28. Backup QBs, Broken Rules & Slim Playoff Chances

In this episode, Victoria and Giovanna discuss the upcoming holiday football games, analyze team performances, and share their thoughts on various players and controversies in the NFL. They dive into the playoff picture, highlight standout players, and reflect on the season's dynamics, including injuries and game rules. The conversation also touches on social media buzz surrounding the league and the impact of off-field drama on players' performances.


Takeaways

The NFL doesn't take a break for the holidays.
The Lions have a slim chance of making the playoffs.
Win percentages can be misleading, especially in the fourth quarter.
The Saints are on the rise with a promising rookie quarterback.
Niche rules in the last two minutes of games can lead to frustrating outcomes.
Special teams play a crucial role in game dynamics.
Social media plays a significant role in player narratives.
Injuries to key players can shift playoff expectations.
The Panthers are proving to be a competitive team this season.
Drama off the field can impact player performance. 


Titles

Holiday Football Festivities
NFL Playoff Picture and Team Performances


Sound bites

"The game's on!"
"It's kind of bleak."
"I love pick sixes!"


Chapters

00:00 Holiday Football and NFL Matchups
02:44 In and Out: Teams to Watch
05:45 Analyzing the Saints and Panthers
08:38 Fourth Quarter Dynamics and Win Percentages
11:31 The Rise of the Jaguars
14:22 Niche Rules and Controversial Calls
17:23 Player Highlights and Special Teams
20:24 Baker Mayfield and Joe Burrow's Disappointments
30:01 NFL Chaos and Surprising Performances
33:36 Injury Impact and Player Performances
38:45 Backup Quarterbacks and Their Moments
42:14 Celebrating Women in Sports Broadcasting
44:10 Off-Field Drama and Player Controversies
48:38 Social Media Highlights and Fun Stats

Keywords

NFL, football, playoffs, teams, players, injuries, social media, game analysis, sports podcast, holiday special

Chapters

• 0:00 Holiday Kickoff And NFL Slate
• 1:00 Christmas Day Matchups Outlook
• 4:45 Lions Playoff Math And Backup QBs
• 8:40 Singing Icks And Any Given Sunday
• 11:20 Gift Guide And Social Follows
• 13:05 Ins And Outs Setup
• 14:20 Case For The Saints Rising
• 18:30 Fourth-Quarter Win Percentages Rant
• 22:20 Panthers, Jags, And Texans Scare
• 28:30 Special Teams Appreciation
• 31:20 Panthers On The Come Up
• 35:55 Dan Campbell’s Fourth-Down Magic
• 39:40 Niche Rules Meltdown And OPI Ending
• 45:30 Jags Hurdle Clip And Jerryion Jones
• 49:40 Broncos Hospital Ball And Injury

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:04

You are pretty baby.

SPEAKER_00: 0:10

The game's on. The game is on the guys. The game is game's on. Game's on. Game's on. Games on. Games on the game's on. I'm Victoria. I'm Giovanna. The game's on. Welcome back to another episode of your favorite football podcast by the girls for everyone. The game. Happy holidays. It is Christmas week. It is the 23rd of December when you're listening. And unlike other podcasts, we don't take a break on the holidays because neither does the NFL. What are you up to for the holidays?

SPEAKER_01: 0:50

It's kind of funny that we're, you know, an NFL-based podcast because I'm quite literally just going to be watching football all day. Although Christmas Day matchups aren't the most exciting, but uh we'll see.

SPEAKER_00: 1:04

Yeah, because we have the Lions Vikings.

SPEAKER_01: 1:06

It's kind of bleak. I it was like the battle of uh the backup quarterbacks, I fear. Um, I know the Cowboys play, which will be obviously fun to watch being in Dallas, but yeah, Christmas Day, just gonna be watching some possibly trash football games.

SPEAKER_00: 1:26

Like so the Lions Vikings game does matter because the Lions have a 16% chance of going to the playoffs, but only if the Lions win out and the Packers lose out. So that one is interesting because I'm a Lions fan, so I want to see the Lions win, and I don't trust the Packers right now. I feel like in the middle of the season, I was like, I trust the Packers a lot, and now I don't trust the Packers.

SPEAKER_01: 1:47

You're playing Max Brosmer again because JJ McCarthy just went down. So that should be an easy dungeon.

SPEAKER_00: 1:55

JJ McCarthy, we should do a full in-depth study on the JJ McCarthy situation and the number nine. Yeah, like what is what is happening? I'm confused. Like, mom, I want to go home.

SPEAKER_01: 2:10

I fear I might have to add that to our end and answers today.

SPEAKER_00: 2:14

We should. Yeah, and then you have Cowboys Commanders, which doesn't matter because Broncos Chiefs and the Chiefs are out, but this I think the best game of the day is gonna be the Broncos Chiefs.

SPEAKER_01: 2:30

They have their backup, backup. I think you actually figured out the who I think it's.

SPEAKER_00: 2:34

I don't know, it's because this season, like anything can happen. It's the Ellie Golding song. Okay, actually, one of my biggest icks is when girls sing on podcasts.

SPEAKER_01: 2:50

And we just did that. And here I am. I'm sorry, I'm a hypocrite. Has that changed your mentality, or are you still is it so big?

SPEAKER_00: 2:58

Okay, I know, okay. I do have to say I get it now. I get it. No, I still hate it, and if I listen to this back, I'm gonna cringe. But it is like the Ellie Golding song, anything can happen. And I'm just calling that that game is gonna be a better game than we think it is. Similar to like the Raiders Texans, like we expected nothing, and then it ended up like if you were a brand new football game with no stakes in the game, you would have said that was a great game. So I just think the Broncos Chiefs is gonna be the most interesting game of the day. If the Lions don't win, honestly, I feel like I'm shutting off my emotions that day. Like, I don't have it on off switch like men do with their emotions, but I'm gonna learn just for that game to like emotions off. I will be in Hawaii with my family. I will get a Mai Thai or something, I will lay on the beach, and I will pretend like I have no emotional stake in the game, even though I 100% have emotional stake in the game.

