Transcript

MIAMI TO THE NATTY, WILD CARD WEEKEND PREVIEW + STEVE YOUNG ON NFL PLAYOFFS

From Pardon My Take · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 2 h 40 min · 34,622 words · 785 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "MIAMI TO THE NATTY, WILD CARD WEEKEND PREVIEW + STEVE YOUNG ON NFL PLAYOFFS", an episode of Pardon My Take published January 9, 2026 (2 h 40 min, about 34,622 words). It mentions 21 people, works and ideas, including Eagles, Chargers, DraftKings, Ava Max, Treat Williams.

What this episode is about

The discussion focuses on the excitement surrounding Super Wild Card Weekend in the NFL, featuring a preview of all upcoming playoff games, a recap of a thrilling matchup between Miami and another team, and the firing of coach Mike McDaniel—highlighting the ongoing turnover within the league. Steve Young joins as a special guest to provide insights into the playoffs, and the segment includes a promotion for the Game Time app, which offers fans an easy way to access tickets and experiences.

Key takeaways

  • BFT's hat game symbolizes the duality of fashion and function in sports commentary.
  • Miami's 'too cute' play-calling demonstrates that sometimes, less is more—stick to the basics!
  • Old Miss showcased heart, reminding us that grit often outshines raw talent in football.
  • 25% of NFL coaches fired speaks volumes—this season’s high stakes come with low patience.
  • Game Time’s ticket hack proves that scoring a deal is as thrilling as the game itself.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 15:00: DraftKings, Danny Boy Kane, Eagles, Trinidad Chamblas
  2. – 30:00: DraftKings, Eagles, Chargers
  3. – 45:00: Chargers, Chris Schula, Dvonte Adams, Eagles
  4. – 1:00:00: Eagles
  5. – 1:15:00: Eagles, Treat Williams, Ricky Pierce
  6. – 1:30:00: Chargers, Eagles, Hard Rock, Ladder 15
  7. – 1:45:00: DraftKings, Eagles
  8. – 2:00:00: Eagles, Saquon, Chargers
  9. – 2:15:00: Chargers
  10. – 2:30:00: Amazon, Chargers
  11. – 2:40:03: Amazon, Dick Sporting Goods, Chargers

Notable quotes from "MIAMI TO THE NATTY, WILD CARD WEEKEND PREVIEW + STEVE YOUNG ON NFL PLAYOFFS"

  • On today's part of my take presented by DraftKings, we have our good friend Steve Young getting ready for super wildcard weekend. We're still saying it and we are going to preview every single game this weekend. Some awesome football.
    about DraftKings · at
  • They have now they went all the way to the semi-final with their head coach leaving. Gutsy effort. Trinidad Chamblas is awesome. He is just such a fun player to watch. But…
    about Trinidad Chamblas · at
  • The Detroit Lions? How would you like coaching the offense of the Philadelphia Eagles? How would you like coaching the offense of the Kansas City Chiefs? How about coaching the…
    about Eagles · at
  • 1 and 14. So dome teams being the Texans, the Chargers, although the Chargers is that technically a dome because Lightning can get in.
    about Chargers · at
  • I would imagine is Trent Williams still not practiced.
    about Treat Williams · at
  • Little bit more of an old school mentality, right? And in that old school mentality, especially last year, Saquon was all of that, right? And so then you on Wednesday when they…
    about Saquon · at
  • You don't get rid of them. I was like that's a very fair point. As like 15 new jumpsuits that were all $15 on Amazon showed up and they're all so shitty.
    about Amazon · at
  • Apartment now. I'm the review team is looking at that to see if they'll replace the vacuum. And then Dick Sporting Goods basically told me, Hey, you wore those shoes and no, I didn't.
    about Dick Sporting Goods · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Ava Max — Person · 5 mentions
  • Treat Williams — Person · 4 mentions · first at
  • Saquon — Person · 3 mentions · first at
  • Big Ben — Person · 3 mentions
  • PFT — Person · 2 mentions
  • Trinidad Chamblas — Person · 1 mention · first at
  • Danny Boy Kane — Person · 1 mention · first at
    That was a big difference. It was a great game and shout out our guy Danny Boy Kane. Happy for him. Yep.
  • Chris Schula — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Do we think there's any merit to like Chris Schula taking, hearing his name everywhere, taking phone calls, thinking about where he's going to be interviewing? M I do think that had something to do.
  • Jameson Williams — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Strictly like Ben Johnson's decision-m was not handing the ball to Jir Gibbs going to Montgomery and having Jameson Williams throw that pass that got picked off.
  • Dvonte Adams — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Yeah. Yeah. anyone got anything they love in this game? I think Dvonte Adams is going to score. I think it's probably like minus 150, but if you want if you want something Rams moneyline, Dvonte Adams to score.
  • Ricky Pierce — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Be a totally different, game, but they just they're so ravaged on defense. And Trent Williams and Ricky Pierce all are massive.
  • DeVonta Smith — Person · 1 mention
  • Michael Vick — Person · 1 mention

Companies & orgs

  • Eagles — Company · 18 mentions · first at
  • Chargers — Company · 17 mentions · first at
  • DraftKings — Company · 6 mentions · first at
  • Amazon — Company · 3 mentions · first at
  • Dick Sporting Goods — Company · 2 mentions · first at
  • Ladder 15 — Company · 1 mention · first at
    We took the [ __ ] So, there was a Niners fan who contacted Ladder 15, which is a bar in Philly, and said, Hey, nice to meet you. Typical on a Friday night, it's the first night of the takeover weekend for Niners fans.
  • Bears — Company · 1 mention

Places & events

  • Hard Rock — Place · 1 mention · first at
    Except this actually should make you feel better, PFD, because you guys took over the hard rock.

Full transcript with timestamps

Oh, BFT's got a Patriots hat on. I was wondering why your hat was on backwards as well. You're not a bad I some whole time I was wondering.

Sometimes you just got to be a cool guy. I thought you did an ad or something that you couldn't have your hat forward and then just didn't turn it around. But now, now this makes sense.

I didn't even realize it. I was like, why why is the why is your hat back? No, you just got to be a cool guy sometimes. On today's part of my take presented by DraftKings, we have our good friend Steve Young getting ready for super wildcard weekend. We're still saying it and we are going to preview every single game this weekend. Some awesome football on the way. We also have a recap of an thriller in the desert between Miss and Miami. What a game. What a game. And we got another coach firing and Mike McDaniel. So we're now up to eight uh what is it? 25% of the league. And we're going to finish with Firefest of the Week. And it's all brought to you by our friends at Game Time. The Game Time app gives you advantage back to fans. The hack for unlocking amazing tickets and experiences in just a few taps. It's incredibly easy to use. And the Game Time guarantee means you can trust you get 100% authentic tickets on time and

at the best price. Plus, fees are always included. So, what you see is what you pay. It's super easy to use. Just go to the Game Time app, click on the game you want. There's deals all over the place. Hank, what do you got for this weekend? I'm going to the Bears Packers game on Saturday night.

You can get in for $527 to to that game. To the Bears Packers. You can get in for $371.

Okay. So, I I bought my tickets on game time. I will be there at Soldier Field on Saturday night. Now, you can save even more when you choose a section and let game time choose the seats. Snag new ticket deals before anyone finds out by following your favorite teams in the Game Time app to receive alerts. Take the guess work of buying NFL tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app. Create an account. Use code PMT for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply again. Create an account. Redeem code PMT for $20 off. Download the Game Time app today. Okay, let's go.

Hey Football guy AW. Yeah. Part of my take. Welcome to part of my take presented by DraftKings. The crown is yours. Today is Friday, January 9th, and the U. It's all about the U. Miami Hurricanes are back. Instant classic in the desert. It was uh what a game. I mean, it was basically, first of all, credit to Old Miss because they have now they went all the way to the semi-final with their head coach leaving. Gutsy effort. Trinidad Chamblas is awesome. He is just such a fun player to watch. But Miami, they looked like for a while there like they were going to suffer one of the most painful losses in the fact that they were dominating that game. They had like double the plays. They dropped every interception possible. Every big play seemed to go Old Miss's way. But Carson Beck, I doubted you and I'm sorry because what Carson Beck did on that final drive and credit to Mario Crystalall as well because I feel like a

lot of teams in that situation play for that field goal and kind of say, "Hey, let's not take a risk. Let's not pass the ball over the middle." They went and they scored the touchdown and they won the game and it was awesome.

Yeah, that the final drive was was great for Miami. Great. They were the better team all around. Yep. Uh miss had the best player on the field in Trinidad and that dude I don't know what the draft experts are saying about him.

Malachi Tony's also Malachi Tony also very good but but Trin Trinidad was doing everything after Lacy got hurt in the first half. He couldn't really run the ball that effectively after that. Uh Trinidad just kind of took over that offense and uh there's not a lot that you can do to stop him. Miami did make their fair share of mistakes with penalties left and right. In fact, there probably should have been a penalty on the Hail Mary at the end of the game. They hardly ever call that, but it was pretty obvious that that it was pass interference. Uh Miami is a very good football team

when they choose to do things that good football teams do. It and they have a tendency all year long and I mean this has been something that's followed Crystal Ball around for his entire career.

They get too cute with it big time. And it's like you got a great drive going. You've got Fletcher that's just running the ball right down their dick. And then you start to do weird stuff like Wildcat. You start to do weird stuff like uh like to run tosses way out to the side. You run flee flickers. You you take weird not even deep shots, but weird crossing shots that don't really have a a prayer of being completed and you end up [ __ ] yourself over on a drive. I think that Miami could win this game if they ran the ball every single play. their offensive line was dominant and even when a guy would get wrapped up for, you know, a two-y gain, then you get the the five huge big giant dogs on their offensive line pushing them downhill like an avalanche, you end up with a five, six yard gain on it. So, they could I think they could do that, but for some reason they they refused to try. They also had just it felt like for

a stretch there from the second quarter to the third quarter, Miami would run the ball, run the ball and then have a backbreaking penalty, whether it be a hold or false start and they had 10 penalties for 74 yards.

The when when like if you look at the box, if you woke up and missed this game, you're like, "Oh man, that was really close." It was really close cuz because like I said, the grit and like never giving up of Old Miss was there for the entire game, but Miami had the ball for 41 minutes. They had the ball for 41 minutes. The total plays

it the total plays in the game ended up being uh where is it? It ended up being a lot closer than it was uh like halfway through the fourth. Yeah.

At the start of the fourth cuz Miami I think they had them doubled up by halftime.

Yeah. No, they were doubled up even into this into the uh second half. They had Miami had 51 rushes to Miss's 21. So, that alone was pretty ridiculous. I mean, Miss had to cuz Kiwan Lacy had that incredible run at the start of the uh the second quarter, I believe, and got hurt. He came out for a while. Felt like Old Miss, all they could do was pass. And that's all they did do. And when Miami knows you all you can do is pass, it's not very easy. But again, Trinidad Cham Chamblas like making plays left and right. I don't know why the team stats doesn't have total plays.

That's weird. Is that that is weird. But either way, incredible game. I mean, this was this is what we wanted. This is when we going into we talked about it with Andy Staples when it was like, "Hey, any of these four teams could win the national championship."

88 to 60. 88 to 60. That's math by mental math, by the way. Oh, you did that on your Tell us what went into that. 37 37 attempts, 51 rush plus 51 rushing attempts.

Yep. Mhm. And then 21 rushing attempts plus 39 rushing attempts. What about What about punts and field goals?

I Okay, I didn't account for those. Can you get that for us, please? I'm going to need that for you, Max, on my desk.

I feel like that was like a pretty good You got an You got an idea right there.

No, it was good. It was good math. It was good. It was good math. Yeah. like a I'm also not even 100% sure that's correct. I think it's correct.

Now Miami goes and and plays in a home game. Yeah, that's pretty crazy. So I think that

if so Indiana will pack that place. Oregon a little bit of a tougher trip. That's a very far trip for for Oregon fans. They also just were there.

Yeah. Like last week against Texas Tech, but it will be interesting to see who meets them because Miami I mean they've shown they can they can win. And this is also this is where I know last year there was the entire there was there was a a narrative after the the college football playoff was like the 12 team playoffs a failure because you basically give elite teams like Ohio State a chance to lose a big game and still win it all.

Miami was on Miami almost didn't make these playoffs. They didn't they they were very close not making these playoffs. So when we say oh 12 is too much. Yeah, maybe some years 12 would be too much, but this year we needed it because Miami is in the in the national championship. And it makes you think like the real question here is how much would Notre Dame have beaten both these teams by.

Can we can we say the committee got it right? Yeah. Well, except Notre Dame probably would have beaten both of these.

You can claim a national championship. Yeah, that's fine. Go ahead and do it. Uh this is I think going to be the first national championship game um since 2002 with uh where it's gone three years in a row with no SEC teams.

Oo wow. Yeah. Pretty crazy. And that was also like watching this game, it felt like maybe outside Georgia, but like Miamiy's defense was maybe Texas A&M has a good defense too, but that's Miami was playing what we traditionally would say is an SEC style of a defense where it's like Old Miss was seeing a defense that they had maybe seen once this year, like once or twice, but not a lot because they're that good.

They were also planning for that. They were the the ball was getting out of Trinidad's hands very quickly. So, it's like I think the first play of the game or one of the first snaps of the game on defense, it looked like Ruben Bane was going to just absolutely clobber him on the blind side. Yeah.

Uh after he held on to it for like two two and a half, three seconds and then from that point on, it felt like Trinidad was just getting rid of that ball and not letting that pass rush get to him. But yeah, on both lines of scrimmage, Miami was pretty dominant tonight. Yeah.

But they didn't have Trinidad really and that was a big difference. It was uh a great great game and uh shout out our guy Danny Boy Kane. Happy for him. Yep. He went down to the desert. Got a win. Snatched it from Mincy. Needed that. I mean Danny Boy Kane's the best. He he had the keys to the game. He said it's going to start. He said I I have no worries about our offensive line.

We just got to get pressure with four. Yeah. We didn't hear Ruben Bane's name a lot.

No, he he made a couple plays. He was held a couple times too in the run. He had he had a nice tackle in the fourth quarter, like a one one-armed tackle when he was getting held. But yeah, he didn't really flash tonight but

Well, I think Miss and this is, you know, loser talk, but Miss proved that they very much cuz I think going into these playoffs, everyone was like, "Yeah, Miss is a nice team, but but they're they're not actually built for a long run. They they were very very good." Uh, and their offensive line held up and yeah, incredible game. What are you What are you looking at, Max? Max. Max.

PFD. Your mic is like face to the other side. There you go. There you go. Better.

There it is. It's been a long day. Yep. Yep. We're good. It's been a long day. All right. So, uh, let's do a couple other things, then we'll kick it to ourselves for the for the pick and preview. And Steve Young, by the way, reminder, Netflix Monday. Uh, so please subscribe. You can subscribe on Netflix. You can see us our picture that Shane worked on very hard.

Did a great job. So, uh, be ready for that. Um, Mike McDaniel fired fired in Miami. So, we we did say I think we said the overunder was one or there's going to be one more coach fired since that. There's been two more coaches.

I was wrong about that. Yeah, I was too. And then I thought more about it and uh when I got home last night, I was I was like, you know what? I think that there's going to be a team that loses in the playoffs

that's going to fire their coach, too. Now that John Harbaugh. Yeah. So on top of that, I I feel like one team, at least one team is going to make a choice to fire their coach, thinking, "Oh, we're definitely going to get Harbaugh, maybe two, and then one of those teams won't get Harbaugh."

So the Mike McDaniel firing was kind of mean because they made it seem like they were going to keep him.

I actually thought it was the nicest firing maybe ever. Yeah, but it was mean in the fact that they you did think that he was going to stay. He waited till Thursday.

Yeah. And then I I have to believe that the fact that, you know, John Harbaugh became available, Miami was like, "Oh, maybe we should probably get John Harbaugh." And uh there was a report that they John Harbaugh had no conversations with Miami. But I I don't believe that report. The funniest outcome for all of this, I think we can all agree, is John Harbaugh takes the Miami Dolphins job and they trade for Lamar Jackson.

Yeah, that'd be great. That'd be a great result. Lamar does want to play in Miami. So there was also you see chef and raport had a had a little source off.

No, they had a source off because uh Rapport I think was was reporting that John Harbaugh had lost the locker room and Shfter was reporting that guys were crying in Baltimore and like going to Harbaugh's office and giving him hugs and and so sad. So we had a little little source off on whether he had lost the locker room or not. So, the reason I said that the the firing was maybe the nicest firing of McDaniel, was because of the tributes that the Miami Dolphins official accounts paid to Mike McDaniel after the fact, just like paragraphs and paragraphs of of saying, "Thank you, Mike. You were a great coach. We love you very much." It seems like they went they went overboard, which I do think is because, yeah, they had the big thank you graphic uh where he's making like the dolphin dorsal fin with one of his hands. uh the the video montage of him and then they also had a giant long quote.

Yeah, there it is. Essentially a quote from Mike McDaniel. You want to read it?

I can't I can't read all that. Coaching this team part of this blah blah blah blah. Uh I will forever cherish my time in Miami. Here's why it is nice as well.

Congrats. We're sorry that that happened. Yeah, I'm not reading all that, bro. Uh here's why it is nice that it happened. Because Mike McDaniel is going to get a job instantly and he might get an awesome job. And by that I mean, how how would you like coaching the offense of the Detroit Lions? How would you like coaching the offense of the Philadelphia Eagles? How would you like coaching the offense of the Kansas City Chiefs? How about coaching the offense of the Baltimore Ravens? There are some

Oh, and the Washington Commanders. Thank you. Thank you. There you go. I forgot you fired Cliff.

Well, yeah. No, he so the reason why I think he might he might be a commander offensive coordinator, he loves Dan Quinn. Yeah. So Dan Quinn, he worked for Dan Quinn and Dan was like his number one advocate when it came shaking his head

when it came to getting him sober and supporting Max. Are you what? You hate on Dan Quinn and the relationship that he has with with his relationship. He said Dan Quinn saved my life.

Yeah. I'm just speaking strictly off of the teams. He's going to have his pick of the litter.

You have a coordinator. He is gonna have the pick of the litter and he he he can look at some pretty good offenses and be like, I can just go here for a year and then I'll get a brand new head coach job.

Jane Daniels. Yeah. Who and who else? Terry McLuren. Great offensive line. Debo is not fat.

Not fat. I would Would you say Lions might be a little more interest? Well, yeah, but I mean if I can't say that, but yes.

