32. Hot Girls Love a Wild Card

0:22I'm Victoria. I'm Giovanna. The game's on. Welcome back to another episode of your favorite football podcast by the girls for everyone. The game. We're going in to wild card weekend and we know hot girls love a wild card. So let's get into chatting about the week, our ins and outs list, and our favorite follows on socials. If you're not following us on socials, follow us at The Game, the podcast. You can also chat with us at thegamethepodcast.substack.com in the chat tab for all things wild card weekend. We just finished week 18. You already know that. So let's just recap what is happening in the wild card this coming weekend.

1:11So the Broncos and the Seahawks both clinched the number one seed, giving them a first round buy. Then on Saturday at 1.30 p.m., notice there are no overlapping games this weekend. So you do not have to do a double box screen or use your phone and watch the game at the same time, which honestly, bless up. I was at the Rams game this weekend and the people behind me were like low key making fun of me for having red zone on the quad box and watching the Rams game at the same time. But like, you got to do what you got to do. So no double boxes this weekend. Wild card round Saturday, January 10th at 1.30 PM Pacific.

1:51So 4.30 PM Eastern Rams at Panthers. Those tickets are only like 200 bucks. Did I almost buy some? Yes. Did I refrain? Also yes, but anything could happen. Then we have wild card round Saturday in the late hour, 5 p.m. PST, 8 p.m. Eastern, Packers at Bears. Then we have Bills, Jags, Sunday, January 11th at 10 a.m. PST, 1 p.m. Eastern, 1.30 or 4 p.m. Eastern, 49ers, Eagles, then Chargers, Patriots at 5 p.m. on Sunday or 8 p.m. Eastern, and Monday, Texans, Steelers. So that's what we're going into looking at. Maybe we'll talk about, well, you want to just start with like our favorite matchup that we're most excited to watch this weekend?

2:38Probably. Oh, it's so hard because I feel like there's a lot of things that could go really well and like really wrong at the same time. Yeah. Jaguars and Bills is really interesting to me because I have this like fascination with Josh Allen winning the Super Bowl this year. Do I think he's going to get there? I don't know because there's a lot of teams that I think he has to go through that are going to pose a problem for the Bills, but I have like, I just want him to make it so bad. So I will be tuning into that game. Another game that kind of stands out to me is between the 49ers Eagles game and the Texans Steelers game.

3:18And only the Texans Steelers game is interesting to me, obviously like coming off the loss, recording this on Monday, it'll come out on Tuesday, but coming off the loss, the win on Sunday for the Steelers, which kind of came down to Baltimore fumble. It's going to be interesting for me to see how those Steelers go up against this phenomenal Texans defense. I think that game is going to be super low scoring, and I think it's going to be a defensive play for both teams. So that's what makes that game interesting to me. If the 49ers can go in and handle former Super Bowl champions with literally an injured team, I saw something on social today about like how every single one of their like linebackers or something for the 49ers team is just injured, gone.

4:02So the 49ers can go in and handle business against the Eagles. I will be very impressed. Not the best game for the 49ers in their last game of the season, but I don't know. We'll see. So those are my games of the week. I don't know. Well, I think that's interesting because the whole season we've been talking about the Eagles sucking. But now that they're in the playoffs, we're like, oh, they're the Super Bowl champions. so I feel like the script is like flipping in general right like not just you just like overall it's like we've gone from like the Eagles are trash to like the Eagles could take it all and I'm like wait a second hold on everyone I saw something and it's like when Jalen Hurts have has thrown for under 200 yards he's been winning games which is so interesting to me so I don't know I mean they're like that fact is you can't negate it have they been playing the best football no but unfortunately a win is a win and I've gotten to this point there's a lot of other teams that should have been in the playoffs that didn't get there so yeah yeah I agree I think I think the Texans Steelers if the Steelers win I'm gonna be upset just because I feel like the Texans are much better than the Steelers I mean they're both in the same wild card matchup, but I just think that the Texans are going to take it away.

