Tomlin's Step Down Caps Off Up and Down NFL Wild Card Weekend

A 56–22 scoreline tells a story, but Indiana’s demolition of Oregon tells us something deeper about how winners are built now. We break down how the Hoosiers combined ruthless efficiency, spread production, and big-play denial to turn a semifinal into a statement, and why their culture and development model could carry them from a magical run to a sustainable one. On the other sideline, we examine Oregon’s recurring problems in big games and the uncomfortable question for Dan Lanning: why do the blowouts keep happening when the talent is this good?

Then we head to a bruising Wild Card weekend. Houston’s defense smothered Pittsburgh and triggered a franchise inflection point: Mike Tomlin stepped down after 19 seasons. We unpack the loss itself—zone adjustments, pass protection failures, and missed chances—and the bigger truth that a coaching change won’t fix a roster built for a past era. From there, we hit the weekend’s turning points: the Rams surviving Carolina in a secondary-stressing shootout, Chicago’s 25-point fourth quarter behind a calmer, sharper Caleb Williams, Buffalo’s late control as Josh Allen avoided the backbreaking error, and San Francisco outlasting Philadelphia with Christian McCaffrey’s gravity while the Eagles’ offense stalled yet again. We also dive into New England’s grind over the Chargers and what Justin Herbert must change when the pocket frays.

If you care about why January swings on trenches, negative plays, and quarterbacks who manage chaos, this one’s for you. Tap follow, share it with a sports friend who loves real talk, and drop a review to help more listeners find the show.

Chapters

• 0:00 Solo Host, Show Setup, What’s Ahead
• 1:25 Indiana’s Rout Of Oregon, Why It Mattered
• 11:50 Indiana’s Identity, Development, And Ceiling
• 20:12 Oregon’s Flaws And The Dan Lanning Question
• 25:05 Pivot To NFL: Wild Card Weekend Frame
• 25:38 Texans Crush Steelers, What Went Wrong
• 41:55 Mike Tomlin Steps Down, What It Means
• 54:48 Saturday Opener: Rams Edge Panthers
• 1:06:24 Bears’ Wild Comeback Against Packers
• 1:24:32 Bills-Jaguars: Allen Delivers, Lawrence Blinks
• 1:41:06 49ers Survive Eagles, Offense vs Reality

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:09

Welcome back to the JB Sports Podcast. Today is Tuesday, January 13th, and we are back for another pod. So if you've been listening to us for a while, you would you would notice there's a difference. Usually Jace is the one that does the intros on the podcast, but Jace ain't here today. He couldn't be here. But I had to pod today with some recent news that has broken out today. So no matter what, although I I think I've already made this very clear over what last podcast and like prior ones is that hey, like worst comes to worst. Even if you can't get both of us, you're still gonna get me on here. At least talking to the wall for a little bit, if you guys are willing to listen. So I'm not really don't have much else else to say about that. Hopefully we'll get Jace on the next pod. Make sure we have both of us on here at least once this week, especially when it comes to us previewing the games, the second round of the NFL playoffs for next for the uh next weekend. So that's about it. He'll be back at some point, hopefully this week, and then uh we'll talk, we'll, you know, do all the do everything we do there where, you know, talk about sports, being stupid, making jokes. All of that. So without further ado, I have plenty of things to talk about, and very little of it's gonna be college football today. I think the only thing I have to talk about on that front is gonna be the because I think on the last podcast we we we lasted it on Friday. So that would have been before after the first college football playoff game, and that would have been the old Miss Miami game, and then it would have been before, because that night ended up being the Oregon and Indiana game that happened. Again, not a lot to talk about. This game was pretty uh I don't know what word to use. Mundane? Not mundane. Was it mundane? Boring? I I don't even want to say boring because boring implies that neither team did anything, but there was one team that really did a lot, uh, while the other one didn't really do much. Um I don't I don't know how what word I would use to this, maybe satisfying to a certain degree, but again, not really satisfying because Indiana did beat us. I I don't know. I I'm not gonna find a word. I'm just gonna say the game was what it was, and that word being blowout when it comes to exactly, and instead of trying to really describe the game, because that's really what it was. It Indiana won the game 56-22. The game was never close. This the actually, you know, no. I can't say it was never close because technically you start the game by having the same score 0-0. But literally, from the first snap that Oregon took, Dante Moore. Dante Moore, right? Yeah, Dante Moore took where he threw a pick six to Indiana to start off the game for Indiana to go up that in like 7-0. And then Oregon did get the ball right back, and Dante Moore led the offense all the way back on like a seven a 10-minute drive or something like. Hold on, let me make sure I'm not crazy here. Was it 10-minute or seven-minute drive? 14 play, 7-minute drive to get the game back to being 7-7. And at that point, it's like, oh, okay, Oregon's here, they're gonna be a part of this, and they're they're gonna be like, they're gonna be a part of this game, it's gonna be a close one. And then from then on, Indiana just like literally used the rest of the game because to pour on to Oregon in a way that they again they only experienced last year when they got totally destroyed by Ohio State in the playoff. Well, I don't even know what to say about this game. Like, Indiana I have to give them all the credit, is that I never really looked at them as ever since last year, with all the um all the pomp and circumstance that Indiana had with them last year, where Kurt Sagana came in in his first year being in Indiana, coming in saying, Hey, Google me, and like them running through all these teams and really destroying it, like really destroying teams, and then they face some of the bigger teams they have to face last year, hence being Ohio State during the regular season last year, and then against uh Notre Dame in the playoff. Those two games, they really had no chance to like really stay in those games, and they were just hoping to keep the game close rather than actually going out there and winning it. And then I take coming into this season, it's kind of like the same thing. Kurt Signetti still has that same um insane confidence that he has had like forever now. And uh me as an Ohio State fan, looking at a team like Indiana who's like one of the most more losing programs in all of college football, I have a little bit of doubt on them. And I'm sitting there like, hey, they couldn't prove it last year, they're not gonna prove it this year, and I never looked at them as a true threat. And then Indiana throughout this season has not only made everybody, not just me, but everybody, even their own fans didn't think they were going to be on the run that they were on this year, and they're 15-0 at this point, with one game away from having a perfect season from start to finish to win the whole national title and have one of the more improbable seasons in all of college football history. And Oregon is just the latest stepping stone that they had on their way to try to make that history. And Oregon just could not make, like, could not fight it whatsoever. Again, that game was closed at the very start because it at 7-7, and then from then on, Indiana had a 21-point second quarter to a scoreless second quarter from Oregon. Third quarter, it was kind of like IU had seven points to Oregon's eight. And then in the fourth quarter, Indianapolis had another 14 points to Oregon's seven. So like this game was Indiana pouring it on, and really it was like it really stopped being a game by the time halftime had shown up because it was like, hey, this is Oregon's just not gonna really do any any fighting in this game. And I I don't know, man. Sorry, Indiana. And this is the part where I have to give them a little bit more even more credit than what I would truly give them, is that it wasn't like Indiana. Indiana beat them in a multitude of ways. This was not them just throwing the football with Fernanda Mendoza having a bunch of touchdowns. He went 17 of 20 for 177 and five touchdowns, zero picks. So he was very efficient. He did when he had his opportunities to throw the football, exactly what he did, but like they weren't sitting there throwing the football a bunch. They did it twenty they threw the football twenty times. Again, very efficient. He had five touchdown passes in that time. But it wasn't like they like went crazy that way. Running the football, they ran the football for 185 total yards in this game, with like two different dudes having over 50 yards rushing, and then another two guys having 42 and 28. Keelan Black being the main running back, 12 carries, 63 yards, and two touchdowns. Like I they they have they literally spread this football out to so many different people. Um receiving the football. Um the leading receiver, Elijah Surratt, seven catches, 75 yards, two touchdowns. Charlie Becker, two catches, 48 yards, and a touchdown. Omar Cooper Jr., three catches, 17 yards and a touchdown. EJ Williams, I'm not even sure who that guy is. He had one catch, 13 yards, and a touchdown. Like they had they this game was uh so out of hand that their cornerback, D'Angelo Pons, said, hey coach, I want to be able to get in this game and have a catch two. So they took him over from the defensive side, brought him over onto the offense, and got him a catch. I think it was on a third down, and he got that. So like this Indiana team totally and utterly destroyed this Oregon team from start to finish, and this game wasn't close. And again, maybe after the first time that Indiana and Oregon played, where Indiana really did, it wasn't this bad, but Indiana did beat Oregon pretty convincingly. And it I think that's the game that really put Indiana on the map for this season, saying, hey, they actually might be able to do something special this year. Like that, I think that was the turning point in everybody's minds for what Indiana could truly be this season was them going to Oregon early on in the year and saying, hey, we're gonna beat Oregon in their house convincingly and really show the college ball world that we are here and we are somebody to be reckoned with. And that was the turning point of the season for them, at least when it comes to that um when it comes to national uh what sentiment, right? With what people think about them nationally. But obviously, Kurt Signetti and that team probably had a lot of confidence throughout the whole year that they could do the things that they're doing this year, but even maybe to themselves a little bit, going into that that hostile environment in Oregon, and it's a very known to be a very hard place to go and play as a visiting team, and having the success they had against them was probably a big boost to what they're doing. Because again, at some point when you when you're a coach and you're giving your team, you're trying to give them the confidence to say, hey, we are we're one of those teams, we can do anything we want to do, and then at some point you got to have that moment where you're prove it to yourself that what you're doing, you're doing, you're going the right way, and like things are working out, and you're like the all the work you're putting in is really showing up, and that's a game where that definitely came to be. And then now, ever since that moment, they've pretty much ran through everything else. They've they've uh ran through everybody else, probably other than Ohio State, where that was a close game. And like, other than that, like they've been destroying everybody else. And coming to this game, Indiana pretty much on top of the Coswell World. People were saying, Hey, are they gonna be able to defeat Oregon again after already beating them earlier this year? Like Indiana and Kurt Signetti said, hey, yeah, we can do that and pour it on a little bit more. 56 to 22. So I have to give Indiana that crazy good offense, efficient, led by led by Fernando Mendoza. That offense is so efficient, and they can, whatever you want to give them, they're gonna do. They're not gonna make a lot of bad plays, they're gonna be where they need to be, and guys are gonna make the catches when they're asked to, and guys are gonna make the runs. Like it is a lot of account, like you can tell watching Indiana play, that there is a lot of accountability from every player that is on that field for that team. Everybody's gonna do their job, everybody's gonna take advantage of the moment when they get them. And that like that's that's been the that seems to be the identity of their team when you watch them play. Especially and then defensively as well, like they are they're gonna get after you, they're gonna get a lot of pressure on you. And here's the thing, Dante Moore didn't do terrible 24 of 39, 285, two touchdowns and a pick, but it's just they there were no explosives to be had. There really wasn't. There was no explosives. Like, I I think the one running back, uh, Diary Hill for Oregon had a 71-yard run. But that was most of the rushing yards in this game. He had a 171-yard run, and they had 93 total rushing yards in this game. Indiana's defense stops the run. They make you earn it when it comes to throwing the football down the field. Like, I think the longest pass catch for Oregon in this game was Jeremiah McClellan getting a 43-yard reception from Dante Moore. But like, Indiana is gonna make you earn it defensively, too. They are not gonna give up a bunch of big plays, they're gonna make you nickel and dime down the field. And this isn't with a bunch of five stars. I think I saw, I think they were talking about this is because obviously this is a storyline from this Indiana team being like a rag, rags to riches type of story. Is that they're doing this and playing against the Oregon team that has 40 something, four, and five stars on their roster, while Oregon like Indiana has like I think like less than 10. I think they have like eight or something like that. Like, Indiana is doing this by having a bunch of dudes that have played a lot of football and that know what they're doing, and they're all doing their job in really good development, and like everything that you everything that college football is not going to be anymore as a whole thing because of how the portal is and all of that. Like, Indiana might be the last real team to be this way, where they look like they're a bunch of like rags riches guys coming in for a common purpose, not doing it for a bunch of money, and like this may be the last team to really be able to make this claim that they are just a team that is was built. I'm not gonna say same and say built right the right way, but as close to your