I don't know about the Eagles. You do have You're in the playoffs coordinator. I'll stop at that. Kevin's going to listen to this. He's going to be

I do think the Dan Quinton P is right. The Dan You think Kevin Mul is going to be back next year,

dude. What if you guys win the Super Bowl? I I still think he's gone. I don't know, dude. What if you score 50 points a game and win the Super Bowl?

Okay, deal. Okay, so what are we talking about? We just talked about We just talked about this in the Steve Young interview, how bad Eagles offense has been this year.

Don't spoil an interview, bro. Writing self- fanfiction about a former head coach potentially coming to your team. That is the domain of us, the losers. You as a winner do not get to enter into that conversation right until you lose. At the very least until you lose. You have a coordinator. You're in the playoffs. Focus on that. Okay.

The Dan Quinn part of this is is very real. Yeah. I didn't know the Dan Quinn part of it. Yeah.

So, I would say that there's he's probably odds on favor that it's going to be the Commanders.

Listen, it if I'm being completely honest, and we can edit this out of the podcast, yes, Detroit would be probably a more attractive job. Kansas City probably a more attractive job. Maybe Baltimore. That's kind of intriguing. But you're forgetting about Dan Quinn. That's why we didn't fire Dan Quinn.

That's why. Yeah, that's why. That's why. Yeah, that's exactly. Also, interesting stat that uh that game between the Dolphins and the Broncos 2023.

Mhm. Dolphins scored 70 points. Mike McDaniel chose not to go for the NFL record at the end of the game. Did not kick a field goal. I believe the football gods cursed him after that moment.

Um, the Dolphins went 23 and 25 after that. The Broncos went 32 and 16 after that moment.

By by the way, um, that is a curse. Mike McDaniel might get a head coaching job. Is that is that crazy?

I think it's a little bit crazy. I I don't know because the Raiders think about But hold on. Think about the the the candidates that have been thrown around are defensive guys

and it's becoming more and more clear that getting an offensive guy, especially with a young quarterback to basically pair them so that you don't lose your offensive coordinator, has become kind of a way of a lot of these teams. I I'm not going to rule it out, especially now with 25% of the league. Like, you can't totally rule it out.

Yeah. I mean, limited candidates out there right? Not everyone's going to get Harbaugh. I not going to get Stfansky.

I normally wouldn't say this, but I think if you are a team with a young quarterback and you're looking to uh have some continuity, I he probably won't, but I I'm not going to just immediately rule it out is what I'm saying.

But if you're Mike McDaniel, would you rather take the job with say uh the Las Vegas Raiders

or your best friend in the entire world, Dan Quinn, and work under him? I'm going to say that you'd take the lesser pay and you'd work with your good buddy Dan Quinn.

Lesser pay. That's what That's what I would do. Where do you think John Harbaugh is go? Did you see Jackson Dart on the sideline?

Yeah. Uh lip reading some he said uh Harbaugh or Stfansky. Yeah. I So is Harbaugh the number one candidate?

I think Harbaugh's got to be number one. Is he? Yeah. Fully. I think so. I don't know. I'm asking that just because he is a little older and I think he's going to be a he's a very good coach. I'm just saying is he the number one guy? I guess probably because of who's out there, but he's not he doesn't coach the offense or defense, right?

So, you got to still work on that. I guess his ability to get really good coordinators is his biggest asset. So, yeah, he probably is the number one. I think he's the number one guy and teams are going to have to do the Rooney rule thing where I I think a lot of teams want to hire him like immediately, no questions asked. Yeah.

But they have to do the the dance. Well, I think he's also probably waiting to see how this weekend goes.

And he is a Yeah, he is a brother. So, that that could count for the world. It could count. He uh I you'd have to think he's waiting and we're never talking about another man's job, but you'd have to think he's at least waiting to see how this weekend goes and some of the conversations had. I still think Harbaugh coaching the Browns would be the best so he can keep keep coaching against Mike Tomlin. Yeah, he grew up Browns fan. He went to to college in Ohio.

Have him coach the Browns. Do you think that there's any coaches out there like any guy?

You wouldn't take that job though. That's not the job you take, right? If you have the pick the letter

elite defense ready to compete. Shador sounds familiar what he's what he did with the Ravens. He had an elite defense in, you know, they draft Joe Flacco, bring him along. Just saying.

I mean, it's not going to happen. It would be so awesome if he just kept on coaching against Mike Tomlin.

So, there might be a coach or two out there that is currently looking for a job that might be getting like advanced calls back being like, "You're our guy." That is like, "What if the Bills lose?"

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I think he's I think he's probably waiting to see what shakes out. I mean, the I I still don't think that Matt Lafur is is on the hot seat, but Jake Glazer said it's a wait and see. Yeah,

that's you would you'd think that Harbaugh might be waiting and seeing on that too.

Yeah. And then if Matt Laflur becomes available, there's probably a team out there that would fire their coach and hire him.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, he would be probably number one. Yeah. Because he's offensive guy. Okay.

Todd BS also, it doesn't look like he's going to get fired. He said he told he said that he's not. Todd BS has relieved himself of all of his coordinators.

Listen, so he fired every He was like, "Let me just don't fire me. Just give me the opportunity to fire everybody else."

Yeah. Anytime you can win the division three out of four years and have a record that is two games over 500, you got to keep that guy.

Agreed. You got to keep that guy. That guy is someone you hold on to, you cherish. Yeah. He went he's gone eight and nine twice. He mixed in a 10 and seven year and a nine and eight year. Yep.

You got to keep that guy. You got to keep that guy. Um, I had one last thing. Memes. Everything okay?

Everything's fine with me. Everything Everything okay with you? You seem what? Five.

Five. Same five. What? Same five. Same five. You don't know about same five? Oh, I saw same five.

Same five. Show some respect to memes. The New York Jets are the first team since 2023 to start the same five offensive linemen for all 17 games.

It's huge. They put up a same five. Uh, no, I was asking that because memes, you you did go on a little um tweet spree this morning going after maybe some friends of ours. Dan Olowski was sitting in a segment on First Take. He didn't even say anything. He just laughed and meme said you you went 0 and16 as a quarterback. You can't be in the same room as a woman.

I lashed out. Now we like it's a Kevin Durant tweet. I like I like I like memes. I like Dan. I'm going to kind of stand up for memes here.

We should preference what this is all about. We should preference. What is this all about? So Todd McShane the other day went on his podcast and said Dante Moore should stay at Oregon because the Jets are a disaster.

Yeah. And Todd McShane's a friend of ours as well. But I I will say and I'd say this if Todd was on like I think that there might be a little bias involved with his relationship with Joe Douglas who was the GM of the Jets.

He hates the Jets because of that. Yeah. Which I it's like fair on all sides. He should just say that. We were saying like if if someone wronged PFT I would I would I I wouldn't be like all bias aside. I don't like these guys. Like it has nothing to do with be like, "No, they [ __ ] over my friend.

I hate them." And you know, like every story he's told you, right? Like you could say that, right?

So Todd Todd came on wake up Barcel this morning. He followed Mincy. So I think people were talking about that instead. But what he said, he kind of brought that up on his own and he was like, "I actually don't wish anything bad on the Jets." He just looks at the list of quarterbacks and he says it's it's important to have the conversation. He's putting the conversation out there. He doesn't actually believe it.

Yeah. And he's a draft analyst, so he's just analyzing the situation. He's analyzing the situation.

Yeah. Also, I I think that with the Oregon Indiana game, like that could have implications potentially for which guy goes first. I know Mendoza's had the better season. Heisman Trophy winner.

Oh, you think this is a first a first bowl? I mean, you could see like if if Dante Mo if he goes nuclear and Oregon wins by like 10 points.

Y I think there's a lot of NFL GMs that would say like, "Yeah, I'd rather have that guy."

He outplayed him. And the counterpoint is like, "Why aren't you saying that about the Raiders paying coaches $50 million?"

Yeah. Browns have a fair Deshawn Watson on the roster. Fair. Fair. Raiders are Now you're lashing out at other teams.

No, you're right. I think that was an unprovoked shot by uh the media at the Jets

and it's super wild card weekend. Why are you talking about the three and 14 Jets?

That's right. Good point. Also good point. He probably doesn't even know about same five when he's talking about the dysfunction like having the same five guys.

Mhm. It's very important. I think we have the second most sacks in the league. But

but same five same five. Those same five guys gave up the second most sacks. Also, last thing, congrats on Trey Young.

Thank you. Thank you. Very, very happy. Young is a Washington wizard. Trey Young being a Wizard. As I said,

as I said on uh on Wednesday's part of my take, I think he'd be a nice piece if he teamed him up with a superstar

like Alexander Sar. So, I was I was correct. It was the most NBA trade of all time.

Oh, yeah. Because neither team is doing this trade to win a title. No, they're not even really doing it to get better at basketball.

They're just shuffling guys. They're like, "Here, you take this guy because your spreadsheet could use a guy with that number next to it, and you give me these two guys, cuz I got a spreadsheet, too, and I'm looking at another guy on my spreadsheet that I want, and I need these two guys with these numbers so I can get that third guy."

Yeah. And so nothing happens. The whole time you were talking about it on Wednesday, like some team's going to do it, just being like, "Hey, at least we'll sell tickets and have people be like, "Oh, they're semi-competitive." The whole time you were saying that, I was like, "The Wizards or Bulls are going to do this." The only difference is the Bulls, it's probably too expensive. And the Bulls have a problem of they can't even play games because there's condensation on the floor. And Jerry Rhinorf had fans sit in the stands for two hours and buy all the concessions and then say, "Haha, game's postponed. We'll replay it when we play in the playin against the Heat."

So, he gets a free game. Yeah. They'll just do a double header for the playin. Yeah. Love that guy. I think uh I think Trey Young is actually the perfect guy. I I don't even know if he's going to play for the Wizards. That's the point I'm at. Like anytime we make a move, I don't know if this is going to be guy that we just pay and he just hangs out at at his house.

Does he move to DC? I don't know. But if if Trey Young were to play for the Wizards, I think it's actually a great move. It's much like the Jordan Pool where you you have a guy that's going to put up a million shots, right? He's going to get his, the team's going to lose and then hopefully we don't get [ __ ] in the uh in the draft lottery again.

Yeah. Which that's your only concern is that Trey Young does enough to [ __ ] you in the draft lottery?

Yep. Okay, let's kick it to ourselves picks and preview and then we'll get into Steve Young and Firefest of the week. Okay, before we get to our super wildcard weekend preview, it is brought to you by DraftKings NFL playoffs. Let's go. DraftKings Sportsbook and official sports betting partner the NFL make every moment feel bigger. A running back cuts through the line. A strip sack flips the field. A tight end hauls in the kind of touchdown grab you'll talk about for years. Postseason games shift fast. And with DraftKings live betting options, you can stay right in the moment. Plus, DraftKings has your back with early exit protection. If the player is in your eligible NFL prop bet goes down at any point in the first half, you still get paid in cash. New customers bet just $5. And if that bet wins, you get 300 uh 300 in bonus bets instantly. DraftKings Sportsbook every drive, every play, every moment.

Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now. Use code take. That's code take to turn five bucks into 300 in bonus bets if your bet wins in partnership with DraftKings. The crown is yours. Okay, boys. We're here. It is Super Wild Card Week. I know we don't say that anymore, but I still say

Yeah. So, I saw that they they just dropped Super. Are we Are we supposed to believe that this weekend is no longer Super? Cuz it it's very misleading that it was Super and it's not Super anymore.

Yeah. It's crazy. So, I'm still saying Super. I'm still doing it. [ __ ] that. Uh it's Super Wild Card weekend.

I say let's let's go once. It's going to be super divisional weekend next weekend.

Yeah. Let's just make everything super. So, some big picture things before we're going to go game by game, and we're going to save the Monday Night Football game for Sunday's show. Um, the couple things. One, all six wild card games this week are actually being played outdoors, which is a little bit of an anomaly because it feels like usually we have a Houston Texans home game in the mix, but since 2004, outdoor wildcard games are 49 and 23, 68% to the under. Hate seeing that stat.

Don't like it. Hate seeing that stat. And at 41 or higher, 41 or higher for the total, those outdoor wild card games, the under is 42 and 14. Hate seeing that stat.

That's bad. Here's another stat about dome teams playing outdoors in the playoffs.

Okay. Dome teams in the last decade are 1 and4 when they play on the road and it's below 40° outside.

1 and 14. So dome teams being the Texans, the Chargers, although the Chargers is that technically a dome because Lightning can get in.

Well, no, that counts. That one counts. I know we had the lightning delay. Yep. But that one counts for this the purposes of this stat. So Sofi counts. So the Chargers could be one.

Mhm. The Rams could be another. The Rams could be another. And it's going to be wet and rainy in Carolina. And Matthew Stafford, there's conflicting reports if you Google it, but Matthew Stafford is 1 and8 in the rain.

He's two and eight. I I thought this I also saw it's it said maybe 1 and8 that like if you actually Google it. Yeah, I'm going to I'm going to get it right now. Matthew Stafford

I went down the same rabbit record in the rain. I've never seen this before on uh the AI search. I think it said Matthew Stafford has historically struggled in games with rain or snow with reports from late 2025 for early 2025 citing records around 1 and8 or 1 and six in in these conditions. How do we not know?

Yeah. So, I think he's around I think he was around 1 and seven in the rain/ the snow.

Okay. And then this year, I know that they won in England. They they beat the [ __ ] out of the Jaguars, right? Was that the Was that this year? Um it's all it's all melding together in one history. But I I do know that they lost to the the Panthers. That bad loss that they had to the Panthers earlier this season, that was in the rain. Matt Stafford had his worst performance of his career in the rain and snow. He has a 54.6 completion percentage, four touchdowns, 11 picks, 70 passer rating, 76 passer rating.

Okay, so something to think about. The also the other last thing, and this actually applies because we're talking about the Matthew Stafford. We're going to talk Rams Panthers first. Um, the quarterbacks making their first start happens every playoffs. The stat is out there. Jane Daniels actually kind of uh helped dispel this last year with a couple ripping off a couple wins, but QBs making their first playoff start versus QBs who have playoff experience are just 34% against the spread.

So 20 and 40 straight up since 2002. These games are Bryce Young making his first start in the playoffs versus Matthew Stafford, Kale Williams making his first start in the playoffs versus Jordan Love, and then Drake May making his first start in the playoff versus Justin Herbert. If you take those three games, the odds, the historical odds are that two out of three of those will be losers.

Yep. Which isn't great because that means it guaranteed one of us is going to lose, Hank.

But we're in we go. We actually we kind of need Bryce Young to to lose to to be like, "All right, there's one out of like if he wins that one, that's bad."

Yep. Okay, so let's talk about the games. We have to start Saturday afternoon Rams at Panthers. Right now, the current line is Rams minus 10 a half and the overunder is I'm going to make sure that I have the exact current line is 46 12. I'll say this for the Panthers. They're in the dance. Don't apologize for being in the dance. They also have Cam Newton who is going to bang the big drum. I think um Luke Kee, Greg Olsson's going to be on the call. Y

I think maybe Luke Keequley is going to be there. It's going to be a a real Panther family excursion. And uh I did see there was there was one one Panthers fan online who was doing a little fanfiction. He's like, Bryce Young scores a touchdown in the first half and does the Superman celebration

because Cam Young's Cam Newton's there. Yeah. And the crowd goes wild and the Panthers c have a a double-digit upset of the Rams and then at the end of the game, Cam Newton holds up Bryce Young like in Lion King and he's like, "This is the new guy."

Ruth Cond forever. Yeah. And that in that whole fanfiction is very interesting because it's like our quarterback is so dimminionative that he can be held up by another man like a little baby lion.

That could actually happen. Like especially between those two. Cam Newton's a monster and then Bryce Young is is mini me version of Cam. Uh I I like the Panthers to cover. I think that's a lot of points.

Um but the Rams have been excellent this year. That that one game against the Panthers was by far Matt Stafford's worst game. Y

I don't think that happens twice to him this season. And the Rams historically have been pretty good about traveling east. They've been the best team in the NFL against the spread all year.

I just think 10 and a half is too much. But when you look at the Matt Stafford stats, like he might be a gremlin. Don't get him wet.

I've I've tricked myself. I I I had the same thought as you. 10 and a half's too many points. But then I'm like, wait, is that what they want us to think? Are the Rams going to win by two touchdowns?

Yeah. Because the Panthers are they're in the playoffs. Let me just say that again. They're in the playoffs. Don't apologize for being in the playoffs. They're not really good at anything.

Let me ask. They're okay at a lot of things. They're not like great at anything.

Can we have an honest conversation? Yeah. Can we do that? Can we do that? Do we all agree we can have an honest conversation on this show?

Yeah. Why are we giving out charity playoff spots to teams like the Panthers? They they win a a Mickey Mouse division.

They're clearly inferior. They have zero chance to win the Super Bowl. it ruins the playoffs.

You've got teams like the Ravens, the Lions, teams that actually would have a chance and play and as a viewer, I I hate to see what the ratings are going to be in this game. And at some point, it becomes a safety issue for the Carolina Panthers.

I'll go one further, PFT. I think having the Panthers in these playoffs is starting to remind me of the worst tournament that we have in America, and that's March Madness.

Oh my god. Can you can you imagine? Like, everyone says they like underdog upset. Nobody likes that matchup.

No one. No one. This is a Yeah, it's terrible. Uh but you know what I do like about this matchup?

Yeah. Respect to the schedule makers. Yeah, because they got it right. Andy Dalton is back in his proper home.

The Saturday afternoon wildard game. They should have Matt Shab do the coin flip.

I would love to see that. Now, for a while it was like, yeah, the the Texans were involved in that conversation, too. Then the Texans kind of took over that that

they played each other once, remember? It was a passing of the torch for the wild card game, for the Saturday wild card game. And now Andy Dalton back in the playoffs. He's going to be on our TV on Saturday afternoon. Um probably getting beaten in the playoffs, so it's going to be a real blast from the past.

Yeah, I I do agree like the it does feel like too many points, but I just keep tricking myself. Is this like a situation where they're just begging you, begging you, begging you? We did mention too the the last two times uh or two out of the last three times there's been like big big underdogs. The big big underdogs have won outright. The the Beastquake game, the T-Bo game.

Mhm. So I listen, these playoffs are so wide open. Wouldn't it be the perfect way to kick them off to be like, "Hey, here's a team that everyone expects to win it all in the Rams and they they're out already because of an under 500 Panthers team beat them." Yeah,

it it would go in line with what this season has been. They are the most wide. These playoffs are gaping.

