NFL Playoff Picture Takes Shape

One chaotic two-point play changed everything: a screen drifts backward, dings a defender’s helmet, the ball stays live, and Seattle flips the NFC seeding with pure awareness and nerve. That moment became our launchpad to unpack what really decides December football—context, coaching, and conviction under pressure.

We break down why going for two was the only smart call, how travel and injuries tilt margins, and why situational mastery matters more than yardage totals. Then we head straight to New York, where the Jets and Giants aren’t short on talent so much as they’re short on a plan. Ownership meddling, impulsive resets, and a failure to develop quarterbacks keep the cycle spinning. We contrast that chaos with Jacksonville’s patience around Trevor Lawrence and the stability that turns tools into trust.

Baltimore sits at a crossroads. Lamar Jackson’s brilliance needs aligned coaching, clear offensive identity, and a defense that shortens games. We question late-game personnel choices, body language, and whether the solution is a staff recalibration rather than a sideline overhaul. Player safety cuts through it all: Tua Tagovailoa’s concussion history demands hard decisions, better technique, and guardrails that protect players without breaking defensive mechanics. We call for clearer standards on targeting and smarter coaching emphasis on eyes-up, wrap-and-roll tackling.

The playoff map comes into focus: Denver’s toughness, Jacksonville’s growth, New England’s cold-weather blueprint, and Buffalo’s dependency on QB heroics in the AFC; Seattle’s conviction, the Rams’ veteran poise, and Chicago’s high-ceiling volatility in the NFC. We’re wary of Philadelphia’s play calling in high leverage spots—January punishes predictability. Finally, we glance at MLB’s winter power plays: the Mets’ retreat to youth, the Dodgers’ consolidation of stars, and what it signals about incentives, luxury tax, and a possible labor chill.

If you’re into smart football—decision math, roster building, quarterback development, and the real forces that win in January—this one’s for you. Hit follow, share with a friend who lives for playoff strategy, and leave a review with your boldest bracket pick. Who’s your surprise team to crash Championship Sunday?

Chapters

• 0:14 Cold Open And Audience Milestone
• 1:20 Inside Jokes And The “Baseball” Supercut
• 4:20 Rams–Seahawks Two-Point Mayhem
• 8:10 Live Ball Rules And The No-Whistle Moment
• 12:30 Travel, Injuries, And Seattle’s Turnaround
• 17:20 New York Jets And Giants Ownership Failures
• 26:40 Quarterback Development And Trevor Lawrence
• 31:00 Ravens, Lamar, And Harbaugh’s Future
• 41:20 Tua, Concussions, And League Responsibility
• 52:20 Targeting, Tackling Rules, And Player Safety
• 1:04:10 Eagles Coaching And Play Calling Concerns

Transcript

SPEAKER_05: 0:14

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to a sports live with Steven Justin. How are you, Justin? I'm freezing. How are you? I'm like freezing my tail off outside. So what are you gonna do? Tis the season. Tis the season. It absolutely is. But since the season is last week, we knocked it out of the park. We had almost over 11,000, almost 12,000 views. We gained subscribers. I had calm more comments than ever. I hope you people out there are back to listen to another episode. Back because you heard this episode. I have a friend who is a Michigan guy. Him and his friends are all Michigan guys. They all listened to the podcast, thought it was great, thought we were naturals. But I knew that. I knew that. But you know, I really had really subscribed. So I'd like to thank everybody. I thank, and I did a little, you know, we spent a lot of hours with these podcasts. We put in a lot of time. We try to be as professional as can be. And and in honor of that, I have a little video that I made of our podcast to celebrate our professionalism and how good we are at this. I'll play it again, wait. How good is that? That is great. I have another one. You want to see it now or do you want me to save it? I got the word we said more than any other word. Wait.

SPEAKER_01: 2:20

Baseball. Baseball, baseball, baseball. Baseball. Baseball for baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball.

SPEAKER_05: 2:34

That's great. Having said that, we should know baseball's only around the corner. We're getting to the coming up on January 1st. You're two months from pitchers and catchers, right? They're February 28th.

SPEAKER_02: 2:47

Right around the corner.

SPEAKER_05: 2:48

Something like that. So we're going to be talking about baseball soon. We obviously cursed a lot about baseball because I know we had nothing nice to say about baseball the whole time we we spoke about it. And we that was like in the beginning time before we started talking about the NFL, before we were just warming up in our first few episodes. We hadn't got down to Monday at five o'clock every day. It goes through. You type in something, it goes through, and it does it. Fantastic. Worth every penny. Yeah, you should see the other one I do because on um A Better Life podcast, we did a couple episodes on David Berkowitz, the son of Sam. And it's an entire like two minutes of the guest I had on, I won't mention his name, um, just going Berkowitz, Berkowitz, Berkowitz, Berkowitz, Berkowitz. It's hysterical. I'll send it to you. I don't want to play it here. But it's so many, it's just it's hysterical. So thank you. There's actually one that I didn't download. I weren't gonna play. It's just one of me coughing the entire.

SPEAKER_02: 4:02

Did you see the the did I send you the video from Michael Francis? Sit down with uh.

SPEAKER_05: 4:08

He sent me the video. I didn't really watch it. I didn't know.

SPEAKER_02: 4:10

We should all watch that together.

SPEAKER_05: 4:11

It's gotta be interesting.

SPEAKER_02: 4:13

He beat us to the punch.

SPEAKER_05: 4:15

Yes, he did. But anyway. So football was interesting this week.

SPEAKER_02: 4:24

The NFL was interesting. The NFL was interesting for sure. I think we saw some some upsets, some uh teams stepping forward, some players making huge leaps forward. Miraculous comeback Thursday night.

SPEAKER_05: 4:39

Thursday night, and I said I was at a party, and the guys were watching me, why are we watching this game still? It's over. And I said, There's no question this team can't come back. It's exactly what I said. And then two minutes after I said it, I said to my I said to everybody, you know, whenever I say that, and it's exactly what happened next to you know you threw the pass touchdown, ran back.

SPEAKER_02: 5:05

So unreal. I was at the bar, so I was I kept looking up and I saw it was a what was it, a 16-point game? Right. And I was like, oh, this is over. And you know, I was too busy to focus on the game. Luckily for me, I guess. And then I look up and I see it's a two-point game, and I'm like, what just that? What did I miss? And then I see the two-point play, and I'm like, is that I guess it's incomplete. And I see the the uh was it Charbonnet? Oh, the off the helmet play. Of course, it's a Michigan guy goes over and picks up the football, and he, you know, he's standing in the end zone. I'm like, was that a backwards pass? Does he think it was a fumble? Like what just happened? And then, you know, I I get busy and I'm running back and forth, and I look up just in time for them, after I don't know how long it took for them to make the decision on that. That was outrageous. Unbelievable. It was right though, don't you think? Yeah, I know. When I when I saw it, I you know, it was a quick glance at the play, and I was like, oh, that because it because the the defender almost caught it on the fly, and I thought, oh, that would have been game over.

SPEAKER_05: 6:18

So for anybody that maybe didn't see it, know what we're talking about. It was Thursday night game, which was Rams in Seattle.

SPEAKER_02: 6:26

Rams in Seattle.

SPEAKER_05: 6:27

And on a two-point play, huge game, by the way.

