2025 NFL Week 16 Recap: Bears and Jags Statement wins, Another Ravens Collapse and Crazy Lions-Steelers Ending

16:31Patrick Claybon:And both of those touchdowns come when Jeff Halfley, you know, in those moments, decides to blitz Caleb Williams. And he comes up and he makes them pay. with the ball to Walker. There was only one place, honestly, that the ball could be considering where the pressure was getting to him, and he did a good job of evading pressure and running over the course of the game where obviously Packers fans, it's frustrating to have Jordan Love be hit. A helmet-to-helmet shot that should not have happened. We got to get that out of the game, and he's able to, you know, he leaves the game, and Malik Willis comes in and plays well, but clearly you know that clouds the view for packers fans well you know because last night i'm like wow what a magical night in chicago bears fans been waiting for this for a while you know folks in green bay or you know adjacent point out that hey a lot of things happened uh that you know probably shouldn't sure yeah jordan love leaves with a concussion they're missing their two best offensive linemen the bears to be fair are missing two of their best pass catchers in this game so it has to be jodey walker right in that spot right exactly and the fact that he was like well coached enough to do it in that spot.

17:39And yet, you know, the Bears are having kind of a negative eight days until their next game. And all the coverage is going to be negatively slanted. And everyone's going to talk about, oh, I guess the Bears just aren't ready to win with the big boys. The Packers without their guys are going to be five and oh in the division, if not for a fumble on special teams by Romeo Dobbs. So they count that as a fumble? I guess they don't because he never had possession of it but you have that onside kick romeo dobbs as you know he's known for his hands and he gets hurt on the play too he hurts his wrist but they ask him out him afterwards and he just said look that's all on me it's a hundred percent on me i backed up you know not to back up on on a onside kick and the kind of in between hop got him and i just completely made a mistake and then he got injured on the play as well.

18:36And if you're a Packers fan, you're getting flashbacks to 2015. Oh, don't do it to him, Greg. In that NFC Championship game. If you're watching us on YouTube, we got all the rights. We can show the highlights. Sorry to Brandon Bostic. You know what's crazy, too, is that game ended, too, with a big bomb down the field that has kind of gotten lost, at least to me, to history. And I'm sure Seahawks fans don't forget it, but that Jermaine Kershaw's catch from Russell Wilson was not that dissimilar to this DJ Moore play. It's just this is kind of an all-time game, all-time play. And now the Bears are in control of the NFC North.

19:13Patrick Claybon:And in defense of Bostic and to Romeo Dobbs, you know, there's any number of plays where things, you know, in onside kick, late comeback situations. It's like a just a absolutely sequel. And a lot more happened before and afterwards. But that is the one where you think like it because it's just so rare that if he catches it, the game is over there. But to your point, and Matt LaFleur was quick to point this out afterwards. They went 0 for 5 in the red zone. They really dominated kind of the time of possession, really the play throughout the game. They went 0 for 5, kept settling for field goals.

19:48They had the fumble inside the five yard line. That was Josh Jacobs, right? You had the onside kick. And then in overtime, I mean, they got a chance to win the game in overtime. And Malik Willis played awesome. That's the thing is, I can't I don't think Love's injury mattered at all, because I can't imagine playing that much better than Malik Willis played a quarterback. He was great. But they fumbled the snap on a fourth and one in overtime. And maybe that's where his inexperience showed up.

20:12Jourdan Rodrigue:Well, I actually want to give Malik Willis a little bit more benefit of the doubt than that, because, yes, he's inexperienced, but he had had like the crap knocked out of his hand earlier. So you could really tell he was in a great deal of pain. And obviously that's the hand that collects the snap and then exchanges the ball with that sort of center to quarterback to running back, et cetera, exchange. And so I don't necessarily it obviously was a huge title moment in the game. It swung so many things. It gave the Bears the ball with a chance to hit the walk off situation because of these overtime rules.

20:50Jourdan Rodrigue:And so I feel terrible from Malik Willis, who, oh, my God, made through a couple of dimes, including a fadeaway jump shot down the field. And we were texting each other all game, Greg. It was throw the year this nominee and throw the year that nominee. And every time like five game minutes went by, there was another nomination. Hell, let's listen to Willis's touchdown pass to Romeo Dobbs and happier times for the Packers.

21:12Nick Shook:Malik Willis in the shotgun with a sent back to his right. Here's the snap to Willis. He looks to throw. He lofts it. Left side for Dobbs. Over the shoulder. Yes! Yes! Green Bay Packers. Rodeo stops on a sensational throw from Malik Willis. A 33-yard touchdown pass to beat Kevin Byard. He was throwing dimes. And he threw in an overtime, too, to get to that, set up that fourth one. He was incredible. I think just as a pure runner, I don't know if there is a better quarterback at running the football now. I'll be I'm knocking where Lamar is at at this point in his career. He is so talented as a runner and he spun it throwing the ball.

21:55And that at this game to me, it really is. It would be my pick for the game of the year. And which is crazy because that made it just 13 to three after three. But the whole thing was just great gameplay and back and forth.

22:05Patrick Claybon:It really showed that having Malik Willis as a backup quarterback is such a weapon because those two are so dramatically different. And it took time for the Bears to adjust. one big part, I think the play of the game before the bad snap or, you know, fumbled exchange between Willis and the center was TJ Edwards actually tracking down Malik Willis for what felt like the first time on the play before that, where the play breaks down, he's rolling to his left, decides to go for a run for the first down, and Edwards gets a nice stop that ultimately sets up the turnover on fourth down, where they couldn't stop Malik Willis running the ball.

22:43Patrick Claybon:It was just, Like it was in the shotgun, like McNairish. And yet they did. And that's the thing with this Bears team. It seems like it's not repeatable week after week. And then they keep repeating it. Like this Dennis Allen team, which had no pass rush during the game. They really did bow up in the red zone. They really did get that one key turnover. And it was Nashawn Wright, as always. Like send him to the right place.

23:08Jourdan Rodrigue:I'm trying to make it a thing. And, you know, before this game, Caleb Williams had already tied the NFL record for comeback wins in the final two minutes of a game with Peyton Manning. And technically this doesn't count as one, I don't think, because it wasn't in regulation, but they essentially did it at the end too. And even then you mentioned he wasn't like playing that great, but he did have that throw and DJ Moore who had the touch on, he had the throw to DJ Moore on the drive to tie the game right before that Jaday Walker and that drive at the end of regulation was absolutely money from him.

23:45Just an awesome football game and a game that puts Chicago in position to have a higher seat in the playoffs.

23:51Jourdan Rodrigue:And listen, even though some of the stuff is going to look maybe to our eyes a little bit more out of structure than it feels to him because he's used to playing this way, like he was in total command the entire game. He was in total command. When they come down to the crunch time of this game, even that entire fourth quarter, even when they were in a deficit, even when this defense had totally figured out and compliments to the Packers defense here had totally figured out by rearranging their safeties, how to completely neutralize Colston Loveland in this football game. And one of his favorite targets that already missing two of his favorite targets and then one of his favorite targets was all but absent from the game at that point because of the way that the Packers adjusted.

24:33Jourdan Rodrigue:total command and control for Caleb Williams this entire time. And when you feel that you're going to make the right decisions in the right plays in crunch time, even if they look like magic miracles to us, it just is a, it's a given. Did you hear what he said after? He said, I can make any throw. They're like throwing across your body. Like, are you, he's like, I can make any throw. Yes. Yes, he can practice that exact play this week and they hit it then too.

24:57Patrick Claybon:And he's having to throw in a game where you had gusts of up to 26 miles an The ball was affecting the passes, but also shout out to Cairo Santos, who hit a field goal that I did not. I thought it was a rough decision. I love kicking field goals. I'm looking from the end zone angle. Both of the goalposts are doing the wave. And I'm like, there's no way he gets he plays the outside of the upright and the ball comes back in and he has the onside kick. Great kicking game from Cairo. Cairo Santos giving us two lane green wave fans something to smile about on a rough Saturday. Sorry.

25:31Jourdan Rodrigue:And he waxed that onside kick, too. He did a fantastic job. And I know we've gone so long. This is a game that I could have done. We could have done 40 minutes on like we did for Rams and Seahawks. But I don't care. We still got to hear what the Ben Johnson locker room was like afterwards.

25:49Nick Shook:Hell yeah!

26:03Nick Shook:Let me tell you something right now. This is a special group. And before we go, I mean.

26:12Jourdan Rodrigue:You saw him in the background. This was, I don't know if you guys know this, but the second throw of the year to feature DJ Moore. Let's say it again. In the last four years. If you remember, one of the greatest plays of the entire decade, It was controversially named by me in 2022 as the best throw of the year. And yes, DJ Moore was on the other side of it.

26:39Nick Shook:Walker on first down. Moving to his left. And now Walker fires downfield. Looking for DJ Moore. Oh my God! Makes a diving catch for a Panthers touchdown. Wow! 62 yards. Carolina has tied the game.

27:03Jourdan Rodrigue:Oh, my goodness. The flag. Shout out to Kenny Albert. We don't talk about the flag in this house. Yes, TJ Moore got a penalty there, so there wasn't a walk-off, but it was good, and it was Jaday Walker here, not PJ Walker. But, man, PJ Walker will always have that play. All roads lead to Walker, Greg. Yes, this game is going to live in the memory, kind of like that Jaden Daniels Hail Mary from a year ago. The division's not quite over yet, but the magic number is essentially one for the Bears in terms of wins or Packers losses. Now, the Bears are at San Francisco and home for the Lions. The Lions have been known to win games in week 18 with nothing on the line for them.

27:46And maybe that'll be the case. But those aren't gimmies. So they got to win one of those or they have to have the Packers lose to either the Ravens or the Vikings. All right. We got to speed it up. We'll go to Carolina, where the NFC South part one of a great two-part movie series was on Sunday.

28:03Patrick Claybon:Mayfield in the shotgun. Twins to the right. Chest high snap. Deep in the pocket. Mayfield bouncing around the pocket. Throws! And it's picked off in the 30! Picked off by Carolina! Panthers football. Lathan Ransom, the rookie, comes up with one of the biggest plays of the season. A diving interception.

28:28Nick Shook:42 seconds remain. Great call there by Anise Stroff on WRFX. Luke Kuechly's in the booth there somewhere. There you go. But I don't think I heard him. 23-20. The Panthers win it again late. I got to say, this NFL product, they got something here.

28:49Jourdan Rodrigue:It's good stuff. It's good stuff this week. Yeah, it's hitting. It's hitting. How about Baker Mayfield? Not Baker Ball has gotten sad. Okay. It was Baker Mayfield and Mike Evans who were not on the same page at the very end of this game under two minutes driving, trying to make yet another one of his improbable comebacks, trying to go for an 18th game winning drive, specifically under two minutes. And the irony is for most of the first half, I was lamenting how the Panthers needed more out of their receivers. Tetaroa McMillan was getting bodied around by rookie cornerbacks. Snap after snap. A lot of contact there.

