Week 16 Recap: Lawrence’s Leap, Steelers LMAO, Seahawks Insanity, Clutch Caleb, Old Al Michaels, and the Holidays Are Coming

Summary

The Ringer Fantasy Football Show

Episode: Week 16 Recap: Lawrence’s Leap, Steelers LMAO, Seahawks Insanity, Clutch Caleb, Old Al Michaels, and the Holidays Are Coming
Date: December 22, 2025
Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, Craig Horlbeck

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Overview

Week 16 of the NFL season brought wild swings and crucial moments for both real teams and fantasy managers. Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck break down the fantasy semifinals, spotlighting quarterback drama, bizarre endings, controversial officiating, and a series of remarkable individual performances. The discussion covers everything from Trevor Lawrence’s emergence, the endlessly weird Seahawks win, Caleb Williams’ clutch gene, the Steelers’ unfinished saga, to the infamous Seahawks-Rams two-point conversion reversal. They also weave in their unique humor, holiday reflections, and plenty of righteous grievances for fantasy heartbreaks.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Ravens-Patriots: Quarterback Chaos & Ravens Meltdown

• Ravens Lose in ‘Most Ravens Fashion’
  • Zay Flowers’ fumble inside the two-minute warning epitomized the Ravens’ season-long struggles.
    “That's the Raven season, maybe this era of the Ravens.” (Danny Heifetz, 01:32)
• Lamar Jackson’s Injury Woes
  • Lamar, sick with the flu, is knocked out on a harmless-looking hit, leaving fantasy managers devastated.
    “It didn't even look bad at the time. It looked like he just fell down. So classic.” (Craig Horlbeck, 03:01)
  • If you had Lamar, your fantasy team probably mirrored the Ravens' rollercoaster.
• Patriots’ Resilience & Drake May’s Emergence
  • Rookie Drake May’s performance draws praise:
    “The only thing I did notice is Drake May looks amazing. That's about all I could take away from this game.” (Craig Horlbeck, 03:39)
  • Patriots’ old-timer Stefon Diggs’ post-30 performance is lauded:
    “He has recovered from an ACL tear after 30 years old better than anybody I can remember.” (Danny Kelly, 07:59)

2. Trevor Lawrence & the Jaguars: Finally for Real?

• Lawrence’s Post-Bye Leap
  • Jags beat Denver (34–20), now 11-4 and potential #1 seed.
  • Lawrence is QB2 in fantasy since the bye, with 14 TDs, 0 turnovers since Week 8.
    “Today was the best game I think I've ever seen him play.” (Danny Kelly, 11:13)
  • The passing attack looks deep, even without injured Travis Hunter.
• Host Vibes: Buying In Again
  • Team and QB confidence feels different:
    “He has more confidence. He's more assertive. He's more decisive. He's got a little more swagger.” (Craig Horlbeck, 12:56)

3. AFC Power Rankings and Mistrust

• AFC playoff field is a mess—no team feels invulnerable.
• The guys sort through who they’d trust: Bills, Jags, Patriots, Broncos, Chargers, Steelers?
  “This is a wide, wide open field.” (Craig Horlbeck, 17:08)

4. Caleb Williams’ Coming of Age: Bears Beat Packers

• Bears’ Most Clutch Win
  • Chicago rallies in the final 90 seconds, then wins in OT on a 46-yard TD to DJ Moore.
  • Williams now has six “down-late” comeback wins, the most ever in a season.
    “The real winner this week is patience and not judging number one picks that are like, irrefutably talented.” (Danny Heifetz, 18:22)
  • Caleb’s poise likened to Aaron Rodgers:
    “It’s like the Bears beat the Packers with their own version of Aaron Rodgers.” (Danny Heifetz, 21:38)
• Context & Significance
  • Bears fans finally get their quarterback.
  • Marked improvement despite missing top receivers.

5. Seahawks vs Rams: The “Insanity” Game

• Comeback from 16 Down: Redemption for Sam Darnold
  • Seahawks win 38-37 in OT, taking the division lead after a near-impossible comeback.
• Two-Point Conversion Controversy
  • Wild reversal on a batted two-point play—ruled good after teams had lined up for the kickoff.
  • In-depth, heated debate between hosts about the “letter and spirit” of the rules.
    “It’s a stupid rule because when the whistle blows, you are obviously trained to stop playing.” (Danny Kelly, 37:40)
• Improbable Stats
  • Rams: 500+ yards, 0 turnovers—still lose.
• Special Teams Flip the Game
  • Rashid Shahid’s TD punt return changed momentum.
  • Rams’ missed field goal in OT sealed their fate.

6. Fantasy Playoff Heartbreaks: Airing of Grievances

• Famous Letdowns
  • Josh Allen’s worst fantasy game since his rookie year (6.9 pts), capped by a listener’s deep-dive email on Allen’s rare duds. (57:06)
  • Travis Kelce, Trey McBride, Drake London, Lamar Jackson all bust.
• Running Back Boom/Bust
  • Ashton Jeanty explodes for 31 pts vs Texans after tanking many teams last week.
    “He helped no one.” (Danny Kelly, 52:34)
  • Steelers’ Kenneth Gainwell and Jaylen Warren have breakout days.

7. Steelers-Lions Finish: Rules Lawyering, Tomlin’s Apology

• Game ends on crushing OPI after apparent Goff game-winner lateral
  • Five minutes of “refs huddling,” then—TD overturned, game over.
  • DK: “It was the right call…he pushed off.” (75:02)
• Tomlin’s Legacy & Fantasy Feels
  • Kelly apologizes to Tomlin for doubting him:
    “I'm sorry. I'm stupid. You're smart. I was wrong, you were right.” (Danny Kelly, 72:31)

8. Other Notable Games & Takeaways

• Panthers’ Re-Emergence

  • Bryce Young’s 12th game-winning drive, bizarre NFC South race.
    “I've given up and come back to the Panthers more times this year than Craig's given up and come back to the Steelers.” (Craig Horlbeck, 85:39)

• Jets' Historic Interception Drought

  • Could become first team ever to finish a season without an interception. (106:37)

9. Best Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Poor guy.”—on Zay Flowers’ game-losing fumble (Craig Horlbeck, 07:25)
• “He’s just doing things that, like, four or five other people on the planet can do.”—on Caleb Williams (Danny Heifetz, 25:22)
• “I think 0.02 is so much worse than 0. I'd so much rather have 0 than some 0.02. It draws attention to the number. You have to think about it.” (Danny Heifetz, 112:51)
• On Old Al Michaels:
  “At the very end, he's like, raheed Shahid, touchdown.” (Danny Kelly, 98:55)
• On fantasy heartbreak:
  “All those guys we listed were terrible, but Jackson Dart was really, really…” (Danny Kelly, 113:24)

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• On the Ravens’ struggles:
  “I just feel like that's the Raven season, maybe this era of the Ravens.” — Danny Heifetz [01:32]

• On Lamar Jackson’s sick/injured exit:
  “It didn’t even look bad at the time. It looked like he just fell down.” — Craig Horlbeck [03:01]

• On Trevor Lawrence’s leap:
  “Today was the best game I think I’ve ever seen him play.” — Danny Kelly [11:13]

• On Caleb Williams:
  “That throw that Caleb made, the game winning touchdown…is that the best throw? Is that like a top five throw in the history of Chicago?” — Danny Kelly [19:54]

• On the wild Seahawks 2-point reversal:
  “It's a stupid rule because when the whistle blows, you are obviously trained to stop playing. That's the whole basis of the sport…” — Danny Kelly [37:40]

• On Josh Allen’s meltdown:
  “Josh Allen’s bust is even more atrocious because…he’s only done it six times and the context is unbelievable.” — (Reader email, [57:11])

• DK on Tomlin after the Steelers win:
  “I'm sorry. I'm stupid. You're smart. I was wrong, you were right.” — Danny Kelly [72:31]

• On fantasy playoffs pain:
  “There were a lot of guys, a lot of good players where if you lost, it’s not your fault. You had them all year, they were great. You were smart to pick them and it just didn’t work out.” — Danny Kelly [61:30]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Ravens-Patriots Recap and Lamar’s Injury: 00:48 – 05:48
• Lawrence’s Leap & Jaguars on Fire: 10:17 – 17:40
• AFC Power Rankings/Playoff Trust: 16:31 – 18:22
• Bears-Packers and Caleb Williams: 18:22 – 26:11
• Seahawks-Rams OT Insanity & Two-Point Reversal: 29:00 – 49:03
• Panthers-NFC South Drama: 85:39 – 87:35
• Steelers-Lions, OPI Ending: 73:39 – 76:32
• Fantasy Playoff Airing of Grievances: 56:46 – 62:26
• Burn Book (Jackson Dart): 112:29 – 113:19
• Al Michaels/Rams-Seahawks on TNF: 98:16 – 101:54

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Additional Segments & Tone

• “Farter Shart” Segment: Comic relief with custom “fart/no fart” jingle intros and ridiculous power rankings for fantasy stinkers. [63:08]
• Intrusive Thoughts:
  • “Why can’t you trip in football?” [91:50]
  • “Why aren’t there more Tasom Hill types?” [95:41]
• Holiday Sidebars: Extended riffing on Coca-Cola’s role in Christmas culture and the “Holidays Are Coming” jingle. [115:01]
• Classic Ringer Banter: Self-deprecating humor, meta-podcasting, and inside jokes about old references, fantasy pain, and weird NFL rules.

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Closing Thoughts

• Expect another wild week—nothing in the AFC or NFC is locked except chaos.
• Fantasy playoffs test your patience (and mental health).
• The Holidays Aren’t just coming—they’re here, and so is the final fantasy push.

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Next Up: Waivers Monday; Power Rankings Wednesday; Weekly Previews Friday.
Email: [e-mail]
Join the Discord: Link in the episode description!

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“Holidays are coming! Holidays are coming!”

Transcript

[Danny Heifetz]

Foreign. Welcome to the Ringer Fantasy Football Show. My name is Danny Heifetz and I'm joined by Danny Kaylee and Greg Horlbeck. We are going over all the games for Week 16 of the NFL season semifinals for fantasy football, Ravens, Patriots, Lamar sick and hurt and then six third street quarterbacks and then actually some quarterback heroes and also a bunch of other stuff.

[Danny Kelly]

So stick around everybody. We have a great show for you tonight. Holidays are coming. Holidays are coming. Holidays are coming.

[Danny Heifetz]

This episode is brought to you by United Airlines. Flying just got easier with the United Airlines app. Get real time flight updates like a live countdown clock to boarding even if your screen's locked, as well as play by play directions through the airport with a personalized map. And if you want to make a gametime decision and go home early or stay longer, there are no fees to change your flight. Get the united [e-mail] no fees to change your flight. Excludes basic economy applies to flights originating in the US Fare difference may apply this episode is presented by Chime Bank Smarter. This season, fantasy football is all about strategy. Well, here's a winning strategy for your money trade Banking fees for fee free banking 1.5% cash back getting paid when you say a higher APY in your savings, that's a lineup that wins. Stop banking the old way. Bank Smarter through Chime Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services and the secured Chime Visa credit card provided by the Bancorp Bank NA or Stride Bank NA members. FDIC optional services and products may have fees or charges [e-mail] fees info with a qualifying direct deposit earn 1.5% cash back on eligible secured Chime Visa credit card purchases and APY means annual percentage yields. Learn [e-mail] all right, Sunday Night Football just ended. I don't even know how the Ravens ended up from winning before the two minute warning to somehow the Patriots kneel. Having to kneel out too much time on the clock and Drake may having to waste time because they had such a lead. But the Patriot, the Ravens even blew our own minds with how much they could blow a lead so quickly. I want to get into Lamar getting hurt in a second but dk I just feel like Zay Flowers fumbling that ball inside the two minute warning. I just feel like that's the Raven season, maybe this era of the Ravens.

[Craig Horlbeck]

The last few seasons. It feels like just Zay Flowers fumbling it away. Yeah, or Mike Mark Andrews making some crazy ass boneheaded play.

[Danny Kelly]

You know, Derek Henry Fumbling Week 1 of the season. There we go.

[Craig Horlbeck]

We got the Ravens trifecta tonight. Lamar being sick this week with the flu, then getting injured, um, on the most innocuous play. Like, you know, this is like we always joke about. It's like, oh, that looked, that didn't look bad. He's probably out for the rest of the season. And then like he got kneed in the back or something and that. It didn't even look bad at the time. It looked like he just fell down. So classic. I, I think I was mostly catatonic for most of this game just because Lamar losing or Lamar going out of that game lost me in my main home dynasty league. Lost me the, the, the game. So that was kind of tough.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, this, this was the real nail in the you coffin from Lamar for the fantasy season.

[Craig Horlbeck]

But the only thing I did notice is Drake May looks amazing. That's. That's about all I could take away from this game.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, Drake May's awesome. Lamar bizarre. I feel like if you had Lamar in fantasy like I did, your, your season just followed him. And your season was probably similar to the Ravens where you probably started pretty good. And then.

[Danny Heifetz]

So not like the Ravens.

[Danny Kelly]

Oh, I guess they lost the first game, but you know what I mean?

[Danny Heifetz]

Well, they went one in five to start.

[Danny Kelly]

I guess that's true. But Lamar was playing well in fantasy and then you were probably playing well. And then of course, Lamar leaves. You're terrible. Lamar comes back, you're surging. He's terrible again, you're surging back. And then maybe you were in a wild card spot with Lamar in fantasy and of course, or in the semifinals with Lamar in fantasy because he was decent last week and he got. What did he get? Five points? Four points. Four points before getting hurt. Just, absolutely, just stabbed you.

[Craig Horlbeck]

The brutal.

[Danny Heifetz]

I feel like that was also just a larger extent the entire day for fantasy and also just if you're watching, you don't even play fantasy. I mean, I, I counted. I believe I have this right. If you count Monday Night Football, there are six third string quarterbacks who played this week.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Third string, like a lot.

[Danny Heifetz]

I'm counting half. I'm not even counting ups. I'm not even counting Dylan Gabriel coming in for like, like a drive to replace Shooter Sanders.

[Danny Kelly]

We'll get to the Chiefs guy whose name I already forgot, Chris A. Lotican.

[Danny Heifetz]

The dude that was. Do we even want to do that now?

[Danny Kelly]

I mean, we don't need to lead with Chris. What is it? A lot of kin? We don't need to talk about him right now. Did you guys feel like the Ravens were ever going to win this game? Like, I don't know why, but it. It didn't matter how much they were up. I was like, the Patriots are going.

[Danny Heifetz]

To win this game.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I thought when the Patriots ran a fake punt on a fourth and 10 that they were going to lose the game because that felt desperate. And it felt like the Ravens were in control at that point in time. It felt like variable was tilting a little bit.

[Danny Kelly]

And then that was probably very Well's, like, worst call of the season.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Well, that.

[Danny Heifetz]

That's one of those. I don't know if it was a bad call or they just thought the Ravens wouldn't be prepared. And the Ravens were weirdly prepared to cover a tight end going out for a route on a punt. I. Part of me is like, it's one of those that if the Ravens weren't prepared, then the Patriots would look like geniuses.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah. I don't know. I'm also of the mind of, like, I'd rather probably just have Drake may try to get me 10 yards than a fake punt, but.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Right.

[Danny Kelly]

Or just punt the ball away to Tyler Huntley.

[Danny Heifetz]

That's. I think a better argument is just punt the ball away to Tyler Huntley. But they won the game, and again they wanted. Again, the Ravens lost in the most Ravens fashion. Zay Flowers running with the ball in his wrong arm sideways crab walking, which I feel like Zay Flowers does as much as any receiver. And then dk, you nailed it. The trifecta, the Mark Andrews play, throwing it was actually your plays the craziest thing he's ever done because it didn't count. I feel like it's going to be lost to history if that play counted. That's one of the stranger plays I've ever seen. Like, even that Jacoby Myers play where he threw the ball all the way to Chandler Jones, and the rate, like, even that was like, okay, it's the last play of the game. What was Mark Andrews doing?

[Craig Horlbeck]

I mean, it's. It was the type of play you see a quarterback make when. When like a pass rusher has the back of their jersey and they're just trying to throw the ball away and they, like, chuck it backwards 50 yards. But this was a. A tight end who had caught a pass and was running down the field. All of a sudden he decided he, like, he. He like, short circuited. He decided he's going to, like, lateral to his. To his teammate and. And someone had a hold of him.

[Danny Heifetz]

So he, like, just chucked it.

[Danny Kelly]

Was that part. Was it a hook and ladder or anything like that or.

[Craig Horlbeck]

No, I don't think so. It was like run after the catch.

[Danny Kelly]

It looked like he was planning to do it.

[Danny Heifetz]

I. I feel like it was either pure impulse, maybe it was a design, like, Kelsey thing.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I hope it was.

[Danny Heifetz]

Do you know what it really looked like to me? Did you ever, like, play Madden or any video game on a Xbox or PlayStation and then you, like, try to learn on someone else's control, like someone else's system? And then you think that, like, what the R1 on PlayStation is something else on Xbox. And you're like, oh, my God, I lateraled the ball like 40 yards sideways because I don't know the buttons. That's honestly what it looked like. It looked like a total miss. It looked like a glitch in the matrix.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

Poor guy.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Anyway, let's talk about how great the Patriots are, though. I feel like. Because this was a. This was a pretty good statement win for them, I think that you.

