Devandre Campbell more like Devandre Campball, or at least Devandre chose not the ball last night.
Whatever.
Forty nine ers not happy for a lot of reasons after that loss to the Rams, or Brian Baudier will be here to help us break down where they go from here is everybody gets there fifteen minutes of fame or in Adam Rank's case, seven minutes.
Every Friday, it's fantasy playoff time.
If you ever in a reality check about your lineup, Ranks got some red hot tips to save your season once again. It's been eighty one years since these Steelers and Eagles combined forces for one season back in the early nineteen forties.
But what if they did it again.
Well, first of all, that would mean something really bad probably happened. We'll have some fun and break down the rosters anyway, because we would never walk out on you. Welcome inside with the insiders alongside Mike garra Folo, I am Tom Pelisero. Week fifteen is underway in the NFL and we got a really good slate of games coming up here playoff implications all across the board, including Steelers, Eagles,
including Bill's Lions. We had a three time Pro Bowl receiver get cut today working Odell Beckham Junior Land.
We will get to all of that.
But let's start out with some of those clinching scenarios we've got on the NFC side, very straightforward. For the Vikings, beat the Bears and they're in. They'd also get in with a Seattle loss. Eagles are in with a win and a loss by the Commanders, who currently would be in the seventh position.
As for the AFC, to the Texans, they would.
Clinch the AFC South Division title in a whole playoff game with a win plus a Colts loss. These Steelers, meanwhile, are in with a win or a Miami and Indianapolis loss.
You got all that.
The Chargers no clinching scenarios for them just yet, but they still got a lot to play for in playoffs themselves, and they will have their starting quarterback Justin Herbert a full participant in practice today despite getting blasted on the quad there. He also hurt an ankle. Jim Harbaugh said today he's got the strength of ten men, which is also something that you say about gorillas.
So when you.
See Justin silverback Herbert in the wild, you turn and run Lamacacky, meanwhile, is listed as questionable dealing with a knee at a shoulder. Missed last week's game, but as practice over the past couple of days, we'll see whether he can make it against the Buccaneers, whose running back Bucky Irving is officially listed as questionable.
His back tightened up on him.
It something he's been dealing with for a little bit here, Todd bills at the start of the week. The hope is he can get it loosened up enough. There's some things that you can take, Mike to help you out with that. The question is how long can it last. We'll keep me keeping an eye on the status of Bucky Irving leaning up until Sunday.
Elsewhere.
For the first time in a month and a half, Marshawn Lottimore will be on the playing field. Last time was for the New Orleans Saints, this time against the New Orleans Saints. Set to make his Commander's debut this Sunday against New Orleans. Remember that trade right before the deadline, a third and a fourth round pick and then a
swap of a fifth and a sixth. It was a big price to pay for a guy that the Commanders knew wasn't was it gonna be on the field right away, But now he is, and this was a trade made for the long haul. Theer finally able to see him up against his former team on Sunday.
Does it need something though to half that debut against the Saints?
Of course, I'll be lying about said then. You know, you know, like they traded me away and you know I'm going at the song, you know, while they said, you know, I'm glad, I'm happy where I'm at, but you know how, you know, add some motivation for the game.
He'll be going up against Jake Hayner here in this matchup. We'll talk get to that in a second time. But I talked about this one being one where the Commanders were being patient with Latimore. Felt like that this was going to be the first real acquisition of the office of next offseason, and whatever they got this year on top of that was sort of gravy because this is the team setting it up for the long haul. So
he's finally back. They were very patient with it. They made sure not to rush and he came back last week. He was sort of closed last week. But this is the one where they were really looking forward to having him back, and he is back on the field this Sunday.
Mike, I can't think of a lot of examples of a trade like this. It's given me December fifteenth on Sunday, and a guy that you acquired before the trade deadline, which was back on November fifth is finally seeing the field.
But you said it.
They knew that he had a real hamstring injury. He'd actually missed time with the Saints prior to the trade deadline as well. That ends up missing several games. They had the buye. They wanted to be patient. He practiced the week before the bye. They were able to get him out there. This has really been the issue for Marshawn Lattimore in recent years. He has this kind of persistent soft tissue stuff. He's only played twenty four games
total over the past three seasons. But Mike, when Marshawn Lattimore is healthy, he is, you know, one of the better cover corners man corners in the NFL, which you would anticipate, especially as they come down the stretch in the NFC East and then go into the playoffs. They hope that's gonna free up a lot of things. As Dan quinn is setting the schemes, and.
