Welcome back again to another episode of The Axis of Football Divisional Round Preview episode. Many call this Shar the best round of the playoffs. In some respects, you've got the, the final four across both the A f C and the N F C. It, it's not gun time, as you call it, char. Oh, absolutely. This is I mean this is officially the round where the majority of teams that are in the playoffs, if they lose here, they're gonna call the season of disappointment. If they win here, they're gonna call the success. So this really is what's gonna separate, especially with the bigger field that we have now. We have, you know, we have 14 teams that's almost half the lead. So it's, it's really. I mean, it's still accomplishments making the playoffs, but to be, you know, this really to be part of the top four, that's, you know, you always wanna play for the n N ffc, AFC Championship and you know, obviously get it to the Super Bowl. So this really is where the best teams are gonna shine. No question about it. And I think, you know, there's certain teams that, and we'll talk about them, that, that being here, and I think Saturdays in particular, the visiting team Saturday, you could say. You know, you could put'em in the happy to be here. Bunch in the sense that really, if you looked at these guys, and I'm talking about the Jaguars and the Giants before the season, I don't know that, that most people had, or if anyone had either of these teams in the divisional round. So whereas a team like, say, Buffalo, San Francisco, Dallas, kc, these are teams that you almost expected based on the talent level and, and the pedigree and all that to, to get here even in advance, right? So it's all a matter of perspective as well, but be that as it may, they're here and anything can happen, right? So let's, let's start this off with Jacksonville, Kansas City. That's gonna be the first game of the slate. Saturday at four 30 Eastern, one 30. It's kicking off and this is a pretty big spread, man. It's it's, I believe it's 8, 8, 8 and a half point spread, something like that. Yeah. And this is one where I think, at least for me, I was really hoping the charters would beat the Jackson because, you know, we, we always know that the, that Charters Chiefs has, has just been a good game. Chiefs has gotten the better of them in recent memory, but it's always a good game. This kind of feels like, to me at least, you know, I, I, I've talked about ad nauseum, how I think Kansas City got a big time break with how things shook out with their seating. Now it's almost like they have two buys and I don't want to downplay the, the Jaguars and what they're capable of. And obviously Trevor Lawrence is playing some gift football, but I think of this one char and I'll love to get your take here as, yeah, the Jaguars are kind of happy to be. And it wouldn't like, it, would it, it would not be disappointment if they got blown out in this game. Like they, they, they, they've really overachieved this season based on where they've, how far they've come from, where they were a year, two years ago. So I just, you know, it, it's hard to see a reality. And Trevor Lawrence yesterday, Was like, you know, I don't really think, I don't really think arrowhead's gonna be much louder than it is in Jacksonville. So he was kind of downplaying the, the, yeah, that's Pi so funny. I, I, I, I dunno, man. But, but you've also gotten this one sha you know, Doug Peterson, Andy Reid. Right. Doug Peterson's, obviously an Andy Reid disciple, so they know each other well. How, how much does that factor in? So, a few storylines going in, but really, really tough to imagine this. ending in anything but a Kansas City win. I will say though, sharp, I think about the Browns. A couple years ago, the Baker Mayfield's, you know, his best season, they made it to the divisional round and they gave it a chiefs run for their money, right? They have chiefs run for, for their money. So we've seen the chiefs kind of have some lulls at home, sometimes in the playoffs. I, I, I just don't see this ultimately shaken out in Jacksonville flavor. Maybe they cover just because at eight and a half points is quite a bit. What do you see this one? I, you know, I actually I have a feeling, I have a gut feeling that the under is gonna hit and you know, right now the under is like, pretty close to like 50 something. Lemme, lemme double check that. Are you saying that, are you saying that cuz of the weather or just other factors? Just, just, just other factors. Just basically where, wherever people are, are thinking, you know, this is gonna be high scoring. Look right now the s are that dude pretty, pretty potent offenses though, right? Exactly. And that's when