Latest / Football Junkies podcast / Ep.49: RATBIRD WEEK

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Ep.49: RATBIRD WEEK · Football Junkies podcast

• 0:00
  You ever stumbled upon something, something that is so ridiculous, that it doesn't make
• 0:05
  any sense, that it just irritates your soul?
• 0:07
  Well, that's exactly what happened when I stumbled upon the entire interview of Earl
• 0:13
  Thomas saying that he is better than Ed Reid and Troy Palamalo.
• 0:17
  Yes, we are going to talk about it.
• 0:20
  We have to talk about it simply because you are not going to just disregard two of the
• 0:26
  greatest safeties of all time.
• 0:27
  You're just not going to do it.
• 0:28
  Okay, but guess what?
• 0:30
  Who cares about that guy?
• 0:32
  We got to talk about the commanders and eagles game.
• 0:35
  We got to talk about the Steelers and the Ratbirds.
• 0:39
  If you don't know who the Ratbirds are, they are the Ravens.
• 0:41
  That's right.
• 0:42
  The first matchup between these two historical franchises, okay?
• 0:47
  The Chiefs and the Bills preview, the Packers and the Bills, and the Seahawks and the 49ers,
• 0:54
  okay?
• 0:55
  This is the 49th episode.
• 0:57
  That's right.
• 0:58
  One episode away from 50 episodes, folks, 50 episodes.
• 1:04
  I cannot wait for that 50th episode, okay?
• 1:08
  But don't you worry about that because guess what?
• 1:10
  This is the 49th episode of the Football Junkies podcast, okay?
• 1:13
  I am your host with the most, okay?
• 1:16
  Your Chief Bagrodomist, your Chief Head of the Table person who is in charge of all things
• 1:24
  related to the draft.
• 1:26
  I don't know it, but guess what?
• 1:28
  I have a hand in it.
• 1:29
  And guess what?
• 1:30
  I already have three mock drafts, three different versions, three different scenarios already
• 1:35
  planned out.
• 1:36
  You guys don't even know it yet.
• 1:38
  I may even drop it.
• 1:39
  Who knows?
• 1:40
  But guess what?
• 1:41
  I'm all these things and more, but most importantly, the most important title that you must remember
• 1:47
  is I am a GM who currently is not on the team right now.
• 1:51
  But don't you worry about it because guess what?
• 1:54
  I am your host, Kale.
• 1:56
  You already know what I'm getting ready on three, one, two, three.
• 1:59
  Let's lock in.
• 2:26
  All right, folks, let's just get into the meats and potatoes of everything that is going on
• 2:33
  in the league right now.
• 2:36
  You know what?
• 2:38
  Before we get into that, I think we need to do a little bit of a rant.
• 2:42
  Just a really small one, something light, nothing serious.
• 2:46
  Earl Thomas, four Hawks and Ravens, a member of the Legion of Boom, decided that he wanted
• 2:55
  to say that he is better than Troy Palamalu and Ed Reid.
• 3:01
  Now, normally I would just let it be, let it go or whatnot, but you know, that is a
• 3:07
  very sore, sensitive subject here at the Football Junkies podcast because we over here are very
• 3:14
  big fans of both of those players and revere them very highly, not only in their position,
• 3:20
  but what they did, then Troy Palamalu and Ed Reid is a disgrace to the game.
• 3:28
  You think that you are better than Ed Reid and Troy Palamalu, two safeties who changed
• 3:35
  the game of football.
• 3:38
  Earl Thomas, you have never changed the game of football, dear sir.
• 3:43
  Now, granted, you were really good during your time.
• 3:46
  You was not going to take that away from you.
• 3:48
  You were phenomenal when you were with the Seahawks, when the Legion of Boom was one
• 3:53
  of the most dominant secondaries, defenses, whatever, and NFL history, okay?
• 4:01
  We'll give that to you, but what you will not do on this day is say that you are better
• 4:08
  than two players who both have won defensive player of the year awards, who are regarded,
• 4:15
  universally regarded as two of the best safeties of all time.
