JB's Sports Podcast
JB's Sports Podcast
Ohio State Finishes the National Championship Run and NFL Divisional Round Recap
What happens when relentless strategy meets raw talent on the football field? Experience the emotional rollercoaster as we relive Ohio State's journey to capturing the national championship. We kick off with a fun chat about anime and Ohio State spirit gear, setting the stage for a deep dive into the heart-pounding game against Notre Dame. From a fan promising a tattoo if the team won to pivotal plays that tilted the scales, discover how the Buckeyes overcame the odds, silencing earlier disappointments to reclaim their glory.
Feel the thrill of Ohio State's clutch victory moment, where every decision and play mattered, particularly when Jeremiah Smith, Will Howard, and TreVeyon Henderson created magic on the field. This electrifying chapter captures the strategic moves and intense determination that saw Notre Dame's fierce challenge met with an unyielding response from Ohio State. It's a testament to the grit and skill that define championship-winning teams and the leadership of head coach Ryan Day, whose guidance has proven invaluable in this storied season.
After that we dive into the recap of Divisional round in the NFL playoffs. Does Kansas City benefit from calls from officials, especially in their latest game against the Texans. How much blame does Lamar Jackson deserve in his latest playoff loss to the Bills? We also discuss the Lions soul crushing defeat to the Commanders as well as the Eagles' close win over the Rams in a snow globe game.
welcome back to jesus podcast. Today is tuesday, january the 21st. We're back for the podcast. We back baby. I already don't want to do this anymore.
Speaker 2:I already want I held it in for so good. We've been talking for about like about an hour about many other things that have nothing to do with sports at all. We were just catching up talking about anime and all that, but I held it in for long enough. You said I couldn't wear any Ohio State gear coming into your place. It's just a hat. I have to wear it because I have to hide my hair somehow when I go to the gym after this. So, but now? But this is where I get to have my moment to shine, because this has been an all-year thing.
Speaker 2:It starts off the year and it's to start with a dream. Every team, if you're a fan of whatever team you have, you just start the year with a dream of hey, at the end of the year I'm just going to be the last team standing to hoist that trophy and call myself a national champion. And after last nightay january 20th, I can now not only call my favorite team probably a oj's, I may. I told fonzo, I promised this. I told fonzo that if we won a national championship, that I would get a tattoo of Ohio State. It wasn't a bet or anything, but I told him specifically no, not to anybody else. I said fine, so I'm letting you know this right now. This was around the Tennessee game yeah, that if we won a national championship I'm going to get a tattoo of Ohio State of some sort. So there you go. I might have to actually pay up on that. Do I actually want to? Probably not, because tattoos cost a lot of money.
Speaker 1:They don't. Huh, they don't. Why would you want to put shit on your body?
Speaker 2:That's not what it is, though it's the ultimate thing and, honestly, ohio State's probably my deepest fandom. That is, deepest root. It's almost like I bleed, scarlet and gray, which I kind of do because of how I was raised up. Grandmother was a Buckeye fan and all that, but the Buckeyes have every dream that they started the year with. Not every dream, obviously no beating Michigan, no Big Ten championship. Those are things that I'm going to have to live with, and I think it'll be a lot easier now going to sleep with it at night with a national championship on my mind and it was last night for sure. I can tell anybody that maybe wants to hate listening to this podcast it's probably going to be Ohio State-based, how I named the podcast today Hate listening. I'm going to let you know If you're thinking that this is going to be one of those podcasts with an Ohio State fan that's going to talk about oh, what happened in the Michigan game? Nope, nope, not me. This game has the National Championship, has wiped away everything. I don't give two fucks about what anybody says about anything, but let me, I'll get to that in a minute. Let's talk about the game that happened, because you watched a good portion of it. I think you watched all of it because of how it kind of left at the end, even though you really wanted it to end. But let's talk about the game that happened last night.
Speaker 2:Ohio State Buckeyes, notre Dame fighting Irish Started the game last night, ohio State coming to an eight-and-a-half point favorite, and it was a good start to a game. How the game started Notre Dame takes the ball first because obviously Ohio State wins the toss. They decide to take it at halftime, which is great. That's how Ohio State really done this all years, where, hey, we want the ball after halftime so we can kind of win the middle eight, which is what they call the last four minutes of the half and the first four minutes of like the second half. So you get the ball to Notre Dame first.
Speaker 2:Notre Dame takes the ball and they go on a 18 play, 75 yard touchdown drive. And let me make sure I get this right um play, my play. It was an 18 play, 75 yard drive. They take nine minutes and 45 seconds on this drive. They barely throw the football whatsoever. They pretty much run all the way and it was really powered by riley leonard like he ran the ball like nine times of those 18 plays nine, ten times by the end of it and he got the touchdown run. Of credit to him. He ran with power, he, he put his body on the line great credit to him. And the off the line was getting some push. I'm like, oh okay.
Speaker 2:But it seems like ohio state was really going throughout that first drive saying, hey, we're gonna see if we can stop the run game by not sending extra guys. We're just going to have a light box and not really put extra men towards it and we're going to see if it works. It didn't work. Notre Dame ran the football, riley Leonard ran like crazy and they got the touchdown run. But the thing is that as the drive went longer and longer, rylinder took longer and longer to get up off the ground and by the end of the drive he was the dead man walking and he ended up. I'm not sure if you saw this on the broadcast, but they were talking about how he was throwing up on the sideline after this drive. Yeah, because they ran him into the fucking ground and I'm even as it was happening. I was like, I was frustrated because I'm like we couldn't stop him on third down multiple times. But at the same time I was like this they can't do this all game. They're gonna kill the man. So I'm like they're gonna have to find something else they want to do.
Speaker 2:And after that drive, ohio State gets the ball and they take the ball right down the field 11 play, 75 yard touchdown drive. Um, they ended with a Jeremiah Smith touchdown absolutely awesome. They did like a thing where they faked him doing an end around, made the corner that was on him, think that it was the end, around was coming and then jeremiah smith turned right around easy touchdown pass. One of the easiest touchdown jeremiah smith will ever have in his life. Um so, but after that the defense literally said for like the net.
Speaker 2:Pretty much the next two quarters said hey, the whole the ryan leonard running thing, we're not gonna let you do that anymore. We're gonna. We're gonna blitz on normal downs, we're gonna send extra guys, we're gonna make sure you can't run the football and we're gonna make sure the ryan leonard has to stay in this pocket and he's gonna have to make a play. We may not get to him all the time because we're gonna stay on our rushing lanes. We're not going to over pursue and give him space to get out and get on the run and like, make and get extra yards. That way he's gonna have to throw the football and for the most part in this game, and especially in the first half, um, in the second half gets a little wonkier, but in the first half he couldn't do anything. He was missing passes all over the place like easy passes. It was like I'm like, and that's how the game was supposed to go, we kept getting stops and Ohio State goes on a 21-0 second quarter run. We're up 21 seconds at halftime.
Speaker 2:Like this is, ohio State has total control. They go on three drives in a row in the first half and they score a touchdown on each one of them. And Will Howard is great. He makes the passes. I think he was up like 14 of 14 at one point in this game. He cannot be stopped. And I think all the touchdown to Jeremiah Smith. And then you had two more Quinn Sean touchdowns One that was a rushing touchdown and then you had one that was a receiving touchdown. Awesome, he was great. We ran the football effectively. Everything was going well for this Ohio State offense. The offensive line was running well, I think in this game. I think they ran for like 200 yards. So like the offensive line really did their jobs in this game and they really protected Will Howard for the most part. So the way this game was going in the first half and as it started the second quarter, in the third quarter, like Ohio State really was dominating the game and coming out of halftime Ohio State scores again. We're up 28 to 7.
Speaker 2:At that point it feels like it's a party, because I'm gonna talk speak for myself and, I think, for the team, because the way they played in the second half it was like once that last touchdown happened, um, with like, let's see, with like two minutes left in the two minutes left in the third quarter, no, sorry, in the second quarter it was a two minute. In the second quarter it was a two-minute drive. Sorry. With like 12 minutes 46 seconds left, halstead gets a touchdown. Quinshawn another touchdown run. He had three touchdowns in this game. He was absolutely awesome and they did what they had to do. It was a party. We're fine, we're good. Notre Dame ends up going taking the ball and they end up getting turned over on downs. They try to go for a fake punt. That fake punt was the worst thing of all time, because I'm like Ohio State kept their regular defense out.
Speaker 1:They did. They knew it was going to happen. I would have called a timeout and changed the play. I would have punted the ball.
Speaker 2:Punt the ball or put your offense out there At least put the guys that are actually meant to go on offense. But you go for the super fake punt and Ohio State has their defense out there. And credit to the punter. Even with it being such a tough pass, he made it to where there was a play to be made. That wide receiver could have caught the football. It was a tough catch to be to be made but again it was a punter throwing the football. So and Denzel Burke was sitting there like he didn't want to over pursue and have him go behind him, so that play ends up getting turned over on downs.
Speaker 2:Ohio State takes the ball, goes down for a field goal and you feel like at that point this game is over like this is there's no shot. And next thing, you know, notre Dame in the end kind of makes it, makes it a little bit of a run here. They ended up scoring 18 points between the third and fourth quarter. Um, they had the one big play, um with their uh, gray house, I believe, their wide receiver. Yeah, that was a big play for him. I think it was a. He caught it ended up getting out of two tackles. Caleb downs, missed the tackle on him, and caleb downs has been automatic all year when it comes to tackling. The fact that he got out of that tackle was insane and he made a great play and that was awesome. And then, okay, so Ohio State gets the ball back and they end up going on a nice drive. You're like, okay, we're just going to score again and put it up, go up seven, go up. That made it 15.
Speaker 2:When they end up scoring that touchdown, the two-point conversion, and Ohio State's like, okay, we're gonna go on a nice drive here, we're gonna go out on the field score and Emeka Buka gets forced to fumble and it wasn't on him, he was holding the football. But that defender came in and, really rabbit, punched that ball out and he, the ball came out. They got the ball back and they ended up going down the field again scoring a touchdown. Well, no, sorry, they missed the field again scoring a touchdown. Well, no, sorry, they missed the field goal. So, with that being the point, it's that, even though Ohio State, at this point was up 31-15, the game was pretty much over.
