2025 Mega Divisional Round Preview with Seth Payne and Ollie Connolly

18:53Ollie Connolly:Everyone is still pigeonholed in, this is our system and setup. We've got different presentations, different ways of doing it. They are the only ones who can kind of hold cloth, say we are spread 11 personnel, staff it to the point guard, we'll pick you apart. Or we can get to 13 personnel and get our explosive from that package too. There's no one who can really get to the sideline and say, this just isn't working entirely. Let's completely change the offense on the floor. Yeah, you mentioned the bespoke game plan by the Bears last week. Like, what did you see out of them? And they did look different.

19:23And it is one of the reasons why a recurring theme on this podcast this week is like, are we really sure Jeff Hathaway is like a great defensive coordinator? Because you know who the defensive coordinator who impressed me last week? It was Dennis freaking Allen. The Dennis Sons. Although I'm not saying he should be a head coach. I guess no one's doubting that he's a very effective. I don't think anybody's there. No, he's a very effective defensive coordinator. but I thought he did a good job. Like, how do you think he should approach it? Cause look, they, they still don't have a pass rush. Obviously they've blitzed like crazy.

19:52They're going to be without TJ Edwards, their linebacker, who's an important player for them in this game. Like how would you want to attack them if you were Dennis Allen? Yeah. I think it's a wild play to be.

20:05Ollie Connolly:Yeah. How do you attack a team that can get big and run the ball down your throat when you don't have a great run defense? How do you defend a team who can get spread when you can't really cover all pressure? it's like a pretty difficult riddle for him to answer against the Packers he'd been going so wild with all the blitz stuff and he just backed off completely against the Packers they played more shell covers he played a bunch of cover three in that game and when they did blitz it was really like design and stuff built to attack specifically what a fault in the Packers group I think that showed up a bunch of the second half they just couldn't figure anything out I think having that kind of desire of blitz plan against McVay and the Rams is just difficult they're not as segmented an offense as the Packers are, we can get a pretty good feel based on formation and personnel, what might be coming your way.

20:45Ollie Connolly:So it's just tricky to be built in that similar kind of way. I imagine if I was him, I would just say it's kind of balls to the wall. Let's just go for it. And let's just sell all out. And that's the best we can do. And Patrick made a great point earlier about when you blitz that way, it's not just about affecting the pocket and getting as much quick pressure as you can. It's trying to wash out as many eligible receivers as possible. Force them to keep more and more guys in, force the decisions to quicken up. That becomes tricky against the Rams because the two decisions could just be Devontae and Puka.

21:13Ollie Connolly:And if you're one-on-one against those guys, it's pretty tricky. But if Allen does blitz at that rate, he turns it from a pass rush game where he just doesn't have the horses into more of a coverage game where there may be a bit more variability. He's better on the back end than he is up front. So I imagine he's going to kind of release the hounds in this one.

21:28Patrick Claybon:Yeah, that's the spot where Dennis Allen would like to play. That's the spot where the Bears fans would like to play is putting these corners who who have led the league in interceptions, despite having one of the lowest pressure rates in, in the next gen stats era, like the way that they've been able to turn the ball over with no pass rush whatsoever is incredible. And so if you're doing that versus seeing Higby and the tight ends, it can get involved with Kyron Williams and Blake Corum in the run game. If that is, yes, it's Devante Adams, Puka Nakua, but considering the option, it may be the best option for the bear.

22:02No, Kevin Dotson last week, uh, Really good guard for the Rams. An all pro consideration. Got some votes. I don't think he got it, did he? In the end. No, he got some votes. He got some votes. Didn't get it. But Sean McVay expressed optimism that he would be returning this week. So that helps out the running game. It's supposed to be extremely cold. Like under 20 degrees. Wind chill. Maybe, you know, around zero or anything. You know, enough where like that's going to affect the game. I was thinking last week how what an advantage it is to have Caleb Williams. It's funny to think about him coming out and people were worried about like, oh, him going to a cold weather city.

22:45It's like, how about how about that arm travels in the cold? And like you didn't really see that the weather impact. There was some wind that took a throw or two. But him and Love were just firing it through the cold air. And you would think Matthew Stafford, that would be the case for him. For whatever reason, it's a small ish sample size. Stafford's cold weather numbers aren't like amazing. I am curious if you have any thoughts on that, Jordan, having watched them a lot, obviously most of those were played when he was playing on the road as a member of the Detroit lions, which, you know, his play probably wasn't the biggest issue.

23:19Do you have any thoughts on that? And then the running game kind of getting stuck last week, you know, it's like in a really surprising way. Cause to me that, that feels like the easiest path towards like kind of dominating this game. I feel like either the Bears are going to win a crazy game or the Rams could just put it on.

23:36Gregg Rosenthal:Well, and I think either way, right? Because if the Swift and Monungay combination is effective against this Rams front that they rebuilt specifically to not lose games the way they did to Saquon Barkley multiple times last season, then that's a huge swing point to me. But also on the other side, Blake Corum and Kyron Williams. Kyron Williams is coming back from being a little banged up, as is Blake Corum. And not having Kevin Dotson in at that right guard spot, Justin Dietrich, who I think I've said before, all respect to Justin Dietrich, but we are the same height. And I hope he is... Doesn't sound that respectful to me.

24:10Gregg Rosenthal:I hope he weighs more than me, but I'm not sure. And so this is one of those things where you need to get your big guys back all up along this offensive interior. that they specifically rebuilt to run in the cold. I mean, that can't be literally true, is it? Now I'm checking. I've got a... Oh, my God, they're fact-checking me. I'm going on mock draftable. I mean, I've talked to him in the locker room, guys. I'm about 5 '9", you know.

24:36Patrick Claybon:They're doing him a favor on the roster, if that's the case.

24:40Gregg Rosenthal:I don't want to out you, Justin. But I will say that that's the biggest key to me, is getting that run game back up and going, because you can take the Matthew Stafford cold weather, which I think is a thing. They're talking about it a lot in Chicago media this week. But also, I also watched Matthew Stafford almost take the life out of all of these Eagles fans in the snow two plays away from winning that game in a sideways snowstorm last season. So I think it's like multiple things can be true. He has fumbled a lot and lost the ball and been intercepted a couple times in outdoor windy or weird weather games.

25:18Hand size coming up big in cold weather. And Drake May, smaller hands, did have the fumbles the other night. Do you have any thoughts on Justin Dietrich before we move on to this game, Ollie?

25:30Ollie Connolly:I did not have that many thoughts on Justin Dietrich. I would say cold weather with a bad back, if the back's good, that's not great. Don't love that. My grandma would say cold weather, bad back, not great. The special team stuff in cold weather gets rough. That's where special team stuff usually shows up. Maybe it evens the playing field for the Rams, but they just have so many breakdowns all the time it's not abating it's an institutional failure at this point McVay doesn't care about it he's trying to show he cares about it by firing someone in season for the first time it's not fixed all the issues fix some of them and so that I think is a big point if they have special teams breakdowns the bad weather that's where you get this fluky turnover game where I think the Bears can hang in it are you are you taking the Rams here we're not picking all these games but why not I'm gonna make you pick this one Ollie it's a tough one where everything in my like sensibility is saying the rams just make so much sense on paper when i shut my eyes and pitch like the nfl films america's team what does the documentary look like i just have an image of like shirtless ben johnson caleb williams on the podium a rah-rah speech like that's what keeps coming to me when i shut my eyes at night like a sad man um so something in me just says it's like team of destiny stuff with the bears so despite all intuition and facts, I will oddly pick the Bears.

26:42Gregg Rosenthal:You know, Ali, I don't think you're alone. I think that image comes to a lot of people's minds when they shut their eyes at night. Wow. A lot of Bears fans, certainly.

26:50Patrick Claybon:There's a lot of darkness to be drawn from, obviously, from shutting your eyes, but the world in general. If you shut your eyes and you see a positive image of a happy coach and a player and a fan base, that's... You're winning. There's good stuff.

27:02Gregg Rosenthal:I gotta pick the Rams because I have all year, but let me mark my words. This is a chaos game and waiting. I've seen too many of these things with that quarterback and that coach. This is a chaos game waiting to happen.

27:14Patrick Claybon:This is also, for everybody listening, what Jordan says before the Rams score 21 unanswered points. Yeah. But also

27:19Gregg Rosenthal:what I said before they lose to the Panthers. You just say it in general. Yeah, I see maybe them going away. That the Rams are ready to play their best football and the Bears, I mean, they had to catch a lot of breaks to beat a faulty team, but you're right. And it is the the capper of the entire weekend. This is the Sunday evening game. The timing a little different, a six 30 East coast type of game. And speaking of, you know, great news and winning Justin. Indeed it's on Instagram. The account is a Justin underscore big daddy, big daddy. Love that big daddy. Okay. Let's take a break. You can get Patrick's pick on game day view.

28:00Oh, how about that? You're not allowed to make the pick here. Let's take a break. Like Herb Street. Well, you know, I'm calling the game. because of my moral quandaries. No, we'll be making all the picks on Game Debut. Check it out. NFL Network, Friday evening. We never plug Game Debut. Let's talk 49ers and Seahawks after the game.

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31:07Gregg Rosenthal:Hey, it's Carissa Thompson. Everything these days is fighting for your attention, work, family, social media, and it makes it tough to figure out what should really come first. But here's something that absolutely deserves to be at the top of your list, your breast health. Breast cancer is the second most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States. And the rates are still rising. More women under 50 are being diagnosed too. But here's a stat that really hits home. One in two women who qualify for annual breast screenings aren't getting them. That's half.

