reggie Wayne is a for real hall of Famer, and so is Steve Smith. We talked to him earlier on Football America earlier this football season. All of those cats belong in the hall of Fame. It's weird. But also, I feel like each is starting to suffer from this weird purgatory, which is, and I'm sort of elitist enough to say about it, either you're a Hall of Famer or you're not. When your name comes up, when you're eligible for the first time, we should be able to determine collectively or the voter should be able to decide like, well, yeah, he's a Hall of Famer and give him his gold jacket. And this backlog, well, we have to wait because this guy missed last year. So we got to get him in first before we get that guy. All that jive, either you're a Hall of Famer or you're not. And then I go the other way on it, this weird, like, reconsideration a decade or 15 years after the guy retires and say, you know what? Now that I've had some Time to. To prey upon it. He is a Hall of Famer. Weird how that works. But then again, Devil's Damoshek says we do that with movies as well. The Big Lebowski as a for instance, was not critically acclaimed when it came out. It wasn't a big hit or anything, but of course, a lot of people will cite that as their favorite movie or among their favorite movies. So maybe I should lighten up a little bit. I am pretty liberal where it comes to the, to the hall of Fame. Did you impact the sport for a season where you wanted the two or so best at the position, then you belong in the hall of Fame. The thing that is the, you know, this is a good. Oh, this could be a shaky award, as a matter of fact, for most curmudgeonly opinion. Yeah. What do you got? What do you got?

[Soup Campbell]

Laid out? Laid out later. What do you got?

[Dave Damaschek]

What do you got?

[Mike Fuentes]

I have a question. You're saying if you impacted the sport for one season. Okay. Because that, because if that's the case, then we got to put Peyton Hillis in the hall of Fame, and that's just not right.

[Dave Damaschek]

Okay, I take that back.

[Mike Fuentes]

Yeah. I take that back.

[Dave Damaschek]

Yeah.

[Mike Fuentes]

Thank you.

[Dave Damaschek]

I got over my ski. Yeah.

[Dutch Mooc]

It's okay.

[Bombas Sponsor]

It's okay.

[Dave Damaschek]

No, you're right. Yeah. Poorly. That was poorly. That was poorly phrased. I, I. But I'm not concerned with. I think durability is a great thing, especially in a physical sport like football. It is. It is way down on my list. If you were Terrell Davis, if you had that magical five years or six years, then you belong in the hall of Fame more, in my opinion, than. Than Frank Gore does, who may wind up getting a gold jacket himself sooner rather than later. But the high end is, is more meaningful to me than doing it stretched out. Having pretty good numbers stretched out over 15 years is, is less impressive to me. The other thing is with the hall of Fame is this is a curmudgeonly opinion, but I would love to see individually the current hall of Fame voters isolated so that no one else can get in their ear and tell them any information and just say, like, articulate for me in depth. Why you think Willie Anderson, the longtime right tackle the Cincinnati Bengals, has to get a gold jacket over any of the receivers I named or Ricky Waters or Roger Craig. They wouldn't be able to do it. Why? Because there are only roughly a half dozen or so people walking the planet Earth who can really tell you why that offensive lineman is dominant. I mean, okay, the guys who do it, who play the position have a keen eye for that. But I'm talking about the analysts that you hear weigh in on quality offensive line play and this guy's a stud. I'm talking about talking heads that you watch on tv, but your pals too. These people who weigh in as though they have any understanding about about a 300 pound man leaning good on another fat guy is the height of pretend of pretentious in my book. Why? Oh yes, Jerry Evans, he must. He must get in the hall of Fame before we even consider Reggie Wayne. Why? Tell me why, hall of Fame voter. You have the vote. You must be able to describe for me the unwashed ma one of the unwashed masses why that's the case. Of course they wouldn't be able to do it anyhow. There's a curmudgeonly thing. Curmudgeonly opinion for you.

[Bombas Sponsor]

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[Dave Damaschek]

Haha.

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[Dave Damaschek]

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[Mike Fuentes]

This is kind of what we wanted College Football Playoff to be because there's four teams in. One hasn't won a title since 2001. One hasn't won a title Since JFK was alive and they claimed that national title. They didn't win it. Indiana classic loser in college football. They're there in Oregon. Oregon's been a punchline. Okay. More uniforms and titles. That was always a joke people make about them. So this is kind of the culmination. Yeah. Of things that they wanted with the College Football Playoff. They're probably mad, you know, that Jordan's not here.

