PMS 2.0 1478 - TOP 5: NFL Week 17 Recap

21:19The not-so-evil empire is back. We've been talking about this for a bit now. And I think it's maybe because of who we are. But we like Vrabel as football coach. We like Vrabel as human. We like Vrabel's story, getting kicked out of Tennessee and basically going freeloading to Cleveland Browns for a year back at his hometown and then going back to the place in which he's in the Hall of Fame. Drake May, this guy was talked about being a guy who, yeah, he's athletic, but it's going to take forever. Every time he answers any question, he says the right thing. And he's damn near perfect. I think he just had the best quarterback game in the history of football.

21:51Yeah, ever, ever. He has the highest QBR in the history, single-game QBR in the history of any quarterback. that's ever played football since 2006. Drake, mate, just did that. Now, granted, we're going into the playoffs, so what a time to play your best football is what we're aiming for. But not only does he play best football on the field, it's like off the field he says everything that you would want your lead mind, your front mind to say and be like. Seems like the entire team loves him. Seems like the locker room is together. Vrabel has it right. And it's hard to hate this team. I'm going to be honest.

22:19It's hard to hate the New England Patriots. Now, will we be able to figure out how to hate them if they start stacking up Lombardis like they did for the last 20 years before in the last dynasty. But it's crazy to think that the evil empire, the New England Patriots, are all the way back. Could be the number one seed in the AFC. Could obviously win the Super Bowl this year. No questions. They have everything that you could potentially win a Super Bowl with. And it's almost a more likable squad because it's more unexpected at this stage. Is that what it is, D-Bot? I don't know. Maybe we're too close to it because we like Vrabes.

22:48We know Vrabes. I mean, most of us, we like Diggs. We like a lot. We love – I love Drake May. We love him. I think outside, if you zoom out a little bit, I think the majority of NFL fans probably still hate the Patriots and probably will forever hate the Patriots because they always won. They always got calls. And now you've got another second coming of the quarterback that you lost to for two decades. So I think the hate is still out there. I think they still are the evil empire, even though they are more like what we had Shregs up here. He was talking about, from a media standpoint, being in the building and how it feels different.

23:19People actually smile about you, not walking on eggshells and shit like that. But, yeah, I think they're still an evil environment. He got choked up. He got drafted. Yeah, man. Yeah, man. He got choked up seeing him back. Go ahead. It's funny you said something in there that I just – I don't want to completely go there yet. He's not the second coming because he's kind of the first coming. No one's ever done the shit he's doing. My apologies. It's okay. You know what? I will forgive you for this time. He's the first ever quarterback with 90 % completed passes while throwing for 250 yards and five touchdowns in a single game.

23:49He actually was removed from the game with 530 left in the third quarter. So that would have been for 300 plus yards and probably seven plus touchdowns in a single game. But we were robbed of that. But that's because the Jets are the worst franchise in all sports. He's also the first ever quarterback with 4200 pass yards, 30 pass touchdowns. What? 110 pass rating. 400 plus rush yards and four rushing touchdowns. I mean, that's the coolest thing for me. is that he also has the mobility that people forget about. And then, yes, to the one that was just shown, this is just the second time ever that a team has gone from 13 losses to 13 wins.

24:30Drake May's first year to his second year and Peyton Manning's first year to his second year. And you might say, well, this is a 17-game season. Well, shut up. We did it in 16 games. This is, and I can't emphasize enough, the coolest feeling ever. You know, as a Patriots fan who went through all the shite, it was tough. but to sit here last night and watch a scene like this and I don't know if we even want to play the audio but it's just the Patriots watching the Bills melt and the Bills actually became you know the first team ever to win five straight division titles and not go to a Super Bowl once kind of cool I guess too for a New England Patriots fan another victory you can take but it all starts with that guy it truly is Mike Vrabel and he just seeing the vibe around it is something that is new when it comes to winning because you know the winning shit isn't new for New England Patriots fans, but the winning with a smile on your face, that is new.

25:20It is cool to see all the players get the love and kind of respect that they deserve from the layman, if you will, and from the football fan. But, yeah, you might as well listen to it. No, no, no, listen to it. Him calling everybody up at the FBO after a game, after a flight home, not normal. Like, this is an abnormal situation just in general. And, by the way, to your point about Vrabes, just everybody buying in, yup, Vrabes is talking, let's go ahead and relax. And you hear, every time you hear a Stephon Diggs talk, with everything that's ever been said about Stephon Diggs. In the world that Stephon Diggs is currently in where he's more famous than he's ever been, I would assume his clout is higher than he's ever been.