Speaker 2:It felt like it was Notre Dame kept fighting and they missed the field goal. Notre Dame got the turnover goes all the way down the field and they're on the nine-yard line. They're at the OSU 9, first, and goal at the OSU 8, end up getting turned over. They're at fourth and goal on the OSU 9, and they go for a field goal to stay down two possessions. Even if they made that field goal, they were still going to be down two possessions. They would have made it 31 to 31 to 18. I guess if they, if the guy would have made it, it would have given Ohio State a chance to go ahead and like, so they would have only been down a little bit, so they would have down like instead of needing two two-point conversion, they would have seen a touchdown to go ahead and if they were to get and get the ball back and go again, but but they missed it.
Speaker 2:Ohio State gets the ball back, they start playing conservatively. This is the part where it starts getting bad, because Ohio State just starts playing conservative ball. They feel like the game's already in hand. I do kind of. I wish Ohio State would have kept the paddle on the metal a little bit more offensively to where the game didn't even look close at the end, even though I think national audiences. I think everybody understands that Ohio State took their foot off the gas. Notre Dame kept fighting, made it a little bit closer at the end than it definitely was throughout the game. But I just think Ohio State could have made it a little bit easier. But they took their foot off the gas not only offensively but defensively, and Notre Dame kept fighting, kept the game close. They ended up scoring another touchdown with a big Greyhouse touchdown and getting into where it was a one-score game.
Speaker 2:But then Ohio State got the ball back, takes the ball. Nine plays, 61 yards down the field, capped by a Jeremiah Smith absolute dime of a ball. Because on the first down, second down, third down, they go for runs with Will Howard. They didn't try to really do anything. I think they were just trying to get Notre Dame to use their timeouts and then it was third and like 11. Yeah, was that right? Third and 11? They go.
Speaker 2:So Ohio State goes max protection. They have seven guys, I think seven or eight guys protecting Will Howard and they have two guys on the outs. They have two guys on the right with Jeremiah Smith in the tight end and they have Emeka on there and Notre Dame wants to do an all-out blitz. And they blitz Will Howard and they're saying, hey, we're going to be one-on-one on the outside, but we're just going to hope that our guys get to Will Howard before he can get this pass off. No fucking way, that didn't happen.
Speaker 2:They let Jeremiah Smith be one-on-one against this cornerback. They picked on him. All this corner got picked on all game, no matter who he was on. Yeah, they were getting picked on. It's funny because he's actually a pretty good corner he is. But he was 10 yards off of jeremiah smith with inside leverage. Jeremiah smith runs straight at him and then boop runs to the outside. No chance will. How was able to get the ball off. Oh, by the way, I way. I'm not sure if you saw it, but Trayvon Henderson gets a huge, massive block there in the middle.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I saw that he doesn't get that block.
Speaker 2:Will Howard doesn't get the ball off. Yeah, so massive respect to Trayvon, who had an absolutely amazing block to set up this play, but Will Howard cranks a ball so high and it was a perfect pass and it takes a jeremiah smith absolutely amazing ball. There's a picture of him with the ball still in the air and you get to look at the sideline and every person on the sideline has their hand in the air and they're like everybody's like excited, like it already happened.
Speaker 1:I'm like the ball's still in the air. The replay in the replay I could see will howard in the background.
Speaker 2:It's over, like the ball's already up the bill, the ball in the air. He hasn't caught it yet. Everybody's like it's over. It's Jeremiah Smith.
Speaker 1:Will Howard is back five yards. You can see him keep walking Ball's. Not even down yet, will Howard, both hands are in the air.
Speaker 2:It's Jeremiah Smith and the ball, the corner had no chance. He's five yards away. It's all Jeremiah Smith and I have to tell the story, because this is an awesome story. What I'm watching the game, it hasn't happened yet and all I get is this call from jace and I'm like why? Right now he's calling me and all all jay says is he's him.
Speaker 2:I'm like what are you talking about? You said he's him and I'm like what? Like I have what happened. And you're like, oh, I must be ahead of you. And next thing, you know, all I see is I were on the phone, jared, I see this play and I'm like, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, this is great. And I'm like sitting there freaking out and it's like, yeah, I must be like a minute or so ahead of you because I need to pretty much know everything, except for if we want or not, if always, if I say one and I'm like this is awesome, I if the idea that you called at that very moment you said that was like the best moment of all freaking time. I ended ended up texting you after that saying, hey, this is that memory right there of that specific moment, because once that happened, it pretty much clinched the championship. It was over.
Speaker 1:It was over well before that. They made a good play on Emeka Ibuka.
Speaker 2:Without that fumble, that game never even gets close to close.
Speaker 1:I've been wondering is Con, can I take on the draft? He's a sophomore. Yeah, one more thing Emeka Obuka is so much better than everybody gives him credit for, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:His only sin is that he's not Marvin Harrison Jr or Jeremiah Smith. Oh my God, my bad.
Speaker 1:No, his only sin is he wasn't Chris Olave, he wasn't Garrett Wilson. He wasn't Garrett Wilson, he wasn't JSN. He wasn't Marvin Harrison, he's not Jeremiah Smith. Yeah, you were just he's good.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to lie he is. When I look at him, he's the all-time leading receiver in receptions. By the way, at Ohio State he's played great awesome. He has an amazing career.
Speaker 1:He's played great, awesome. He has an amazing career. If he does stuff like that, it's just you are next to transcendent level athleticism. Yeah, now Emeka, because he is a—.
Speaker 2:He's a consistent—he's a grown man playing that position.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:He is a— and he's probably the best blocker at wide receiver ever seen.
Speaker 1:He's a professional in every facet of football. Yeah.
Speaker 2:He is the well. I guess I think his pro comp was marvin harrison, senior. I think he's just a faster. I think he's fat. I think he's not as shifty as jsn, but I think he's faster than jsn, I agree, but he is truly a.
Speaker 1:He is a seasoned professional. He's going to get the nfl and the like. That's a five-year veteran in the nfl.
Speaker 2:Yes because he's that I want him on my team. So bad Dude.
Speaker 1:I would kill for him. I need a grown I need a.
Speaker 2:he is a grown man and again he's played at Ohio State for four years.
Speaker 1:He's seasoned Consistently. This whole team has been. Most of the team has been that way. He's played at Ohio State as a consistent, pretty starter for four straight years.
Speaker 2:Not his freshman year, but his sophomore year he still had Garrett Wilson and Crystal Lovett. Yes, he wasn't starting above them, and JSN.
Speaker 1:He saw JSN too. He was getting touches, just not.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Exactly, and so that was my thing is he's always been a number one receiver, yeah.
Speaker 2:He had a number two role.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and he's been playing a number two role and has still had a thousand yards.
Speaker 2:Cardinal Tate too. Cardinal T Carnell Tate, even this year, like You're that good, he is a number one receiver In a number two role, In a heck a number three role be totally honest with you and when you needed him, he was there. Heck Will Howard, the one ball he missed all day was a easy pass to Carnell.
Speaker 1:Tate, that was a touchdown.
Speaker 2:Carnell Tate was wide open, going to the end zone, and Will Howard just gets a little too excited.
Speaker 1:A little too excited Sails, it Overthrows it.
Speaker 2:Cardinal Tate stops and he just looks at the Jumbotron and Will Howard's like fuck and he says my bad. Yeah, he's like that's all him. He knows that's all on him Because Cardinal Tate easily had a touchdown that was easy.
Speaker 1:Sorry, I want to talk about Mecca Ibuka. Oh because he's Because no one talks about him. Everybody. He's as good as those guys. It's just all of those guys were.
Speaker 2:Transcendent in a specific way.
Speaker 1:They were specifically Chris Olabi was a. He was a master route runner there was no one that could run routes better than him. Garrett Wilson was overly athletic. There was no one better than him on a football field. He was fast, he was tall and he was athletic.
Speaker 2:JSN was like a perfect match Mix of both and then better than both. They call him better than both. And then you have Marvin.
Speaker 1:Harrison, who was probably the next closest thing I've seen to JSN probably ever. And then you have Jeremiah Smith, who's just that is a 19-year-old kid out there he was 18 at the start of the season.
Speaker 2:He is a grown man. He is 6'4".
Speaker 1:And he pushed over a DB so bad they flagged him for it.
Speaker 2:At Oregon game early on in the year. He just pushed him he wasn't big enough.
Speaker 1:That dude wasn't big enough. He didn't get flagged a single another time for all year.
Speaker 2:Because they probably reviewed it?
Speaker 1:No, they probably reviewed it like mm.
Speaker 2:Well, it's not just that, he got better at his receiver throughout the year too.
Speaker 1:The very next game. He does the same shit and they don't call it. I think it was a touchdown, because he catches it and there was no one there. And he just runs.
Speaker 2:But the fact that Emeka is not. He was there he was crying after the game. It made me emotional watching him cry because obviously him and the other seniors and all the guys that have been through so much and they finally capped off the big thing they really wanted he graduated yeah.
Speaker 1:He graduated already. Huh, am I going to book him? He graduated.
Speaker 2:Huh, he graduated Ohio State, dude.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he graduated already. Yeah, that's what I was saying.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he graduated after three years. Yeah, it's over.
Speaker 1:He averaged a fucking like 3.8.
Speaker 2:No chance. He graduated as a junior. Yeah, he's just been, I go play football and then I go home. Well, not just that, he had to do some classes. He had to take a dance class and some online classes is all he needed to do.
Speaker 1:He's taking some culinary class? Yeah, probably he's doing some bullshit, fun stuff yeah.
Speaker 2:But, like probably most of the seniors were, and that's exactly what they freaking did. It was a cap-off in this game. They get the big pass to Jeremiah Smith. That picture is absolutely insane. Like I already said, we told the story and they get the field goal at the end of the game. Jaden Fielding gets the ball. He kicks. It gets a good field goal. When they slowed it down, you see it curve like twice and it looks worse than when it wasn't in live. In live like okay, it's good, we're fine, but in slow-mo that thing looked like oh god, it could have went so wrong and then Notre Dame would have the ball back.
Speaker 1:They would have to go down the field like 20 something seconds very unlikely because they got the ball after the fumble went down the field and then he missed the kick. Yeah, uh, and like, well, I think I can go to bed but I'm going to watch the rest of the game.
Speaker 2:Well, the question is like, why? So the question is on that decision, why would you do that when you were already down two possessions? A field goal keeps you down only two possessions still. That doesn't change your situation. Only thing that changes is that, hey, if we get another touchdown after this, we won't have to go for two. We won't have to go for two again.
