← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
What's Wright - NFL Week 18 Reaction: What's next for Lamar & Ravens? Steelers SUPER BOWL hopes + coaches FIRED | Nick Wright
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This is an iHeart podcast.
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Guaranteed Human New Year. Same extra value meals at McDonald's. Now get a savory sausage McMuffin with egg plus hash browns and a small coffee for just $5 for a limited time only. Prices and participation may vary. Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska and California. And for delivery welcome in what's Right with Nick R. Episode 411 this episode as always is brought to you by our good friends at Boost M Mobile. Now typically right now is when I introduce we slide the camera over Damanz Damanz is not here at the moment and there are two possible explanations for that. One is he knew we were going to start the show discussing another just gut wrenching, horrifying Ravens loss to end a otherwise promising season. The other explanation is for the first time in the four plus years he's been doing this show and the two years he's been doing this show from Los Angeles, Damanze, brand new father of an 11 week old or no, sorry, incorrect. 7 week old, 8 week old to be exact, for the first time overslept and is running late. Now typically I would just cover for him and say it's the Ravens and and I might have even told him when I talked to him, don't worry, I'm just going to say you're too emotionally distraught to discuss the Raven side of it. However, I think it is even more relatable and endearing to know that we are about to see a bleary eyed on, you know, something like 90 minutes sleep up with a newborn all night. Damanze when he when he rolls into the studio in the next 15 or 20 minutes, I'd have given him the day off. He he said no, I gotta be there. So he'll be here shortly to discuss what is going to be an unbelievable NFL wild card weekend and a wide open postseason. Before we get to all of that though, straight to voicemail. Brought to you by our dear friends at Boost Mobile Hawks and Trey Young working on a trade. This is not surprising. And again my three way southeastern point guard, much maligned southeastern point guard trade of Trey John Lamelo that has been sitting there that I've talked about for more than a year is still there. Mat Ishba back still and Brooks, that's fine folks talking about Dylan Brooks as if he's a legitimate all Star and folks determining that if Dylan Brooks and first of all you boogie cousins trade ideas are outrageous. You wouldn't trade Austin Reeves for Dylan Brooks first of all. Second of all the this is now just like last year, people were like won't people think about who was the the Norman Powell if LeBron James got an All Star bid and didn't play. Now folks are trying to Discuss as if LeBron James shouldn't be on the All Star team and and go check Kobe and Mike's stats, their final All Star years and get back to me if we're talking about who should and shouldn't be on All Star teams. And also if LeBron weren't on there. Dylan Brooks is not the first guy out. And last but not least, you guys wrote brew outs. Nick is a shoeless flyer. Here's the deal. Wilds outed me as this months ago and I want to be very clear. I have no qualms or shame in that whatsoever. I wear fresh brand new outof the package. Socks, nice shoes and when I get on a plane, I very often take my shoes off. It's so damn near a health thing. Ankles can swell. You get seriously hurt up there. A man of my age, I don't take my socks off. That would be abhorrent. And I don't have and I have and I make sure I wear brand new socks. I have no shame in that whatsoever. Now time for the actual show. Reminded everybody like rate, subscribe review to the pod and it helps us out a lot. We are stuck on YouTube at just around 228,000 subscribers. We'd love to get that number up and on itunes and Spotify. I again somehow, even though I own the pod, I don't know how many subscribers we have. They tell me we're doing well. But I would love if you guys subscribe there as well. Okay, the Steelers beat the Ravens in just an epic final game 272 of the 2025 NFL season. And before I get to how seriously I'm taking the Steelers, the real story is of course this season from Baltimore. And the developing story is that at the moment it's 10:45am Eastern on January 6th. What was happening five years ago today at this time it's 10:45 Eastern or six years ago. It's on at this time, I should say. And John Harbaugh still has a job. So right now it's status quo in Baltimore. And we'll get into that piece of it as well. But first, I do want to show actual empathy. And I mean this, this isn't tongue in cheek. This isn't me being a smart ass. This isn't me doing any subtle I told you so stuff about Lamar, who had such an interesting game Sunday night, but over the last 10 years it is hard to find a franchise that has dealt with more end of season stomach punches than the Baltimore Ravens and it's literally nine of the last 10 years. So if I may go through it just quickly because this does the Ravens, because they've had such success compared to mediocre or bad franchises and because they've got a two time MVP and a coach people historically have really liked and they've won two Super Bowls this decade. I'm sorry, this century people don't look at them as like a curse cursed franchise. But here are how the last 10 seasons have ended in Baltimore 2016 the 8 and 6 Baltimore Ravens are playing the 9 and 5 Pittsburgh Steelers. It is on Sunday Night Football with the de facto division title on the line. The Ravens have a three point lead. I don't know if it was a three or a four point lead. I'm going to check to get because I want to make sure I have it right. They have a three point lead with 10 seconds left and Ben Roethlisberger throws just short of the goal line to Antonio Brown who gets hit and stopped and Pittsburgh has no timeouts. He stopped short of the goal line and as he's going down he turns around reaches the ball over the back of his head. Touchdown. Division title. Baltimore loses the next week and misses the postseason. The next year Baltimore is in a win and in scenario in Week 17 against the GoT nothing to play for Cincinnati Bengals and Andy Dalton. They have them in a 4th and 12 with 40 seconds remaining and the Bengals hit a 60 plus yard game winning insane touchdown pass to end the Raven season. The next year is the one year. The reason I said nine out of 10 with heartbreak. The one year that didn't end in heartbreak. The next year the team's not good. Throws a figurative Hail Mary by going to Lamar Jackson at the mid. You know, late in the year Lamar rips off a bunch of wins, they sneak into the playoffs, they get absolutely crushed in round one. But you had real reason for optimism. Didn't expect necessarily. You didn't expect to look as bad as you did in round one against the Chargers, but whatever. But 2016 you lose a week 16 game for the division in the final seconds. 