ideal, like, hey, these dudes have been together for a while, they've aged, and they've there isn't a bunch of money being spent all around, and it's not not a bunch of five stars, like again, I don't even think couch will even be that way anymore because heck teams can't hold on to five stars. Obviously, Ohio State's and Georgia's and all that. It's hard to hold on to those type of guys and build that type of depth because of how the playoff, how um NIL and stuff are. So, like, that's I that part doesn't even matter. But Indiana, a lot of credit for me. I have to I have to give it to them because I've been one of their biggest haters over the last few years. So like when they've went and stuffed in everybody's face, I'm one of those faces that got stuffed as well by how good Indiana have been has been this year. And um one other one last thing, if they win this this championship, like I think I I'm probably rooting for Indiana to win against Miami next week on Monday. But I think I'll talk more about that specific game um on Friday is probably probably hopefully when Jace is back, we'll do the preview of that game. I'm I'm rooting for Indiana because obviously I hate Miami even more because I I don't think Miami's fans deserve it. I've been talking about that on prior podcasts. Miami fans, there's a lot of fair weather Miami fans where like when they're not playing well and they're not they're having a lot of losing seasons and not necessarily being all that productive as a football team, their fans are nowhere to be seen. Like they're they're very fair weather when but when things start happening, things are good, they'll show back up again and act like they've been here the whole time when I don't think they have been. So I think I will probably root for Indiana to win that game next Monday, and I'm just like, hey, I think I can give myself in to the idea of like Indiana having a very magical season. Will this turn into a like Indiana becoming at the top of the sport and like really turning themselves into a top of top of the line college football program? I don't know. Again, I think it'll take more time to really decide that, but there's a real chance like this Indiana team can become like what Clemson was in like the mid to like the 2010s, where Dabo had that Clemson team doing so much more than anybody ever thought they could when they had um Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence, and like they were doing all that. Like, there's a real chance for Indiana to be that type of school, no questions asked. But some people like to go with like, oh, can Indiana be the like be the team that is like the best team in the Big Ten as a program over play over teams like Ohio State? And I'm like, I don't think I want to go that far, but I do think Indiana can really stake a claim over the next five, six years or so, and like they can really do something if they kind of keep this momentum going. I I really do think so. So a lot of a lot of credit to Indiana. Now to the Oregon side, like I said, second year in a row where Oregon has been destroyed in the playoff when they got there. At least this time they weren't the number one overall seed and looked at as probably the favorites, especially when they were the you know un totally undefeated um throughout last year when they were the number one overall seed and everything. But this is the second year in a row, man. You get into the playoffs and you get destroyed, and heck this year it's even worse because like at least Oregon got to say last year that they beat Ohio State at home in the regular season to kind of give themselves a little bit of credit. Like, hey, when we when we faced them on our home turf, we were able to get the win, even though the game was incredibly close. And if Will Howard had slid just a tad bit earlier, we Ohio State could have won that game. Unfortunately, this year, they don't necessarily get to have that same sort of what is what is like what is the word I'm looking for? Um, silver lining of the season because Oregon, their two losses that they had this year were both to Indiana, and let's be honest, Oregon was never looked at to be like that team because they've had their flaws all year long. They started the season by missing, like they lost their best wide receiver, and then during the regular season, they also lost their young freshman stud wide receiver that was really starting to come on and like really starting to do some things. So they were they were they were able to get um what is it DeCorian Moore? That was the young freshman guy. They were able to get him back before this game, but it's just it almost feels like too little, too late. Wasn't I think almost feels like you have to like re like integrate, like reintegrate him into the offense, and it really never really clicked that way. But again, they just ran into a bussaw by the time Indiana they face Indiana again. And I don't know if I want to talk about the players all that much. I think that they have Oregon's always had a talented team, and I think that's something Dan Lanning has really made a real made really good on is like, hey, we have the big B heck of all my complaints about Ohio State not having a big B billionaire behind you to write the checks to make sure you keep getting really good players, both in out of high school and in the portal. Like he has that at Oregon and he's been taking full advantage of it. And they've always had a very talented team. I think this year it just didn't really work out. They had a talented quarter quarterback, but it's just again, when you it's no guarantee when you get the guys that you get either through the portal or through recruiting, is that it's all gonna work out. And it didn't really work out this year, was didn't always look pretty for them, but you could tell if Oregon was able to kind of get it all together at the right time, like they could be a really dangerous team. But it's just offensive line was probably their biggest weakness um this year, and like that was a big one for them because when it came down to and they played some of these better teams, they just could not keep Dante Moore upright. And for him, even though I think he was a little bit more of like a playmaker, but it's just when things started happening, like Dante Moore is not the biggest runner at all. Like he can't he can and he will, but it's not like you have to really fear him when it comes to him running outside the pocket, making plays that way. So, so like when you get pressure on him, you're gonna get him down more often than not. So that was a big weakness for them. And they ran the football pretty well when their offensive line was really able to kind of go downhill and kind of get things going, but not the same thing when it comes to passing the football. Like they can make, they can have some explosive plays, but nothing that's really consistent. And I think Oregon has been a very talented team this year that wasn't consistent, and facing off against this Indiana team both times, it really showed that their weaknesses were there, and they just couldn't get over them, and it is what it is on that. And I I am gonna make a little bit more of like a like a holistic argument about Dan Laning here in a minute, but I think this team in general, I don't fairly think has anything to feel terrible about. Again, it's just they're just like Indiana just seems like they're on this run of almost almost feel like destiny to a certain degree. Like it's just like, hey, this seems like this is just might be Indiana's year, which is kind of crazy because it like if you look at it the right way, look at it a different way, you could all say the same thing about Miami and the how way the other season has gone so far. But like Indiana just feels like it's their year this year, I think more than Miami to a certain degree. Feels like Indiana's year, and I feel like Like this feels like the year where it's like we're gonna be writing the book on Indiana having the perfect season and being one of the more improbable teams in all of college world history. That's it. I really do think so. I really do think that's the case, and I think Oregon can maybe take a little bit of solace in that. It's like, hey, this is not their year, it's Indiana's. Uh, but when it comes to Dan Lanning, man, I I really do think he is a top 10-ish head coach in all of college football. But I do think for anybody that's really looked at him and said he can be one of the best ones that that you know that is doing it right now, I think you really do have to start taking some of these big games into account, especially in the playoff. And heck, this year they lost the same team twice in Indiana, and they're gonna keep getting talented players. That's what Dan Lanning does. He's a crazy recruiter, and they have all the Nike money behind them, and they're gonna use that, they're gonna keep getting players. But I think to a certain degree, you you do have to start and ask the question is that as much talent as you have, being Oregon and Dan Lanning, and you have you've had quarterbacks coming in, and like they're not like he keeps getting them out of the portal. It's not really more of like a homegrown situation. I think Dante Moore is probably the closest thing to a homegrown guy that they've had because he had transferred to Oregon last year, sat for a year under um, why am I forgetting the guy's name? Oh no, the one. Oh no, it's oh no, Dylan Gabriel. He sat behind Dylan Gabriel last year, and then he kind of came in being a starter this year, and looked relatively good doing it. Like he's a very talented guy. He can get a lot of big passes, he can throw, he can do a little bit of running, and I think he's a very talented guy. I think he's the closest thing to a homegrown guy they've had in a minute. But heck, going into next year, are they gonna they Dylan Riola has been he has now transferred to Oregon from Nebraska, and apparently he's saying he's willing to sit it sit for a year if Dante Moore does come back and is a starter at Oregon. But even if not, like that's like they what Oregon has decided to do is that they're going to go crazy when it comes to recruiting guys out of high school at every other spot rather than the quarterback, and then it feels like every year they're like, hey, we're just gonna go and portal for another quarterback, and hopefully that can be their plan going forward. But Dan Lanning in these games, and it's not just these games at all, it's not just these last two years, it's been multiple years in the past before. Think about it when they were in the Pac-12 um two years ago and they were facing off against Washington, and things didn't go their way in that big game. And it's just like Dan Lenning really does have that sort of question that needs to be answered now, because in these big games and these big moments, they he isn't just playing these teams close. And more often than not, he's getting blown out in these big games in the playoffs. So I and I I compare him to a guy like Ryan Day because he has everything he needs at Oregon: players, money, prestige, like everybody looks at him as like one of the brighter head coaches in all of college football. But when it comes down to them losing these games, nobody really looks at Oregon and says, Hey, maybe you need to start asking some questions about Dan Lane as a head coach and whether they can get the job done with him at the helm. Well, again, I'm not saying it's gonna be forever that he can't get the job done, but I do think if Ryan Day had lost games like this in the playoff where he's getting blown out, I do think that's gonna be that would be something that Ryan Day would get a lot of heat for. And I just don't think Dan Lane is getting as much heat for it. Ryan Day is losing these games close to both Indiana and uh Miami in the Big Ten championship game and in the playoff, very close, where it feels like Ohio State should win those games. And Ryan Day is getting a ton of heat from Ohio State fans and college football fans at large. Talk about how he can't win these big games and he's um fumbling the bag to a certain degree, and like he's losing the games close. Like, what so what do you say about Dan Lanning, who's getting totally blown out by these teams? By Ohio State last year and by Indiana this year. I do think that you do have to start asking some of those questions about Dan Lanning as well. Again, he's a very young guy, he has plenty of years to coach left in him. Like, he can totally flip that narrative on its head if that narrative does start to come. But like that is that is a question that should be asked. It is. I just think that's something that does have to start to be that doesn't that does have to be a conversation that has to be attached to him to a certain degree. I don't know. Again, I think I've gone a little too long about this whole thing, having a more holistic view. But uh, Indiana 56, Oregon 22. Um, Indiana's like taking, they're 15-0, and they're one step, one game away from really finishing off a very magical season. We'll talk about that game on the next podcast on Friday, I believe. So that's about it on that. That's it for college football for now. Let's go ahead and get to the NFL, which I have a lot of things to talk about. You have the games this past weekend, wildcard weekend, and all of those and how those happened. I think four out of the six games were awesome. And then the two games, the two primetime games, the Sunday night game, and then the game last night and Monday night football were absolutely atrocious. Uh, but let's get to it, man. Should I just start with the game last night and get it over with? Because I do want to talk about Tom One first. Yeah, okay, let's do that. So let's get to the game last night, because I just want to get to that first, get it out of the way, because it is the front of my mind type of thing. It really wanted to like we are I already planned a podcast today because it is what it is, and that it's Tuesday, so that's our schedule. But like when the news came out today, being what the game happened last night against Houston, and then the news that came out today about Mike Tomlin, it had me raring to go. A lot of a lot of thoughts in the brain about this whole thing, and how can this be a bad decision to a certain degree? Maybe not bad. Can it be what are the chances that this is looked at as being a good decision down the road? But let before I get to that, let's go ahead and get to the game that happened last night between Pittsburgh and Houston. The game wasn't pretty, folks. It wasn't. As a Steelers fan, I was looking at it. I when we made our picks, I picked Houston to win the game. Jace picked Pittsburgh because he loves to wish on my downfall, and he knows that even if we won this game last night, we would definitely not be looking good going in next week. And I think he understands my pain of like, hey, we're not gonna win the Super Bowl, so every week you go farther into the season, keep winning the game, you have a worse draft pick. And with a team that is in need of a quarterback for the