• 4:19
  You are not better than Ronnie Lough, you are not better than Ken Houston, you are not
• 4:22
  better than Paul Krauss.
• 4:23
  I can keep on going down this list if you really want to, but the simple fact that you
• 4:27
  said that you are better than the both of them, no, you are not.
• 4:32
  Your skill set can't even hold a candle to what Ed Reid did, and I know for damn sure
• 4:38
  I can't even hold a candle to what Troy Palamalu did.
• 4:42
  And Troy is my guy, that is my man 50 grand, and the fact that you did this is an atrocity,
• 4:51
  sir.
• 4:52
  You, sir, drinking from the cup of delusion right now to really think that you are the
• 4:58
  equal or better than those two.
• 5:02
  If it wasn't for injuries that caught up to them later into their career, oh, best believe
• 5:08
  they would have shattered multiple records, multiple records.
• 5:13
  You really, that you are better than those two.
• 5:16
  Let me tell you something.
• 5:17
  I'm just going to be really, really 100% honest with you.
• 5:20
  If you put Ed Reid in this era of football right now, 100% guaranteed he will be close
• 5:29
  to breaking Paul Krauss' interception record without question, because now they pass the
• 5:35
  ball ball.
• 5:36
  And Troy, on the other hand, you can make a case that he probably could thrive in this
• 5:40
  league as well.
• 5:42
  But the simple fact for you to say that, nah, brother, nah, nah, brother, your CTE is acting
• 5:50
  up real bad and it shows.
• 5:52
  Do you think that you're a first ballot holofamera?
• 5:54
  No, you are not a first ballot holofamera.
• 5:58
  No, you are not.
• 5:59
  Now, let's just get into this Commerians and Eagles game because I'm already flustered
• 6:03
  and whatnot.
• 6:04
  So it started off really good, started off really slow and whatnot.
• 6:09
  You probably nodded off in everything.
• 6:11
  Probably put a load of clothes in and probably cleaned up the kitchen and whatnot or whatever.
• 6:16
  And then the second half, fireworks.
• 6:19
  That's the best way to describe it, fireworks.
• 6:22
  The Eagles did their thing.
• 6:24
  They started to run the ball ball with Saquon and then the rest is history.
• 6:30
  But let's get into these stats.
• 6:32
  So Jaden Daniels was 22 for 32, 191 passing yards, one touchdown, one interception, six
• 6:38
  yards per attempt and a 68.8 completion percentage.
• 6:42
  Okay?
• 6:43
  Brian Robinson, 16 attempts for 63 rushing yards, 3.9 rushing yards per carry, one touchdown
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  and one rush of 10 plus yards or more.
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  Austin Eckler, nine target for eight receptions, 89 receiving yards and 11.1 receiving yards
• 6:58
  per reception.
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  Jaylen Hertz, 18 for 28, 221 passing yards, 7.9 yards per attempt and a 64.3 Cleveland
• 7:06
  Quad yard.
• 7:08
  Barkley, 26 attempts for 146 rushing yards, 5.6 rushing yards per carry, two touchdowns
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  and two rushes of 10 plus yards or more.
• 7:18
  AJ Brown, eight targets for five receptions, 65 receiving yards and 13 receiving yards
• 7:23
  per reception.
• 7:24
  Now here is a junky nugget that we also have to put in there before we do our little bit
• 7:30
  of analysis over this game.
• 7:31
  Okay?
• 7:32
  Quin Yard Mitchell when lined up against Terry McClory, which he did, no targets, no receptions
• 7:39
  and no, I will say Quin Yard Mitchell is going to be a problem moving forward.
• 7:45
  He is going to be a dominant corner, definitely one of the best corners in the league if he
• 7:51
  is not already in that conversation right now.
• 7:56
  But this is what I will say.
• 7:57
  I think the flaws of the commander's game is starting to show and you're now seeing a
• 8:05
  team who, you know, they're a little bit limited to the way that the roster is constructed.