2017, you lose a winning urine game on a fourth and 12 to Andy Dalton. 2019 you have the number one seed, you have the unanimous MVP and you get dog walked by the Tennessee Titans in your first playoff game. 2020 it is a 103 snowy cold weather defensive Battle in the divisional round. You are inside the 10 yard line going in for the game tying touchdown is the waning Moments of the fourth quarter. Approach of the third quarter. In the waning moments of the third quarter, Lamar Jackson, pick six. You lose the game right there. 2021, you're eight and three. Lamar Jackson gets banged up. His coach thinks he'll be back soon. He never comes back. You finish 8 and 9. 2022, you're having another solid year. You're 9 and 4. Lamar Jackson gets banged up, his coach thinks he's coming back. You limp to the finish line but make the playoffs anyway. And you're 17:17 in a playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals with Tyler Huntley at quarterback. You're on the goal line. You run a quarterback sneak, Fumble return, touchdown, 99 yards. Lose that playoff game. 2023, you're the number one seed again. You have a home playoff game. You're the number one DVOA team, the number one DVOA defense. You have the MVP of the league at quarterback. You turn the ball over three times in that game, including a goal line fumble by Zay Flowers, an in zone pick by Lamar Jackson. You lose 17 to 7. 2024, Lamar has the best year of his career, arguably despite not winning mvp. You get the Buffalo Bills again. You have a furious second half comeback culminating in a two point conversion attempt to a wide open Mark Andrews. He fumbles in 2025. You have a season from hell, but you can make up for all of it by beating your hated rival Pittsburgh Steelers. And you have another unbelievable fourth quarter by Lamar, including a fourth and seven conversion to Isaiah likely to give you a chip shot, field goal and your rookie kicker Tyler Loop gax it. That is nine out of 10 years of utter heartbreak. And the one year that was not included in the heartbreak was getting just annihilated in a playoff game. Lamar's rookie season, that is torture. And I got real empathy for Ravens fans, honestly. And it's one of the reasons I'm so surprised John Harbaugh still the coach, because even if that's not his fault, there's too much scar tissue at this point and it sure feels like a change needs to be made. Now on the game itself, how do we evaluate Lamar's play such a weird game? Because for the first three quarters, and Collinsworth said it on the broadcast, early in the fourth quarter, Lamar was 5 of 10 for 67 yards and wasn't running the ball and had done nothing. And then in the fourth quarter he played the best quarter of his life including two of the best plays of his entire career. The two free rushers sandwiching him him him avoiding that sack and then hitting Zay flowers on a 50 plus yard touchdown. As amazing as that was, I don't know if that was a better play than the fourth and seven season on the line. Perfect throw and even better catch by likely to set up the chip shot field goal so Lamar, you in sports it doesn't matter how big of a hole you dig yourself. Ask my guy Trevor with his four interception playoff game if your brilliance digs you out of it. The last two years, the game ending losses for Baltimore, it is felt like Lamar helped dig them a big hole and then dug them this close to out of it with brilliant play.
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And.
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Then mistakes by other people cost him the full vindication. Mark Andrews cost him a shot at overtime and Tyler Loop cost him a win. But how do we do the math on that? It it'd be ridiculous to pin the loss on Lamar, but it would also be ridiculous to give him credit for coming through in a game that they lost. And in part they lost because in the Bills game last year and the Steelers game this year, really really shaky first half performances including a turnover or in the Bills game a couple turnovers. So that part is hard to parse and history probably won't remember the details as much as more big games that the Ravens were favored in. And that's the other piece that I didn't even mention in this favored in that game against the Chiefs, favored in the game against the Bills, favored in the game against Pittsburgh. Lost, lost, lost. Now the very end of the game, Should John Harbaugh have attempted to put Tyler Loop in a better position? The easy answer is yes, why didn't he? The uncomfortable answer is because Derrick Henry had a fumbling problem this year and all of that matters. The the fact that the Ravens moved on from Justin Tucker to a rookie kicker mattered this year. The fact that Derrick Henry fumbled early in the year and seemed to be in his head about it, despite how brilliant he was. If it wasn't in his head, it was in Harbaugh's. Because you had 14 seconds, you had one timeout and you were staring at a 41 yard field goal in the toughest stadium to kick in in the sport. And instead of asking Derrick Henry to make it a 35 yard field goal or maybe a 0 yard field goal if he pops one, you made it a 44 yard field goal because you don't want to risk the turnover. Also Lamar told us that not long before Tyler Looped, and I don't know if Harbaugh knew this, not long before Tyler Loop goes to take the kick that will define his entire NFL career. Most likely, Lamar flipped out on him on the sidelines. He kicked the ball out of bounds. That's got to be tough for the rookie kicker. I don't know how confident he was walking into that kick. And we only the cameras didn't catch that. Lamar told us that after the game. But ultimately the, the reason the Ravens lost was because they were not a good team this year. They were an 89 team in every fashion. They had moments of brilliant defense and moments of horrific defense, and that was over the course of the season. And in, in the final game of the year, their quarterback had moments of brilliant play and moments of the shakiest play of his career. That was all season. And in week 18 they are coached by a special teams coach and the special teams were shaky throughout the season and then they lost it for him in week 18. That was not a great football team and that was not a team that had they won, they were going to be super dangerous, even though people tried to convince themselves they would be. That was a team that needed the Cleveland Browns and Shador Sanders to win a week 17 game just to make week 18 matter for them. And so why will this team be different next year? Well, right now, as I keep checking my phone for an update, it doesn't look like they're going to be. Which Lamar was asked after the game if he wants Harbaugh back next year. And he said, I can't focus on that right now. We just lost. Which is a damning and telling answer. And I have been of the informed belief that Lamar is over John Harbaugh. Lamar's answer to the, to that question just furthered that belief, which again is not naked speculation. And if I were the Ravens, I'd almost always pick the player