Speaker 1:They've gone for a fourth down like multiple times Right, and I'm like, if you're fourth and nine, that's the time you should go for You're fourth and goal at the nine-yard line.
Speaker 2:You have to at least try to take a chance. But I'm like that was a very stupid decision. I just didn't understand.
Speaker 1:You were on OSU's side of the. Exactly Y'all had gone for it for a lot less Right, so you might as well.
Speaker 2:But again, the game was already over at that point. Like this game, even though the points were close, the game was not close. If anybody actually watched the full thing, the game wasn't close.
Speaker 1:No, it was just the one.
Speaker 2:Ohio State. I said this before the game, even though I was trying to be nice about it. Ohio State outclassed Notre Dame in pretty much every sense of the game everything offensive line, defensive line, quarterback, everything. Will Howard I have to give him his credit. He came in this year embraced everything about being a Buckeye, has endured through it all, did great all year. He had that stupid mess up around Oregon, but it even wasn't even on him with the slide. They put him in a bad spot but, like in the Michigan game, I feel like I still will say he got concussed and probably shouldn't have been playing in that game like he.
Speaker 2:At every big moment he showed up and in this playoff run they literally uncorked the offense and said hey, we're, instead of just giving this million dollar, this, this Ferrari with a damper on it so you can't go as fast as you want to, we're gonna unload this whole thing and you're, we're gonna run this offense how we want to and you're going to run it and we're going to put the ball in your hand. And he, he delivered. He delivered, man, and I give him all the credit. And he's taken everything in the world he needs and he's embraced everything about being a buckeye when people were questioning in the middle of the season what the fuck the difference is between him and kyle mccord, who was tearing it up at syracuse. It's moments like that last night kyle mccord have sold. He would have found a way to give it up in the moment where you had to rely on him the most. A la the Michigan game last year. He was the reason they didn't win and even though Will Howard wasn't the best offensive player on our team, he was never totally the reason why we lost the game and in the playoff run he even elevated and played his best ball and I have nothing but positive things to say about him. He will be remembered forever as an Ohio State Buckeye and it's crazy what one year can do. I revere him as much as many other guys that I've seen play for multiple years here. So all the credit to him, all the credit to those seniors, and they really capped it off with a wonderful win in this game played their best Well. I think Will Howard won the offensive player of the game. I think it was Cody Simon that won the defense player game. He played awesome at linebacker and it was just. It was an amazing game and it was a.
Speaker 2:It was a correlation last night from the start of the year where everybody was talking about Ohio State, the $20 million roster who oh, by the way, they didn't even pay as much for their rosters. Other teams did a la Oregon and Texas. We're not going to talk about that, though Everybody wants to talk about Ohio State's roster and how much they spent, but they from the start of the year. The dream was, hey, ohio State's the best team in college football, and I think after that Michigan game, a lot of people doubted whether that was even possible, and Ryan Day and that team picked themselves off the mat. I will say right now I was one that always believed and Jace, you can attest to this, I never lost faith that a national title was still possible. I was still all in on a national title even after that game, and I was not on the fire Ryan Day train Because I believe that Ryan Day is a national championship winning coach and it was waiting for his opportunity to do that and he finally did it. And now nobody can take shit from him and from this team, as much as Michigan fans want to talk about how you guys didn't beat Michigan and all that shit. I don't give two fucks Because, at the end of the day, how I look at this is that the goal that every at least of a certain level every Coswell team comes into a season with is hey, I want to go win the national title, because that's a team that stands at the end after everything is settled. And Ohio State did that, that. They proved by the end of the year that they were the best team in college football the run that they have gone on, especially in this playoff. They beat like six or seven top 10 teams in a season. Arguably, this season is the best championship season of all time.
Speaker 2:And people want to talk and people that have said that are like, oh, but they lost two games. I'm like I don't give two fucks about what happened, the teams that you actually beat through your season, this gauntlet right here, ohio State proved it from start to finish. They didn't get a bye. They didn't get the nice kush. They got the game at home, but we had to go face Oregon. We had nice kush.
Speaker 2:They got the one, uh, the game at home, but we had to go face oregon. We had to face. We had to face oregon on the west coast. Um oregon had more fans there than ohio state fans. Funny how that goes. We had to face tennessee tennessee at home cool, that was cool. And then texas. We had to face texas in texas. That was practically an away game. And we end up facing this notre dame team and again, maybe notre d Dame isn't the best, but they have been resilient and they were well deserving of this opportunity, even if their team wasn't necessarily the same team that Ohio State is. And Ohio State fought valiantly through that too, because even with that there, at the end there was still an opportunity for those demons to come back up. And Ohio State didn't let it happen. And they have had an awesome season, they have had an awesome run and I I gotta tell you this, jace, I haven't told you this yet I spent 200 on merch last night.
Speaker 1:I'm not surprised I got.
Speaker 2:I got two shirts I got a hoodie, I got a hat.
Speaker 2:Um, I got a little bit of everything because I couldn't help myself. Um, I'm just fucking proud of this team and I'm very proud because all those guys did it the right way. Ryan Day has done it the right way. When everybody was talking about firing Ryan Day, he took the high road. He never said a bad word about anybody and again, for any asshole that was ever talking about his family or saying any shit like that, go fuck off, go find something else, go touch some grass, because that's absolutely the wrong thing to do.
Speaker 2:I get it as this Ohio State. Stuff means as much to me as anybody, and that's never something that even entered my mind, because I'm like we're all humans at the end of the day. Like you deserve a certain amount of respect as a human, no matter what happened in the goddamn Michigan game. But Ryan Day took the high road. Even after last night he had plenty of opportunities to dunk on everybody and say, hey, who wants to ask about my job now? And he didn't do that. He took the high road. He talked about his team deserving it and I think Ryan Day is more than deserving of getting his flowers, and anybody that claims to be a college football should be giving him his flowers at this point, because he is now one of only three coaches three current coaches that have won a national title. It's him, it's Dabo and it's Kirby. That's it, and anybody that has him outside of the top three head coaches in all of college football, I'd put him, probably put him at one, because Kirby has had his moments and Dabo really hasn't been that guy in a while. Um, we can have that argument, but you better not have him outside the top three, without any question, because he's the only guy that has a fucking ring on his finger.
Speaker 2:So and that's the part where I get to be a little little, uh, you know, a little bit flashy about it and uh, and honestly, I think, to a certain extent, a lot, of lot of Ohio State fans that were on this bandwagon that never left, go stretch your stuff, because, ryan Day, this team has proved us all right that they are definitely worthy of wearing the scarlet and gray and they finished the goddamn mission and the ultimate mission, which is to win the national championship. So that's it, man, no tears. I got close to tears a couple times last night, maybe close just now, when I was talking about how proud I am of this team, but no, it's a wild ride that I've got to go on this year Again, first title in 10 years. We won the last one in 2014. Again, I realize I'm very lucky having two titles in the last 10 years.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of teams that go, a lot of fans that go decades, 50 years, like there's a lot of people that don't get to have this type of luck when it comes to their fandom.
Speaker 2:So I definitely recognize that as well, and I think Ohio State fans should kind of recognize that too, that we need to have that type of perspective, because a lot of fans of teams and teams that don't have this type of success and uh, but yeah, ryan day is sticking around. There's nothing to make me said about him. He's won a national title and uh, I don't want to hear any questions about him anytime soon. Uh, because they they did what they had to do. And if I say fans should be fat and happy and but just recognize how lucky you are because the success we've had is not guaranteed, again, we're pretty high up there. But winning a national title is not something that happens unless you have a Nick Saban who literally sold his goddamn soul to the devil to go win all those titles he won. But outside of that nobody's having that type of success. So winning a national title once every 10 years or so isn't that bad of a life to have.
Speaker 2:So, jace, this is the time where you get to tell me how crazy I am for um stunting on these hoes for the close to 30 minutes now, but that's just how I feel about everything. I know I ranted along, but I those are all my thoughts. Uh, I know probably not even all of it. If, if I had a chance to write it down, I probably would have done a little bit better. But that's a recap of the game. That's a recap of the run and a recap of how proud I am of that team and of that coach and of that university. And, honestly, my dollars have done well. At least putting that NIL money definitely helps us out to get the win this year. But yeah, that's the national title in a nutshell and I can't wait to get all my national title stuff, national championship gear.
Speaker 2:Alright, jace, now it's time for you to tell me I'm stupid or to say I went too far or anything like that. No, I know Again, like I said, I already said this earlier but that moment where you called me last night, I'll remember that forever. That was one of the most awesome moments I've ever experienced. That was great. With that call, that was a special moment. I'll remember that forever. All right, that's the national title. Next year, hopefully, go for a repeat. That probably won't happen, but again, that's the goal. It's a cap off to a very special college football season, especially for me. And oh so here's the question this now to get you involved. Now, yep, overall, do you consider this first playoff a success?
Speaker 1:No, this shit was stupid.
Speaker 2:Do you think there are tweaks that can be made to make it more successful? Yeah, just turn it back to four.
Speaker 1:Fuck are we doing? This is such a waste of fucking time.
Speaker 2:I think there are some tweaks that can be had.
Speaker 2:Receding Turn it back to four, changing the automatic bids, the automatic buys, changing that to Please? Hey, we're not going back to that. I would love to, but I also think that if we were going back to four teams, ohio State would have had this opportunity to turn their season around the way they did and go win a national title. But again, now they're starting to talk about potentially 14, 16 teams. I'm like I don't want to go that far. But I think, overall, this title, this run, this first playoff again, it's funny, ohio State won the first four-team playoff and now they're winning the first 12-team playoff, which is kind of crazy. I was talking about this being an omen weeks ago but they finally pulled it off to where I can be a little more boisterous about it. But Ohio State served as the first test subject and it was a good run for the Buckeyes. But I think for a lot of the games they were definitely one-sided for the most part. There were a couple of close games the Texas and Arizona State game. You had the. I think the Penn State and Notre Dame game was good. Ohio State Notre Dame game was good. Ohio State-Notre Dame game it was bad but then it turned good at the end to make it feel a little bit better. The Ohio State-Texas game was good, but there are some tweaks that can be made Changing the automatic buys to automatic bids and then maybe changing that reseeding like the NFL does, to make it a little more fair for the teams that won the top four seeds. They should have it like the Oregon got screwed in this whole thing. They should have easily gotten a little bit easier of a draw, but again they would have to face Ohio State at some point. They just got served up to Ohio State a little earlier on. They would probably would have liked to, because Ohio State was just on a mission. There was nothing that's going to stop them in this playoff run. I think I can easily say that now, especially that they've won it and they beat all these teams by an average of like 18 points. So it is what it is. Ohio State was destined to win this one and they came through with it.
