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Hawk Talk With Michael Bumpus - Divisional Preview · Hawk Talk

0:01
Speaker 1: You're listening to Hawk Talk with former Seahawks wide receiver
0:05
Speaker 1: Michael Bumpus. After ten yard line, second to day free
0:08
Speaker 1: wide receivers now in motion. As Buppas left to write
0:11
Speaker 1: Julius Jones a single setback Matt pumpfecks looking at the
0:14
Speaker 1: goal line, he throws it into the end zone. Touchdown.
0:17
Speaker 1: Say Hawks, it's Michael Bumpas with a diving catching the
0:21
Speaker 1: end zone. Our ten yard touchdown reception for Bumpus and
0:25
Speaker 1: the kid out of Washington State has found himself a
0:29
Speaker 1: place on this team powered by Seahawks dot Com. What folks,
0:34
Speaker 1: this is Michael Bumpus along with my producer Nasa Choby
0:36
Speaker 1: and this is Hawk Talk preview addition, and guess what
0:40
Speaker 1: round to the divisional playoffs are? I hear the Hawks
0:43
Speaker 1: are going to the Midwest to challenge the Green Bay Packers.
0:48
Speaker 1: But before we get into the details, we're gonna toss
0:50
Speaker 1: it over the NAS for the injury updates. Thanks Michael.
0:53
Speaker 1: Hoping to get some good news on the injury report
0:55
Speaker 1: this week, Head coach Pete Carroll stepped up to the
0:57
Speaker 1: podium gave the following injury updates on my que Patti,
1:00
Speaker 1: Dwayne Brown, Ziggy ansa Quandre Diggs, and Malik Turner. Any
1:05
Speaker 1: new information on Dwayne Brown and Mike Patty. Um, well
1:10
Speaker 1: it was kind of m uh, nothing much on Mike yet. Um,
1:15
Speaker 1: we're waiting for a second opinion on something. UM. And
1:18
Speaker 1: Dwayne did some work yesterday and doing work again today,
1:21
Speaker 1: So he won't practice today. But it's an encouraging sign
1:26
Speaker 1: about him, you know, making his return, and so we'll
1:28
Speaker 1: see what happens. We won't know un till late what
1:31
Speaker 1: a Ziggy anza, any update there? Um, he feels better
1:35
Speaker 1: than than the trainers thought he would be, you know,
1:37
Speaker 1: after the episode that he had in the game. Um,
1:39
Speaker 1: so he's you know, he's planning on working his way
1:42
Speaker 1: back into planning. Um, we'll see how it goes during
1:44
Speaker 1: the week out Sunday. I just talked to him today.
1:48
Speaker 1: He feels good. He's a little bit sorry yesterday. He
1:50
Speaker 1: feels fine. He's ready to go. Um, he's gonna practice
1:54
Speaker 1: today and we'll see how he responds to the practice. Um.
1:57
Speaker 1: Been touch and go to get him back, taking great
2:00
Speaker 1: care of him to make sure that he's right. He's
2:02
Speaker 1: anxious to get going and see what how he feels
2:04
Speaker 1: tomorrow and so that starts today. All right, Michael, like
2:07
Speaker 1: you said, divisional playoff week, Hawks hackers. Let's take a
2:10
Speaker 1: look at the Packers season, right, So, everyone knows they're good.
2:12
Speaker 1: They're number two seed in the NFC. They're the NFC
2:15
Speaker 1: North Division champs with a thirteen and three record. But
2:18
Speaker 1: outside of that, obviously we know what to Aaron Rodgers
2:21
Speaker 1: and all that. But outside of that bump, looking at
2:23
Speaker 1: their stats, they don't nothing jumps off the page at you. Yeah,
2:25
Speaker 1: nothing really jumps off at you. There. They are an
2:27
Speaker 1: average team in most categories and slightly above average and
2:31
Speaker 1: the other categories. Total offense, they're number eighteen in the NFL,
2:35
Speaker 1: total defense, the number eighteen NFL. The one stat or
2:39
Speaker 1: column where they kind of stand out a bit is
2:42
Speaker 1: just turnover differential, and that's mainly because of the play
2:45
Speaker 1: of Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, he won't turn involver, he doesn't
2:47
Speaker 1: turn involve get into our key matchups. He's only had
2:50
Speaker 1: believe four interceptions on the season. One common thing between
2:53
Speaker 1: the two teams is turnover differential. They're both tied for
2:56
Speaker 1: number three in the NFL and the regular season with
2:59
Speaker 1: plus twelve. They're taking the ball away and they're not
3:01
Speaker 1: turning over, which makes a guy like Aaron Rodgers dangerous,
3:04
Speaker 1: makes some dangerous and also category where we should be
3:07
Speaker 1: able to exploit them. There are number twenty three in
3:10
Speaker 1: rush defense. They're giving up one hundred twenty yards per game.