Yeah, the By the way, do you know that the Rams have 32 touchdowns this season with three tight ends on the field? This is like where McVey continues to innovate and continues to change things. And it's it's funny because we we you know the John Harbaugh discourse is going where is he going to end up? Um in these in these uh playoffs in the NFC playoffs who do you think the oldest head coaches

NFC playoffs? Let's see. We got Sirani McVey Canales. Um we got McDonald Shan. It might be Shanahan.

It's actually Matt Laflur. He's a month older than Kyle Shanahan, 46 years old, is the oldest coach in the NFC playoffs.

That's crazy. It's pretty insane, especially when you're looking at like, hey, a John Harbaugh who's going to get a lot of interviews and deserves a lot of interviews,

but the way the the the league is trending, you know, three of the coaches in the NFC playoffs are under 40 years old. They're younger than us.

Matt Laflur being 46 is kind of crazy. And I know and the fact that he's the old head, he's

Yeah. Yeah. I thought he was 40. He's crazy. So, uh, yeah, McVey continues to innovate. He's he's clearly an unbelievable head coach. And I think that that combo, as much as you want to be like, hey, maybe the Panthers can cover, but Stafford being there, McVey being there, going up against a a first time head coach in the playoffs, first time quarterback in the playoffs, I think the Rams are going to win.

Do we think there's any any merit to like Chris Schula taking, you know, hearing his name everywhere, taking phone calls, thinking about where he's going to be interviewing? M

I do think that that had something to do with with the Lions last year in the playoffs.

Although they everyone points to that game against the Commanders and they're like the Lions offense like Ben Johnson was distract the Lions defense sucked.

Yeah. So I guess that's Aaron Glenn. But yeah, I mean there was I I guess you could say though that in those in that playoff game, Ben Johnson made a couple bad mistakes. Yeah. Like he had

but their offense still moved the ball. their defense and they there was turnovers but their defense was what killed them.

The defense was bad but I would say that the offense two things killed him on strictly like Ben Johnson's decision-m was not handing the ball to Jir Gibbs going to Montgomery and having Jameson Williams throw that pass that got picked off.

Yeah. So like I I don't think at this point for Chris Chula since it's the first week of the playoffs I don't think it's an issue but may something to keep

Can't they not contact for another week? I think I'm sure that doesn't happen. I'm sure.

No, but I'm saying I I know they can contact obviously. I'm saying they can't do a formal interview.

That's why I'm saying like maybe not for this weekend. Yeah. Yeah. I When can I think it's next weekend formal interviews for NFL head coaches start?

Yeah. It's divisional. It's divisional round. Yep. So So they So they have a little time. Virtual interviews for non-playoff or eliminated playoff coaches begin shortly after week 18. Inerson interviews currently employed coaches often waiting until after divisional round. Okay. But LA, yeah, last year I know both Lions coordinators were interviewing before the divisional round.

Yeah. Yeah. Uh, anyone got anything they love in this game? I think Dvonte Adams is going to score. I think it's probably like minus 150, but if you want if you want something Rams moneyline, Dvonte Adams to score.

Yeah. I mean, the Rams are I don't want to say their their offense is different, but their their red zone offense is definitely different with Devonte Adams out there. I I like the Panthers to cover.

They're I would even call it red zone offense, the one yard offense, right? Yep.

It's a one yard offense. That's good to have in the playoffs. Yeah. Good. Good to have one yard offense. Yeah. Not God knows you're not going to run it.

I mean, if the Yeah. If the Seahawks had a better one offense back in what was that 2017?

2013. 2013, whenever that was. Yeah. You need you need that one yard offense. You know that, Hank.

Yeah. Do you know that if you go back to the start of 2020 and you pick any date, the Rams have the fewest amount of penalties in the NFL? So like they had the fewest amount of penalties this year, last year combined. Like they're that matters when you get into these playoff games and it becomes

a lose, you know, a a a oneame situation. A 10- yard penalty can change a game, you know, like a holding call, a pass interference call. So special team, like when you get to these playoff games, special teams and penalties, they matter a lot.

Yeah. And it becomes even more like, hey, do you do the things in the margins to win these games? I I also don't think it's that hot of a take to say that the Rams could I don't know what the odds are right now, but they feel to me like they might be in my mind the favorite to win the NFC.

Yeah. I I if you if you went gun to my head right now, I think there's three teams in the NFC and it's and if I rank them order, it would be Rams.

Yeah. Eagles, Seahawks. That's pretty much what I got now. The Rams. No faith. No faith in the Bears.

We're going to get to the Bears. I I said that if you had said gun to your head. If I put a gun to your head right now and said Patriots are going to school. Take

me out. I don't There's a loaded gun. Yeah. Okay. You're lying. It's called going down.

You're lying right now. It's called going down with a ship. Let's see. Seahawks are favorites right now. But yeah, that game between the Seahawks and the Rams that Thursday night game, which was like the flukiest, craziest game of all time. Easily the Rams could have won that. If they had won that, I think that's a uh it's very very heavily weighted towards the Rams in that case.

Yeah. put. You don't respect hypotheticals. I do. Oh, did you bet did you bet the Patriots to win the Super Bowl?

Yeah. I bet the Bears to win the Super Bowl to win a million dollars. I don't have as much money as you.

Yeah, but that was that's going to I've been looking at it and been like, "This is really stupid." But I still wanted to do it. And it is still stupid. And also, the price went the wrong way.

I bet him 22 to1 and then they went to 25 to1. I was like, "Fuck." Thought I thought I I timed it well.

There's no chance. [ __ ] No chance Hank believes that, by the way. No, he's doing not he's not doing hypothetical. You threw it away, [ __ ]

I DID. I DID. WELL, NO, I DIDN'T THROW it away. I turned it in because I was I was committing a felony for three years in New York City

accidentally. Oops. Okay. Statue of limitations. I'm good. Let's go to the next game. Packers at Bears. Bears right now are one and a half point underdogs. The overunder is 45 and a half. I am going to the game. I'm attending the game on Saturday night. I'm very excited. Memes and Zach will be there. We're going to have a PMTV out. The Eddie and I are going and the Memes and Zach will be we'll be filming everything. Um I'm just nervous about this game. I'm nervous. The the the the Bears and Packers have played four times in the last two years. They are two and two against each other. Both teams have scored 86 points. All four games have come down to the last play of the game.

And they all alternate. And they've alternated. Yeah. And it's not that that's not good. So, we might get a snow game, which would be wonderful.

Snow football. I I think I I understand why BigCat is nervous, and he should be nervous because the Packers are a good team, and this a potential loss would be soul crushing, especially if it happens on the last play of the game. No matter if it's like the the Packers scoring a last second touchdown or kicking a field goal or the Bears doing something at the end of the game to lose it, it's going to be soul crushing for the Bears if the Packers win. But think of the glory.

Yeah. Think think of how how much the tables will have turned on the Packers if you beat them in the playoffs and you now get to say like I own you.

It's no risk at no biscuit situation. The the the risk is is as high as it could be and uh the swings could could not be more volatile. And I do think the Bears are going to win, but I'm I'm nervous in the fact that I just think they're so evenly matched. I actually had my neighbor is a uh Packers fan and I saw him in the alley the other day and we had a we we had a like I'm not super confident off

back and forth. It was very contentious like I'm not I was like our defense he's like our defense. We just went back and forth and they were like all right see you later.

Are you guys doing like a uh a silent war of flags in front of your house like you put up the Bears flag and then he puts up the Packers flag and then you guys you know that you now have an op in the neighborhood but you don't like actually speak it out. Did you see the Packers um fight song that has been going around the internet? There's a I Yeah, it's so bad.

Let me let me hear. So, I sent it to my neighbor cuz I was like, just forfeit now dude.

We're not going to be able to play it, but we're not going to be able to play it, but we

I'll let you I'll let you hear it. It's so bad. Is it Is it PA? No, that would rock it. No, it's like it's like it's like white guy rap.

Yeah. remember those San Diego Chargers or San Diego Padres's fans doing like the the doo-op? It's similar vein in that.

But if like you were to have it like expert or like professionally done produced Yeah. I don't know if the It's kind of like Bubba Sparks if he was a Yuper. I don't really

He's like PG Mac. Miller. Yeah. Like Mac Don't even do not do not put Mac. I meant like Mac Miller if like Mac Miller did Miss Rachel.

Oh, no. Do not even put those two in the same spot. You like that, Zach? That's more along lines.

No, Zach disagrees. I I disagree with Miss Rachel, but that's a good start. Yeah. Okay.

Bluey. Yeah. I wouldn't even Yeah. All right. I apologize. Mac Miller's the best. It was I'm just saying it's

it's terrible. So, that made me confident. I also will say this. I I'm very interested to see the the injury report because I think Roma Dunce is gonna play

and he hasn't played since November. Yeah, but more importantly, if Kyler Gordon can play, I'm gonna have a lot more confidence going into this game. Kyler Gordon, remember, uh, play has played a couple games this year. He warmed up for the first Packers game, was ruled out during warm-ups in that game in Lambo. He is a TR terrific slot corner. We've been getting absolutely killed over the middle of the field. Like, our our our defense is slow. It basically is like can Kyler Gordon come back and and once or twice in this game break up a third down like stop a third down and that could be the difference in the game because I think again these teams are so evenly matched that he could he could swing it. The Packers also are getting a lot healthier. I think Zack Tom is back. His onoff splits are pretty ridiculous.

Josh Jacobs has not played in a couple weeks so he's probably healthy. I'm just nervous.

You need takeaways. I need take I said you have to have turnovers. Bears can go to the Super Bowl if they get three takeaways a game. I do

I Yeah, I would agree with that. I do. I I am I am very confident in Kale Williams. The the offense has to start fast. We have to start fast. The the Bears are 10-1 this year when they score at least seven points in the first half. That's not a very high bar.

No. No, not at all. But the the the games where we've started slow uh have been really bad and they've looked really bad.

So I have this the splits right here for Zack Tom. So in 2025, Love averages 9.2 yards per attempt uh a 79.6 completion percentage and he threw 23 touchdown passes and two picks uh from clean pockets. And with Tom in the lineup at the first meeting, Love completed 13 of 17 passes for 204 yards and three touchdown passes from Clean Pockets.

I think that I think you guys are just going to play man football. I think I think the Bears are just going to try to run the football.

I hope so. And it's going to be the the game plan is is exactly what happened in the Eagles game.

Yeah. The the the problem the problem is I think the Packers are going to do the same try to do the same thing.

Yeah. because I think it's again the both defenses are just huge question marks and both offenses I think everyone's going into it pretty confident.

Can we do this somewhat of a mean thought exercise? Yeah. Can you power rank like the the worst ways that you could lose this game for your psyche, for your mentals?

Okay. Um but then we gota also do best ways. Okay. Worst ways. Um I would think it would start with like a Kale Williams pick at the end. Mhm.

I actually think can like a close game. No. Can Can I say that actually it would be worse? The pick in the first Green Bay game was bad, but it also was like and the way the Niners game ended, those are bad, but those like, hey, you get down to the goal line, you you drove the ball, you there's going to be a point where it's a 50-50 play. I think the actual worst way would be like a pick on the first play of a of a drive with like two minutes left.

Yeah. You know what I mean? where it's like you're getting all ramped up, you're ready to go. It's like, "Oh, fuck."

Would you would rather lose in a blowout? Uh, no. I don't No, I don't think we're gonna I mean, I I if you the ways this game is going to go, I I would be shocked if there's a blowout. Either side. Either side. I agree.

Either side. Best ways to win. Uh, another walk-off pass to DJ Moore. It was just a repeat. 50 yard bomb. Yeah. DJ Moore.

What about field goals? Field goals are always nervous. They're they're they can always this is the first Bears uh playoff home game since the double doink.

So it's always So I mean it's not like we've had I think we have one other playoff game. Shout out by the way Mitch for winning MVP again.

Yep. Yeah. You see that week 18 MVP? Y I think the Bears are going to win. I don't know how they're going to win. That's really what the the the terrified part goes.

And what's crazy is the line keeps going back and forth too. Yep. So the Bears were favorites. Then it switched to the Packers. Y

where is it at right now? I think it is Bears plus one and a half. Okay. So, I'm You know what? I'm taking the Bears. I'm taking the Bears. I think you guys are going to win this game.

I do, too. I just don't know how it's going to It's going to be torture. It's a torture watch.

If you win this game, there's also a chance that things get blown up in Green Bay.

Yeah. Which is crazy to me. But like Laflur, I think he's a great coach. You know, math aside, fourth down decisions at the end of NFC Championship games aside, I think he's a great coach, not a [ __ ]

He is though getting a little old for the NFC. He's getting a little geriatric. It might be time. Maybe it's a mutual thing after this game. It's like, yeah, I'd like to go play golf and and uh you know, hold my grandkids.

Mhm. Hip foot placement. People are talking about him being fired after this game if they lose, which is it sounds crazy.

It sounds crazy. Uh but the Packers have moved on from good coaches before. Yeah. I feel like that becomes destination number one for Harbaugh.

Yeah, Bears are going to win. They just got to get a turnover. Just got to find a way to get a turnover.

I have PTSD. What? I'm taking Packers. I just Oh, the the one game Sunday Night Football from that that that actually like has

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, the Cowboys two seed. Being a fan of two seed, Jordan Love coming into your house and just blowing the doors off of you

because it is funny whenever Bears Packers play there is the other thing that that Hank thinks about is sitting in a hotel room with Dave and Hank on a Sunday night football game when the Packers when Aaron Rogers played like video game level and they were up 42 nothing at half.

Yeah. And we were sitting there cuz we had like a college football show. This is like 2014 and they always just go back to that and they're like, "Yeah, remember that. Hank, if the if the Packers win, you should jump in the pool.

You won't jump in the pool. You won't jump in the pool. Lake Michigan. Tips pool.

I'll go in Lake Michigan. I will say bear weather definitely on our side. Bear weather definitely on our side.

Yep. Cali boys from Wisconsin. It's going to be it's going to be cold. It's going to be uh maybe windy, maybe some snow. Green Bay doesn't know how to do that.

Just run the football. Yeah, run the football. Hank, I do think that was that might have been my favorite video you've ever done though.

Thank you. when you jumped in the pool and then you put the hole in her back wall.

Yeah, appreciate that. The thing I'm actually least worried about is I I think Caleb Williams is like a big game guy. Like I think he's going to be ready for this game.

You said game. Big game guy. Yeah. Yeah. No, I I think I think he's big game Caleb.

I think he's very clutch. Uh he's been an awesome quarterback this year. I'm confident. I'm confident in the Bears. I think it's the defense.

I'm going to bet on the Bears. Actually, I already have. I I parlayed them with the Steelers. Um.

Oh, that's spicy. Uh, spicy spicy parlay, but I'm gonna bet them individually, too. I'm I'm hoping for one of the best weekends of your life.

I'm I'm Let's just Let's just win a football game and be there Saturday night. Maybe have some drinks. Memes, you might have to drive. I'll get the parking pass.

I can drive. Okay. Let's just win a football game. Let's win a football game. Let's find a way to win a football game. Okay. Um, Sunday. Sunday. I'm actually outside of the Bears game, I'm most excited. It's gonna sound weird, but I'm most excited for this next game.

Yeah, Bills at Jags. I am most excited to watch this game. It is Bills minus one and a half over under 51 and a half. I cannot I can't make a decision on this game. And here's why. The Jags are really, really good at everything. And I think they're underrated. I don't think people have talked enough about how good they're running the football, how good they stop the run. Trevor Lawrence playing at an MVP level the last eight weeks, but in my head I'm like Josh Allen is the ultimate it doesn't matter. He could just be Superman guy in these playoffs and that could happen.

Yeah, the Jaguars are better at everything. The but they don't have Josh Allen. And Josh Allen, you're totally right. When it gets to the playoffs, it's like stuff doesn't hurt anymore. All the stuff he was taken care of beforehand, he doesn't give a [ __ ] about that. He's liable to go nuclear. He's liable to run for, you know, 50 yards at a time, rack up throwing touchdowns, put his body on the line, jump over people, run through people, and that's what you can't really account for. And the Jaguars, they have the best rushing defense in the NFL.

I don't believe they've allowed a single 75 yard running back against them all season long.

Um, the Bills have so many questions at so many pos, especially on defense. Uh, they have not been reliable. They've given up some big leads. They've played poorly like dog [ __ ] on certain weeks. You don't know which Bills team's going to show up, but they have Josh Allen who is the best. I think he's the best playoff quarterback in the AFC right now.

He's 51 in the wildard round. As much as people like to say that that Josh Allen like, oh, he's he's a choke artist because the Bills haven't won a Super Bowl, Josh Allen is awesome in the playoffs. Yeah, he is incredible. In the losses that he's had, he's been the best quarterback on the field. Like when they've lost to the Chiefs and Mahomes in the past, Josh Allen has played better than Mahomes in those games. He's great in the playoffs. The Bills as a franchise are not great on the road in the playoffs. Do you know the last time that the Bills You already know this?

I know this, so someone else. Hank, do you know here? Trivia time. Hank, trivia time.

Trivia time. When was the last time the Buffalo Bills won a road playoff game? 1994.

Very close. Who's 1995? Very close. Worse. Worse. Hank wins. 1992. That was the 1992 AFC Championship game. They beat the Miami Dolphins.

They're also 0 and2 against the Jags in the playoffs, but that loss was Blake Bortles, the most recent one with uh Shawn McDerm.

That was when the the Bills uh broke their streak of not making the playoffs, remember? And then they went down there. I think they lost like was it 10 to three or something?

Bortles. But that was a wind. Remember how windy that was? It was very windy. Very very windy.

Yeah. I I It's weird to say, but I think like the team who wins this game like that's the watch out team because if

I I do think the Jags are very very good. And it's just the Fred Smoot did did say something that got in my head. He was like, "Who's the only person who can stop Josh Allen?" I was like, "Who?" And he was like, "Josh Allen." And I was like, "Well, yeah, but he's played great in the playoffs." He's like, "No, the other Josh Allen."

And I was like, "Fuck Josh Allen." Yeah. Josh Hines Allen. This should be for the name.

Yeah, it should be for the name. Winner of this game gets Josh Allen. What's What's our Josh Allen's middle name?

I don't know. Let me find it. We got to Yeah. figure that out. Do we think that this is a call that or or maybe a team that John Harbaugh's waiting to see

the Bills? How it plays out? I think so. Patrick JPA. Yeah. So, yeah. Josh Patrick Allen. Mhm.