29:30Jourdan Rodrigue:I don't want to hear it, Panthers fans. I will admit there was a lot of contact there. Xavier Leggett had a drop and bad sideline awareness at one point. And then right before the half, they all came to life in the coolest way. And it was Bryce freaking Young leading them on a drive where he starts really using his legs either on scramble drill throws or carries. Bryce Young gets a ball to Tetaro McMillan. That was probably a degree of 10 difficulty to corral and hold on to because of A, the contact, the difficulty of the catch, and also just the position that his body was in and going to the ground.

30:05Jourdan Rodrigue:It's an immediate vibe shift. Every receiver steps up the rest of the game. And a couple of plays later, Bryce Young on the scramble drill, avoids pressure, gets a touchdown pass to a wide open. Jatavian Sanders, and we've got the sound.

30:21Patrick Claybon:Buccaneers have not blitzed much today. Here's the snap pressure off the edge Bryce dancing in the pocket. Trying to evade a sack.

30:28Nick Shook:He does. Throws back in the end zone. Wide open. Touchdown Carolina.

30:38Nick Shook:JT Sanders all alone and that play happened because Bryce was nimble. Bryce be quick and he finds a wide open And JT Sanders for a touchdown. The Panthers back on top with eight seconds to go here in the third.

30:57Jourdan Rodrigue:Such a cool play. And you guys, let me tell you this. Because I know the box score will tell you where this game flipped on the field. But this moment I'm about to describe to you is when the tide turned for not only these Carolina Panthers and their fans and what this organization has been, but what it will be. because later in the fourth quarter, this game was tied 20 to 20. And the Panthers' defense steps up. Nick Scorton blows into the backfield to make a run stop for a loss, sets up a long third down that eventually fails. And the time between those two plays, the broadcast booth was quiet, and they let the crowd do their thing.

31:40Jourdan Rodrigue:And that Carolina crowd was absolutely electric. for the first time in a December game that had meaning to it, you guys. And as long as I can remember, and what a beautiful thing. And there was no way after Nick Scorton made that play, there was no way this Panthers team was losing that football game. It's incredible. They have the vibes. They have the players too. Look, I don't think that wide receiver wins is a thing, but I do think that Tedaroa McMillan having a good game today, six for 73 and a touchdown in a game where Abuka only had two targets, one long catch by him. That looked like a key play in that game is a nice check on his side.

32:21And the Bucs, who have had so many injuries all season, being a little healthier right now in a game where the Panthers don't have their left tackle, and that was a huge factor in this game. Yaya Diaby had nine pressures, four quick pressures, almost all of them against the replacement at left tackle, and the Panthers are able to get over that. And even the rushing numbers, like they don't look amazing, but the success rate was better today overall. And ultimately their defense holds Baker Mayfield to 127 yards net passing. And I don't think there's one answer for why the Bucs aren't the Bucs, but they're not the Bucs.

33:00And they have to be so thrilled that the Saints won that game last week against Carolina or else this division would literally be over. But there's still a very real chance that the division will be up for grabs if the Bucs can win next week in Week 18, that this was just kind of a precursor.

33:18Patrick Claybon:Well, we saw Baker Mayfield again. Like in the intermediate areas, he was one of five, 13 yards with a pick. Where around the line of scrimmage, working the screens to both White as well as Bucky Irving, who had a nice game on the ground. In fact, both of them did. Rashad White had a big carry in this game. He hits the deep completion to Emeka Ibuka. but other than that like the intermediate operation for this Bucks passing game just seems to disappear for large stretches of the game where the Panthers finally started moving the ball and even when they did you know the Bucks Baker had a big run on the drive where he throws the interception to Mike Evans it was him operating in the pocket and trying to escape where he flashes like he's going to escape to his right so that's why Mike Evans turned but that's right when Baker Mayfield threw the ball to where Mike Evans was going to be yeah and it gets picked off where it's it's like they have to manufacture things in a scramble drill and that's really that's really the bucks offense late to your point there was not a single completion over

34:16Jourdan Rodrigue:13 yards other than that abuka play no and and they're not getting enough of the things that usually like lift up the the like put meat and potatoes or like the skeleton of their passing game which is a not making dumb mistakes at the line of scrimmage and be they're not getting enough out of their tight end position right now. And to the point where some of the plays that are the most successful have been when like Kate Otten is like a decoy on some of these plays or when he's reassigning leverage versus being an actual threat. And so some of these self-inflicted mistakes like over and over and over again set the Bucs back.

34:53Jourdan Rodrigue:They're disjointed. It's why they don't look like the Bucs. It was, you know, snap issues before the Panthers last scoring drive of the half on back-to-back plays. Gadecki false starts on a promising drive and that's his second false start after a really great kickoff return to open the fourth quarter. The drive stalls out. Gadecki was called again for a hold, which set up a long first down on a drive in the fourth quarter with the game tied 20 all. And after the Panthers went ahead three points, the Bucks then lost 10 yards of field position on the touchback for another penalty, a bad personal foul penalty on special teams.

35:27Jourdan Rodrigue:So it's like self-inflicted wounds are also what's part of the problem for this group. Shout out to the Panthers, anyone that's working for the, I mean, it's been, it's been a tough road here and they've had a great social team forever. I liked what they're doing with the game picks. If you're watching, you can see that. And I don't even really remember why I asked for it for this. So I'm going to have to see it. Oh yeah. Given a little love in terms of Bryce Young and Ted Arroa McMillan saluting all the good picks from the NFL, including our very own Nick Shook. So that's why I just, I love it.

36:00Jourdan Rodrigue:I know a lot of people over there still guys. And I, you know, I can't even tell you how happy I am that the energy feels like this right now, because when it's not good in a building on the field, you feel it everywhere else in the organization. And there's a lot of really good people over there in every corner of that building. And it's like, you could feel just this crowd, this great bunch of Panthers fans in that outdoor stadium and it's cold and it's football weather and the skyline is in the horizon. And it's just like some of the magic is starting to creep back into the atmosphere. And I just I think that's wonderful.

36:36They host the Seahawks next week. If they win that game, they will be the division champions. But that's a tough game to win. The Buccaneers, who are just in a free fall, can't be counted on to win any game. They are in Miami next week. But if the Buccaneers were to win in Miami and the Panthers loss, then the Week 18 game is for the NFC South title. So the Panthers can easily fall right back out of the division lead. Speaking of division leads, let's go to the NFC East, where the Eagles were trying to do something for the first time in over two decades.

37:13Nick Shook:Hurts. Hit McDonough again. Hurts. Looks. Gives it off. It is Barkley spinning forward. Down across the five. And he is in for the touchdown. He takes it in. Not to be denied. Not to be denied. A 12-yard run by Saquon Barkley. It was kind of nice just seeing Saquon Barkley doing Saquon Barkley things again. Like breaking tackles. You were on the rush yards over expected beat, Patrick. He went over 40 plus 40 in this game because there was another big run later where he broke some tackles. Eagles win 29-18. And if you've been paying close attention at home, you'll notice we've gone NFC playoff picture here all in a row.

37:59So don't be mad, Jaguars fans. We're not disrespecting you that you're in the second block.

38:03Jourdan Rodrigue:Why don't you get back to me on that? It's my turn to talk. We're on NFC watch first. And the Eagles sewed up an NFC East title. And yeah, that was the first time a team has done that, winning back-to-back titles in 21 years. for it. So for as weird as this season has been, Patrick, it was nice to see something so familiar. And to me, that was Saquon running well, Hurts scrambling, and the Eagles kind of saying, oh yeah, you thought all that under center stuff was cool. How about we just win the way that we've been winning for a while and spread you out and just pick on the mismatches and let Jalen Hurts do what he wants to do?

38:42It worked pretty well in this game.

38:43Patrick Claybon:Yeah. You had a chance to see the Eagles inspired. Tank Bigsby had big runs in the second half where Landon Dickerson was running down the field and celebrated with him. He's had his health problems this season where the run game looks like it's back in shape. A.J. Brown doing what he does and just bullying the Washington Commanders franchise. I felt like Emmanuel Forbes was getting justice because the Commanders could do nothing with A.J. Brown in that game. Devonta Smith gets a touchdown. All the Eagles things hit. For the Commanders, Marcus Mariota gets hurt. They get multiple quarterbacks with elbow injuries.

39:18Patrick Claybon:Josh Johnson, glad to see him back playing. I hate the circumstance. Didn't necessarily play well, which is tough to do against this defense. Yeah, didn't play great. And you mentioned all the Eagles things happening. That includes only playing great for one half and A.J. Brown just being a weird presence because he had more targets in the first half than any half of his entire career. And he went nine for 95 with those targets. He didn't get another target the rest of the game. But then they did the one half good, one half bad. And it was without A.J. Brown, the good half. And they were trailing in this game 10-7.

39:47And they didn't even take a lead until late in the third. So it wasn't like a dominating performance, but it was an Eagles performance. 17-play drive in the third quarter is what kind of did it.

39:57Jourdan Rodrigue:Sometimes I have intrusive thoughts. And this one is the meme of the crowd of people standing in the room and the one guy standing in the corner. And there's a thought bubble over his head that's like, they don't know I'm about to. This one is A.J. Brown standing in the corner of the room of crowded people in the first half of this game and thinking, they don't know I'm about to bully the Washington Commanders franchise. Like, it is true. And you know what's crazy to me about the Eagles, and it's uncanny. You could almost predict it like the tides and the moon, is they will do the thing that everybody is shouting at them to do for one game and then be like, there, you got it.

40:33They did it for a couple games, but you're right.

40:35Jourdan Rodrigue:But then they come right back to it. They look like they just – they always have looked when people are mad. They win this time, which is great, but, like, they do the same thing they always do. And I couldn't hate it. Our friend Zach Bourbon pointed out, yeah, they had more empty formation plays on their first touchdown drive than any drive all season long. So yes, the complete opposite of all those under center plays. But they were moving the ball all game here. And they were getting bogged down and missed. You know, Jake Elliott is a problem right now. They missed a couple field goals. And so that they were playing better in the first half than the score indicated.

41:07But yeah, it was a lot. They are consistent. They are also awesome in the red zone. Three for three. like every week they are awesome in the red zone in large part because of Jalen Hurts and not because of the Tushbush. The Tushbush is kind of dying right now. It's been an unsuccessful play now for more than a month. They had two false starts. It was a bit of a problem in this game, the Tushbush. And so that's an interesting thing to watch. Jordan Davis was maybe the best defensive player on the field, having just like a monster game. Two tackles for loss, a couple of hurries, six total run stops.

