And now move the sticks with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.
What's up, everybody?
Welcome to move the sticks, DJ, Bucky Rhett with you boys. We are gonna look at these conference championship games today. Excited about him. We got some great matchups. I'll start with you, Buck first of all, just the one you're looking forward to the most. What's the most compelling on the AFC side of the NFC side.
Well, look, I'm gonna say the NFC and just because I'm excited to see how the rookie quarterback handles the pressure being in the championship game in his first year, Jayden Daniels has look again a lot the commanders of sitting here one game away from going to the Super Bowl, something that none of us had on that being go card at the beginning of the year. To see this turnaround happen so quickly really shows you the magic and the power of a franchise quarterback.
That's it.
All of the wonderful things that Jayden Daniels has done to this point phenomenal. Can he lock in and be the same player in the championship environment when the stakes are high? We've seen the poise the composure of the confidence and all of that. Does he change at all with look the super Bowl on the line, that's what you want to see. Will he be the same player that we've seen throughout the season. Because if he is the same player, man, they have a great chance of pulling this off.
Yeah. Look, I think if you look at the formula that the Rams used to try to beat the Eagles, I mean I kept looking at it as like, you know, defensively, I know they let up those two explosive plays like the first one of Jalen and then you know, the second one to Saquon, But boy did they absolutely get after him. I mean Jared Verst and Byron Young and Kobe Turn I mean they were if the if the
Commanders can find some disruption along that defensive front. It feels silly saying, but and keep Saquon Barkley from banging his head on the goalpost on a seventy five yard run, Like, if you can limit the those fifty plus yard touchdown runs, just kind of make it a little bit more methodical, I think they've got an excellent chance. So to me,
it's kind of more about how the defense plays. Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley here, and if they can limit those huge plays, which were massive in the way that game turned for the La Rams into the Eagles corner, I think Commanders a really good chance here.
They're not gonna stop Saquon Barkley going for a buck fifty against them twice.
So I mean, and he's on a roll. Like think about this, Think about he had what two hundred yards against the Rams. If you go back he.
Took a knee one, what would have been like a seventy nine yard touchdown against the Packers. He would have had like a bucks sixty, seventy whatever in that game. We're talking about an epic postseason ride here. I was talking about him last night, and the flashback I'm having is it's rare for a non quarterback and offense players a non quarterback to just like dominate the playoffs.
Larry Fitzgerald did it with Arizona on that run. Remember that buck.
Yes, And this feels like that, like sometimes you get in a zone and that dude is in a zone right now. But I'm going to get to the key to this game in my opinion, But also I'm gonna wrap it together with all these other games as as we go on here, but it's time for Hot or Not, brought to you by with Sabi Hot Cloud Storage. So turnovers, you know what, you know what? Looking at last week's games, Buck, these are the four teams that won Kansas City, Buffalo, Washington, Philadelphia.
How many turnovers combined for those four teams zero? They did not turn the ball over. So if we're going to talk about this game right here with Washington, they have to continue to keep a clean sheet, which is not easy ratt when you've got Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith and all those guys bearing down on you, and when you've got everybody in the secondary slay can take it away. Everybody's punching at the football. And oh, by the way, it's going to be cold. It's going to be really cold.
It's not going to be in a dome.
So too many pieces of it to me. Also, you know, are injuries. Sam Cosmi's out, leave your best offensive lineman or you know, among them up there for the commanders. So that's that's gonna hurt you, dealing with Jalen Carter and that whole crew in the interior. And then you know, for the Eagles. What's the status of Quanyon Mitchell. I think it'll be something to follow too, because I don't know. I think I think Terry mclauren versus Darius Slay has
advantaged McLaurin. But you know, seen as how Aj Terrell kind of locked McLaren down, I feel like that's more of Quenyon Mitchell's skill set. So let's let's kind of see what that part of the matchup looks like. But I think those are two kind of intriguing pieces of this thing to follow throughout the week.
Well, and I will say this, and there's an injury to Isaiah Rodgers at the NAIM and we don't know what his status is, but he certainly.
Was waldough in that game.
And man they went on and Diami Brown showed up and showed up in a major way in that divisional round. And so you'd like to think that they're going to take their shots down the field, whether it's versus the young guy and Queenyan Mitchell or Isaiah Rodgers going to be speaking, they can't. Can the Commanders cash in on those chances if they're given the opportunity to push it down the field.
So We'll see what happens with Jalen Hurts health on that. On that side of things, I would say my sneaky suspicion. Knowing to Vante Smith and how much he loves big stages and knowing that his drop cost them the last game against Washington, I think that could be a that could be kind of a sneaky one to keep an eye on. Because all the resources are going to go to slow down Saquon Barkley. You're gonna get one on ones. But I think Vante Smith is a tough cover out there.