these things turn on their heads. So if I were to bet I would be betting the under in fact, I might bet the under it's at 53. I think the under should be more closer to 50. It should be more like you know, a game where it's gonna be like maybe 30 to 20, you know, somewhere around around their Kansas City winnings. And, and look, look, usually, it always goes like this. It, it seems like a silly bet to think that KC and, and Jacksonville are gonna are, you know, and Jacksonville show they could score 30 points. And, and, and a little bit over over a half, you know, or 33 points. So but I'm, I, I think the defenses will, will shine through. I'm worried about if I was a Jacksonville fan. Their offensive line is a little bit banged up. Obviously they don't have their best offensive lineman in as a camera Robinson. He hasn't been. Yeah, Robinson. Yeah, he hasn't, he hasn't been he hasn't been playing which their left tackle the backup, left tackle did a fairly decent job. But Brandon Sher and Fortner, the, the center and the Guard combo. Are are, are, they both have upper body injuries, which, you know, if, if you think about it, that's, that, that's an area where they're gonna be going against Mr. Jones. So, Mr. Jones, yeah. The game record? Yeah. So it's, it's, I I think, I think Kansas City's defense is gonna, is, is gonna come up and and, and, and kind of really pressure Trevor Lawrence and, and really stuff that run game. So simply because of the combination of. Of the injuries and and also, you know, just, just the matchups. So, you know, ha, having, having said that you know, I, I still hope it's a good game. And, and look, who knows, maybe they'll come out and score 70 points in the first half. But that's just my analysis of, of what I sense is gonna, is gonna happen. H how much do you put into, you know, Doug Peterson knowing Andy Reid, coaching for Andy Reid, and maybe. Using that to an advantage is, does that factor in at this point, or Oh, a lot. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. Because really you know, when, when you're an understudy of somebody, you know what their tendencies are. Look I, I liken it to poker. So it, it's, when you play poker yourself you don't realize your tendencies. You might think that you're praying it, playing a fairly balanced game. But then if you take notes and, and you go back, look at your hand history and you're like, holy shit, I'm. You know, I think of myself as a balanced player, but I'm more of a loose player. I'm more, more of a tight player. So this is a situation where the understudies might know Andrew Reid better than he knows himself. Because they, they, they, you know, they, they notice what he's doing. They, they, they kind of know his tendencies. They know what he's thinking. So definitely the advantages there. I mean, sa same with that. A lot of Bill Belichick disciples have a really good record against. You know, yeah, they do. You, you have to give the coaching edge, not on terms of, not in terms of talent and X's and O's you have to give the coaching edge to to Doug Peterson simply because he knows his opponent then. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you would think that's, that's gotta play into it. I, I feel like Trevor Lawrence has really come of age this year too. I think, you know, last year you could say, okay. Rookie year didn't have the, wasn't in the best situation. Even earlier this year. He was missing some easy throws in my opinion. And I was really starting to question, okay, is this development gonna come along the way you would hope of a first overall pick? And man, I feel like in that, that back third of the season, he really set this game up. I mean, and just the mental fortitude, like we said last week, coming off four interceptions to them, throw four touchdowns, almost 300 yards passing. I mean so we know the kids strong between the years. With that said, if things get outta hand in this game, right, or if chief's taken early lead or there's some early adversity, does last week's performance from Lawrence give you confidence that the JAX can come back, or do you say, well, as great as Lawrence was last week, that was at home. Right? He had the home crowd behind him. You're more comfortable, right? So it, it kind of, there's a situation there where getting back, they were going against the Chargers. They were going against the Chargers. Who going against the Chargers, right? And, and you, you can damn well bet that if the chiefs take a 27 nothing lead, you know, the, they're, they're, they're not gonna stop scoring either, right? So how much, if I'm a Jags. how much confidence should I have that because of the way last week went, if we do face