SPEAKER_02: 6:31

Thursday night football was probably might have been the biggest game of the year.

SPEAKER_05: 6:34

Made have been the biggest game of the year, and it was very entertaining. And and there was a two-point play, and the the screen pass ended up, you know, sometimes it happens, it goes backwards. Nobody intends to throw a backward pass, all right? But as we know, a backward pass is a live ball. Well, not only was it backwards or a lateral, and it banged off of somebody's helmet and went flying. Right. The defender's helmet and went flying, and you think in normal that's just nothing. Well, it lands and he ends up in the end zone, or right before the end zone, somebody picks it up and they win the two-point conversion.

SPEAKER_02: 7:18

That was unbelievable. And he, you know, the defender is he sniffed out the play and is attacking the would-be carrier or the receiver that on that, trying to bust through the screen and blow up the play.

SPEAKER_05: 7:31

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 7:32

But without looking at the football, he actually blew up the play. I think it hit him in the helmet.

SPEAKER_05: 7:37

And it's and it's a dead giveaway when nobody blows a whistle. There's something about something you're missing, right? Because the whistle is.

SPEAKER_02: 7:50

You know, short of you know, cheap shots and all that. But if that ball's rolling around, get on the football. Whether you think the play is dead or not. If you don't hear a whistle, get the football. So great play by then. And then I couldn't stop to listen to it. I still haven't seen it uh with the sound on because I've been watching too many things and it was just too much going on this weekend. But I never heard or saw a tweet or anything that indicated they blew a whistle because I was wondering like everybody just kind of stopped moving and it was just a matter of fact that he picked up the football.

SPEAKER_03: 8:26

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 8:26

Because obviously, if you you know, if the whistle blows that that incorrectly, that that's a dead ball. Um, so an incredible gift for Seattle. And you know, I I didn't feel comfortable with the Rams playing on a short week because they're probably the most traveled team in the NFL this year. They've been everywhere. Um Devontae Adams was hurt, so he was out. And then I'm like, wait a minute. I'm like, you know what? Seattle can't run the football. You know, they don't really have a great running game. Maybe you know, Sam Darnold came back to earth, and you know, the Rams still should win this game. And I look up and see they're up by two touchdowns, really, you know, three scores by the old rules, but they're up by 16 points, and I'm like, they they're gonna run away with this. And then five minutes later, I look up and I'm like, what just happened? Incredible win for Seattle, incredible win for Sam Darnold.

SPEAKER_05: 9:28

And it made such a difference. And first of all, it put an end, I hope, to all the Sam Donald. Sam Darnold uh detractors out there who said he always folds up at the end of the year, he's gonna fold the end of the game. He's never in a game. This kid played. He's gonna for sure. He went out there and did it. And you can't say a word about how he played. Matter of fact, sitting at the bar were not happy.

SPEAKER_02: 10:03

Really? I mean, they were happy for him. They were just more dejected about their own situation.

SPEAKER_05: 10:09

They were just they should be dejected about the situation.

unknown: 10:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 10:13

I mean, people called me up today because no, we were gonna talk tonight, and said, Did you see that giant game? And I'm like, no, no, I don't watch the Giants and Jets anymore. I mean, let them when they come back to the table with actually trying to win and not just say we make a lot of money. When they really come back and try to win football games, I'm in. I mean, they're gonna get this kid killed. I mean, I don't know what they're doing. They should just forfeit the rest of the league, forfeit the rest of the games, and and and take the thing. I mean, it's insane.

SPEAKER_02: 10:50

It's really sad when you get to a point where you, as a fan, you'd rather just see them forfeit the games than even watch them play. And that's kind of where they're both at at this point, because there's there's nothing worth watching on television, which is really sad considering it's the New York market. I mean, the Jets have been football ineptitude forever and fairly irrelevant most of my life. But to see them at this level not have the capacity to even go out there and compete. And I know there's injuries and they don't have a quarterback, and they don't have the, but everybody else seems to look at the team they played. They didn't have a quarterback. That guy, that guy's a quarterback, they made him look like, you know, Wyatt Tittle out there. Agreed. So I it's really uh unfortunate to see that. And I think I think that's a league epidemic thing because of the way, you know, we told we always talk about parody and things like that. And rosters are not complete. And, you know, you need you need to spend money to have, you know, players on the roster from one to 53, not just one through 22 or 24. Um, I know there are, you know, I keep saying there's some positive undertow with the Jets, like their offensive line playing together all year. They we know that they have a number one wide receiver. We know that they have a number one stud running back. In fact, I think they have two good running backs. You know, they they they seem to have talent where they need it at these positions if they're healthy. They just don't have a quarterback. Unless defensively, they look putrid. I mean, there's there's three or four warm bodies at best on that defense.

SPEAKER_05: 12:31

Forget it. Just forget it. Okay. So here it is. Here's what I have to say about the Jets. You know what? You know what I'll start? I'd love to watch them. I would love to watch to be a Jets. This is what you need to do, guys. You want fans that just don't blindly love you. You want to make them happy. This is what you need to do. You made a you got a couple of draft picks. You got to bring some people in the organization that's not uh blow up, blow smoke up your ass guys that all sit around and and hang out with the billionaire that owns the place. And just because he wears a cap that says jets on it, and just because he owns the team, it doesn't make a difference to me. To me, he just looks like a fool, right? The Emperor's new clothes walking around saying, hey, look at me, look at me, and he's naked. He's naked to all of us because we see it. We see it again and again. You want to do something, get people in there that know what they're doing, get their people in there that know how to run the team, and make some draft picks that we say, hey, these guys are here to play. They made some good guys. They're gonna be able to grow them. I need a couple of guys on defense. I'm not saying you need Lawrence Taylor. I'm saying you need a couple of guys, though it wouldn't hurt. A couple of guys on defense, and you gotta get a quarterback and you gotta keep him healthy. And you gotta play smart.

SPEAKER_02: 14:04

Yeah. I mean, they played their way out of getting Trevor Lawrence five, six years ago, whatever it was. And, you know, I think now we've seen what it takes. I always talk about quarterbacks evolving and getting better every week and something to hang your hat on. And I know Trevor Lawrence was under some serious criticism coming into this season, but it seems now, I mean, Jaguars are what? At the top of uh the division, he looks like he's turned the corner and he is everything they thought that he could be, and getting better. And that probably is the biggest thing if you're a Jets fan, looking at him, Sam Darnold, and think why can't we cultivate a quarterback? Why can't we find somebody in the draft and bring him along and give him four or five years to get there? And with the Jets, it's it's just the same old Jets, it's uh Mark Sanchez, it's you know, the next big draft pick. Maybe they go get they get a free agent, they bring in the kid from Chicago, and then they get uh another, they get uh Zach Wilson, they get it's a joke, it's a constant recycling of the same old crap every three to four years with the Jets. And I'm not saying that Sam Darnold would have had that success in New York. I thought it was unfair that they could have given him another another year and who knows where it would have gone, you know. But they just don't have it together, they just don't have a formula for success and knowing in that building, and it starts with the owner, just like you said. It's a knee-jerk reaction how to do this.

SPEAKER_05: 15:52

Knee jerk reaction to everything. The media doesn't like this, let's fix it. Let's do something else, let's jump around. And media is never gonna help you. Your fans aren't gonna help you.