25:53It's like, listen to him be a leader on the team. That was clearly Vrabel going to him early, like, hey, I'm going to need you to be a guy in here. It's like, what he does, how he does it, clearly gets everybody to buy him. But it's winning football. It's winning football as well. And you mentioned it a few times before that. He kind of seems like he's in it with the guys. Like, yeah, I'm in it with the guys. Obviously, my vote just counts 10. And I don't know, you probably have more context, but I saw a clip, and they have the audio on with him and Christian Barmore going into a halftime. I think Barmore may have got into it with another player.

26:23And you see, like, Vrabel, like, in his face going back and forth. And that's the thing. A lot of coaches are put in a position, and sometimes they avoid those type of conflicts or those type of conversations with their players. But Vrabel just steps right into it. I assume he said, like, hey, we'll fight him afterwards, something like that. It felt like it was – It was, like, a very, very intense – And he hit him in the chest, too. Vrabel hit him in the chest a couple times like, yo, we don't need that right now, who you are and who they are. I think it was – and hopefully they do have the mic'd up moment.

26:48I think they won 8-0 on the road. I think that was something they all talked about as motivation. You heard Stephon Diggs talk about it. You heard Drake May talk about it. I think people on the defensive side talked about it. And I think they said something about packing their culture. Is that what they've said? We can pack our culture, take it on the road. I forget what it was. They had a tagline, though, that multiple guys said. And it was like, oh, this is how Vrabel motivated these guys. 8-0 on the road and we can pack our something. I forget what it was. But basically trying to prove like, hey, we can go and do this.

27:15There's been other teams in the past here that have done this. We need to accomplish it. It felt obvious that that was the motivating factor going into the final week against the New York Jets. And they obviously smacked the hell out of the New York Jets, who might be. They are. They are. Actually, a friend of the program right here, a good friend, Michael Cole of the program. He has jumped ship. He is now a New England Patriots fan. He is done with the Jets. That's not real. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. I'm telling you. That can't be real. Just think about the kick thing that happened with that lady.

27:44Just think about that. Like, let alone your ass. Your team is cheeks. Okay? This is a butthole operation from top to bottom, and it has been. And this girl is doing a kick for her dad, and then they find out that, ah, she might actually be able to make this thing. She played middle school soccer. She can't do this. We thought there was no chance she would make it. No way. Did you see Nick play tennis? There's no way this lady's able to make a field goal. Then they find out. Somebody goes, like, hey, she's a high school soccer. She has kicked before. Cancel it. Cancel that thing. Completely get that out of there.

28:14It's like everything they do is like, how can we be the most hateable franchise? Like, how can we make our fans hate us more than they did before? And obviously that is just kind of in it. And we would have done a kick. We reached out to the Rose Bowl where the next game day is. And we thought there'd be no chance Rose Bowl people would say yes. And with the torrential downpour potentially coming, who knows how it'll go. The Rose Bowl people are like, yeah, you can use the field for game day for her to kick, by the way. So we were going to do that. That was something that was happening. So when I put the eyeballs up on that thing, I very much text, call, easy, let's see, can we do this?

28:45It would have been for$252 ,000. You know, I think it would have been at the Rose Bowl, whether or not she wanted to do that. So shout out to the Rose Bowl saying, yes, we will definitely do that. And also shout out to the Jets for saying, actually, yeah, she can do the$100 ,000 kick now. She missed it, okay, which stinks. A lot of people missing kicks. I mean, that's pretty obvious going out there. But just everything about the organization sucks. And then you start seeing, like, well, it's a new defensive head coach and a defensive mindset. It's like, well, they have zero interceptions on the season.

29:11Zero? Zero. None. Not even like one that was tipped up in the air. Tips, overthrows. Got to get those? They ain't. They ain't get any of them. That is just something that hasn't happened. Defensive coach. Now, they trade pieces away, great piece away, to get more assets. And obviously, they'll make the right decisions on what those assets should be going forward. We assume. Maybe. I'm a fan of Aaron Glenn. But the shit that's coming out about this defense being historically terrible and his team being historically terrible is outrageous. Lost four straight games by 23 points in the history of the NFL football.

29:43History. Jets in 2025. Then you got to go back to the 70s, the 50s, the 30s, and the 20s. The Oorang Indians in 1923. Lost four straight games by 23-plus points. And you think to yourself, the Oorang Indians, that's not a team. It is. Yeah, Nicky Sass's boys. Yes, actually, you do know of them. Who was the star on? Jimmy Thorpe. Yeah, you ever heard of him? The Jim Thorpe? Yes, Jim Thorpe was a star. The Urang Indians were a team of all Native Americans. I can't believe they called themselves that. I don't know if they know how offensive that was to themselves at the time. Okay, obviously that would vastly be different now.

