25. Yapping about a 21-Point Rally, Two ACL Tears, And how Grandpa Rivers Changed the Playoff Picture

0:22I'm Victoria. I'm Giovanna. The game's on. Welcome back to another episode of your favorite football podcast, The Game by the Girls for everyone. We have been saying this, I feel like, for the last eight weeks, but I actually think this was one of the best weeks in football so far this season, even given all of the chaos that has happened earlier in the season. Yeah. Yeah. Like, you can't compete with Grandpa Rogers, with the Chiefs falling from grace, with the injuries, the chaos, the Saints winning. Like, I just feel like this week was so insane to watch. And now that I'm saying this out loud, all three of my favorite teams lost this weekend.

1:14So that's rude. But I still think that this feels like one of the most dramatic seasons of football in the last 10 years. And this week feels like it's like The Bachelor, like the most dramatic season ever. Where's Chris Harrison when you need him? That's who I was like, literally, what is his name? He's like, nah, I'm the most dramatic season of the NFL. But I feel like we say this every week. We're like, guys, we have so much to talk about. But it's, it's, it's, there's been, it's reality. It's reality TV at its finest. It's reality TV. We're going to start off today with a full weekend recap.

1:54Then we'll be chatting, yapping and recapping per usual. We have a couple of segments today. So we hope you enjoy them as they come out. Goose egg report, pop culture report, and we're going to close it out with our ins and outs for the week. So let's get into the recap. And Giovanna, you can add in whatever you need to as we go in this kind of super speed recap. Thursday night football, Falcons beat the Bucs, which ties the Bucs and the Panthers both seven and seven, which also pulls the Bucs out of the top spot in the NFC South. Todd Bowles dropped several F-bombs in his press conference, which is one of the most chaotic press conferences that has ever existed.

2:38Kyle Pitts, tight end on the Falcons, had a 166 receiving yard game for three touchdowns, which helped the Falcons 29-28 wins over the Bucs, something like 45 fantasy points. And he is a pending free agent, so catching tons of eyes around the league. Chiefs for the first time since 2014 have missed the playoffs. We knew that it's been they missed their 10th AFC title in a row. And the worst part was Patrick Mahomes tearing his ACL in the final two minutes of the game. Chargers win 16 to 13. Tony Jefferson was ejected during that game, stirring up a bunch of chaos in the stadium and on social media.

3:26Then another ACL tear, one that we didn't see coming, Micah Parsons. ACL tear on the Packers during their loss to the Broncos. Broncos are now sitting at 12-2, clinching the AFC and their ticket to the playoffs. It's only Bo Nix's second season, and he had his best game of his career over the weekend. Four touchdowns, 23 for 34 passes, and 302 yards. Miles Garrett creeping up to that sack mark. We talked about him last week, or if you found us through social media, you found us through our TikTok with him and Chloe Kim. 21.5 sacks. The all-time record is 22.5, which TJ Watt currently has. Speaking of TJ Watt, the Steelers' edge rusher, he is in the hospital after a collapsed lung in week 14.

4:17Then edge rusher Aiden Hutchinson in the Lions versus Rams game. We always see the storyline Stafford versus Goff after the switch a couple years ago. Aiden Hutchinson gets an interception and then they take one play to score a touchdown. The game ultimately ends up in a loss. 41-34 Rams beat the Lions. Lions now have a 41 % chance to make the playoffs, which is very shocking. I feel like to a lot of people in the league. One of the most exciting games of the weekend. Bills overcome a 21-point deficit to beat Drake May and Mike Vrabel, the new Patriots dynasty. Patriots are still sitting on top at 11-3, but the Bills are only one game behind on either side.

5:02Bills are 10-4. Texans get their sixth straight win over the Cardinals. Rookie running back Juar Jordan had a 100-yard debut. To go over to the Seahawks and the Colts, Grandpa Rivers almost takes down the Seahawks, but an interception with 12 or 11 seconds to go leaves the Seahawks in positions to kick a field goal, win the game 18 to 16. Jason Myers, six field goal attempts and six field goal makes, making him the leading field goal maker in the NFL. That is the Seahawks kicker. Kobe Bryant has now picked off two daddies, 42-year-old Rodgers and 44-year-old Rivers. He caught Rivers' interception that led to the Seahawks winning.

