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Welcome in What driven Nick Great?
Episode two eighty four Ton to do today. We are really in the stretch run of the NFL season. We will get to all of that. We have one of our favorite games of play, Public Defender, pretty damn good money N'D football game last night, with one of the NFL rule oddities coming into play in a way that I think at first blush confuses people.
When you really look at.
It, it does technically make sense, but probably should be adjusted. We'll do all of that first, what missed the cut? Kyle Shanahan says, there's not gonna be any trades of me to the Chicago Bears bummer for the Bears Taylor Swift's Eras Tour ends. I know the Swifties are gonna get mad at me for this. I gotta be totally honest with you. I did not know that was still going. I was very like up on the Eras Tours news in the offseason. I felt like that was maybe served
more to my Twitter algorithm in August. In early September, I thought it had already ended. Turns out I was wrong and also missing the cut my NBA Cup prediction because much like Lebron on if the Lakers aren't.
Involved in it, I'm not that interested.
And I you know what I thought it was when Lebron got to add to the resume first ever NBA.
Cup champ title, It's like, okay, just.
Another thing Jordan doesn't have. Now that the Lakers aren't even in the elimination round, like the knockout round, I'm like, eh.
In season, tournament, James that really matter demand looking great, nice sweatshirt.
I like that a lot. Good to see you, all right, Let's get right to the news of the week, which is the Champs stay.
The Champs go ahead.
Yeah, So the Kansas City Chiefs found another way to win. No matter what, They're just gonna keep playing in these nitty gritty games. Chris Jones actually came out and said that they played these games because it holds the ratings. Do you think there's a possibility that the way that they're playing in these close games could come back to bite them in the offseason or the playoffs the postseason? Should I say?
Well? Listen, playoff games typically are quite close.
Like even the Chiefs in this dynastic run have not had many postseason blowouts like the Super Bowl obviously went down to overtime. The Ravens game was one of the more lopsided playoff games the Chiefs have had, and because they were up ten for almost the entirety of the second half, but that's still they were up seven third and ten, had to hit the pass to NBS.
That was a one score game.
Obviously. The Bills game, Bills have the ball down three, you know, driving at the end of the game. That comes down to the very end. Now, the Dolphins game was a blowout, but then go on the previous year Eagles game comes down to the very end. Bengals game comes down to the very end. The Jags game it was they won by seven. It didn't feel quite as close, but that was the game that Mahomes got hurt. And the previous year when they didn't win. Bengals game goes
to overtime. Bill's game goes to overtime. They blow out the Steelers, but over their last what is this nine playoff games, only one has been decided by more than one score. That was the Dolphins game when the Dolphins decided they didn't want to play in the cold. You had one, two, three, four, four literally decided on the last or second to last play of the game. And so I do think there is real situational football experience
the Chiefs gain from this. I also think that folks are so lost in wanting the Chiefs to fail that we have now we haven't stopped and kind of acknowledged some of the things this team is accomplishing and Patrick is accomplishing. This was in Patrick's seventh season as hold on,
I can't believe onna be this wrong. Eighteen Yeah, is seven seasons as a starter, because he has three Super Bowl wins, of Super BWL loss TWOFC Championship losses seven seasons as a starter, he has won seven divisional championships and he has lost five divisional games, So Mahomes has two more divisional titles. Then he has divisional game losses. That's incomprehensible, thirty five and five against the AFC West
with seven divisional titles. Also in games that Mahomes trails in the fourth quarter, which means every single one of his losses have to be included. This because not to start the fourth quarter. It's at any point he has trailed in fifty two fourth quarters. He is now twenty six and twenty six so a hunt so like, I don't even know the context for that is no other quarterback is better than thirty four percent for their career in those spots.
Mahomes is dead five hundred.
And then there is the like, I do understand the frustration if you're an AFC West team or a team of another contender, which is demonse. What have we talked about all through this year's gambling show, how tough divisional games are, How no matter how good you are and how seemingly bad the opponent is, divisional games are just a different animal that the Chiefs last three divisional games. Broncos trying to kick a field goal to beat them,
The Chiefs block it to win by two. The Raiders trying to get ready to kick a field goal to beat him, The Chiefs block it. I'm sorry. The Raiders fumble the snap and the Chiefs recover the fumble to win by two the Chargers.
The Chiefs need a.
Field goal to beat them, they doink it off the upright now, I will say the doink by the Chiefs third kicker of the year makes it feel luckier if you will, than that actually was. What that was was once again a perfectly executed game winning drive by Patrick Mahomes. You pick up a third and ten early, you pick up a third and seven, ostensibly to ice the game. Kelsey caught it, stayed on his knee, and so that wasn't a lucky field goal. It was almost a horrific miss.
But when you're on your third string kicker, sometimes you get the horrific misses.
So here's why.
There are two major reasons I'm not concerned about this at all. Listen, the offensive line needs to be better, and I'm still waiting for DJ Humphreys' news because he was an upgrade over Wanya Morris, but he left the game with an injury. He had been out of football for a year after a torn acl so they you know, that might have been grand opening, grand closing.
