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This episode is brought to you by TaxAct. TaxAct helps tackle taxes, guiding you step by step so you can get your maximum refund. Get tips along the way, add expert assist to talk to tax experts or let our experts do your taxes for you with expert full service. TaxAct helps you find the deductions and credits you deserve so you can get them over with. Visit taxact.com to learn more. More conditions apply. See taxact.com for details. This is pro linebacker TJ Watt and I'm back with YPB by Abercrombie for another activewear drop. My second co design collection has new shorts and tanks that keep up with all my in season workouts. And their new Restore collection is a game changer off the field too, because even pro athletes like me need rest days.
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Shop YPB by Abercrombie in the app.
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Online and in stores because your personal best is greater than anything. Welcome to the Ringer Fantasy Football Show. My name is Danny Heifetz and I am joined by Danny Kaylee and Craig Korobek. And we are going over five of the six games from maybe the best wild card round in the NFL Playoff history. And we're doing it from Netflix, aren't we, dk?
C
We sure are. It put put the wild in wild card round, fellas. I I was thinking about that all day long.
B
Unfortunately, we did not win the Golden Globe for best podcast that went to Amy Poehler for good hang. But crossing our fingers for next year just beat it.
A
We just lost out to Amy. It was like Charges Patriots. You know, it's super close. We're going to be on Netflix for all of 2026. So you can still watch our show on Spotify. You can still listen to our show as a podcast anywhere. But the coolest way to watch our show, the Ring of Fantasy Football show, is here on Netflix. So we are going to have three episodes a week during the NFL playoffs. We do the off season too. So after the super bowl, we're still going to have two episodes a week covering NFL free agency, covering trades and the NFL draft. Danny Kelly here is our draft expert as we cover the whole off season. And because we're sickos, even after the NFL draft ends in late April, we're still doing it an episode a week all summer. So we're going to be on Netflix all year unless they kick us off. And maybe they will because we didn't beat out Amy Poehler for that award.
C
Hmm.
B
Yeah, we, we did. You mentioned that we go to the combine, we go to Indianapolis, I think we're going to try to make DK run a 40 this year. So a lot of fun stuff coming, I would say.
A
So with that said, let's get into wild card weekend and before we even get into a specific game, I have to just go through this during Eagles 49ers, the game is still going. When the Niners took the lead at the end of Eagles 49ers, they put up a graphic on the telecast and it said that this postseason had the most fourth quarter lead changes in a postseason ever. And I assume that meant for the wild card round and apparently they meant for the entire playoff run, which feels impossible, right?
B
Yeah, I mean only we were four games in to wild card round.
A
There were 12 fourth quarter lead changes and there were two full games still to be played and the Eagles 49ers game had not yet ended. So I mean, I mean, Bills, Jags, there were four lead changes in the fourth quarter. The Bears had a 15 point comeback win. The Rams came back under two minute warning. The Niners took the lead with three minutes left. Patriots, Chargers, that game kind of sucked. But otherwise dk, is it hyperbole or do you think this is actually one of the best first rounds of the NFL playoffs ever?
C
I mean, I think it's up there for sure. Just in terms of the drama, I think I saw a stat that the. During that 49ers Eagles game, the three teams that had been leading at the two minute warning ended up losing the one the previous three games. So we were just like kind of expecting a wild finish to everything. But yeah, I mean if you're into wild lead changes, multiple lead changes, huge comebacks, dramatics. Yes, I think it was up there.
B
I mean, we talk about regression all the time, right? Teams who are in close games that win every time, like the Bears this season. Right. Oh, regression is coming for the Bears. Just like the Chiefs last year when all these close games we were due for regression for some good football games. That was the joke this whole season.
C
Seriously.
B
Primetime games for the last half of the season were terrible. And, and we got four straight incredible games over Saturday and Sunday this weekend.
C
Does this mean the divisional round is going to just totally suck?
B
I don't know. I think we're still due. That's how many bad Monday and Monday night games there were. I think we're still due.
A
You know what it is, Craig? It's delayed gratitude. This is what Fernando Mo Mendoza keeps talking about. He's talking about the Stoics and delayed gratitude. So that's what we got with the season, this season sucked to know, to.
B
Use his words is flipping great slate.
A
Flipping great slate. So let's get into winners and losers from the wild card round. Chris starting with five. Yeah, well, I mean there's one big winner I think from the wild card round.
B
I think it's got to be Chicago, the Bears who beat the Packers 31:27. And I think the most electric game of the weekend by far is the first Bear. I'm going to rattle off some stats. There's a lot of good stuff from this game. The first Bears playoff win in 15 years. They were down 21 to 3 at the half. They were down 21 to 6 in the fourth. They scored 25 points in the fourth quarter. The largest comeback in Bears playoff history in the NFL post season. Teams were 3 and 100. I love these stats. They were 3 in 158 all time when trailing by 15 plus entering the fourth quarter. Teams in the playoffs. It's the third largest fourth quarter comeback in NFL playoff history and the third most fourth quarter points in NFL playoff history. I don't know where we start. Like I love the Bears. I don't know why I feel like my own team is in the playoffs. And I like think I want the Bears to win the super bowl, but they're just super fun. And I think the whole, I don't know, the narrative with them I feel like has been oh, they went all these close games, all these comebacks, it's like these.
C
Not real.
B
Yeah, it's like these like late game heroics. They have a horseshoe up their butt, whatever. And to me like teams of destiny don't give a shit about statistics or regression or any of that stuff. And sure they're unlikely, but you know, you know what they do, you know, being in all these close games, do they. They give you experience. Like I bet you the heart rate of the Bears in the fourth quarter was. Was low because they've been doing this every single game. I think they had a. They have 11 one score games they've been in this year. Like I think that matters and I think for Caleb, who's a young quarterback of the first time head coach and this team that has kind of just like blew up out of nowhere over the second half of the season, I think it really matters that even though it's unlikely that it's going to continue, even though it once again did today, like I think teams of destiny, that stuff, you can throw it all out like Joe Flacco and The Ravens in 2012. Like, sometimes you're just feeling it. It's like in golf, like, there are just some days where you shoot an 82. It doesn't mean I'm a 10 handicap, but some days you shoot at 82. And I think the Bears are totally in that right now. And I think that experience from the season really helps.
C
I think, Craig, that's such a good point. And there is actually some scientific basis for this type of deal. I, I, I. There was a concept that went, went that was a big thing for the Seahawks for a long time. It was this concept of grit. Angela Duckworth wrote this book called Grit and, and based on some of, like, research that they've done on people that have, you know, really tough upbringings or have basically experienced a lot of adversity. And this is the word that always came back to that, like, I really, really. It just resonates really well is you're inoculated in stress. So basically, it's like getting a vaccine almost where your body.
A
We're on Netflix. T Kit. Careful.
C
I know, I know. A little controversial here.
B
Rogers and the Steelers have been inoculated.
A
Rogers was inoculated. He was fine.
B
We're fine.
C
Uh, anyway, they. Your body kind of gets conditioned and learns how to deal with the stress. Yeah, that happens in those types of situations. So, like, I totally believe this, that, like, having those situations coming out on top, they believe in themselves. They believe in, like, each other. And I mean, this was going into half, they were down. I think it was 21 to 3. It's like we had basically given up on them. We're like, the packers are way better team. They're just absolutely dominating. And I have to appreciate, and I really do appreciate teams that, like, don't panic at those situations. Like, in the first half, there was that situation where Caleb Williams was, like, screaming at Luther Burden and whatever that was like, maybe the one spot where I was like, oh, God, this isn't looking good. But, like, for the most part, they didn't panic and they just kind of kept doing their thing. And then the defense took over.
B
I think today A.J. brown was like, well, Caleb screamed at his player and it worked. So I'm going to scream at my head, try that and see if that's going to work. But you're right, D.K. to your point, everything was going terribly. The packers looked great. It was 21 to three and a half. Everything was going wrong for the Bears. The Bears turnover margin has been like, the biggest thing for the Bears this year. It's like they win the turnover batter and then they win these close games. They did not win the turnover battle. They had two turnovers. The packers had zero. Despite the fact that the packers had three very gettable fumbles, including one by Christian Watson into the end zone. The packers threw an inexplicable screen pass to an offensive lineman. He rumbled 20 yards, fumbled, and then kicked the ball like he dropped his phone, kicked it 10 more yards. They didn't recover that Josh Jacobs fumbled on a kick return. They didn't recover that Jordan Love had tipped balls that could have been intercepted that weren't. There were so many things that went wrong and, and yet they still won. Which I just think again, kind of goes back to like if you, if you think you can do it. It's what Ben Johnson says in these crazy locker room speeches after the game. He's like, we had him right where we want him, like down 21 3. This is exactly where we want to be.
C
And now they believe that I, you.
A
Know, the Ben Johnson. I think, I think, I mean, simply put, I think that Ben Johnson being hired to the Bears. We talked a lot about Caleb Williams and scheme and fixing the Bears and like look at Ben Johnson's run designs and they do cool stuff and look at all the passing game and all this stuff. But the reality is the culture that Ben Johnson has brought to Chicago, it is hard to argue with at this point. It's one thing you do in the regular season, but when you do it in the playoffs, like that Packers Bears game, that third Packers Bears game where they won, even though, I mean the Bears and Packers, the Bears almost went three and over Screen Bay this year. They did not lead on offense once during the entire not one play games. They did not have the lead on offense for one play and the Bears almost went 3 and overs green Bay. But then you look at what Ben Johnson's done with the culture and one, it's more impressive to me than anything he's done with the X's and O's. But two, I think considering the fact that Chicago is what, the third largest city in America and watching Caleb Williams at the desk at the Thursday of football Amazon prime like post game show and there's like they said it was the biggest crowd that had ever stayed after a game. They're screaming like, like screw the packers like Caleb, Caleb. And I'm like, the Bears have never had a good quarterback in the entire history of the team. And Ben Johnson and Caleb have revived football in Chicago and that alone I Think it's the biggest story of the entire season.
C
100%.
B
Not even like just that they beat the packers twice this year and they've beat the packers three times in the last two years. By the way, Caleb Williams has. Has beaten the packers more times than Jay Cutler, Mitch Trubisky and Justin Fields combined already.
A
Caleb Williams is maybe the best quarterback in the history of the Bears already.
B
Probably right.
A
I know that sounds funny, but like, go and find me another one. Because Jay Cutler was.500 as a quarterback and mostly known for not trying to. And then Jim Harbaugh struggled so much with the Bears, he went to the Colts. They gave him comeback player of the year. He wasn't even hurt. He was just on the Bears.
B
Also. I think Caleb already, like, it's not that he's just beaten the packers the way in which they beat the Packers. I think Caleb probably has already like two of the five most important throws in the history of Chicago.
C
The fourth and eight throw where he was drifting to his left and like jump past downfield to, to keep the game alive. Dude, that'll go down in history for, for the, for the Bears.
B
Like truly the overtime win a month ago when he hit that, that ball to DJ Moore to win the game in overtime. That and then, yeah, the fourth and eight that he did a dunes day yesterday where there's a guy at his feet, he turns around, flicks the ball like he's throwing a dart legitimately. Only Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen can make that throw. Those are the only two people I could ever imagine doing that. And Caleb, I look, I think Caleb, there's a little bit of like Nick Young to him still to use a basketball reference. Like where it's like he can hit the craziest three you've ever seen and then still miss a layup. Like there is a little bit of that still with him. But dude, the upside in the ceiling that we see from him already is, is like literally Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen level.
A
I will throw out another name. The upside is Aaron Rodgers. And I know I keep saying this, but Caleb Williams is Aaron Rodgers. He is Aaron. I don't want to call him Aaron Rodgers 2.0, but it's not hyperbole. He's Aaron Rodgers height. He's Aaron Rodgers weight. He based his entire game off Aaron Rodgers. Caleb Williams was a Packers fan growing up because of Aaron Rodgers. He based his entire game off it. These are Caleb. Caleb's words, not mine. And so when you watch him, it's not just that he is the first good quarterback in Bears history. For a team that's never a good quarterback. The Bears are the only team that's Never had a 4,000 yard passer. Caleb this season already has the single season record for passing yards in a season by a Bears quarterback. He had like 39, 50. That's the record.
C
He's also very good. I know he had two turnovers in this game, but he's one of the. I saw this stat. It's like one of the fewest turnovers of any quarterback who's ever played in this in his first two seasons.
A
Like the fewest turnovers because he modeled his game off Aaron Rodgers.
C
Very Aaron Rodgers. Yeah.
A
Aaron Rodgers has the lowest interception rate in the history of the NFL. That's what Caleb does. And so it's not just that Caleb's doing this for the Bears and revive football in Chicago. Caleb's doing it to the Packers. And Aaron Rodgers made his career off owning the Bears and dominating them. And Aaron Rodgers was like 23 and 3 or something versus the Bears. And in games the packers were trying to win, they were like 17. And in their LA and one in their last 18. Caleb has now gone and completely flipped the tables. And Caleb is doing to the packers what the packers always did to the Bears. And so this really is the most incredible turning of the tables. And it's the oldest rivalry in the NFL and now it's actually like the best rivalry in the NFL.
C
I had this thought during the game and I know this is like every NFL playoff game is probably wild and super fun, but I just remember in the shots with all the fans in the stadium, I was like, man, that would be such a fun game to be at. I remember seeing like in. In the early parts of the game, then obviously the. The packers went up really big and I was like, oh, never mind. That wouldn't be that fun. But you know, as the game went along and then the way it finished and then you got videos of like the scenes in. In bars in downtown Chicago. Man, just magic. Just magic.
B
Saturday night too.
C
Oh my God. People were lubricated.
A
Something I actually thought would go more viral was at Thursday football. The thing was Caleb Williams grabs a cheesy cheese grater hat. Which, by the way, I'm so glad that guy's going to be rich. Whoever. The cheese grater hat guy is just an absolute. He's the winner of the weekend. But the. He's wearing it. They give him cheese and a grater and Caleb starts doing it and then he picks up all the cheese and he does Salt Bay. And then Lil Wayne posts about it and is like, I can't believe this guy with his nails painted is like, destroying the Packers. We suck. And then Caleb Williams put. Puts that on Instagram with a. Like, picks a picture of that Lil Wayne tweet and then post with his new nails painted. He is the. He is just like. He's a new breed, man. Like, this is like the. It's. It's. They're having so much fun. And Ben Johnson, too, as a coach is just.
C
Oh, my God.
