Why Non‑Playoff Bowls Lost Their Spark And What Michigan’s Kyle Whittingham Move Really Means While We Sort The Christmas NFL Mess

Stakes moved, and you can feel it. What used to be a December feast of meaningful bowls now looks like a snack tray with a playoff main course—and we dig into why. The expanded playoff changed incentives, the portal and NIL added leverage, and non‑playoff bowls lost their spark. We talk through what that means for player development, tampering risk, and the tough calculus coaches face when a breakout can trigger a bidding war.

Then we turn to Michigan’s headline move: Kyle Whittingham. We unpack the long search, why he fits the moment, and the big questions that decide whether it works—staff hires, identity, recruiting reach, and short‑term portal wins. Age is a number; credibility is a plan. Can he deliver both while resetting expectations in Ann Arbor?

On the NFL side, we sort the Christmas chaos. Dallas handled Washington in the day’s most watchable game, Detroit coughed up five Goff turnovers to gift Minnesota a win with just 51 passing yards, and Denver beat Kansas City in an ugly tilt overshadowed by wall‑to‑wall Travis Kelce retirement chatter. We hit the Max Crosby shutdown and what it tells a locker room, revisit the DK Metcalf–fan incident and accountability, and run through Week 17 picks with an eye on urgency vs. identity—backup QBs, Buffalo’s division push, and which teams can win left‑handed when Plan A sputters.

If you’re here for clear takes, honest nuance, and picks you’ll actually argue with, you’re in the right feed. Tap follow, share this with a friend who lives for football weekends, and drop a review to tell us where we nailed it—or whiffed.

Chapters

• 0:00 Solo Setup, Holidays, Agenda
• 1:37 Bowl Games’ Meaning In The Playoff Era
• 12:12 Portal, NIL, And Bowl Showcases
• 20:31 OSU–Utah Rose Bowl And MHJ’s Emergence
• 28:42 Pageantry vs Playoffs: What Fans Value
• 35:32 Michigan Hires Kyle Whittingham
• 49:00 Fit, Age, Staff, And Portal Reality For Michigan
• 58:55 Texas RB Room Exodus And Portal Risks
• 1:05:05 Pivot To NFL And Christmas Games Plan
• 1:07:22 Cowboys–Commanders: Close But Clear
• 1:16:43 Lions–Vikings: Goff’s Five Turnovers
• 1:28:55 Broncos–Chiefs: Ugly Offense And Kelsey Hype
• 1:40:09 Raiders Sit Max Crosby And Fallout
• 1:46:40 QB Updates: Packers, Ravens, Bills

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:09

Welcome back to the JB Sports Podcast. Today is Saturday, December 27th, and we are back for the pod. It's just your boy today, Solo Dolo. Um, Joe going by himself today. Due to the fact that we had me and Jace had a little bit of the sparring match last pod. And then it was been Christmas. Honestly, that is kind of we're kind of over that at this point. It's more about the fact that holidays, we just had Christmas a couple days ago. Jace is actually current currently getting ready for a move. So I just think there's a lot going on. Couldn't make it happen. So I figured I could just come on here, kind of go by myself. It really ain't a lot to talk about. It's mostly just the games from Christmas a couple days ago, which really not all that not all that impressive. But most of those games are kind of garbage. And then we have the rest of our picks for the rest of the games, and then there's a couple of the couple of different stories to talk about. So nothing too big. So I figured I could just kind of go up on my own. Let Jace have the time to go and do the things he has to do, and that'll be it. So hopefully I won't take all that long on today's pod. If I'm being it hopefully, I won't take all that long. But you know, I I always say that, but never can guarantee it because you know it is what it is. If I go on tangents, I go on tangent. So without further ado, let's go ahead and get started here. So when it comes to college football, which there's a lot of bowl games stuff going on, so I'm never gonna be like, I'm not as imp like ever since the playoff came out, like the playoff started, the four team and then especially the twelve team uh last year, the way I see it is that like there's so many games that actually mean something now. It is not just two, like, it is not just three games anymore. It's now like so many more games through the 12-team playoff that now have real stakes added to them. So when you look at those games that have something they really strive for, and then you look at the rest of the college football bull college football uh bowl slate, it just doesn't seem like it makes any sense for a lot of those other games. Obviously, if they're if there's a good game on, I'll be I'll be more than happy to be one of those guys to watch it. But as to whether I'm looking at these games and saying, oh, I have to go, like I'm like glued in, I'm just like that's not necessarily where I'm at. Like, even like a game, even like today, right? You have like Clemson and Penn State playing each other today in the pinstripe bowl, and what does it effing matter? Like, Penn State has a new head coach, I'm not even sure if he's coaching in this game or not, or they're just gonna let kind of the whatever interm, like, do interim coach do his thing, and then have Matt Campbell take over as the head coach after. But like, I don't care. Like, this Penn State team is six and six, the Clemson team seven and five, and to be honest, a lot of these players on both of these teams are probably either gonna move um in the transfer portal or not be like years ago, the bowl games, even if they didn't really have a real any real stakes to them as to having a chance to win a national title, the players, like the players that you'll see in these bowl games, usually, if they're gonna be studs or they're young players that really haven't played all year, this is a game where they get to get a lot of practice time in before the bowl game, they get to get into this bowl game and kind of have like a little bit of a showcase uh that leads to what they'll what what they what it'll be like once they are starters for that same team the year after, right? But ever since the but with the portal and everything like that is like unless may think how how do I want to put this? Like, obviously, you can keep these players, like that is not necessarily a thing, but like even if these players do show out in these bowl games, there's a chance that they just have to go in the portal because there's a team that calls saying, Hey, we saw what you did during that bowl game. If they're your team that you're with is not willing to pay you enough money, we'll pay you a big old bag to come and play for us off of just one game of really watching you play. So, like, it kind of creates a situation where if you are a if you are a team that has a young player that you think you really have you really see a future in, do you even want to give them that opportunity to really show out in the bowl game where there's gonna be people watching? Because if the wrong person sees it and decides, hey, let's I'm gonna call the the uh the GM of such and such college football team and say, hey, you gotta go look at this guy. He had a really good bowl game. I think he could be a good addition to our team, like that could be something that happens. But again, I just think maybe the argument against that is that the fact that if that player doesn't get that opportunity in that bowl game, maybe they think they don't have an opportunity to take the get a starting spot in the next year anyway. So like I get I guess a double-edged sword, but it's just like the way I see it, it's just like what it used to mean was that these players get got to have a showcase. Like I go, I go back to um the what was it, the Rose Bowl? I go I go back to like what is it, four or five years ago now, when Ohio State went to the Rose Bowl against Utah, right? Because we had just missed the playoff, and uh CJ had just that was his first year um as a starter for Ohio State, and they had just missed the bowl game, missed, missed the playoff, and they're kind of doing it because we had just lost in Michigan, didn't make make the Big Ten championship game, didn't get to the bowl, getting didn't get to the playoff. But we got to go play in the Rose Bowl against Utah. So you have Utah, um CJ Shroud, his first year. We we know he's coming back for another year. You have JSN, who's in his first his uh he's in his second year, but it's his first year as like a real like he's the guy. And guess who you have as the opposite receiver of him? Because think about the receivers that didn't play in that game. It was Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave, both of them had played all year for the for the Buckeyes, and then decided, hey, we have to get ready for the draft. We're not gonna play in this bowl game. It doesn't have any stakes, so it's fine, right? So I'm cool with that. I'm more I'm never gonna be the guy to sit there and look at a player that has a chance to go to the draft and do all those things and not wanting to play in a bowl game that doesn't really mean anything. I'm never gonna look at them and say, hey, you're doing something bad, okay? But here's my thing, as a recruiting guy, a guy that follows it a lot, because those two wide receivers didn't play. Guess which wide receiver had a chance to go out there and be the number two opposite of JSN and go out and show out and be, and like that got to be his statement game to start to kind of show the show the Buckeye fans around the world, like, hey, I'm next. It was Marvin Harrison fucking Jr. That's what that game meant. That game got to be a chance for Marvin Harrison Jr. to be on the other side of JSN, and he got to go out there and show, I think he had like two or three touchdowns that day. And here's the thing he had those touchdowns, it didn't take away from JSN because JSN had like the most productive wide receiver day of any Big Ten wide receiver, I think, in Rose Bowl history. So just like the way you look at it is like Marvin Harrison got his opportunity to go out there and be that guy along with JSN, along with CJ Stroud, and that got to be his platform to then set himself up for the next year, where people were looking at Marvin Harrison coming in, saying he's about to be a superstar along with JSN. Little did we know, JSN was going to get hurt very early in that year. Marvin Harrison was gonna get thrusted into the wide receiver one role, and he flourished and he did an awesome job. But that's what those bowl games used to mean if they didn't necessarily have the going for a national championship mantra on them. But that's not necessarily the case anymore because of how things have changed, how there's portal stuff going on, and like right after these bowl games, the portal opens up. So like it's just there's just a lot of different things uh outside of the bowl games that kind of muddies the water a bit. And the way I it just doesn't the bowl games outside of the playoff doesn't have the same spark it once had. The same spark. I'm not saying they won't be good games, I'm not saying that that that teams won't try. I'm just saying that when it comes to all the the out the like the little like ancillary things that you looked at these bowl games and said that could be an opportunity for younger guys and for all that, on top of the fact that it's it there's a lot of things that kind of take away from what these bowl games used to mean when they were just like, hey, you got to see all these crazy cool matchups, and that would be fun. I just feel like the playoff and everything else is kind of taken away from that. But yeah, that's all I that's all I got on the bowl, my bowl game rant. It's just uh again when they when they show when the games pop up and they're good, I'll watch them. But for the most part, a lot of them are just gonna be playoff games, and that's where I'll that's what I'll be locked into. But who knows? It's fine. I again I'm never sitting here saying I'm a big college football fan. I think I if I have to put it in a percentage of how locked in I am on college football in comparison to most average person I think I'm in the top like 10, 15%, right? Which I think where I think the where where I lack a little bit is I lack a little bit in the the history department, not history, but like the pageantry, right? I'm not as locked in on the pageantry of some things about college football that I do very much admit that that make college football special in comparison to the NFL. The rivalries being like ride or die, the most important thing you'll die over. Again, I have my Ohio State versus team up north rivalry, but like other than that, I'm not like even that game has taken a little bit of a hit for me over the years because I think I've come to the realization that like championships mean more to me than that game. Like I'm never gonna be that guy. I feel like there is, I do have to give some people that credit that they are so locked into the history and like they're so ride or die with the history of it, the pageantry of it, that maybe some of the newer concepts of playoffs and all this other stuff doesn't matter to them as much. And I I do give them the credit that that is a even even deeper of a meaning to that like meaning in general than what I have. But again, I still consider myself like a top 10-15% fan of college football. I'm just not like taking that next step of being all locked into on the on the pageantry and the past of it. Like again, I've as long as I've been an Ohio State fan, I've been locked in. But it's just I'm not and I'll not mention I'm not as locked in on every single rivalry around college sports. I'm not I'm not I've I've I think I've made this case before. I am more like when it comes to Ohio State, I think I'm a 1% type of fan. I really do think so. But when it comes to college football, I just don't think I'm that locked in on everything that is college football in the same way that a lot of the other people are. The Josh Pates of the world, where he talks about like his what he cares most about is what happens from week one to week twelve rather than what happens in the postseason in the playoffs and doing all of that. That's what matters to him most. I'm not necessarily there. I like I care about what week one to week twelve when it comes to Ohio State and like watching some of these matchups as they go along, but like living and dying with all of it outside of Ohio State, not necessarily. Again, if Ohio State survives, I'm won't let all the rest of college football go down. Like I really am. Like out Ohio State means that much to me. Even more than what college football is in general. So, you know, that's that's all that again. I I said I said before that was my ending of my ramp that I had a little bit more. But that truly is the ending of my college football, college football bowl game rant. If you have if your team has gone out there and playing an extra game, you get to go watch them, have fun doing so. If not, I'm not gonna sit there and look at these people as they as if they're crazy if they say, hey, I don't care about watching Penn State at 6-6 and Clemson at 7-5 playing each other at noon on a Saturday on the 27th of December. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna down anybody for having those type of feelings about that game. That's that's all I got. Alright, so other stories when it comes to college football, real quick before we transition to the NFL. Um Michigan, I'll give them I'll call them by their name because again, we I'm there's no fear of them. So I'm gonna call them by their name on the pod because it's just easier that way. They hire they have hired Kyle Whittingham as their new head coach on a five-year deal. And this has been a long saga. I think this has been multiple, I think they fired Sharon Moore on December 10th, and it is now when the news came out, I think this was yesterday. So December 26th. So 16, a little over two weeks. Michigan has been anxiously, like frantically trying to find their next guy. They were waiting on potentially Calen De Boer, who was coaching Alabama in the playoffs, and they were hoping that he would fail in that first game against Oklahoma, that would then give them the opportunity to go try to give the full court press um to Calen DeBoer, and hopefully he would say yes to them. Not only did he announce that he was saying no, but then he won that bowl game against Oklahoma. So now he's in the second round of the playoffs, so it kind of took him out of the race altogether. Their second guy, who was like a hotboard candidate, the second guy in the hotboard candidate for for that team up north is Kaylin uh Kyle uh sorry uh Calen DeBore, Kyle Whittingham. Nope. Nope, not Kyle Whittingham. Uh uh, who was the other guy? Hold on, I suck. I had his name and then I didn't. Let's see. Who was the other guy? Hold on. Um Kenny Dillingham, sorry, too many K's. Um Kenny Dillingham was their kind of like second their second option. And he had said no, he pretty much took the Arizona because they offered him an extension, he took the extension, got a pay raise, got a raise in the in the pool for his coaching assistants, so they they were able to get more money out of it, and he pretty much kept claiming that he was never offered the job from Michigan, which kind of comes out and makes sense because they were waiting on Calen Nabor and hoping they could hit a home run hire by getting him from Alabama to come back to the Midwest and go coach at the University of Michigan. So then he's taken off the board because Kenning Dillingham wasn't tired of waiting. Even if he was waiting for an opportunity to take the job, they team up north took a little too long. He decided to stay home out of Arizona State, and he's good where he's at. And then after those two guys, it's like who else do they have an opportunity to go get? They had been taking so long. There was no like nobody, all the guys that you would think that would be like home run hires for that team up north to try to go get, they had either already doubled down on where they were at and took more money and stayed and took an extension, or they'd already gotten a different job. So now the big the whole saga over these last 10-15 days, sorry, that would be 16 days, was hey, what like what are they gonna do? Are they gonna stick with their interim guy? I think his name is Biff Poggy, um, as a guy for at least another year and then try to have another full-blown coaching search going into next offseason, or are they just gonna try to go take whoever they could possibly get? And it was looking real bleak as to who they were gonna get, whether they would actually be worthy enough of being a the coach at one of the top universities in the in in the country, right? Especially when it comes to football. I'm not I'm again I'm not gonna sit here and say that they're like a top five, because I just don't think so. But as a brand, they're top five, top ten without an issue. But as a football program, I'm not willing to go there and say that they're a top five school. But as a brand, there is no question that it's one of the stronger brands out there, and it is definitely a spot that has all the resources, resources in the world. They've gone through all their shit. They're like everything in that football program needs to really be refreshed, revamped, kind of like starting everything from scratch because of how much craziness has gone on there ever since you know Harbaugh was there and kind of did what they did to go win a national title, and then everybody everything has been falling apart at the seams ever since. Uh, so what they needed was a guy that can that can come in and that can maybe just is a good head coach and that can kind of reset the I'm not gonna say integrity, but like he brings the credibility with him to that job that I just don't think they had really any other opportunity to get with anybody else they could have hired for that position that at least that had the op that was open, right? So Kyle here comes while hit Kyle Whittingham. So that is announced yesterday. He's there, a five-year deal. He is the former Utah head coach. He had been one of like the most longest standing head coaches in all college football um coming into this year, and like I think it was a couple weeks ago where they decided that Kyle Whittingham was stepping away from Utah, which they always always kind of like hinted at like this is not Kyle Whittingham saying he was retiring. This is be him stepping away because he feels like he's not welcome to stay at Utah any longer. Because I think Utah and their brass, they wanted a change in the in the lifeblood of what that program is. Because you have you've had the same guy there, I think he's like been there like over like over like 20 years or something like that. Hold on, let me see. How long including apparently thousand eight. He had been there. Let's see, he's 66. Let me see. He's like he's like the fourth oldest head coach in all of college football. 77. He he was there for over 20 years. He was there for 21 years at Utah. So I can get the idea that maybe Utah just kind of wants a little bit of a change of pace. He's a little bit older, so they're like, hey, we're gonna have to find a new guy eventually anyway. And maybe they were just like, hey, maybe it's time for you to go, and they considered it as like him walking away instead of them firing him, so it makes it look a little bit better. But now Whittingham is going and taking another job at the University of Michigan, so now like comes into effect that like maybe this wasn't a mutual decision, it's more of like Utah saying, hey, get out, or we're gonna kick you out. And there are some Utah fans out there that are kind of upset because of how good Kyle Whittingham has been for Utah over the last 20 years, but there are some people that are like, hey, hit things are starting to still go stale anyway, and things have kind of taken a little bit of downturn over the last couple years, and maybe it's just time for us to kind of have a big uh uh scenery change type of thing. And now you have Kyle Whittingham going to University of Michigan, and this is what I'll say might there have been a little bit of a downturn coming at Utah, yeah, for sure. But I also think now that him going to University of Michigan is a little bit of a it's a revamp for him. I do think he is it gives him an opportunity to go out there and be at a place that I think in general has more resources than what he had at Utah. There is going to be more money behind the University of Michigan football program than there was Utah. He might have access to different athletes at the University of Michigan that he wouldn't have wouldn't have had access to at the University of Utah. And the one thing that did make me like make me scratch my head a little bit is that some people were like um talking about how he's going to be able to bring like all the Hawaiians to the all the big old big old offensive, like the big old offensive linemen that are all Hawaiians, like they're going to bring them all to Utah. And I'm like, eh, well, bring them all to Michigan. And I'm like, well, no, the reason why Utah is such an attractive place, because it was close to where they were coming from, obviously in Hawaii, and usually in Southern California and all that. But going all the way to University of Michigan probably isn't going to be as easy. But I just think in general, when you Kyle Whitney is coming, he is a really good head coach. He is an obvious upgrade over what Sherrill Moore was willing to do for Michigan over the last couple years since he's been there. And then I also think as an integrity spot, if like if they're really looking for someone to try to get them back into the good graces of being able to say they're Michigan men and they're they're up front and they're honest and they're going to do things the right way, Kyle Whittingham has been doing that at Utah for 20 years. So maybe again, I think the coaching should issue what should matter most because let's be honest, the Michigan men, the upright, they're honest, smart, distinguished individuals. I think that's been taking a hit over the last three, four years now. And I don't think that should be one of their number one priorities when it comes to getting a new head football coach. I obviously you don't want your head football coach to be an absolute terrible person and to be doing the worst and cheating and all of that, which again, they've already had a coach that was cheating. Uh nobody wants to talk about that though. But like, but go get a good head football coach, and as long as he is not the worst person of all time, I think that should be good enough. And I think they got that in Kyle Whittingham. And I think he's a little bit even more of a plus when it comes to the integrity and like his reputation as a human on top of being a really good head football coach. I feel like that's a a lot more than the University of Michigan could have ever asked for. And did it come down to like he may have been the own the best only option because of what his situation was at Utah? Yeah, for sure. But I just think that like he I just feel like he kind of checks a lot of boxes for them in a way that it was like gonna be very hard for anybody else to. And do I think it's gonna be a long-term answer for the University of Michigan, Kyle Whittingham? Pro maybe, maybe not. He's 66 years old. Like, it's still relatively young in the col like I'm not saying young, but it's not like old man Joe Pa type of thing, right? I do think he can heck, um why am I forgetting his name? That's not good. It's uh why am I forgetting his name? Hold on, it's um It's Pete Carroll. Uh so Pete Carroll is the head coach uh in the NFL for um the Raiders right now, and he is I think he's like 70 something. He's 74 years old. Again, he's a very young 74. I think he's really taken care of himself taking care of himself over the years. So like maybe he is not necessarily the the best one because who knows, like, again, he I think he's kept himself in peak physical condition. Like, I think he's done a lot of good things to kind of keep himself being as young and as vibrant as he has been over the years, especially in his older age. But like, there's a guy's coaching at 674 years old right now in the NFL. Again, it's a little bit easier coaching in the NFL by comparison to college because of the you know the calendar and all that. But it's just there's older guys coaching out there. So 66 is not necessarily the oldest you could possibly be. And I think Kyle Whittingham knows how to coach football. Will his message get to the type of players that he wants to get at the University of Michigan? That is the question to remain to be seen. He's gonna have his opportunity to go go to that go to those players in that in that football program and give his message, and if they like it, they they'll be cool, they'll stay. And if they don't, they'll hit the portal, or if they don't like his messaging, or if they don't like him as a head coach, or if there's a bag coming their way from somebody out from another school, they'll be out of there. So I think all the only thing that will prove as to how good of a hire this is is time. Um, what coaching staff he's gonna hire, who's gonna have around him, both offensively, defensively, and kind of getting things going there, and what they do in the portal to supplement that team because it's gonna take a hit. It is. It's gonna take a hit no matter like whether it's a mass exodus or whether it's like some of your best players kind of leaving and just like you still have more of a base team to play with. I that's the question that remains to be seen. But you are gonna take a hit with people leaving going into the portal. So are Kyle Whittingham and whatever staff he puts together able to bring in guys from the portal that'll keep them relevant, that'll keep them as a good football team, and like that'll they be able to like do it that way because when it comes to recruiting class, that's pretty much over at this point. There is no recruiting this year's players coming out of high school. It is all about doing the portal for the next year or two and trying to get the recruiting for from high school back up because they're gonna have a new coaching staff that's gonna have to re-establish themselves to a lot of young high school players that have a lot of leverage right now. So, and a lot of other teams are looking for their services. So I just think it's there it's gonna be a lot for Whittingham to kind of figure out. He's a really good head coach, he's done it for so long. I'm not gonna sit here and say that he can't, but I think it is a it is a unique challenge with doing what he's what he's about to do. And again, if anybody can do it, it's probably him. But there are some real questions about it that like, is this a long-term answer or is this another short-term answer that