Speaker 2:But I think there are some tweaks that can be made. I don't want to add 14 to 16 team or a 16 team. I don't want to do it because I just don't fucking think if you're up to a three, because by the time you get to the fort, like 13, 14, 15, like you're adding three potential three lost teams into this whole thing and I'm like maybe those teams maybe are good enough to maybe go like, get hot and go win a national title. But like, at some point don't we want the college football to stay like college football and not be like the nfl? I feel like every change that anybody has talked about making is just making this game more and more like the NFL and I'm just not sure if I want it to go that far. I think having 12, I like having 13 and 14 be mad about them potentially having a shot at the title Like I want there to be a little bit like that and I think like not having it totally like the NFL is a good thing and I think college football is the second most popular sport in the all the United States and I think, even with some of the issues that they have, I think it's a quirk.
Speaker 2:I think that we should accept that a little a few and I think we should make some quirks to with a playoff, but the more teams are adding, I'm like and not to mention this Ohio State team played 16 games and I'm like these college kids aren't used to playing that many games and like it used to be just 13, 14, now we're up to 16, 17, if it. If it goes a certain way, if you end up playing in your, in your title game as well as getting into the playoff and make it all the way, I feel like something has to give. They're gonna have to change the change the the calendar. Like there's no reason like we should be ending the college ball season on January 20th. It should be a lot earlier on. I think you should make some changes to do that, because you're right in the middle of the NFL playoffs now and, like a lot of people start caring about that more than college football.
Speaker 2:Not that I fucking care like they. The fact that the national people didn't care as much, I don't give two fucks about. I still had my fun and I think a lot of other college teams had their fun throughout this playoff run as long as it lasted. So, but I think there's some tweaks that can be made, but I just don't. I just don't like the.
Speaker 2:The more change that they're trying to make to it to make it more fair just makes it more and more like the NFL and I'm like, eh, maybe we can keep it more like college football and not necessarily make it all the way an NFL archetype. Keep it a little bit different. I think 12 is perfect. I don't think you need to add more. But again, it's the people that have control of college football are definitely not the people that actually are in college football, they're just the guys that want to have as much money as possible. So again, you have to kind of take the good with the bad, but I think overall, this whole thing was a decent experiment. I think there needs to be some tweaks, but I think it was overall success. At the end of the thing, the best team won and I think if you have a playoff, that should be the goal of it. Right, the best team wins.
Speaker 2:But yeah, Ohio State wins the national title. That's it for college football. And obviously this isn't it for college football on this podcast. So I'll be more than talking about it, recruiting. All of that I'm more than into it, I'm dialed in at all times. And heck, you know what's funny Spring ball and stuff is going to be happening in like less than like two months, which is crazy because now the calendar's got so shrunk and down. I hope for all the players that played a lot more snaps. I think hopefully they get a little bit of help, help and care throughout the offseason to help them get back and be better for next season. For at least the guys are coming back to Ohio State. The guys have to go to the NFL, have to start doing the NFL grind now, the draft, the combine, all of that. I feel bad for them because now they're they're on a non-stop grind. They have no, no chance to really stop. Like will howard has is trying to decide whether he wants to go to senior bowl or not, and that's happening in a week.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he, he should.
Speaker 2:He's not an nfl guy well he's, he's gonna get drafted. I don't think he's gonna draft either way. I think the going like the senior bowl will help him potentially get. But again, if you haven't seen what you need to see in the playoff, I feel like that's a choice for him to make. I think he's going to get drafted either way. It's just, you know, anything more will help him get a little better draft. Heck, I would love for him just to keep sliding. Maybe the Steelers can draft him late, maybe he'll be our next quarterback, who knows? Because we need all the options we can have as the Steelers.
Speaker 2:I was saying throughout the game last night real quick, before we get to the NFL stuff. I was like, hey, the Steelers can just draft a bunch of Buckeyes and I think we'll be just so much better football team. Let's just start with taking a start with a Mecca in the first round and then take one of the running backs in the second round, will Howard, in the third round. We can just keep going down the line and keep taking Buckeyes. I think our team would be so much better after watching that game last night. But that's it for college football, more as we as it comes.
Speaker 2:But uh, let's go ahead on to the NFL stuff NFL playoffs and all which is that is its own ball of wax in many ways. Um, let's go ahead and start with. Let's see what was it the Saturday games um chiefs Texans. I think that was the first game that was on Saturday, um chiefs, when they gained 23 to 14 againsts Texans. I think that was the first game that was on Saturday, um Chiefs when they gained 23 to 14 against the Texans. Um, so Houston is the first team in playoff history to out gain the opponent by more than 100 yards, not turn the football over and lose the football game in the playoffs first team to ever do it.
Speaker 2:What didn't help probably some of the reasons that it didn't happen was because um cj shaw got sacked eight times off the line still was terrible. Um, the defense was getting after was getting after mahomes a bit and they they were making it harder but they were letting Travis Kelsey go absolutely insane, like Kelsey had seven receptions, 117 yards and a touchdown. So their defense did let Kelsey go off, which is definitely not a way if you want to win a football game against them. I think defensively they made it hard, but it's just they didn't make it hard enough. The Chiefs just played good football in moments and they managed to win this football game.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the Texans were flagged for every fucking thing they possibly did. I was waiting for you to mention it the fact that there was one play on the sideline where a dude bumped moms out and Ford puts his hand up like he's about to be shot and trying to call for no flag.
Speaker 2:It started with that first roughing the passer. Call it's bad man.
Speaker 2:On third down and he didn't hit him at all on the helmet. And then the official was like the guy they talked to in the booth. They were like, oh, if I would have seen that they have a chance to review it and if they don't see anything they can just pick up the flag. And they still didn't pick it up, even though there was barely. I'm talking. He hit him right in the chest and maybe the helmets grazed each other and they gave him that call and I'm like and then there was the lack of calls for Houston.
Speaker 1:It was Dalton Schultz. Is that who? It is the tight end.
Speaker 2:The Texans Dude.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the Texans, yeah, they dude goes to tackle him. If that ain't, that wasn't a textbook hip drop tackle. Yeah, I don't know what is. Yeah, legit dude just drops his hips and slides on the floor. Yeah, to tackle him.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you see both his legs collapse and dude, dalton Jones was over. He's like Something he turns and looks around and he's like it was a fucking hip drop tackle. Yep Houston couldn't get calls. Kansas City got every call.
Speaker 2:Oh, what makes it worse is I'm not going to sit here and say about the calls are the only reason Kansas City's on this run, because you would say the same thing about the Patriots and I think it all works out. It's like, hey, if they take advantage of all the calls when they happen, it makes it that much worse happen it makes it that much worse.
Speaker 1:Not why kensi's on this run but definitely why they won this game oh, this game yeah, for sure, that's what I'm saying. Yeah, the calls are why they won this game. I think the texans were playing a pretty good game, it's just they couldn't get nowhere.
Speaker 2:They couldn't stop nothing, right yeah, and it didn't help that texans only had one offensive touchdown in this game. Um, definitely didn't help them at all, um. But you know it's just, it's just they. They just couldn't protect cj enough. That was, like, probably the biggest reason why, offensively, they couldn't do a lot. Their defense played valiantly. They let travis kelsey get a little too much. Like I said, 177 yards, seven receptions of the touchdown definitely not big. But mahomes didn't do all that great. But here's what I will say. What makes the call thing that much crazier is that you can tell mahomes is fishing for calls. Yes, uh, like on the sideline, like you already said, where he was going to the sideline, he, he waits up trying to get the defender to hit him he did slow down.
Speaker 1:I didn't see that until after he slows down. But here's the thing the defenders didn't even hit him.
Speaker 2:They hit each other. I didn't see that until after he slows down. But here's the thing the defenders didn't even hit him.
Speaker 1:They hit each other. Oh, that one got me.
Speaker 2:They hit each other.
Speaker 1:And they still got flagged for it.
Speaker 2:They didn't even hit him, so like the fact. So what makes it worse is like even though I'm not willing to go as far as to say like it's fixed for the Kansas City Chiefs, but I think once Mah Mahomes starts fishing for it, it makes it that much worse, kind of like the Harden effect. It's one thing if you're getting the calls, but it's another thing if everybody's noticing how you're trying to lure those calls to happen and heck Mahomes, to a certain extent, is making himself more dangerous. It's like gandering himself to try to fish for calls. He probably shouldn't, he doesn't need, but he's trying to do it anyway.
Speaker 1:That was one thing that I saw on Twitter is that they feel like Mahomes knows he can get to the call, so it's going to end up becoming like the James Harden era of basketball yes, they're fishing for the call.
Speaker 2:I would say he's not the only one. Josh Allen does it too. And again, what makes it different is that nobody like Josh Allen and the Bills aren't en route to try to get their third championship in the third year in a row. So I think it makes it that much more obvious and makes it a bigger controversy when it's happening for the best team and the team that's been kind of dominating into the nfl for years. But uh, but again, it's just houston just has some things they need to fix.
Speaker 2:Canada city just played good situational football and they won the game. It is what it is. They just know when to turn on when they need it to, and they just made enough plays to win this game and Houston just didn't make enough and they're off the line. They just need to change that up so much. They need to totally overhaul that thing and protect CJ better, because if they do that, I think CJ will take them to a Super Bowl sooner rather than later. But they just got to get that fixed. Oh, did you hear there's rumors Again there's probably unsubstantiated, but it was a thing that Mixon was trying to get T Higgins to go to Houston.
Speaker 1:It won't happen.
Speaker 2:They can't pay him. Stephon Diggs, he's a free agent.
Speaker 1:Oh, they could pay him they could, they could. They could that's actually very plausible have Nico Collins and Tee Higgins.
Speaker 2:It's a very plausible landing spot, but I don't know if Tee Higgins wants to go back to a number two role. Yeah, because Nico is CJ's favorite. But again, if any offense can have two wide receivers, that team can I agree, but Tee Higgins is because.