[Danny Heifetz]

Is that. Is that what you. Craig, do you think that. Do you think. Have you had enough greatness for the patriots in the 25 years?

[Danny Kelly]

I. I don't know if I would call this a statement win for them. This was like a. Survive in advance. Like, I. They. They should have won the game and they did. And this late in the season, teams are beat up and it's like, if you can just get a win, that's important. But I don't know. I think. I think Stefan Diggs was fucking incredible tonight. That guy has recovered from an ACL tear after 30 years old, better than anybody I can remember.

[Danny Heifetz]

He tore it week eight since Christian Watson RIP.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, but I'm saying a guy over 30 years old like Stefan Diggs at his age doing this and coming back. He tore at week eight last year.

[Craig Horlbeck]

He.

[Danny Kelly]

He had nine catches, 138 yards today and is just still so clutch and. And just has such good game feel. And he's such a. Like a dick on the field in the best way. Like, he's just like awesome. I feel like if you. If you have him on your team. Totally. He was great. I don't know. I still think with the Patriots like this game, I almost had them in. I was. I had them penciled in, in farter shart because things were starting to smell a little bad.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

And they pull out the wins and you can't really do it. But I think this game shows me Trayvon Henderson also Got hurt with a. He went out with a concussion. I'm like, this team is a little bit like the Bills to me, where it's kind of just the quarterback. And how much can Drake May pull this team forward through the playoffs? They've had a very easy schedule if they have to play like back to back to back great teams. And it's just Drake May and a pretty mediocre kind of talent pool around him. I don't. I don't actually know if I feel like the Patriots are legit contenders.

[Danny Heifetz]

I'm curious what you think. I think the Patriots, I still feel like they're probably the best coach team in the NFL. And the combination of Mike Vrabel and Josh McDaniels, who I don't love, but he's clearly incredible at the coordinating job. But between him and Vrabel, I think this is the best coach team in the league.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I mean, I'd rather have Sean McVeigh coaching.

[Danny Heifetz]

Sure. Yeah. Okay. It's the top team.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I think they're up there. They're up there in the top whatever, you know, the top third, for sure. Top 10, maybe. I. I wouldn't say they're the best coach team in the NFL, but I.

[Danny Heifetz]

I mean, considering the players on the team, I. I do feel that way. But I will say I don't think the Patriots are Super bowl team anymore, which I already was a little dubious of just because Drake May hasn't been there. But the injury is stacking up. I mean, so will Campbell, the. The left tackle. He's hurt, but he might come back. But then Morgan Moses went out of this game, and then immediately. Thayer Munford, his backup, immediately gets hurt. Trevian Henderson gets hurt. They're just stacking injuries on the offensive line, which was already, frankly, kind of a weakness. They can't really run the ball, but they win anyway, so. And then ramonjo Stevenson comes in and ends the game on the Ravens.

[Danny Kelly]

So I and Ramon Jake look good.

[Danny Heifetz]

Ramonji looked great. Probably good enough for Trayvon to never touch the ball again.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Cool.

[Danny Heifetz]

Okay. We have probably another decade of this Patriots team being great, so why don't we just move on to the other games here?

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

Winners. I can't remember in the entire history of doing the show three clearer winners than this week starting. Craig, I don't know where you want.

[Danny Kelly]

To start, but yeah, I was kind of forced into not taking the Steelers. I'll get to the Steelers later. They are not probably one. If I had to pick three winners, the Steelers are probably Fourth. So I wanted to go with Trevor Lawrence and the Jags beating Denver in Denver, the first home loss of the season for the Broncos. They won 34 to 20.

[Danny Heifetz]

They.

[Danny Kelly]

The Jags are now 11 and 4. They have a shot to be the 1 seed in the AFC if they win their final three games and if, or I guess their final two games now. And if the Broncos lose In either week 17 at Kansas City or in week 18 to the Chargers, the Jags could be the number one seed in the AFC, which is just unbelievable. I mean, from where this team was at the beginning of the season. And Trevor Lawrence has been so good. Today was the best game I think I've ever seen him play.

[Craig Horlbeck]

He looks like he just did a six touchdown game. Like, what was that last week or the week?

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, but he. This game was so much more important and against Denver's defense and like totally the way his command of the game. He had no turnovers. He had four touchdowns today. He just looked like all of the physical tools were finally. Or like the mental aspect of the game was finally catching up with like how gifted he is physically. I thought he was almost perfect, and he really has been basically since they're by. So they had their Week 8 by since then. Trevor Lawrence is the QB2 in fantasy, only behind Josh Allen. They've beaten the Chargers, the Colts, and the Broncos over that stretch. Since week eight, he has 14 touchdowns and zero turnovers. And you know, this is like, how long has it been? Is this his fifth year in the NFL? And now you're like, okay, how old is he? 26 years old? Like, I might be starting to believe now. The Liam Cohen thing seems to be working. The defense is pretty good. This is a roster that I feel like he can take forward and actually make a splash. I know.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It's like it's been a roller coaster for me this year with the Jags because I think I came into the year and I even said this on Bill's pod, that I'm like, I think the Jags thing is going to work finally. I think I'm actually finally ready to buy in. And then halfway through the year, I was like, I'm out. I'm out. And then you know what? They, they've won six games in a row. And in that stretch, like, like Craig laid out, basically, Lawrence has been the best quarterback in the NFL in. In the six games that they've won in a row. He's number one in touchdown passes, yards per attempt, passer rating, success rate. He's number Three in EPA for drop back and I think vibes wise and just visually he, he looks different. He has like a pep in his step. He has more confidence. He's more assertive. He's more decisive. He's got a little more swagger, I don't think, than. Than I think I've seen from him since college.

[Danny Kelly]

Like momentum.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

Like, yeah, he's like. He finally feels confident.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It seems like I was going to say that. Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

Physically, he's obviously so gift. He's also running really well. Yeah, he's got more rushing touchdowns this year than Bijan Robinson, Trevor Lawrence. That's why. Seven rushing touchdowns this year.

[Danny Heifetz]

That is short list stats of the year.

[Danny Kelly]

Just nuts. But he's like, at that.

[Danny Heifetz]

He's.

[Danny Kelly]

He's kind of like when they're inside the 10 now, like, he is as big of a threat to get into the end zone on his feet as any quarterback. It's like Josh Allen to him and Hertz.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It's also funny too. I think the story of the Jags is they started out, things were really hit. Hit or miss. It's like. It's like getting a car warmed up. Like it was just like they were sputtering to start the year. And then as they've gone along, everything has gotten. They've. They've come together as a team. Like, I'm actually looking at the receiver core now and I'm like, this is a really good receiver core. They have too many good receivers now. Parker Washington was freaking awesome today. You know, Jacoby Myers is established sort of just like that veteran leadership. Just the foundational guy that's going to be there and catch everything. You still have Brian Thomas. They'll get, they'll get a Hunter back next year. And like this is actually a pretty. And then Breton Strange has been really good at tight end.

[Danny Heifetz]

Well, so the Jaggers won this game 3420. I want to talk more about Lawrence, but you mentioned Travis Hunter. Yeah, it's kind of funny. They don't need him.

[Danny Kelly]

No, it's.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's kind of really funny that they go, they go in and beat Denver and you're like, oh, yeah, they're getting Travis Hunter back.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Cool.

[Danny Heifetz]

And it's like, wow, they. The. When I watch this team, I don't think they need a wide receiver.

[Danny Kelly]

I mean, are they. They're probably like six and one since Hunter went down.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, they. They paid 60 million. I mean, they gave Jacoby Myers $20 million a year at extension this week, which totally earned. He played amazing and then he played great this week. Parker Washington, frankly, you can't take. It's actually kind of a problem because you can't. Watching this Broncos game. You can't take Parker Washington off the field. You can't take Jacoby, Myers, Thomas. Travis Hunter's probably wide receiver four on this team.

[Craig Horlbeck]

They'll definitely bench Parker Washington.

[Danny Heifetz]

You say that, but Parker Washington took it out. Route pass between Patrick Certain, who's the defensive player of the year, and Talano Ovongo, who was the big safety signing for the Broncos this year. And he split him and went up 70 yards. Took him to the red zone. Another trip. I'm like, it's one of them. You know the old saying, couple injuries away from having a good team. Like, honestly, they got better after Hunter went out for a reason.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I don't think it's because of that. Because of him.

[Danny Heifetz]

No, I'm not saying it's good. I'm saying it's. It's. It's just funny happenstance. But I will say the thing about Lawrence playing well today, I think the Broncos defense played well, which I think is important here, which this. I mean, they. Jaguars won 3420, but I think both defenses in this Broncos Jags game played well, and I think both quarterbacks played well. I think the difference is Bo Nicks hit open receivers. Trevor Lawrence hit covered receivers, like, all day. Like the touchdown of Parker Washington. He was covered. The touchdown to Brenton Strange. He was covered like. I mean, the. The poor. I just feel like over and over again, Lawrence was just making chicken salad at a chicken shit.

[Craig Horlbeck]

He was ripping. He was ripping passes, man.

[Danny Kelly]

And it.

[Danny Heifetz]

It.

[Danny Kelly]

It just muddles the AFC even more, where at least, like, Denver was a team that you could be like, well, you know, I guess they've won 11 in a row. What are you going to do? And now I'm like, I wouldn't trust any of these teams to cross the street, like, in the playoffs, outside of Josh Allen and the Bills. I'm like, do I trust Bo Nixon, the Broncos?

[Danny Heifetz]

No.

[Danny Kelly]

Do I trust Drake May and the Patriots? I don't think so. Am I trusting Jackson, Jacksonville and Trevor Lawrence in the playoffs when. When shit matters still? Probably. No the Steelers, no. The Chargers, I don't trust. Texans almost lost the fucking Raiders today.

[Danny Heifetz]

More than a lot of those teams. And I can't believe I'm saying that, but I do now, because you know why? Because we see. We've seen it for a month from Trevor Lawrence. We've seen it for a month he has one.

[Craig Horlbeck]

He has no turnovers in four weeks, which is.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah. I mean 14 touchdowns and no turnovers over his last four weeks. DK, if you, if you had to quickly. Power rank. We're going to do mini power hour right now. Power rank. How much you trust the AFC playoff teams? How are you doing it?

[Craig Horlbeck]

I. Man, I do think I still trust the Bills the most. Just because they have a superhero quarterback.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I mean, I think the Jags might be next.

[Danny Kelly]

See, that's.

[Craig Horlbeck]

But that doesn't. That. That says more about the AFC field than the Jag.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's not the Chargers because honestly, Lawrence is like Herbert, a six six freakazoid. But like the Chargers, the Chargers offensive lineman.

[Craig Horlbeck]

The Chargers are even more of the Jags than the Jags are.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's not.

[Craig Horlbeck]

The Steelers just expect that they're going to melt down at some point, even though Herbert was awesome today and all that stuff. But I think what Craig's point is that this is a wide, wide open field.

[Danny Kelly]

Maybe you're right. If it's. Maybe the Jags are starting to prove themselves against these. I mean, you know, you actually go through Jacksonville schedule now. Do they have not lost to a. Every loss they have is totally like acceptable, I guess. Week two they lost a borough in the Bengals. That's their worst loss by a mile. And that was week two. Since then, the only teams they've lost to Seattle, the Rams and Houston.

[Danny Heifetz]

And you know, it's sneaky. Actually put up points on Houston and they lost.

[Danny Kelly]

They lost by 7, 29, 36. Yeah, and they lost to Seattle by 8 and they got killed by the Rams. But I'm like, they've beaten every single team that they have. Were supposed to be. And they've hung in all these games against good teams.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, it sounds crazy to say you trust Jackson. It sounds like we're prisoners at the moment. But the reality is. Do you trust Jackson? Denver, I think today was kind of definitive. Or at least do you trust the.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Patriots or the Broncos more?

[Danny Kelly]

Denver?

[Craig Horlbeck]

No, I think I trust. I, I just like put my trust in Drake Maple.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's one of those, like, I can't explain.

[Danny Kelly]

I think I trust. I think Denver's. I think New England's defense is not good.

[Danny Heifetz]

They're not a good team. Patriots aren't a good team. They're just really well coached and they have a good quarterback. You can't quantify the coaching aspect. There's no aspect of the roster. You can look at New England beyond like six players and be like, oh, yeah, they don't match up well with anybody in any asp other than just well they end up winning all these freaking games. So I. The Patriots will be really good later when they actually add for sure, for sure. But yeah, the other. I think while we're on the topic of former number one picks who have reached their potential with the transcendent offensive coordinator turned head coach that has just delivered immediately maybe a division title, we should probably talk about the Bears and Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson, which is honestly a very similar thing. I feel like the winner, the real winner this week is patience and not judging number one picks that are like, like irrefutably talented. The Bears beat the packers on Saturday night 22 to 16. We. I, I could go through the whole like TikTok of the game if you want but I mean the Bears went and scored 10 points inside of the final basically 90 seconds. The. It's the Bears sixth win of the year where they were losing the final two minutes and one which is more.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Than more games they won last year.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yes, it is total.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

In total it's the most games anyone's ever won after trailing in the two minute warning ever. It's never happened before.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Caleb kind of clutch.

[Danny Kelly]

People say that's that's like regression is coming and maybe that's true. But I still think that the, the, the value of the experience of being in those games and doing that is worth whatever regression comes in the future. Like being in those moments and having that ice in your veins. That throw that Caleb made, the game winning touchdown is like.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

Is that the best throw? Is that like a top five throw in the history of Chicago? Is it the, is it the most important Bears throw in the 21st century? No, I guess they went to a Super bowl. But I'm like I'm. I'm thinking about just like how impressive in terms of skill and level of difficulty and how important the throw was. That's got to be pretty up there the 21st century.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Did you see too that when he he. He let go of the ball and then put his hands in his pockets to watch the rest of.

[Danny Heifetz]

For the frozen. Yeah. Yes. First was the. So which one because you mean the 46 yard touchdown talking about the DJ.

[Danny Kelly]

Moore game winner was 46 yard walk.

[Danny Heifetz]

Off touchdown in overtime. Just to set the scene a little. It was first of all it's confusing because there's a fourth and four touchdown he threw with like 30 with like 17 seconds left that was with like a zero blitz like pressured his face fourth and four touchdown. Then they go to overtime. The 46 yard walk off to DJ Moore. Just so to your point, Craig, to take all context out of it, even with zero context, just a vacuum. That was the third longest completion in terms of distance by Inkayla Williams his entire career. And that was literally with the walk off game on the line in overtime versus the Packers.

[Danny Kelly]

And you talked about Trevor Lawrence like was hitting covered guys. Like DJ Moore was not wide open, like he was blanketed and he put that ball right in his lap while getting pressured. I mean that is as good as it gets.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It was the whole drive too is anticipation. Throws to like there was another throw on that drive where yeah, he, you know, let go of the ball before DJ Moore had even like turned around. So yeah, I mean, I think can't say enough about the late game heroics for Caleb. Like again, he's been. He's done this a couple different times this year. And so that was really impressive. Did you see he was wearing a. He went to some charity event today and he was wearing a cheese grater hat on his head.

[Danny Heifetz]

Well, I mean, here's the thing though. Caleb Williams, he was a Packers fan growing up, or at least he was an Aaron Rodgers fan. And Aaron Rodgers, Caleb based his game on Aaron Rodgers. And when he was drafted by the Bears, I wrote for the Ringer. I wrote a column and I was like, Caleb is Chicago's chance at an Aaron Rodgers. And Aaron Rodgers, like the whole joke was, Aaron Rodgers owns the Bears. He's their owner. They changed his Wikipedia article and then he left. Went to the jets and they couldn't beat Jordan Love either. And they were 1 in 17 in their last 18 games. It's not just that Caleb beat the, the packers, it's that Caleb looked like Aaron Rodgers looked at the end of the game. It's like the Bears beat the packers with their own version of Aaron Rodgers. Which it's hard to even explain how significant that is. But the Bears have never had a good quarterback. The Bears invented the quarterback in 1940, the forward pass. Like the, like the modern D. The Bears invented the quarterback. And then they never found a good one ever again. Until now. Until this week.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah, I think packers fans would probably like for us to point out that Jordan Love missed most of this game because he got concussed.

[Danny Kelly]

Sure.

[Craig Horlbeck]

The first half. And then Willis came in. I thought Malik Willis played really well. For the record, he played great. But yeah, I think that we. That should be said at some point.