[Dave Damaschek]

Forehead.

[Soup Campbell]

Four head coaches of the Nick Saban coaching tree.

[Mike Fuentes]

Yes. Except, you know, it's funny, there was a time yesterday when every single coach had been a Nick Saban assistant except one. And who was that? Deboer. The actual coach. Alabama.

[Dave Damaschek]

Who was a former assistant. Where? Indiana University. Indiana University.

[Dutch Mooc]

Yep.

[Dave Damaschek]

Full circle. By the way, my pals were, we were talking like, ah, how sustainable is this, this magic ride, you know, is it, is, is it going to end up feeling like a mirage, you know, a year or three from now, you know, we were burned by the Michael Penix. If you remember about five years ago during COVID Michael Penix beat Penn State on that lunge for the end zone. He, you know, they, they almost beat Justin Fields in Ohio State and Columbus. And it thought like, we thought, maybe the Hoosiers are going to get good at football. They did not get good at football. This has now endured for one season more than what happened five years ago. I think in this case, in the nil age, I think that you have the mercenary that is Kurt Signetti, who's clearly a QB whisperer. And now that he's done it two years in a row, he Brings over Curtis Rourke last year, who ends up getting drafted. Fernando Mendoza is going to get drafted, what, two or three at worst this year. So if you're Sam Levitt from asu, who's now officially in the portal or someone like that, where else are you looking? Or it has to be on your short list of options. This guy clearly produces studs at QB and elevate your chances of getting drafted in the NFL. So I think it is sustainable so long as Kurt Signetti is there.

[Mike Fuentes]

Miami's doing the same thing. But the funny thing is, because obviously we had Cam Ward go number one, and he was a Heisman finalist. You're not going to get that with Carson Beck, but you can show that these guys can go and win somewhere. The only issue I see with that, and it's funny, it's something that's kind of exclusive to the NIL era because Alabama was winning a bunch of titles and they had, like, AJ McCarron playing quarterback. So they were able to fill in all those positions. And I will just throw anybody out there who can run, maybe a, you know, a little Hawaiian guy that ends up getting drafted by the Dolphins and then basically ends up stealing money. And now we don't know what to do with them, but they would do that. But now it seems, get the best quarterback and kind of just roll with it. And Indiana and Miami seem to have that model where it's like, proof of concept. We can get you to the NFL in, like, a top five draft.

[Soup Campbell]

Dave, you got for this game. Who you got for this game?

[Dave Damaschek]

Here's. Here's the thing. I have to. Again, no jive policy. I have to concede something to you. It's all very exciting. I'm happy for my friends who are. Who are really over the moon about this. And a lot of fellows are making plans to head to Atlanta for, I think it is technically the Peach bowl to play the Oregon Ducks. Rematch. You know, it's great. There are just no stakes for me. There's no downside. So it's hard for me. I can't get nervous for anything that happened. So I'm not saying it. I want the Hoosiers to win. It would be great if they did, but they already finished number one and they went undefeated. And Fernando Mendoza won the Heisman Trophy. And the greatest win in. In school history, without hyperbole, is maybe winning in Eugene against the Ducks, when you just never thought they would have a chance of doing that. And then they win the Big Ten championship against mighty Ohio State. And now they just beat Alabama. I mean, what more can they do if they lose to Oregon? So be.

[Mike Fuentes]

I don't. I don't. I don't believe you one bit. Because the last thing you want to do is get really close to winning a national championship and a sport you're not supposed to be good at, right? You're right there. You're two games away, and a team that sits in front of you is a team you've already beaten. And on the other side, let's be real, is two teams that nobody believes in. A Hurricane team that had to wait till the last day to get into the national, to get into the playoff, and then an Ole Miss team that their coaches and coaches are abandoning them in droves. So basically you're thinking, if we beat this team we've already beat, we are going to be the favorites of the national championship. I don't believe you one bit. To lose in the semifinal to a team you already beat who's also a Big Ten rival, would be disastrous. I'm telling you, you may never be here again. That's the problem. You may never be here again.