We'll see.
And obviously the secondary has him in the same since Jalen Watson got hurt. All that's true, So that's legitimate. But securing the one seed is so disproportionately valuable under the new playoff format that that's right now all that matters, and the Bills losing this weekend plus the Chiefs escaping
with a win makes it. So here's the situation for Kansas City demonsay, if they beat BA I'm sorry, beat Cleveland and then win their home game a week from Saturday against Houston, okay, and so they have to go to or Zo, beat Cleveland, beat Houston to get to fourteen and one. If Buffalo loses either of its next two, they play at Detroit and then they play the Patriots. So it really is Buffalo loses to Detroit and Pittsburgh loses either of its next two, and they play at
Philly and then at Baltimore. If either if those things happen, the Chiefs lock up the one seed going in into the Christmas game against the Steelers. An all year long, that has been my focus because schedule and rest wise,
the Chiefs are in a very odd spot. So I want to take a moment here to discuss why I've so for the Chiefs chances to win the Super Bowl they go up so dramatically if they have the one seed locked before that Christmas game, because they the NFL is asking those four teams that play on Christmas to play as condensed of a three game stretch as any
teams have ever played. Where you play Saturday, I'm sorry, Sunday, Saturday, Wednesday. Now, that's been done before on a Monday, Sunday Thursday schedule, but when the time's that short, it does warrant mentioning. This is a one o'clock kickoff, so you don't even get those extra seven hours of recovery time into your typical Thursday night game. And it's right before the playoffs start, and it's when the Chiefs had an early season by there's a lot of things there that are very disadvantageous.
So now I want to get to the tricky thing for Kansas City. If they don't clinch until.
After the Steelers game, okay.
Because another way they can clinch is even if Buffalo wins all of their remaining games, if the Chiefs beat Cleveland, beat Houston, and then beat Pittsburgh, they clinch. So typical rest between football games is six days Sunday to Sunday.
Okay. So I'm gonna reverse engineer this calendar to.
Really try to lay this out for you guys, because it's an unprecedented spot Kansas City could find itself in. So the playoffs start January thirteenth, fourteenth, Okay, that's no, I'm sorry, let me. I have to get your dates right on this. January eleventh, twelfth is when the playoffs start, all right, So we're just gonna use Sundays as the assumed day January twelfth.
Okay.
If the Chiefs have a bye, their playoffs start January nineteenth. So if you rest no one ever, you play January fifth, and then instead of having six days between games, you have thirteen days between games.
Okay, if you have the bye. If the Chiefs though, decide to do what a lot of teams do and not.
Play, guys in week eighteen, well, now, typically what you would average days between games, but that's not the case for Kansas City because their Week seventeen game is not on a Sunday, It's on a Wednesday, December twenty fifth.
So if Kansas City were to say.
We don't have it locked, we've got to play everyone through the Steelers game and then you want to rest people in Week eighteen, you are then looking at playing a game on December twenty fifth and then having twenty six days until your next game, which is a divisional round playoff game. That's unprecedented and unheard of, and it would be, in my opinion, insane to do.
The flip side is this.
And I have circled this all year and I don't care how mad netflix would be. It would be such a huge opportunity for Kansas City if they earn it by having the one locked up, and all they need is to win their next two and have Buffalo and Pittsburgh both lose once and Buffalo and Pittsburgh are both underdogs this weekend, they have an opportunity to do this. Play the Rave or play the Texans this coming in two weeks, which is the date of that game for
the Texans game is on Saturday, December twenty first. Okay, sit people, for the Steelers game. Have that be the week of rest. Two weeks later, play the Broncos like your final preseason game or your third preseason game. Play your starters for a full half, get everyone up and running, sit them in the second half, and then have two weeks until your next game, the divisional round game. So you get to skip the Steelers on a short week.
You give yourself an end of season by. You then play the Broncos game to stay fresh for the first half, get another by, and be in a position where you have twenty six days where your team really only has to play gosh or a thirty days pardon me, from the Texans game to the first playoff game, where you really don't have to play a half of football, but
you can stay sharp. And for a team this old, and for a team that has played eight years of football in the last seven years of football since Mahomes has been there, it would be such an edge.
And so.
If Buffalo loses again this weekend, and I think Pittsburgh's going to lose one of their last two and Kansas City wins the next two games, they will have from a rest perspective, the greatest opportunity in modern NFL history from how they can finagle the schedule by earning it by going fourteen to one, and if they do that, I'm here to tell you I don't know how close those playoff games will be if every other team is coming off a gauntlet and having to have won whoever
they play in the divisional round, travel to Arrowea after having won a playoff game, and then in round three that team has just won back to back playoff games and has busted their ass down the stretch and Kansas City is their chilling And then, by the way, another bye week before the Super Bowl, you are going to
see a fresher, tougher, sharper Chiefs team. Now the flip side to that coin is this, if they slip up against the Browns or the Texans and then you have to play a hard hitting, well coached, desperate Steelers team on Wednesday, Christmas afternoon. That's the type of game where you could see what happened to the Lions on Thanksgiving happened to the Chiefs. Where it's player after player getting banged up. That's a worst case scenario, so stakes couldn't
be higher. The next two weeks for Kansas City but the the double up of Buffalo losing a heartbreaker and the Chiefs winning the way they did has put him in a brilliant position. All right, let's get to the next weekend. Yeah, let's get to the next game, Demonse.
