Latest / Height Differential / Quick Take: NFL Divisional Round Recap + Conference Championship Breakdown
Transcript
- 0:00In NFL divisional weekend, I will say I think it's the best,
- 0:07it's the best weekend of the of the NFL calendar.
- 0:11Yeah, I mean this one, it had its, this one had its ups and it
- 0:13had its downs. We had two great games and two
- 0:16games that were kind of not so great.
- 0:18I'm just. Saying in general though, year
- 0:20after year this is I'll look forward to the divisional round
- 0:22because you get 4 games, You get 2 games on Saturday, 2:00 on
- 0:25Sunday. I agree.
- 0:26No, but I'm a big fan of the divisional round and I mean, I
- 0:28just want to make sure. Are you OK?
- 0:30I mean, I know you're becoming a big 49ers fan here late in the
- 0:33season, and they just absolutely got destroyed by the best team
- 0:38in the NFL, the Seattle Seahawks.
- 0:39So I also want to make sure that you're you're doing all right
- 0:41today. You're all right.
- 0:42The Seahawks made the 49ers depleted roster look like AD Two
- 0:48team. It was like AD One team and AD
- 0:52Two team. Yeah.
- 0:55I mean, we, we don't need to get into that game.
- 0:57Just an absolute butt whooping. I mean, I turned it off at
- 1:00halftime and did not turn it back on.
- 1:02And then I was like, I need to look and see to make sure the
- 1:05Seahawks won. And they won by what, 35?
- 1:0941 to 6. Yes, I, I was banking on that.
- 1:12Sam Darnold, you know, lost as the number one seed last year
- 1:16with the Vikings. And then you're like, is he even
- 1:18going to play? Well, they sure didn't need him
- 1:21to play. Well, I mean, right off the
- 1:22jump, they returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown.
- 1:24I mean, right off the jump it was basically over.
- 1:28But not much to go into that. I who's going to go into Seattle
- 1:32and when it's got to be, it's got to be the Ramsey only
- 1:37option. But they just, they just, they
- 1:39just looked unstoppable. I mean, they they had we we
- 1:43watched that game. Well, I don't know if you were
- 1:44there. We were watching it to brownies
- 1:46the last time that the Rams played the Seahawks, you know,
- 1:49in November, maybe actually it's early December and they they
- 1:55were up what, 16? They had that weird 2 point can.
- 1:58Was it a 2 point conversion or the yeah, yeah, like whatever
- 2:03that was. So it it took the Seahawks kind
- 2:06of some fluky things to to beat the Rams that day.
- 2:09So I wouldn't, I wouldn't put it past the Rams to be able to do
- 2:12it. But I've, I've, I've had Seattle
- 2:15at the top of my my rankings almost every week that we've
- 2:18talked about it. So I expect Seattle to still
- 2:21win. Well, since we're talking Rams,
- 2:24we can go ahead and talk about the Rams Bears the the finale on
- 2:29on Sunday night. Do you get that fourth down play
- 2:34on Caleb Williams? He's running for his life.
- 2:39He's running backwards. Running for his life and, and
- 2:43like, honestly, like we talked about how in college, like all
- 2:47these teams are, it's new. It's, it's nice to have it.
- 2:49So I'm kind, I'm pulling for the Bears a little bit to have a new
- 2:53team and I'm not pulling for anybody else, you know?
- 2:56So and you're like, well, it's over and he just flings that
- 3:00thing. I mean, it was a Hail Mary.
- 3:01It it was a bit the equivalent to a Hail Mary.
- 3:04Yes, throw it up. And Durant just looked like he
- 3:07was in position and it kind of just he ran.
- 3:09Forward. What he was doing, I don't he
- 3:11just ran forward. It was weird.
- 3:14And Comet is right there and catches it.
- 3:18We talked Tao Sig. We thought he should have went
- 3:21for it on 4th and four. If I'm Ben Johnson, I'm going
- 3:24for two. Like you have all the momentum
- 3:27on your side. That Rams defense is completely
- 3:30flustered. You thought you had the game
- 3:32one. Like their defensive lineman are
- 3:34celebrating because he's just flinging the ball thinking it's
- 3:37over. And then you got to regroup
- 3:40right away and get a 2 yard stop.