I mentioned Jake Hayner on the other side of this matchup getting his first NFL start for the Saints with Derek Carr out of action. Remember they had Spencer Rattler jump over Hayner basically when Car suffered that oblique injury against the Chiefs earlier in the season. Came in in relief against the Broncos, played well right there, and you're like, well, why didn't this guy start this game? Well, now he's going to get the chance to start his get start
this game. They were playing the charade early in the week, but this was always going to be Hayter who was going to be the guy to take over for Derek Carr in this game and again get his first NFL start.
Tom Jay Cayner the Senior Bowl MVP a couple of years ago, on the sideline reporter for that night before the game, Hater's coming through the restaurant with his parents seize me.
He's like, Tom, how you doing? Man? Man, I'm so excited for tomorrow's game. He is a dialed in type of dute.
He played well enough again to take home the MVP award, finally getting his opportunity to get out there on the field, and he said it today, I got nothing to lose. Saints are clinging to their fate playoff hopes. We'll see exactly how it goes. You can't say Chiefs, on the other hand, nothing's ever fate with their playoff hopes. Basically, they check in for training camp and you're like, they've clenched a playoff berth and now look at this.
Some reinforcements on the way.
They open the twenty one day practice window today for both wide receiver Hollywood Brown and kicker Harrison Butker. For Hollywood Brown, he was ruled out for this week's game. He's coming off surgery for that sc joint sprain, which is basically in the front of your chest. It's not a common surgery in the NFL, but optimism that he's going to be back, perhaps before the end of the
regular season. As for Harrison Butker, who was dealing with that knee surgery that he had, he's coming back from injured reserve, officially listed as questionable, but it seems Mike like he's making good progress. We may see him out there this week.
Will we see DeAndre Swift out there?
The Bears running back did not practice today with a groin injury. Remember they got that game on Monday against the Minnesota Vikings, So the Bears hopeful that he's going to be able to get out there and be his usual dynamic self, but we're gonna have to see as we get closer to that game on Monday. Elsewhere on the running back front, Kenneth Walker for the Seahawks listed as doubtful. He went and got further testing on a
caff under injury. It's just taken a little bit longer to come along than they had hoped, and they wanted to get a better grasp for it. They got good results from that MRI earlier in the week and thought, well, maybe he's got a shot here.
But that's not going to wind up being the case.
But the good news is that the pictures that they receive indicated an injury that is not that serious, and hopeful that he will start to make some more progress next week.
We got some other key injuries impacting Week fifteen games in the NFL and surely the first round of fantasy playoffs for a lot of people. Brease Hall listed is questionable, but Jeff Olbrick indicated that they think he's trending toward being able to go in that game. Tony Poulard's been dealing with that ankle listed as questionable once again. Darnell Mooney is expected to play. That is a Monday night
game against the Raiders. George Pickens out once again. Sounds like he's got a pretty good shot to be back next week, but that doesn't help you for this week's games. Romeo Dobbs finally after three weeks, cleared to play coming back from his concussion. Cedric Tillman still in the protocol, he's officially ruled out. Last night in Santa Clara, Devandre Campbell ruled himself out, decided in the third quarter that
he did not want to play. They had had a couple of injuries, Devandra Campbell not getting the start Drake Greenlaw back into the lineup. They basically told him, if you're not going to be out here, you're not going to be on the field at all. In the forty nine ers, to put it lately, they did not seem pleased.
No whatever, No, his decision was, it wasn't for this organization, that wasn't for this team, and that's on him. So started to win football games. When someone doesn't want to play football, especially when you suited up, that kind of puts you, uh puts you down, especially when you lose two linebackers and you know, I could address another one. I've never been around anybody that's ever done that, and I hope I've never run anybody that does that again.
I mean, he has a preferensentally been playing for a lown time. I mean, if he didn't want to play some a dressed out, you know, he could have told that before the game.
So I feel like.
Doing some indeed definitely hurt the team because you know, the d went down and we needed a lineburger, you know, and I think Fan was named up too, so for him to do there there's some that's some subble stuff to me and my view like it's probably gonna get cut so and so you know, it is what he.
Is with that.
We're working through the semantics of exactly how to deal with it. But I mean, you gets hurt from me last night, you got hurt from her players. Think his accents from the games just stuff something you can do to your team or your teammates and still expect to be a part of our team. So we're working through exactly the semantic center right now, but won't handle the situation appropriately.
Bringing our Brian Baldinger here when Kyle shan and referring to the semantics of it. That has to do with the collective bargaining agreement how teams discipline players. They probably may need to suspend him first in order to be able to get back some money from his contract. We've seen this happen a few times, I think every year, Baldy, where there's something where a guy won't go in a game.
Have what Deontay Johnson a couple of weeks ago, but you played when you see this happen, What's going through your mind?
Well, this is egregious for a lot of reasons.