• 8:12
  Because in the beginning, they were creating a lot of pressure on Jaylen Hertz.
• 8:15
  They were going after Jaylen Hertz.
• 8:16
  They were.
• 8:17
  Frankie Louvue was, you know, moving everywhere.
• 8:21
  He was creating plays and whatnot.
• 8:22
  The defense was holding their own.
• 8:24
  But then out of the woodworks, Jaylen Hertz and the Eagles offense just woke up and to
• 8:30
  say, you know what, let me scoot up a little bit.
• 8:32
  Let me let me get up out of my chair a little bit.
• 8:35
  Let me let me tilt forward a little bit.
• 8:36
  Let me let me play a little bit serious right now.
• 8:38
  And that's exactly what they did.
• 8:40
  Now I will say this.
• 8:41
  I do believe Jaden Daniels, you know, rib injury.
• 8:45
  I think it is a little bit more serious than what people are saying, because you can tell
• 8:52
  that he is very limited with his throwing.
• 8:55
  You can tell that it's really impacting him.
• 8:58
  You know, if I'm Jaden Daniels, well, not even Jaden Daniels, but if I'm the command,
• 9:02
  I am probably thinking about maybe just letting Jaden Daniels just miss maybe one or two games.
• 9:07
  It's not going to hurt you guys.
• 9:08
  It really isn't like you.
• 9:10
  The commanders have exceeded all expectations as of right now, they have.
• 9:17
  And you know, right now you still want to protect your rookie quarterback because again,
• 9:22
  you don't want him to fall into the same traps that RG3 did.
• 9:27
  If it means that you have to keep him out for maybe a game or two, then that's what
• 9:30
  you have to do.
• 9:31
  But right now you can definitely tell that the commander's defense definitely me of March
• 9:37
  on Lattimore to play because if March on Lattimore played last night, I do believe that they
• 9:43
  probably would have had a better chance of actually winning the game.
• 9:47
  I do because March on Lattimore is still a really good corner and he can still hold his
• 9:52
  own against some of the best receivers in the league.
• 9:55
  This just shows you that, hey, the commanders, they did everything that they could.
• 9:59
  But when you're going up against a loaded offense like the Eagles that has AJ Brown and
• 10:05
  Devontae Smith and Seguin Barkley, there's only so much that you can do at some point.
• 10:10
  Something is going to happen in the game and somebody's going to go walk.
• 10:14
  And that's exactly what happened.
• 10:15
  Seguin went off.
• 10:17
  He did his thing and he continues to show the Giants and everybody else that listen,
• 10:23
  they thought, oh, there is no point in in paying Seguin.
• 10:26
  Well, guess what?
• 10:27
  Seguin right now, you can make a strong case between him and Derek Henry are both runners
• 10:32
  for MVP and it could also be runners for offensive player of the year.
• 10:37
  I truly believe that because those two alone have been the best running backs in the league
• 10:42
  right now and they're doing phenomenal things.
• 10:46
  You have Derek Henry, who is scoring, you know, a touchdown every single game.
• 10:51
  You have Seguin Barkley doing, you know, things that you will only see in Madden.
• 10:56
  This is going to be a really good team moving forward.
• 11:00
  Do I still believe that that the commanders can, you know, definitely make it into the
• 11:03
  playoffs?
• 11:04
  Oh, for sure.
• 11:05
  Now, do I think they're going to make it far in the playoffs?
• 11:08
  Probably not.
• 11:09
  But the mere fact of them making it to the playoffs and Jaden Daniels, you know, first
• 11:14
  year is definitely significant.
• 11:17
  Best believe the holes that you see now in the commander's team on both sides of the
• 11:21
  ball will 100% be patched up come next season.
• 11:26
  Now let's get into some of these games that everyone's going to be talking about and everyone's
• 11:29
  going to be watching on Sunday.
• 11:31
  So let's start off with the greatest rivalry in sports history, and that is the Steelers
• 11:37
  versus the Ravens.