[Dave Damaschek]

Remember when George W. Bush looked in Putin's eyes and saw his soul? Try and do that with your old pal Dave. Right now. I can tell you, honestly, I'm way concerned, way more bothered because of the history, way more concerned about the Pittsburgh Steelers and what happens against the Ravens than what happens with the Hoosiers and the Ducks. I just. This is all. This is like, oh, my God. Dave.

[Mike Fuentes]

Dave.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

There's no.

[Mike Fuentes]

There's no way Aaron Rodgers winning the Super Bowl. You know that. You know he's not going to win the Super Bowl. So. So Fernando Mendoza is right there. Ride my Cuban brethren, my Miami compadre, my Pisano. Ride him to a national championship.

[Dave Damaschek]

Dave.

[Mike Fuentes]

Get on whatever the hell it Hoosier is. Strap on the saddle and ride that baby all the way down to Miami.

[Dave Damaschek]

Nothing more than. Than to watch you torment yourself. And like Ryan and everybody in Miami, try to make sense of the you versus native son. Fernando.

[Mike Fuentes]

Yes, listen.

[Dave Damaschek]

The greatest five.

[Mike Fuentes]

Just. Just imagine it. It's a January night in Miami. It's 60 degrees. Beautiful crisp air. All right, Fernando Mendoza wakes up. He says his 17th prayer of the morning. He has a Cuban sandwich. He checks AI to make sure his winning speech is available. And he goes home and he beats his hometown team in Miami. 50, 000 Cubans in the stands, utterly confused. They don't know what to do. He lifts the trophy. He thanks God 17 times before he thanks his abuela and then before you know it, he rides off to the sunset to go be a Las Vegas Raider and you never see him again like that.

[Dave Damaschek]

What an ending's like. Whatever, Dave. What an ending. Next year. Yeah, we'll see you.

[Mike Fuentes]

He says that you gotta cherish it, Dave.

[Dave Damaschek]

I love it.

[Soup Campbell]

I'm just saying you gotta own it.

[Dave Damaschek]

There's no doubt. I hear you. I, I just, I can't, I can't talk myself into that. And what I feel like is what a Vegas Golden Knights fan must have felt in their first season. They go all the way to the, to the, to, to the cup final and lose to the Caps was like all right and we didn't have a hockey team last year. That's kind of how I feel like when we didn't play football until about 18 months ago. So I mean, how sad am I going to be if we, if we lose a game? You know, it does make me want to give out here the one thing more empathy for me for Alabama. My heart went out to them until I realized do you know, fashion wise, every Alabama male fan wears those same weird brown square toe boots like they're about to go out and bail some hay. It's very weird. They really want to lean into the stereotype for some reason in their boot cut jeans and their weird boots. But still I am, I have a big enough heart that my, that, that I went out to all of those that had to be real rough to watch the Hoosiers kill you on the fashion they did. And that brings me to this, if I may, I'd like to give out a new Shecky Award. First of all, I did. If you missed it last week, we gave out the first one and unfortunately it's the one no one wants to win. It's the Sonic Award, so named for the 2008 sports town of Seattle who lost. Kevin Durant and all the other Sonics left town and moved to Oklahoma. That was the tip of the sad sports iceberg for, for Seattle fans in 2008. We give it to the sports town whose fans suffer the most in the last calendar year. We gave it to Washington D.C. and again, no jive. But when I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong. And a couple people dropped me a line and said no mention of the of Dallas. And I thought it through. Micah Parsons gets traded away to an ancient rival. Luka Doncic gets traded away to, to a conference rival. But I mean obviously he's a generational player and you just said goodbye to him, the Rangers were. 500. They were irrelevant. And the Stars were good. But then they flamed out against Edmonton on the big stage in the conference finals. That's right. And the Cowboys were typical Dallas Cowboys non factor when things really started the matter. So I think maybe do we need to amend this or do we keep it with our nation's capital? I'm going to start with you here, Mike.

[Mike Fuentes]

Dallas or Washington?

[Dave Damaschek]

Yeah, Big letdown because it starts for Jane Daniels in the conference finals in January, but the rest of the year stinks.

[Mike Fuentes]

Yeah, it's. It's hard.