future, having a pick that's in the 20s is definitely not the way to go, and it's only gonna get worse as you keep winning throughout the playoffs. So he picked Pittsburgh, I picked Houston because I just didn't want to like I knew what this game was gonna be, man, and I made the case on the last pod that like, hey, this is about to be the Steelers just cannot. I think defensively they can be able to get a lot of plays done, which is exactly what they did last night. It was a very close game for three quarters for the most part, and the Steelers stayed in it because the Steelers' defense was awesome and they really got a lot of pressure on CJ Stroud and like really kind of got to him and the snapping issues that were happening for Houston and in the heck in the red zone. Like they had a couple, I think it was like one or two turnovers in the red zone. So, like a lot of things Pittsburgh Steelers' defense did to kind of keep them in this game, but when it came down to it, and it was time for nut cutting time, and Pittsburgh Steelers offense had to do something to take advantage of those times where the defense got them plenty of good field position and to have opportunities to go and win the game, they just couldn't do it last night against that Houston defense. That was it. Like the Steelers' defense did exactly what they were supposed to do, and the Steelers' offense was what it's been all year, especially against a very good Houston defense that was able to get a lot of pressure. The offensive line had no chance to like stop Houston from getting after Aaron Rodgers all night, and the game went exactly how I thought it would. Again, it got very ugly in the fourth quarter where Houston scored 23 unanswered points to make that game from 6-7-6 to then 30 to 6. That included a scoop and score for the defense for Houston's defense, and then a couple other scores by Houston's offense being set up by the Steelers. Heck, it was also a pick six at the very end of the game. Um, at really when the game was over, it was 24-6, like a couple minutes left. You know what's funny is that I stopped watching at like the six-minute mark because I was like, I'm done. This game was pretty much over at that point, but then I had to watch it on the back end after the game was all over and realize like, hey, they scored another touchdown. I didn't even see. Um so the way I look at it, man, it was just it was exactly how I thought this game was gonna go. And let me get let me get to Houston first. CJ, 21 of 32, one touchdown, one pick, 250 yards passing. He did not play great. He it wasn't. I think the pressure was getting to him a lot last night. I think there was I think the one thing the Steelers defense was able to do was they were able to get a lot of pressure on him. They sacked him three times. I think they forced a couple fumbles. He just shot at five fumbles last night. Well, two of them lost, of course. But like there was a strip sack by um by Captain Jack, Jack Sawyer from Ohio State, Buckeye on Buckeye Crime. That sucked to see a little bit, but you know it's football. But it was like CJ did not have a great day. Again, losing Nico Collins early on in that game definitely didn't help it. I think he left the game with a concussion. It was a pretty bad concussion as far as anybody with intel in the situation um was talking about. Like it was pretty bad, the concussion that he had. So like there's no he probably won't even play next week with how how bad it was. But even without him, man, like for three quarters, they just they could they were able to get down the field. Not necessarily down the field, they were able to move the football, but almost felt like every time they had a big play, there was a negative play that would come right after. And they could just never string enough plays together to like really like Houston really could have like their defense was good enough that they dominated the Steelers from start to finish. This could have been a blown out blowout very early, but it's just the Pittsburgh Steelers' defense came out and they showed out and they got a lot of pressure and they made it very hard on that CJ Stroud and that offense to be able to do anything. Heck, even times where Houston got into the red zone and like looked like they were about to score and like really take control of the game, the Steelers picked the ball off in the red zone. It was like the one bad pass CJ, like terrible pass chasing CJ through. And and they were able to kind of keep him from scoring, but again, the Steelers just could not take advantage of those moments when those those plays did happen that the Steelers defense manufactured. And the Houston ran the football relatively well, 19 carries and 112 yards for Woody Marks. Nick Chubb had 10 carries for 48 yards. Woody Marks also had a touchdown as well. Receiving Christian Kirk, when Nico Collins went out, there's like, hey, who's gonna be the guy? Christian Kirk had an awesome day. Eight catches, 144 yards, and a touchdown. Jaden Higgins, the young um rookie wide receiver, three catches, 39 yards. And they just had a bunch of other dudes catch passes, man. Xavier Hutchinson, Nico Collins. Again, he left early, but he had three catches. Cade Stover had a couple catches. Dalton Schultz had a few catches. Like they were just kind of sprinkling the ball all around. And again, it was the Steelers' secondary was never going to be absolutely dominant against this Houston team, but it was just it was the front seven for Pittsburgh that was really able to get after CJ and make this game a lot harder, a lot closer than it ever should have been for three of the three out of the four quarters. But it was just in that fourth quarter, Houston was able to explode. And let me get to the Steelers side of this thing that kind of sucked to see altogether. Aaron Rodgers, 17 of 33 for 146, zero touchdowns in a pick. They started off the game very hot because I think Houston was playing a lot of man-to-man defense, and they were getting torched by DK Metcalf a little bit early in that game. And as soon as Houston went to zone, it was when the Steelers' D offense totally combusted. They couldn't run the football anymore. They couldn't pass. I felt like every single time Aaron Rodgers was getting a lot of pressure on him. He got sacked four times in this game, but it should have been even more than that. Um, batted balls by the Houston defense. Like the Steelers couldn't run the football at all. They 63 total yards rushing in this game again. It wasn't like the Steelers were great at running the football all year long, but like it felt like in times they were able to kind of unlock that and really do a little bit better. But against that Houston front, it was never going to happen. And then DK Metcalf thing. Like DK had two catches of 42 yards, and that was very early on in that game. And then he DK had a couple drops that he had, and it almost felt like he had a couple drops there in the first half, and then he didn't get the ball for like another two hours. And it felt like they didn't even try to look his way. Again, there was one play where they did where it felt like if Rodgers would have got the ball out, it would have been a touchdown. It would have been a he was wide open down the field. Ended up being a strip sack that Houston managed to scoop and score, go right into the in the end zone. But like they just like Aaron Rodgers, when things don't go his way, and when he's getting pressured and all of that, and this is the part I have to really put on Aaron is that like during the year, whenever things weren't going well, and again, this has been him his pretty much his last decade of his career. He's been very prickly. They did it, not me. I did my job, they didn't do theirs. It was it's always a lot of finger pointing with Aaron Rodgers. And you can, and I hate to say that because maybe in the locker room, he's a pretty good locker guy. He's a good teammate. But on the field, you just like literally after every play, if things don't go exactly how they're supposed to, you could see him yelling at a teammate or accosting them. And it this isn't like one of those, like when Tom Brady did it, and it felt like you were he was obviously he's gonna yell at you if things weren't going right, but he's gonna he's gonna be the guy to he's the leader. He like he's gonna take responsibility and like do what he has to do as a leader to try to lift up everybody to try to play better. That's not Aaron Rodgers' style. And again, on a team where he is the old guy and he's trying to bring together an offense that doesn't have a lot of veteran dudes, and the offensive line is very young. I think that's the old youngest part of this Steelers team. And if Aaron Rodgers sitting there yelling at you all day long when things aren't going well, and he's never going to take responsibility for what he does wrong in a game, at least it doesn't feel that way when he's sitting there yelling at every spot anybody he possibly could and like giving the side eye to people, and it's just a lot of bad body language throughout a game. And it happened again last night. Again, I'm not like again when you're getting dis like getting totally like bum rushed all day long, like he was. Again, that might be a bad term to use. When he's getting destroyed all day long and his offensive line isn't getting a lot of good blocks and getting a lot of time to get there and do the job, I mean, I get that. But I also think that it's just you're not really inspiring any sort of confidence out of anybody when he's doing what he's doing on the football field. And when he does have opportunity, again, he's 43 years old, he's not gonna be able to extend plays, he's a statue back there, all those things that I knew were gonna be the case coming into this season. But it's just I just don't know. I I again Rodgers did what he was like, I think Alf Rodgers had a very decent season for what I expected coming into this year. He threw, I think he did the best that he could with this offense and what it was. I really do. I really do think he did that. But I also think when times get hard, Aaron Rodgers is not a leader that's gonna be able to get you through those rough times. I just don't think it's gonna be the guy. When things are going great, he's a great, loving teammate, and he's gonna say all the right things, but when things aren't going well, he's gonna be the first person to turn on you. So, like, that's the that's the thing about Aaron Rodgers, man. Like that what he's been over the last decade of his career that you can definitely say negative about him. And again, what he again, the offensive line did so terrible that I just don't think there was anything he was gonna be able to overcome how bad the offensive line was and how dominant that Houston defense was. I just don't think there was anything that he could do, but I just think that he could have been I don't know. I don't know. A better leader, I think, to a certain degree. I hate to say it that plainly where it like it matters, but I just think while watching that team man last night, like they probably needed somebody to help pick them up, not necessarily accounts them and keep hitting them and knocking them down. Houston defense is already doing that enough to those guys on offense. I don't think they needed Aaron Rodgers to do that on top of it. Um But DK Metcalf had a few drops, and I think he wasn't used for the rest of the game, and it was just a bunch of guys getting the belt ball, a lot of short passes, and they just couldn't do anything offensively, dude. They got the football with great field position multiple times because the Steelers defense made a lot of great plays, and they couldn't even get the fucking field goal range to really take advantage of it, let alone get into the red zone and have a chance at touchdowns. And it is a total team, a total team disaster offensively. I think the defense for the Steelers did ex did exactly what they needed to to win this game, to have this to not to win the game, for the Steelers to have a chance to be in the game and have a chance to go win it if they wanted to take it. And unfortunately, the offense wasn't able to do that against that vaunted Houston defense. And that's exactly what I thought it was going to be coming into this game. And that's all that's pretty much all I gotta say about it, man. Like, there was a reason the Steelers came into this game, they were playing at home in the playoffs, and they were three-point underdogs coming into this game. There's a good reason for that because Houston's a better football team. For all the trouble that CJ had, he's a better quarterback than Aaron Rodgers. And that Houston defense is a lot better than what the Steelers defense is. In the secondary, especially. That's the difference. I think both set both front sevens are awesome, but I think that secondary for Houston was the difference in this game. So and again, I just think DK Metcalf, like he had a there were plays to be made. There really were plays to be made. If they had a chance to like really give Rogers some time and be able to get some bigger passes down the field, like there were plays there, but it just it just didn't happen, man. And it's just it's it's another year, and this is the part where that this is one of the stats that got me. This is now Mike Talwin as the Steelers head coach now tied Marvin Lewis for the most consecutive playoff losses with seven. That sucks, man, because I I I talk so much shit about Marvin Lewis and his time with the Bengals. I talk so much shit about them and how they were playing around for so long, and why do you keep Marvin Lewis around when he's not gonna do anything for you in the playoffs? And then I heard that stat last night, and I'm like, man, that shit really got flipped on me, huh? Coming out of last night, I didn't think that there was anything that Mike Talman could do to fix that game and how it was going to go last night. I really don't. I don't know how Mike Talman fixed that game. I think that this was a total team loss, like organizational loss. I don't think team loss, because I think the defense did what they were supposed to do. But I think this was a team loss because this Steelers team has been put together with duct tape and band-aids and bubblegum for so long because they haven't, they've always been trying to plug holes rather than actually try to fix the foundation of this team in a way that is meant for modern age c modern age NFL football. And I think that I I honestly coming out of the game, I didn't think Mike Tom was going to leave. I really there it was a conversation, and people were talking about is Mike Tom gonna be the head coach for next season and going for long term and is he gonna step down, maybe he can go to TV for a season. Like I thought last night, like, hey, he's probably gonna stick around. My whole thing was like, hey, how are we gonna go get a quarterback? Because I don't think we could do another year of Aaron Rodgers again. I just don't think that's anytime anybody talked about like, oh, maybe Aaron Rodgers can come back for