5:23But I think that the Steelers, with how much age and experience they have, are going to put up a really good fight. And I feel like coming off of this game, they know that they can play super hot. I think last night was the hottest game for both them and the Ravens all season. So I think if the Steelers play like they did last night, then I definitely agree with you that it's probably going to be low scoring in like a absolute dog fight. Well, and DK Metcalf comes back for that game off of his two-game suspension. And I think he is going to be on a terror because he is. Yeah. I mean, for his sake, thank God they won because if he had been out, that would have been awful.

6:09I would have been so upset if I can't play and help my team and they lose. yeah yeah and then that game is hard to watch yeah it is hard to watch chargers patriots use what did you mention you didn't mention them i did not because i i could that game's gonna go either way to me i like the patriots have been like so dominant this season and i'm kind of tired of talking about them because i have a different opinion on how the page like yes they're a good team but i don't know i think this is the the postseason is going to be a real test for the Patriots. So if they rise to the occasion, great. Congratulations.

6:46If they don't, wouldn't be too surprised. Yeah. You wouldn't be upset about it. Yeah. And then I feel like the bills jags, like I want Josh Allen to go, but Trevor Lawrence is so hot everywhere right now. He's all over the media. He's all over social media. He's being a good dad. He's wearing grills. He's more of a teammate than ever. He's one of the best quarterbacks in stats, in yardage, in everything right now towards the end of the season. And I kind of feel like the bills are hanging on and the Jags are getting hot. And that makes me like very nervous. I know. I feel like all of these wildcard matchups, like I want both teams and a lot of them, like I want both teams to win, which kind of sucks.

7:31Like that Bill's Jaguars game, I would be happy either way, but I also would be sad either way. You know what I mean? Like Like seeing Trevor or Josh lose would be really sad, but seeing Josh or Trevor win would also be really happy. So I don't know. That one's going to be hard. That's so true. It's like a lose-lose for us as fans. It sounds like we need to drink during that game. Yeah, facts. Just like two glasses of wine, you know, like something a little cheeky where we can just like, like we'll brush off whatever happens because we'll be a little on the looser side. I actually think that the we'll talk about one more game then we'll move on but I think that the Panthers Rams game is going to be way better than we anticipated now I know Matt Stafford is the MVP and Puka Nuku has more one-handed catches than anybody else ever in existence and and and and and okay I'm not saying anything I have nothing negative to say about the Rams however I did watch the Rams yesterday versus the bottom of the barrel Cardinals and the Cardinals really held the Rams.

8:40Like the Rams were completing passes, but the Cardinals were hitting them like right at the end of the pass. So like the Rams were making completions and making runs, but the Cardinals were right there. And I did not think that yesterday was as dominant of a performance for the first three quarters as they'll need to go up against a scrappier team. And I say scrappier because anytime a team claws their way out of the depths of doom, they're a little scrappier. And the Panthers beat the Rams earlier this season. So it's not like they're going in saying, oh my gosh, we've never beat the Rams and the Rams are so good and we don't deserve to be here because they already beat the Rams.

9:26Granted, it was earlier in the season and it was a three-point win, but it was still a win. And I think that mindset is crazy. So I think that game is going to be better than people are thinking it's going to be because I think a lot of people are just shoving the Rams forward when I don't think that they should based on IRL experience yesterday. And also, I love the Panthers. Yeah. You think the Rams got it?

10:00so I hear your like I don't I do think that this game is going to be better than like a lot of people are anticipating it to be because the Panthers have already beat the Rams and I think they're going to be looking at that mindset and mind you the Falcons just beat the Rams too so is it possible for the Panthers to I guess it would be considered upset 100 % it's just hard for me to overlook the fact that the Panthers have a losing record and they're in the playoffs over a lot of other teams. And you know how I feel about the Panthers. So. Yeah. Okay. Speaking of losing to teams that aren't as good as you, the Patriots week one loss is the reason why the Broncos got the one seed because they have a tie record and it went to wins against like opponents is like the number line that they use to determine who was the one seed week one loss takes you out of the buy oh you know who it was against you know who they lost yeah yeah absolutely crazy yeah i'd like i can't that's that's why i'm like oh the patriot but That's the same thing that happened in the NFC South with the Panthers, the Bucks, and the Falcons.