• 11:38
  So these are just a few things that, you know, I just decided to jot down.
• 11:43
  I'm definitely going to be paying attention to.
• 11:45
  And I think to start things off is how will the Steelers limit Derek Henry?
• 11:49
  Because right now, no team really hasn't been able to really stop Derek Henry outside of
• 11:55
  Cam and Keanu Benson and Larry Ogren-Joby, we don't have another body that, you know,
• 12:01
  was going to be standing tall standing firm against Derek Henry.
• 12:05
  We just don't.
• 12:06
  Derek Henry is playing out of his mind this season, and he has literally scored a touchdown
• 12:12
  every single game.
• 12:14
  Are we going to be the ones that are going to be able to do it?
• 12:16
  Yes.
• 12:17
  How are we going to do it?
• 12:18
  I don't know.
• 12:19
  Now, my assumption is they're probably going to call up Brandon Fajoco from the practice
• 12:24
  squad and that they'll probably, you know, have him play with, you know, Keanu Benson
• 12:28
  and probably maybe stack the box, maybe not stack the box.
• 12:34
  I don't know.
• 12:35
  But all I know is this, the problem with this Ravens offense is when you cut off one head,
• 12:41
  guess what?
• 12:42
  There's another one.
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  And even though you may limit Derek Henry, you still have to worry about Lamar as well.
• 12:47
  Because guess what?
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  He can go for 10 or 15 yards untouched.
• 12:50
  No problem.
• 12:51
  That's definitely something that I think is the number one priority for the Steelers right
• 12:56
  now.
• 12:57
  Next point is how can the Ravens try to minimize or maybe even eliminate the deep passing game
• 13:04
  for the Steelers?
• 13:05
  Because right now, Russell Wilson has been able to unlock the deep passing game for the
• 13:10
  Steelers.
• 13:11
  We all know that the Raven secondary has definitely been struggling lately.
• 13:15
  So top of that, I think another question that definitely needs to be asked is who is going
• 13:20
  to be covering George Pickens?
• 13:22
  Because if it's Brandon Stephens, oh, that's barbecue chicken alert.
• 13:27
  Barbecue chicken alert.
• 13:29
  Barbecue chicken alert folks.
• 13:31
  Okay.
• 13:32
  That's exactly what's going to happen if George Pickens is lined up with Brandon Stephens.
• 13:36
  Now, Mike Williams, I do think that's going to be a matchup nightmare as well.
• 13:41
  I just think personally, this is going to be a back and forth game.
• 13:44
  This is going to be a traditional Ravens and Steelers matchup.
• 13:48
  It's going to be back and forth.
• 13:50
  You don't know who's going to win and it's going to be a spectacular game.
• 13:54
  Now, another thing that we definitely need to talk about is how effective will the passing
• 14:00
  game be for the Ravens?
• 14:01
  Because again, they have their own trio of monsters as well.
• 14:05
  Mark Andrews, Isaiah Likely, Zay Flowers, Rashad Bateman and Company.
• 14:09
  And you also have Deontay Johnson, which speaking of that, before we go any further, I know
• 14:14
  there was a lot of people saying, well, Mike Tomlin was throwing jabs at him, which we
• 14:19
  probably was in a real respectful way.
• 14:22
  But the fact of the matter is, there isn't a whole lot of footage to really review and
• 14:28
  to go over for Deontay since he's been traded to the Ravens.
• 14:33
  Because why?
• 14:34
  We drafted Deontay.
• 14:35
  So Mike Tomlin has seen way more film than everybody else has.
• 14:41
  So he knows exactly how to limit someone like a Deontay Johnson.
• 14:46
  So that's not necessarily him just being flat out disrespectful.
• 14:50
  That's just him being honest.
• 14:52
  Listen, y'all may have to look at him.
• 14:54
  I don't because I drafted him.
• 14:56
  I've seen him up until this point.
• 14:58
  So I already know how to counter and how to limit his ability on the field.
• 15:04
  So what it is.