A
Sprinting all the. Matt LaFleur. Like, I think it's the fastest. Anyway, what were the miles per hour? And Ben Johnson during the handshake with Matt LaFleur, you see, he got knocked.
C
He got knocked over and he, like, flipped over. Yeah, he's just, like, going crazy after the game.
B
I gotta say, Ben Johnson's got a little bit more crazy in him than I antic. I kind of thought when he was in Detroit that he was, like, a quiet guru, because I feel like Dan Campbell took up so much space in the room that you didn't really have a sense of who Ben Johnson was. Ben Johnson's crazier than Dan Campbell, dude. Ben Johnson screaming fuck the packers in the locker room. The handshake. The lafleur is nuts. It feels like he let his hair down and is actually a little bit more of a maniac than we thought.
C
I was going to say this. I wonder. I don't know what the history is between Matt LaFleur and Ben Johnson. Maybe LaFleur, like, stole Ben Johnson's girlfriend in college or something. Like, it's so weird because it started from the very beginning. Ben Johnson, as introductory press conference was like, man, gotta be frank with you. I kind of enjoyed beating Matt Lafer. Matt LaFleur, twice a year.
B
Well, he was like, there's great coaches in this division. You have Dan Campbell, you have Kevin O'. Connell. And I liked beating Matt LaFleur twice every year. And I was, like, bullying him.
C
It's, like, so weird. Like, they're fired.
B
Don't be mean to him.
C
It's like, Matt LaFleur is over here. Like, what the hell? What did I do?
B
And I don't even know if, like, Ben Johnson called the best game. Like, I feel like he was tilting on fourth down. There was like a. There was a fourth and four in their own territory. They went for and didn't get older.
A
Fourth. It's not just a fourth and four. It was at their own 32 yard line and analytics said to punt. I mean this. I think that might be the first time in the history of the NFL playoffs where the analytics said punt and a coach went for it and felt down. I seriously don't know if that's ever happened ever in the history of NFL playoffs. It happens. It doesn't even happen once a season.
C
Yeah.
B
So it's like I wasn't even super confident that he was kind of locked in completely because they were 2 for 6 on fourth down and they were kind of messy throughout the entire game.
A
Luther Burden did the full Kadarius Tony where you line up wrong motion wrong run the wrong route and the ball gets intercepted. You never go full Kadarius Tony.
B
I know I said a couple months ago or whatever that like I think the Bears can win the super bowl in the next three years. I mean I fully believe they could win it this year.
A
DKD I think that. Do you think this was a magical thing versus an absolutely walking wounded Green Bay packers team which is worth noting. The entire game kind of shifted and Colston Loveland the Bear student rookie was unbelievable in this game. God, he had like a hundred yards and they were like first hundred yard rookie tight end in like 40 years. And then I swear he'd like 13, 15 catches after they put up that graphic. But not really.
C
But he had 15 targets, eight catches for 117 yards or something like that. Like he was. He was all over the place. He was their number one receiver. He got. I want to say he had that two point conversion where he just lined up as like one on one and ran around.
A
It was dominant.
C
Crazy.
A
But I will say the the game turned a lot. Edan Cooper, the Packers linebacker went out of the game. The the Bears really couldn't do anything before that moment. And then the Bears really started spamming sail routes the Coles of Loveland and then it was phenomenal. And then like again the fourth and down in the goal line. I mean that was like a gap pressure up the middle drew out the the center and the right guard did not communicate and the teaching more falls down on the route like things really did go wrong. But even while that's happening the body language agree Bay sideline that Jordan Love was worse than what was going on in Chicago. So that the belief and everything to your point Craig. At some point you win so much you do feel like you can't die. And that's not to say that the Bears will always be able to win when they're losing down Two minutes. It's to say that it doesn't matter how bad this Kansas City chief season was. The Chiefs don't think they're going to lose still, even next year, like when returns from his acl, they don't think they're going to lose because Mahomes is here. They don't care. And so the confidence at the end of games does matter. And building up the belief internally, as cliche as it is, does matter. And I think the Bears have that. The fans. And that's the other thing is the fans players see when, when fans leave the stadium. That's also infectious and contagious. And Bears fans are not leaving games where the Bears are losing in the fourth quarter to be traffic anymore.
C
Yeah. The irony is the game last year where they lost on the Hail Mary to the commanders.
A
Oh my God.
C
What derailed their entire season and now they're doing that to other teams.
A
Yeah, it's.
C
Yeah. It's just, I mean it. You asked me if I think they can win the super bowl or. It looks like it seemed like you were going in that direction. I, I do think I still kind of see them as that team that's like really good, needs another year and maybe we'll see next year if they can do that. But that I'm just at the point.
B
Now where I'm like, could they? Yeah, yeah.
C
No, I'm. What where I was going with that is basically, I don't think there's any team that looks like the clear cut favorite. Like the Rams are going to have to go into Chicago next year or next week and play in like 19 degree weather in the cold. They're banged up.
B
Yeah.
C
You know, the, the, the Bears are feeling confident. I don't think that's like a gimme game for the Rams by any means.
A
And so yeah, the Bears have like very little pass rush again. They don't have a great front seven to start with when they're healthy. They're not totally healthy. They lost TJ Edwards in this game. Their linebacker was carded off.
C
Like they lost Pilo or.
A
Yeah, Trillo, the left tackle got hurt right at the end and then you know, they went down and scored and they're both out.
B
Like I think. Yeah, Patel attended or something.
C
Right?
A
Yeah. The left tackle and your best linebacker, who's the defensive coordinator Janice Allen said is like the brains of the defense, the quarterback of the defense are out. That's like two pretty bad injuries to not be Caleb Williams. But overall, I still think I cannot stress enough Caleb Throwing on the move is all. I already kind of want to label like one of the most accurate and best and most talented quarterbacks throwing on the move in the history of the league. That fourth and eight like it. The consistency with which he gives his receivers a chance from impossible windows. I can't say enough. So I think that Caleb is the ceiling of this team. Goes with Caleb because there's all these reasons we can say the Bears won't do it, but I think they've been incredible. But with that said, I think dk, another winner here sticking in the nfc. I know you're a Seahawks fan, but. Yeah, I don't know, man. 49ers.
C
The 49ers, man. So I've been giving this award to the 49ers. Slash. Kyle Shanahan just won't die.
B
Shannon.
C
That's the thing is you just can't kill this 49ers team. No matter how many players they lose, no how, no matter how long they're standing next to this electrical substation in Santa Clara. You just can't take them out. They lost George Kittle today to an Achilles tear and they still end up beating the Eagles 23 to 19 in their.
B
Can I just say, collectively, thank God. I know, like we didn't need any more Philly in the playoffs. I wonder if Eagles fans are even like, you know what?
A
I'm glad Eagles fans are happy. They don't have to watch this anymore.
B
Nobody wanted this. Nobody wanted it.
C
But yeah, I mean, Shanahan, what he's done, taking this jalopy ass roster. Like so many guys have been gone like almost the entire season. Like they had Mac Jones who was a starter for half the year and they're going to the divisional round. They. They knocked off the defending champs in their place. You know, there's so much talk this week about how like Shanahan could never do anything against Vic Fangio. This was the worst game according to success rate. This was from SHIELD Kapadia. The worst game according to success rate against any team has done against Vic, Vic Fangio since he became the Eagles. D.C. so like that he, he kind of buried that. Especially considering, you know, they had like missing so many guys. I mean, DeMarcus Robinson is the leading receiver in this, in this team. He opens with like the 60 yard catch.
A
DeMarcus Robinson Wild did not have 62 yards in a game this season. And DeMarcus Robinson had a 62 yard catch on like the third play and then caught his only touchdown of the year on the Same drive, dude.
B
I mean, Sky Moore, who I don't think should be allowed within a thousand yards of a football field, was playing meaningful minutes for the Niners.
A
Sky.
B
Sky less.
C
You know what I mean?
B
Should score. Take away one of the wise on his name.
A
I think you have to earn the second Y. Also, someone emailed us. I forgot. I'm sorry. I forgot. Someone emailed us and was like, is there a player who sounds more like a porn star with their name than Sky More.
B
Even the double Y, the double wise.
A
Like, come on. That's, that just sounds like a porn star. Yeah.
B
And it's, we should do a ranking of the, the players with the coolest names who don't live up to them.
A
Right. That's, that's really good.
B
We should do that because sky Morris. Top 10. That's a great name.
A
There was a guy recently in the NFL whose name was Bumper Pool.
B
But is that, that's funny. Is that cool?
A
No, it's probably not cool.
C
Cool.
B
It's closer to funny.
A
The. It's weird. Email us at Ringer Fantasy Football Gmail.
B
It's like Storm Duck. Like, yeah, I don't know if that's cool. It's funny.
A
Email us at ringer fantasy football gmail.com for cool names where guys don't live up to it. But also, if you think of funny names because they're easier than, send those two. I still want Storm Duck. But the Kyle. Kyle Shannon, though, with this team, I agree. The healthiest player in the niners is Christian McCaffrey. Shannon's ripping the smelling salts before the game. Shannon, like, they could barely. Like the Eagles were outclassing the Niners in a lot of ways. And the Niners could not run the ball. McCaffrey, I don't think he even had 50 rushing yards in this game. They could not run the ball. So every third and long, every third down is the third long for the Niners. And then Shanahan figures out how to manufacture it in the second half without even without George Kittle. They started three drives in a row, and they threw to Kyle Juszczyk, the fullback on first.
C
He was huge in this game. He was.
A
Three drives in a row.
B
Yeah, I, I, I mean, they were pulling out trick plays. Juwan Jennings throwing touchdowns to the McCaffrey.
C
They're doing. Yeah, yeah.
B
Everything.
A
TV timeout. Every time there was a pause in a commercial break, Shannon came out, had an unbelievable play.
B
Yeah, I mean, the, the Eagles run the most. Such a vanilla offense. Even in practice, they couldn't Even fathom a trick play, they, they didn't know what to do. Unlike anything they'd ever seen this year.
C
Here's, here's how I would frame it. If you're being, you know, instead of saying this was like kind of lucky, they're pulling everything out of their asses, I will say the one thing I came away with watching the 49ers is man, their skill players are so versatile. I know that they, they really, I think focus on this in the draft. Like guys that can run after the catch, guys that can do different things. You know Christian McCaffrey, that catch on the trick play from Juwan Jennings. By the way, Juwan Jennings was a four star quarterback prospect coming out of high school. He was ranked higher, higher than Drew Lock. So just keep that in mind. But the Christian McAff, he's probably ranked.
B
Higher than Brock Pie, the quarterback for the Niners.
C
I know, honestly, seriously, he has a better arm maybe. But yeah, the, the catch that Christian McCaffrey made like that was not an easy catch. He had to track that over his shoulder, kind of like reach out, you know, he basically front flipped into the end zone. It was a very, very difficult catch. 999 out of 100 running backs are not making that catch. AJ Brown so good as a receiver.
A
AJ Brown dropped three passes in this game that were easier to catch than what McCaffrey caught in the end zone from Juwan Jennings. And frankly, Juwan Jennings made a harder throw throw than anything Jalen Hurts did in this game. He had a couple good.
C
He had more 15 yard throws than Jalen Hurts did this.
A
And to be fair, because A.J. brown dropped all three of them. But I, the Jenny. But it's. This is, I think what coaching, good coaching is to me sometimes is it's like easy to say. Well, it's details oriented. I think an example of detail oriented is Juwan Jennings. That Joanne, is Jennings trick play. It's Juwan Jennings talking to run and then throwing the ball, which is so simple. But he gets a golden globe for it. Because if you notice he gets the ball and then when he talks to run like he puts it like he, like to his chest, that's when Reed Blankenship, the Eagle safety, he's like, oh, he's keeping it and everyone gets a little disarray, then he pulls it back. That's intentional. And I think that's the kind of thing where that's the extra wrinkle of Kyle Shannon. It's not just figuring out the right time to run that play. In the right moment. But it's also that little practice detail that, like, that ended up being the difference. And then having someone as talented as Christian McCaffrey, who apparently is a better receiver than A.J.
C
Brown. Also, Uszek made some incredible plays. Like they have.
A
Was he lined up wide for all these catches? The fullback is lining out at X receiver because George Kittles hurt. Like, it's insane. This. It was a really cool game.
B
Yeah, I don't want to say that, like, this win is enough to kind of say, like, you know what, this season's good enough. We did okay. But it kind of is. I mean, if you would have told a Niners fan, like, you're going to lose Nick Bosa, you're going to lose Fred Warner, your first round pick, Mikel Williams is out.
A
The top three linebackers will not play in your playoff game.
B
Yeah, they were used. They're fifth, sixth and seventh linebackers today. Brock Purdy's going to miss half the season if I paint. George Kittle unfortunately, tears his Achilles in the playoffs. If somebody was like, you're going to be in the divisional round, I think you'd be like, oh, my God, absolutely. I would take that. So I kind of think everything after this is gravy. I mean, like, sure, who knows?
C
Could.
B
I mean, they could certainly beat Seattle next week, I think. But. But I mean, you have to kind of take this as, like, wow, What Shanahan was able to do this year might have been more impressive than any feat with any Niners team prior.
C
Right. And Mina mentioned this. Mina Kai's mentioned this during the game, but it was like, the fact that the Eagles can't pass to the middle of the field was just like, that is exactly what the 49ers defense needs. Because this defense is just so decimated, giving up so many big plays. Like they were, you know, the 31st or 32nd team, you know, in so many different stats over the second half of the year, just because of all the injuries on defense. But the fact that, you know, the Eagles just, like, literally couldn't take advantage of that was so huge. It was so massive in this game.
B
Hi, Fitz. You nailed something. Earlier today when we were texting during the Niners game, it's kind of the opposite of Caleb. You were talking about how good Caleb is on the run. Like, when he's rolling out left or right. Jalen hurts is the exact opposite. And Brady made a good point when he was like, oh, I don't really like, Jalen had a completely clean pocket. I don't know what happened. Maybe he couldn't. He literally couldn't see over the line. So he rolls. However, unlike Caleb the second Jalen Hurts rolls out of the pocket, he just becomes Derek Carr, 100% automatic throwing it away.
