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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: The NFL Playoff Picture · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

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Hey, everybody, it's Jeff. We wanted to let you know that we
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were recording this podcast episode on Monday, January first, twenty twenty four.
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Happy New Year to you. Hope the New year's treating you well. By
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the time you hear this, some things may have changed here there, but
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we hope you enjoy the show. All right, everybody, Welcome to Opposition
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Territory here at the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly with
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sports podcast show in the world. That's right over ten and a half years
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strong. We got a great opposition Territory show, come on your way this
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week. Normally we would be talking about the Philadelphia Eagles upcoming matchup in Week
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eighteen is against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. However, we're not
1:03
gonna get into that. We know what this Eagles team has been after an
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awful loss against the Arizona Cardinals. Going through this potential matchup when we just
1:15
did it a couple of weeks ago when they faced the Giants, it seems
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to be not the best course of action for us to take here on Opposition
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Territory this week, which is why we have a great guest to talk about
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the upcoming playoff picture in the NFL, what that's gonna look like, some
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storylines that we're going to be following specifically after Week eighteen, and what the
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playoff picture is going to look like in the NFC and the AFC, So
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stick around for it. We have got a great guest, as I mentioned,
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let's get to that discussion right now, and it is great to have
1:46
back on the podcast, coming to us from the Steelers Wire. You can
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catch her on Twitter at a Cohler NFL. We've got Alison Cohler. Allison,
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Happy New Year to you and thanks for jumping on our Opposition Territory pod.
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We happy New Year to you as well, and thank you for having
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me. It's great to be able to talk to you. Yeah, Honestly,
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I've loved our conversations in the past. I wanted to bring you on
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this particular show because, as I mentioned in our intro, usually in our
2:13
Opposition Territory podcast, throughout the NFL season, we preview the Eagles game that's
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going to be coming up. We're not doing that with the New York Giants.
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They just played the Giants two games ago. This Eagles team absolutely stinks.
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They're not going to beat the Giants up in the Meadowlands. They're not
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gonna win that first playoff game. I know this. Yes, I am
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down trodden right now. I am a down trodden fan. You probably understand
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this, you know, with the Steelers nation that you have covered over time.
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But really I wanted to talk about the playoff picture with you because I
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think we have a very interesting perspective, you know, in terms of what
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we're going to be seeing from the NFC and from the AFC. But to
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start us out, you know, since we are a Philadelphia sports podcast year,
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I do have to ask you about the Philadelphia Eagles too, and what
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you have observed with this team as somebody who's kind of like on the outside
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as not somebody maybe as close to it as I am, having done this
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Philly sports podcast for over ten and a half years. I mean, this
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defense of the Philadelphia Eagles is like wet tissue paper at this point in the
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season. They couldn't beat the Arizona Cardinals in Philadelphia. There's there, there's
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overall this sense of just doom and gloom surrounding this team, which you obviously
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can hear in my voice at this point here, what do you think has
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happened with this Eagles team that just thirty days ago we're ten and one.
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Yeah. Well, it's interesting because there's so many parallels I see between the
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twenty twenty Pittsburgh Steelers who started out eleven and oh and then they imploded at
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the end of the season, losing for their last five games. Great point.
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Yeah, we stumbled into the playoffs to lose the US in the wild
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card. So yeah, I think it's just it's pretty amazing because even just
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like the Steelers, you looked at Philly who kept winning and winning, and
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then you wondered how they managed to do it, because it was never really
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when they were winning, it wasn't all that convincing, right, It was
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some of those wins you were like, oh, even Jalen was like,
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there's one game, I don't remember what it was, but right after the
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game he was like, how did we even how did we even do that?
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You know, exactly? They haven't been able to play complete games.
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Yeah, right, yeah, exactly exactly they were. They just were never
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convincing, and I think over the past few weeks we've sort of seen why,
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and it just sort of just been kind of like in their face and
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with the Cardinals, it's like it's they're better than the record states. I
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feel like because and the Steelers witnessed it, you know, back in week
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thirteen, as the Eagles did yesterday. Yeah, and I just sort of
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feel like, you know, that third quarter, you know what I mean?
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It being held scoreless in the third quarter to the Cardinals just just just
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really just hurt. Yes, Absolutely, it's dumbfounding. It was given this
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team is that score, You're like, oh, you're go the Eagles.