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32:20Dude, you still are doing it.

32:22Patrick Claybon:Well, I'm back. I've returned after a one game absence. The San Francisco 49ers are going back to Seattle where they started this improbable injury plague 2025 season where the Seahawks are a seven point favorite after that demonstrative win to close out the 2025 season. The over-unders 45 and a half. Kevin Burkhart and the ever improving Tom Brady are on the call. Greg Rosenthal. There were skeptics. Yeah. Tom's looking good. He diagrammed the dynamics of ball flight during the game expertly. It was great. But speaking of the game, how do you think this? I'm struggling. I have the least amount to say.

33:01I'm going to be honest on this one. And maybe it's because they just played. That's probably it. Maybe it's because the Seahawks have scored 13 points in each of these. It feels one-sided. It is the most one-sided, at least in terms of the point spread by a decent amount in this weekend where it's seven. And it just feels like, oh, man, they lost Kittle. They lost another big piece. And I feel like I should throw some of that Week 18 out. They were on back-to-back short weeks there. I know they're on a short week here again, but this is the playoffs. The thing I want to see out of the 49ers that I think they will learn from that first meeting, Ali, was you can't play with a constrictor on Brock Purdy.

33:49And I'm not saying Kyle put it on him, but the Seahawks put it on him, and his decision-making put it on him. He didn't take a shot down the field in that game. Literally didn't take one over 20 yards. That's not the Brock Purdy I love. And it's not like it was effective. On throws under 10 yards, he was 15 for 20. Okay, that's okay. For 65 yards in an interception. So not only were they not trying to throw it deep, but it was incredibly ineffective and they were completely dominated. I know it was 13 to three, but the score could have been a lot worse. I thought the Seahawks offense played better than that final score.

34:28Said it's by some measures, the worst performance of a Kyle Shanahan offense since he got there. And I don't think that will happen again, but I do think it's fair to say that they are a little overmatched personnel wise this week. Ricky Pearsall status, I think is important because they need as many weapons as they can get. And so we'll find out if he's going to be available. What do you think that they can do to kind of get out of what was a game-long rut against Seattle in Week 18?

34:58Ollie Connolly:Yeah, it's tricky. I think the coverage was outstanding from Seattle in that game in terms of the down-the-field stuff. It was also the highest blitz rate Mike McDonald has ever put on his career on second down. So it just felt like they had an unbelievable beat on what was coming from Shanahan, and they were able to kind of limit what Christian McCaffrey could do in the passing game in terms of his impact on the overall picture, how he could twist and contort the shell to allow them to cap everything over top. So if you've got to read on someone and you've just got better personnel than everyone, it becomes pretty tough to try and find a solution.

35:28Ollie Connolly:If anyone could do it, it's Kyle Shannon. I just think it's such a disadvantage. The only major advantage the Niners have, sorry, in any game is Kyle Shannon and can out-scheme anyone. Probably not this guy. I think Mike McDonald can get him too. So I find it difficult to pick a path for the Niners in this one. Well, you just stepped into the sound we have planned without even knowing it. Let's actually listen to Kyle Shannon talk about the idea of these teams knowing each other so well. You definitely can't overthink it, but it's also at the same time kind of hard to overthink. Not anything has gone down since the last game.

36:04They've got to watch 70 or so plays of whatever we did versus Philly, but we get in late, whatever, and there's one game for us to watch, and that's the one that we all watched last week. So you only can watch that so much. We know each other very well. We played against each other a ton. The schemes even last time we played didn't change much on both sides as opposed to week one. So I think both teams got an idea of exactly what to expect.

36:31Gregg Rosenthal:I love it even more because it was a split too. Some of these iconic like Shanahan and McVay matchups, for example, they would always be you can't beat a team three times when you finally see each other in the postseason. and that was the Rams calling card during that Super Bowl run. You know, this is, we are lucky, first of all, that we can see this clash of Titans, as Greg would say, in the postseason in this way. I think one of the big swing points here is that Trent Williams will be playing in this game. And no, they don't have George Kittle, and so some of their blocking surface is going to be affected by that.

37:07Gregg Rosenthal:But Trent Williams being a factor in at least trying to get this run game going in settling, in helping in pass pro, where Patrick noted before we started taping, Seattle is a little bit banged up there on the edges. This could be a huge swing point in terms of having Trent Williams to the best of his ability on the field in a must-win game.

37:29Patrick Claybon:The on-off stats historically with Trent are incredible. I know it's fallen off in recent years as his health has kind of been the question there, but his performance and albeit against that side of the Eagles rush where, yeah, they got a couple of pressures, but there's also several plays where the player that's lined across from Trent Williams might as well not even be involved in the game. And I think that his absence literally, like I think mentally impacts Brock to the extent where being concerned about him not being over there is a part of the process as well. But you add in that DeMarcus Lawrence situation and there's, there's reason to believe, right?

38:11Patrick Claybon:There's reason to believe that the circumstances that led to that very low output, obviously Christian passing a ball back to the defender in the red zone was a big part of the score being the way it did, and I recognize that the Seahawks offense could have played better, as you pointed out, Greg, but they ultimately didn't. They beat them in week one, and I think there's reason to believe where if you're the Seattle Seahawks you want to avoid being Lon Hammond, right? The James Marsden character from The Notebook. That is a pretty good guy, right? Great opportunity. I mean, you got a lot of blank stares for that one.

38:46Patrick Claybon:The parallels are here. Yeah. Stay with him. Those two were meant to be together. Oh. And a potential NFC championship game with Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan. Oh. They might be meant to be together. And so that's what the Seahawks have to do. They have to be better than Lon Hammond was in the famous Nicholas Sparks movie. where, spoiler alert, they both died. Oh, shoot. I didn't know that. I thought it was a romance. I mean, it takes a while to get there, but, you know. I mean, and as Kyle Shanahan famously said, none of us know if we're going to be here next Sunday. If we're in a Nicholas Sparks book, you're probably not going to make it.

39:29We literally could be here next Sunday, because if that matchup happened, it'd be the five-seed Rams hosting the NFC Championship, Kind of like the Texans have a chance. We'll talk about them in a minute to host the AFC championship. If it's it bills, that's getting way ahead of it. I look at this Seattle team and I think like they are so perfectly built for this moment. I think the idea when you hired Mike McDonald was essentially to be the Shanahan McVay stopper. He got that job, you know, in part because of having some proof of concept of that. when he was in Baltimore. Brock Purdy has not played his best games against the Seattle group, including in week one, where the biggest play of the game was a ball that he probably shouldn't have thrown.

40:13And I kind of forget exactly who it was, but someone like wrestled the ball away from Seattle who should have had the interception. And that was the game-winning touchdown in a 17 to 13 game. Jake Tungus. It's been the Jake Tungus season.

40:26Gregg Rosenthal:Who has not been bad in spelling George Kittle for multiple games this season. No. and like I think he is built to do it on that side. It's really the other side that like to me is more of an open box of like what is going to happen. What do you think is going to happen when Seattle has the ball? Ali, the 49ers in that last game again, not to just go on it, but again, Seattle hasn't played since that. They couldn't tackle anyone in that game and another injury to keep an eye on is Jair Brown. Their safety got hurt against the Eagles and so I think they're going to have a replacement there too.

41:00If you go back to that week one game, by the way, it'd be about 11 or 12 different starters for the 49ers than they had back in week one. So just a completely different team.

41:10Ollie Connolly:Yeah, I mean, they can't tackle anyone, period, anyway, unless it's the Eagles and everyone knows what they're doing before the snap. So that's the problem no matter what. I can't get over it. They have a 22 % pressure rate with a four-man rush. That is historically terrible for a playoff team. that fell to 11 % against the Eagles. Again, not a real NFL franchise with the offense they're running. So it's just hard to get through a game with that kind of production. And you're only really betting on Sam Donald speeding himself up and gagging the game away. That's kind of the bet you make going in.

41:43Ollie Connolly:And Robert Sala deserves so much credit for the work he's done this year. They are tough. They are disciplined. They fly around. They hit everyone. But it's not as though he's the warlock style of coach who's going to come with all the crazy different disguises, try and freak you out with coverage and force and interception. That way they line up and play. You can basically bucket their coverages by three. There's three different ones they run. You can get a pretty good sense on what it is before the snap. So to just play that style straight up and not have unrelenting pressure, it's difficult to get through one postseason game, let alone a bunch.

42:11Ollie Connolly:And so it would come down to, I think, Donald just kind of losing his mind, feeling pressure that's not there and throwing the ball away.

42:17Gregg Rosenthal:And Seattle now has an answer if they start to fear that creeping in and they're running the ball. Their run game over through the month of December dramatically improved. It started to come together. It especially the two back system that they want to use, especially was on display in their last matchup against the 49ers, where they did quite adequately hide some of the deficiencies at quarterback, some of the panic that could have set in with some of those pure dropbacks. When Robert Sala does show maybe a cloudier look in the back end, they just were running the ball. Clint Kubiak knows that that That is just the way to work around any sort of unsettling moments that could happen for Sam Darnold.

42:59Gregg Rosenthal:And the run game is finally coming to life in a way that they envisioned it would. Yeah, I kind of want to see how consistent that is because the matchup is great. They're averaging over 170 yards on the ground the last three weeks. And San Francisco, they actually are healthy in the back end, not Jair Brown. But for the most part, that's kind of the secondary that they more or less expected to have coming into the season. And I think it's a solid secondary. The problem is, yes, the pass rush, but also the run defense, too. You're going to have Cleland Farrell out there who, back in the day, that's what he was drafted for.