Speaker 1:is Nico Collins paid? Yeah, are you going to pay T Higgins more than Nico Collins.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you have to. Yeah, but again I think that team is kind of like, has a vibe where they're just trying to go win a championship so like maybe they can make it happen. But again there's too many teams out there that don't want to pay T Higgins a bunch of money, so like, again it's probably not going to happen. But again I thought it was just a funny thing to kind of mention. But no, the Chiefs got the win, texans can't. Just not enough. Second game of that Saturday Lions-Commanders. Commanders beat the Lions 45-31. I think that was all jumbled up for me. Glad I redid that. So this game was insane. Starts off first quarter. You get Washington, get three points, they go up early. Detroit gets the ball back. They take the ball down the field. No, sorry, jameer Gibbs gets that one-yard touchdown.
Speaker 2:He gets the sixth place 71 yards. Jameer Gibbs gets a touchdown to start the game off 7-0. Washington gets the ball. They get the ball, three getting three points off the field goal. Second quarter is an absolute monsoon of points. It is like the highest scoring quarter in NFL history. Washington then scores 28 points in the second quarter to Detroit's 14. So Washington gets the ball. Second quarter. They have gone 11 to play a 78-yard drive to go up 10-7. Detroit gets the ball back. They end up getting the touchdown to Sam LaPorta. That touchdown catch from LaPorta, the one-handed, absolutely insane play that they made, was crazy. Washington gets the ball back. They go ahead and get the Terry McLaurin 58-yard pass from Jaden Daniels get the touchdown. It was like a screen to Terry. Scary Terry. He splits the defenders, takes it all the way down the field for the touchdown insane.
Speaker 2:And then probably the difference in this game was that Jared Goff and the Lions made a couple mistakes offensively because their defense couldn't do a thing. This Lions defense finally came back to bite them in the butt. That secondary was Che cheeks in this game and it also didn't help that their best corner the guy that shut down Justin Jefferson a couple weeks ago he was laying down with his arm broken in two places. You could tell it was totally separated. It was bad and that definitely didn't help. But this Detroit Lions defense could not stop.
Speaker 2:I hate to say a nosebleed, but that's not even making it as bad as it probably is. They couldn't stop nothing and Washington took advantage of it. But it really changed when they got the pick six off of Jared Goff. And that pick six was weird because I thought that that was roughing the passer on that play. I think Jared Goff got hit right in the chin Like that should have been a rough in the path, rough in the passer call, and that would have erased that pick six that he threw. And I think that really did change the game because that put Washington up 24 to 14. Then it's a 10 point game from then on out and then. But the thing is is that the Lions keep scoring the ball. Like they get the ball back, jameson williams going, goes on the 61 yard um end around and takes it for the touchdown. Did you see how he like tried? He was like, uh, he was dry humping the ground after that touchdown I did.
Speaker 2:It was hilarious it was hilarious when I'm like dude, like you know that's not what the nfl wants to see, but it's insane. Um, but like they were down 10 for the rest of the game just felt like every time they got within 3, washington goes up 10 again with a touchdown. The Lions Get another touchdown. They're down 3 in the third quarter. It was a 7 point third quarter With the Lions having the only score, and then in the fourth quarter Washington has a Scores, two touchdowns In the fourth quarter, and then the Lions. They just couldn't do enough. They just couldn't do enough to get back into this game. At one point they had this play with with Jameson Williams, where they had a pass that Jameson Williams was trying to try to throw. Wasn't that a pick?
Speaker 1:Yes, it was. Jameson Williams threw a pick. Jared Goff threw two. Goff threw two.
Speaker 2:Goff had three.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's somebody else that threw a pick.
Speaker 2:And James Williams threw a pick in this game as well, like on that crazy play and this is what kind of got me, because it was funny. The guy that has had not really great choices in his career. The first year he ended up getting caught with the gambling stuff. Last year he ended up getting caught with the steroids. Last year he ended up getting caught with the steroids.
Speaker 2:And I'm like you're going to give that guy an opportunity to choose what to happen in the game, like he's going to make the bad choice and he tries to throw off his back foot in a game where they really needed it and they ended up throwing the pick and they were down 10 at that point and all you had to do was not turn the football over and you keep scoring football over and you keep scoring like it's the Washington not really stopping you from scoring. It's just the fact that you just can't keep up because you're making those two mistakes and it's just, at the end of the day, the team that makes the more mistakes lost this game. And Jaden Daniels played a very clean game 22 of 31 299 yards, two touchdowns, zero picks. And we already mentioned Goff, even though he had 313 yards, passing off 23 of 40. He had a touchdown of three picks, and that's the difference. Like neither defense can really make a play until the Detroit Lions made some mistakes and it gave the ball to Washington, and that's the difference.
Speaker 1:That's the difference. And then Washington was able to use those mistakes against the Lions. They were capitalizing on the mistakes the Lions were making. I don't actually doubt the Lions were the better team in this game. It's just Washington was capitalizing on the mistakes the Lions were making. I don't actually doubt the Lions were the better team in this game. It's just Washington was capitalizing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they didn't make any mistakes. Washington did not have those turnovers like the Lions did, and it's just that defense finally came back to bite them in the butt. And the fact when, if you gave Detroit a crystal ball and said, hey, you're going to score 31 points in this game against the Washington Commanders, I think they would take it. I think they were like, hey, we would take that all day, but they just could not. You would not be able to guess the idea that Washington would score 45 goddamn points in this game. And Detroit made it possible with the mistakes that they made. And that is what it is, and I think Detroit has to be. They're losing, ben Johnson.
Speaker 2:Ben Johnson is now going to be the head coach for the chicago bears and like probably their defense could have been the head coach of the vikings?
Speaker 1:no, not the vikings for the raiders no, last year he could have been the head coach for the commanders.
Speaker 2:They wanted to interview him and he said no yes, yes, again, I think he was apprehensive they hadn't they hadn't got jenny daniels, that there was a lot of unknowns. But now he's going to a place where he's. I guess he knows where the quarterback is and I think that organization's not really ran well. So I question that decision a little bit. But again you have a quarterback to start off with and I think hopefully he'll work out. But again, sometimes he has a little mental lapse that makes me question him being a head coach and all that. But I think he'll do a decent job. Get caleb williams up to snuff to where he'll be playing better football in the nfl.
Speaker 2:But detroit probably gonna lose their off the coordinator, ben johnson now he's with the shadow bears. They're probably gonna lose a defense coordinator. Um, they're gonna like they're gonna start paying people at some point. I think next year they'll probably be fine. But who knows, last year and this year may have been their best chances to go win a Super Bowl. They just paid Jared Goff, so his money is going to start being a lot heavier to have to pay for against the cap. So this may have been their best chance and they couldn't take advantage of it and they had home field and you lose this game to Washington at home, and I'm just like that's. Those are things that haunt you for the rest of your days if you're a competitor for this Detroit Lions team, unless they can get the job done next year. But again, it's just not guaranteed. So it sucks that the Lions as much as they. Their offense was so great but so defense being as hurt and as like hurt as it was, it just kind of ruined their season the way it did it did.
Speaker 2:And again, even if they won this game, do you?
Speaker 2:really expect the Lions to go and win it all, though, like they had a chance, but I just think they will literally have to play like a college team and just score so many points every game, like their offense could not have a week off to where they only have to score 21 to win a football game. Their offense could not have a week off to where they only have to score 21 to win a football game. Could you see any opportunity where Detroit would only have to score 20 points to win a football game, with how bad their defense has been over pretty much this whole season?
Speaker 2:Maybe, they just had to play mistake-free football and it just turned out. This game was where the offense made their mistakes and they get blown out Again. Blown out is probably a little high.
Speaker 1:They only lost by 14 points.
Speaker 2:But again they lose substantially once their offense just makes some mistakes, even though they still score 31 points in the process. But it's just a tough thing. Their coach is still great. He's still going to be the same coach that they have, he's going to take his chances and all that. But it's just very fickle. The difference between going and making the playoffs and going to get the ultimate goal and then being one of the worst teams in the NFL is not very high. There's not a huge degree of difference. Little changes here or there can become the thing that sinks your ship, and this year might be it, but who knows? But yeah, it was an awesome game though it was a high-scoring game, but it was definitely an awesome one. Get to the Sunday games. We'll start with the Eagles and Rams with the first game. Right, eagles-rams. Eagles win this game 28-22. I think this is the day of snow globe games.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think if I had to choose between these two games, right, do you think either one of these games, the way the, the, the elements were, had a chance to ruin the games the way they were? I think the eagles and rams game. I think the snow was so bad that I think it actually impacted the way that game was played, because the Rams played as well as they did, like they lay lost in a losing effort 28-22 Eagles won this game but like there were some plays that like were just, you know, matthew Stafford just missed because of this ball being slippery and all that, and I think that those conditions did impact the game a little bit more, rather than I think for the other game with the Bills and the Ravens, it was was just a lot more cold, even though there was snow, but it just wasn't as impactful?
Speaker 1:No, it was, I think, just sheer cold.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because they were in Buffalo.
Speaker 2:So I think their wind chill made it Single digits, if not negative. But let's get to this Eagles and Rams game. Saquon Barkley's a freaking dog. Saquon Barkley 26 carries, 205 yards, and I heard somebody put this in a perfect way that watching a running back be their best selves is the closest thing to watching a rock star in the like. Watching a rock star during a football game right, it's like the most singular position in the NFL, like, if you're watching running back go off, it's like the closest thing to watching a basketball player do his thing. Like, so like when you watch a guy of Saquon Barkley's talent he, talent-wise, is so dominant, he's so fast, he's so tough and watching him break off all those huge runs in this game was freaking insane.
Speaker 2:And they needed every single bit of it, because Jalen Hurts didn't necessarily play his best ball. 15 of 20 and 128 yards he didn't have a great game. They're wide receivers. Dallas Goddard was the leading receiver for them in this game. Um Saquon had another 27 yards receiving, but Devontae Smith four receptions, 21 yards. Aj Brown two receptions, 14 yards.
Speaker 2:Like this Eagles offense was just not clicking as well when they were trying to throw the football again. Was it the? Was it the weather, or was it Jalen Hurts still not playing all that well? It's probably a combination of both. But it's definitely a huge thing when they can just say, hey, we're just going to hand this football off to Saquon Barkley. And then Jalen Hurts also made a big play. He had a touchdown, like a 40-yard touchdown run in this game as well. But it must be a huge relief to say, hey, we're just gonna run the football and you let our defense do their thing and we're gonna win this football game.