[Dave Damaschek]

Counters are irrelevant again in the postseason, as they typically are. Save that one time they beat a friend, they beat a. An expansion team and that to win their one cup. So that only counts for a half. The Wizards are forever terrible and the Nationals are terrible as well. So that's a pretty. That's a pretty bad.

[Soup Campbell]

It would be unless, you know, you got. You got Cooper flag, like. Well, yeah, well, you got that. You have that. You have that ability to kind of like. It's sad, but it's like, oh, you got, you got like, this kid's going to be absolutely amazing. But I think you got to stay with Washington.

[Mike Fuentes]

And also that. And that's also the fall of the great American empire. That's where it's going to begin. So you got to take that into account. And you know, Doncic getting traded. Stars get traded all the time. I think the, the real.

[Dave Damaschek]

Not like that.

[Mike Fuentes]

Well, no, but. No, no. Yes, like, yeah, like that. And the thing is, what'd you get back for him? And when you see what they got back now, it just compiles it. Right. Because if you get, you know, you knew you had a Cooper flag coming in. Well, actually, you didn't at the time of the trade. You didn't because I ended up winning it later.

[Bombas Sponsor]

Yeah.

[Mike Fuentes]

So, you know, if you get a big haul back and a guy was like, I didn't really want to be here, you're kind of like, well, if you didn't want to stay anyway, it's fine. But you get back basically nothing. Kyrie's out for like half the season, but I don't know. I don't know.

[Bombas Sponsor]

It's a good question.

[Dave Damaschek]

My fellow football Americans to weigh in, please.

[Mike Fuentes]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dave Damaschek]

By the way, I should have said it at the top. Get in on YouTube specifically. We really appreciate the notes and the likes, and if you haven't subscribed, please do so. That really helps us out quite a bit. And spread the word wherever you find your audio podcasts as well. In the meantime, I want to give another shaky award out right now. This one is the craziest thing to learn about. If you fell into a coma last New Year's Eve and are just now waking up. Okay, yeah. You understand the notion behind this shaky word? All right, the first one is the Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions both missed the playoffs. Stunning. Next Big time college football coaches from blue blood programs got fired in the mid season. That never happens, not multiple times across football America. Next I mentioned that Micah Parsons got traded after that more pop culture. Jimmy Kimmel gets pulled off of his late night show essentially by the US government or encouraged by and a week later is reinstalled because America won't have it. That was a pretty wild storyline. If somebody told you that that happened while you were watching watching the Rose bowl on on sat on on Thursday. McJesus and dry Seidl didn't win the cup. Again. This is a stunner for all of time until they do get one. The best player in the sport and the like second, third, fourth best player in the sport have never won the championship. That's sad. Jaden Daniels did zero but his second year pals Bo Nicks, Drake May and Kayla Williams all won their divisions. That is insane. If you really take a step back. I know we're now used to the idea of the Broncos and Patriots being good, but you wouldn't have thought that a year ago the Steelers followed up their awful idea of starting Russell Wilson by signing another washed up mercenary and Aaron Rodgers. That was a crazy story, at least in in my head. And the Indiana Hoosiers not only defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide, they destroyed them in the Rose bowl which counted as round two of the playoff. And your winner is. What the hell do you think it is? It's the Indiana Hoosiers beating Alabama in any game, anywhere, anytime, let alone in the Rose bowl to advance to being one of the last four teams left standing in this stupid college football playoff. All right, let's bring in. I mean he has already been brought in but now let's bring him in here. He is one of my favorite fellows around. He is the fantasy football champion reigning right now in our dumb league out here. Niners fan, Ducks fan, scratch golfer, great writer. Dutch Mook is a part of the conversation from here on out and we'll pick it up where we left off.

[Mike Fuentes]

The A To Danny for running this. Look Dave, we have so much going on here in the stadium. Look, I don't even know what this Thing is it just has a knob. Look at all this crap on the table. We have no. There's so much going on here in the middle of a tech upgrade. So unfortunately, the man you call Dutch Mooc, we lost half his interview. I'd like to apologize Football America. There's so much crap. I don't know what's. I'm going to. Okay, thanks. Bye.