3:13
Speaker 1: The Hawks are around one hundred thirty yards per game.
3:15
Speaker 1: Even after that horrible display of seventeen yards running backs.
3:22
Speaker 1: They didn't play effort. They played a good rush defense.
3:24
Speaker 1: But if they're somewhere where the Hawks can exploit them,
3:27
Speaker 1: it will be with the run game. And this is
3:29
Speaker 1: the week to get that run game going again. So
3:31
Speaker 1: we're gonna jump into their common opponents. These guys have
3:34
Speaker 1: played a few of the same opponents. So the Vikings
3:38
Speaker 1: Packers won both of those games against the Vikings twenty
3:40
Speaker 1: one to sixteen in Week two and then twenty three
3:43
Speaker 1: to ten in Week sixteen. We all know the Hawks
3:45
Speaker 1: beat the Vikings thirty seven to thirty in Week thirteen.
3:48
Speaker 1: The thing that's kind of misleading to this is the
3:51
Speaker 1: Vikings are just playing good football right now. Yeah, because
3:53
Speaker 1: in the playoffs it doesn't matter. You throw all the
3:55
Speaker 1: regular season numbers out the window. They're playing great football.
3:57
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone myself included, really gave them a
4:01
Speaker 1: shot at all to go into New Orleans beat Drew Brees,
4:03
Speaker 1: Sean Payton, Kamara Thomas, who had one of the best
4:06
Speaker 1: years of receivers ever had. So that they're playing good
4:09
Speaker 1: football in this time of year, it's all about playing
4:10
Speaker 1: good football. And also when you look at that the
4:12
Speaker 1: game against the Seahawks is thirty seven to thirty, but
4:15
Speaker 1: the Seahawks were in more of control of that game. Like,
4:17
Speaker 1: I don't think that final score really indicates how close
4:19
Speaker 1: that game was. Another common opponent the Eagles. The Packers
4:23
Speaker 1: lost to the Eagles thirty forty twenty seven. Before you
4:25
Speaker 1: get all crazy, let's remember Jordan Howard and Miles Sanders
4:29
Speaker 1: were healthy that game. Combined, they rust for one hundred
4:31
Speaker 1: and thirty nine yards. Alshon Jeffrey was healthy. It was
4:34
Speaker 1: a different looking Eagles team when the Green Bay Packers
4:37
Speaker 1: played them. Yeah, when you have all when they had
4:39
Speaker 1: all their weapons, they had all the receivers. Obviously health
4:41
Speaker 1: and Carson Wentz that definitely played into it. And it's
4:43
Speaker 1: earlier in the year. Week four is really hard to
4:45
Speaker 1: take a look back. The Seahawks, on the other hand,
4:47
Speaker 1: we know they play the Eagles twice, beat them both
4:49
Speaker 1: by a score of seventeen to nine in Week twelve
4:51
Speaker 1: and in the Wildcard playoffs last week. Yes, another common
4:55
Speaker 1: opponent or the Carolina Panthers. The Packers beat the Panthers
4:57
Speaker 1: twenty four to sixteen in Week ten after a goal
5:00
Speaker 1: line stand. The Seahawks beat the Panthers thirty to twenty
5:03
Speaker 1: four on the road. So there's some comparison there. You know,
5:06
Speaker 1: I would like to see what McCaffrey did against those guys.
5:09
Speaker 1: I should have looked that up. But we know that
5:11
Speaker 1: to beat the Panthers, you have to contain McCaffrey's you
5:15
Speaker 1: can't let them get loose. But that guy's a baller.
5:17
Speaker 1: The fact that they both beat these guys set that
5:19
Speaker 1: they were able to at least contain McCaffrey for the
5:23
Speaker 1: most part. Well, the thing about that game, it was close.
5:25
Speaker 1: It It was in Week ten, I remember because the
5:26
Speaker 1: Seahawks were playing on Monday night and I was actually
5:28
Speaker 1: able to watch pretty much that whole game, and it
5:30
Speaker 1: was snowing. It was kind of nasty weather, and it
5:33
Speaker 1: came down to the very end of the game where
5:35
Speaker 1: McCaffrey think it was like a fourth and one from
5:37
Speaker 1: the goal line, and McCaffrey still had a good day.
5:39
Speaker 1: He went for twenty carries one hundred and eight yards
5:41
Speaker 1: and one touchdown. Receiving, he also did decently. He had
5:47
Speaker 1: sorry six receptions thirty three yards, so he had a
5:50
Speaker 1: good day. And it came down to literally a goal
5:52
Speaker 1: line stand by their defense to kind of solidify that win.