5:52Then Saints beat the Panthers 22-17. I believe the Saints are a sleeper team that everyone thinks are worse than they actually are. Not looking good for the Panthers, but one team it is looking good for is Philadelphia beats Vegas 31-0. But hopefully the Eagles do not get too excited about this because it was the Raiders and that really doesn't say that much. Jags rip on the Jets. Rookie quarterback on the Jets still scores 20 points, which is more than the Chargers. Kansas City, Bengals, Raiders, Panthers, Colts, and Seahawks in points scored over the weekend. Recent news, Jets released defensive coordinator Steve Willis of duties and Chris Harris will take over in the interim.

6:30Trevor Lawrence, six total touchdowns most of his career, including one rushing touchdown himself. And on to Minnesota and the Cowboys. Minnesota beat the Cowboys 34 to 26. Cowboys playoff chances now 1 % or less, but we must mention fake field goal. Yay. And fake handoff from JJ McCarthy for a touchdown. Also yay. To close it out, out of the playoffs are the Vikings, Falcons, Saints, Commanders, Cardinals, Giants, Chiefs, and I believe there's a couple more that are sneaking in there as all of the data comes in today. That is your recap for week 15. I am sweating. That was good. Thank you. You did really good.

7:20Gosh, I don't even know where to start. Like I'll start with the Cowboys so I can just get out of the way. Absolutely unacceptable. Matt, even if this is under a lot of scrutiny right now and I think there's some stuff that Jerry had said in terms of possibly his future with this organization but the fact that and there's some offensive problems too in that game but the fact that the Cowboys defense made J.J. McCarthy look like a top tier quarterback is embarrassing. He had what? Like, he had, like, I think two rushing touchdowns in that game, one or two rushing touchdowns in that game. Yeah. Just insane.

8:05I mean, I'm proud of Javier McCarthy because I feel like they needed that going into this next season because I know there might have been some rumors, speculation on, like, what the Vikings were going to do. Were they going to trade him? And things like that. But, jeez, I don't know what's going to happen. I thought Justin Jefferson would have a good game considering he was on this like bad stretch games, but he did not. And I said this a couple of episodes ago, and I feel like I'm a little validated in this moment. And it feels really good for my soul internally because I just saw a post by FanDuel and it was a projected trade between the Bills and the Vikings.

8:47where the Bills receive Justin Jefferson and a 2027 sixth round pick. Vikings receive a first round pick and 26 and 27th, a seven round pick and 27 as well. And then Y receiver key on Coleman. So I don't know. I, in the grand scheme of things, I think it's really, really unlikely for Justin Jefferson to get traded. Yes. But because FanDuel posted this projected trade, like I said, I'm feeling validated. yeah because if you guys didn't hear episode two weeks ago we were talking about justin jefferson just like not getting used and how much of a bummer it is to have him on a team where he can't be used his full potential and i asked giovanna where should he go and giovanna says the bills so we'll see i do feel like this trade is in the caliber of the micah parsons trade where like we did not think it was going to happen we were like there's no way all drama press agent all of that aside, we did not see Micah Parsons being traded.

9:49And then he did. And I wouldn't be surprised if Justin Jefferson was also like kindly and quietly asking for a trade. Because if I were Justin Jefferson, I would probably be saying like, I know that this team, like I'm important to this team, but I'm also a player who has more potential than what you can use me for. Yeah. I think it's like wrong for a guy of his caliber to like want to explore options like exploring at you know minimum i fear though with my kid getting injured and like i don't want to see anybody injured in acl is probably like one of the worst injuries that you can ever and it's always non-contact like if you watch that play my kid didn't even get hit he literally was going to kind of coming off the line and was going in for a sack or to disrupt the play obviously and then you kind of see him start hobbling as soon as you see those non-contact injuries you know like yeah it's it's it's bad it's it's bad so i don't know i'm not sure if the cowboys won this trade because mike is injured now i mean he was injured coming into the season there was a lot of stuff around that and his capabilities with like not conditioning and not, you know, practicing early on this season because he was kind of in that like weird gray area and like holding out, but still at training camp.