41:39He has more games with at least four run stops than any player in the NFL this year. And Brandon Graham, like he's heating up another

41:47Patrick Claybon:sack. He's back, working his way back healthy after coming off the couch. Also, one last thing in this game. Dan Quinn did not cover himself in glory. He punted the ball on fourth and four from his own 40 plus down 11 points with under seven minutes to go, which was one of the most insane, gutless punts I've ever seen. And Saquon punished them with a big run afterwards, and they scored almost immediately. Like an insane punt. And to do that, and then after the game, to have the gall to say this, I don't get it. It's their choice to go for two there. And, you know, it's your job to stop them. But is there an unspoken respect between coaches, teams, where, you know, in a game, in that situation, you don't do that?

42:32Patrick Claybon:And kind of did you feel like it was a little bit of a sign of disrespect?

42:36Nick Shook:Yeah, I can only answer from my side what I would do. But, hey, man, like, that's how they want to get down. Then, like, all good. We play them again in two weeks. Oh, brother. Come on. Apparently, yeah, some of the Commanders players weren't happy.

42:50Jourdan Rodrigue:Well, they got, like, a brawl. Big old ball. You know, brawl. They were just going for two because that's what the math says, and they're just trying to make sure they're trying to win the game. In football, you score points to win the game. Exactly. I hear this. But after that punt, it was sad. An injury to keep an eye on. N 'Kobe Dean went out in this game. We'll see how serious that is. But we've already heard that Jalen Carter and Lane Johnson are expected to return after their little mini-bye. One extra day. We're going to take a quick break, and we will be back to talk AFC. Was that fast enough, Eric?

43:29Did I do well, Dad?

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48:03It's really good. The Jaguars are really good. They put 34 on the Broncos in Denver. 34 to 20. That's Frank Frangie. That's Trevor Lawrence as part of his month-long out-of-body experience. Jordan, they stopped Bo Nix from being fourth quarter Bo Nix. And they cruised for a statement victory. The Jaguars have arrived.

48:33Jourdan Rodrigue:They've been arrived, Greg. They've been arrived. It felt like a playoff game at mile high. It was so loud that early in the game, players could not hear the whistle. to whistle a play dead, and they played through the whistle. Trevor Lawrence got creamed. It was a good, clean hit, but he got creamed, and it was loud. Cameras were shaking. Insane. And we found out what happened as we wondered when an unstoppable force, this Trevor Lawrence-essence, Jaguars offense meets an immovable object, the league-leading Broncos red zone defense. And Trevor and the Jags won, especially in that phase, hugely in that phase because the Jags went four for four of touchdowns in the red zone before finally getting held to a field goal there early in the fourth quarter.

49:21Jourdan Rodrigue:At that time, they were already up 34 to 17. And still there was a worry that they could not salt this game away because the entire game, they could not run the ball. And Travis Etienne was great in the pass game, but the Jaguars non-quarterback run game at about a 13 % success rate through this entire game. And I say non-quarterback, you guys, because it was Trevor Lawrence who made the difference on the ground. He ran in a touchdown on a design run, scrambled to make throws, scrambled for this third and eight conversion that helped eat enough clock to make this all but impossible for the Broncos to overcome.

49:59Nick Shook:Third and eight jacks from their own 32. Trevor drops. It's a blitz. He scrambles to his left. Still looking downfield. Still looking. Still looking. Now Trevor wants to run for it. Stays in bounds. Drives. For the first down. I think he got it. Let me see what he marked. I love that dive. Yes, he did. Trevor Lawrence made a first down as a runner yet again. How many third downs has he converted as a runner? Ten yards and a first down.

50:21Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, no sliding. And also, you guys, in eight games since the Rams game in London in week seven when the Jaguars only scored seven points, the Jacksonville Jaguars are averaging 33 points per game. It is incredible. And I think him running has been a huge key to all of it. You mentioned the red zone, you know, touchdown today. But he has been just playmaking in a freeway on the ground running and design runs that we just haven't seen. And it's interesting because, yeah, you mentioned the red zone stuff. You look at 34 points and you think they dominated and they were great when they were great.

50:59But they had four three and outs today. They finished with three straight punts, including two that weren't even you know this one first down and a punt so this was a complete team effort and I think you got to start looking at the Jaguars that way not that they're quite at the level of like the Rams but in a way that I think any one of their groups including special teams can step up in a given week and lately it's been all three making plays in a given week I think

51:28Patrick Claybon:a big part of what separates the Jags at this point is the technical skill of the of the players especially like you look at etn in the past game britain strange uh had a couple of tight window catches uh jacoby myers uh making big plays with the ball in the air parker washington doing all he can do like not just making explosive plays after the catch but had some big time tight window uh catches as well where they've just got so many guys that are so good at getting the ball in their hands good when they have the ball in their hands where it just it makes it makes this offense go to a point where yeah it's them the rams when they're healthy like that particular ability that we see on like a team with the dallas cowboys but also they have a defense um that can make plays and and get stops on a broncos team that was going up and down the field against a

52:15Jourdan Rodrigue:good packers defense last week and and they did and and um early in the game it looked like bo nicks was going to have one of those games like similar to what he had last week he and courtland Sutton were on fire together. Courtland Sutton made an incredible sideline catch, a toe tap, and then caught like a heavily contested ball just a couple of plays later. It was one of those where if the Jaguars didn't nip it in the bud immediately, it might've gone back and forth all game. It ultimately stalled out. And the Jaguars, part of what they did very well is smother the Broncos with explosive plays.

52:50Jourdan Rodrigue:And it was startling in some ways to see against this offense, but just as effective as a cheat code as like the play action pass game can be, especially against a fierce pass rush, because the Broncos did get pressure on Trevor Lawrence, but just as effective as like a really long developing, which they love to run those long play at developing boot play actions. Also as effective as Trevor Lawrence becoming like one of the best in the league get throwing while on the run. And this is fascinating because his receivers have this edge to them now that we didn't see early in the season. These guys are so impressive to a T stepping up and making plays for him.

53:31Jourdan Rodrigue:Parker Washington had a dazzling game and he has been a dude for weeks. And tonight he or today he went six or excuse me, six catches on 10 targets, 145 yards and a touchdown was a factor in the kicking game in the return game as well. And I really wish there was a stat for receivers that wasn't just focused on touchdowns or fantasy points or whatever, but setups. Because Parker Washington is becoming the best scoring setup guy in the entire league right now where he's getting the big explosive play that puts the offense in scoring position. 10 points off of that just for him today on two plays.

54:08And look, these two defenses approach things differently. The Jaguars are going to change what they do from a week-to-week basis, but they're not a heavy blitz team in general, and they barely blitzed at all today. And I think from what I saw, it just makes the picture a little more muddy on Bo Nix where I know he didn't have a great second half. He threw a couple passes that could have been picked off and he did have one interception, right? But he also threw for 352 and had a number of really good throws and a number of just near misses. But that is the difference and it is the risk for Denver who blitzes so much.

54:42They blitzed 41 % of the time today and the Jaguars got enough pressure without having to do that, barely sending any blitzes. And you saw on the back end of Denver that sometimes the linebackers, sometimes it's like PJ lock as the safety or Jaday Barron had a big pass interference or some of those linebackers in coverage. And they were either missing tackles or giving up completions. Whereas the Jaguars are a little, a little more buttoned up in the back end. I know they had an injury to Jordan Lewis, which is something to keep an eye on.

55:12Jourdan Rodrigue:Jordan Lewis spells his name the best. um also one thing that i want to credit the broncos for on offense even though they ended up losing this game was they've really found something between bo nicks and rj harvey specifically it's a couple of skill guys here courtland sutton obviously is one of the most underrated receivers in the nfl i think especially this year but then also he rj harvey is is one of those sort of joker type players that sean payton just loves to have and he's been this way for this almost this entire season he's emerged into this and send it into this player but he's he's a threat in the run game he makes people miss tackles he's especially a threat how he was today in the short pass or screen game yards after catch plays that was where he was in a total weapon so great news for the jaguars who maintain that lead in the afc south and right now if they end the texans tie at the top the texans are going to win that tiebreaker so it's important this is a game they maybe weren't expected to win.

56:09The Broncos, on the other hand, at 12-3, there's no good losses, but they had just won, what, 11 straight games? And this wasn't that harmful. They are still the favorite by a decent amount compared to every other team to be the one seed. They have the Chiefs. We'll talk about them later on Christmas, but everything is still in front of the Broncos. They lose a little bit of wiggle room of maybe you won't be able to clinch before Week 18, but they still are in control of their own destiny. Despite that, you know, Sean Payton was all messed up after the game.

56:43Patrick Claybon:They were better on third downs. They won the turnover battle. They won the kicking battle.

56:50Nick Shook:And so now we have a, you know, short week to digest it. You can't spit it out. You got to swallow it.

57:00Jourdan Rodrigue:Oh, he said it. All right. He said it. Not me. but let's go to Dallas. Bunch formation to the right. Herbert to throw.

57:09Nick Shook:Taking a shot. There's McConkie. Caught. Touchdown. Chargers. Vlad McConkie. Sixth touchdown reception of the season. Justin Herbert, second of the day. 25th of the year. This one, 25 yards. Matt Money Smith just watching Justin Herbert go up and down the field with ease. That was in the first half. Chargers keep rolling. 34-17 over the Dallas Cowboys. Money's on KFI, by the way. Look, this was a great game if you like quarterback play. Dak Prescott played exceptionally well despite them only putting up 17 points in this game. There was not a punt until midway through the third quarter of this game.

57:56But what I like about this Chargers team is that, yeah, they can get in the ugly games like they did the last couple of weeks. But when presented with an opportunity against this Matt Iberflues defense, which was very static in the first half of this game, especially, they can also dice you up because they are very talented at the skill position. And it was glorious, Patrick, to watch Justin Herbert with time. Like, wow, with just like a normal offensive line performance. And because he's trying to make big plays, it still was a 40 % pressure rate. But their offensive line, despite losing their left tackle pretty early, Jamari Sawyer, which is a concern against better defenses, they played well enough.

58:34And it was a lot of him stepping up in the pocket and just dropping dimes all over the field.