So yeah, that Rams Bills game Bills came came up short forty four to forty two. But a lot of people probably say that's the game of the year. Out of that game, who would you say that you're more impressed by, between the Rams or Josh Allen?
Listen, Josh Allen was excellent, excellent, And even though I don't care so much about push push touchdowns and I think some of these, Josh Allen the last two weeks has done things no quarterbacks ever done. I don't look at two weeks ago that he has a receiving touchdown. A receiving touchdown is catching a touchdown. Josh Allen threw a pass, it got lateral back to him, and because of an odd statistical anomaly, he finishes that game with
one touchdown, seven receiving yards, zero catches. So it's just like even the box score doesn't make sense. And I don't value tush push touchdowns the way other people do with that said, he was their entire offense. So I was wildly impressed by him. My concern for the Bills, as much as I have liked the Bills all year, this was my concern early in the season, and I said it, I think teams with elite passing attacks, I
don't think the Bills back end can hold up. And the Rams, when they are healthy and Stafford is rolling, that is an elite passing attack. There is no denying it, there is no getting around it. And you saw it again this weekend. Now, the Rams have a lot of work to do to make the playoffs, but because of this hot streak, they now sneaky have two paths to
the playoffs. Demonse, they control their own destiny for the division if they went out and they obviously if Seattle stumbles, can win the division.
But they also quietly.
Have another path that no one's really talking about, which is what but if they get the seventh seed because the Commanders fall apart. Now, we saw the Commanders trending down and then they got the gift of the Tennessee Titans, and so everyone's like, Okay, the Commanders are fine, maybe, and they're coming off a bye, so maybe they're okay. But they're at the Saints this weekend, then home for Philly,
home for the Falcons, out the Cowboys. So I just I think the Rams their best path is winning the division, but the seventh seed door isn't shut to them.
If they win the division, though, demanse.
They are not going to object to that potential super Bowl road. They would start with a home game, ostensibly against Minnesota. Minnesota's really good, but they played Minnesota this year and beat them thirty to twenty. They then, if the bracket holds, would be going to Detroit. They played Detroit in the playoffs last year, lost by one. They played Detroit Week one of this season went to overtime. So Detroit's better than the Rams, there's no denying it.
But they play Stafford plays them tough, and I just when you have, in my opinion, the best coach in the conference and the best quarterback in the conference.
If you win your.
Division and you get at least one home game, you're a live playoffs both.
Yeah, previous experience over the Lions and yeah.
And the last one coach quarterback combo to win a Super Bowl not named Reied Mahomes was McVeigh Stafford.
So I just I the.
The Rams win their rolling offensively are just they look unstoppable. And as I will say this, as bullish as I am on the Chiefs, and as I have been all year, the type of team that worries me the most are teams with two elite receivers and an elite quarterback to go along with it. Now, there's only two teams in the league that fit that bill, the Rams and the Bengals.
The Eagles have.
Two elite receivers, but I don't think, well, I just don't think Jalen is an elite quarterback. And I don't know, if you saw the latest drum out of Philly, they seem to be trying to light themselves on fire again. I mean, Jalen, I don't put this on Jailen, but you've got a bad.
Game by No.
But the postgame comments from AJ Brown saying what's the problem? He says, a passing game? And then what do you guys need to work on passing? And then Brandon Graham comes out yesterday and says, Brandon Graham, the leader of that team, arguably who tore his triceps, so he's out for the year. But still, the veteran leader said on the radio yesterday. He has since apologized, Yeah, I don't know what happened between jail and and aj They used
to be friends. Oh so yeah, And now today he's like, oh, I shouldn't have said that. But like, you can't put that genie back in the bottle, man. But back to the point, I was thinking about teams that can give the Chiefs the most trouble. Two elite receivers, an elite quarterback since Jalen Watson went down. That's the type of team the Chiefs don't have, don't have an answer for.
All Right, so let's.
Go to sounds like you. I mean, he was gonna ask if you regret picking the Eagles over the Rams. I mean, it sounds like you do.
Actually, I mean.
I think the Eagles. It's not a full blown spiral yet. I think this weekend's game against Pittsburgh is gonna be incredibly instructive. You win this game, you get to twelve and two to great win, you can quiet a lot of the noise. You lose this game, and immediately the narrative is going to be is it last year all over again? Even if that's unfair, and you know, people
did not like their win over Carolina. Carolina has been frisky for the last month, not really winning games, but playing good teams tough, and this was the closest win they had. I mean, Xavier Lagett, you know, had the touchdown. Now, to be fair, that would not have won the game. That would have put Carolina up one, but there was forty five seconds left. Philly would have had plenty of time to go back and get in field goal range.