Tom Number one, Drake Greenlaw just went ten months of rehabilitation coming back from an achilles tear. It was an emotional night for him coming on the field. Fred Warner, Nick Bosa. It tore them apart in the Super Bowl.
This was his night.
Dev Andre Campbell had started twelve straight games because it was a question of whenever Drake was going to be So you now go to a backup role. Dre Goes out with tightness in his leg. Whatever happened, It's time for divide, ready to go, and he doesn't go in This thing is we talk.
About it all the time.
This is a fraternity, this is a family, and when one of your family members doesn't want to share the same commitment as everybody else on the team, then you just cut the court. Now, the semantics are the semantics. But I was always taught ton that this is a privilege to play this game. It's not a right, it's a privilege. We're all fortunate to be able to play this game. And when you get that opportunity to go in there and support your team and you out not to,
then you're not a member of the team. And they all cut the court, you know by what they said, and I'm sure their actions what they really wanted to say, could have been a whole lot more dramatic.
Yeah.
I was asked earlier today Baldy is doing a radio deal and they said, have you ever seen anything like this? I was like, yeah, just a couple of weeks ago, D'ontae Johnson and yeah, and I go back. I remember this one. They're the forty nine ers were playing. I believe it was the Giants at MetLife Stadium and Ahmad Brooks very similar situation, was part of a rotation and felt like he should have been the lone starter.
Started cutting the tape off of his cleats and loosening his cleats and just refused to.
Go into the game, and that didn't sit well with the team at the time, and Kyle Shanahan and the forty nine ers making it clear that this is not gonna sit well with them right now. The best part of this, by the way, I'm gonna take the guy in the Santa. What's this guy in the Santa?
Get up?
And you took it away? I was I was just about to enjoy that part.
We go back to it.
Yeah, he doesn't look like a traditional Sannah like I'm wondering if that's just like what he's wearing or if he was getting ready to run out in the field and do something.
But regardless, this is something that happens from time.
It's time that looks like I think it's it's it's the flash. But he's Santa Claus, right, isn't that a flash? He's got the hook like a superhero cut? Is that a super hero costume? Right here?
Is that what that is?
Yeah, he looks like he looks like he he doesn't look like he's about to go do something, looks like he's supposed to be stationed there and decided in the spirit of the holidays, to get dressed up. And I'll tell you what that Santa guy, as ridiculous as he looks, probably saw Campbell walk by him and say, well, that's ridiculous.
Why is this guy.
There are guys on practice squads, there are guys working out for teams on a weekly basis for the chance to be part of a roster, and Campbell to sit there and say, you know what, I don't care, I'm not gonna go play.
I do like the way the.
Forty nine ers responded to this to make it clear that they're not going to stand for.
Well, they're a quality organization, will do the right thing and it really doesn't take much thinking. Like they reacted the right way. The players said the right things, Kyle said the right things, the front office.
Will do the right things. He'll never played for a forty nine er team again.
Devandra Campbell off the forty nine ers sooner than later, and the flash perhaps thrown out of the justice league for not racing to action. Your baldy, Mike stick around a lot more from you shortly here, But first we have a serious story coming from one of our colleagues in the media. One of the greatest players that I have ever seen on a football field Pro Football Hall of Fame receiver Randy Moss, saying today he's being treated for cancer found outside his bile duct between his pancreas
and liver. An appearance on Instagram Live, Moss, aided by a cane, introduced himself as a cancer survivor and thanked his prayer warriors for their support. He was hospitalized for six days before being released. Today, he said he's being treated with radiation and chemotherapy and can go to Randymoss dot com. You selling T shirts and sweatshirts to raise
money for the cause. You see the Minnesota Vikings among others chiming in here as well as one of his Hall of Fame teammates, Chris Carter, who asked for everyone to please join in praying for Randy Moss.
Curly wish Randy Moss well.
Coming up after this fancy football playoff time, Chase Brown, he be in your lineup, should Adam Thalen come off the bench with where the Panthers are going. Adam Rank will have a lot of answers on that a little bit later. And in real football, we got a Bill's Lions matchup that you absolutely can't miss this weekend.
Could it be a Super Bowl preview? We'll discuss next on the Insiders. Big game here in Detroit.
This is gonna be a tough environment for these guys that play in the night and the Detroit Lions are ready to go to come out.
Here, Domini. Let's take what's ours?
Man?
This is broke behind, but somehow caught and now lateral to allan and reach.
It for the pylon?
Are you kidding me?
Hop out a little.
Bengo Park worlds one more point than again?
Does it?
And the Beast has been released? The game Table Gamble past off and we have got up ballgames.