[Danny Heifetz]

Let me run through the Quick. This game was crazy and this was the biggest, probably the biggest game of the whole week. But the Bears were down three nothing at halftime. And it was kind of like a stalemate game, like a World War I trench game. And then Jordan Love gets concussed. Malik Willis takes over, plays well, a lot of short passes, but he has a deep touchdown of Romeo Dubs down the sideline, the left side. Like it was a great throw and it really kind of. I think it changed the way that the Bears had to play defense on him too. And then the Bears kick. So. But there's so the. Again, well coached game by Matt LaFleur and in any other context we're talking about how the packers and Matt LaFleur another time. Malik Willis comes in, doesn't matter. Two years in a row, Jordan Love gets hurt and then Matt LaFleur just pivots. And so they're up 10 points with like 90 seconds left. And the Bears kick a field goal. The onside kick goes to Romeo Doves, who blows it and takes, takes the ownership for the loss and is like, it goes right to him. And weirdly was like a play in Bama, Oklahoma where a guy's, honestly, he's on his knees and the guys are just sprinting at him. He's like, I'm going to die. Like he's going to get, like he's going to get destroyed. And he just loses focus. Bears recover, get the touchdown on 4th and 4th. 17 seconds left. Go to overtime. Packers fumble. A snap on 4th and 1. Malik Wills fumbles the exchange. Bears get it and then DJ Moore catches the 46 yard touchdown, flops like he's dead on the end zone.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah, he, I thought for a minute there maybe he didn't actually complete the catch.

[Danny Kelly]

Did you guys know? Yeah, that was hurt or wind knocked out of him or something.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Did they ever do like a review of that or they just sort of like, yeah, that's good. It's a catch.

[Danny Kelly]

The game's over. They're like, it's fine.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Everybody's on the field. I guess we'll just let that go.

[Danny Kelly]

He was banship. He was also wearing a cheese grater in the locker room. So he's, he was fine.

[Danny Heifetz]

But yeah, I, I mean, I frankly I thought this was one of the biggest wins in Bears history that I can remember the regular season. I thought it was unbelievable. And I just, I, I think it's worth lingering on just because Jim McMahon, who is probably the best Bears quarterback ever, just because he was on the 85 bears said when Justin Fields was drafted that Chicago is where quarterbacks go to die. And which is an incredible thing to when from the only good quarterback you've ever had says that. And I think that what Ben Johnson has done is he's in ones in 10 months, 11 months, he has turned Chicago from a place where quarterback go to die to a quarterback place where quarterbacks can thrive. Like what he's done with Caleb. The under center running game, which again was dominant in this game. Like when Nungai and Swift who's banged up once again just looked unbelievable. And then Caleb frankly was kind of a game manager in the middle of the season. Like, like Ben Johnson himself said, and I quote at a press conference, we're winning in spite of the pass game because. Not because of it like that was. The coach said that.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

And then this the last couple weeks, it's like Caleb is the. Like when you add in the fact that Caleb now is meeting the moment and just doing things that like four or five other people on the planet can do. I, I don't think the Bears will lead the league in turnovers next year. But it's, it's really, really, really cool to see Chicago have an awesome quarterback.

[Craig Horlbeck]

He did this in a game too where he was missing Roma Dunes, he was missing Luther Burden. DJ Moore and him have not had the most chemistry, I'd say of any two quarterback and receiver combo took in the world.

[Danny Kelly]

All it takes is a couple touchdowns and you're back.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah, I know. He was so happy D.J. i was like, I forgot what a happy D.J. moore looked like when he was getting interviewed after the game. I was like, oh, that's what he looks like when he smiles. Oh man.

[Danny Heifetz]

I've been waiting to see if he got added to concussion protocol because I just still kind of wonder if he just was exasperated lying in the ground or just literally knocked out, got up and was like, oh, I'm on tv.

[Danny Kelly]

That's cool, dude. This is like this what Ben Johnson has done and what a lot of these first year head coaches have done. This is going to be one of the more difficult coach of the year awards. It's like the dream team of coach of the year candidates. You have like Liam Cohen in Jacksonville, Frable in New England, Ben Johnson with Chicago.

[Craig Horlbeck]

This was a generational head coaching carousel.

[Danny Heifetz]

The best coach, the best coach carousel of decades probably in the Giants fired Brian Dable nine months in nine months after all these guys were hired.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Dude, I have a hyphens.

[Danny Kelly]

I'm sorry, this is not an intrusive thought. It's more of just like a half baked take. But watching Malik Willis come in, this is now the second stint where he's come in and look great for. For the Packers. I actually kind of think, you know, they say that you should get a backup quarterback that is stylistically similar to the starter like Tyler Huntley with Lamar or whatever. I actually think the opposite is better because I feel like Malik Willis came in and started running around and the defense is like, holy. We were not prepared for this.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Totally.

[Danny Kelly]

And I'm like, you should actually find somebody who is as stylistically opposed as possible so that you can essentially have two different game plans whenever one's playing.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah, but then you tried that Cooper Rush.

[Danny Kelly]

No, I know, but like just having. Going from Jared Goff to Malik Willis or something like preparing for Jared Goff versus Malik Willis couldn't be more opposite. And I just kind of like that as like a wrench to throw it.

[Danny Heifetz]

It used to be way more common in the 50s and 60s actually to have two quarterbacks change them at halftime. Like it was way more like kind of pitchers. And you would just take them out. They weren't having the closer. It wasn't.

[Danny Kelly]

They were like running back. Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah. Yes. It was much. Not every team, but teams instead of sticking with like a bad guy would just do. They would kind of be like, oh, hot hand at quarterback. That was like a totally a thing. And then you switch back and it wasn't weird. We'll just send. The packers lost this game. I know packers fans. Yeah. They're probably mad we didn't mention Jordan Love got hurt.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I.

[Danny Heifetz]

But I will say I just feel like I'm sorry it's not the packers year. Like if you just ranked the packers six most important players five for six and getting them hurt. I mean, Jordan Loves concussed. That's a Saturday game. I think they play Saturday next week. I don't know if Jordan Love is going to get cleared for next week. I mean, quarterbacks, frankly, the Russian, it's rare to make it to the next week in protocol, but I mean, between Parsons and Jordan Love and all this, I. Super bowl teams don't generally suffer as many injuries to their most important players in December as Green Bay has. I'm sorry, it's.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah. I mean that's just like another reminder of like how much luck is involved in winning the super bowl every year. It's all. It's just crazy to me still what the Patriots did, what the Chiefs have done.

[Danny Kelly]

Totally.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Because there's injuries are just such a huge variable every year. It's like, it can really just derail your. Your whole season if, like, a couple guys get hurt.

[Danny Heifetz]

All right, we have to get to the main event here, which is dk.

[Craig Horlbeck]

We haven't the Thursday night game been edgy.

[Danny Heifetz]

Dk. Okay. The Thursday night game.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

How many whiskeys did you have after that game?

[Craig Horlbeck]

I actually went for a run, Craig. I was like. I was like, I gotta get my nervous energy out. Yeah. And it was great. No, like, I sat there. You know how. Because you know my joke, how it's like familiar feeling following another Seahawks win. Misery. And this game was like, the only time I could ever remember being like, not ever, but, like, recently it being like, wow. I'm elated. That was incredible. That was the most fun game I've ever seen.

[Danny Kelly]

I forgot it. I forgot it felt like this.

[Danny Heifetz]

I can't.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I couldn't remember what it feels like.

[Danny Kelly]

So you went on a run. Did you, like, raw dog it? What did you listen to?

[Craig Horlbeck]

Tell me about the run. I listen to music. I've been. I've been jogging lately, Craig.

[Danny Kelly]

That's right.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah. Good for you.

[Danny Kelly]

That's great. What'd you go on? Like Meek Mill? What are you listening to?

[Craig Horlbeck]

I don't know, like, dancy stuff. Like dance floor stuff. Like, I don't know, a good. A good mixture of different. What year was like, high, high tempo, energetic stuff.

[Danny Kelly]

I'm imagining you sprinting like Ethan Hunt. Just down your street, tarps off.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Just sprinting.

[Danny Kelly]

Perfect form, screaming at the top of your lungs. You have Darnold's number painted on your chest.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah.

[Craig Horlbeck]

So obviously The Seahawks won 38 to 37 in overtime on Thursday Night Football over the Rams. It was a huge, huge win for the Seahawks because they took over the lead in the division. They are on now. They are on track. I think they control their own destiny in terms of getting the number one.

[Danny Heifetz]

Team took the lead in the conference. They're literally. They're 12.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It was a huge. It was a huge game in terms of, like, playoff seating and everything, because obviously the Seahawks lost the first game to the. To the Rams. But I think even. Maybe not even more than that, but like, in addition to that, just slightly lower on the. On the rungs of priority here. Like, it was a redemption game for Sam Darnold. And look, I. I still don't really, like, fully trust Sam Darnold. The team does not trust Sam Darnold. If you look at some of the play calling in this game, it was extremely conservative at times. It was like very clearly they were trying not to, like, ask him to do too much and up because I.

[Danny Kelly]

Think he is a little bit.

[Craig Horlbeck]

He has been a little bit rattled by this Rams thing. He lost to the Rams last year in the playoffs when he was playing for the Vikings in that disastrous game. He lost to the Rams this year when he threw four picks. And then he comes out in this game and throws two more picks, and it's like this year, only one of.

[Danny Heifetz]

Them was to a defensive lineman at the goal line.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Craig Horlbeck]

God, this just looked like.

[Danny Kelly]

And the other one was a pick six or almost.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah. So it was terrible. Like, honestly, halfway through the game, I'm just like, I was a little. Just distraught that, like, the Seahawks are this awesome defense, it's great defense, and their quarterback is going to ruin everything. And then, of course, the Seahawks complete turn it around. It was like. It was one of those classic Seahawks in primetime weird games that Pete Carroll used to always pull out of his ass.

[Danny Heifetz]

No, this was probably the best Thursday night Football game ever.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah, possibly.

[Danny Heifetz]

I mean, the stakes. I mean, this literally flipped the conference. You could argue the results of this. If the Seahawks hold if. And get the number one seed. This is probably the most impact pack full game of the year. Just because it's the difference between Seattle having home fields or the Rams. And it's like the rams, Matt Stafford's 36 with the back injury, Devonte Adams 33. The hamstring few teams, super bowl chances would probably use the buy just for the age factor more than the Rams. Now they got to go the road, play an extra game. And then also it was like the craziest game.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah, well, the Seahawks. At one point, the Seahawks had, I think, a 2% win percentage. It was 30 to 14 with 13 minutes to go in the. In the fourth quarter. I think Sam Darnold had thrown a pick. I could imagine, like, fans start leaving the. You know, Ernest Jones, the Seahawks linebacker, said the Rams were like, laughing at them in the middle of this game. He's like. He was like all, you know, pissed off after the game and everything. And then Darnold throw a pick at.

[Danny Heifetz]

The goal line at the 30 to 14 with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Right. So it was looking hor. Horrific for the Seahawks. Like, not only did they lose to the Rams twice, like, this is where it was going at that moment. Not only had they lost to the Rams twice, they were not going to win the division. They're not going to whatever in the conference, they still were going to probably go to the playoffs. But Sam Darnold now is completely like, anytime he plays the Rams, he's just going to be in his head. All that stuff like that. That was what I was thinking in that moment. And then the Seahawks defense finally, and this is like the whole game, the Rams were absolutely just like moving the football. The Rams were awesome. They had over 500 yards of offense in this game. And I think they're the only team that's ever had 500 yards of offense and lost.

[Danny Heifetz]

500 yards.

[Danny Kelly]

Turnovers.

[Danny Heifetz]

No turnovers and lost.

[Craig Horlbeck]

And so that's another just one of these, like random ass stats that just tells you how improbable this game was. So anyways, the Seahawks finally get a fucking stop after the Sam Darnold pick. The Rams punt and Rashid Shahid returns it for a touchdown. And then that like flipped the momentum of the game. All of a sudden it was like, oh, okay, things are going to get interesting now. They go. They get a two point conversion. Not the two point conversion, that came later. And they get another stop. And then they score again. And then they get that crazy ass 2 point conversion. Should we get that over with? You want to talk about that now?

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, it was.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It was an insane play.

[Danny Heifetz]

I do. Craig and I even go, do you want to preemptively address it or what do you want to do?

[Danny Kelly]

I mean, like, how much of a homer are you about it?

[Craig Horlbeck]

I would say I'm not going to like get in a big fight with you about it, but I am a little bit of homer in the sense that, like, if you could. If you can tell me what rule they got wrong, that would be great.

[Danny Heifetz]

It is just explained for people, for.

[Danny Kelly]

People who forgot, I don't think. Yeah, if you want to explain it, go ahead.

[Danny Heifetz]

Sure. It's really simple. Sam Darnold. I'm just going to do the. What happened, Sam?

[Danny Kelly]

It's actually not simple, but.

[Danny Heifetz]

Well, I. No, it's.

[Craig Horlbeck]

This is going in the NFL casebook for the.

[Danny Heifetz]

No, not. Yeah, no, not explain. What happened is this. Sam Darnold threw a screen to his left on a two point conversion and it was batted down. And then the teams are lined up to kick the ball off. Nobody on Seattle's really screaming about it. No one on the Rams. Like, the teams are lined up for the kickoff, and then Terry McCauley, the ref guy, comes on the broadcast and says, hold on a second, I think this might be good. And then they show a video of Zach Charbonnet with all the players kind of standing around, just picking the football up in the end zone, and they're like, I think this.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Count McCauley wasn't the one who. Who, like, got the review going.

[Danny Heifetz]

No, but he's in communication with the league office.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Right. They told him. They were looking at cahoots, if you will. No, they told him. Because they're helping out with the broadcast. They told him.

[Danny Heifetz]

I know, but my point being is I can't stress this enough.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Terry lined up for the kick. Sure.

[Danny Heifetz]

Which I don't think that's ever. And this is, I think, essential. They've. I don't think that's ever happened before, where teams were lined up for the kick and they're like, hold on, guys, we gotta review.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Well, no play like that has really ever happened.

[Danny Kelly]

But, like, still, like, I. Yeah, that. That's just nuts.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I think. Here's what I'll say. I understand completely why people were freaking out about this. It was the weirdest play. But in the spirit of getting things right, tell me what rule they got wrong here.

[Danny Kelly]

Here's my problem with it.

[Craig Horlbeck]

What rule did they get wrong?

[Danny Kelly]

Everybody stopped playing football. No. For like, at two seconds, everybody stopped.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Here's. Here's the deal. Here's the deal, Craig. This has been a rule in the NFL for a long time.

[Danny Kelly]

Here's where the whistles.

[Craig Horlbeck]

The hole is coming out. That doesn't matter. The rule doesn't matter. By rule. Hi, Fitz.

[Danny Kelly]

Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.

[Craig Horlbeck]

What are you doing?

[Danny Kelly]

I don't want to do. Because we're going to argue too soon.

[Craig Horlbeck]

This is the rule.

[Danny Kelly]

DK is going to say if this is the rule, and literally he is correct, and so we're not arguing.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Well, here. Here's. Here's how I would like rationally. Here's how I'd rationally defend it. When you see a swing pass or like a. Like a sideways pass in the NFL, this happens all the time. This has been a rule for over 10 years. Even if the. If so, like the. Say the running back is catching a swing pass on the side and he drops it and then he walks off and the defense picks it up and then later they go, oh, actually, that was a backwards pass. That's a fumble. The defense gets the ball. This happens all the time.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yes.

[Craig Horlbeck]

How is that so different here? Other than it was deflected and went forward.

[Danny Heifetz]

So I. The.

[Craig Horlbeck]

So the rules. So to be clear, the call, the whistle does not matter.

[Danny Heifetz]

This is awesome that I want to come back. I'll give you A couple points. I would like to shout.

[Danny Kelly]

That's the rule in the NFL.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I'm being a homer. I'm being a homer. That's a rule in the pass.

[Danny Heifetz]

Shout out Zach Shar for picking up the ball. That's good football instincts.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It's like it wasn't like 20 seconds later he ran over and got it. But that's what they're trained to do. That's because running backs always catch those swing.

[Danny Kelly]

It almost feel like he picked the ball up because he was like bored. Not that he knew he was doing.

[Danny Heifetz]

He picked it up like, give it to the ref.

[Danny Kelly]

Good for him.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Good for him.

[Danny Kelly]

So it's a stupid rule because when the whistle blows, you are obviously trained to stop playing. That's the whole basis of the sport, is when you hear the whistle, you have to stop.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Swing pass. This is why they teach their. They teach the. They teach the defenders and they teach the running backs on swing learning.

[Danny Heifetz]

Okay, could be here. Here's in order. Here are my issues.

[Danny Kelly]

And then we're arguing different things. We're not disagreeing.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I don't actually know what are the issues.

[Danny Kelly]

I have one.

[Danny Heifetz]

They blew the whistle and guys stop running.

[Craig Horlbeck]

That's not to be the whistle. Doesn't matter.

[Danny Heifetz]

You keep saying that, but it doesn't matter with that argument for you.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Okay.

[Danny Heifetz]

If it happened in reverse, you would be. You would lose your mind.

[Danny Kelly]

Of course, of course.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I've already admitted I'm being.

[Danny Heifetz]

It goes without saying.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I've already. Here's my other homer. This is a homer argument.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah. Here's my other issue, though.

[Craig Horlbeck]

But my. The rule. Tell me what rule they got wrong.

[Danny Heifetz]

I'll tell you. I'll tell you.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Tell me what rule they got wrong.

[Danny Heifetz]

I'm going to tell you right now.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Okay.

[Danny Heifetz]

Clear and obvious.

[Craig Horlbeck]

No, that's not the rule.

[Danny Heifetz]

It is. It's not.

[Craig Horlbeck]

No, no, that's not the rule.

[Danny Heifetz]

Terry McCauley watched it nine times and said, I think it's going backward. And then every, every.

