Two For The Win - S2.55 - When December Decides Legacies: Deals, Brackets & Clutch Drives!

December served the sports feast we were hoping for: savvy MLB gambles, a marquee NBA Christmas slate, college football separating pretenders from contenders, and an NFL playoff race that flipped on a single overtime snap. We start with baseball’s winter calculus—why Kansas City’s bullpen bet matters, how San Diego kept Michael King despite ownership uncertainty, the White Sox adding Munetaka Murakami for instant power, and Pittsburgh stacking sensible lefty bats with Brandon Lowe and Ryan O’Hearn. Quiet moves with loud October implications.

Then we turn to holiday hoops. From Knicks-Cavs to Spurs-Thunder and Rockets-Lakers, the daylong showcase is more than tradition; it’s a pressure test. We talk Wemby’s geometry vs OKC’s balance, whether Houston’s young core is ready for prime time, and how Dallas-Golden State becomes a shot-making referendum when pace spikes.

College football sharpened into real stakes. Oregon looks poised in the Orange Bowl, Indiana’s path runs through structure and discipline, and Georgia’s depth makes the Sugar Bowl a truth serum for Ole Miss without Lane Kiffin. We also unpack NIL’s ripple effect on quarterback decisions and the draft board—why staying can be the smarter, richer play when timing isn’t perfect.

The NFL? Chaos with a plan. Seattle’s overtime thriller against the Rams re-seeded the NFC and reminded everyone how thin December margins are. Chicago’s identity is hardening at the right time, Carolina’s passing game grew up, Buffalo and Houston survived with defense, and Jacksonville sent a message in Denver with a complete, composed win. We close on San Francisco’s fireworks—Brock Purdy’s five-touchdown night and what that says about timing, motion, and a roster built to punish mistakes—plus the Colts’ Philip Rivers cameo that showcased how pre-snap IQ still travels.

If you’re into smart team-building, playoff pivots, and matchups that define January, this one’s for you. Tap follow, share with a friend who lives for the holiday slate, and drop your boldest bowl or playoff pick in the reviews—we’ll feature our favorites next week.

Transcript

Holiday Welcome And Sponsors

SPEAKER_00 0:12

December 24th, 2025. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year's, everybody. Hope you're all having a wonderful holiday season. I know we are. Thank you for joining us once again. I'm Brian with an I, and I'm Mike, and we are two for the win. Mike, what do we have on tonight's Christmas wish list?

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Hey, well, we may be in the holiday season, but we're getting plenty of sports action for our holidays. And, you know, we're gonna sit here and talk about a little bit of college, football, playoff action. Gonna check in with the NFL. And believe it or not, baseball still has some things going on as well.

MLB Offseason Moves Heat Up

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Baseball always seems to be busy, man, in their offseason. One of the busier sports throughout the year. And you know, I'm sorely gonna miss football when it's gone. I was missing it before I got here. It just seems like it flew right on by. But let's get ready for playoff time. Real quickly, I want to thank our sponsors and partners. Uh Body Body D gym, one in Yorktown, one in Gloucester. Uh Deshaun Wright's very good guy, building a very good business up there, as well as a community gym. Uh, he's a former bodybuilding champion and training future bodybuilding champions in their own right. A lot of great things coming out of that gym up there. Uh, good job, guys. Our friends Caden and Christian over at Solace Outfitters. Uh, two young guys, young high schoolers, actually, uh, not only building their skills in basketball and I believe upcoming talents, uh, but also so young already owning a business and working together. So very good job to you guys as well. And the Giving Tree chiropractic down here in Virginia Beach, Justin's very good at what he does, very knowledgeable, uh, and he makes his price set pricing accessible to everybody to come utilize his service. So, bravo guys, thank you for being our sponsors and partners and friends. We look forward to doing business with you uh more in the future. Now, Mike, let's dive headfirst into some baseball action.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Yes, you said it, man. Now, we say baseball action, but there's not really any actual baseball happening. It's more so this is the time when all the GMs are earning their money. This is when the deals happen and teams start shaking up.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

The deals.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Yeah, I mean this the backdoor deals. For for Abbott fans, this is the time. This is where you're watching everything, going, please let my team do something. Let my team make a move. The time is now. So let's let's run down some of these moves that have recently come back. So sorry. Right. So the Royals uh recently acquired all-star lefty uh from the Phillies in Stram. One of their one of their more uh recognizable relievers for his uh really long hair, kind of looking looking a little like Jesus. Jesus. But he's a he's a he's a darn good reliever, and Royals got a really good deal in getting him. So kudos to them. Kudos to them.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

The Royals clearly trying to make a deeper playoff run.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

Well, this is this is the time when some of these teams they they reach for what they can get that might give them an edge. The stuff let's let's build something where you know it might not be the number one free agent, it might not be the number one guy at that position, but let me get the maybe the guy that's a step down, you know, or a couple steps down, but he fits our team.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Yeah, look at some good value skilled players, right? Some people that can just shore up your weak sides.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

But speaking of, you know, one of the top tiers, uh, we had one of the premier starting pitchers come off the board. You know, we went into this with and they kind of name you know who's the top five, who's the best guys out there in free agency. Well, recently we just had a guy sign and King, he is off the board. He has signed, and most people were thinking, oh, he's gonna go back to the Yankees. Nope. Nope. Sorry, sorry, Yankee fans. He stayed with the Padres. Yeah. They short short up a three-year deal with King to keep him with the Padres.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

And as he should, the Padres had a pretty strong season. Uh so obviously he wants to stay somewhere competitive and somewhere he's happy as well.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

So well, it's it's kind of odd that he did decide to stay there because you know they're having a little bit of an ownership uh situation there where they're looking to sell the team, and so you know, things get kind of you know, kind of shaken up, and people are like, what are we gonna do? Where's the pot of money? What is this new owner gonna be like? What do we do with our team because we have money tied up in this guy? Maybe the owner doesn't like that guy. So there's usually free agents get a little scared at that time, but for whatever reason, King signed back. He must like playing with the team and like his teammates.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

And he may be assured that uh not only a prominent role on the team, but probably also that whatever incoming ownership is probably gonna take to him.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Yeah, be okay with him having a big deal. To be honest with you, yeah, probably a good call on their part. So kind of a low-key kind of deal. If you're if you weren't paying attention, you might not have noticed. Uh one of the Japanese sluggers that has been kind of eyed by a few teams, and you know, we were we were getting down to nitty-gritty because a lot of these teams that have put up, or not teams, but the foreign players, they had till like January 2nd was kind of like a fall-off date if you posted to be able to assign to a team. Right. You know, a lot of these players were wondering you know, am I gonna get a team? Am I gonna get an offer? And one of the players has recently got his deal, and I'm gonna go ahead and have Brian do the name game.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

It's time for one of our favorite segments. Can Brian Say the Name? And I'm gonna say Munataka Murakami. Murakami.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

A Japanese slugging first baseman has signed, and this is the surprise.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

Murakami. Sounds like origami.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

I'm probably wrong, but I like my version better. Possibly. But he has signed with of all teams the White Sox on a two-year deal worth$34 million. So I think they gave him uh 34 million reasons to come be with them because they have not been playing great baseball, but they just got themselves a pretty good slugger there.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

I got 34 million problems, but a baseball career ain't one.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

I don't think that's a problem. That's actually a dream for a lot of people. But anyway, moving on, uh, the Mets. We have been seeing here where the Mets have kind of been, I don't want to say jettison or abandoning or kicking to the curb, but it seems like a lot of the players that have been like their marquee guys, they've just been moving on. Like, you know, P. Alonso signed with the Orioles. They traded away uh one of their outfielders to the Rangers, and just recently they traded their uh one of their fan favorites and McNeil to the A's.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

So now McNeil I mean the mass exodus of the Mets begins. I mean, I think they expected to have a slightly better season than they did this past season. Oh, quite certainly. But now clearly they're trying to go in a new direction on some fronts. So, I mean, best of luck to these players.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Well, McNeil, he was typically in the outfield or playing second base. So he was a versatile player and a good bat. I mean, he he always seemed to, when he played Atlanta, he always seemed to come through with the timely hit, which was super annoying, but whatever.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

Well, we'll see what happens. I mean, baseball is a very volatile sport, it's not quite like football or some of the other sports. Like you could turn a baseball team around overnight. So I just misspoke.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

I said Oakland. I said Oakland, and athletics are not with Oakland anymore. They're gonna be in Vegas here in a little bit, but everybody moving out of Oakland and going to Vegas.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