early adversity, Lawrence can dig us out again. No, I I mean you should always have that confidence. Cause you have no other choice. I mean, if you do face adversity, what are you supposed to do? Just pack it up and go. No, you, you always try to. Well, well, I mean, but some, I mean, in theory everyone would, every player would, would, would agree with you, char. But in, in the reality of it is, is that not everybody responds that way. Right. And that's very true. When, when they asked Lawrence about it, he was. what other choice that I have? right? Well, one, no one, but if you're a professional, you always think like that because look, by the time players get here, yeah, they've all gone through so many different things. And, and remember, period, my sophomore year, my first year starting at, at Nevada we, we came back from a 21 point deficit with five minutes left in a game, and we won that against Boise. Actually it was a, it was, yeah, it was a 21 point deficit because Boise said with five minutes and 20 seconds left, something like that. And when we came back and, and, and beat them the very next week, we wanted to triple overtime again. And our confidence that we had from that comeback we're like, look, we've been here before. We've been here before we can do it. So it, it is a great talking point. It is a fantastic talking point. Cause you're like, yes, it's, it's been done before, but I have a feeling it's not gonna happen against these guys. Cause look nobody, everybody talks about Kansas City offense. Kansas City Defense, you got a phenomenal defense. You, you know, the worst, greatest player at, at, at, at the nose guard. And, and you know, that guy is a, is a, is a, is a phenomenal the experience, though it's not, not not, I'm sorry. Not, hello Derek. I was gonna say hello. Na, that's been a while. I meant, I meant Derek, I think Derek naughty. Derek naughty. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So he, he's, he's a fifth year, you know, he's a fifth year player. He's got good experience. I'm sorry, I just saw the, the naughty and No, no, it's, it's very similar. It's very similar. Yeah. My, my, my point is that he's the least, he's the least. A great lowest graded player, but, but he, he's been playing, this is going on his sixth year, I think, or fifth year, something like that. So, so the, the guy's experienced, so he's been through the championship runs and and, and, and you know, he You know, he, he, that's, that's basically, that's, that's the least guy you got, you got. He said even a lowest player isn't, isn't all that bad. Right. Right. Because then that's where experience jumps in and you know, you got, you got al their linebackers playing. Well, you got Frank Clark playing where you got, you know, basically. Yeah. I mean, I mean the their first round pick, George Carlo has also come on these past lately, lately. So, yeah, I mean, they, they've got some guys that are, that are Turner up at, at, at their best possible time, and they're secondary. I mean, look Juan Thornhill been a great pick for them. Luxurious needs a solid corner. I mean, yeah, I mean, they've, you're right. We do think of the Chiefs as being an offensive team. And look, let, let, let's be honest too, I'm sure as a defense when you have the luxury of playing from in front, most of the time, It's, it's gonna be, you know, life's gonna be a little bit, a little bit easier, but at the same time, there's some respectable players on, on that side of the ball for them as well. Right. And, and the, and the thing that matches up and look, we always talk about matchups, right? We, we, we talked about how phenomenal the starting 11 of the of the Kansas City defenses. Really the weakness is when they go to a third cornerback I believe his name is Watson. I'm I don't know if I remember. Jaylen Watson, he he, he comes in, but the thing is that the best receiver for for Jacksonville is Kirk, who's a slot player. But what the Kansas City Chiefs do, that's really good. They put McDuffy at the slot and he's, he's, you know, a top 20 quarterback in the league. And I, I, I, I just think that the Kansas City defense is gonna shut. Jackson not shut down, but they're gonna, they, they, they're gonna hold them and check while they're office, and then look, here's what's gonna happen. They're gonna fall behind by two touchdowns. Trevor Lawrence is gonna try to do what he can do, and that's when the interceptions I, I'm gonna, I'm gonna bet that Kansas City Defense is gonna have two interceptions this game, and I'm gonna bet the under. I, I, I actually, when, when you, when you look at the, just the offensive weapons, Of both these teams, Jacksonville. They're not