- 3:42I don't know, man, I'm going to disagree with you on that,
- 3:45especially not at home. Not at home and not in those
- 3:48weather conditions. You know, you, you play for
- 3:51overtime. They got the stop that they
- 3:53needed in overtime and then they were moving the ball and before
- 3:56the the pick. But I you play for overtime,
- 4:00you, you try to, you know, maybe get a get a turnover or
- 4:02something to where you can just kick the field goal at the end
- 4:04and and win it. So no, not imagine not going for
- 4:08two because. But we talked about the fact
- 4:12that you have it in your hands. All you need is 2 yards to win
- 4:17the game. Yeah, but you're at home in your
- 4:20in your elements. I get that.
- 4:22Like you play for a tie at home, you play for the win on the
- 4:25road. Like that doesn't apply in all
- 4:27scenarios. Like you're the dog in that
- 4:29game. You're the dog in that game.
- 4:32Well, it made. You so confident that they would
- 4:33get the two like I would. I was confident that Indiana
- 4:36would get the four yards like they've done it earlier in the
- 4:38game. They've done it time to time.
- 4:40I would have no confidence the Bears could get those two yards.
- 4:44I'm not so sure that Indiana would have got that four yards
- 4:47either. Like look what it took to
- 4:49convert the 4th and five. Like the pressure that they were
- 4:51getting on them. I, I don't know, but I still
- 4:55would have gone for it in in this situation.
- 4:58I'm just rolling the bears what they've done all year, figuring
- 5:01out ways to win and I've got a chance to close it.
- 5:04And Ben Johnson's been aggressive all year.
- 5:06I think he kind of got out of his element a little bit.
- 5:11I don't know. I, I, I'm not, I'm not mad at
- 5:14him for, for kicking the extra point.
- 5:15I think that was the right call. I'm gonna disagree with you on.
- 5:18I, I don't think it's completely a wrong call.
- 5:20I I don't, I don't think it's an ignorant call to go to overtime,
- 5:23but they. Had the ball, they they had the
- 5:25ball with a chance to win in overtime.
- 5:27They were. They were on their side of the
- 5:2850, Yeah. And it was right there for the
- 5:31take and you just got to take care of the ball.
- 5:33You do and like that play. I don't know if DJ Moore quit on
- 5:39the route or, or what happened. Yeah, but there was a
- 5:44miscommunication there. May Do you need to take that
- 5:48risk in that point or you just keep drinking and dunking and
- 5:50getting 10 yards and to where you're kicking.
- 5:53You know where you're getting to where you can kick a 45 yard or
- 5:5540 yarder, but you you can't throw that pick.
- 6:00No, no, you can't. You can't do that.
- 6:02Certainly can't do that. And oh, I mean, once that pick
- 6:06happened, yes, you get that feeling that the the bears magic
- 6:12maybe is going to run out, but then you never know because you
- 6:14just saw what happened on 4th down in regulation.
- 6:17And like, do they have one more up their sleeve?
- 6:19And Matt Stafford just kind of calmly drove them down the field
- 6:23and they get a game-winning kick.
- 6:27But I mean, dude, what a incredible season.
- 6:29For the great season, absolutely fantastic season for the Bears.
- 6:33I mean, but they have 6. Was it six wins where they were
- 6:36trailing under 2 minutes? It was 7.
- 6:39Seven wins when trailing under 2 minutes.
- 6:41Yeah, Damn, you had another one? Yeah.
- 6:44If they go Tuesday, they might. Have it, but like, I mean,
- 6:46that's that's just incredible. What an incredible stat and like
- 6:49it's like great turn around in Chicago, but the Bears magic
- 6:55finally did run out. And look, they lost and but
- 7:00Caleb Williams at the Blackhawks game sitting right up against
- 7:03the glass last night. And you got to be excited about
- 7:07the future. If you're a Bears fan, you got
- 7:09an exciting new young head coach.
- 7:11You got an exciting team. And now you just got to see if
- 7:15you run it back. Because that's the thing we've
- 7:17seen when you win all these games the way they did, Remember
- 7:20the Chiefs did this two years ago and actually the other way.
- 7:24So you get you got to prevent that from happening.