[Craig Horlbeck]

No, that's like. This isn't the argument you started with. Oh, so now you're saying you don't think it was a backwards pass.

[Danny Heifetz]

I.

[Craig Horlbeck]

You're moving the goalposts already. I think so now you think they didn't get the backwards. Craig, Is that what you thought?

[Danny Kelly]

No, I know.

[Danny Heifetz]

I'm saying that's what.

[Craig Horlbeck]

No, that's exactly zero people.

[Danny Heifetz]

I'll tell you exactly what happened. I will tell you what happened.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Whistleblow.

[Danny Heifetz]

I will know what you're right with the play out about it's they blew. Here's what I'm telling this is what happened. And I will shout out Jordan Rodriguez at NFL Daily who pointed this out the night of Thursday night. This is what happened. There was a play last week in Week 15 where the Broncos where the referees blew the whistle too early, killed a scoring play. And if you'll remember, our friend the high school referee emailed in a couple of weeks ago and said the number one thing he notices, and this is so true about NFL referee, is the biggest mistakes in the NFL happen because referees are judged by, on their, their mistakes. And then they are shown tape and of previous week's mistakes and they are given points of emphasis and they're graded and they get to go to the playoffs and are paid based on their whether they, they have a rubric and a scoring system. So what happens is there's like four or five plays a week that the NFL is like, hey, hey, you got to do this this week. Which is why there's weird. So one of them was, you can't let like, don't kill scoring plays too early. So the league office focused on this like all week. Then this play happens. And I don't think the referees on the field did anything wrong. I think the league office made it a point of emphasis to all the referees about this and they totally overthought it and they reviewed it and they reversed it. Here's why. And it's this simple. I don't think anyone in the stadium fans, I don't think any of the Seahawks fans watching and I don't think any of the players in Seattle thought the pass was backward in the moment. And so if you're going to go ahead and apply replay, nobody. It didn't occur to anybody that the pass was backward.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Here's the deal though. It was. Look.

[Danny Kelly]

Saying that the people in the stadium couldn't see it.

[Danny Heifetz]

No, not backwards.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It was a backwards pass.

[Danny Heifetz]

Nobody.

[Craig Horlbeck]

They didn't get the, they didn't get the rule wrong. It's my main homework play.

[Danny Kelly]

All right, was.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I understand it was a crazy ass play. I understand that you had to watch it 10 times. If I was a Rams fan, I'd be furious. I understand that. I'm admitting that. However, they didn't get it wrong.

[Danny Kelly]

It's, it's fun.

[Danny Heifetz]

You had to watch it 10 times. It was backwards.

[Craig Horlbeck]

No, it was backwards. It wasn't, it wasn't that. It wasn't like they showed it 10 times on the replay. That doesn't mean it took the refs that long to figure out.

[Danny Kelly]

Look, look, also, I would say that that specific part of it, like, that is the pass backwards or not happens a lot. And there are a lot of screen passes that are right down the line, and you have to kind of look at where the ball is released and it's. Look at the direction it's going in. And then sometimes you have to determine after the fact was it forward or backwards, because in the moment, it's obviously very hard to tell. That is never an issue for me.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Look, I lived. I lived.

[Danny Heifetz]

Call on the field was like, it's not a count, though. That was.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I was.

[Danny Heifetz]

They reversed it. It was reversal. The standard should be high.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I got my baptism in the fucking fail Mary. All right?

[Danny Kelly]

But this is so hard.

[Craig Horlbeck]

They got this right.

[Danny Heifetz]

Same end zone.

[Danny Kelly]

That's very hard to call in the moment. Like, how the fuck are you supposed to know if it's going an inch in forward or an inch backwards when it's, when it's being thrown?

[Danny Heifetz]

I, I, I just, it's just, it's two things. It's, it's the most common sense. That shouldn't be a thing. And it's like, again, my rule, like, the rule is you reverse it. It has to be clear and obvious to overturn it. My rule of thumb. And I, I think that they should be, they should be the rule, if the referees have to sit there and watch the same angle five times, it's not clear and it's not obvious. I, that's very, I think.

[Danny Kelly]

But I don't know. I don't.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I did. I've not seen anyone besides you argue that it was a forward pass.

[Danny Kelly]

I am way more upset.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I haven't seen anyone arguing that it was actually not a backwards pass.

[Danny Kelly]

You know what? If you're a Rams fan, email fantasy football gmail.com because I'm curious. I would be way more upset at the fact that this ball trickled into the end zone. They blew the play.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah. They blew the whistle in the play. And that's. And that's the other thing. And that is where I contest the rule. I actually, I think, to be honest, I think the interpretation of the whistle rule doesn't matter. I think that's a stretch because I, they fucked it up. I think it's a stretch because the rule that doesn't matter is the idea that, well, if there's, like, in the case of a clear recovery, it was a clear recovery because everyone else stopped playing.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah. But if it's. This happens all the time with These swing passes, it doesn't happen where the running back, he drops what he thinks is a pass and then he walks away. And then the defense picks it up after the whistles.

[Danny Kelly]

Yes.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It happens all the time.

[Danny Kelly]

It does.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It's the only thing that's different about this is it bounced forward.

[Danny Kelly]

Yes.

[Craig Horlbeck]

But that, it's just like, that's just bad luck for the Rams.

[Danny Kelly]

I mean I'm not.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Horrific. Horrific luck for the Rams.

[Danny Heifetz]

Here's why I'm not angry about it. And there's two reasons. The Rams special teams like they missed a 48 yard field goal to win the game.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Right.

[Danny Heifetz]

And then they allowed him upon return and it's.

[Craig Horlbeck]

And then they fired their special teams.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah. Chase Blackburn shot New York Giants legend intercepted Aaron Rodgers during his MVP season. And then also over Gronka win a Super bowl shout out. Chase Black.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I wanna, I wanna say it for the record again. Obviously I, I am aware that I'm taking the homer stance on this, but I will say they got the rule correct. I thought that was correct. I think here's, here's the deal. Here's the bigger 15 year old.

[Danny Heifetz]

You would punch you in the face.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Oh, okay. Here's, here's the biggest thing I think that comes out of this.

[Danny Kelly]

We've seen a picture of 16 year old DK. He was badass.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Here's the thing, here's. Here's the biggest takeaway I come from that comes from this whole thing is no one knows the rules in the NFL. Not Sean McFay and Matt Stafford after the game were like, I don't know.

[Danny Kelly]

What the rule is.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I need somebody to explain to me what the rule is. I think it's a weird rule. It's like no one knows the rules. Bellich would never, he would know this rule.

[Danny Kelly]

You know when, like no one knows.

[Craig Horlbeck]

The rules to this league.

[Danny Kelly]

You know when a player like a running back is like in the pile trying to get tackled and they call forward progress. But then people keep ripping the ball out and they pull the ball and it's like a fumble and guys are still kind of going after it because the, even though the whistle been blown, it wasn't like that. Like the players stopped and that's my biggest problem.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I picked it up.

[Danny Heifetz]

I know, but that's preposterous.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Okay. I don't get why. But okay, you, you, you get why.

[Danny Heifetz]

Because if it happened again, if it happened to another, I guess it's not that if happened.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I don't think it was that. You're Talking like two seconds. Like a literal two seconds.

[Danny Heifetz]

If it happened. Yeah. Two seconds is a long time to throw.

[Danny Kelly]

In the NFL you have to separate two things. One they. The rule as it is written was. Was properly applied and the correct thing happened based on the letter of the law.

[Craig Horlbeck]

However, that's okay. I agree with that. I see where you're going and I agree with you.

[Danny Kelly]

But you also have to admit it was crazy. Incredibly stupid. And the rule makes no sense.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It's never. This is like literally the first time this has ever fudgeing happened the other women. Way more complicated too is it was in a two point.

[Danny Kelly]

No one knows. Okay. It's like a two part conversion.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It's like a downlet. It's like a time non timed play where yards don't matter. Sorry.

[Danny Heifetz]

If this happened to you, you'd call it a desecration of football and an affront to the concept.

[Danny Kelly]

Here's the front to the guy, you don't know me.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Here's the thing, maybe I wouldn't.

[Danny Kelly]

If you had to describe this to a person who had never watched football before.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

How the would you be able to describe what you're like?

[Craig Horlbeck]

I don't think I would. I'd be like, you don't care.

[Danny Kelly]

This is 99.9% of the time when the whistle blows everybody has to stop. And if you, if you hit somebody after the whistle blows, it's a penalty. Except this one weird time. If the whistle blows, everybody stops. But if you're smart enough, you can pick up.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Now we're arguing over if the rule is stupid. Which is fine. Exactly. Okay, that's fine. Rule should be changed.

[Danny Heifetz]

That's fine.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I don't care. Go ahead and change it.

[Danny Heifetz]

I don't care. We're on the same page.

[Craig Horlbeck]

All I'm saying is tell me what rule they got wrong.

[Danny Heifetz]

The DEZ Bryant rule where he didn't catch it in the playoffs was correctly not properly applied and it was so outrageous they had to change the rule because it was.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Go ahead and change the rule. I don't care.

[Danny Kelly]

Care.

[Danny Heifetz]

All right, great. All right, let's move on.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Can we talk? Hold on. We got to talk about this game on a positive note because that was.

[Danny Heifetz]

The Rams Cuz Puka and Matthew Stafford. So I'm in the. In the ring of fantasy league. DK and I got first run buys. We got rocked. Chris Ryan who drafted. Didn't draft his team, didn't make any.

[Danny Kelly]

Moves, beat dk, got shelled by Puka.

[Danny Heifetz]

Dude, I. You know what man? I was really. This is one of the better teams I've assembled. I had herz, I had McCaffrey and Jonathan Taylor. I, Kyle Pitts for the stretch run. I know no one gives a shit.

[Danny Kelly]

I, I actually go through all 17 picks.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, it's a good point. One of them was a pizza in case I came in last place. Mallory Rubin had Matthew Stafford and Pukinakua in this game and so she was literally up 80 to nothing entering the weekend, which is.

[Danny Kelly]

You lost the game before you got off the bus.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's. It. Yeah.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Just didn't show up.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's unbelievable to show up and literally. You know what's funny? It's exactly the spread I need from McCaffrey and Taylor. That was 80.5. Like literally just 80. Nothing could do the weekend. It was, it's. It. It's so weird to just lose before you show up. And I think that's how a lot of people felt with either Puka or Stafford in the lineup. You're like oh well this is over. And then Devonte misses this game. And then without Devonte Adams against the Seahawks who are against everyone else like the best defense in the NFL.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Basically crazy.

[Danny Heifetz]

And they get 500 yards and. And again look unstoppable through three and a half quarters. 52 minutes. This Rams could not be stopped even though they didn't have Devonte. In a weird way I feel like this is the best moment to grab the Rams. Rams odds for the super bowl even though they're in fifth seed just because they're the best team. And this, this was the flukiest loss this is not since the Cardinals Titans game has there been a flukey or loss this year. Well, no. Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

Because the game is being played both before and after the whistle. So how are they supposed to know?

[Danny Heifetz]

Exactly. Yeah, after that it's rattling.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I mean you know, no, no team before had ever had what was it, three two point conversions in fourth quarter and overtime and won a game. So that, that was.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, we gotta. We didn't get to get to the rest of the game.

[Craig Horlbeck]

They got two other two point conversions too, which is very unlike.

[Danny Heifetz]

They got the first two point and then they got the.

[Craig Horlbeck]

They got the one in overtime too.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, the Zach would pass then. An underrated part of the story is that the Rams go three and out again. So Darnold's like hey Darnold, this is your shot man. And so because like that, that two point conversion made it 30 also. It was such a huge deal. We're yelling about it. Because it was 30, 28 versus 30, 30 outcome of that two point conversion. So then Rams go three and out and Darnold's like, all right, this is your chance, man. And they go three and out. And then the Rams come down and they get like a 48 yard field goal. They miss it like, all right, Donald, this is your chance, man. And the Seahawks go like four and out and then the Rams come down and then they get. And then Darnold gets another chance at regulation. This is your chance, man. Doesn't do it. He. He went 0 for 3 after that to take the game winning. Then they went to overtime and then he got it done.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah, and he made some incredible throw. Like his, his throw down the sideline to Cooper cup, who, who made an incredible toe tap catch was best throw the game. One of the most incredible play. And he got lit up right after he threw that too. So it was in the face of pressure. But yeah, I mean that was what I said at the very beginning of this like 10 minutes ago when we started talking about this game is the Seahawks clearly, clearly still don't trust Darnold. They were like asking him to throw like screen passes and stuff in the fourth quarter, trying to come back.

[Danny Kelly]

It's funny for, for how. It's crazy for how important this game was for Seattle. I think my opinion of everybody didn't change after this game. Like, I still think the Rams are the best team. I still don't trust Arnold.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It just puts the Seahawks in a much better position.

[Danny Kelly]

Totally. I, I think it's honestly a. I think it's a way worse for the Rams because to me, like, the Rams like securing that one seed and getting to stay in LA and stay in SOFI for all these games. Now if they're the wild card, sure, their first game, they're gonna have to go to Carolina and they can beat Carolina, but they're not going to lose twice to Carolina. But I'm like, dude, the Rams having to go to Chicago now versus the other way around and Stafford, it's just so brutal for them. And I think Seattle is way more built to like withstand that versus the Rams, who. So it's just really bad luck for them because I still think they're the best team in the NFL right now. But them having to basically win an NFC championship game in Green Bay or Chicago or something like that, I guess it wouldn't be Green Bay, it would be Chicago is brutal.

[Danny Heifetz]

Even if they win that game, Stafford, at his age, all these guys getting tackled into the frozen ground and then going to play like it matters. The last thing I'll say, we don't have to linger to the. But the PUK and aua, there's all this controversy this week with the streamer and a gesture and all I could think while he, you know, Sean McVeigh's being asked, he's being asked about, did Puka understand, like, you know, they put a statement, did PUK understand the, the, the nature of the, of the gestures he made? And all I could think is I'm like, this guy's a pro athlete. He doesn't eat vegetables. I'm like, no, what are we talking about, dude?

[Danny Kelly]

I think it's harder to find pro athletes who are under 25 who do eat vegetables, to be honest.

[Danny Heifetz]

I'm like, this guy, literally, he's a pro athlete who won rookie of the year and he would literally just for breakfast and dinner, Google map his way to the route because of the facility, because he didn't get there and just eat whatever fast food he happened to pass on the way. I'm like, I don't think it's like the monkey symbol thing.

[Danny Kelly]

Like chado Josenco had McDonald's every day. DK Metcalfe eats candy all day.

[Craig Horlbeck]

He's like eating Skittles and stuff.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's, it's like, you know, I, I, I, I don't know. I wasn't shocked. It's, it's, it's, it's, you know, it's, I don't know. Anyway, we can move on. Other guys that blew out a game. This is more, yeah. Pretty great game. I was, it was unbelievable.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Case law is this new case law for the NFL. They'll eliminate this rule.

[Danny Heifetz]

I just want to be like, get him. Be like, I like refs. I like referee. I like thin pancakes. Okay. The other guy, this is also Oppenheimer, but it's more of a thanks for nothing is Ashton Gente, who I don't know how many people were in the playoffs with this performance today.

[Danny Kelly]

So annoying. I have Ashton Genty battling for last place, 31 points. The number one running back on the day looked awesome. DK, you, you. And we texted about this briefly, but you're so right that like every time Genty has like 5ft of speed.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Even a sliver is awesome.

[Danny Kelly]

He just never does it. He caught a 60 yard touchdown today. He's been like a fantastic wide receiver this year. He had another like 40 yard touchdown run. He looks really good when you just allow him to do anything, but he's on the Raiders. And so it never works.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Just let him take one step without getting hit. That's all he needs.

[Danny Kelly]

He helped no one.

[Danny Heifetz]

But you know, Craig, question Do you get, are you angrier with Ashton Genty now that he can go up against the Texans, who have the other best defense in the NFL and be the number one running back in league? Does he make you even angrier that you were eliminated from the playoffs? Like, I feel like I. It's actually worse when a player blows up right as after they ruined your season. I'd rather it not have happened at all.

[Danny Kelly]

I would agree with that. Yes. I'm more angry now at Ashton, Jenny. I like him less now.

[Danny Heifetz]

Okay.

[Danny Kelly]

You know who I like more, though?

[Craig Horlbeck]

Who?

[Danny Kelly]

My Pittsburgh Steelers running backs.

[Danny Heifetz]

Dude.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah, man.

[Danny Kelly]

The double Oppenheimer.

[Danny Heifetz]

That's what every team thinks will happen when they have their two running backs.

[Danny Kelly]

Hi, Fitz. If I read you the stat line, if I read you the running back stat lines in the Steelers game beforehand, if I had a crystal ball and I was like, somebody's going to be 14 for 143 with two touchdowns. The other one's going to have five catches for 78 yards at a touchdown, how much money would you put on the fact that that's David Montgomery? Jameer Gibbs, 10 to 1, 20 to 1. What odds would you take?

[Craig Horlbeck]

Halfway through this game, I was like, when did Kenneth Gainwell become the best player in the NFL?