Can you believe the Raiders have been in Vegas now for uh what five years? Oh wow, I can't time flies, bro.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

Yeah, it's crazy. But uh another team making some low-key moves, but pretty cool moves, if you ask me. Uh the pirates. The pirates of all teams. The pirates! Now remember, they took a crack at Schwarber.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Change the name! It's a sin on society. Sorry, I'm just still on my Redskins thing.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

Okay, whatever that was. Moving on. Uh back to the Pirates. I like the Pirates, by the way, for the record. Going back to the Pirates, the Pirates, uh they made two key moves. One, they traded for Brandon Lowell, who was with the Tampa Bay Rays, but now he's gonna be a pirate. And one of the cool things is he's all for it. He's like, I'm excited to join this team. And one of the things driving him, because of his batting stance and the way he he mashes the ball, he's like, I can't wait to hit one of the balls into the river, you know, right out the stadium into the river. So he's like, come on, bring it on. I wanna go.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

He'll be gunning for that. That's good news for pirates fans. He can all be swinging for that river every swingle, every swingle swing. Swingle? Every single swing. Sorry, words are hard. Words are hard. I'm impressed we can hold it together for barely two hours.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Anyway, but he's already talked about how he he likes the the pitching staff and he likes the teammates he's gonna have. He's already been talking with Reynolds, so you know, good pickup there, but they weren't done. They went ahead and picked up a lefty bat in O'Hearns, who former Oriol, uh, is a pretty good bat, and he's gonna be playing with the pirates now. I'll tell you what. So they're not they're not looking at, you know, we're not in this. They're looking at we're building on this, and they're kind of giving skeins a reason to stick around now. When you start building your team and start producing, you know, you know you want to stick around.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Lefty bats are interesting. I'll say that right now. I don't know what it is about lefty bats.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

You gotta pitch them differently. What you well, depending on how if you're a lefty yourself or a righty, but truth, truth. It always seems like the lefties have the better swing. Like righty swings look like garbage. I mean, like, if if if you ever said who has like one of the best swings, it always seems like they name a lefty. Like people will be like Ken Griffey Jr.

SPEAKER_00 10:45

Here's the swing. Here's my theory is the placement of the hands. Because even if you're a lefty, you're still somewhat dominant in your right hand to an extent, right? Functionality-wise. So when you're playing normal, your dominant hand is close to the center of the bat, so it's pushing. What do you mean by normal? Righty. Anyway, so when you're righty bat, your right hand obviously is closer to the middle of the bat, so it's pushing that bat, versus when you're lefty, it's at the bottom of the bat, it's pulling. So now you have more leverage from a functionally dominant hand. And I think that that plays into the physics of it a little bit. But you know, I could put it's just a sweet swing. This is we're gonna start a new segment. It's called Brian's Physics Insights, and I'm not a science guy or a physics person at all, so this should be really interesting. Huh? You mean physics? Physics. See, I can't even say the word. So the fact that we're gonna have a physics segment for somebody who is not a physician. I'm not a very smart man, Jenny. I'm not a I'm not a physician, which I think is a doctor, but we'll call it for physics as well. All I can picture is forest gump.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

I'm not a very smart man, Jenny.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

But I but I can explain anything.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Anyway. Moving along, talk about the Marlins who picked up themselves a closer in Pete Fairbanks. So Pete Fairbanks, who was with Tampa, is gonna stay in Florida, just gonna move a little bit further down.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

No relation to Fair Bear.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

Hey, I mean, poor Tampa, they're just losing players left and right. Uh, but speaking of another deal, that was kind of a to me when I read it, I was like, really? They're doing that? So the Red Sox acquired Wilson Contreras of all players from the Cardinals. I didn't think this was going to be a player the Cardinals would let go away. He's a veteran hitter, and he's been pretty solid for them the entire time he's been there. But they're letting him leave, and he's gonna be a Red Sox now.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

Maybe they have their eye on another prospect. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

I don't know. I look, this is where I say, you know, the GMs are making their money. They make their money this time of year. When they start doing all these crazy moves and you see players switching teams and moving around, this is where you build a championship team.

SPEAKER_00 13:07

Yeah, and I mean the Red Sox, you know, sorry to make another NFL reference, but they see the Patriots come on rather quick, you know. They gotta they gotta get up the ladder too. The area, you know, of sports up there in Massachusetts is, you know, yeah, they're trying to return back to dominance. So excuse my language. We don't have a lot on the NBA tonight, but we will talk a little bit about their holiday schedule. Uh a few games coming up here, uh a handful of them between Thursday and Friday.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

Well, we're gonna focus more on Christmas Day and we can let you know what's going on with the matchups because we're loaded with NBA games on Christmas Day.

NBA Christmas Day Slate

SPEAKER_00 13:47

Yeah, about every two hours starting at 12 o'clock, we have uh Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks. 2.30, we have the Spurs versus the Thunder. Five o'clock, we have the Mavericks versus Golden State Warriors, 8 o'clock, the Rockets and the Lakers. I bet that's gonna be a good match. And then 10:30 at night, Christmas Day, we have our final matchup, Timberwolves versus the Nuggets. I believe that'll be another good matchup as well. Mike, what are you looking at? What's your favorite Christmas Day NBA matchup here?

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Well, for me, I want to see that Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder game because I really like watching Wimby play, and I like watching the Thunder play. And let's not forget, in the bracket, Spurs upset the Oklahoma City Thunder. Maybe this is a little bit of get back on a on a big stage because you got embarrassed and didn't win, didn't win the championship cup this year. Yeah. So maybe, maybe it's a little revenge for Oklahoma.

SPEAKER_00 14:49

Yeah, and you know, the Thunder being the defending champs, taking on the Spurs strong team. Uh, my favorite, you know, I really like the Rockets and the Lakers matchup. They're right there in one of the most primetime slots you can get, especially for a Christmas Day matchup. KD leading the Rockets, the Lakers, you know, they got their star player uh set up, you know, their star starters. I think this could be a good matchup. This will be a good litmus test here for the Rockets. And I think this will be a good game to prove that they may go farther in the playoffs than they did last year. I really, really like the Rockets this year, what they're doing. Yeah, I I can't I can't fault you there. I can't fault you there at all. Not at all. So that's what we got for some NBA matchups. Uh moving into a little bit of college football here. I know we're moving a little bit quick today, tonight, whatever time you're listening to us. Uh, but it's Christmas, and we thought we'd keep it relatively tame tonight. You know, the shenanigans to an all-time high and the actual information to an all-time low.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

Um I I think that they would uh anybody that's listened to us for a while would probably think that's what it is majority of the time.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

Yeah, we'll we'll talk about these bowl games here in a minute, but we'll have something that may tie a little bit to the to the NFL draft here. Uh Nico Lama Levea, which I think is how you say it, uh, is staying in college uh for another year. He says he'd like to bring a natty, in his own words, uh to UCLA. I think he's maybe avoiding. Do you think he's avoiding a potential team in the NFL? I mean, he saw what happened with the Shadur Sanders fiasco and the I I I don't I don't think it has anything to do with that.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

I think it has to do with he's right now, he's gonna make more money staying in college than he would going into the NFL. Because an IL dealers are keeping players in college a lot more, but also too, if he did come out, he would be he would fall back. You know, he'd be like Jalen Hurts when he was drafted in the second round. That's probably what you would see from him. He would probably fall to a later round pick. So I don't know that he would necessarily be like a guy you're gonna see drafted in top ten unless he just had you know one heck of a showing in the combine.

College QBs, NIL, And Draft Choices

SPEAKER_00 17:05

Well, yeah, I mean players like Mendoza, I think Mendoza will probably be the number one. Oh, yeah, Mendoza's gonna come out. I know. I know Nico was projected as a top maybe first, second round pick, but yeah, I think you're right. I think he wants to wait till the competition thins out a little bit, see what next year's competition looks like. Um, and maybe I think, and this always goes into my opinion of prospects coming out of college. I know they're looking at what NFL teams are gonna be in the top five, and maybe he's just like, nah, I don't know. But I know he's not gonna maybe be a top five player, but he was projected as a high pick.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

Well, and we've seen this time and time again. You know, quarterback needy teams always seem to reach, you know. Like we always get this situation where teams will overvalue quarterbacks instead of saying, Do we this is this the guy, though? Is this who we need?

SPEAKER_00 17:59

Is this the guy?

SPEAKER_01 18:01

A great example of that it would be like when uh the Broncos drafted Bo Knicks. They didn't draft Bo Knicks where they did because he was as highly rated as they were as when they picked him. They drafted him because that was the guy they wanted for their team. So it it it really came down to he fits our team versus he's just the quarterback on the board. You know?