43:33But it's been a while, and it's Keon White, and it's some overmatched rookies. And if this Seattle offensive line is truly happening, that, to me, is the most obvious path to them winning a Super Bowl. And certainly you would think that they would have the advantage like on the ground in this match.

43:52Patrick Claybon:Yeah. And not only did Charles Cross get that deal, but he was able to not play last week and have the bye as he recovers to get back to attack this defense that really doesn't have a lot of tools to attack you with. But it's it's such a fun matchup. And I am I'm not as concerned about the Darnold propensity here. I don't think that's where things could go wrong. I think, you know, Kyle talked about the inability to overthink, but also that you can overthink. And I think Kyle Shanahan maybe has something in store for the Seattle Seahawks, or maybe they're not. Oh. I'm picking up.

44:34Gregg Rosenthal:Kyle's playing receiver. Just some surprise. Or use check out wide. I do think, you know, when veterans talk about, you know, handling the bye week and all that stuff, if they talk about like how hard you need to go during that bye week and sometimes maybe like a young coach, an organization that hasn't been through it maybe could struggle there. What is your Darnold concern level entering the playoffs in general? And especially in this matchup at probably a five,

45:02Ollie Connolly:I think he's the single biggest pivot player in the entire postseason picture, because if he is just okay and above water, I think that the front runners, if he's good, they are the overwhelming favorites to me the roster is so stacked both sides of the ball they can win a game in any way you want if it's a rock fight defensively they can do it they have the talent to win a shootout if it's just explosive play for explosive play they can go toe-to-toe with anyone I think as Jordan mentioned with the run game they can kind of win a grind out game now just lean into the run game if Donald's not there so even if he's just okay I think they should be the favorites to go and win all if he does have a true meltdown where he's just perceiving pressure that doesn't exist, he starts throwing the ball away.

45:40Ollie Connolly:That would be the concern. I would put that at about a five because I just don't have complete trust in him yet.

45:45Gregg Rosenthal:Yeah, I think that's a good way to put it because his ceiling is so high and in part because he's not afraid to throw it. The resilience from this guy, I think, is exactly what you want if you know that the floor is that low, right? Because you have to keep playing. You have to wipe it the way that he has been so good at just almost like the men in black flash thing. Like he just, it's almost like he doesn't even remember it ever happened. And so I think that that's really important because you might have moments like that. They have more answers to, um, you know, settle him down when he, if, if he does have moments like that, but he also just wipes it.

46:22Gregg Rosenthal:Like he just forgets. And there's a great feature out right now. My colleague, Michael Sean Dugar, who just wrote a Seahawks book as well on the Legion of Boom era, um, about Sam Darnold and sort of the way that he tries to clear those things from his mind. I think that he's maybe one of the best quarterbacks who's going to be in this next round of the postseason at actually doing that. And it's a really, really underrated gift to have. He's had to, though, which is the problem. He's had so much trauma, Patrick. I think Purdy is like that, except he's just better. Yeah. But he's going to have to be a lot better.

46:53Patrick Claybon:On 7.2 % of Sam's pressure dropbacks, there was a turnover. Either an interception or a fumble is the highest rate in the NFL. So there it is. if the 49ers can, and that's the biggest if in the postseason at this juncture, if this team that ought to a historic level cannot get pressure before somebody, I guess, falls down and they get to Sam, maybe the ball comes. It doesn't even feel like it's an if. It's just not going to happen. And I'm leaving open a room for Brock and Kyle kind of as a tandem.

47:27Ollie Connolly:And Tunges. Yes. Don't sleep in Tunges. Tunges is really, really good. He is not George Kittle. And he doesn't give you the same kind of threat in the passing game as Kittle, which then springs the run game because you're worried about him leaking out. But he destroys people in the run game. And that's really important to me. And he is pretty frisky and shifty at the top of the route. And I'm going all in on a big Jake Tonjes game. Okay.

47:48Patrick Claybon:The week one Jake Tonjes game winning touchdown, we all had to Google who he is. It was foreshadowing to get to this point. And you said on Blue Sky, I believe, that Kyle Shanahan deserves to be in the Hall of Fame in general. but the job that he's done specifically this year. And if you think about where the 49ers were kind of coming into the year, the thought was a little bit like, this is almost like a retrenchment year. It's very similar to what happened to the 24 Buffalo Bills and that they ended up being much better than people expected. And that's even before the injuries happened. This was supposed to be sort of a rebuilding-ish year before the injuries happened.

48:26And so in a one game playoff, it's why the NFL is so great. you have an all-time coach you have a quarterback whose ceiling to me is sky high like the very best of Brock Purdy if you can get that for four quarters he could just lose his absolute mind uh together with an all-time hall of fame Christian McCaffrey I'm not even going to call him a running back just a weapon like that that is the the route to making this interesting and then the Seahawks in a close game a situation they haven't been you know in as a group maybe feeling it a little bit more and it's late. There is a little bit of the 49ers have a little bit of the same vibes of the bears of like, nobody expected us and it's all gravy.

49:06Gregg Rosenthal:But don't forget about this one. Very important fact. You actually, you brought it up earlier in this segment, Greg, it is a future hall of fame coach. It is one of the best coaches we've ever seen coach in this league. The way that he's coaching right now, the best of his career facing the best challenger he's ever had. And that's important. I love it. We're going to be doing this live on YouTube. We're going to be recapping the Saturday games. So that's the one coming up that we're going to talk about Buffalo and Denver and then San Francisco and Seattle. That's me and Nick Shook. And by the way, we've heard from the listeners who are like, where is it?

49:41First of all, you can find it on, you know, I'm tweeting it out and I'm putting it out on Blue Sky. And so the links are there. But it's on the NFL feed and you want to watch it later. You just scroll down on the NFL daily page and it's under collaborations.

49:55Gregg Rosenthal:but I know people got kind of promoted on that one. People have been saying that they couldn't find it. Also NFL daily YouTube. Yeah, that's what I mean.

50:02Patrick Claybon:That search will take you. Google and YouTube have a great relationship. It's actually the same thing. So like, there we go. Ollie, unless you have any big last points you want to make, you hammered it home today. Enjoy, enjoy your week on the read optional podcast. Everyone check out his sub stack as well and enjoy the games. Thanks, Ollie. Thank you, guys. That was Ollie Connolly from Manchester. We got great guests. Also, after the break, you will hear us talking to Seth Payne, former Texans great.

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53:23Gregg Rosenthal:Hey, it's Carissa Thompson. Everything these days is fighting for your attention. Work, family, social media, and it makes it tough to figure out what should really come first. But here's something that absolutely deserves to be at the top of your list. Your breast health. Breast cancer is the second most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States. And the rates are still rising. More women under 50 are being diagnosed too. But here's a stat that really hits home. One in two women who qualify for annual breast screenings aren't getting them. That's half.

53:56Gregg Rosenthal:And yet, when breast cancer is caught early, the survival rate is over 99%, nearly 100 % for stage one before it spreads. If you're 40 or older, you should be getting screened every year. And if you're under 40, it is never too early to understand your risk. So come on now. Pay the girls some attention. Head to yourattentionplease.com to learn your breast cancer risk and what screenings you might need. Trust me, your future self will thank you. Brought to you by Novartis. Back on NFL Daily, we hit the NFC. And now it's time for one of my favorite annual moments on the podcast. The moment where the Houston Texans have made themselves nationally relevant enough to welcome in Seth Payne.

54:43Oh, you set me up on that one, Greg. You bastard. It's not even true because we've had you every preseason, too. We love the Texans. We're, when I say we, I mean me, Patrick, and Jordan, all card-carrying members of the Seth Heads. We're just fans of what Seth Payne does there. Obviously, the co-host of Payne and Pendergast down in Houston, but also has a great YouTube channel. And you made it. Although you're not going to Foxborough this weekend. You're staying home. No, no, no, no, I'm not going to Foxborough. I can't listen. Listen, I picked the wrong week to get back on Twitter because I go through phases or I got to streamline things.

55:28This is driving me insane. This somehow, still, even now, we're in the playoffs now, and yet so much discussion about the Patriots is like a debate of who should make the college football playoffs. And I'm seeing like, well, that's a quality loss right there. Yeah, but how many quality wins do the Texans have? I don't care. I don't care. They're both good teams. They play each other. They've got strengths. They've got weaknesses. I agree with that. It was like the Texans haven't played a blank offense in a while, but the Patriots haven't played this deep. And then I also saw from one of my favorite Texans follows, which is an account called, I think.

56:04Houston Stressons or something like that. I like them. They were very upset that they saw the NFL dot com picks and six out of ten picked the Patriots to win the game. And honestly, like they were aghast and they couldn't believe the level of disrespect. And they were just shocked. They were like, I thought everyone would know the Texans. And I'm thinking, like, this is what we're taking for disrespect that our friend Grant Gordon and, you know, whoever else is making those picks. Colleen Wolf, that 60 % of them are taking the Patriots, in case you're curious. Well, it's the weight.

56:39Patrick Claybon:It's the weight. So if there's one, all it takes is that amount of disrespect. If you hit that critical mass of disrespect, then you know that the team and the fan base can try extra hard and be motivated to win the football. That's what I love. That's right. Chips on shoulders is what we're about here. Yeah, Houston Stresnes, his handle is at Texans commenter. He's a really good source. He's basically a part-time producer for our show without No, we'll never pay him. We'll never pay him.