30:23But the Urang Indians were a team Jim Thorpe was on that was led by a guy who was literally just trying to sell dogs from his dog kennel. They lost four straight games at 23-plus points. They didn't think it could be done at the time. They're the first team ever to do it. 1923. Team's like, there's no way you can be this ass. And then the Oorang Indians were like, it's not about football anyways. We're trying to sell these sweet dogs. They got very cool dogs. Airedale Terriers, I believe is the name of the dogs. Good-looking dogs. I mean, they got good stances, good posture, good noses and everything like that.

30:53Great-marked dogs. They were named the Oorang Indians because the name Oorang was a kennel where this guy was trying to sell dogs. There it is. That's the dog you're trying to move. That ain't the dog, actually. Is that Jim Thorpe? That's not the Airedale dog. Yeah, Bruce got completely wrong. Jim Thorpe loves dogs, though, which we certainly respect. Rest in peace. That's not the Airedale that they were trying. Yeah. What's that? You're right. Yeah, true. That's one of the things. Oh, yeah. Animal cruelty. Yeah. I completely forgot about it. Space hot. But anytime you're in the same conversation as the Urang Indians, who are a team that was literally only put together to move some dogs, you know it's not going well.

31:30And that's the New York Jets of this season. And it's first year with a new head coach. and he's a defensive coach and we love Aaron Glenn, but we don't save him. We don't know if they could be saved over there in New York, honestly. I mean, it was ugly all-time bad. You talk about zero interceptions. That seems impossible to be able to do there. I think they're second or third to last in the league when it comes to sacks as well. You mentioned Quentin Williams trading Sauce Gardner. So, obviously, they were tanking on this year. It was a little stretch in the middle of the season. I think they won two or three maybe back-to-back games.

32:00But, yeah, it's just an all-around shit show. So from the top down in New York Jets, I mean, will it be one and done? I hope not for Aaron Glenn. I like Aaron Glenn. I hope so for Aaron Glenn. They have all these picks and shit. Get out. Will they do the right thing? They haven't done it historically. Let's see if they can figure it out. But, I mean, that shit is all time bad. The only thing I was thinking with this game right after halftime was get Drake May out. Like, I would hate to see him just go down and be hurt for the playoffs or anything like that because this team, who Brady Cook was that quarterback now, You know, it's just it's a shit show.

32:32And that's why when you say like we like Aaron Glenn, I actually don't because the only thing that I was worried about was the injuries. And then they're doing cheap bullshit after the plays. It's like, OK, so this guy or I won't say this guy, but this team is a detriment to football because watching them makes you not like the sport. But then at the other side of it, it's, oh, like I'm now worried about just the safety in medical, you know, future of the players of the team I root for. When you think of the front office and ownership, they're crooks. I mean, sure, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Pittsburgh Pirates guy, Bob Nutting, he just goes down to the Pirates field and he collects a check and he doesn't spend money.

33:08And that's cool and great. We just paid O 'Kern, thank you. That's right. Two years,$26 million. In baseball, that is basically pennies. But again, it's one of those things where they're honestly just collecting checks. And that's how it feels. No matter what you say about this Jets team, there's nothing you can look at and say, like, that's good. Garrett Wilson hasn't played since October and he's their leading receiver. It's almost January. That is abysmal. It's pathetic beyond sports. It's pathetic in the sense of getting Fs and finishing last in a race where you should finish first. I don't even know what to compare it to because it's so embarrassing.

33:44As a Patriots fan, as a member of the AFC East, I'm calling for their fans to either veto some sort of movement or growth within MetLife, within the team. If I'm Aaron Glenn, if I'm a fan of Aaron Glenn, I'm telling him, like, hey, you've got to chain yourself to the practice facility and say, hey, no one's allowed to use this thing until either ownership sells, until they completely redo their front office. Because there isn't any hope. And guess what's going to happen? They're going to use those picks they got. They're going to draft two guys and bolt those guys. One of them might be really good.

34:17They're going to trade him in three years after whoever they draft that quarterback doesn't work out. And most likely as well, they're never going to rebuild. The Dolphins, I have way more faith in the Dolphins. The Bills have Josh Allen, and the Patriots have Drake May and Mike Freiburg. Realistically, the Jets are not going to win for another 20-plus years unless there's changes. A-J-E-D-S. Jets. Jets. Jets. He quit again. Unfortunately, it is our fifth retirement tour for Fireman Ed. Fireman Ed has called it again. He's doing the George Blanda. He's doing what you're saying. Yeah, he's saying.