Oh yeah, We've got this Lions Bills matchup coming up on Sunday. Gonna be a big one, Gonna be a great one here with these two teams going up against each other in the fight for the one seed in both of their conferences. The Bills had a bunch of guys in the secondary who hadn't practiced up until today or some limited designations, so DeMar Hammon or douglases out, but DeMar Hamlin and Taylor Rapp have a shot here
as their listen this questionable. Dalton Kin kaid as well to hope is he's gonna be ready to go after missing the last couple of weeks. On the Lions side, some key players who will play despite injury designation, so that's a great sign for the Detroit Lions. Stacy Dales now joins Brian Baldinger and myself to discuss this one Stacy ahead of Sunday.
The narrow loss for.
The Buffalo Bills this past week, despite Josh Allen having six touchdowns six touchdowns, the defense a performance. It is a gut check week obviously for these guys. How much is the urgency ramped up for the Buffalo Bills.
Yeah, so I'll put it this way, Mike K Baldy. The Bills had a snow day yesterday, right because of all the weather in the Northeast, But the urgency is probably doubled in terms of that loss to the Rams because of really the defensive performance. When Josh Allen goes for a career high six touchdowns, three on the ground, three through the air. But the defense gives up almost four hundred and sixty total yards of offense and forty four points.
To that team.
You heard Bobby Babbage, the defensive coordinator, say it was a whole He used the word conglomeration of US coaches and players not doing our jobs at a high level. So as well as Josh Allen played, and even having a snow day yesterday, I can tell you the urgency is not just double, but it's triple that will be heavily multiplied heading into Detroit. These are two of the best teams in their respect of conferences Offensively, Josh Allen is just such a task, you know.
And I find this interesting.
How will the silent count work for the Buffalo Bills, Because I spoke with Connor McGovern, Baldi, their starting center, and he said it was about fifty to fifty against the Rams. They travel well, those Buffalo fans, but they're walking into a similar home environment in Detroit and it's going to be extremely loud, as you know, and that silent count's going to be huge on Sunday.
It will stacy and this is obviously a Martee matchup.
It's interesting to me how Detroit plays and how consistent they are. The Buffalo Bills are going to have to stop a very powerful rushing attack, and they've troubled They've had trouble with that San Francisco a couple weeks ago. Baltimore trounced some pretty good earlier in the year. Did one thing about Detroit as much as Ben Johnson's got different wrinkles every week. The foundation to what they do is running the football. The Bills are going to have
their hands full. They always start the same way. They feed David Montgomery behind that powerful offensive line with Ragnow and Petty Sewell and Zeidler and a whole group, and then they start working in Ejremieer Gibbs, and they might have play action passes Offen, they might have some quick game plays.
They might have a big shot down the field of James and Williams.
But the Buffalo Bills have got to pre prepare to stop a powerful rushing attack where guys can hit home runs, they break tackles.
You need to gain tackle this group.
It is a challenge for every team and will be I think the biggest challenge. Stacy this week for the Buffalo Bills.
Bill's challenge will be matching whatever.
Yeah good, Sorry, I think we're going the same way because we're talking about these offenses and we got no weather concerns right in this one, obviously with the indoor game here. So these offense gonna have to match each one's gonna have to match whoever gets out first.
Well, and that's the interesting thing because this is a number one and number two scoring offense. To Baldy's point, it starts with a run for the Detroit Lions in the Nowational Football League. But you know, in talking to Greg Russo defensive end for these Bills, they have to shut down or slow down David Montgomery, and Jamier gives to Baldy's point to piggyback on what he talked about. They cannot allow Josh Allen. And here's where it gets tricky.
This is a Lions team that averages thirty five points at home. That's the highest mark I believe in the National Football League. And again starts with a run. But he said, we can't allow them to get two dimensional. Two dimensional? What does that mean, Well, it means you can run it and throw it. So if you take away the run all of a sudden and create some negative plays on first down. Russo told me that's going to be critical because if you can do that, get
him into some second and third and long situations. Now you can force them down the field and a little bit more time for Russo and company up front to get to the passer. And that's going to be the objective to make that offense with Jared Goff one dimensional, but easier said than done, especially when you're facing the Lions at home. It's just going to be such a great matchup Jared Goff. Just to again touch on what Baldy talked about in his relationship with Ben Johnson, they
are absolutely locked and synked at the hip. They create the game plan, they design it, they co design it, if you will, each week. And that's why you see Jared Goff be able to go out there, Baldy and perform the way he does. And there is implicit level of entrust from the head coach, Dan Campbell to make those four fourth down calls.
Well, one last thing here to button this all up, Stacey, is you know the Lions have scored forty nine touchdowns, the most in the league.
They believe in touchdowns and outfield goals.
We saw that the last game against Green Bay where two of their touchdowns they scored were on fourth downs.
They've got that gambling aspect to it.