SPEAKER_00 18:29

Yeah. So and I know the draft order is still kind of out right now. We don't really have it set.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

I was looking for the we will probably won't hear much about that until after the Super Bowl. Yeah, based on more commitment from teams on what they're where they're gonna be and what they're looking for.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

We can kind of guess who's gonna be in the top five here. Um just looking at the bottom six, seven teams here. We can kind of guess who's gonna be in there. Not really a bad slate of teams. I mean, he'll get to that momentarily. Let's keep with the college, let's keep with college football for now. We'll get to that momentarily. But I thought that was an interesting piece of news, and honestly, good for him. Stay in college, finish your degree if it's not finished, or go get some more education while you play. And clearly NIL is a huge motivational factor for these college kids. It takes pressure off of okay, I gotta make the NFL so I can make that payday. You're getting the payday in college, so now if you want to go to the NFL, I'm hoping it will be more on love for the game rather than pay.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

He's also playing at UCLA. So it's not like he's you know playing in some little rinky dink town. He's playing in a pretty pretty uh all right place to be.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

Well, he's the guy. He's the top of the food chain where he's at. And like you say, he goes to the NFL now, he resets that, he becomes the bottom of the food chain.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

Yeah, well, every rookie is the bottom of the food chain. Yeah, and his pay let's not forget love having fun with their rookies.

SPEAKER_00 19:55

And I don't know his NIL numbers, but I'm sure his rookie contract will be I'm sure he He's fine. Will be a little less. But I I agree, honestly. So here, let's talk a little bit about college playoffs. Okay, we'll talk about last week's matchup. Uh, starting out uh JMU versus Oregon. Oregon handedly, in your own words, sir, handedly win over James Madison 51-34. I I was really not surprised by that, given that I don't think JMU should have even been in the bracket.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

But well, and and that's kind of that's kind of funny because like there was a lot of people kind of throwing shade, including uh Nick Saban, who were saying that like JMU and uh Tulane don't even belong in the college playoffs. But it's like, well, wait a second, you're getting mad at these teams because they did what they had to do. They didn't choose themselves to be in there, they just won their their respective divisions, yeah. And the college football rankings, the the people who the committee making up the playoffs, they chose them.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

Yeah, you know, and you're you're totally right. And I'm not throwing shade at all. And I I think it's a great thing for those schools to make the playoffs like they did. I just I wouldn't have picked them personally to make the bracket. I think they were a bar slightly lower than a handful of other teams that were a little more deserving.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

Well, getting the spotlight as one of these teams that isn't historically seen in some of these big time situations, it always leads to this school making more money, getting more people at school. And so it it has benefit just even making it. You see it, you see it a lot of times with the March Madness where a team gets in and you're like, wait a second, I never even heard of this school.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

Yeah, but and I I agree, it was good for the school, and you know, it throws a little wild card in there, right? You know, what if JMU went all the way to the college football championship on a whim?

CFP Results And New Year’s Six Previews

SPEAKER_01 21:55

And let's face it, we love that in March Madness, but but football's a different animal. Like it is you can get hot in basketball as a as a you know darling or a Cinderella team, and that just doesn't happen when you're talking about football. Because football, you know, it's far and away, you know, the talent you have is structured so much more with these bigger schools that it it they get they crush these little teams. Yeah, it's it's not because these little teams and I I say little, it's not that they're smaller in stature or anything like that. They're just they don't have the programs that some of these bigger schools do. So they don't have the you know five-star recruits, they don't have I mean they might have some five stars, but they don't have the infrastructure that these other teams do. They don't have the backing that these other teams do. I mean, you go into JM James Madison's facilities and then go into Oregon's facilities. It's gonna be a big difference between those teams.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

I will say, and I saw videos of JMU's locker room overhaul last year or the year before I forgot when they did it. It did turn out very nice.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

They do have being in these brackets, you get a little bigger slice of money.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

I don't think that they have lesser facilities, especially a school like JMU. I I think they have a very nice facility comparable even to Oregon.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

But you know as well as I do, it doesn't it's not the same. It's not the same. You're talking about the level of training, Oregon, Alabama, the level of Ohio State have facilities like an NFL team, whereas JMU does not.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

No, and and they are nice facilities and they do have a nice locker room. I don't know what Oregon's locker room looks like or how technology, but I know JMU's locker room rivaled an NFL locker room, the pictures and videos I saw. And I think the quality comes down to coaching and quality of skilled players they have. Because it is, like you say, a smaller school. Um moving on down here to the next matchup. Texas got a bye. Alabama, Oklahoma. Alabama, this was honestly a good matchup. Alabama 34, beating Oklahoma, Oklahoma. They're the Oklahoma. They're the Oklahomans. Oklahoma 34-24.

SPEAKER_01 24:13

Alabama moves on. This was a closer, closer matchup. You have you know the number eight team against the number nine team. And really, this game could have gone either way, you know, just from a standpoint that both of these programs have been really good all year. They make the bracket, and honestly, I if you told me that Oklahoma won this, I wouldn't have been surprised. The fact that Alabama got out of there, though, despite some limitations in their run game, they they did what they had to do and they made it, they made it on.

SPEAKER_00 24:49

They were pretty much neck and neck, but you know, oh Oklahoma, where the sun I had to do it one more time because I won't be able to do it for a whole nother eight or nine months. Maybe ten months. We'll see how contention. But then being ranked eight and nine, very close matchup. Congratulations to Alabama getting the win.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

And once we get once we get through these wins, we're gonna tell you who they're facing next. But coming up on the next game, we have Tulane and Ole Miss. Now, this game, people were saying, well, Lane Kiffin's not there. You know, what is that gonna make the team look like? What's gonna happen? Maybe maybe Tulane could shock the world and be this sixth-ranked look Ole Miss.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

Let me tell you something about this Ole Miss team, okay? With or without Lane Kiffin. By this point in the season, this whole team knows what to do and what they're doing in various scenarios, okay? Right. Their cohesion is still there. Their cohesion is still there. Just because your head coach has left, I get that's a huge loss, right? Your head coach is out, but still, you still have the playbook, you still know what to do, you still know what your job is, right? You know what you look for, and you've obviously been good enough to make the college playoff. So, in my opinion, I don't think Ole Miss should have missed much of a beat in this one, and clearly they don't know. No, they clearly didn't win 41 to 10. Clearly they didn't, because by now in the season, and especially with Lane Kivan having been there more than one, been there a few years, you know what to do. Okay, your staff knows what to do that you're leaving behind, your players know what to do enough to be able to formidably move forward.

SPEAKER_01 26:29

Yeah, but I think as they go on, you know, when you start having the tougher matchups and you need that veteran presence, you need that coach to kind of scenario-wise knows what to do, yeah. You know, to have your team maybe coached a little differently because you're in a scenario and you got to make that halftime adjustment where maybe your team came out a bit flat and you need them to you know go a different way. Maybe, maybe your run game style needs to change. You know, maybe your pass game needs to change and you need to you know change the play to create open situations.

SPEAKER_00 27:02

And I I have a little more on Ole Miss when we get to the next part of the bracket. But right now we'll go to the next matchup in the first round. Miami versus Texas AM, uh, Miami 10, Texas ranked seven, uh very low-scoring game. Uh clearly a game of defense. Miami putting up 10 versus Texas AM's three. Uh Miami moves on to the next round. Congratulations, Hurricanes, uh, because Texas is a hard team to beat. And obviously, they're three spots ahead of you.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

So Texas AM, they've had a pretty good defense all year. Yeah. And I honestly I'm real surprised that Miami won out. And I mean, this this kind of helps the committee's decision having Miami win and move on versus you know, having having Notre Dame in there. It it just helps their decision look a little better.

SPEAKER_00 27:55

Yeah, I mean, at a minimum, I thought Notre Dame would have been in the last spot, right? Number 12. At a minimum, but they didn't well the conference winners need to be able to be in there. I agree, you know, they dropped the ball against Miami in that last game, and that was that was the nail in the coffee.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

Well, actually, that was earlier on in the season, but you know, they dropped the ball in the fact that some of the crucial games they played against other teams they lost, but really, really, you could have made a a statement for them to be in, and it would have looked okay either way. I think it's a good one. I think you couldn't you couldn't just kick out Tulane and James Madison given their contribution.