58:38Patrick Claybon:And where when you see Justin Herbert with that opportunity, the space, the space, not just for him, but for the receivers in the past game to get away from each other and from defenders as plays develop. Because we had some concerns with them getting loose in the past couple of games against considerably better defenses. It's going to make it work. Quinton Johnston was looking like early season. Quinton Johnston had a great one hand catch. Lad McConkie. they flood the zone uh in the in the first half and there's there's trevon diggs and a whole lot of space over there uh for an easy lad touchdown where the you know the cowboys were like all year it's like oh the pressure to score every time and then eventually there's a fourth and 10 in the fourth quarter where they go for it and i guess dac's like all right but i don't know if it was shoddy's decision or dac's decision like there's no need for me to play any more football granted Harbaugh has Justin Herbert with with one good hand out oh my god late in the game the differences were striking yeah they took Dak out with about five minutes left a little under and down 17 it's fine you're you're not going to come back there three scores under five minutes but I don't think many coaches would take out their quarterback there whereas on the other side Herbert who was running so well in this game he had a huge run in general like his legs were massive.

59:57Right after he landed on his left hand and was clearly hurting on a long run, they call for a quarterback sneak like the next play. And then he had another run where they called for it. And they're just like, just like we get it.

1:00:11Jourdan Rodrigue:The dude is tough. You don't need to make him. You don't need to make him prove it to you every week. Holy shit. And then, but he does prove it to him. He goes over 300 yards. Toxic relationship. It was just nice to see them and here's how good these two quarterbacks were under pressure in this game. I had a feeling too I was like it wasn't all bad defense combined they were 17 for 20 under pressure in this game with about 9 yards per attempt like Dak almost played like a perfect game. The reason it bogged down in the second half you mentioned that fourth and 10 one of the few plays where the Chargers got quick pressure and then there was a fourth and one where they give it to the fullback Lipke and he gets stuffed and it was one of those where you had to score every drive.

1:00:55You said it. There was only like eight drives in this game for each team. It was not a lot of possessions because the offenses were so good, especially before halftime. And this Chargers team, 11 wins. Like for this team, I hate that they lost Jamari Sawyer in this game because I think he was a big upgrade at left tackle. So we'll see, like for instance, in that week 18 game, which now looks more likely to decide the AFC West and potentially the one seed. But the Chargers do have a big one against Houston next week. So that's a tough matchup if they are, again, down to their, like, fifth left tackle.

1:01:29Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, I will be there covering that game for the Athletic. I'm very excited. And because this is going to be another who can out-tough each other. You know, it's the Houston Texans defense and the Chargers offense. This was actually a near-record-setting Justin Herbert game in some facets. Per Next Jenny, the second most EPA generated through the game of any quarterback this season, also second most in his career. And under pressure, he was nine for 11 for 108 yards and a touchdown. So bring, come bring whatever hell and fury you have. He is tough enough. That makes sense. Cause EPA per play is, you know, it's, it's a, it's a rate stat.

1:02:10The second best game by a quarterback. Cause I wrote perfect game. I was like, what, what could be better?

1:02:16Jourdan Rodrigue:The second most EPA generated through a game of any quarterback this season. And it's really cool for them how Trey Harris is developing. He went four for 54. They are very even in terms of targets. You said early that he's got some stuff to him, Trey Harris. And even Keiondre Lambert-Smith, who's not out there a ton, he's made a really important play in each of the last three games. And there was a third and 10 where it was like, okay, that's actually bad defense. It's not just good offense, where they just kind of had to give up throw to Lambert-Smith, and he breaks a couple tackles to pick up the first down.

1:02:50And later that drive, that's where Herbert hits one of his beautiful touchdown throws. And so, yeah, Trevon Diggs struggled in this one. He also revealed afterwards, remember he had a concussion out of nowhere? He said it was from a light that he set up in his own house because he was trying to be Mr. Handyman that he was sitting at home later and the light fell from the ceiling.

1:03:15Jourdan Rodrigue:That's my worst nightmare. And hit him. like i don't like that's my worst nightmare of being like for example being asleep and you've got like art or something hanging over your bed and the reason you wake up or hopefully you wake up is because it's landed on you that's what i i actually i mean i have vivid nightmares about this

1:03:32Patrick Claybon:we've all been there you're you're leaning up against a step stool or you're on a wobbly ladder full extension yeah screw the light fixture in and you're like is that good i think it's good I haven't been there. I don't want to be up here anymore. I haven't been there. Team rent or team. Let your wife do all the handiwork, but dude, hire a task grabber digs. You got the money. Ridiculous. Dante Jackson and Sawyer and Kamani Vidal all got hurt in this game. And all of them. That will be worth watching during the week. They all potentially were serious, but it's hard to tell, obviously, at first watch.

1:04:10Let's move on. Let's go to the Bills and the Browns with the Chargers, you know, taking care of business like those AFC wildcard slots are starting to fill out. Bills still looking to try to win the division, but at least trying to clinch a playoff spot.

1:04:24Nick Shook:To the right side of the formation, here's the snap. Hand off to Cook, cuts it back through a hole, and he's off and cuts it back again into the secondary. 25-20, cuts it near side. 10-5, James Cook is in the kitchen. What a run by Cook, 44 yards to the end zone. James Cook. Maybe the fantasy pick of the year. I mean, Jackson Smith and Jigwas got to be up close, But man, James Cook, if you took him in like the second or third round, he is bringing you home. And he is bringing this Buffalo Bills team home. And by that, I mean the playoffs. While all the other big time quarterbacks are struggling here, the Bills are winning a lot of games.

1:05:06And they're doing it by controlling the ground game. Patrick, on a day Josh Allen didn't have a ton of passing yards. They still hang on to win 23 to 20 against a game Browns outfit.

1:05:19Patrick Claybon:Yes, in a game where Josh Allen and the Bills had to come from behind. They started that game with a touchdown pass to Harold Fannin Jr., made a nice move, navigating traffic, has to make a move on Bosa in the backfield to actually get open for Shadour Sanders for the touchdown reception. And the Browns, no calamitous errors on special teams. They play relatively solid defense other than this rush defense, which has been a problem down the stretch for Cleveland, like in the middle parts of the season, like through weeks of 5 through 12. the Browns a stout run defense you could not run the ball the Cleveland Browns James Cook had seven yards a carry uh in this game including that big 44 yarder uh that that we just heard there or soft shout out to the folks watching on YouTube where you know over and over again the Browns continued to make this a game and then late in this game the Bills pass rush um really dominant in taking over Shador Sanders had to take uh took two sacks ultimately before what looked like was initially a safety, called a safety on the field.

1:06:21Patrick Claybon:Turns out he threw the ball at the one-yard line. So they had just gotten the ball back from the Buffalo Bills as Sean McDermott decided to eschew a six-point lead in favor of going for a touchdown. Instead of going for a field goal, they would have made it a six-point game. They tried to end it right there. Give Cleveland a little bit of hope, but the pass rush shuts it down. And the Browns fall once again. Also lose Quinshawn Judkins for the season. He's got torn ligaments in his ankle as well as a broken leg and a rough one for a guy who had a promising rookie season after starting late. I hate that so much.

1:06:53I've talked about how much I really am impressed by him, and that's a tough recovery. You hate to see that. Yeah, that fourth down play with Dawson Knox looks like he should have had it, but the sun is in his eyes. That would have put them up 10, but you give credit to the Bills defense, yeah, for at least shutting the door enough. Greg Russo had nine pressures in this game and they matched really the Browns pass rush, maybe even better. The Browns only had one quick pass rush or quick pressure the entire game. The Bills had five and Miles Garrett had half a sack, Jordan, on a play we were really enjoying watching all the replays of throughout the day.

1:07:34Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, it was a Mason Graham party foul a little but we're watching it right here on the screen. So Josh Allen's scrambling and he gets technically gets sacked. It's okay. Who is going to touch him first? And it happened to be Mason Graham. Yes. Josh Allen kind of goes to the ground autonomously here or trips or he, I just think he doesn't want his, I don't, I don't think he wants to be in. He got hurt on the play. He had an x-ray after that play. And I don't think he wanted to be, he talked about it this week. I don't think he really had wanted to be in the history books here, but it was okay.

1:08:10Jourdan Rodrigue:He's on the ground. Whoever touches the quarterback first gets credit for the sack. And instead of having, you know, Miles Garrett reach out and just Mason Graham goes, touched him down. And so Mason gets credit. So he's still half a sack away. Yes. And eventually the score decided since Garrett kind of forced Alan down that he gets half the sack and Graham break it. on a lame-ass play like that. No, I'm glad it happened that way. That was very rookie year, Josh Allen, by the way. Just like, what are you doing, bro? That's one of the worst plays anyone made all year.

1:08:43Patrick Claybon:Well, I think if it's not 95 there, Josh Allen might continue towards the sideline, but he turns around and sees that it's Myles Garrett in defense of the scorekeeper. I understand because Josh Allen continues in that direction with 99 % of defensive players. He sees Myles Garrett and he's like, oh, whatever's going on behind me, which I'm not looking at, is better than what I'm seeing.

1:09:04Jourdan Rodrigue:Don't be the record. Yeah, I like actually because now he's half a sack away from tying, but a full clean sack away from winning. So I'm thinking I want this Andrew Siciliano record-breaking sack call like air. Oh, that's good. I want it in the 16th game. And I don't want it to be a tie and then maybe he breaks it with a half a sack or it's the tie and then the break. Now it's going to be clean if it actually happens. Let's see. if Miles Garrett can get it done. I don't know what to think about the Bills sometimes this season. I can tell you what it was. Yeah. Statistically speaking, it was when Sean McDermott stopped wearing glasses.

1:09:46Okay.

1:09:47Jourdan Rodrigue:Greg became three times the podcaster he already was when he started wearing the glasses, you know, and he was already pretty good, you know. You've taken your game to elite levels wearing the glasses. Sean McDermott just had to take off the glasses. It's statistic. They're tracking stats. The only reason I started wearing my glasses because I had a hole burned in my eye from my contact lens, but I'm going back to the contact soon. The Bills have won 11 games, and they are plus 90 scoring differential on the season, which is very good and better than some other Bills teams. So yeah, it doesn't look great in terms of the passing game, but they are still a very good team and right in the mix.

1:10:22Still in the AFC East, we mentioned the Jaguars earlier winning early. In the late window, the Texans had what we thought was going to be a layup to keep pace in the AFC South.

1:10:34Nick Shook:Split backs for CJ, 38 at the Raider 37. Here's the snap. Here's the blitz. Stroud fires downfield to his left. And caught! Along the sideline, Nico Collins. The dagger at the 13-yard line. Ball game! Oh, I love a dagger from Mark Vandermeer. K-I-L-T. CJ Stroud and Nico Collins were struggling for much of the game. but when they needed to drive late, they got a little help from a pass interference call. It wasn't as bad as Greg is making this out. No, I actually think it was good veteran offensive play by Nico Collins who drew two key pass interferences late in this game where he made the officials make a call on a ball that I did not think was catchable and I didn't really think it was pass interference but from the angle the official was at, You know, it's tough to tell who started the contact.