[Danny Heifetz]

It's actually shocking the Eagles let him go.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah, he was so. He was incredible. He's like, he's basically having a slot. I think I heard, maybe it was. Aikman said this a couple weeks ago where he's like, he's running legitimate slot receiver routes. And there was times where they had both him and Jalen Warren on the field and they're doing all these creative ways of getting him releasing from the backfield or whatever, lining him up in the slot. He's just such a good player. He had an incredible, incredible catch where he's laying on the ground and he caught the ball and then got up and ran it in for the end zone. He had another really good catch later in the game where he was like, he basically had to like fully extend almost off the ground and pick it up. And then in the same game, Jalen Warren rips off like two 45 yard touchdowns. I'm like, these running backs, they don't look alike a lot. They're not very big, but they're just really, really good. Both Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell.

[Danny Kelly]

Kenneth Gain. They honestly both just seem like professional football players. Aaron Rodgers, trust them. Rogers talks up gamewell all the time. He loves Kenneth Gainwell, and it just seems like he's a guy that everybody wants on their team. Dude, he's been one of the best players in fantasy for the last, like, six weeks.

[Craig Horlbeck]

He has. Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's like a Jerick McKinnon, Danny Woodhead, like Darren Sprols where it's. I mean, he's bigger than Darren Sprolls, but, like, I mean, it is like one of those.

[Craig Horlbeck]

The same runs. Yeah, yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

End of the season. But I. I gay. He's gonna be one of the funniest players to rank next year because, yeah, he's like a freaking scat back. That is Aaron Rodgers favorite receiver of the team.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah, I know.

[Danny Kelly]

There was a lot of weird running back performances today. I mean, like, Chase Brown had three touchdowns in the third quarter.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

Another crystal ball. If I told you Bengals score 45, Chase is gonna have three touchdowns, he'd be like, oh, my God.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Hell yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

No, no, it's Chase Brown. What?

[Danny Kelly]

Three and one quarter. Yeah. But maybe Bijan James Cook went off. Big running back day.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

I think it's being a big running back season.

[Craig Horlbeck]

They swung this. They swung the playoffs today for sure.

[Danny Heifetz]

I mean, Derek Henry, we don't know. We can talk about this more. We'll do fantasy rewatchables and lessons. But if you look at just like the receivers today, puke at 4 or this week, puke at 40, Olavi at 30, Parker, Washington, and pick into like 23. No one else had over 20. Like, it's, it's, it's. Meanwhile, if you look at running back, I mean, it's just like overloaded and it's. Sometimes it's random, but I just think running backs, we can go into it, but it's. It's nail. There were like three or four receivers that could have floated you this year, but there were a lot of running backs that have delivered. So it's been an interesting year. Running's back. Okay. I think we need to get. It's the holiday season and, you know, there's Christmas, there's Hanukkah, there's Kwanzaa, there's Boxing Day. But I think we need to get to the most important holiday of them.

[Craig Horlbeck]

All, which is Festivus for the rest of us.

[Danny Heifetz]

And earlier, we had the feats of strength with Danny Kelly trying to body us over the reps, over the referees in the Seahawks.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Just defending my Seahawks.

[Danny Heifetz]

You're defending the Referees.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

God, what have I fear?

[Craig Horlbeck]

That's. Who am I now?

[Danny Kelly]

What has happened to me? I've abandoned all my principles for what.

[Danny Heifetz]

I have under my son. We have to do some Aaron grievances for some players that just screwed us in the playoffs.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

For fantasy dk, please.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Well, I want to get started with just the quarterbacks because if, if the running backs won you your semi final matchup this week or maybe final, if you're in a different type of league, the, the quarterbacks were the ones that you. And look, this is said with love towards these players. But Josh Allen had his worst game. What was it his worst game all season. I think he had like this rookie year.

[Danny Heifetz]

We got an email.

[Danny Kelly]

Worst game of his career since his rookie season.

[Danny Heifetz]

Can I read you an email from Al?

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yes, Al, what's up?

[Danny Heifetz]

Al sent an incredible email about Josh Allen. So Josh Allen send us emails on Sundays. It was great to get emails today. Also, join our discord. The Discord's really fun. The invite link is in the episode description. Join the Discord. It's phenomenal. But the emails. It's great to get emails on Sundays too. So Al wrote, Josh Allen's bust is even more atrocious because if you just look at the other games where he scored under seven or 6.9 points here he's only done it six times and the context is unbelievable. He did it last year in week 18 when he literally just took the first snap to preserve his start streak.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Oh yeah, Jesus.

[Danny Heifetz]

He did it in the demar Hamlin game where they played nine minutes and then the game ended. And then he did it in the 2019 also to preserve his start streak in the last week of the season and then took one snap and left the game. And then his rookie year, he got hurt against Houston with an elbow injury. And then they. It was literally just week four where he got lit up by the packers in his third start ever. And then week one of his first rookie season when Nathan Peterman put the bills down 40 to nothing against Baltimore and Josh entered the game in the fourth quarter. Those are the only other times in his whole career he has done less than he did today.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Man. Anyway, tough timing for all you people out there that had Josh Allen including me in one league. So just to run down the list of quarterbacks that really like just shit the bed this week or got hurt, which obviously we're not mad at you for that, but that sucks for our teams. Well, Josh Allen, Jordan love, Jackson Dart. We'll get back to you Lamar Jackson. Christ. And then, by the way, and I. And I said this before, I was texting with Carlos about this. Like, dude, I'm in, you know, semifinals. Like, these are some really good teams on, like, 11 and 12 win teams. And my starting lineups look like dog because I was like, down. And these are super flex leagues. I'm down to, like, Marcus Mariota and Garter Minshew as my quarterbacks. I'm like, how is this team in the semifinals? And then both of those guys got hurt, like, almost immediately.

[Danny Heifetz]

Gardner Minshew. I mean, the fact that my home store is acl and Gardner Minshew comes in and we already were like, this is depressing. And Gardner Minshew tears his acl. And then they have Chris. A lot of dude, the cheat. Craig hasn't seen Harry Potter spoiler, but, you know, they had a Harry Potter where, like, Voldemort, like, just looks like. Just so decrepit. It's, like, pathetic.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, he's like, ah, help me. I'm dying. And Harry's like, Espelliamus.

[Danny Heifetz]

He's been splitched wrong.

[Danny Kelly]

He's like, you're a wizard, Harry.

[Craig Horlbeck]

You're a wizard, Harry.

[Danny Heifetz]

It was pretty good. Craig, how would you judge that?

[Craig Horlbeck]

That impression of who he doesn't know.

[Danny Kelly]

He couldn't tell you because what's going on here? But, yeah, you kids with your fancy wizards and magic. I watch. I watch football.

[Craig Horlbeck]

And you make.

[Danny Kelly]

Watch Quidditch.

[Danny Heifetz]

I mean, Quidditch. Quidditch is like hurling, bro. You would love it.

[Craig Horlbeck]

What were we talking about?

[Danny Heifetz]

Oh, yeah, I was saying the Chiefs look like Voldemort at the end. Watching, like, watching Travis Kelsey's career end, which with Chris a lot of con. Trying to, like, beat the Titans, and the Titans beat the Chiefs 26 to nine.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Did we mention they got the Doors blown off by the team that was tracking to be the number one overall.

[Danny Heifetz]

Pick, one of the faster fall offs? I don't know if a Super Bowl. I don't know if an era of a team's ever edited quite so precipitously is, like, this game. It's about as low as it gets. Your third street quarter. But, yeah, getting the Doors beat off by a team that has two wins.

[Danny Kelly]

It tells you that, like, you know how they say you can't tank in the NFL? Like, players can just give up?

[Craig Horlbeck]

Like, right?

[Danny Kelly]

They gave up.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Like, they're, like, already on vacation.

[Danny Kelly]

Like, they just stopped playing. Travis Kelsey should opt out.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It was like a Pro Bowl.

[Danny Kelly]

Like, Travis Kelsey should not play the Next two. He should just like opt out the rest of this season and then play one game with Mahomes next year and then retire.

[Danny Heifetz]

Or is it. Can I give you a hot say? Is. Is Mahomes actually the mvp?

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah. Dude. Are the Chiefs the worst team in the NFL without Patrick Mahomes?

[Danny Heifetz]

You watch like this. Got eliminated last week. Yeah, yeah, it was pretty sad, but. And then Kelsey gets one point and you'd be forgiven if you played Kelsey and you're like, well, Rasheed Rice is out with a concussion and.

[Craig Horlbeck]

And you know, they got to pass it to somebody.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, exactly.

[Craig Horlbeck]

This like third string guy, Chris Ola, Duken or whatever.

[Danny Kelly]

I mean, to continue the, the airing of grievances. There were a lot of guys, a lot of good players where if you lost, it's not your fault. You had them all year, they were great. You were smart to pick them and it just didn't work out. Travis Kelce, 1.1 points today, not your fault. Like we said. Josh Allen, 6.9 points, not your fault. Trey McBride, who has been quietly one of the best players in fantasy all year today, four points, not your fault.

[Danny Heifetz]

Literally the first time McBride had not had five catches in a game in like 15 games.

[Danny Kelly]

Another tough one. Drake London came back maybe a little early off this knee injury playing Arizona like Drake London, four points, not your fault. You have to play them.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah. So you had to.

[Danny Heifetz]

Can I throw in the list? Christian Watson?

[Danny Kelly]

Sure.

[Danny Heifetz]

Where if you. Christian Watson ended up with, I think two and a half points. Christian Watson had no catches in the first 25 minutes. Christian Watson was so close to having like 17 fantasy points in the first quarter. He almost had like a touchdown or two and instead he just had 17 yards.

[Craig Horlbeck]

God, fantasy.

[Danny Kelly]

I mean, the worst of them all. We mentioned him and dk. This is probably extra hard for you because you're in so many leagues. You probably have every single one of these players we've mentioned.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I do match up. So you do.

[Danny Kelly]

Jackson Dart today had zero points. To be specific, it was 0.02.

[Danny Heifetz]

I. I can. Let's go into this for a second. Well, actually, I, I think. Well, before we do this, I actually think we. It's a special version of. I think we have to do America's. America's favorite segment.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Oh.

[Danny Kelly]

Ladies and gentlemen, Daniel Kelly.

[Danny Heifetz]

Danny Kelly.

[Danny Kelly]

Daniel.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Stop asking me. We need to get him some fantasy lactate.

[Danny Kelly]

Far door. Shark. Shark. Shark.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Shark. Where?

[Danny Heifetz]

Okay.

[Danny Kelly]

This guy's been farting all goddamn season.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It's like, it's a funky, funky beat.

[Danny Kelly]

They were Do. That was the Tom Tom Club beat.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Oh, yeah. Oh my God.

[Danny Heifetz]

That was. That was an abomination.

[Craig Horlbeck]

No, that was genius.

[Danny Kelly]

I will. We're getting a little liberal with the lengths here, folks. All right, tighten these down. We need Craig.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Craig's like. This isn't modern movies. Get them back down to 90 minutes.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah. What is this? Knives out. No, we need this to be sub 20. That was insane. The farts per second there were often.

[Danny Heifetz]

That was. That was a lot.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I'm curious where they get the. You know the hell. They always do the floor door short like the monster truck voice. Do they do that or. They'd get enough like AI or something.

[Danny Kelly]

I think that's my. I. I did that once and I think they're distorted.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Is that you?

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, that's me, baby.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Hell yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

So I want to be clear because that, that, that. That one was sent in by. Sorry, I'm pulling it. Brandon. And he. That was a clankerless farter shard intro.

[Danny Kelly]

Free. Yeah.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Wow. The new organic food. I only eat our game.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, the label. But yeah, that was Tom Tom to farts. Which I gotta tell you, I. I might be done with this bit. Guys.

[Danny Kelly]

No, stop.

[Craig Horlbeck]

What?

[Danny Kelly]

We're just getting started.

[Danny Heifetz]

I speak for a certain. Not that bit. But we can't. It can't be that. That's too much farting.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Say people really, really liked the yacht rock version of the book. Creative out there.

[Danny Kelly]

This was creative. They applied farts to the TomTom club beat. So I don't want to shame people for that reason.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It was very creative.

[Danny Kelly]

And just know this. These are going to be on Netflix, dude. So get ready. All right.

[Danny Heifetz]

I want. Yeah, yeah.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I just.

[Danny Heifetz]

I want less farts, but yeah, the more yacht rock. Okay. This is important. So Danny Kelly. The Giants lost to the Vikings and Max Brosmer today they got broad. They got Brode. The Giants lost three alignment, you know, but don't care.

[Danny Kelly]

Can't lose to Brosmer.

[Danny Heifetz]

Jackson Dart looks a lot worse since Brian Dable left and was fired. So my question to you, DK, was Jax today Jackson Dart with his.02 fantasy points and as the long term franchise quarterback for the New York Giants. Do you think this loss today for Jackson Dart and the Giants, do you think this was a Jackson Dart fart or was this a Jackson Dart shart?

[Craig Horlbeck]

A darter shart Darter sharter fart. Look, we just got done preaching patience with young quarterbacks. Caleb Williams was absolute fucking dishonest disaster last year. Dart has flashed a lot more than Williams did. When he was a rookie, I would probably say. So. I'm not gonna say it was a Shark. I'm say it was a. It was a Dart. But I mean, the vibes are as low as they possibly can get with this offense right now. That was a horrific showing.

[Danny Kelly]

I think we've seen enough highs from Dart that it almost doesn't matter what he does the rest of the season.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah, I mean, he's playing with nobody right now, so that.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, that makes me feel better. Because I gotta tell you, watching him just be outplayed by Max Brosmer was one of the more humbling moments of my entire year.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I will say he has not looked good since he got back.

[Danny Heifetz]

He's not looked good since Brian Dable was fired. Like, let's be honest, I will. The Giants play the Raiders next week and that's kind of the winner's probably just gonna. The loser's probably just gonna get the number one pick, which is crazy. I. The dart thing, I have to just mention. So the ringer fantasy league. I had the first place in the regular season standings and I kind of knew I was gonna get a buy. But I had Sam Darnold as my other quarterback in Super Flex and I knew they were playing the rams in week 16 and I was like, you know, I watched Darnold losing the Vikings in the playoffs. I watched Arnold throw four picks against this team like a month ago. And I'm like, I don't want to go into the semis. And then damn, Sam Donald get like five points and I lose because of that. So I was like, let me make a trade. And I traded Craig Jameson Williams.

[Danny Kelly]

I killed Heaven. Really?

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, So I could get Jackson Dyer.

[Craig Horlbeck]

And what's funny, I remember thinking at the time that was a. Not a good trade for Craig, so.

[Danny Kelly]

Oh, really? Yeah, I had a purdy and Lamar.

[Craig Horlbeck]

So I thought you could have gotten more. Anyway, continue.

[Danny Heifetz]

So I. Well, the irony is that if I.

[Danny Kelly]

Do that trade, he might win this week.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yes, it's true.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Thank you for doing it.

[Danny Heifetz]

But what's funny about it is that I was right because 50, 53 minutes into the Rams Seahawks game, Darnold had four and a half points. And then guess what? Darnold finished with 20. Jackson Dart had 0.02, which fun fact, literally, Sam Darnold was 1000 times better than Jackson Dart this week in fantasy.

[Danny Kelly]

Oh.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Tough.

[Danny Kelly]

It was a savvy move.

[Craig Horlbeck]

He had 33 yards passing, dude, the first in a whole game.

[Danny Heifetz]

15 times. You know what the worst at it. They were running the ball. You know what's crazy? The Giants first, I think 18, 7, 18 of the first 19 plays the Giants ran in Minnesota territory and they got three points in the first half.

[Danny Kelly]

Change my last name to Presti.

[Danny Heifetz]

Whatever. Yeah.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Seven of 13 for 33 yards in a pick. Two rushes for seven yards. What was he doing the whole game? That's like a Taysom Hill line.

[Danny Kelly]

I never know what he's doing. What is way better.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Taysom Hill had a way better game today anyway.

[Danny Kelly]

Tayson Hill. You want to know who scored more fantasy points? Max Brosmer. He played half the game. I'm itching to talk about the Steelers. It's been 75 minutes, you guys. I don't know what you're not letting me talk about the Steelers.