[Dutch Mooc]

Beat Oregon and Eugene. We've shown we can win these big games.

[Dave Damaschek]

I don't think so. I don't think so. And shout out because the thing that's great about it and I know I at saccharin and I go on and on about it all the time but the reason reason Sports as a for the spectator, the number one reason they're great is because how happy it makes the people in your life to see those teams do well. And it's a reason to connect with them. In the last few days I've caught up with my guy Vandy, Dr. Wang, the hog, Dr. Ted, JV. These are real people. Despite the stupid nicknames Dutch Mooc.

[Dutch Mooc]

The Cutters reached out to you one.

[Dave Damaschek]

One of those guys actually. What way? He wasn't on the Cutters, but he did ride in the Little 500 bike race. Yes. So that was a good reference by you. So yeah, listen, it's been great. And the text chains and everybody's sending the pictures and all of that, it's all great stuff. But I don't know like, you know, that's the question. Is this. Do you think this is the end? No. As long as Cage Sink is there now he is the mercenary you want to go and work with if you're. If you have aspirations of playing in the NFL and you're a qb. And of course once you figure out that all the guys around that want to be a part of that, you want to be on the offensive line, you want to be a pass catcher or running back if you know you're going to be in a mighty offense with a great qb. I don't know if Sam Levitt, who is officially now in the portal transferring from Arizona State. I don't know if he winds up at Indiana, but I think it. If there is a high end QB out there looking to put himself in the best spot before the draft next year, Fernando's gonna be a top three pick at worst. So yeah, I think it is sustainable quarterback matters on some level. You can make a case even more in college football. Cause if you have the answer there, you can really cover up a lot of other crap in college football. So, yeah, I think it is sustainable. Quickly, your pick before we move on to pro football picks here and. And soup, since you're rooting for the Ducks as well. Go ahead, make your pick. Plus four. Oregon Ducks. The big debate. Is it hard to beat the same team twice or once you've already taken the body shot of losing at home? Are you, like, what chance do we have on a neutral site?

[Dutch Mooc]

MOOC think it is hard to beat the same team twice. Look, I saw with Washington last year, it was hard to beat the same team once. But I think. I think personally that watching that first Indiana game, I was pretty hopeless. That D line did something to Oregon that was shocking. Like, I was really confident in that Oregon offensive line, and they got freaking manhandled. And I don't know how you fix that bar. One little thing. We have Dan Lanning, and Dan's a smart guy, and he's about as good a motivated motivator there is in NCAA football. And I truly do. I mean, I truly do think the Ducks can win this game, and then they'll probably lose a horrible national.

[Dave Damaschek]

But. But for real, they. You know, the winner of this game is going to be likely. I don't know, maybe the.

[Mike Fuentes]

But it's the most fucking thing.

[Dutch Mooc]

It would probably be the most Oregon thing to win this game. And then it's like, okay, it's all over but the crying and then the freaking blow. The national championship game.

[Dave Damaschek]

Yeah, but the other thing is the Ole Miss element of it is with Lane. Now, it's unclear what's going on on the sideline, but those guys are slowly moving away from Ole Miss. They're leaving Oxford actively before this. It's unclear. I don't think that that ultimately happens. I mean, what a terrible look. SEC overlords have to step in and be like, listen, Rob Peter to pay Paul all you want, but now we're in the semifinals. Guys, this is good for the conference if Ole Miss wins and gets to the championship. Please, Lane, do not take these guys this week. What. What a horrendous look. Soup. What's your pick in this one?

[Sponsor/Announcer]

I gotta go.

[Soup Campbell]

The Oregon Ducks. And the only reason I'm going that way is because I haven't seen, like, a perfect Dante Moore game yet. There's always that moment where you're like, wait, he's. We haven't seen his ceiling yet. Like, we haven't seen a ceiling yet. We haven't excel in the red zone. So I think if we can make a little bit of corrections Especially in the red zone and just try to get one touchdown. I think we're going to squeak it out, maybe by two points. It's going to be close. It's going to be close. I don't see this a blowout either way though. The two teams are too good.