- 7:30The first game of playoff weekend was I was probably
- 7:35looking forward to Rams, Bears the most, but this is probably
- 7:37the one I was looking forward to the second most.
- 7:39Yeah, Bills at Broncos. Great game.
- 7:43Great game. How much blame does Josh Allen
- 7:47deserve for this? 1-2 picks, 2 lost fumbles.
- 7:51He fumbled. The ball, yeah, he put the ball
- 7:52on the ground. Yeah, like that was.
- 7:54Like I feel like people aren't talking about that.
- 8:00I mean, yeah, no, he does deserve some of that.
- 8:02I mean, he deserves the blame. There's no doubt.
- 8:03I mean you. Also miss a wide open Dawson
- 8:06Dawson Knox where that would ended it.
- 8:10Yeah. Oh, yeah.
- 8:10He, yes, yes, didn't, I mean, they, the officials let some
- 8:15pass interference stuff go, you know, and then on that last
- 8:20drive in, in overtime, they, they call those back-to-back
- 8:25that were very, very questionable.
- 8:27I would say questionable. Yeah, the pick.
- 8:34It's just my thing is. I think it was a good pick.
- 8:37I still don't know for sure, but the fact that they went through
- 8:42it as quick as they did when I watched them review plays in
- 8:48Week 2, that I'm like, this is clearly a fumble.
- 8:52And they feel like they look at it for 15 minutes in Week 2 and
- 8:57you're in the AFC Divisional round in overtime, where if it's
- 9:01a catch, the Bills are in field goal range.
- 9:03If it's a pick, obviously the Broncos are going the other way,
- 9:07right? And McDermott had to call Tom
- 9:09out even to get them to feel like they might look at it a
- 9:12little more. I mean, isn't it the rule in the
- 9:14NFL? Like to make it a catch, you got
- 9:15to survive the ground and all that?
- 9:17I mean, it was dual possession and when they hit the ground the
- 9:21to me it was like dual possession.
- 9:22When they hit the ground, the defender came out with it.
- 9:25I have no problem with it. I mean, I think it was a good
- 9:28pick. Look, and I'm not arguing the
- 9:29call, I just think it was rushed a little bit, like it needed a
- 9:33second look. And Joe Burrow tweeted for the
- 9:36first time in like. Four years.
- 9:37I saw that. I saw that today.
- 9:40Look, it's strategy. He's trying to get on the good
- 9:42side of the refs. He's trying.
- 9:44It's strategy. I guess so.
- 9:46Let's see that. Like, I'm not arguing that it
- 9:48was a bad call. I just a call of that magnitude
- 9:53to me deserves a little more time to make sure you're getting
- 9:57it right. And I just felt like they kind
- 10:01of rushed it. It was, it was wrong.
- 10:04I mean, it was very quick. It was definitely very quick.
- 10:07And then on the assuming possession, there's 2 plays in a
- 10:10row that. Here's the thing that sucks
- 10:13about overtime is a 3040 yard pass play every single time when
- 10:19you're inside a field goal range.
- 10:20If you see a flag, your team lost or your team won.
- 10:25Yeah. And and that it's just you watch
- 10:29that whole game and it's such a good game.
- 10:33And the play before, like I'm looking, I was like, is this
- 10:37going to be a flag? And there wasn't one.
- 10:39And then the next play you see it and once they throw that
- 10:43flag, it's curtains like it don't matter.
- 10:47Like the refs just ended the game and all you got to do is
- 10:51hit a kick and and the Broncos are moving on.
- 10:54Yeah, no, mate, it was questionable, Definitely
- 10:58questionable, but. It just like when you're
- 11:02watching the whole game, it's just you lose some value I feel
- 11:05like when a game ends on API. Yeah.
- 11:08And yeah, I mean, in hindsight now, I mean, I feel bad for
- 11:14Buffalo. I mean, but like if they were
- 11:15never going to, there was ever a chance that they were going to
- 11:17win a super bad. For them.
- 11:19A little bit is. That is that the Do you feel bad
- 11:21for them? I mean, they've went to four
- 11:24straight Super Bowls, lost them all.