over the coach. It doesn't seem like they have any interest in moving on from Lamar, so I just assumed they knew they had to move on from Harbaugh. And again, by the time you listen to this, maybe that will have happened. But it has not happened yet. And the Lamar contract situation becomes very tricky because he has got two years left on what is now a drastically under market deal that averages $52 million a year. The top of the market's now 60. Also, they need to rework that deal because it's got a cap hit of $75 million next year and the year after, which is completely untenable. And lamar, who turns 29 tomorrow and is coming off his worst year as a pro and a year with five injuries, is going to want a top of market fully guaranteed contract. And if the Ravens keep John Harbaugh, what was already going to be a very tough contract negotiation for the Baltimore Ravens with Lamar I think will get that much tougher. So I don't want to spend too much time right now on the Lamar future Harbaugh future angle just because I still feel like this could become dated in hours. Because I still feel feel like the Ravens are probably moving on from Harbaugh, but it hasn't happened yet. We will get Daman's thoughts on this and I will explain why I think the Steelers are an actual threat in just a moment. But first, today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet, Florida's Sportsbook and the official sportsbook partner of your favorite Florida team. Like my teams like my Jags, the Bucks. They were my Bucks. Man oh man, the Heat, the Magic and hey, the Panthers. Playoffs kick off this weekend. If you've got the script on how it's going to play out, build the same game parlay on Hard Rock Bet and turn game day into payday. Or if you're more into hardwood than the gridiron, you can put up shots on the NBA in college every night on Hard Rock Bet, your home for hoops action all season long. You can even combine your football and basketball bets. If you've got a playoff parlay, add an NBA bet or player prop to it and turn up the payout. And if you missed the start of the game, don't worry. 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Offered by Seminole Hard Rock Digital LLC in all other states. Must be 21 plus and physically present in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee or Virginia. To play terms and cond.
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Apply.
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Concerned about gambling in Florida, call 1833 play wise in Indiana. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem wants help, call 1-800-9 with it gambling problem, call 1-800- gambler Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia Damanze is here, pal. How are you doing?
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I'm good. How you doing, pops?
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I'm doing well.
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Weird day.
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Your baby is fat, man.
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She's a big baby. Yeah.
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These pictures you sent me or your Maddie sent me last night, I mean she's, she's approaching her two month birthday. She is a chunky, gorgeous baby. Please thank Maddie for those pictures. And because of the time difference, I didn't, I, I didn't respond immediately.
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No, no.
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I know it's super late the but good to see you.
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Good to see you.
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How are you dealing doing with and dealing with the Ravens loss?
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You know, it's, it's unfortunate. I would have never seen it coming down to to our new kicker but I can't blame it on the guy. I think Lamar, I. Lamar did well and I think in a big time spot. I think I love that likely called it past to keep us in it having the year that he's had. But and I also think you know the Lamar not being able to comment on Harbaugh after the game probably means that he's more out on him than he is in but yeah, it's an unfortunate way to go out. But they fought. They fought. But yeah, it's tough.
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I want to say one thing to the audience on Lamar being out on Harbaugh. More out than it.
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Okay.
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And I, I shouldn't you know how they say like if you have to explain a joke, it's not funny.
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Yep.
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I. There is a. This I, I don't quite have my finger on how to phrase this but there's a sports talk version of that same lesson.
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Okay.
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That I'm gonna when I have spent countless segments on this show and on TV of pointing out the public record of the curious John Harbaugh Lamar Jackson relationship and the uncertainty about injury status and the different disconnects and shined as bright of a Light as I could have on that Mike Preston column, which was it might have all been accurate, but still a hit piece on Lamar. Maybe. Folks, I'm doing that because there are certain elements to this story that I am not able to divulge publicly, but that corroborate all of the what we would call circumstantial evidence that there is a real problem with that relationship. And so I keep trying to point at the pro, at the, at the publicly known things.
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Right.
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And another one was of the publicly known things, was Lamar being asked, do you want your coach back?
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Yeah.
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And him saying, I can't talk about this right now. Because. And Brew put this perfectly on the show yesterday, as distraught as he was, if that question was, hey, do you want Derrick Henry back? Do you think he would have been like, I can't talk about that right now.
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Exactly.
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Jameson, you can't ask me that right now. Of course not.
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Right. And I feel like you get into those types of arguments with like your spouse or something and it's like, I don't want to talk about it right now. It means that it's like the answer that's more complicated.
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Yes. And so, so I just. I. The Ravens keeping Harbaugh, if they do to Monze, is a massive development. I would argue the Ravens keeping him is a bigger story than them firing him.
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Okay.