[Danny Heifetz]

All right, yeah, no, we'll get to that in a second. But first, the rigor Fantasy Football show is brought to you by FanDuel. Tis the season to be boosting on FanDuel because this year you're getting seven straight days of holiday rewards, each one waiting in the app for you to unwrap. Every day brings you a new way to play, so keep checking in to see what drops next. And it all leads to the Christmas Day special where you can get something extra special. Honestly, I would just bet the Rams to win the super bowl because I think everyone just watched them lose. But in reality it's five to one and they're clearly the best team. Even if they lost that game. I if that's what it takes for the six to beat the Rams. I actually just bet the Rams to win the Super Bowl. To be totally honest, it's like five or six to one. Probably the best bet you got. Seven days of gifts, one big finale. Head to fanduel.com ringer fantasy to get in the holiday spirit. FanDuel play your game must be 21 plus in present select states or 18 plus in present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. Opt in required bonus issued as non withdrawable profit boost tokens. Restrictions apply including any token expiration and max wager amount. See [e-mail] gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut. Okay, this episode is brought to you by Ford Blue Cruise. It's not just where you're going, it's how you get there. And Ford Blue Cruise hands free. Highway driving technology helps make the journey more enjoyable. We took it for a test drive so we could experience the convenience of for ourselves. So I tested the Ford Blue Cruise hands free highway driving technology last month and it was amazing. I was blown away. Like we're just on the highway and you can just hit a blinker and it just changes lanes and you can set how many car lengths ahead you want the truck to be in front of or behind the car, like how far you want it from the nearest car. It was amazing. I was, I didn't realize we were there. I felt like I was living the future. So it was, it was absolutely mind blowing. With Ford Blue Cruise you arrive at your destination ready to take on whatever comes your way. But don't just take our word for it, experience the convenience for yourself. Ford Blue Cruise hands free highway driving for a hands on life available feature on BlueCruise equipped vehicles. Blue Cruise requires a connected services plan and modem activation. BlueCruise Driver Assist features can be activated in hands free blue zones and do not replace safe driving and drivers need to control the vehicle. See Ford.com BlueCruise for more details on available plans and hands free models. This episode is brought to you by LinkedIn ads. The best B2B marketing gets wasted on the wrong people. So when you want to reach the right professionals, use LinkedIn ads. LinkedIn has grown to a network of over 1 billion professionals, including 130 million decision makers. And that's where it stands apart from other ad buys. You can target your buyers by job title, industry, company role, seniority skills, company revenue. So you can stop wasting budget on the wrong audience. It's why LinkedIn Ads generates the highest B2B return on ad spend of all online ad networks. Seriously, all of them. Spend $250 in your first campaign on LinkedIn ads and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Just go to LinkedIn.com/ringer fantasy. That is LinkedIn.com/ringer Fantasy. Terms and conditions apply. All right Craig.

[Craig Horlbeck]

So over.

[Danny Heifetz]

We're so back. Get off your leash here.

[Danny Kelly]

I'd like to take a moment here to address Mike Tomlin directly. I just want to say in the spirit of the holidays. I'm sorry. I'm stupid. You're smart. I was wrong, you were right. You're the best. I'm the worst. You're very good looking. I'm not very attractive.

[Craig Horlbeck]

As long as you can admit that.

[Danny Kelly]

Boys are we. We've never been more back.

[Craig Horlbeck]

God damn it. I feel like this is the biggest frickin roller coaster ride I've ever been on.

[Danny Kelly]

Mike Tomlin 19 years running with a winning record. Steelers are 9 and 6, which I'm sure means that they will lose their next two games and finish nine and eight. However, it's great to welcome Mike Tomlin. I don't know what I was thinking. I can't. I just. That was all wrong and it felt wrong in the moment and I'm happy to be in the comfort in the warm blanket of Mike Tomlin once again. The if we can we. So can we argue about another controversial end of game play? Because I'm ready to defend the refs hard on this one.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Hell yes. What do we got? What do we got?

[Danny Heifetz]

I think the refs lie this. Oh sorry. I could ref refs lines just subconsciously the Steelers Lions ending.

[Danny Kelly]

It was the right call.

[Danny Heifetz]

Great call.

[Danny Kelly]

Straight up was. It was the right call.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Can you explain if you didn't, if you didn't see it or you can't.

[Danny Kelly]

Quickly, quickly remember the lions are down five. They have the ball and basically the 10 yard line and there's like, like six seconds left. It's the last play of the game. They need to score a touchdown. Goff throws the ball to Amanra St. Brown who catches it on the one. Amanra never crosses the goal line with the ball. He starts to get tackled and as he's getting tackled he then laterals the ball to Jared Goff who's kind of near him for some reason. Goff catches the ball, hurdles into the end zone. Touchdown.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's like with no time on the clock would have been the craziest play this season.

[Danny Kelly]

Craziest play in the season. Flag. Then the refs.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I was really hoping that they would call this a touchdown so people would stop talking about the Seahawks. But go ahead.

[Danny Kelly]

The refs deliberated for I think like five real time minutes.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It was the longest deliberation without a review I've ever seen.

[Danny Heifetz]

Guys have been put in air cast carded off faster than the refs.

[Danny Kelly]

Like Demar Hamlin was was that that took just as long as this.

[Craig Horlbeck]

They weren't, they weren't up in the little camera booth like looking at the play trying to figure it out. They were just talking to other for like legitimately five minutes.

[Danny Kelly]

Yes. And they came back because there was a flag immediately. They didn't like throw it afterward. The flag was an offensive pass interference on a Monroe St. Brown and so because of that, that, that the play ran out the clock. You can't end the game or you Can't.

[Craig Horlbeck]

If it was, they don't do it on time down.

[Danny Kelly]

Yes. If an offense commits a penalty with no time left, the game ends. And so because with an offensive PI. Even though they scored a touchdown, there's no time left, the game's over. The Steelers won, which is a great call because when you watched it, a Monroe pushes. I think it's Jalen Ramsey like pushes him completely off of him. Like it was an egregious push off for him to get open to catch the ball. So they got it right.

[Craig Horlbeck]

The best part is the ref goes. The call on the field is a touchdown and the crowd loses their minds. He goes. But it was an offensive passer. Ferris.

[Danny Kelly]

He says, however.

[Danny Heifetz]

But I found a literal doctor. It's a touchdown.

[Craig Horlbeck]

All right.

[Danny Kelly]

Oh, see, I think he anticipated.

[Craig Horlbeck]

No, he said it pretty quickly.

[Danny Kelly]

He blew right through it. He went. The call in the field is a touchdown, however, so he knew.

[Craig Horlbeck]

No, I knew. You're right. It's funnier my way though.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, I. It's funnier my way. I like it better my way. I. I think that this game, that call was the most blue balls ending you could possibly have for a football game where the referees are like, okay, so yes, that was a game winning touchdown scoring lateral to the quarterback. However, there was a flag and then their game's over.

[Craig Horlbeck]

There were some people, Craig, I will say that they're saying that it wasn't that egregious of an opi.

[Danny Heifetz]

I agree with that. No, I think the standard. Many people are saying the standard of flags. There is a very high bar for flags to come out on contact.

[Danny Kelly]

I know the end zone. It's looser on the final play.

[Danny Heifetz]

I get it just is, this was.

[Danny Kelly]

Not a hail Mary. This was like a route that he put it is why he was open is because he threw the guy off of him.

[Danny Heifetz]

Well, it's Jalen Ramsey. But also I just, I think it was.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Wasn't it kind of like a ball don't lie situation too though? Because he was like very clearly stopped.

[Danny Kelly]

In his tracks for like they scored. He lateral.

[Craig Horlbeck]

They. No, I know, but like his forward progress was stopped for like a full two seconds.

[Danny Kelly]

Yes, that was. I was also. It was like, you know, I ran the tape back 10 times praying I heard a whistle, which I don't think did. I don't think.

[Danny Heifetz]

No, because it was the last.

[Craig Horlbeck]

They actually called it a touchdown.

[Danny Heifetz]

And again, there was a point of emphasis this week to let plays run, which is why those rest were in trouble is because they Whistled the play dead on the two point division. Not that that's there. I. This was just crazy. Watching this live was actually for sure.

[Craig Horlbeck]

The Lions were going to win. I couldn't believe they didn't win.

[Danny Kelly]

Oh, me too.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

If football is so funny, where they literally need a team of lawyers to huddle after every goddamn player, they're like, what do we say?

[Craig Horlbeck]

The rulebook is like a hundred pages.

[Danny Heifetz]

This isn't in the casebook bylaws.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It would have been like one of those really crazy ways for the Steelers to lose because Boswell just shank that kick. Like, what? How often will that happen?

[Danny Heifetz]

Another. I hate fantasy so much.

[Danny Kelly]

It's like a 34 yard kick. Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

Stashing Chris Boswell. Because I was like, this Steelers, Lions game, Boswell's gonna have a bunch of field goals and it's in a dome, and I'm not gonna have to worry about getting a kicker in the middle of December. And then he doings a kick and I'm like, I hate fantasy. I never.

[Danny Kelly]

Do you think again, the hold was kind of bad.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Real. Real question. And I know that there's, like, dudes all around them and, like, trying to, like, you know, lobby for whatever. Whatever they think happened. Do you think the refs. The reason it took so long is because they were like, how are we gonna get out of this guy?

[Danny Kelly]

Are we really doing this? Okay, hold on.

[Danny Heifetz]

They're like, looking for the exits.

[Craig Horlbeck]

What do we say? What do we say here? How are we getting out of here?

[Danny Kelly]

So I'm going to go with the call. In the field was a touchdown. However. And you got to go right into however. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, that's good. Because we got to say it while.

[Danny Heifetz]

I'm like, when you're crafting a text to a girl and they're like, does that say. No, no, that's too beat.

[Craig Horlbeck]

You right?

[Danny Kelly]

Right. Desperate.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

I have to say it's a touchdown, right? Like, I. I can't not say that. Right? No. Okay.

[Danny Heifetz]

All right. He's like, can we get.

[Danny Kelly]

Can we get by?

[Craig Horlbeck]

Did anybody blow their whistle? Hold on. Come over here. Did you blow your whistle?

[Danny Heifetz]

You know what? You know what else is great? You know, it's controversial because there's like five or six refs, right? When three of them are talking and the other two feel the need to push the other players away. Like, it's like crowd control.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Get back, guys.

[Danny Heifetz]

Like, they formed a. Yeah, the get back. They formed a wall. And like, like, the refs are celebs. Like, all the other players, because they don't want to even hear what the refs are talking about. That's when you know they're going to be pissed.

[Craig Horlbeck]

That was. That was a wild ending.

[Danny Kelly]

The Steelers were the better team in this game, though, and I would argue they deserve to win the game.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I thought for sure the Lions were gonna win, though.

[Danny Heifetz]

Oh, my God.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It was like. It felt like just inevitable almost.

[Danny Kelly]

That would have been their third straight touchdown drive. They had three. Two straight. They were. The fourth quarter, they were moving the ball.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Almost had that game winner.

[Danny Heifetz]

I would argue they had four touchdowns in three drives because they scored a touchdown two plays earlier that was called back that Aman Runu immediately because of the play. I have to say, though, I'm so mad every time a receiver, like, they, like, touchdown.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Cool.

[Danny Heifetz]

Offensive pass interference usually know exactly what happened because it's like anytime it's Opi on the end zone, it's because they pick play. And it's like a receiver ran a crossing route and just. And it always infuriates me because it's. Stop trying to block. Like, this happens every week. A receiver, like, tries to, like, hit the defender to throw a pick. And I'm like. They were saying, like, you're getting the ball.

[Craig Horlbeck]

They were trying to say it was within a yard, which I don't know if it was or not, by the way. They. They do the pool report for the. At the end where they interview one of the referees. I can't remember exactly how it works, but they, like, explain some of these big calls. And somebody in the. And the Lions reporter asked about that, and he was like, can you explain to me, like, why that was called a pick play? The Lions thought that it was within one yard, which would have made it legal. If he is. He did impede the, you know, the defender or whatever. And the ref goes, well, they called it a pick play, so therefore it must have been more than a yard down the field.

[Danny Kelly]

That's Socratic reasoning right there.

[Danny Heifetz]

Ruin this for everybody, because the NBA.

[Craig Horlbeck]

We decided to review our. Our pay, and we decided it was right.

[Danny Kelly]

Well, it's that way because that's the way it is.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Okay, thanks for that. Glad we have you here. Thanks for answering our questions.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's like going to Terry like the Family Guy. Like the weather.

[Danny Kelly]

It's cold.

[Danny Heifetz]

Thanks.

[Danny Kelly]

It's gonna rain.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah. Craig, what was your favorite broadcast referee moment today where they were just like, yeah, this was clearly the incorrect call.

[Danny Kelly]

Dude. Sunday night. Sunday Night Football. Pat's Ravens K's on Booty was assaulted for, like, 10 straight seconds, basically in slow motion as he's trying to catch this pass, which he. I think he, like, almost knocked himself out falling to the ground. The most clear PI I saw all day. They don't call. They don't even think about calling it. Collins or this. Losing his fucking mind. And then they bring in McCauley, and McCauley's like, oh, yeah, that's a clear PI.

[Craig Horlbeck]

He goes, how. How would you defend this call? He goes, I wouldn't. I couldn't.

[Danny Kelly]

Clear as day. That's a PI. I'm like, what are we. I don't understand.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Don't get Craig's whole corner now in this podcast is just the referee, announcer guys that. Come on. That's like, your whole corner.

[Danny Kelly]

I.

[Danny Heifetz]

But when they say that the Steelers game's right, then you're just.

[Danny Kelly]

I think it's like, the weirdest wrinkle that they've added to the broadcast.

[Danny Heifetz]

Like, what am I supposed to do with this?

[Danny Kelly]

Is these refs coming in, these experts who just are constantly telling us that the refs on the field are incorrect.

[Danny Heifetz]

But you forget what it was like to just find out that it was a bad call call, like, days later, and you're like, what the.

[Danny Kelly]

That's way better bringing it up in the moment. You're just like, what. What is all of this if. If it's wrong all the time and the refs can't even agree? What are we doing?

[Danny Heifetz]

Oh, now you're asking questions you want.

[Danny Kelly]

Like the wizard of Oz? I don't want to know.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Craig, don't ask these questions.

[Danny Heifetz]

Stop looking by the. Stop showing me behind the curtain.

[Danny Kelly]

How is it better for the NFL if McCauley's like, yeah, they blew that one. I don't understand.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It's definitely not. It's definitely not.

[Danny Kelly]

Anyway, if the Steelers beat the Browns next week, they're locked in the playoffs.

[Danny Heifetz]

I was going to say. I mean, this is. Talk about so over. I think week 18 is so over.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Do you have nothing happening?

[Danny Heifetz]

I could have this wrong, and I apologize if I have this wrong, but I'm pretty sure if the Bears win next week or no, sorry. If the packers win next week, then the NFC playoff feels just set. Outside of Panthers, Bucks, there would be one relevant playoff spot left between the Panthers and Bucs and everything else in the NSUV set.

[Craig Horlbeck]

But they're seating.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yes, they'd be seating.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Still matters a lot.

[Danny Heifetz]

I know, but there'd be one play, like, one playoff spot to speak of. Where and the afc. If the Steelers beat the Browns next week. I don't and the Colts lose on Monday football then there are no AFC. All the entire AFC's field will just be set entering week 18.

[Danny Kelly]

That's right. Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

Which is not wild cards will be.

[Danny Kelly]

La, Buffalo and Houston.

[Danny Heifetz]

So again there will be seating. The one seed would be interesting. Which maybe that's better in a way because instead of shitty teams vying for a wild card, you get to watch good teams play for one seed. Maybe that's actually better.

[Danny Kelly]

I believe Denver plays the Chiefs. So Denver's going to be playing well.

[Danny Heifetz]

That. No, that's on Christmas. Oh yeah, you're right. The Broncos.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Sweet. We get to spend more time with our families.

[Danny Heifetz]

The Christmas slate is over too.

[Danny Kelly]

No, no. We're so back because the Christmas slate is so fucking terrible. Finally we're free.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Craig's other corner.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah dude. The Christmas day here's what we're we have lined up the cow a Cowboys team that is not going to make the playoffs versus Josh Johnson on the Commanders. That's game one. Then we get the Lions playing Max Brosmer most likely game two. And then we're closing with the Broncos versus Chris A lot of kin. That's the three game lineup. Enjoy time with your family.

[Craig Horlbeck]

This is like go home to your wife.

[Danny Kelly]

Almost.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Go spend time with your friends.

[Danny Kelly]

This is erotic to me. Christmas day. Love it. This, take that NFL.

[Danny Heifetz]

This very small window.

[Danny Kelly]

Watch them like flex all those out just at the last second.

[Danny Heifetz]

Buffalo Wild Wings. I this small window of time where if you make your fantasy championship it's going to be like a three year window where they have games on Christmas. But also we haven't gone to an 18 game schedule yet where only people make their championship. Will know this weird feeling of it's Christmas morning and you're like with your family, maybe with your children and you're trying to be in the moment Christmas morning and you're like do I play Kenneth Gaywell or do I play Jaylen Warren? And you're just like all morning you're like oh my God, I'm so lucky to be with my family. Just like do I play Jake Ferguson or Halifannon?

[Danny Kelly]

Honey.

[Danny Heifetz]

And like that's your whole thing.

[Danny Kelly]

Car. Yet you're like I I can't decide if I should start Breton Strange or Tyler Warren.

[Danny Heifetz]

You're like burning bacon.

[Danny Kelly]

You're like we're gonna be late. Oh, that's good.

[Danny Heifetz]

The other we're. What else is new? We're disrespecting The Carolina Panthers. But the Panthers are so back and so is Bryce Young. I like that. We talked about rehabbed number one picks and then we did Bryce Young an hour later.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I've given up and come back to the Panthers more times this year than Craig's given up and come back to the Steelers. I think the Panthers beat the Bucks 23 to 20 today, by the way. And this is on us. This is on Hypertsumi. I think no more betting on Panthers games ever. Like, we can't, we can't keep doing this to ourselves. Craig, you weren't there, so that's probably. It's me and Hyphens's fault.

[Danny Kelly]

I gave you the bets I liked. You listened to one of them.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Sorry, that was Craig.