That's what we're playing for this week. The stakes couldn't get higher. They could not get higher.

I read a I read a funny article today. It was uh from September of of this year. It was about Trevor Lawrence and SP Nation, my old stomping grounds by James Dator.

Here's the headline. Trevor Lawrence is generationally average. What? We're in the midst of year five now. The odds that Lawrence will magically put it all together and become the player people hope for have evaporated. He is not a bad quarterback and certainly one Jacksonville can win games with, but he's never going to be a top five quarterback or potentially even top 10. There's too much inconsistency when the throw when the throws matter. While he'll make the majority of passes an NFL quarterback while he'll make the majority of passes an NFL quarterback should make, he doesn't make the plays the great ones are capable of. This puts a hard ceiling on what the Jaguars can achieve with Lawrence at quarterback. At this point, he's much closer to Blake Bortles than Patrick Mahomes, which actually that's a good compliment at the end that he threw in there. But

I I almost want to say he wasn't wrong when he wrote this. Wait, when did he write this?

It was September of this year. Okay. Cuz I was going to say he has he has been the best, if not the best, the second best or third best quarterback in the last eight weeks in the NFL season. I think the only part of this that was wrong at the time,

saying that he's not going to be able to put it together at this point. And uh I guess all it took was like tripping over his own dick, falling down, getting up against the Chiefs, and running the ball into the endzone where he like woke up and he was like, "Oh [ __ ] I'm good enough to do this." Yeah,

maybe let's not be so anxious all the time. U that might have been what woke him up. But ever since that and then uh when when Liam Con told him, "Just let it rip." He's let it rip.

Yeah, he's let it rip. I'm I'm excited for this game. I'm excited to see Jacksonville crowd. Uh Hank, I have a question for you because listen, you know, you know, we have a a relationship. I've known you for almost half your life.

Yeah. Almost half your life. I've known you. 14 years. Yeah. Almost half. So, like I mean, if you start memories at five, I've pretty much known you for half your life.

Yeah. It's crazy. Um, you're really good at at knowing when I'm maybe getting ahead of myself, when I'm when I'm I'm about to purchase something stupid, when I'm about to do something that makes zero sense. What would you say if I told you I might be trying to buy some troughs from Highark Stadium that is going to be on auction next week for this office?

I actually think troughs make sense. Okay, let's go. Let's do it. Let's get some troughs in here. The amount of piss

the amount of piss that it ends up on the floor is actually disgusting, dude. Imagine disgusting coming in here and being like, "Those are actually the troughs from the Buffalo Bills stadium." That's [ __ ] cool.

I think you guys are thinking of two different things right here. What do you mean?

No. Um, I'm thinking Hank Hank is thinking of it like you're thinking about the ones from Yeah.

Wait. Troughs that we use, right? No. Oh, I thought you were thinking of just to have in our

Oh, no. want to install the Buffalo Bills troughs in our office. Got it. Max was thinking when he hears troughs, he thinks like something that you eat out of.

Food. We can get you one of those, too. It's a big bucket around your neck. I thought you were just talking like like me like

we ring a bell and running on all fours. Yeah. All right. So, I'm on I'm down four and a half pounds. [ __ ] face.

I went I went looking for it last night. I don't think I think they auctioned off the seats. So, if anyone's listening to this and get me in touch with Steiner Auctions, tell me when these troughs are going to go on.

You think they think they're going on auction at all? Yeah, they I saw an I saw like someone be like they're selling the troughs.

That's incredible. I want to buy a trough from the Buffalo Bills stadium and I want to install it in this office. I think that would be a very cool feature to be like, "Hey, you know, you're pissing in the same one that like some dude who's got like half his blood is Buffalo sauce." Yeah, I thought Yeah, for a second they were about to be like piss in the same trough that Josh Allen, but no, it's just like that all of

Buffalo. But you know what? Close your eyes. You can imagine the guy. It's the same guy. He's got Zubas on.

You could potentially be pissing in the same troth that Rob Ford did cocaine out of.

That's true. That's pretty cool. That's true. Also, you have to imagine probably not. I was say, do you think how many games do you think OJ went and went as like a fan after he retired? There could be a chance that OJ pissed in one of these troughs,

right? When did High Mark open though? Isn't Wasn't there a lot of bad teams there?

No, they actually I I I was looking at their records 1978 to 2025. Wow. Do you know they were 16 and3 in the playoffs there?

I mean, they obviously went to the Super Bowl a bunch in the '9s, but that's pretty damn good record. Also, three teams in the NFL never won a game there. The Packers were played seven times, never won a game. The Cardinals uh um ne never won a game there and the Bucks never won a game there.

Okay, I'm looking this up right now. A lot of games. They are selling the troughs collectible exchange.

Yeah, it hasn't has it hasn't gone live yet right? They're selling the lights on top of the stadium.

Yep. But I I found that article. They they said that they're going to roll it out. So, I think the troughs are the next one. So, I just need to get ahead of it because I really want to buy one. And I might even want to buy two and or three cuz we got three bathrooms here. Let's just [ __ ] trough it up.

This is This is honestly the best idea you've ever had. I'm excit I'm excited to piss into this trough.

Yeah. And just be like, "We're pissing into history." I was looking up when the uh Ursay collection is going to be put up for auction. This is a much better use than buying anything that Jim says.

But here's the I just need someone to help me. I I I can buy it. I just need someone to help me because I'm afraid that I'm going to miss it or do it wrong or whatever. So, someone from Steiner who's putting these auction, just let me know.

Here we go. It's Brandon Steiner. Okay, here's a podcast segment for one Brandon Steiner from Collectible Exchange.

Hit us up, bro. Let us know when this goes on sale. We want to corner the market on troughs.

Yes. Yes. Okay, let's go to the next. I'm going to be really pissed off if I can't buy the thing that got pissed on.

I'm going to be very upset. Very, very upset. Trevor Lawrence have been playing his [ __ ] ass off.

Yeah. So, like these stats, 25 TDs, three interceptions when tied are trailing.

Yeah. I also I think I think Trevor Lawrence I think it actually happened on Jerry's big parlay day.

I I I wouldn't hate taking a bet Trevor Lawrence to score a rushing touchdown. What about both?

Yeah. Oh, I like that, too. He feels like every week he's scoring a touchdown. I think I think both is a good bet in this. I can see Josh Allen doing

definitely doing that. At least one play where he presses all the buttons and hope hopes it works out.

Yeah. Like when Josh gets desperate, that's when he's at his best sometimes, but at other times he does just like, you know, some boneheaded stuff trying to make a play.

Yeah. Again, like it's just are you confident in the Jaguars for every reason or are you thinking but Josh Allen?

Yeah, that's exactly how this comes down to. And I'm going to give I'm going to give two the bad thoughts that we did with the last game. I'm going to do two two one bad thought, one good thought for Bills fans. One bad thought. Cam Little has been absolutely insane with the distance on his field goals. He has a 67 yarder this year. He has 70 yarder in preeason.

Yep. With the new kickoff rules, I'm just going to throw this out there. If this is a close game and let's say that the the Bills kick it off, they take the lead and they kick it off with 30 seconds left and then the Jaguars only have to get 15 yards for Cam Little to get a field goal to win the game. That's a bad thought.

That's a very bad thought. Here's a good thought. Josh Allen has played in 31 of 32 stadiums in the NFL. What is the one stadium he's not played in?

Levis's. Levis's. It's written in the cards. Think about that. He's never played in Levi Stadium where the Super Bowl is.

I think there might be something to these new footballs that makes them harder to kick the ones. I don't know. Are we using the same stupid footballs that have the USA design on them?

I don't know. But Cam Little hit it with that. That Yeah, he curved it in. That was a great kick.

Yeah. Okay. Afternoon. Eagles 49ers max. How we feeling? Eagles are four and a half.

Nope. Just jumped a full point, which I'm trying to figure out why. Five and a half. Well, that's not a significant point.

I mean, it's still a full point for the start of agree. But if it goes to if it goes to six, then I would be like, yeah, but four and a half to five and a half. There's not many games that finish between four and a half.

I'm just saying from the beginning of this recording until it was four and a half to start this recording. Now it's five and a half.

I would imagine is Trent Williams still not practiced. Trent Williams and Ricky Pierall are both still in doubt according to Ian Rapaort. That's what that's what I gathered.

So five and a half over under 44 and a half. I'm not just trying to gas you up, Max. I think the Eagles are going to win this game easily.

Max, what what have I been telling you for the last like week? That I'm fat. Besides that,

besides that, I I I I don't know. I I told you some things that I said we shouldn't say on the air about the Eagles.

I don't remember. Oh, well, I I I was telling you that I actually think that the Eagles are a very very dangerous team. And

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And everyone's acting like they're dog [ __ ] because the offense looks bad sometimes. But I think that Lane Johnson coming back, which I believe he is, right?

Yes, he is. He He's fully practicing. I I put the Eagles fully, but he is practicing.

I put the Eagles right up there with the Rams and with the Seahawks. Do you know who's also really bad? The 49ers defense. And they lost another I do they have a linebacker?

No, I think they're playing linebacker list also. Max Kyle Shanahan has faced Vic Fangio four times in their career. 11 points, six points, 15 points, nine points. Those are the points that Kyle Shanahan has scored against Vic Fangio in the most like the world is just maybe it's maybe it's like the parody of its of itself where we're living in a simulation. Did you guys see that Vic Fangio this year has started a new tradition and it is giving out meatballs to the best defensive player of the week every week? And I just thought of Max the whole time. I read the article. It was very funny. Vic Fangio has a meatball recipe that has been passed down from his grandparents who came from Italy. He is so protective of it to the point that when he makes the meatballs at home, he will sometimes make his girlfriend turn her back when he's adding the secret ingredients.

I also just love the fact that Vic Fangio has a girlfriend. Yeah. Has a girlfriend. He He doesn't do any pomp and circumstance. The article said that every single week, Monday when they go through the tape, he gives a he gives a meatball player of the week. The only rule is it cannot be the guy who got the defensive game ball of the week. So, it can't double up. And he basically has a brown bag of meatballs and spaghetti and he just kind of puts it at on their on their table. He says, "Here, your meatball player of the week."

I love it. And that's Vic Fangio having fun with it. They're like, "Yeah, he's really opened up this year. He's given meatballs away to

I would take the meatball over the game ball every single week." No, that was the one thing I respected when this whole article that was talking about it. There are guys on the Eagles defense who have not won meatball of the week and they have not tried the meatballs. So, they're all being very like scouts honor. You don't eat the meatballs unless you win the meatballs.

So, like they interviewed guys and being like, "What do the meatballs taste like?" He's like, "I don't know. I haven't won meatball guy of the week yet."

If you've won and like one of your locker mates gets it, can you eat the meatballs since you've already tasted them?

No, I don't think so. I think they just eat the I think it's just that guy that week.

They're very strict about it. I feel But it was funny cuz Cooper Jeene was like, "Yeah, he's kind of like loosening up. He's giving us meatballs."

Was it Was there another coach that did this? This story seems very familiar to me.

I don't know. Like or is it is it brand new this year that Fio is doing it? Yes, it's brand new.

I think you may have been dreaming. I feel like this is a very unique thing. No, I I think we've talked about something like this at some point where

Well, it's also again like parody like if you did a Mad Libs for what would what would be the story that would come out that Max would love the most about his favorite football team? It'd be the defensive coordinator who's from the Philly area giving meatballs of the week.

It is. It It's pretty great. And the fact that he's got the recipe laminated, he's brought it with him wherever he goes.

Like this is this is good stuff, Max. This is the kind of [ __ ] that that will turn around what has been a downer season.

Yeah. Like there's some magic in this. Yeah, there is. The meatballs of the week. There is definitely some magic. I mean, this is a this is a Super Bowl week. Vic Fangio sits the whole defense down. He's like, "Boys, we win this game. We're all getting meatballs."

Yeah, that's that's what it feels like. Something like that. So, he he actually Yeah. He showed the players a video of him making the meatballs in his house.

Yeah. It's so funny. This is how I do it. This is how I do it, fellas. Yeah, Max, I be confident, buddy. Be confident.

Yeah, I'm uncomfortably confident if that makes sense. Like, I feel like I should be more nervous about this game, but I'm I'm I'm kind of not that nervous.

Yeah, I with Lane coming back and I I assume that he is playing because Baldi put out a tweet saying that he's going to play.

He's gonna play and then but then Baldi deleted the tweet because I'm pretty sure Lane Johnson was like, "Hey, don't don't put that out there." I think I think Lane Johnson the amount the amount of like cryptic emoji tweets that Lane Johnson's put out this year.

He has to play. He's got to play this weekend. And no Trent Williams if that actually holds up then I I think that defense

I think Trent Williams is a big factor. Like if Trent Williams is playing and at like anywhere close to 100% that that would be

If Trent Williams is not playing, I think we're looking at potentially multiple meatball player of the week awards. Yeah, the defense could eat if if Trent Williams doesn't play.

Everybody eats. Uh, so with the with the 49ers injury history over the last couple seasons, there's been a lot of theories on what's going on with that. I found one guy online that might have cracked it.

Yep. His name is Peter Cohen and he is Sunlight is life on X. This might be one of the one of the fake Sun guys just like they replaced the Sun.

He has a theory about the 49ers. The 49ers are statistically the most injured team in the NFL over the past decade. Since moving to Levi Stadium in 2014, they're top five in adjusted games lost for 10 of 11 seasons.

They have seven to eight full Achilles patellar ruptures. The league average is two to three per year.

Uh they have 40 plus major hamstring calf tears, high ankle synismosis injuries every single year. No other franchise comes close. None of the usual explanations. turf scheme, bad luck. Hold up. Only one variable is unique, and the players know it in their guts. In early 2024, retired guard John Feliciano let it slip. Players have joked around about there being an electrical substation right next to the practice field and how that has led to the Ner's injury problems.

They do practice next to an electrical substation. This guy went to the practice field with a G meter.

Okay. Do you know what a G meter is? No. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know if it's a real thing or not. He said he went there on a Monday and he's got a video of him like hiding out with his G meter. It read 8.5 plus millig at the far edge of the fields. Inside the facilities, it's potentially 10 to 25 millig spiking higher when there's peak grid demand. The typical background exposure is 0.5 to 3 mill or millig. So, this guy is saying that the Niners are just getting bombarded with electric waves all day, which is [ __ ] up their bodies.

Yes. I I don't believe it, but I know that how uh professional athletes work, if enough of them believe it, they're going to just have to move the stadium.

Yeah. Like this this is going to like the minute it starts hurting them in free agency, they're going to be [ __ ]

Like Yeah. I Is that why Fred Warner can climb the stadium? True. Hey, we went there. Remember we went there for training camp?

Yeah. I feel like and we got a lot of kidney stones after. I've been very injured.

It was maybe 5 years after, but still we got a lot of kidney stones after. Several ribs.

Peter King stole Peter King stole. Did never pay me back for an In-N-Out Burger.

A lot of bad stuff. Everything's gone downhill since then. COVID happened. Mhm.

Not too long after. Yeah. It's uh there's 0% chance it's true, but it might be true.

It might be true. It's something we should think about. I I'll tell you this. If any ners players are trying to combat this, I've got some crystal mats that I'm looking once used that I'm looking to get rid of for the cheap price of 1,500 a mat.

Barely used. Barely used. So, that clearly would be something that would stop this.

Barely used. Barely. Emphasis on barely. As barely used as possible. This Yeah. Write a write the saddest story you can in six words. For sale. Crystal mats. Barely used. barely used. Yeah, I Max I I I think you guys are going to win this game. I It's not a knock on the the Niners. If the Niners had a a decent defense, I think it would be a totally different, you know, game, but they just they're so ravaged on defense. And Trent Williams and Ricky Pierce all are massive.

Mhm. I I almost feel like Max, you'll agree with this, that how bad the NerS looked last week, like that's that's got to scare you a little bit.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. coming off a loss. I am scared of how confident I am in this game.

Well, the Eagles are also coming off a loss. Well, this is backups. I was told that that doesn't matter.

Oh, I was told that it doesn't matter about the backups coming off a loss from you, but we're doing reverse psychology where it's actually good that your team lost,

right? What? So, the backups lost, which makes the offense, they don't get that that good bounce back because they're embarrassed about what happened last week.

Yep. Yeah. One of my the ners do which is why you're scared of the ners. Team is a team. Ball club. Ball club is a ball club, right Hank?

Ball club is a ball club. One of my favorite themes that happens every January when the Eagles are in the playoffs is we just get stories of local bars denying service to opposing fans. Except this actually should make you feel better, PFD, because you guys took over the hard rock.

The hard rock, dude. We took that [ __ ] We took the [ __ ] So, there was a a a Niners fan who who um contacted Ladder 15, which is a bar in Philly, and said, "Hey, nice to meet you." Typical on a Friday night, it's the first night of the takeover weekend for Niners fans. So, anywhere throughout the night, we can have 100 to 200 people, give or take. With this being a big game, I'm thinking 150 to 200, and that's a rough estimate. Emailing this bar asking for space. And the bar just replied, "After very little consideration, we cannot in good conscience host anything that has to do with the 49ers. We're Birds fans till the end. We bleed green. We back our team even when it comes at a cost.

Only reason I wish you luck is because the 49ers are going to need it. Enjoy your time in the city of brotherly love.

Perfect." After very little consideration is great. No notes. That 49ers fan made a mistake. Like first of all, don't send an email. You just call

take over the hard drive. And and second of all, you don't say like, "Hey, uh, we're planning our takeover, our Philly takeover this weekend. Would it be okay if we came?" No, you got to Trojan horse that [ __ ] You got to say, "Hey, we're doing an Eagles party." And then they're like, "Sure." And then you go in and it's just All Niners fans. And what are they going to do? Kick you all out?

Yeah. In life, experience is the biggest teacher. I got that with my fortune cookie last night. And I I think that applies to this game. And by fortune cookie, I mean that was Jaylen Herz's quote.

Mhm. Sounds like a good quote. Don't get mad. By the way, we we pardon my cheese steak. We have we have uh

we figured out to do the fortune cookies for football season next year. We're going to do football fortunes.

It's good. It's going to be awesome. Okay. Any any other thoughts, Max? Are you You're going to win this game?

I hope so. I feel I feel good, but I hope so. Are you What's your one concern if you had one?

The offense. Okay, that's fair. But I think that the Niners defense is so bad that it should be a game that you do well,

but I mean we've I mean you won a game without completing a pass in the second half.