A
There were two third and thirteens that I think sum up Jalen Hurts as a quarterback and it's the first. Third and 13 was when the Eagles I forget the exact situation but they were in field goal range and it was third and 13. It was in the Niners territory and they ran a quarterback draw which and they got and you know, maybe they're trying to get 11 yards to set up a tush push. But no, Jalen Hurts got like five yards and then turtled and just took field goal position between the hashes which means in third and 13 I know it's windy, but they have AJ Brown and Devontae Smith and Dallas Goddard and they're not even going to and the Niners are down three linebackers and they're four defensive linemen and they're not even going to try to drop back and get 13 yards. They're not going to try. And that right there is like because you said Tom Brady pointed out he Jalen hurts can't see, cannot play from the pocket. But the other next drive they have third and 13 and that play starts running right. And in my head I was like oh, plays over and you know what's and here's the point. There is not another quarterback in the playoffs where when they run to their throwing side like when a righty quarterback runs right Is there another quarterback in the playoffs who like plays over? No. Brock Purdy, Justin Herbert, Drake May, Matt Stafford, even Bryce Young like Josh Allen, Trevor Lawrence, every other quarterback in the playoffs, probably 20 other quarters in the NFL we when they start running, even Aaron Rodgers, they can still make something happen on the move. Jalen Hurts can't. And so suddenly when they don't have the best offensive line in the NFL to just rip open holes so everything Saquon Barkley does is 3 yards downfield before contact, the entire thing falls apart.
B
Yeah, I don't know. I don't think we have ick of the week on our in our categories list today. But my if if we did mine would be that when my quarterback who can squat 600lb slides more than the opposing team's quarterback who probably weighs 100 pounds less than him, the one who.
A
Had emailer said that his girlfriend waited on at Lululemon and none of the.
B
Women there no one knew it was an NFL player.
A
And then when his boyfriend told him, they didn't believe him because one of the girls was taller than him. They're like, he's not an edible player.
B
Like, I know that Jalen hurts is being smart and cautious and safe and. And. And the best ability is availability. I understand that. But every once in a while, I want to see my quarterback die for a first down.
C
You know what I mean?
B
Just a couple.
C
Run somebody over once in a while, and he will.
B
He just refuses to do that, even in crucial moments, and it rubs me the wrong way.
A
And. And also the Eagles are conservative as hell too, man. Like, it bothered me. And I'll give Hertz credit because Hertz's best trait as a quarterback, other than just the. The running and being a downhill north south runner, which he does less now that he's older, is he does have a good deep ball for one on one. If he does anything well, it's the deep ball. One on one, sideline shots. He did that in the super bowl versus the Chiefs both times. However, he kind of hit both shots to AJ Brown. One the win got it. And AJ Brown couldn't do it. The other one was AJ Brown's fault. Then AJ Brown screamed at sitting around on the sideline. They never went back to him. They never went back to those deep, deep sideline shots. And Frankly, I think A.J. brown was embarrassed that he fucking bitched all year. And then he dropped the ball, and then he dropped another third and five with the season on the line. Dallas Goddard, that was the worst one.
B
That was right over the middle of the field, the balls in his hands.
A
And Dallas Goddard bailed his ass out on the next play, the fourth and five, and Hertz bailed his ass out too. So Hertz didn'. Play. Hertz isn't the reason they lost, but his play style is part of the reason the Eagles are in this situation. Yeah, I. I don't think A.J. brown could be on this team next year, to be totally honest.
C
I don't think he's gonna. He's not gonna be. No. It's gonna be interesting. They. They may have to shake up everything. Like, do you guys think Sirianni is safe even after winning the super bowl last year? Like, it just again every time. We talked about the Seagulls team all year, but, like, what does Sirianni do? He's supposed to be. He's supposed to be like the cheerleader, rah rah vibes guy. Go to different meetings and make sure everyone's vibes are Good. Like this team has the worst vibes of any team I've ever seen.
B
Well, luckily, as we've kind of discussed all season, Kevin Patullo, the offensive coordinator, I would bet good money is gone.
C
Yeah.
B
And then you know, now because they just won the super bowl and Sirianni hired him, I imagine Patula is going to be gone and now the next offensive coordinator is going to be chosen by Howie Roseman, the GM, Mike McDaniel. Right. Like they're probably going to go get somebody great and everything will be fine next year. The offensive line's getting older. I feel like there are things to fix, but I don't. You can't Sirianni, I mean you can't have double digit wins, win the division and then get fired.
A
No, I, I, Sirianni getting f. I mean Sirianni getting fired a year after winning the super bowl by and rocking the Chiefs would be hilarious. I, I actually, I've been critical of Sirianni as anybody. I wouldn't fire Sirianni. I think Sirianni, it's, he's a baseball manager. Baseball managers like let him wear a jersey for all he wants. He probably wants to like a baseball managers with the freaking uniforms. Baseball managers don't set lineups anymore. They don't make these decisions like that. We used to think the front offices do it and the baseball managers are there to manage the clubhouse for the most part and they kind of manage vibes and they make just in game decisions. That's what Sirianni is and who he should be. He should not be picking what the offense looks like in a season long way. Because then it looks like this when Sirianni doesn't get to pick the offense, it looks like what Kellen Moore did last year where he scored 40 points on the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. Like he's there for vibes.
C
I just think it's silly to be like I wouldn't fire him. He doesn't even do anything like you guys.
B
So the Eagles get somebody who does something.
C
What does he even do?
B
Case point is like couldn't I just stand there like if, if they won 11 games this year with Nick Sirianni and Kevin Patullo, like get a, get.
C
An actual good coach, somebody who like has strategic value or something. Like yeah, I mean they, they botched the end of the game too. Like I want to talk about this real quick before we move on from, from him. Like this was, I don't think this was picked up by the, the announcers during the game. But there was 48 seconds left, or, sorry, 43 seconds left, there was fourth and 11. And if the. If the Eagles go for it and don't get it, they still had three timeouts left and they could have gotten the ball back even if they didn't get the fucking 4th and 11. And they called timeout because the freaking play clock ran down. Sorry, it was 4th and 11 with 43 seconds to go.
B
Then they called the timeout because. And then they only had two left, which means the Niners had the ball. That wasn't.
A
It was probably the right decision at the moment because you don't want to. 4th and 16. But getting to the point where such an important play requires a timeout is the malpractice.
C
That's the game management part of it. It's like, okay, seriously, what do you do here?
B
What.
C
What do you do other than sit there with your. Your beanie pulled all the way over your eyelids pretty much, and scream at fans, stare at people and get in fights with fans and you're.
B
He should just wear the full, like, burglar mask with his holes cut out.
A
Balaclava.
B
Any.
A
Has any coach in the history of any other sport ever felt like a fan won a contest to get to stand on the sideline? And then you're like, that guy you.
C
Got, Big Dom, like, he's like, can.
B
I bring my cousin Dom? And they're like, yeah, I guess.
A
Sure.
C
Fine, fine. Did you see when A.J. brown got in his face? Big Dom, like, stepped in and like.
B
Yeah, Dom had a better catch today than A.J.
A
Brown did. It's like in an event at Disney World where it's all happening, you get to walk on and pretend you're like part of the scene, but, like, no one can hear anything you're saying. And my God. Yeah, last one here. Dante Kop Fleming posted that in the last 40 seasons, teams with no turnovers, 35 minutes of time position are 28 and two at home. In the playoffs, the only two losses are the Bills in 2023 and the Eagles today. So congrats Nick Sirianni and your Princeton offense where all the receivers back to the end zone. Okay. Other winner today I think has to be Josh Allen for the Bills. I mean, the Bills beat the Jaguars 27, 24. I love the. A little basic, but I still got me fired up. Josh Allen looking at the team and he's like, shooters, shoot. And I actually was more fired up by all the way the players are like, looked at him. It was just sick. And I. Josh Allen has had way cooler games, Josh Allen said, way cooler highlights. I think this, today was the most disciplined game of Josh Allen's entire career because the Bills had no margin for error, and Josh Allen made no errors in this game. And if you think about the arc of his career as the guy that couldn't really do anything but make errors and then started doing cool stuff and errors every other play, alternating, I thought this was a mistake level of play, mistake free football on par with games I saw from, like, veteran Tom Brady. And that this felt like the marriage. This felt like the next phase of Josh's career where he still has 90% of his athletic ability, but he's like, actually maybe the highest IQ player, maybe one of the highest IQ quarterback in the NFL that isn't like Aaron Rodgers. I was blown away at how hard everything was for him and how much he still got the ball.
C
This was. Yeah, it was like a Rocky movie. I mean, he got. He went to the blue tent twice in the first quarter. He's like banged his hand on somebody's helmet. He's out there. You know, he got checked for a concussion. Then his knee, when he went into the. Into the end zone, got hit in.
A
The head twice in one play, then hurt his finger and, like, it affected him. And then on the same drive, seemed like he hyperextended his knee.
C
He's just a fricking superhero out there, man. He just keeps going and it's. He's the type of player, I mean, like, just watching from, you know, where we watch, like, I would run through a wall for that guy and he's. It's not even my team. You know what I mean? I just love watching him play. He's just so. Just tough and physical and he's just a throwback player. He's running. He scored two rushing touchdowns. He had the. He had that like 18 yard sneak that almost got into the end zone. I don't know how.
A
Well, the tush push that just wouldn't stop pushing.
B
The tush push that ended all tush pushes.
A
Yeah, they're gonna ban the play.
B
They're gonna show. Yeah, the meeting, dude.
A
Jaguars defenders turned around because they couldn't conceive with the idea that this play was still going on.
C
You guys remember back to it last week? I was talking about how the Jags, obviously, this game on paper, kind of benefits them because they're so good against the run. They're one of the best run defense teams in the NFL. They completely. Not completely, but they pretty much shut down James Cook in this game, he had like 40 something yards. You average 3.1 yards per carry. He was not a big part of this game whatsoever. And inadvertently, that was. They woke up Josh Allen. It's almost like you'd rather have James Cook beat you. I know that it's kind of like choose, like pick your poison. But when one of the poison is Josh Allen just going Hulk smash on everybody, like I think I go with James Cook on this. I don't know. It's like bizarre.
A
It's tough because the Jaguars came really close to winning. I mean, again. So, I mean, the Jaguars took a six, a 16, 13 lead in the fourth quarter. Then the Bills scored a touchdown, the Jags scored a touchdown, the Bill scored a touchdown. Then that was it. Trevor Lawrence threw a pick. But that was the game. But again, maybe I'm being a prisoner of the moment, but I really think this game to me reminded me really more than anything I've seen since Tom Brady retired of a Tom Brady s game that had like seven plays where you're like, wow, Josh Allen's a physical alien. But the fact, the thing that really stuck out to me was how covered Brandon Cooks was the entire game. And yet Josh Allen kept getting the ball to Brandon Cooks and also to Gabe Davis. And those guys were literally signed around Thanksgiving. They were not on the team. They are washed. Other teams don't want them. Gabe Davis, ironically, from Jack, came from Jacksonville and then was in the Bills before that. Brandon Cooks, who is just. These guys might not be on NFL teams next year. And like that's like a late Patriots thing, you know what I mean? And the fact that Brady, Josh Allen's throwing people into unthrowable windows. But then that final drive, that play where there's a, like they have, they're spread out, they have five receivers on the field. And then Josh sees a blitz and he motions Khalil Shakir to the backfield. And Khalil Shakir looks at him, is like, what? And Josh is like, get over here and be a running back. You need a block. And then Shamir, no idea what he's doing. So there's just a free rusher. I think it was Devin Lloyd, just sprints like dead sprint right at Josh. And Josh just back foot throws a 40 yard pass to Brandon Cooks, who was not on a team six weeks ago to set up the game winning touchdown is. It's like the highest level of, I mean, I thought the highest level of football I had seen because Caleb made amazing throws. But there's an infrastructure of coaching and just crazy talent around Caleb that the Bills have decided to not build in the receiving game to function everything else. And Josh is just doing the entire passing game on his own.
B
Yeah, it's fun to see these guys who are like, the freaks mature a little bit and, like, start to play with their heads a little more. It's like when Happy learned how to putt. You know what I mean? It's like, at first, Josh Allen was just hitting home once, and he's like, I'm just going to rely on that, and I can do that. And now he's, like, actually combining a little bit of, like, maturing and growing and understanding the game mentally more with his physical abilities. Dude. Khalil Shakira, 12 catches today. Because there's just nobody else, right? Keon Coleman, who was like. Who was benched basically in the middle of the season. Tyrell Shavers, Aztec. But who. Nobody knows that guy. Like, it's unbelievably Brandon Cooks.
A
Josh Allen completed 28 of 35 passes, 273 yards in a touchdown. No interceptions, one sack, no fumbles. And then this one from Optisports. Josh is the first player in NFL history to complete 80% of his passes and rush for multiple touchdowns in the playoff game.
C
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he did exactly. He did what he had to do in this game to win. Like, that was like, the only way that the Bills are going to win this game. And he did.
B
Feels wonderful betting on Josh. You never feel out of it. Like, it's like it's. It's the same feeling as having him in fantasy, where you're just like, even if the fourth quarter, he could just have 25 fantasy points to completely save your week. And I felt the exact same way. I was so happy that we haven't talked about this yet, but, like, we're doing some. This competition. Ringer 107. All the football shows at the Ringer have been betting spreads all year in this big competition. Our show is somehow in first, even though we spend three minutes a week on it. This week we picked five games that we felt good about. We spent some time pick five games, and then at the very end, we're like, you know what? Let's just do the opposite. Let's just do the George Costanza. We're just going to flip it. Do the opposite.
A
If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite.
B
Therefore, yeah, we're three and one. And I got to say, yeah, Josh Allen is, like, the most. I. I'm never betting against Joshua.
A
It's just.
C
I love this. This is the most fun I've ever had. Playing 107 this this week is just like flipping our picks.
B
Yeah. Because it just goes to show that either we're stupid or all of this does is just a coin flip and nobody knows. Either way, it's great. Either way, I'm having fun.
A
So those are our winners.
C
I feel bad for the Jags. I don't know if we were talking about the Jags.
A
Yeah, we'll get to the J. Yeah, we can get to the Jags in a little bit.
B
Yeah, we'll get to the Jags a little bit. So first we have to. For all our new Netflix listeners here, we have to introduce what you know, if you. If you weren't watching and you're watching for the first time, look, Netflix has a lot of popular TV shows, a lot of popular movies. Stranger Things, you know, happy Gilmore, 2K pop, demon hunters. However, what you don't know is that there's a different segment out there that is America's favorite segment that is. That is now on Netflix, and it is Farter Shark Cam. Hit it. Whispering winds or thunder rose A delicate dance of the toilet bowl Guessing the game ain't for the faint of heart Far to shine.
C
Woo.
B
My goodness.
C
I was wondering how long we were gonna go there.