- 11:26They're in the driver's seat. A golden opportunity without
- 11:29Mahomes, Burrow and Jackson in the playoffs for Josh Allen, the
- 11:33reigning MVP, to take this team to a place it's never been.
- 11:38And they choked. Well, I mean, there's a reason
- 11:41why they were on the road at Denver because again, we kept
- 11:46saying like, we think they could win the Super Bowl because they
- 11:49got Josh Allen, but they still haven't been that top team all
- 11:51year. They.
- 11:52Weren't 12 and five. I mean, it was still like in a
- 11:55lot of years, 12 and five probably gets you hosting a this
- 11:57playoff. Game 12:00 and 5:00. 12 and five
- 12:00wins the division a lot of times.
- 12:02Yeah, but it's not going to get you being the one seed overall.
- 12:05No, but it's going to get you in this round of the playoffs.
- 12:07It's good you win the division. You're hosting this game, you're
- 12:10not on the road in this game, right?
- 12:13That's not necessarily true. Only the top 2 host, so you got
- 12:18to be a top 2 divisional seed. Well, twelve, I mean, I'm, I'm.
- 12:23In 12 and five, you're not usually going to be the one or
- 12:25the 2. I don't.
- 12:27I think you could be they. But they they are what they've
- 12:30kind of been all year. They haven't been a great team
- 12:34and I think a lot of us jumped on the Bills bandwagon in the
- 12:38postseason because they had the one quarterback who has been
- 12:42there done it a little bit before.
- 12:45This is his chance. There's no Borough, there's no
- 12:47Mahomes, there's no Jackson. He's got to take advantage of it
- 12:50and he had four turnovers, 4 turnovers and miss Dawson Knox
- 12:55and a chance to clinch the game. And because of that, they're not
- 12:59moving on from Josh Allen. Because.
- 13:02That would that would be smart. You move on from your head coach
- 13:05instead. So Harbaugh and Sean McDermott
- 13:08are both out and it's because of, well, Harbaugh's because of
- 13:14one kick and because I'm, I, I still don't think he gets fired
- 13:18if they make the playoffs, regardless of what happens
- 13:19against the Texans. And Mcdermott's out because.
- 13:25Because the referees decided to say it was an interception
- 13:28instead of yeah. I mean that was a big part of
- 13:30it, but also if you don't have 4 turnovers from your star
- 13:32quarterback, you you probably don't lose that game either.
- 13:37I mean, yeah. And it sucks because next week I
- 13:40think, I mean, I kind of wish the Bills would have won because
- 13:42next week I think it's just going to be a boring match up
- 13:45with no Bo Knicks. I'm I don't think Jared Stidham
- 13:48is going into Foxborough with a chance to win.
- 13:50I think Josh Allen, the Bills would go into Foxborough with a
- 13:53chance to win, but. I could see this being a close
- 13:59game, but it's. Going to be a low if it is a
- 14:04close game, it's going to be. A.
- 14:05It's going to. Be a 13 to 10 type of close game
- 14:07I could. Be 17 to 14 with and the 17
- 14:10being the final score with somebody kicking a game-winning
- 14:13FOGO. We don't need to go a ton into
- 14:16the the Texans, the Patriots game.
- 14:19Boring. Like bring in Davis Mills.
- 14:24Like do what? Bring in Davis Mills, CJ Stroud
- 14:27was. Terrible David smells.
- 14:28Bring him in. Like, I don't think they lost
- 14:31the game when CJ Stroud was hurt in the middle of the year.
- 14:34He kept him. He kept him afloat.
- 14:36Yeah. And CJ Stroud not you are not
- 14:40winning the game with the way he was playing.
- 14:42I mean, how many total turnovers, how many total
- 14:44turnovers do we have in that game from both sides?
- 14:46I mean, it was. We have 4 picks. 5 turnover IF8
- 14:53total turnovers. 5 from the Texans and three from the
- 14:56Patriots. Like that's bad football. 4
- 14:59picks and you complete 20 of 47 passes.
- 15:03That's brutal. And really they still had a
- 15:06chance, but it was still the game was not over in the
- 15:14second-half. Like they still had a chance if
- 15:17he would have figured out how to make some plays.
- 15:19And that's why I say like. It was 21.