SPEAKER_01: 4:02

Chris Alodumku Alodumkum is who's gonna be playing in that Chiefs game. I fear he's gonna get lit up. He was drafted to the Steelers in 2022, seventh round. Hit the waivers. Yikes. I don't know. It's gonna be interesting.

SPEAKER_00: 4:22

It's gonna be interesting. Yeah. So it'll be great. Can't wait. Happy holidays, everyone. If you celebrate, if you're looking for a late gift, I have a gift guide for NFL girls, but I also have on like my shop my best gifts for like aesthetic girls for every single team. So if you need a gift any time of the year, that's just like lives there. Also, we will be on like social over the holidays. So make sure you're following us at the game of the podcast. Today we have a bunch of ins and outs for the the last week, week 16. Tell us your opinions. So we're gonna do ins and outs, and then we're gonna do like a things we saw on social media recap because obviously there's so much good stuff on social media, and we hope that we make it into your social media, some of your most shared or best things that you saw all week at some point. But make sure you're following us over at the game of the podcast, at Giovanna Scrogans, and at Hey Victoria Henderson. Okay, let's get into it. We're gonna go one in, one out for the week. My starting in is the Saints. And hear me out. I'm on my high horse right now because I have predicted that the Panthers are better than everyone thinks they are, and now they have proven it. They have a winning record for the season. None of you guys gave them, nobody even talked about them, nobody cared, but I've been with them the entire time. Also, I might have a soft spot for them because the Panthers were my first NFL game ever. It was Panthers at Eagles, and the Panthers got squashed. Yeah, it was 2018, I think. Uh, and the Panthers got squashed, but I went and it was super fun. So maybe that's why I have a soft spot for them. But I said that the Panthers were better than everyone said, and I'm saying it again about the Saints. The Saints will have a winning record next season. I feel so confident in it. And also the Saints are in because Tyler Shook is the winningest rookie quarterback in the league, which we talked about in our stats episode last week, but he is the winningest rookie quarterback in the league and all time for the Saints. Now he has five wins in his rookie season. So I'm just proud of him. I like it. And I think that they're better than everyone says they are. And if you really look at their lineup, like the Saints, low-key have like a pretty good uh offense.

SPEAKER_01: 6:44

Yeah, Chris Olave has a job.

SPEAKER_00: 6:46

Yeah, Chris Awave is always Juwan Johnson.

SPEAKER_01: 6:52

And I'm pretty sure Alvin Kamara has been hurt for a while this season, which is a top load to their offense, too. So it'll be interesting to see what they oh Taysom Hill. Can't forget him. He's a tall yeah, cannot forget him.

SPEAKER_00: 7:08

So I think that the Saints are gonna have a winning season. They won over the weekend, granted against the Jets, but 29 to 6 against the Jets, and they're playing some good ball. So go off. And honestly, you just can't count anyone out because any given Sunday, and the Saints are on their on ramp. Okay, on to our first out. This one. My out this week is win percentages specifically after the third quarter. Because the fourth quarter, so much happens. Like the fourth quarter is six hours long every game. The amount of games this season that have gone into overtime is insane. And I feel like the percentage win percentage is based off of entire games, not off of the amount of play and the amount of comebacks that have come back that have happened in the fourth quarter of the game. And so, like the Falcons Cardinals game had like the Falcons winning, it was a 14% win percentage at 14 minutes, 46 seconds to go. And I was like, that's just not true. Like we saw the Cowboys win, score 24 points in the last quarter to beat the Eagles. That win percentage was probably like 1%. So I'm just over the win percentages. I just feel like they're inaccurate. I need somebody who codes and knows math and numbers to jimmy something up about fourth quarter stats alone, not full game win percentages, because it's just not, it's not accurate. Like it's accurate, okay? But that's like if you're annoying and so into semantics and stuff like that. Like it's not actually accurate based on what actually happens in the fourth quarter of the NFL. So I just don't want to talk about those anymore. They're on the out and they'll probably be on the route out for the rest of the season and next season based on how this season went. And that's what I have to say about that.

SPEAKER_01: 8:58

That's a period.

SPEAKER_00: 9:00

And that's a period.

SPEAKER_01: 9:01

Yeah, no, I uh yeah. I mean, we've seen it with the bills and them overcoming incredible deficits to come back and win games late in the third, early in the fourth. So yeah, I would agree with that. Winning percentages any given Sunday, man. You can't you can't discount anybody right now.

SPEAKER_00: 9:17

Really can't. Do you want to do our next in and out?

SPEAKER_01: 9:21

Yes. I can okay. Next on the ends list. We want to talk about the Panthers. We have not talked about the Panthers. So Victoria has the Panthers on her ends list. And the I'll I'll I'll I'll pause to give my opinion to the Panthers. I think when you look at the Panthers overall season, 100% sure they're on the ends list. But I fear the Jags Jaguars are a team that we okay. Maybe I'll let me speak for myself that I did not see coming this year. And Tyler Lawrence and the Chapelville team have been very, very dominant and have a serious, serious reason to go to the playoffs. So I'm putting the Jags over both the Panthers and the Saints, and I'm putting them on my ends list. On the out to Texans, almost losing to the Raiders. That was a scary game. Talk about winning percentages. I mean, the the that what that final score is 20 to 23 Texans. I mean, nobody could have saw that coming. The Raiders arguably played one of their better games in the whole season against the best defense in the league. So shout out to the Raiders. Kind of getting things together. Ash and Genty was 21-23. That was the final score. Um Ash and Ginty was really good in that game. Gina Smith was decent in that game, but the Raiders just need a new quarterback. And for the Texans, defense is amazing, but I still think there's questions around their offense and how they move the ball around.