as soon as a better guy comes along, they're gonna drop Whittingham and take that guy? I don't know. A lot of those questions have uh have yet to be seen. So again, when I look at Whittingham, I think he brings more credibility, I think he's a better head coach. But do I think he's gonna be the guy to turn it all the way back around like from the from day one? And I just don't think so. And I think we me as an Ohio State fan having Ryan Day on my on my side as my head coach, I don't think Whittingham's a better coach than Ryan Day or anything like that. They the heck, the game I talked about with uh against Utah that Ohio State was in the Rose Bowl, guess what coach we faced? We faced Coach Whittingham, and we absolutely nuked them. Well, it was a back and forth affair, but Ohio State scored a lot more points, so it was what it was. But like, no, I I'm not shaking in my boots that they got a much better head. I'm not shaking my boots that he's gonna turn the tide back around where Michigan's gonna dominate the next five, ten years. But I think he's good, he's a good head coach. He he really is, and I think that I think there's gonna be a lot of other things that if he doesn't succeed, it will, I don't think it'll be because of him. So that's it, that's about it on the Kyle Whittingham stuff. Um good that they finally have a head coach. Again, I would again I'd be more than happy if they don't have a head coach for the rest of the time, but again, that was never gonna truly happen. So let's go ahead and go on to the next story here. I'm only gonna mention this for a second because I don't necessarily have a lot of like really long and drawn out thoughts on this. But Texas is having a little bit of a mass exodus at the running back position from their school, all going into the portal. So Quintravion Wy Quintravion Wisner, who is the leading back for Texas this past season, has now he has announced his plans to go into the portal. And this marks the fourth running back from that roster that's saying they're going to go into the portal, and that includes him, that includes uh backup CJ Baxter, Jared Gibson, and Ricky Stewart Jr. Which I don't know as much about him, but those are four backs on their roster that are all going into the portal. Which is kind of crazy because it's like Texas is one of those places that if they want to keep you, money's not ever the issue, right? So I don't think it's a money thing that they're deciding to leave there to go to somewhere else. The way I look at it is based off the way that this season had played out for Texas, and now you have you have Arch kind of struggling throughout the year, getting better as the year gone along, and then now he's announced he's coming back, so he'll be back at University of Texas next year. And their offensive line be very young, but they're inexperienced, they've gotten better throughout the year. And I think, again, I'm not they're not like superstars yet, but you've they've shown some progress throughout the year to be able to run the football a little bit better. And if anything, running the football was the best thing that Texas could do throughout this season because of how ass Arch was throughout the year throwing the football. So my question is that is this all of these players understanding that the running game is not gonna get any better and they see your better opportunities somewhere else? Is this Texas telling these players like, hey, you're not good enough, and we're gonna bring some guys in the portal over you and like have a guy ready to go? Is this Texas telling them show it telling them to get like get their way out and go to the portal that way? I don't know. It's just when you have so many guys leaving one position room to go to leave, it's just a very precarious situation. Because as a uh because like the way I think about it is that if you're Texas and you're telling these players like, hey, we're gonna go get somebody else through the portal, there's no guarantee that you'll get the guy that you want, right? Like, when you go into the portal looking for somebody and you think you're gonna give somebody a number and they're gonna say yes, because this is the University of Texas, and we have we have a lot of money and we have everything that a a great running back would possibly need, there's no guarantee that player takes you. Whether there might be another team that wants to give him more money, there may be like they may look at Arch and say, I don't believe that I don't believe that's the quarterback that'll help me be able to be the best running back I can be, or if they don't like the offense. So like there's a lot of fit different things that may keep a player from wanting to pick Texas other than money. And again, money is never gonna be an issue because I think Texas is one of those schools, they just have a cl as close to an endless apply of cash as you could possibly find in all of college football. So I don't think it's because of money, but I think there's players that just that understand there's a lot more than just the biggest bag you could possibly get. And maybe they like it's it's not gonna be as simple as just we're gonna go get the best running back to get come in and be the guy over you. And I just think it's not necessarily that simple. But if you have all those four guys leaving, I feel like there has to be some sort of confidence from Texas that they can get whatever guy that they want in the portal. But I'm just like, I don't know. I I think that is that confidence misguided is the question I'm thinking of here. Should they be that confident that they can just get whatever guy that they want? Or or maybe this is just a player-led, like, hey, we all understand what our what our role is in this offense gonna be, and it's not good enough, so they all just decide to leave all at once. I don't know. But if I had to guess it, I'm like, if just if Texas wanted to keep somebody, they'll keep them. So it just makes me think that Texas kind of let told these guys to get out the door, and I'm just not sure if that'll be a long heck, even the guy you bring in from the portal, there's no guaranteed they fit your squad. Like, think about Oregon, and they brought in the one guy. Why am I forgetting that running back's name? He was the guy from Tulane that was like awesome. He was like a very awesome running back. Everybody thought he was gonna be the leading guy for them this year, and they they gave him a bag to go there, and then he was like the third or fourth string guy on their roster and barely played at all. And that dude was awesome at Tulane. There was a whole line of teams looking for his services, and he chose Oregon because it's a big bag, and he thought that was gonna be the opportunity for him, and it didn't work out. So, like, even getting the best running back on the market doesn't necessarily guarantee that it's gonna be a fit and that things work out, and that they're it's just gonna be an automatic. It's like it's not like bringing these guys from the portals, like bringing a put bringing in a perfect puzzle piece that's guaranteed to fit and like that help your team. That's just not the case. I just feel like it's a very weird situation going on at Texas with all those players from one position room leaving all at the same time. It is, it's just a little, it's just a little weird. And then let's see here. I don't want to talk about any of the Coswell playoff games that are happening in the second round yet, because we're gonna do another pod on Tuesday. That'll give me the perfect opportunity to make my make my case about what's going on with with those games and make my predictions. So we'll wait for that. And then Jason will be back next week. So I want to get be able to get his his uh opinions on those games as well. So we'll wait till Tuesday for that. And there's no other stories I really want to talk about with college football. So alright, so that's all the college football talk I wanted to do today. Let's go ahead and get to the NFL. We'll go ahead and start with the games that happened on Christmas. Again, it's not all that much, but you know, we'll start with that first, then we'll get to any of the stories that I want to talk about with the NFL, and then we'll get to getting going through the rest of the games, making picks. I do have all Jace's picks for those games, so we won't be without those. So let's go and get to it. So the games on Saturday, well, at least on sorry, on Thursday, on Christmas, right? Let me get to those. So the first one was Dallas at the Commanders. Um, this was it, I think this was at 1 o'clock on Christmas. You have Cowboys winning that game 30 to 23, and this was kind of do I want to say the best game of the day? I kind of do want to say the best game of the day. This was the best game. At least it was like relatively decent football being played. Yeah, I would say probably the best game of the day was this first one between Dallas and the Commanders. Uh, Dallas won the game 30 to 23. It was a relatively close matchup, honestly, throughout most of the game. Uh, you have Dak, 19-37, 300 yards, two touchdowns, zero picks. Uh Dallas ran the football very well, over 200 yards rushing. Malik Davis was the leading rusher in this game. He had 20 carries for over 100 yards. Javante Williams, uh, usually the leading back for them. I think he had an injury or something like that, so he wasn't able to play as much. But he had 13 carries, 54 yards, and a touchdown. And then the the guys receiving the ball, I think, had a really like Cavante Turpin, one catch, 86 yards, and a touchdown. Not a usual guy when it comes to getting a big play and all that. But he again, an 86 yard touchdown catch is an awesome play that happened in that game. It was very good. George Pickens, four catches, 78 yards. He still came out and played well. CeeDee Lamb, five for 46, not necessarily as productive as he usually is, but again, wasn't that like life or death because they still won the game. And then they just had a bunch of dudes get passes. Uh Brevin, Span Ford, Jalen Tolbert, Luke Schoonmaker, Hunter Lepke, like Jake Ferguson. Like there's Jake Ferguson, their their normal, like their leading tight end. He got one touchdown catch and then left the game pretty early, so he didn't even finish the game off because of injury. But the way this game started, it felt like in the first half, like it was Dallas like 24 to 10 at by the time halftime uh came up, and it was just it felt like Dallas was gonna be able to run away with this game. And then the second half, Dallas kind of cooled off offensively, wasn't able to get as much done. Washington came out in that third quarter and scored 10 points to Dallas's three and kind of got back into the game, and then in that fourth quarter, Washington wasn't able to get that final push to kind of come back and really tie the game up to win it. But it was just a very decent game. Because here's the thing when you have Washington come in in that game, like they had Josh Johnson as their starting quarterback. Like they didn't have I thought that they could have even gotten better quarterback play if Marcus Mariote came out and played. Josh Johnson, 15 to 23, 198 yards, zero touchdowns, zero picks. And like me and Jace were like watching this game on Christmas, and we're like, Josh Johnson's still playing? Because he's been a part of the NFL for a while as a backup, and we're sitting there like we were surprised he's he's still around. But again, he's like nowhere near the, even though Marcus Mariota is not a guy that you could really consider being like a starter in the NFL as of this point, but he's leagues better than what Josh Johnson put out there on Thursday. And I think if Marcus Mariota he brings a little bit more of a running threat, he's able to do a little bit more of that. He's a good like and he has a good rapport with the wide receivers on this team because guess what? He's been playing a lot more. So I just feel like if Marcus Mariota would have played, let alone if Jane Daniels would have been healthy enough to play, I feel like this been a lot could have been a lot better game. But because Josh Johnson was the unfortunate starter, not unfortunate for him, but unfortunate for fans of football because he's just not as good at the quarterback position. It kind of just took away from what this game could have been. Because even with him at the quarterback position not really playing all that well, Washington ran the football relatively well. Uh uh who is it? Jack Jakori Krosky Merritt was the leading rusher for Washington in this game. He had 11 carries for over 100 yards and two touchdowns. He averaged almost nine yards over almost 10 yards a carry. Debo Samuel had a couple rushes for 25 yards. Um Debo honestly had a decent game. He had a he had those rushing stats I told you about. And then he also had another two catches for 68 yards. Terry McLaurin, five catches for 63. Um, the tight end had a couple catches. Ben Sinat had a couple catches for 29 yards. So, like, I it would this game could have been so much better if Marcus Mary went ahead and played because I feel like he just is a much bigger threat, not only running the football with his legs, but also throwing the football. Um, with the rapport he has with those receivers already, because he's played so much this year. And again, was Washington probably gonna lose this game no matter what? Yeah, probably. And the game was relatively close anyway, even with Josh Johnson being the quarterback. But even with the game being relatively close, it never felt like Washington was really gonna win that football game. It has never felt that way. It felt like Dallas kind of like got that lead in the first half, and it was just never gonna totally evaporate, even with Washington kind of doing what they could in that second half to kind of at least make the game closer. But it was a it was a it was a again by comparison to what the rest of the games were for the day, this game was definitely at least watchable because the other two games were absolutely duh crap in every sense of the word. But you know, the Cowboys are seven and eight, seven, eight, and one. I think they're eliminated from playoff contention, right? Now I gotta check. I think they're eliminated from playoff contention. I don't think they have any chance to make the playoffs now. Let's see here. Yeah, Dallas is eliminated, so they have nothing else to play for except pride. So But at least Dallas went out there and played well, and they didn't let the commanders beat them because there's no reason they should have, but you know, it is what it is. Next game, you got the Lions and Vikings. Vikings won this game 23-10. And let me tell you, this game was disgusting to watch. Let me let me talk about this, okay? Jared Goff, who is I consider him like a top 10, like a usually like around a top 10 quarterback in the league, right? And I look at him and say, hey, as long as as long as you can kind of keep him upright and protected, and he has time to throw, you should be fine. But and he's done really great as a Detroit line over the last few years. But here's the problem, right? Jared Goff also has those games that make you question everything you think you know about football with him. Because here was his stat line from against Minnesota from Thursday. 