I know. I know. I know. So, but their offense is still I don't know it if Trent Williams and Ricky Pieraw both don't play then I feel pretty good.

So, you're rooting for injury. I'm not. I'm just telling you how I feel. Okay. Jaylen Herz has never lost at home in the playoffs. You know what the average points per game is there? Excuse me. Let me rephrase that. The average winning points per game. How many points have they won by?

I would guess it's small. Like two. No. Winning by an average of 21 points per game

in the playoffs. Yeah. At home. That can't be true. Okay. 21. That can't be true. Where are you seeing this?

Uh this was forwarded to me uh by Rico Bosco yesterday. That's a pretty good source.

Yeah. So, watch your mouth. Let's look up Eagles playoff games. That is a pretty good source. It's a pretty good source.

Are you a skele? Sounds like you're a skull. I said that was a good source. Okay. But sounded like a little physicious on the sourcing thing.

This is under Jaylen Herz. Jaylen Herz at home playoffs. What was the number? Uh Jaylen Herz

by an average of 20. Jaylen Herz is 5-0 straight up at home in the playoffs, winning by an average of 21 points per game. Well, yeah. I mean, you have the Commanders Commanders.

You have the Niners NFC Championship game. Okay. Wasn't that one like That was a blowout. Yeah.

Giants. Giants was a blowout. Giants. I guess I just remember I And even the Rams and Rams you won by what? Eight. Packers you won by think

Packers was like nine. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Would you like to apologize? Apologize.

Apologize. I apologize to to who? to Bosco. Okay, thank you. Well, although I did say he was a good source, so actually I don't apologize to Bosow. I apologize

I apologize to Absolutely. Absolutely no. I should have known that. I apologize to to the listener that I that that I was surprised by that.

Apologize to yourself for [ __ ] that up. I apologize. No, because I don't myself should be punished. Yeah.

So, I don't apologize to myself. What What was the reason why you doubted it? Was there one game specifically? No, I just think of like

Is it the Rams? No. Yeah, I just think that there's been some close games at at home in the playoffs, but I for some reason I I I wasn't thinking about the blowouts that that have also happened at home.

And you're cool with uh Smelly. You and Smelly on good terms now. You guys are boys again?

Uh we'll see. Okay. Yeah, fair. I I I reserve the right to continue to call him Smelly if he if he somehow

smells loses a playoff game. Fair. Okay, last game Sunday night. We're again, we'll do the Monday night football game on Sunday when we when we've watched all the first five games. Oh, PFT's got a Patriots hat on.

I was wondering why your hat was on backwards. You're not a bad I was wondering.

Sometimes you just got to be a cool guy. I thought you did an ad or something that you couldn't have your hat forward and then just didn't turn it around. But now, now this makes sense.

I didn't even realize it. I was like, why why is the why is your hat back? No, you just got to be a cool guy sometimes. All right. Patriots minus three and a half. Over under 46 and a2.

I love this. The guy looks good. Thank you. Are you going to be betting the Patriots?

I'm heavy on the Patriots. Heavy on the Patriots. Uh, doesn't matter. Give me I might take the alternate line.

Okay. I might I might move it all the way up to I think double digits. It's fair. 10-point win. Get to feeling good, right? Like we're back.

Yeah. Where are you at with Shane right now? Uh, me and Shane are good. I mean, I'm just kind of ignoring him. He's He's being a little bit of a pest, but

Oh, what was he doing? He's just annoying. Won't stop talking, chirping me, saying messed up things. But that's it's all it's all loving loving the game.

Yeah. Hank, I I walked all all is fair in in battle battles. I walked past you the other day and you like physically assaulted Shane in front of me.

What do you mean? You slammed your back into him. That's seems dramatic. What side are you on,

Shane? Well, I I don't want you to give us any bad juju for our Patriots. I would never. Listen, Hank. Honestly, it's I I've got something I've been meaning to tell you about this. Okay. It is It's sad how nervous and how like much mental and emotional energy you're putting into a wild card game.

We're the [ __ ] I don't follow. We're the [ __ ] Patriots, dude. Yeah, I agree. We haven't been back in a in a few years, though. We got to We got to get, you know, we got to get it started. If we were really the Patriots, we'd have a buy.

I know. So, like Good point. This is This is a failure of a season almost. No, not not quite. But it's like, yeah, I'm not used to being in the wild card cuz we usually have the buy. So, it's like, yeah, we got to get we got to focus up. We're going up against a ball club.

And you know that the NFL You are going up against a ball club. You know, the league is going to try to [ __ ] us, too.

Yeah. And you got to be worried about that. This This is a uh prime time prime time off because the Patriots are 4-0 in prime time games this season. The Chargers are 5-0 in prime time games this season. Something's got to give. How are you feel? I I I'm going to bet the Chargers plus three and a half. do think this is if the Chargers can block for Justin Herbert, which I the the Patriots defensive line isn't like their, you know, their number one elite skill group. It's Drake May and the offense and the Chargers defense is good. I think this is a field goal game.

I really do. I'm kind of like Max. I feel a little bit uncomfortable with how comfortable I feel going into this game.

Like I'm very confident and PFT flipping his hat makes me even more confident. Yeah. You're [ __ ] right, dude. Where the I I don't know where any of the nervousness would be coming from because you you have been you wouldn't be going after Shane if you weren't a little bit nervous.

I'm not going after him at all. Do you respect the Chargers? Nah. What about the Chargers defense? You know, the Chargers defense is the only defense in the NFL this year with more interceptions than pass TDs allowed. They had 19 interceptions and only 16 pass TDs allowed. their their defense is really good, but I would rather be going up against, you know, a great defense with a great offense than having to go up against a fantastic offense with a okay defense, if that makes sense. Like I think our great offense can offset any great defense,

but you have not this is the hardest defense you will play this year, right? So, it's going to be a good good test. I I think it was

but I think I think we still have the advantage defensively and Justin Herbert in the playoffs

when Bellich said that there's a chance that that there's nothing you can really say there's I was like going to retort it but yeah he's got to prove it. He's got to win one to prove it.

Belich was saying that that there's a good chance that the Chargers can just out ball club us that they can just physical

Bellich. Yeah, Bellich. He said if they can What do you mean us? Patriots. Where was he doing media?

Bellich check. It was on Let's Go. Oh yeah, he said he said you were listening to Let's Go.

He was on Let's Go. Yeah, that's the name of the podcast. The Brady podcast. He was on Serious, dude.

Wait. Oh, is this the one with Jim Gray? Yeah. Yeah. Is it called Let's Go? Yeah, it's called Let's Go.

On Let's Go. Okay. He said he said that the Chargers can they can make it a tight game. They can get control of the game. They certainly have the defense and if they have enough of a running game, I think they would certainly have a chance. He's got a lot of respect.

Hey, I'll give you a good stat. You want a good stat? Hey, do you not believe me that Belichc said that the Chargers could beat the Patriots?

I just didn't see Belich check on Let's Go. I feel like that would have that would have crossed my desk.

See, this You're not locked in. You're not locked in. You're not locked in. Hey, can I give you a good stat? If the Now, we don't end all be all PFF rankings. We don't we don't view that. But uh if the Chargers were to win this wild card game versus Patriots, it would be the worst offensive line to ever win a playoff game since tracking start started in 2006. That would be bad.

Mhm. Now, the second worst uh or the pre or sorry, the previous worst right now, the 2011 Giants.

That was a good team. So, but they Yeah, they won a bunch of playoff games. They won a bunch of playoff games.

They did. Uh, I like what Stefan Diggs said this week. What'd he say? They they asked him like, "What wrinkles do you have? Anything new?" And he goes, "You don't try to go and make new macaroni."

We're not going in with a new macaroni. You're you're just going in with that same thought process, trying to tighten up a little bit far as putting a little bit of extra time on your body or putting a little bit of extra time on film. The analogy came from somebody on Thanksgiving. They came to their family gathering and they made new mac and cheese. They said, "Don't trial and error on our day." Okay. So, same recipe. Don't change the mac and cheese. No new macaroni.

He went with a food analogy. No new macaroni. He went with a cooking food analogy.

He likes stirring the macaroni around. Okay. Interesting. Yeah. I think Patriots seven plus.

Here's the here's the quote. What's the quarterback situation with Herbert? Broken hand and all, that's definitely been a factor. They've had some injuries on the offensive line. If the Chargers have to play from behind and pass, block, and try to protect and throw the ball 354 times, I think they're going to be a lot of trouble. If they can play from ahead, get control of the game, make it a tight game, they certainly have the defense. And if they have enough of a running game, I think they would certainly have a chance.

That was kind of a nothing. It also picked both sides. It's the Let's Go show, but not with Brady.

He picked both sides. Jim Gray. You think if Brady was on there, it would have been better.

It would have I probably would It would have been made more waves. Yeah. Sam Belich has no juice anymore.

No, I just I like kind of sounds like it. I didn't see that until he does a big interview with Jim Gray on Let's Go and you missed it.

Yeah. Why are you laughing at Let's Go. Because it's a ridiculous name for I was talking to you. I was talking to Hank.

What do you mean let's go? That's his signature. I understand. It's a ridiculous name for a show.

Yeah. Tom Brady invented the saying, "Let's go." Let's go. Yeah. You would never.

What? Let's go. Okay. I say let's go. Yeah. But I wouldn't make the name of the show that. Why not? Cuz I think it's a ridiculous name for a show.

Do you think that there's one person out there that's listened to part of my take that thinks the name of the show is Let's Go because Big Cat says, "Let's go."

I mean, let's be honest. If Big Cat was ever going to make a spin-off show, okay, Let's Go would be the name of the list ever.

Okay, let's go. I like this fight. I like this fight. You don't think You don't think

That's a good name. But you don't think that saying like when people think of Big Cat, they think, "Okay, let's go."

They You don't think that they when they think of Tom, they think, "Let's go." Do you don't think that uh

you're two of the pre-minent Let's Go people in the world. Do you don't think that though saying go listen to Let's Go is confusing.

No. Yes. Let's go listen to Let's Go. Yeah. That's like whatchamacallit the candy bar.

That pops. No, it's confusing. Then why I mean it's been around for a long time.

There's a K-pop demon hunter song that has me confused too that it's like I think it's it's like what is this song or something? I put my I put every amount of my faith in Bichc's words on let's go. And when he says that if the Chargers can get a lead, he said both sides.

If the Chargers can get a lead, then he did kind of pick both teams. But it's so funny. He's like, yeah, if they if they get a lead against the Patriots, then they could win the game against the Patriots.

Mhm. And if they don't, let's go. Let's go. Let's go. There it is. It's actually Let's Rip. Remember I did that once.

Um All right. So, you feel confident? Feel confident. Feel good. Too confident. I Sunday night is is is annoying. I really wish we were playing Saturday. Just a long waiting all day for Sunday night.

Sorry. I know that sucks. I I do think Oh, the song the K-pop song is What It sounds Like. So when my daughter says, "Can you play what it sounds Like?" I'm always like, "What?" And then I have to text my wife. She's like, "No, that's the name of the song."

Yeah. That's similar to Let's Go. Okay. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Listen to Let's Go.

You know the last It's okay to say the name is ridiculous. Okay. Yeah. Let's go. You You won't admit the name is ridiculous.

No. Okay, let's go. What about Jim Gray? What about him? What about him as a as a

Yeah. Okay. All right. There we go. That's all. Talk about bolting up. That's all I needed.

Hank, charge him if you got him. When do you think the last time was that the Patriots won a game in the wildard round?

The last time the Patriots won a game in the wildard round, was it 2018? Nope. 201 not 13.

When was the last time they played in the Wild? Well, they lost to the Titans, right?

I don't know. 200 five. Uh 2006. Last time they won a wild card game against the Chargers.

I don't have the game in front of me right now, but I mean this is what I'm saying. This is why like we're the Patriots. We don't worry about wild cards. Meaningless. We don't play in the wild card.

I know. Okay. I know. Let's go. Okay. I know. Okay. I know. Would be a great name for Hank's podcast. Just him him complaining at people that are tell that are telling him things.

Hank's podcast is I can't even exist. And it's like people will find it thinking that it's a podcast for like to cure depression.

This can't exist the podcast. Can't exist the podcast. Episode one. Does it? No.

People tune in to to be like, "This is going to fix my depression. I can't get out of bed." Can't exist the podcast.

This podcast doesn't exist. Would be awesome too. Yeah. I think people just try to find it.

Oh, yeah. The un the unknown podcast. Yeah. Mhm. Oh, I like that. See our episodes.

The Unnamed Show. Yeah. Unknown show. The Unknown. Okay, let's go. Jesus Christ, you're going to be so annoying. The uh Let's do our picks. Right. So, we've decided we're going to continue the picks through conference championship

and the loser has to do 20 minutes of standup. It's going to be I It sounds crazy, but I think it could work.

If you're thinking, "Oh my god, a podcast bet where someone does 20 minutes of standup." Yeah. Actually, you know what? I don't think we should do that because I don't think it can work.

I don't think so. I think it work. The loser is going to do the show like inside a car of some sort.

Yeah. The loser is going to do what? What do we say? 24 hours live stream. 36 36 hour live stream and the second place is going to do 18. Okay. 18. So the second place will be with them for 18 of the 36 hours

and they can figure out consecutive. They can figure out whatever they want to do.

So we're going to go all the way through conversations. We'll figure out some like challenges and stuff and we'll do Yeah, it'll be fun.

Maybe you can get some time. We'll we'll figure it out. And we'll have the live stream on our YouTube reminder Netflix on Monday. Um, I did the reminder at the beginning of the show, but just another reminder if you're listening this and want to watch us, we'll be on Netflix. Let's do our picks. Who is starting first? I'll I'll bring it to you by our good friends at DraftKings. DraftKings Sportsbook, the number one sports book for live betting, is making every snap, every drive, every moment of the NFL playoffs. We're watching with over 2.5 million in prizes up for grabs every Sunday. During the playoffs, they're turning up the stakes for every DraftKings customers. Here's how simple it is. is head to the DraftKings Sportser Gap, opt in and receive a promo token. Place a live bet of $1 or more on any NFL Sunday uh or any Sunday's playoff games and you're automatically entered. That's it. And every live bet

means another chance to win. Place a live bet and stack your entries all Sunday long. There'll be more than $75,000 uh $75,000 winners every NFL playoff Sunday. Jump in, bet live, and let the entries roll for a shot at a share of over 2.5 million in prizes. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app, use code take. That's code take. Again, place a live bet of $1 or more on any Sunday's playoff game and you're automatically entered. That's it. And every live bet means another chance to win. Place a live bet and stack your entries all Sunday long. There'll be more than 75,000 winners every NFL playoff Sunday. So, go do it right now.

Who's up first? We're giving out over 2.5 million in prizes. Hank. Whoa. Go for it.

Wow. And we're picking one. Same same as usual. Yeah. I'm going to take the under in the first game. Rams Panthers.

Okay. I will be taking the over in the Bills Jaguars over 51 and a half. Okay, that's a fun one. Max,

I'm going to take the under in Eagles Niners 44 and a2. Okay, I would like to take the over in the Steelers game.

Oh, okay. That'd be 38 and A2. Okay, you look good. PSD. I'd like to take our New England Patriots. Do your job.

Minus three and a half. No naps. Let's go. No new macaroni. Hate us cuz they ain't us.

Stick with the chef. Bolt down. I'm going to take I'm going to take the Bears plus one and a half. I'll double dip on this game. I'm going take the over 44 and a half as well.

I'm going to take the over in Niners Eagles 44 and a half. I would like to take the Eagles at minus 5 and a half. I will be taking the Rams minus 10 and a half.

Jaguars plus one and a half. Blow out. Hank. Whoa. Blowout. Packers. I guess - one and a half.

Yeah, minus one and a half. I don't think I have a choice, right? No, there's many games left. You want to take the Steelers?

Take it. Take it. Yeah. No, I I was going to take it. Yeah, you the the way that you said that to like try Oh, my hands are tied to here, guys.

I don't want to be an [ __ ] I don't know what to do. I was going to take it first.

I got to take the back. I was going to take it first. I was like, it's going to come back around. Act like I had no choice.

Um, PFT, we got Steve Young. Yeah. And let's do an ad and then we will get Steve Young and then we'll finish with Firefest of the Week.

Yeah. Before we get to Steve Young, recurring guest Steve Young, he's brought to you by Chevy, our great friends at Chevy. They have been the best sponsor to part of my take. They make great trucks. The Silverado is a beast of a truck. It's tough. It's gritty. It's the fullback of trucks. They sponsored the Low Man Trophy Award. And uh you should find yourself in a Chevy soon. Take it for a test drive. It's one ride that's always game ready. It's the Chevy Silverado. Longtime partner. From job site to tailgate, Silverado lets you show up strong. Let you tackle any task. It's built for the hustle, ready for the game. Silverado is America's most dependable full-size truck. For JD Power 2025 award information, visit jdpower.com/awwards.

Better yet, head to chevy.com, learn more and build your own Chevy Silverado today. And now, here's Steve Young. Okay, we now welcome on a very, very, very, very special guest, recurring guest, our good friend Steve Young on to talk some football. Great to see you. Uh, excited to talk some ball with you. How are you doing overall? What's what what's what's up with you these days?

Very very very very special. That's That's awesome. Yeah. You guys get three varies. My I don't get any of that at home. Trust me on that.

But how's everything going? I mean, it's great. Yeah. No, uh I watched football today with the eye of somebody that uh you know, like most of us wish like Philip Rivers like man just let me play again, man. This is this is a good time to play football.

Yeah. Uh but at home things are good. kids. I got one left in high school and and uh kids in college and trying to get them launched and and a wife that sticks around. So, it's awesome.

That's awesome. So, all right. So, let's let's dive into the games. What let's start with this. What's the game that you're most excited to watch on uh wild card weekend?

Well, I I I obviously, you know, I'm invested with the 49ers, so I mean I'm and being in Philly, there's a whole thing there. of the recent drama and some cool stuff, but I think I want to watch mostly the Bills at Jacksonville.

Yeah, because this, you know, I feel for Josh Allen because he's, you know, the last five years, I said this maybe 2021 that the next 10 years the Super Bowl is going to be dominated by Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, and Patrick Mahomes. They're just gonna they're just going to trade out and the next 10 years you're going to see one of them win the Super Bowl. It ended up being all Patrick Mahomes. But uh but the fact is Josh is now looking at the playoffs and saying to himself, "Wait a second, no Joe Burrow, no Lamar Jackson, no Patrick Mahomes."