• 15:06
  Now, these are two junky junky nuggets that definitely need to be mentioned before we
• 15:11
  move on to the other games.
• 15:13
  By the way, this is going to be a fairly short episode.
• 15:16
  I've been trying to keep things short for you guys as well.
• 15:19
  Just have to put that in there.
• 15:20
  But the Steelers have have won seven of the eight matchups against the Ravens.
• 15:27
  All have been decided by seven points or less.
• 15:31
  Now I will say this.
• 15:32
  I'm not, you know, I'm not necessarily super big into betting and whatnot.
• 15:37
  But if you are a betting person and if you think you're going to be putting a whole lot
• 15:42
  of money on this game, I would take it out of far view because this game is going to
• 15:47
  be a very close game.
• 15:49
  It's going to come down to the wire.
• 15:51
  It really is.
• 15:52
  So if you think, oh, this person's going to, you know, have a breakout game or that person
• 15:57
  going to have a breakout game.
• 15:58
  Hey, I would think twice about that, sir.
• 16:01
  Ma'am, whomever.
• 16:02
  I would really think about it.
• 16:04
  Now I'm not a stat that definitely needs to be talked about as well as over the last
• 16:09
  four starts against the Steelers.
• 16:12
  Lamar has the worst passer rating at 66.3%.
• 16:16
  Now am I saying that the Steelers are the Ravens kryptonite?
• 16:19
  No.
• 16:20
  But what I am saying is this.
• 16:22
  We play Lamar fairly well.
• 16:25
  I would say we play him the best out of all the other teams in the NFL.
• 16:30
  And it's not only because we are division rivals.
• 16:33
  It's just simple.
• 16:34
  We have the Ravens number.
• 16:35
  That's it.
• 16:36
  That is simple.
• 16:37
  We have the Ravens number.
• 16:39
  Okay.
• 16:40
  So for all that smack and talking all that trash about the Steelers, just know we are
• 16:45
  not going to just lay down and allow you guys to get a W. It is going to be a fight.
• 16:52
  It is going to be a brawl.
• 16:54
  This will dictate who will be winning the North because you know why I'm going to have
• 16:59
  to talk my talk.
• 17:00
  I really am.
• 17:01
  I know it's been a while since I've done it.
• 17:03
  I've been trying to be real humble this season, but I have to.
• 17:06
  Okay.
• 17:07
  So all the Browns and Bagels fans that think, oh, it's our division.
• 17:11
  The division is up for the grabs.
• 17:13
  No, it's not.
• 17:14
  It never has and it never will be.
• 17:15
  Okay.
• 17:16
  The division will always be won by one or two teams.
• 17:19
  It's either going to be the Ravens or it's going to be us, the Steelers, the Sixth.
• 17:24
  Nope.
• 17:25
  I'm not going to do it.
• 17:26
  I'm a wait.
• 17:27
  I'm a wait till after the game.
• 17:28
  Then I'm a really go off.
• 17:30
  Okay.
• 17:31
  But let's get into another game that we have to talk about.
• 17:33
  So the bills in the chiefs.
• 17:34
  I think the number one question that I have is how effective will this chiefs passing
• 17:39
  game be against the bills?
• 17:41
  Because the bills have been playing fairly well, especially that defense.
• 17:45
  And we all know that Josh Allen is three and one against my homes in the regular season.
• 17:51
  And if we're being real year and I'm, I'm just, I just have to say this.
• 17:54
  I really do.
• 17:55
  I'm completely honest here.
• 17:56
  The chiefs are probably going to go down in history as one of the worst undefeated teams
• 18:01
  in NFL history.
• 18:02
  When you think of, you know, previous undefeated teams, they are teams that are dominant.
• 18:08
  They are blowing teams out of the water, every single opponent.
• 18:14
  The chiefs, the chiefs are barely getting by with a lot of these games.
• 18:18
  They barely won against the Broncos.
• 18:20
  They barely won against the 49ers.
• 18:22
  They barely won against the Ravens.
• 18:25
  Let's be real year.