11:19Who all have the same record. Yeah. Which is also insane that they all have the same record. And you know who also all has the same record? The NFC North spot 2, 3, and 4. They're all like 12 and 5 or something. They all, yeah, they're 9 and 8, I believe. Let me fact check really quick, but they're all, it all looks the same. It's insane. Okay. So Packers, oh, I guess not totally the same. Packers are nine, seven, and one Vikings are nine, eight, and oh, and lions are nine, eight, and oh. So technically Packers are better, but I don't recognize ties. If you tie, you lose to me. So that's why I had it in my head, but they are 9-7-1.

12:08Does that mean the Panthers lost then? Yeah, a tie is always an L. That's funny. No matter what, in my eyes, because a tie is an Ick. Okay, speaking though of our boys at the Raiders, you want to go through head coach firings? Yeah, this one was sad to me. And the Raiders are at the top of the pack in the category of most head coaching changes over recently, like they have moved on from head coach in a year. And I wouldn't say it was surprising that they fired Pete Carroll because, you know, Pete Carroll's up there. I think he's like 70 something. So, but it just sucks because it was a year. He like barely just got there and they bring in Geno Smith.

12:56And I don't know if that was the right decision, obviously in hindsight, I don't think they thought that was our decision either, but him getting fired after a year is crazy. Other head coach openings. And I want to welcome everybody to Black Monday. If you don't know what Black Monday is, it is the Monday after the end of the regular season where typically NFL teams clear house. And we've seen a lot of NFL teams clear house, whether it's at the GM position or the head coach position. So as of right now, the current NFL landscape, there are a couple head coaching openings. Obviously we saw the Giants and the Titans that came earlier in the season.

13:33Additions between last night and today have included the Falcons, the Cardinals, the Browns, and the Raiders. Poor Pete. I knew Kevin Stefanski probably was out there. Kevin Stefanski was the head coach of the Browns after... Yeah, I kind of knew he was out there. I feel like once we had the five quarterback room everyone was like well you gotta go yeah then all the shader mess like he he had to go the falcons was interesting to me because i feel like they have a recipe for success over there and like i saw kind of a meme and it's like this is what it is like to be in the nfc south when you're eight nine one team is eight nine they're firing their head coach and the other team is eight nine eight nine going into the playoffs referring to the falcons and the panthers but kind of speaks to like the the record because if you're eight and nine obviously you don't have a winning season and you got to look at changes and so that's what the Falcons did but I don't know I like Raheem Morris and it's obviously tough for me to see black head coaches getting fired because I feel like you know there's not enough representation in the league when it comes to that and so that was a sucky thing but I don't know well I think he'll win on his feet somewhere is there any teams that surprised you when it comes to firing their head coach or teams that you think to?

14:55Oh, great question. I think the Falcons was a surprise. It just feels like uncalled for. If you have a winning record, you shouldn't be getting fired. Well, it had a losing record because they were eight and nine. Yeah. Okay. I'm a little dyslexic. But close. They were close. One more. One more. But they got the one when it mattered. So. Yeah, facts. To me. but yeah so i i just i think that that's too close to be firing so it just feels unnecessary and like you have something good that's like you're kind of rolling at this point you know like now you can make little upgrades and i think pulling the rug at any point forces your whole organization to change in some capacity and i don't think that's always the right decision like a lot of it is, but I don't think that this is the time for that.