Like, "Let's go." But then all of a sudden, there's Bo Nicks, you know, and maybe Trevor Lawrence out of the, you know, rehab uh center and uh like, "Wait a second. I got to deal with all this stuff." And he really does. I I think Jacksonville has proven what is now should be so obvious to people around the league that if you don't have the the innovative mind and process and play calling stacking uh of uh someone from the tree of of Shawn Peyton, Andy Reid, Shawn McVey, or Kyle Shanahan, then get out of the league. Like get out.

Yeah. Just there's not it's not it's not working. And uh and you look what's happened in Jacksonville, you know, Liam Cohen like well who's Liam Cohen? He's got all the he's got the he's the he's the fruit of the tree, right? And he gets it. He knows what he's doing. He's going to make the job easier for the quarterback, tougher for the defense. Stack plays series to series and all of a sudden it's like who are these guys? And so I I'm really fascinated by Bills at Jaguars.

So you mentioned Josh Allen. I have a question off of that because you obviously had um your your career path and you know taking over for Joe Montana for the niners the old winning the Super Bowl monkey off your back but the years before that when you guys weren't able to to finish the deal year after year did you get like was there a point where you get to the playoffs when you know 92 93 and you're like oh man like here we go again like this is you know not a crisis of confidence but

what's going through Josh Allen's head do you think going into this game You know, he's actually lived it longer than I had to. You know, we won Super Bowls in 88, 89,

right? Beat by the Giants in 90. 91 was an off year. 92, you know, we that was the ' 92 is the one that I throw up in my mouth when I think about it. Like, it's just painful because we were all of that and the Cowboys weren't yet and and we got beat and it was just a sad I was just was terrible. So, that haunted me. Uh, but it wasn't. So, the next year we got beat again. I think it was the I think going to 94 probably very similar to how he's feeling like we we have to it's now.

Yeah. And the Bills look the Bills have not completely embraced what I just told you about what is obvious in the league and how you got to find somebody to run the offense and and how you got to get the help around Josh to make sure that it happens. Like he's had to be Superman. He's he's responded but at the at the biggest games of the of the year that's not enough. Yeah. Yeah.

So, I just I pray for him that somehow it's a down year in the league generally and there's not somebody that can take him down uh in the fourth quarter uh for four more weeks. Yeah,

that's his because otherwise, let's say get they get beat again and now it's like now what five years, six years running and that's now the the Bills have to ask themselves in a down year. A down year meaning that there's not a like a predominant team. there's not somebody you're totally scared to go see even at home, Denver or Seattle. And uh and and even in those kind of years, we can't get it done. And what is wrong with us?

And it just and then they have to ask themselves, is it the right head coach? Is the right offensive scheme? Do we need do we need more help? Do we need a better running game, offensive line? Somehow we've got to have Josh Allen win championships because he's all of that. And if he if Josh Allen doesn't that says more about the Bills in my mind it says more about the Bills than it does Josh Allen. People say oh Josh Allen's never won the Super Bowl. Trust me Josh Allen's ready to go to the Super Bowl. He just needs the help that Patrick got that others in in history have got that we've all gotten to get there.

Yeah. And the stats do show and if you watch the games he he is a awesome player in the playoffs. He is the best player on the field usually in many of the games that he ends up losing. Um, with the Jaguars, Trevor Lawrence looks like a different guy. And I I was joking earlier that it's like when he fell down against the uh the Chiefs on Monday Night Football and he tripped over himself, fell down, picked it up, ran into the end zone. At that point, he stopped being scared of football and he's like, "Okay, yeah, this is fun. I'm really good again." Obviously, it's a lot deeper than that. And you probably could tell us like when you're watching that offense, what what are the Jaguars doing offensively that has made it easier for Trevor and allowed him to play the way that he can.

You have to you have to go back to uh and bear with me for a minute as we build this case when they changed the the league was worried about someone dying on the field, right? And uh they wanted to make it safer. And so how they decided to make it safer was force defenders. They could not launch their bodies anymore. they had to bring their feet to the tackle and that's a much slower game. Now, it's still amazing athletes. It's still incredibly competitive, but it changed the game so dramatically, but it wasn't so obvious to people and the people who got it right away and saw that the game became slower. It opened up. Uh, how I would describe it is that the Canadian football field, if you think about that size of field, that's what happened to the NFL. It got bigger because people couldn't move as fast. They couldn't they couldn't cover as much ground. They couldn't control as much ground. So what

happened? Innovative offensive mind said, "Oh wow, we have more space. Let's start doing some more cool stuff, more college-like stuff we can get away with now. And how are we going to do? How can we put more pressure on defenses, run similar schemes, but put instead of uh um you know, the slot receiver doing it, let's have the halfback do it. Let's do let's get rid of the eye formation. Let's get the the jet sweep going. It's like think about all the innovations over the last 10 years that have come because the rule changed and innovative minds jumped into it in the space.

Again, I'm getting to your Trevor Lawrence answer in a second, but you have to understand the buildup for how it happened. And so that that the teams that figured it out, the four I mentioned, and then as the coaches went out and spread, they recognized that you could with the new rules of safety, create an environment where it's much more difficult for the defense to deal with people coming from all over the field and and creating new spaces and areas for different different combinations to take advantage of. And so we put the onus on the defense, the pressure on the defense. the rules have constantly gone against the defense and so it's made it so much harder and then we can solve our protection problems. I remember sitting with Kyle Shanahan the night before a 49er game recently and he go famously because of Bill Walsh did this for years and now all those guys do that first 15 or first 20 the night

before they go through the first 15 plays. You never really get through all 15 in in a game time but you know players go to sleep with what that you know what the coach is thinking about. So he goes through the plays boom boom and I'm like man that's a cool play. Wow, that is just a screen and that's it. So much cool stuff going on. And then at the end he's like, "Well, you I walked up to him and I said, "Man, that's that's some great stuff, but you never mentioned Blitz. Like what do you do versus Blitz?" He goes, "Oh, no, it's fine. It's all fine." And I'm like the hell like that's like like sign me up.

Yes. How easy is How easy is that? So when you go to Liam Cohen who's now smart, intuitive, innovative, he's got the power of the of all of that now, years of experience of being kind of downloaded, goes to Jacksonville and says to Trevor, "You can be great because I can make it easier on you and tougher on defenses, and I know how to stack plays and series and connect and put people in positions to be, you know, like again, Tom Brady at Tampa Monday night game. I'm covering it. I go down to see him. He's an old friend. Man, how's it going? He goes, "Steve, it's awesome. I mean, the rule changes are amazing." I go, "Well, how what do you how would you describe me?" He goes, "Look, the flats are always open. The middle of the field is unrolled and no one can hit me." And I'm like, "That's an amazing way to talk about the change, right?" And so Trevor Lawrence, to your original question, that I built it up.

What happened is Liam Con showed up with all of that and says to him, I can create an environment where you're not under the gun so much. You're not under pressure so much. You can start to expand your game. We can find out the full measure of who Trevor is. Who is Trevor? We don't even know because he's so abused in so many ways, right? And what do we do? We blame Trevor. Trevor, right? It's Trevor's problem. Well, it's always partly the guys. You got to be accountable to it. You own it. But we recognize that in football and quarterbacking, it's much more complex than that. And so Trevor inherited now.

And you talked about it when he picked up the fumble and ran. There's a process that Trevor has to go through to realize, oh man, I this is this works.

Yeah. And I can lean in and I don't have to be so scared. I don't have to be so afraid of the next thing. What shoes going to drop next? What mistakes going to cost me? what things at the end of the game I'm going to screw up. Like it frees your mind and then you get guys like Sam Darnold and you get like M. Jones and you get Jimmy Garopppolo and and and in San Francisco going to the Super Bowl. Like that's what happens. And so if you're any good, you're going to be the best you've ever been with a guy like that. And that's what Trevor's finding out. Sorry for the long answer, but

that was a great answer. Yeah. Yeah, it was a great answer. You got to understand that. And if you don't understand that, and you guys got to chew on that because then look around the league and who is still trying to do it old school. who's still trying to, you know, run first, uh, line up in the eye, uh, uh, under center, uh, play great deal. Like, it's all fundamentally sound and good, but the teams that are always behind because offensively haven't, they haven't, they have not accepted the truth. And, and that was fun to see East Coast, it's a West Coast system from Bill Walls. really is West Coast attitude, West Coast sharing of coaching trees and all that stuff. It comes from there. And so the East Coast teams historically are the last to get it. Uh I hope the Giants get it. I hope that uh but Jacksonville, the new owner goes instead of talking to all the old school East Coast owners and going, "Who

should I hire? Who should I like?" He stopped that. He's like, "Let's But what's really happening on the ground?"

Yeah. And now you get you get that thing now infiltrating everybody on the East Coast as well. Well, we we were just doing our our preview and and we were noting that uh in the NFC, the oldest coach in the NFC playoffs this year is actually Matt Laflur at 46 years old. That's what that's how the the league has kind of shifted and we have Yeah. And we have that game, the Bears versus Packers. What my question to you is, what is it like when you have to play a team in your division for the third time in a month and a half? Like it's even less. I think it's seven weeks. How how does that work for a coach, for a a game plan where it's like they know us, we know them. How do you how do you like reconfigure or think of new things knowing that they they know each other so well?

Again, it's old school and new school, right? The old school we used to, you know, signal the plays. You had to worry about it because you didn't realize that people were actually had a cottage industry of filming all the play all the all the signals and then collating them and then being ready to do it real time in the game when you signal something and the opposing coach can now look at the at the library and go oh that's a play to Jerry Rice like those are that's what you used to worry about

is playing people three times like well they know us so well we signal so now you don't have any of that so and before I forget by the way yeah it's a younger coach's game But Andy Reid 67. What does he do every week? Reinvents himself. Yeah. Right. The same. You can stay old and do it, but you got to constantly reinvent yourself. Okay. So, you're playing con you're playing divisional uh somebody opponent three times. It happened a lot. Um I thought to me, you get it it's conflated for no reason. In other words, oh, they know that, they knew this. I don't. and you get so tied up in it that you actually that becomes the thing rather than freaking call the plays run great plays if they catch us because they saw it before you know we'll we'll come with this or that you know I mean rather than making it a thing make it not a thing I don't know how else to say it like like we're going to go play great football and screw it

we're playing it for the third time you can the coaches can take that in and be a little more careful about what did we what do we what have we shown them on tape what can we show them that's new that kind of stuff but to worry that you know, oh, they've seen us a few times. How should we react as a player? Like the pro the answer is always go play great football and figure out you don't turn it over, run the ball well, play action looks cool, start putting seven instead of three, you're winning the game and it doesn't matter. You're playing five times in a row. Uh I I just it in my mind as a player should not care.

Yeah. Yeah. What what have you seen from uh from Caleb this year? because obviously Big Cat is a massive Bears fan and you know he's he's seen a tremendous improvement. I've noticed a lot like his when he escapes sacks, he does a great job of of avoiding those really negative plays. The arm, it looks like he's understanding like when to unleash that unreal arm of his and when to make some of those risky throws, getting better at it. Like with him and Trevor, obviously two quarterbacks took a big step forward this year, but what have you seen specifically from Caleb that has impressed you?

I saw Ben show up. Mhm. Right. Let's be honest. I mean, and yet Ben did not understand dynamic. He never coached a dual threat prototype 2026 quarterback. And so he had to learn too. So I think Caleb and he had early growing pains, but through those early growing pains, you big cat, you could see it's like, "Hey, wait, this this this looks better."

Yeah. This looks like somebody. And so that's that combination. That's that thing that that's uh centropy. What's the

synergy? Synergy. Thank you. Yeah. So, it's a it's that symbiotic kind of stuff that where it all kind of starts working positively together and then it speeds up and and grows. And so, Caleb could start to see success instead of last year is like you could feel him grinding, pushing, trying to figure out when to go, when to stay, how do I develop, who's going to develop me? All of a sudden, it starts to just happen organically. And then he and then suddenly game to game he's like I'm gonna that was a big mistake I made last week but now I'm in a situation with Ben where I'm not gonna I'm not gonna make the same mistakes again. I'm actually gonna get better game to game. I'm not going to just flail around.

Yeah. And so when you get a guy that's heady, smart, willing. And then what I love about Caleb is he's not I felt bad for Justin Fields because

he was so dynamic. He was he was Lamar Jackson dynamic. He was Michael Vic dynamic, right? He's that that kind of talent. And when you have that kind of talent, it's super hard to figure out how to become a sophisticated passer because that's a very calm, you know, kind of uh refined reading, anticipatory throwing yet. Why would I wait around for that?

Yeah, let's go. Yeah, I can. And so I saw him try to do what Caleb was able to avoid, which was overreacting. I remember talking to Justin. He called me. He's like, "How do I how do I make this transition? No one knows how to do it. No one knows how to coach it." I'm like, "Trust me, man. You don't think they know how to coach it in 2023. Think about 19857 or 90." Like, no, it's a hard thing for anyone to understand. I just beg you, you have to learn to be a sophisticated pastor. And I saw him over over rotate towards it where he just stood there trying to learn, trying to grow, getting sacked, you know, you're like, I had to call him back like, "NO, BRO. YOU STILL GOT TO GO." Like he it's in motion. And that's why I go back to Caleb.

He's able to do it with somebody that could really support him. And each week he can test the when to go, when to stay, how do how do I use this big arm I got? And I just I I think it's fun to watch him grow up this season and what's possible for the Bears fans. Now, what I would ask you as a Bears fan, longtime BigCat, is okay, cool. It looks like for the next 10 years, we're going to be top 10 offense, but well, we can't give up 42.

No, I know that's, you know, like all of a sudden this like you guys have been begging for a quarterback and now you got to coach a quarterback, but don't but we can't give up on what what the roots of the city is. Defense.

Yeah, the the the defense I think there's a few teams. I mean, the Niners are another one where it's like going into these playoffs, the defense is a major problem. And it does feel it's a scary proposition to go into an NFL playoffs with a defense you do not trust because, you know, like I'm a big believer when I know it's cliche and old school, but running the football and stopping the run in January is something that every team's got to be able to do if they want to go to the Super Bowl. And the Bears can run the football, they can't really stop the run. Ner's kind of similar. they can run the football. They can't really stop the run. And it's just like, you know, there's going to be a moment in a game where you got to get off the field on third down. And can you trust your defense to do that?

And you can against the rank and file middle of the pack or lower pack regular season game like Yeah. And that's how you get 11 and 12 wins, right? But whenever you see the elite, you don't you can't get away with it. Like Seattle and San Francisco last week,

right? And you you immediately saw the difference between the two teams and Seattle had a kind of amazing they had six scoring drives and got 13 points. I mean they screwed it up royally points field goals first and goal to one but they they they ran a and so that's what happens is all of a sudden you get to the best and Chicago and San Francisco that's why we all kind of have our antenna up like how is this going to work

and just pray that something transition. I mean, even even more so, San Francisco's got a new starting linebacker that just showed up like on campus right?

Like like you can't go to the playoff game and expect. Now, you can hope and come up with something really cool and have a game like the Seattle 49er game where Seattle do dupes around and f and then a fumble and then all a sudden you're in a ball game. Yeah. But, uh, otherwise it makes it super hard.

What about the other side of the ball? Because the Eagles, I think, are a fascinating team going into these playoffs because their defense is really, really good. their offense. It's a team that won the Super Bowl last year. They've had moment. They have guys on offense. They have Seaquan, AJ Brown, Dvonte Smith, Jaylen Herz, all these guys, but it's looked bad at at points throughout the year. To put it lightly, it's looked really, really bad. Is there anything to be said for like, hey, they know they've been there. that they can kind of turn it on a little bit and and they can they can flip a switch so to speak and start to really do stuff differently when it comes to the playoffs or is it like no this is kind of what the offense is and they're going to have to win games 17 to 14? Well, I've seen them expand uh this even this year, but the problem is they have a little bit more of an old school

mentality, right? And in that old school mentality, especially last year, Saquon was all of that, right? And so then you on Wednesday when they go the game plan for the Super Bowl or the playoff game, what's the coach saying? Freaking Saquon, man. We've got to we got to slow shut him down. We got to slow him down. And when you don't and that's what you talk about for five days and you don't do it then in the game what happens is a quarterback the defense is now in tatters right they the one thing that they got to do they can't do and now all a sudden you play action and now people are wide open and AJ's wide open Dvonte's running all over the place and now you're just ripping there ripping them and and and and Jaylen looks like all world like that's that's the Eagles at the high end now this year for whatever reason offensive line degrades you know, some injuries, something, you know, Saquon wasn't all that. It just

didn't end up being that. And so, as defense is a predatory defense in the NFL, shut them down. Then, now it empowered them, right? It's like now you can't do the thing that you need to do. Now, go ahead, Jaylen. Where's that sophisticated passing game? Let's let's let's see you come back from 10 down or 15, 17 down. That's it's you know and and they just they bog down to where you actually at times during the season like whoa this looks this looks brutal.

Yeah. Right. And that's that's what you're talking about big guy. That's what he's like wait a second like who are these guys right

and it's just pretty obvious that if if Saquon does not have a really good playoff run that's Squan offensive line play all the stuff that goes with it but we we put it we put the name out there. if he has a good playoff run. Oh, the Eagles are gonna be freaking tough because you know they're going to play good defense. You know, they're not going to give up 30, right? Uh any any weekend. And so it really comes down to and then then Jaylen if it doesn't work out and now Jaylen's got to go and again it's not if Jaylen was in Jacksonville right now. If Jaylen was in San Francisco or LA or Kansas City, then you'd see a different Jaylen, right?

They're asking him to do different things. But you can't ask him to do things and then all a sudden go, "Hey, snap a finger. Go save us."

Right. Right. That's not going to work. And so it might work for a week, but it's not going to work three weeks.

Yeah. And uh and and and so I'm I'm not picking on Jaylen at all about that. That's all about what you're asked to do week to week.

Yeah, it's fair. Um in the AFC, I'm curious to know your thoughts on the Chargers and the Patriots game because the Chargers somehow continue to be a good team despite all the injuries they've had, especially on the offensive line. They can't protect their quarterback. He gets banged up, but he's he's almost super human at times. They've got a great defense. And now they're going across the country playing the Patriots, one of the best teams or one of the best records in the NFL. How much stock do you put in the Patriots being, you know, the favorite against the uh the LA Chargers? How do you weigh what happened to them in the regular season with their schedule that they had uh which was easier than most versus what they accomplished against that schedule, which was pretty impressive?