SPEAKER_02: 16:03

It's the same old story every three or four years in the last 25 years, you know?

SPEAKER_05: 16:07

It's just a constant uh disgrace. The NFL should take the team away from. Hey, give him his money back. Here's your money. You made a profit. Go ahead, go away. Go back to go be an ambassador to Bulgaria. I know they want you.

SPEAKER_02: 16:25

Yeah, go be an ambassador and get the hell out of here. The Giants, you know, not much better. And and I'm not gonna, you know, I think John Mayer is a much better owner. I was gonna say probably ownership is a much better person than than Woody, but the Giants right now.

SPEAKER_05: 16:41

I don't want to I don't want to say anything about Woody personally. I don't know the guy. I have no idea. I know he's rich, and I know a lot of people with billions of dollars, strangely enough. And and and I don't I don't want to I don't want to lump him into anything. I don't know. He could be the nicest guy in the world, be a personal guy, he can help the world. I'm just telling you, if you want to run a football team, it's easy. Hire people that know how to do it, and they can teach you too. I don't know how to tell you this. You know the Tony Robbins thing? You ever seen Tony Robbins? Go out there and buy his tapes. Let me tell you. Please, Woody, please go out and buy his tapes, Woody, and say in Washington, you know what they say? You know how you get to learn to do something? You find people that are already doing that and learn from them. That's how NFL works. People learn from each other. Look at the coach. And you want a good example? Look at the coach in New England. Look at the coaches in LA. Look at the coaches in all over. Good coaches learn to other coaches and have heart and willness and are tough. You gotta be tough. It's the NFL. I don't care. You can't be a nice guy in the NFL.

SPEAKER_02: 18:05

They have owners that don't meddle. They have owners that let football people do the football stuff. It's that simple. But they can't even they own a football team and they don't know how to hire a general manager. They had to go out to a third-party organization and ask them who they should hire to run their program. That's a problem. Who was never successful? Never.

SPEAKER_05: 18:25

The people they hired were never successful. What is that?

SPEAKER_02: 18:30

I it's it's what I say, so jets. It's just so jets. That's the best way to describe it. It's it's it's ineptitude. It's just complete and total ineptitude from the top down.

SPEAKER_05: 18:45

You know, you can say as you want about Steinbrenner. He always took the heat. He did what he thought he had to do. He hired people he thought it had to, and he always take the heat. These guys don't want to take the heat. As soon as they start getting some heat, they fired a guy. I can't get over. I'll never get over, and I'm not saying he's the greatest coach in the world, that he fired the coach after that loss in England because him and his billionaire buddies were sitting around watching a game, and and you know, he was former ambassador there and whatever. And next thing you know, he fires the guy because he was mad. Where? Where? Where? Where we lost. We lost in front of my friends. They fooled it up. Well, it's football. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

SPEAKER_02: 19:32

There's always a bad optic with the Juts. It's just when they do something good, they do something else to topple it and twice as bad.

SPEAKER_05: 19:43

But what we knew about, and there were probably three teams, at least I I know, we brought up and talked about that we knew were horrible. Right? The Jets, the Giants, Arizona. We talked about that that guy's never gonna get it together. He never seems to play. They never play well. They were done a long time ago, too. I'll tell you my surprise of the team that's really folded up. Actually, there are two. One's actually doing well and one's doing kind of well, but I don't think they have it. And the one is, and it goes to is the biggest surprise to me. The biggest surprise.

SPEAKER_04: 20:28

And that's Baltimore.

SPEAKER_02: 20:31

They go as their quarterback goes, and he got hurt again this week. I know, but he he just he's not he's not really saying the right things.

SPEAKER_05: 20:40

He's not really, you know. The coach or the quarterback? The quarterback.

SPEAKER_03: 20:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 20:45

Listen, I'll never say anything. Listen, do I think the coach is a little out of step at what's going on there? I do think that. Do I know do I think he's one of the best coaches in the league? I think that too. I think any team would take him. Do I think situations finally get to themselves? Does it always happen that you're not, you become out of step with your team and you need a clean slate? Yeah, it does happen. But I'm not saying that's what happened here. I think I think the quarterback has really just lost his focus. And I think there's other places in the league where that's happened.

SPEAKER_02: 21:23

Yeah. But I think there has been. He did get a huge contract, so that that might be part of it. I don't know.

SPEAKER_05: 21:30

It's like, did you see the interview with Tony Dungey? No, I did not. So he had a pre-interview. He didn't even take his helmet off. And he like whispered to him, this is Tony Dungey. Tony Dungey's trying to get to John Madden status in in as as interviewers out there and stuff. I mean, Tony Dungey, who won took a team and won a Super Bowl himself, right? Yep. Who left the team to John Gruning to win one, too, right?

SPEAKER_02: 22:07

Or no, that was Tony Dungey won in Indianapolis.

SPEAKER_05: 22:11

Yeah, but then he went to Tampa Bay and was built on that team, right?

SPEAKER_02: 22:15

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 22:16

So here's a guy, here's here's a guy, and he he's known as like the statesman, the almost the religious guy, the high road. Truth is everything. Sports are important, but who you are as a man is more important. And here comes this guy, he's talking to him with his helmet on. I don't know. There's something wrong there. There's something wrong there.

SPEAKER_02: 22:41

He's got a lack of something.

SPEAKER_05: 22:43

We all get hurt, right? We get hurt in life. We get hurt in football. Things happen. It's how you deal with it that makes you as a man and as a player. And you need to do that. Sure. And there's something going on there.

SPEAKER_02: 22:58

I think the coach is gonna have to figure that out because now that they've got him under contract long term, that's a huge contract. I don't know that you see something like that coming. They went all in. Right.

SPEAKER_05: 23:15

I think you say to yourself, I hope it's not coming. But as Jim said last week, you know, they're great players, but those guys that run, they can't run forever. They get the big contracts when they turn 30. It is words. I was thinking about it all week. They get those big contracts when they turn 30, and then what happens?

SPEAKER_02: 23:33

Yeah, I mean, so Lamar's what, 28? And he's already, you know, he's had some injuries here, obviously, with a quarterback of that talent. He uses his legs a lot. That's what makes him exciting. It's what has given him the ability to have success in this league. They, you know, this year is pretty much a wash for them. I don't know that if he was 100% healthy, things would be much different, but because their defense is just not good. And maybe there's some internal strife in the organization, or maybe there's something going on that is lingering mentally for them, and they're just, you know, not able to put it together, and he's not able to be himself. Incredible talent, you hate to see anything, you know, happen to him going down that road if it's if it's just a lack of focus or he doesn't want to play football or whatever. I'm not saying it is, you know, because they were talking about that last week with Joe Burrow. Ironically, two quarterbacks in the same division.

SPEAKER_05: 24:41

But for the for the I think, you know, Jeff asks, do you think Harbaugh's run? This is what we're beating around the bush at, and he's being direct about it. Do you think Harbaugh's run is coarse there or does he need to move on? I think the easy answer to that question, I'll let you finish. The easier answer to that question is to say yes, he needs to move on. But the second part of the question you can't answer. Who the hell are you gonna get to play to stand in there? Who's better than Harbaugh to be caught to be now? You may need to sit back and think about, you know, the his changing team and to face things differently, but who's gonna be better at it than him? Who are you getting? Who are you getting? Some young kid that you don't even know? Well, you know what? We know there's a lot of little kids out there that are doing real well. But we also know there's a lot of young kids out there that fell on their face. Yeah. Right? So anything, but I'll let you finish. I'm sorry to interrupt you. I just wanted to get his question.