18 to 29, 197 yards, one touchdown, and two picks. Sacked five times. But that doesn't tell the whole story. On top of those two interceptions that he threw, he also had three fumbles lost. Jared Goff had five total turnovers in this game. And those fumbles were just him not being able to hold on to the football at all. And one of the main like the big things talking about Jared Goff is talking about how small his hands are, and how he doesn't have like in like again, I'm not gonna necessarily gonna go all the way down that, but is it opens him up for the jokes that are coming his way. But you have five turnovers, three fumbles in a game. When you're Jared Goff, you've been in the NFL as long as you have, and you're playing against a Minnesota team that doesn't have anything offensively going their way. All you have to do is take care of the football and not fumble, and you probably win this game, even if you don't have your best offensive game plan behind you, because I have my whole bot my own problems with how the offense is being ran now with uh Dan Campbell being the now head call head coach slash play caller for the offense. But all you have to do is not turn over the football and you probably win this football game because of how bad Minnesota was offensively. But Jared Goff didn't. He had an awful game. They also weren't able to run the football at all. Jameer Gibbs had 17 carries for 41 yards, averaged 2.4 yards a carry. David Montgomery, the other really good running back that I have a lot of respect for as a player, he had 10 carries and 25 yards, averaged about 2.5 yards a carry. They ran the football for almost 70 yards as a team. And when you're you're a Detroit Lions team and you have Jared Goff struggling as much as he has in that game, guess what you have to be able to do is run the football to take a little bit of the pressure off him, and then guess what they can't do? Run the fucking football. And that only compounds any sort of issues that Jared Goff was having in that game because they can't they can't shut him down for a minute and say, hey, we understand you're having an issue here. We're gonna like keep our try to keep our offense moving, we're gonna run, we're gonna run the football until you can figure it out and you feel more comfortable. We'll get you back in there and throw the football more. But we have to we have to give you a reprieve. Like they just don't have that right now. And that's the biggest issue. Their offensive line is not as good as it was as it has been in years past. They don't have the offensive creativity with Ben Johnson leaving and not being there anymore. Dan Campbell, I don't I think Dan Campbell's a negative when it comes to playing play calling for the offense. Because not only do I think, like, I think he has the balls to go for and do all that, I'm not questioning the idea of him not being aggressive enough. But it's just he's just not an offensive play caller. That's just not what he is. That's not like putting together offenses is not how it goes. And ever since he started calling plays, it has not gone better for them. If anything, it's become more chaotic. And then on top of that, you have the offensive line not playing well. You're like ruined, like Jameer Gibbs is not all you have to do is getting some get him some decent play calling and get him some decent blocking up front. And I think Jameer Gibbs is one of the best backs in the sport, and they can't even get him going because of how bad all that is going offensively for them. So if they're going to win these games, their only chances for Jared Goff to throw the football over and over and over again, and he can't have an off day because they have no other, they have no other pitch. They all they have is their fastball. They don't have a curveball, they don't have anything else. And with Ben Johnson at the helm and what they had on the offensive line over the last few years, they were able to say, hey, Jared Goff ain't feeling it today. We can run the football with our with our running back duo, and they can really control this game, and that's just not what they have this year. And that's why Detroit's 8-8. They're locked out of they're knocked out of the playoffs, they have no chance of doing it there. And they're gonna have to do some real soul searching over the offseason to get a new play caller, um, get some new guys in at the offensive line, and like really in help that defense, obviously, because that defense has been so hurt, and they have so little, they have they don't have the amount of bodies that you need defensively to kind of keep that team going. So like they have a lot of soul searching to do in the offseason, and it's just this game was bizarre in the way that it kind of played out because I'll talk about Minnesota in a second. But Sam Brown, eight catches, 68 yards. I feel like he did fine. He wasn't doing bad. It was just that Jared Goff was so anemic offensively, they just didn't really have had no chance to really get the offense together and like really keep a consistent attack going in in a way. Uh Isaac Tesla, he had three catches, 49 yards, and a touchdown. Jamison Williams, two catches for 37 yards. Jameer Gibbs only got the ball two times in the passing game, two catches for 23 yards. Montgomery only had a couple catches. Like, this offense for the Lions was awful. Awful. So bad. And Minnesota, this is how bad the the this game was, okay? Minnesota won this football game. And their starting quarterback, Max Brosmer, went nine of sixteen for 51 yards and got sacked seven times. 9 of 16 for 51 yards? He couldn't throw the football for half, like barely over half a football field. That's insane. The fact that the Minnesota Vikings are able to win this game with their quarterback throwing for 51 gosh darn yards is absolutely insane to me. I will give the Vikings this. They did run the football relatively well. Um, they had 158 total yards rushing in this game. Jordan Addison, one carry, 65 yards and a touchdown. He had the Belong touchdown run. That was good for them. Aaron Jones, 18 carries, 53 yards, and a touchdown. Wasn't nearly efficient at all, but they kept feeding him the rock, and he did what he had to do to kind of get yardage going. Because again, they had to do something because they weren't throwing the football at all. And Ty Chandler had like seven carries for 24 yards. Max Brosmer added 16 yards off two carries. So they ran the football relatively well, but they didn't do anything else in this game. It was all because Detroit's lack of ball security in Jared Goff that they were given short fields and they were able to get a lot of points they wouldn't have gotten otherwise. Justin Jefferson, four catches, 30 yards. Aaron Jones, three catches, ten yards. Like, like this is anemic offensive football. All Detroit had to do, all Jared Goff had to do was hold on to the football and just play a normal football game. And they didn't have to be explosive offensively at all. All they had to do was keep the football on their in in their hands and take what they could get, and they would have won this game going away. But it's just all the turnovers by Jared Goff in this game was the absolute killer for them in this in this one, and it allowed the Vikings to win a game, they probably shouldn't have won. They didn't they didn't deserve to win. But you know, it is what it is. If you're if if you're gonna make the mistakes, the other team's gonna take them. The other team is never gonna look at a team like if you're the Vikings in that game and Jared Jared Goff fumbles the football for a third time in that game, they're not gonna say, hey, we don't want that, we don't we don't want that turnover. Like we don't feel good about this. Like they're gonna take it all day long, but it doesn't change the fact that it's just like ugh gross, absolutely gross anemic football that I that that game was. It really was. It was awful. Alright, last but not least, uh Broncos at Chiefs. Broncos won the game 20 to 13. Let me tell you, this game was disgusting as well. And for a totally different reason, because you could just you could just tell from the get-go that Denver was a much better football team from start to finish. But it didn't play out that way because Denver kept playing with their food and just couldn't get not playing with their food because I think the offense for them have has been a struggle all year long. The offense for Denver has not necessarily been a machine just going after and killing everybody that they see. Like Bo Nicks, 26 to 38 for 182 yards, one touchdown, one pick. They were not pushing the football down the field whatsoever. They were a lot of dick and dunk passes. They averaged 4.8 yards of completion, so they weren't a lot of diking and dunking. They didn't run the football. They ran the football okay. RJ Harvey, 14 carries, 43 yards. Bo Nicks had nine carries, 42 yards, and a touchdown. Jaleo McLaughlin, another running back for them, seven carries, 40 yards. Like they ran the foot, they ran the football fine, but it just didn't feel like they I don't want to give them this credit because it feels like that, like like I just said, Denver has been up and down offensively all year long. But if you didn't watch this game at all, like if you knew what on paper what this Broncos team was offensively in comparison to the Chiefs, you would look at this game and think, oh, the the like the Broncos didn't try in this game, right? That's what it felt like because of just how bad Kansas City was in general in this game, and as to why this game was close at all, it just doesn't make any sense to me. But again, it was just what do I know about the Denver Lions off the D Detro Denver Broncos offense is that they've been up and down all year long, and this was that Thursday was a down day for them. And even with all the troubles that Kansas City had offensively, Denver Broncos could not put them away. Well, they didn't put them away because they won the game, but they couldn't like get make the game out of reach to where it was like they didn't have a chance to lose it. Like it was because of how bad Den Denver was offensively that Kansas City, even with as bad as Chris Oladokin, the quarterback, the third string quarterback was for Kansas City in this game, he had 66 yards passing and a touchdown. Like because like he was able to play that terribly, and Denver was like the Kansas City still had a chance to win the game. That's the part that doesn't like that I don't understand. Uh, but let me get back to Denver real quick. Cortland Sutton, four catches, 40 yards, RJ Harvey, five catches, 33 yards, and a touchdown. Uh, and then a bunch of other guys got involved, but none of them really did anything because it was all dink and dunk passes down the field, and they just couldn't like the Denver, Denver got two of the touchdowns in the because it was six to seven going into the halftime, and then cut in the second half, Denver was able to get two touchdowns on the board to Kansas City only getting six points. So that was the difference was that Broncos were able to convert a few touchdowns in the second half rather than Kansas City Chiefs only being able to get few make field goals happen. But again, I could understand Kansas City struggling in this game. He had, like I said, Chris Oladokin, 13 to 22, 66 yards and a touchdown. They ran the football for 82 yards total in this game. Kareem Hunt, seven carries, 38 yards. Isaiah Pacheco, nine carries 32 yards. Again, their running game has been a big struggle all year long. So I'm not sitting here saying this is a new development that without Patrick Mahomes, they they couldn't run the football either. But their running game has been awful all year long, no matter who's been the quarterback for them. Uh and then now you have Chris Olodokin, who is a quarterback that's been a journeyman guy. I think he was drafted in the seventh round by Pittsburgh, which is why I know him as much as I do. And again, he's a third-string guy. He's never looked at as a guy that like can be an eventual like real NFL starter. Like he's a backup for a reason. And he came out, he made a couple plays that like make you think, oh, he has a few physical tools, but nothing to make you think they really had a chance to win this football game if Denver wasn't going to like unless Denver was going to give it to Kansas City, they Kansas City had no chance of winning this football game. But unfortunately, Denver gave kept giving Kansas City chances over and over and over again by not shutting the door on Kansas City and making them like totally shutting the shutting them down in this game. They just couldn't Denver couldn't do that part. Um Travis Kelsey, five catches, 36 yards. Juju Smith Schuster, three catches, 16 yards. Hollywood Brown had a catch for seven yards, Brashard Smith had a three catch for five yards and a touchdown. This is one of the things I want to talk about in this game was because I was watching it pretty intently, unfortunately. Because I just I it was the end of the end of the day. I had already opened gifts, already had Christmas dinner, and I was like just watching it casually as I'm doing other things. And this game was so so much this game was talked about because everybody is thinking that this is Travis Kelsey's last game with the Chiefs at home because again, this is the Chiefs' last home game of the season. So the broadcast was making a big deal out of this could be Travis Kelsey's last game in in Arrowhead for the Chiefs before he retires at the end of this year. And I'm