That's what honestly that's why we held off thinking they weren't good, right? We're like, "Yeah, I'm not really I'm not a buyer." I remember mid-season like I'm not a buyer. This is just but as it work as it worked itself out what happened week to week is the same buttoned up overprepared feeling you had Bellichic Brady days like where they showed up had instead of three iterations of what they wanted to do and then go into halftime and switch it. They would have 10 in the first half and 10 in the second half

and then they had a quarterback that was super efficient and got better and better and the whole and then every an every little piece uh you know any every crumb that fell on the ground they picked up right it wasn't like they they just they started to it felt by the end of the season I'm like okay I give in but I still feel like I don't know if I'm totally like I still got to watch some more like is Drake all I mean really is this where we are that we've rebuilt this all in a year when it looked like they were going to flail for a decade And uh and I got to give the the credit to coach. I got to give credit to the quarterback. And the whole system seems to be kind of rebuilt in the in the in the in the image because they were buttoned up. They were buttoned up special. They were buttoned up everywhere. And uh and so I feel like all of a sudden you you you don't believe at your own peril. Now you go to

the Chargers. Um I mean it's kind of I mean I love Jim. He's a friend. Uh he's an amazing coach. He is he is all that old school stuff, right? He is we are you know that the Chargers if they're healthy are going to win the line of scrimmage. They're going to run the football and they're going to play great defense. That's how they Michigan won the Super Bowl championship. Like it's how he's done it for years and years and years. San Francisco back in the but um uh they're hurt. Justin is all of that. He's one of my favorite players. I pray that he can get or the charges can become a system that can do what Liam did for Trevor, what Andy does for Patrick, you know, like like you've heard my speech, you get what I'm saying. And I just really need that for Justin because he is all of that.

Yeah. He is he's a I mean as an art form guy. I mean, I'm look as a as a as a be if if throwing a football was supposed to be artistic or beautiful, that is the Mona Lisa. This guy, he's the guy that as a fellow thrower, like when I watch him throw, I'm like, "Oh, like it gives you your heart gets beats value like, oh, that is beautiful." So, I let alone that's just an aside, I think he's a tough-minded, great football player that should be, you know, should be a Hall of Famer. And so he's got to get he's got to get the help that's necessary and I worry about that and I worry about this weekend. So that's my bottom line.

Yeah. Um the Steelers on Monday night, Aaron Rogers, we talked we started this all talking about Philip Rivers. Aaron Rogers obviously doesn't have the athleticism that he once had. You could see it. I think there was that play on Sunday night

sidelines. You could see he just doesn't have the he does but he's still okay. Yeah,

he's 70 he's 70% of it. Right. Right. But it was that one play where he was he you like, "Oh, he can easily take the corner here and get five yards." And he he he just kind of was like, "No."

Yeah. I don't want to get killed here. So, but in terms of like playoff football and his ability to think the game, how much of that like is still such an asset where it's like, hey, he doesn't have the physical traits that are 100% Aaron Rogers from 10 years ago, but his mind is going to be able to figure out this Houston defense and get the ball out fast because he's done it so many times.

So, the the governor on that, like, let's be honest, the throws I I got to say it's 95% or more. like it's not that degraded. Like his legs, we all saw it, but his arm it's it's still it's it's in the mix. Yeah.

Like I don't see that same. So I don't think he has to be kind of careful about throwing the football. I think it's more that that team is built like I just said how the Chargers are kind of built how kind of like that's how the Steelers are built and he has to now inherit that because he was at the Packers that they were all of that early on with Laflur and like he's and you got to remember again the guys that learned before the rule changes I call the more sophisticated era you know the Matthew Staffords the uh Aaron Rodgers uh who else is still around that was before that time. I mean, those are the guys that are abusing the system because the remember what Tom Brady said, flats are always open, middle of fields on patrol and no one can hit me. Like, let's go.

And so he knows that and he I think if he was again if he was in Kansas City or San Francisco or like I think it would be lights out but he's in a place where it's a little bit more kept and so it's a little bit more like thick and I don't think it all works out as easily but yet he's still showing it. And uh and I I think that's makes them scary. It makes them Aaron Rogers to me makes them watch out because you just you get into like in a playoff game you play great defense, you run the football, you win the line of scrimmage, all that stuff that really does matter still. Um he's the kind of guy that can take advantage of it. So I just be super careful with Aaron Rogers and the Steelers.

Yeah. I And the Steelers to me are just like I I don't think if you said to me, are they better than the Texans? Probably not like in their totality. But what they do is they kind of drag you into these Steeler games where it stays close and then it's like if you make one mistake, they will capitalize and all of a sudden they're lining up for a field goal to win the game and you're like, "How'd this happen?"

And that's what happens in playoff football right? Is that things are tight. You're a new team to the, you know, the playoff. I don't say the Texans are new, but like they're not they're not uh playoff rich in history. And so it's all of a sudden they're a little over wrought. They're the moment, you know, it takes a little time to get started. And now it's the middle of the second quarter and and now you're down 6 nothing. You're like, "How did that happen?" And now it gets tight. You go to halftime, it's 106. You know what I mean? Like, you know, now it's a ball game. Yeah.

Now, how did we get here? And uh that's exactly what you're talking about. And that's what needs to happen in a number of games this year. This week, the 49ers going to Philadelphia needs to be similar, right? like uh uh uh but there to me that's the Texans have if if the Steelers score 17 points I'll be shocked.

Yeah, that's how good the Texans are defensively. In this environment, in this playoff thing, the whole thing I just told you. I don't know. I could get wild. Look at the last three minutes of that game with Lamar and and and Aaron.

Yeah. Like that's what the league's become. It's it's the NBA. like who's the closer? Do you have a closer, you got LeBron, you got Steph, you got uh you know, whoever else in uh uh and and and in that way, if you have that guy the last couple minutes, you can put up 21 points combined, which is what they did.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, Lamar was, by the way, don't anyone says wants to dig at Lamar, screw that. I'm done with it. Like the dude is all, you know, if he gets the help and he gets the time, he's he was clutch. that throw he made on fourth down. Like I I don't know. I love Lamar, so it's Anyway.

Yeah. Yeah. No, that's fair. Um what about the uh what about the Rams game? Rams at the Panthers this weekend. Biggest spread of the weekend. Feels like people are are pretty down on the Panthers given that they uh they kind of limped into the playoffs, backed their way in, but they did beat the Rams the last time they played. So, there's that. It was Matt Stafford's worst game. Um do the Panthers have a chance? 49ers early in the season stole a game from the Rams in a similar way where the Rams have a way of hanging around. It kind of showed up a little bit the other day against the Cardinals.

It's like like just end this thing, you know what I mean? Don't mess around. Don't mess around. And it feels like the Rams can and Matthew can't if Matthew gets in a turnover game, watch out. That's that's when you that's the kryptonite. But short of that, I just the Rams to me should win the Super Bowl. Like they have it all. But defensively, I just don't think they've been as ferocious for the last eight weeks. Like early in the season, they're like, "No, that defense is legit." And now all of a sudden, not so much. So, I think that's the big difference. And if if if they can win, Carolina wins big turnover game and they hang around just like they did to beat him a month ago, they're just dumb. I mean, the Rams had to walk on the field like, "What are we doing?" And then, uh, so it shouldn't happen. Should not happen. If they're and if they're any good this season, the defense is going to show up and really

dominate. Not show up. They're they show up. But are they going to dominate? They should run the table here. They They're that good if they can put it all together.

All right. So, sitting right here uh right before the wild card weekend, who is your Super Bowl matchup? I think I I have if I was just gun to my head I I crazy I I think I'd say Seattle Denver I think I'd go chalk I just I I being at home I don't know and defensively both of those squads are showing up with a defense that is elite elite and so that's what I'm kind of I'm not banking on Sam I'm not banking on Oh. Um, but I think it's a year that anything I say is is not going to, you know, it's something's going to go hayw there's going to be a shock. It's going to be a shock.

It's a perfect answer because I think we're all going into these playoffs more than I can ever remember where it's like there is no team that feels like they are way better than everyone else and there's no team that's just a guarantee they're going to the Super Bowl. And any team, maybe if you want to say outside of a couple teams, but like 10 out of 14 teams, if you told me they were in the Super Bowl, I'd be like, "Okay, that makes sense." But then it would be perfect going into that and expecting chaos being like, "Yeah, it was the one seats. It was the teams that were consistently great all year."

Well, it's smart, too, because there are the teams that aren't playing this weekend. Yes. And any team get eliminated this. So, yeah, you're one step closer. Smart guy.

You've you've advanced. Oh my god. But if you think about it, um, even we talk about Philadelphia and if it all if all the pieces come together. Yeah. You know, and we talk about the Seattle if Sam doesn't turn it over. Yeah. And if you know, it's like but nobody's nobody's like battle tested in a way and shown them like the ramp defense. Yeah. Yeah. What? So there's just this stuff going on. And then you got the the li poor 49ers who have been amazing getting to 12 wins with they've had like unprecedented injuries. They're starting on a middle linebacker that never played before. Like they've they've got such a hill to climb. But then yet this is a team that freaking shows up. And so you going to count them out? No, you shouldn't because

that's how they roll. So I I I don't know. I agree with you. It's uh I'm going to go chalk just because I get an extra week. Yeah, that's how I'll say.

Yeah, that's smart. That's smart. Um, all right, Steve, I got one last question for you. It's a rowback question. Rhoback.com, promo code take. 20% off your first purchase. QZips, polos hoodies joggers shorts. Robback.com, promo code take. This has been fun. We love having you on. Hopefully we see you in San Francisco. I assume you'll be there. I'll be there.

Yeah. But I I'll be I'll be plugging uh uh I'll be repping girls flag football.

Oh, love it. We got a big initiative going and uh trying to get more girls playing flag. So, you I'm sure I'll run into you.

I love that. I love that. So, my last question is kind of a weird question and I don't know if you have a a answer that you can just think of right off the top of your head, but take out the Super Bowl uh as a starter. Is there one football memory that you find yourself daydreaming about more than any other where you're like you're just sitting out and you just, you know, your mind's wandering? It's, you know, four o'clock in the afternoon on a Tuesday and you're just like, "Oh, yeah, that was sick."

It's funny. You know, I think most guys the first thought they have is like the throw open the mouth thing I told you before like the things you missed.

Yeah. You know like like what if we just just that if you know if the touchdown against Jerry didn't have holding like what if you know I mean like that kind of stuff happens but it's on the on the plus side on the like you know kind of going through the glory days and what sticks in your mind. I think probably just tripping out of the center. The center steps on my foot. I almost fall down and then we throw it to Terrell Owens to win the game against the Packers in the playoffs. I think that's probably one that just I keep going and even when I see the replay, I'm like, "Wait, what was I looking at?"

Yeah. How did I How' that work? I you know, and you see a slow-mo like, "Yeah, I guess he was open." Like I you know, it's just one of those plays that you kind of wander and think about like what could have been so different. So yeah,

that's a good answer. I mean that's an alltime play. an alltime play. Yes. But but it's a me but it's a it's a perfect mess, right? It's like uh it was actually like I I I ran the sidelines and I I saw Steve Maruchi. I'm like he was open like I didn't like it wasn't a miracle. It was like dude was open. We threw it to him. So

yeah, I love it. I Steve I I read that you're uh are you coaching the Pro Bowl?

Coaching the Pro I don't know what that means anymore but we're coaching the Pro Bowl. We're playing in the Musonei Center downtown San Francisco at flag game, I guess. And uh yeah, so it's me versus Jerry Rice.

Are you one of these new innovative coaches? Like, do you know how to how to put your quarterbacks?

We're going to find out. I I can talk a big game, that's for sure. Let's see if he's Let's see if the guy's got game.

Yeah, I'm interested to know what that install meeting's like. I want to know how you how you install how like pick up

flag like this. We got to be on this gonna be perfect. Relax, bro. Yeah. Can we call a play for you?

Yeah, send it in. Okay. Okay. All right. You text me. Text it. I want any play that you think could work in flag football with Justin Herbert or Josh, whoever has ended up being the quarterback and uh you know, Matthew Stafford, like we'll we'll we'll we'll use it.

We've innovated the game. You name it. You name it, we'll give you credit for it and we'll call it and we'll actually talk about it. Like this is the the boy PMTP.

I love it. I we're gonna get together, myself, Big Cat, we'll get uh maybe Chay can get involved in diagram play and uh John Gruden, we'll ask him for some feedback, too. The the four of us will design a play and we'll send it over to you.

If you ask Ruden, you're going to have 400 plates. True. Just so you know, he me and John, I was backing up Joe. John was basically bringing the coffee to the coaches. That was his job. He was kind of the uh you know, executive assistant. And so we used to study together. We used to commiserate together. We used to [ __ ] and moan together. Like I grew up with that guy. That guy is all of it. I love him.

Yeah. Yeah. All right. We're gonna get one. If you're right, if we ask him, he'll either give us 400 or he'll say like just do spider two wide banana.

Yeah. But we'll get you a play. We'll get you a play. We will get you a play. Yeah.

All right. Name them. We got to name them. I want to I want to, you know. Yeah. We got to come up with a name for it. We'll come up with a name, too.

We're going to get you a play. We're going to score. We're going to win. That's probably the the easier part. us coming up with a name for the play instead of actually creating a a winning play. So, we we can cover that part.

You know what I think what you should do? I might put it out there like, "Hey, I'm coaching mobile. Send in your plays and names of the play and we'll like pick the best ones." That might be a bad idea.

Yeah. Crowdsource it. Yeah. I think I think the big cat's coming in, right? Like that's what it's going to be called.

Yeah, I like that. We're going to put together an guaranteed success play. Yeah. Do you have fullbacks in uh or we we're going to we're going to use a fullback in flag football

expect you're not going to get the I think it's seven on seven so it's not like uh you know you got the full

Yeah. And it's got Hey, look the ball's got to come out by the way. You can't you're not going to be able to like survey the field.

No, it's going to be HB dive with a fullback. I kind of like I mean you're coaching the AFC or the NFC?

I'm going to coach the AFC. So probably Ricard I would imagine would be the fullback.

Fullbacks out there. And then also who can who else can throw it? What receiver? What reverse throw can we get going?

Oh, true. Like that's the first thing I got to figure out. Who can throw? Just what about an endless line of reverses? So instead of just running like a jet sweep with a reverse, you do like four reverses.

Yeah. Just keep reversing. I don't I I I I run it. You You'll All right, we're on it. Steve Young is brought to you by our great friends at Twisted Tea. Twisted Tea is the best drink in the world to get your party started, to get your night started, to have during the day. People drink them in the summer. They drink them in the winter. I love drinking an ice cold twisted tea on a cold day. You get up next to a fire, maybe go indoors, take your jacket off. Ice cold Twisted Tea, they don't fill you up. You can drink a million of them. If you're hanging out at a friend's house or watching the game at the stadium or in the gambling cave where we'll be watching some of these wild card games, Twisted Tea is there.

It's going to help you turn your day up a notch and make a good time a great time. I plan on having some Twisted Teas on the stream on Saturday. If I'm not drinking twisted tea, remind me. PFT. PF Twisted Tea is what I'm going to be on Saturday. Grab a refreshing twisted tea today.

Okay. Firefest of the week to wrap us up. Henry Danny. What up, dude? What up, Doing? Uh,

okay. Nothing crazy. I mean, this this was last Friday. I had like a midlife crisis kind of. Uh, which I've talked about doing on the show, but I was like doing a little I guess winter cleaning. Timeout.

You're only going to live to 64. No, but I was just I just was like, "This feels like a sign of a major midlife crisis." I had to text Fidelber. I was like, "Is this insane what I'm going to do?"

Uh, I got rid of like 90% of my clothes, dude. Like I started I I started I I was like, "No, if I get rid of 10 things, it's not going to do any damage." So, I took everything out of my closet and I put it in my living room. I took everything in all my drawers, all my closet, put it in my living room. So, I was like, I have to like deal with this. And as I'm I was as I was going through it, I was like, I'm just I'm getting rid of it all.

I'm so And I was like, this might be crazy. I'm so jealous of you right now. And I've been contemplating this because I'm doing uh there's like a little construction going on in my house. I'm redoing like my bathroom and closet. And so, I have I had to like compile all my clothes and I saw them all and I was like, "This is I don't wear any of this shit." Right. So I'm actually doing that Friday night, Saturday.

I I'm doing the two full days. It felt great. It just with the moment of like I was doing the like Marie Condo like if whatever brings you joy, get rid of it or don't if it doesn't bring you joy, get rid of it. And I was just like one after another. And even though there was clothes I was like, "Oh, this is a nice shirt. I've worn it twice in two years. See you." And I was like, "What if I just do everything?"

I want to do literally everything. I did like 90%. I kept I kept some stuff, but I got rid of I got rid of so much stuff. I did this recently as well. It's good for you because your body doesn't fluctuate, but there's a lot of things that you'll find because it's like this doesn't fit a lot fit. This doesn't fit great right now,

but if I lose 20 lbs, like it's perfect. So, there's a lot of that in my wardrobe right now.

My closet is is littered with XL and D XL and it's just like back and forth and I'm like, I'll get back to that XL.

Yeah, I've got like dress shirts that I haven't worn in probably like 10 years that are hanging up in my closet. I'm like, I might need them for a a special occasion, but I don't I don't need them. I'm going to I'm going to get rid of them. I I'm guessing

how many bags did you have? Uh, seven, I think. I think I'm going to take like I think it's going to be 10.

How big are the 15? See, this is what makes me nervous, Hank, because I did. So, when I when I was getting cleaning up my closet cuz I was doing the construction, I moved all my clothes across the hall and I got rid of some. I had like 10 bags then and I still have so many clothes I do not want.

And maybe the worst part is I'm going to do this during jumpsuit January as I've got a fresh new set like probably seven or eight jumpsuits coming to my house and so I'm going to get rid of my stuff and then I'm going to fill all that space in immediately with new jumpsuits.

Yeah, jumpsuit January. By the way, I've I have some jumpsuits. I think we all kind of do the same thing where it's like we're in and out of jumpsuits. It's it's nice. I especially when we're watching games. I was given uh pretty clear pretty clear order from the head of my household that we're not doing jumpsuit January in my house. So she was like if you get jumpsuits you can keep them in your office. But she's like every January you end up with like 20 jumpsuits and they're just around and you don't get rid of them. I was like that's a very fair point. As like 15 new jumpsuits that were all $15 on Amazon showed up and they're all so shitty.