And where it comes into play Stacy and Mike is if it's third and six, most teams are dropping back to throw the ball, but the Lions are more than content to.
Hand it off to Gibbs or Montgomery.
And if they gave four it is fourth and two, they'll go fourth on fourth and two two, and so if they able to possess the ball, they've want touchdowns and he could be in field goal range. We've seen it backfire in the playoff game a year ago. But as a defense, you can't just sell up and say, okay,
this is a passing down. We've got to be balanced in being able to stop this powerful rushing attack because they might just stayed with didn't play four down football, and it puts a lot of teams in a difficult predicament.
It did for the Packers the last time. They just saw him in the last game.
Gonna be a fascinating matchup with these two teams.
What we see as many points as they are expecting in this one we shall see Stacy Dal's thank you very much.
Brian Baldinger you as well.
Baldy will talk to you a little bit down the line here in this program tonight coming up. It's week fifteen and the fifteen minutes of fame that some of these guys who could carry you to a ton like guys got more than fifteen minutes, though Aj Brown No. Adam Rank will be here to explain after the break on the Insiders, Odell Beckham Junior.
On the move again, the Dolphins and the three time Pro Bowl wide receiver mutually agreeing to part way please after what had been not the greatest fit since he got there in the offseason, never practiced until the season got rolling, never entirely fit in nine catches for fifty five yards.
He will be on waivers.
Until Monday, and there are some teams, including those Rams and the Ravens.
Who have had him before.
We'll see whether he gets claimed and maybe turn up on a team with playoff hopes. Time now to go inside with NFL Fantasy Live. Tom Pilicero, Mike Garafolo join now as we are every Friday. By Adam Rank, who a short time ago fell asleep in a Tanning bed. Rank, thank you very much for being here. It's week fifteen. What do you have on tap for us this time around?
Well, first of all, tom My face is so red because NFL Fantasy Live ended twenty five minutes ago. We filmed that in Inglewood. I'm now in my home in Huntington Beach. I still somehow managed to pick up both my kids from school and get here. So I'm a little flushed because I've been running the entire time. But what we're doing is we're being thematic with our with
our fantasy hopes and dreams. Here this week, it's fifteen minutes of fame some players that you might not have had at the beginning of the season, who are now enjoying a great run in fantasy football, who can help you out as we embark on the fantasy playoffs right now. And you know what I'm's gonna start off. I roll through your tee ups anyways, So I might just just well take us to the quarterback position.
That's what I do. Listen.
I just I want to make it easy. I gotta just sat there and done this all. But no, I'll do this. I got some quarterbacks though, that I really like. This week, Sam Darnold has been playing off. I'm sorry, Mike, am I bothering you? I know that you're on the phone now, I'm.
You go, you go.
I just want to make sure I don't want to I don't want to put you out or anything. I know you're probably breaking you goose. We do like Bryce Young and Sam Darnald, but bo Nicks has been exceptional this year. And this is a player who the first couple of weeks had a little bit of a slow start, but has really picked it up over the last couple of months. He's the same guy that we saw in college, and let me tell you, we saw him a lot in college. He was a college contemporary of Justin Herbert,
who's in like his thirtieth year in the league. But bo Neicks has been fantastic and one of the big things Sean Payton was talking about it this week.
One of the things that's made him so good is that he's become really efficient in the red zone.
You see right there his running ability, but making throws like this has made bo Nicks a top fantasy quarterback.
And as we go into the playoffs, if.
You've been riding bo Nicks go ahead and insert him back in the playoffs this week, and I'm good with it, I think. But remember he was on a buyer last week, so you might want to check your lineup. Make sure you don't have Will Levis in there or something. Make sure you switch that out.
Yeah, I'm sorry. I wasn't being rude. I was just doubting your story. Huntington Beach is that south of Anaheim? My LA geography still struggling. You got twenty five minutes?
Yeah, somehow amazingly because the show just ended.
And you know that live is in the name, so you know we wouldn't pull your leg and say that it's something live.
It says an hour twenty seven right now?
All right?
Running running backs, running backs.
There's a host of running backs that I really like.
I'm going to talk about Sincere McCormick because he has been great ever since he's been given an opportunity with the La Raider La Raiders, Las Vegas Raiders.
One of my ninety Brian Robinson Jr.
Tank bigsby Isaiah Davis Bresall looks like he's back. But Sincere McCormick got an opportunity with the Raiders a couple of weeks ago, and now more and more he's being more involved.
In this offense.
And to be quite honest with you, I swung and missed this year with Zamir White like so horribly, but I held on to him with great hope because when north Turner was added to the coaching staff of the Raiders along with his son Scott, I really love the opportunity to run the football. If you think about north Turner's career and you think about all the greats that he's coached from EMMITTT.