I'm also going to double down on the MVP thing that I do not think it's over, and right now, Josh Allen is minus four point fifty or something minus five hundred. Saquon's a distant second, and in third places Jared Goff. Jared Goff plays Josh Allen and the Bills on National.
TV this weekend.
Golf right now has more touchdown passes than Allen, a better passer rating than Allen, more passing yards than Allen, all those things.
If golf betters in that game.
Right on a better team, If golf cooks in that game and they win, there is going to be so I'm real, why isn't Jared Goff the MVP momentum and if the Bills lose two in a row and fall to ten and four at like there and maybe the three seed in the AFC. It's just I don't right now Allen is the favorite. Saquon right now would have my vote, But right now Allen is the favorite. But it is too early to say that debate is over. And I think those odds are not giving golf enough credit.
All Right, Next, so the Bengals destroyed, not destroy. I guess they'd beat the Cowboys last night by a touchdown, but coming into this year, you probably would have thought that was gonna be a great game. But Dallas is without Dak obviously, in Cincinnati's defense is sucked all year. Which one of these teams do you think returns to relevance the fastest?
Well, the answer is to me obviously Cincinnati, because they have the great quarterback. Now they have some structural problems. After the game, they talked about keeping Higgins, Chase and Joe together. That's just not happening there. Like they can keep Chase there, but they're not gonna be able to
keep T. Higgins there. And I think everyone at this point knows that like T. Higgins is going to be I don't think they're franchise tagging him again, and he's going to be a free agent and they're you know what I mean, They're gonna go out and they're gonna have to pay Jamar Chase absolute top of market money. And so that's like, that's what's gonna happen. I don't I I to me, it's not that surprising that this is the position they have found themselves in. I shouldn't
say it's not that surprising. It's the Bengals made a decision that I disagreed with before the year in that they didn't take care of their business with t Higgins early enough and decide to trade him or extend him. And then they doubled down on that mistake by not giving Jamar an obvious extension last year when he was eligible, and that set the to me season off on the wrong foot. Now, the offense has been great despite all of that. It's been mostly defensive issues. But I think
the Bengals have some retooling to do. The Cowboys just seem stuck and they'll be relevant because they're the Cowboys. And that was actually a hell of a performance last night. And Micah is a such a massive difference maker just when he's out there. Defensively, they're a different team. But
they are flirting with the idea of bringing my McCarthy back. Obviously, either three best players are coming back, Micah cd and Dak So I just don't see what major change is going to come for the Cowboys for them to all of a sudden be a contender. And the Bengals defense can vary a ton year to year. The Bengals just need an average defense, and they right now would be ten and three with an average defense instead of their position of five and eight.
Are you still on the boat off? They have like a real playoff chance this year?
Like do you think, well, so I was doing some it's funny you asked that. So the Bengals would have to win out, which if you look at their schedule, you say, well, that's possible. What they have the rest of the way is the Titans, who are terrible, the Browns, the the Broncos in a huge game, and then at the Steelers in Week eighteen, which maybe is a super meaningful game to Pittsburgh or maybe Pittsburgh's resting people. So it's possible they went out and get to nine and eight.
It's not likely, but it's possible. The problem for Cincinnati that I came across today when I was doing it is, even if they win out, they are what they have a very very narrow path, which is they would need to win out and have the Broncos lose out, including the game to them, then they would get in theoretically, But the problem with that is, again we're going in the weeds a bit. Is the Broncos if they lose out, the Broncos play the Cults this week, and the Cults
are one of the teams ahead of Cincinnati in the standings. Again, this is probably a better article than podcasts, but just stick with me for a minute. The Bengals max out at nine wins, and the only team they could win the tiebreaker with that also maxes out at nine wins is the Broncos because they play them head to head. But the if the bronc for the Broncos to only get to nine wins or fewer, they need to lose out, right, so follow me along this path, one of those.
Losses would come to the Colts. Well, the Colts.
Would win every tiebreaker with Cincy, and if the Colts beat the Broncos. They're at seven wins with the following games left Titans, Giants, Jags. So what the Bengals need to get into the playoffs is they win all their games, the Colts to beat Denver, or it with the Colts to beat Denver and then the Colts after beating Denver to go one and two against Titans, Giants, Jags. That's a really tough putt. Or the other way is for the Broncos to beat the Colts and then the Broncos
to promptly lose every game left on their schedule. So I do think that the Bengals oddly are a dangerous adjacent team, but they have a two to six conference record, which means they're gonna lose every tiebreaker, and they max out at nine wins, so they would have to hit the following exactas essentially.
They need to in all four of their games.
They then need the either the following things to happen, the Broncos to beat the Colts and then promptly lose all three of their.
Games, or.
The Colts to beat the Broncos and the Broncos to lose two of their last three and the Colts to lose two of their last three. You're just not gonna get that, you know what. I mean, all of those things to happen.
If the Bengals lose their next game, you sit Burrow. You sit them right.