B
That song is like three and a half minutes that somebody sent us. Shouts out artificial intelligence for that song.
C
Yeah. Yeah.
A
Oh, the Clankers. We're playing a Clanker song.
C
Rock, baby.
B
Well, soon at the Golden Globes, there's going to be the Clanker award for the best artificially made piece of art. But thank you to the Clankers for that. Clank rock. But. D.K. what up, Daniel? Dan. What?
C
What?
B
Big Dan. Big D. D Bone.
C
Big Dan.
B
The Green Bay Packers, Daniel.
C
Yeah. Yeah.
B
They lost 31, 27 in horrific fashion, as you well know. They ended the season on a five game losing streak. Matt LaFleur is now three and six in the playoffs. They have not been to an NFC championship since. Aaron Rodgers was the quarterback on the Packers. There's rumors circulating that he could get canned. Matt LaFleur.
C
Mm.
B
They're in an incredibly difficult division. Micah Parsons, this amazing trade, he just tore his acl. Kind of the. The overall packers landscape. The Jordan Love, Matt LaFleur packers era after. After this weekend's loss. Fart or sharp?
C
I mean, this is borderline sharp. This was a horrific loss. I can't. I can't imagine what, like, gymnastics. The packers fans are going to have to go through this off season to convince themselves to have like good vibes going into next year. But I mean, obviously, look, I, I personally don't think they should fire Matt Leflur. I think he's a good coach, but the fact that people are. It's actually a discussion I think is wild. Ed Policy, he's gonna, he's gonna have to meet with our boy, Ed Policy. Mr. Policy.
B
He's gonna have some tough conversations with Mr. Paul.
C
Mr. Policy is going, he's gonna have to go to Mr. Policy's office.
A
Ed Policy, president of the backers, literally named Ed Policy.
C
But yeah, I mean, look, there's, there's questions about Jordan Love. I see people on, on, on social media talking about how Malik Willis is a better quarterback. That's not great. You know, the, the absolute. Just failure in the second half. They, and this is such a cliche, but it's so true. They played not to lose versus playing to win, which is just the worst. It's just, it's so cowardly and conservative and annoying. It's just going to be an incredibly weird off season for this entire team. They don't have a first round pick this year. They don't have a first round pick next year. Yeah, I'm going to say it's like it's borderline chart.
B
Well, you know, a Shark, if you short. You got to change something. Literally. You have to change your.
C
They're going to change. I know. I would say at the very least they're going to change some of the coaching staff. I mean, that something has to change. I don't, I personally don't think they should fire Matt LaFaro. What do you guys land on that? I don't either.
B
Anytime it's like, yeah, the second he gets fired, he's the hottest coaching candidate in the league. And like maybe John Harbaugh in Baltimore's a little different. He's been there for 20 years. Malaflor, what is the seventh, eighth season. They're good. Every year he has, he has a.
C
Better win percentage than Sean McVeigh. Yes. And Andy Reid, usually.
B
Matt LaFleur wins like 12, 13 games.
A
And Sean Payton, yeah, I got it.
C
Literally 16th all time in one percentage.
A
They've made the packers have made the playoffs six or seven years. I think this was a really, really bad fart. Like one of the worst farts of all time. But to Craig's point, this is not a chart. You don't have to change anything. And I don't think you change the coordinators.
C
Either.
A
I think you'd be lucky to get Jeff Halfley.
C
Halfley is a head coach candidate.
A
You don't change anything. You know what you change? You get Michael Parsons back healthy. You get Tucker Kraft back healthy. You get your right tackle, Zach Tom, back healthy to play in this game. You get Elton Jenkins, the guard back. Like the center, Sean Ryan got hurt. Like, they had a lot of injuries. They had so many injuries that when you watch the Packers, I would argue Matt LaFleur is such a good coach, you forgot the packers had any of those injuries for the first half of a playoff game because they were dominating the Bears so thoroughly. Now, I don't think Matt LaFleur has done everything right, because I know that the Bears scored, I believe, 03 and three points in the first half versus Green Bay in almost one all three of those games. And the fact that the Bears were. I can't get over this stat. I think this is maybe my new favorite stat of the entire season. After the jets not picking off a pass this year, the Packers. Sorry. The Bears literally did not have the lead on offense for a single play versus Green Bay this year and then beat them the last two games. But the Bears did not have the lead on offense for any of the three games they played. The Bears.
C
And I'm like, cursed loss, man. Like, packers fans fucking hate the Bears. It's like they're the big brother. They think the Bears are just this little piece of organization, you know, they.
B
This is like when a dad's son, like, beats him in horse for the first time.
A
It's exactly. You're like, whoa. And you reevaluate a whole.
C
I was really trying there.
A
Yeah, midlife crisis because you lost your son in basketball, like, gonna change anything. And it's like, why don't you just see him do it twice? And I understand. I'm not like. I understand that the packers probably lost the super bowl trip because they kicked the field goal on fourth down at the goal line. Down eight to the Buccaneers, which was insane. And I understand that Matt LaFleur should have learned it by now. Let me tell you something, as a Giants fan, it is a lot easier for Matt LaFleur to learn better in game management practices, better timeout usage, and be more aggressive in game plans in the second half of the lead. Then find another coach who could be 16th all time in winning percentage, you morons. If they. If the packers fire Matt LaFleur, I think the Giants should hire him in 19 seconds.
B
Of course.
C
Just put McManus on a friggin barge out of out of town or whatever. That's all.
A
He missed three. Yeah, he missed three kicks. He missed an extra point, two field goals in this game.
B
If you're a Packers fan and you fired LaFleur, who are you hoping to bring in that you can guarantee is better than him?
A
It's literally just a bunch of people.
C
It's Harbaugh.
B
But like, okay, you saw play caller.
A
The Harbaugh thing is rotting everyone's brain. The funniest thing that would ever happen is if the Dolphins fire Mike McDaniel to get Harbaugh and then the packers fire Matt LaFleur to get Harbaugh and then John Harbaugh just retires and is like, I'm actually going to just take a year for my health. And then all of these teams just desperately wish they could get their coach back. Because again, I know that the packers have issues, but I just look at Green Bay and I'm like, you were wildly injured and I understand there's issues, but it is so much easier to learn that kind of, you know, was a terrible game Manager until like two years ago. Sean McV was bad. Like so fourth downs, timeouts. Yeah, like Matt LaFleur.
C
It's funny, so was Andy Reid. Right? Like Andy Reid. That was part of Andy Reid's whole deal.
A
I have a series, 16 years. Andy Reid was the worst clock manager in the NFL. Like it, like, I just, it's so much easier to learn that than try to find a better coach. I'm, I, I, you don't want to be out here.
C
Like I'm throw the baby out with the bath water kind of thing.
A
Yeah, no, but it's the meme with the, the, what is it the Del Curry thing. When Del Curry, you know, was going to be single and that whole thread of you don't want to be out.
C
You don't want to be out here.
A
You'Ve got a ice cream out, you don't want to be out single in this world. And I'm like, you want to be out. You've been apologize to her seven years. Look, I apologize to her. The woman you love.
B
Flowers. I was educated in the Pittsburgh Steelers school of don't overreact. And the packers, it's like sometimes you have a down year, you were injured, you still made the playoffs, you had a bad loss, run it back. Everything is pretty good. Like it's annoying in the moment, it sucks. But like, like you're not going to do any better than this. And there's no secret answer on the coaching market that you're going to find that's going to change things. It's like he's try again next year.
C
I mean I actually he's like one of the best coaches in the only one.
A
Try again. Try again next year. The kicker missed seven points of kicks and like Caleb made the best fourth down throw in like five years.
B
I do. I have a theory I want to run by you guys. Do you think the real like guru play callers and the guys who like have it all in their heads, the McVeighs, Shanahan's, whatever, Ben Johnson's, La Flores. Do you think they all suck at game managing because they're actually just like too obsessed and focused on what play to call next?
A
Yeah, 100%. It's totally a thing.
B
Why don't they need to have. There just needs to be a new coach that is like I. All I am is clock guy. I'm just like timeouts and clock guy.
A
That's 100%. It's a control thing. But like no, it's absolutely. Why it's Andrew. I did a whole story on this for the ringer. Shout out the ringer.com great website. And like I talked to like Steve Mariucci about why Andy Reid sucked with the clock, which and Steve Mirchi shared an office with Andy Reid for the packers and they talked about it and there's all these reasons, but the short answer is yeah, it's really hard to sit there and do all these plays and do everything and like the only.
C
It's like trying to park your car when the music is really loud, you know?
B
Or you're just like that. It's just like that.
C
Yeah, you got to turn the music off so you can park.
A
The only play calling coach who's actively good at managing the clock is Sean Payton because he was a parcels guy.
C
But that's science.
A
And he probably text while he drives. You know what I mean? He could probably multitask.
B
Dk. You're right. Like, I'm not. I'm laughing because that was a funny analogy. But that, that's real. Like the amount. You ever been in a car with somebody else trying to park in. Music's loud and they're like, can you please turn the music down? I'm trying to parallel park.
C
Oh my God.
B
Wilshire Boulevard right now. Trying to parallel park. Pressure I'm under right now.
A
Dude. The first time I drove Jackie's, my fiance, Jackie's parents anywhere we had a parallel park.
C
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
A
And. And like a Very like a big street, like one of them, like five lane streets that had a parallel park on the side. If you don't getting a lot of horns.
C
Oh, that's a nightmare, nightmare situation.
A
And I played it cool and then they're like, oh, well done. I like just met them. It's great.
B
It's like I do. I think I am an elite city driver. Yeah.
A
Okay, go on, go on.
B
First job out of college, I lived in New York City and I had to drive a van around for the show America's next top Model. And I didn't.
A
You hit the van into a car on your first day of work.
B
It was in a hotel. Don't say that. I'm going to get to get hurts. Hurts is going to come after me. But yeah, I did that.
C
But I did do that.
A
Yeah, I did do that.
C
I think statute of limitation.
B
I've grown.
A
It's like the bears. It's like they had, you know, you had them in the first half.
C
He's inoculated under. Under the pressure of.
B
Dude, I was whipping a van around Brooklyn, New Jersey, Manhattan.
C
Hell yeah.
B
With this woman. Like, it's pouring rain, snowing. I'm trying to like get a rug into the car. I got the. I got the emergency lights on and.
C
Then I showed you it.
B
Well, I was driving for America's next top model and then the woman, Jennifer Greenberg, shouts out to her, helped me get the PA Job on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, which is a Netflix show.
C
Craig. I 100% subscribe to shout out. Shout out to everyone who's had a job where you have to drive around downtown somewhere fucking all day. I had a job right now. It's a rite of passage. I had this job coming out of college where I was like working for this litigation support company. So I was just delivering documents all day, driving around downtown Seattle and like whipping around, like crossing four lanes to get to like a you. You spot like an empty loading zone and you just like flip a ue. Like, it's. It's intense out there, man. It's a rite of pass.
B
It's why I don't understand how they're training waymos right now for Manhattan. I'm like, that luck. There are no rules. Like, the only way you can drive in Manhattan is if you know how to break the rules. So I don't know how they're going to do that.
A
No, it's, it's. You can't program that right there. I got hit by a cab once.
C
What?
B
What? You should see the cab.
A
That was actually what everyone said at Christmas Eve. Yeah. That year. Yeah.
B
You should see.
A
The cab was. You know, there was this Dane Cook joke that about, like, some guy getting hit and his shoes came off. And I was like, what? I don't remember. Anyway, it was like, when I listen to it when I was 9, remember iTunes? Dane Cook had that big album. Bought it with your itunes gift cards.
B
Vicious circle.
A
Yeah.
B
I don't know.
A
I don't have. Anyway, listen to a Dane Cook in seventh grade. Never thought about him ever again. Anyway, I'm like, 24 years old, very drunken for Grand Central. I get walloped by a cab because I was jaywalking, and I land straight on the cab. I'm fine. And I'm like, ah. And the driver's like, whoa. And then I like. He stops. And then he, like, stops.
B
Leave us alone.
A
I land and my shoes are off, and I land and I look around, knock your shoes. Like, my first thought, I swear to God, my first thought was, oh, my God. Dane Cook was right.
B
Whoa.
C
Wow.
A
I gathered my shoes and I ran. And he was like, don't. Are you okay? And I thought it was I was gonna get in trouble. And he was thrilled that I was leaving.
B
He couldn't. Do you untie your shoe before you put it on, or you always tied and you just jam your foot in there guy?
A
You could, but it's. Well, now I have ankle problems, so.
C
Now I'm your foot in there, guy.
A
I've learned in my twenties, all I did was jam my foot in. In my 30s, I am trying.
B
You're a jam. You give jam?
C
Yeah. Yeah. You're giving jamming.
B
Dk. I think you untie the shoe and tie it.
C
Oh, I should be, dude. Craig. For probably, like, a solid 15 years of my life, I do wear shoes with laces now, but I was slip ons only like the. The van slip ons. I was like, I don't ever want to have to tie my shoes. I. I hate doing that. You gotta bend over and sit down. I do. I have shoes now with laces. I kind of grew up a little.
A
You know, I'm still reeling from Craig saying he puts his socks on before his pants and then, like, took us.
C
This has become a thing.
B
Well, and then my army fantasy text thread. My army came over the mountain and took over, and everybody's on my side now. Makes sense. It makes sense to put the socks on first.
C
Craig. Somebody sent a text that are in our group chain shout out Pat the other day, and it was Like, I put my socks on before my underwear today. And I was like, what?
B
That's.
C
What are we doing? That's aggressive psycho. Psycho behavior.
B
I think the only issue with that is if somebody caught an image of you doing that, that's the first thing.
C
That's what. Exactly what I said. I was like, the imagery of that is horrific. He said he did it standing up, which also is kind of impressive. Like, good balance.
A
What's impressive about that?
C
You can put your socks on standing up. It's, like, kind of hard.
A
DK, I think you could have done that your 20s. I saw you had an earring piercing and everything.
C
Yeah, fair enough. I've always been very inflexible, though, so it's actually kind of hard.
B
What are we talking about?
A
I don't know.
C
Putting your socks on without sitting down?
B
No, I. I was talking about some crime in terms of NFL.
A
The. So who's gonna have a longer offseason, The Green Bay packers or the Eagles?
C
Dk, we were talking about game management. That's what we were talking about.
B
All right.
A
There, you see? We should manage the clock. We're great at it.
B
Yeah. Dk, I want you to do your ranking of who's going to have the longest off season of the teams who lost.
A
Right.