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Because I think the Ravens keeping Harbaugh puts Lamar's future with the team in question and I think that I'm not again, I don't want to spend too much time on that piece of it right here because I don't know, they might fire him today and then this all becomes moot. But if by the time we're together on Thursday, Harbaugh still the coach that is still the biggest non playoff story. Now just quickly on the Steelers, if I may.
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Yeah. Contenders.
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I think this, I say it again.
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You said they'd be a sneaky contender.
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Team in the postseason contender is I don't think they could win four playoff games but I think they can beat the Texans. And this was as we're. And you guys listen, I am not an Aaron Rodgers guy but I have to be fair about what I'm seeing in the last five weeks. Save the Cleveland game which was an abomination. He's been excellent. They now get DK Metcalf back. They scored 26 against what had been a red hot for two months. Ravens defense two despite missing an extra point and getting stuffed at the one yard line that easily could have been a 30 point game for them. Gainwell is an excellent player. Jalen Warren is an underrated player. T.J. watt is back. They are now home against a Texans team that has not been great down the stretch. A Texas team that just. It's not. They've been bad. It feels like they peaked like week 14, 15ish and have been holding on to a degree. I, I'm not dismissing Pittsburgh. I did for the most of the year. I'm not dismissing them at this point. I think you're dismissing them.
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But yeah, I mean I do think at the Texans is where it would stop 100%. But yeah, if they.
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Again, I don't know.
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They didn't even have DK Metcalf last week and they.
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And they did. They're getting him back, got DK back.
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And then some more rest with his long.
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If, if they beat the, if they beat the Texans, do I think they would have a shot going to Denver? I would do. I think they would have a shot if they ended up being the team that went to New England. They already beat New England.
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You don't think Houston's front line is gonna.
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No.
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So Rogers, I know, I know you said early and stuff, but. Yeah.
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So this is a, this is a take based purely on speculation. I think there is a chance that we see in Aaron Rodgers that is more willing to get hit once the playoffs start that part of his quick, quick, quick, quick trigger was I need. I cannot right be injured for the postseason. And you even saw in the second half of that Ravens game. Yeah, he hung in there a little bit longer.
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Yeah.
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And he ended up taking one big shot. Scrambled out, he took one big shot, was grabbing his wrist and that could be dangerous. And Houston's front is extraordinary. But I think there's an element of he might be willing to hang it, hang in there a little bit more when he knows in all likelihood these are my last playoff moments. And so I find that intriguing. All right, let's go to the NFC and Saturday night's game.
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All right, Saturday night. Darnold and the Seahawks, they secured the one seed beating the Niners in that game. Darnold is back in the postseason, back to back seasons with 14 games. The second quarterback, only second quarterback ever to do that. You've been pretty high on them all year, but now they're favorites. How do you feel about them being super bowl favorites?
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Well, listen, I think it's a testament to that there is no perfect team this year that I hate to be this simplistic, but it is remarkable that a Team with Sam Darnold as its quarterback can be the favorites to win the Super Bowl. And I know some folks might be like Nick. What more does Darnold have to prove? Back to back 14 win seasons. Here is. Here's the cold truth on Darnold. He has not been the same player since the first rams game. First nine games of the year to Monse. A 117 rating, 117, seven touchdowns, six picks, 10 yards per attempt. Just super elite play since that Rams game, which we're talking about. Eight games, eight touchdowns, eight picks, an 83 rating, 7.2 yards per attempt. So the production has plummeted. And you might say, oh, that's that one Rams game in there. If you take that, if you just go after that, it's still in seven games, eight touchdowns, four picks, 91 rating, 7.4 yards per attempt. Darnold did not play well down the stretch. That concerns me. With that said, that team is awesome. Flatly awesome. The defense is great. Darnold at least is not. You know, he'll take shots. He plays with confidence. I think Mike McDonald is excellent. And right now I, I would pick the Rams to beat them, but the Rams got to get there and it's going to be a tough path. Now the Rams obviously should handle Carolina in round one, but they lost in Carolina this year. I mean, I think they'll win that game.
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I don't think Carolina's better that they lost initially. Huh. So maybe they won't overlook them this time because it's the Panthers.
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I. Yes and no. Yes, I understand that. But also I don't think they're going to overlook a playoff.
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Playoff team.
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Yeah, but, but I think the. That the Seahawks finishing the way they did. And let me say one other thing because we talked about it last week. Darnold found himself in the exact same position he was in last year. Win and be the 1 seed, losing you 5. And they won. Now that was again a game much more about the Seahawks defense and what it did to Brock Purdy than it was about Darnold. But Darnold didn't melt. And for the Niners, I think that was a season def. Is too hard. I don't want to say season ending because I think they can win their first playoff game. But I think the Niners needed to somehow steal that game against Seattle, get rest, get the one seed, be in good weather at home to have a real shot to find a way back to the Super Bowl. Now starting the playoffs in Philly and then if you win that game going either to Seattle or to Los Angeles is just too much. And so, and folks might be like, why are you not saying they could go to Chicago? Because the six seed can't play the two seed in round two two of the playoffs. Everybody gets this confused about the NFL receding. It's also why, if you're a Pats fan, the Pats, the way the seating fell, it's impossible for them to play Buffalo until the conference championship game, which I'm, if I'm the Pats, I love. Because if the Pats win, then the seven seeds out, Buffalo's the sixth seed. And if Buffalo wins, they would be by definition, if the Pats have won the worst seed remaining. So they would go to Denver. So the only, the only thing that you know after about the round two of the NFL playoffs is that the three seed cannot play the one seed in round two and the six seed cannot play the two seed in round two. Obviously the two seed can't play the one seed round two. So I'll say that again, when you're talking about potential round two matchups, you know, no matter what, the two or the three can't play the one, and the six can never play the two. And I'll add one other thing. If the seven wins, they always play the one. Those are the things you know about when the NFL playoffs are going to recede, if that helps you think about what potential round two matchups we could get. All right, let's talk mvp.