SPEAKER_00 28:37

It would have been a more competitive matchup for either Oregon or Ole Miss, whichever one would have had to face them. But again, I digress. We've moved on to next year. The next round, the Capital won Orange Bowl. By the way, the Xbox Bowl, which we just had, when the winners won, they rolled in an actual Halo Warthog with a like a cosplayed sergeant to award them the trophy. It was I got pictures, we'll put up on social media later.

SPEAKER_01 29:06

So before you get into when the what the orange bowl is going to consist of, let's tell folks that January 1st at noon on ESPN, you can catch the Orange Bowl between Oregon, number five, Oregon, and Texas Tech.

SPEAKER_00 29:22

Number four, Texas Tech takes on number five, Oregon. I really, really, really like this matchup. And honestly, Mike, I'm predicting an Oregon win here. I know Texas is a pretty tough team to play, uh, but once Oregon has the opportunity to get hot and get some um chemistry in the playoffs, they they tend to run pretty hard. Um I I think Oregon gets this win here in the Capital One Orange Bowl. That's just my just my take on it.

SPEAKER_01 29:49

Moving on to the next game, which will be the Rose Bowl game. And that's gonna be at, again, on January 1st at 4 p.m. on ESPN. You'll get Alabama against Indiana. I'm pretty sure Indiana's gonna take this one.

SPEAKER_00 30:06

Look, unless Indiana really shows up unprepared, this is gonna be an Indiana win, y'all. Let's not fool ourselves here, okay? I love Alabama, very good football team, not as good as they used to be, but still pretty formidable. Uh, but you're right, Mike. I think we're gonna see Indiana. I think we're gonna see Indiana roll all the way to the championship. I'm just gonna say that right now.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

Moving on to the Allstate Sugar Bowl being shown on January 1st at 8 p.m. on ESPN. We have Ole Miss in Georgia. Right. This could be an interesting game.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

I think this is gonna be an interesting game. And who doesn't love sugar, Mike? This is gonna be Ole Miss's first litmus test versus a formidable team without their head coach. Um, I don't know if I have a lot of confidence in Ole Miss to beat Georgia. Georgia's a pretty tough team. Um I think Georgia gets the win, but that's only because of the shortfalls that they lack in not having Lane Kiffin there. I think Ole Miss, I think they feel, I think they're really gonna miss their head coach in this one.

SPEAKER_01 31:10

Yeah, I I I tend to think that Georgia is gonna be the winner in that one as well.

SPEAKER_00 31:15

Even even though your team, like I said earlier, does know generally what to do, I think this is a matchup where you really need your head coach's insight.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

So moving on down to the Goodyear Cotton Bowl, uh, that's gonna be on December 31st at 7.30 p.m. on ESPN. We're getting Miami and Ohio State. Clearly, Ohio State's probably gonna come away with this win because let's not forget, this team was up until the point that they played Indiana, they were undefeated. So look, we're looking at a team that's probably gonna make a strong case to go all the way in Ohio State. Remember, they were last year's champ. Look, and Miami, sorry to say it, story ends here.

NFC West Shakeup: Seahawks Edge Rams

SPEAKER_00 31:58

Ohio, Ryan Day running that pro style offense. This is just like Indiana. I think we're gonna see an Ohio-Indiana championship. I think Miami could pull it out, but I think Ohio is much better coached. I think they have uh slightly better players again, just like Alabama. Miami just isn't the powerhouse it was 10 years ago, 10 to 15 years ago. Agreed. Um, so I think we see Ohio roll on through this one. Uh, and you know, again, I know we have another round of college playoff matchups, Mike, but I think we go see Ohio and Indiana in this one, barring something um major, right? But that's just my prediction. We have playoffs because we want to see upsets. I love, hey, I love, I love a good upset. Honestly, I I think Ohio. Some of you might hate me, but I think Ohio has the bigger chance of being knocked out of the playoffs than Indiana does. Depends on how they play Miami. I think they're gonna play Miami hard, but Miami would be the one to do it, I think, if anybody. So uh, but we'll see. Let's go on here, talk some NFL action. We'll talk some NFL playoffs as we go along, some implications. Uh, we're gonna talk about week 16 here, Mike.

SPEAKER_01 33:14

Um well, let's let's let's start it off with the match that kicked off week 16. Yes. We're talking Thursday night football against two teams fighting for the playoffs, Thursday night matchup between the Rams and Seahawks. And this game was so crucial in so many ways. If the Rams won this game, this was gonna be lockstep done. Rams win, it's a lock. They get to division, there's no way for the Seahawks or the 49ers to catch them. It's a lock. So for the Rams, it's a big, big, big game for them. And Seahawks, just like the Rams, they need to win this game in order to keep their hopes alive. And you know, for being the not just the team that wins the division, but also get the number one seed if they do win.

SPEAKER_00 34:08

You know, the Seahawks getting a 38-37 one-point win over the Rams in this.

SPEAKER_01 34:14

In overtime.

SPEAKER_00 34:15

In overtime. Uh this is look, how many times do I have to say it? Sam Darnold is him. He is here.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

Look, this game was so crazy because, and I'm sure by now most of you have seen this play, where they're going for a two-point conversion, and Sam Darnold backs up, throws a backwards pass, it glances off of a Rams player's helmet. Everybody thinks the play is over at that point, that it's an incompletion. But Charbonnet walks over and picks up the ball in the end zone, two-point try, good, and they tie the game, which sends this into overtime.

SPEAKER_00 34:57

Now, mind you, don't call me a genius, but Sam Darnold says I.

SPEAKER_01 35:03

But this wasn't the only two-point conversion. In overtime, the Seahawks, of all people on their team, Sharber, who has not had but maybe three passes thrown his way all year, gets the two-point conversion for the win late in overtime. I mean, just like the story of this game is just crazy bonkers. Like you it really is. It really looked like in the early point of this game, Rams had it. Everything was going their way, and just the Seahawks never quit.

SPEAKER_00 35:39

By the way, my fantasy football folks, those of you who are going against somebody who has Puka on their team, I feel your pain. I feel your pain right now. You've already lost. You lost Thursday night before we've even had any more matchups. I get it. I understand. I'm in the same boat. I had an undefeated team on its way to the championship. So Puka's 44-point night. Ruined! Ruined me!

SPEAKER_01 36:08

No one's gonna cry over your fantasy team, but you I am anyway. Getting back to this game, dude. Yes, by the Seahawks winning this, automatically jump them into the number one spot for the playoffs and bump the Rams down into down into the portion of the you're just in, you're a wild card team. Number six, boy. But more so, if they hadn't won this game, their percentage dropped like below 10% for a chance to be the number one seed and or be the division winner, let alone the number one seed. So this this had major outcomes to how everything was gonna get shook out. So go ahead, sorry. So with that being said, this not only affected the Rams' position, but it would affect also who was gonna be in the wild card and where they positioned in the wild card. Because remember, a lot of these teams in the West, they're all pretty bunched together. So now with the Rams being 11 and 4 and the Seahawks being 12 and 3, and remember the Niners, division-wise, have more wins in the division than any other team. So if the Niners won on Monday, they would then leapfrog the Rams, putting the Rams in third place in the division. By the way, huge game, huge game.

SPEAKER_00 37:33

And by the way, I know last season, so this is always a thing between the NFC North and the NFC West, alright? Every year, both of these divisions damn near send three teams to the playoffs, okay? Somebody has to. Who is the most formidable conference in the NFC East? Are we looking at the playoff picture? I'm gonna say it's the NFC West right now for a lot of strong reasons over the NFC North.

SPEAKER_01 38:00

Yeah, well, uh, everybody coming into the season thought that the North was gonna be the one sending three teams. Historically, because everybody was coming off of the fact that the Vikings won a bunch of games last year when they had Darnold. And then, you know, having the Lions, although they lost two coordinators, the offensive and defensive coordinator, and mind you, they also took some assistance with them. So they got kind of decimated on the coaching staff. But everybody was still like, hey, you still have a lot of your pieces, they probably play pretty well.

SPEAKER_00 38:31

They have, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:32

And the Bears getting Ben Johnson, so everybody's like, oh, this team's gonna look different, they're gonna play different. So everybody was kind of going into the season thinking, yeah, we're getting three out of the north.

SPEAKER_00 38:43

That's right. No, but West said, We got my beer. And yeah, and the NFC West has always been pretty formidable, maybe slightly overshadowed by the NFC North because they're the classic, you know, storied NFL teams, but the 49ers have a long history and story of their own. Uh, so you know, I I think that this is gonna be a highly competitive. I mean, for the wild card team for the last seed in the NFC to be a 11-win team, if you're not anywhere near that the last two weeks, you're out, bro. That is just a highly competitive conference to me in the NFC. Moving on to the next game, which I really don't want to talk about, but we will.