SPEAKER_00: 10:49

So Giovanna, someone's gonna win the Super Bowl, and you're gonna be like, I still have questions about their offense.

SPEAKER_01: 10:56

I hey, I I'm I'm I look at both sides of I look at all sides of everything. I like, you know, it's one of those things. You can't you've gotta look at everything.

SPEAKER_00: 11:07

But yeah, no, we'll probably I agree. I just feel like our theme of the season has been like you loving defenses and being like, I don't know about their offense, they don't really have anyone. They like win nine games in a row and you're like, I don't know, it's just your same thing with the Broncos.

SPEAKER_01: 11:21

I mean, we saw Jacksonville look out there and demolish them. Okay, demolish is a strong word, but the Broncos defense is really good. And I mean, uh, against the Jacksonville Jaguars, I guess they weren't really good because they allowed 34 points, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_00: 11:35

Maybe you should just have your like your persona slogan being defense is the best offense.

SPEAKER_01: 11:45

Sometimes it is. Hey, you can get interceptions and big sixes, and I love that. That one's both games. I love big six. I fear the special teams is like my that's that's my jam. Oh, I'm the Ori and special teams, those are the people I love the most.

SPEAKER_00: 12:00

Yeah, I mean, because I mean, special teams is special, but like special teams deserves every bit of credit they get.

SPEAKER_01: 12:09

Yeah, they do.

SPEAKER_00: 12:10

Because they're always in there doing crazy things, they're in there, like they have to be so on, and they're playing like less than the regular people. So they're like colder, they gotta go in, they gotta make things happen, always in like the most intense situations. Like, if you were to date any group of players, like you should date special teams. They're the ones making it happen when it needs to happen, you know? They are, and if they don't make it happen, they're going down swinging, and we can appreciate that. Okay, I do want to go back to the Panthers just a little bit because the I mean the Panthers now have a winning record, and also like they you had mentioned earlier that they're not having any like super dominating wins, like offline, that they're not like dominating anyone, but I think that they're in like a win as a win category, and especially as a team who's on the come up, any win is good enough for them. But like Bryce Young, Rico Dowdle, Xavier Legate, Chuba Hubbard, Hunter Renfro, they have Trevor Etienne, like they have so many good, they have all of the ingredients, and I feel like they're like baking the cake. Like the cake is in the oven. And yeah, I've I they're on my ends list because they also beat the Bucs. They're gonna face off with the Bucs again in week 18. So that's gonna be really interesting because, like we said the last time they played, it's a pride game. And I feel like anytime it's a pride game, you don't know what's gonna happen. Like any actual stats and any actual projections like don't count in pride games because everything is different. Okay, moving on. This one feels sad reading it back now, but I put it on the list during the game. But Dan Campbell, head coach of the Lions, called his 100th fourth down conversion to it was a fourth and two with 845 left in the fourth quarter. Lions versus Steelers. Steelers are up 22 to 10. Fourth down conversion call. Jared Goff throws to a receiver Cleve Raymond and leads to a touchdown. So Dan Campbell's 100th fourth down call goes to a touchdown. And I just loved it. I loved every second of that play. It was so fun to watch. Feel sad now because on my outs list is niche rules that come into play in the last two minutes. I know we can't stop this, but like, come on. And like I was up in the chat. You guys know I'm emotional about this. Also, I was on a plane and I was on my phone on the plane. So there was no distractions. Like it was me and my phone on American Airlines, which American Airlines, also so rude. Internet,$18.

SPEAKER_01: 15:10

Yeah, that's insane.

SPEAKER_00: 15:11

I'm not a two-hour flight. I'm not paying you$20. Apparently, though, hack total tangent, but they have like a watch to this video and you get 20 minutes free Wi-Fi. Apparently, you can do that a bunch of times. I didn't know that until I landed and got texting back. My friend texted me that because I got my 23 minutes and I was like, I guess it's over. And yeah, so apparently you can do that over and over and over, but I just locked into the game. And then the end of the Lions game comes, which I honestly don't even know if I can explain this right. Like, this is just one that I'm like blocking out, but there's no replay assistance because the play was stopped when Amon Ra St. Brown stopped forward progress. So he came out of the end zone to catch a ball and then, or like was nearly in it and then gets pushed forward and then laterals it back. Jared Goff goes into the end zone. It is a touchdown, but then the touchdown was called back because technically Amon Ra had offensive pass interference, and because of the pass interference, they're not replaying the call and the Lions lose with zero seconds, even though technically it was a Jared Goff touchdown.

SPEAKER_01: 16:21

Yeah, I mean you explained it pretty well. Good, good job. But because the foul was by the offense on the final play. No, but because that foul was called the OPI on that final play, the period, it doesn't extend. So because time expired during that final play and the penalty stood, that instantly ends the game, even though it was a touchdown. You know, it just gets called nothing because there's no additional plays. So it was a tough loss. We'll break this down more in our stats episode because I have a couple of things to say about it. But yeah, sorry to see you for the Lions. But you had a whole entire football game. It's true.

SPEAKER_00: 17:05

It's true, it's true, but if it stopped at the time of offensive pass interference, there was still time on the clock, which is why niche rules are on my outs list. Because like it just feels like there's some things that are inconsistent because some man wanted to make it complicated.

SPEAKER_01: 17:25

I mean, when you break it down, it would be a little unfair if there, I mean, even if there was time on the clock, the touchdown would have been called back because there was really offensive pass interference. So the touchdown wouldn't have even mattered.

SPEAKER_00: 17:39

Right, but there still would have been time on the clock.

SPEAKER_01: 17:42

Yeah. So that's my problem.

SPEAKER_00: 17:44

And then they're like, they're like no replays, and I'm like, where's New York when you freaking need them?