like, he hasn't made that decision public as of yet. He has continuously said whenever he has been asked that he's gonna take it one year at a time, and once the season is over, he will he will take his time to make his choice then and we'll and he'll announce it when he decides, right? But everybody has been trying to like sit there and like watch any all the podcasts that he does and any interviews, people are like talk looking at his words that he's using in comparison to other words, and everybody is like he was talking about I think on his podcast, he was like in when they were talking about uh Patrick Mahomes coming back and being healthy for next year, everybody was looking at the fact that he was talking about hey, the Chiefs need to get Patrick Mahomes back rather than saying we like he always does. Like that could just be a fruit like a slip of the slip of words, like he he just said the wrong thing, but people are taking that as signs that he's saying that he's gonna be retiring after this year, and that's just not necessarily a guarantee. So, like when there is no guarantee he has not said for sure this is last season or anything like that. Now, all I have to see on this fourth on this broadcast is every second looking at him, looking at Taylor Swift, and and uh Travis Kelsey's mom, they're like, oh, this could be the final time we see a Kelsey in a football game anytime soon. And it's just like it just felt a little bit thick to me. Again, if he would have announced that this was his last season and all of that, then I would totally understand, but it just felt like it was a grasp at straws to have some sort of storyline for this game because this game didn't matter at all, and Denver was definitely gonna win this game. So they were like, hey, we have nothing else better to talk about, so we're just gonna make this all about Travis Kelsey and make it feel like he's actually announced he's retiring, but that's not the case. So I think there is a real chat, a real chance that like, hey, the this broad that broadcast team is like gonna be sick if Kelsey decides to come back and play another year with Patch Mahomes. I was just annoyed by it. Again, I'm not usually the one that's like annoyed by the showing of Taylor Swift or the showing of like kind of going to celebrities throughout the building and all of that, but just felt like it was so Travis Kelsey-centric. Like the Denver Broncos are a team that's gonna like they're 13-3 gonna make the playoffs. Again, I don't like the Broncos that much as a football team. Like, I feel like they have real issues and like they're probably not as good as their record says that they are. But again, they're that that is a team that has more on their plate and they have a lot more to play for this season, and that game was all made about Travis Kelsey potentially playing his last game in Arrowhead. When we don't fucking know that that's the case. I I was just I was annoyed by I was annoyed by that storyline being so heavily relied upon in that game. Again, there wasn't much else to look at, but still find something else. Find something about real football that you can you can grasp onto, but they were just all making it about Travis Kelsey. And again, I like Travis Kelsey, I really do. I'm not one of those Travis Kelsey haters, but it was just a little thick for me. It was a little thick the way they were laying down that storyline uh during that game. So alright. So that's the three games from from Christmas. That was that was the Christmas Day slate that I had to react to. Before we get to the rest of the games, let me go ahead and go. Any stories I wanted to talk about before we go, before we get to the rest of the NFL slate where I'll make my picks and announce Jace's. Uh, and we'll just well, that's how we'll end the podcast here. So, story-wise, the Raiders, they had a meeting with uh Max Crosby. I think this was yesterday. It was yesterday. So the Raiders had a meeting with Max Crosby, had him come into the facility, and the upper brass, um, Pete Carroll and the upper brass decided, hey, they Max Crosby had a little bit of an injury. He's been playing through injuries all year long. Because Max Crosby is one of those guys that like as long as he's able to go out there and play to a certain extent, he's gonna go out there and play, injuries or not, and because of that injury, the Raiders kind of brought Max in and said, Hey, we know you're dealing with an injury. This these games absolutely do not matter. We want to go ahead and have you sit for the rest of the season, while try to get healthy, and we're gonna like these and play out the rest of these games without you. Max Crosby did not take kindly to that, and he decided, hey, I'm I'm leaving the building. And like he was not happy with the decision whatsoever. Again, he can't control whether he's activated or deactivated. I think they put him on IR for the rest of the year, so he's not gonna be able to play any any games for the rest of the last two games of the season. But I don't know. Like, I get the idea of a team looking at their situation and understanding that, like, hey, this is our best player on our defense. The only player really on our defense, and we want to keep him, be maybe have a chance for him to get healthy, not have the injury get any worse, and go ahead and like have him ready for next year. But the problem is that when you're a team that has so little equity when it comes to being a good organization, and you're dealing with a guy, Max Crosby, that is a real he plays with real intention, right? He is not going out there. He's one of the few guys, again, he gets his money, he gets his like he just got another play pay right pay raise before this season started. So he's gonna be a guy that's always gonna want to get paid, right? But I think he's a well-intentioned player where he is going as long as he has a capability to he's gonna go out there and give it it all, give it his all for his team, for the fans. He wants to go out there and play. Like, I don't think this I don't think he'll ever be one of those guys that's willing to get paid and just sit on the sideline, and when he knows he has a chance, he can go out there and produce. That's just not what he is as a player. That's what he ha he hasn't. been that his whole career so and the Raiders know that but they still did what they did and tried are trying to sit him for the rest of the season but what you're doing is is that when you're a team if the I I have a feeling if this was if Max Crosby was on the Rams or if he was on the Packers or if he was on the the if he was on a better organization that has a real track record of making good decisions as a team I feel like that is that that conversation would have gone on a lot differently but because it's the Raiders who is a terrible terrible organization that doesn't know what really what they're doing on a year in year out basis and like why are you saving me for for the future when I'm not even sure it's going to be worth it then because we're not even guaranteed to be a good team next year. Like that's what we're dealing with here. So I can totally understand from Max Crosby's point of view is that why should I trust you trying to make a good decision when it's not like you do that at all anyway. So I could totally agree with Max Crosby not liking the decision that the Raiders are making him not respecting it especially when he wants to go out there and play. So I I I I get where Max Crosby coming from I just like the Raiders I just don't know how the Raiders thought that was going to go any better than what it went. I don't know if if it looks again the Raiders I'm never going to be the like I don't even think the Raiders could deny that they have a real lack of self-awareness at times how they run their organization. And I I just I totally get Max Crosby not respecting what the the the decision that the Raiders made and I I totally understand. I really do it's just like your best player wants to go out there and play at least give your fans if you're going to force them to pay these crazy tickets to watch your games and like pay crazy prices for you to watch you play at least let your best player go out there especially if he wants to play not to mention if he's willing to take that risk and he wants to play again he wants to play out through these last two games of the season he'll have a whole offseason to get any sort of surgeries he needs or any sort of rehab like he'll be able to do all that after the season so like let him make that decision. I don't know. It's just weird it's just weird but I I just think that I I totally understand where Crosby's coming from in that scenario. Next story Packers rule out Jordan Love and we'll start Malik Willis versus the Ravens this weekend. So Packers are going to be without Jordan Love Malik Willis did come back sorry Jordan Love went out last game and Malik Willis came in against the Bears and he played very well. He really did he played well he has really good legs like he like legs as in like he can extend plays with his legs get yardage that way and I think he's a pretty decent thrower of the football and he knows the offense you could just tell they have real trust in him as their backup quarterback. So I'm not necessarily saying that he makes them a lot more likely to lose this game against the Ravens because looking at it on the other side the Ravens won't have won't have Lamar Jackson either. So both of these teams will be starting backup quarterbacks in this game and if I had to rely on one I think I would rely on Green Bay a little bit more with Malik Willis I just think he's a lot better backup than what Snoop Huntley is for the Ravens but it is something because think about it this way the Packers as of right now they are let me see here let me see um schedule the Packers are 9-5 and 1 I think they're a lock to make the playoffs I think they locked in a playoff spot either way so whether they win the division or not is a no they won the division too right oh let me see NFL standings NFC North they both so both them and Chicago have locked in a playoff spot and nobody's won the division yet so division is still up for grabs so they still have a lot to play for but Jordan Love got the concussion last week wasn't isn't able to play again this week and hopefully if Malik Willis comes out and does what he's supposed to the Packers still have a real chance to win this game but it is depth because obviously what they would want to do is have Jordan Love get as healthy as he possibly can and by the time they get to the playoffs have him be able to come back and be able to be the quarterback for them. Because think about it this way is like the Packers even though I really do like Malik Willis as a quarterback is just the more that he plays the more likely it is he starts making mistakes and I do think Jordan Love is their best opportun their best chance to go out there win football games. Their defense is not going to be as good because obviously they won't have Micah Parsons as their premier pass rusher on the defensive side of the ball and the way I look at it is that like this game it is not necessary for them to have Jordan Love for them to win this game against the Ravens. It's not especially with the Ravens not having Lamar Jackson so I totally get the idea of the Packers being as again it's not even a guarantee like even if the it's close and they could potentially get him in there I would be totally down with them not playing him at all because the again the Pac the the Ravens are just so bad. They're so bad. Again I'm not saying my team is much better. I'm really not I'm not even trying to go that route I'm just saying that the Ravens have been struggling all year long and I just think the Packers can make it work with Malik Willis where he played last week I think if they bring that same type of game plan into playing the Ravens uh I think this is today when they're playing so as long as they have that same sort of game plan and Malik Willis plays relatively well I think they they can win this game against the Ravens without much of an issue. So getting getting love healthy as much as possible will definitely be the number one thing as they're getting in getting ready for a playoff run. Next one you have Miles Garrett he's getting ready for the sack record against uh against the Steelers this weekend again I already talked about this and how fitting it would be because Steelers fans hate Miles Garrett so much for him to totally break the sack record right in front like in the face of Steelers fans. Again it's this game is going to be in Cleveland but there's going to be plenty of Pittsburgh Steelers fans there and again it's been a war back and forth between him and Pittsburgh Steelers fans in general so I I couldn't help but see the irony in the idea that how Steelers fans have again including me have fought so hard about how TJ Watt's a better pass rusher and then Miles Garrett gets to break the sack record that TJ Watt holds a share of in against the Steelers it's a very it's it's a very it's a very ironic that that that this is how it might go. And on top of that the fact that he if he does break that sack record will most likely do it by sacking Aaron Rodgers. I'm not gonna lie it's a pretty a potentially very cool moment. Again I hate I would hate for it to be against my team which it definitely would be if he does it this weekend but so I would be more than happy to see them lot like lock him out to make sure he doesn't get that sack. But again Miles Garrett's a very good player himself and it's gonna be very hard to stop him from getting any sacks so and while still trying to win the game because again winning the game is more important than no matter how many sacks we go give up to Miles Garrett winning the game is what is more important. So win the game the Miles Garrett's going to get that sack record either way so it doesn't really matter. Just win the game so you don't have to worry about um making the playoffs or not and having to face the Ravens in week 18 and have that game actually be worth something. So if the Steelers win that game on uh Sunday like it doesn't matter if the Ravens win or lose against the Packers today or if like whatever happens in that game next week it doesn't matter. So the Steelers' number one op one number one job should be to win that game against Cleveland no matter what Miles Garrett does on the other side sorry