1:11:31Jourdan Rodrigue:They just ran into each other's arms. Exactly. The Texans hold on to beat the Raiders 23 to 21 in a game where they get a pick six out of their defense. So that means the Texans offense was kind of back in scary land and were struggling really all day until those last few drives against the Raiders. Yeah. And what a gorgeous, like body contorting interception it was from my favorite defense in the NFL. And Derek Stingley returned it like it was just like slicing a knife through a stick of butter, honestly. And it was, they, the Texans were back in a big way offensively to two years ago through last week.

1:12:19Jourdan Rodrigue:And now have reverted back to what we've seen a lot of their sort of start, stop, you know, failure to sustain. Can't, you know, piece together, put together these drives that they've started to find success from against other teams. And certainly you thought against the Raiders, the try stuff team, the try stuff against team, you thought that it would go a little bit differently. they got the win. Maybe they were and it was these long yardage situations because the run game was just awful. 17 % design success rate. They missed having Woody Marks although I like Jawan Jordan. I think he's a good player.

1:12:53Nick Chubb had a big run in this game but for the most part it was a lot of stuff near the line of scrimmage and CJ Stroud. I love watching CJ Stroud and when he's on and in rhythm he's incredible. Sometimes he is off and sometimes when he's off He's really off and you could almost see him in his head. I think he started this game three for nine and some of them were just open throws that he was missing. And they were like struggling to complete balls on, on the linebackers of the Raiders, which no one does. There was a two play sequence where Jamal Adams had maybe the hit stick of the year. It reminded me of like a jacked up play from the nineties.

1:13:27And then Max Crosby had a four yard tackle for loss and they were going absolutely nuts on the sideline. This is why it's good to have someone assigned to each game. because there was a moment where Pete Carroll comes over and they're only winning 14 to 13. And Pete Carroll is over trying to get everyone into it. And Alandon Roberts sees Pete getting into it. And Alandon Roberts loves that energy. And he gives Pete a very aggressive slap on the ass there. And I love that. They're all stunting on the sideline. The score was 14 to 13 mid third quarters. And they're celebrating like they won the Super Bowl.

1:14:00Jourdan Rodrigue:I thought that Pete Carroll. It was their Super Bowl. It was their first lead since week 11. since mid-November. I thought Pete Carroll was just going to go into a burst of dust. He worked out. At that point, it was a very aggressive butt slap. It wasn't the best Texans game either. They're not on defense. They're not quite the same without Aziz Alshair, and they did give up some big plays. Let's give some love to Ashton Gentry, who goes for 128 yards on the ground, adds a 60-yard touchdown through the air. So if you stuck with him this whole season and you drafted him early and the rest of your team was good enough to make it this far, then you were big time rewarded in week 16.

1:14:40Nick Shook:Defensive backs coaches done a great job with helping him convert and make him a playmaker from the nickel spot. Third and six. Gentry down the field. He's open. He's got it at the 30. Gentry stiff arm. Stays on his feet. Touchdown. What a play by the rookie. Ashton Gentry. A 60 yard touchdown. That celebration. I need it. I love it. I don't need it. Great job. Man, I enjoyed seeing Gino throw a couple of times in this game. A bad pick six, but after that, played quite well in this game. Texans got to play better next week in this matchup against the Chargers. All right, let's take a break. We've set it up.

1:15:23NFC playoff picture. AFC playoff picture. And now we got the rest. And then a big time Sunday night football game. Don't go anywhere. And I'm talking to not just the listeners, but Jordan and Patrick. you got more games to go.

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1:20:03He gets it done, and the Bengals get a 40-burger. That was part of four touchdown passes from Joe Burrow. They win 45 to 21 over the Dolphins. And Jordan, I know that was during a succession of points just being rained down upon Miami.

1:20:21Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, you almost kept thinking, oh, Miami can't turn it over again, can they? And then they did. This game went to halftime 17 to 14 with the Bengals up. Quinn Ewers, who is the quarterback for the Dolphins in this game, was actually having a decent game to that point. He put together a really nice drive in the second quarter. Joe Burrow was starting to heat up too into like sort of magical status. And so we were about to potentially start getting our hopes up that this could be a fun shootout points game. But in the third quarter, the Dolphins turned it over four consecutive times. Again, in the third quarter alone, the Dolphins turned it over four consecutive times.

1:20:57Jourdan Rodrigue:First, Miami tight end Greg Dolchitz fumbled. Cincinnati scored off the recovery. Second, Quinn Ewers scored after, excuse me, a couple plays after the recovery. Second, Quinn Ewers was intercepted on a tipped pass. Thought the pass was fine. Just a really great play made by the defender. And then they scored. Third, turnover on downs. Set up an absolutely incredible Jamar chase in double coverage. And then the Bengals scored another touchdown. Fourth, an interception by Jalen Davis. Mike Gesicki's touchdown, which he just listened to on the drive, that continued into the fourth quarter. And they were up 45-14 early in the fourth.

1:21:32Jourdan Rodrigue:I have nothing more to say about this. Oh, wow. I will then. I mean, I do, but my God, I just, I wrote woo man in my notes. Yeah, that's, it was a lot. That's, that's about it. And you can't blame yours for most of that. Look, their defense had been playing pretty well until they gave up four straight touchdowns to Aaron Rodgers. And then they had this game and it's just not looking great for what's going on in Miami. But I think it's great that T Higgins, a very classic T Higgins game that you look and it's just three for 53 for in one touchdown you're like oh that's that's not amazing and yet like the 35 yarder he's just better than anyone in the nfl at mossing people and jumping and then the touchdown was a great catch by him too so it was it was how this team was supposed to look it's like hey can you pay way too much money for gosicki to come back oh sure okay and then gosicki chase brown higgins chase like this is the vision of the fantasy bengals chase brown had a rushing touchdown and two receiving touchdowns.

1:22:34Jourdan Rodrigue:I mean, he went off this game.

1:22:36Patrick Claybon:It's been great. Yeah, and you see, like, fully coming to fruition, as Greg pointed out.

1:22:41Jourdan Rodrigue:Just in time, right? Yeah. Right?

1:22:43Patrick Claybon:For the end of the season, but at least time for Joe Burrow to have some fun. We also saw, like, Jamar Chase streaking wide open for what would have been a touchdown Burrow with a nasty underthrow, but because it's Jamar Chase and it's the 2025 Dolphins, stops, comes back, and goes up and over two defenders where you really see, like, the difference in the skill position, guys. where it's a lot like the Dallas Cowboys, where they have that difference in the skill position guys on offense, but the rest of the team is so bad where they're not relevant. It comes on a day where Ian Rappaport could help to confirm what seems obvious, which is that Zach Taylor does not seem like he's in any trouble.

1:23:21Two years to go, but wins like this make him rest even easier. They are 5-10. The Dolphins fall to 6-9. The Bengals are still in the top 10 in terms of tank-a-thon. They are at the ninth pick right now, so they could have a premium draft pick. And yes, on Joe Burrow watch, he did say after the game, I'm having fun playing football. This is what I came back for. I was not having fun not playing football. So there is your Joe Burrow, is he happy section of the week. You know what he should be happy about, by the way, is Amarius Mims is turning into one of the better left tackles in the league. So that's been a nice development story for the Bengals.

1:23:57Let's go to New Orleans, where we're witnessing maybe the biggest development story of the end of this season at quarterback, at least.

1:24:04Nick Shook:Shucks in the shot, young, takes the snap, looks to his right for the end. And he's wide open. Chris Olave. Touchdown for Chris Olave. That's number seven for him. It's also number seven for Tyler Shuck. He now passes Archie Manning for the rookie quarterback touchdown pass record. Hey, Mike Haas. We're hearing from him every week on WWL. Saints win 26 to 9. Patrick, it was close for a while, but you can only hold Tyler Shuck down for so long.

1:24:44Patrick Claybon:Yeah, they get field goals in a game where Tyler Shuck threw the ball 49 times. And if not for some Jets ineptitude, that number's going up even considerably higher. We had Taysom Hill coming in. It was pretty much Coach Moore calling stuff where that's the status of the Jets as they're in Raiders territory here. But 16 targets for Chris Olave, including that touchdown. He had another one, had 148 yards with the edge. Juan Johnson had eight catches for 89 yards. And yeah, this Saints team didn't really do a whole lot on the ground, able to just kind of will it out and wait for the Jets to fall apart, which the Jets did as they have all season.

1:25:25So everyone's kind of sick of Taysom Hill. And we've had moments of three years now here. No, it depends. I had a journey was sick of them for a while, then started to truly appreciate him. And now I'm a little back to sick of them.

1:25:37Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, I'm good. But I mean, it is kind of incredible. They're leading rusher today with 42 yards by a good amount. And he catches four passes for 36 yards. They're just doing stuff. And if this is the final couple games for Taysom Hill in a Saints uniform or in the NFL, I think it might be. It is pretty cool to have a moment like this at home.

1:25:59Nick Shook:Taysom Hill is a quarterback. Third and five going for the end zone. Wide open. Chris Olave. Taysom Hill put a bow on that gift for Christmas. Taysom Hill touchdown pass to Chris Olave. First player in the Super Bowl era to have a thousand yards receiving a thousand yards rushing and a thousand yards passing in his career. He literally is one of one. So, yes. Salute you. Salute to Taysom Hill. Do you know what?

1:26:30Jourdan Rodrigue:I'm so excited about you guys. Charlie Smith? Yes. But for next year, when we're basically going to get the FedEx package pamphlets that the Jacksonville Jaguars are using right now in their press conferences slash everybody's using to talk about the Jacksonville Jaguars. Packaged up and gift wrapped and shipped off to New Orleans so that after every game we can hear the New Orleans Saints talking about how nobody is actually paying attention to them. Oh, they're going to be that team. Nobody saw them coming and nobody's talking about them and have all the national media and talking heads talk about how nobody's nobody's really talking about these guys.

1:27:08Jourdan Rodrigue:But expand your horizons. We're talking about them. Everybody's talking about these feisty teams that are on the rise. And the New Orleans Saints are one of those feisty teams on the rise. They've got a defense playing well. They've got a quarterback playing really well. They've got young pieces on in every phase. They got an Irish kicker. You know, this is this is like where I'm marking it down. It's December 21st. People are talking about this. OK, yeah. If they say that next year and good job by you. Veteran podcast. She had a point that she wishes she had made back in the Jaguars game and she found a way to jam it in here.

1:27:43I've done that a lot of times over the years. And it's it's always probably unnecessary. Yet it feels good. You got it in. And it was a good point. And now we can play that. Literally keep that for next year. assuming we're all around. Keep that for next year and we'll play that when the Saints are winning some games. Yeah, their Irish kicker Charlie Smith was awesome. I mean, Tyler Shook had a dime that was actually had a dime that was dropped by Olave. Cam Jordan got to 130 sacks for his career passing Ricky Jackson of the Saints who's in the Hall of Fame. Two sacks today up to eight and a half here.