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You're just looking at the score and I want maybe not watching the game,
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and you're like, oh my gosh, the Eagles are going to run away
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with this. And then all of a sudden, it's like you blinked and
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it was like, what what has happened? Absolutely absolutely, because you had
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Jalen Hurtz that had a fantastic and absolutely fantastic first half. He completed eleven
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of thirteen passes for one hundred and fourteen yards two touchdowns, had a passer
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rating of one hundred and forty two point eight. Again, that was the
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first half. It's like, what happens here? At this point, we
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obviously have seen a coaching it's coaching malpractice, I believe. And you know,
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it gets to the follow up question with regard to this playoff you know
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picture that we're looking at in Philadelphia. It's like, and I wonder if
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you think this Eagles team, who has already gotten a play off birth,
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you know, if they're going to you know, if they're even gonna get
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out of the wildcard round with the number five seed, be in the fifth
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seed? Like, what are your thoughts when you look at this Eagles team
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heading into the playoffs? Right? Yeah, I mean it's certainly got murkier.
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You know, their path got murkier after after this weekend, didn't it.
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You know, It's like and it's hard to see the Cowboys losing in
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the Commanders, right right. I mean it's so it's likely they're gonna get
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that that fifth seed. But the good news is is they're a really good
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road team this year, five and three on the road. If anything,
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maybe being away from although you know their home record isn't is good too.
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I don't know, maybe just getting out of their you know, familiar territory
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and you know, kind of going on the road. Will you know,
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we'll help them? Yeah? Yeah, hopefully, who knows what will happen.
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We're certainly going to be talking about it here at the PSD podcast show.
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But look, as we're moving along with our discussion here, Alison personally
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like, I think this is one of those NFL seasons where any team can
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really beat anyone on any given Sunday. Of course, we just talked about
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the Cardinals beating the Eagles this past week. I didn't think that was actually
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going to happen, but we see a week after week in this league.
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I think a lot of the talent and teams have certainly like kind of leveled
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itself out to an extent over time. So I'm wondering which are the top
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teams, the top teams, and I'm talking about the number one seed,
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number two seeds thus far in the NFC and AF seed do you think will
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be the most vulnerable in the playoffs here? So number one seed for the
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AFC Ravens, number two at this point the Dolphins, And in the NFC
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number one seed is the forty nine Ers, and the number two seed being
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the Cowboys. So of those four teams, who do you think maybe the
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most vulnerable to check out of town in the playoffs? Right? Yeah,
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definitely, maybe maybe the Dolphins. You know, the Dolphins are counting,
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you know, they're one of those kind of inconsistent teams. The Cowboys,
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man, you know, I want to see the Cowboys, I really do.
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I like the sound of that, because they did have that, you
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know, a couple of weeks after they beat the Eagles, they had that,
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you know, when they lost two in a row. So it's it's
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like they're not, you know, overwhelmingly you know, consistent, and the
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forty nine Ers, you know, forty nine ers are just one of those
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teams and you're just like, wow, you know what I mean, like,
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how do they keep doing what they're doing like week in and week out?
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Yeah, I don't know. I mean I guess that just all depends
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on Rock Perdy. Really. I mean, we already know that the run
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game is sell. You know, Christian McCaffrey can't seem to do anything wrong,
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So maybe just one of those situations where, you know, Rock perty
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maybe it gets to be too much for him. Yeah, you know,
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so you do think it's the forty nine ers that are going to be the
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most vulnerable. Really, wow, I think that's pretty incredible because you're right,
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Rock Party, we have seen inconsistencies from him on on on the offensive
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side of things, and if he just has one of one of those crapper
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type of games, you know, it's gonna have to be on Christian McCaffrey's
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shoulders. And I'm not sure Christian McCaffrey himself is going to be able to
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just completely carry that team a team that does have a good defense. But
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I think that's that's a really interesting notion for sure. But as we're moving
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along here too, I I'm wondering about a sneaky team that we're looking at
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here. You know, as we look at this playoff picture here, I'm
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wondering, do you have your preference on a sneaky team for the NFC and
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the AFC. Who would those sneaky teams be within this playoff structure that we're
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seeing thus far? And why? Yeah? Well, I mean I hate
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to go Steelers. I hate to go Steelers because am I I'm a little
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biased, But you know, you look their past couple of games and it's
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like, wow, you know, where was this team? You know,
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and and you know they seem to be I don't want to say they're hot,
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because it's like, you know, they were so bad. Yes,
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you know what I mean. Like, so to get hot, you don't
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have to do a whole lot more. I mean you do have to do
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a whole lot more. But I don't know. It's it could be one
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of those situations where, you know, if they do make it into the
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playoffs, maybe maybe they could be a sneaky, sneaky make a sneaky run.