5:54
Speaker 1: So it was a close game and our panther game.
5:56
Speaker 1: We know final score three twenty four, but that's not
5:58
Speaker 1: how the game went. Yeah, yeah, another common opponent with
6:01
Speaker 1: the forty nine ers. Now, the Packers got slapped by
6:04
Speaker 1: these guys thirty seven and eight in Week twelve, and
6:08
Speaker 1: we all know that the San Francisco forty nine Ers
6:10
Speaker 1: and the Seahawks split their two games, So I guess
6:14
Speaker 1: that's kind of encouraging that they got beat up by
6:16
Speaker 1: the forty nine ers and the Hawks were able to
6:18
Speaker 1: hold their own against that very good defense and put
6:22
Speaker 1: up more points in the Green Bay Packers. I listened
6:24
Speaker 1: to Aaron Rodgers speak and he said that they just
6:26
Speaker 1: weren't ready. He said that that trip to the West Coast,
6:29
Speaker 1: the routine was off. Something was there. They just weren't ready,
6:32
Speaker 1: and that's kind of opposite of how Russell Wilson would
6:35
Speaker 1: have approached that. He would have said, hey, you know,
6:36
Speaker 1: they got us a good game planning head YadA. Aaron
6:39
Speaker 1: Rodgers is kind of different. He just says, hey, we
6:40
Speaker 1: weren't ready to go. We gotta do better. So I
6:44
Speaker 1: expect I expect Aaron Rodgers to come back this week
6:48
Speaker 1: and bounce back. The thing that scares about Aaron Rodgers
6:51
Speaker 1: is just the unknown. You don't know what he's gonna do.
6:53
Speaker 1: I mean, he can off script, he's a great football player.
6:55
Speaker 1: On script, he's a great football player. Don't get full
6:58
Speaker 1: by these numbers, which we are gonna get into next
7:00
Speaker 1: with our key matchups, our first matchups. Like I mentioned,
7:03
Speaker 1: is Aaron Rodgers versus r about him? Yeah, hey, you're
7:07
Speaker 1: gonna need every single person. Aaron Rodgers is a special dude.
7:10
Speaker 1: Especial dude. Aaron Rodgers in this He's had an okay season.
7:13
Speaker 1: People are knocking him because I really I don't know
7:15
Speaker 1: why they're knocking up. Maybe his touchdown totals aren't up,
7:17
Speaker 1: his passing percentages down a little bit, but he still
7:20
Speaker 1: has twenty six touchdowns and four interceptions and through for
7:23
Speaker 1: over four thousand yards. You cannot sleep on that. He
7:26
Speaker 1: may not be making the huge plays that we're used to,
7:29
Speaker 1: but he's been been consistent all year, and he's missing
7:32
Speaker 1: a few pieces around him. He has one number one
7:34
Speaker 1: receiver and a bunch of fill ins at the other
7:36
Speaker 1: receiver spots. So I think for what he's had, what
7:39
Speaker 1: he has as far as weapons, he's been all right
7:41
Speaker 1: this year. I think people just look at it because
7:43
Speaker 1: you're right. I mean, you know how good of a
7:45
Speaker 1: quarterback you have to be that when people look at
7:47
Speaker 1: your staff and say, hey, you got four thousand yards,
7:49
Speaker 1: twenty six touchdowns and four interceptions, and they say you're
7:52
Speaker 1: having not a very good year when your quarterback rating
7:54
Speaker 1: is ninety five point four. And if you'll get his
7:56
Speaker 1: career numbers, there's only been one other Sea in which
8:00
Speaker 1: was in twenty eighteen where he had less than five interceptions.
8:04
Speaker 1: So he's taking care of the football and it's not
8:06
Speaker 1: the same. He doesn't have the same weapons he used
8:09
Speaker 1: to have, you know what I mean, you don't have
8:10
Speaker 1: some of the same guys with Jordy Nelson, you know,
8:12
Speaker 1: running down the field, and you look at his completion
8:14
Speaker 1: percentage that's dripped a little bit, but sixty two percent
8:18
Speaker 1: he's forty. Yeah, he's not bad. And then he has
8:21
Speaker 1: a new head coach with a new offense that mcfleur
8:23
Speaker 1: comes from, the Shanahan type offense type deal where a
8:26
Speaker 1: lot of plaques and a lot of going across the field.