SPEAKER_01: 17:48

Well, there was a time on the clock because the time literally expired during the play. But after the offensive pass interference. No, well, there was two different offensive pass interference calls, but time expired. That final play, then the time expired as the play was was happening.

SPEAKER_00: 18:03

But doesn't that stop when the pass interference when the flags thrown?

SPEAKER_01: 18:08

No. I mean, like and if you have like as the play is going on, time was expiring. So even if like they're not gonna stop the play as right when you see the pass interference. I mean, they they kind of did, but like even when they stopped the play, the time was already expired on the clock.

SPEAKER_00: 18:27

But it was it was 16, it was 16 seconds on the clock. Anyway, we will get into this in our stats episode. I mean, all of the details, which this exact reason is why niche calls in the last two minutes that can't be reviewed. That's that also lit me up. Can't be reviewed. You guys review everything, you review everything, you have it blows me away. And then the calls that are like reviewed for like 97 minutes, which last week there was a clearly two knees down before the end zone against the Lions that got called a touchdown, and you reviewed that for literally 97 minutes of my life. I wasted on that review for you to rule it a touchdown, ew. But then you can't review this one. I don't know. I'm just saying it's inconsistent. I don't like it.

SPEAKER_01: 19:13

There was six seconds left in that play. Jared Goff, when he crossed the the when he got in the end zone, that there were zero seconds left. So yeah, time expired. But that call was the right call. The one before that was yeah, yeah, the one before that was bad. Anyways, listen to this last episode because we got a lot to say. We're gonna break it down. It's it's intense.

SPEAKER_00: 19:37

Yeah, so that's what I have to say about that. Niche rules in the final two minutes, out forever, literally will always be out. Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. Okay, moving on. We have Jags player huddle. You want to take this one?

SPEAKER_01: 19:52

Yeah, so this Jag's player, and I forgive me, I forgot his name, but he hurdled on the side. Like over running back for the Broncos, RJ Harvey. And looking at this, like you're thinking, oh, well, that's a pretty athletic guy. Mike, okay, so RJ Harvey is running out of bounds in that Broncos Jaguars game. He's running out of bounds. And as he's, you know, coming in the sideline, everyone's going to get out of the way. And so this man decides to just jump up over RJ Harvey and you know hurdled over him. But what makes this so interesting is this same guy was the exact guy that Saquon Barkley backwards hurdled over in last year's that game with the Eagles and the Jaguars. And obviously, that Saquon hurdle has gone down as like, you know, it's the Madam cover. It's like this huge thing that Saquon achieved. So everyone was laughing at it because, you know, Saquon hurdled on him, and then he probably walks away with a couple of trips in his bag, and then he hurdles over RJ Harbour on the sidelines. Was it in the actual game, wasn't on the field, but you know, it still happened. He also in that game went on and got an interception on Bo Nick. So that was really special for him.

SPEAKER_00: 21:02

He was having a game. He was having a game. Okay, it's cornerback Jerry and Jones. I knew it was like 22, played at Florida State, drafted by the Jags in 2024. Yeah, and then got an interception. Way to go. Way to go. So that's all my ins on my outs. Honestly, we should make a social, we should make like a social post of like avoiding my family's questions about why I'm single, and then it's like that clip.

SPEAKER_01: 21:36

It's like it's honestly even funnier because he literally was on the sidelines when he did that.

SPEAKER_00: 21:41

Um also I love it when people on the sidelines get involved. Like it's so sad, but like if a chain gang guy like gets involved some way, like it's always just so funny to me. Like a player is like avoiding the chain gang, or like the chain gang guy gets knocked over and the player like picks him up. It's always like some order guy. If a coach gets barreled into, I'm just dead. It's so funny.

SPEAKER_01: 22:06

Um RJ Harvey is also only five foot eight, so it wasn't like a short king. A short gang. He is really good, but a rookie for the Bronco is gonna be really good. But yeah, you didn't have to run over much. That's what I'll say. So that was my ends on my outs. As Victoria mentioned, I do have the Panthers on my outs. Yes, they're winning games, but my only thing is when you get into decenter and you get into these playoff implications with the Panthers that have a winning season and have done the unthinkable when it comes to their team, is I want them to win dominantly, especially when you're going up against these really good teams in the postseason. Unfortunately, that win over the Bucks, it was a narrow victory. And this Bucks team has been mediocre at best. Bryce Young had amazing flashes in that game. And you know, you can't count out TT McMillan uh on that team too. You got a touchdown in that game too. But Baker Mayfield, you know, speaking of on the outs to the Panthers and Baker Mayfield, in my opinion, but Baker Mayfield threw a very, very, very costly pick on the last drive, which yes, the Panthers were winning. But Baker Mayfield actually played like he knows how to play. Who knows what have would have been the result of that game if you know he didn't throw that pick on that, you know what felt like a game-winning drive for for this Bucks defense. So I don't know. That's why I have them on my outs. They've done amazing overall this season. But if they want to make it into the playoffs, and if they want to go up against these, these these teams, the Texans, the LeBron, all these teams that we're talking about, the Jacksonville, Jaguars, the Patriots, I just don't know.