That's an interesting one.
If they loose the moment they get eliminated, do you sit Joe Burrow?
Maybe?
I mean I think that. So here's a different one. That's let's assume Burrow hasn't set Let me ask you this question, de Monsey, who are your three AFC Pro Bowl QUARTERBACKSFC.
Pro Bowl quarterbacks?
That seems like a why are we asking this? But here's why.
Josh Allen's in the AFC, Lamar Jackson's in the AFC, Patrick Mahomes in the AFC, Joe Burrow's in the AFC. Which of those four guys is not getting a Pro Bowl seat this year? Do you have, like, what's your gut reaction answer.
If Joe Burrow You're saying this is if Joe Burrow.
Sits No, I'm saying, how about this as now?
If you had to vote today as it is right now, if you had to vote today, who's not getting a Pro Bowl spot in the AFC of those four quarterbacks.
Unfortunately, I don't know. They go back and look, I mean Burrow's obviously you've been carrying that tea. Mahomes go ahead, So I mean, has Lamar not had a better season like statistic wise, then I don't.
I think I think it would come down to Burrow or Mahomes. I think Lamar is kind of locked because his numbers are insane. Josh feels locked because he might win the damn League MVP.
So then you have Burrow or Mahomes.
Burrow who has the best numbers of any quarterback in football, but his team is five and eight. Mahomes whose numbers are mediocre. But every single person who's watched the NFL this year, if they were being honest and you ask them this question, Hey, the Chiefs who are twelve and one and have the second best Super Bowl odds, but really they're the favorites to win the Super Bowl? What
would their record with any other quarterback? What do we think seven and six like this Chiefs team that has the best.
So it's a it's.
A really weird spot of and one of those guys is not going to be a Pro bowler. Now, if the Bengals were to do what you're not suggesting but you know asking, which is if they sit Burrow, then it becomes an easier discussion. But I don't know who gets left out. Honest to God, it can't be Lamar. You can't put in Burrow over Lamar.
You just can't.
Like you can put them both in, but Lamar. They've played twice, they both played great in both games. Lamar's won both his team's better, their numbers are equivalent. He's got to be there. Josh Allen is the overwhelming favorite win League MVP, so he's in there.
And then you have a Borrow Mahomes discussion, which is an interesting one. I am here to tell you.
I'm here to tell you that I want nothing more than for the second straight year, the Chiefs to be shut out from all of the NFL awards, even like honors like the you know, they announce the NFL honors ceremony like Super Bowl week or the week before, and they announced the finalists and last year Coach of the Year, no GM of the Year, no Defensive Player of the Year, no MVP, no like they got shut out for everything. It's gonna happen again, by the way, Mahomes obviously is
not gonna be MVP finalists. They're gonna screw Chris Jones on being a Defensive Player of the Year finalist. Andy Reid's not even top seven or eight and Coach of the year odds. If all that happens and they announce the Pro Bowl rosters, a Pro Bowl and for the first time in his career, Patrick Mahomes is not a Pro bowler, oh my god. They might beat everyone by
thirty in the playoffs. I really hope it happens. All right, let's talk a bit about quarterback development after the break, Take quick break, come back?
What's right? All right?
Welcome back in What's right? With nick right demands. Let's get to our last top before we go to public defender.
So we got the Lions, Seahawks, Bucks, Vikings, and Steelers. All those teams right now are currently playoff playoffs teams, but they all got quarterbacks that are previously scrapped from their last teams. Do you think that we're witnessing a shift in the NFL? Is not less or is it less detrimental to have a franchise quarterback than a great coach?
Well? What I here's what I think. I think that in the NFC.
You can survive make a Super Bowl even without a great quarterback. We see it happen all the time. The Niners made a Super Bowl with Brock Purdy, the Eagles made one with Jalen Hurts. The Eagles made one with
Nick Foles, the Niners made one with Jimmy Garoppolo. The only great quarterback who'd made a Super Bowl in the NFC the last few years is Stafford and Brady obviously, and Stafford, by the way, wasn't really held in this high of a regard until the Rams tenure in the eight So, like people are like, do you take the Vikings seriously? My answer to that question is yes, because they're in the NFC. And listen, Darnold's played great. I don't think he's great, but he has played great. I
give him credit. But all of your historically great or unicorn quarterbacks are in the other conference. Mahomes, Alan, Lamar, Burrow, They're all there, and so you just feel like in the AFC, you've got to have one of those guys. In the NFC when it's like you're gonna have to go through Golf or Jailing or Donald, We'll see if Jordan Love can become that guy he hasn't yet, or Baker or Geno. There's just a clearer path now those teams might be more well rounded. So that is like
I listen, Obviously, great coaches are undervalued. But the other piece of it is what those teams have been able to do is pay B B plus A minus players all over their team because their quarterback instead of making sixty millions, making thirty or on the rookie scale, whatever it.
Is, that's a huge edge.
Nothing is as big of an edge as the edge you get from having one.
Of those truly truly great quarterbacks.