C
So the packers are up there. I think the Eagles. I don't know. I can't. I honestly can't tell who's going to have a longer Aussie. More like insane. Things are going to be up in the air. I think it's Philadelphia, like, dramatic. It's got to be Philly, just because they're always drama there. But it's close. I feel like it's close. They're probably not going to do that much in Green Bay, honestly.
A
No, it's Green Bay, and here's why.
C
Yeah.
A
Philadelphia is at their happiest when they can complain about their team. And being angry about the Eagles is in and of itself catharsis for Philadelphia and the Northeast. Degenerates. And Green Bay, like the packers being in a state of flux is a catastrophe for Wisconsin and anyone in the Midwest.
B
They're not in a state of flux. That's what we're trying to tell them.
A
But that. But having to have arguments with other packers fans in a. Like, Eagles fans just scream at each other. It's hard for Packer. Packers fans are much nicer players just.
B
Scream at each other.
A
There you go. That's what I'm saying. It's because they adopt the culture of the city. It's harder for conflict in the Midwest. It's different, Greg. It's just a different animal.
C
Can you imagine Philly radio tomorrow? My God, it's going to be fourth of July.
B
So we're saying that they're not going to have the longest off season because there's a lot of content for Philly now.
A
Well, I guess simply put is the Eagles fans. The fix will be easier, which is you are going to get a new offensive coordinator. And if that guy's good, that's like half of it. It's like, don't have A.J. brown be literally the lowest slot rate in the entire league. It's like, hey, watch the 2023 tape. Do that. That's a good start.
C
I here's. Here's. I think there's going to be more big questions in Philly by far than there is in Green Bay.
B
I100.
C
What do you do? What do we do with Jalen Hurts?
A
Yeah, I guess 2024, not 2023. Don't come at me. But you're. That's the thing.
C
What do we do with A.J. brown?
B
A.J. brown's gone. Lane Johnson's 35 years old. You have to get a new offensive coordinator. People don't like Nick Sirianni. Like, there's a lot they can't run the ball.
A
That's fair.
B
Well, you know what's funny?
A
Teams that could use A.J. brown, it's like teams that have a young quarterback who don't need a receiver, like the Raiders. But I'm like the funniest. The best spot for A.J. brown is the fricking Titans, which is funny and they should send it back. Don't send dk. We did. I think we could talk with this now. After the super bowl, we did another episode and Jalen Hurts and we talked. You were upset and you don't do this much, but you were upset at the sheer volume of Eagles fans that were angry with you. Their super episode because you had the audacity to just say the Eagles were one of the most talented teams of all time. And you listed like, all their players on defense and offense and you listed Jalen hurts, like, 14th.
C
No here.
A
But during a 90 second video about how good the team was and all you got was Eagles fans screaming at you that Jalen Hurts was underrated. Super.
B
That aged really well.
A
DK for you, it aged incredibly well.
C
Should I get back? Should I dive into the comment section.
B
Repost it, flip it around?
C
No, the bottom. The background of that is. We did that, you know, breakout where it's basically like, look, here's. Here's the secret to winning Super Bowl. Usually it's having the best quarterback. This year it was having the best offensive line, best receivers, best defense, blah, blah, blah. And then at the very end, I said, and also having a great quarterback in Jalen Hurst, but that wasn't actually included in the video. So for literally, like eight months, like, Eagles fans were just in dimensions, like, telling me I'm a fucking idiot. I'm curious to see what that sounds like.
A
Like, can you. And I'm not saying this has never happened, but I can't immediately think of one. Has any athlete had something quite like what just happened with Jalen Hurts, where he was getting paid $250 million, got a big contract, wins the super bowl, gets super bowl mvp, makes two super make win, makes two of the Super Bowls in three years, wins one, and basically has his fan base clamoring for him to be respected among the NFL's elite. And then not even a full year, 11 months later, you're going to have a portion of his fan base admit he's like, the problem. I don't know if there's ever been a run out. Like, maybe in the NBA, I can't remember run out where everyone's like, he's should be considered as good. Why don't you talk about Mahomes the way you. Why don't you talk about Hertz the way you talk about Mahomes?
C
Lamar Herbert, now they got a wandering eye for Tanner McKee.
A
Yeah. Now it's a. Justin Herbert on. The Eagles would win 15 games a year. Yep.
B
Anyway, I know there's not a lot of comps. Like, I. I don't like Russell Wilson, but it took a while.
C
That's who. That's who I kind of had in my mind, Craig, when we were talking about. It's like, for the longest time, Seahawk fans were very sensitive about the commentary around Russell Wilson in terms of, like, people saying he was propped up by his defense, people saying he was propped up by his run game, which there was definitely shades of true truth in that. But it took, like, a very long time. Basically, it took so long that Russell Wilson eventually, I think there was that. There was a small section of the let Russ Cook era where people were like, oh, this guy's really awesome. But it lasted for like three weeks. And then. And then he just, like, went downhill after that. He was traded right after that to Denver. Sean Payton hated him. He was traded again, and that was about it.
A
There's so many similarities to Me, between the Eagles and the Legion of Boom, there's so many similarities, but it's just.
C
Yeah. I mean, if you think about just the personalities, the giant personalities in the room, the talent.
A
Yeah.
B
Funny, though. Legion of Boom broke because of that.
C
Because they lost the Super Bowl.
B
Patriots interception. The Eagles don't have that. They just won.
C
What's.
B
What is their interception at Super Bowl.
A
But this season, felt. If you had just watched this season of the. Of the Eagles, and then I was like, they made the super bowl, you'd be like, oh, they must have lost. Right. That's why they all hate each other.
B
They do have that energy.
C
Like, I honestly kind of forget the exciting incident.
A
You know what's funny? I'm not saying this is why, but in retrospect, this story is funny. Hurts, after he won the super bowl, went to Michael Jordan. And I'm not going to like, quote Michael Jordan, but it seems like what he told Jalen Hurts was like, what's the secret? They played golf. I also just want to hear Jalen Hurts actually speak.
C
But, man, can you imagine playing golf with Jordan? Oh, my God. Hope you bring a lot of cash.
A
Michael Jordan on his North Carolina golf course he designed specifically for his swimming wing.
B
Yeah, they're just all crazy dog leg right. And he only plays with. Against lefties.
A
I think. I think the gist of it. And don't quote me on this because, like, it's. It's Hurts kind of alluding to it. But I. I believe the message from Jordan was, you're not defending anything. He's like, everyone's going to call you the Eagles, the defending champions. He's like, you're not defending anything. You are the. You were the champions. You were the 2024 dash, 2025 champions. This is a new season. You leave it all behind. And I. The ring ceremony, if you noticed it, the Eagles, like, didn't go out there for the trophy present, the rings and everything. The Eagles, like, didn't acknowledge that they were the champions. When they did that first game versus the Cowboys, they got completely overshadowed that this happened because Jalen Carter spit on Deck Prescott before the first play of the season. But the Eagles, like, didn't really accept the way teams do and like, oh, yeah, we're the champs. They just kind of didn't go out there for it.
C
What a weird team.
B
And it's.
A
And it kind of backfired. I think it would be better off if they were like, where are the champs? Like, that probably would have played better. Man, I don't know, maybe nothing could have saved them anyway. Eagles have a long off season. Packers do. I don't think the Jaguars off season's as long as along the Jaguars made more progress.
C
They still feel like they're ascending. They kind of. They. The way that they lost it was like they could have won that game very easily. It's like it's not like they played.
A
Chip on their shoulder.
B
It does feel like you had a home playoff game, which is kind of incredible and you squandered it in a close game. And for how good Lawrence was playing up. I mean, what they went eight straight games. Like the fact that he had a bad pick to start the game and a bad pick to end the game, that it's a winnable year.
A
It stings. I think the reason I'm not that heartbroken for that.
B
You're just getting started.
A
Trevor Lawrence is good enough. Yeah, but Trevor Lawrence, week 11 on had like the most touchdowns in the NFL. He was the number one pick. He was supposed to be a Mount Rushmore quarterback prospect with Elway and Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck. That's the kind of guy with liam Cohen, he's 26 years old. That that team can be in it every year. It's the teams that don't have that kind of quarterback where you're like, oh, you squandered the season. I will say I think the biggest thing for the Jags other than just, you know, like everyone, they need cornerbacks and stuff. But I think Travis Hunter needs to be a cornerback. And I'm not kidding. I, I like they. After watching the Jags offense, Jacoby Myers just got a $60 million extension. He has to play. Parker Washington is better.
C
Freaking good, man.
A
They cannot be really good. You will lose the locker room if you bench Parker Washington for Travis Hunter. He's too good. Like they, they actually cannot bench Parker Washington.
B
He's like the best on the team.
A
No, they have to bring Parker Washington back and then Brian Thomas is a first round pick. I genuinely think Travis Hunter will enter next season as a receiver for and he should be in all the defensive meetings that need him on defense. I don't think that's even quite like. I think he's LCL surgery or recovering from the injury. I think the Jaguars probably end up letting Travis ETN leave. We can leave that. We can hit that. Morris free agency comes and we get closer to that. But I thought Bial Tutin today for the Jags was amazing. And watching him on like they don't need Travis Etn like that money needs to go elsewhere. But yeah, the Jaguars are fine. The teams I want to get into right now are a couple of these MVP candidates who gave us the ick. Yeah, specifically this Rams Panthers game that was way better than it deserved to be. I mean, the Ram like, like The Rams were 10 point favorites again, even though they lost to Carolina and they almost lost to Carolina again. The Rams won 34, 31.
C
We flipped it.
A
Flipadelphia.
C
DK Flipadelphia.
A
Were you impressed enough with the way the Rams salvaged and won this game that it overcame the ick of the Rams almost losing to Carolina again?
C
Yeah, I think, obviously, look, Stafford made an incredible play at the end of the game to Colby Parkinson, who made an insane catch, went up and skied up and got it pirouetted and then went into the end zone. Like, to me that was like, okay, this team is still frightening. But it is very bizarre how the Panthers matched up with this team and, and like Stafford looked human at times through, through a bad pick. You know, I, I, I just don't really understand why the Panthers are able to compete with this Rams team. They did it. They beat them earlier in the season and then they gave him a real run for their money here. They probably or they came very close to winning this game. But no, I think the, the Rams are still to me like one of the scariest teams in the playoffs. I think they'll be fine. This was just like the, the, for whatever reason, the Panthers match up well with them.
B
Yeah, I think there's a little bit of like Seahawks fear in you because I don't know, I, I think you were turned off. That's about as bad of a win as you can build like that was. They should have kicked the out of that team. And almost losing to the Panthers like twice in six weeks is pretty bad.
C
Bizarre.
B
Also, like, I, I do not think if I were a Rams fan right now, I'd be feeling good heading into Chicago. Stafford's also beat up. He had a finger injury. I mean, the stats of like him before and after the finger injury was very clear that he was affected. Even though he had that great drive at the end of the game that they moved down pretty quickly. I don't know. To me, it's like the cornerbacks on the Rams can't guard anybody. Like Jalen coker and Tet McMillan are dicing up. Flat Stanley and the rest of the cornerbacks on the Rams.
A
Emanuel Forbes, Flat Stanley, who is again the Rams are playing and starting a cornerback who weighs like 160 pounds.
B
Yeah.
C
Hey, he gained some weight, man.
B
Yeah, he had a protein bar before.
A
Yeah.
B
The special teams, like, continues to be bad. They fired their special teams head or coach in the middle of season. I don't know. It's concerning. Devonte Adams certainly got concussed. I would love to talk about that later. He came back in the game, actually looked like he got knocked out on that ball on the sideline. Puka, as we all, you know, hit the weekly button saying this, but, like got the shit kicked out of him. And then Stafford is his finger injury. So I'm like, them barely getting through Carolina, they're super beat up. I would be nervous if I was a Rams fan.
A
The bookends of this game, the Rams looked unbelievable. The opening two drives, the Rams, like I were amazing. Puka Nukua had. I think the first four passes Stafford through were to Puka. They look, it was like a knife through butter. It was like, this is going to be like a long. This is going to be like a 40 to 10 game. It looked like in the beginning and that's also how the Rams looked on the last drive. But honestly, everything in between was pretty bad. It was kind of amazing how much the Stafford finger play, kind of like hitting in a helmet or hand or something affected it because Stafford could still throw. But he started the game 8 for 8 and then he went like 2 for his next 10. Puka. He had the touchdown of Puka at the end of the half. Tuka just dropped. I was a little amazed how much that rattled Puka. Puka wouldn't go into halftime showing apoplectic on the sideline. Yeah, well, no, not apoplectic. He was. It's like he was distraught, like catatonic, catatonic. Puka was sad, sad Puka. And frankly, the look, you could go ahead and say, look, the Rams are going to go. And it was like the Panthers were played well and Bryce Young played really well. And I won't take anyway, Bryce Young, he played really well, blah, blah, blah. I actually kind of think the Rams won this game because J.C. horn collided with the linebacker Cheryl List on a play and they both left. And then the Rams went down and won. And the Rams couldn't do dick in that game until J.C. horn, who was the top 10 pick in the draft ahead of Patrick Certain, left. And only when he left did the Rams do anything. That's the part that concerns me is I kind of don't know if the Rams win, if that didn't happen.
B
I know Both Horn and Mike Jackson were great for Carolina. They were. They were everywhere and causing a lot of problems. Yeah, I don't know.
C
It's.
B
It's like I, you know, a month ago, six weeks ago, I would have picked the Rams to win the Super Bowl. But the. The cornerback, lack of talent, the special teams issues, kind of how beat up they are. I think it's like there's just like they now seem like kind of one of the other teams in the league when. When midway through the season, I think they were the only team that everybody felt really good about.
C
Yeah, that's a good point, Craig. I mean, the corner, the cornerback situation, the inability to. To clamp down on opposing receivers, and like a catastrophically bad special teams unit are pretty, Pretty big vulnerabilities.
A
It was an ick that. I mean, one, it was two icks. The Panthers were banged up like Icky Aquanu, their left tackle is probably their best lineman, got hurt on like the second drive. And then Robert Hahn, who's like, maybe their best guard, was in and out of the game and he was like, not 100%. And they still couldn't get. They couldn't make Bryce Young look small. This is what the Niners did on Monday Night Football. Like, the defenses, when you're able to get pressure on them, you can contain Bryce Young. You kind of make him look small, and they weren't able to consistently do that. The Panthers are really situated to beat the Rams in some ways because all the receivers are so big. Ted McMillan, Ted McMillan, 65 and. And Jalen Coker six three and Leggett, six four, and Tommy Tremble's big. And so in a way, they're really well sized to do it. But I. It's. It's just a bunch of things.