[Dave Damaschek]

I do have to say. I mean, like I say, I'm not indifferent about it. Obviously, I hope the Hoosiers win, but it's not, not going to be devastating. Not 1/100th as devastating as the Steelers losing to the Cleveland Brown with the division on the line a week ago. It's just all gravy. I keep saying it, but Mike Fuentes, ironic or otherwise, I do have to shout him out because dur. On his birthday last week he was taking time out of his birthday celebration to text me. See, the Bills are at home and they're losing to the Eagles. So you and your dumb home field advantage and playing in the outdoors in the elements being an advantage to northern based teams and all of that. The big exception in the College Football Playoff to all these antiseptic dome joints and you wouldn't know one from the other is the Rose Bowl. And I found myself walking through the rain trying to get to the Rose bowl. And that really sucked in la. But. But the football gods ultimately smiled and didn't douse us too badly with the rain. But that would have been terrible if the Hoosiers had lost in a downpour. I think that would have been point Mike Fuentes against Dave Damaschek in being right about playing out in the elements. All right, let's get to it, shall we? Let's make some picks for week 18. And one of those picks is we are finally here and you can rightly declare who you think deserves the mvp. Mook, I start with you. The conversation is Drake May, by the way, has become now a, I don't know, prohibitive favorite. But, but the bookmakers are on my side. It's gotta be Drake May. How say you about 1, 2, 3 though? Drake May, Matthew Stafford, or let me throw in a wild card for you, Christian McCaffrey.

[Dutch Mooc]

It's, it's surprising how little Chad McCaffrey's gotten right. You know, it was one of those things that happened when the Niners lost all those, lost all those defensive players. Everyone kind of just put the Niners in a box aside and said, well, let's not even think about them.

[Dave Damaschek]

I did. Right.

[Dutch Mooc]

And so I think the one thing that I mentioned before is we remember beginnings and ends better. So Drake May is going to end the season with this performance against the jets last week. Whatever he's going to do this weekend against Miami I believe is just going to torch them. You probably only play a half whatever, but he's going to have the stupendous end to the season. And I think that the Drake May thing does feel like, it does feel like a done deal. I mean, and then I personally put McCaffrey there because McCaffrey season, he's going to have a thousand yards rushing, 1,000 yards receiving. You know, it's been done what, four times, three times in NFL history. He stayed completely healthy for a player who's not 25 anymore. I mean he's basically single handedly this last month cut the Niners, kept the Niners in these games catching short passes from. He's not, you know, he's catching short passes from Purdy and doing a lot of the work himself. So I think that I personally put McCaffrey at second and I would give him consideration at first, but I'm a homer, so I'm a little bit biased.

[Dave Damaschek]

Well, you could say homer if you want to and you know, obviously I'm not on the Niners and in fact I like you described, I backed off of them with the injuries. I just felt like there was a ceiling imposed on them that lowered the chances of them getting to the title game, let alone to the Super Bowl, a home game. But they're pretty close to it. And to your point about beginning and end, if his finishing act of the regular season is leading the Niners to a win against the the Hawks and claiming the number one seed that should make, I mean I, I know this is a ridiculous moot conversation. There's no chance they're going to give it to a non quarterback. But in terms of history, like you say, thousand and thousand. And the other point is too, it's because of the narratives that we create in our heads during a football season and we got swept up in like maybe the Broncos are good, but wait a second, is it over for Josh Allen in the AFC east and here come the Patriots once again and Caleb Williams and all the stuff in the, of the intrigue of the NFC north and all the different storylines that have been going and Lamar Jackson, what's going on there and is Aaron Rodgers viable really? Can he take this team to playoffs and all that kind of stuff. It somehow all amounted to us paying no attention to not just the Niners, but why they stayed relevant week after week. And I, I say it's Christian McCaffrey along with his guy Kyle Shanahan. But really, CMC, talk about surprises this year, that if you woke up from a coma, who was to say that CMC would ever look anything close to what he did a couple of years ago, the last time they were in the Super Bowl? It's weird. There has been very little attention paid to this handsome devil who, you know, people are. It feels like the advertisers of America are all in on and everything else. And yet if San Francisco, one of our great metropolises, that's where the super bowl is this year. No buzz about the Niners right now. And I think there's a decent chance that in January that all turns around. You talk about this is all prelude to the main event. The playoffs are in fact the main event, not, not the regular season, not what happened at any point in October.