Speaker 2:And again it got a little. We got a little uh, prickly there at the end with la had a chance, like they were down. Let me make sure I have this right, like there were a point. There was a point in this game where they were down. It was like 20, it was like 22 to 15 at one point. No, it was 16.
Speaker 2:This game was pretty close throughout the game but it just felt like the eagles were just doing enough and that defense was playing very good ball. But the rams just stayed in it. All the credit to them. They kept it close. Matthew stafford played well. Um did not have any picks. Kyle williams ran for over 100 yards in this game.
Speaker 2:Puka nakua was awesome and when it came down to it, the LA Rams was able to get the ball down the field and like they were down, they were down those six points and they were coming back and they scored 12 points to um. They scored the seven points to kind of get it close and then get, get it to six. And they got the ball back and they were driving down the field and they kind of got closer to the red area and they just couldn't get the extra play to kind of go and get into the end zone. But they were making plays to go ahead and try to win this football game and it just didn't work out in the end because the Eagles were just making good plays.
Speaker 2:Jalen Carter on the defensive line for the Eagles insane player, he's awesome. He's a freaking menace on the inside. There's no way they can stop him. The Rams did not have any chance when he was, because the Rams started running the quick game where they were just speeding up the tempo they're trying to ball out because of that defensive line.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:They're just everywhere and there's so many of them I think I said this on the podcast before this game there's no way to stop them all. They don't get tired. They have another dude to replace them. All of them are that good. A lot of them are number ones on other teams. They're just only eagles.
Speaker 2:But in this condition it did neutralize the defensive line a little bit. But especially when Rams started doing the tempo it got to a point where they were all gassed and then Jalen Carter had to take a couple plays off and then when he came back in the biggest moment he came in and destroyed Matthew Stafford to kind of ruin their drive and like he was like the best defensive player on that field and he kind of came and made the. He came in, made the big play and uh, the Rams just couldn't get the job done and the Eagles win. But uh, but no, it was just, it was a very good game. Eagles played great, saquon played great and the Rams kind of showed like how they were very, a very dangerous team. Again, maybe the game would have been a little bit crazier if they had played in like a neutral field or played in LA to where, like it was all, everything was neutral, sterile and all that. But again, in the NFL you can't blame the weather. You deal with what you deal with. They've been playing, playing the playoffs this late in the year, so you definitely can't use the weather as an excuse. But again, I think it would have changed the game a bit if all that crazy snow globe game had not happened. And last but not least, this one's probably the game that has the most controversy, based on how the game went Bills-Ravens Bills win the game 27-25.
Speaker 2:This game was a tale of two halves. I think first half Bills very much dominated in this game. Um, the Ravens had Lamar Jackson, had a we'll get to the Lamar Jackson part of this. Lamar Jackson had a couple turnovers in the first half. He had a fumble that led to a Von Miller pickup and he took like 50 yards down the field and they ended up scoring on that and he also had a pick in that first half and the Bills were able to go up 21 to 10 at that point in the first half. And in the second half Baltimore started getting things going. They would run the football a little bit better. Their defense started stopping Buffalo a lot more. I think Buffalo kind of got its conservative a little bit. Based on the weather and all that. They couldn't do as much in the passing game as they probably wanted to and the Ravens took advantage of that and they started running the football a lot better.
Speaker 2:And the Ravens, even though they were down 21-10 at halftime. They were making enough plays and they scored the nine unanswered points in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter they managed to get the six points. They scored a touchdown and to get it to where it was a two-point, they were two points down. They ended up going for the two-point conversion and they ended up missing it with the drop by Mark Andrews. Mark Andrews dropped it there trying to get into the end zone for the two-point conversion. That would have tied it. So here's my question I feel bad for Mark Andrews in this game because not only did he have that drop at the end of the game that would have tied it but he also had the fumble there in the middle of the game where he caught it, tried to make a play, ended up fumbling the ball. Buffalo got the ball back. I think they scored three points on that too.
Speaker 1:They did yes.
Speaker 2:So I think those mistakes are what leads to a and Buffalo played clean. Those mistakes are what leads to a in Buffalo play clean Josh Allen, even though Josh Allen didn't necessarily play awesome in this game. 16-22 for 127 yards. Was it nearly the end of Lamar Jackson? Lamar went 18-25, 254 yards, two touchdowns, but I said the turnovers that Lamar specifically had were huge in this game. Without those two turnovers you're not down 21 to 10 at halftime and then you don't need to necessarily have to come back and then needing to, needing that two-point conversion, even tie the game. Because, as much as people want to blame mark andrews, the thing is is that even if you get that two-point conversion, you're only tying the goddamn game. Buffalo still gets the ball back with like a minute, a minute minute 30 left and they had their. They I think they had two timeouts, so like they had all the time in the world to go down the field and go end the football game, if they wanted to, with with a field goal. And the field goals are definitely able to happen in this game, cause I think the condition was just a little bit better, but I just think that there's no guarantee of that.
Speaker 2:So everybody coming out of this game is like who's to blame, all of such, that, such and such, and I'm like heck. I think there was like Daniel Oscar or something like that in the NFL said hey, if you come out of this game wanting to blame Lamar, it's like nobody's fault, it just happens the better team one. If you don't blame Lamar, you're a loser, and like there's some sentiment that Lamar did everything he was supposed to do and it's on Mark Andrews, it's his fault. They lost this game and I think, man, you've been on this all year. I think Lamar when he started his career and freaking Bill Polian, the Hall of Fame GM, called him a freaking running back. It became a very racial thing where people came to his aid because Lamar showed he was a quarterback. He came into the NFL, he's a quarterback, so he had a lot of protection coming in because it was a racial thing and people were counting him out when they shouldn't have.
Speaker 1:It's also why we had to stop calling black quarterbacks dual threat.
Speaker 2:Exactly, but I think Lamar has gotten to a point now. He's about to probably win his third MVP.
Speaker 1:He won't.
Speaker 2:Josh Allen. Well, since he won no, I think they already voted for.
Speaker 2:I think it's already voted for before this week, so it doesn't matter but I think it's gotten to a point where now, if you're protecting him at this point, you think nobody should talk. Not talk about how, in the playoffs, do you know, he's played lamar's played eight playoff games. You know, in of them he's had multi-turnover games. Damn, do you know, in this whole year, this whole year, he has not had a multiple turnover game this whole season, and then in this game he has multiple turnovers. He only had four, like five picks all year, and then he threw a pick in this game.
Speaker 2:So I think, with the talent that he is, what he's proven to be in the NFL, don't you think it is a as much as everybody wants to protect him? Don't you think it's an indictment on him if you're not able to put him? Hold him to the standard of what his talent, of what his talent expects. Are you going to call him a playoff choker? I don't think this game he choked, I don't think he choked, okay, but I don't think he. I don't think he was like.
Speaker 1:Let me ask you a question do you say the same thing about josh allen if he loses this game? Because he's a playoff choker as well?
Speaker 2:if he loses? If he loses this game or if he loses?
Speaker 1:this game. Is the same thing to be said about josh allen. Is he held to that same standard? Yeah, okay, so the thing I've been seeing on social media is they don't hold that Because, let's be honest, they both suck in the playoffs. They both are both second.
Speaker 2:They're both consistently second-round exits.
Speaker 1:They both have had plenty of issues in the playoffs for sure, and I wanted to say I forgot to say it last podcast that no matter who lost this game, whoever loses, it is going to be labeled a playoff choker, but this is my devil's avocado.
Speaker 2:Josh Allen does have more playoff wins than Lamar.
Speaker 1:Josh Allen couldn't get over the hill of Joe Burrow. He couldn't get over the hill of Mahomes. We're going to see this week, but Lamar hasn't done that either. Exactly, they're in the same boat.
Speaker 2:Oh, no, no, no, I'm just talking about I'm making this lamar thing. I'm just making it just for lamar specifically. But if lamar did not make you you asked me if he choked in this game. He did not choke. No, I think he played a good game, he played a great. He had his mistakes in the first half.
Speaker 1:Second half he came out firing he played up, he tightened up and he made the play, adjusted his play to have to win, and that's how he's supposed to do it. It's just.
Speaker 2:You made those mistakes in the first half. You don't get to erase those. Those are erased and I agree but he improved upon those mistakes. Right, but I think anybody that wants to come out and say Lamar didn't do anything, he did enough to win this game, he did not. With those mistakes, you didn't do enough to win If you remove those mistakes, they win this game. Right that.
Speaker 1:Mark Andrew catches those two footballs, they also win this game.
Speaker 2:No, because even if he catches that football, like I already said, buffalo gets the ball back with a minute and 30 left and all he needs is a field goal to win. So there's no guarantee, even if you get that two-point conversion, that you win the football game. That was not a two-point conversion to win the game.
Speaker 1:Josh Allen, ain't no, joe Burrow.
Speaker 2:I'm not trying to do that. That minute and 30 didn't mean shit. I'm just saying the discourse around Lamar Jackson. I think there's people that are overprotective of him, but I think they're detrimenting his talent by trying to, because what are the things that people are saying? They didn't run the football enough. They didn't. But I'm also saying that if you're going to call him one of the best throwing quarterbacks of all time, during the regular season and then you use him in the playoffs.
Speaker 2:You have to then put it on him. If he makes some mistakes while doing so, that's on him. That part is on him. I completely agree on that one. So he just didn't make enough plays to win the game and maybe that's assigning blame, because, again, the quarterback gets all the credit. If you win the football game, you're going to get blame. If you lose, and they lost, and this goes on his record. But I'm also not going to sit here and say that it's not his fault at all that they lost and anybody that wants to go down that route is insane. And again, josh allen didn't do anything in this game, but he didn't do anything for the two-run to lose this game either, and that's just as powerful as making the awesome plays to go ahead and win Right and, like Patrick Mahomes, has made this a perfect thing for him.
Speaker 2:Even though Patrick Mahomes is that he's been for the last two seasons, he has not been what he started off, started off his career as being the freaking hotshot superstar throwing the football over the yard. Mahomes has become great at situational football and he is not going to make the mistake that's going to lose you the football game. He's fishing for things to help Again. He's fishing for calls and all that. But even Joe Burrow, like Joe Burrow, is great at not making the crazy mistake to lose the football game. For the most part he's had his little issues here or there, but for the most part you believe in him and when the time comes he's going to make the play to go ahead and win a football game.