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About a week ago, it seemed like MVP was locked up in May's favorite. But after another week of football and May and Stafford blowing their two opponents out, Stafford is back at the lead at minus 170 and Drake is plus 1. 45. Does this surprise you that this happened in the.
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Here's what surprised me. I think the sports books screwed this up. The sports books to me acted with far too much confidence a week ago when they had may like minus 400. This isn't something that is easy to handicap without actually hearing from the voters. It's 50 voters and you don't know what they're going to value. And when it's a two man race having just the snap reaction. And this is to me going to, because we have talked about it all, you know, all year long and because we have discussed the odds as if those are actually predictive in this marketplace, folks are I think, going to be like, man, Stafford lighting up. The Cardinals want him mvp because they're going to assume that Drake May was this huge leader after week 17 based on nothing other than it's where the sportsbook set it. And when it comes to voting, setting odds for something that is done by a vote where there is no polling, they're just guessing. And I said a week ago I spent a lot of time about how I did not want MVP to become December Player of the Month. And that's what it felt like it was leaning towards. I think Matt Stafford is the rightful mvp. And I don't think strength of schedule is everything. But I also think that if the best argument May has is we're the two seed and he's the five seed, that's where strength of schedule to me does matter. Like all right, if you flip their schedules could the rams have won 14 games and the Patriots have won 12 and then the the one seed versus five seed argument also if you're saying or two seed versus five seed. The other truth is the Rams are not the five seed. They're the one seed if they can hold a touchdown in overtime lead against Seattle when Stafford's on the bench the whole time they're up 3730 in overtime and Stafford's the one seed if they hold that game. And I just think Stafford's numbers against very stiff competition are. And I understand Drake May's got great numbers.
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He did have better numbers than Stafford I think up until like a week or maybe two weeks ago. And Stafford obviously had the harder schedule.
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Can I, can I just make this point? He still does not have better numbers than Stafford. I understand that some of the advanced metrics favor Drake May. But Matt Stafford this year threw for 4,700 yards. Drake May threw for 4,400 yards. They both had eight interceptions. Matt Stafford threw 15 more touchdowns. Yeah, Matt Stafford had 46 touchdowns. Drake May had 31. Now Drake Mays passer rating is four points higher. He has a higher yards per attempt and he obviously has been the more prolific rusher. He rushed for 450 and four touchdowns. So total yards he barely clips Stafford. But even when you add the rushing touchdowns, Stafford has 11 more. And it's the Internet's claiming Matt Stafford is 13 one yard touchdown passes. He does not. He has eight one yard touchdown passes. And Drake may I believe has four. And the Rams were not a good power running team. They needed to like. It wasn't just like stat batting. It was pretty sick Throws to devonte Adams was the best way to score. I just guys got 46 touchdowns. Eight picks in the best division in football against a really tough schedule is won the passing Title in yards by 1:50 and the passing touchdown title by a dozen and only threw eight picks. I don't. I. I think it's Stafford. If it's May, so be it. It's not a travesty but I think it's Stafford and Demons. A real quick. Who do you think is going to finish third? Look at the smile on my face and see if you can guess.
- [47:29]
A
Oh, is it Trevor or is it.
- [47:32]
B
I think so. I think Trevor's gonna finish third.
- [47:37]
A
I mean is 13 is that an accolade?
- [47:42]
B
For me it is, honestly.
- [47:43]
A
Well, I was just about to say that third in MVP is pretty good.
- [47:47]
B
Third and MVP is pretty sick.
- [47:49]
A
Yeah.
- [47:50]
B
And so they went 13 and 4. But more importantly than that, Trevor Lawrence over the final six games of the season. 19 touchdowns, one turnover. And let me get this exactly right. 290 yards per game, 19 touchdowns, one turnover. 290 yards per game. They finished the year on an eight game winning streak. Pretty, pretty unbelievable finishing kick. They won the division. They went to Denver and kicked the shit out of them. The only like pretty unbelievable job by Trevor hey, are you thinking about upgrading to the all new iPhone 17 Pro design to be the most powerful iPhone ever? But you're also thinking about the traffic on your way to the store, the headache of transferring all your data. Good news when you order a new iPhone online, when you order a new phone online with Boost Mobile, they'll send an expert to your home or work to deliver your brand new iPhone 17 Pro and get you all set up on Boost Mobile within minutes. No hassle. Visit boostmobile.com to get started. Delivery available for select devices purchased@boost mobile.com Terms do apply. All right Dean, let's talk a little Black Monday.
- [49:18]
A
Lost jobs we got the Raiders, Falcons, Browns and the Cardinals all fired their coaches yesterday. And let's not forget the Giants and Titans also fired their coaches earlier in the season. Of those six openings, what do you think is the most attractive job?
- [49:36]
B
I mean those are some of the worst jobs in football. Yeah, I mean I think the jets is the only like job that's in contention. That's for to be worse than the Browns. Maybe Giants, I guess the Giants. But here the problem with the Giants is this. Yes, they're a prestige franchise but Joe Shane stayed. I don't get that. And they have since they fired Tom coughlin It's been 10 seasons. Demons A they had been McAdoo who lasted a season and a half. Pat Shermer Two years. Joe Judge Two years. Brian Dable Three and a half years. It's been a pretty quick trigger.