SPEAKER_02: 25:41

To replace Harbaugh, you know, it's it's hard. I mean, he's a legend. He's he's won a Super Bowl. I don't know that you can just say at this point, because to me, he's married to Lamar Jackson, right? I think that was probably why it took so long to negotiate the contract, because I think the team realized, well, if we don't sign Lamar long term, do we have to go get another coach? And the coach wanted him. If the coach didn't want him, they would have let him sign somewhere else. And they did give him a lot of money. Whether or not he sells, you know, jerseys or enough jerseys or whatever, that's that's not what factors there, right? This is a football player that the coach changed his entire philosophy for because they moved up in the draft to get him. And it's hard to fathom that he was the fifth quarterback taken in that draft with all that talent. And they basically ran to the podium to get him. So they're locked in together. Now, does that mean that, you know, Harbaugh's not the right guy after all this time coaching him? Maybe. Maybe he needs to go back to, you know, a more grounded pound offense with a pocket passer and build his defense, but that's not gonna happen here right now because they're locked into this contract. So, yes, could you could you justify firing him or moving on and getting a new coach to come in here and fix quote unquote Lamar? Okay, sure. But like you said, who's it gonna be? And it's gonna be a line of teams ready to hire Jim Hardwell.

SPEAKER_05: 27:25

Oh my God. And it and it you look at it this way. It's gotta be, I think the real answer is you maybe need a different offensive coordinator or a different quarterback's coach, somebody that you can work with Lamar a little bit better to get him back into the mindset he needs to be in to play like he's gonna play. I think that Harbaugh is a very good coach. And he's a great coach. I mean, he's already won a Super Bowl, right? So, I mean, but that team he played with had an amazing, the greatest defense probably we ever saw. You talk about the 85 Bears, but you know, it's a toss-up to me between those two defenses.

SPEAKER_02: 28:10

Well, that he wasn't there for the 2000 Ravens defense, but that they still had Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, and that was an incredible defense in 2009, I think that was.

SPEAKER_04: 28:19

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 28:20

Um, was it 2000? Was that that long ago? 2011? It was wow, that was a long while ago. Um I'm gonna look that up because that's I don't think I'm right.

SPEAKER_05: 28:30

But I don't think you're right either. So let's look at that too. So in the meantime, I'll I'll just say a little about this. So we'll come back to the Ravens in a minute. The other team talk about total destruction is Miami. They have every player is unhappy. The coach is talking in parables. He's such a weird dude. Don't know what's going on there. And you gotta say this. I feel bad to her. His contract's upright, he's got a year left, or it's or it's totally up. I don't know which one it is. I don't think anybody's giving him a contract.

SPEAKER_02: 29:14

I I from the bottom of my heart hope he does not get a contract because I fear for his life. I agree with you. That's exactly the way I feel about it. I know that, you know, I the athlete in me disagrees with that. What little athletic ability I had, because you want to go out and and fight and play and win, and it's what you do and it's what you love. But he's got to come to the realization that it's time to hang it up just for his health alone. It doesn't mean I don't think that he can get better and maybe play one day and lead a team to victory, but you know, there's a lot of stacked against him, and I know that that's part of what makes him who he is, is people telling him no, and he fights through it and all that. But, you know, you don't want to see the young man, you know, get hurt. And considering how bad it looked on the field when he got hurt the last couple times, it's it and it was mind-boggling to me that they allowed him to go out there because as a coach, you know, that's a that's a different injury than than something that's you know.

SPEAKER_05: 30:24

So here's basically hurting. Here's his contract. I don't feel bad for him at all. He risked his life. He's gotta walk away. Yeah. He had a four-year,$212 million contract extension with Miami in 24, averaging$53 million annually, which a hundred and sixty-seven million guaranteed through 200 through uh 2028. That's incredible. So let's be honest. Let's hope he saved his money because he shouldn't be he shouldn't be playing. I mean, 2026 he gets 54 million fully guaranteed with an option bonus uh through March of 26 plus 3 million in in uh of 2027 salary totaling 57 million if he's on the roster.

unknown: 31:27

Wow.

SPEAKER_05: 31:29

Um and I bet she's not. So um pre-Jree June 1st release of uh 2026, it would cost the Dolphins 99 million in dead cap. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_02: 31:50

So they're gonna they're gonna roll him out there. They're just gonna keep rolling them out there.

SPEAKER_05: 31:53

I don't think they are. I think they're gonna bench him.

SPEAKER_02: 31:56

Huh. I'll be the backup.

SPEAKER_05: 31:58

I think I think they have to bench him. I said because if they roll him out there, he's gonna try to make him, he's gonna try to go get a new contract, and he's gonna get killed.

SPEAKER_02: 32:07

Yeah. I mean when I see they have I they have to move on. This era is for them is it's not working. And I, you know, nobody is gonna hire him.

SPEAKER_05: 32:22

No. All like all of us, we don't watch the games because we think he's gonna get killed.

SPEAKER_02: 32:33

Well, I certainly don't want to see it. When he plays, I cringe because he after seeing him collapse the last time, I just was like, this guy's gotta give it up. You know, you gotta, I mean, no one is going to question your toughness. It was like two weeks in a row, right? Yeah, and then and you know, you have to question your your your mental state at that point. Not not the injury, just are you smart enough to to look. If Jim Brown could walk away at 29, uh it shouldn't be too hard for Tua to walk away and take his money and go elsewhere. Because I'm sure you can get a job coaching or mentoring or you know, whatever it is he wants to do. This is not worth it, you know, in my in my opinion. But for his own sake, maybe the organization does need to step in and just say he's going on the bench and that's that, and move on and find another coach and another quarterback, and it is what it is. Right. You know, Ravens won the Super Bowl in 2013, by the way.

SPEAKER_05: 33:28

I was I was wrong. And when was Harbaugh there?

SPEAKER_02: 33:32

He was there for that. It was uh puts together his name in 2000. Was Bill uh like well, I can't I remember his name. That's right.

SPEAKER_05: 33:44

First coach, but yeah, so it was Harbaugh. Jeff just said he's surprised that the NFL doesn't step in and say he can't can't play and a lot 'cause because the liability for them is too high. He's absolutely right, Jeff. I mean, the NFL should say to themselves, if we don't stop this kid, he's gonna kill himself. And don't think they're not in the ear of the owner saying, just let it run its course, just let him go. And and everybody don't hire him, you know.

SPEAKER_02: 34:13

I yeah, I I mean I I agree. I I um just tell it. It's weird, right? The NFL always avoids anything concussion related. So if they step in and and and say that he has to like I don't think they can say it publicly.