Smith, the Ladanian Tomlinson.
Sinceer McCormick might not break that class, but at the same time, he has still given an opportunity on a team that wants to run the football. So this week against the Atlanta Falcons, I think this is a really good opportunity for him. A and O'Connell has been battling an injury. We still don't know if he's gonna be able to play on Monday night or not. So sinceer McCormick is somebody you can start in the fantasy playoffs this week, how.
About wide receivers s Frank, what do we get?
Well, you know what this is somebody who had their fifteen minutes of fame kind of went away and has now re emerged. Maybe he's the Andrew McCarthy of NFL wide receivers. But Adam Thielen has been fantastic for the Carolina Panthers over the last couple of weeks. In fact, over the last two games, he's had at least ten targets and eight receptions in each game, and he's had at least seventy yards in both of those games. And he's got a really good matchup against the Dallas Cowboys
this week. The Cowboys have given up a lot of production to opposing wide receivers. They've allowed a top ten wide out and two out of the last three weeks now, one of them was Jamar Chase, So give that a
little bit of a grain of assault. But I will say that this Carolina Panthers offense has been playing a lot better Bryce Young right there, as you see making the connection now I mentioned earlier, I do like Bryce Young in fantasy this week, and that means that I really like Adam Feelen, and Legette is also a nice option to some other guys.
Who else did I have on that list? Hold on. Let me check my notes here, Oh Christian Watson.
Christian Watson is one of them trying to figure out which Packers wide receiver we're starting.
Christian Watson is my pick this week. Sorry, you didn't have to pay.
That's okay. They really get They don't need to see me. They just I just want them to hear me.
Zaverly getan wanna make up for last week when he had that play late in the game. He could have made that clutch crab, So it wouldn't be surprised if he goes out and make some plays to make up for tight ends. Who are the tight ends with the fifteen minutes of fame you can rely upon?
Oh my gosh, John new Smith has been amazing.
As a matter of fact, John ou Smith has been the number one wide receiver in Fantasy since Week eight, despite the fact that he has twelve less targets than the number two guy, who is Trey McBride. And and you might be asking yourself, how is that possible? Well, number one John hu Smith scores touchdowns.
What is up with tray?
How does Trey McBride have like ninety receptions and no touchdowns? Perhaps that'll change this week, but John hu Smith has actually became kind of the de facto number two pass catcher in this offense behind Tyreek Hill.
Now.
Coming into the season, we thought it was going to be Jaylen Waddell. I know a lot of you drafted him in the third and the fourth round, but John new Smith has been the guy who stepped up. And last week it was hilarious because everybody's on board with John new Smith goes the whole game with nothing, donut, nothing going on, and then they go to overtime. He has three catches, including a touchdown, and makes up for everything.
But still there is consistency there. The matchup might not be that great because the Houston Texans are great against opposing tight ends, but at the same time, John, who's been so great.
I can't ignore that.
Plus we by the way, if you need a tight end, to store one on your bad. Stone Smart starting to get more more production for the Chargers. Will Disley could be out for a little bit of time, so Stone Smart with two t's might be an option for you.
Rank love watching you on NFL Fantasy Live, which is definitely really live at six feet.
On the Insiders come next Friday. Thank you very much rank coming up after this.
It was a sloppy one on Thursday night and a disappointing one for the forty nine ers. Browdy is back to help us break down that game. We're both teams go from here next on the Insiders.
Niners Rams on Thursday Night.
Two teams that need to get some stuff going and maybe get some help along the way to get into the postseason. And whoever winds up losing is going to be probably out of it. Deebo Samuel, after saying all week, feed me the ball, he drops it and he knows it.
I mean, I just look at his reaction went, yeah, there it is okay.
We are going to show that Debo knows that was an opportunity he was asking for and he just dropped it.
Matthew Stafford to pooka Nikua Puoka for fifty one yards to the Niners sixteen yard line, sets up a field goal ninety six Niners and then.
This one sort of felt like the drive that would maybe end in the end zone. It did just not the way that you would want.
There intercepted Darius Williams brock Party's ninth interception of the season, and they now have the forty nine ers two less than a one percent chance of making the playoffs. It's a coin flip for the Rams who are excited to get this one in Santa Clair. So looking at the NFC playoff picture right now, here's how it stacks up. As the Rams are hot on the heels of the Seattle Seahawks are going to have to win against the Green Bay Packers to keep that one game advantage there in the NFC West.
Bringing in Brian Boudinger.
Brian Baldinger, I want to talk to you about Kyron Williams last night.
He was a physical runner and I thought the Rams were dictated things with their running game last night.