That's kind of why I love it. I love I love the comfort. I love But yeah, every now and again, as a treat, I'll put on a pair of pants with a button today. I'll probably go back to jumpsuit tomorrow. Probably wear jumpsuits Sunday when we're streaming. Monday, you know, it's like a in-n-out. And also, I look really fat in jumpsuits. That that that that's a mini firefest for me. You took that picture of me sitting when we're we all just kind of sit outside of our studio. We have uh a few seats now. We all just kind of hang out when we're not recording, which is a little pathetic when you think about how much time we spend together. And then we're like, "Hey, what should we do with our free time? Spend more time together."

Yeah. Yeah. But we're But Hank just took a picture of me looking like a fat mafia boss ready to just, you know, go to jail. I felt bad that that was it was similar to

Oh, you felt so bad that you posted on Lefty Lockwood and then also on your main posted. Yeah, that was that was I did that right away. Similar to when I took the picture of myself a couple weeks ago. I didn't look back at like my my messages or mentions or whatever for a few hours. I was like, "Oh,

yeah. I didn't mean to do dirty. It was just you were holding the lefty club. What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do?"

Yeah. You Yeah. You felt so bad you you you reposted to Maine. Oh, yeah. It was good good content. Hank, what's the uh what's the one item that you gotten rid of that's like a a time capsule for you where you're like, "Oh [ __ ] I forgot all about this t-shirt."

Uh there was a lot there was a lot of stuff that was like that I've had that since precoid. Uh

those are the toughest ones. It's like but that's a quality sweatshirt. It's a quality shirt. I like it. But

like I have I have uh like bar stool shirts we made like the Blackhawks run which is now over, you know, a decade old. And it's just like you're not going to wear this again. But you also don't want to get rid of it. But also, what are you doing just holding on to it forever?

I've got a Rex Ryan Rob Ryan riding the tandem bike football guy shirt that I You can't even barely see it anymore, but I'm going to give it away. Going to donate it. You'll see somebody walk around. You'll see somebody walking around Chicago in like six months rocking the Ryan Brothers.

Yeah. I thought about like doing like a giveaway thing, but I was like, it's closed. It's kind of weird.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I should do that for hats. I probably have 400 hats. That's the next That's the next phase.

Oh, that's tough. I already hats and shoes are where I'm like I'm a hoarder cuz I can't get rid of them.

Yeah. But I have way too many. Congrats. Thank you. Also, should can I uh maybe propose to you, which I do every couple years. I'm I'm due for one. It's called I called a a total sock overhaul just where I get rid of all my socks and then I buy all the exact same brand socks so I never have to worry about like, oh, I have one. It's just the same exact white socks for everything.

Just did it. And and might I add it is it's awesome. No free ads, but our our sock guys hooked it up.

Love it. Campo. Yeah, love those guys. Okay, PFT, your Firefest. Uh, my Firefest is Hank is Dulu.

Oh, Hank's accusing me of doing weird stuff. He's He's like fighting wars against Shane.

I don't understand. I'm concerned about Hank's mental health. He's I think he's schizophrenic now.

And you just started attacking me and blaming me for stuff. Attacking is wild. Absolutely nothing to do with.

Define attack. Attack. Uh, well, you accuse me of uh that would be accuse. So that's a different adjective.

Well, no, they can be synony synonyms sometimes. Okay. Do you know what that word means?

Yep. Okay. What does it mean? Similar. Okay. Yep. So, uh, Hank accused me of of telling Shane to make a post about him taking a nap today.

Mhm. Which I absolutely did not do. Hank, did you nap today? No. Was there a picture of you napping today?

There was. There was, but I my hair like thankfully I have blonde hair now and the hair in the picture was very brown. Okay. Ever heard of filters? You're big Instagram guy.

Yeah, you are a big Instagram guy. That's not how they work. But yeah. Okay. Well, yeah. Uh Hank has been accusing me of uh like working behind the scenes as some puppeteer trying to make him look bad, which I I I did not go up to Shane and be like, "Hey, Shane, I got this great idea for a post. Here's how you can get Hank." Like, I don't know. You're You're I think Shane is s so far in your head that he's driving you insane.

I just like you're you're making me hate Shane when it's like I know it's you. Like Shane's been Shane's been nice this whole time

and he hasn't. How How do you know it's him? Because I was sitting at my seat again. PFT was was sitting on his phone playing Flight Simulator behind our desk while we were working all day.

And none of that sentence was true. I left. Zero words in that sentence were true. You were sitting on the chair like this, like your your head was on the on the seat where your butt is, and you had your phone flipped vertically,

which I'm assuming you only or horizontally, which I'm assuming is when you're playing Flight Simulator, Fact Fiction

that that it's not a flight simulator. It's a fully integrated flight game. Got it. Anyway, so then I walked away, but but PFT was right there. And then I don't know 10 minutes later, there was Shane tweeted this picture, which I'm pretty sure was a video PFT took. So obviously I went to infer that the video that the picture that got was from PFT.

Wait, so what is this video? I still don't know what the video is. It was a video you took when I was sleeping at some point in the studio.

And was it posted online? I don't know. I don't remember. Well, I it could have been from the JJ Spawn US Open when you fell asleep then.

It wasn't. Okay. That was in a different place. How did Shane get the picture? Yeah. I don't know. So, you think that I walked in here like 6 months ago, took a video of you sleeping, saved it on my phone, and then went up to Shane and said, "I've got a great idea."

Memes what? I know nothing. But PFT was telling the truth until he started telling a lie.

What? It's not a flight simulator he's playing. So, you know, I have a flight simulator on my house.

It's impossible to do a flight simulator on your phone. You don't have to Where did the lie? You have no throttle. The lie started when he said the JJ Spawn thing.

Oh, what? You know, you know, you know. I do know what video it's from. I do. It's a video that's online. Got it. Very public video that Shane for sure would have thought to go find and get.

Wait, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Max, wait a second.

I wasn't here. For the record, I wasn't there. I thought it was real. So, that's where the truth comes in. That is not at all what happened. I I did not go up to Shane and be like, "Hey, look at this video that I have of Hank sleeping. You should post this

truth." Yes. Thank you. Thank you, memes. I don't know what the truth is. I I believe my name has been cleared.

Okay. 100%. 100%. I don't know. Hank doesn't believe. Hank's delusional. He thinks that everybody's out to get him.

I'm not worried about it. I'm just not taking out I'm not going to blame Shane for his, you know, delinquent father's actions. You know, he's still a good kid.

He's raising a bad household. I see. I thought Shane was was rentree in your head. I think I'm now rent free in your head.

It's I'm the boogeyman. I'm the boogeyman to you. No, you're not. I I just I know Shane I know Shane would never do that on his own actions, which Max also made the same observation.

I It surprised me, too. You retweeted it instantly. I did because if you I also retweet it cuz I thought it was real.

Yeah, we all retweet it because it's very funny. Mhm. Can I speak I didn't see it till later.

Yeah, I will. There was one person who brought it to my attention. Should I retweet it right now?

He is the one who who who brought it to my attention and that that's when I 100% true. Yeah.

Yes, I did. But I was excited. I thought it was I thought it was real. I was like, "Oh, this is so bad for the Pats."

I was excited when I saw it. Good for Shane. And I And I was excited to see Shane like throwing a couple jabs. It was good.

Yeah. If Shane had done that on his own own valition, it would have been impressive. But anyway,

so Hank, in your head, I went up to Shane and I was like, "Hey, you might not have went up. You might have been like hunched over at your seat looking at your flight simulator and yelled like, "Hey, Shane."

Mhm. Tweet a picture of Hank sleeping. He's like, "I don't know where I like, oh, look at this. I'll send it to you."

Okay, I've retweeted it now. Not Not at all. What happened? Sorry, I hadn't retweeted. I couldn't find Shane's Twitter account.

Rude. Well, I searched his name and I was It didn't pop up. X the Everything app.

It's all happening on that. You can't search things. Hank's living in a a fantasy world right now.

I'm the boogeyman in it. If he's living in a fantasy world, could you say he's maybe even napping right now?

Yeah. Yeah. He's dreaming. For the record, no naps have been taken since no naps have been instituted.

But there is a picture of you napping today. No, there's a picture of you napping that's been posted today.

Sure. Okay. We rest our case, but it's not current and you're positive about that.

Yeah. Okay. All right. So, from what I know, a Chargers fan was going around the office asking for a picture of a guy sleeping.

Okay. Oh, so it was Shane's idea. Wow. It was a Chargers fan. And then did PFT say, "I got one for you."

Well, he asked me. I didn't have one. Yeah. And then he asked someone else and then he had one.

I believe so. Memes is memes is a snitch. But it but I think PFD has been exonerated in the fact that it wasn't his idea.

Not at all. Right. No. Oh, my accusation was you sent Shane the picture, which sounds like I was not on the

No, you told Yep. I've got it all in the glasses, buddy. I was recording you on the glasses when you were accusations.

He was. Yeah, he was recording all of it. Cool. Yep. Would you like to apologize?

No. For your accusation, your attack? Absolutely not. I'm I'm proud of Shane. I'm happy that Shane trying to get in get

get in the mud a little bit. Yeah. Fact that he thought of that all by himself. Good job, Shane. Okay, my firefest uh simple one. I I said I've talked about it. I'm trying to get on uh TRT, but I'm only going to do it if I need it. So, I had to do a blood test today. And part of the blood test was I had to fast for 12 hours and I ain't about that life. I'm a [ __ ] I was so hungry.

You knew that 8 to 8, right? Yeah. 8 to 8. Yeah, that's good. Yeah. I was so I was so [ __ ] hungry.

No dessert. I was so [ __ ] hungry. Yeah. This is That's really just a a no dessert fast.

Yeah. No dessert, no breakfast. And I was just like, "This is the worst thing ever." So I realized I was such a [ __ ] because they were just like I walked in, they're like, "Have you have have you been fasting?" I was like, "Yeah." And I'm like, "I'm about to die."

Yeah. So, but yeah, it was it was essentially just I didn't eat for 2 hours uh before I went to sleep and then I didn't eat for the hour that I was awake.

But you could drink coffee, right? Yeah. During fast. I drink coffee and water. Yep.

Yeah. But man, I I'll tell you right now, once you've known hunger like that, anyone who tries to tell you that fasting is the way to go, it ain't. It ain't the way to go. You need something,

Zach? Oh, my fire is this week. It's just I've been uh You're sick. Not Not sick.

You're going to get us all sick? No, I'm just congested on that front. I'm not like I don't feel bad at all. I just have a lot of congestion going on.

Okay, that would be sick. I I swear not sick. But super quick Firefest is just that I'm I'm twice this week I've been on the receiving end of other people scamming corporations and I and and their scams have been shipped to me.

What? So I I made an adult move the other day. I was like I'm going to get a vacuum. This is a big purchase big for the apartment. I'm we're crisis. Yeah.

Yes. I do I do a lot of searching on like best vacuums. A lot of lot of appliance reviewers out there say this is the one. I order it. Shows up used vacuum. thoroughly used vacuum from Amazon. Let them know, hey, you sent me a used vacuum. They're like, no, this this couldn't have happened. Did you use the vacuum? So, I'm I'm in a dispute on the vacuum. And then I thought that was over and then I I ordered some shoes the other day. They showed up very used shoes in the box.

The vacuum scam actually sounds brilliant to me. It's like you send somebody a used vacuum and then they're like, "Hey, this is a used vacuum." And they're like, "Well, let's see a picture. You clearly use that." But we're talking we're talking like Amazon, like Bezos, we're talking billion dollar company. They're not trying to get over on one vacuum. So I think I've been

How do you think he got a billion dollars? Not by not by selling new vacuums. Yeah.

So yeah, just I I I might have to be a retail only in person only shopper because now I got a used vacuum and a used pair of sneakers.

Yeah, it's hard because it is probably smarter to just go retail, but it's so easy to just buy [ __ ] online.

Yeah, just double click on double click on the phone and it shows up. So, you got no you got no uh vacuum?

I I have someone else's vacuum in my apartment now. I'm the the review team is looking at that to see if they'll replace the vacuum. And then Dick Sporting Goods basically told me, "Hey, you wore those shoes and no, I didn't." So,

how could you tell they were used? There's a there's I can send you I can show you the photo, but there's a clear just footprints in both of them.

Yeah. Like, yes. completely worn and maybe without socks. You got to get DNA testing done on the contents of that vacuum. Like the inside of it.

Do you think it's one of those situations where like someone went to the store and tried them on and they're like, "Ah, these aren't for me."

Could could be. I But I'm I'm not I'm just I'm just asking questions. You seem like more of a

Oh, yeah. You seem like more of a Roomba guy. Anyway, let's get you a Roomba. I thought about that, but I've got a lot of piles of clothes on the floor, so the Roomba wouldn't be able to map.

Okay. To be fair, these look like I mean they look like worn shoes to their toes. You can see toes.

You just got fake shoes sent to you or shoes you didn't buy sent to you. No, I No, I purchased new shoes online and I received the same shoes just aggressively worn.

Yeah, Roomba would be cool, but you I don't have the I got a lot of sorted laundry that has to go through the machine at all times.

Yeah, you don't want to do that. You don't want to do that to a Roomba. They'll turn on you.

Yeah. Yeah, agreed. They weren't just footprints. They They were dirty footprints.

Yeah. I think that if you order you ordered from Dicks online, right? That is correct.

Yeah. If you do that, they they shouldn't send you like a floor model. It's not like it goes to a store and they're like, "Let me go get the one that's out on the floor."

That was my first thought was like maybe that's the was a display and they grabbed it and it was just wear and tear from that. No, both shoes fully printed. Like someone shared many memories in these sneakers. It wasn't me.

Do you like that store? Uh what sick sporting goods? Yeah. Do you like it? They got they got some gear. Okay. Give it a give it a look. They It was a mistake.

My bad, Dicks. I know you didn't really mean it. Just say I like it. I like Dick Sporting Goods. The sporting goods store.

One time I bought a pair of shoes online and they just gave me two right ones. That's confusing.

They They did. Were these orthopedic shoes or prescription? Have you ever seen me wear prescription shoes?

I don't know. I mean, you see me every day. Have you ever seen me wear prescription shoes?

No. Actually, they were from Kith. That was the first and only time I've ever bought something from Kith.

Yeah. You're not a K. We're not Kith guys. I went into Kith once in uh Super Bowl week LA and I just got the ice cream.

Well, that's Yeah, I mean I that's why I got the shoes because the you know I know clo designer clothing is just not

No, not for us. Is that even that's designer, right? By the way, booth update. How many pounds were we down? I'm with the booth. We're trying to lose

60 lbs by the start of March Madness as a collective four. So memes, Max, Zack,

one of the members may have had a had the flu this that doesn't matter. Just say the number.

Yeah, we're down 19. 19. We're down 19. 19. That was just from three of us. Yeah.

Yeah. Zach hasn't even Zach start is starting this week. Maybe because memes had the flu,

but it doesn't matter. But it doesn't matter. Still 19 pounds. Nothing. Nothing left.

We're a third of the way there. All three of us lost weight this week. Yep. Wait, what do you mean nothing left your body?

No projectile. You know, some people, you know, you just didn't have an appetite.

Yeah. Okay. Ate some tricks. Love that. Love that. Good show, boys. Another reminder, Netflix on Monday, if you're listening to this, nothing has changed whatsoever. Uh, let's do numbers. Three 100 40 98

27 99 66 39 8 65 65 65 Shane, any last words? Any last words, Shane? Pump-up speech.

Bolt up. There it is. Shane. Love it. Go. How about a pumpup speech, Shane? I I'm not an impromptu speech guy.

No, just let him write if Let give P like five minutes. I'll write it for you. What did Hank say?

Nothing. Go ahead. Public speech. Speech before the playoff game. Three, two one.

I'm not a I'm not an impromptu speech guy. I don't know. You got this. You got this.

You got this. I just Hank and a lot of other Patriots fans around here are acting pretty confident. I just I I think they're underestimating the Chargers. I think I think we're going to go in I think the defense is going to going to shut Drake May down. I think

I think we're going to surprise some people this weekend. Mhm. Let's [ __ ] bolt up. Bolt up, baby.

That was good. Sholing cry. That was really good. What was that? You sound like you're going to cry, but good speech. Hey,

bolt up. What? Don't let him get to you. Bold up. Just say bolt up. Say what you want. Bolt it up. But like Hank and some uh other Patriots fans are just like

they're like the uh the kids growing up, they're they're bullies. Well, they were never told no growing up. Like

Yeah. They're so entitled to championships. They're so entitled to this and that. Like

we earned championships. We earned that entitlement. You didn't earn nothing. Shame. What's your favorite baseball team?

I went to jail. You didn't earn nothing. Yeah. I mean, where were you the last two years? You know,

when they're down in the dumps on this couch. Yeah. Watch Not watching the Patriots.

That's not true. Been here every Sunday. Yeah. Documented. Mhm. Got him. Not always awake, but

patient trophy. Yeah. What does that mean? Bolt up. Where? What? Where? He You just got bolt.

How the last two years been for you guys in keeps ending it with bolt. We're 0 and one. What are you

0 and0? Yeah. What are you in wins? Top five picks. Two and0. Hit him with a bolt up.

Y bolt up. Oh, you just got bolt up. I'm ready. Let's go to war. All right. I like it.

Seville Monday. Love you guys. Happy birthday to uh Dave Matthews and Jimmy Paige.

Let's go. And Princess Kate. Happy birthday. Love you guys.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "MIAMI TO THE NATTY, WILD CARD WEEKEND PREVIEW + STEVE YOUNG ON NFL PLAYOFFS"?

PFT Commenter (Host), Big Cat (Host), Steve Young (Guest), Hank (Guest), Max (Guest), Zach (Host).

What is "MIAMI TO THE NATTY, WILD CARD WEEKEND PREVIEW + STEVE YOUNG ON NFL PLAYOFFS" about?

The discussion focuses on the excitement surrounding Super Wild Card Weekend in the NFL, featuring a preview of all upcoming playoff games, a recap of a thrilling matchup between Miami and another team, and the firing of coach Mike McDaniel—highlighting the ongoing turnover within the league. Steve Young joins as a special guest to provide insights into the playoffs, and the segment includes a…

What is mentioned in this Pardon My Take episode?

21 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Eagles, Chargers, DraftKings, Ava Max, Treat Williams, Saquon. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "MIAMI TO THE NATTY, WILD CARD WEEKEND PREVIEW + STEVE YOUNG ON NFL PLAYOFFS"?

The episode runs 2 h 40 min; the transcript is about 34,622 words in 785 timestamped sections.

More from Pardon My Take

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.