8:28
Speaker 1: So maybe there's some adjustment there. I said early on
8:31
Speaker 1: the show today that I think he's just giving the
8:33
Speaker 1: offense a chance to Whereas when McCarthy was there towards
8:36
Speaker 1: the end of the year, he's like, look, I'm up,
8:38
Speaker 1: I'm going to the line of scrimmage. I'm checking out
8:39
Speaker 1: of this. I'm running what I want to run. Whereas
8:41
Speaker 1: now I feel like there's some more structure to this
8:44
Speaker 1: offense and he's kind of trying to learn. Him and
8:46
Speaker 1: mcfleur just trying to get on the same pace. So
8:48
Speaker 1: never sleep on Aaron Rodgers. If you sleep on him,
8:51
Speaker 1: good luck to you because he will bite you in
8:52
Speaker 1: the butt. Another matchup Aaron Jones versus Seahawks front seven.
8:56
Speaker 1: Jones having a breakout season in his third year. He
8:59
Speaker 1: has over a thousand yards and sixteen rushing touchdowns and
9:02
Speaker 1: don't forget forty nine receptions for over four yards. And
9:04
Speaker 1: three touchdowns. This is the new wage running back. You
9:07
Speaker 1: have to be able to catch the football. There's no
9:09
Speaker 1: more just hand theball off gold Downhill type of guy.
9:12
Speaker 1: You gotta have guys like Aaron Jones in the backfield.
9:15
Speaker 1: And again, the things that things that scares me about
9:17
Speaker 1: him is the potential. He has a big play potential.
9:20
Speaker 1: You have to wrap this guy up. Definitely. No, he's
9:23
Speaker 1: the numbers kind of speak for themselves. A thousand yards
9:26
Speaker 1: and not earth shattering numbers, but the fact that he
9:28
Speaker 1: can do both. It's not one of those where he's
9:30
Speaker 1: got to come out on third down because he can't
9:31
Speaker 1: catch the football. He's definitely a dangerous guy. And the
9:34
Speaker 1: Seahawks have gone up against a lot of good running backs.
9:36
Speaker 1: They've been pretty for the most part, they've been pretty solid.
9:39
Speaker 1: They're statistically they're probably middle of the pack in terms
9:41
Speaker 1: of rush defense. But he's a guy that you definitely
9:43
Speaker 1: can't get loose early on, especially with Aaron Rodgers back there.
9:47
Speaker 1: You gotta contain the run to kind of try your
9:49
Speaker 1: best to make Aaron Rodgers one dimensional, Yes, sir, Next
9:52
Speaker 1: matchup Davante Adams versus Seahawks. Second there, he's by far
9:56
Speaker 1: the Packers leading receiver a three receptions, dang there, one
10:00
Speaker 1: thousand yards off by three yards, and five touchdowns and
10:02
Speaker 1: he only played in twelve games. Yeah, how explosive is this?
10:06
Speaker 1: To twelve games and he has almost a thousand yards receiver? Yeah.
10:09
Speaker 1: Last year I think he had over thirteen hundred yards.
10:11
Speaker 1: Was his first one thousand yards season. In twenty sixteen
10:13
Speaker 1: he had nine ninety seven and just missed that a
10:15
Speaker 1: thousand yard threshold. But again he was in an offensive
10:18
Speaker 1: Jordy Nelson, he was an offense with Gosh and Randall
10:21
Speaker 1: Cobb is the other guy. So he's definitely he's a
10:23
Speaker 1: guy that you're that you're scared about because he can.
10:26
Speaker 1: He's a guy that can run past you. He's a
10:27
Speaker 1: guy that can people. I hate when people say take
10:30
Speaker 1: the top off the defense if you will, you know
10:31
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. He can get by you, though, and
10:33
Speaker 1: it's something that you got to keep him in front.
10:35
Speaker 1: And the explosiveness to do that in twelve games, I mean,
10:38
Speaker 1: he not quite Michael Thomas, but he was on pace
10:41
Speaker 1: to have well over one hundred receptions in probably fifteen
10:44
Speaker 1: hundred yards. YEA. Their next best receiver is Alam Lazard.
10:47
Speaker 1: Sorry if I butchered your name thinking about it. Okay,
10:50
Speaker 1: cool who has thirty five receptions for four hundred and
10:52
Speaker 1: seven to seven yards and three touchdowns. He kind of
10:54
Speaker 1: came out of nowhere. And I like this kid's play.
10:56
Speaker 1: He goes up, he gets the football, he can be explosive.
10:59
Speaker 1: He's getting to his groove. If you can limit Davonte
11:02
Speaker 1: Adams and kind of make this kid beat you, I
11:05
Speaker 1: think your chances go up winning this football game. The
11:07
Speaker 1: Seahaws secondary will be tested a lot more than they
11:10
Speaker 1: were last week. We mentioned on the podcast last week
11:13
Speaker 1: the starting receivers for the Eagles were not on NFL
11:16
Speaker 1: rosters right this year. Now you're dealing with potential pro bowler.