15:47And to mention, they also fired their GM for the Falcons. So they did a true, true clean house. Well, they also probably though, saw the Saints who cleaned house and had a whole new regime this year and got six wins. So they could have been like, okay, well, if we have the Panthers and the Bucks who have made us irrelevant in the storyline, essentially, by kind of being the dominators of the NFC South. And then we have a Saints team who is fireball rolling down the hill at this point. They're probably like, if we don't get it together now, we're going to be the losers. So maybe they just wanted to have a dog in the fight.

16:25Other Cardinals make sense to me. NFC North, I don't think there's any firings. I mean, I don't know. I'm sure there's some conversations about what's going on at the commanders. I mean, the commanders beat the Eagles last night, but it wouldn't, I don't think head, I don't think they're going to take out Dan Quinn though. Also, that would make me so sad. Um, we talked a lot about, about Mike McDaniel earlier in the season and I don't really see him going. Um, I don't, I don't think they're going to fire him. I don't know. They already got rid of the GM. And so I think that was enough of a shakeup for them, for the dolphins.

16:59And I think they have bigger fish to fry than Mike at the moment. So yeah, Yeah. And then the Titans. I think the Titans. Oh, Titans request multiple interviews in search for head coach. When did they? They fired their head coach in the middle of the season. So the two in season head coach firings were the Giants and the Titans. So it was kind of like old news, but now that everyone's getting fired now, it's like resurfacing. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think the Titans obviously need it. I need to do some more research on the Titans. I just never think about them. I'm sorry, guys. I'm sure you're so nice.

17:38Down there in good old Tennessee. Good old Tennessee. Okay. You have a note in here that says that you have an update on when the guys took all of their stuff out of the locker room? Yes. So we talked about this. This happened pretty early on in the season. I forgot what week. I feel like it was three or four. Yeah, it was super early on in the season. And it basically was the Ravens cleared out their entire locker room of all their little fun toys, basketball hoops, and video games, and this and this. And I think we, Victoria and I were debating, who did this come from? What decision was this made?

18:18Was it a player's decision? Was it a coaching decision? It came down, I think be like uncover that it was a player's decision, but Marlon Humphrey, who was, I believe a defensive player on the Ravens on a podcast talking about the person that made this decision. And he was kind of alluding to it. He was like, he's the best player on our team. And eventually he just said it outright. He was like, it's, it was Lamar. It was Lamar Jackson. So now we know the truth. I don't know if he should have on a podcast, kind of interesting. But Lamar was the reason why, you know, he wanted everything in the locker room, all the fun toys to be taken away.

18:52Do I disagree with the reason? No, because clearly Lamar Jackson is really in there trying to get the Ravens to the Super Bowl. And time and time again, it comes down to other players on the team that can't finish the job and do it correctly. So, oh, that Ravens loss was so sad for them. but that was the update. It was Lamar Jackson, guys. That's actually insane. And I love it. And I feel like if it was anybody except Lamar Jackson or Derrick Henry, I would have been like, pick me move. Like, that's so annoying. Yeah. Facts. But the fact, if it was Lamar or Derrick Henry, who are two of my current favorite players, I feel like that's okay.

19:34Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That loss, that game, I was crashing out. If you guys don't follow me on TikTok, I literally posted of the most embarrassing TikToks of me like legitimately crashing out during that game. Like when they scored at 220, I was like, there's not enough time. There's too much time. There's two. You can't give Aaron Rodgers two minutes, 20 seconds. Like that was an insane, insane pass on the play call. You really needed to like run it, run it, run it, run it, run it until you literally couldn't anymore. We needed short runs and first downs on third downs. And we did a long lob, which is like, you know, we can blame like fumbles and turnovers, but I think that that's really the play that changed everything because then you fired up the Steelers.