C
It's.
A
The Rams punt unit isn't good. It's like Harrison movies, honestly was better in this one. But there's just all these flaws in the Rams special teams combined with the fact that I wish the defensive line could have taken advantage of Carolina more, and also Carolina didn't. They made a ton of mistakes. Like, they came like, like tr. Trevor etn, Travis's brother, took two different punts off his face and the Rams couldn't capitalize. So it was a little concerning. I also do Wonder if. If McVay actually wanted to save some pitches. I kind of wonder if McVay wanted to win without showing a bunch of cards. And I think he pulled the three tight end personnel out begrudgingly, and that was really how the Rams did end up moving the ball sometimes. But we'll see because we're gonna get Rams, Bears and we're gonna have Stafford once again, cold weather. And we're gonna see what happens when Stafford at 38 years old with his back injury lands on the frozen ass Chicago turf.
B
That game's gonna be incredible. There's gonna be a lot of points in that game.
A
And honestly dk, you better be a Bears fan because I assume you don't want to see the Rams in the playoffs after Darnold has thrown like oh yeah, how many interceptions and sacks. Darnold must be up to 20 sacks in three games versus the Rams in 2025.
C
Yeah, Craig said at the beginning, I have Seattle fear in me. I don't want to face the Rams. The Rams have been like the thorn in the Seahawks side sides.
B
It'd be pretty sweet though if you beat the Niners and then the Rams.
C
I mean, sure, yeah, it'd be great. It would be an awesome NFC championship game if the Seahawks get to that spot.
B
But yeah, speaking of awesome games.
A
Yeah, Patriots, Chargers, the best game of the weekend.
C
What hour are we out here?
A
Who dk, who gave you. If you had voted for this guy for mvp, who made you feel dumber? Stafford almost losing to Carolina or Drake May not getting the Patriots to touchdown until 53 minutes into the game.
C
I think 75% of the game I would have felt dumber about voting for May because he, I mean he looked out of sorts for a lot of the game. But I thought he played really well down like down the stretch. Got him what they needed to do or did what he did what he needed to do. I didn't think it was his best game, but I at, you know, taking the full game into account. He played all right, right? He played fine. I think Stafford engineering that game winning drive was pretty impressive though.
B
Stafford with the finger injury, doing what.
C
He did and that throw was insane.
B
The no look thing, there was like.
C
Four lead changes in the game.
B
Yeah, I mean he had some no look stuff. That was crazy. Yeah, May was fine. I mean he had two fumbles, he lost one. He had the pick which was tipped. I thought.
C
I don't think he was like especially impressive in this game, but he did have a couple really big runs which has kind of been the story of his season.
B
He had the great touchdown at Har. Henry was like a beautiful perfect pass.
C
The way he finished.
A
He also missed Austin Hooper who bullied you in high school or whatever.
B
He didn't bully me.
A
Missed him for A touchdown. He bullied you about crashing the van.
B
He has no idea about that.
C
We like to change the story to he bullied.
B
He was busy being stuffed. He was in the NFL when I was crashing the van.
A
So he stuffed you in a walker. The char. The Patriots. Look, you know what? Let's be honest. Everyone's heard enough about the freaking Patriots. Lost my entire life. And we're going to hear about it more.
C
I don't care.
B
It's a way, like. It's kind of just like the regular season where I'm like, the Chargers are terrible. The offensive line was so bad they could do literally nothing. I still don't know how I feel about New England. They should have probably won by more.
A
The only analysis I'll give on this game is that the Chargers, other than that play, Herbert got rocked and gave it the ball. I actually think you could do the Chargers entire season in one play. And it was the last play the Chargers had in this game, which was when it was fourth in 11 or something. And Milton Williams for the Patriots. The defensive tackle splits Bradley Boseman the center and Zion Johnson the right guard. I'm getting backwards now. And like, they literally swapped those guys the entire summer because the Chargers interior line was so bad that they were like, we're going to switch Zion Johnson to the center and we're going to put Bradley Boseman at guard. And they tried it and they sucked. Switched it back and they sucked. Flipped it back. They sucked. They're like, you know what? We'll keep everyone where it was. And so the like it. Yes. All the tackles get hurt. Yes. The Chargers had seven or eight iterations of left tackle. They had right tackle.
B
They had 29, 25 offensive line coming. 29 offensive line combination.
A
Exactly. So, yes, all that happened. But what's the reason the Chargers and Herbert. Herbert was the most hit quarterback this year. And even though John Jim Harbaugh is like, I will do anything protect Herbert, Herbert's gotten so the shit kicked out of him is because it's not just the tackles got hurt. It's that the Chargers did not pay money to fix the interior of their offensive line. That was the weakness. They thought they could coach it. They failed that. Those guys stayed healthy all year. And even with the tackle switches, they're the worst part of the line. That's the point is even the sixth string left, the fifth string, left tackle, Jamari Salier is better at left tackle than the starting center. And starting left, starting left guard Zion Johnson was the whole year. And the for all that. It's funny that the original problem the Chargers had all summer was the one that ended their season. And they just need the tackles to come back, but they need to swap probably all three of those interior guys.
C
So the Chargers were pretty pathetic in this game.
A
It was a hard watch. It's. It was incredible. They were the team. They were the Panthers. They were the team you thought the Panthers would be. But like, how did this team make the playoffs?
B
Every pass on the Chargers felt like the last play of the game when it's like 4th and 30 and the quarterback has to just like run around for a while and like that was.
C
That's every pass is like over the receiver.
A
Something weird is the Chargers, if they had won in Week 17 versus Houston, which the game was closer than you think, the Chargers still had a shot at the 1 seed in the AFC, which I think is just incredible because they suck. So it was a tough year for them anyway. The Ringer Fantasy Football show is brought to you by FanDuel in the playoffs, the first half tells a story, but the second half is where legends are made. And FanDuel wants you right there with them because every FanDuel customer gets a halftime profit boost to use on live bets after halftime of the Texans vs Steelers game. Just open your FanDuel app during halftime of the game, grab your profit boost and place your live bet. So visit FanDuel.com Ringer Fantasy and grab your Texans vs Steelers halftime profit boost. 21 plus and present in select states or 18 plus in present DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. Opt in required bonus issued as non withdrawable profit boost tokens restriction supply including any token expiration and max wager amount. See terms@sportsbook.fanduel gambling problem. Call 1-800-gambler or visit rg-help.com call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut. Let's get to some other categories here, starting with intrusive thoughts. Craig, what intrusive thoughts did you have watching the wild card games this weekend?
B
This is way better without Mahomes in the Chiefs.
C
Hell yeah, I'm having a blast.
B
Yeah, I love that the Chiefs aren't here. I love that every game I'm like, I have no idea who's gonna win. This is gonna be crazy. I don't know who I want. I don't know who the villain is.
C
Like the Eagles are gone too. It's this is the best headlife. Get better.
B
I love that the Chiefs are not like 15 and 2, and it's like, who's gonna get through Mahomes? I'm having a blast without him right now. It's okay that the Chiefs are taking. Taking a year off. I'm happy to have them come back, but right now I'm having more fun without the Chiefs.
A
Letting the NFL field life fallow for a year has working very well.
C
Yeah.
B
Unpredictability. I'm having a blast.
C
It's a great call. It's a great call.
A
Dk, what intrusive thoughts did you have?
C
I had a few. First off, the Pope, who is a Chicago native.
B
Yeah.
C
Big Bears fan. Big. What is he, White Sox fan or White Sox?
A
They have a mural of him at the White Sox stadium. Watching the World Series.
C
I just wanted. I just wanted to picture the Pope at 5:30 in the morning, like drinking some of the sacrament there, like his hidden stash of the blood of Jesus Christ. Celebrating the Bears win. Like it was 5:30 in the morning, Vatican time. I don't know if he's in Vatican right now, but I want to know if he like, you know, did he cancel his entire day of meetings and stuff? Like, did he get ahead of this?
A
It's a good point because we talked a lot about the Steelers having a priest bless their end zone and the Ravens missed a kick. We haven't talked a ton about the Pope being from Chicago. The actual, like, one happens once and then suddenly the Bears are the most miraculous team in the history of the NFL with literally more comeback wins than any team ever. As soon as the Pope is from Chicago. Yeah, I.
B
There's no better example of divine intervention than what the hell is happening in Chicago.
A
It's kind of proof God is real. Like, we should probably get on that.
B
Yeah. Somebody show Ricky Gervais what's happening with the Bears right now.
C
Switching gears a little. I know that we've talked about this on our show before, but I need to bring it up again because it just blows my mind every time I see in NFL commercial breaks are just chock full of these. These new drugs that have come out on the market and they're like, obviously trying to advertise and get people to talk to their doctors about them, but, like, they legitimately. And look, I know there's laws that say they have to do this because whatever, some of these drugs spend like a full minute talking about the horrific ways it's going to make you give you the worst possible death imaginable. There was one. I don't remember what drug it was. I probably should have written this down, but it was literally one of the side effects was bleeding between the anus and genitals that could be fatal. Between fatal bleeding of your taint.
B
The taint.
C
Bleeding tape.
A
Bleed to death.
B
How do you bleed out of your taint?
C
You don't want to know.
A
All right, how do you, how do.
B
You, how do you please the whole idea that it's in between. There's nothing there, it's just, it's just skin. How are you bleeding out of that?
C
Craig, I would encourage you not.
A
You don't want to.
C
I would encourage you not to do any Google search.
B
I think that exact ad was playing and I was at my wife's house, my wife's parents house, I should say. And during it, like my mother in law was like, what, what are we listening to? What is this, dude?
C
They legitimately, the, the arc of these, of these commercials is like people having a great time, whatever. They're like, you know, sitting in bathtubs holding hands or whatever. And then they spend a solid 2/3 of the advertisement, which is costing billions of dollars, just listing off horrific side effects. Like the worst side effects you could think up for like the, the solid 2/3 of the commercial. It's just absurd. I can't believe these work, but apparently they do. We had someone email in saying these are like really effective commercials, dude. Well, I'll tell you, just wild.
B
I had my first man, I'm over 30 years old moment a couple weeks ago. I was watching a pharmaceutical ad. I'll say I should talk to my kid. It was for Dupixent. And it was telling me about Dupixent and I was like, holy. I think Dupixent might be able to help me. Should I talk to my doctor about Dupixent?
C
Wait, what's Dupixit?
B
My, my esophagus thing. It like apparently can help with that and it was just FDA approved or whatever. I don't know. They were talking about. They like said the thing that I have.
C
What is the side effects?
B
Oh my God, do I need to talk to my doctor about Dupixent?
C
That's the surest sign that you're getting old.
B
Where am I?
A
Please email us to get all the. I think someone said it like two drugs and a fake one or something. Just email us side effects from these things.
B
Hey, guy.
A
Razi, Rizzi, Trivarium. I don't know. Scott. Yeah, email us the drugs. I wouldn't know these drugs. Email us@ringerfantasyfootball. Gmail.com. i. I had a 30 year old moment too, though, today. I'm embarrassed because, like, now, Craig, we're of the age that the commercials are for us, so it's kind of like the joke at the halftime show. I was like, man, these guys are all old. And then like Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dream. You're like, yeah, thank God it's young now. You're like, oh, my God, they're in their 60s. Like, I'm old. My version of that today was. I was just during a commercial break, I think. Eagles, Niners. I'm kind of just like, I don't know, checking something during the commercial break, and I'm kind of like, bopping my head. I'm like, oh, okay. Like, what is this? I look up and it's the freaking Turbotax. Made, like an anime song or something. Like, they ripped off K Pop Demon Hunters for a Turbo Tax ad. And I was like. I was so. I feel like a part of me died.
B
Dude, there's a. There's a Taco Bell song right now.
A
That one's good.
B
I'm loving.
A
That one's great. That's. That's art.
B
Tender love and care makes life worth living. Tender love. That song's good.
C
Oh, yeah.
B
Song is good.
A
Oh, yeah. No, there's no shame in that one.
B
Oh.
C
Anyway, one more. And please, related to doctors, what we need to, like, upgrade. It feels like this was introduced into the NFL as a stopgap measure because at one point, we had to figure out the concussion situation and how players could be checked for concussions. So the NFL's sort of ad hoc. We're just going to throw this thing on the sideline, and this will help us with our process of going through concussion checks. The blue tent. Can we get an overhaul on this? Like, this is a $25 billion industry, and they have, like, those little tents you take to the beach.
A
It blows over during the Eagles Bears game. It just, like, blew away somebody's like, $90 massage table.
B
Yank it out of the trunk of his minivan.
A
You got to put the stakes in the ground.
B
Damn it, Marie, you folded it wrong.
A
What's with all.
C
I can't get these poles to sit right.
B
You get the kids to stop badgering me. I'm trying to get the 10 out of the trunk.
C
You know what I think they should do? Well, I started thinking about the Matt Stafford Airstream that he had in the. In the preseason where he's, like, doing this mysterious, like, back treatments, but more realistically, you know, when you Go to. You go to concerts these days, and they have like, the trailers that turn in that are just bathrooms, and they're like. I mean, it's like this is going to the Ritz Carlton compared to going in a porta Potty. These things are nice. They're like air conditioned. They smell good. There's running water in those things.
B
It's freaking crazy.
C
Why can't the NFL have, like, something like that instead of this blue tent that. They only have one of them, too. Like, there's lines into the blue tents.
B
Just get the MRI machine out on the field.
C
Why put it right. Plastic blue tent. Why don't you have something permanent? Why do they have to put the blue tent up every time someone goes in?
B
It doesn't even matter in the playoffs. They don't acknowledge the blue tent in the playoffs. I feel like they kind of just push it to the side again. I can't hard this enough. Devonte Adams was, I think, knocked out.
C
Yeah.
B
And 10 minutes later in the game, they don't. They don't care about the blue tent in the playoffs.
A
There are certainly fewer players in the blue tent. There's no question about that.
B
They're like, josh Allen went into the 10. They checked him for concussion. He didn't have one. I'm like, I would have bet my house that Josh Allen didn't have a concussion.
C
And the wild card route also, like, when the blue tent blew over, you kind of realize how small they are. Like, those are not big tents. Roger Sherman made this point on. On social media that was like, he kind of always pictured, you know, in. In Harry Potter water, how, like, when you go into, like, the magic tents, it like, turns into this, like, cavernous tent with, like, six rooms and it just looks like a little teeny tin.