need a drink there any other story uh josh allen for the Bills is good to go he did have a have a foot injury last week in their game against that was against the Browns right yeah it was against the Browns he had a foot injury in that game a little bit gimpy throughout that game but if he said he's he says he is good to go and again they need him to be because you know that's their best chance to win these games and they had to play uh the Eagles this weekend so it's definitely a game they would need him to be as healthy as possible to go out there and win that football game let's see anybody else TJ Watts not going to be playing for the Steelers this weekend which is obviously coming off of the punctured lung I'm not surprised by that let me see who else here Pats New England's going to be down five starters in this upcoming game against the Jets again it's against the Jets so if they can't win this game without five of their starters they don't deserve to win it anyway but in this game they're gonna be without K Sean Boutet Mac Collins Harold Landry Robert Spillane and Jared Wilson uh so they're gonna be down all five of those players Trevion Henderson is dealing with an injury himself they say he might actually be able to play so that is going to be a nice little boost for them with their running game but even with all those guys missing New England should be able to win this game because of how bad the Jets have been all year long if they lose this game against the Jets like they deserve to lose it. I'm not gonna sit here and make any excuses as to not having those five starters being the reason like it just that wouldn't make any sense to me the Patriots are a much better football team they they should not lose this game whatsoever. The Jets are terrible so it's a it's a it's a real issue but I just don't think it should be enough for them to lose this football game against the Jets and let's see do I care about the Colts the Colts are going to get back sauce Gardner for this game for their game against uh who are they playing? No I gotta check give me a second here um the Colts are playing the Jags this weekend so Colts are gonna have Sauce Gardner back but they will not they will be without DeForest Buckner so that's a little bit of an if you want because DeForest Buckner is one of their better pass rushers on their defensive line and obviously Sauce Gardner is the player that they gave away multiple first round draft picks for to be able to trade for him to get him from the Jets which is good. When you traded for him they thought they were going all in on going for a Super Bowl this year. That didn't happen he got hurt Daniel Jones got hurt and it kind of derailed their season from there and again I just think that even if Sauce Gardner isn't like 100% like being able to have him come out there and play these last couple games will at least give the Colts fans hope that they did not trade all those first round like the multiple first round picks for a player that's going to get injured right away at least gives them a little bit of hope going into next year that like hey this is the guy is if he can play a full season next year we can get this sort of player and I think it'll help us out for the future. So I do think having him come out and at least try to play these last couple of games will be a very at least a little bit of a boost. Again they're playing with Phillip Rivers as their quarterback at 44 years old and they're playing against a very good Jaguars team that's 11 and four and that has a lot more to play for and I don't I don't think the Colts are going to win this game. But I do think having Sauce Gonder out there be at least be able to show a little bit that like what he is as a player to those Colts fans will be again everybody knows what he is because of what he did with the Jets but it's different when you start when you can see him do it for your team I feel like it just makes it hammers at home a little bit better like what he can be as a Colt and maybe going into next year I think it'll be a I think it'll be a morale booster if anything that'll help out. Because I don't think the Colts are going to win this game but if Sauce Gardner can go out there and play relatively well I think it'll be a nice little boost for the Colts fans to look forward to for next year. And is that it for the stories I wanted to talk about oh the um the DK Metcalf thing with the fan and him grabbing the fan off from the from the sideline and like doing all that it looked like he punched him and all so since I talked about it last time on podcast it looked like the story has come out as of right now there's been videos that have been leaked that pretty much show that the guy never said anything of what DK leaked to the media that had that was said. So it was said that like DK said to some people in the media he never said it himself though he was never caught on camera actually saying that this this person that fan said anything of the of the sort but the news was was that he gave kind of gave to I think Shadow Chosenko and a couple other people was that the fan had said a derogatory remark obviously using a hard R and then called his mom a s a C word right that was the story that was leaked out but DK Metcalf never said it with his own mouth in an interview that that that was said okay and then so me being a guy that's like I want to me being a black man I want to believe when a guy says that that was said to them and they have a reaction like that I don't think I wouldn't first go off my first thought wouldn't be that that dude is lying. Because when as a black man when I see another black man they say that somebody said that to them I want to believe that that's the case. I just don't want to think people are um using that as an excuse to kind of get away with doing things they want to do and just saying that on the back end to try to make it make themselves look better. But videos have came out that have kind of helped disprove that that was ever said the fan has got has gotten um real like representation when it comes to getting lawyers and has made it very clear he's gone out on camera in interviews and said hey I never said anything like that. I was just calling him by his first name and he didn't like it and that's how that's what got the reaction and I'm starting to believe that the fan was probably the fan did nothing wrong. And that the way that was looked at was that DK looked at the situation said I fucked up and decided to leak this weird bad information that the fan had said something like that to him and that's wrong. And that's totally wrong because as a black man you see you never want because again when s when people use derogatory derogatory marks against you or against people that you love in that in the black community and you if that is something you want to want to stay serious. And when DK does something like that it kind of sounds like the boy who cried wolf when it didn't actually happen. So now when you have dudes like this kind of like dudes like DK making that decision to to lie now when the next per it happens to the next person people will will will not be as willing to take up for that person when they think when they say that that happened to them because they're like hey people are lying about that are you telling the truth is that are you telling a lie to kind of make yourself look better for the reaction that you had like that's the part that sucks like I wanted to believe that DK Metcalf would be an adult and if it because again if he got that said to him I would totally understand the reaction that he had but because it's turned it's showing to not be the case he's now suspended for the next two games and believe it or not in in the social media era like when people find out that dudes say stuff like that or people say things like that there is a real reaction like not only on social media but people they find you there are things that they do against you like there there is some real consequences for making a claim like that especially if that didn't actually happen. So I'm just very disappointed that DK took that route he could have just said I fucked up I had a bad reaction but he decided to try to cover his ass instead and try to make up a story that didn't that doesn't seem to be true at all so I'm very disappointed by that he deserves to get suspended these next couple games and all the money he's probably going to end up losing because of it he deserves it. Like you're you're an adult out there making millions of dollars and the dude's calling you by your first name and you have a reaction as bad as that that that you just can't you can't have it. You can't have it at some point you either have to be in control of your own action or get somebody else out there that's there's so many people on that co on the on the staff for the Steelers that if you just say hey keep me away from the sidelines I know what I can do if I kind of get in my own head about it. If you see me start going towards the sideline there should be somebody to stop me. Like just be an adult be an adult I feel like DK Metcalf got caught not being an adult and he made a childish decision to try to make up a story that wasn't real and he put the the fan in a bad position because that's not a if you if that is something that is said that you did you don't want that on your record especially if you didn't do it. So I feel bad for the fan um and I'm very disappointed in the fact that DK made up that story it it it it sucks. It really does all right and that's about it for the stories that I wanted to talk about. Let's go ahead and get to the rest of the NFL slate let's see here we have two games that are happening today and then we have the rest of the slate happening over the next couple days not only the full slate of Sunday football but then you have the Monday night football as well so let's go ahead and get to it as of the picks that have made so far me and Jace are two and one because I think we both picked the same for all three games um being Dallas, Detroit and Denver Detroit was the only team that let us down this week at least so far in the Thursday games. So let's go ahead and get to the rest. So the two Saturday games we'll start with those so we got the first one is going to be today at 430 you have the Houston Texans taking a trip to go to the LA Chargers you have the Chargers being a point and a half favorite you have Houston coming off of a very bad offensive game against the Raiders last week where they again Houston came they they pulled it out they they were able to make the plays in the end to win the game but the offense definitely struggled in a way that they had it in the weeks prior to that but then the defense still the defense struggled a little bit too against that the um the Raiders as well they kind of let Ashton Jensee go off and make a lot of plays but like I think in general the Houston defense has been the most the most consistent unit on that football team this year. And then you have the LA Chargers team coming off of a win against the Cowboys where they emphatic win of course 34 to 17 um so how does this how do you see this game going? Jace picked Houston in this game um so will I I think the Houston defense again they had a little bit of a down week last week I think they'll come into this game with a bad attitude and I think they take real pride in trying to lock down every offense that they see and I think coming off the last game where they didn't play as well I think they're gonna come into this game playing being ultra aggressive doing what they've been doing all year and trying to really make it hard on Justin Herbert to go out there and make plays they're gonna get after you Herbert they're gonna they're gonna sack him they're gonna stay in front of him they're just gonna get after you man that's what they do and their secondary is absolutely amazing. I just don't know how I see any of their receivers really like taking advantage of the Houston secondary like that's like the best part of their team so I just I think Houston wins that game along with Jace I think it'll be a very good game though I'll be watching it I'll make a few bets for sure I always Do. But I think Houston wins that game. Yeah, I think Houston wins. Next game, Baltimore at Green Bay. Like I said before, this is going to be the battle of the backup quarterbacks. You're going to have Malik Willis going up against Snoop Huntley. Jace picked Green Bay, and so will I. I just think that Malik Willis is a little bit better of a starting of a backup quarterback than what Snoop Huntley is. I also think that Green Bay offensively just has a little bit that they have their shit together a little better than what the Ravens have had all year long, even with Lamar Jackson at the helm. I just think that. Do you know what it is? I think Green Bay has an identity in a way that I think no matter who Baltimore has at the helm, whether it's Lamar Jackson or Sue Puntley, like I just don't think Baltimore has a real identity offensively. Do they want to run the football with Derrick Henry a bunch of times and let him kind of be the freight train that he is? Do they want to have Lamar be the MVP candidate and let him throw the football a bunch of times and get the ball down the field? Do they even have the wide receivers to do so if they decided to do that? Like defensively, the Ravens are nowhere, like their defensive guy's gotten better over the year, but their defense is nowhere near what it usually is in being one of the better defenses in the NFLs. Like their defense is not necessarily the most what sword I'm looking for consistent throughout the season. So I'm just sitting here like there's so many things that Baltimore has going against them, and then on top of that, you don't have Lamar Jackson, you have Snoop Puntley coming out and playing against Green Bay. Again, Green Bay won't have the same pass rush without Micah Parsons, but the Green Bay defense is still, I'm not going to sit here and say it's amazing, but it is very formidable. And I'm just like, do I like, and they're playing at Green Bay. So I just think everything on that's on their side of that, I do think Green Bay wins that football game. Next game, you have Arizona going to Cincinnati. Jace picks Cincinnati, and so will I. I just think that Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, T. Higgins is going to want to go out there. Again, they're not really playing