SPEAKER_01 39:24

Saturday games of all. And this this had this had some play in it as well.

SPEAKER_00 39:29

Look, I need the NFL to let the commanders go in back to play at one o'clock on Sunday afternoon, because the last five weeks we've been in prime time, off schedule games, and they have sucked. Well, they were gonna suck regardless. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:44

You just didn't want it to be on a on a big stage.

SPEAKER_00 39:46

Yeah, the Eagles showing up 29 18, in fact, actually going for a two point conversion run is cool. I know there's a lot of talk about why Nick Sirianni ran up rent for two.

SPEAKER_01 39:56

First of all. Because he's Nick Siriani and he he never Misses a chance to show people.

SPEAKER_00 40:02

In this one, I disagree with you, sir. Jake Elliott missed three field goals, okay? Two field goals and an extra point. Jake Elliott, well no, it was three field goals basically. Jake Elliott missed. I think they just didn't want to give their kicker a chance to miss again. So I think they said, fuck it, excuse my language. We're just gonna go for two, and whatever happens, happens.

SPEAKER_01 40:22

Oh, so they basically are going on the excuse of our kicker can't get it done, let's see if our offense can.

NFC North Stakes And Bears’ Rise

SPEAKER_00 40:27

Yeah, I think that's exactly what happened, and honestly, not a bad call to make. They could just say, you know what, we forfeit the extra point and just move on. But they're not gonna do that. So commanders falling to 4-11, Eagles rising to 10-5, Eagles are firmly in the playoffs because they are just I don't know where the Cowboys are, but they're manhandling the division.

SPEAKER_01 40:48

We'll get to them. But going down to the other game that happened on Saturday, December 20th, between the Packers and Bears, which had big implications. Huge playoff implications, such as the Rams and Seahawks did. Because if the the Packers could win this game, they would be bumping the Bears down into the wild card position and keeping Packers in the position where they're going to be the division winner. Listen. So there were big time implications in this game.

SPEAKER_00 41:18

What do you have? No, I was gonna say, let me tell you what, the Ben Johnson era of the Bears has arrived. These Bears are 11-4. They are loaded with offensive talent. They just beat the Packers. By the way, I think were they playing in Lambeau Field? Or were they playing they were playing in the Ford Field?

SPEAKER_01 41:37

Okay, so they're playing at Ford Field. They beat the Packers. No, no, it's not Ford Field. Not Lions. What's the Bears Stadium called again? Soldier Field.

SPEAKER_00 41:50

Soldier Field, sorry. And they got some soldiers for sure. Let me tell you what, because they just beat the Packers, who were they're 9-5-1. The Packers stepping back to a just above mediocre team to me. They don't they have some talent, but they don't quite have what the Bears have.

SPEAKER_01 42:09

Well, it's it's weird. Because like most of these teams, you can kind of point out what they do, you know, like what makes them dumb, you know? Yes. Like you can point out, okay, that's their number one receiver. That's the reason that their defense is good. And let's not forget, the Packers just lost Micah Parsons. So he was a big part of their defense of why they were so dominant. So with him gone, it's gonna be a different look. You're not double teaming, because remember, the last time they played, they were double teaming Micah, holding Micah, and he literally all game long was being held. And he didn't get a single call until late in the game, and then eventually he tore his ACL. Yeah. Just, you know, well, actually not in this game, but in the in the uh not in the game against them, but he got one against the uh Broncos is where he tore his ACL. Well but for this game, you know, you're you were seeing a team that their lead horse and running back just disappeared. You know, because you well Jacobs all year long.

SPEAKER_00 43:15

Well, Jacob's been I was just about to say, Jacobs for the last four weeks, actually since the trade deadline, has been in and out of injury status. Yeah. And I'm gonna be Emmanuel Wilson's good running back too in his place, but without Jacobs, their running game is like 60% dead. Okay. Um, and Emmanuel Wilson feels in good, but again, at least 60% of your run game is dead. That's the majority of your run game going out if Jacobs is limited or gone. The Bears, DJ Moore, they have uh what's his name? Mononaguy behind him.

SPEAKER_01 43:45

Not DJ Moore, Swift.

SPEAKER_00 43:47

DJ uh DeAndre Swift, that's right. Sorry.

SPEAKER_01 43:49

Moore is a receiver that's been. You're right.

SPEAKER_00 43:51

He's the he was a receiver. So they have DeAndre Swift, who's been kind of fringe himself, but Mononaguy is right behind him. Mononaguy, in my opinion, much more talented than Manuel Wilson is for the Packers. Uh they've managed, and and Caleb Williams is a little more mobile than Jordan Love has been. Uh, I think Caleb Williams is more willing to go scramble than Jordan Love is, but Jordan Love has a plethora of receivers at his beck and call. So, but the Bears ran a very good scheme in this. Uh, they came out with the win. I think the Bears will probably be the new dominant NFC North team going forward. The Bear, uh the Lions, as soon as they lost Aaron Glenn and uh Ben Johnson, I knew they were gonna take a step back, which they kind of slightly had. Yeah, they did.

SPEAKER_01 44:42

Uh, moving into the Sunday games, to kick it off, we're gonna talk about the Buccaneers and Panthers, a very crucial game because both these teams are coming in 7-7, with the winner of this game being the hands-down division leader. Yes. So it was a very crucial game for both teams as far as what's gonna happen with their playoff status. Because let's face it, when you're coming in 7-7, and these teams know if we don't win out, we're probably gonna be out. We're gonna be out because the division winner is the only one getting in out of this division.

SPEAKER_00 45:14

I agree, and I want to give it up to the Panthers. They they're on the fringe of being a playoff competitive team. Bryce Young is clearly starting to round out as a QB2, QB1 starting quarterback. The Buccaneers, I feel bad for them. They've struggled all year, and that's mostly due to injury.

SPEAKER_01 45:31

Yeah, but they're getting some players healthy, so they should be looking more like their themselves, but they they wound up losing this game 23 to 20. So, yes, the Panthers, the Panthers are coming along, but I think part of the reason that this has happened is their rookie McMillan has really been stepping it up for this team. Well, like he's had some pretty bad drops of the year, but he's becoming a favorite target of Young.

SPEAKER_00 45:55

He is, and don't forget, they now have Jalen Coker back. Took a couple weeks, but he's fine in a groove. And wouldn't you believe it? Xavier Leggett has found his footing in the NFL. He's had a few strings of good games here.

SPEAKER_01 46:09

And let's let's give it to the Panthers because between their two running backs, and Chupa Hubbard and uh Dowdle, neither one of them amounted to anything as far as rush yards in this game. So this was all passing for them to get them the win.

SPEAKER_00 46:23

This was just a straight up classic shootout.

SPEAKER_01 46:25

When they were struggling in the in the run game, the pass game carried the load, and they they came away. And let's let's not forget their defense. Their defense at the end of the game, because the Buccaneers had time, but they had a chance at the end of the game to go down and and tie this up or get the win. And the Panthers defense taking the ball away.

Sunday Swings: Panthers Edge Bucs

SPEAKER_00 46:47

No, I I agree. And let me the Panthers overall as an organization, hats off. You guys are coming along very well. My hat's off the right direction. My hat's off to the Buccaneers coaching because despite everything they have dealt with all season, they have still been somewhat playoff competitive. So I gotta give it up to their coaching. Yeah, they've done well. Next matchup, uh, Bills beat the Browns, and actually a surprisingly tough matchup for the Bills. What are going on with the Bills, man? They've been slipping a little bit here, but the Browns behind Shadur Sanders almost beat the Bills.

SPEAKER_01 47:21

Well, sir, I let's not forget the Browns, they have a pretty good defense. And speaking of defense, Miles Garrett is only half a sack away from becoming the single season sack leader of all time. Like he's getting ready to break this record. Michael Straham, your record's about to go away because there is no way in hell Miles Garrett is not getting another sack the rest of the year. I agree. I totally think this is gonna happen. They're gonna get him that. I agree 100%. But the Browns in this game, they they took a big blow. Their rookie Jutkins uh went down with injury. He dislocated and fractured, he dislocated his ankle and fractured his fibula in this game. So he's done until next year. Um they they do suspect that he'll be back. He has no damage to his knee, so they're happy about that, which means that they do expect to have him week one next year.

SPEAKER_00 48:18

And boy, my hat's off to Judkins because he dealt with some early season legal drama coming into the league. And once he hit the field, boy, did he go, go, go. I like Judkins. I think he's here to stay for a while. Good job, my friend. Sorry you had to go down just before the season ended.