another season. I'm like, no. At some point you have to you have to like make the move. You have to go take a chance to go build for the future. And this whole Aaron Rodgers thing, putting the band-aid on the issue has not fixed it. Again, I get it. The Kenny Pickett thing didn't work out well, and it was it wasn't pretty. But I think you're you're not gonna get any, you're not gonna fix it by just keep throwing band-aids on the issue. It's not gonna like you need to build this team up differently. And I thought Mike Tomlin was gonna be around for the ride, and uh it it didn't turn out to be this way coming into the day. So let's get to the news. Um, so the news of today was that Mike Tomlin, they had a meeting, Mike Tomlin with the owner Art Rooney, and Mike Tomlin told Art Rooney, hey, I'm gonna go ahead and step down as the head coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and I will not be coaching in 2026. And it which is that is a piece of news there because technically, because he's stepping down and not getting fired, the Steelers do own his rights for next season because he is still under contract. So if anybody were to try to want to sign him and like really want them to be their head coach, they would have to trade for him because the Steelers still still own his rights as the head coach. So, but again, for what everybody's saying that Mike Thomas' probably gonna take a year off, maybe do some television and all of that. But the news is that Mike Thomas won't be the head coach anymore after 19 seasons as the Pittsburgh Steelers head coach, he is now gone. And one of my buddies like kind of like sat there and texted me when it happened, he's like, Hey, how do you feel now that he's gone? And I'm not gonna lie to you, I don't I don't feel the same sentiment when it comes to Mike Tomlin that a lot of Steelers fans online and like in in the world do where they were like fire Tomlin, we need a new voice, and like there we need change, and like firing Mike Tomlin is the is the main thing of that. And I I don't I don't feel that way, right? Because this is this is why I feel, right? Because I do think Mike Tomlin, the time of having a coach like Mike Tomlin may be done because Mike Tomlin isn't a isn't an X and O's guy, he is a rah-rah culture guy as a head coach, and I just don't think that's gonna work in the NFL anymore because you have to have a good offensive mind, even if you have your quarterback, you need to have a good offensive coordinator to kind of help offenses stay good. And if you have a good offensive coordinator, he ends up becoming a head coach because everybody's looking for the next great offensive head coach to go be the head coach and play caller for their quarterback. So I just think that in general, I think Mike Tomlin's days were numbered. But I think in this scenario, fire like they didn't fire him, he steps down. But again, I feel like it was more of like a mutual decision between him and Art Rooney. I just don't know if he was gonna be like he is just changing out the head coach is not gonna fix what this Steelers team has been over the last 10 years. Again, the record goes on Mike Talman. He gets to have the seven straight playoff losses as the head coach. He also gets the never has a losing season mantra under like again as a head coach, you either get too much credit or too much blame. And I think that he in this situation is gonna get a lot of blame because people are gonna be looking at it as like a new day in Pittsburgh where there's a chance for change. And I'm like, as if you're just changing out the head coach, you're not gonna get the change that you're looking for if you're a Steelers fan. And I'm a Steelers fan, of course, myself, and this is why I think that way is because Mike Tomlin never had full control over what the roster was gonna be. He's been there long enough you would think that's the case, but that's not that was never the case. He never had never had full control over the over the how the team was constructed roster-wise. It was always a team thing, and that was always been the mantra over the over the years with Pittsburgh, is that this is always a team decision when it comes to roster stuff. It's between the GM, the head coach, and the owners. And nobody ever talked about that because the I think the owners, even though I think they're pretty the Roonies are a very good set of owners and they know what they're doing and all of that, but they do meddle a little bit. Like they are more involved than they would like fans and people on the outside to think. They do have their finger, their fingerprints all over this team, but when it comes down to it, it's a team thing. Nobody's ever gonna take responsibility, but here's the thing they never they are never gonna be talking to the media for anybody to question them on that. It's gonna be Mike Tomlin, it's gonna be Omar Khan, it's gonna be those guys that have to be the forward-facing ones because the Rooneys understand, like, hey, we don't need to be the people out there talking to the media because then we might have to answer for being a part of the bad decisions that have happened on this team. That don't just go on Mike Tomlin. You think it's Mike Tomlin's total decision about the quarterback position was gonna be? No. I don't think it was all on Mike Tomlin that we haven't been able to get a quarterback ever since Ben left. Maybe he was a part of the Kenny Pickett thing, but that wasn't all on him. And all putting all this money on the defensive side of the football, I don't think that is just a Mike Tomlin decision. That is a ownership and GM. And all about what about all the misses when it comes to drafting and like not putting enough time into trying to draft quarter draft um offensive players, and like there's some real skill positions that the Steelers have not done well about drafting over the years. That is all that is not all those things are not on Mike Tomlin, let alone when it comes to offense and not putting enough money into your offense. The offensive line issues is not all on Mike Tomlin. Like, there's a lot of things on about this team that I think have to change if they're really going to become a team that can like that can compete on a week in, week out basis in the NFL as it stands as of right now. It is a more offensive league. You cannot be the team that spends the most money on your defense and can win football games consistently. Because guess what? During the season, offense wins you games. And then the defense definitely becomes more of a thing in the playoffs, but again, you have to get there first. And even the way this team has been built, it's just so much money being put in the defensive line, but not really put in anything else, maybe offensive line and secondary and like this, that, and the other. And it's just like this team is not like this is not uh again. I I hate to go so far into it, but this is not all a Mike Talman problem. And if you want to think that maybe this is the Steelers' opportunity to really change from a fundamental level, from an organizational level, from the bottom up, maybe this is the opportunity they're gonna take. Mike Tomlin isn't there. Maybe they'll say, hey, maybe we're gonna go get another young coach and we're gonna build this thing from the ground up in a different way that we are gonna, they're gonna try to build it up, maybe take, maybe take one step backward to take two steps forward type of thing. Maybe that's gonna be the case they're gonna do. Maybe they'll be willing to accept having a losing season or two for a couple years to maybe build the roster through the draft and be able to maybe draft a quarterback necessary. Like maybe all those things are gonna be what they're gonna do now that they've fired Mike Tomlin, and really maybe this is a chance for them to take a real hard reset as to how they run their organization. Maybe that's the case. Do I have a lot of confidence that's gonna be how it goes? I don't think so. Because the Steelers, for so long, they have put their mantra of they're always trying to go win a championship. But like at some point, that's with the way that the NFL has to be able to build teams up, you're almost doing yourself a disservice by not taking advantage of one of those when you're always drafting in the 20s. At some point, you have to be in the top 10 drafting players so you can get some really elite players to then build your team on to build your team around. And I just think I just think that's like the Steelers really need to build, like, really need to change from the ownership down, dude. And I just think that if just firing Mike Talman and hiring a new coach is gonna fix all these issues, that's not gonna be the case. I tell you that right now, this is not gonna be how it goes. So I don't know. Again, I will I think after I see who the Steelers end up hiring as their next head coach, maybe I'll feel differently and maybe I'll be a little more confident as to what they're gonna do in the future. But like, I don't know, man. I just don't have a lot of confidence that they're gonna make the right changes to really become. I really do think if I if there's a blueprint that the Steelers need to try to follow to really like turn themselves into a team that could be more modern and like be that and like really take that next step of really trying to win again. I hate to say it, but they need to become more like the Ravens. The Ravens just take a little more chance. I think that I think the Ravens and the Steelers are really close as organizations as to how they are run. Um, they're really organizationally run the same way, like they strong ownership, really good GM, and they try to draft well. But it's the difference between the Ravens and the Steelers that the Ravens are super, they're way more aggressive in the draft and really getting good players and like really doing it that way. And like, I just think the Steelers have been so mundane and always taking the picks that you have. And I think they've done a little bit more of like trading a second round pick way to get DK Metcalf. Maybe they've had more aggressive as of recently, but like they need to do that more. What gave the Ravens a new start or new lease on life seven, eight years ago? It's when they used they traded from the second round pick back into the end of the first round to pick up Lamar Jackson. That takes some balls, that takes some real like seeing the forest through the trees and like sitting there saying, like, hey, this can be a guy we can build around and being aggressive and like looking at the Uber talent that he was to say, hey, we can change our team around to fit this super talented guy, and hopefully he can he can have a maturation into being the quarterback that he ended up being for the Ravens, being a guy winning multiple MVPs and getting them to the playoffs most of these years, and like being a one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL. That's what it takes. It takes some real aggression at the fundamental level, and I just don't think the Steelers have had for a long time. And like those are the things the Steelers need to be able to do. The offensive line issues, like again, they've put a lot of picks into their offensive line, they have a lot of young guys, but like it just hasn't worked out as of yet. Like, there's a lot of things about this team that needs to change outside of what Mike Tomlin was doing. And um, I just I don't know. I'm just I just don't feel cop very confident that they're gonna make those changes as well as now getting a new head coach. I just I'm I'm I'm has yet to be seen. I I'll be very happy to be wrong, but it's just on first thing, first thought, like in my gut feeling, I just don't feel confident that the Steelers are gonna make the necessary changes to really change with the way they've been over the last 10 years or so. But, you know, we'll see. Mike Tomlin. Oh, before I before I end this and go to the next to go to the prior games throughout this weekend, Mike Tomlin, man. Um, as long as I've been a Steelers fan, it's been because I remember watching the Super Bowl. I watched the Super Bowl with um Jerome Bettis as a young kid, very young kid. Um I think that might be one of the early football games, earliest NFL football games I ever watched. Um, I remember watching that game with Jerome Bettis and Big Ben winning that Super Bowl against the Seahawks. And I ended up becoming a Steelers fan more after that in the next Super Bowl that they played in with Mike Tomlin being the head coach. And one of my like as a Steelers fan watching that game, because I ended up playing for a little league team, a little league football team, and they were the Steelers at that point, and that's why I decided I was going to become a Steelers fan. And then a couple years later they ended up being in the Super Bowl, and I watched them go and the Santonio Holmes catch um at in the back of the end zone to peak to beat Arizona. Like that was one of my like that was when I really fell in love with Steelers football. And Mike Talman was the head coach for that. And I think as a Steelers fan, throughout my life, I've had one coach throughout my fandom as a head coach as a Steelers fan over the last around 15 years, 15, 16, 17 years of my life. Like that was what like that's 17, 18, something close to 20 years of my life. I've been a Steelers fan, and Mike Tomlin has been the head coach of that team. And now with him being gone, he has brought us so much success, he has never had a losing season. I respect him as a as a black man myself. Seeing a black man as a head coach be one of the more tenured coaches in all of in all of the NFL is one of the more proud moments of watching because there's not a lot of head coaches out there like sitting as a head coach as long as he has. And the fact that he as a black man was able to do that for as long as he has and have had so much success and so much respect for everybody in the NFL, I think that's something to be there's something to be said for that. And when it comes to him, like when he talks to the media and like everything he's he's about, he's a good dude, he's a great motivational speaker. Anytime you hear him talking about him coaching and him wanting to bring the best out of his guys and not being afraid of having hard conversations, like all of those things, I have come to totally respect about Mike Tomlin, and that's off the field. And then not to mention what he's been on the field, winning a Super Bowl and having all those successful years with Ben and never having a losing season. Like there's been a lot of things about him that I think over the fr frustration of the last five or six years or so, they've soured a little bit for a lot of the fan base, but I hope that as you get more and more years away from Mike Tomlin being the head coach, I hope those fans that have been really frustrated can learn to get have some real love for what Mike Tomlin has done throughout his tenure as being the coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers, man. I really, I really hope so. Because when he has to