for anything. They're playing for pride at this point. But I just think that the way I see it, Arizona, they have, again, they they've just been Arizona's been weird all year. They've had times they look like they can be a very tough bunch to play, but other times it's like it's like they've been locked down to some certain degree. But my question for them, for this game, is can the Bengals defensively stop? Because I think Marvin Harrison and Trey McBride are both playing in this game. Let me see here. Um I gotta check. Marvin Harrison's questionable, but Paris Johnson's gonna be out for them. That's their starting off as a tackle. He's not gonna be playing in this game. Buda Baker's out. Walter Nolan's on IR, Bam Knight, their running backs on IR. They have a lot of guys not playing in this game. So even if like it's just it feels like the way what they have offensively, it's mostly going to be Marvin Harrison Jr. and Trey McBride being their main two guys, and they really don't have anything else. And then they have now they have injuries on their offensive line. It doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside picking the Cardinals to potentially win this game, especially when you have Joe Burrow going out there, and he'll be out there with his guys, with like I said, T. Higgins and Jamar Chase. Um, Chase Brown also has been having a little bit of resurgence at playing better over these last few weeks. So the way I just see it, man, I just like, especially with the Bengals being at home, they're gonna have that on their side as well. So I just think Arizona, not necessarily used to playing in the cold that way. I think Cincinnati wins his football game. I think Joe Burrow goes out there. Do I think he's gonna be as explosive as last week, where he had like four touchdown passes? Probably not. But I do think Cincinnati will go out there and win that football game against the Arizona team that really hasn't been great all year. And, you know, I just don't think Arizona's gonna be able to pull it out in this, like in the cold against the Bengals. That's not gonna happen. Next game got Pittsburgh going to Cleveland. Uh Jace picked Pittsburgh, and so will I. I just think that Pittsburgh is going to be very keen on getting this game done and over with because if they win this game, it doesn't matter what's happening next week. It doesn't matter what the Ravens are doing against the uh Packers today. Doesn't it nothing will matter as long as the Steelers win this game. But you know what's funny is that actually they'll know the outcome of that uh Packers and Steelers. Sorry, they'll know the outcome of the Packers and Ravens game by the time they play tomorrow. So I'll I think all it takes is the Ravens to lose this game, and it won't even matter what the Steelers do tomorrow. But again, I do think the Steelers are gonna want to win this game against the uh Cleveland because you go big brother, little brother type of thing. So you never want to let uh Cleveland think that they have something over you to win that game. So I'm gonna take Pittsburgh to win that game. Miles Garrett's probably gonna get the sack record without much of an issue, but I do think Pittsburgh is playing their best football right now. They're playing, they're they're able to they're showing some real a real identity to be able to kind of play multiple offensively. They're gonna be without DK Metcalf, but again, DK, it's not like DK Metcalf has been tearing it up every single week. They've just been getting the ball to a bunch of different guys, letting them make plays. Aaron Rodgers has been making good decisions at the line, getting the ball to anybody that he needs to in order to get the ball down the field. They're not really throwing down the field, but they're just inching, they're they're like just making trying to be efficient, running the football, letting Aaron Rodgers make good decisions, and like that's how they're kind of running their offense. And then defensively, man, it's just like the defense has been getting after it, man, without even without TJ Watt. They've been getting after quarterbacks, they've been getting a lot of pressure. Jalen Ramsey has been kind of all over the place, um, making plays and doing what he has to do. And I just think that all in all, I think the Steelers really want to win this game to not even have to worry about next week at all. So the way I see it, Pittsburgh is a better team than Cleveland, even though I would not be surprised if we lost this game because it would just be hilarious, and that's kind of how the Steelers have been over the last few years. Hey, you just have to win this game and it'll put you in a good spot and they lose. So I I am more than ready for the opportunity that the Steelers for the not opportunity, for the scenario in which the Steelers lose this game to the Browns. But I just don't think it's going to happen. I think they're playing some decent football as of right now. Next game, New Orleans going to Tennessee. Jace is picking New Orleans, and so will I. Believe it or not, I think I talked about this on the last pod. The Saints are not, the Saints are really finding a groove as of recently. Tyler Shuck is making some good plays, getting the ball down the field, making, making, like, really getting the ball out to his playmakers. Chris Olave just had his best game of the season. I think he had like over 200, like, he had like a couple touchdowns, like 150 yards, something like that. He had a very good game. And I just think the the Saints just have a little bit more to play for as of right now. I think I think they no, not they don't have more to play for because they both the Saints and the Titans both suck ass. But I will say that the Saints have just been playing with playing with a little bit of Moxie as of recently. They're playing tough, they're getting the ball down the field. And they're playing again. Tennessee is a I don't know. Tennessee is a young team. They have Kim Ward. They really don't have a lot of crazy weapons to really have to worry about. And as much as I think the New Orleans Saints are not necessarily a great team, I think they do have enough to take care of this Tennessee Titans team. And I think that I think the Saints are really playing with a lot of confidence right now. I think they're gonna win that game. Um, next game we have is Jacksonville going to Indianapolis. Jace picked Jacksonville, and so will I. I know this is like it seems like a lot of chalk, but it's just again, when it's like late in the season like this, it's like we just know which teams are better. And like if these teams lose these games against these worser opponents, then it's just like what what happened in these scenarios? But again, it's the NFL. But Jacksonville is just a better team. They're playing better football right now in comparison to what Indianapolis is. Like I said before, Indianapolis is starting a 44-year-old quarterback in Phillip Rivers, and they're gonna be without DeForest Buckner. They will get Soft Skardner back, so that's that'll be something. But I just think the Jaguars are playing so effective offensively. Trevor Lawrence is making a lot of good plays and getting the football down the field to his guys, and he's use actually using his legs as well, which I think has added a different element to his game that a lot of NFL defenses have to worry about now. And the way I see it is just Jacksonville is a team, like I said this on the last pod that they're a team that has kind of been under the radar, being 11 and 4, and they're not being talked about whatsoever. But I do think the way they're playing right now, if they can keep this going with their new coach, head coach Liam Cohen, and how he has that offense coming right now calling the plays. I do think we have to give them a little bit of credit here. This Jags team is good, they're real like they're playing really good football. Again, do I think their defense can really like stop some of the better offenses in the AFC? Probably not. But here's the thing what great offenses are there in the AFC? There's not any. There's really not. So like so the Jaguar, as long as they can keep Trevor Lawrence kind of like making good decisions and like doing what he's been doing over the last month or so. I think the Jags are like a real like contender in the AFC to like really make a big run. I really do think so. They're just playing very good football right now. Again, Trevor Lawrence in the playoffs, he does have some like steps to be taken to really prove that he is that type of guy when the when the lights are the brightest. But I do as of right now, the way they're playing, I have to give them their credit and say they're like one of the better teams in the AFC and in the in the league with how they're playing. Um, next game we got is Tampa Bay at Miami. Jayce is taking Tampa Bay, and so will I. I think Miami is a terrible football team. I think Miami is gonna be still playing Quinn Ewers as their quarterback going into this weekend, so I'm not feeling any confidence in that. And on top of the fact that I think Tampa Bay has a team with a lot of pride, they've been playing very bad football, their defense is terrible. But I just think that at some point something has to give, and that team's gonna have to do something against somebody. And I think Miami is that team where like if they if Tampa Bay loses this game against Miami, they have no pulse as a football team. It's over. The Moxie's over. I think that Baker Mayfield is gonna have some real questions about him coming into going into next season about what happened, why did you like struggle so hard in the final like the la back half of the year? They have a game against Carolina next week that'll be for the division, I believe. So that's gonna be a big one. So I think Tampa Bay really does need to just play a good football game and kind of put a full a whole game together against a bad Miami football team. And I just think they have enough leaders on that squad to make it happen, even if like that that defense is awful. But they just have so many leaders on that team. They need this effort. Like these last two weeks they need to go all out, and I think they can do so. But it's just it Tampa Bay has been falling apart at the seams over the last few weeks. So um I'm gonna take Tampa Bay because I believe in like I again I believed in Tampa Bay earlier on this year, so maybe it's just taking me a lot more to get off of the belief, but you know, it's Miami. Miami's awful, man. Like, they're so bad. If Tampa Bay can't make it work against them, there are some real issues that need to be fixed. Uh real issues that need to be fixed if they can't beat Miami. Next game, New England going to the New York Jets. Jace picked New England, and so will I. What is there to say? I know New England's gonna be without five starters from their team offense from their team. It doesn't matter. The Jets are awful. They've been awful all year long. They it's it's been a disaster for that Jets organization. It's been terrible. And the New England's a much better football team. Even with those guys, they haven't had backups in those five spots. I think they should have be they should have this game won by the end of the first half. I really do think so. This New England team, the way the Drake Man is playing as of late, they should be able to win this game without an issue. I really do. I'm not gonna sit here and waste any more time going through it as if the giant the Jets have a chance, because they don't. Um New England, come in and just play a C game and you win this game by 10 points. Um next game you have Seattle going to Carolina. Jace picks Seattle and so will I. I think Seattle's a much better football team. I think for this game, this game does not matter to Carolina whatsoever. The only game that matters is next week against Tampa Bay, and that's gonna be the game that matters to them. So not only do I not like Carolina's not a better team than Seattle whatsoever, and Seattle is playing very good football right now, but I also think the idea that Carolina knows that this game doesn't matter, I feel like, is another little thing in their back of their brain that will keep them from necessarily going all out in this football game to win it. So I'm gonna take Seattle, they're a much better football team, and they have and Carolina just doesn't need this game. So I think Seattle will win this game without much of an issue. I think they'll I think they'll go back to doing their normal thing where they're gonna like nuke a team in the first half and then just kind of be chilling in the second half, just kind of waiting for the game to go, because I think Carolina, Carolina knows what the situation is. Beat Tampa Bay next week, you make the playoffs. If you don't beat them next week, then you're out. I feel like it's very easy for Carolina, the way they have to think about the rest of this season. Next game, New York Giants going to Las Vegas. Jace picked the Giants, and so will I. I just think that the fact that the Raiders just told their best player Max Crosby to to hang it up for the rest of the season, I don't think is a good is good messaging for the rest of your locker room. Like, again, these players, when you like when you start these seasons, right? Part of the deal is these players were gonna pay you this money, but at the end of the day, the main goal is to win. You make them play through they don't they make they they play through injuries, they go through all this crap all year long. And not only that, is if you're especially if you're playing on a bad team, when you're going out there and playing, you're not only playing to try to get the wins, but you're also playing to put good film on tape out there, if not only for the for the Raiders potentially keep you and like decide to keep you on for the next season, but for another team out there to maybe get one to give you a chance to kind of make their squad. So when you so when you're going into these games where you ask these players to sacrifice what they're sacrificing, and then you tell the best player on your squad because oh, this season doesn't matter, so we're gonna sit you, what is what message is that does that give to the rest of the players on that roster? Again, these players aren't stupid. They know they've been bad all year long. They know winning this game doesn't absolutely change their life, but at the end of