I agree.
Yeah, So now let's let's be honest. This is why the Commanders made the move. But let him whether he's up or not, if he's available. Part of part of the reason they made it is because dan Quinn said this, hey, hurd or not, like you always got to take advantage of an opportunity to get a number one cornerback. Well, these are the games that those guys have to show up.
He hasn't played often for the Commanders, but if he does play, can he take on one of those matchups that allows you to pour extra resource versus devote extra resources to dealing with Saquon.
Bar Yeah, well, I mean again, I think just to kind of put a bow on where we started with this whole thing.
Play clean.
You know, you've got to try and take the ball away if you can, But offensively, you've got to play clean because you know, if we're talking about hot or not, like man, it's not you turn the ball over, you are.
Not advances that ain't gonna be it.
That was this week's Hot or Not segment, brought to you by with Sabbi Hot Cloud storage, Store more and do more with your data. Try them for free at withsaby dot com. All right, let's let's move on to the next, uh the other game here. When you look on the other side in the afcaby on more time, does this feel like I mean, it's just kind of felt inevitable. Man Like once once, I would say, once
Burrow and the Bengals kind of scuffled along. It just felt like whether this was going to be the championship game or some point in time, these two teams and these quarterbacks are going to deal with each other.
It did feel a little different to me though, with Baltimore this year and the way that Derrick Henry was running the ball late that maybe that that that they
would have a shot to be that that team. But yeah, I mean, like this, if you'd have told us this was going to happen before now, look, actually you go back to it before the season, I don't know that we all thought that this was necessarily going to be the way that the Bills were going, you know, to find themselves in an AFC championship game, you know, as more of a physical, run first type of team, but still allowing you know, Josh to put that that cape
on and become Superman when they need him to, like he has. But their defense has played a lot better. Matt Malano coming back. I think it's been huge for him, too huge in the run game, and so that'll be big here. You know, you you kind of make that one dimensional for Kansas City. They're not the explosive team
that they have been. But how do you know, how do you deal with Kelsey who proved he could still get open in the big moments like he did against the Houston Texans there, and they had some they had some busted coverages, which is unfortunate against you know, one of one of the top targets. But I man, this is gonna be a lot of fun. But I really like the bills chances in this one. I really do, Buck, What do you think?
No, look, man, this is is kind of like one of those moments, man, where we've seen so many championship teams have to go through this. It's very reminiscent of like as a kid watching the Bulls through the Tristons and finally having to vanquish the Bully. And so for the Buffalo Bills, this is the opportunity to do it.
It's not only the fact that they beat him in the regular season, but going all the way back a few years ago when they had the game won thirteen seconds left, all they got to do is finish the deal. This is that full circle moment for them to do it, because if able to knock this off, it really opens the gates for them to not only win the Super Bowl, but to be the team that we talk about. But can they lock in mentally and not worry about all the previous failures and take this game for what it is,
one game to get it done. Lock in, do the same things that have done throughout the year, which is take care of the ball. Josh Allen, not trying to get outside of himself. Just do what the defense gives you. If you do that, yeah, they have a great chance to win.
I think I think real quick a ret on that game. You go back to their earlier meeting this year, and Josh Allen ran the ball I think twelve times, so that that's got to be a part of it. He had twelve carries for fifty five yards and a touchdown, which was the iicer late late in net ball game. But I think Josh looks fresh. He's probably as healthy as he's been at this point in time in the
season that I can ever remember. He's coming off of a game where really not much was required of him, to be honest, against Baltimore, they you know, just kind of played a clean game, nothing special. I think he's I think he's got to change the math a little bit, and you change the math by what you do as a runner. So I would look for him to get double digit carries again. And then on the other side of it, if they're going to you know, stop k C.
You go back to that first meeting. Travis Kelcey had two catches for eight yards in that one and make them left handed. We say it all the time, don't do what Houston did, which is play zone and ask Al Shaier to try and locate Kelsey in space.
That was a nightmare.
So you got to get on him with the line of scrimmage, no free releases, and make these other receivers beach if they if if they beat you, as navior Worthy and Hopkins tip your cap. But you can't let Kelsey go out there and get a hundred yards.
And Homes had two picks in that game too, you know, you think about that part of it. You know. The other thing is like we remember when the Chiefs traded away Tyreek Hill, right, it forced a different way to play the game, you know, for basically the same kind of way we're seeing it now from Kansas City. It
almost feels like that's what's happened in Buffalo too. Once they got rid of stuff on Diggs and gave Davis that it's become a little bit more a little bit yeah, a little bit more half court, right, a little bit more of what we saw from Cad And obviously, you know, Kaysas City is still in an AC championship game every year and in the Super Bowl more often than not. So I think this formula has worked well for Buffalo, you know, kind of in a similar ways as it did for Kansas City.