SPEAKER_00: 23:49

I mean, okay, I think this is the only take that you have today where I'm like, I don't think we're on the same boat on this one. Because the only teams that had blowouts were bad teams against bad teams. And granted, they should have beat. Well, I think that the Panthers, Bucks was a perfect matchup to be even because they have even records. They've both been beat by the Saints. They both beat, both beat good teams, but I think that they are like they are a true matchup for each other. Like division rivalry and just in in gameplay the season is I think that they're actually a really great matchup. I think it's a similarly great matchup to the Rams Seahawks. Like both teams are playing on the same playing field. Like neither of them has like a massive one-up. Like I think the we also have on the out we had on the outs list like the Texans barely beating the Raiders. And like that game, we sh that should have been a blowout for the Texans, but wasn't. But I think that like the good teams this year are gonna have good games every single time because all of the good teams at this point are like actually really good and good at being like a little scrappier and making it happen. And all of the bad teams are just bad. But the only blowouts we really saw this weekend, Eagles were 11 over the Commanders, Chargers were 17 over the Cowboys. Kind of makes sense. Chargers are going to the playoffs likely, Cowboys are out, Vikings, Giants, decent matchup, Bengals, Dolphins, but like who even cares? Saints beat the Jets a lot. I mean, no offense, but like who even cares? But I just don't think it's the season of blowouts. I think it's the season of close games. But I can understand why you're like, you need to be done. Like if you're the Panthers and you want to make you, if you're if you're the Panthers and you want to make it, you want to run, not just to go to the playoffs, but you want to run in the playoffs, you do need to find some dominance.

SPEAKER_01: 25:43

So yeah, and when I say dominance, I don't necessarily associate that with like a complete blowout because I don't think I don't, I never thought this game was gonna be a blowout. But the way Baker Mayfield is playing, yeah, I 100% I was expecting the Panthers to win this game. But it's interesting, Saints beat the Panthers twice, not once, but twice this season. The Peters had a really bad loss against the Bills. They did win against the Packers, which is interesting, but then they also lost against the 49ers. So all I'm saying with the Panthers team is if they're going, if if this is the year that you're going to have to try to make a push, the wins need to be dominant wins. Next season, 100% rooting for them. I think they're gonna have a real-year out rate roster with some experience on their side, especially if they get into the postseason. But the only reason why they're on my outs is because uh they have playoff implications and I want them to be dominant with these playoff implications.

SPEAKER_00: 26:34

Yeah, makes sense. I can I can get with you. We also have a uh parentheses here on the outs, Baker Mayfield.

SPEAKER_01: 26:42

Yeah, pretty much. I mean, far from Greece, like it's it's it's bad. And like I don't like the slander that he's getting right now, but it's it's it's hard to watch him be speaking of dominance. It's hard to watch him be so dominant early on in the season, especially with the connection with him and Mecca Abuka, rookie for the Bucks. Um, and then now throwing a pick in the fourth quarter that cost him the game.

SPEAKER_00: 27:08

So can we okay? I think that Baker Mayfield and Joe Burrow are two of the biggest disappointments of the season because they both came in with their whole communities, like the entire fan base of both teams were so ready for these insane seasons. And one of my ic in the NFL is when people are like, the first three games, they were three and oh, and it's like well, that's just ridiculous to even talk about this season, especially. But both Baker Mayfield and Joe Burrow, the expectation versus what happened, there's such a huge gap in between them, and it's it's really sad for both of them because I really like both of them, and I feel sad.

SPEAKER_01: 28:01

I oh I hate Joe Burrow Slender because Joe Burrow, I mean, it's not him, it's not Joe Burrow. He's one of the most sacked quarterbacks of like all time, and yeah, and and his O-line, like, and again, I love the O-line, but they do not, and that's why Joe Flacco, when he was playing for the Bengals, that's why he was getting sacked a bunch. So it's hard to look at that Bengals team and and you know, yes, it's a huge disappointment, but they have a lot of things to address in the offseason if they're gonna keep protecting Joe Burrow, and that's why he got injured.

SPEAKER_00: 28:39

So yeah, and I I think that when I say like Joe Burrow and Bigger Mayfield, I mean like them as the face of their organization. Yeah. Because I think that everyone thought the Bengals as a whole were gonna be so much better than they actually are, and everyone thought that they have the roster. Like they had they have everything that they need, but they I don't know what happened. So yeah, I just think that they're like, I'm sorry guys, it's nothing personal, really. And it's it's just that you're the face, so but your teams like I think that they're the biggest dissonance between I mean, or the Chiefs. But something about a dramatic dynasty having a dramatic fall feels like normal to me. Like the it's like the pendulum effect.

SPEAKER_01: 29:22

No, it looks like yeah, versus like with the it boxes out everything, and that's why this season is chaos, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 29:31

Like with the Bucks and the Bengals, like they were kind of in the middle, and we expected them to go high, and then they just went low. But their pendulum is just a lot less swinging than like the Chiefs, which is currently on. It's fucking lost control. Okay. It's not a good one. I digress. We want to thank our fabulous sponsors at Cuso Cuts. I am so excited because I've been traveling for around eight weeks now, and I'm so excited to get home and get my full stack of seasonings back because it just makes life so much easier. If you haven't tried Kusos yet, it is great for regular everyday cooking. You can toss some on some salmon or some chicken and throw it in the air fryer. You can toss some on the rim of your margarita, or you can take it and grill. I recently learned how to grill, actually, and it just makes life so much easier, especially if you're a new chef or a chef that needs things to go quickly on game day or any other day. Kusos is your go-to seasoning. So thank you so much to Kusos for sponsoring this show. If you want 10% off of your order, kusocuts.com/slash the game or code the game. All lowercase no spaces at checkout. And back to the show. Okay, on the ins, Jags ending a Broncos 11th game win streak.

unknown: 31:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 31:02

Which is crazy. I mean, like, props to the Broncos for doing that well. 11 games. 11 games. That's awesome. It's so cool that that ever even happens in the NFL, especially the NFL this year, with the AFC being what the AFC is. Like to win 11 games is absolutely insane. But the Jags ended it because I posted something on Instagram saying teams we need to respect, Jacksonville Jaguars. I wrote them off most of the season. I will say that and put my hands up and be like, I was uninterested in what they had going on. And now we have they're forcing us to be interested, which I also kind of like. Like, be so good that you can't be ignored. And I like that for them. So go off Jags. Also, I like Trevor Lawrence. He's a he's a tall guy that like he seems like if you invite him to like drink beers at a bonfire, he'd be super chill to hang with.