- 15:22It was 2116 going to the 4th. In the New England.
- 15:27Yeah, goes bad. So now we look at the AFC and
- 15:32the NFC Championship games and you just think it's with Jared
- 15:39Stidham. There's no way the Broncos can.
- 15:42I mean, I know their defense. I know their defense is is good,
- 15:44but New England's defense is also good.
- 15:47I mean when that happens you, like you said it, it could be a
- 15:51low scoring game but I'm going Drake May has a chance to put up
- 15:54points and Jared Stidham does now.
- 15:56Does the Nick Foles tweet to the Broncos fans?
- 15:59Does that give you any encouragement?
- 16:01I did not see Nick Foles tweet to the Broncos fans.
- 16:04As you know, Nick Foles had some success against the New England
- 16:08Patriots in in the postseason as a as a rack.
- 16:11Up quarterback you could run the Phillies special.
- 16:13Is that what? Is that what Nick Foles is
- 16:14telling the Broncos to do? They they.
- 16:16Might, but I don't, I don't think, I don't think it's a no
- 16:22doubter that the Patriots are going to win this game.
- 16:24I think the Broncos defense is that good.
- 16:27If if you made me pick, yes, I'm going the Patriots because
- 16:30you've got a quarterback who's going to finish second in MVP
- 16:34voting against a guy who hasn't thrown a pass since 2023-2024.
- 16:43It's been a couple years since he's even thrown a pass.
- 16:46They did give him AI mean they gave him a two year contract I
- 16:50think for six or 10 million, something like that.
- 16:53So they paid him some money to be their backup.
- 16:56Sean Payton obviously believes in him.
- 16:59I, I think it's going to be a close game, but I think the
- 17:02Patriots. On a different No, actually had
- 17:03forgotten I misspoke. I thought the game was in in
- 17:06Foxborough, but the Broncos were the one seat.
- 17:07So I mean, being at home, yeah, being at home maybe makes it a
- 17:12little bit better, but I just don't see a way that Jared, two
- 17:16guy who hasn't thrown a pass in three years, is going to move
- 17:20the ball and score on the Patriots defense.
- 17:21Just got to rely on that defense on on the Denver defense.
- 17:25That's that's what you have to do.
- 17:27Hopefully you get. It takes away.
- 17:28Touchdown, a special teams touchdown or something like that
- 17:30maybe? It definitely takes away some
- 17:32luster from this game. Seen a lot of injuries affect
- 17:36teams in the playoffs. Yeah.
- 17:39And obviously losing your quarterback is as big as an
- 17:43injury as it gets, but. I never.
- 17:45I didn't even notice that he did it.
- 17:46Did you? No, and I I still think it's not
- 17:50completely certain what play it happened on.
- 17:53Because he he threw the the Yeah, because the ones where
- 17:57they had the pass interference, like it had, it happened before.
- 17:59That is what they were saying. Like he threw the ball with this
- 18:02injury. I mean, it wasn't when he went
- 18:06and took the knee in the middle of the field, so it had to
- 18:08happen. But there's a lot, there's
- 18:11people out there on the Internet saying it was, which it wasn't.
- 18:14No, but you can see there's video of him where you can see
- 18:18him kind of grimacing a little bit on the sideline.
- 18:21And then you are also with his because he, he was interviewed
- 18:24by Tracy Wilson after the game. You can tell that he is not
- 18:30putting any weight on that ankle.
- 18:31You can tell that his legs kind of bent if you look at it
- 18:35closely. So I I don't I would think that
- 18:39he probably knew something was was really bad and the fact that
- 18:43they had already ruled him out when Peyton was doing his post
- 18:46game. Yeah.
- 18:48So they knew. Yeah, Yeah.
- 18:51But the on the other side, you got the Rams going into the
- 18:57Seahawks divisional division opponents.
- 19:03Yeah, Seahawks favorite. I think that's all I just saw 2
- 19:051/2. I expect that to be a pretty
- 19:08good game. You know, it kind of close to
- 19:10what it was in the regular season when when Seattle had
- 19:14that that comeback. But you know, Seattle just looks
- 19:19unbeatable based on what they just did to the Niners.
- 19:22So I I just think it's going to be hard for for LA to I mean, I
- 19:25don't L as familiar with it. They they do it every year.