Man, this is such a it's such a thing. So it's funny that you talk about Pat Mahomes into two interceptions. He has quietly curbed and eliminated all of that from his game and if he can continues to be efficient and do what Pat Mahomes tends to do in the postseason, which is extend plays with his legs, make a handful of plays, draw a penalty or two on a late slide or something that he does outside the pocket to
lead to another fifteen to thirty yards. This is what the Kansaity Chiefs do, like, they find ways to win. And look at home, he's thirteen and two in the postseason. At home, it is hard to knock them off in that building. The crowd, the noise, the environment, all of those things play a part of it. Man, It's an uphill This is an uphill road that they have to
travel for Buffalo. And it's just as much as I want to see the Bills, it's hard for me to say that the Bills are gonna win because I've seen I've.
Seen this movie.
I feel like i've seen all these movies before, and at the end of the movie we can see Pat Mahomes gets to Lamar Hunt Trophy as they make their way to another.
Super Yeah, it's hard to to argue against that. Let's let's take a quick break we come back. I want to talk about if each one of these four teams were to win, Who's on the Who's on the Who's on the cover as the pivotal reason they won that ball game? And I'm taking quarterbacks off, so no quarterbacks. We've got to come up with somebody else. We'll do that right after this. All right, guys, let's go back to the NFC, and I'm going to tell you that Washington.
Now this is going to be hard buck because Jaden Daniels is the central figure here. But if Washington goes into Philly and shocks the world and gets to a super Bowl in Jaden daniels rookie season, who's going to be the sidekick, Who's going to be the one who was pivotal for them to win that ballgame?
Bobby Wagman.
And the reason why I want to take is not because of the plays he'll make directly, but Bobby Wagner's ability to be the traffic cop for defense that has to play lis out, his leadership.
Ability, the pedigree, all of those things.
I think about a calming influence for a defense that have some youth and inexperience in the back end.
To me, it's Bobby Wagner's show.
Part of the reason dan Quinn made him the first guy to be brought over is because he wanted that extension of himself on the field. To me, this is when Bobby Wagner's presence pays off for the Commanders.
I swear to you, I was going with Frankie Luvu. So the second level man, those off the ball backers. You know, if if they are uncovered with an opportunity to tackle Saquon Barkley for a four yard game and not a forty four yard game, that is what is going to be huge for the Washington Commanders limiting those explosive plays, and they will play a big part of it. Sold Jeremy Chin and so will some of those other
guys for Washington. But to me, those two off the ball backers have to be all over the place and they have to be like they have to kind of set up a force field that five yard Mark like you cannot have Saquon Barkley consistently going for seven for eight for seventeen and nineteen. It's gonna be game over before it even gets done.
Yeah, I'm gonna go just for the storyline and Zach Hertz going back into Philly with the fun interaction. I guess I'll use that word which Siriani and him had, So that would be, uh, that would be kind of a fun watch, and I would know nobody would enjoy that more than Ertz if he was able to go in there and make some plays in the red zone, maybe make some plays on third down. He has definitely
been the security blanket there for Jayden Daniels. All right, let's flip it over the other way here, buck Philly, Philly wins this game. Jalen hurts, we don't know right now as we're recording us what the health situation is. But who else and luck say Kwon Barkley's low hanging fruit. Let's acknowledge he's going to be the dude. So let's go with somebody else.
Oh no, no, it's a combo platter. On the perimeter is aj Brown and DeVante Smith one A one B in the passing game. The receivers have been bored all year. The receivers have been kind of keeping their frustrations to themselves. This is the game where they give rewarded for their patients. They have to be big parts of this game. I cannot imagine in any world that Dan Quinn is going to say, Hey, I'm gonna let twenty six beat me. I'm gonna take my chances seeing if Jalen Hurts and
the Eagles passing game can get on track. Remember, this passing game has struggled most of the season in terms of the consistency. Well, I'm gonna test them. I'm gonna go one on one. I'm gonna match up. I'm gonna bring heat to Jalen Hurts, and I'm see if these two playmakers on the outside can beat us, because.
That's the only way that they can win, right.
The only way that the Commanders can win is they got to sell out to stop Sakwon Barkley. So this to me is an aj Brown DeVonta Smith that type of game.
Yeah, I'll look at Cooper Degene to me out in space and the nickel and the slot. I think he's gonna see Jays Daniels a bunch, and I think his ability to tackle in space is going to be huge in this game. Again, preventing those explosive plays, preventing those those heartbreaker plays like those soul crush where it's third and eighteen and Daniel's escapes get paid and he goes for twenty one and like that. That's the play where you think you're getting off the field and then it doesn't.