[Dutch Mooc]

And let's also include the Niners MVP Robert Sala, what he's been doing with the defense. I mean, crazy, the fact that these guys, you know, these guys were on the, on the Phil Rivers train. I'm sure a bunch of these guys were working at UPS or coaching high school football, you know, and all of a sudden now that these guys are being called an action to keep, you know, to keep warm bodies on this defense and they're, you know, look, they're not, they're not stopping people, but they're keeping the Niners in games. So yes, you're right. If the Niners can win this game and they do it again with a classic CMC game, you know, 80 yards rushing, 80 yards receiving, something like that, a couple touchdowns. Yeah. Then maybe that, maybe that is enough to win CMC an MVP award. But I think the advantage that Drake May also has is coming from being specifically in New England. He kind of can live off a little bit of a Tom Brady type wake. A little bit. And that, oh man, is this guy the next Brady? So let's acknowledge it now as opposed to a few years from now. You know, let's get on the Drake May. The Drake may train in year two as opposed to waiting to, you know, because it feels like they'd be reluctant to sort of give it to a second year player, you know, and so instead it's like, you know, maybe we'll hop, we'll will hop on the Drake may train now instead of waiting to have him win a Super Bowl.

[Dave Damaschek]

Interesting thought there. Of course, Brady gets his first Lombardi in his sophomore year. And so many quarterbacks, high end, get theirs in their second year that Means circle Bo Nix and Drake May, especially Bo Nix. But Drake may. Yeah. I mean, the best thing that ever happened to Tom Brady, he was largely a passenger in that super bowl run. But getting that, that before it ever becomes a thing, can he win the big one? To have to be at the end of your second season and in fact, Drew Bledsoe does a little of the work in the postseason for you. And to be like, no one's ever gonna question whether or not I can win the big one. Cause I already did it. That would be the best thing to happen to Drake. May related matter, if you get an mvp, that helps too. All right, it all leads up to this. Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers. We talked about the Niners looming injuries there. That's why they are plus a point and a half at home. If they can win this one, the path runs through Santa Clara for them the whole way. Total at the time of this recording, 47 and a half. How say you, Dutch Mooc?

[Dutch Mooc]

Kyle is in his bag right now. The offense looks fantastic. Purdy is looking. Purdy has been absolutely on fire, putting up numbers not seen since Joe Montana or even Colin Kaepernick. If you combine what he's doing with his legs. I personally think this Niners team is so dialed in. I think the Niners win it. I think they win it comfortably. I think the Niners win it by two TDs.

[Dave Damaschek]

Well, the big question, it seems is can Sam Darnold win this one in a big spot? And then people say, well, ironic he would say that when he already just beat the Niners. But I don't think that felt like that was a Sam Darnold signature win so much as it was just a bizarre sequence of events. By the way, one last thing I have to throw in on this idea about Matthew Stafford as mvp. He was my fantasy qb, as you know. I enjoyed his deeds all through the season. He also was throwing it to Puka Nukua. Not just the best name in football, but maybe the best wide receiver in football. Puka Nakua, and a lot of the time, Devonte Adams. Meantime, Drake made the second year guys throwing the ball to old Stefan Diggs and to Hunter Henry. Who do you think had the advantage in that? Oh, well, Matthew Stafford threw eight more touchdown passes. I don't give a good goddamn. This is the sophomore guy who, who the entire football town was looking at like, can you. Everybody around you. Drake is a youngster too. Can you hoist the. Hoist us up a little bit in year two? And give us some hope for next year. And he goes on and wins the division and they're a win away from 14 wins. Remarkable stuff. I'm with you. I'm going to take the Niners on a hunch in this one that they win this game. It. It's the carrot of if we just win this one guys, we'd never have to go on the road. I think that's juicy stuff for a human being who plays football for a living. Next up, Pittsburgh Steelers hosting not their ancient rival, but their rival nevertheless. The best rivalry in pro football in this millennium. The home team Steelers plus three and a half at the time of this recording 40 and a half is your sad total between two pro football teams. The big story is obviously Lamar Jackson is going to play. It sounds like TJ Watts going to be out there. Don't know how much. The big, big thing is the absence of DK Metcalf. Obviously you saw how different that offense looks when he ain't out there. Maybe Dave was right. Maybe Mike Tomlin and Omar Khan will concede that maybe we should have gotten a second wide receiver at some point in the last two seasons. But what's done is done. How say you on this one, Dutch Mooc?