Yeah, it's interesting, Mike, because he leads the National Football League right now with two hundred and eighty caters. All right, So the end twenty nine last last night, in twenty nine a week before, like he carries the load for them.
He had one hundred and eight yards.
It wasn't the prettiest average, but coming out of your end zone right there running on third and one, third and five, like they put the ball in his hands. It's raining out there. You want to take care of the football. The passing game is tough. You feed Kyron Williams, and I thought the way that he did the dance with Kevin Dotson and Bo Limmer and Steve Aville and the guys up front, they really did a good job of pushing the pile.
And then when it got to the fourth quarter, Mike, and it's a six to sixth game, what they do.
They went play action to Kyen Williams and they throw it fifty one yards down the field to Puka Nakua and oh, by the way, on that play it was Kyen Williams with the blitz pick up on Lenore that allowed Stafford to have time.
And so they they they know where the bread is.
But he is their factor back, Kyrin Williams. He led the National Football League a year ago, Mike, when the Rams made the playoffs on a big second half surge in yards per game, rushing yards per game, over one hundred yards of game. And so this is the guy that they really lean on. They leaned on him last night, and he's durable and he does come through.
When you're in the dog days of training camp.
And Baldy, we make several stops together, you and I during training camp, and boy, wouldn't be nice to be in an eighty five degree outdoor setting right now, We've got like twenty something degrees.
Although I think you may be in Florida right now if I'm looking at this correctly. But anyway, coaches.
During training get emphasizing the four minute offense. If you watched last night's game and the way that they ran it, that's why. And they love a successful four minute offense. They ran that thing the perfection last night. Brian Baldinger, thank you very much, my friend. If you are in Florida, go enjoy some warm weather because we're dying up here in Jersey.
My man.
Oh you're coming back, that's even better. Stay inside a little longer.
Chargers Bucks, we're gonna preview that coming up with Brian Balding or there it is. I'm checking the notes now Bridget Condon as well, coming up with the Insiders, a.
Couple old Bucks teammates, so you can see that full interview Sunday morning on game day morning. Meanwhile, this year's Bucks, including Mike Evans taking on the Chargers in a good one. I don't really know why we've got uh Rashaun Slater upside down?
Is that both him it is.
I don't know what's going on with this promo poster, but I do know that word in the Powder Blues. We always love that. Let's bring in a couple of other people who are going to be at that game. Welcome back to the insiders. I'm Tom Pelvisero with Baldy once again, as well as our Bridget Condon.
Bridget.
This is a top five Bucks offense going against the number one scoring defense in the league.
What do we expect, Well, Tom, there's a very small margin of error for both of these teams entering this game on Sunday, both teams for a spot in the playoffs. When you look at the Bucks, they're averaging about twenty eight points per game, which is top five across the league, and then you go up against a Chargers defense that has some stars on it, they're only giving up about sixteen points per game. Khalil Mack talked about it this week.
He called Baker Mayfield the ultimate competitor, competitor with how tough he is to bring down, saying he's kind of like a running back in that regard with his mindset, just having the mindset that he will not go down. And then the arm talent that Baker has. There are only two quarterbacks in the league with a higher completion percentage than Baker Mayfield two Atano Vailoa and Jared Goff. So this team understands they have to find a way
to interrupt Baker and get him off his mark. This defense, though, they're confident Tom and Baldy. The Chargers lead the league with twenty six sacks since Week eight, and in that span, Baker has only been hit in dropbacks twenty times, which is tight for the fifth fewest amount of times by any quarterback in the league since that Week eight period.
Baldy, Yeah, Bridget So you know Baker's best friend is the run game, and for the last couple of years they were the worst in the league. No team last year was worse than the Bucks, whether it was run average or rushing yards per game. They now are fourth in this league right now, and the improvement is for a lot of reasons. It's the scheme of Liam Cohen,
the new offense coordinate. It's drafting Graham Barton at center, It's putting Brent Brigson in there at left guard, watching the development of Cody Mack and then the young backs.
You know, Kyrie, we will see if Bucky Irving plays this week.
It's a little bit in doubt, but whether it's Rashad White or Sean Tucker, they are running the ball effectively. It's the biggest improvement in this whole team, and it's dramatic. It's the best in the league right now. And so it's one of the things that Chargers really have to to kind of like take a look at right here, because they struggled against the Ravens couple of weeks ago shopping the run.
But you know, the Bucks are going to try and establish it.
They were good with it the last three weeks, winning these games, getting back on the winning track.
It's just something to look at week, Bridget, as we kind of break this game down.
Chargers has got a little bit beat up here recently. Justin Herbert at least is off the injury report, good to go despite the quad injury and the ankle Bridget. They're eight and five four games ago, in prime position to make a return to the playoffs. What's the Chargers' mindset going into the home stretch.