Speaker 1:Yeah, At any point in time we could be down two touchdowns, and that's something, lamar. I trust him that he's going to get those two touchdowns Guaranteed.
Speaker 2:Right. You're right, that's something Lamar does have to prove Does have to work on spots in the playoffs. He has had those moments in the spot where lamar hasn't. There's multi-turnover games. That's a thing. That's something josh allen doesn't have on his record, so like that's something you have to talk about in all of it you do four against the bangles yes but that was his worst playoff performance by far and the other ones he's played well.
Speaker 2:In the loss of the chiefs, in that one crazy game where the Chiefs scored in 15 seconds, that's not on him. He had an awesome game. His defense didn't do it. I'm just saying narrative-wise. There are a lot of things going on and if the quarterback loses, they deserve some blame as well. You can't just sit there and say they played a perfect game and they don't deserve it. And then Joe Burrow throughout this year because he's played great. His defense screwed him over.
Speaker 1:Outside of that, the only game I can blame him for is bro, what the fuck happened against the Patriots?
Speaker 2:Yeah, he threw. Yes.
Speaker 1:Real quick. Out of the ten interceptions, nine interceptions he threw all year he threw three in that game. Yeah, so let's. Whoa, you got a full preseason, the fuck happened. Whoa, you got a full preseason, the fuck happened. I'm not gonna cap with you yeah. If there's anything I'm gonna hold against him this year, how good he's played.
Speaker 2:You win that game.
Speaker 1:We're a playoff team.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you are. Yes, no questions asked. You are.
Speaker 1:So I need some explanation On why you threw three. He only threw. That was the only. We scored under 20 in two games. Yeah, the last game against the Steelers.
Speaker 2:Well, that game was just a weather game.
Speaker 1:All bets are off. Defense was very, very good, yeah, and then against the fucking Patriots.
Speaker 2:We were held to 13 against the Patriots that had a bad defense pretty much most of the year, especially early on in the year, and then proceeded to score 38 against the Chiefs next week. Yep, huh, something ain't adding up, math ain't mathing. Joe Burrow played like shit he played like shit he did.
Speaker 1:And then proceeded to be amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, continuously amazing.
Speaker 2:I just saw a clip of that of Andrew's fumbling that football. He got rabbit punched, yeah, but again he was going sideways. He wasn't even going forward towards the end zone, sideways, he was going straight sideways. I'm like why would you do that? Just go towards, but again, but he didn't get rabbit punched. It wasn't like he fumbled that ball on his own.
Speaker 1:No, I just wanted to Emeka Buka fumbles. Dude making a fuck it play. I got to do something. Wrapped around him, I got to do something Punched the ball out.
Speaker 2:Perfect play. And again same thing with the injury. Thing Got to get the ball around.
Speaker 1:But so yeah, I just wanted that black and white. But if you didn't win the football game and you made some mistakes, yeah, you deserve some blame. That's how, that's how, sports goes.
Speaker 2:If you don't, quarterbacks take all the blame, regardless of if they play good or not. Oh yeah, for sure. But I just think to a certain extent some people that are like way overprotective have to have to evaluate themselves a little bit and say lamar jackson is good enough to where his talent deserves, for him to, for people to have a higher expectation kind of blame, to take that kind of blame.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's no if, ands or buts about it. He's too good, he's too good, you have to take that blame.
Speaker 2:He's too good and to say anything different is devaluing what he is as a football player. And he's awesome and he's become an awesome passer and he's an awesome playmaker and he's done that. He has done that. You're seven years in. You're like, hey, we only can go. But so much, so many opportunities without cashing in. Now the Ravens are gonna have to like, oh well, they go. How they're gonna tweak the team now to kind of make, be able to make that final push. Everybody felt like Derek Henry was gonna be that final piece they needed and it just it wasn't enough they went away from it really quick.
Speaker 2:They did not run the football with him enough.
Speaker 1:that is a problem they have in the playoffs they stop running the football.
Speaker 2:Right, they stop, they just start being pass happy.
Speaker 1:Lamar has gotten better as a passer, but he's gotten better for sure. If it comes down to a shootout, that's not the way the Ravens are built.
Speaker 2:No, they don't have the wide receivers for it. Their system is not meant for a crazy shootout, it's just not, and you just feel like the best offense you're going to get out of this team.
Speaker 1:You don't have to write quarterback for a shootout?
Speaker 2:No, I think he is. I think he has all the skills, but you don't have Zay Flowers in this game and your best receiver in this game was Isaiah, Likely.
Speaker 1:Did they not have Rashad Bateman?
Speaker 2:Rashad Bateman was in this game too Four receptions, 66 yards. He played well, but I'm like that's not a team that's really meant for a shootout, but they're built to run the football. And Derrick Henry 16 carries, 84 yards and touchdown he he ran the football well. So like they just went away from him again, the game game kind of got a little crazy.
Speaker 2:I would have ran him at least 20 times right, but it's just, you know, I just wanted to talk about that because that was like a thing that really was prevalent. That's cool, um, so that was. That was it for all the playoff games. We'll talk about the, the two nfc and those games on next week, I'm sorry, on the next pod, probably thursday or friday, but so here's my thing. This is. This is where this is the one question. So for the teams, that which one do you believe in the most that can turn it around and get back to this point again next year?
Speaker 1:Mostly all of them, because these are the same teams we saw last year. The only one that's new is, instead of Jacksonville, it's the Broncos.
Speaker 2:No, no, I'm talking about this divisional round. Yeah, so you got the Chiefs. Texans, bills, raven, no, no, I'm talking about this divisional round. Yeah, so you got the Chiefs Texans, bills, ravens, lions, commanders, eagles, rams. So of the losers, you got the Rams lost, lions lost, texans lost, ravens lost. Which one are you the most confident will get to this point next year? I'll say mine, I think Texans.
Speaker 1:I don't want to bet on that yet. I don't want to, because their offense is their offensive line needs to work.
Speaker 2:They need to rebuild their offensive line. Their receiver room's hurt.
Speaker 1:True, we're looking at Tank Dell with no leg.
Speaker 2:They're probably going to have to draft somebody because Tank Dell's probably not going to be ready to play even through most of next year. There's no way you can guarantee he'll come back next year and play, and if Stephon Diggs walks they're probably going to have to try to either sign Stephon Diggs or get somebody else, and they're probably going to have to draft somebody too. So that part is one thing, but again, with their assistant they still have Nico Collins. They need to rebuild that offensive line. But here's my thing that makes me confident. Who do the Texans have in their division to have to face Jacksonville? Who's booty cheeks Still looking for a head coach? You have the Titans, who are now going to be Fucking quarterback too. They have the Titans that are going to be looking for a quarterback.
Speaker 1:They're rebuilding, they're still rebuilding, they're restarting, so they're not an issue. And the colts?
Speaker 2:and the colts who do I? Are you gonna believe in anthony richard anytime soon? They don't know.
Speaker 1:I'm not they don't know if they believe in anthony richard or not, and I don't know either.
Speaker 2:He looks unconfident they got luan arumo as a defense coordinator, so I think that's a plus, but like they still need so many players on the roster. So like the texans are going to win their division for sure and they're going to have a home playoff game to get into the playoffs in the first round and they're probably going to win that game. So I think that just because of their path, they'll probably be the easiest. To get back to this point, the Rams who knows if Saffer's going to be their quarterback next year, like they were trying to shop him before this season started.
Speaker 1:The one I know I'm not going to bet on would be the Ravens.
Speaker 2:Because the Bengals are going to be back your division's too good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you have two other teams that are going to be very good, and the Browns always give everybody a hard fight, right? So I can't pick you. Who else lost Lions? That was probably Lions.
Speaker 2:But the Lions division though you still have to deal with the Packers, the Vikings are still going to be good.
Speaker 1:Who knows?
Speaker 2:Well, that's where you lose me If they're switching to JJ McCarthy. Who knows how this season goes? Next year they're going to switch to JJ.
Speaker 1:McCarthy, that last game was just enough to be like hey, I want to give JJ McCarthy the reins and let him go, and then Tim McDonald's going to go get paid $30 million with some stupid ass team. He's going to probably suck, I mean, he's going to one-hit wonder.
Speaker 2:I hope it's not the Steelers. I hope not. Don't go down that road, please.
Speaker 1:Please don't so. Probably the Lions. Their regime is going to stay almost exactly the same. There's nothing going to change. All they can do is get better by drafting better fucking.
Speaker 2:All defense, all defense.
Speaker 1:Signing an Ed Rusher would be great. Trey Hendrickson will be out there, probably for pretty cheap. He's 33.
Speaker 2:Obviously they'll be getting back one dude, aiden Hutchinson. Aiden Hutchinson, that's their main guy. They're getting him a second Another, ed Rusher is what you really need.
Speaker 1:You need DBs is what you really need.
Speaker 2:You need DBs and then DBs and safeties.
Speaker 1:You guys are built like the Bengals.
Speaker 2:You have Terry Arnold, who's very good, but again he got hurt at the end of this year you have Brian Branch, who's also pretty good. And you have Branch, and he's very good too, but you need more obviously. What about Notre Dame player? Oh, xavier Watts, that's a safety, no DB. Oh, so you're saying corner.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:He didn't play last night. I think he's been hurt all year.
Speaker 1:Their best corner has been hurt all year, clark.
Speaker 2:Oh Jordan Clark.
Speaker 1:Jordan.
Speaker 2:Clark, he's more of like a nickel.
Speaker 1:He's like a nickel, yeah, but he's a really really good nickel.
Speaker 2:No, he was all over the field last I know, give him that credit I. I mentioned this, uh mentioned this.
Speaker 1:I was like one that was freaking out about jeremiah smith on that play oh no, it's a different guy, but still real quick.
Speaker 2:Dude is freaking the fuck out because he knows where the play is going and no one's listening well, he got faked out because he thought the end around which is why he ran with the end around, because he thought that was coming. And he got faked out and Jeremiah Smith turned around.
Speaker 1:He was looking at Jeremiah Smith and he was pointing and yelling and no one looked at him and the play goes straight to Jeremiah Smith. Yeah, fucking floater.
Speaker 2:Insane.
Speaker 1:But they need a DB bad.
Speaker 2:They need more DBs. Terry Arnold's good, they just need more. So you're going to say, probably the Lions, probably the Lions.