A
Dude. I. I was thinking about that. What game was it this weekend where there was like, a line for the tent? What game was that where there was.
B
They were stamping your wrist.
A
Oh, it was Kyle Hamilton. Collab collided a loe Gilman and Skylah is the best player in defense and he's waiting for the others. Raven to get out of the tent. And I'm like, this is the problem. There's a lie.
C
Craig, do the. The Bill Hader, the hottest club in town for the tent.
B
Oh, Stefan. New York's hottest club is the blue tent. It's got everything. A white folding table. Weird coaches. Brian Dabal.
C
Brian Daal's in there.
A
So good. My only. My intrusive thought today was, did you guys see during Sunday Football, the Patriots, Chargers thing. There was all this stuff about Justin Herbert's wristband, which Chris Collinsworth nailed.
C
Oh yeah, this was a good flopping.
A
And he's running.
C
That bugs me too.
A
And it's Velcro, so he runs and it's just flopping everywhere.
B
You gotta do the slip on like dk.
A
My intrusive thought was, why, why can't we just fix that? Just over gets paid $50 million a year.
C
Can't you just get like a rubber band to go over it?
A
Dude, he said they were like, got a rubber band.
B
He likes to look at both sides. What are you gonna do?
A
No, but he, they were like, can't you fix it? He's like, I try to reset it, but we can't, it can't be done. And I was like, I'm.
C
We have the technology to do something about they.
A
I've seen that Charger facility. They have a brick oven pizza oven with the Chargers logo on it and they don't have a fucking wristband that Justin Herbert can use.
C
That's a good point.
A
That's weird.
C
It is very weird.
B
That's a bad look.
A
That's, that's all just like work on that. There's some homework.
C
Not aerodynamic. It always bugs me when they're running around and things fucking flopping all over the place. Like when you're driving and you're like, tarp gets loose and it's just flapping at like stressful, stressful levels. Come on, figure that out. Tie that down, strap it down.
B
Look, I'm not, I'm nothing if I'm not open minded. Okay?
C
I know where this is going.
B
I would like to give credit where credit is due. And I thought Tom Brady was a lot better today. I think this was the best game Brady's ever done, ever called.
C
I think he should get a drug test. They're, they're sending, they're sending a drug test to his locker right now because.
A
He'S not on drugs. He can't go on air.
B
I mean, all of the, all the Golden Globes were tonight and there were stars up there joking that, you know, oh, they forgot to take their beta blocker before giving their acceptance speech. Brady, the beta blocker was working nicely for Brady. He was so much calmer.
C
I thought his voice was several octaves lower. Yes.
B
He wasn't yelling. He wasn't doing the like KB on third.
C
He was just talking like a normal person.
A
Sent him our show because Craig, like seven days ago made fun of Brady for always like yelling into A microphone. Like he's on speaker with his parents or something.
B
I was on Bill's pod and I.
A
Think someone sent that to Tom Brady because now he just doesn't do that anymore. And he was 100 times better.
B
You don't think he had seen a single criticism until last week?
A
I don't. He fixed it. You went on Bill's show and said he yells. He's been yelling for two years. And then seven days he just stopped doing it. I think he saw you.
B
Well, that'd be great. And you know what? It paid off. I thought he was. I thought he was way better.
C
Pretty.
A
Tom, great job. Thanks for taking feedback. I I Tom Brady today was what we thought Tom Brady being an announcer would be the whole time, which was honestly, I think him talking about threw footballs in the win was some of the best thing I've ever heard. Like, his whole thing about you can't. The point of the ball going up too high, it's going to sail and you have to keep it lower. Was dead on. Every time he talked about the Eagles needing tempo was right. He nailed the final play of the game was he was dead right about what solid was going to do on defense. Like Brady was had the perspective of something that nobody else in the world could really deliver. Like, that's what we thought. He. He was amazing. I thought this was by far the best game he's ever announced.
B
I agree. He did a good job.
C
The part where he was talking about hyph, as you said, the throwing in the wind, and he was like, sometimes you throw and the bottom of your hand is around the ball, makes like a V, but if it's windy, it should become out like a C. And I was like, wow. And then I could totally picture how he throws the football.
A
Yeah.
C
And it was always with the C. Yeah. For whatever reason. And yeah, that was pretty good, dude.
A
There's a video on YouTube of Tom Brady on his own channel just like, how to throw football. And I just watched it because you should. I don't know. I figured I should probably know I throw football from Tom Brady.
B
Do you feel like you know now?
A
No. It fixed my golf swing. I shit you not.
B
The football advice fixed your golf swing.
A
Watching Tom Brady's video on how to throw, he says in the middle of it, it's like your golf swing. And I was like, oh, my God, it is like my golf swing. I realized what I was doing wrong. I went out the next day, added 30 yards to my drive. Just watching Tom.
B
Is that before or after you and.
A
I played an infomercial before, the way I hit you, I was.
B
Because you were piping your drives with me.
A
It's. Tom Brady helped me. Tom Brady added 25 yards to my drive. Serious.
B
There's a real relationship we have with him now. You saw the clip of him. He saw the clip of us.
A
Dude. I literally was like. Because you're like, you know, throwing a football. And I was like, oh, my God. I just put the hands down, and then you swing. You're like, oh, it's the same thing.
C
I can just picture Heifet so clearly swinging a driver. Like, it's just. It's just clear in my mind.
B
It is exactly what you think it is.
A
Just jam my golf shoes on. No time.
C
Yeah, he's got, like, his. Like, his back heel on. One of his shoes is, like, folded into the shoe. He's never bothered to fix it.
B
It may look unorthodox. He pipes it, so you gotta be with him.
A
All right, well, Tom Brady. Thank you.
C
It's whistling off the teeth. Any.
A
Any referee moments bother you guys today?
B
No. Nobody seemed to be as upset as I was about this, but two different games today with hands to the face against the quarterback just not called. There was one in the very obvious Chargers game. Like, Herbert got smacked in the face.
C
Right.
B
It's a crucial third down. What about a first down? It wasn't even the replay. Like, the live play itself. I noticed it. Herbert immediately is, like, looking up at the ref, pointing at his helmet like, hey, this guy obviously hit me in the face. Nothing. Nothing. And then the broadcast is like, yeah, they missed call. They missed that.
A
Sometimes I wonder if replay assist is like taking a piss. Just. I just don't understand.
B
Well, we need people who don't piss. We need Scott Hansen doing replay.
A
Scott Hansen should be doing the freaking red zone. I just. There's one game on. I understand what's the early window. And the dirty secret is there's eight games on and they're busy. There's one game. It's a playoffs. What are you doing?
B
And I think it happened. I think it was Josh Allen happened to. I just, like. I'm like, I don't know what. By the letter of the law, that's a penalty.
C
So. I totally agree.
A
I want to go to the Lucille Bluth I don't understand the stat and I won't respond to it award, AKA the best stat today. And I want to just note the Saquon Barkley one play before he got hurt for the Eagles. They were Like Saquon Barkley. Now the Eagles all time leading rusher in the playoffs.
B
What has he played? Four game. Five games.
A
Five. Five playoff games for the Eagles.
C
Damn.
A
He's been there two seasons. All time leader for rushing for the Eagles.
C
Wild.
A
I blew by, isn't it?
B
Didn't he only play four? They probably had a buy last year, right?
A
No, they actually did play the. The Lions were the number one seed actually last year.
B
Oh yeah.
A
One and done.
B
Playoffs five games all time. Who's, who's, did you say who was second?
C
Brian Westbrook.
A
I assume it was Brian Westbrook. Well that's what's amazing is the Eagles made the NFC Championship game four years in a row with Andy Reid. Like I, I can't believe whatever I, I, I didn't think the Saquon wounds could still hurt me, but that did. I also want to just note that Cam Little, the Jaguars kicker, his career long like they put that when you're in a field goal range, they're trying to get a field goal, they'll put the career long up and his is at the 50 and it will. He's the youngest kicker in the league. So it will be like that forever and I'll never get used to it.
C
Just get to the 50.
B
What's funny about him is he doesn't look imposing physically. He doesn't have these like giant legs or he has like. He's like thin guy. I don't know. You wouldn't expect that. He's the one who has the 67 yard leg in him. He's like Yamamoto. It's like all, it's all angles. You know what I mean?
C
Didn't expect him to have such a big.
B
He doesn't lift weights. It's all about torque.
C
It's always the skinny guys.
A
Any, any other stats that kind of other than everything from Indiana Oregon.
B
Do you want to you. I have a stat from that game that comes.
A
I, I. There were a lot of stats from that game that that might be the best.
B
That was a disappointing game. My brother went to Oregon so I was rooting for Oregon. Tough couple of years for Oregon in the semifinal. This is so that game against Oregon was the Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza. That was his fifth game this year with more touchdowns than incompletions. No other quarter five times he's done that this year. No other quarterback in college football has done that more than twice this century.
C
Wow.
A
Dude. The efficiency, the I it's the meme is just. I'm going to keep it as my comparison for Mendoza, which is that Fernando Mendoza is the Andrew Luck of Kirk Cousins.
B
Yeah. Everything just looks so easy. It's almost like Drake Bay this year where I'm like, I don't even know what to do with this.
A
I. I mean, I mean, Indiana, they beat Oregon 56, 22. It's like a Super bowl of Chiefs, Eagle score where it's like it was 56 to like 10. I feel like entering the game, Fernando Mendoza's Indiana. Dante Moore Jr. Oregon. It was like if they both come out for the draft, like, who one of them could go number one to the Raiders. Dk, can we just call it?
C
This is over.
A
You're a draft expert here at the ringer. This is over, right?
C
Like, I would think, think.
A
Yeah, those is the number one.
B
I mean, Dante might come back.
C
Right?
A
But also, but even if he comes out, Brady is going to love Mendoza. Everything about him. He's six, five. He has the frame, the intangibles. I.
C
He throws with a C. I mean, look at him.
A
Throws.
C
Throws the ball with a C. Yeah. No, I, I can't imagine that they'll talk themselves out of what he's done. I mean, like, it, it just so perfect too, for the Raiders in particular, who need it type of player who can like elevate this franchise that's just been so bad for so long. You know, what Indiana is doing is unprecedented and crazy and awesome. But yeah, I mean, he just continues to be more. It's like every game he plays, he's more and more impressive. It just feels like he's cemented himself as the number one pick. But, you know, we have, we have a lot of time between now and the draft to start picking him apart.
B
That's right. And, and, and remember, we won't actually see him do anything for the next three. He's going to play catch, but our opinions are going to change drastically.
A
That's the thing, Craig. We always. Deacon, we always joke every year that we'd be better at drafting if we just did it right when the season ends. And this is like, I'm locking. There's so many things I want to, like, skill, like a time capsule right now and then just open up again the weekend of the draft and just make the decisions that way. This is number one of them all. It's like Dante Moore Jr. Just played the biggest game of his life. Say what you want. It was the worst game of his life.
C
And he threw a pick six on the first throw. Yeah, yeah, right.
A
He had three turnovers in the first half. Was the biggest game of his life.
B
In a way that I've never seen done before.
C
He.
B
He. His ball hit the running back as he was trying to throw. I've never seen that before.
A
There was just so many mistakes. And then you look at Mendoza and you're like the two biggest games of his life. He had more touchdowns than completions in both games. And so there's nothing to talk about. As we go to the offseason, everything. We talk more about Indiana, what Kurt Signetti has done there. Kurt Signetti did not smile until they had 55 points like that guy. It's a sight. We. We can unpack all that. But here's the most important part from this game, maybe the most important part of this entire episode. My stat that I would like to give you guys the. Is I couldn't believe this. This is from Greg Harvey had this stat.
C
Greg G. Reg.
A
FBA. Like college football. FBS are equivalent teams in college football that have scored 55 points and won by 30 or more points seven different times in a season. So you won by 30 and you scored 57 times in a season. Indiana this year.
C
Wow.
A
And then Princeton in 1887 and Yale in 1886.
C
The 1800s.
B
How do we even have record of that?
C
Was football even around then?
B
It was writing that down.
A
So I'm glad you asked. It's harder than you think to find the roster for the 1886 Yellow Bulldogs, right? But I did.
C
Hell yeah.
B
Some notebook buried underground that somebody dug up.
C
What was. What was that? Nick Cage, national treasure.
A
National treasure.
C
He's stealing it.
A
I. It also tested my. I wasn't totally sure when football had been invented. I ate. This is like the cutting edge of football being invented.
C
This like pretty much rugby back then.
A
So let me tell you guys about someone I discovered on this. Yale, 1886. But do not look at anything. If you look them up right now, I'll kill you.
C
You.
A
Amos Alonzo Stag.
B
Okay, Amos Stag.
A
Amos Alonzo Stagg was on the 1886 Yale Bulldogs. He played end.
B
Of course. They all do.
A
So he became. He became like a coach, like a true American sports pioneer. He was like the football coach at Yale, the baseball coach, the basketball, like everything. Like he was doing all this stuff, like a 60 year coaching career.
C
He was the coach.
A
He. Well, he died. Well, I'm saying later, not. Not on that team, but he died at like 93 in the 1950s. So he lived quite the life. I want to. There is. You want to talk about a legacy? I would like to read you a list of things on Wikipedia that Alonzo Amos, Alonzo Staggs, Wikipedia, says that he invented or helped invent the jump shot. I'm going to read you this list. First on the list, the center snapping the ball. Invented by innovator.
C
Innovator. I love it.
A
Writing down plays in a book.
C
That makes sense.
B
It was easy back then, man.
C
Yeah, you're an early adopter.
B
Coming up with a new idea now is borderline impossible.
C
They've thought of everything.
B
Him being like, what if we wrote down the things that we said we're going to do.
A
Dude, in 1899, this guy invented the tackling dummy. He invented putting guys in motion before the snap.
C
Now we're talking. Wow.
A
He and Walter camp together. Invented the forward pass. Right Again, low hanging fruit. They invented hip pads, putting pads around the goalposts. And my personal favorite is he invented the linebacker.
C
They were all just standing on the line before that.
A
He was like, we need someone behind this. Now they all line up.
B
This guy's a visionary.
C
11 against 11 and a line.
A
So.
C
Straight line. God, I love it.
A
Stagger.
C
It's like Revolutionary War tactics.
A
It's like trench warfare. He's like, I got a better idea. So I'm reading this guy's Wikipedia, I'm having a blast. And then I stop in my tracks and I read the following sentence. He played in the first public game of basketball.
B
Public what?
A
And then it says, stag developed basketball as a five player sport.