57:06Gregg Rosenthal:He wants that on the record. And now he's going to hold out. Yeah. Good to know. And these two teams, they're trying to go where, you know, they haven't been before. Obviously, it's a unique situation for this Patriots team with such a young quarterback and a first year head coach in Vrabel. But for the Texans, I think this is true of an AFC field where I divide up these four teams and I think they've got all about an equal 25 % chance to make the Super Bowl because I think maybe the the teams where I give a little bit of an edge to are on the road which is like just a small disadvantage and I can't remember ever having any conference have a feel like that is there kind of a sense with this Texans team which is on such a run after starting oh and three that compared to the last couple of years, that the ceiling is a championship, that it is a little different this year than maybe the last couple divisional rounds that they've made it to?

58:03It is. And that doesn't mean there aren't some serious concerns and reservations about how complete the football team is. If they win a championship, it's going to be a defensive-led championship. And that's rare. Go back to the 2015 Broncos or the Legion of Boom Seahawks And this, this team still doesn't even have some of those same elements. There's some things that have gotten better in the second half of the season offensively as we watched Sheldon Rankin's about to go, go for a touchdown here. Which that, that play, by the way, Sheldon Rankin's absolutely destroyed the left guard. It was beautiful.

58:39That was the best part if you want. Yeah. So I get distracted by it. The, the, the whole thing is the offense is mediocre and they've had their moments. The offensive line has improved drastically, but it's because they were so bad last year. And I'd say they're an okay offensive line this year. Can you ride a defense through the playoffs, you know, feasting on turnovers, scoring on defense, all those things? That's what I would be nervous about. But this defense is also capable of doing some really special things. And it makes it exciting. It's such an exciting defense to watch. and it's such a lovable group of guys that you just kind of, you throw reason out the window a little bit and say, you know what, if there's anybody that can do it, it's this squad.

59:25Patrick Claybon:Yeah, and the way that they do it, it becomes a topic of conversation where the questions to Mike Vrabel this week are about, you know, the familiarity with Josh McDaniels and all of the crossover between the staff and the organizations. And Vrabel's like, well, they play a pretty similar defense to the way that they've played it. And they're not trying to hide and disguise a whole bunch, which makes it fun to watch where you know when you know when hunter and anderson are on the field like the way that they are going to pressure and attack the quarterback which is why we're glad that to remind folks you know a little bit of the stakes and the circumstances this is a monday football crew this is a buck and troy aikman with new england being a three-point favorite at home are they over under it's 40 and a half you feel like that's disrespectful well to the to the Texans, clearly.

1:00:12Patrick Claybon:You see it as disrespect. I see it as

1:00:14Gregg Rosenthal:motivation. The choice of crew is disrespect? No, no, the line. I appreciate you checking there because Greg is known to take

1:00:24Patrick Claybon:maybe a swipe at the crew, but I do think the line is to generate the most action and the most income for the gambling institutions. Just in terms of the way that they play, love to see it, Jordan. I am concerned about this Jake Andrews situation because it's not just It's not just last week. There's been some adventurous Texans snaps all season. There's been accidental touchdowns. One that CJ Stroud scored where you wonder there was a bounce pass snap to CJ Stroud. It seems like that kind of hilarity for both teams because we know Drake May can hold on to the ball against some long edge rushers that are going to get the ball out where the hilarity made aside the game.

1:01:02Patrick Claybon:And both teams are prone to do it.

1:01:04Gregg Rosenthal:Yeah, this is going to be a fascinating matchup to me because both of these teams have similar strengths and the Texans have one glaring weakness where the Patriots have it as a strength in terms of their passing game. And yet the Houston Texans defense and pass rush specifically might nullify that to where this is good on good defense playing each other. This is going to be a clinic in teams that do not miss tackles, as Greg mentioned the other day. it's also kind of strange that this both of these defenses for as solid as they're playing and I've been on the record many times Seth saying that the Texans defense is my favorite defense in the league because they know that they're not hiding anything from you they're just better than you and like they and they act like it and they are joyful I was in that locker room when they were here in Los Angeles and I had the best time it was so much fun talking to those guys they're such good guys.

1:01:54Gregg Rosenthal:And like, so this to me is like the Houston Texans, if they can neutralize Drake may enough and get to him enough to force these little underneath concepts, then you don't even get a shot to exploit the weakness of this Texans defense, which actually strangely a little bit susceptible to the explosive pass play. Yeah, that's, and that's the big one. If you were to ask me, okay, what are you nervous about in any given week with the Texans defense there, you know, they're top five, top three in just about every major statistical category, explosive passes or explosive plays allowed. They're around the middle of the pack.

1:02:31So it's not like they're awful at it, but that is one of the things that they're not top notch at. And the interesting thing is that a lot of them come because of blown coverages. It's not necessarily because of physical mismatches. It's because guys don't sort things out properly. That's where it gets really interesting when you think about the Josh McDaniels dynamic and being able to watch anything that's flummoxed the Texans. Sometimes it's just been that Kamari Lasseter has been out of the game and then everything falls apart on that side of the field. Um, but I think that Josh McDaniels understanding how he might be able to dial up some deep shots, but that at the same time, provide the protection and the time to do it.

1:03:13And that's where I think Drake may's running ability comes in, not in his ability to run for positive yardage, because obviously you can do that. But in the designed run game, which, you know, we've seen them do. I was just watching the bills game. I'm only through the first half. So I assume that works out with swell for the you know, early on Drake may has that designed run. Last week they ran a little, or it was a couple of weeks ago or whenever it was sometime in the last couple of weeks, they ran like a veer option in short yardage, that kind of stuff and using it to set up play action or just to take a little bit of pepper off the edge rushers.

1:03:49I think that's something that Josh McDaniels is going to scheme up this week. Some of the misdirection in the backfield can, can be a weakness, or at least at times, some of the bad moments for either Daniil Hunter or Will Anderson, that's one way to get them. Yeah. You know, I'm not saying you can do it consistently or it's a huge weakness or anything, but it's, you know, if you try to double team them both and you got three guys out on routes and it's it's hard to spring a play that way they've been you know reticent to use drake may like that all season everyone's kind of been calling for and i think that bills game you point out that that the very play you even point out was actually i think a turning point where i was like okay maybe they're doing the josh allen thing that they did when josh allen was young in buffalo it's like once you get close to the very end in the biggest games now we start you know bringing this out and i think they're going to have to because the physical mismatches in terms of just pure talent in terms of the receivers.

1:04:44And Keyshawn Booty's underrated and Stefan Diggs. That's a great revenge game angle. Also a revenge game for Jake Andrews, by the way, former Patriot. It's going to be locked in. Coming back. You just think it's such a mismatch. Let's actually listen to a clip I saw on the Texans in a Twitter feed this week of just the defensive backs, which I just thought, like, gave a feel to the spirit of this incredible Texan secondary.

1:05:12Patrick Claybon:Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Let me tell you all this. We really got the best DBs, though. And can't nobody mess with us. Go ahead. Just like that. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Let me tell you something. Nothing. First team off the right. Yeah. We had three TFA in one place. Zero point, zero pass break. Pick six. And he just said boy. He just said boy. Mask up. Mask up. He did boy. That is Kamari Lassiter and Jalen Petrie, Derek Stingley, and what, Caden Bullock? Caden Bullock. Caden Bullock there as well. And actually, I would recommend everyone watch the whole thing because we couldn't play a whole minute of it.

1:05:54But they are delightful. And they might be the best secondary that we've seen since that no-fly zone in Denver. Yeah. Well, the interesting thing about that video too, is you see four guys there, right? And you think, okay, well, they're a nickel a bunch. They got five defensive backs on the field. Where's the fifth guy? Nobody knows. Nobody knows who the safety opposite. It started off. It was going to be Jimmy Ward. Then it was going to be CJ Gardner Johnson. Then it was going to be Jalen Reed, the draft pick, but he got injured. Then we've got miles Bryant. We've got at least five different guys have played that other safety position.

1:06:28And again, going back to Josh McDaniels and trying to figure out how do you exploit the rotating crew of safeties opposite Kalen Bullock. That's one thing that I think that Josh McDaniels might really be looking hard at.

1:06:40Gregg Rosenthal:100 % Seth, because they're going to go back to this Steelers tape. And one of the few positive plays that the Steelers had was doing exactly that. The second Jalen Reed left the game, unfortunately, due to that injury, they sent DK across the middle of the field, protected just long enough to exploit that deep, that intermediate slash deep middle. because the corners, they don't travel. They pass them off, I think, very well. They pass their coverages off very, very well. But when you don't have that safety in the communication chain, sudden change coming into the game as a substitute, or maybe he's just not quite up to the standard based on all the people that were supposed to be playing in front of him.

1:07:20Gregg Rosenthal:That's a problem. That's the exact little spot on the field. You look at the heat chart. Patrick and I were geeking out over the NextGen stats heat chart. that's exactly that area right there where that safety is supposed to carry on that communication chain and help is supposed to be there on these like digs and daggers if they can protect Drake May long enough that's something to be very very cognizant of I just don't think they can protect Drake May long enough to get to those plays yeah that's the beauty I mean that's the fun of this defense and I look I go into every game terrified of every opponent like in a good way the healthy and appropriate amount of fear.