far. They're not far off from Kansas City. No, they're not. You think of they're not. You think of, you said Christian, Kirk, Zay Jones, Marvin Jones, Evan Ingram. Of course. Travis Kelsey is, is the most talented of any of the past catchers on either your team, but Evan Ingram's had a hell of a season and I would a, I would even argue that perhaps the trio Jacksonville receivers has a slight advantage over juju. Absolutely. Michael Hardman and mbs. So, and then look. I love Isaiah Nicole Hart. By the way, Nicole Hartman's out. So you got, you got Watson. Oh, he is the, the rookie player. So, so they, oh, sky Moore. And, and he's, he's been used sparingly, so we don't really know. Now they also do have is, is Kaaris Tony healthy for this one? I'm assuming he's, he is healthy. So that, that's, he, he, but, but he's being used as a gadget guy. Hi. Yeah. So may, may maybe with, maybe with Hardman out Canary as Tony becomes the next packer on this. Well, well, but do also, I do also love Travis et I mean Travis e tn, we talk about Lawrence last week. E tn average over five yards a carry last week against, against charge that a hundred yard game, you know, kept the chains moving for them. So he's come along nicely. It's not gonna happen this week, buddy. I got, I got Well, yeah, I mean, I got news for you. It, it's that offensive line being banged up. Yeah. I mean, literally if, if you look at the injuries, Kansas City is really only missing. One guy, which is Nicole Hartman, which he is not even that, I mean, which, you know, that important, they're hitting on all cylinders. And I could see, sure, I could see anno, another game flow playing out where Jacksonville actually hold surf early. Right. Maybe they take a leader early and they go back and forth, and then as the game kind of wears on, That O line begins to taper the pressure. The pressure mouths, right? Casey keeps scoring and then eventually Jacksonville fails to keep pace. I can see that happening. Ultimately. Char, do you think Casey covers this game? Eight and a half is a lot, eight and a half is a lot because I could see, I could see with that offense, like Casey's up 14 points the entire game and they have the game in hand and Jacksonville goes and does a backend touchdown, you know, maybe against backups, maybe you, you know, so I don't, I don't like betting eight and a half points. It's, it's 50 50. Honestly, I think it's 50 50 whether they cover or. Not because they're not that much better, but because I could see this being in the, in, you know, in, in, in the third quarter, they're winning by 17 points and they're like, you know what, we're gonna just start running the ball and then punch. Right? Cause you know me mathematically, it's over anyway. Right? Right. So, so that's why I'm not gonna really be the be the eight and a halfs. That's a lot of points. But look, yeah, actually I, I see it's, I think it's up to nine now. I mean it, there, there you have it. I don't, I don't like it at all. That's a lot of points. And again, simply because. The, they're, even, even when Jackson was losing, they're not gonna, it's the last game. They're gonna be going full blast. They don't care about injuries that much. You know, they, they're go, they, they're gonna try to get, they're gonna try to put pressure on their officer score, even if they're behind by a lot. Because you want that experience. Listen, listen. Okay. Listen, this, this is Doug Peterson's biggest game. He's coaching, arguably since he beat the Super Bowl Superbowl, right? Yeah. He wrote, he wrote a whole book. that season and his approach to that game called Fearless. Right? Right. Where he talks about, you know, just throughout the year going for on fourth down, calling Billy special, all, all that stuff, right? We know Doug Peterson is not someone who's gonna shy away from being Right. Unconventional. A little bit of matte scientist in there. Right. A fake pun here like. I, I actually think they're gonna pull, you're gonna see some, some weird stuff in this game, right? From the Jaguars? Absolutely. This is gonna be their, you know, I don't wanna call it their Super Bowl, but it is Doug Peterson's biggest game, and I would not be surprised at all if he's installing some trick plays across offense, special teams. We're gonna see something in this one. Listen, this one, every team has always has a book of special plays that they have since the beginning of year that they, that they practice and they might not run it at all. Right? This is the game that the book opens up for Doug Peterson, because especially as the 9.9 point dog. Absolutely. Because here's the thing, this is a team. This is a game that if they get beyond that, they could