11:14So I don't know. There's a lot to say around that, but it's kind of interesting. Kind of interesting. Yeah, that was kind of one of my first thoughts of like, I'm sure that the Twitterverse or the Xverse or whatever you want to call it is freaking out over Micah getting hurt because it's like, yeah, everyone called out the Cowboys and Jerry for like, why did you trade him away? But I feel like you can't consider that because who else tore their ACL this weekend? Patrick Mahomes. So it really can be anyone. I thought that Mahomes, that is just like the most painful thing that could have happened.

11:54Like under two minutes you're you know you're you know you're done like you I mean I guess not because he can do a two-minute drill better than maybe anyone yeah but like they also had a decent amount of time to score above two minutes and they didn't yeah it's it's crazy so yeah to close out the the Micah Parsons I think it's a moot point because he could have gotten injured anywhere if your ACL is gonna go I guess it's gonna go and if he already had injuries it's like Like, I mean, you can't call that and you can't say that a trade is worth it or not because or not because of an injury, I feel like.

12:33Right, right. It is confirmed on the Patrick Mahomes note. He's coming to Dallas, actually, to get a second opinion on Andy Reid confirmed that in the press conference this morning. He's getting a second opinion in Dallas, which I think is kind of interesting. What do we have? We have some good doctors in Dallas. Let me find out. Let me find out. I met a lot of nice doctors at Baylor, Scott and White in Dallas. When I lived here, I had to go to the doctor a couple of times. They were homies. Everyone except I had to get like a heart. I had to get a heart. What's it called when they do the gel?

13:12They do it on your belly when you're having a baby. An ultrasound? That's not a sonogram. It's an ultrasound. Yeah. Yeah. I got a heart ultrasound and I'm in there and I think this is like the coolest thing in the world. and the girl who was doing it like was not impressed. She was just like, she was like, this is not cool. And I was like trying to chat with her and be like, can you like show me like what's going on? And she just like didn't, she didn't care, which is fine. She was just doing her job, but. Didn't care. We'll get well soon, Micah and Patrick. ACLs are hard, which is the Micah thing is the Packers lost a lot of people in that game.

13:52They lost Micah Parsons, Jaden Reed, Evan Williams, Christian Watson, Zach Tom, Nate Hobbs, and Quay Walker, all in that game against the Broncos. They lost a crap ton of players. So I'm curious to see what this means for them moving forward. And again, ACL is not something like, I don't even know if they're going to be 100 % coming into next season. Yeah. Yeah, because ACL is like a really long. Long road to recovery. A long recovery. Yeah. So I actually have an ACL report today because I feel like we just keep hearing about torn ACLs. So I was like, how many players have torn their ACL? So I did a little research.

14:35Starting in week four, we had, so there's six of them confirmed this season that we have reports of. There could be a couple more, but in my 30-minute scour of the internet, this is what I found. Tyreek Hill, Dolphins wide receiver week four. That was the one with like the nearly creepy smile on the cart going out. Weird. I wonder how he's feeling about it now. I've heard from him in a little while. Still weird. It still kind of gives me the heebie-jeebies inside. Daniel Ukale, defensive tackle on the Steelers week eight against the Packers. Torres ACL, Zach Ertz on the commander's tight end. Week 14, Torres ACL against the Vikings.