You know, it doesn't happen. So to me, that's where I go Cooper de Gene, you could maybe throw you know, the other exciting white in there and read blanket chip at the safety spot. CJ. Gardner Johnson fits that bill to those guys that are going to have to tackle in space, I think it will be huge.
Yeah, I'm gonna go dead middle of the field. Zack Bond.
Zach Bond's had an unbelievable year. I just think he has a chance to have the most impact on the game. And when you're up against a dual threat quarterback who's throwing it all over the place and also can run it, I think whoever's in the middle of the field has a chance to have the most impact. That Jalen Carter in front of him, which would be an obvious one, but I think Zach Bond, Who's play lights out all year long, so I think he would be one definitely
to keep an eye on. All Right, Buck, if Kansas City gets to yet another Super Bowl outside of Mahomes, who's going to be the key pivotal person here?
It's the same guy is showed up in a major way on Saturday, and they will be George Carloftish Chris Jones do it alone, He's gonna need someone else to help him get after Josh Allen and George Caloftis has proven to be the guy that can do it.
He's a capable sidekick.
He's someone who plays with relentless energy and effort, and as Steves Bagnulo is prone to do in these high leverage moments, what is he going to do? Blitz and blitz preshle he creates one on one opportunities for Kaloftus to get free. To me, is George Carloftis being the robin to Chris Jones as batman.
I'll go with Isaiah Pacheco. I just I don't think we've seen enough from the Chiefs run.
Game any of it yeah.
Yeah, then it's a fifty yards against the Texans. I think that that's got to be a bigger piece of the puzzle for Kansas City to get past the team like Buffalo, who has shown at times that they've had some vulnerabilities there. Although they you know, they were okay against Baltimore, but I still think that that's the place that the Kansas City Chiefs can go to find some space.
I'm gonna have a very weird one for you on Kansas City here because I feel like this this might be well, no, I'm gonna go special teams when I'm not going pucker, I'm gonna go with matt Riza. This this feels like a very close game. Look at how Buffalo played last week, right, Hey, we're not gonna make mistakes. Look how Kansas City plays, We're not gonna make mistakes.
I think this could be like a sneaky, low scoring game and the simple fact of somebody who can flip the field and arises got a huge leg so he pins them inside the ten a few times. He could end up being a major X factor in this ball game. So that's off the off the radar one like, and it.
Might be a little personal if you kind of think about all that.
Oh, I didn't even think about that. Yeah, that's right.
It might be might be an opportunity to the ultimately get back for.
That's a that's a good storyline. Fascinating on that one, all right, Houston, uh Starr, Houston's out. I don't think they're gonna make it Buffalo X five.
Oh Man, so many different ways.
The obviously one would be James Cook, but I believe it's gonna have to be someone in the passing and it has a big game. And to me, I'm gonna say Khalis as much as I'd like to think about the other guys Amari Cooper in those things, Shakur has been kind of like the steady and force in terms of the big plays that have come in the passing game. They will need to generate some explosives in the passing game and I think he is the one that can
deliver it. Curtis Samuel has made it a sighting. He's appeared a few different times, but I think cal Srews.
Yeah. For me, it's o Cyrus Torrance on the interior the Buffalo offensive line as being one of those guys that has to deal with Jalen Carter, that has to deal with Chris Jones rather. I think that that is that's something. I mean, this Buffalo offensive line probably doesn't get as much credit as it should. That's a good bunch, is a.
Good tackles are really good too.
Indeed, Spencer Brown and and Dean Dawkins. But I think Ocyrus Torrance has been kind of underrated, really really good on the interior for them, in that right guard spot MC government center spot. I think those guys will have to find a way and I look, I know Chris
can line up anywhere right on that defensive front. But I just think that if they want to get some ground game going the way that they have this season, the way that that has benefited them this season, big Ocyrus torents a player role.
I'm gonna go a combo platter.
I'm going to say the two tight ends for Buffalo with Knox and Kincaid, I think that's where you're going to try and find some matchups. Their secondary is really really good, man. I think you're going to try and want to get on some linebackers who can cover well. I mean, this is a really good Chiefs defense. I just like those matchups better than what they're going to
have on the outside. So to me, I think both those tight ends maybe they each get in the end zone and that could be the key there for all right, boys, this has been a fun one. Anything else you guys want to add before we jump out of here.
No, man, I can't believe the seasons almost coming to an end.
It's crazy, all right, and draft season just kicking off.
That's right, that's right. We'll have that come in your way as we go along. All right, that's gonna do it for today. Appreciate you guys hanging with us. We will see you again right here on with the sticks.