• 18:26
  This team is not super dominant.
• 18:28
  Here the defense does, you know, is doing their part, but there's offense.
• 18:33
  And I'll just leave it there.
• 18:35
  But for the bills, I want to see exactly what are they going to do moving forward because
• 18:40
  I do know that Amari Cooper is, is banged up as well as Dalton Kincaid, which actually
• 18:46
  speaking of him, he was actually declared out for that game.
• 18:50
  So are the bills going to rely more on the run game?
• 18:54
  Are they going to try to see if they can feed him more to Keon Cole?
• 18:58
  What exactly is this bills team going to do against the chiefs?
• 19:02
  Because again, everybody knows the players, the playoffs are going to run through Kansas
• 19:07
  City.
• 19:08
  We all know that blah, blah, blah.
• 19:09
  Nobody cares.
• 19:10
  But I do believe that this is going to be a traditional, you know, back and forth game
• 19:15
  between the bills and the chiefs.
• 19:18
  I think Josh Allen definitely has a lot to prove.
• 19:20
  And I think, you know, the bills realize that if they continue to, you know, stack these
• 19:25
  wins up against their AFC opponents, it puts them in a real comfortable position for the
• 19:31
  playoffs, which, you know, that's what they want.
• 19:34
  Moving on to the Packers and Bears game.
• 19:36
  I think the number one question that we all need to ask is how will this Bears offense
• 19:42
  create plays and how would it look like with the recent firing of Shane Waldron?
• 19:47
  Because again, this offense has been underachieving with the amount of talent that they have.
• 19:52
  You have an entire receiving core, Kenan Allen, Roma Dunze, DJ Moore, Dolton Kincaid, Deandre
• 19:59
  Swift and company, you have it.
• 20:02
  So for them not to be able to, you know, be a little bit more competitive, definitely
• 20:08
  says a lot and granted, you can't put all of this on Kenan Williams' shoulders.
• 20:14
  You can't because he's a rookie.
• 20:16
  So he's still trying to find his footing while dealing with dysfunction all around.
• 20:22
  It's a dysfunction.
• 20:23
  You have a coach right now that I would not be surprised that if they get blown out against
• 20:30
  the Packers on Sunday, that he will probably get fired, most likely.
• 20:36
  And you know, you just have a whole lot of just turmoil that has happened with this Bears
• 20:41
  team and granted, this was a team that I was thinking, Oh, this team is going to be super
• 20:45
  competitive in their division.
• 20:48
  And right now they are falling off a cliff.
• 20:51
  And I'm talking about the steepest cliff that you can think of in your mind and just imagine
• 20:57
  the Bears just falling free fall.
• 20:59
  That's how bad it is.
• 21:00
  Now, since 2019, the Bears have lost 10 straight games to the Packers.
• 21:05
  10 straight.
• 21:07
  10 straight.
• 21:08
  This is not good, folks.
• 21:10
  This is not good.
• 21:12
  On top of that, the Bears have gone 23 consecutive drives without scoring a touchdown.
• 21:19
  Caleb Williams has been sacked 38 times of the season.
• 21:23
  That is the most in the National Football League right now.
• 21:27
  I think what needs to be talked about a lot more is the inability for the Bears to not
• 21:35
  move off of Matt Iberfluss this offseason this year and just trying to bring in a new
• 21:41
  head coach prior to the season starting simply because he doesn't know what he's doing.
• 21:47
  Matt Iberfluss does not know what he's doing.
• 21:49
  He is not an NFL head coach.
• 21:51
  Sure he can be a coordinator.
• 21:53
  Sure he can be an assistant to a coordinator.
• 21:55
  But to say that he is a head coach, no he is not.
• 21:58
  We continue to see the cycle of the Bears once again messing things up with their rookie
• 22:04
  quarterback by having a bad head coach.
• 22:07
  We saw with Mitchell Trebisky.
• 22:09
  We saw with Justin Fields.
• 22:11
  And now we sort of are seeing it with Caleb Williams.