The where you get screwed is if you find yourself in the position the Cowboys or at this point the Cardinals or those teams have, which is you have a fine quarterback who you pay like he's one of those guys. And so I this is not, you know, a unique opinion or new ground. This is just a different version of the best way to win a championship as a
quarterback on the rookie pay scale. But the kind of middle ground now is the veteran quarterback that makes more than a rookie but way less than a superstar who has a lot of experience who found a system that fits him, like Gino, like Baker, like it looks like we found with Donald And so that's the the Lions, I guess with golf would fall into that as well. But golf, you know, has been paid top of market twice.
Now golf got paid top of market by the Rams and then the Lions just paid them top of market again.
All right, let's go to the game. Let's go to public defender.
Oh yes, First off, a council. It seems to exclusively represent teams that can only be bright Shawn by less than a touchdown. A counselor defend your client, the Eagles and their Super Bowl chances.
Well, listen, the Eagles super Bowl hopes are.
It's very straightforward.
One is, despite all of the drama surrounding the team, it is also totally on the board that they end up as the number one seed in the NFC and that the Super Bowl goes through the link in January, which is a brutal spot for the rest of the conference. All that they need is for the Lions to trip up against Buffalo and then they're tied in the lost column with Philly and it's a race to the end.
Even if that does not happen. The Eagles path right now would be the two seed hosting a Washington team that you know they can beat, as they have already beaten earlier this year, and they're gonna get another bite at them later. And then.
If they get to that place, you feel like so many of the potential bad vibes that are percolating right now go away. They have arguably the best defense in the whole conference, inarguably the best running back in the whole conference. They are incredibly live to win the super Bowl or to get to the super Bowl, to win the conference. But there is no denying that. Right now, I put the problems on I'm gonna take off my public defender at for a moment and now just talk
about the Eagles. I put the problems on AJ Brown, And listen, Jalen Hurts has not played well. AJ Brown's a great player. But when you're a great player who not only has been paid, but has been paid twice, if your team's winning, your job is to not cause a problem.
And AJ Brown was a first round pick, got that money.
The Eagles paid him a ton of money when they traded for him. And this off season preemptively gave him another extension. So AJ Brown is on his third big contract, and the fact that and they're winning, and the fact that he has decided now is the time to after a win cause a problem I think is really abhorrent behavior by your captain. Like there's just I I hate it. And I understand we let wide receivers get away with
a lot more because the diva wide receiver thing. But this is bad, man, Like you're eleven and two, Saquon, Like the whole narrative from within the locker room is man. You guys disrespected our defense. Look at him now, Saquon is gonna break the rushing record. It should be nothing but good vibes. And AJ Brown started a fire that then Brandon Graham, you know, added Kerosene too, So that's not good. And so I do think the Eagles can
still make the super Bowl. But I don't trust Siriani to fix this, and I don't know why AJ Brown started this problem.
All right, next, All right, amidst another giant's loss, a plane floor of MetLife Stadium with a vander reading, mister mahra enough, please fix this dumpster fire. After the game, the Elak Neighbors was asked about it and said, I ain't paid for the plane. That was exactly what you would say if you paid for the plane. Counselor defend your client, the number one suspect, Malik Neighbors.
Listen, Obviously Milik Neighbors didn't pay for the plane.
Uh.
I don't even think he needs a lot of defense there. Nobody thinks he actually paid for the plane. I'm going to once again take off my public defender hat for a moment and talk about another devil wide receiver, Mylik Neighbors. You're too young and have not accomplished enough to be this much of.
A pain in the ass.
And there's been multiple times this season where you have made it clear it ain't my fault.
Buddy.
We all know it's not your fault. We all know you're one of the best players on the team.
But I do not I do not think that.
Malik Neighbors has earned the sweat equity to do the post game malcontent stuff the way he's already doing it. And maybe it's because I turned forty, maybe I'm becoming more curmudgeonly, But the the amount of young receivers that are just an instant pain in the ass. I think is not ideal and is not does not necessarily foster winning. And again, I imagine Malik is incredibly frustrated, and he is an awesome player. He's been the best of the
rookie wide receivers. He's been better than Marvin Harrison, He's been better than Rome, and that's despite being in the worst quarterbacking situation. Try to make it through your first season before you're like, I don't know why I didn't get the ball to we were down thirty nothing, I ain't paid for the plane. Like, try, if you're gonna be the best player on a team, try.
To exhibit some.
Leadership qualities. I don't think that's unfair. I think that's part of being a professional. Demant'sy, I hear I got a new client.
Well, your client League Neighbors is going to jail. Now you just got another client to defend Divo wide receivers as a whole.
Well, this is actually despite everything I just said, this is actually very easy. Which is wide receiver is the only position in all of sports where, even if you play perfectly, you're a one hundred out of one hundred in every category. Your success is thoroughly dependent on other people. There is and I said, all of sports, but I
can just keep it to football. There is not another position on the football field that doesn't have the opportunity to just singular dominate in individually, independent of everyone else.
Every spot on.