1:07:54And I was trained by Tom Coughlin for the best of them. And so, and obviously the Texans are underdogs in this game. So like every, like every defense or every offense anywhere on any football team, they've got their weaknesses. But the one thing that they do do a great job of is they make up for their bad plays with tackles for a loss with sacks. And then the run after the catch has been, it's really been one of the biggest improvements the Texans defense has made to get to this point where they are now compared to where they are last year. They were not a good tackling football team in 2023 and 2024.

1:08:31They are a very good tackling team now. And it's really taken them to that next level where, all right, instead of instead of third and two, because a guy got five yards extra after the catch, they're snuffing things out. And And that's, you know, it's going to be a challenge versus these guys. And the Stefan Diggs, honestly, Darrell Taylor, Darrell Taylor was signed by the Patriots this week. He was a defensive end for the Texans. He was on the roster on and off for the season this year. And people said, well, there it goes. There it goes. Rabel trying to get that institutional knowledge from Darrell Taylor.

1:09:07All right, great. Listen, Stefan Diggs, Stefan Diggs was here last year. And Stefan Diggs was everything you would want in a veteran receiver. He was out there working with the young guys, working with the defensive backs, talking to him before and after practice and everything. And Stefan Diggs is a smart football player. So I'm not as worried about the Darrell Taylor cloak and dagger game or anything. I do think that Stefan Diggs can have some good notes for Josh McDaniels on exactly what he thinks the weaknesses of the players or the scheme or how they're communicating and all that goes. And look, Josh McDaniels and Drake May, they love throwing to the middle of the field.

1:09:43They love throwing the intermediate routes. They love cooking up ways to get like Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper and really anyone over the middle of the field, but even the running backs. And like there there should be some ways to pick on them. But I I do have a hard time imagining Will Campbell and Jared Wilson, especially handling the left side of that offensive line. I'm not saying I'm off Will Campbell Island here, but it was a rough it was a rough Monday night. and you know,

1:10:14Gregg Rosenthal:I just wait and I just, I was going to clock the whole, like he might be a great Hall of Fame guard started popping in my head a little bit in the middle of that game last week, especially knowing that he's going to be having to face a Willie Anderson this week. Well, you know, one of the things that you go back to the bills game, the Texans playing the bills and the Texans had a great game. They had eight sacks in that game and they kept the spy on Josh Allen pretty much all the time. And I think one of the differences in facing the Patriots is that, you know, Drake may has weapons on the outside and he knows how to use them.

1:10:49So it's harder to subtract guys out of your coverage the way they could versus Josh Allen because the bills just don't have that many receiving threats. That's really, you know, we talked about the, the, some of the weaknesses or things that aren't, you know, awesome for the Texans. They do a really good job contained pass rushing. there have been times in the second half and in the fourth quarter, especially where they've been doing a great job, contained pass rushing all game long, keeping the quarterback in the pocket. But then there've been instances where Baker Mayfield on fourth and 10 converted.

1:11:20Trevor Lawrence had a long scramble at the end of the first game. They'd almost put them into field goal position, which annoyingly against the Jaguars, that line to make is the 50 yard line because of cam little. And then, you know, cam Ward had a run late Justin Herbert. So being able to contain Drake May for four quarters, not just the first three quarters, and then all of a sudden he converts one, a third and long in the fourth quarter, if it's a close game, that's really, you know, it's just, it's hard to maintain your pass rush lanes all the time. They're really, really good at it most of the time.

1:11:51It's just, they have great, like any defense is gonna, there's gonna be opportunities at times for Drake May. I'm curious about which of the two phenomenons we saw in the playoff games from these two teams holds up in terms of the running offense for the Texans. I know you were impressed with Nick Cayley. Revenge game. The offensive line of the Texans and the game plan that they had and the way they were able to execute. Woody Marks having a career high in the playoffs. And whether this Pat's run D, which has been all over the place this year, for the first 10 or 11 weeks, they were getting way too much credit.

1:12:24No one's had over 75 yards against him, but a lot of it was game script and the fact that it wasn't all just talent, but they fell off a cliff. We're one of the worst run defenses in the league down the stretch. They get Robert Spillane back, who is absolutely crucial to their run defense. They get Milton Williams back. They get Harold Landry back. And they were awesome against the Chargers. So I'm kind of curious, you know, like which of these two phenomenons, because that would really help out CJ Stroud if they can get Woody Marks and Nick Chubb going this week.

1:12:55Gregg Rosenthal:Yeah, exactly. And Seth was just talking about the quarterback being a threat in the run game. I'd like to see CJ Stroud move with more confidence and actually pick up those gimme yards when he sees him versus panicking like he did this past week. The run game that I think versus run game versus run defense, you know, it's hard because neither of them have been consistent. I think that when you have a change up option between Nick Chubb and Woody Marks functioning at its best, that to me is something that can sustain versus maybe being as up and down as the Patriots defense has been against the run.

1:13:29Gregg Rosenthal:And then, like I said, even when they were great against the run, still susceptible to the explosive rush play. We saw that in a couple matchups early on. What I do think, though, is that the Texans, to me, and just, you know, I test, they don't do a ton of disguise for their run game. And I think that you're just too smart on the Patriots defense. You just you're going to be able to read your keys and not get moved out of your gaps. Yeah, that's, this matchup this week is interesting because there's, you know, some scheme similarities to what they saw, at least on the front, against the Steelers.

1:14:02And I was nervous about the Texans offense going into that Steelers game because they've got big, strong, physical defensive linemen. And that's been kryptonite to the Texans offensive line at times this year. So it was really encouraging to see what they were able to do. And the fact that the run game started to bite more and more as the game went along, guys started really getting some movement. That was really, really encouraging. And it's something that they've gotten better at over the course of the season. They've done a good job compared to last year of limiting negative plays. You know, last year, Joe Mixon was getting tackled in the backfield, like one out of every three times he touched the release hit in the backfield.

1:14:38They've done a much better job of that. The guy that I, you know, like, honestly, I did not expect to spend a half hour today watching Corey Durden, the nose tackle for the Patriots. He had a great game.

1:14:49Gregg Rosenthal:Former Los Angeles Ram. Yeah. And I'm watching and I'm looking, I'm like, who the hell's Corey Durden? He started playing more in the second half of the season. So I watched that chargers game. And then I went back and watched some clips from other games that he's, he's a big, tough, physical dude that plays with his hands really well. He's in the right spot and he's going to be going up against Jake Andrews. And there was an issue with the snaps and CJ's child last week, you know, and they don't, they don't face a whole lot of teams that line up in a classic three, four front as much as the Steelers did.

1:15:20Um, it, the Patriots, they'll run some bear formation and stuff, but they still got that nose tackle on the center a lot. And I think like, like Corey Durden, who knows, maybe this is just a little flash in the pan at the end of one season, but it's one more guy that I think the Texans have to account for. And I haven't seen his name out there a lot, but like it's, and I have a hard time. I keep reminding myself, this isn't a Belichick team. This isn't a Belichick team, but it is a Mike Vrabel team. And there's some similarities there. One thing about those Patriots defenses back with Bill Belichick was that you could watch a defense improve over the course of a season simply because guys got better with their technique.

1:15:57And I think Vrabel's cut from the same cloth with that. Those guys are going to get coached up. I think there's guys along that defensive line that are better defensive linemen now than they were in the first half of the season. And I think it's more of a, I was, I'm glad, I was glad to hear a lot of Patriots. People talk about it up and down the Patriots run defense has been because the first three things I looked at randomly, it looked like an incredible run defense. I don't know what's going on. But I think there are opportunities there. This Texans offense right now is way more capable of taking advantage of it than they would have been even eight weeks ago.

1:16:35They shuffled their offensive line around. They put when they put Trent Brown at right tackle. I was skeptical as hell, but it allowed them to move Titus Howard down to left guard. And that's stabilized things. They've got veterans on both sides of the line. Now the communication errors aren't nearly as bad as they used to be. And they, they, they run a competent offense in a way that they really weren't in the first half.

1:16:56Patrick Claybon:I think honestly, especially if we're talking about the Durden game, being the centerpiece of having 97, having Milton Williams there next to him helps in terms of, of their ability to cause those problems. And I think it goes back. Cause you mentioned that the early stage, Greg openly nationally, Seth, pleading with the Houston Texans front to just be normal, just to be mediocre. Oh, yeah, just be normal. To get to this point. And we got there. Yeah. And then, again. And then CJ was very not normal the other night. That's the thing. If you can extract, which is very difficult. It's like, oh, you take away the six bad shots.

1:17:33Gregg Rosenthal:No, you're right, though.

1:17:34Patrick Claybon:You extract the catastrophics from that game. Things looked pretty good.

1:17:39Gregg Rosenthal:Yeah.

1:17:39Patrick Claybon:They look sustainable. And you don't expect CJ to have a game like that, especially against against this defense and like acknowledging fully with the pathogen that's spreading nationwide and worldwide at this point. And TJ Watt having one lung to play. I think there were some impacts to where the Steelers defense might not have been, at least in the front, because, of course, it's always been an adventure in the back seven for the Steelers. And we saw that in terms of Christian Kurt getting loose for the amount of yards and catches that he had. but there are some positives to take away from that performance where the Texans should feel confident and stroud to Billy.

1:18:16I want to read a text that Seth sent me at 7 15 PM Monday night. And this was a lot of pressure on the Texans because we knew Seth is only coming on the show today. If they win, this is the point of the game where I believe it's seven six and it felt like it should have been about 40 to six at that point. And you texted me cause you know, Walker, my son is a huge Texans fan. It was his, it was birthday. We had the Texas cupcakes. It was all going to be ruined if CJ kept fritzing out. And you just said, please don't let your son listen to what I have to say about CJ tomorrow. What did you say? And how are you feeling now?