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I'm not saying they're gonna like go all the way or go to the
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super Bowl. Wouldn't that be a story? Right? Right? But the
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NFC, man, you know, I just don't know the NFC as much
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as I do the AFC. But man, I don't know, that's kind
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of a tougher, tougher situation there because it's like you look and there's so
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many, so many like you said, there's so many teams right now that
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are just like you just never know, you know, what's what's gonna what
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could happen? Right? I mean, well, I look at the Buccaneers,
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Allison. I look at this team that is currently eight and eight.
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They are still in the hunt as we're recording this, and this sounds absolutely
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ridiculous for me to say this. And seriously, listeners, if you want
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to shoot me off an email Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail dot com and call
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me an idiot for saying this. Feel free, But I have had Baker
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Mayfield on one of my fantasy teams this past year along with Patrick Mahomes,
11:22
and I cannot tell you how many times throughout the course of this season I
11:26
should have started Baker Mayfield over Patrick Mahomes because Baker Mayfield, when he has
11:33
put in a situation this particular season, for the most part, the majority
11:37
of the time, he has been able to get that offense going when they
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need to get going, they've been able to score points. He's been able
11:43
to make plays down the field, specifically with Mike Evans personally, for me,
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I think the Buccaneers could potentially be that sneaky team coming out of the
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NFC. Yeah, yeah, no, I totally agree now that you mentioned
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that. I mean the Buccaneers they had that on a string of I think
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they lost like four in a row there in the middle of the season,
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and that was that was kind of scary. But you know, the loss
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of the Saints was one of those ah you know what I mean, like
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why, you know, such a big game and and and you know,
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the Buccaneers just kind of like fell flat, yes, you know, which
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was disappointing, but you're right though the season said, you know, looking
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you're talking about your fantasy team with with with Baker and uh and Mahomes.
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It's like that's sort of how the whole year is gone. Just in general.
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It's like, you know, you never you never thought you'd like you
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would say that you I should have started Baker Mayfield over Patrick Mahome exactly a
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number of times a number week Shee's are having such a weird year. Yeah,
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you know, absolutely absolutely, Well, yeah, you know you were
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talking about the Pittsburgh Steelers because you know, you cover the Steelers, you're
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close to them, and I and I genuinely thought that the Steelers would be
12:56
a pretty good team this year when we were in our predictions here with my
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co hosts earlier, you know, in August, we're thinking, at least
13:05
I was that the Steelers were going to be pretty good, and I look
13:09
at them as having that unconventional nine and seven record at this point. You
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know, various quarterbacks have been under center throughout the season. There were questions
13:18
about the running back position, who should get the start during certain weeks of
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the season. The number one receiver on the team really wasn't the number one
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receiver on the team necessarily this year, if the Steelers, who are on
13:31
the bubble here, happened to get into the playoffs, how do you think
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they will actually perform given what they have been through throughout this season. Yeah.
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Yeah, lots of adversity, right, so much adversity. And I
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thought the same thing you looked at because you looked at last year and I
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think they finished like I think they won like seven of their last five game,
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five of their last seven games, and they had a really good and
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and Pickett was showing improvement you know as the year went on, which you
14:05
know that's generally how it goes. This year though, you know that second
14:11
year leap that Mike Toman always talks about, he took it, but he
14:13
took it off the bridge. I mean, he's he's regressed. He It's
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frustrating because you look at all the work that apparently he did in the off
14:22
season to improve his footwork, improve his mechanics. He just doesn't. He
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just it's baffling because it seems like he just doesn't. He went from like
14:33
last year, okay, he might be, you know, the future franchise
14:37
quarterback to this year where you're just like, I don't even know if he's
14:41
going to be the number two guy next year. I mean, you know,
14:45
you know, you hope he's going to be, you know, make
14:48
those strides to win that position. But now you look and you see Mason
14:52
Rudolph and you're like, oh my god, what's happening here? But I
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guess to answer your question, I just I feel like I don't think that
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they're gonna go. Like, honestly, I don't want them to go to
15:07
the playoffs. It's sort of a similar situation as last year because I feel
15:11
like if they do go, they're gonna lose in the first round. I
15:15
just don't feel like they're they're complete enough. I do feel like they have
15:20
a better chance with Mason Rudolph than maybe Kenny Kenny Pickett, which is the
15:24
fact that I'm saying that, I'm just like, what that's It's okay.