[Danny Heifetz]

Craig's suggestions went 3, 0, which is funny. Well, because he wasn't there.

[Craig Horlbeck]

You weren't there.

[Danny Kelly]

I spent one minute in the, in the car. Craig and I went three.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Next time just don't go on vacation, all right?

[Danny Heifetz]

No, because then we would have talked. No, then he would have talked himself out of them and he wouldn't even.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Have this moment anyway. Yeah, the Bronx or. Sorry. The Panthers beat the Bucks. Now they are in first place in the as in the NFC South. And weirdly enough, Bryce Young is like becoming sort of just this late game hero. I saw this stat from David Newton from ESPN today. Bryce Young put together his 12th game winning drive in the fourth quarter overtime since he came into the NFL. That's the most by any quarterback in that span since he came to the NFL.

[Danny Heifetz]

They are losing. I hate that saying stat, but they're losing a lot. I hate the game.

[Craig Horlbeck]

You hate the stat. But then we make fun of guys who can't win in the fourth quarter.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, but I hate that stat. It's not worth getting into. I just think it's super flawed.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I mean, I understand how it's like having a bad team sets you up to have more of those like as a volume thing.

[Danny Heifetz]

But like Josh Allen doesn't get a game winning drive for the 13 second game. Like he's.

[Craig Horlbeck]

No one's saying Josh Allen's bad.

[Danny Heifetz]

I know.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I just. I know what you're saying. I know what you're saying, I think.

[Danny Heifetz]

But yeah, it's weird that Bryce Young, when he's not giving you the ick and being like a, like a middle school child on the field, is actually back with his mojo and winning games all the time.

[Danny Kelly]

Right.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It's just confusing is what I'm saying. And you know what? It deserves credit also. The Buccaneers, absolute collapse. What's going on there? This team is what they've lost, I think, six out of the last seven games. Baker Mayfield is terrible. Now.

[Danny Heifetz]

He's hurt, man.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I know, but, like, why is he playing then? He's terrible. Get somebody else out there that's not hurt. You lost six out of seven games. That was going to be my far to chart, so we just stepped on that, but that's fine.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, man. This game, I think you're right, dk, about not betting on Carolina. I mean, they beat the Rams, they lose to terrible teams. Bryce Young, I think, is the only. I think, for every starting quarterback in the league, I can definitively give a yes or no on do I think the team should stick with that quarterback for the foreseeable future. Like, I. You can go through them. Like C.J. stroud. Yes. You know, like Tyler Shock. I would say no, but Bryce Young is the only quarterback in the league where I'm like, I have no fucking idea.

[Danny Heifetz]

Well, I'm this.

[Danny Kelly]

I don't know.

[Danny Heifetz]

Can we. Can we remember something for the playoffs? We've said. I've said a lot, that every team in the playoffs could beat anyone on a given week except the Panthers. Panthers are going to win the NFC South. They're going to beat the Bucks in week 18. The Panthers are going to win the NFC South. They're Going to go. We're all going to be mad about it, and we're all going to say, well, this is the easiest team to bet against in the playoffs. Guess what? The Panthers are going to win that game. The Panthers are going to win that wild card round. Every time you count out a division winner, they give it a game. And I'm not. Maybe they won't win, but I don't want to bet against the Panthers. Because you know why? Everyone in the world will bet against Carolina in round one. It's going to be one of them, like, 90, 10 splits.

[Danny Kelly]

You know they're going to play, right, The Rams.

[Danny Heifetz]

I'm not. The spread's going to be 10, and.

[Danny Kelly]

I'm gonna take it.

[Danny Heifetz]

And I'm saying the Rams could win, but it's gonna be like, I refuse. Because you know why? Every year we're like, they have no chance. It's like the Taylor Heinecke Washington team almost beat Tom Brady in the Buccaneers.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

And they were 7, 8, 1 or whatever. Like, it always this the Marshall for different reasons.

[Craig Horlbeck]

They're not like super hot or anything, you know, like, you always talk about this weird. No one wants to face in the playoffs because they're getting caught at the right time. It's not necessarily the Panthers. It's just. It's embarrassing to lose to this team. So you get tight and you start to worry about it.

[Danny Kelly]

Humiliate.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Can't lose to the guy with one arm.

[Danny Kelly]

You just like, you can't. They're just like a dog that the owner's like. I don't know, something. He just doesn't like some people.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Like, I just.

[Danny Kelly]

You just kind of. You don't know what they're going to do.

[Craig Horlbeck]

What an analogy. That's really funny. Yeah. How does fucking team beat the Rams and then lose to the States?

[Danny Heifetz]

I just. I don't know. It's. I think Bryce doesn't. Like, some people got tripped, like from the center and it's got a sack because he just fell.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It's just.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's so funny every week. Okay. Intrusive thoughts. Craig, you got any?

[Danny Kelly]

Justin Herbert, I feel like should be more in the MVP conversation than we are giving him credit for. We do. The Josh Allen, like, man, he's the whole team argument. Justin Herbert is the whole fucking Chargers team. And that guy is dragging no line.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

This guy's got one hand.

[Danny Heifetz]

He's.

[Danny Kelly]

He runs like Josh Allen now. He's unbelievable in every game. He gets the shit kicked out of him. He has the worst offensive line in.

[Craig Horlbeck]

The league and he's dating Madison. Beer?

[Danny Kelly]

Sure. Toss that.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Tired.

[Danny Kelly]

Sure. All that. Absolutely.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I mean, he's got no sleep. Sorry, go ahead.

[Danny Kelly]

No, I just. I'm like, I don't know why we don't give him the credit that we give some of the other Josh, like, he. He is closer to Josh Allen in terms of what he is doing for his team than not.

[Danny Heifetz]

He broke his hand. He got hand surgery, played on six days notice, and now he's two weeks out from hand surgery. In his other hand, he's like stiff arming guys in the face with his broken hand.

[Danny Kelly]

He broke his hand and then it has won every game since.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Can they technically still win the division or is that out?

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, they can. They're only one game back. Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

The Broncos have to lose to the Chiefs next week on Christmas, which suddenly feels. Damn it.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Impossible. Yeah, I'm with you, Craig. It's number one. He's on the Chargers. You know, it's just a thing. And he's kind of derpy. I don't know.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, no one. Yeah. No one wants to acknowledge that. No one wants to just talk about the Chargers being an mvp. My intrusive thought this week, did you guys see that the Steelers Lions game, that final drive? There was a tripping penalty.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

My intrusive, My intrusive thought was, why can't you trip people in football?

[Danny Kelly]

I have that written down as well.

[Craig Horlbeck]

There's a pro tripping.

[Danny Kelly]

This is football.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

I can't trip you. I can blindside you and knock you out, and I can't trip you.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I don't think you can really do that anymore.

[Danny Kelly]

Okay.

[Danny Heifetz]

Run full speed and tackle people in their solar plexus, they call it, if.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It looks bad at this point, Craig.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, fair. Still, we're talking about the most violent game in the world, and you can't trip somebody.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It is kind of weird. It is kind of weird.

[Danny Heifetz]

Why can you not trip someone you.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Can look at full speed? It's a safety thing, right?

[Danny Heifetz]

It's a safety thing. That's by far the safest way to bring someone down. Like, they're like, you can't land on a quarterback. They're Bobby. Jared Goff is just running, and then Highsmith just sticks out his leg and just trips him and he just falls to the ground. And they're like, no, no, that's dangerous.

[Danny Kelly]

It's stupid.

[Danny Heifetz]

That's the dangerous part of football. It's the tripping.

[Danny Kelly]

You, like, you can approach a quarterback's blindside shoulder into the spine and drive him into the ground. Maybe not the driving into the ground part, but, like, you can still blindside a guy. Fine. And you can't trip anyone.

[Danny Heifetz]

I ran this by Carlos earlier, and Carlos was like, well, you allow tripping, that's a, that's a slippery slope.

[Danny Kelly]

To what, tackling?

[Danny Heifetz]

I, I, that's what I said.

[Danny Kelly]

What, what's next? They can tackle you.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah. I just feel it's when you put.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It in the same category, not that I actually really care about this, but when you put it in the same category as, like the face mask and the, what you call it horse collar and things like that, where it's like.

[Danny Kelly]

That'S for your spine to your head and your neck.

[Danny Heifetz]

Got to protect you. Don't die.

[Danny Kelly]

The shins get kicked in the shins.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's like a razor scooter.

[Danny Kelly]

I just, I don't really understand why some guys. It's like the mime. The mime.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Just taking a razor scooter to the shins. We can't have this on the football field.

[Danny Kelly]

I just don't. It's like if somebody's running, you're allowed to grab their, their Their ankles and basically lasso their ankles together as they fall to the ground. But you can't triple. Isn't that just aggressive tripping?

[Danny Heifetz]

I think it would genuinely is just like. I'm sure maybe there's injuries that could happen, but I feel like it's more like. It wouldn't be very entertaining.

[Danny Kelly]

Also, you can trip with your arm. You just can't trip with your leg.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yes. That's what's so weird about it.

[Danny Kelly]

Like, if you're on your hands and knees and a running back dishonor, you can reach out with your arm.

[Craig Horlbeck]

With your feet, you can reach out.

[Danny Kelly]

And swipe their legs. That's.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Why did they make this rule.

[Danny Heifetz]

Their class would say it's dishonorable. Maybe it leads to kicking, but maybe leg whipping. I don't know why.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Can you. Mostly you can just go kick. You just go, sorry. You can't just go kick someone in the balls.

[Danny Heifetz]

I know. It's just funny that, like, just the way it happened to him in the shins, he just fell down like that. That's. It's like the bet. It's the lightest and least violent form of tackling possible.

[Danny Kelly]

I agree. I. I also had it written down.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Maybe they took it out of the. They took it out of the rules because it was too silly. You got guys tripping.

[Danny Kelly]

You should be able to jump kick people. Who cares?

[Danny Heifetz]

I was thinking, you know, what if they allowed trip. I've started thinking a lot about tripping today. You know what would happen is, like, Miles Garrett would figure out, right as the guy's coming by me is blocked, he would grab the tackle by both shoulders and then launch himself, and he would, like, fling himself with two legs and just, like, kind of cut the guy out from under him.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

Be pretty cool.

[Danny Kelly]

I mean, aren't you still allowed to rip people down by their hair?

[Danny Heifetz]

Yes, you can rip someone down by their hair. We can't trip lightly. Can't stick your foot out. That's.

[Craig Horlbeck]

That's your best point yet, Craig.

[Danny Kelly]

But you can't trip them. But I know the argument is like, well, it's your decision to have long hair, so.

[Danny Heifetz]

But what rule did he break? Dk.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I mean, he broke the tripping rule.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, I know.

[Danny Kelly]

What a stupid. Which I'm fine with you guys flag tripping five yards.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It's like a yoink. You have to say yoink.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yoink. My other intrusive thought was, I watched Tasting Hill throw a touchdown pass today, and I was like, why don't other players throw.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Why is There only one guy that does all this. Token white guy that does all this stuff.

[Danny Heifetz]

The 36 year old coming off an ACL injury. I'm like, he's the only other guy who could do this without a bigger trick.

[Danny Kelly]

Nice throw too.

[Danny Heifetz]

It was a nice throw.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah. I don't understand why quarterbacks don't punt.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Because you can't. Because your legs would get tired. Craig.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yes.

[Danny Kelly]

From all the tripping.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

Sorry. Quick award here. And just invented the Is she really into me or. Snap out of it. This is a strip club award for Quentin Johnson looking Like Terrell Owens vs. The Dallas Cowboys secondary today.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

What do you think, Craig Quinn?

[Danny Kelly]

Johnson's good and I stand by it. And I think he's just getting healthy and he's just getting started. Look out in the playoffs.

[Danny Heifetz]

Qj Quentin Johnson looked like we were.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Really vibing in there. We have the same interests.

[Danny Kelly]

She took me to the back room. She doesn't do that a lot. She says.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah, she said this never happens.

[Danny Heifetz]

Play of the day. We didn't mention the Kenneth Gainwell the catch where he just with like 13 seconds left, they somehow threw a bomb down the sideline. Kenneth Gwell catches it, shakes the Anzalone, the Targaryen Detroit Lions linebacker and then land, stands up and runs to the end zone.

[Danny Kelly]

Yep. I don't even know. The physics didn't make any sense. Like his forearm like absorbed all of this energy and speed of the ball and it just kind of stopped and landed between his two hands and he got up and ran to the end zone. Crazy. He's like the craziest catch I've seen all year.

[Danny Heifetz]

Which ended up being the difference in the game was that if they didn't get that touchdown at the end, they got a field goal. It's a five point game game. Like the Steelers might not even win. Okay, any other plays?

[Craig Horlbeck]

Nico Collins calling game. He the Raiders almost beat the Texans, which we didn't really talk about that much today, but Stroud threw it up to him down the sideline. Nico Collins went up and caught it. He like managed to get his elbow in just before he went out of bounds. It was an incredible catch and that was the ending of the game.

[Danny Heifetz]

I almost don't want to acknowledge the Raiders Texans game. I want to watch next week's game and then talk and then, and then analyze that. This one. I like that Tom Brady any announcer stuff. This is a tough week for I, I think the Seahawks Rams game. Al Michaels.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Oh my God, dude. So the Al Michaels Shaheed Touchdown.

[Danny Kelly]

So I have. I have these. I have two clips queued up and I want to play them because I think so. The Rashid. The Rashid Shahid touchdown. He doesn't give it a lot of juice. Obviously, this is a pivotal moment in the game. He doesn't give a lot of juice. I'm almost convinced that at the end of the Shaheed run, someone in his ear is like, al, you gotta ramp this up. This is an important moment because it's like the most unnatural cadence and inflection. Shahid. Yes. At the very end, he's like, raheed Shahid, touchdown. Let's play the clip. You'll hear him start mellow and then ramp it up.

[Craig Horlbeck]

As a preface, it's important to note that he didn't start ramping up until Shahid was like, at the five yard line.

[Danny Kelly]

Yes. Because someone's in his. Wake up, Al. Wake up.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Like clapping next to a dog, like, okay, like a deaf dog.

[Danny Kelly]

We can play it.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Tampa Bay and Brady and beat San.

[Danny Kelly]

Francisco coming from behind in the championship game. Meanwhile, that punt is caught and down the line goes Rashid Shahid. For the score. For the score.

[Danny Heifetz]

I think.

[Danny Kelly]

Is it.

[Danny Heifetz]

Is it someone in his ear or is it him being like, there it goes. And then he looked at the little paper in front of him and he's like looking for the number frantically. He's like, rashid Shahid.

[Danny Kelly]

But then I think by the end of the game, they were like, hey, Al, you got to kind of lock in. This is kind of one of the all time great games. So then the AJ Barner touchdown. Al's kind of back. Let's play that one Play. Clock at 3, rolling left, throwing back the other way.

[Craig Horlbeck]

He's got a.

[Danny Kelly]

And put. Yeah. Barner touchdown. That was classic Michaels. I like that one.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I thought you were trying to trick us.

[Danny Kelly]

No, actually, I think somebody was like, al, ramp this up. He was great. I don't know what they gave him.

[Craig Horlbeck]

But he woke up a steak. They didn't give a halftime steak.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Craig Horlbeck]

No. I think it's important to note the. The literal. Somebody pointed this out to me after I read because Big cat, like, tweeted out the. How Michael's colleagues.

[Danny Kelly]

Goosebumps.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Goosebumps out. Goosebumps. He literally didn't even say that it was fielded by Shaheed until Shahid was like, to the 15 yard line.

[Danny Heifetz]

He's talking about.

[Craig Horlbeck]

He'd already beaten like six or seven defenders and was almost into the end zone. And he's like, fielded by she. Rashid Shahid.

[Danny Kelly]

I know. And Then, like, Herb Street's like, watching Bama, Oklahoma Hideout. He's phone.

[Danny Heifetz]

He's prepping for college. Who called in the biggest moment of the game called Sam Darnold, Sam Bradford, also Herb Street. I was lost a little respect for him because Al Michaels was talking about how Puka Nakua only eats steak and doesn't eat meat, doesn't eat vegetables.

[Danny Kelly]

Didn't call him on it.

[Danny Heifetz]

And I was like, kirk's gonna call him on it right here. Right.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I don't know if Kirk.

[Danny Heifetz]

And maybe I missed it.

[Danny Kelly]

Too scared.

[Danny Heifetz]

Maybe I missed it.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Do you think he knows?

[Danny Kelly]

Definitely.

[Craig Horlbeck]

He's too busy watching Bama.

[Danny Heifetz]

He's too busy flying back. He never gets dinner without Michaels.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

I will say maybe. Maybe he said it. And I was just waiting for Kirk Hermstreet to make a joke that Al Michaels also doesn't eat vegetables. And it just. I just. Maybe I missed it. I just. I never came.

[Danny Kelly]

He's not. He's not comfortable enough yet in the relationship with Al.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah. Because Al would probably. Death glare.

[Danny Heifetz]

Maybe. I'm sleeping.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

Didn't want to wake him.

[Danny Kelly]

He's like, I eat a man's food, you little.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Oh, God. How old is al? 84. 2.