SPEAKER_01 48:34

But good thing for the Bills to get the win to keep them going as far as playoffs are concerned.

SPEAKER_00 48:39

Yeah, you can't lose to a uh team like the Browns right now at this point in the game. You gotta keep going.

SPEAKER_01 48:45

So moving on to Chargers and Cowboys. And this game we kind of we kind of were expecting a little bit of shootout, maybe, because both these teams, the offense, even though Herbert's hurt, he's still producing. So we kind of expected maybe a little bit of a flash of scoring, but uh it really turned out where just the Chargers were doing the scoring.

SPEAKER_00 49:07

This came down to a couple factors to me, all right. The D the Cowboys defense is being nice, less than mediocre, okay, especially their pass defense. Um, the Chargers defense isn't necessarily great, but they're good enough to keep their offense on the pedestal, okay? Um Chargers, once they get that run game going, them two young rookies, they get Justin Herbert going. Uh, I also think they're very much better coached than the Cowboys are. The Cowboys have a lot of talent for not having very good coaching.

SPEAKER_01 49:40

Um I wouldn't say that. I mean, their coaching has been pretty good, despite you know, everybody giving Shot and Heibern a lot of crap. But let's not forget, this offense has been doing great. It's been a defense all year that has been kind of subpar. I mean, because like let's face it, they they up until this point, you know, you're seeing a team that was producing points left and right with a team that everybody was like, oh, you're coming in the the year with who? CeeDee Lamb, it's gonna be all the CeeDee Lamb. No, they've been getting production out of Ferguson, they've been getting production out of Pickens, they've been getting production out of Williams out of the backfield. I have a lot of people thought he was washed.

SPEAKER_00 50:20

I thought Pickens has been a borderline WR1 since he was with the Steelers, right? Oh, his emotions have been the problem. His emotions have been the problem, but they seem to have either nullified that or gotten it out of the spotlight here in Dallas because now they have a WR1 and WR1B. They have Javante Williams, who has made an extraordinary comeback from his ACL injury a couple years ago, uh, just returning, in my opinion, to almost dominant running back status. And Dak, I think Dak's a okay quarterback. I think they could do better. I'm not trying to talk shit about him.

SPEAKER_01 50:58

He's been playing some of the best ball of his career.

SPEAKER_00 51:00

He's been he's been playing really well. Uh, I think the Cowboys are better than the 6-8-1 record uh than they're showing, and you'll never hear me say that again as a Washington fan. Uh, but I think I give them kudos for what they've done this season. What they've had. I can't see it, but it it it pains him to say that. It does. You should literally see my face turning green right now. Um I I think the Cowboys, I think the Cowboys are better than they let, but that's the same with our old division. I think honestly, our entire division is better than they let on. But you know, they didn't perform that way. So moving on to the battle of the low ballers, Jets versus the Shanks, Shanks, the Shanks! The Shanks changed their name to the Shanks, right? I got it, dude.

AFC Grind: Bills, Texans, Patriots Survive

SPEAKER_01 51:44

So Saints like I got it, bro. So Saints and Jets, nobody was expecting this to be a crazy good matchup. But the Saints, who have kind of been coming on here lately. I mean, let's not forget, they beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and yes, they beat the Jets here with a 29-6 victory. And the Saints have been playing some good defense here lately. If you're playing fantasy, you might want to take a look at their stats just to see, you know, if this might be a viable team for your championship matchups as far as uh defense goes. But really, the Saints they have something going here. They have something going here. They the team is starting to play a little better. Tyler Show or Shook, however you want to say it, it's not Shu. He has been playing some pretty some pretty good quarterback over this stretch, and they they're kind of looking like a better team overall.

SPEAKER_00 52:38

Tyler Show or Shu, however we say it. It's Shook. He's a rookie, okay? This comes down to me. The Saints really weren't that bad off when it comes to talent. Uh they even moved somebody over to Seattle to get some pay for that. Shaheed. Uh Shaheed, exactly. To me, this comes down to one thing and one thing only. Kellen Moore, okay. I've been watching this man's career since he was drafted. Uh, this guy is an offensive genius, okay? Uh he was with the Eagles for a little bit, he was with the Cowboys for a little bit, uh, drafted as a quarterback out of Boise State. This man knows offense very well. I think he's a very good coach.

SPEAKER_01 53:18

Um those backup quarterbacks become uh head coaches and seem to be good at what they do.

SPEAKER_00 53:25

Well, yeah, he's very good at what he does. He's a young head coach as well. Uh, not quite as young as Sean McVay, I don't think. Uh, but I think the Saints are gonna turn it around relatively quick, one or two years. Uh, and I think they have a lot to look forward to because they have a good organization.

SPEAKER_01 53:43

Moving on to the Vikings and Giants, where the Vikings coming away with the 16 to 13 win, but I think the more crucial thing we saw in this game, and not from the Vikings side, but from the Giants side, we're seeing the league catching up to Jackson Dart. Jackson Dart just looked a shell of himself in this game, and I think it's because we have tape on him. We have tape on Jackson Dart, and they're starting to see his patterns, they're starting to figure them out. And this is where if you plan to be the guy at quarterback, you have to adjust your game. And I think he needs that crucial adjustment at this point.

SPEAKER_00 54:25

I I agree with you. I think Jackson Dart will need to adjust. Uh the league is catching up to it, but it's hard when you don't have you know your handcuffed running back with you who has actually made your life way easier while he was on the field. Um, so now he's learning what it's like to have to win with not a lot around you, okay? Neighbors is down, Scataboo is down.

SPEAKER_01 54:46

Well, he's still he still has Slay, he still has their Robinson.

SPEAKER_00 54:50

He's got Wandell Robinson, he's got Darius Slay, he's got some pieces to work with.

SPEAKER_01 54:55

Don't forget their their tight end, Johnson, he's pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 54:57

He's coming on, he's a rookie. Uh, so I he's got some pieces to work with, but he's kind of having to be the core of the trajectory here. But going back to the Vikings, I know they won this one, but I bet you they wish they still had Sam Darnold. Oh, hell yeah, they do right now. And to win 16-13, I know they won, but you're a seven and eight team trying to get into the playoffs. I think you should have won a little bit more versus a team who has not been there, right? So that's all I have to say on them. I know they missed Sam Darnold. Hopefully, JJ McCarthy comes up to speed.

SPEAKER_01 55:36

Um they better hope he does. Yeah. Moving on to the Titans and Chiefs, where the Titans came away with the 26-9 victory, showing even more that without Patrick Mahomes, this team is a shell of itself because they did nothing.

SPEAKER_00 55:54

The Chiefs look absolutely horrible right now. And by the way, they are leaving Kansas for Kansas. They're leaving Kansas City, Missouri for Kansas City, Kansas. By the way, those cities are right next door to each other. Yeah, they're just they're just moving across the river. They're getting a new stadium, is what it is. And I'm I'm relatively surprised because Arrowhead's quite a nice field. Well, it's older, but it's it's older, but one of the more nicer open-air fields there is.

SPEAKER_01 56:22

One of the reasons they're moving is when you get a new stadium, usually a Super Bowl follows. And one of the things they've been doing here lately is when you get a new stadium, most of these teams are put in a dome. So they're going to get a dome stadium. Now, again, I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing because let's face it, sometimes the elements for you know a team like Kansas City, because remember, when they played uh the Dolphins in the playoffs, and it was like sub-zero temperatures, and you're watching pieces of helmets like break off because it's so cold. You know, this this situation where they're gonna have a different indoor stadium, it's just kind of like for some players, some of the older players, they're like soft.

SPEAKER_00 57:05

This is soft to me. This is a game of numbers, right? I eventually I I envision this being like Final Fantasy's you know, blitz ball where they play in a dome of water. But anyway, um I think a lot of teams are going to dome for good reason. Although, yes, an open airfield, especially in a hostile climate, puts your your opposing team at a disadvantage, but also puts your own team in a pickle, right? I think the statistics on playing in a dome, especially at least half your season, usually result in better winning records uh versus teams who play in open air stadiums. They're only doing a dome so they can get a Super Bowl.

SPEAKER_01 57:45

That's all it is. It's all about the money and how we can make more out of it.

SPEAKER_00 57:49

And that may be true too. I mean, Buffalo is doing an open air dome, aren't they? Or they do a closed dome. They're still doing an open stadium. They're doing open.

SPEAKER_01 57:58

They're gonna have a little more of a roof to cover the seats, but it's still gonna be open.