- [50:52]
A
And.
- [50:53]
B
I don't know if they do or don't have the quarterback and so that is.
- [51:03]
A
I feel like there's the most something there. Well I guess the Browns with Shador. Shador and Dart I feel like are damn near the same thing.
- [51:14]
B
So I'm not a huge Dart guy. I think he's a bit of a knucklehead.
- [51:19]
A
Yeah.
- [51:20]
B
And maybe and maybe Shador is going to with a full off season turn into something. I know this is like not a popular take but again I, I have to just be honest about what we saw. Even by quarterback standards Shador was really like rookie quarterback standards, Shador really struggled. Shador finishes this year amongst 37 qualifying quarterbacks, 33rd or worse in passer rating, QBR, touchdown interception ratio, completion percentage. He threw for 175 yards per game, had seven touchdowns, 10 interceptions. I'm not sure how many lost fumbles. A 68 rating and dead last 19.0 QBR if you care about QBR that is. And the Browns have the sixth pick. So I think maybe Shador goes into next year as the incumbent. But I am if Shador becomes a very high quality backup that is a huge success as a fifth round pick. Like if Shador becomes what's a good if Shador has Jacoby Brissette's career that is awesome. That is amazing value as a 5th round pick and that would be great for him. I it is surprising how many people and maybe I'll end up being wrong how many people see bigger and better than that for him. I do. I. I don't but also the Browns, you know might just not know what they're doing. But I guess if I were power ranking the jobs demand I would go the Titans job is dependent on do you believe in Cam Ward? If you think Cam Ward is going to be a star then that's a good job. I'm going to go Giants 1, I guess Falcons 2 Titans 3 Cardinals 4 Raiders 5 Brown 6 that these are it's why maybe this is why I don't know if this is an argument for Baltimore to keep Harbaugh or get rid of him. The argument to get rid of him is you become the best job available by 10 country miles. Yeah the argument to keep him is if you fire him you might have to just hire Kevin Stefanski who the Browns just fired. So I don't even. I don't know what you do. Speaking of the Browns, let's get to Miles Garrett Breaking the sack record.
- [54:42]
A
Miles Garrett broke the single sack record on Sunday. Where, where does this rank among the top pass rushing seasons you've ever seen?
- [54:50]
B
Listen, I didn't see it, but Reggie White in 1987 had 21 sacks to Monza. He played 12 games. So that to me is the best. And this is right. So like 21 sacks in 12 games by Reggie White's just so sick. But Garrett doing this for a team that always trailed, that didn't face. It's the fewest pass attempts for a team has faced for a season in which they had a 21 plus sack guy. He was also great against the run. So I, you know, it is, I think it's the best pure pass rushing season in 30 years. I'll go at least that far. And what else do you have on this game?
- [55:38]
A
You think the Bengals will be getting sore losers when. When the Browns stop the game to celebrate it?
- [55:45]
B
I, I'm stupefied that the Bengals made a big deal of this.
- [55:54]
A
Well, it's a bit like it's their, they're in their division. Like man, we don't care about.
- [56:02]
B
Yeah, but the NFL suck. I mean the, the, it's the, I mean we got Zach Taylor is like we're fighting for our life. All this nonsense. Like first of all, no you're not. Second of all, how are you not aware that they're going to stop the game if he breaks this record? There's only a handful of single season or career records that are noteworthy. All time receiving yards, it's Jerry Rice, it's never getting touched. Alltime rushing yards, it's EMT Smith, it's never getting touched. So you just like that's, you just don't have to worry about oh man, like what's going to happen if our team's involved in something like that. Like let me just tell you what those records are. Any touchdown record, single season rushing, receiving or career, you don't have to worry about either because you know what happens after a touchdown game stops anyway.
- [57:05]
A
Yeah.
- [57:06]
B
So like it's not going to happen in the flow of play. So there's, it's a very select few rec like career rushing yards. Emmett has 18,355. Second place is Walter Payton at 16 7. Highest active is Derrick Henry at 13,000. So Derek Henry would need another 5,000 yards to break Emmett's record. I don't put anything past Derek Henry. I don't think that's happening. Derrick Henry is 31 years old. I don't think he's you know, giving you a thousand yard seasons in the age 36. So that record seems pretty safe. By the way, if you want to know an even safer record, Jerry Rice is receiving yards, which is 22,895. Second place is Larry Fitzgerald at 17,000 and change.
- [58:02]
A
Oh, it's Larry. That's crazy. Yeah, he played forever Larry Fitzgerald.