[Danny Heifetz]

Ever since Craig said that he did the miracle and ice 45 years ago, I was like, are you like, okay, yeah, I see.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Al's gonna turn into my new Clint Eastwood bit where Clint Eastwood was really old back in the 80s. Like, Al was, like, pretty old back in the 1975.

[Danny Kelly]

Clint Eastwood made the movie Unforgiven as, like, his Swan song in 1992. Yeah. We were not born. That was like, like the old Cowboys.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Before you guys were born.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's like how the coaches used to retire from, like, old age. John Madden coach, like, eight years. And he was like, I can't imagine doing this any longer. I'm like 46.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Clint.

[Danny Kelly]

He.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Clint Eastwood was an old, decrepit man in. In Unforgiven.

[Danny Heifetz]

Like, he talked to that chair at the convention, like, 13 years ago.

[Danny Kelly]

He's 95.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Oh, dude.

[Danny Heifetz]

Oh, my God.

[Craig Horlbeck]

How old was he when he made the. What was the movie he made where he was, like, protecting the President?

[Danny Kelly]

Oh, in the Line of Fire.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah, he was already pretty old when he made.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, he was, like, borderline too old to be in that movie because he.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Can'T run along with the limo.

[Danny Kelly]

And I know the point is he's kind of old, but it's still. It strains credulity.

[Danny Heifetz]

Straight should be a category each week.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Hold on I gotta find out when that was.

[Danny Kelly]

That's one of those phrases that, like, is only, like. No one says credulity.

[Danny Heifetz]

Except no one says it out loud. No one says credulity. You know? Yeah, that's so true. I. You know who actually deserves an Oscar is Timothy Chalamet for that leaked Zoom meeting. That was fake, but, like, the best. Like when they pretended that it was a marketing meeting on Zoom, which I gotta tell you, I watched it, and if I didn't know, I never would have known.

[Danny Kelly]

Oh, stop.

[Danny Heifetz]

I would have figured out eventually. But the bit.

[Danny Kelly]

Don't be so naive.

[Danny Heifetz]

Well, I watched the first 30 seconds and I was like, this looks pretty real. I mean, I saw it was fake. But the bit that, like, the touch that his background would be himself getting an award on the laptop was pretty.

[Danny Kelly]

He's like, yelling about, like, the Statue of Liberty painted orange. And the A24 people are like, no, no. Yeah, I like that. That's good.

[Danny Heifetz]

The part where they're like, he's. He's just like. So can I. Can I share? Can you guys see my screen? Can you see it? Can I have to be the host? Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

His folders. He opens the folders and it's like, Good Ideas one, Good Ideas two.

[Danny Heifetz]

He's like, my guy worked on this for six months. It's just like an orange square.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Is this. This reminds me, I sent this to you guys over the weekend. The. There is a video out there right now, and this is part of the. And I learned after that this is part of the Marty supreme promo tour, which I had. I had no idea because I haven't seen the movie and I don't really know anything. Okay, well, that explains why I haven't seen it. Also, I just don't go to movies really, but.

[Danny Heifetz]

Well, also, they're like. It's a. It's a. Yeah. He, like, played ping pong, and I'm like, that's like the worst pitch ever for a movie. I do need a weird campaign.

[Danny Kelly]

There.

[Craig Horlbeck]

There's a thing. Some video. This is the most Mad Libs thing. I've never felt older and I've never felt more out of touch than when I watched this on. On Instagram and it was like, Timothy Chalamet and Drew Ski talk to this. I don't. I can't even remember what it said because it was just like a foreign language to me, and I had no idea what was happening. He's like, Shamali or Chalamet is like, Chalamet. Chalamet is like sitting in a chair and there's all these guys with big ping pong balls on their head. And the guy comes in and does a dance and he, and he likes blows him a kiss. At the end he goes, received. And he's like, that was perfect. Sends him over to Drew Ski. Drew Ski. And I barely know who Drew Ski is by the way. Drew Ski does this thing and throws him out. I don't, I didn't understand the title. I didn't understand one second of the video. I had no idea what the context was, what this is for, what they're auditioning for, what the dance was.

[Danny Heifetz]

Case market back any of the things.

[Craig Horlbeck]

They were saying meant I've never felt more out of touch in my life. It was like fucking mad Libs.

[Danny Kelly]

This is your Lucille Blues moment.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah, Seriously. Plater platter. I don't understand.

[Danny Heifetz]

Dude. Puku unaided raw stream caught doing selly and I'm like, I J J Smog.

[Craig Horlbeck]

And Zush get caught flipping a grunt.

[Danny Heifetz]

Grunt with bat boy.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I was like, I God damn it. I don't know what any of this is. What do you know what it is? What is it? Explain it to me.

[Danny Kelly]

No, I, I, I, I watched that. I knew very little.

[Craig Horlbeck]

That makes me feel so much better. Thank you.

[Danny Heifetz]

Okay. Speaking of Lucille Bluth, I don't understand the question and I won't respond to it. I just wanted to note that the jets hired a cornerback, a former cornerback to be their head coach, Aaron Glenn. And in exchange, the jets have no interceptions this season. They have the longest streaking.

[Danny Kelly]

Crazy.

[Danny Heifetz]

They have the longest streak of any games. Not just in a season, any streak of games without an interception for any team since the forward pass was a legalized in 1940 or whatever year it was so literally the history of the NFL. The longest streak ever. And they jets have two weeks left to get an interception or they will pro maybe forever be the only team to not intercept a pass in an entire season.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Wow.

[Danny Heifetz]

Their head coach is a cornerback. It's like incredible.

[Danny Kelly]

I, I see your jet stat and I raise you another. So Garrett Wilson last caught a pass for the jets on October 12th and he leads the jets in receiving the season with 395 yards.

[Craig Horlbeck]

395. Oh my God, that's brutal.

[Danny Heifetz]

Wait, what is the lowest yardage someone's led a team with and receiving? And like the, the that four I.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Know had to be like Beady feathers.

[Danny Heifetz]

Way back in the day probably was Beady Feathers.

[Danny Kelly]

Milt Plum.

[Danny Heifetz]

Milt Plum. Oh my God. God.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I still just. Just even hearing those names.

[Danny Heifetz]

Any other Lucille Blues?

[Craig Horlbeck]

Buzz Nutter? Oh, I got a couple actually here. Hold on. We forgot to talk about this because we kind of passed over it, but Josh Johnson came into another game today or, sorry, this weekend. And if you don't know who Josh Johnson is, my clue. Here's one Clue. Back in 2018, in the year of our Lord 2018, I tweeted out that Josh Johnson is. Been signing with teams before you were born and he'll be doing it long after you've died. That was like almost eight years ago.

[Danny Kelly]

He's fucking Clint Eastwood.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Josh Johnson was old. He was an old, decrepit man on the. The first of four times he was on the 49ers.

[Danny Heifetz]

Dude.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Josh Johnson, he has now played for 14 different NFL teams, most in NFL history. He has multiple stints. He has four stints with the 49ers, two stints with the jets, three stints with the Ravens, four with the Niners.

[Danny Kelly]

They probably just keep his locker up. Yeah.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Honestly, they keep his name plate and they're just like. It's like a Velcro equipment.

[Danny Kelly]

We're losing money every time we get rid of that.

[Craig Horlbeck]

We can't keep doing this.

[Danny Kelly]

Keep having to print new ones.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah, he's been with the Ravens three times in the Commanders twice. Josh Johnson in. Man, he's going to go down in history. I don't know for what, but he will. Put him in the hall of Fame.

[Danny Heifetz]

Can't believe you had that eight years ago.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Put it. Put his 14 different NFL teams jerseys in the hall of Fame, Dude. I tweeted that in 2018. It was like ridiculous in 2018, what he was doing.

[Danny Heifetz]

Speaking of guys just sticking around way longer than you thought. I was just. This is not football. But I was just dumbfounded. That video this week of LeBron James and they asked him about a young player who was coming up and LeBron looks at him, he's like, oh, sorry, man.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I don't.

[Danny Heifetz]

I don't really watch basketball anymore. I kind of just watch golf on YouTube.

[Danny Kelly]

And he like rattled off like three golf youtubers. He.

[Danny Heifetz]

I watch Bryson Dechambo. Yeah, I know.

[Danny Kelly]

I. I don't.

[Danny Heifetz]

I don't really watch. You're there talking to the wrong guy.

[Danny Kelly]

He's like. He was good against us, though.

[Danny Heifetz]

I was shocked.

[Danny Kelly]

I kind of get it, you know.

[Danny Heifetz]

This is the sauce garter no one had. This is why the Lakers can't win a title until they get rid of LeBron. No one's ever gotten Better when they start playing golf.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Did you send me the video of him, like, practicing chipping or something on the side?

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Danny Heifetz]

The national anthem. And he's like, terrible swing. I've seen people do that. Those people don't do anything at work. Yeah, nothing.

[Danny Kelly]

He was working on his takeaway. It didn't look bad either.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah, those people.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Do you think he brought, like, his putter to, like, the locker room?

[Danny Kelly]

He's got a little cup he's putting into.

[Danny Heifetz]

The people who, like, are just in the office, first of all, they're good, but the people who are just kind of doing little, like, swings and follow throughs all the time in the middle of the day, I, you know, I just. Just go retire now, Bron.

[Craig Horlbeck]

I know that's one of your better takes.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's. It's also like, it's funny because he kind of treats it. He's actually so old that he treats it like regular elderly people at work. Like, that's how 65 year old people are at work.

[Danny Kelly]

Right.

[Danny Heifetz]

Just like, I'm. Go play golf.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah. But his NBA age is like 65, so it's fine.

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah. This episode is brought to you by McAfee. Game days can be hectic, which is why having McAfee watching your back just makes sense. From checking stadium bag policies to scouting player stats, safe browsing alerts you to risky or unsafe sites faster than a ref throws a flag. Visit mcafee.com online protection today to get award winning online protection for just 39. 99 your first year. Cancel anytime terms apply. Any of the things you guys want to hit?

[Danny Kelly]

No.

[Danny Heifetz]

Let's save Jake Paul and Andrew Tate for another day.

[Craig Horlbeck]

My buddy did tweet out a video of that of Jake Paul getting knocked out, and the video got like. He recorded it on his TV and then posted it to Instagram and it got like 5 million like, likes. It's like the most. It's the most viral thing I've ever seen in my life, people. Turns out people were hoping to see that.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's fun to watch.

[Danny Kelly]

I'm happy to announce that while I was on vacation, I did not watch or consume a single second of anything Jake Paul related.

[Danny Heifetz]

Can I recommend a specific second? The one where he gets knocked out?

[Craig Horlbeck]

Okay, just do one. He's gonna do one.

[Danny Heifetz]

One second's enough. Which. Which you're a proponent of, right, Craig?

[Danny Kelly]

One second.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah, normally.

[Danny Kelly]

Maybe a little more.

[Danny Heifetz]

Give it five seconds.

[Danny Kelly]

Okay.

[Danny Heifetz]

Two tight ends who outscore Kyle Pitts in a lie. I got big news, boys. There's not two tight ends. Kyle Pitts is the number two tight end this week. Only Harold Fanon scored more. Telling you, I'll admit he's good.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Pretty good. Looks pretty good.

[Danny Heifetz]

Shout out Kyle Pitts. Okay. Burn book. I mean, I think it's Jackson's art. He had 0.02 is so 33 yards.

[Craig Horlbeck]

In a full game.

[Danny Heifetz]

He had 2, 200.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Mercilessly made fun of Justin Fields this year. High Fitz, you and I did. We have to make fun of Jackson Dart.

[Danny Heifetz]

It's so. Dude, I think 0.02 is so much worse than 0. I'd so much rather have 0 than some 0.02. It draws attention to the number. You have to think about it.

[Danny Kelly]

And now it's like if you somehow, whatever. If you're playing for third now because you just lost with him, like now they're playing the Raiders. Like, what, do you start them or. No, you can't start somebody after they put a point.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Forgive them after something like that.

[Danny Heifetz]

The Raiders. Yeah.

[Craig Horlbeck]

You can't just forgive them that quickly. All right, so we're burning dart.

[Danny Heifetz]

I, I, I.

[Craig Horlbeck]

We're lighting up a dart.

[Danny Heifetz]

Is there someone else? I mean, it's just such an insulting number.

[Danny Kelly]

No, I mean, dart was really. I mean, all those guys we listed were terrible.

[Danny Heifetz]

But.

[Danny Kelly]

Like, I, like, I would, I probably wouldn't burn Travis Kelsey because again, he was catching passes from who? What was his name?

[Danny Heifetz]

Chris.

[Craig Horlbeck]

A lot of Duke, right?

[Danny Kelly]

We can't even pronounce it.

[Craig Horlbeck]

A lot of can. Yeah, that's it.

[Danny Kelly]

That's a lot of kin.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Hey.

[Danny Kelly]

Oh.

[Craig Horlbeck]

All right.

[Danny Heifetz]

When Craig makes things, I would say that's time to get out of here. Thank you, dk. Thank you, Craig. Thank you, Kai. Thank you, Carlos. Thank you, Cam. Thank you, Austin. Thank you, everyone for listening. Check out the discord in link is in the episode description emails ringer, fantasy football, gmail.com. send us trivia. Send us fantasy courts. Yeah. And then good luck to everyone in the f in the championships and I hope you enjoy your Christmas mornings pretending to love your children and give gifts while you're just trying to figure out if you should play like Dalton Schultz this week or Hill fan. And thank you, Lord.

[Danny Kelly]

Lord.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Thank you, Melanie Thornton.

[Danny Kelly]

That's the. That's the Coca Cola song, woman.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Yeah.

[Danny Kelly]

Holidays are coming. Holidays are coming. Holidays are coming. Oh, it's Coca Cola. We didn't know if that song was made up by. By the Coca Cola conglomerate. It's not. It was. It was this woman in the early aughts Right. When was it?

[Craig Horlbeck]

Oh, is it that long ago?

[Danny Kelly]

What did you say?

[Craig Horlbeck]

I don't know. Hold on.

[Danny Kelly]

Okay, you can't remember?

[Craig Horlbeck]

Austin sent me this info, like 20.

[Danny Heifetz]

You were singing this before the show started.

[Danny Kelly]

How old is the woman? Who is she? What's her name?

[Craig Horlbeck]

Oh, no way. She was part of Labouche. She was part of the Euro dance group Labouche, which I've heard of.

[Danny Kelly]

What is her name? It's her name. You just said it.

[Danny Heifetz]

Name a woman.

[Danny Kelly]

Name one woman.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Any woman.

[Danny Kelly]

Name a woman.

[Danny Heifetz]

Name one woman. Amelia Earhart.

[Craig Horlbeck]

On the street things. Name a woman. Melanie Thornton Craig.

[Danny Kelly]

Thank you. My. My goodness.

[Craig Horlbeck]

It's the name of the song is Wonderful Dream. Holidays are coming.

[Danny Kelly]

When did it come out?

[Craig Horlbeck]

Let's see. 2000.

[Danny Kelly]

Yeah.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Oh, sorry. 2001. You're right. What is her name? Let's try to read. Jesus.

[Danny Kelly]

Any number and you win three. Tell you what, my friend, despite your best efforts, you may have walked out here with a winner. That song, like that song is in my brain. Yeah. Deeply inserted in my holidays that come. Holidays come. Coca Cola. Man. They know what they're doing. Santa, they. They CAA. Started repping Coca Cola in the 90s and then they came up with the polar bear Coca Cola commercial and now Coca Cola just like is Christmas in my head now.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Dude.

[Danny Heifetz]

Didn't they invented what Santa looks like?

[Danny Kelly]

Fucking crazy.

[Danny Heifetz]

Didn't they come up with a modern image of Santa?

[Danny Kelly]

Who?

[Danny Heifetz]

Coca Cola. The way he looks like the way we all think of Santa now is like Coca Cola invented that idea.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Oh really?

[Danny Heifetz]

I think so.

[Craig Horlbeck]

That doesn't.

[Danny Heifetz]

They didn't invent Santa but they invented that image of Santa which is what?

[Danny Kelly]

Like he's in the red coat and he's fat with a beard?

[Danny Heifetz]

Yeah. Oh well, Google Gemini says no Coca Cola did not invent Santa, but it's advertising campaign starting in 1931 with the illustrator. Hadn't Sunblom played a massive role in popularizing, standardizing the jolly red suited white bearded Santa we know today?

[Craig Horlbeck]

What?

[Danny Kelly]

So they, they gave him Coca Cola red.

[Danny Heifetz]

Oh my. I didn't even think about that part.

[Danny Kelly]

Holidays are coming.

[Danny Heifetz]

Holidays are.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Oh my God.

[Danny Heifetz]

So that's how advertising works.

[Danny Kelly]

It's it. Christmas is the only time of year where I'm like inject the advertisements right into my blood.

[Danny Heifetz]

Give me an iv.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Craig, you know what other song she sang? What? The Be my Lover song.

[Danny Kelly]

Be my love. I wanna be my lover.

[Craig Horlbeck]

You remember that song? It's not. Not the best rendition of Walmart.

[Danny Kelly]

I don't think I do.

[Craig Horlbeck]

Oh, we'll check it out. It's pretty good.

[Danny Heifetz]

But like the other one. How did it go? Goodbye, everyone. Sa.