Yeah, Tom, you talk about those injuries, Lad McConkie, who they didn't have the rookie receiver who was out against the Chiefs. He's questionable, so there could be a chance that he plays Sunday. But look, this Chargers team has two big games in a five day span. First they take on the Buccaneers Sunday, and then five days later it's the Broncos, a big division matchup at home.
For Thursday night football.
They've struggled against teams with winning records, just one for four this season against teams above five hundred and those two teams I just mentioned, of course with winning records as they come to town at Sofi Stadium. But Jim Harbaugh, you see him there. He has been a crucial part of this turn around for this program. He loves the mindset that his team has.
This is his quote.
I haven't been around a team with this much fortitude to them stalwart football players. How's that for a vocab word? Stalwart? I had to google to see what that meant.
Means loyal, you know.
But he does one thing that is interesting that he's done all season. They call it the wise Words Period. At the end of practice, they're all in a huddle and he picks a player to kind of give words to and you never know if you're gonna get selected, so it's kind of like a little nerve wracking for these players. Khalil Mack was that player this week on Thursday, and he said, when you say something in that moment to the team, you better go out there and actually
do what you're saying. He said, like, I told the guys that at this point of the season, we have to take it up a notch and just told them that you're never going to have, like if you look around, you're never going to have this amount of people in the locker room the exact same people. Let's go out there and make something of it. So it's going to start Sunday, hopefully they can get their second win again against a team above five hundred.
Well, we know this Bridget, We know that nobody has it better in Marball and the Los Angeles charges. Nobody has it better. But the one thing they do have to do better and you know, they've got to score more points. I mean, they're you know, they've really struggled obviously with the injuries to JK and to Ladd, and you know they don't have the same firepower and so they've got to find some way. This week against a
very talented blitzing Bucks. Defense to you know, to to really put up more than seventeen points, which they've done the last two weeks, So points are going to be at a premium. One way you could do that, you know. Obviously, defense is a way that you know, you put your defense out there. We saw tarhb Stills you know, on a pick six against Atlanta two weeks ago. Defense, special teams. There are other ways to kind of make up for some of the injuries that they've suffered over the last month.
Big game Sunday at SOFI Stadium, Bridget and Baldy, you'll be there, Enjoy that game. Look forward to talking to both of you again soon. Coming up after this, we another big game on Sunday. It is the Steelers against the Eagles. No, this is not footage of the Eagles offense, even though the passing game at times just look kind of like this will explain why we're showing things from the leather helmet era. Coming up right after this. How
awesome are these highlights on the Insiders. Two NFL Christmas Day games will be live on Netflix on December twenty fifth, starting at one pm Eastern. The Kansas City Chiefs take on the Pittsburgh Steelers, followed by the Baltimore Ravens at the Houston Texans at four thirty pm Eastern. Talk about winning the game lottery for Netflix. Two huge AFC tilts. We'll think it back to nineteen forty three.
It was World War II.
The Eagles and Steelers were granted permission to merge for one season. That team was known as phil pitt and called the Steegles by fans. They divided their home games between two cities. Greasey Neil and Walt Keasley served as the co coaches. It was dissolved at the end of the year, but a unique piece of NFL history which got us thinking, besides just wanting to show you these highlights, which are absolutely fantastic, going into a huge game between
these teams on Sunday, what would it look like. What were the decisions you would have to make if you had fully loaded rosters to set them up for another merger.
Mike, you look at it. Here, give me give me your breakdown. Here.
Who are you taking?
Yeah, Who's who's my head coach? That's one of the harder decisions that you've got to make. Here because both of these guys are having terrific seasons. I might give I might give to Mike tom on the edge for coach of the year right now. So that's what role do you give Nick Sirianni. He's not a play caller. He can't make him off as a coordinator. Uh So
that was my first thought here. But yeah, I mean, if you matched up these rosters, you'd probably go Eagles in a number of places, like maybe more so than the Steelers. But that doesn't mean the Steelers are a worse team. I mean they're just so well coached and they've got guys that fit what they do. It'd be a really good team. Make it smaller sure.
Sways, get some more of those highlights up real quick.
I just want to see more black and white guys running around with no pads and leather helmets. This is this is the stuff that it's made. Always wanted this place here.
I mean, it's it's that's a coverage breakdown.
I'm pretty sure that was still a coverage bust even back in nineteen forty three.
Watch out for the goldpost and the photographer with a flash right behind the end zone.
That's you can talk about equipment all you want. That's probably the most dangerous thing in this entire video here.
We should just do an hour of this.
Hey, thank you to our production manager, Jackie Downy on her last day.
Appreciate you. We'll be back next week through the games. Everybody see it.