• 22:14
  And mind you, all the moves that they made for Caleb Williams was sort of showing that
• 22:20
  okay they learned from their mistakes with Justin Fields and Mitchell Trebisky and that
• 22:24
  they're ready to move forward and to go in a different direction.
• 22:28
  But clearly that's not the case.
• 22:30
  And now they have fallen back into that same broken cycle and now Caleb Williams is suffering
• 22:35
  for it.
• 22:37
  And so now you're about to go through somewhat of bend the wheel for the next head coach
• 22:43
  because again, Ben Johnson most likely he's not going to stay in the division.
• 22:49
  If he does, he'll probably stay with the Lions.
• 22:51
  Who else right now could you say would be a great pickup for the Bears for Caleb Williams?
• 22:58
  Because as of right now, they need an offensive head coach.
• 23:01
  They need to stop with this defensive head coach crap.
• 23:05
  Go and get you an offensive minded head coach so that they can work on Caleb Williams and
• 23:09
  to make him one of the best quarterbacks that he can be his skill set says it.
• 23:16
  So you have to be able to make sure that you make this right.
• 23:20
  Because again, the Bears realized that they messed up on Mitchell Trebisky and Justin
• 23:24
  Fields.
• 23:25
  They did when it comes to the coaching.
• 23:27
  They waited too long to make those necessary changes.
• 23:31
  And now look, Mitchell Trebisky is now back up and Justin Fields is, you know, was trying
• 23:37
  to fight for a starting role, a starting quarterback job.
• 23:41
  Like, come on now.
• 23:43
  But you know, for the Packers, this is, you know, just another game.
• 23:48
  That's it.
• 23:49
  It's just another game for the Packers.
• 23:52
  I will continue to say it.
• 23:53
  The Packers are a dark horse team that not a lot of people are talking about that will
• 23:58
  definitely sneak up and be the team that nobody would ever expect when it comes to the playoffs.
• 24:04
  You heard it here first on the football junkies podcast.
• 24:07
  Now onto the final game that I think we definitely need to talk about.
• 24:11
  Seahawks of 49ers.
• 24:13
  This is an old school traditional matchup that, you know, during the Legion of Boom era, man,
• 24:20
  man, oh man, you would see some serious highlights, some serious hits, some serious throws passes,
• 24:26
  you name it.
• 24:27
  It would be great.
• 24:28
  But now it's, it's a little bit watered down.
• 24:32
  But who cares about that?
• 24:33
  But I think the number one question for the 49ers is, can their special teams unit improve?
• 24:41
  Because again, they have been hitting somewhat of a little, a little bit of a bump in the
• 24:45
  road, you know, sort of, sort of say when it comes to the special teams, it has not
• 24:50
  been good.
• 24:52
  And you know, we saw that viral clip of Dbo basically telling the special teams like,
• 24:57
  Hey, you got to lock in, bro.
• 25:00
  You got to lock in.
• 25:01
  You know, rightfully so, because again, you guys are just as important as we are.
• 25:08
  And if you, if you can do your job, then guess what, that puts more pressure on us to try
• 25:12
  to, you know, mitigate or fill in that gap or whatever the case may be.
• 25:18
  This team, they're holding on, they're holding on by for dear life.
• 25:23
  And I'm talking about not even a little rafter.
• 25:26
  I'm talking about that small little baby pool tube that you, that you put little kids
• 25:32
  in that, you know, that keeps them afloat and whatnot.
• 25:34
  That's what the 49ers are holding on to.
• 25:36
  One more thing that we do need to mention though is the 49ers do average 5.6 yards per
• 25:42
  carry when George Kittle is on the field and 3.4 yards per carry when George Kittle is
• 25:47
  not on the field.
• 25:49
  So, you know, when with brand IU being out for the season and other people, you know,
• 25:54
  being nagging injuries and whatnot, they've definitely been leaning on George Kittle not
• 25:59
  only for the running game, but as well as, you know, in the passing game as well.
• 26:04
  And it's working.