SPEAKER_00 58:01

So Buffalo is the most badass fan base in the league now. I'll give them that.

SPEAKER_01 58:05

That's why they call them Bill's Mafia.

SPEAKER_00 58:06

Bill's Mafia.

SPEAKER_01 58:07

Moving on to the next game on our slate here, which was the Bengals and Dolphins. The Bengals. Yeah. Bengals just running away with this victory.

SPEAKER_00 58:17

Welcome back, Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase again.

SPEAKER_01 58:21

Well, after his statement about, you know, not having fun.

SPEAKER_00 58:25

I'm sure he was having fun in this one. Yeah, 45-21 over the Dolphins, and their records are relatively close, but that's because the Bengals have been without Joe Burrow, and the Dolphins just aren't that good. Um 45-21 once again. Here, there's some debate here, right? All right. Um Jeff, JJ Watt actually took issue with this. Uh seeing uh Tua laughing with Jalen Ramsey, seeing with Tua laughing with Jalen Ramsey on the field after the Miami Dolphins loss, this is a game. So this to me is kind of like etiquette, field etiquette. If you lose a game, sure you want to congratulate and shake hands as a good sport, but it should be your first prerogative to get off the field and get out the locker room and go home and study and do whatever you gotta do to prepare. Okay, I'm an old school kind of guy. When you lose, you don't hang around, you don't smile, you don't kick up. So, how do you feel about this, Mike? Do you agree with JJ uh that Tua should have just kept it business and moved on? Or do you think he's really in the wrong for having a couple laughs with an opposing defender, by the way, who just beat him? Honestly.

SPEAKER_01 59:36

Wait, he had laughs with who again? Oh, wait, Jalen Ramsey? Oh, Ramsey's on Steelers. Like, I'm confused.

SPEAKER_00 59:45

No, Ramsey moved to the Dolphins. They traded him.

SPEAKER_01 59:48

Yeah, no, they traded him to Steelers. He's with the Steelers playing safety with the Steelers. I think this is from last week, dude. It might be from last week.

Jags’ Statement Win And QB Storylines

SPEAKER_00 59:56

Oh, it is from last week. I see the Steelers uniform. Sorry, y'all. I'm a little behind, but. But still, we're on the wrong week because we missed some things. But anyway.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:05

I'll say this. At this point, Tua really doesn't have much to be concerned about because he's probably gone out of there anyway. But it doesn't matter. Brock Ewers try they had Ewers uh play for the Dolphins a starting quarterback. That's right. Uwers did start the Bengals game. But anyway. It look, it didn't matter. They wanted to see what they had in the rookie. He didn't play very well. He played alright.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:32

He did, he he played alright. And but just rewinding a week, just talking about field dedicate while we're on it. What is your opinion, Mike? I don't care.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:42

Be honest. I mean, really, if you want to go have a few laughs, because remember, they were teammates. It's not like it was, hey, you went over there and chucked it up with Rogers or, you know, something he's never played with. He went over to a former teammate and had a few laughs. It's fine, in my opinion. But it does it look bad after a loss? Yes, it looks bad. But moving right along, let's let's talk about the Falcons and the Arizona Cardinals game. The Falcons! The thing that was confusing, and this has been Falcons all year. They let this game be a little closer than it really should have been. Because Falcons, let's face it, right now they're the better team because Arizona is just a shell of itself. But they came away with the 26-19 victory. And for the Falcons, I mean, you I know you say play for what, but let's not forget that the division leader for this division is only 8-7. So at 6-9, technically, you still got a chance.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:43

Honestly, I know the Cardinals are playing a little tougher to close out the season, but I I think the Cardinals will probably have the had the worst run. They probably had the worst season of anybody, in my opinion. They dealt with injury after injury after injury on SQs.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:59

I think the Raiders and a few other teams might have something to say about that. But we're moving on from Kyler Murray.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:05

It's clear. I think so too. But here we go. Maybe that'll change next year. Jaguars Broncos.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:13

This game, I watched this game, and let me tell you, this is a statement win if there ever was one needed for the Jacksonville Jaguars, because they went into Denver and beat them in their house. Now, mind you, Denver is the number one spot in the AFC. So coming away with the 34-20 victory, and just they looked like they had this game the entire way. There was nothing the Broncos could do to really stop it. I mean, you had you had their uh quarterback Bo Nicks throwing up picks in crucial situations, and Jags just making the offense work. Like it seemed like they were taking turns of who was going to be the guy because you had you had Washington making big time catches, you had Etienne catching out of the backfield, making some good runs, and you had Brenton Strange making crucial catches. Like, I mean, this you were getting to me, you were getting some really good quarterback play out of their their guy there in Jacksonville, where you you've had a lot of questions really. You've had a lot of questions with Jacksonville and what they've been getting, and why am I forgetting his name? Trevor Lawrence. Trevor Lawrence. You've had a lot of questions about Trevor Lawrence or Mr. Sunshine. Sunshine? But they they've turned it around. This team, and I like I like how they were saying it. They were like, nobody's believed in us, and really, it's kind of true. Nobody really has been paying attention to Jacksonville, but they've been slowly beating playoff contention teams throughout the year.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:49

I've got sunshine on a cloudy day. Anyway, I like this Jaguars win. This comes down to a QB experience to me, okay? Bo Nicks is in his second year. T Law is in his like what fourth or fifth year? Uh the Jaguars defense clearly knew what to do. Uh 34-20 is not a low-scoring game, but I think the Jaguars were very well prepared for this game. It was a fun game to watch. This is my favorite game of the week, honestly. This was the one I was looking forward to. And the Jaguars are 11-4. Never seen that in my entire life.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:26

When? Back when they had uh Blake Bortles as their quarterback and they almost beat the uh Patriots in the playoffs. Blake butthole's? I don't even remember Blake Buttholes. Yeah, that was that that team was. I don't even remember Blake Bortles. Is this the the year your team won the Super Bowl? Bro, my team hasn't won the Super Bowl since the 90s. So I mean, is this the year your team lost the Super Bowl? No, this would have been back in like 2009, 2008.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:56

Nobody cares. Anyway. Nobody cares.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:58

Anyway, derailing everything. Let's talk about this Steelers-Lions game where the Steelers came away with a 29-24 victory. And really, what everybody is remembering from this game, if it wasn't the off-the-field altercations with certain players, it's what happened at the very end of this game. The very end of this game, you had the craziest situations happening where you had not one, but two touchdowns taken away from offensive penalties where one was a receiver screen penalty and wiped away a touchdown. And then the next one was an offensive penalty where you had uh help me, St. Brown. St. Brown runs up and pushes Jalen Ramsey from a few minutes ago we just talked about. Yes. Pushes Jalen Ramsey, turns around, catches the ball, and appears to be stopped. So you're thinking, oh, this play's gonna be over. But he pitches the ball over to his quarterback, and Jared Goff runs it in, and the referees didn't do themselves any favors. The way they announced this is they said the ruling on the field is touchdown. But by rule, there's an offensive penalty, and offensive penalty is when there's zero time on the clock, the game is over, no touchdown. So the fans for a second are like, touchdown, yeah, and then next moment, no touchdown. What? Ooh. I don't, yeah, that's so they they really screwed the pooch on announcing that.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:39

Yeah, that's that's flabbergasting. I I thought the Lions should have been able to win this, um, but I don't want to talk about the matchup. Technically, they did twice. Yeah, I I but I don't want to talk about the matchup. I want to talk about DK Metcalf here because this is an interesting situation, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:56

By the way, before you dive into it, yes, it came out that this guy, this is the second time he's had an altercation with Metcalf. So this is this isn't this isn't a situation where this it was one time occurrence.

49ers Fireworks And Rivers’ Return

SPEAKER_00 1:07:11

This no, this guy has had words with and Metcalf has reported him to League, and honestly, uh you know, and I'll get to that in a second. Actually, I I'm on DK's side here. I I think DK, I know because of the grabbing of the hair, even though it was a wig, and then the the thrust up. I think he had hair in shirt. I think he had whatever he had, it is the thrust up of his arm that they're looking at. The the initial He tried to hit him.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:41

He did try to hit him. Let's be honest. He did try to hit him.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:44

And don't get me wrong, DK. I get it, right? Sometimes you guys you just gotta eat this, but it sucks, right? But I I get it because the league does have to punish you for the action, but I think that they should punish the fan, the the individual more because it actually came out. We'll talk about DK's numbers. I'll let you get to it in just a second. We'll talk about DK's numbers and his salary impact from this, but it actually came out there's a video from this fan who he was gloating after the incident that this is what he was aiming for. This was the outcome he was looking for. He was looking for payday pretty much. I don't think he should get it. I think he should be banned from all NFL games. I thought he should have been banned when DK reported him the first time. But what you got, Mike? This comes back to what do you say? Lose your cool, lose your judgment. Exactly. And DK, I'm gonna give him credit here. I thought he was relatively tame. Because he could have grabbed that dude and jerked him out of the stands and pummeled him, okay?