1:28:20Patrick Claybon:And hit a couple of contract incentives that are going to get out. I was wondering because I knew he was excited to get like a couple sacks, but the extra celebration, the celebration was enormous.

1:28:30Jourdan Rodrigue:Jonas Sanker, the hive. And he had an interception. You know who hasn't had an interception this year? Who's that? The New York Jets. Oh, bummer.

1:28:39Patrick Claybon:Isn't that crazy? Quanta Stiggers got another fumble recovery. So they got that today. 461 passes the Jets have defended this year. Zero interceptions. they are two games away from setting a record that will stand for all of time. It could not be possibly beaten. It's never happened before. This is where I wish, you know, and they could do it with extra games. It's kind of the flip side of the seven. Like they're really going to earn this if they do 17 games of no interceptions and shout out to the fans there. I've been talking about how the atmosphere and stuff there is kind of the opposite. They are chanting who dat going crazy.

1:29:16They are really into Tyler Shuck. This is best case. scenario. The second best fan performance of the day, I think by the Saints. Congratulations.

1:29:26Jourdan Rodrigue:And I will say it does go to show how much we all love and cherish Nick Shook. Oh, yes. Because about three times a week, one or multiple members of this group says Tyler Shook instead of Tyler Shook. So good job, Nick Shook. You're in our heads. You were supposed to ask me who did have the best fan performance of the day. I said the second. Well, Greg, since you brought up the second best fan performance,

1:29:48Patrick Claybon:I do want to know. Shout out to Jerry Madeline teaching me about on-ramp. Who had the best? It was the Chargers fans who in AT &T Stadium, the fan base that doesn't get any love is chanting, let's go Chargers, let's go Chargers. And Derwin James is running through all the Chargers fans who kind of were on the field like late in the game, like high-fiving and stuff. It was the Chargers fans there. And you know what that was? What's that? Jamming in a point from earlier in the show that I forgot about. Here we go. Well, you know, So the rule is, Greg, if you hear an opposing fan base make noise, you can only comment on it if it happens across the street at SoFi Stadium, where it is the only place, apparently, where other fans come to watch football.

1:30:32Let's talk about a fan base who has been beleaguered and deserved to have a game where they saw their young quarterback talk about development put in a clean, dominant performance. Yes, the Tennessee Titans won in a blowout today.

1:30:48Nick Shook:Pacheco moves back a yard in the end zone. Kareem Hunt is back there. And it's Hunt that'll get it. And Hunt is safety. That is a safety. Okay. Jeff Simmons gets the safety in the back of the end zone. And the Titans score first. It's 2-0. That's a hell yeah 2-0. Jeff Simmons blowing up offensive linemen. he just whipped right around coach Esa Paule the left tackle and Hunt had no chance Dave McGinnis the color man man this is what the lack of Titans wins over the last few years has robbed us from he does a great job he's with Taylor Zarzur on WG FX the Titans win 26 to 9 so a 0-0 scoreless tie there early in the second quarter and I'm thinking I want that Jeffrey Simmons safety as the highlight that's going to be the decisive play and it wasn't decisive.

1:31:46And yet Jeffrey Simmons is so freaking awesome. I just wanted to give him the honor of a highlight. 26 to nine, the Titans win in a game where they rack up almost 400 yards of offense in the end. And they only give up 133 and nine first downs to the Kansas City Chiefs who, yes, lost Gardner Minshew to what they fear is a torn ACL. Five drives into this game. But I got to say, Gardner Minshew was a problem for them playing before he got hurt. And the offense actually got a little better after he left. But how about a normal, really good, clean game by the Tennessee Titans and their quarterback?

1:32:26Jourdan Rodrigue:Creditable, even. Better, better. This was better. You know what? Better. All Jeffrey Simmons does is score freaking points, guys. All he does is make pointed comments that alert the media that the head coach is about to be fired and get points. And he's all out of head coaches who are going to be fired. That man is getting points. And he was on the field and they called the penalty on him for not being ineligible. And then they called him the legal formation. And the replay showed he clearly waved his hand, pointed at the official, did everything. And they took points off the board for the poor Titans because of a Jeffrey Simmons penalty.

1:33:02He was acting as like a decoy on offense and it absolutely worked. Ultimately, it didn't matter because Tajay Spears got a touchdown there. He's been playing really well. It goes over a hundred yards from scrimmage, had a really good catch and run. And yeah, the biggest takeaway for me in this game, Patrick, I'm not sure how many, you know, like bad-ass throws you got to see of cam word. Cause you were, you were on television hosting a game day live, but did you see, I'm not going to make it a throw the year. Well, it depends how many candidates we have. And you can just watch it. We don't need to listen to the sound.

1:33:35But him to Chimery Dike during this game was really awesome. And the thing I liked in this game, and the thing I liked about this play was all of his other Throw of the Year nominees are rolling right, and this is him rolling left.

1:33:48Jourdan Rodrigue:Throwing into the shadow, too, toward the sideline. That's beautiful. It is so good. He's got two now, doesn't he? Two nominations. Oh, he's got five. He's got several. The rest of the game, though, he had a lot of really good just on time in rhythm throws from the pocket to Io Manor to. DK and the head coaching staff. I've been on Mike McCoy all year. Hell, let's give them another highlight. Why not? They almost look like they had like a Kansas City Chiefs like trick play to Okonkwo for a touchdown.

1:34:21Nick Shook:Cam takes a shotgun snap, fakes the handoff and sets off a shovel pass, and Chig Akonkwo gets to the goal line, and that is a Titans touchdown. That was sweet.

1:34:34Jourdan Rodrigue:Hello, Mike McDaniel.

1:34:36Nick Shook:Chig Akonkwo on a shovel pass. Comes back to the middle of the formation. That is Chig's first touchdown of the season, his seventh of his NFL career. Counts as a catch, too. You got to do a 360 spin around fake pitch to the wide receiver, shovel pass to the tight. That's Andy Reid's move. I mean, that is an Andy Reid type of play. And they're doing it with the great one on the sideline.

1:35:04Patrick Claybon:It was a nice sleight of hand because, yes, I'm calling that highlight on game day live. And I thought he hands the ball off to Chico Conkwo. I didn't even see where the ball was looking from the sideline angle. So I know the Chiefs were struggling to see it. And, yeah, he just keeps making plays. and, you know, got to get more Jeffrey Simmons reps on offense. Make this team a little more.

1:35:24Jourdan Rodrigue:Build the whole plane out of Jeffrey Simmons.

1:35:25Patrick Claybon:Yes, because it's going to work. It was tough to watch the Chiefs in the first game without Patrick Mahomes. Man, Travis Kelsey, four targets, six yards. Minshew leaves. And like I said, when he left, they had two first downs and negative two points because they had taken that safety when he was under center. and yeah, on Christmas, we're going to have Chris Aludekun playing quarterback for the Chiefs.

1:35:54Jourdan Rodrigue:Nailed it. Thank you. And it's a tough name to pronounce. I don't know if I did name it. I don't think I did nail it.

1:36:01Patrick Claybon:It depends because the phonetics, because he transferred to South Dakota State. Was it Samford for a while? Shout out to the Bulldogs. You get Oladokun and some spots and Aludekun and others and we have to get to Chris. Yeah. We're going to have a lot of opportunity to spend time with him.

1:36:15Jourdan Rodrigue:Depending on the draw. Yes. No, I think it is Oladokun who looked okay for a third string quarterback for a while and was making some plays out of structure, but eventually looked like a third string quarterback. And they just don't have enough playmakers. No Rishi Rice, not much of a running game. And for any Chiefs fans watching this too, like I thought Steve Spagnuolo and the defense might be like up for the challenge. And they threw a lot of cam word early and they were not up for the challenge. They got steamrolled in the second half of this game. I'm going to say goodbye to you guys, but we're actually not taking a break.

1:36:49It's going to be a rare sleight of hand where I say goodbye to the two of you and we welcome in Nick Shook without a single break. Now get out of here quickly. Go.

1:36:59Nick Shook:Harrison Smith cheats to the line of scrimmage. Now he backs off. Dart on fourth down. Back to pass. He's sacked by Andrew Van Dinko. Oh, and the Vikings have turned over the New York Giants on downs. Some things in life you can just count on. And that's Paul Allen delivering with a big time call when Andrew Van Ginkle delivers a big time sack to end the Giants' chances in a 16 to 13 victory for the New York. Nope, it's the Minnesota Vikings who won this game despite losing their quarterback, but it was more about the defense, wasn't it, Chuck? A slight hand all over the place here. You just pull a fast one on our listeners again.

1:37:47Nick Shook:Yeah, it was all about the defense. Let me just illustrate this to you real quick. One stat, me like success rate, right? Yes. The Giants drop back success rate today was 10.5%. Oh my God. That is what a Brian Flores defense can do to a rookie quarterback. Jackson Dart had no idea what to do against this defense. Even when he was able to get rid of the ball, oftentimes it came up short. The Vikings didn't even have to do very much offensively. J.J. McCarthy wasn't very great in the first half. He ends up leaving with an injury. Max Brosmer comes in. He has to make like one completion of significance.

1:38:14Nick Shook:They kick a couple of field goals. It's over. You sack dart again. Vikings win. That's pretty much the story of this game. The Giants had 13 yards passing. You don't see that too often. It's actually a bottom five total in the last five years. I was like, I'm surprised there was, you know, lesser ones than that. but you remember there was negative yardage in that horrific Jets game. So it's happened. The Giants, by the way, three of the worst five performances of the last five years. It's the Giants offense. So there's the common factor there. And this Vikings defense has been playing great down the stretch.

1:38:53The Vikings have gotten to seven and eight. So I'm not saying they should be given any flowers, but they kind of are ending up closer to where people thought they were going to be in the first place, despite not having a quarterback consistently playing well.

1:39:06Nick Shook:Yeah. And that's fair. And my biggest concern with them going forward is like, you see JJ McCarthy take some small steps forward. They know that he's got a lot to work on in the off season, but I think about, I don't want to call it fragility, but a lack of durability so far, he leaves with another injury today. That's the fourth time an injury has cost him some sort of time, whether it was the following game, or it was an injury that occurred after a game or time in a game. This is the first time he left during a game, right? So as you go into next year with this positive momentum that you've built and your, your defense is playing well, despite losing a couple of guys, you know, Jonathan Grenard being one of them.