Defense can do it. If safety can come down, make a big hit. Corners can take away side of the field or make a pick. Pats rushers run stoppers can beat their block and go do it. Offensive linemen you can pancake a guy again and again and again. Obviously, running back can go make somebody miss. Quarterback as the whole game in his hands. Wide receiver can do exactly what you've asked, run his route exactly seven yards, lose the corner, be wide open, and never get the ball
or get missed. And when you play that position for your whole life growing up, when that happens, then what that can engender or create is some selfishness and some frustration that then once you get to the top of the mountain, the NFL can really blossom. So it is not a coincidence that the position that has the most divas is the dependent position, and so that is it's it is nurture more than nature in this regard. These these receivers are not born divas. They are developed into
them by football and what it does to them. And so it's society's fault, your honor. Now we'll take off my public defender. With all that said, that's what the money's for, grow up kids like they. I mean, that's what the money's for. All right, last one.
Very well said. Arguably the greatest coach of all time, or so we thought, Bill Belichick's and able to find work this past year. Now he's reportedly considering coaching historic basketball school. You and see a counselor to fit the legacy of your client, Bill Belichick.
Uh, your honor, I recuse myself from this case because I find it so outrageous and embarrassing that my client is publicly dating a woman forty five years younger than him.
And I can't believe.
That the media, the mainstream media, feels like this is out of bounds to discuss. It's not, and it's weird. It's not out of bounds. They've gone Instagram public. He's out there on Halloween dressing up like a fisherman. She's dressing up like a Mermaid. Listen, if someone who is a public figure gets caught by the media at dinner with someone pictures through the you know, restaurant window, and they and and they never do anything public about it, then I would say that's their private life.
Leave them alone.
When you decide as a public person to publicly be in a relationship with someone I think born in the two thousands, or if not in the two thousands, orn you know, in the what what'd you.
Say you're getting.
I'm not getting supposed to.
It's not personal life. It's not as personally I'm telling you right now. If I ran an NFL team and I'm like, hey, I'm figuring out who is going to be the head coach of my team, and it's like, oh, there's Mike Vrabel, married kids, everyone things in line. Oh there's coordinator X single, you know, don't really know his situation. Oh here's this person divorced, don't really know his situation. Here's a man who's seventy two years old dating a
college student grad student. I'm going to say, I'm worried he might be going through some things that's in bounds.
I'm sorry.
That's not an unfairer and I think Belichick's greatest coach ever, that's not unfair, and.
Him doing it publicly.
Is weird. It's just weird. And I don't think it's helping his coaching prospects.
What Yeah, I do think it's a It is a little bit of a weird time to spent, like if you're going for an NFL team, but to then also trying to go back and coach at a college when you're currently doing that.
I mean, the whole little old to mom'sday.
This is weird because you're my son and I'm married to your mom, so you have to put your.
Own in a different position.
So don't even pick me. Let's not even do mean, And I don't want to do what any of my colleagues because they're married as well. I'll just do myself. I'm forty. I'm forty. If I was dating a twenty four year old, people would roll their eyes. If if Belichick is my you know, almost almost to the year, you know, who's almost the exact same age as Belichick, Papa, my dad. If my dad was dating someone your age, we'd.
Be like.
We we'd have we'd have concerns. Yeah, and I'm just saying Belichick, I don't think it's helping his coaching career, like his ability to land one of these jobs. And I do think it's odd, and I don't I try to be very fair to people that private life is private.
This is not private.
This has been super public to the point to where we know how they met. I don't know how Andy Reid met his wife. I know Belichick and her were sitting next to each other on a plane and he helped her with her homework or something like. I know that like that that, and I know that they took Instagram pictures where he was a fisherman and she was a mermaid for Halloween. I know that happened, and so I mean, that is what it is. And maybe people
will get mad at me for this. Maybe this will get aggregated.
I stand by all of it. It would.
It's nobody's talking about.
Nobody is talking about and why if it's so weird that people are afraid to talk about it.
Like he's seventy two.
If his girlfriend was forty two, it'd be noteworthy. That'd be noteworthy.
I just wouldn't forty two, all right?
Forty two is different like the twenty four it would be noteworthy.
If you're dating someone thirty years younger than you, it's noteworthy. It's not bad, but it's noteworthy. It's certainly if I were to, if you were to, if I were to be, like, hey, let's play a game.
If none of this had happened. Let's play a game.
Guess the age within a five year band of such and such seventy two year old's girlfriend. How many guesses does it take before you get to early forties, much less mid twenties. Like, I think ninety is more likely than twenty five. So I just I think, like, I don't know, it's just weird. Quick break, right back, What's right? Welcome back in What's right?
With Nick? Right?
All right, Demante, Let's get some listener questions Summer from last week because we didn't have time for him on Thursday because Danny Parkins wouldn't stop talking. By the way, Danny Parkins one and two on his picks this week, I'm officially just one pick behind him. We had another winning week on this show three and two on this show two and one on TV. The teaser gotcha, Sorry, pal, oh.