- [58:08]
B
Most active is DeAndre Hopkins, who has 13,000. He's more than 9,000 shy. And I don't know if you saw DeAndre Hopkins last two years with the Chiefs and the Ravens. I don't think he's getting there. Then it's Mike Evans at 13,000, Travis Kelsey at 13,000. I don't think either one of those guys is adding another 9,800. So that record seems safe. The only records are, oh, and let me career passing yards. Just so we're all on the same page, it's Tom Brady at 89,000. Okay. Second most is Drew Brees at 80, so he's 9,000 clear. Aaron Rodgers is the highest active. He's at 66. He's 23,000 away. Stafford's at 64. He's 25,000 away. I think it's pretty safe. Highest up on the list of a quarterback still in his prime. Mahomes and Dak both have 35 9. So they both need 55,000 more. We don't have to worry about that record for a while. So the only records that can be broken where they might stop a game are single season rushing. Eric Dickerson. If Saquon would have done it last year, they'd have stopped the game. Single season receiving. Calvin Johnson, when he got it, they stopped the game. Single season passing Peyton Manning. He got it on a touchdown pass. They stopped the game. And the sacks record. And when Strahan got it, they stopped the game. Whiny baby. Bengals and Jamar Chase being like, man, and back into my career. They better when I get 10 catches or something, buddy. I love you, Jamar Chase. Shut up. I promise you, Jamar Chase. I absolutely promise you, if you ever break Calvin Johnson single season yardage record, they will stop the game. And if you get any of the other records, they'll stop the game for you. Unfortunately, all the records are held by Jerry Rice and no one's coming close. Jerry Rice. 197 career receiving touchdowns. Second place is Moss with 156. Highest active is Devonte Adams at 117. To give you context for that, if you took Devonte Adams 117 and added Travis Kelce's 82. You would beat Rice by two touchdowns. Nobody's touching Rice's records, so you don't have to worry about any of that. Jamar Chase, quit whining. And so I just, I, I can't. I just can't. I couldn't believe these guys being like, we didn't expect it. What did you expect? They'd just be like, third down. Been talking about this record all year. All right, let's do the quick. Let's quickly get to these other games.
- [61:22]
A
Oh, Buccaneers Defeat the Panthers 1614. It didn't matter.
- [61:27]
B
Didn't matter. What a shameful end of season swoon by Tampa. Yeah, what a shameful preseason prediction by me. Had him in the super.
- [61:37]
A
It wasn't. It wasn't.
- [61:38]
B
My super bowl teams missed the playoffs tomorrow.
- [61:41]
A
That's. That part is. Isn't great.
- [61:43]
B
My two Super bowl teams to Monze started the year off 5 and 3 and 6 and 1 and then finished the year 2 and 7 and 1 and 8, respectively. Just. Just pathetic. By the way, we're not talking draft today, but thanks to that one and eight finish, the Chiefs are drafting ninth.
- [62:13]
A
I can't believe. That's awesome.
- [62:16]
B
Chiefs got a better draft pick than the Bengals. Burrow missed half the year. It's really remarkable. All right. Next.
- [62:25]
A
Falcons defeat the Saints 19 to 17.
- [62:28]
B
Yeah, that won the Panthers their division. Might have cost Tyler Shuck off into rookie of the year and it wasn't enough for Raheem Morris to keep his job. I thought that was a curious firing. By the way. Firing Raheem finished 8, 9, finished tied for division lead. I don't know.
- [62:42]
A
Next, Raiders Defeat the Chiefs 1412. And you also think that's Kelsey's last game? Possibly.
- [62:50]
B
I don't want to talk about the Kelsey thing because I don't know. And we've talked like we've talked about it before. It's a good thing to Monte. I don't have a league MVP ballot because my ballot would read, Number one, Matt Stafford. Number two, Drake May. Number three, Trevor Lawrence. Number four, Christian McCaffrey and number five, after seeing the Kansas City Chiefs lose to the Tennessee Titans and not score a touchdown, lose to the Denver Broncos and score one touchdown and lose to the Las Vegas Raiders and not score a touchdown, my fifth most valuable player of the league of 2025 would have been Patrick Mahomes because holy. Have you ever seen a worse offense than this team without him? My God, just instantly just snap. Became the worst team in the league. That is Raiders Lost to the Titans, I mean, just instantly became impossible. Like couldn't get yards, just could do nothing. It just the. It's really unbelievable. If you look at what the Chiefs did those final three games, I'm just going to tell it to you real quick. Against the Tennessee Titans, who are awful, The Chiefs ran 43 plays 40 for 130 yards. Had nine first downs converted one third down. Against the Denver Broncos, who admittedly have a very good defense. The Chiefs ran. I was looking at that. I was like, no. Oh wow. They no, wrong stat. 42 plays for 139 yards. So again, the first game they had 133 yards. The second game they had 139 yards. And against the. And against the Las Vegas Raiders, The Chiefs ran 62 plays, a lot of plays for 168 yards. They averaged 3 yards per play without Mahomes. I'm not acting like there were some juggernaut this year with him, but my.
- [65:29]
A
God, it is the remaining games that they had after Patrick went out really did shine a light because if they had those been good opponents. Yeah.
- [65:40]
B
My God.
- [65:41]
A
Next Jaguars defeat the Titans 41 to 7. I didn't think.
- [65:45]
B
Listen, we. The Trevor's just been on such a heater and now we get Bill's Jags in round one and I, you know what I was going to say. I'm just saying it right now. I believe the winner of that game is going to go to the Super Bowl. That's my pick. Winner of Bill's Jags goes to the Super Bowl. We'll have the the but we'll talk a lot more about that on Thursday also. So Thursday we'll do our playoff preview for Friday we'll do our playoff gambling show and our preseason over unders recap and our preseason gambling show recap where I compile it's it I compiled it this morning and you will see the real integrity of this show because we pay the vig on this show. So all of that coming up later this week. Let's get to these other games quickly.
- [66:45]
A
Texans Defeat the Colts 3830 weird game.
- [66:49]
B
Because the Texans wanted to win it. But then Ben CJ Stroud they wanted anyway the Colts kept it close.
- [66:54]
A
Next Vikings defeat the Packers 16 to 3.