the day, when you go out there and play on the football for you, you can't half ass it. You have to go out there and play your best game. And I'm just like, when you're when your own team is telling you how much it doesn't matter, they're taking their best player off the field and leaving the rest of you guys kind of high and dry, I feel like it just sends them a bad message off out to the rest of your team. And I think that that's gonna be enough where I don't think Vegas will be able to really put up the effort necessary, even against a very bad job. I think the Giants are awful. I really do. But I just think that I think that the Giants will be able to do enough. Like, can you can can you expect Vegas to against that very good defensive line for the Giants to be able to run the football like they did last week? Or like can you expect Ash and Jenzi to have the kind of a breakout game two weeks in a row? He hasn't really done that all year, so why would I expect him to do that now? So I don't know. I'm gonna take the Giants to win that game. Um, the next one we got is Philly going to Buffalo. Ooh. Jace picked Philly in this one. I'm gonna take Buffalo. And I say that because the way I look at it is that Buffalo still has something to play for. Well, I think Buffalo still has a chance to win the division, right? Am I crazy? Division winner scenarios. Um, so let's see here. Four. So for Buffalo, right? Going into this game against Philadelphia. If Buffalo still wants to win the division, like the only way they lose the division in this game is if the Patriots win their game against the Jets and then Buffalo loses to Philadelphia. So Buffalo still has a lot. They still have a lot to play for in this to where they st if they still want a chance to win their division, be able to play a playoff game at home. And I think can they still win the number one overall seed? Hold on, let me see here. No. No, because they can't get the number one seed, but you still win the division and not be playing on the road in the playoffs. So I think that'll be a big advantage for them if they get to play at home rather than have to play on the road in the playoffs in the uh wild card round. So Buffalo still has a lot to play for. I think Philadelphia has locked up their division without much of an issue. Let me see here. Make sure I'm not crazy. Yeah, the Eagles have locked up their division. They don't have as much to play for. On top of the fact that I think that Philly, man, they had a they had a decent week last week against uh Washington where they were able to kind of get everybody out there and playing good football and all that. But it's just as much as I don't think the Buffalo defense is all that good, I do think they'll put up a better effort than what Washington would. And I think they do have more pass rushers, and I think they just have a lot more to them. Not to mention you're playing at Buffalo, so it's a very raucous environment that Philadelphia is going to have to come and play in. So the way I see it, not to mention Josh Allen's the best player on the field. If he is healthy and if he's able to go out there and do what he needs to do, I think Josh Allen could put up an effort that can go out there, especially with them needing this game, they still want to try to win the division. So the way I see it, I think I do think that Buffalo has more to play for. I think Buffalo has the better quarterback in this game. And as much as I think Philadelphia, like, they're a much more talented team in general, it's just can you think can you guarantee me that Philadelphia is going to put their best effort out there, their best offense out there they possibly can? I just don't think you can nobody can rely on that from Philadelphia on a week in, week out basis. And as much as I don't think you can rely on Josh Allen to be Superman every game, I do think even if Josh Allen isn't at his best, I think he'll I think he'll be more likely to pay a better game out there than what Jalen Hurts has been. And I just don't think that and I don't think that Philly's gonna be able to run the football in a good in the same way against Buffalo. So I think if they're not able to run the football like they need to, it's not gonna open up their offense to do other things like throw the football to AJ Brown and Devontae Smith. So I think Buffalo wins that game, especially with Buffalo being at home. And uh again, Josh Allen being the best player on the field, and they still need that game a lot more than what Philly does. Next game, you got Chicago going to San Francisco. Jace picks a picks Chicago. I'm gonna take San Fran. I think San Fran's been playing some absolutely amazing football as of recently. This game is in San Francisco, so San Fran has the home field advantage on going to the on going to them. And the way I see it, man, I think Brock Purdy, as much as I've been a Brock Purdy hater over the years, and I've not necessarily I think I've been a Brock Purdy truther. But no matter how I feel about Brock Purdy and how I think he has too much personality for that team and for Kyle Shanahan as a coach, I think that he's very locked in right now. He's playing some very good football. They're getting the ball to all of their weapons out. Christian McCaffrey is absolutely killing it right now. Uh George Kittle is absolutely playing amazing ball. They're getting the ball to him a lot as of recently, and they're playing some very good ball. Injury-wise, Kittle's questionable, so I think he's probably going to play in this game. Ricky Pearsall is questionable, he'll probably play in this game. And just like as long as they have all their offensive weapons, I think they they should be able to. I think this will be an offensive game plan, to be totally honest. I think this will be both teams will be able to get up and down the football field, but the question is who's going to be able to turn, get more touchdowns and field goals. And I think I believe in San Fran just a tad bit more right now. I really do. I think they're playing very efficient football. I think um Brock Purdy is making some good decisions, not turning the football over. And I just think with that, I believe in San Fran, especially at home, to be able to get this game and win and win this one. Again, it's not taking to take anything away from Chicago. I think they're playing good football as well. Cam uh, sorry. Ooh, I'm about to say Caleb Williams. I'm about to say Cameron. Uh Caleb Williams has been playing some very good ball. He had the emotional game winner last week against the Packers. I think coming off of that game where they had to try so hard against them to win that game, I think that takes away a little bit of the win from their sales coming into this game against San Fran, who, again, I've been talking about how much San Fran's uh defense has been struggling all year, but guess what? They're 11-4 with Brock Purdy, without Brock Purdy, playing Mac Jones. Like they've been they've been shuffling players in and out all year long, and they've still managed to be at 11-4, looking like one of the better teams better teams in football, let alone the NFC. So I think San Fran at home can win that game against Chicago. I really do. Last but not least, we have the Rams going against the Falcons. Jace picked the LA Rams, and so will I. The Rams are just a much better football team, top to bottom. Matthew Stafford is on an MVP playing at an MVP level as of right now, playing absolutely amazing. Puka Nakua, with all the issues that he had come going into last week's game, and then after the game where he kind of like made his sweets about the officials and deleted it, I think he'll be looking for trying to like have another good game and trying to get all that craziness of last week of the news cycle, try to behind him and be able to play some good football. Uh they will not have, they still will not have Devontae Adams. Actually, no, they're saying he's questionable and might be able to play with the hamstring injury. But again, I think if he's even close to like not being all the way healthy, I think they should sit him because Atlanta's just that bad of a football team. And I think that the Rams' main focus should be to make sure they have everybody as healthy healthy as they possibly can be going into the playoffs, where they I think that's the main goal, man. Their main goal should be to get to and win a Super Bowl. That's how good the Rams have been all year long. And when you're playing against a Falcons team that has been very like mediocre all year long, I think that even without Devontae Adams, the Rams should be able to win this football game with how good they have been offensively, and with the fact that their defense, even though their secondary is kind of doo-doo garbage, I do think they can get after Kirk Cousins and make him feel uncomfortable. And as long as they can do that, I think they can disrupt that offense enough to be able to come out of this game with a win, even with the Rams not necessarily being at fully 100%, uh, with having all their guys. So all in all, the Rams are a better team, even with them playing on the road at Atlanta. I think they're it's again, it's a dome. You're not dealing with the uh the weathery conditions or anything they're playing, playing inside. So I just think all in all, I think the Rams are a much better football team. I think it'll play out that way on Monday night. So that's all the games. And let me give you our what is it, our records picking games this season, straight up by the way. I don't know if I mentioned that enough, but uh straight up I am 138-87 and one. Jace is 146-79 in one. So we're about there's eight games. Sorry, is that eight games between us? Yeah, about there's so there's eight games separating Jace and I. He is currently ahead. And for the picks we have already made that have the games have been played, we are two and one from the Thursday games from Christmas. So, and now we have the rest of the games where there is currently two splits. And those splits being in the Buffalo and Philly game, and then in the Chicago and San Fran game. So hopefully those games go my way, so I can try to take a take a few cracks at trying to uh again, he has eight a gate eight-game lead. So even if I do get these two splits, I'm uh there's six games uh separating Jace and I going into the last week of the season. I'm probably not going to erase that um deficit in two weeks. So again, but it's my job to make it as close as possible. And I do think in those two games where I pick the opposite squad, I do think Buffalo and San Fran have a real chance to win those games. So it's I'm not necessarily doing this out of desperation, but I am trying to make it a little bit more fun. Because again, going through this whole slate and like talking about all these games and about how Jace and I just keep picking the same teams, it doesn't necessarily sound as fun. So I'm gonna go ahead and take a little bit of a risk here, even though I do think those two games are very good picks by me picking Buffalo and San Fran. So again, I keep asking Jace will he let us do just play uh making our picks with the spread next year, and he keeps saying no, because he doesn't want to do it, and I'm like, it's just uh I just want to make it more difficult on both of us so we have a little bit more fun with it, and our records aren't so overwhelming, so I don't know, he just won't do it, man. Again, that's that's the problem with having a podcast with multiple like having multiple hosts is that unfortunately I can't force him against his will to do something he doesn't want to do. So it is what it is on that. So without further ado, about an hour 46 we have gone so far in this pod. So I thought we were gonna be about an hour and a half. I went a little long, but you know, it is what it is. And uh we'll be back next week. Well, I hope everybody had a great Christmas, by the way. Great Christmas, uh, very happy holidays. Uh, we'll be back next week on Tuesday. It'll be both of us back. So you you'll definitely be able to look forward to having us both back, kind of doing our thing, talk about sports, um, and kind of talk about all these, like doing the recap of all these games and then kind of doing the previews of the College for Wall playoff games that are happening on Wednesday and Thursday of next week. So, all in all, hopefully everybody has that has had a happy holiday. If you're listening to this podcast, if you're spending time out of your out of your day to kind of give us a shot to listen to us, we would definitely I definitely appreciate you guys doing that. So let I'm not gonna extend this anymore. Let's end the podcast here. If you've been listening for a while, we appreciate you. If you're just now joining on, hopefully you like us and enjoy us enough to join us on this ride of talking about sports in the dumbest way possible. If this is the first podcast you've listened to, I would em I would love if you could go and listen to a different podcast with both me and Jace on there so you get a better idea of what this podcast is at its best when you have both of us here as brothers as co-host, here talking about sports, talking shit, making jokes, and doing all that. That's kind of what we are at our best. So hopefully you can go listen to that, get a better idea of what we are um when this podcast is at its greatest. So we I'd love you to do that. And if you decide, after all that, that you want to stick around and listen to us talk about sports in the dumbest way possible, we would appreciate if you could do a couple things for us. So make sure you like our podcast, subscribe to the podcast, and rate the podcast five stars wherever you listen to us. We're pretty much available on all audio platforms out there, so we would love if you can do that. And make sure you share us, share, share us with friends, family, enemies, anybody you feel like can enjoy the podcast we put out on a weekly basis, um, especially being two times a week during football season. We'd love if you can do that. And then last but not least, if you can like uh follow us on Twitter and or X, whatever you'd like to call it, at JB Sports Pod is the podcast handle, at Javante Boozer is my handle, and at Jace Boozer1 is Jace's handle, and I can't hand it over to Jace to finish off the pod, so I will do it myself. So have a great day, have a great night, happy holidays, y'all, and we will see you guys next week. Bye.