• 26:05
  So, you know, let's see what happens moving forward because I don't even think the Seahawks
• 26:10
  really have anybody that could, you know, be a good matchup against George Kittle.
• 26:15
  And on top of that, I forgot to mention this as well.
• 26:19
  This 2022, the 49ers have won six consecutive games against the Seahawks, including playoffs.
• 26:27
  Now for the Seahawks on the other hand, winning this game is one step closer for you to be
• 26:32
  able to compete with the Cardinals to win this division.
• 26:37
  Because as of right now, this division is still up in the air.
• 26:40
  Now granted, you still have three really good teams.
• 26:43
  You still have the Seahawks, the 49ers and the Cardinals.
• 26:46
  So somebody got to, somebody got to win this thing.
• 26:50
  Somebody.
• 26:51
  Now, do I think the Seahawks will be able to, you know, break this streak and actually
• 26:55
  win against the 49ers?
• 26:56
  Yes, I do for sure.
• 26:57
  Because as of right now, neither team, you know, has a real clear cut advantage over
• 27:02
  the other.
• 27:03
  Sure, Chris McCaffrey has, has come back, but he still has to go through somewhat of
• 27:09
  the bumps and bruises and knock the rust off, you know, per se when it comes to playing
• 27:14
  football, because again, he's been out for almost half of the season.
• 27:17
  So he has to get back into, you know, back into the swing of things.
• 27:21
  So for the Seahawks defense, man, you guys got a tall task.
• 27:25
  Now that Chris McCaffrey is back, you got to worry about him.
• 27:28
  You got to worry about Debo, George Kittle and company.
• 27:32
  But you know, I still do believe in the Seahawks defense.
• 27:36
  I still think they are ultra competitive and I do believe that they do have playmakers
• 27:40
  on this team that can be able to make the big play if need be.
• 27:45
  But I want to end this episode here short episode.
• 27:48
  I know, I know, I know, but guess what?
• 27:51
  If you guys like what you are listening, please, please, please, please, please like, share,
• 27:55
  subscribe, turn that notification bell on, leave a comment down below, download the episodes,
• 28:00
  leave a five star review.
• 28:02
  Okay.
• 28:03
  Now for my YouTube people, football junkies pod, okay, football junkies pod.
• 28:08
  You go on the YouTube, you go into the description and there'll be a few links.
• 28:13
  There'll be the link to the link tree, which has the links for all the other places that
• 28:18
  we have football junkies content that you can interact with as well as links to our Spotify,
• 28:24
  Apple podcast, RSS feed.
• 28:26
  If you want to just directly click on those links and go directly there without having
• 28:30
  to go through the link tree.
• 28:31
  Now for my TikTok people, football junkies pod, okay, football junkies pod.
• 28:37
  I know the clips, the clips have been doing numbers and I know I got another round of
• 28:42
  clips that I have to put out.
• 28:43
  Hey, I put out some clips once this episode comes out today.
• 28:47
  Who knows?
• 28:48
  Stay tuned.
• 28:49
  Now for my Instagram people, football underscore junkies pod, okay, football underscore junkies
• 28:54
  pod.
• 28:55
  Junkies pod is not what?
• 29:02
  It is together, not spaced.
• 29:05
  Okay.
• 29:06
  I gave you guys the fix that you guys need.
• 29:11
  I love you guys.
• 29:12
  I appreciate you guys so much.
• 29:13
  We're almost there to 50 episodes.
• 29:15
  I appreciate you guys so much for rocking with me on this journey.
• 29:20
  Best known next year is going to be even a bigger and better year for the football junkies
• 29:25
  podcast.
• 29:26
  But as always, I love you guys.
• 29:28
  I appreciate you guys so much.
• 29:30
  Do something great this weekend.
• 29:32
  Drink some water.
• 29:33
  I don't know.
• 29:34
  Talk to a friend.
• 29:35
  Peace and love.
• 29:36
  I'm out.
• 29:37
  And another thing.
• 29:42
  Go Steelers.