1:18:51You know, you did get to watch the end of the game where it got a little better. Well, you know, I said a lot of what Patrick said. Honestly, I'll take you through the timeline. I know everybody's dying to know what I've done the last 48 hours. after that game on Monday night, it was, I had a hard time going to bed because honestly the defensive performance was so incredible. And the way the fourth quarter went, it was really exciting. And I woke up and I just, we, we consciously Sean Pendergast and I, my co-host, you know, consciously said, you know what, we got to have this CJ conversation about the performance last night, but let's put it on the back burner to a certain degree, because it was an awesome victory.

1:19:29It's a playoff victory. And the defense was so much of the story. And the rushing attack was so much of the story. They had 164 yards rushing. The highest they had all year was 167 yards. And that was back when they faced the Ravens and the Ravens basically had a compilation of like kids from the local high school, maybe like maybe an emergency hockey goalie or something in there. Like it was, they were banged up. So that was the best rushing performance they had. But to echo what Patrick said, CJ did some really good things in that game, but that's not the way the quarterback position goes. You get judged by the sum total.

1:20:07CJ this year has done a really good job of becoming that more mature quarterback who understands the game situation, understands when to throw the ball in the dirt, when to throw the ball away, when to not make a sack worse by trying to scramble out the back of the pocket. he understands and he's been more willing to just take you know all the old cliches don't go broke taking a profit take what the defense gives you all that like so on first down he's hitting that first read he's not sitting there waiting to see if nico collins clears downfield so that's what was so frustrating about it was it felt like you'd seen 17 games um well minus his injuries of cj really becoming a more mature and veteran quarterback and understanding that hey we don't have to have an awesome game.

1:20:56I don't have to push. I don't have to press. We've got that defense on the other side of us and we just need to, we need to, you know, do all the old Tom Brady stuff, do the boring stuff really well. So the frustrating thing was to watch him in that game. And it's not like the lights were too bright or anything he's played in playoff games before, but it just felt like he was pressing. It felt like there were times where all of a sudden he looked like a young quarterback who is, you know, trying to make something happen when perhaps the best thing would have been to just eat the ball. And I don't think, unless it was because of some injury we don't know about or anything, I don't think it's going to be an ongoing problem.

1:21:33CJ's had a lot of trials and tribulations at various points in his young career already, and he's come back from them. It was really odd, and it was a surprise to see that he did make those mistakes because it wasn't typical of him this season.

1:21:47Gregg Rosenthal:He's like, it's going too well all around me. Time to freak out. Yeah. One thing we said was it is interesting that he made all that progress, but I was trying to put myself in his shoes and he consciously was saying all week long, you know, he was saying, Hey, you treat this like any other game. You don't try to go above and beyond, but there's gotta be something in a young quarterback's mind that thinks, you know, when I was a kid, you know, dreaming of greatness and everything, my dream wasn't to lead like the Trent Dilfer style playoff and Superbowl run. Like nobody dreams of being Trent Dilfer and winning a Superbowl.

1:22:26And I, so I'm hoping that's what it was like as a, as a former Texans player and fan, I want obviously CJ to be the best version of himself. And sometimes this year, the best version of himself is just been understanding that, nope, we just, we need to possess the football. We need to maintain this lead. We need a first down here. We don't need a touchdown. And it was, and it was odd to see it. It was odd to see it kind of disappear for one night. I think he's been a little streakier this year. than the true CJ believers like myself would have wanted to see. I don't, on balance, I don't even know if he's been better this year than he was a year ago, because he had so many things going wrong around him that I thought he overcome for most of last season.

1:23:05And this season, I think he's been great for like 80 % of the season. And then there's just these little funks he gets into in games that are sometimes inexplicable. It's not about the opponent or what the offensive line, and that he seems to get himself into a funk. And, and the good thing is like on, on Monday night, uh, he usually gets himself out of it. Yeah. Well, if there's one thing I've learned is I, you know, I don't want to be an old man. I try to keep up with the EPA talking about these days. There's one thing I've learned from EPA. It's that in any given time, there are 47 tier one quarterbacks.

1:23:40And, uh, because I've seen, I've seen the EPA per play breakdowns where CJ is actually no, no idiot. I'm a ball knower. He's actually operating like a top five quarterback. And then I see the other ones where it's just, it's all over the place and they're all calculated differently. Right? Yeah. It's a lot of different. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, I think the, the sum total of it is they've, they've had a hard time at various times in games. And you're right, Greg, it's when this pops up all of a sudden in the third quarter of the chiefs game, um, for a stretch in the chargers game where teams started throwing zero blitzes, all out blitzes at them.

1:24:17and through a combination of either not dialing up the right protection or CJ not having an option early in the down or just flat out a breakdown in the pass protection, that's where they've really struggled. And that's where going up against the Patriots and that defense, how well they disguise their coverages, things get murky at times. But then they've been able to dig themselves out of that. And it's been, as all you guys, I think, have said at some point here, it's been kind of start and go. And it's in fits and starts. They've made a lot of progress. But it's also as CJ is, he has a lot more command at the line of scrimmage than he did before.

1:24:57And you know how that is. It's spinning four different plates in 20 seconds as you're up at the line of scrimmage. And some of it's just going to be gunky at first. They've made progress. It's just a question of, okay, can you actually continue progress on through the playoffs? Well, good luck, Seth. I'm torn. I want my son to be happy after this game. But more importantly, I want you to be happy. I'm Walker. I'm happy no matter what. What's the name for my followers? The Seth Heads? The Seth Heads. We are the Seth Heads, yes. That's good. I look at a little tip of the cap to meth heads when we do that.

1:25:35I like that. You know what? Shout out to meth heads. They don't get enough credit. Underrated.

1:25:42Gregg Rosenthal:He said, get help. Seth Fane again check out his YouTube channel for all the best Texans breakdowns don't hit that music we have a couple other small things before we take our break but we're going to say goodbye to Seth we'll see you buddy bye Seth good luck I love that man Seth is absolutely the best I did want to just mention before we go Nico Collins is not at practice on Wednesday I don't think you can overstate how big of a deal that is because of how much this offense relies on Nico Collins. And yes, Christian Kirk stepped up and he almost matched his season total for yards in one playoff game.

1:26:25And they actually have pretty good depth in terms of their receiver group, but that is massive. And they're young.

1:26:30Gregg Rosenthal:That's the thing. Right. Whereas Christian Gonzalez is at practice Wednesday. He is in the concussion protocol. So necessarily miss the game, but obviously it's not looking good for Nico Collins. And yeah, I checked a little weather update we're going to have for all these games. No precipitation. Probably going to be in the high 20s, mid 30s, as Foxborough goes in January. Seems like it'll be okay. But both these quarterbacks weren't very accurate in the wildcard game compared to where they normally are. So I don't know if that's the cold or if it was the situation, but you just want to see them on point.

1:27:06Gregg Rosenthal:You know, I would love to see that, Greg I really would but I'm not gonna sit there and expect with these two defenses playing yeah they have been I'm not actually gonna expect a ton of accuracy from either of these guys frankly yeah it's

1:27:18Patrick Claybon:accuracy it's all relative right to the circumstance that your speed your direction how motivated you are yes how hard you would like well you just don't see Drake May or Stroud for that matter miss too many layups accuracy is kind of like their calling card it was you know Drake Mays this season and they miss just a few more than you expect and Drake Mays gonna throw it in there into tight windows which you'll probably have a lot of All right, let's hit the music now. As we go to the break, he mentioned Corey Durden. I did want to do an exercise of just naming players playing significant minute and snaps for the Patriots this year.

1:27:50And this last week, Jack Gibbons, Corey Durden, Craig Woodson, Charles Woods, Del Pettis, Jelani Tavai. I think people know him. Marty Mapu. Only one snap for him. Eric Gregory got 10 snaps. Leonard Taylor III. and Elijah Ponder. Meet your New England patrons. I feel like a lot of people aren't familiar with these men. Del Pettis. Troy Trudeau. Oh, man. Dirty Del. He comes with the hands. That's what Tom Curran calls me. Ooh, we got the long person. Of course. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tremphaya offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start.

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1:32:05Oh, this season. Hell, this show. It's been a journey. We've arrived at our final game to talk about, but it will be the first game on the divisional round slate. If you're on the West Coast, don't make too many Saturday playing. You gotta get back home by early afternoon. Yes.

1:32:27Patrick Claybon:Not morning stuff. So you are able to get non-football activities with the young folks. Perhaps if your job is football, consuming football, and you have multiple children who are a little bit extra. BS for the Saturday at 4.30 on CBS. Jim Nance, Tony Romo on the call for the Buffalo Bills at the Denver Broncos a rematch of the playoff game that ended the Broncos season in 2024 the Broncos one and a half point favorites as of our discussion right now Jordan Roderick 45 and a half is the over under did the Denver Broncos make the necessary changes and adjust in this season to do what they were not able to do at the end of last season the Buffalo Bill well so here's

1:33:13Gregg Rosenthal:where I have to eat some crow because the bills are playing like a more complete team than I ever thought was possible on defense, especially heading into the most crucial time for them to be doing it. I said at the very beginning of the year, my biggest worry about the bills was going to be this defense. They proved me right a lot, but we also talked about when it comes time to get into matchup specific football and building bespoke game plans for your opponent week by week by week. It's not something you can do very often in the regular season, unless you are like Bill Belichick with Brian Flores as your defensive coordinator.