SPEAKER_05: 34:31

Absolutely not. They do what they always do. It's uh a hint in the law we say nod nod wink wink. Right? So everybody knows what they're gonna do. Not nod, wink, wink, okay. I'm not gonna say anything, you're not gonna say anything, you're gonna say what you're supposed to say, and everybody walks away happy. Right? And that's the exact should and and in this case, believe me, they're gonna tell the doctors, listen, you can clear him. But just be no, if he if he if he doesn't clear, if he clears and he goes and plays and he gets hurt, it's gonna be on you.

SPEAKER_02: 35:10

Yeah, I mean that's And that'll be it. That'll be a big can't work. Yeah, no doctor will certify him. Yeah. Hey, you'll never get a job in this league again.

SPEAKER_04: 35:20

Exactly. Um exactly.

SPEAKER_02: 35:24

Yeah, they've they've got to move on. They've got to find a way. The league needs them to move on too, because it's just an ugly situation. And this is something the league, not the concussion part of it, but this is something the league created with you know how the how they've changed the rules and built these teams and made things. Look, a guy like Tua 20 years ago, 25 years ago, he's not getting drafted to play quarterback in the NFL. Kyler Murray, right? All the only guy, what was it? Drew Brees was 6'2, 6'3, whatever. Brady talked about it on that show last week about how the size and height of these quarterbacks matter because they need to be able to see over the offensive line and their release point has to be high enough for them to complete these passes over the middle. Can he make sideline throws? Of course. But then when your whole offense is based or predicated off him throwing the ball outside the tackles and either he can't go downfield or he can't go over the middle, that's that's a third of your offensive passing game plan that is non-existent. And you you're not gonna fool defenses that know that. So, you know, you see it, you know. I never want to say anybody doesn't have the ability based on their physical whatever, but this is the NFL, and you expect to see quarterbacks that are tall. And it used to be they would draft somebody, you know, six foot ten, six foot six. He's huge and has a big arm. We'll work with that. Well, he was too slow, or he couldn't release the ball, or whatever. You know, there's there's other factors, but you know, this is something that the league has to has to look at, teams have to look at, and you know, offensive linemen aren't getting smaller, they're getting bigger.

SPEAKER_05: 37:10

Yeah, and uh um you know the other thing is is this, and and actually there's another Jeff just brought this point up too. Yeah, Mooney Ward is in the same boat, he's got three concussions less than in less than four months.

SPEAKER_04: 37:29

This is who?

SPEAKER_05: 37:30

Mooney Ward?

SPEAKER_04: 37:33

He's uh one of the fill-in quarterbacks or whatever for who does he play for, Jeff. Is he talking about Cam Ward? Maybe he is Colts. That's the backup quarterback. Oh, uh oh.

SPEAKER_05: 37:59

Um right, because because Daniel Jones is out. Daniel Jones is out. And let's not let's not forget there has been some vicious over the last couple of weeks, if not one week, helmet the helmet hits. I uh and and I have to say You know how I feel about that. Right? And I have I have to say again that players need to get suspended for helmet to helmet at least one game. Automatic and fine too. But automatic one game. They come out of the game where they are, and then one other game. If it happens in the end of the game, you still get the extra game, but you see these hints. I disagree. Well, they need to you listen. I understand what you mean, but I helmet to helmet hits on quarterbacks and things. Listen, we know when it's meant to be a helmet to helmet, and we know it's like pornography, what the Supreme Court justice said. We know it when we see it. I can't tell you what it is, but we know when we see it. You know the problem. Yeah, but you know it's subjective through these referees. Oh, well, the referees suck, but that's another story. But we need the so we can't just let it go on. Somebody's got to be out there saying, well, the guy, the the offensive tackle knocked him into him and he hit him in the helmet. That's a different story. I'm talking about, and it was on um one of the quarterbacks, I forget which one it was, this guy came wailing in, put his head down, and hit him in the helmet, and knocked him out of the game.

SPEAKER_02: 39:39

I don't know that it's any different than putting your head down and knocking him in the spine when you when you have the quarterback dead to rights and you you're going for that sack. It this is football. And I I that is gonna be something that you know, you see it in college football where the rule is pretty clear-cut, and when the ref blow it, you have to be like, what were you looking at? That's targeting, right? Like they made it pretty clear cut, but I don't want to see that in the NFL. I just think that, you know, this is big boy football, and I understand you want to protect the players, especially the quarterbacks. And yes, you, you know, you you know when it's when you see it, but there's something unnatural to the game. Look at the the rules about tackling already, right? These guys jumping out of the way because they don't want to get fined, or the not dragging the player down from behind. Like you're creating something that's just you're begging for that rule to be broken and it's unnatural to the game. And by forcing that in on these players, you could say, Justin, they have to adjust their their how they're approaching this. But if it's unnatural, I mean, you know, they could get hurt. Something else could happen. So I I don't know that they're good. And the other part of this is offensive and defensive linemen are helmet to helmet on every single play. So maybe that's the foray into eliminating the tush push. I don't know. But how do you protect quarterbacks? But then your offensive linemen who are, you know, if we want to go down that road talking about concussions and CTE and all that, they're the ones that suffer the most in the long run. So, you know, they're in a car crash on every play. I I don't know how you eliminate that from the game other than taking the pads off and taking the helmets off, because if you took the helmets off, they wouldn't do it. So maybe they need to go back to leather straps and take these plastic hard pads off. Oh, please come up. Please, please.

SPEAKER_05: 41:40

You think when they wore leather straps, they didn't hit each other like maniacs then? They haven't truly did.

SPEAKER_02: 41:45

I read about Teddy Roosevelt and all the stuff that happened at the same time.

SPEAKER_05: 41:49

So anyway, so anyway, I what I'm talking about is targeting. And it's definitely targeting. It's when you're out there and you had the you take a receiver, you're running full speed across, and you take a shot at his head. Right at his head. That's horrible. Listen, and it happens by accident. No question, it happens by accident. But a lot of times it happens not by accident.

SPEAKER_02: 42:11

That's that's the biggest problem. Is you're gonna have we already think the refs are cooking as it is, especially after that Titans game. But imagine that being a play that decides, you know, a Super Bowl or a playoff game or whether or not a team wins a division. It's just I think you're asking for more. Now, unless the rule is clear-cut, like it is in in college football, then maybe, but currently I'm I'm just not a fan of seeing that in the NFL. I understand the logic, though.

SPEAKER_05: 42:40

Thank you. So, and the other team that would be on my list that I think is in total disarray with just an amazing team because they have great players, is Philadelphia.

SPEAKER_02: 42:53

We've been talking about that all year.

SPEAKER_05: 42:54

They just don't look like I don't know what to say about them. I think when they play, when push comes to shove in your playoffs, listen, we've seen every tomb. We've seen Chicago lose games. We've seen Houston lose games, Texas, whatever. We've seen the Rams lose games. We've seen New England lose games. We've seen every team lose games that we haven't got by. We've seen Denver lose games. And we haven't, you'd be surprised that they lose certain games. But Philadelphia. I think when you're in a playoff game and you know you have to win and your game plan isn't totally about the team that's right in front of you. I don't think they're gonna win.