hear in his own home stadium throughout this season fire Mike Tomlin, that hurts. As a fan of him and as a fan of the Steelers, that does hurt. Because he's done a lot, man. He's done a lot, and I get it. He grows stale, and I get it. Maybe this is a necessary change. Whether I think it'll actually lead to some real big scale changes. I'm again that I'm not gonna go down that road again, like I already just talked about that for the last 20 minutes or so. But I think he did a lot of good things, man. I think he was awesome, and I feel like I really respect him. And I don't know. I'm I'm a little emotional. I wasn't this emotional earlier. I really wasn't, but it's just it's an end of an era, dude. It's really it really is an end of an era, and I really um see him. Fuck. I respect him, man. And I and I and I hope whatever he goes to next, if he just wants to do TV through the rest of his career, I hope he's awesome and he can have fun and like keep doing it because then when he comes to media and all that, he's a great guy to listen to. And I'd I'd listen to him talk about anything. And it doesn't have to be football. But the fact I get to listen, I've what I've listened and watched this dude talk about football for as long as I have, I've really grown to appreciate it. So if he decides to do TV for the rest of his life and can have a nice cushy job and not have to worry about the grind of coaching an NFL team, I hope he does amazing at that and has a great time. If he ends up after this year of not coaching, if he doesn't, once he doesn't coach in 2026 and he decides to come back and coach somebody else, as long as it's not for anybody in the AFC North, I would I hope he goes to wherever he goes and has all the success he wants in the world. Because he deserves that too. And I think he's an awesome head coach, and I feel like he's getting he gets he gets to be the guy to fall in the sword when I think there are a lot of dudes in that organization that deserve to have that same sort of treatment. I really do. I really do. And I'm not talking about the teammate, I'm not talking about the players, I'm talking about the organizational level that they get to hide behind the Steeler emblem. But Mike Tomlin had to be the one to fall on the sword in this scenario. And I don't think it's all Mike Tomlin. I really don't. But it's just I I understand the people that want change. I really do. But I just think you have to go a little bit deeper, man, or you're not really going to get to the root of the issue. And I feel like there are a lot of fans and a lot of people out there that never don't want to go deeper because everybody has such respect for the Steelers' name and the Steelers team and their history. But I think there the I think the roots are where there might be some issues too, that they don't change those. Getting rid of such a great head coach as a Mike Tomlin won't help anything. You're you're gonna have this still keep having the same issues no matter who ends up being the next head guy at at the helm at the head coaching position for for such a great franchise in the Pittsburgh Steelers. So that's all I got on that. I know I got a little emotional there and it got it slowed down a bit, but I just couldn't help it, man. I had to talk about it, and uh it it sucks. It sucks a little bit. Alright, let's go on to the next thing. Uh let's see. When it comes to how should I do this? Should I just start from Saturday on? I'll go back to the beginning. I started with the end. Let's go back to the beginning, go to the Saturday games, and then we'll just kind of go through the slate that way. The first game on Saturday was the game between the Rams and the Panthers. Um, it was a 4v5 game, the five seed being the Rams, and then the Panthers being the fourth seed having a home game. Again, they were eight and eight on the season. They did not deserve, actually, sorry, they were eight and nine on the season, less than 500. They did not deserve to have a home game, but you know, I I've already made my case on that, but we're not gonna go too far down that lane, down that road. And Rams win the game 34 to 31. This was a back and forth affair. I have to give the Panthers a lot of credit. They came into this game and they had nothing to lose, man, and they played. Like it. And as much as I talked about Bryce Young and how he has been up and down, up and down this year, I do think he has taken enough steps forward to make this Panthers at least want to take another opportunity to have another year. Maybe he can take the next step forward and really become a guy for them to be like their franchise quarterback, but I just don't think he's that as of right now. But in this game, the Panthers played well, man. Again, I'll talk about the I'll talk about the losers first, and then I'll get to the Rams. Um, Bryce Young, 21 of 40, one touchdown, one pick. Uh they ran the football relatively well. Hubbard was their main back. He had 46 yards off 13 carries and two touchdowns. And then Bryce Young also had a touchdown run of his own with off of three carries and 24 yards. The Panthers did really, especially once they started like really throw just throwing the football down the field and like really going after the Rams secondary. I think they had a lot of success. Uh Jalen Coker, nine catches, 134 yards, and a touchdown. There was like really nobody in that secondary for the Rams that can stop him. Again, this is the Rams, that is the weakness of their team, is their secondary is absolutely atrocious. And if you throw the football and really push the ball down the field, they don't have a secondary that can stop you. I think the Panthers realized that in the middle of this game and they really got going that way. Tet McMillan, five catches, 81 yards. He did a lot, he did a lot of damage against that Rams defense. And the Panthers, heck, defensively. Matthew Stafford did not play awesome in this game. I think he was good. He had a really good stat line, 24-42 for 304 yards, three touchdowns, and a pick. But like the Panthers, like they played some they played some good football, offensively and defensively. And they took advantage of the opportunities that were there and they really made this game close. It came down to the final minutes where the Rams had to score their last touchdown with like 30 something seconds left to take the lead. Am I crazy? So the touchdown for the Rams, they had they scored with two minutes left, 34 to 31, to take the lead. Like it it was a back and forth affair, man. There was how many lead changes in the fourth quarter? Um the Panthers took a touchdown, took a had a touchdown to take a lead. It was one, two, three. There was four lead changes in the fourth quarter. That is what I call a very competitive game. And the Panthers were there for it. I feel like as much as I've talked crap about the Panthers and how they don't deserve to have a home game and how they've been up and down, and I've talked my trash about Bryce Young and him, how not good he has been throughout his NFL career so far. But this year and in this game, I think he showed a lot of promise, and maybe if he can take that next step, maybe he can be a guy for them. But the Panthers really did show out and they had played a very good game. And they they pushed the Rams to the limit. Again, the Rams didn't play great, and they didn't play as great as they needed to. And their defense totally got totally got abused in this game. But when it came down to it, like the Rams did what they had to do to win the game, but it was not pretty. It was a very it was much close. Again, these two teams are not on the same field when it comes to level of talent and how good the actual teams are. But when it comes down to it, that's doesn't that doesn't always matter. That's on paper. Like when it comes down to when you have to go play a football game, the Panthers came to play and the Rams weren't necessarily playing their best, and that's what allowed the Panthers a chance to really come out and win the game. But again, um when it when it came down to and it was time to deliver, Matthew Stafford did what he had to do to like get the win. Um like I said, Matthew Stafford, 24 of 42, 304 yards, three touchdowns, one pick. Oh, by the way, one last thing about the Panthers. I made the claim to Jace is that would it would have been better if they had won the game or lost the game before the game even happened. And I made the claim that it was better for them to lose because then they wouldn't get tricked into thinking they had to pay Bryce Young. And again they lost, but Bryce Young played good enough to where they do have to at least take the fifth-year option and really see if he can take that, like take one last final look to see if he could take the next step, and if not, they can go and draft a quarterback after next season. But I I think that I don't know. I I don't know, man. I have to give the Panthers some credit. I think they show they they came out and played some good football where they absolutely needed to in the playoffs, which is more than I ever thought they were going to when that game started. Um LA Rams running the football. They didn't run the football all that great. Kyron Williams had 57 yards rushing, plate quorum 45 yards. Again, they didn't run the football that much. They only had like 29 yards, 29 total carries for their running game on that game. Pukaniku also had a rushing touchdown. He had three carries, 14 yards, and a touchdown. But the Rams really didn't run the football all that great. Again, 116 yards was enough, but it kept their offense moving. But it was definitely more on Matthew Stafford to throw them out of trouble, and that's exactly what he did. Pukaniku was awesome in this game. He had the one rushing touchdown that he had, and then he also had 10 catches, 111 yards, and a touchdown. He was awesome in this game. Pukanakua cannot be stopped. Um, Devontae Adams in his first game back in a while, coming off the hamstring injury. He had five catches, 72 yards. Tyler Higby had two catches, 45 yards. Kobe Parkinson, another tight end for them, had two catches, 34 yards, and a touchdown. Kyron Williams had a touchdown catch at the running back position. Like they the Rams definitely did not play their best in this game. Matthew Stafford did not play his best in this game, but when it was when it absolutely mattered, they made the plays they needed to to come back and win this game and uh keep themselves in the playoff hunt. Well, not playoff hunt, but in the playoffs to go try to go win a Super Bowl. Me as a guy that has talked about how good the Rams are, would I feel more confident about them if they would have like played a little bit better defensively? Probably. But I think it's I think I've I've listened to a couple things to talk about how the the Carolina Panthers, because of their coaching staffs and um what they've been a part of, I think they know the Rams pretty well and what they like to do offensively as well as defensively. So like maybe that's the case, but it's just I don't know, man. The Rams did what they had to do, they won the game, but it's just can they have that bad of a defensive performance against some of the better teams they're gonna face later on in the playoffs? I think they have to face um not Seattle. They have to face who am I who they have to face in the next round? Hold on. They have in the next round, they have to face the Bears. Like, can the Rams again it can it be just a shootout? Whoever has the ball last and the Rams can win that game, potentially, but I think their defense, if their defense is not gonna show up again, it's gonna be all on Matthew Stafford to Matthew Stafford and Puka Naku and Devontae Adams and those those the a bunch of tight ends they have on that team to go ahead and win the game and kind of have a back and forth affair. But like, I don't know, man. It's a it's a weird one. I'm not gonna lie to you. I think the Rams are probably the most dangerous team, but the fact they have to face the Bears in the next round is definitely gonna be a scary one for them because the Bears' offense is humming right now, and but the only thing is that they like to like lull for the first couple quarters and then come back at the end. I don't think you could do that against the Rams, dude, because I think the Matthew Stafford and that team will you know shut the door on you and keep scoring if they have to. But again, it was a very good game with them and the um with the Rams and the Panthers, but it was a scary one for if you're a Rams fan for sure. Next one on that Saturday game, it was who was the next game there? It was the Packers and Bears on Saturday. Um, Bears, Packers. Bears had to play a game, they were the the hosting, the playoff game, they were the two seed to Green Bay being the seven seed. Bears won the game 31 to 27. This was a tail of two halves for the most part. Like in the first half, Green Bay scored 21 points. It was 21 to 3 going into halftime, and it felt like Green Bay was really controlling the game. And heck, even through the third quarter, Chicago only scored another three points. It was 21 to 6 at the end of the third quarter. And it felt like Green Bay was really controlling this game from start to finish, and then Green Bay had an epic collapse of a fourth quarter where they let Chicago score 25 points to Green Bay's six to come back and win that game. Um, I'm not gonna put this on Jordan Love, though. Jordan Love had a decent game. He went 24, not decent, he played well. He went 24 of 46 for 323 yards and four touchdowns. They didn't run the football all that effectively. Um, I wish they would have done that. Again, this is the thing. When you got such a huge lead in the first half, and then you go into the second half being a lot more conservative and not doing everything you need to do in the second half, they're not really keeping the foot on the pedal and they're just trying to run off the clock. You need to run the football a lot better than they did, and they didn't. Josh Jacobs, 19 carries, 55 yards, and then they had 99 total yards rushing in this game, was definitely not a way for them to win this game if they were going to try to run off the clock in the second half like they tried to. Um, Romeo Dobbs had a good game, eight catches, 124 yards and a touchdown. Matthew Golden had four catches, 84 yards and a touchdown. Jaden Reed, four catches, 43 yards and a touchdown. Christian Watson, three catches, 36 yards and a touchdown. So like they were like when they were moving the football and they were doing what they had to do, like they were able to score. But it's just that lull in that third, that third and most of the fourth quarter, they just allowed the Bears to get back into this game. And I think I think more than anything, that's what the Bears have proven throughout this season that that's what they're going to do. If you were going to give them an opportunity to light up offensively late in the game to try to come back in these games, they're going to try. And more often than not, they're going, they're going to come