SPEAKER_01 1:08:49

Yeah, he's a big man. He's a big man. Whatever he wanted to do with this guy, he could have.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:52

First of all, he already had a fistful of whatever it is, okay? He could have yanked you over that rail and pummeled you, and you'd be in a lot worse shape than you are now.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:02

You know what any any one of those players should say anytime one of these fans starts getting, you know, a bit big for themselves? They should just be like, bro, shut up, I can crush you with my wallet. You know, like, get out of here. Yeah. I don't care what you've got inside.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:18

Unfortunately, DK is known to be a little bit of a hothead. Uh and if you're anything like DK or myself, you're probably not gonna take that. But I get it, like in a professional stance, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:31

Um and he's already been suspended for two games, so we already know what the outcome is.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:38

Yeah, and he's been suspended for two games, and all of his guaranteed money is no longer guaranteed. He can still make the money.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:45

No, no, no, no, no. The Steelers have the option to waive his guarantees. They don't have to do that. They can they can still give him his money. It's just this being well, based on the language in his contract, they can waive his guarantees, you know. So I don't think the Steelers are gonna do it. They're they're they're one of the organizations that, you know, they're a class act, they do right by their players. I don't think they're gonna waive it. I think it's just the the language has been opened up where they could.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:17

I don't see him doing it. This is one of those situations where I'm hoping everybody is looking through clear lenses, right? Yes, DK acted unprofessionally in some capacity, but at the same time, they have to recognize what this fan was doing, okay? And I don't think that's okay. Let's move on to the next matchup here. Uh, we had the Raiders and the Texans.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:38

Dude, this game, this game made no sense because like the Texans, who are now a 10-5 team after the 23-21 victory. That's right. The reason this game made no sense is the Texans come into this, they've looked pretty good on offense. They've looked like a pretty good team, but for some reason, they did not play well. They did not play well against this Raiders team. You were expecting this to be like, you know, a 34-10 victory or something like that. And it just wasn't. Yeah. For some reason, I mean, give it to the defense. They did get an early pick off of Geno Smith for a pick six, but they let this be a lot closer than it should have been.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:17

If it's not for that top five defense the Texans have, I don't think they escaped with this one. This is one where I think the Raiders showed up showing a little bit what they have. Uh, the Texans may have underestimated them a little bit. Either way, they get a two-point win, they're 10-5 now. Very competitive Texans team, which we haven't seen terribly much in the last few years. The Raiders shooting for that number one pick. Look, the Raiders should be better than they are. That's all I'm gonna say about that. Uh, here we have again the Ravens to be seven and eight as the Ravens right now, in my opinion, might be a godsend for what they've dealt with.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:56

Um, yeah, I mean they've they've fought through a lot, but the Patriots and Ravens going against each other with the Patriots coming away with the 28 to 24 victory, which mind you, doesn't really lead to the fact that the Patriots were down by 11 points and came back to win this game. So Drake May showing some clutch play at the end. Yes. But there was a lot more on the Ravens storyline side because you had again where you had Derek Henry comes out great, has a touchdown early on on their first drive, and then later on fumbles, so they kind of take him off the field for a little bit. But then you had Lamar in what looked like just a routine kind of little little scramble got down, but then he got up and he was like, you know, wincing and looked like he was aiming for his back, like something's up, and then he gets pulled, and then we start seeing Huntley in there. Come to find out he had like a back laceration or something going on, and so he's out. Lamar just has not looked like if you just physically watch him, he does not look like he's healthy.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:01

I I think you're seeing the impact of a quarterback who runs more than he throws. And Lamar is a great pocket passer. Don't get me wrong, he has very good accuracy. He's gotten way better over his career, he's gotten way better. He's a very good QB passer, pocket passer, but he still runs a lot. And this was my worry for Jaden Daniels, especially after his first two years of the season. You are starting to see the impact of injuries and hits on this quarterback. Lamar has not played a full season in three years, a full 16. We moved to 17 recently, a full season front to back in a while, and it's because of these injuries, I think. Uh they've also had some miscues on top of injuries. Probably the worst year under the John Harbaugh era, in my opinion. But they gotta get it together, they gotta protect the quarterback a little bit more, and Lamar has to has to keep himself healthy.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:54

So moving on to the Monday night game between the 49ers and Colts, where the 49ers came away with the 48-27 victory. Woo! Mind you, the Colts being led by their 44-year-old quarterback and and Phillip Rivers, which mind you, there was a there was a crucial thing with this. That if you're paying attention, it shows that the mind of Phillip Rivers, his pre-snap reads, and his ability to just key on what the defense is doing has really shown these last few weeks. You're seeing why bringing a Phillip Rivers in has been kind of a good thing for the team, even though they did not win these two games. They didn't win against Seattle, they didn't win against the 49ers. It shows that his level of quarterback IQ is helping keep him alive.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:43

By the way, uh Phillip Rivers in this game uh went 23 of 35, 277 yards with two touchdowns.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:54

He played great.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:54

He had a very, very good game for somebody coming straight off the street.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:59

Those two touchdowns were both to uh Pierce, and it it's it just great throws on his part. I mean, granted, he doesn't have the arm he once did, and it's not and don't get it twisted. There he even said it himself. He's like, look, they're criticizing me on throws, and it's like I wouldn't make those throws when I was young.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:20

By the way, Rivers has been coaching football in his in his un NFL time, but I have an interesting one here from Ryan Clark. Uh he says Cam Newton is still in his prime and can't get a call, but a 44-year-old Phil Cam uh Phillip Rivers, who's been a soccer mom for the last five years, can. First of all, Rivers has been actually coaching football. Cam, I don't know what he's doing with his life, but I don't think he's coaching. Do you think that Cam should still be entitled to a playtime in the NFL? I mean, they called 44-year-old Rivers versus Cam Newton. Honestly, I don't think it's a bad call.

Closing Thanks And Holiday Sign-Off

SPEAKER_01 1:16:00

They called a 44 future Hall of Famer Rivers versus not calling a quarterback who was never known for throwing from the pocket, a quarterback who is more of a distraction than a amplifier or help, and quarterback who does not know the offense that Phillip Rivers used to play in. So, yes, they did not call a Cam Newton because Cam Newton, when he was on the field recently with the Patriots, he had no arm. His arm was dead. It wasn't there. He could not make the throws anymore. So yeah, he's he's sitting on the sidelines partly because of his personality and the way he is in the locker room. Well, yeah, and two, because the guy they brought in knew the offense. But we're getting away from something that I did not want to pass over in this game, which is that on the 49ers side, Brock Purdy had five touchdowns. Because this is crucial in a couple of reasons. There has not been a quarterback who has thrown five touchdowns for the 49ers since the Super Bowl where Steve Young threw five touchdowns back back in 1993. And if you want a regular season game that that happened in, not since Joe Montana in 1990. So he's doing something to a level that has not been seen in a 49ers uniform in quite some time. And let's give it to the defense of the 49ers, who mind you, they held one of the premier running backs in the league to under three yards a carry this entire game.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:37

Yes. Now I I get even since Daniel Jones' injury, the Colts have cooled off a little bit, but throwing five touchdowns. 49ers, by the way, this week had one of the highest scoring games, not this week, but also in the season. 48 points. I think that might be the second highest, second or third highest scoring game this season. I need to check the numbers. That was pretty good. Excuse me, y'all. I'm sorry. Uh, but good game there, good matchup. Hopefully the Colts. They're a little bit out of the playoff picture now, but you know, they had a very strong run early on, and the 49ers clearly are still in. Uh, do we want to talk about next week's matchups?

SPEAKER_01 1:18:18

No, I think we're gonna cut it short, guys.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:20

We're gonna cut it short. We've had a lot of good talk, a lot of good football talk. Uh, I want to thank you once again, uh, Body by D Gym, Solace Outfitters, and the Giving Tree Chiropractic. Thank you for everybody for listening to us. We hope you have a very Merry Christmas, happy holidays, a happy new year. We look forward to having you next week. I'm Brian with an eye, and I'm Mike, and we are two for the win. Thanks, everybody.