SPEAKER_02: 43:44

I'm I'll he didn't want to say it last week, but you could kind of hear it in Jim's voice. We touched on it. Oh yeah. It's coaching. It's the coach. It absolutely is 100% the coach. I agree. And I think there's probably some Super Bowl hangover lingering in that locker room amongst the players. You know, I know they went and got Brandon Graham to come back out of retirement to kind of straighten out what was going on on the defense and mentor these younger players because they don't have their act together. But that's coaching. If you can't coach that into these guys, if they're uncoachable, you have to be able to be strong enough to set an example somewhere, whether it's benching a guy, trading a guy. But how can you expect the players on the field to be responsible for their actions and act like professionals and play like professionals when the head coach is an absolute clown? So it starts with the coach. It's that simple.

SPEAKER_05: 44:50

I agree. And and I I don't think he's gonna be able to keep it together. They're gonna have a bad playoff loss, and he's the the hinges are gonna cut him off, and he's gonna be on that Monday after the Super Bowl or whatever, where everybody gets fired. Guess what?

SPEAKER_02: 45:08

Black Monday. Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised to see him sent and packing. I'm wary of their play calling. Just can't figure out if they're sandbagging us, but I don't think they are. So here's the Saquon has been noticeably quiet. He's usually, and I don't mean like a diva outspoken and saying things. He's just been relatively quiet this season. You're not really hearing any sound bites from him, and he says all the right things when they ask him if he's frustrated or not getting enough carries or whatever. But there's just something wrong there. But here it is. I think it's that coach.

SPEAKER_05: 45:48

Saquon doesn't say anything for two reasons. He came there, what happened? They gave him the money, and they gave him the ring. Am I gonna complain now that we're having a hard time? You gave me the money?

SPEAKER_02: 46:03

He's not one to complain. I don't know that he's ever been complaining.

SPEAKER_05: 46:05

I had the best year of all any any running back in the history of the game.

SPEAKER_03: 46:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 46:10

I just think maybe we all expected Tim to have a another terrific campaign this year. And who knows? Maybe he blows up in the playoffs. Uh, who knows? And I think he thought so too. Yeah. I know that they're, you know, offensive line issues, but it's not like they're they forgot how to play. It's it's the play calling makes me scratch my head sometimes. Sometimes.

SPEAKER_05: 46:34

So speaking about that and going back to the um um Ethan said that Saquon has the Madden curse. I never really thought of that. Ethan, that's a good idea. Um, it always happens, but it just it isn't like he's playing bad. I don't think they give him the ball. So that's a little bit different. But you know, I want to go back to something that we didn't cover with with Baltimore, and that's what happened to the running back at the end of the game. Why did they bench? I mean, it's like the mystery of mysteries. Nonexistent. I don't I don't get it. They pulled, they sat him down, they pulled him out. Was he hurt? No, no one said he was hurt. They said he was resting him or something. That's the time you rest him. That's absurd. I know. There's something there. Something happened. No one seems to know. I don't know what to say. By the way, everybody, I really appreciate Ethan and Jeff and others that are all making comments and asking questions. We really love that. It helps guide the conversation. So please do. You can also go to our website, uh, it's stephenjustin.com, and you could go put your address and your email address, and we'll still we're gonna start sending out emails, you know, starting after the football season and things, and and we'll get on our mailing list, and I appreciate it. So thank you. Yeah. I mean, that's what to say. I mean, uh, I I am I know we could go over the stores or whatever and all that stuff, but it seems that there's bigger stories here than just winning and losing.

SPEAKER_00: 48:22

Oh, for sure. I mean, if we want to dig.

SPEAKER_05: 48:25

Um yeah, if you want to dig, right. So I'm gonna where is this thing? Laughing dumb joke. All right, here's the playoff picture, so let's take a look at it. So the AFC, here's the big thing for me. You know, Denver's in first right now, and they're gonna get the buy. Imagine here's your choice. New England, you know, they could have gotten the bye too. They I don't I don't know if it's sold up yet. I I I think it it may be, but um their first game, they're gonna have to play Houston. That defense is ridiculous. Is that what you want to do?

SPEAKER_02: 49:17

If you New England, uh New England, I don't think they're afraid to play anybody. I know that defense is tremendous, and that is definitely a defense that's built to to go far in the playoffs.

SPEAKER_04: 49:32

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 49:34

But offensively, I don't know that they're, you know, they they haven't really put it together yet. And I think New England can beat them. Um you know, we don't really know who New England is. I mean, we know that I mean they're 12-3, but they're not, this is not a battle-tested three, four-year division-winning perennial team. This is this is brand new. Um I'm I'm assuming they're gonna have staying power, especially in that division. Um their three losses kind of make you scratch your head. Think, well, are they, is that who they really are? Is it I their quarterback's playing really well. He's played well all season. There was talk of him at one point, you know, having MVP votes and playing like an MVP.

SPEAKER_04: 50:25

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 50:26

I think they're, you know, they're gonna be prepared like we always talk about. Um, you know, they'll have a plan B if things start to go south. Uh, they have a running back that's you know built for cold weather, and you know, they can run the football. There's two running backs, really. They can they'll be able to run the football. They they do everything that we we talk about when it comes to having success in the in the playoffs. And the Texans, you know, CJ Stroud leaves you kind of he hasn't he's not there yet. He's he's got all the talent, he's got the arm strength. Um I love Nico Collins on the outside. You know, I don't think they have the running backs that that um New England has, but New England has been susceptible to you know giving up big plays on the ground. So, you know, is it who you want to play based on their defense? Probably not. I I I on the other four teams, if I had to play somebody, I think maybe the only other team I wouldn't want to play is Jacksonville.

SPEAKER_05: 51:40

You know, Buffalo has their moments too. I mean, Buffalo's beatable. You know, the you know, I I think they're all beatable, to be honest. If I had to pick somebody that that's the toughest play here, I I still think it's Denver. But New England's pretty close. Um out of the AFC, is New England's pretty close. I mean, listen, Buffalo's like like a like a hockey team. You know, the goalie's gonna stand on his head, you're gonna win the game. If if if Alan stands on his head and plays one of those games where he's running and doing, you know, anything's possible.

SPEAKER_02: 52:21

Well, that's just it for Buffalo, right? He has to do that for them to win. There's no there's no plan B. I mean, I know they have a good running back, and it's an amazing week.

SPEAKER_05: 52:32

The last Super Bowl that Kansas City won, you could say that thing was true too. You had to have the quarterback in Kansas City stand on his head. You had to have Mahomes do that for them to win. They won all year like that and were able to get in.

SPEAKER_02: 52:48

Buffalo is is they can't find themselves in the position where they have to have him standing on his head to win these games. But he's he's incredible. He he may can make plays where other guys can't because of his size and his speed.

unknown: 53:04

Right?

SPEAKER_02: 53:04

But they don't outside outside of him and the running back, they have three tight ends on that team that are are more valuable than their than their wide receivers. Their wide receivers are almost virtually non-existent every week. They have talent, but they're just you know, they don't throw the ball the way you would expect them to throw the ball.

SPEAKER_05: 53:22

I I think, you know, the best teams are you know, Denver number one, I think Jacksonville number two. I I think they're very close to New England as a number two, three. Um Buffalo next. I I think I think the Chargers can beat most people too on any given day. I really do. Um I think they're well coached, I think they got a lot of heart. I mean, Pittsburgh, I don't I don't believe they're making the playoffs, but they are. But who knows the last couple of games.