11:21
Speaker 1: If Davonte Adams played the full season, he might be
11:23
Speaker 1: a Pro bowler. And and a kid in Lazard who's
11:25
Speaker 1: who's coming around as well. So they got to be
11:27
Speaker 1: on point this week for sure. And the thing about
11:29
Speaker 1: Lazard too is he um he is their version again,
11:33
Speaker 1: hear me out when I say this, their version of
11:35
Speaker 1: DK Metcalf. He is. He didn't put up the he
11:38
Speaker 1: his stat line is what I thought DK was gonna
11:41
Speaker 1: put up this year. Obviously, DK blew that out of
11:43
Speaker 1: the water, but mainly just because he's six five two
11:45
Speaker 1: twenty seven, they're gonna throw him up. He's gonna go
11:47
Speaker 1: get the football. He made a couple really big catches
11:49
Speaker 1: against the Lions and the last week in regular seasons,
11:51
Speaker 1: so he's definitely a big play guy. And yeah, Shaquille Griffin,
11:54
Speaker 1: Trey Flowers, Quandre Diggs, Bradley McDougall definitely have their hands
11:58
Speaker 1: full this week, got their hands full of the next.
12:00
Speaker 1: We're gonna go Travis Homer and mars Shawn Lynch versus
12:03
Speaker 1: the Packers front seven. The Seahawks struggled against the Eagles
12:07
Speaker 1: last week. They were third best in the NFL in
12:09
Speaker 1: the rush defense, averaging about ninety but to put up
12:11
Speaker 1: nineteen yards is a disappointment. But luckily they had Russell
12:14
Speaker 1: Wilson and kind of saved the day there. So this
12:17
Speaker 1: is the first time all season they were shut out. Yeah,
12:19
Speaker 1: I don't expect that to happen two games in a row.
12:21
Speaker 1: This has to be a bounce back game as far
12:22
Speaker 1: as rushing is evolved, No, absolutely. I think the biggest
12:26
Speaker 1: deal was Fletcher Cox. I think I heard you talk
12:28
Speaker 1: about that with Pete and Pete said that. I mean literally,
12:30
Speaker 1: Fletcher Cox was just a game wrecker up in the middle.
12:33
Speaker 1: And I think this week will have a good game
12:35
Speaker 1: plan against the Packers. And like you said, yeah, there's
12:37
Speaker 1: no I mean, Pete carrolloks at the box score. He's
12:39
Speaker 1: that is completely against anything that they want to do.
12:43
Speaker 1: And you mentioned it's the only time when we played
12:44
Speaker 1: the Bucks, we played all these other teams that had
12:46
Speaker 1: top tier rushing defenses, we were able to go over
12:49
Speaker 1: one hundred yards. So I don't I can't see any
12:52
Speaker 1: scenario where that happens two weeks in a row. Yeah,
12:54
Speaker 1: I don't see that happened, especially knowing that the Packers
12:56
Speaker 1: give up one hundred and twenty yards on the ground
12:58
Speaker 1: per game. That rings twenty three NFL. You have to
13:01
Speaker 1: capitalize on this opportunity that the Hawks have in front
13:04
Speaker 1: of him. Next matchup, DK metcalf Ande, Tyler Lockett versus
13:07
Speaker 1: Kevin King. Now, look this guy up fourth in the league,
13:11
Speaker 1: third in the league, and interceptions with five or six
13:13
Speaker 1: super explosive he has great hips. DK's coming off his
13:17
Speaker 1: best game as a professional. I'm just gonna go out
13:20
Speaker 1: there and say that Kevin King is licking his chops
13:21
Speaker 1: and was like, Hey, I want to go up against
13:23
Speaker 1: this rookie and see Willie's really made up. And on
13:25
Speaker 1: the flip side, I think DK is so confident. He's like, look,
13:29
Speaker 1: you put anyone in front of me right now, I'm
13:31
Speaker 1: gonna take their lunch money. So I'm excited to see
13:33
Speaker 1: this matchup. Oh, this is probably one of the not
13:36
Speaker 1: necessarily the most important matchup of the weekend, but probably
13:39
Speaker 1: the most exciting for me personally. You look at you
13:40
Speaker 1: look at Kevin King shout out at University Washington stand out.
13:44
Speaker 1: He's six three, two hundred pounds, he's long. You mentioned
13:47
Speaker 1: the five interceptions, he's got fifteen pass breakups, and DK
13:51
Speaker 1: coming off the best game off his season, and you
13:53
Speaker 1: look at that matchup. The size Versisi's lanky. But if
13:55
Speaker 1: you're DK, DK just lined think about the last couple
13:58
Speaker 1: of weeks he was lining up against at Peterson. It's
14:00
Speaker 1: one of the best cover corners in the game, Richard Sherman.