B
Holy shit.
C
He invented football and basketball.
A
Yes. So in the.
C
What if he had like a different job?
B
Wait, what is the guy's name? What do you call Peach Basket? Who's that guy?
A
James Naismith.
B
Naismith, right.
A
Who was a teacher at the YMCA school in Springfield, Massachusetts in the 1890s. Do you know who else was a teacher at the Springfield school in Springfield, Massachusetts? YMCA in the 1890s?
B
My boy stags.
A
Amos Alonzo Stagg, who was invited to the first game of basketball by his fellow teacher, James Naismith, because he was the football coach and it was nine on nine. And Amos feedback to James Naismith was we got to take it down a notch.
B
And social network, he's like, lose, lose the four.
A
Just five. Just, just five. This guy made basketball five on five.
C
This guy's like the Isaac Newton of sports.
B
Yeah.
A
Vetted Cal because he was bored.
C
He's like the Michelangelo of sports. Wait, who? No, Da Vinci. Who's the guy who invented like the helicopter in the 15?
A
Oh, da Vinci came up yeah, the helicopter in the 50s.
C
He like, invented a bridge.
A
I said he was. He was to win a bet. Yeah. The. Then he was like buried. Is he. He was the baseball coach. He invented the batting game. Edge.
C
Man. What would this country look like if this guy just decided to get into something else?
B
I was going to say I'd rather he focus on sports, to be honest. That's really important. Yeah.
C
Wow.
B
Also kind of like a. Focused on safety, you know, he was thinking long term.
A
Yeah.
C
Yeah. The long game.
B
Yeah.
A
So that was my wormhole. I could. I. I just reading about his name, Stag. And I'm reading about this guy who played end at Yale and they're like, yeah, he made basketball. Five person sport.
C
All right.
B
Amos Stag. Wait, you said that. How long did he live?
A
93.
C
They all did back then, man.
B
Why am I. I'm looking at his. Wikipedia. Was he born in 1862? This is him, right? It says he was 102 when he died.
C
They don't actually know when he was born.
A
Well, I don't think they wrote down birthdays until actually very recently.
B
Oh, I'm just looking at the guy.
C
Who invented writing down birthdays.
A
Oh, then he. Oh, yeah, you're right. He died. 1965. That's crazy.
B
102 years old. This guy lived.
A
Oh, you know.
B
Wow.
A
He died on March 17th.
B
That's crazy. This guy was probably eating steak, potatoes, and heavy milk every day.
C
Whiskey, cigarettes out of lead. Silverware out of. Out of lead cups.
B
Everything was made of lead.
C
Yeah.
B
And he lived to 102.
C
Built diff.
B
God. I think we should bring back end as a position. Right. It's like when people are linebackers. It's like Will Anderson's a linebacker. It's like he's an end. Call him an end. Yeah.
C
Get rid of edge. Just say end.
A
He's an end.
C
We all do that.
A
Well, they have that. They have defensive end.
B
I know. I just want end.
C
Yeah, lose the defensive.
B
Hey, just lose the.
A
Do you guys have anything else or should we just end?
B
Maybe we should just end.
C
I want to hear Craig talk about the Golden Globes.
B
It's kind of a boring. Golden Globes. The Golden Globes are a weird award.
A
Show, but you just say that Amy Poehler of the Ringer won the podcast.
B
That was cool. I mean, look, it was. It's. It's the. It was the first year ever that there was a best podcast category at any award show. Really? The Golden Globes decided to launch that and Amy Poehler of the Ringer one.
C
Hell, yeah.
B
That was cool.
A
R. Never lost.
C
Hell yeah.
B
Never lost. Golden Globe winning company.
C
Amazing.
A
We never lost. All right, well, we're next, so there you go. Watch out, Amy. Okay, I, I, I, I. I don't think Amy knows who we are.
B
No shot.
C
No.
A
Zero chance. Thank you, dk. Thank you, Craig. I bet she knows who Amos Alonso Stag is, though. That guy's a legend. Thank you, dk. Thank you, Craig. Thank you, Cam. Thank you, Carlos. Thank you, Kai. Thank you, Austin. Thank you, everyone, for making this happen. Thank you, Netflix, for letting us do that one episode and then kicking us off after we played Farter Shard on the show. So that one was cool. But hopefully all the rest of our shows will be on Netflix the rest of 2026. Thank you, everyone who watched us here on Netflix. We appreciate it, and thank you everyone who didn't. But put hit play and walked away and just let it play that. Just do that.
B
Just do that.
A
Just do that. Walk away.
B
Go to sleep.
C
He's got the little bird thing that, like, hits the button on the keyboard.
A
Let's do that.
C
Let's get that going. Set that up.
B
We need, like, a whole click farm for our show that we need to build.
A
That's a good idea.
C
Yeah.
A
And of course, thank you, Lord.
C
Lord. Thank you, Lil Wayne. Speaking of that tweet High Fitz that he sent about Caleb Williams, he has 28 million followers on Twitter.
B
Lil Wayne.
C
Lil Wayne does. I can't even, like, imagine that. Think about the. Think about his Reply.
B
I have 28,000, so.
C
28 million million.
A
What's funny about that, Craig, is if I told you you were 1000 times less famous than the Wayne, you'd be like, that's pretty good.
B
Not bad.
A
I can't take that.
B
I have it to the.
A
Don't you.
B
Aren't you a big fan of Lil Wayne?
A
Yeah, I like little. Yeah. I'm a white kid from the suburbs, 30 years old. Of course I like Lil Wayne.
B
DK, do you like Lil Wayne?
C
Yeah.
A
Why do you think Baker Mayfield and I are the exact same age and also just love the line, like, real GS move in silence like lasagna.
B
It's because, you know, that is a good line.
C
Do you guys hear the. The joke on that commercial with. No, I'm. Remember, I'm misremembering his name. The Bradley Cooper where he's like, baker Mayfield sounds like a farm to table something or other. That is actually pretty.
A
Yeah, we don't talk enough that Baker Mayfield's name Is Baker.
C
Baker Mayfield. Sounds like a farm to table pop up restaurant.
B
You're listening to Lil Wayne. I'm listening to Denver. Love and care, which I'm now learning is from a man named Jimmy Rogers.
A
Jimmy Rogers wrote the Taco Bell song.
B
Born in 1897, he played in the.
A
First game of basketball.
B
Yeah, that's right. And he invented Taco Bell.
C
Genius.
B
Genius makes a live worth living. Come on.
C
Do you get. When was the last time you guys went to Taco Bell? Are you guys still doing Taco Bell or are you too old for that now?
B
I haven't been to Taco Bell in. In probably since college.
A
I actually didn't go to Taco Bell until I was like 27.
C
Really?
A
There wasn't one around me. And then like in.
C
Oh, man, I used to picking up.
B
Cigarettes at 60 years old.
C
Taco Bell was like one of my biggest vices in my life. I see. I see Taco Bell when I drive by Taco Bell. I just kind of like look at it wistfully like, man, I missed that.
A
Those were the days.
B
You could still have it on your way home from work. Nobody has to know. Pull into the drive, suck down a chalupa. You're home in 10 minutes. I know, but.
C
But then, you know, there's all kinds of questions that come related to that, like why. What's that smell? Why are you in the bathroom for an hour? Hour. Things of that nature, you know.
B
Why are there all these empty Baja Blast cups in the. In the trunk of your.
C
Why is this. What's the. What. What's the spicy sauce called? Why do we have six packets of hot sauce?
B
Whatever it's called.
C
Fire.
A
Oh, fire sauce.
B
Why is there's. Why are there cinnamon crumbs all over your seat? Cinnamon twists. Those are good.
A
Should we get Taco Bell next time? I. I don't know any is. I just know them from the commercials.
C
Just miss it so much.
B
I haven't had it in a while. I'm not sure how my body would react.
C
The way that Chris Ryan talks about cigarettes is how I feel about Taco Bell.
B
They should make nicotine patches for fast food.
A
We should cut that from the show and like make that business and like stop doing this pot.
B
It'd be pretty good.
A
You should. It should put the nicotine patch right in your tongue and it tastes like a Dorito Locos Tac. Wait, we actually got like a Taco Bell Zin. It's a zen.
B
But it's for. But it's for f. Fat food. Just Tastes like it's for junk food.
C
Tastes like their fire sauce.
B
Yeah.
C
Slow release.
B
And it's just called Junk. That's the name of the company.
A
Junk. Yeah, it's zins for fast food. We're going to joke about this, but someone listening is going to do this and they're going to be worth like.
B
But I guess. Do you want the flavor of Taco Bell in your mouth all day?
A
Yes, very much so.
B
All day.
A
Absolutely. An hour to talk. It's like the tuna. It's like we can't get nine hours of this, but 45 minutes, an hour and 10. No problem.
B
Yeah, yeah. And like, you know, I guess you don't have to do it all day. You could have. You could have one or two junks for a couple hours.
C
Just when you start feeling a little jittery.
B
Yeah. You could eat a salad with a junk in. Tastes like Taco Bell.
A
Why can't we do this? If they can make potato chips taste like roast chicken or whatever weird ass flavors they have in lays in Europe.
B
Have you seen that video of that woman? I don't even know if this was like, fake. This was like for Mad TV or SNL or something, but it was like some woman and she's like, oh, yeah, like, I figured out how to eat better. And she sniffs a chocolate bar and then takes a bite of broccoli.
C
Tricking your body.
B
Which is funny because, like, chocolate doesn't really smell. Like, that's not. That's like the worst thing you could pick. Well, oh, man.
C
What was your go to Taco Bell thing?
B
Yeah, I just like chalupas.
C
Chalupas are so good.
B
I thought like, whatever that, like weird tortilla is, it's like lightly fried or. The chalupa tortilla is so good.
C
I love the like multi layered stuff, man. So good.
A
Taco Bell. Like, get in touch, please. Ringerfantasy football.
B
Gmail.com junk food zins are. That's the next.
A
Someone's gonna make that zit. I mean, do you know which zit is sold every year?
B
Can we just verbally copyright that? That's ours, I declare. Yeah, yeah, we.
A
That's our idea. We should come up. God, we're gonna not be rich from that. That's too bad. That's. That's gonna happen.
C
All right.
A
If someone wants to make that with us, email us and.
B
Yeah, come on.
A
Pinky promise to cut it. Actually, that's the deal. If you're hearing this and you're gonna go build that business, you have to Pinky promise to give us like a percent. Don't Eduardo savage us.
B
Exactly. We're not 1% each. Big deal. You sell percentage $50 billion. What's the big deal?
A
97% years. We want a percent. That's it. Junk. Okay. That's legally binding, too. Goodbye, everyone.
C
Foreign.
A
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Date: January 12, 2026
Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, Craig Horlbeck
This episode provides a vibrant breakdown of one of the wildest NFL wild-card weekends in recent memory. Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck recap the best (and worst) moments: major comebacks, upsets, coach and player storylines, and the cultural moments surrounding the games. The episode features a detailed discussion on the Bears' revival under Caleb Williams, Shanahan’s injury-ravaged 49ers outlasting the Eagles, disciplined brilliance from Josh Allen and the Bills, and a look at both the fortunes and icks of the Rams and other weekend losers. As always, the Ringer hosts blend sharp football analysis with humor, tangents, and pop-culture riffs (culminating in a riff on Taco Bell-flavored Zyns).
"Teams of destiny don’t give a shit about statistics or regression or any of that stuff."
— Craig [05:53]
"Caleb Williams is maybe the best quarterback in the history of the Bears already."
— Heifetz [11:05]
"Shanahan, what he's done, taking this jalopy ass roster...they knocked off the defending champs in their place..."
— Craig [21:07]
“This, today, was the most disciplined game of Josh Allen's entire career."
— Heifetz [36:38]
"He's just a frickin' superhero out there, man. He just keeps going."
— Danny Kelly [37:20]
"If the Bears fire LaFleur, I think the Giants should hire him in 19 seconds."
— Heifetz [49:10]
"It's fun to see these guys who are the freaks mature...It's like when Happy learned how to putt."
— Craig [40:29]
"He is Aaron Rodgers...these are Caleb’s words, not mine."
— Heifetz [12:17]
“The ick of the week would be my quarterback, who can squat 600lb, slides more than the opposing team’s quarterback who probably weighs 100lb less than him.”
— Craig [29:59]
| Segment | Topic/Description | Timestamp | |------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------|---------------| | Opening | Wild Card Weekend History and Netflix move | 00:52–03:11 | | Record Comebacks | Drama and comeback stats recap | 03:11–04:54 | | Bears-Packers | Detailed breakdown of comeback, Caleb Williams, culture | 04:54–15:05 | | Ben Johnson’s Impact | Coaching and Bears' culture shift | 09:24–10:45 | | Caleb Williams vs. Packers | Bears QB history, Rodgers comparisons | 10:59–13:48 | | City Celebrations/Social Buzz | Cheese Grater hat, Lil Wayne, and Bears revival | 14:20–15:05 | | 49ers-Eagles | Shanahan’s magic, injuries | 21:00–27:29 | | Eagles’ Issues & Future | Failures, coaching, player problems, future questions | 27:29–34:52 | | Bills-Jags, Josh Allen | Allen’s discipline and clutch play | 36:38–41:21 | | Rams’ Victory & “Ick” | Underwhelming performance, playoff analysis | 67:05–73:05 | | Chargers’ O-line Problems | Herbert, coaching, fundamental OL issues | 75:25–77:12 | | Farter/Sharp Segment | LaFleur job security, Packers offseason | 44:09–54:29 | | Intrusive Thoughts | Chiefs/Eagles absence, pharma ads, blue tent tangents | 79:06–89:10 | | Tom Brady Broadcasting | Praise for improved commentary | 89:34–91:49 | | Historical Stat Wormhole | Amos Alonzo Stagg, Inventor of Playbooks & Five-on-Five | 98:43–104:13 | | Brainstorm: Taco Bell “Zyns” | Junk food craving solutions | 110:13–112:21 |
Throughout, the show is animated, accessible, and laced with inside jokes and cultural asides. The trio keep the analysis sharp yet conversational, bringing levity to the postseason’s tension. NFL fans and casual listeners alike get both a serviceable recap and an entertaining, personality-driven conversation.
Notable Email Invitation:
Send your “players with cool names who don’t live up to them,” or report innovative Taco Bell products, to ringerfantasyfootball@gmail.com.
"Thank you, Netflix, for letting us do that one episode and then kicking us off after we played Farter Shark."
— Heifetz [106:29]