SPEAKER_02: 53:56

I mean Pittsburgh is just fool's goals. I I they're playing in a they're playing in a division that isn't very good, as far as I'm concerned. There isn't one defense in that in that division that's worth its salt. Pittsburgh gives up a lot of plays on the ground. For a Pittsburgh defense, they're not, you know, they're not a traditional Pittsburgh defense. The quarterback is old. I know he can still play, and they look like world beaters, but who did they beat? I that that impresses you, right? So I don't I don't see that can they beat Los Angeles? Sure. Can Los Angeles beat them? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05: 54:40

You know, so we'll see. So look at the NFC for a minute. So Seattle after that win the other night puts himself in the first seed.

SPEAKER_02: 54:52

That was the most significant Thursday night game of all time. It was an incredible. I mean, uh Los Angeles went from the one seed and the division or conference champion, that's top seed, to the five seed.

SPEAKER_04: 55:13

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 55:14

Um, that's an incredible drop. Um, and now at at five, they're gonna have to go on the road again. I mean, they're they're they're battle tested, they've been on the road all year. They played in in in uh Germany or London or whatever, right? They stayed on the East Coast before their trip. They came back, they went back to uh who do they play down down south? They played somebody back again. They they've been traveling all year. I don't think they're tired. I don't think they're hurt. I know Devontae Adams is out, and that's a huge loss for that offense, but Nakula is still incredible, and you have probably the best quarterback in the league in Matthew Stafford, who just his numbers are incredible, all things considered. Um but I my my biggest question for the Rams would be how consistent their defense is. Um and they're gonna have to go on the road to Carolina, and I know Carolina's only what, what are they, a 500 team? That division is not really great. Um they have a tremendous run game for all you know intents and purposes. The Rams should win that game. But what an incredible loss. And the way they lost. I mean, everything's going your way, and you think, you know, you win this game and you can kind of coast the last two weeks of the season. Not that you, you know, you don't play to win, but you have an incredible leg up because Seattle couldn't afford to lose that game because they didn't, they don't have the tiebreaker if they lose that game.

SPEAKER_05: 56:50

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 56:50

And that's why they went for two, right? There was no, so I just an incredible chess match that night to finish that game, they go for two because if they tie, they don't have the tiebreaker. And I don't know if they mentioned that on the broadcast or not, but I was certainly at the bar, everybody's like, oh, they gotta, they can't go. I'm like, you gotta go for two. You you play to win the game. You go for two here. This is what you want. If you don't, if you're not prepared for this moment, forget about whether or not I'm rooting for the Rams or I think that they should, whatever. If you're Seattle, you have to go for two here because that's your season. And this is your chance to lock up not only the division, but the conference and have a home field advantage throughout. You have to go for two. And everybody at the bar except one guy disagreed. And afterwards, like, oh yeah, I guess that was the right call. It's the right call whether they make it or not. Right. Right? They go from being the one seed in the first round bye and home field throughout to either a fifth or sixth seed or whatever. I guess they would have been the fifth seed based on the city.

SPEAKER_05: 57:55

It's not like you're gonna run out of time anyway, and you were gonna end up being a tie. So you're only risk you're risking a half a game, is what you're risking.

SPEAKER_02: 58:05

And that's my point about overtime. Right. Right? Like, if if there's no overtime in the regular season, you go for two at the end of regulation to win the game. Why go why take your chances in overtime? That's why I just I'm not a fan of overtime, but that's exactly how it would play out. Go for two, get the win.

SPEAKER_05: 58:31

So I and when I look at the tough teams in the NFC, I look at Seattle. Obviously, they're you know, battle tested now. I look at Chicago and the and the Rams. I think the Rams are undervalued because they've they've lost some tight games. Um but I I think those are the three teams that I would really say um Seattle, the Rams, and who else? Chicago.

SPEAKER_02: 59:04

Yeah, I I still think Chicago's gonna be playing whoever it is in the in the championship game.

SPEAKER_05: 59:10

I mean, I'm not believing right. I believe in the Chicago and uh who how could you believe in Green Bay?

SPEAKER_02: 59:16

Uh kind of ironic though that they're gonna play Green Bay again. That'll be the third time they play each other this year. And that is that is some matchup because they hate each other.

SPEAKER_05: 59:27

I think what's gonna happen is you know, Chicago's gonna have the game, the game to their career. They're gonna step up to that next level, put all this on the line, and they're gonna be a force to be reckoned with. And I'll be shocked if anybody can beat them besides LA.

SPEAKER_02: 59:44

The Bears.

SPEAKER_05: 59:46

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02: 59:47

Yeah, I I don't I just don't trust the Bears defense.

SPEAKER_05: 59:50

I I Yeah, it's got some weak points. What's that? It's got some weak points.

SPEAKER_02: 59:57

Yeah, they give up a lot of a lot of yards on. The ground. They're very they haven't played. They've been in some games this year where they're just incredible shootouts. Um, I mean, they were down by two touchdowns to the Giants, weren't they? So their offense is clicking. I just think that'll be eventually that'll that'll be what bites them in the rear end in the playoffs. And where it's gonna come from, I don't know. If they win, I I think they will beat Green Bay. Um and then they'll end up playing. Did they reseed? I don't I don't remember if they reseed. Do they reseed? I don't think it'll matter.

SPEAKER_05: 1:00:34

But so I mean you know, I I I think that's what I think. I I don't know. Tonight who's what? San Francisco and who tonight?

SPEAKER_04: 1:00:46

Uh forgot all about Monday Night Football.

SPEAKER_05: 1:00:54

Uh Colts. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 1:00:57

So that's why I didn't remember because Boy, I'll tell you, when we were talking week eight, and I said that I think the second half of the season is gonna be very different from the first half. I did not have the Colts missing the playoffs on my bingo card. Me either. That's it's incredible what happened to that team. Um it's really unfortunate because it would have been nice to see uh Daniel Jones in a playoff game. Uh, unfortunately, that didn't work out for them.

SPEAKER_05: 1:01:29

So listen, 1990 doesn't come around that often where the Giants lose their starting quarterback and and Jeff Housteller takes them to the Super Bowl. I mean, that doesn't happen.

SPEAKER_02: 1:01:40

Well that's it it's not gonna happen because teams don't have the ability to cultivate quarterbacks as it is, and at the same time have two capable quarterbacks on the roster. It's just it's not today's football.

SPEAKER_05: 1:01:54

And don't forget, in in my humble opinion, and I watched a lot of them. I mean, Phil Sims really played above his pay grade, like other players too. Like you never thought he had the talent and ability to win like he did, and he did. He played tough. And Ha Siddler came in and stepped up, and he went other places, he didn't succeed. He needed that rest of that amazing team they had.

SPEAKER_03: 1:02:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 1:02:18

I mean, that was some team, and even in 90. You still have to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_02: 1:02:21

Well he went to uh he went to the Raiders and became a gunslinger because that's what Al Davis wanted. And he thought he could catch lightning in a bottle. So his playoff picture is this is a this is a tough, tough playoff to decide, for sure.

SPEAKER_05: 1:02:36

I mean, I mean there's still still teams in the hunt, and there may be some changes, but you know, that's basically where we're at at the minute. Um I could kill this. We don't have to keep looking at this.