absolutely not even show up for the next game and still. You know. Wow. This guy's coach of the year. Yeah. And so this is absolutely, it's their Super Bowl. This is, this is the number one team in in in the AFC and possibly the entire league. Yeah. This is the game. This is the game that I could po You could, here's the thing now, now saying, talking to Jacksonville fans, how could, how could this game. Is that Jacksonville comes out and there's cos because of the weak rest and they jump ahead early. They get an early interception, an early fumble, and early turnover. Now they're up by 10 and they just, they just keep, at that point, they just keep pace for the with Kansas City. And, and if I was Doug Peterson, I would, my strategy would be to be within five. At the, at the end of the game, at the very, here, here's, you know, here's the, here here's the only area where I slightly disagree with you, char. How many times have we seen teams go in? Remember a couple years ago it, it was like, like Tennessee went in there and took a 17 nothing lead. We saw the Browns have'em on the ropes. I actually think with the chiefs taking an early lead, Is is not, yeah, is not right Because then, then they, then they pray, play free and loose and then they go, I actually think you wanna keep, like it's being down by a little bit. Isn't the end of the world. You, you wanna keep it tight at the end because we've seen Andy Reids struggle when it comes to, to clock management. And then, you know when does it make sense to run the ball? Verse, throw the ball, and I don't, and then, and then you at the end, you know, you force mahomes into a bath throw and the coverage in a and you, you get a tip drill, turnover. I think you wanna keep it close to out and stay within, like you said, 3, 4, 5 points to the bitter end and put pressure on them. If you take too big of a lead early, they play fast, they'll play loose. Sure. The titans are up, I think 56 to 50 sorry, 17 nothing. Chiefs put up 56 points from the second quarter on. I mean, they score on these tidal waves cause they get fast and. I want to, the pressure to be on KC the entire game. As weird as it sounds, of course you wanna take a lead against any team as a road team, but I actually think with this chief's offense and the way Mahomes plays, it's almost at a detriment when they have, when they have three quarters to just. You know, have this, you know, almost like Brazilian soccer, right? Just bravado. And, and, and they get all, you know all the showmanship and, and all the crazy. I want Mahomes to be under pressure to feel like he has to make a throw late in the game. And I want Andy Reid to be under pressure as a play caller. And get confused. Managing the clock down the stretch. Like that's what I think you need the formula to win against this team. We're not, we're not really disagreeing on much as, as much as we think we're, I'm saying, I said very slightly is, is the way. Here's the thing look, defense predicated by Josh Allen and, and the rookie walker. So you have amazing talent to be able to put pressure without blitzing. Oh, yeah. On the on the on Patrick Mahomes and the weakest link of the Kansas City offense. Is that right? Tackle and not, not that he's a bad player. He's a, he's, he's a fine player. And you know, we've, we've seen Orlando Brown my former roommate's son, we, we've seen him sometimes just outta an over. You know, like play great, great, great. And I'm big of a big, you know, give up a big, big play. So the really the, the strength of that Kansas City offensive line is the interior three. Like phenomenal in interior three. So and, and, and look, what are you gonna do? You're gonna jump ahead by 10 points and Kansas City's gonna start airing it out, and that's when it's gonna be like, you know, Josh Allen and, and was it Trayvon Walker? They can pin their ears back and, and just rush. So, and, and you forced Kansas City into making mistakes. Remember there was a stretch last year in the middle where, where Patrick Mahomes was just like trying to get everything all back at once. and he was like, just having probably the worst stretch of his career. So that's what, that's what Jacksonville wants to put Kansas City into. That's, that's what I would wanna do. But other than that, I'm like, look, again, I'm gonna bet the under. I'm gonna, I'm be, I'm gonna on Kansas City Defense, I'm gonna be on one interceptions and and, and, and just go there. I I, I'm gonna take, I'm actually gonna take I'm gonna take KC to cover. but I'll take the under. I'll take the under as well. Yeah. Is is, is is what I'm saying too. I, I, I, I, I think, I think they'll, I think they'll do, they'll ultimately dominate