14:03
Speaker 1: So he is he's gone up against the best cornerbacks back.
14:07
Speaker 1: Even when we played the Ravens, I mean they got good.
14:09
Speaker 1: So he has seen the best defensive backs the NFL
14:11
Speaker 1: has to offer. So I think he's he's gonna be
14:13
Speaker 1: ready to go and it's gonna be fun matchup between
14:15
Speaker 1: the two. Yeah, there's no reason for this young man
14:17
Speaker 1: not to be confident. And let's not sleep on Tyler Lockett.
14:19
Speaker 1: He started off this season super hot, got injured, thing,
14:21
Speaker 1: got ill, and he's kind of working his way back
14:24
Speaker 1: and last week he had a decent game. I think
14:26
Speaker 1: that if they want to focus on DK Metcap, they
14:29
Speaker 1: want to keep a corner over there, bring the safety
14:31
Speaker 1: over for some help. That middle of the field is
14:33
Speaker 1: gonna be wide open again for Tyler Lockett to really
14:35
Speaker 1: get himself back on track. Yeah, And honestly, Tyler Lockett
14:39
Speaker 1: success early on his help DK Metcap. Yes, that made
14:42
Speaker 1: so now you're putting defenses in a pickle. He's okay.
14:45
Speaker 1: We've put a lot of emphasis early in the year
14:47
Speaker 1: and Tyler. And if we do that to DK, now
14:49
Speaker 1: you're putting Tyler in one on one situations on a
14:51
Speaker 1: deep crossing route and if you can protect, that's a
14:53
Speaker 1: nightmare in a secondary. Pick your poison, and don't forget
14:56
Speaker 1: hey DMO coming off the bench, I got by forget
14:59
Speaker 1: about DMO. So now we're gonna look at the divisional
15:02
Speaker 1: round matchups in this playoffs, we're gonna make our picks again.
15:06
Speaker 1: Is that what we're gonna do? They we gonna make
15:07
Speaker 1: our picks again, all right? So here we go. First
15:09
Speaker 1: matchup Vikings First, the Niners. I think the Bikings are
15:15
Speaker 1: hot right now. They are, man and I think they're
15:17
Speaker 1: gonna sneak one buy San fran Man. They are playing
15:21
Speaker 1: good football right now. And I and you were the
15:23
Speaker 1: risky guy last week. You picked the Titans who prevailed
15:27
Speaker 1: um Man. It is just really hard for me. They've
15:31
Speaker 1: had two weeks, they have a two weeks off, and
15:34
Speaker 1: they have a full week to prepare for the Vikings
15:36
Speaker 1: coming up. And it's really hard for me to pick
15:38
Speaker 1: against the forty nine ers just the way they have
15:40
Speaker 1: been playing. But hey, sometimes when when you got the
15:43
Speaker 1: hot hand and you're rolling. They just played last week,
15:45
Speaker 1: they didn't have a week off, there's no let down there.
15:47
Speaker 1: It'll be a really good chess match. But I'm leaning
15:51
Speaker 1: I don't want to because I would love a scenario
15:53
Speaker 1: where the NFC Championship game could be at Century Linked Field,
15:56
Speaker 1: But I'm i gotta go with the Niners in that
15:58
Speaker 1: match up. I think that's what's kind of influencing. I
16:00
Speaker 1: picked two knowing that the Vikings win and the Nighters win,
16:03
Speaker 1: the conference championship is at the house. Sorry, it's the
16:05
Speaker 1: next matchup. Tennessee first, Baltimore. I'm gonna let you go first.
16:09
Speaker 1: It's Tennessee's playing hot right now, but it's Baltimore. Yeah,
16:13
Speaker 1: and I think I don't think it's gonna be that close.
16:15
Speaker 1: I think they win by at least two scores. Just
16:18
Speaker 1: what they're able to do and the fact that they've
16:19
Speaker 1: been sitting waiting around game planning. They had a couple
16:23
Speaker 1: weeks off to get some of those guys injured guys healthy.
16:25
Speaker 1: Mark Ingram was banged up, so he hasn't been practicing,
16:28
Speaker 1: but I think he's getting ready to go this week.