- [66:58]
B
The packers did not care about winning this game. The packers however here's the thing. Matt LaFleur last year with Aaron Rodgers they are playing in week eight seven eighteen to win and be the seven seed. They lost. The next year the Green Bay packers with Jordan Love were The seven seed. The next year, the Green Bay packers with Jordan Love were the seven seed. This year the Green Bay packers with Jordan Love are the seven seed. They nobody has benefited from this expanded playoff field more than Matt LaFlore who I think objectively is a good coach. But there's a seven seed every year. Last year with Rogers, they, they just barely missed out on it. And then each of the last three years they were the seven seed.
- [67:48]
A
Next Giants defeat the Cowboys 34 17.
- [67:52]
B
Nobody listen. Jackson Dart doesn't the Giants Jackson Dart most notably was like, man, I'm ruining our draft pick. You don't even think about drafting Fernando Mendoza. We're gonna beat the Raiders, then we're gonna beat the Cowboys and we're going to fall. You're going to draft me an offensive lineman and like it.
- [68:10]
A
Next the Commanders defeat Eagles 24 17.
- [68:14]
B
So that's noteworthy because the Lions ended up beating the Bears in another game where the Bears offense was Non existent for 3/4, came alive late, but it happened to not be enough because the Bears lost. If the Eagles had won, they would be the two seed. And the Eagles rested all their guys and thought they could win anyway and lost. And that to me matters. Like the Eagles, Sirianni's never lost a playoff game at home. He's also never won a playoff game on the road. That's he and Jalen. So that is interesting that they have set it up to where Round two. They're on the road. If they win and the Bears win. Next is.
- [68:55]
A
So we got Lions defeating the Bears 19 to 16.
- [68:59]
B
Yeah, that was kind of included in the what I just did.
- [69:03]
A
Broncos defeat Chargers 193 Chargers Backups Broncos.
- [69:09]
B
Defense, you know, made Trey Lance look bad. I'd be a little squeamish about how Bo Nix is going into the playoffs. So he was awesome against Green bay In the three games since then, two touchdowns, two picks, a 79 rating and Bo Nix, I understand he's been clutch, but the final half of the year, 10 touchdowns, six picks and 85 rating. And if you remove. This is wildly unfair. You can't remove it. But I'm just saying if you remove the Green Bay game over the final half of the season, Bo Nix in eight games has six touchdowns, six picks and a passer rating in the 70s. Not great. And that would make me a little nervous. But they get into the playoffs healthy. They're the one seed. That's what matters. And the Bills beat the jets with their backups in a game where no pitch. Yeah, the jets went the whole season without an interception which is just not.
- [70:25]
A
Fall into an interception.
- [70:27]
B
It's impossible to believe. Also it is not lost on me when I am you know making the Matt Stafford is the league MVP case that Drake may against the jets throws for 255 touchdowns, no picks. And the very next week Mitch Trubisky against the jets throws for two 54 touchdowns no picks. Again, I think Drake may add an unbelievable season but those jets games are doing a lot of the statistical heavy lifting for his MVP case. Sorry just. Just is what it is. The go to Felix's question on this.
- [71:22]
A
Real quick Demase Felix Felix asks why does Drake May not get more credit for turning the Patriots around? Stafford and the Rams were already very good last year and won two more games than last year. The Pats won 10 more.
- [71:36]
B
I I keep seeing people ask that type of question. I don't that question is written and asked as if Drake May was not on the Patriots last year he was. He got a lot better. No doubt he's been awesome this year. But you know it's I the rookie season though. No, I get it when you say but when they're like he turned them around that that to me applies for variable and coach of the year. Like they they were awful. Rabel came there, cleaned them all up like you know and Josh McDaniels all that I just the I so Drake and again this is the last thing I want to say about the MVP thing. Saying someone is not the league MVP is not denying them credit. Saying I don't think you deserve the single highest honor the league gives out is not saying is not depriving someone of credit. And so if I said he's overrated, if I said he's not a Pro Bowler, if I said he's not, you know in the top three of mvp, that would be depriving him of credit. I just think Stafford had the better year, that's all. Go to Jeremy's question.
- [72:58]
A
Jeremy asked what do you think would be an ideal super bowl for the NFL? Bills Bears question mark.
- [73:07]
B
I think the NFL the ideal super bowl definitely involves the Bills with you know what a close second to the Bills is in the AFC from the NFL's perspective. Demons a is the Steelers.
- [73:24]
A
Oh the Steelers. Okay.
- [73:26]
B
Well because they are a prestige franchise, big market following and Rogers it's not that big of a market. It's just a huge, you know, a historic team with a huge following in Rogers. But Bills would be one and on the other side I think the NFL would be probably equally pleased with Bill's Rams or Bill's Eagles. Oh okay with I figured would have been Darnold from the NFL's perspective. No I'm out from ratings. Okay the and I I think Bill's I I think Bill's Rams or Bills Eagles would be the league's top choice with Bill's Bears being third. I think the nut low for the league if we're removing Carolina is any possibility as far as the super bowl matchups that could actually happen that would be the least sexy is one that I think is really on the board. Seahawks jags I think Seahawks jags really could happen and probably has the least casual appeal. But again it's the Super Bowl. Everybody watches. All right, Demons a great job. Thank you for hustling in. Great job to Blue Duck. Great job to spectrum Internet which 20 minutes before the show was not working. They're doing work on the block. It got up. Seems like it all worked out perfectly. Thank you so much to all the great people at Blue Duck and the Volume, our wonderful sponsors at Boost and Hard Rock. We will see you guys on Thursday for our wildcard week in preview. What's right this is an iHeart podcast.
- [75:12]
A
Guaranteed Human.