1:39:39Nick Shook:I still worry like they have to find a quality backup for next year just to keep themselves stable because that is what tanked this season for them was not having consistent quarterback play. Once McCarthy went down. Now we're watching this. If you're watching on YouTube, McCarthy had a pass that was tipped and picked off a return for a touchdown. This was negated by Abdul Carter lining up off sides. Abdul Carter, who had a fantastic day, by the way, that's how bad things are for the giants, but it's also that kind of just indicates how the Vikings really weren't that great. Watch the tackle attempt by JJ McCarthy.

1:40:11I love the effort. He sprinted after the play. He has no chance and he does another somersault just running down the field. He does another somersault. Any Eagle eye fans out there watching that was a, that was an amazing moment in this game. He did have about four or five drops shook in this game. Although a lot of them were heaters like that one, like that one where I, That play to me is a little on JJ and certainly on even maybe more on, on Naylor too. So it's unfortunate. He left with an injury that happened on a screen pass where he shows a little bit of a lack of awareness. I get that the screen pass is defended and maybe you can get on O 'Connell or, but you got to just dirt that ball and be aware that pressure is coming.

1:40:53And he gets absolutely crushed by Brian Burns on that play. And hopefully that's not the end of his season. We'll see. We could have Max Brosmer, Chris Oludekun, and Josh Johnson all playing on Christmas. That's crazy.

1:41:09Nick Shook:I feel like we're one more away from getting another random quarterback that's going to play. I mean, we're in the deep. We're deep in the winter, baby. Don't say it. Some injuries in this game just to know about. Ryan Kelly, who's had a long, good career, has had concussion problems over the last few years, left with a concussion that's at least his third this season. you have to wonder about his future in general. Andrew Thomas, the great left tackle for the Giants, left with a hamstring injury here. And then Christian Derrissaw and Jonathan Grenard, just kind of closing the book on them for the season, were placed on injured reserve since we last talked.

1:41:44So they're without many of their best players, but they do find a way to get a victory. Let's go to Arizona, where the Cardinals have not been able to get in the win column for a long time.

1:41:56Nick Shook:London to the right, Robinson's the running back. Here's the third down play. Cousins looks. Coming open is Pitts. Touchdown Atlanta. He crossed the line. Came right across the field at the goal line. And Kirk Cousins put it right on the eight for the touchdown. Kirk Cousins. Kyle Pitts. They make beautiful music together, Shook. Another seven-catch game here for Kyle Pitts. He gets back in the end zone. Bajon Robinson's doing Bajon Robinson things. and they come back from a 13 to three deficit to beat the Arizona Cardinals. The Atlanta Falcons are six and nine on the season. The Cardinals are three and 12.

1:42:38Why did you pick Pitt as your highlight for the game?

1:42:41Nick Shook:It was probably the most satisfying highlight of the game. Other than Michael Wilson's absurd touchdown catch. I can't remember who it was. Chris, who was the receiver for play who played for Seattle in the Super Bowl, who made an incredible catch down the sideline where it just like bounced off of like his midsection and he caught it while he was already falling to the ground i think it was super bowl what 42 or not 42 somewhere around there right seahawks patriots he made a catch very similar to this that was the only touchdown of the day for the cardinals we're watching it right now watching on youtube it was fantastic it was absurd he has no control of the ball it just kind of ends up between his legs and he is aware enough to pinch his thighs together and that's how he gains possession of the football in the end zone it was outrageous but that was the that was the peak of the hardnels offensive performance for the day when it came to getting the end zone because otherwise they had to settle for fuel goals and and meanwhile kirk cousins he doesn't throw for 350 but he keeps this offense going which is why i like the pitts highlight because pitts didn't have any spectacular plays but that touchdown was pretty pivotal in their efforts to come back and take a lead and eventually take a step ahead but make no mistake greg the story of the day is our favorite guy wearing a Falcons uniform.

1:43:47Nick Shook:It's Bijan Robinson. What? I mean, they leaned on him. They leaned on him for 168 scrimmage yards. I mean, this is a guy who, I think that was on 23 touches. This is a guy who just powers this offense, running, passing, and, you know, running, receiving. He was actually just as effective as a receiver as he was a runner today. I mean, this is, if you get him the ball this often and he produces their, their chances of winning are just going to go up and it makes Kirk Cousins job easier. And it allows him to just kind of dink and dunk down the field. And that's how you end up with Kyle Pitts, I like, because the rest is just Bijan carrying the way.

1:44:17The receiver I think you're talking about from the Seahawks, by the way, is Chris Matthews. Matthews, yeah. Who had 109 yards in a Super Bowl. I mean, Russell Wilson and that team deserves some credit. It was him and Ricardo Lockett getting it done, going head-to-head with Tom Brady and a couple yards away from getting it done. Bijan Robinson now has over 2 ,000 yards from scrimmage. in 15 games. I mean, that is outrageous for the season. And all the games count equal, but you get me a guy who can just keep on putting up 150 to 200 every single week during the fantasy playoffs. And, you know, I love you a little more.

1:44:58So shout out to Bajan, who's just last performing. Falcon to do that,

1:45:02Nick Shook:by the way, Greg. Yes. Jamal Anderson, 1998. Doing a little dirty bird, you know. Let's go. I don't know what I was doing. I don't think the box is big enough for me to properly do it, but you know what I'm saying? Some injuries just to point out on what was a nightmare game for the Arizona Cardinals. It's really sad to see like the last thing you want to see in this game is injuries, especially serious injuries, potentially to young players and Walter Nolan left on a cart that looked like a serious injury. He was, he was very emotional and Garrett Williams, they're very good. Second year cornerback also left with what they're calling an Achilles.

1:45:40injury. That looked very serious. Nolan is their first round pick from this year and had really flashed when he was on the field. So just really unfortunate. And we'll see. Ian Rapport reported that he thinks Jonathan Gannon is more likely to be safe than not. I have my doubts just based on logic and how these games are going. Josh Sweat also got hurt in this game. Yeah.

1:46:03Nick Shook:And that was the big issue for me, I think, is just if you look at this Cardinals team through the course of this season they have battled for Jonathan Gannon their their effort has always been there it's just they have weathered so many personnel losses and today was just another example of that sweat like you mentioned Nolan like you mentioned even Buda Baker left for a little bit before coming back Marvis Harrison comes back from a two-week absence and he only plays 50 percent of snaps and is invisible until the fourth quarter they have gone through it in terms of personnel losses and I just and maybe this is just wishful thinking for me but I think if they were a fully healthy or close to fully healthy team they would be better than three and twelve they were once two and one.

1:46:36Exactly. And then the next two games, they lost at the buzzard of the 49ers. Good team. And to the Seahawks by three points. Oh, that's right. They were 2-0 at one point. They lost. That is really crazy that they have had this long of a losing streak. Eventually they get that third win, 3-5. But yeah, they've lost seven straight since. Rough season for Arizona. Let's talk about two teams that are more in the mix. We're going to take one final break and we're going to finish off this week 16 recap with the big Sunday nighter, Ravens and Patriots.

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1:50:43Nick Shook:And at more than 60 locations, they've even installed full-size soccer goals. so you can try to hit golf balls right into the net. And every match all summer long will be on throughout the venue. So it's a great place to watch with friends, hang out, compete a little bit, and enjoy the atmosphere. And if you want to keep the fun going all summer, you can get the Topgolf Summer Fun Pass, which lets you play every single day and bring up to five guests every visit. Get yours now at topgolf.com slash fun pass. Summer hits different at Topgolf. Number 21, Stevenson bouncing outside, Ramondre Stevenson with a block by Williams to the end zone!

1:51:27Nick Shook:The Patriots take the lead! Touchdown New England! He's had a terrific night in a variety of areas, and without Travion Henderson out with injury, Ramondre Stevenson steps up and gives the Pats the lead. Some of the Patriots fans have made the trip,

1:51:47Patrick Claybon:chanting MVP for Drake May.

1:51:52A rare treat where we get to hear from Mike Tirico on NBC calling Ramondre Stevenson's go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter. Patriots come back from double digits in the final frame to win 28-24. And yes, it's Ramondre finishing it up. But as you heard from those fans who traveled for the game, Drake may make it a statement has a season high in yardage, 380 yards and a couple touchdowns. His legs also important. He gets the game finishing scramble with a stylish slide a la Justin Herber and the Patriots escape the Ravens 28 to 24 in a game that saw them lose Lamar Jackson at halftime. shook.

1:52:43This game had so much going on, but what were you thinking as the Patriots pulled out that fourth quarter comeback? What was most impressive to you?

1:52:52Nick Shook:I think I'll take it a step further back and I'll go to when the Ravens took a 24 to 13 lead with a very dominant drive, a dominant performance by Derek Henry in that drive. It finishes with a two yard run, but he was just knifing through the defense. I thought, Hmm, you know what? This is a playoff like environment. This looks like the Ravens of old. They have the mojo back in M &T Bank Stadium. And I don't know if the Patriots are cut out for an environment like that. And what did they properly do? They responded by mounting one heck of a comeback. It kind of starts with Drake May peppering the field with passes before hitting Kyle Williams on a bomb of a touchdown, a spectacular throw and catch that gives them new hope.

1:53:28Nick Shook:And then they get the stop that they desperately need. And then it's all Drake May converting a fourth and two to Stefan Diggs, who was fired up the whole night. it's Drake may getting them down in position and they're doing everything. They convert, they win the game with the Ramondre Stevenson touchdown running. Like you said, that slide and it, and that moment I thought, wow, I can't believe I ever questioned them. My team. I feel like in that moment, he probably had a thought in the sideline where he was like, all right, we're going to see what my guys are made of right now. Cause this is the biggest moment of adversity we faced all year.

1:53:56Nick Shook:And they showed him that they are ready for it. I mean, I thought they were, they were cooked. Henry goes for 128 yards and in two touchdowns, Zay Flowers has that touchdown run. And so even though Lamar gets the back injury, you're thinking, okay, Patriots, we're going to win this game. It's not like their defense played well. I mean, the Ravens missed a field goal, then scored two straight touchdowns with Tyler Huntley. And then the Patriots give them great field position after a failed fake punt where the Ravens had it really well defended. But it's just ugly when you have a fake that is that well defended.

1:54:31Nick Shook:And it was a strange call too. I didn't really like the call, especially with Tyler Huntley at quarterback to give them the short field that they did. But you mentioned the Kyle Williams throw. And I'm not saying this was an MVP moment, Chuck, but it might be a second team all pro moment. And it might be, hey, there's two weeks left still. It's Sunday night football. The door is going to just stay open for a couple more weeks type of moment. Gain and not on the catch by Diggs. First and 10 shotgun snap made back. going to take a shot deep down the right side for Kyle Williams. And he makes the catch.