this game. As much as Doug Peterson's gonna come out, swing in, I think, I think they're gonna dominate this game. Yeah. If you had to bet, of course that's the way to go. But is it outta the realm of feasibility that, that, you know, something magical happens? No, not James. So this, it is not at all. And. Let's, okay, so, so, so we're, we're pre aligned there. Let's move to the second game Saturday evening, and that would be what I call the three match between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles. Okay. The last time we saw these teams play was week 18 in what was a meaningless game for the Giants. You and I actually talked about how much confidence the Giants should have going into the Vikings game, knowing that their backup. Kept it to a one score game against a Philadelphia team who at that time needed that win desperately to not only win the east, but to lock up the first seed and that first round by, okay. I don't wanna take anything away from Philly. I think probably j that was Jalen Hertz first game back in three weeks coming off that throwing shoulder injury. So that buy was obviously gonna be massive. For Philadelphia. I don't know that you can take that week 18 game and say, okay, know if the giants were that close then with their backups, they should dominate this game. No, no, no. I think that X Week arrest of preparation was certainly gonna bode well for Philadelphia. Having said that though, right? This is a very different Giants team with a very different mentality, in my opinion than what we saw week 18. And if you recall Shar, when they played the Eagles at home earlier in the season, they got absolutely Big Brother to that game. I mean, I think it was. Eagles put up 48 points in the Meadowlands. I mean, they, they absolutely embarrassed the Giants. 48 22 was the final score right in that game. And yeah, I mean, you know, Jalen Hertz was, was. Slinging the rock around miles Sanders had a, had a huge game. You know, AJ Brown tore them up a little bit and you know, Daniel Jones is very pedestrian to that game, right? Saquon, barky, 28 yards in the ground. So, you know, interesting to see how this one will unfold. But I think the Giants are coming into this game with a ton of confidence and we always know It's, it's, it's hard to beat a team three times. In the same season and we've seen the Giants make some magical playoff runs here. Right. Do you think the Giants have enough magic and momentum to potentially pull this off, or is Philly gonna be too strong? Coming off that by Jalen Hertz arrested. We're gonna see the mid-season Eagles in this one. What do you think Char? I, I think the giants, the combination of, of the Eagles not playing that, you know, last week and them going into Minnesota and beating a, I know you don't think so. I think it was a phenomenal victory against a really good Minnesota Vikings. No, I, I think it was phenomenal victory. Of course. Absolutely. It was. Yeah. Yeah. So I, I, I think they have momentum on their side. Look, they have a really great coach. I, I, I, you know, we, you and I have also been talking about Brian d you know, I think he's coach. I think there's a couple candidates, but to me, he's, he's, he's the coach of. Him and Yeah. And, and, and here's the thing. The reason why I would give it to day over over Jacksonville's coach Doug Peterson is because we knew that Doug. You know, can, can have success. We didn't know what kinda, and, and how often do we see great offensive coordinators that go in and just flop on their face? And, and honestly, like if you're, if you're a head coach, what's more promising Right? Building a franchise around Trevor Lawrence or Daniel Jones heading into this year. Right, of course. So the Jaguars, even though they didn't have a great season like they were. There's a lot more potential there I think with that job than with the Giants, right? So I think what Dave Ball's been able to accomplish is a little bit more impressive, nevertheless. But but yeah, so I mean, you're right. So they've gotta, you know, as a Giants fan, you can be confident that if you're gonna lose this game, it's not gonna be because. The coaches didn't have'em ready to play, right? No, absolutely. And, and, and here's why New York matches up better against Philadelphia than most teams is because the strength of their defense is their defensive front. The, the, the, the front four with Williams, Lawrence and Kondo. The, you know, who's been, by the way, who's been playing phenomenally for being. You know, every, so that guy, explosive man. Yeah. All look, all, all three of those edge rushers that were selected high Tido Trayvon Walker, and the kid from