SPEAKER_02: 31:58

Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 31:59

Like he he seems like someone who would like fit in with any friend group. Like he's like just a good dude, easy to be around, cool friends, cool guy, chill, does his job. I'm into it.

SPEAKER_02: 32:10

No sense.

SPEAKER_00: 32:11

Wait, did you see? We're gonna talk about some social media stuff. Did you see the Jags and Trevor Lawrence collab post? No. Okay, so the Jags and Trevor Lawrence posted a collaborated post of I must have been AI, but it was Trevor Lawrence like dripping in diamonds. So it has full grills, black hat, like Ray-Ban's Wayfarers, or like something similar to those, probably something fancier than a Ray-Ban, but whatever. Jaguars chain. And it says 50, I'm pretty sure it says like 15 or 17k likes, and we'll make it happen. Yeah, it says 16k likes and we'll do it. And it's a picture of Trevor Lawrence Full Grills, Wayfarers, Jags hat, giant chain.

SPEAKER_01: 33:03

Oh my gosh. How many likes does it have right now?

SPEAKER_00: 33:08

They've made it into just likes. So you can't see the number, but it has 662 comments and 2061 reposts. Oh so it's safe to say, I'm reposting. It's safe to say this is happening. So make sure you're following Jags and it's Jaguars is their handle, and Trevor Lawrence's handle is T Lawrence 16. Oh 16k likes. That is so funny. Oh my gosh. Okay. Yeah, stay stay locked in for that. Okay. And then on the outs list, Bo Nix's throw to Patrick Bryant, where if Patrick Bryant had anything in his pockets, it would have been a yard sale. Unfortunately, he got carted off of the game. And I was today years old when I learned what a hospital ball was.

SPEAKER_01: 34:04

Yeah, this was uh in Victoria. I talked about this offline a little bit, but this was sad because, like, I think that we both ended up the conversation like it was a hospital ball, and nobody was necessarily to blame. It's just a tough situation. Like in garbage time, I think there was like the seconds on the clock, fourth quarter. Broncos are clearly losing to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Bonettes throws the ball. There was a little bit of overthrown, and Pat kind of turned around and tried to haul it in, and then just got body rocked by the defender on the Jacksonville Jaguars, and then was card off in a stretcher, I might add. So it was just tough to see a teammate like that go down with the Broncos clearly going to the postseason and losing an offensive weapon out of him and garbage time like that. So just sad. So hospital balls, I guess, should be more of the the the term to put on the Alps list.

SPEAKER_00: 35:02

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, because when we were first talking about it, I was like, it's not Bonex's fault. Given is like, I know it's not. And I'm like, but it's not Bonex's fault. I'm like, I'm like, keep the love for Bo. Um yeah. Jags beat out the Broncos 34 to 20. That happened with about 40-ish seconds to go. So I think some people are like upset about the throw in general. I personally think that if there was a season to make a comeback of 14 points in the final 40 seconds, this is it. We've seen like three recovered onside kicks this season. So honestly, I count absolutely nothing out. There was an onside kick on that the Bears got over the weekend. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 35:47

That game was on Thursday or Saturday. No, that was on Saturday.

SPEAKER_00: 35:50

That was on Saturday. Okay, we are in the season of football where there's just games all the time, and honestly, hard to keep up.

SPEAKER_01: 35:57

No, thank goodness I checked my fantasy roster on Saturday morning because I had no idea. Like I heard someone talking about like Packers are playing, and I'm like, what? Oh, and I'm like, oh shoot, these are Saturday football kids. Yeah. But I guess not.

SPEAKER_00: 36:13

I guess not. Yeah. So the Bears are on my end's. I mean the Bears. The Bears. So I am a Lions fan, so it's anybody but the Packers. And I was explaining to some friends that I was with that the Lions, I feel like care more about the Packers than the Packers care about the Lions because the Lions or the Packers-Bears rivalry seems to be more intense than the Packers-Lions rivalry. But as a Lions fan, we care more about the Packers than anyone else. So it's kind of like this like little brother syndrome of like, I'm gonna beat you. And the Packers are like, oh yeah, you know, we care about the Bears. But in overtime, the Bears beat the Packers. And it was it was an epic, epic game. Like just full chaos. They get the onside kick, which a missed onside kick, absolute ick. A recovered onside kick on the ends list for sure. The stakes are so high. And um, yeah, so I have the Bears, the Bears on the ends list. I mean, the Bears freaking have a great record. The Bears are the number one in the NFC North, and the Packers are kind of falling. I mean, Jordan Love did go out during this game and their backup Willis went in, which Jivon, in the chat, I'm pretty sure you said that this might have been one of the best backup performances that we've seen all season and maybe of all time. And I would agree. Like it almost seemed like if you if they didn't have numbers and letters on their jersey that like you would not have known that this was a backup.

SPEAKER_01: 37:49

Yeah, he's actually on my ends list, and I'm glad you brought this game up because he's right next to my ends list, Molly Willis. I mean, he got sacked twice, but he won the game, threw for 121 yards, had one passing touchdowns, completed nine out of 11. I don't think the Packers against this Bears team, which is good offensively and defensively, in one of the biggest NFL rivalries in the league. I mean, it's so historic when you look at these two teams in this rivalry. I don't think he could have asked for a better performance out of Malik Willis. And when he came out, I was like, oh Lord, not Jordan Lutt. Like I was like, this is not good, but he hung in there. And to go all the way in overtime, like I have to give credit where credit is due. And he was actually on the list. He was the second top week 16 performer when it comes to passes. First was Joe Burrow, ironically. Third was a good old Jay Herbo, Justin Herbert. So gotta give credit where credit where credit is due. And that's really cool to see the good.