back hot, and they're going to make make it very difficult on you if you're not going to close the door on them, and that's on the Packers. Like, that's on their head coach LaFleur, where they could have closed the door on this Bears team to even not give them the chance to even come back in this game, and they couldn't do it. Again, credit to the Bears, you still have to walk through that door and take advantage of the opportunity if the if the Packers aren't going to close the door on you. But like the Packers just, again, when you've been playing, when you've been a team that's been doing things, getting into the playoffs as much as you have over the last few years, like you have to understand when you have the opportunity to really control the game and like really put an end to it, you have to finish the job. And the Packers just couldn't do it. They did have an opportunity to come back and win the game. At the end, it ended up being a last second heave by Jordan Love to try to get into the end zone. It didn't work out. But it's just, again, 25 points from you let Chicago score in the fourth quarter. Again, that's this is probably why the Green Bay Packers picked up a guy like Micah Parsons, and he would definitely would have been helpful in this game when you're just trying to run off the clock and like you're just trying to get after them and make because the Bears would have to throw the football as much as they did in that in the third and fourth quarters, a guy like Micah Parsons being the supreme pass rusher that he is would have definitely been a huge help. But again, that's not how football works sometimes. They didn't have him because he was injured, and you have to you have to do what you have to do in these big moments to get the job done, and they couldn't do it. Not defensively, then offensively, they really didn't help all that much either. But getting to Caleb Williams and the Bears, man, I have to give them a lot of credit. Caleb Williams, I talked so much crap about him last year because he had made himself so unlikable when he was with the with the USC and talking so much trash. And like again, am I gonna sit here and say he was doing it on purpose? I feel like there's just a certain bravado that he has. And I think if you as long as you back it up, it's not that bad, right? And it felt like at USC and then in his first year with the Bears, it felt like he wasn't really doing what he's supposed to do. Like he like what he wasn't backing up that bravado that he kind of kind of walks around with. But this season, man, coming into this season, a lot of people doubting whether he could be the guy long term or not, whether he can change. They got him the the genius head coach and um Brian. Nope, Ben Johnson, sorry, not Brian. They got him the genius head coach in Ben Johnson, who's the offensive guy. Can Ben Johnson help him progress as a quarterback to like maybe make those changes to become the superstar to match the talent that he has, like the undeniable talent that he has to be a very good starter in the NFL? And it didn't start off great, but as the season went has gone along, he's become better and better. He's not very efficient when it comes to like keeping, like when it comes to completing passes. But other than that, man, he's everything else, dude. You need some spectacular plays, he can do it. If you need to run, need him to run and extend plays, he can. If you need him just like, you know, drift to his right while having a guy draped on him and kind of getting out of it and jumping and hitting a crazy uh flag route towards a sideline and hit that too, with not being able to step into the throw with crazy precision, he can do that too. Like he is a very he is a supreme talent at the quarterback position. And throughout this season, he's just been getting better and better, dude. And in this game, it was so bad for three quarters, and then he was able to light it up in the fourth quarter. He ended up going 24-48 for 361 yards. He had two touchdowns and two picks. But again, when it mattered most, and it it they required his best play in that fourth quarter and to come back and win. That's exactly what you got out of him, especially with that um game-winning touchdown drive. I think that was to who was that touchdown catch? Who was that touchdown throw to? I think it was to oh DJ Moore. Okay, so they got the DJ Moore touchdown pass to go up 31 to 27 in that fourth quarter. But like, but when they needed him to play his best, he did. Again, he's still not efficient, he's still not always gonna hit the pat the easy passes you think are there. But like when it's time to turn it on and let this talent go out there and shine, he can do that. He really can. And I think Ben Johnson, I think coming in as his set now head coach slash um play caller, I think the one thing that he has kind of made Caleb be better at is not taking sacks. And I do think that is a big deal because what Caleb Williams Williams was doing in his first year was trying to do all those things of extending plays and doing all that, but he was taking a lot more sacks. But I think the fact that he's not taking nearly as many sacks this year has really kept them in football games. Again, it you have to like you have even if you're not gonna be playing your best at certain times in the football game, you have to survive. And by not taking sacks, you're able to survive some of those lulls a little bit when your offense is not being able to do a lot. But with him not taking as many sacks, being able to make the read possible, and maybe he doesn't hit those passes all the time, but he's not gonna have you behind the sticks a lot, and that's the thing, like he's take he's cutting down on the negative plays, and I feel like that has changed their offense entirely. And as Ben Johnson's been helping him out, and he's been getting better and better, I think they've been becoming a lot better of an offensive team. That secondary and that defense for the Bears is not good whatsoever. But again, if a team's gonna keep letting them have the opportunity to come back and win these games when they're down, the Bears are gonna keep taking it. And the Caleb Williams is shown to be ready for the moment when that does happen. And he did what he had to do. Um, running the football, the Bears didn't do much of that. They ran the football for 93 total yards in this game. DeAndre Swift with the DeAndre Swift was the leading back, 13 carries, 54 yards, and a touchdown. But like, it was all on Caleb Williams, man. They could not run the football at all. It was him or nothing. And most of those times when he was throwing the football, he was throwing it to Colson Loveland because Colson Loveland, the young rookie tight end for them, had eight catches, 137 yards. A lot of catches for that guy. He's a very talented tight end. Awesome. Uh, again, I hate to say it because he's a he's a you know team up north guy. Um, DJ Moore, six catches, 64 yards, and a touchdown. Zacchaeus had a touchdown catch, he had only one catch, eight yards, but that one catch was very important with the touchdown catch. Roma Dunze, his first game back in a while. He had two catches, 44 yards. Luther Burden, three catches, 42 yards. Swift had a couple catches, Monungai had a catch. Like, so it was all on Caleb Williams, man, and he did what he had to do. And I have to give that Barrissine a lot of credit. Like, they're like, Again, it makes you question like, hey, what happens when you face a team that's not going to let you come back? And again, that's again when it happens, it happens. But until then, you have to give them a lot of credit for taking advantage of these opportunities and coming back and winning these, winning these football games. You do, and I'll and I'll give them a lot of credit for that. Again, can they do that against the Rams? I'm not sure. But again, the Rams defense is pretty bad too. So, like, the maybe they're like this that game will be a light show, I think. I really do think so. As long as the weather allows it, of course. Because you know, um January weather in Chicago can be a little bit finicky. So if the the weather isn't great, I think it might change um the calculus a little bit for how explosive that game can be. But I think going into it, I'm definitely expecting a lot of points to be scored in that game. On to Sunday's games. I think the first one was the Jags and Bills game, I want to say. Or am I crazy? Hold on. Let's see here. Wildcard Weekend Sunday game. Okay. The first Sunday matchup was Buffalo and Jacksonville. Buffalo won the game 27-24. This is a very, a very good game. Um how do I even put this game into context? Okay, so 27-24, Buffalo wins the game. Josh Allen, let's start with start with the Buffalo on this one. Um, Josh Allen, 28-35, 273 yards and a touchdown. They really didn't run the football that great. Um, Jay uh James Cook had, I think it was 15 carries, 46 yards. He was nowhere near the same product production-wise as he has been throughout the season, where he was the the leading rushing yards getter in all of the NFL. So they did not run the football nearly as well as they needed to in this game. Well, at least James Cook did not. Josh Allen, 11 carries, 33 yards, two touchdowns. When it came down to it, they did what they had to do, especially in the red zone. He was able to get some uh hard yards to go ahead and get a couple rushing touchdowns for himself. Khalil Shakir was awesome in this game, 12 catches, um, 82 yards. Brandon Cooks was big in this game, three catches, 58 yards, had some really clutch catches, especially in that second half where they were trying to come back and like uh score some points. I think it was in the fourth quarter, there was like three or four lead changes. And um Brandon Cooks had some really big, big chunk catches to help with that. Keon Coleman had a catch for 36 yards, Dawson Knox, three catches, 30 yards, don't Kincaid, three catches, 28 yards, and a touchdown. Um, it was but again, this game was Josh Allen percentric, dude. And uh Josh Allen centric, and I do have to give the Buffalo Bills a lot of credit defensively, that they did make life hard on Trevor Lawrence, even though Trevor Lawrence, like Trevor Lawrence did not play great in this game, um, but It was because Buffalo was getting after it defensively, dude. And I think that secondary made it very hard on Trevor Lawrence, made it muddied the field for him to where he wasn't able to didn't always look look very confident in what he was looking at. And like he had a couple picks in this game and they took advantage of that. And the in the pass rush got after um Trevor Lawrence. Even if they didn't get to him all the time, they were getting enough pressure on him to kind of keep his uh to rush him a little bit to keep him from being able to sit back there and feel comfortable to make the throw, make all the throws that he needed to. So the Buffalo Bills defense played some very good football on Sunday against that Jacksonville Jaguars team that were literally Trevor Lawrence was I was red hot throughout the like the last five, six games of the year playing some very good football. Almost like their offense could not be stopped by anybody. But when it came down to it in a big moment, there was one quarterback that came that lived up to the moment and one that didn't. And Josh Allen, the guy that we put so much pressure on, to like, hey, if you don't win, if you don't get to the Super Bowl this year, it may not, it may not ever happen. Which again, maybe a little bit too much blame on him as a quarterback for, you know, it's a team game. There's a lot of other things like besides him, besides one player that has to go on in order for a run to happen. But in this game, I have to admit, Josh Allen did get to a point in that fourth quarter where it was going back and forth, and it felt like Jacksonville and Trevor Lawrence was going to do enough to win this game that I did get the feeling that like it just got to a point for me when I was watching this game, like, man, it feels like that Josh Allen just is just gonna find a way to win this game. I think it was how many lead changes I want to make sure I make it get that right. It was Jaguar scored a touchdown to go up 16-13. That's one lead change. Buffalo Bills then come back with a fit 65-yard touchdown drive to change lead again. There were four lead changes in the in the fourth quarter. So this is a back and forth affair, and this really was Josh Allen going and like making the plays happen because again, there was really nothing else working like when it comes, and it wasn't like they had Khalil Shakir was very good and he had a lot of catches, but it really wasn't like a lot of explosive plays. Like this was Nicholan Diamond on the field, and Josh Allen had to go out there, make the passes necessary, and not make the big mistake. And guess what? He didn't. And I don't even think he played his best, I don't even think he went Superman mode or anything. I don't I just felt like he did he did exactly what was necessary for him to win this football game. And that included not making any big mistakes when it comes to picks or fumbles, and he didn't do that. And guess who did? Trevor Lawrence did. Trevor Lawrence, 18 of 30 for 207 yards. He had those three touchdowns, but he had two picks. Especially with the one pick being at the end of the game where they had an opportunity to come back. And I think how much time they have left when they got that ball back for the last time. It was with like three minutes left. They the Jags got the ball back with a chance to go down and win it. And then they literally first play Trevor Lawrence throws a throws a pick when he was trying to push the ball down the field when he didn't have to. They had a lot of time left. Like they it was three minutes, and like they had a lot of time to get down the field and get into a field goal range, either tie the game or go ahead and try to go win it, but like he didn't have to try to push it the way he did, and he did, and it was a bad mistake. And again, sometimes that's the difference, man. It's just like again, Trevor Lawrence did not play great in this football game whatsoever. He had the three touchdown catches, but those two picks were absolutely deadly to that football team. Um, but otherwise, it was like Trevor Lawrence. Let me see. I I always talked, I already talked about him running the football. Jaguars did so much more running the football than the than the uh Buffalo did. Travis Etienne, 10 carries, 67 yards. Bishal Tutin, four carries, 51 yards. Trevor Lawrence had 31 yards rushing off six carries. Like they ran the football for 154 total yards in this game to Buffalo 79. When it comes to receiving, Parker Washington had seven catches, 107 yards, and a touchdown. Like he had like Trevor Lawrence had a number one guy that was really getting some real production and getting into the end zone. Parker Washington did. Travis Etienne had a touchdown catch. He had five catches, 49 yards. Brian Thomas Jr. had a touchdown catch. So like it almost felt like everything stat-wise