15:19Teddy Buchanan, linebacker on the Ravens. Torres ACL or is speculated to have torn it yesterday. Week 15 against the Ravens. Parsons, edge on the Packers against the Broncos yesterday. And Mahomes quarterback on the Chiefs week 15. So three ACL tears week 15. One week 14, one week eight, one week four. Malik Neighbors too oh yeah yeah Malik actually he tore I'm pretty sure that was week yeah that was week four he tore his ACL tough I've seen Malik Neighbors on TikTok and social media no should I he is on the hinge it's so funny I'm I fear the Giants as like how do I say this if the Giants had like not like a reality TV show but I feel like every single person in the giant slot room could be like stand-up comedy like he put james winston cam scadaboo and malik neighbors in like a stand-up comedy show would be fantastic but he's basically on social media there is one video that's been going viral and it was like a girl plucking her man's eyebrows and she was like this is what i do for my man and like and then it like cuts to him like in his bed like all the lights are off and he's in his bed he's like oh that must be nice oh he's like lonely i'm like malik blink twice if you're lonely wait twice if you need a girlfriend but he's like he does a couple a couple videos like that it's really funny people have been talking about it he's kind of i do just like to see like players that have gone through injury kind of be in like high spirits i did see cam scadaboo on the sidelines this past weekend no boot new chain no boot he had a new chain on it was looking good i'm getting a little bored i'm gonna do a little online shopping for a new chain then my contract says four years yeah no i'm i'm very excited to see him play i can't wait to see him play next season yeah okay yeah this is awesome malik neighbors on tiktok he has one it sees it says pov fellas dance or post your girl on Insta.

17:26And then it's him like doing the craziest

17:33dance. This is chaos city is Malik Gavis TikTok. I love it. Immediate follow. Well, hopefully they all get better. Yeah, the injury is just stacking up. I cannot believe the Packers lost so many. And I think that kind of begs the question of, is it the level of aggression on the Broncos defense, or is it just a deteriorating team because it's week 15? Honestly, a little bit of both. I, and maybe this is like something we'll dive into our stats episode this week, so make sure you tune into our stats episode because Victoria and I are very, very proud of that episode and it's really great. But I need to do a deep dive into turf versus grass fields because I know that's a hot topic every single season.

18:17And they were actually talking about it pregame for one game. I think it might have been the Chiefs and the Chargers game. But to your point, it kind of begs the question of like, is it because we're in week 15? Is it because, you know, people are playing really hard, their bodies are tired? Is it because of the level of the grass slash AKA turf they're playing on? Hot topic every single season. And I think it's really interesting when you look at it because all these injuries, again, non-contact, so. Yeah, I think, yeah, it's got to be both. I am still so curious. We talked about this on Isabel Sewell's episode, her interview about her taking penne to Pilates and it being like a struggle.

18:59And I genuinely believe that like single leg stability training and slow like a back squat is going to train that. But like a single leg. I mean, I don't know what their training looks like. So I'm really curious to see what players are doing, what type of training as strictly injury prevention. not even on like power dynamics and like essentially power training and strength training, but how much preventative training are they doing? And I'm sure they're doing a lot because personal training and the knowledge of the body is so high, especially places like the NFL, like they're with some of the best care in the world, but it does just make me think, makes me think.

19:40It's also a contact sport. You get hit by a 300 pound guy. I'm not going to take it. Well, I went to CrossFit this morning my back is pissed off so yeah yeah Philip Rivers after his game against the Seahawks this weekend he was talking about a reporter asked him like was it a wake-up call for you to get hit by somebody in the NFL and like have that feel and he was like yeah you know my wife and I talk about this all the time and sometimes I tell her I'm like man I just want to throw a football and get hit and I'm like what a freaking dog let's go Philip like he was like I I missed getting hit.

20:15And I was like, yeah, you did. He just needs to be that wants to feel something. He has an addiction to football. Okay. Can I put this out here real quick while we're on the topic of Phillip Rivers? Yeah, because I have a lot to say about him. So let's just keep it rolling. So I understand his history with the Colts. And I think it's a great thing for like the NFL culturally to see somebody in their old age. because I really liked the conversation of like, just because you're old, you can still play the game of football and play at a high level. And I really liked that. Like we're kind of changing the narrative when it comes to that kind of topic.