SPEAKER_00: 38:51

Yeah, when did so I caught only the fourth quarter of the Bears game on Saturday? I was having an absolutely fabulous Lambragu and espresso martini. So I was not able to watch the entire game. Um, again, because Saturday, come on, I wasn't planning for this, even though I run an NFL podcast, I should be. But when did he go out hit to the head while trying to escape the pocket? Ruled out with a concussion after half time.

SPEAKER_01: 39:25

Entered the game in the second quarter. So probably, yeah, Wills entered the game in the second quarter after starting quarterback Jordan Lell was forced to exit due to a head injury.

SPEAKER_00: 39:35

So he was he was in there for I mean, over half the game.

unknown: 39:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 39:41

Yeah. I mean, honestly, badass, especially going against a Ben Johnson Bears who have been on the om ramp all season. I mean, Bears are now 11 and 4, which rivals any of the best teams in the entire NFL. Like the Bears are playing as if they're in the AFC, not the NFC at this point. Packers are now nine. Nine, five, and one. Bears are 11 and 4. And then in the NFC North, behind that is the Lions eight and seven and the Vikings seven and eight, which actually makes the Christmas Day matchup a little bit more intense. Lions are sitting at 16% chance to go to the playoffs, which also is painful to me because at the beginning of season I was so mad that everyone put the Lions the ninth. And now they're sitting around the ninth spot. And I just really hate that. So they were right.

unknown: 40:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 40:30

We'll see what happens. Like anything could happen. I mean, the the we'll see if I mean if if Jordan loves on concussion protocol, he's probably not coming back in next week.

SPEAKER_01: 40:39

Yeah, he probably isn't. That's why all those all those games are just gonna be the battle of the backup quarterbacks.

SPEAKER_00: 40:48

This is, yeah. It's the the Giants fall and the backup quarterbacks have their moment, which I also love though, because like, you know, so many people, if you're like a backup, they'll be like, well, I I could do it better, I could do it better. Like every man in America needs to pretend like they're a backup quarterback, identify with the one you like the most and see if you could actually play. Because you know, guys are always like, I could do this better, blah, blah, blah.

SPEAKER_01: 41:10

It's like okay, anyway. So Malik, Malik Willis on the ins, on the outs. I'm gonna do this one really quickly. ACLs again, which breaking news. Tests have shown that Gardner Manchu did not tear his ACL as feared. Um, he is expected to miss time, but his ACL is still intact, which is a little bit of a less flow because having Patrick Mahomes go out last week with ACL, then have your back up quarterback on the same team. Go out with ACL would have been a lot for Chiefs Kingdom. So I'm glad that his ACL is still intact, but obviously still injured kind of miss time. So ACL's crazy.

SPEAKER_00: 41:53

I was gonna say, also good for the super seditious people because if they're like everything comes in threes.

SPEAKER_01: 41:58

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 42:02

Okay, Pam Oliver inducted. This is on the ends, inducted into the sports broadcasting hall of fame.

unknown: 42:06

Queen.

SPEAKER_01: 42:07

Yes, I like she's like a big role model for me. Like one of the reasons why I got into sports and so love her. She's, you know, African-American woman, just been killing the game up there with like Aaron Andrews and and all of them. So love her. Glad that she got inducted to the sports broadcasting while I playing for the girls. Love that.

SPEAKER_00: 42:25

Yeah. Also, she's 64 years old. And I don't say that to speak about age, but just like how badass that she's been doing. Like, she truly is like a pioneer for women and a show that like you can do things for as long as you want and continue to get better and continue to grow. And there is like opportunity and space for you, even if you can't see the space, like it exists. And so I just think that it's really beautiful that she's like absolutely just smashing everything into the hall of fame, well deserved. And I do love that she's, yeah, like a black woman getting inducted in the broadcasting hall of fame. Like, go off, Queen. Go off, Queen. Okay, on the outs, tripping penalties. I mean, you're pushing people over. I don't understand. Like a tripping penalty is so ridiculous that I just feel like it's crazy, and I can't believe I watched it. There was a tripping penalty on the Steelers against the Lions, and the guy knew that he did it, but it was an accident. And I just thought it was ridiculous. Like, I don't want to see like a bunch of like I don't need to see Aiden Hutchinson like going for the trip, but I just don't know if tripping penalty like really needs to be like a five-yard penalty. Like, if you can get close enough to trip him, you probably deserve to trip him.

SPEAKER_02: 43:32

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00: 43:35

Okay, on the ins, fourth quarter chaos. I mean, I'll pump this in with overtime. Like, I just love a chaotic fourth quarter. I just love it. It's so exciting. I think it's so fun. It makes everything so much better. You see the chaos, and I live for it. Okay, on the outs, this will probably be our last out, but Puka Nakua. Giovanni, you want to run it with this one?