Detroit. Oh, Hutchinson. Hutchinson. Yeah. They've all, they've all panned out really, really well, and, and all their teams are well but's, the one that's had really the consistency throughout the year. Whereas Trayvon Walker has just recently been playing. Recently we've been playing better. So you know, this, this is why, this is why the New York can pin their hopes on the fact that their defensive fund matches up against that phenomenal offensive line of of Philadelphia with Lane Johnson. Andi no, I was gonna say not again. Jordan Myla. Jordan Myla. Yeah. You know, obviously, you know the older Chelsea brother and the, their two guards have been playing phenomenal too. I think one of'em is is a pro bowler. The, the Hawaiian Chi Samma, you know, and, and, and he, a lot of people sh are pointing to what I mentioned earlier, the Eagles having dominated them so thoroughly in the metal ends, right? Because they're, people are kind, were throwing away week 18 because, you know, Philly was, wasn't fully right with yelling Herz and and John was putting their backups right. So throw that one away. The reason why I am not quick to take that 48 22 victory that they had over the Giants was, if you actually look at the schedule, that was a really tough session for the Giants, right? The Giants had lost at home 31 18 to the Lions. Then they had a turnaround on a short week. They lost in Dallas on Thanksgiving. Then they, from there, turned around and tied the commanders. I dunno if you remember that. That first game against the commanders was a tie, right? So they couldn't beat the commanders. and then after that was the Eagle Game. 48 22, lost of the Eagles and then they beat the commanders after that. Lost by three of the Vikings. But I think they got their swagger back after that Philadelphia game, right? Cuz they took care of business against Commanders the following week. they played the Vikings really tough. They didn't win the game, obviously, but they played'em tough and you could even argue that game and the way they came back against Minnesota, that game probably gave'em some confidence going into the playoff one. And then they blew out indie the following week to lock up the spot in the post-season. Right. So, right. That Eagle game was like, to me, smack dab in the, in the middle of a rut that they. and it was after that loss that it looks like from at least, you know, looking at the schedule, it looked in the mirror and really, you know, turned the season around and locked to their playoff spot and are riding the wave of momentum. So I, it's not the same team. And we know that as the season goes on, teams have waves of momentum. And we'll talk about the Cowboys. You know, the big question I think in that game is, is what we saw from Dak Prescott what we can expect going forward? Or is that a one game fluke? Right. And I think we're asking something with the Giants, right? They've been playing well, can they continue to ascend as they have been these past few weeks? But this is not like, you can't look at that Eagle eagle game and say, well, because they spanked him last time, now they're at home. This is a different team. Sometimes yes, as much as that week of that, that bi week, I it is, is important for Jalen Hertz in his shoulder, you know, yet haven't been playing for a little bit. Right? And the Eagle's defense hasn't been particularly impressive either over these past few. So I, I don't know that it's as simple as saying, Hey, they, they beat him definitively when they played the first time. So this, this should be e even easier for the Eagles at home. Right, right. No, no, it's, you're absolutely right. The, the, the thing about when, when the Giants really went through their cuff stretch cheaper to mind, before that they were seven and one, six and one, they. They were a huge surprise. They were huge surprise. And we were wondering, are they for real? Are they for real? Cause we all saw, we all saw the, the deficiencies that they had across, you know across their office, especially with the wide receiver position. And then they hit the wall. They, they lost to Philly really badly. Not that that, that's a bad loss, but the way they lost was really, really bad. Yeah. The way they lost to the cowboys was almost as, almost as bad. Cause I know it was only a two touchdown game, but it just, It felt a lot worse. Yeah. The cowboy dominated the second half of that game. Yeah, and, and Jared Goff had like his best ever game. And then, cause you know, Jerry was pretty good inside the dorm in Detroit. He had his best away game in, in New York, and they just absolutely got spanked by, by Detroit. But after that they kind of, they kind of settled back down. Yep. And they