34:51Enough. Enough of this. Enough of this. I used to run towards fires, not away from him. Why am I standing up to cheer for dumpster fires? I'm a firefighter. I'm supposed to be fighting against these things. And he feels like what he's cheering for at this point is a fire. Now, on that note, they were not in the lame bowl yesterday between the Raiders and the Giants. That was another team that caused MetLife. So, shout out to the New York, New Jersey people. You're doing great. Jump ship. At least they had a run. Giants. Yeah, they did. Oh, yeah. The Jets did too. Remember Broadway Joe? No, I don't remember.

35:25Yeah, me neither. I've just seen a clip. Yeah. They look like a good time. He's by the pool. You know, there's no social media. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, we're going to do this. Sick. All right, let's go to the number one headline coming out of the weekend. By far, the Sunday night thriller. The game of the year between the 11 and 4 Chicago Bears versus the 11 and 4 San Francisco 49ers. Caleb Williams, Ben Johnson, taking on Brock Purdy, Kyle Shanahan. Now, Shanahan, Ben Johnson, hello. I mean, here we are. Obviously, McVay's name gets tossed in there and some others. But whenever you're talking about offensive minds, when you're talking about offensive brilliance, you're talking about those two coordinators.

36:07And then the defense coordinators in this game, Dennis Allen, former head coach, Robert Sala, former head coach. So whenever you talk about four supreme, incredible coordinators, you talk about this particular matchup. In forecasting it, I don't think we would have expected a shoot-up. I don't think we would have expected this thing to get to what it got to. But as we were watching it, all any of us could think to ourselves was, wow, football is the greatest. Brock Purdy's obviously dancing his ass off. He's got the Dougie down pat. He said he'd been practicing that in front of the mirror. He certainly has.

36:35First play, pick six, Chicago Bears defense. How you doing? Keep it moving. In Santa Clara, 15 seconds into this game, it's 7-0 Chicago Bears. Is Brock Purdy going to have one of those ass games that he's had in the past? Is Christian McCaffrey not going to be able to do anything? Uh-uh. Christian McCaffrey goes absolutely harm. Now, I put out a couple tweets about Christian McCaffrey, and the way we talk about him is as if he's a machine. He never gets tired. How is this guy on the field all the time? How does this guy get the ball all the time? How does he take this many hits? How is he able to just never get tired, and how is he always explosive?

37:09Because, you know, in boxing, later rounds, the juice is all gone. So, laying in a massive shot in like the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th is going to be difficult just because you don't have enough explosion in you because of how long the fight has been. In the fourth quarter, third quarter, after you've gotten the ball 40 times, both through the sky and on the ground, I don't know how there's any explosion left in your body. He somehow always has it. Always explosive. Never gets tired. Always has the ball. And this dude is special. And Brock Purdy, he's seemingly at a different level this year. The Purdy moxie is fantastic.

37:44It's not just through the sky and understanding what is going on. How about on the ground, I'm going to be faster than you, and then I'm going to do my shit. Yeah, I'm going to, ah, ah, ah, ah. Hey, hey. I saw some white people on the internet saying what Purdy was doing was cringe. Yeah, right. Purdy crushes that thing. Now a little bit of a juke here, you know, stays clean. He even gives the Hulk's turn, huh? Excuse me, let me hear it, Santa Clara. You got an absolute dog here getting paid$50 million a year. And then this play, obviously going to run for the rest of time. for Brock Purdy on Sunday Night Football.

38:11He's shaking, he's baking, he's cooking, he's looking, and touchdown, Harvard, big brain juice with the perfect spike. And Brock Purdy got Euro step. Hey, hey, hey, hey. Brock Purdy, unbelievable. Now, Trent Williams pulls a hamstring, okay? So what is that going to do? George Kittle obviously not playing. What are they going to look like going forward? But this San Francisco 49ers team outgunned, outmanned, outlasted the Chicago Bears team who had a chance. The Chicago Bears had four seconds left on the clock, down four. And they had Caleb Williams with the ball in his hands. All he had to do was score a touchdown from the two-and-a-half-yard line.

38:47He's cooking. He's moving. Is anybody open? Final answer, no. Was he throwing? Yes. Does Tirico make a great call? Absolutely. Love the energy. The San Francisco 49ers win. The San Francisco 49ers won that game on that play. Nobody was open. Now, were we expecting some Ben Johnson shit? They ran a hook and ladder right before that to get down there. Was there a two-point play maybe that could have happened that Ben Johnson had in his back pocket to win the game? Potentially. But instead, what we saw was an electrifying, epic, instant classic between these two teams, who obviously are going to have great runs in the playoffs, and potentially are only getting started with these two franchises for the next five, ten years.