- 19:27But so, yeah, or so was San Francisco.
- 19:30I just think going into the 12th man, it's going to be hard to
- 19:34hard to do. It's going to be hard to win.
- 19:36I, I think it's going to be hard, but that other side has
- 19:39Matt Stafford and they, they have Sean McVeigh and obviously
- 19:45they've done it before. These two teams are familiar
- 19:50with, they're not. They're not going to be
- 19:51intimidated by the 12th man. I mean, they've played in, I
- 19:55mean, a lot of these players have played in, in this
- 19:56environment, you know, from multiple years, yeah.
- 19:59I I think I've been higher on the Rams for the most of the
- 20:02year. To switch now I think would.
- 20:06I got to stick to my guns. I I'm going to go Rams here.
- 20:10I But what they did last week to the Niners is just it makes it
- 20:15tougher. That was your team.
- 20:17That was your team I. Know I would, but let's also
- 20:21take a look back. How many games did I get right
- 20:23last week? I picked the Bills.
- 20:27OK, Yeah. They don't.
- 20:30They did not win. No, you picked the Patriots.
- 20:33I picked the Patriots. I picked you.
- 20:37Picked the Rams. I picked the Rams.
- 20:39And then you picked the 49ers. And I picked the 49ers.
- 20:42So 2 and 2. 2:00 and 2:00. But let's talk about, you know,
- 20:45talking about what you got right and what you got wrong.
- 20:48What's this? On hearing this, your favorite
- 20:51bet of all time was what, a four leg parlay it?
- 20:53Was terrible. And how many legs did you get
- 20:56out of your favorite bet of all time?
- 20:58I got the I got the last leg, which when you're already dead,
- 21:01it doesn't matter. But I had the Bills money line.
- 21:05That was the first one. I felt real great about it.
- 21:09They they get screwed on Josh Allen not knowing how to protect
- 21:12the ball and fake interceptions and passing.
- 21:14Air Francis don't really think it's a fake interception, but
- 21:17when you're betting, you think that the next game that night
- 21:21was the Niners, Seahawks. Oh, I had I had the Niners in
- 21:23the points plus 7. Felt real good about that one.
- 21:26Yeah. And then what do we have all?
- 21:30I had the under in the first half of the Texans and the
- 21:33Patriots under 20. That did not happen and the only
- 21:39one I got was the Bears plus 3 1/2.
- 21:43OK, yeah, Carl said. Carl said you texted him.
- 21:47I was like, this is my favorite bet ever and you were just.
- 21:52I do it a lot. I do it a lot.
- 21:53It's wonder like how they allow somebody like this to talk
- 21:56sports. Well, in this day and age,
- 21:58anybody in the world can host a podcast and you can be the
- 22:00dumbest person alive and still do it.
- 22:02Nobody has to listen to it, but you can host it.
- 22:04That's true. So I'm officially going Pat's
- 22:10Rams. I'm going to go rematch of the
- 22:15Super Bowl when Pete Carroll decided to not give the ball to
- 22:20Marshawn Lynch and lose the game for Seattle.
- 22:22We're going to go with that rematch and we're going to go
- 22:24the Seahawks and Patriots with the Seahawks this time.
- 22:30The bad news is that the Patriots are in the playoffs.
- 22:32It's probably going to be a rematch because they've been
- 22:34there 47 times. The Patriots Rams also a
- 22:38rematch. It is a rematch.
- 22:40Yeah, and we talked a little bit about this, the Patriots dynasty
- 22:45with Tom Brady. You get so tired of them being
- 22:47there and they're like, Brady's gone, Bill Checks gone.
- 22:51They're going to be down for a little bit.
- 22:53They did. They stunk for a couple years.
- 22:55They were 4 and 13 two years in a row, and now they're on the
- 23:00verge of going back to the Super Bowl, Mike Rabel's first year.
- 23:03Because they got a very, they got a really, really good coach.
- 23:05And Mike Rabel, a guy that's had proven success in the NFL when
- 23:09he took the Titans, is the number to the one seed in the
- 23:11AFC. So you get a coach like that.
- 23:14I didn't expect it to happen in Year 1, but here we are.