looked like Jacksonville should have won that game. But when it came down to it, it was the mistakes that Trevor Lawrence made, and then it was Josh Allen making the plays necessary to win, and it almost felt like it was it was the first time I looked at Josh Allen and been like, this is the feeling, the same feeling I got when Mahomes was doing what he was doing, and it was felt like it was just Josh Allen's gonna find a way to get the job done. And he did, man. He played a very good football game, he played awesome. And it was a very insane game to watch, and it was a very fun game to watch. Um, but it's just like again, it's another big like Trevor Lawrence, as much as he he progressed throughout this year and he felt like he was a much better quarterback. When times get hard, you kind of go back to what you are, and it was Trevor Lawrence making some mistakes that you know are not new for him in the playoffs by any means. So you know it's gonna, it was a very good game. Josh Allen, I feel like the best player left in the AFC, man. If he can kind of keep things going and when he needs to go Superman mode and not necessarily have to make the big mistakes, I do think he has a real chance to come out on top in the AFC, man. I really do think there's an opportunity for it, especially if he keeps playing like that. Um, and that Buffalo defense, absolutely amazing. Like Buffalo's defense really did play a very good game of football, even though they gave up some plays and Jacksonville did get theirs, but in the big moments they were able to force some mistakes and like they did what they had to do in that game. I have to give Buffalo a lot of credit because they don't have a bunch of like big name guys on that defense whatsoever. And they more than held their own and they made a lot of good plays in that game. Next game, San Fran Philadelphia. San Fran won the game 23-19. This game was like it was kind of gross. In that first, so in the first half, right, Philadelphia came out hot. Okay. I think the first three drives they had in this game, they had they scored all 13 points in the score 13 points in their first three drives. And they had I think they had like a hundred and like 150 yards in those first three drives. The Eagles were running the football well. It looks like they were hitting some passes to AJ Brown and they were doing what they had to do. Saquon Barkley had a couple big runs in that stretch, and it it looked like the Eagles were just like, because coming into this game, the thought was like, hey, the Niners are too hurt, their defense is battered. Even though, do I do I think the Eagles offense is fixed? No. But can they just just do enough with that defense, with the Philadelphia defense being as good as it is? Can the offense just make enough plays to kind of go ahead and take advantage of that San Fran defense? And it felt like in the first half that that was going to be the case. It really did. It felt like they were going to be able to roll, but it's just after those first three drives, they just couldn't do anything for the rest of the game. Jalen Hurts overall in this game, 20 of 35 for 168 yards, one touchdown, zero picks. It's just they just couldn't push the football down the field enough, and they couldn't like their offense stalled so hard after those first couple drives they had and they scored those 13 points. They just stalled, man. They couldn't get the job done. Again, they got a couple they had a couple field goals they probably could have hit that would have changed the game a little bit. I think there was a missed extra point in that first touchdown that that Philadelphia got. And then let me make sure I'm not crazy. Yeah, so they had a mix extra point in the first touchdown that Phil that Philly got, and then they had a couple missed uh missed field goals, too, that definitely didn't help. But it's just more of the same for Philadelphia, man. It's just their their offense totally sputtered out. They weren't able to get the job done. Saquon Barkley ran the, they even got some decent running game going in this game. Like Saquon, 26 carries, 100 yards. He averaged 4.1 yards a carry. Tank Bigsby had 19 yards off four carries. Jalen Hurts had a had 14 yards rushing. They ran the they had 140 total rushing yards in this game in a touchdown. Like they were able to get the running game going, but it's just in the passing game, we just weren't able to get enough going. Devontae Smith, eight catches, 70 yards. Dallas Goddard, four catches, 33 yards, and a touchdown. I think Dallas Goddard also had a touchdown run as well. Um, Saquon had three 25 yards receiving. AJ Brown, three catches, 25 yards, man. And he had a few drops in this game. He I think he had like two or like three, three, two or three drops, especially in big moments. Like if he would have got him, like the game definitely probably could have changed. And I'll get to I'll I'll talk about him real quick before I get to San Fran. It's when you have moments like these, it makes you realize why you don't want to talk shit when things are going like during the whole season when AJ wasn't getting the ball, and he was so open to talk about how bad the offense was and how he needs to get the ball more, and that the offense has so many issues that need to get fixed, and he was so open to talk about all of it and air out the dirty laundry and be a little bit messy throughout the year. Intuit in and I I kind of agreed with him to a certain extent. Some setting you're like, hey, you're like you're almost gaslighting him for so much, like talking about how there is no issue and we keep winning, it doesn't matter. But I I kind of got on the side a little bit because I'm sitting there like you can't tell a guy that there's no issue and you're not gonna address it, but then it everybody knows it, right? So it almost felt like AJ Brown was more of a truth teller throughout the year, but this is the problem why you don't want to air out your dirty laundry in front of everybody because when things you're not getting the ball, and everybody agrees with this, everybody agrees he wasn't getting the ball enough, the offense wasn't good enough, and all these things were an issue, and then you come into this game at the biggest moment when you're nest when you're needed, and let's see here. AJ Brown got targeted seven times, he had three catches, and he had a few more than a couple drops. He had like two or three drops in this game, and on one of them, it was again, it was a very hard catch for him to make, but you gotta lay out he was like a big deep, it was a deep ball, it wasn't necessarily a perfectly thrown, but he could have laid out for the football, man. He could have. Again, I get it was windy, maybe there's things that happened, but it's just like when you have a day like this where you make a mistake, when you make, when you have a bad day, you're not gonna get any sort of um credit when you've been the one crying wolf all year long. He's been the one talking so much stuff and like airing out dirty laundry all year long, and then when you get your moment and you have to show up and you have to be that dude, you have a bad day. So now you're not gonna get any sort of um what's the word I'm looking for? You're not gonna get not credit. Nobody's gonna feel sorry for you. Nobody's gonna feel sorry for you. And the next thing you know, he has a bad day and then comes out after the game when Pete when press comes in. Guess who ain't there? AJ Brown's not there to sit there and stand on it, stand ten toes down and talk about how he didn't show he did not do enough to win that game. He is the one that ran for the media. But guess what? The dude's been talking to the media all year long when he wasn't getting the football and he was able to blame everybody else. But now that it was time for him to stand at the podium and like go and get and take responsibility for him not playing his best when it was needed, he was nowhere to be found. That's the reason why when you like when things are going bad, and you like he like that's why you don't do what he was doing throughout the year, because now when it's your turn to get the spotlight on you and you didn't do what you needed to do, like that is that's when it becomes an issue. And I feel like AJ Brown had that happen to him, and when it came down to it, he wasn't ready to sit there ten toes down and take take the scrutiny. But he was more than happy to throw the rock when it was somebody else's house getting getting taken down. But now that it was his, he ran off. I don't know, man. Like it wasn't a good day for him, man. It wasn't a good day at all. And heck, Devontae Smith, he did what he had to do, eight catches, 70 yards. Like, even if Devontae Smith had a great, like, had a bad day. I think Smith did all he could do in that game for what for what it was. But even if he had a bad day, people are gonna give him a little bit of um of reprieve, or they're gonna like feel better for him because it's like, hey, we we understand people make mistakes, but you haven't been the one talking crazy all year long about the offense and doing it in public and almost making a stink about it, and like making it such like a it almost felt like AJ Brown was making it a toxic locker room by him talking about the offense the way that he was, and Devontae Smith wasn't doing nearly as much as that. I don't know, man. I don't I don't know. It's just the Eagles, they again it's more of the same. It wasn't like I really thought the Eagles, I thought their defense was awesome, their defense was championship worthy, but that offense was nowhere near that. And heck, against playoff teams all year long, they they've only scored 20 points one time with all against all the playoff teams that they had faced throughout the year. So like their offense has been an issue all year long, and it was just more of the same in this game. But again, it was just like they fired their offense coordinator today, so they're gonna try to find a goat a new OC. And it didn't help that after one of the plays where AJ Brown dropped it, it was like a whole there was like a whole sideline exchange between um why am I forgetting their head coach's name now? Um let me see here. Hold on. Why am I forgetting the guy's name? Why am I forgetting his name? This isn't good. Um why? Why am I doing this? I I I think I'm thinking of a It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. I don't know why I'm forgetting his name right now. Um make sure I get his name. Nick Siriani. Nick Sirianni and AJ Brown had a whole like sideline exchange where they're yelling at each other and it did not look pretty. So that also doesn't help at all either when things aren't going well and all that, but they're firing the OC. Hopefully they can get a new guy there. I think do you know what I also have to say? I think Jalen, I think some of this falls on Jalen too. And again, he's gonna have a lot more credit amongst the fans and amongst the organization than anything Nick Seriani is gonna do. And AJ Brown definitely, because AJ Brown's made saying things so messy throughout the these last couple years, talk about the offense and all. But I do think Jalen Hurts does have to take a little bit of responsibility for the fact that like this, you know, he has not progressed enough in this in the offense, like the offense has not progressed, he has not progressed, and it felt like a lot of the same things. He's a streaky thrower, man. Maybe that's never gonna change, but like that is something that he has to own as well. Like that that's on him, and the offense isn't great. There's some people talking about how like he's the one holding back the offense to a certain degree, and because he's not reading the defense right and he's not doing what he has to do and not progressing the way he needs to, but like he has to own that as well. That is this is partially on Jalen Hurts, too. He is not without blame in this whole scenario because guess what? He's the quarterback, he's getting paid a lot of money to go out there and do what he has to do, so he has to take on that responsibility as well. So that's all I got on the Eagles. Let's go to the San Fran side of this thing because they did win the football game. Um, San Fran scored the 23 points. Brock Purdy, 18 of 31, 262 yards, two touchdowns, two picks. Didn't play the best, but guess what? When it was absolutely necessary, they had to go out there and win, and that especially in that fourth quarter where they scored those 13 points to come back and win it. They they Brock Purdy was awesome, and he did what he had to do, and um, he made a lot of good plays. Juwan Jennings also had a touchdown pass in this game. He hit he went one of one, had one throw for a touchdown, 29 yards to Christian McCaffrey. Um, definitely a big one. Christian McCaffrey was like the leading man for this San Fran team. He had 15 carries and 48 yards rushing, and then he also had six catches, 66 yards, and two touchdowns. He was awesome. Christian McCaffrey, if without him, he has been the one mainstay on this San Fran team all year long. And again, there's been so many injuries defensively that it's just kind of hard to rely on that defense at all because they've been missing so many guys, Nick Bosa, and um, like just so many different guys defensively. But offensively, man, Brock Purdy was gone for part of the year. But guess what? Who's been the mainstay? It's been Chris McCaffrey. George Kittle to a certain degree, too. But in this game, they lost him and he wasn't able to play. I think he got hurt in the first half. Um, toward his Achilles, unfortunately. It hurts, it sucks, not hurts, but it sucks to see that play that happened because you you watch it and you can literally see his Achilles rupture, like it's obvious rubber band snap in the back of the back of the calf. But um, it was very, very bad injury to see. Um, it sucks that George Kittle had to leave this game. There's gonna be gone for probably most of next year. That part definitely sucks. So now losing him that makes it even more of a thing. Like Chris McCaffrey is the only dude, like the only mainstay for that offense, and he did what he had to do. Um, he was awesome. Demarcus Robinson was leading receiver for them for the Niners in this game. Six catches, 111 yards, and a touchdown. Um, and I think most of that came in like the first first quarter, and he was just sitting there making some big plays, definitely big. He had a 61-yard um reception as well. Like DeMarcus Robinson, a third, fourth, fifth string guy on that on that offense, came out and played some very good football when he had to. Um Kyle Uczek's four catches, 49 yards. He made a big um impact in this game. Juwan Jennings had the one catch and 45 yards, but again, he also had a touchdown throw, so you could probably give him a pass on him not having a bunch of catches. So, like San Fran, they survived the outburst that the not outburst, but the output that the Eagles had in that first half where they were looking like they were being a little bit better. But then the second half, man, it's just like they