20:55However, there's no way that that was going to be a period. There's a but. There's so many other quarterbacks that are retired. And I say that with air quotes, that are retired that I feel like you could have called on and i didn't think about this until my boyfriend said something to me today and not today but this weekend and i fear that he's like in a different boat from all his other people because he's so popular right now and he's like doing a really good job in the broadcast world but cam newton cam newton was a really really good player and i think he's like middle 30s right now and obviously like he's on first take with steven a like he does a lot of stuff he has own podcast he's 36 but he was like why like why is nobody calling cam newton up right now and like getting him back involved and then i was like you know what why isn't anybody i feel like cam newton coming back to the nfl would be great like culturally and he's just like this gusto kind of guy and like i didn't really watch cam newton when he played in the nfl that much um i watched him in college a lot but it kind of brings up the question like why philip like was it strictly because of the history that he has with the Colts and that's why it was like kind of a shoe and fit or was it like did they call other people and Philip was the only one that was just willing to come out of retirement and mind you I said this last week when we talked to our stats episode Philip by doing this kind of left off and threw his like hall of fame destiny out for this current season because he would have been inducted or something like that now he has to wait another five years in order to be inducted because now he's actually playing back in the nfl so i don't know it's probably worth it for him because clearly he missed getting hit so but i don't know i just i thought about what other quarterbacks were called if any and what what what is that going to look like next season if other teams get into this kind to bind which you know begs the question of like is Aaron Rodgers still going to be here you know what is Joe Flacco going to do I don't know there's a lot of there's a lot of things that kind of I was thinking of when I when it comes to the conversation to Philip and him playing right now yeah I think that like the Philip decision is nothing short of chaotic I think it shocked everyone because he is older so I just looked up Cam Newton is not officially retired from the NFL but his last game was 2021.

23:27And the reason I think that Philip Rivers got called in the first place is because he's been in no less than two conversations since he retired in 2020 to go back and play for other teams that were struggling. I think the whole thing is crazy. Like, it really is crazy that he was the one that they chose. However, I was very impressed by the game in general. I think that he looks like he needs WD-40. Like he's not moving smoothly in any capacity. Like it was not buttery at all, but. No finesse. You, no finesse, but he was there. Like he, like the muscle memory, I feel like came in like nearly immediately.

24:16And so I think that they wanted someone whose mind was reliable enough. Bingo. to not do anything ridiculous because he only threw one pick in that game and he's playing against the Seahawks and the Seahawks are effing good. And that, you know, his interception was the reason for the loss. But if you watch the actual interception play, like it's not like he threw a dart to someone else. Like it's not like that interception we've seen way worse, way less controlled interceptions. Like that one was a bummer, but we've seen interceptions that are way messier than that interception. And you, I mean, even just like watching, you're like watching his mind work.

24:55You're watching his awareness of what's going on on the field. And I think that he does that better than a ton of court. He's doing that better than Jalen hurts right now. He did it better than a lot of other. And so I think that like the people who called on him knew way more than we know, which is why they kind of let him back in. But I think it has to be because of the situational awareness and they needed someone who like gets it. It's like, I feel like when somebody's like hiring someone new or like when I've managed gyms and I'm like hiring people to come work for me, I'm like, do you like get it?

25:32You know, there's like people who like get it and then there's people who you can like teach to do a job, but they don't like get it. There's something to be said about like the old time saying like oh age is wisdom you know yeah which is again why i really like that we're giving these older guys a chance because they have played so much football and at some point especially for the colts they have a playoff on the line and they have too many talented players on that roster right now for them to just fall by the wayside so i i do think bringing in seasoned person like Philip Rivers, stats at this point don't matter.

26:15Culturally, I think he's a really good guy to just give morale for the team. And he's going to speak his mind. And he's going, you know for sure, when Philip Rivers is on that field, he's going to do the best he can to pull out a W for his team. And I think that's kind of what it came down to. So it was a risky move by the Colts. Unfortunately, didn't get a W. But I don't know. We'll see what happens for them going forward. it's you know the the iq is there and i think that is important especially right now in this league when you're going against these top tier defenses i would have been terrified the seahawks are so good like the seahawks i feel like are a team in the nfl like the seahawks and the rams to me we were talking last week about like good on both sides of the ball i feel like the Seahawks are just, they're like good across the board.