[Dutch Mooc]

Dave, quickly, where are you on gain? Well I thought earlier in the year you were not a big gain. Well guy and this last six weeks suddenly his ball, his pass catching has been huge for the.

[Dave Damaschek]

Not last week which it should have been. But yes, I hear your larger point. Yes. No, I just. I mean they used a third round pick on Caleb Johnson out of Iowa. I am for me in the, in the capped league in the when the clock starts as soon as you draft a guy and you have to make a decision on him after a couple few years and all of that, I feel like NFL teams should be incented to see what these guys are sooner rather than later. And now basically you've redshirted your third round pick. That's a weird way to approach what should have been. They should have had more immediacy about trying to get him in there. But yeah, I'm not complaining about the way Kenneth Gainwell and in fact I think if the Steelers were to somehow win this game, Kenneth Gainwell will have to be a huge factor in it because obviously they don't have much else to target in the passing game. Pat Friarmouth, I suppose.

[Dutch Mooc]

Well to me honestly it does come down at the quarterbacks and and I think that personally everyone's wondering what's going on with Lamar is an Injury, Obviously it was an injury, but the, the thing that I saw in Lamar looked more like malaise and I like, almost disinterest for part of the season. And so what now? Is he motivated? Is he someone who can flip a switch versus an Aaron Rodgers who is, you know, who is 100% motivated and dialed in right now?

[Dave Damaschek]

Is he with it? Certainly not dialed in. I mean, he's the guy who chose to target Marcus Valdez scantling with the division on the line three straight times.

[Dutch Mooc]

But certainly, certainly seems to care more. I know that he cares. I'm not sure how much Lamar cares now. Can you flip the care switch like the Chiefs have done over the years? Seems like, you know, the Chiefs like, you know, they go Uncle Milty, they whip out just enough, you know, and now can Lamar all of a sudden say, okay, now I'm fully invested again. I feel healthy enough again. Personally, to me, the three and a half points is enough to me to say I would take Pittsburgh and, and that would be, that would be my selection.

[Dave Damaschek]

Well, as always, when these two teams play, I will always predict the final score is 20 to 17. That's been adjusted for inflation when it used to always be 13 to 10. The only thing left to figure out was which was going to be on the winning side. Now they've, now they've bumped it up. Modern Times, 2017 will be your final score and sadly, I suspect it will be the Baltimore Ravens. Here is the this is maybe dim logic because it's, it's kind of too broad and to. I think that Lamar anything close to 100% with Derrick Henry behind him, that's enough to defeat the Steelers. Given the state of the Steelers offense without their only viable pass catcher, wide receiver at least. But given that the Steelers are so diminished, the logic, the philosophy should be like just don't give them extra chances. Take care of the ball, be conservative, run the ball with Eric Henry, we will scratch out enough points to survive this bum offense. The problem with that is we see Lamar Jackson when he is coached to be conservative and to play it safe and not to take chances. We see that every January and that's Lamar Jackson at his worst. And in fact, it is not a coincidence. Why is Lamar Jackson struggle against the Steelers? Because they, their, their intent in every one of these games is to drag him down into the mud and turn it into a knuckle fight. If Lamar and Todd Monkin and company take that bait, the Steelers are going to have a chance in this one. I'm going to take the Ravens here. I think the thing that's unlikely to happen because the Texans should win. I think the lemonade out of lemon that the NFL is rooting for here is you could still get if the Texans and Chargers lose, I'm pretty sure this is accurate. You could still get Bills at Ravens and that would be the best playoff game of them all. So that's something to root for. I guess if you don't have a rooting interest otherwise and you'd like to react to star power than react to that. Dutch mooc, you're the biggest star in in my galaxy. Except I'm going to be rooting against your Ducks next week. In the meantime, congratulations once again on the fantasy championship. Thank you for joining us. Soup. Great stuff jumping in here. Shout out to the Fuentes boys and shout out to you, my fellow football Americans. Thanks so much. It's been a thin slice of heaven. Sam.