Speaker 1:One I'm most confident in the Packers. Jordan Love looks good and he looks terrible, and then he looks good and he looks terrible and I'm like this is just a fucking whirlwind.
Speaker 2:And there's no way you can guarantee that the Bears will be great next year with the new coach and all that I can always guarantee the Bears will not be great.
Speaker 1:Half their team doesn't know what the fuck's happening. Sometimes their defense looks amazing star-studded, and other times I'm like, damn, you make the Bengals look good.
Speaker 2:You're not lying, Because God damn.
Speaker 1:That defense is so up and down. There's so many players I would tell them to cut which is like half of them. They're all like seasoned veterans and I'm like that defense didn't mold together. Nope, it looked like a bunch of individual players trying to play Yep. I agree.
Speaker 1:And it didn't go together. Some games it would, and it would be great, but most of the time it just didn't gel right. Yep, I agree, but I would say, yeah, go with the Lions. I say their division's not weak, but I think they know how to play those teams. Yeah, and their team's almost staying entirely the same. They can only get better because they have no one to sign.
Speaker 2:I would say, the only thing is having to get your coordinators, do they? Pay Penesol. He's still in the rookie deal, they don't need to.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh, is he paid?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, because he's on his fourth year.
Speaker 1:It's his fourth year coming up. Yeah, they're probably.
Speaker 2:Getting him his Fifth year option, though.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but Are you? They're gonna pay? They're gonna end up Paying him. Yes.
Speaker 2:I don't think there's anything To worry about. He's that dog, he's.
Speaker 1:Probably the best. I guess the only question Is David Montgomery. But there's no reason.
Speaker 2:For them not to bring him back.
Speaker 1:that's not really getting paid a lot of money, so it's like he's going to expect to get paid a bunch of money Like $8 or $9 million a year, if that.
Speaker 2:I don't think he's even getting that. There's no way he's getting that.
Speaker 1:He's probably giving him that. They're probably giving him a good veteran contract.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but that's a few million dollars a year, not $8 or $9. That's a few $8 or $.
Speaker 1:That's a few.
Speaker 2:A few is like three.
Speaker 1:My bad I may be thinking NBA numbers or my bad, fucking MLB numbers With fucking Juan Soto's contract. Yeah, you're not wrong. Biggest he had the biggest contract in sports.
Speaker 2:Insane.
Speaker 1:You're telling me that man's worth 200 million dollars More than Patrick Mahomes, and that he's worth 40 million more than Le Mahomes, and that he's worth $40 million more than.
Speaker 2:LeBron James.
Speaker 1:And that he's worth $180 million more than Lionel Messi. Yeah, he can't pay the bill Okay. Matt's going crazy. Those three are considered the greatest in their sports. There's a question of all of them. You know they're considered the best to be playing currently, like without question yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Baseball money's crazy. Baseball money is crazy.
Speaker 1:It's out of this world part of having a sport around for hundreds of years and a players union that is not willing to give up on their bread.
Speaker 2:They're not playing games. If there's a strike, they will strike. There is no crossing the ticket line.
Speaker 1:There has been a lot of strikes.
Speaker 2:They don't care, they will strike, they're going to get everything.
Speaker 1:I know there was one in 2018, 2019 where they only played half a season, I think it was 2020.
Speaker 2:It may have been.
Speaker 1:I think it was pretty recent, because they only played 68 games. Uh, it may have been the one where the phillies won.
Speaker 2:I know it was recent, no 2021, 2022 yeah, it was more recent than that. So like, yeah, the players don't play, they're willing to take all their bread. Um, so like they don't care, like the mlb players are more than willing to get out there.
Speaker 1:Very good about paying their players. The only thing they're not good at is firing their fucking umpires, because there's an umpire union that's just as good as the players' union.
Speaker 2:Or just as get rid of them for robots. That would be the easiest thing to do.
Speaker 1:I know, but pitching is about a game. Sometimes the corner calls there's a zone of the box. That is okay. That is an okay call to make Of 99% of umpires would make that call Because if you were just pitching straight zone, most of the breaking pitches wouldn't work.
Speaker 2:Look, I just think with how bad some officials are in the MLB. I agree, you can't Like either you have to find a way to weed those guys out and not let them be a part of it. I completely agree. Or get rid of them all together and put robots in there.
Speaker 1:There was an umpire this past Wolves playoff run where he umpired five games and he called four of them perfect Of everybody who made the same call. There was not a single complaint about his call. But his zone was so strict that in all four of those games there was a shit ton of balls thrown because he didn't care if it was touching the zone. It's a ball and by rule it's a ball. But it's stuff like that becomes hard because you got pitchers getting frustrated and you have pitchers getting thrown out because it's like that is a swing and miss pitch.
Speaker 2:You're not meant to hit it.
Speaker 1:That's why it's outside Stuff like. That's the problem. Now, he's great, he's a perfect umpire. He is the perfect World Series umpire, because you know what? Nothing is going to get called if it's not in the zone.
Speaker 2:Right, perfect, cool gave me a little leeway, damn dude. But again, I think that's something that's indoctrinated itself into the culture of pitching, where you're like, hey, being a little bit outside, I need a little bit of leeway, right, but like hey, but at the end of the day, if that umpire sticks to his way he calls things, you have to respect it.
Speaker 1:I agree.
Speaker 2:I would rather the umpire stick to how he's going to call it he's going to call it, rather than play around and be color over the lines all the time your zone changes because somebody's upset.
Speaker 1:I would hate that Because, as baseball players, cool, if you're going to call them outside, fine, you're going to call them outside.
Speaker 2:I will adjust and I will swing to it.
Speaker 1:And there's a lot of umpires that would do that, but there was always those umpires where that shit was fucking everywhere.
Speaker 2:Right and that part of it is so bad that it makes like. It makes it worse for some of the guys that are good at their jobs out there. So like, either weed those guys out, which the mlb definitely can do if they start keeping track of those things and grading these umpires and then weeding out the bad ones if they're not going to do their jobs correctly.
Speaker 1:I want to pay gradient based on how good they call games right or just have, because you guys have mlb crews, whoever calls the best fucking games? Keep them behind the goddamn plate, yeah, and and pay them accordingly, right.
Speaker 2:Like either be better at your job and get paid more or not and get weeded out and or never be behind the plate, like you need to find ways to get that done, to where you're going to force them to be better at their jobs. Yes, I agree If not get the robots out, because at least that will be consistent.
Speaker 1:Because y'all microchip balls. That's how you know if it's a ball or strike. That's how the PCI works.
Speaker 2:So you the tech's already there. Y'all are already there.
Speaker 1:Y'all just need to put a camera behind the plate. Yeah, y'all can have the umpire there. To keep the illusion that he's calling balls, just have a computer in his ear, ball. I don ball and all he'd be there for is like little challenges and like keeping the peace between between the teams. He gives out warnings and walks to the mound and tells them when it's time to pitch right.
Speaker 2:But all he needs to do again. But if you're gonna do that, just go for it. But if not, you're gonna have to find a way to get just better umpire play overall heck in the playoff the oh. Back to ohio for a second. They finally got a holding call. I freaked out because I'm like they only got one holding call all year long and the fact that finally a hold got called for ohio state was insane. So like that was a big deal. It's like officiating across all sports is kind of bad and it's because these guys are old guys that are making their money somewhere else.
Speaker 2:They're not full-time officials oh, it's bad, but again, that's because the nfl is not willing to make them full-time guys that are doing it all the time. They just want to pay them as part-time employees and they're not going to hold them to a certain standard.
Speaker 1:The MLB does pay. While they're doing their umpiring for MLB, they do pay them for full-time and then they will pay that certain ones, usually the crew chief They'll pay them to go train more umpires. They'll pay them all year round. But they give them pensions and stuff. You'll get benefits and we'll be very good at it.
Speaker 2:Nba is kind of bad at it too. Yeah, I would say they're probably at least a little bit better than the NFL. Is the NFL?
Speaker 1:keeps his part-time employees and then they just don't. In the NBA it's a little easier to call yeah, fouls, you're a lot closer, there's a lot less going on. There's only 10 guys on the court, you're not wrong, and you're looking at the one with the ball in his hands. Yeah, so it's a little easier to call calls, but they also make some shitty calls.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, for sure it happens everywhere. You're dealing with humans, nba refs are sensitive.
Speaker 2:They're the most sensitive refs in the world, as sensitive as they are, and they have their moments where they take control of their power. At the end of the day, they are not. They are told not to be the reason why this game goes. A certain way, they are pretty much told like hey, you're not the reason why everybody's here. There's too many MLB umpires that are like, hey, I'm going to show my ass while I'm here. They're here to see me, and like that's the type of mentality that MLB umpires have and there's nothing that's telling them to stop it because their umpire association is so strong.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they won't be fired regardless.
Speaker 2:That's what I'm saying. The fact that that's so strong and they don't feel like they can be gotten rid of is a bad sign for the sport.
Speaker 1:Who was it?
Speaker 2:It was Angel Hernandez or something like that, angel.
Speaker 1:Hernandez. He was the one that sued MLB because he said that they won't let me umpire a playoff game because I'm Hispanic, and they shot back no.
Speaker 2:We won't let you umpire one because you suck, but they still kept him around.
Speaker 1:Well, they couldn't fire him.
Speaker 2:So I'm sitting there like you're terrible at the job, Dude.
Speaker 1:you retired and everybody rejoiced.
Speaker 2:You were that bad, everybody was so happy. When you were so bad, dude so happy.
Speaker 1:How do you umpire for 28 years and never once umpire a playoff game?
Speaker 2:Everybody universe. There's nobody that looks at you and says hey, he's good at his job, that knows you do something wrong. You're doing something wrong.
Speaker 1:At least you have got like Joe West for what he was. He was a good umpire. He could call balls and strikes, it's just he was a showman. They're here for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was his problem like you're not there for the show to be on. You, buddy, you're there. You're there as the guys supposed to be officiating. That's it. But yeah, that's all it. I don't want to go too much farther. We're almost close to an hour and a half here, so and we still have another podcast to do later on, so let's go ahead and end this here. It's been a great conversation Ohio State's national champions, nfl playoffs still going, and let's end it here.
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Speaker 1:This has been the JVSportsPodcast. Thank you guys for listening. Thank you guys for always listening. You guys have a nice day and a nice night.
Speaker 2:Bye, y'all, Bye y We'll be right back, bye.