SPEAKER_02: 1:02:50

I would love to see Jacksonville get to the playoffs. I mean get to the Super Bowl. That would be something. So just one more team that'll go to the Super Bowl before the Jets sniff the playoffs.

SPEAKER_05: 1:03:02

Yeah. What else? What else do we what else didn't we cover?

SPEAKER_02: 1:03:07

The Mets made another trade if you want to go back to our word of the day, baseball.

SPEAKER_05: 1:03:10

Word of the day, baseball. Where is that?

SPEAKER_02: 1:03:15

Uh I traded Jeff McMeal for for a bag of rocks and some uh some some salt for the driveway.

SPEAKER_01: 1:03:23

Uh they got uh baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball.

SPEAKER_05: 1:03:37

So now now that's great. We're talking about baseball.

SPEAKER_02: 1:03:44

They traded McNeil. Obviously, they they have something that they're they're they got their core players, they're all gone. Nimmo, Pete Alonzo, McNeil, all life Mets. They're all gone.

SPEAKER_05: 1:03:57

Look at it this way. The owner of the team is a businessman. He wanted to get the casino. That was why he bought the team. It was a lily pad that as a frog as he is, he could jump to the next lily pad. So he bought the team, spent the money, put players in there. They weren't that competitive, but at least built the team, gave the image that, you know, he was going to risk everything to try to build that team, much to everyone's dismay, the other owners. What does he do? As soon as he gets the contract to build the casino, he sells off the team. I need money to do all the stuff now. And, you know, you know what it costs to build a casino. It costs a fortune.

SPEAKER_02: 1:04:50

That would be an absolute nightmare for the Mets fan base if it plays out that way. If he sells the team.

SPEAKER_05: 1:05:01

I don't know if he sells it. I don't know if he can sell it. I think it'll keep maybe it'll sell half of it or a third of it.

SPEAKER_02: 1:05:08

You know, I mean I know that they're, you know, they're talking about them moving on with younger players like Beatty and Francisco Alvarez. Francisco. And I saw a report last week that they stole or are in the process of taking one of the Yankees shortstop prospects away from them. I guess this kid, uh Wandy. I don't know how to say his last name. Whatever. Azajin opted out of his contract with the Yankees and is importantly will sign with the Mets. It's just a prospect, but they're clearly looking to get younger, but it would that come spending less money right now? And some say that that is the Soto effect with this kid jumping ship from the Yankees to the Mets. Who knows? You know, they lost their closer, they lost their probably best franchise player, one top three franchise player ever in Alonzo. I mean, they just let him sign somewhere else. They didn't even make him an offer, which is just I it's egregious. This guy's got the third most home runs in baseball since since he came into the league. So I I question what's happening there. If you're a Met fan, you can't possibly be drinking the orange Kool-Aid right now and thinking that this is this is anything good. It just doesn't look good.

SPEAKER_05: 1:06:35

I don't know what to say.

SPEAKER_02: 1:06:37

And the and the Dodgers, again, getting everything and anything they want. They signed the best closer in baseball. And it looks very much like this is all I don't want to use the C-word, but it seems like these teams are preparing themselves for a work stoppage and they're doing everything they can to give themselves the most leverage so that they don't get hurt if they do have a roster. Like, what do the Dodgers care? They already won two back-to-back World Series. So if there's a work stoppage next year, or whenever it's they're talking about work stoppage 2027, what do they care, right? They made their money, they got their championships. If they have to pay payroll, whatever, it's not gonna hurt them. They clearly don't care about the luxury tax. So, you know, when you hear someone like, when you when you hear the Yankees owner say, We need a salary cap, you know there's a problem. It's it's a different era, it's a different league, change is coming, whatever you want to say. But it it this all looks like it's orchestrated and the Mets and Major League Baseball, someone should be looking at this, an outside entity. Major League Baseball knew that this guy wanted the casino. There was uh talk about how they weren't gonna let him buy a team in Major League Baseball. They weren't gonna let him buy the Mets because the guy is a criminal and he had a checkered past in terms of his, you know, fortune. I don't ever begrudge anybody their money, but when you, you know, ill gotten gains is ill gotten gains.

SPEAKER_04: 1:08:13

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 1:08:13

And uh, you know, a lot of people said that would be bad for baseball, and I think they thought it was gonna go the other way, that he was gonna spend, spend, spend. And basically, Major League Baseball is like, all right, we'll give you your casino. And I'm going to assume that they're gonna share in some revenue from that. Otherwise, they wouldn't have let this happen. That's what it looks like to me anyway.

SPEAKER_04: 1:08:37

So I don't think they will.

SPEAKER_02: 1:08:41

Yeah, well, I mean, you he he joined a criminal organization. They're gonna they're gonna they're in it together.

SPEAKER_05: 1:08:46

So all I can say is what I say all the time. And that is look at the commissioner. You expect anybody to straighten out what's going on there? Look at the commissioner. Zero chance. Negative zero. Zero point negative zero. It's no way the commissioner lets everything happen what the owners do. It's horrible. There's not even a uh they don't even fake it. So all right. Well, pretty soon we're gonna have to start talking about b basketball and and hockey a little bit more.

SPEAKER_02: 1:09:29

Yeah, we'll have another guest on it. We're gonna bring in uh Keith Spilett, uh, who's got uh the tyranny of tradition uh website and um he incredible basketball mind. Uh he's part of the American, American Basketball Hall of Fame, not the NBA Hall of Fame. I think it's called the American Basketball Hall of Fame. He's been working with them for a couple years now, so we'll get him in probably after the new year. We'll talk basketball.

SPEAKER_05: 1:10:01

Absolutely. Is there a bye week? Is there a bye week between on a Super Bowl? Well, but I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about football. Is there a bye week before the Super Bowl? Yes or does it go right in? Why don't we why don't we plan him for that week when we're in the bye week? Okay. Like right after, you know, right after and we'll we'll we'll talk. Maybe we'll do uh and then we'll do a Super Bowl show too. Maybe we'll do double banger that week.

SPEAKER_02: 1:10:31

Maybe we should go to the Super Bowl.

SPEAKER_05: 1:10:33

Go ahead. I'll I'll be here when you get back. Where is it this year? I've never been. I've never been either. Well, I almost went in '86. Almost. Everybody in my office, I think it's but me. Oh wow. So I would have been incredible. My friend I worked with. My my friend I worked with's father was a commissioner of the Metallands. So I mean, father-in-law. And and and head of sports and game uh sports and gaming for the state of New Jersey. So yeah. Anyway, I think we about covered it. We got great input. I didn't read some of the stuff that came in, but great input. Big audience that that really, and I thank everybody for talking to us and helping moving the show along. Please like and subscribe. Um, I'm gonna publish, I think, those couple of shorts on YouTube. I think they're they're funny enough. Um we we love doing the show. We're gonna do it all year long. We're I don't know how we find time to do it at the same time every Monday, but we always do. And and there you have it. There it is. Thanks, Justin. It was a pleasure.

SPEAKER_02: 1:11:47

Thank you, and Merry Christmas to you.

SPEAKER_05: 1:11:50

Oh, Merry Christmas to you. Um probably I'll I may see you before then, but yes, I hope to. Um, where is this thing I'm looking for? There it is. All right, see you guys. I appreciate everybody. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_02: 1:12:07

Thanks, everybody.