But that's how we'll touch I've got some thoughts on that, right, go ahead? So simpley, hey, Nick, which first round matchup would be better than a buy this year?
Well, there isn't one. There is no super soft first round matchup. Theoretically, if the Colts and Anthony Richardson get in, that would be you know, that's a pretty decent seventh spot. But the Broncos with Sean Payton, even with rookie bo Nicks, is not a super soft spot. And obviously the Chargers are not, and the Ravens or not or the Steelers if they fall. So I don't think there is one. Whoever is the two? Go ahead?
Oh yeah, I guess like come that time, they're gonna have a lot of rest if that that dream scenario happens. But with the way that they're playing teams, what situation is better than a buy?
Like what do you mean?
Oh? So? Like basically like so like with how close that they're playing teams like in the playoffs, like I just think they you know, given that they.
Yeah exactly, oh yeah yeah, no, no, no, no, they there there.
Is They're gonna play everybody tight. But with that rest situation different.
Listen, And I wasn't even looking at that as the Chiefs question, because I don't think the Chiefs are gonna be the.
Two seed like they are.
They're two games clear of Buffalo, you know the and so I'm just saying, whoever is the two seed, that Round one in both conferences is not going to be easy. In the NFC, It'll either be probably Washington, theoretically Green Bay or the Rams like none of those are easy spots, or maybe the Seahawks.
Those aren't easy games, all right.
Next Marcus Nick, Nick, you do think limiting sacks should be brought up more in the quarterback convos And do you agree if sacks are more of a QB stat than an old line stat like who gets more credit in Buffalo, Alan or the line?
Well asn't I think the Bills offensive line has been one of the more underrated units in the league this year, but Alan does get credit. I think this is I do think limiting sacks should be brought up in the quarterbacking conversation, and I do think it's a skill. I also think that situationally, you've got it. This is one of those things you really got to watch the games,
like how many of the sacks are instant pressure? Nothing you could do and how many of it is the quarterback running himself into sacks.
So I'll use the most sacked quarterback in the league this year, Caleb.
Caleb's offensive line has been brutal and a lot of those sacks are not on him, but feels like about a third of them are maybe a quarter of him that he has held onto the ball too long, that he has tried and so right, so I do think it's a rich tapestry, if you will. But yes, Alan,
not turning the ball over and not taking sacks. Sacks from a win percentage perspective are like a third is damaging as a turnover depending on the spot you take them, so like they're really bad to take and so that is noteworthy.
All right.
Next, only, Nick, you mentioned you listen to sports podcasts to keep up with the news and analysis. Can you tell us your favorites?
Uh? Yeah, I mean I think during the NFL season, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal and that crew is a nop pun intended a daily listen for me.
I love it. I think it is.
I think it is as good of a source NFL. NFL Daily is what it's called, just called in NFL Daily, Greg Rosenthal is the host. I think that's outstanding. I like the and in fact, there's a long list that I could give. But if I give a long list and I don't include people, then it's like I forgot or I snubbed him, whatever. So instead of that, I'm just gonna give one. I think NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal this time of the year is a must listen. All right, let's go to Lewis's question.
Demant Lewis, who is your favorite player in the NBA and NFL? Behind Lebron and any player on the Chiefs?
My favorite player in the NBA and NFL. No Chief and not Lebron. It's a really good question.
Who Lamar?
No that it wouldn't be Lamar for me. I don't hate Lamar, but it wouldn't.
I like Joe Burrow a lot, uh, and I have massive respect for Burrow. I love Luca. Obviously, the answer is probably Luca. Uh. I'm trying to think if there's one an obvious person that I'm forgetting, but I do love Baker. Baker's up there as well. All right, let's go to Grayson.
Grayson if Bills, If Bills lose this week and Ravens went out, why isn't Lamar MVP? He's better in every single stat than Allen and would have one more loss with a significantly harder schedule.
Well, and they whooped him, right, they beat him thirty five to ten.
Would be the other piece of that.
I think the answer is, this award is kind of like the narratives can get away from you, and Lamar's MVP narrative ended and right or wrong, I don't think he's gonna recapture it. Like I think they would have to win out, win the division, the Bills stumble, like a lot of things would have to happen. What I do think is the other piece that is fair is I do think people look at Lamar having Derrick Henry
as far more significant than anything Josh Allen has. But Lamar should be in the conversation for regular season MVP. There's no there's no question, Like, he.
Just had a buye. He's about the played in New York coming up, right, So it's a little bit of the lack of game.
Right, they had lost and he had a bye, and so they had lost anything two of their last three, so that hurt him a lot obviously, Right now, if I if I had a ballot, because I don't want it to just be a quarterback award. I think my ballot right now would be Sakwan one, Josh Towo, TJ Watt three, Lamar four and because it'd be super fun, Penay Seul five because I think he's the best player on the Lions and kind of encapsulates who they are
and they're having such a great year. That would be my ballot at the moment.
All Right, I gotta go do Colin. Great job today to Monday.
I'll see you guys on the Herd in about ninety minutes.
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