1:33:51Gregg Rosenthal:This is exactly what the Bills are doing. And Sean McDermott is so gifted at it. And it's the battle of the Shons. It's the battle of the old guy Shons, right? And this is going to be, I think, the Bills making a statement about who they're going to continue to be through the rest of the postseason. I started thinking about this question of age and experience. And I think people like kind of put meaning on things after they happen. Like, well, experience mattered when it's an older team. But then when they lose, it's like, well, they're old. Is that a recency? What's the word for it? Recency by it?

1:34:26Gregg Rosenthal:No, there's anyway. Yeah, I don't know what the word for it is. Like correlation.

1:34:32Patrick Claybon:Confirmation bias.

1:34:32Gregg Rosenthal:Confirmation bias. I was like, I know it's one of them. And like if the Bills had struggled last week, like they were old. But when I looked at who are the best defensive players for the Bills in that game, it was Tredavious White. It was Matt Milano, I would say. Who else am I forgetting of the old guard? It was Shaq Thompson, who hasn't been there forever, but is absolutely crucial. Greg Rousseau would have to be in that mix, and he's definitely younger. but you've had guys, Tron Johnson is another one that have been in this system and are maybe able to go out and execute that bespoke game plan.

1:35:15Why has bespoke become kind of a thing? I feel like the last five years have been big for the word bespoke.

1:35:20Gregg Rosenthal:Here's what I love about it because especially when you're talking about... No one ever said bespoke until like five years ago. Now it's everywhere. But I love the word when it comes to talking about football because it's sort of like a fancy word a little bit. It's like bespoke. right? But then it also means badass freaking defense in this case, which is what I love about it because it's, it's, they were so technical with some of the things that they were doing and some of the things they're going to continue to try to do Patrick, because they want to confuse Bo Nix. They want streaky Bo Nix to emerge.

1:35:51Gregg Rosenthal:They want to disrupt that really awesome connection that Bo Nix has with Cortland Sutton. They want to get the spots off and, and, and the, like the landmarks where receivers are supposed to be in the Sean Payton offense. They want to disrupt timing and those spots on the field where they know he wants to throw the ball they did all of those things against trevor lawrence who also has elements of that offense predicated on all of that being intact they they messed it up with a lot of their rotations post snap and with the way that they could maximize these older players in a bespoke way yes and i think the the way the you

1:36:27Patrick Claybon:No, it's not superfluous, if I could say it, oddly enough. The usage of the word, because it highlights the,

1:36:33Gregg Rosenthal:you need a particular set of circumstances to be successful within this defense.

1:36:41Patrick Claybon:You need to be prepared for certain things in certain matchups, where we talked about the Houston Texans, where it's, all right, here's what we're going to do. We got dudes, these dudes are relatively young, not to shout out, you know, as a person who's two months older, almost than Aaron Rodgers, Like I realized I can't call anybody old anymore. But this is the exact opposite in terms of the way that a defense is approaching an offense in a playoff game where, yeah, those guys were ready for what the Jags had in store. I think it's not necessarily a similar matchup because the college football fans would go back to that analogy.

1:37:15Patrick Claybon:You go transitive property where the Jags blew out the Broncos in Denver and then they just lost to the Buffalo. But that's not how it works. That's not how football works. it's styles making these particular matchups and it's another set on a shorter week where they have to install and digest an entirely new game plan against a a different team that attacks defenses in a different way where there can be some doubt uh that can creep in in we've seen bo nicks play at an exceedingly high level getting away from michael parsons to the extent that michael parsons gets hurt trying to chase and corral Bo Nix.

1:37:55Patrick Claybon:And do the Bills have that athleticism to provide that sort of issue? The problems that they gave the Jacksonville Jaguars were on the back end. I do think they need to be better up front to cause similar issues to this Broncos. Yeah, they got to keep him in the pocket. He's one of the best. His numbers of throws on the move is where he is at his very best. I guess you do this show long enough and you just get old enough that eventually you become what you hate. That's me talking about myself. And that's why I think that time of possession really matters. I got so old that eventually I became complimentary football guy.

1:38:39Gregg Rosenthal:How does it feel?

1:38:40Patrick Claybon:What was the biggest step in that process, Greg? Just thinking about this, that the best offense for this Bill's defense, for them to execute the type of game plan and for these, for this defense to get away with it, essentially is for Josh Allen in this offense to just stay on the field. I thought last week the, they had three or four long drives they had. And some of them didn't even end up that well. They had a five minute punt drive. They had a six minute field goal drive. They had the 92 yard drive, of course, as well. And I thought that just, First of all, if you're not as talented, and I don't think this Bills team is as talented as their opponents these two weeks, that's one way to do it.

1:39:24And I think it puts younger quarterbacks in this circumstance, like Trevor Lawrence and Bo Nix, like each possession matters more and you're having to do more. And then I also think it helps the Bills defense specifically avoid having to face a great running game. Now, last week, they held up against the Jaguars, but it was really more the Jaguars just weren't on the field again. This week, it's a team that doesn't run the ball well, but the Broncos can go on, you know, exceedingly long drives, just passing the ball. But if you think about that game last year, I know it's very different, but the time of possession was so crazy in that game.

1:40:01It was over 40 minutes for the Bills, and I just think that's really important, and it's not necessarily all going to be the running game, but the Bills' running game has to be better this week, And you would think that it's both Josh Allen, hopefully if he's 100 percent, but more importantly, James Cook on the ground and these short passes to Khalil Shakir of just like Allen and Shakir seeming like they're just like playing football with their friends at points last week. It was just like, let's just keep throwing it to Shakir. Three yards, four yards, five yards, like whatever it is, just hold on to the ball.

1:40:33And I think that sort of complimentary football is like the route for this Bills team to go pull off an upset.

1:40:38Gregg Rosenthal:How does it feel? Your new, your new life. I mean, I finally understand what Mark Schlaireth has been saying. No, I don't know why it has to be Schlaireth. It's really the announcers. We grew up listening to who just would talk about time of possession and complimentary. Well, I like the point because this is also Vance. Joseph is going to throw a lot of stuff at this offense and he's going to throw a lot of looks. They're going to, to try to do everything they can to disrupt exactly that. the patient style of football. You know, we always talk about when do you press the button with Josh Allen?

1:41:13Gregg Rosenthal:Well, it's on the whole game in a game like this because you want to make sure that the threat of him on the run is activated, not necessarily to bite off these explosives, but the threat of the run that adds dimension to your own run game that then helps you pick and pick and pick and pick away under this defense and from what they want to do. Now, they will be playing tight, tighter than a lot of the Bills offensive guys have faced, although there's been a lot of disrespect for that Bills receiving core through the course of this season. And so it's not going to be as easy to pick away in the passing game underneath whatever that coverages they're playing.

1:41:47Gregg Rosenthal:Instead, it's going to have to be the run game, and it's going to have to be everybody is activated across the surface, including the tight ends, including the receivers, including getting the best performance that you could possibly get out of this offensive line that is typically very, very good, but has had some up and down moments. That's the thing. Like, if they get in these third and longs, that's part of what I'm talking about with time of possession and everything. Spencer Brown is not playing well their right tackle. He has gotten beat down in a few different matchups in a row, including last week.

1:42:19I think it was mostly against Javon Walker. And him matching up against this Broncos pass rush in, like, obvious passing situations sounds like a total nightmare. But if you can go heavy personnel and last year, it was a lot of the running backs and the tight ends against the Broncos. If you look at the numbers this year, it's the same thing. Like they're not great against tight ends and the bills have a bunch, which is, which is important because they don't have any receivers left.

1:42:45Patrick Claybon:Like Tyrell Shavers played in this game with a torn ACL. Like that was the, the state, the state of the bills at receiver where they needed Shavers to come back in and, and actually play with, with a torn ACL. Hopefully he has a great recovery because there were flashes to, to what could be the future for the Buffalo bills. But now the present, like it's Brandon cooks, like the entire plane ultimately getting constructed out of Brandon cooks and Khalil Shakir, where that's, that's the strength of this Broncos secondary as much as the officials openly hate Riley Moss. It's really the strength. I haven't called as many penalties late.

1:43:22I think Riley boss is getting some love late. Maybe not just from the officials, from, from the ball knowers. We know he's played well. Let's, let's just, bring up the status officially. Tyrell Shavers, who, by the way, played more than half of the snap when they had two receivers on the field. He was basically their younger version of what Matt Collins was last year. Their great blocking wide receiver who can make some plays here and there, you know, running down the field. He's out for the season. Josh Palmer, the big free agency pickup, who going into last week we thought might be available.

1:43:53He is now out for the season. And then Gabe Davis also tore his ACL in that game. He's on injured reserve. He's out for the season. So you mentioned it's Cooks and Keon Coleman's going to have to play. But more importantly, it's Kincaid and it's Dawson Knox and it's Jackson Hawes. They're blocking tight end. And maybe they're going to roll out Alec Anderson again. I was thinking about like their sixth offensive lineman. They stopped doing that this year when they were kind of the first team that was really making that look cool last year. Like maybe bring that back. Cause to me, this is a let's load up and be tougher.