20:18You fired up one of the greatest of all time. You can't fire up one of the greatest of all time. Just like you can't fire up Baker Mayfield, which if you watched that game, Baker Mayfield, oh my gosh, I forget who it was, but one of the Panthers players was getting in Baker's face and they were going at it. And in their previous matchup, those two had also gone at it. And starting quarterbacks, I'm like glitching, starting quarterbacks, you cannot fire them up too much because they will beat you. Starting quarterbacks with experience will beat you if you piss them off. Yeah. And so you can't piss off Aaron Rodgers or give him, you can't give them the chance to play hero ball because if you do, they'll take it.

21:02And so then we saw the banger from the Steelers that got the touchdown and the Ravens did everything that they had to do to come back from what I would consider a missed play call at 220. They did everything they could to come back. And unfortunately, cutie boy, Tyler Loop misses. I think that was the third missed field goal in the game. So like what was in their Gatorade? I don't know. Yeah, Chris Boswell was not for the Steelers. he missed a lot of field goals, which is always so interesting to me. Like, obviously it was a game-winning field goal for Tyler Lu. But, like, Chris Baudwell, who's, like, one of the most accurate kickers in the league, missed maybe two.

21:43I think he actually missed two in that game. Yeah, so Thor Toto missed field goals in that game. So it's, like, kind of crazy to think about. He missed one or two. But it's crazy to think about, like, Chris Baudwell did that. But, like, everyone's going to talk about Tyler Lu, which hella cookie crumbles. But I think the call was right because I feel like you can't pass up an opportunity like that. And I think the Ravens had so much faith in their defense. But a key loss for the Ravens was Kyle Hamilton going out, ran into his own teammate. The teammate was fine. But Kyle Hamilton goes out and concussion, which obviously postseason implications, he was going to be in concussion protocol, was going to be without the Ravens anyways for their first wildcard game.

22:26So I don't know how that would have fared for them, but Kyle Hamilton is quite literally the backbone of that defense. And so playing without him, it's not, I was listening to the broadcasters literally as soon as he went out the game, Aaron Rodgers was just targeting the middle of the field because that's always kind of where he sits in the zone. And now that he was gone, the absence was felt tremendously on the Ravens defense and Aaron Rodgers kind of capitalized on that. But given that, don't you think that it was the wrong play call if they found a slot to get through the defense that they were struggling a little bit more with earlier in the game?

23:00I don't know. Yes. On paper, yes. But it's also like if he was wide open, kind of how he was, I don't think you can pass up on an opportunity like that. How can you pass to anybody else in that moment? Yeah or like run the like I just and like you don't know what's gonna come next after that play Like if y 'all converted or like let's say you're driving down the field What's it so that you would have turned into a touchdown? So I don't know. It's it's it's hard for me Because like yes, they should have ran I literally thought about that when I was watching it like oh my god There's so much time left, but you can't pass it like I don't I don't think you can pass up an opportunity like that Yeah, I mean I just because like I think that in in the situation it was the right decision for Lamar, but I still think it wasn't the right play call.

23:46Like, I think they could have used that play call later. Like they could have run one to two more plays, hit the two minute warning and then rocked it that way. But I don't know. Hindsight's 2020 and they did get the job done. They got the freaking touchdown and it was sexy. Yeah, Lamar did his Dougie in that game for sure. Yeah. That one play where he was like slinging defenders off of them and then somehow is throwing the like insane. Insane. Yeah. Yeah. Insane. Okay. There's a couple more things I want to talk about for ins and out. Super quick. Miles Garrett, he's everywhere. So if you guys haven't seen it, I literally don't know what rock you're living under or you're just not on NFL social media, which maybe you're not because we have a lot of girls.

24:28So if you're not, Miles Garrett broke the all-time sack record with 23 sacks immediately after runs to his mom in the stands then his dad is on the sideline taking photos so his dad is taking photos for the NFL not with his iPhone like real camera NFL thing on just like Simone Biles last week and he also got into a relationship with Chloe Kim what a year what I think is my favorite player of the year yeah I I think he's going to win defensive player of the year. He has to, right? He has to. This is kind of on my outs list. So we'll, we'll run back through this. Cause I have a little drama. Miles Garrett's on your out list.