16:30
Speaker 1: Lamar is a so damn special man watching him play,
16:33
Speaker 1: I honestly think this is fourteen to seventy point win
16:36
Speaker 1: for the Ravens. Okay, I'm gonna go with the Ravens
16:38
Speaker 1: as well. And I heard Ryan Clark say on ESPN,
16:41
Speaker 1: I think said this is gonna be the fastest game
16:43
Speaker 1: in NFL history, the way these two teams could run
16:46
Speaker 1: the football. That clock is gonna be ticking and ticking,
16:49
Speaker 1: so it should be fun to watch. I am excited
16:52
Speaker 1: for the Tennessee Titans franchise as a whole. They haven't
16:55
Speaker 1: had a lot of success in a while, so to
16:57
Speaker 1: see them get the upset in Foxboro, take on Tom Brady,
17:00
Speaker 1: have a chance to take take down probably the NFL's MVP.
17:04
Speaker 1: I'm excited for that franchise if they can. If they
17:07
Speaker 1: they win that game, just throw every through everything out. Man,
17:10
Speaker 1: it's a playoffs and even though I think it's gonna
17:12
Speaker 1: be a blowout, that's why they're playing the games Mans.
17:16
Speaker 1: Next matchup the Texans verse the Chiefs. It's hard for
17:20
Speaker 1: me to go against a healthy Mahomes right now. I
17:23
Speaker 1: know Deshaun Watson is playing well. They got JJ Watt back,
17:26
Speaker 1: who's still one of the league's top sack leaders, and
17:29
Speaker 1: he missed like three or four game. He missed a
17:31
Speaker 1: lot of games. It was just three or four, my guy,
17:33
Speaker 1: he missed like he missed seven or eight for sure,
17:36
Speaker 1: and he's still one of the one of the top
17:38
Speaker 1: sack leaders, at least top third in the league. I'm
17:40
Speaker 1: gonna go with the Kansas City Chiefs and a healthy
17:42
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes. I think that this offense is really explosive,
17:47
Speaker 1: and I think if it comes down to a shootout,
17:50
Speaker 1: it could be a shootout. If it comes down to
17:52
Speaker 1: a shootout, I'm gonna go with maybe the best quarterback
17:56
Speaker 1: in the NFL right now as far as throwing the
17:58
Speaker 1: ball down the field and make those big plays. And
18:01
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes Yeah, so J. J. Watt hadn't played since
18:05
Speaker 1: October twenty seven, so he played in seven games this year. Yeah,
18:09
Speaker 1: all that being said, I love DeShawn Watson. I loved
18:11
Speaker 1: what they did to come back and when that came
18:14
Speaker 1: at home. But Patrick Mahomes, man, Patrick Mahomes, McCoy, Frank Clark,
18:18
Speaker 1: all the guys that got over there, any Reid, I
18:21
Speaker 1: just especially, I think they win the coaching matchup. I
18:23
Speaker 1: think they have more talented guys as good as Shaun
18:25
Speaker 1: Watson is. I think the Chiefs win by by around
18:29
Speaker 1: ten points. From which final matchup Hawks versus Green Bay.
18:32
Speaker 1: You already know where I'm going with this, and we
18:34
Speaker 1: don't even need to We need to go through that.
18:35
Speaker 1: We got confidence in our Hawks, for sure, sir. The
18:37
Speaker 1: good guys win that one, all right? Their path to victory?
18:40
Speaker 1: How are the Hawks going to go on the road
18:43
Speaker 1: in Green Bay in January and pull off a win.
18:46
Speaker 1: This is how they do it. Find a way to
18:49
Speaker 1: run the ball. Simple nineteen yards not enough, don't need
18:54
Speaker 1: to rush for two fifty or anything crazy like that.
18:57
Speaker 1: Around one thirty one fifty, I feel like it they'll
18:59
Speaker 1: be good to go. Thankfully, they have a Travis Homer
19:02
Speaker 1: and a mars Shawn Lynch in a backfield, and I
19:04
Speaker 1: think this game, Sean hiber is gonna do a great
19:07
Speaker 1: job of putting them in position to succeed. I think
19:09
Speaker 1: now they know that Travis Homer is not going to
19:11
Speaker 1: be the guy to go downhill in the A gap.