39:26Thank you, football. Thank you, Bears. Thank you, Niners. Thank you, Sunday Night Football, D-Bud. Yeah, unbelievable stop right there by the Amador Lenore at that corner on that hook and ladder. If he likes to get the edge right there or even get out of bounds, it's kind of a different game down there. Maybe some Bears fans want to just play a little closer to the end zone, but if they win it, he scores right there. Ben Johnson's a genius. Just a great game by both teams, both offenses. Usually you can find some corner of the Internet bitching or moaning or something about any game, and most of the Internet is pretty universally agreed, like, hey, this is a great game.

40:01This is a great primetime game. Went back and forth. It wasn't history, I think, back and forth being tied all the way up to 35. Just an unbelievable game. Great game by Caleb Williams as well. 3-30 in the air, two touchdowns, no interceptions. But back-to-back games now for Brock Purdy being responsible for five touchdowns. And we always talked about it earlier in his career. Hey, he's just doing this because of Kyle or Deebo or Aiyuki. You mentioned all those names being out of the lineup and then putting this shit on his back. So just a big-time performance by both of these teams and an unbelievable job by the Niners.

40:28Still got a chance to get the one seed and have home field advantage throughout the Super Bowl. Tongue's doing his thing. Pearsall doing his thing. Jennings doing his thing, having a couple massive plays. And it's like, without Fred, we saw Fred last night, which was cool. It was good to see Fred. He was pretty active. Without Bosa, is this team going to have enough? Do they have enough on the defensive side? I know Ben Johnson and Chicago Bears' offense is very good, but do the Niners have enough on the defensive side? They're playing for the number one seed. No, I think that would be the question for both of these teams, the defense.

40:55Can they step up and stop? You gave up 80 points on the field. So I don't think either one of these teams have enough on that side of the ball. offensively, I think both of these teams can make a run. Okay, so that's the number one headline coming out of week 17 is the Sunday Night Thriller. What are a couple things we missed, D-Butt, you think? We kind of mentioned it a little bit with the Broncos. First time in 10 years in a decade winning their division. Last time, I believe, is when they went to the Super Bowl. And then on the flip side, on the other side, the NFC, the Eagles, they get an ugly, ugly win in Buffalo.

41:24But their defense, since week eight, giving up 15 points per game since that Jalen Phillips trade. Cooper DeGene has been phenomenal. Quincy Mitchell, also a pro bowler. Two pro bowlers in the back end. Jalen Carter's back. And whenever he's on the field, he's going to be dominant. Had his mitt on another field goal this weekend. So, yeah, this is a team that is poised to make a run in the playoffs. I've never jumped off the Eagles bandwagon. I know my head coach just missed the locker room, but I'm still on the bandwagon. I think they can get hot and get rolling. Josh Allen missing that throw.

41:53Abnormal. Completely abnormal. Jalen Carter blocking a kick, the extra point of Michael Badgley. Not abnormal. He's a guy. Obviously, Jalen Carter has become a part of this, and maximum effort on field goal or extra point blocks is a good sign from your best players, especially with Jalen. And if he has a little bit of hope that he's going to be able to get it, he's going to continue to push. Them going from two, I didn't mind it. I mean, I know people are saying, hey, Eagles offense, I think Jalen Hurts was 0 for 7 in the second half passing, which is like the worst, I think, out of any team that's ever won a football game in the history of football or something like that.

42:26So why not take this to overtime? You have it. It's like, well, you have all the momentum, too. The guy's wide open. Josh Allen does what Josh Allen does 99 out of 100 times and puts this on him. They win the game right there, and everybody says they love the play. So it's very Monday morning quarterback-ish to be able to go after the decision. But on that note, Josh never misses them. No. He's a great MVP. He put the ball in his hands. And Coach Sirianni afterwards was talking his shit going up the tunnel. There's a lot of time in my little boy, man. So, man, I don't like anymore. Woo!

42:59Not so much anymore. AJ's like, he got it. Locker room's right here. Love this shit. Taking him on. Almost missed the locker room. That locker room's been there since the beginning of that stadium. Them coming down the same tunnel, out the same tunnel, is obviously a part of a lot of different scenes in the history of ball. But him almost missing that locker room just so he could talk his shit, feels like Sirianni's back. The Eagles defense is back. Is Jalen going to be able to get back? We shall see. We appreciate you all for allowing us to do this for a living. We'll see you on the other side.

43:26Be a friend, tell a friend something nice.