1:55:07Nick Shook:Was he inbounds? Yes. Touchdown Patriots. Drake made a Kyle Williams, a 37 yard touchdown. And just like that, it's a 24, 19 game nine Oh one to go. And the Patriots will go for two. How about that response from new England? That's right. That's Ryan Radke and Derek Rackley on Westwood one. Good to have them in the mix this year. Kyle Williams only catches ridiculous touchdowns. It's really ridiculous. This third on pick who I said was, you know, before the draft, before the Patriots took him was maybe my favorite player in the draft now has six catches on the year and three of them are ridiculous touchdowns.

1:55:49So good job by Kyle Williams and that throw followed by the two point conversion where Drake may like makes time in the pocket and then shows throws was a little push pass. That's what stood out to me. And we don't need to spend the whole time on May, but the deep throw to Kayshawn Booty, which he can't hold on to. And it was just a terrible miss pass interference call. And the fourth down to Diggs and a couple of the other throws to Hunter Henry on the goal line and Hooper. It's just a variety of different throws. And so many were after making a defender or two miss. That's what has made May special in the season.

1:56:24And yeah, I don't think he's the front runner for MVP, but a night like tonight, I think everyone got to see kind of where he's at right now in his career. And it's a big win for them. The Bills would have been right back, tied for the top of the division. And now the Patriots keep a game lead with a pretty favorable schedule the next two weeks.

1:56:40Nick Shook:I also thought it was a really interesting demonstration of May's ability to evade the rush because for most of this game, their offensive line deficiencies or weaknesses, you know, not having Will Campbell out there were pretty apparent. the Ravens were getting after him I don't know what the pressure numbers off the top of my head were but they were getting after him consistently and for the first time in a while I felt like oh wait may is not evading the rush he's not getting out you know in space and improvising and then suddenly he turned it on in the fourth quarter and he was making plays like that and you're right it was the two-point conversion where I was like oh that is there was a couple of throws but it was that one and there was another one they had over the middle where he's just getting clobbered right as he releases it and his intended target catches the ball and I'm thinking man he's taking some hits and he is unfazed.

1:57:20Nick Shook:And that is the mark of a quarterback who could take you a long way in this game. 44 % pressure rate without the Ravens blitzing a ton. There are concerns for the Patriots to give up, you know, back-to-back touchdowns, you know, when Huntley's at quarterback, they haven't been a good red zone team, but this was an important win for them, obviously. And if they tied in the division, then they're probably going to win the division. So it is a pretty easy path for them to now win. They have the Jets and the Dolphins to finish up. And I think just one of those will end up getting them the division title for the Patriots.

1:57:58The Ravens, on the other hand, just a nightmare game. They showed the stat up tonight that they've blown more fourth quarter leads with at least a seven point lead than any team in a five year span in NFL history. and you lose Lamar Jackson to a back injury. We'll have to see if he's available for next week's game against the Packers. But because of that Steelers win, they are now down two with two games to go. It doesn't take a lot of computers to figure it out, Shook. They could be eliminated in different scenarios, but they're not eliminated. So that tells you the magic numbers one. They got a win out, including that week 18 game against the Steelers.

1:58:36And they need the Steelers to lose next week against the Browns to even have a chance. it looks like they're done. This looks like the moment. And I don't want to spend a long time on it because we will talk about it later in the week. And we talked about it on Saturday's show. Check out our coaching recap. But I think John Harbaugh is out. I think because they keep making the same mistakes over and over, including the fourth quarter collapses, like right down to the Zay Flowers fumble at the end. It was sort of, unfortunately, like a play in the hits type of night. Derrick Henry with a costly fumble, Zay Flowers with a costly fumble as well for them.

1:59:14Nick Shook:Yeah. And I need to know why Derek Henry wasn't on the field on their penultimate drive because they were still nursing a lead at that point. And he had just cut right through the Patriots defense and he was on the sideline in a jacket the entire time. And they were relying on Keaton Mitchell and Rasheed Ali to get it done, which obviously they didn't get it done. That that's a question that I definitely need answered, but it is crazy to think that like a season like this, which yeah, the collapses have been a thing for them for five years. It's been one of the most glaring issues with this team over the last five years.

1:59:41Nick Shook:Ravens fans will be the first to tell you that. But this season, more than any, just kind of illustrated the importance of Lamar Jackson and how they finally couldn't overcome his absences because he's been out before. There was, you know, years in past years where he get hurt late in the year and Tyler Huntley would have to fill in. He makes his way back to the team this year after being, you know, with the Browns in the preseason and everything else. And yet it just felt like this team, they got slow out of the gate. You know, they blow that lead to the bills in week one. And it's like they were always fighting uphill.

2:00:09Nick Shook:And, you know, John, John Harbaugh felt like a coach that was never going to leave Baltimore. And yet this has happened so many times now that, yeah, I agree with you. And you can kind of see it on his face on the sideline. He just looked exasperated, disappointed, just kind of sad at the result. Oh, my God, this is happening again. This might be it. And I don't really know where this team necessarily goes from here. But if you look back at the season, you have to point to the fact that Lamar missed a good chunk of games. That's the biggest issue. That's fair. and yet they just are a team that finds a way to lose games.

2:00:38And they've done it with Lamar, a quarterback this year. And Tyler Huntley comes in. It was similar-ish. Not that he made nearly as many plays as Malik Willis. But to me, he wasn't that high on the reasons of why they lost this game. He went 9 for 10 for 65 yards. They had a couple touchdown drives. Obviously, the Patriots again get lucky with who gets knocked out or who they miss on the schedule or their schedule. Everyone's going to keep pointing this out with Lamar Jackson leaving. I would have liked to see how that game ended with Lamar Jackson, but it was the defense and it was, you know, timely mistakes by players that you trust.

2:01:12Zay Flowers and Marlon Humphrey, although they didn't call that PI and Derek Henry and different members of the defense. And that's it. And meanwhile, the Patriots get a huge play by Caleb on chase on at the end to force that Zay Flowers fumble. And so it's on a night where they had a lot of injuries as well, including a concussion for Travion Henderson. They move on. They get their 12th win of the year. They stay in the mix for the one seed. The Jaguars were watching this game and thinking, oh, we could have passed the Patriots in the AFC standings. But as we stand now, it's Broncos one, Patriots two.

2:01:46And the way this is all shaken out, I hate to say it, Shook. We said it at the end of last week's show. Again, the results are setting up for the last couple weeks to be less important. The Ravens might hand the Steelers the division title on Saturday night if they can't beat the Packers in a game, even with Lamar Jackson, they might be underdogs. So that race will essentially be over. And unless the Colts can pull off an upset on Monday night, I think we're going to have a feel of who our seven teams are. We just got to figure out the order. And yeah, the Lions with their loss today too are in deep, deep trouble.

2:02:22And we kind of know who the NFC teams are going to be as well. It's just going to find out if it's going to be the Bucks or the Panthers. A couple of just items to go over before we get out of here. Tim Patrick, I mean, Pat Bryant, rather, for the Broncos. You might have been watching that game and you saw him get stretchered off at the end, and that was a scary situation. He did have feelings in his arms, in his legs, his extremities. After the game, he was taken to the hospital for concussion-like symptoms. But it does sound like the worst case scenario was avoided for Pat Bryant. So just best wishes to him getting better.

2:03:03And then we somehow didn't talk about the DK Metcalf fan interaction. And so I did want to address that here, not in the flow of the game. Another angle of the DK Metcalf fan interaction, we'll call it, during that Lions game came out, taken by a fan with a cell phone at the game. And it confirmed something we were talking about in the newsroom, Patrick. Claiborne was the first one I heard say it. And then it was really confirmed by the second angle that he grabs the fan by the collar. And the fan spoke with the Detroit Free Press about what he was saying to DK Metcalf. Not that we can trust him at his word.

2:03:44He was calling him by his full name, he said. And he doesn't like to be called by his full name. And I think DK told him to stop saying that. He kept saying that. But the second video pretty clearly shows DK Metcalf did not throw a punch, which I thought it was a little irresponsible. A lot of articles say DK Metcalf throws a punch, this and that. Pretty clearly grabs the collar and then he lets it go while kind of, you know, gesturing at him and leaving. I think that makes it less likely, Nick, that he gets suspended for this. We'll have to see. I think a fine is coming to DK Metcalf, but the NFL crew on the game clarified if the officials didn't see it at the game, that's not something that New York can step in and officiate and kick them out of the game.

2:04:29if they didn't see it and it's pretty clear why they wouldn't see it. It's just a random moment after a play. Then they can't do anything there. But they could find him. They could potentially suspend him. But I don't think so based on the video that we saw.

2:04:43Nick Shook:Yeah, we're not going to Zapruder film this. But yeah, the second angle that we can't play on YouTube right now looks very much like he emphatically released the collar as if to make a point to whatever he said in return and doesn't look like a punch. And I thought when I saw that first angle, So he didn't really have the body language of someone who was throwing a punch. Um, and obviously it's not a good look regardless. Ultimately you think there's no reason for you to be over there at all. And that's, what's most important, but we'll see how the NFL handles it. I would imagine at minimum a fine.

2:05:10Nick Shook:I don't know if they'll go with the suspension. Um, and you know, the Steelers, you know, hopefully they're, they're hoping that they'll have him. We'll see if they will. Yeah. The, uh, the fan, by the way, didn't mind speaking to the Detroit free press. They asked him and he said, my words don't matter. Cause it was on camera when, when asked about, you know, what he was saying to DK. And then he said, he asked what his name was. He said, my name is the biggest Detroit Lions fan ever that got attacked by DeKalen Zacarius Metcalf. And apparently that's what he kept calling DK Metcalf. And quickly, people on social, you know, went out and found him dressing up in various gear to try to make opponents mad over the years.

2:05:49So maybe that will be considered by the end. He's an instigator is what you're saying. I am definitely saying that. Okay. Good Sunday. Great games. Even though we kind of know who's going to make the playoffs, for the most part, these games really delivered. And I'm hoping the same is true on Monday night. So Nick Shook's back in the throne doing his recaps. We got two Monday night games to go, Shook. We're going live on YouTube for Phillip Rivers. Can he complete the impossible dream and get a win against a good 49ers team? Join us live on YouTube on the NFL channel. We'll see you then.

2:06:32Nick Shook:Do you know the symptoms of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea or OSA in adults with obesity? They may be happening to you without you knowing. If anyone has ever said you snored loudly or if you spend your days fighting off excessive tiredness, irritability, and concentration issues, it may be due to OSA. OSA is a serious condition where your airway partially or completely collapses during sleep, which may cause breathing interruptions and oxygen deprivation. Learn more at don'tsleep on osa.com. This information is provided by Lilly, a medicine company. I'm U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

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