SPEAKER_01: 43:59

Yeah, Puka Nakua. I mean, he has been involved in a lot of chaos off the field. I mean, obviously, we know on the field he's been fantastic to say the least for this Rams offense. But off the field early season drama with baby mama. There was a couple things going on there. Now it was revealed that his brother stole a vehicle and they found that it was sold because he went to ballet. Then Puka Dakota goes on Aiden Ross's live stream, which Aiden Ross is a really popular streamer in the streaming industry and the streaming world. He goes on there. Aidan Ross basically tells him that he needs to do this celebration when he scores a touchdown. And come to find out that that celebration and the hand gestures that they were doing was anti-Semitic and was, you know, not a kind thing for a certain community to see. And so he took a lot of flag for that. Then in a big league Thursday night football primetime matchup with the Rams and the Seahawks, Poop basically request for Aidan Ross and another streamer to come into the facility. And then the Rams organization and Tom McVay were like, heck no, like we're in December. This is the playoffs. What are we doing? We're not having live streamers come into our facility and distract any of our players, let alone you for that matter. And then on the stream where he was doing the touchdown celebrations, there was some things being said about the refs. It was already a big no-no that you don't do as a player against the refs. And then again, after that game where the Rams lost to the Seahawks, Puka quickly, very quickly. I don't even think the game was like just over. Quickly tweets some comments about unfair calls and how he was frustrated with the refs, then gets deleted. Sean McVain was asked about it. Head coach of the Rams was asked about it in a press conference post-game, and he didn't even know what it was because it was posted and deleted so quickly. So all I have to say, just a lot of chaos around Puka Nakua. Again, his numbers speak for itself. And that seems to be a period. And I don't want to hear any other things. And I don't even think Puka knew what he was doing when it comes to that hand gesture and celebration. And I think, you know, as always, you know, we get constantly educated about certain things and certain gestures and celebrations that anyone could do that could be hurtful to a certain group of people. So at least it was education for the whole world to see. But I mean, I just want him to stay not a drama king. Let's just be little drama-less and play some good football, especially this Rams. I mean, this Rams team has a Super Bowl on the line.

SPEAKER_00: 46:32

So yeah, I feel like he was holding it together so well. Like he has baby mama drama that was in the press. And we didn't hear peep from him. Like he really held it together so much of the season. And I think he's cracking a little bit now. So I'm just hoping that he can like this is my I'm hoping that this is like a let's pump the brakes, let's think through things a little bit more and move forward in a classier way. I don't think he ever intended to hurt anyone or be unkind or anything like that. He did issue an apology. I think he's just getting a little messy. And I think that hopefully this is like a little bit of a lesson. He'll like reel it back in and realize that like his play can speak for itself. And if he lets it do that, he'll probably have a little bit more success. But I don't know. Sometimes people love the controversy, I guess. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01: 47:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 47:20

But he's on the outs for me this week as well because get it together.

SPEAKER_01: 47:24

Just gotta stay calm. Stay calm, Barkley. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 47:31

So that's it for ins and outs. Let's do a little what we've seen on social media this week that's been interesting. First of all, the game, media, 100 days old. So happy birthday to us. If you didn't see my post, you should go look at it. So fun. Okay. First player ever to be in a FIFA game and a Madden game. I didn't know this Cowboys sticker Brandon Aubrey was a center back in soccer, played from 2013 to 2016 for Notre Dame before playing for Toronto FC and Bethlehem Steel FC. Okay, we talked about like dual sport athletes in high school. Do dual sport athlete as an adult, hot. So hot.

SPEAKER_01: 48:16

Love him.

SPEAKER_00: 48:17

I love it. Didn't know.

SPEAKER_01: 48:19

Didn't have a good game though, but recently.

SPEAKER_00: 48:22

But he's had other very good games.

SPEAKER_01: 48:24

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 48:25

Yeah, we we like him. We're into it. We did on Bleacher Report got a report that Trayvon Diggs, who got, if you don't remember, he got a concussion off the field, and he came out saying, I was trying to be a handyman. He says he was trying to install a TV and it fell on his head, which is why he went out with a concussion. People were very confused about how he got a concussion off the field. Honestly, kind of makes sense to me. Like, this is a bummer and silly, but apparently he was like, I didn't think anybody needed to know, and then everyone freaked out, which valid. And but just like so so funny.

SPEAKER_01: 49:02

So over him, I cannot.

SPEAKER_00: 49:04

Also, I wonder how big this TV is because it had to be like 85 inches plus to knock a man that big out.

SPEAKER_01: 49:12

No, I can't, I can't, I I don't even I can't even talk about him.

SPEAKER_00: 49:16

Yeah. I saw a stat on social media that is absolutely ridiculous to me. And most passing yards in the first six seasons, like people around this league find the most random things to make stats about, and this is one of them. But in case you wanted to know, most passing yards in the first six seasons, top five, are Peyton Manning with 24,885, Justin Herbert, 24,284, Patrick Mahomes, 24,241, Dan Marino, Dolphins, 23,856, and Andrew Luck on the Colts, 23,671. So completely random stat that I absolutely didn't need to know, but now I know. So the more you know. And then finally, Travis Kelsey and Jerry Rice are the only players that have had 12 consecutive seasons with 800 receiving yards. This just really shows that you've been able to stick around.

SPEAKER_01: 50:10

So Jerry Rice is not one to be played with. It's cold.

SPEAKER_00: 50:14

Not one to be played with. And we love a committed man. So commit and do well time after time. Those are my social media picks of the week, Giovanni. You got any to add?

SPEAKER_01: 50:22

No, those are great.

SPEAKER_00: 50:23

So stay tuned to see if Trevor Lawrence actually gets grills.

SPEAKER_01: 50:28

And on that note, and on that note, watch our stats episode this week, guys. The stats episode is gonna be fire.

SPEAKER_00: 50:36

The stats episode is gonna be fire this week. So definitely check in for that. Thank you for listening. Happy holidays. Thanks for letting us be a part of your NFL season. If you have opinions, you want to tell us your like please tell us your opinions. We have a text thing in our show notes. You can actually text us. You can also go on Substack or DM us on Instagram. Thoughts and opinions, but kindness always wins. That's all we have for you. Happy holidays. We'll talk to you. What is Thursday Christmas?

SPEAKER_01: 51:05

I think it is Christmas.

SPEAKER_00: 51:06

Thursday is Christmas. So we will talk to you actually on Christmas morning. So make sure you turn in Christmas morning. If you need to do a little walk to get away from your family, because we know sometimes families are great and sometimes you need a second. So if you need a second, we'll be there chatting in your ear about stats. Maybe we'll do a little outlook for the game day in that episode as well. That's all we have for you. We love you. Bye. Maybe you a patty, baby.

SPEAKER_01: 51:34

You gotta own it on a styling of grace.

unknown: 51:37

You better own it on.