15:28
I mean I watched a number of games that Kenny Pickett started, and his
15:31
pocket management was horrible. You mentioned his footwork, not seeing the whole field,
15:37
you know, just no real development this year. You use that word
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regression. That's what we saw. And I think if the if the Steelers
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are going to get into this playoff picture, that I don't think Kenny Pickett
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is going to be the answer. I don't think he's the guy. No,
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no, no, no. And it's unfortunate because you know, you
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want to you want to support him, and you even think, well,
16:00
you know, Tomlin made the right decision to start him this week, and
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but you know, they all the fans kept saying, well, they're going
16:08
after his first game, after Mason's first game, they're saying, oh,
16:11
they're going with the hot hand. And I'm like, well, I don't
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know, let's take a step back, because it was one game, right,
16:15
and it was verse. You know, the Bengals defense is kind of
16:18
horrible this year, so you know, to base it, he played well
16:26
enough to win the you know, to win the starting job this week.
16:29
But now it's like, okay, two games in a row over two hundred
16:32
and fifty yards, they scored scored over thirty points for the first time in
16:36
like three seasons. Yeah, you know, it was like, oh,
16:38
you know what I mean to say, that's kind of kind of bad.
16:41
But you're going back to the receivers you were talking about. You know,
16:45
I don't think that they've really had a number one guy since like ab left.
16:48
Yeah right, I mean I don't really think. I think just a
16:51
bunch of just mishmash and whatnot. So it's uh, yeah, trying to
16:56
throw whoever against the wall and see what sticks. Basically, that's what they've
17:00
been trying to be. Yeah, yeah, yeah, And I guess,
17:03
you know, whatever you gotta do. But it's just it's unfortunate that.
17:07
Yeah, I mean a lot of people, I think a lot of people
17:10
did think that they were going to be a much improved team, you know,
17:12
over last year, and they just they just haven't. Yeah. Well
17:17
it's interesting to think where they are going to be going, potentially in the
17:21
playoffs again, still in the hunt here, but as we're moving along,
17:23
I wanted to get into overrated teams here because my most overrated team who has
17:29
a playoff spot, you know, outside of the Philadelphia Eagles, because Eagles
17:32
are definitely overrated at this point, we know who they are. But my
17:36
overrated time heading into this playoff is the Kansas City Chiefs. I mean,
17:40
their defense has performed generally well, but man, their offense has just sputtered
17:45
throughout this season. You know, we talked about Patrick Mahomes on my fantasy
17:48
football team. I just tired of his cry baby mentality, you know,
17:53
because he hasn't been that quote lights out guy that he has been in the
17:57
past. I think it's getting to hit him, and I think it trickles
18:00
down to other aspects of the team. So I'm wondering, who is your
18:04
most overrated team heading into the playoffs this year? And why? Right?
18:10
Yeah? No, you know, I hate I hate to you know,
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I don't want to agree with you because you know, it doesn't make for
18:15
such a great time for such a great debate. But still, the Chiefs,
18:18
I mean, look at you, look at you know what was what
18:22
was the main difference you know what I mean between this year and last year?
18:26
And you know it's the offensive coordinator. Yeah, you know what I
18:29
mean, Like and he's sort of sort of similar with the Eagles, right,
18:33
I mean, they're the Eagles aren't running as many RPOs this year as
18:37
they were last year, and and I feel like that that that's made,
18:41
you know, a big difference. But yeah, you look at the offensive
18:45
coordinator, I mean he left and it just doesn't seem like the it seems
18:51
like the offense that was with him, you know, kind of is not
18:56
there anymore. And and it's and it's frustrating because it's like, yeah,
18:59
it's like the rarely do you see Mahomes like kind of blow up and be
19:03
a cry. Maybe like maybe Tom Brady was right exactly, but it's a
19:10
Taylor swept effect too. I mean we have to say that. Look,
19:15
I mean, that's what it is. I really think the Chiefs went into
19:19
this season from a wide receiver perspective thinking that Patrick Mahomes was going to be
19:23
able to make magic happen constantly like he has for several years now. And
19:29
outside of Rachie Rice, I mean, they really don't have a guy who's
19:32
able to catch a ball. This is a team that consistently is dropping balls,
19:36
the most drop balls of any team in the NFL. So I think,
19:38
you know, I think as we're moving forward in the years to come,
19:42
and I think the Chiefs are going to understand that, no, Patrick
19:45
Mahomes just can't do it on his own. He's not going to be able
19:48
to make every wide receiver out there, the the the the Tyreek Hill of
19:56
of the offense, So I don't know, I love the we are agreeing
20:00
with me with regard to the Kansas City Chiefs being the most overrated team heading
20:06
into the playoffs. And again, folks, we're talking to Alison Cohler from
20:08
the Steelers Wire follow her on Twitter at a Cohler NFL. And I guess
20:15
to close us out here, my friend, I like to think about players,
20:19
and mainly quarterbacks, who continue to grow and develop at this point in
20:23
the season. And we see it, you know, we see it on
20:26
both sides of the ball. You know, we see it with running backs.