25:12No, no, no, not Miles Garrett, but it's involving the situation. Okay. You guys know that I hate the Cardinals. Okay. So I can't be a Rams fan at all. So you guys know that I'll go to some games and I'll wear the home team Jersey. Like when I'm in Buffalo, I wear a Buffalo Jersey. when I'm in Detroit. I wear a Detroit jersey. I'm a Lions fan. I'm mostly in Lions gear like I am today. But I can't wear a Rams jersey because the Stafford golf trade and rivalry every year, not for me, not wearing a Rams jersey. I can respect you, but I'm not wearing your jersey. Cardinals, you guys know I hate the Cardinals.

25:44And I hate the Cardinals, one, because their rivalry jerseys are so ugly. And number two, because I hate their head coach. I did find out today, though, that the head coach who was just fired, and I'm not going to say his name because I don't want to say his name on this show, was fined for$100 ,000 for hitting his player. And then he got fired. And I can't think of a more deserving firing of the season and worse karma. You cannot hit people. So I'm going to get off my horse on that one. But I just did want to note that there was a$100 ,000 fine. I think we should have talked about it more, which is why I talk about it on this show all of the time.

26:19Like violence is just not okay. So moving on one note, I had this idea of like, what if, so there's, there's so many random officiating calls, like illegal formation, annoying, ick. Why is it like you can be on the field in any way, but not that way. You're two inches off, bro. Like, no, can't do that. You can have 19 guys in the backfield, but like, if you're six inches to the right, like penalty, ridiculous tripping penalty. I don't effing care. If you can trip someone and they fall, it's tackle football. It's insane. So anyway, I was thinking, what if every season they just picked out of a hat the penalties that you can call and exactly how many yards those would be every single time?

27:03And so you pick like five out of a hat. So it's like horse collar, like helmet, anything safety always gets called, right? Like helmet to helmet gets called, safety gets called. But all the other BS ones, pass interference, illegal formation, false start. What if we just picked five and only used five so there would be some consistency so that we wouldn't see so many bad ref calls. It's funny because I always feel like the bad ref calls come from, was it a catch? Was it not a catch? Did he have two feet in? Did he step out of bounds? Was it PI? Those are the calls that I feel like that get muddied so much when it comes to officiating.

27:41Legal formations are tough, but I mean, I feel like some of those rules are, it's really funny. The one that gets me is like offsides, like lining up in the neutral zone or like there was like one illegal formation where the defensive lineman's helmet has to break the line of the person in the center. And it's just, it's so crazy, but yeah, I don't know. There, it'd be interesting. It'd be an interesting like thing to only, I just don't know if there's a way to like make it consistent, you know? Because I just feel like the NFL loves rules, you know? And I feel like people love rules and it's like, shut up.

28:22Who cares where your helmet is? Are you in position? Also, I saw one guy. Oh my God, I wish I would have videoed this. But there was one guy who was literally on his hands and knees, like looking like he's about to do some cat cow stretches before he like got into position. He was literally just like sitting there with like his head kind of down. I thought it was so funny before, like obviously pre getting ready, pre snap. But I thought it was so funny. We want to thank our sponsors at Kuso Cuts. Thank you for supporting us here at the game. If you need bold flavors, if you need something to grill with, if you need something to put in your air fryer, head to kusocuts.com slash the game and get yourself some new seasoning.

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29:34No additives, no crazy ingredients, just healthy, happy, bold, delicious seasonings. And it supports the game every time that you use our code when you shop. So thank you so much for supporting us. Thanks to Kusos. And let's get back to the show. Okay. Should we do some ins and outs? Let's do it. Okay. In halftime corgi races. I saw that on your story and I was dying. I loved it. They did like three heats. The corgis were going crazy. Some of the people who were hired to like take care of the corgis or their owners like couldn't catch the corgis. So the corgis are running around and the people are running around trying to catch the corgis.