19:13
Speaker 1: Use his speed, get him out on the edges. We
19:15
Speaker 1: need those short yardags. Give it to twenty four and
19:17
Speaker 1: let them run. Yeah no, And like you said, yeah,
19:19
Speaker 1: you don't need anything crazy. They just need to stay
19:21
Speaker 1: balanced and they need these stay They can't get behind
19:23
Speaker 1: the sticks. That's it's an. I didn't put it on
19:25
Speaker 1: the sheet, but they got to stay. They can't be
19:28
Speaker 1: in first in fifteen, second and twenty and last week
19:32
Speaker 1: was they were unbelievable. They're all third. Everyone was thirty ten,
19:36
Speaker 1: third and eleven, third and fifteen. But I don't know,
19:39
Speaker 1: if you can sustain that success two weeks in a row,
19:42
Speaker 1: you need you need to be able to run the
19:43
Speaker 1: ball just to stay balanced. Like I said, even if
19:45
Speaker 1: they run for seventy five or eighty yards, that's gonna
19:47
Speaker 1: be enough toward those deep playaffs and routes. Those deep
19:49
Speaker 1: crosses will be open another path to victory. Russell Wilson
19:53
Speaker 1: needs the ball out just like he's been doing. He
19:55
Speaker 1: needs to have another performance like he did last week
19:58
Speaker 1: through fover three hundred yards. Has made the plays when
20:01
Speaker 1: they needed to be made. You talk about third down,
20:03
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say more than about sixty percent of those
20:06
Speaker 1: third downs were off for Russell Wilson's arms or his legs.
20:10
Speaker 1: He had a big third and I think twelve run
20:12
Speaker 1: where he picked up fifteen yards. I mean, he's elevating
20:14
Speaker 1: his play. There was a moment in the season where
20:16
Speaker 1: he kind of stalled a bit, and stalling doesn't mean
20:18
Speaker 1: he played bad. It just means he wasn't playing at
20:20
Speaker 1: the same rate that he was early in the season.
20:23
Speaker 1: Now it seems like he's getting healthier again. He's got
20:25
Speaker 1: that postseason swag. This guy has to come up big
20:28
Speaker 1: for him. Yeah, No, Russell Wilson. I mean, especially to
20:32
Speaker 1: win a divisional game on the road, Russell Wilson needs
20:35
Speaker 1: to have Does he need to throw for another three
20:38
Speaker 1: hundred yards? I don't know, but I honestly to win
20:40
Speaker 1: this game, I think they're gonna need to score around
20:42
Speaker 1: twenty eight points. So he's gonna have to have a
20:43
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson type game for sure. Russell Wilson type game.
20:46
Speaker 1: Another path to victory. They got to stop the big plays.
20:48
Speaker 1: He's got Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams, Aaron Jones. They're all
20:51
Speaker 1: capable of going nuts and making big plays. Aaron Rodgers
20:54
Speaker 1: gonna make the awkward throw. He's smart, He's a savvy veteran.
20:57
Speaker 1: He's been there, done that. He's not afraid of any situation. No,
21:00
Speaker 1: and you mentioned the awkward throws when the Seahawks played
21:03
Speaker 1: the Packers last year. This is a really good example.
21:05
Speaker 1: But it was on Thursday Night football. It was early
21:07
Speaker 1: in the game. He like rolls who was right, and
21:09
Speaker 1: it looks like he just flipped his wrist and he
21:11
Speaker 1: threw it sixty yards in the air to some tight
21:13
Speaker 1: end I've never even heard of. Just because he can
21:16
Speaker 1: keep a play going to it his arm angles and
21:18
Speaker 1: his ability to keep plays going and make big plays
21:21
Speaker 1: down the fields, which you gotta stop. Yep. And just
21:24
Speaker 1: like last week, the Hawks gotta go on the road
21:26
Speaker 1: and do what they do. Be road warriors eight one
21:28
Speaker 1: this season, continue the tradition of winning on the road.
21:32
Speaker 1: Winning on the road has put them in this position.
21:34
Speaker 1: Didn't do a good job of taking care of home,
21:36
Speaker 1: but flip that with a lot of road wins. You're
21:38
Speaker 1: in the divisional round of the playoffs with a chance
21:40
Speaker 1: to make it to the conference championship if you can
21:43
Speaker 1: do something that hasn't been done in this franchise in
21:45
Speaker 1: a very long time, which is get a divisional round
21:48
Speaker 1: win on the road. For sure, it hasn't been done
21:49
Speaker 1: since nineteen eighty three, and it'll be a huge, huge thing.
21:53
Speaker 1: But the cool thing about about this week is is
21:56
Speaker 1: all those other divisional playoff losses don't matter this week.
21:58
Speaker 1: It's a completely different team. It is a new year.
22:01
Speaker 1: So do something that you haven't done before, win on
22:04
Speaker 1: the road. Un let's keep playing. This is too fun.
22:06
Speaker 1: We again have this or this uh excitement and now
22:09
Speaker 1: not now win this game and you are one game
22:12
Speaker 1: away from the Super Bowl. That's if folks. Michael Bumps
22:17
Speaker 1: nassage showby divisional round. The Hawks are going to green Bay.
22:21
Speaker 1: Hopefully they come back winners. We'll see what happens. It's
22:25
Speaker 1: been real. Have a good one.