27:07They're not blowing anyone away. Like Jackson Smith and the Jigma is, and like, they have some other players on their team who like are mind blowing, but I feel like the Seahawks are just like cooking. They're just cooking. They're consistent. They're doing the job. And I would be terrified to go and play against them. And so like Philip Rivers to become also be composed when you're exposed is insane. But I have stat line that I absolutely love and think is hilarious. Philip Rivers through one passing touchdown, which is more than Drake May, Joey B and Shadur and Patrick Mahomes combined yesterday.

27:54This week. Yeah. And I'm like, that's like just, it's like hilarious that that's even a stat line. The Seahawks defense is really good. However, on the offensive side of the ball, Sam Darnold has shown flashes of greatness. Yeah. But I'm not convinced. He didn't throw a single passing touchdown in this game. He threw for 261 yards, 22 of 36, which is decent. Yeah. But Sam Donald's been on one of my fantasy teams and the last couple of weeks, what it feels like to me is there's a bunch of plays where there's like deep balls to like J.S. said and they look really great. But I worry for the Seahawks going into the postseason, if their offense can keep up with the caliber of defenses that we're seeing in the league right now.

28:53Yeah. And again, the Seahawks have a really good defense as well. and I always will say it, defenses do win championships, but the Seahawks team is interesting to me. I do know that Sam Donald has it in him to turn it on. And so I'm not going to count him out just yet. But like I said, he didn't throw, he didn't throw a touchdown in that game. And Phillip Rivers did. Yeah. So, yeah. You know, I think that that's like the, why I chose the word good. It's because I think that you're so right. Like Sam Darnold has flashes of greatness, which has gotten them to where they are now. But it is it's it's not consistent greatness.

29:32Like it's not I don't feel like the comparison to Patrick Mahomes right now feels weird. But like, you know, that he used to be able to just get it done. And Sam Darnold is having some big wins, but not because he's always. But they are still 10 and three. So they are. They're winning games. One last thing about Philip Rivers. Did you see his press conference after? I did see a couple of clips of his press conference. So I'm curious. What did you take away from it? Okay, I feel like everyone's probably seen this already, but it like literally makes me feel like I'm going to cry. He says, hopefully my sons and those ballplayers that I'm in charge of at the school, they'll say like, crap, coach wasn't scared.

30:14And he like alluded to staying on the couch is the easy thing. And like being afraid and staying at home is the easy way. and he like wants to be an example of like, he wasn't scared. I just think that's so cute because it's like if a cool opportunity comes into your lap, like I feel like we have a lot of fear. This is like really deep, but I feel like there's a lot of fear that directs a lot of decisions for a lot of people that like we know. And I think that this is just like, there's like emotional, like he kind of has a lot on the line. The emotional toll, the physical toll, the like media pressure, his kids, his wife, His team, apparently though, the high school team that he coaches erupted when he threw the touchdown.

30:58Like there's a video of them like freaking out. Oh my God. I just. Yeah. It was a special sight to see. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm really happy for him that like he came out uninjured. He's probably super sore, but like uninjured and did like a good job against the Seattle defense. I mean, besides the last part. And I always say it is how you leave the party, not how you get to the party. but he only got sacked one time, which is better than. Can you imagine though that like the meeting before the game where they're like, do not let this man get hit. They're like, we don't care if we lose by 50, but this man is not getting hit.

31:35No, it was game script. Phillip rivers walked into that game and he knew that he had to get that ball out. Immediately. As soon as it was snapped, because they weren't going to risk him getting injured. And it's a fact. Like, when you are that old, unfortunately, like, your body just doesn't move the same. That is a fact. But there is ways, if you're smart about it, from the coaching to your O-line to the actual IQ of the quarterback, there are ways to get around that. And, again, I think Phillip Rivers, in his debut since he did, phenomenal. We want to thank our lovely sponsors at Kuso Cuts. You guys have heard us talk about them literally every single week since the show has been going on.

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