1:44:28Cause they're not winning any of those matchups on the outside. And if I would think Sertan is going to see a lot of Shakir in this game. Well,

1:44:36Gregg Rosenthal:Shakir is going to see a lot of him. I don't know if it's the other way around. I do like, that's what I mean because the perimeters are going to be so tight against these receivers. Everything has to happen like between the hashes and in the scene, in the scene essentially. And maybe a little of the screen game can get going. you know we've seen that be effective sometimes but it's really going to be can we push you around along the line of scrimmage and get some medium stuff in the air happening to

1:45:03Patrick Claybon:our tight ends i i think between uh allen and roach as as much as the edges can be an issue and to have athletic edges is a necessary thing against josh allen but you go back to that eight sack uh houston texans game where rankins as well as danico autry had a great game uh in that matchup in limiting Josh's options to step up. But as you said, is this going to be, are we going to get 20 Josh Allen dropbacks? Like in this game, it's got to be. I mean, you're going to have, if you fall down early, you will. Yeah. And so that's sort of what I mean. Like slow it down. And you've seen this a lot. I think this could play into the Bill's hands that the Broncos, their offense takes a minute to ramp up.

1:45:50Like there aren't many games that the Broncos have had that like start to finish, the passing game has been rolling. And you would think in this matchup, and I am curious, J.K. Dobbins is practicing. We haven't seen him in a couple months. There's a real chance that J.K. Dobbins returns for this game because it's Sean Payton with a very rested offense and a good offensive line, and he's such a good schematic coach. It wouldn't surprise me if we saw the best out of the Broncos running game specifically in this game, which would really thwart a lot of what I'm talking about. Because it doesn't make sense to me that they would be such a bad running team.

1:46:30And they're not like a bad running team, but they definitely have missed J.K. Dobbins since he's been gone. And they haven't been a consistent one. But is this a week where they can pop up? Because if that happens, then it could really get snowballing the other way.

1:46:41Gregg Rosenthal:I think you see how good their offensive line is. And we've been talking about all season. It's one of the best, if not the best, offensive line in the NFL this year, even before some of the guys got banged up all along it. But it's also because they have the threat of Bo Nix who can take off as well. You really expect this run game to be way better than it is. And it's not bad. That's the thing. Like you said, it's there. It can be effective some games, and some games it's just really not. It'll disappear for entire games, which is surprising. Yeah, and so that's the thing. That, to me, has been one of the most confusing things about the Broncos.

1:47:19Gregg Rosenthal:And yeah, the injury to J.K. Dobbins, that's significant. But it took Sean Payton to over the midway point of the season, right? To get like a hundred yard rusher in a game. And that's just not the way he wants to play football as we know. And so for all the talent that's there up front, you know, moving bodies, it's been confusing to me all season. So I want to see, like, can they sack Josh Allen? Because what really stuck out to me from Josh Allen last week, especially when I went back to rewatch, just everything was so fast, like fast decision making, like fast twitch movement. I mean, the throws were obviously fast, like the decisions, everything was very on it.

1:47:59Like, and he has been easier to sack this year than he's ever been in his entire career by far. And this is the team with the most sacks, I believe, since 2000. And I think they have like one of the highest like sack to pressure ratios. So like, yeah, they get pressure, but they also really finish when they get near you. And if you can get those negative plays, I'm even thinking like Josh Allen did take a 12 yard sack last week against the Jags. And like, they didn't even try it. It was very rare to see that from the bills. Like they almost didn't try to get a first down on that drive and they punted.

1:48:35And, and I liked that, that they were really avoiding mistakes and it was a part of the game where they could afford to do that, but you can't do that too much. and that to me is a danger when you're thinking about how Spencer Brown is playing and how good this Broncos defense is. We just got to see if they are like truly like capital E elite. Are they there with the Texans and the Seahawks? I have my doubts, but you can go prove it. And they haven't played a real difficult challenge in a while. Remember I was on this one like a month ago? All right, here's who they played, you know, in the last month.

1:49:09Chris Oladouken, you know, since they got waxed by Trevor Lawrence and the first, you know, first half of Jordan Love, not so much, a Chris Ola Dukin, Trey Lance, and then a buy. And then you got big Josh Allen playoff. Josh Allen coming in. That's a, that's a big change.

1:49:25Patrick Claybon:You're talking about the quick change, crediting Josh Allen. You're not doing college football schedule scouting, which was a critique people have had at the new England Patriots. You're not doing, I'm not schedule scouting. What I am saying is it's weird. They haven't faced tough offensive competition in a month. That just is, it's just an oddity. I don't know if it means anything. It goes back a longer than a month. There's been a few backup quarterbacks on the schedule against the Denver. Right. But at least they had that Jordan Love, Trevor Lawrence. Like, that's how you want to be preparing for the playoffs.

1:49:51And that was that was a month ago. Who knows? Maybe it doesn't matter. But if ever there was going to be like a team that's been playing and playing top competition who gets off to a fast start, like, I do think there might be something to that.

1:50:04Gregg Rosenthal:We talked earlier in the show about how some of the top defenses in the NFL this season are still very susceptible to explosive plays. The Broncos are not. And yes, sure, some of that does come into play. How explosive were some of the offenses that they've been playing, but everyone gets a say, right? Everybody's paid, as the coaches like to say. And this is a team that does not give up explosive plays, the fewest in the entire NFL this season. And so I think they're for real. I mean, I think they are for real, for real, and don't have some of the weaknesses that some of their counterparts might have.

1:50:39Patrick Claybon:Right around 1 ,700 players last two seasons. So I guess you could multiply that times too. Nobody's had more quarterback hits than Zach Allen. That's wild. I guess because he's on the interior, he gets a chance to physically impact the quarterback a lot, but nobody. That's a good stat. I like how early in the week, all the Broncos fans and Sean Payton were talking about how they're the underdogs and they're disrespected. And then as you like to point out, Patrick, it's all about making that money. And unfortunately, too much of that money agreed. and went to the Broncos. So now they're favorites, and now they're no longer disrespected.

1:51:11They can't say that they're the underdog.

1:51:13Gregg Rosenthal:So he has to find something else to be mad about, and I think he did, Greg.

1:51:16Patrick Claybon:Yeah, because they get Drake Greenlaw back, and Sean Payton asked a question this week about Drake Greenlaw's impact in the run game.

1:51:24Ollie Connolly:Sean, having Greenlaw back in this game,

1:51:27Gregg Rosenthal:his ability to attack downhill in the run game, just how big is that and the timing of it for this one? You want him to attack downhill? Is that your, like, what do you know about attacking downhill in the run game? You don't know. All right. That's right. Have him attacking downhill. It's good to have a healthy Trey Greenlaw back in the game. Yeah.

1:51:47Patrick Claybon:There's a smile on his face, folks. He's not.

1:51:49Gregg Rosenthal:And, hey, shout out to Luca Evans, who had Lincoln Riley at USC so GD shook that he started canceling media availabilities running away from folks. Oh, that's who asked that question? That is right. Yes. I do think that multiple things can be true. as Jordan Love, I mean, as Jordan Rodrigue would love to say. Maybe Jordan Love would too. Number one, Sean Payton's kind of a d***.

1:52:14Patrick Claybon:He was smiling, he was joking. But number two, that's how he shows love. I'm saying game recognizes game. I think he would only do that with a reporter that he actually likes and respect, but that was funny. Yeah, that was good. I see you using the jargon. Attack it downhill. Moving forward. It's the toughest game to pick, I think. Actually, both AFC games, to me, are just total coin flip, and almost nothing would surprise me, except for a blowout. I really would be surprised if either of these AFC games are not one score, fourth quarter. We're sweating it out. I'm looking forward to it. I don't know if you guys have any hot takes.

1:52:52Gregg Rosenthal:I loved your take at the beginning of the show, Greg, about how you could really feasibly see any of these teams in the Super Bowl. I could, too. I think they all have such obvious clear strengths. I think they're all excellent. Even in a normal NFL season where there's like superpowers, where there's like a great Mahomes and Lamar type of team. I think they would be like a two or a three. It's a bunch of two slash three seats, but they all have like their, their each, each have their own like problem that they're clearly facing. And it's all just about matchup. Like I just, I don't know. I I'm leaning.

1:53:29I've gone back and forth. I'm, I'm hesitant after picking against the bills. Last week when everything was logical and Josh Allen was just like too good to overcome and overcame all that, I might have to flip to the bills.

1:53:41Patrick Claybon:I haven't decided. The accumulation of punishment for Josh where he's required to do everything, he can. He can do it. And I said it was silly to put it all on his shoulders. He did it last week. To have him do it back-to-back weeks on the road also feels a lot. So I want to emotionally prepare everybody to be fair to Josh if he can't do it. But I think he can. I think he can, too. But my head says Houston, Denver. Oh, but I might inject it into my face. But my heart, it will be probably going for Patriots, Bill. So I usually pick with my heart. Wow. You have to check in.

1:54:18Gregg Rosenthal:You're facing a real notebook style conflict here. Hopefully we survive at the end. And if we do, we will be back together next week. It's like, how about you see the notebook? I mean, I don't know. Hit the music, please. This didn't seem like it'd be my kind of movie. Okay. I mean, I haven't seen any Colleen Hoover movies either. Oh. You know what I mean? I just feel like. Yes, me not. Thursday, we got the big pick show. Me, Cynthia Freeland, against the spread. We will see you then. calling hoover catching a stray march is here and uber eats is delivering deals all month long score big savings on all the delicious food you need to fuel your sports fandom whether you're ordering in or hosting the whole crew uber eats is serving up deals on wings burgers pizza all from your favorite restaurants plus snacks from top stores perennial powerhouse underdog however the madness unfolds these deals keep it going all month long visit the uber eats app for all the latest deals and start saving today.

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1:57:08Gregg Rosenthal:This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.