20:30
You know, we've seen it with Pittsburgh Steeler running back situation. We
20:33
see some guys who are continuing to develop there. We see it from defensive
20:38
perspective too. So I'm wondering, are there any players that come to mind
20:42
who you think are really starting to shine as they're trying to build upon their
20:48
foundation for the playoffs and possibly a playoff run. Are there any players that
20:52
come to mind who are really starting to shine and who you're really going to
20:56
be keeping tabs on. Yeah, well, I mean I want to sort
21:00
of you know, I'm a huge Lamar Jackson fan actually, and when I
21:06
say huge, I mean for as a Steelers fan, I'm a huge yes
21:08
Lamar Jackson fan, because I mean you watch him and it's just like he
21:11
keeps to he keeps getting more incredible. And it seems like just last year
21:18
we were like, well, this guy is a running he's not a quarterback.
21:22
He's a running back who can throw sometimes. Yeah, you know,
21:25
but he's finally starting to come into his own and they had that they had,
21:29
you know, had another offensive coordinator change this year. It seems like
21:33
they've had like twenty in the I mean, it seems like they're always changing
21:36
offensive coordinators. Yes, but the fact that like it didn't seem like they
21:41
really missed a beat there, you know, in Baltimore, and even with
21:45
the running back issues in terms of their their injuries and things. I mean,
21:48
I feel like Lamar is just you know, he keeps getting better every
21:53
week and he's just gonna be I feel like he's just gonna you know,
21:57
he's gonna take the team all the way, yeah, you know, to
22:02
the super Bowl. I think it's it's gonna end up being him in the
22:03
super Bowl and it's and it's but it's it's hard to say him because he's
22:07
always been pretty decent, right, I mean, so he's been good,
22:11
he's been a great quarterback. Yes, but it's like there were a lot
22:18
of doubts, you know, whether he would be able to stay in the
22:21
pocket, you know what I mean, and if he was forced to stay
22:22
in the pocket, what's it gonna do? You know? And it just
22:26
seems like every week he keeps showing, you know what I mean, that
22:30
he can be that all around yeah, you know quarterback that I think a
22:33
lot of a lot of people doubted that he that he was even capable of
22:37
doing. I like your answer. I think he's yeah. No, I
22:40
like your answer. I think he's starting to shine in different ways as a
22:42
quarterback. It's not just for him being able to utilize his legs, his
22:48
pocket management, stepping up in the pocket, getting rid of the ball when
22:52
he needs to, that has dramatically improved. So I love your I love
22:56
your pick. Right there and again, folks us and call her from the
23:00
Steelers wire. Allison, it was great talking to you. Thank you so
23:04
much for taking the time to jump on our Opposition Territory podcast, and I'd
23:07
love to talk to you down the road again, my friend, anytime.
23:11
A great conversation with Alison and just to break it down for everybody at this
23:15
particular point in time, those teams that have clinched a playoff spot in the
23:22
AFC the Ravens, Dolphins, Chiefs, and Browns. Over in the NFC
23:26
the forty nine Ers, Cowboys, Lions, Eagles, and Rams. And
23:29
as we head into Week eighteen, the Jaguars, Bills, and Colts are
23:33
the AFC teams that are still in the hunt. The Buccaneers and Packers are
23:37
still in the hunt. In terms of the NFC as well, Yes,
23:41
the Seahawks, Saints, Vikings, and Falcons. They're on the bubble if
23:45
you want to call them that or call it that, and also the Texans
23:49
and Steelers also on the bubble. Steelers specifically. We were talking with Alison
23:53
about going to be interesting to see what happens with all of these teams.
23:57
We love the NFL player It's always interesting, you know, I love the
24:03
sleeper Cinderella type stories out there. Who could that possibly be? This year?
24:07
We're certainly gonna be talking about it and keeping tabs here at the Philadelphia
24:11
Sports Table podcast show on how this playoff picture is really gonna end up going.
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So thanks so much for joining us. If you're new to listening to
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the show, subscribe on whatever podcast platform you're listening to us on. If
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you're on Apple Podcasts, we'd appreciate a rate and review and if anything happens
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to your podcast feed, or if you want to check out some PST special
24:30
podcast shows, you can head on over to Philadelphia Sports Table dot com.
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We've got everything over there for you as well. I'm on threads at mister
24:38
Jeff Warren. You can follow the show over on threads at Philadelphia's Sports Table.
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We're on Instagram as well. Search us out there. Take care,
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everybody, we'll catch you next time.