survived and they kept it, they just kept going at it, and that Eagles defense was good in this game. It like that San Fran team did not sit there and score a bunch of points because the Eagles defense wasn't good. It was just because they were able to survive the onslaught and they finally found something that worked, and they used a trick play, and they kind of got they made enough plays at the very end to win it, but that Eagles defense made it very difficult. But it was San Fran just kept pushing, and then they finally got the job done in that fourth quarter, four fourth quarter when they scored those 13 points. So all the credit to San Fran. Again, I'm not sure how this translates into next week because now they're gonna be without George Kittle on top of it, and now they have to go play Seattle again in their house, now being without George Kittle as well. So I'm not sure if they can really get the job done next week against Seattle with how many injuries they've been dealing with and all of that. But man, you have to give San Fran a lot of credit. Uh, you have to give uh You have to give it Kyle Shanahan. You have to give Kyle Shanahan a lot of credit for being the head coach of this team that has so many different injuries and they just keep pushing, man. So you have to give Kyle Shanahan a lot of credit for getting this team through it, and they've had so many injuries and they went 12 and 5 throughout the regular season. And they had a chance to be the number one overall seed, but they lost to Seattle in that last game of the year. But it's just, I'm not sure what that what's going to be next week against a good Seattle team that's going to be rested and coming off by because they got that number one overall seed. So I'm not sure how that's going to work, but I think San Fran has more again, they're going to go out and play that game hard, and Chris McCaffrey's going to go do his thing, and Brock Purdy's going to go out there and play well. But it's just, I'm not sure how that's going to lead to a win because I think so many things are going against them with all the injuries and everything. But San Fran, man, you give I have to give them a lot of credit for surviving all the injuries they've been dealing with this year to get to this point. I have to give them a lot of credit, and they um definitely got a big win against this this Eagles team on Sunday. And then last the last game on Sunday, Sunday night game, this game was ugh, it was gross. Um it was LA Rams at New England. New England win the game wins the game 16 to 13. This game was a slog fest. This again, like I said, the two primetime games this past weekend and wildcard weekend was the Sunday night game and the Monday night game. The two games you thought was going to be the best ones did not turn out to be that way. Start with the um Patriots first. Drake May, 17-29, 268 yards, one touchdown, and one pick. Drake May was also leading rusher for them in this game. He had 66 yards off 10 carries. Um, he definitely had to be the lone guy, really making a lot of big plays for them in this game. Ramondre Stevenson had 53 yards off 10 carries. Travian, 9 carries, 27 yards. They ran the football relatively well. They ran for like 146 yards in this game. Ramondre Stevenson was leading receiver in this game. He had three catches, 75 yards. He did have the he'd have like the 148-yard reception. It was like a dump off pass when they were close to their their own end zone, and then they just dumped it off to Ramondre, and he took it to 45 yards down the field. Um, K Sean Boutte, four catches, 66 yards. Hunter Henry had three catches for 64 yards and a touchdown. Stephon Diggs really didn't do a lot in this game. He had two catches for 16 yards, but it they just didn't need it because guess what? The Chargers offense was so anemic. No, sorry, let me get before I get to the Chargers. Drake May did not have his best game. He got sacked five times, and he did not have his best game. Like it almost felt like the moment was a little bit bigger for him than everybody thought it would be because he had played so well throughout this year, and he came out, it didn't look great, but he didn't make too many mistakes, and he was able to keep the team on track enough to be able to win this game. Again, the Chargers were so anemic. They didn't need a lot from Drake May to win this game, but they got it. They got what they could, they got out of this game, they're at home, so like they did what they had to do, but it's just Drake May did not play his best. Hopefully, in the next one, he'll be able to play a lot better when they go face off against Houston. But again, that defense is even more trouble than what the Chargers defense is. So I'm not sure how he's gonna be able to play a ton better against a very good defense in Houston, but again, the uh the Patriots did what they were supposed to do. They took advantage of a bad team not playing good football, and they won the game. So you have to give him a lot of credit for that. But getting to the Charter side here, Justin Herbert was not good in this game whatsoever. 19 for 31 for 159 yards, zero touchdowns, zero picks. He did get sacked six times, but I will say that most of the sacks felt like they were coming in the second half. But in the first half, like they were there were plays to be made by this Chargers team. And it just felt like there were some plays that Justin Herbert, if he would just like stayed on his guy enough and kind of kept reading the field that it felt like he just kind of like he I know the offensive line has been awful this whole season. And I mean awful, I really do. But it almost felt like in this game he was overreacting because of how bad the offensive line was, and they were giving him a little bit of time at times, but the moment, but he was like he was so quick to get off of reading the reading the defense and like saying, Hey, I'm about to get sacked, that there were some passes that he missed, not only just throwing the football when it comes to just him getting off the reading, like getting off the open the guy that was coming open, he was just he went away from it too soon. And when you're a guy that's been playing in the NFL as long as Justin Herbert has, you would think that he'd be able to push forward a little bit through the adversity and play a little bit better in this situation, and it's just that just wasn't what happened in this game. And again, if it wasn't for him and doing what he did, especially him running the football, because they couldn't run the football either, but him kind of like having the 10 carries that he had for 57 yards, they would wouldn't have even gotten the three points that they got. Like their offense was absolutely anemic. But I do think Justin Herbert has to hold a big a good portion of the blame on that because I think at some point we have to expect him to be able to push through the adversity a little bit more and be able to get through these tough moments because he's been playing in the NFL as long as he has. He is not a rookie anymore. He has been in the NFL for six, like five, six, seven years now. And in these big moments, like he's now 0-3 in the playoffs, like in in embarrassing fashion for two of those games. And I'm just like, again, the offense line will get better. I feel like they'll get to a certain spot. But I'm like, at so at some point, for a guy that we know is as talented as he is, like, we have to start seeing some results on the field in the big moments when it matters, and that hasn't happened, and it that is something he has to hold on a little bit of uh a little bit of blame for. But the defense for for the Chargers did what they had to do. Let me get to some of the other players that maybe did something. Lad McConkey, three catches, 32 yards. Uh Gadston, the tight end, three catches, 30 yards, Keenan Allen, three catches, 25 yards. Uh Vidal, the other running back, because Marion Hampton did not play because they said he was healthy, but then he didn't play at all. You think he played like a couple snaps in the first quarter and then didn't play at all for the rest of the game. So obviously he wasn't healthy. Vidal, two catches, 20 yards. Trey Harris had a couple catches for 20 yards, Quentin Johnson had 20 yards off three catches. So like they just weren't able to get anything going in this game at all. Offensively. And like again, the offensive line is part of it, but I think Justin Herbert has to hold on, take some responsibility for that as well. Because I just feel like you have to. He's been playing too long, man. And I get it. I don't know. I I I wanna I don't want to sit here and like blame him only for the issues because the issues were definitely there offensive line-wise, but there were chances for plays to be made if he would have sat in there and like toughed it out and got there, got to them, but it's just it didn't work out in this game. Um, and then by the time the second half happened, it was like pretty much over, and then he was just getting up, like literally destroyed every single play because the Patriots were like, hey, they're just not getting any separation on us when it comes to their wide receivers, so we're just gonna keep sending pressure and make and make him have to like you know make the hard play. And they couldn't do so, and they got after him more often than not. So credit to the Patriots defense for getting onto the idea that the Chargers weren't gonna do anything, and they just kept pushing the issue and just making Herbert have to be a superstar in order for them to do anything, and it just didn't happen in this game. Um, but the Chargers defense did what they had to do, they made life hard on the Patriots and Drake May, and they got after him, they got five sacks in this game. So the the Chargers defense did what they in their secondary did make it hard on the Patriots to really do anything, throw them the football. And but it was just, again, when your offense is only doing is doing nothing for the whole game, at some point things are gonna start breaking open a little bit, and that's kind of what started happening at the end of the game. It was just the Chargers defense just couldn't do anything, man. It's just su it Chargers defense did all they could, but it just wasn't enough because of how bad the Chargers offense was. But that game was totally awful to watch. It was again, it was that game and the Steelers game were the two worst games you could possibly view as a human. But again, I had a little bit more invested in the Steelers game, so maybe I think maybe just me black and yellow colored glasses that thought that the game was a tad bit better because I was more invested in it, but those two games, absolutely awful. It sucked that those two were the were the uh two um primetime games, but you know, it is what it is. Can't always uh tell the future that way, obviously. Hindsight being 2020. But that's all the games. I really have nothing else to talk about when it comes to those. You have the games coming up, the divisional round coming on next um this upcoming weekend. So we're gonna we are gonna get going. Sorry, we're gonna get more in depth about those games and make our picks when we do the Friday podcast. So we'll definitely wait for that one when we'll get into those games and make our picks and do all that. But that's about it on the games. Did all I talked about all of them. I talked about Mike Tomlin. Do I have any stories I wanted to talk about before we get out of here? Let's see. No, no, no, the Ravens owner eyeing a new deal for Lamar by March. They're saying they're trying to get a new deal for Lamar because apparently his cap number hits like 75 million based off of like the dead cap money and all that. So they are going to want to redo the deal so they can get the dead cap money down so they can try to keep rebuilding that team around him because they need a lot of help on defense if they want to get back to doing what they're doing next year and get to the playoffs and all that. I don't know, man. I feel like again, they have to get that deal done because they have now picked between him and Harbaugh. They picked for Harbaugh to get out of there. So they they literally have to attach themselves to Lamar without any they have to. Like if he doesn't they if whatever happens and they don't get him to stick around, then they should have stuck with Harbaugh at that point because now they don't have a coach or a quarterback. So they s they pin their tails to the quarterback in his prime that's won a couple MVPs, which I totally understand, but now you have to make sure you get that deal done to make sure it all works out. So but other than that, I don't really have any of the stories to talk about here. That's about all I got. So we've been going on for about close to two hours now, hour and fifty minutes. So a little bit longer than I thought. That was gonna be more like an hour and a half, but I think I went a little on a little too many tangents about some of the things I wanted to talk about, but you know, but it is what it is. I always say that I I try to be a little bit more um succinct and um not as long when it comes to these podcasts, but you know, I try, but I never guarantee anything, so it is what it is on that. So that's about it, man. So let's go ahead and the podcast here. I don't want to extend this any longer. 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 uh join us on this ride to talk about sports in the dumbest way possible. If this is the first podcast you've listened to, hopefully you can go ahead and listen to a different podcast with both me and Jace on to get it, kind of get a different idea of what we are at our best when you have both of us being the co-hosts, being brothers, being sports fans, talking shit and making jokes and all of that. So hopefully, if this is the first podcast you've listened to, hopefully you go listen to a different one to get a better idea of what we are at our best. If you've been listening for a while and you kind of sit here and you've listened to me talk for this whole podcast for close to two hours now, I definitely appreciate that. But um, that's so that's it there. If you've been listening for a while and you like if you appreciate what we're doing, we would appreciate if you could do a couple things for us. If you could like our podcast, subscribe to the podcast, rate the podcast five stars wherever you listen to us. We're pretty much available on all on all audio platforms out there. Um make sure you do that, and also make sure you share us, friends, family, enemies, anybody you feel like can enjoy the podcast we put out on a weekly basis, um, with it being two times per a week during football season. We would love if you can do that. And then last but not least, if you can 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 then at Jace Boozer1 is Jace's handle, and that's about it. So without further ado, thank you guys for listening. Thank you guys for always listening. Have a great day, have a great night. Goodbye, y'all, and we will see you guys in a couple days.