started, they started playing Well, good loss because not that there's ever such a thing as a good loss. A good loss against Minnesota, which they came back and, and, you know, and, and, and redeemed themselves on, you know, in, in, in the playoffs. It, it's just here, here's, here's the thing. They are inter division team. There is good familiarity with with, with the players among, among themselves. But I mean, the question is, is is fairly just too good and at this point I would have to lean on the fact that Philly's just too good. Well, and Philly Philly's too. Good. Well, and here, here, and here's the thing, right. For all the people that are gonna use that, that game and judge the giants. I mean, if you wanna judge the Giants based on their lowest point of the season, why aren't we doing the same thing with Philadelphia? Who's actually been playing? HA has not played at their level more recently. Right? Because if you look at it after that Giants game, it's almost like these teams have gone opposite directions after that game. Right? Because after that Giants game, they barely eked out a. Against the Bears who have the number one pick, they had the worst record in football. Right? Yeah. But also, keep in mind, Jalen Hiz wasn't playing. So let's, let's keep that in mind. Jalen Hirst was playing in the Bears Game. Okay. Oh, was he? He was, huh? Yeah. But you're right. The game after that, they lost to the Cowboys. But last time I had Check Char Jalen Hirst ain't playing defense. Right. They gave up 40 points in that game to to, to Dallas. Okay. Then they lost to the Saints at home again without G Hertz, but, but still, they lost by two scores to the Saints at home, and then they're starters in a game that needed desperately to get that by eked out a six point win against the giant second and third stringers. These teams have been going in opposite directions ever since that game. Okay, so again, I, I, and I, and I completely understand that Jalen Hertz being outta the lineup is, is all impacting these games as well. but Gardner Min, you ain't no scrub. And that defense is still early in the season, was elite. They still ended the year in as a sack leader. I mean, they had 70 sacks, I think the next best team at 55. So they, they had the most sacks by a long shot. So still a ton of talent, but if you just look at it on paper, both the giants and Eagles have been tr going in opposite directions. ever since that game. So I, I, I, I just think this is a match that people are underestimating and I, and I, I, I don't have as strong a feeling as I did last week. I felt really good about the Giants winning at, at Minnesota. I don't feel as strongly this time, but I still feel pretty good. I feel pretty good about it. I, I, I think the Giants can do it. I do. They've got confidence. There's uncertainty with Jalen Hertz. They've played'em twice. Day ball's the kind of coach where I feel like he can make adjustments. I, I think I trust day ball more than Siri. I, I don't know. That's not a matter of trusting. I I do agree with you though. I do think it's gonna be a SL fest where you have two similar offenses that that the quarterback is big and strong. And again, I keep, I keep calling Daniel Jones Diets. Josh Allen. So or, or Seon calls him Vanilla Vic. Right? That's Vanilla Vic. Well, I, I think they should call him Diet Josh Allen. Cause he's nowhere near he, he's, he, he's a carbon copy almost of of Josh Allen. Just, just like, you know, like I said, die Josh Allen. So is he, is he gonna, is he gonna rush the ball for 50 yards, 50, 60 yards? If he does, and it's not just like one big 50 yard play that we're talking about, we're talking about on a third and five, and he runs for a first down on a fourth and two, he runs for a first down on just keeping those chains moving, keeping that Philly offense off the field. So yeah, look, Philly should win this game. Philly should this win this game. But for those that think it's gonna be reward, I got used. Don't, don't, don't, don't bet on her. Here's bet on her. What I'm gonna say, here's what I'm gonna say, char, I feel as strongly as I did last week with the Giants beating and the Vikings as I do that the Giants will cover. That's of a win seven point spread. The Giants will cover. I really believe that. I, I did too. And, and, and look, we both are gonna agree on this. So what does that mean? That that means that the Eagles are gonna come and blow out for all, almost listening right now. This means, this means that the Eagles to cover. Right, right, right. Oh man. Okay. But I, I, I'm, I'm very intrigued by this game, and I think the, the, both, the Niners and Cowboys are intrigued by this game because if the Giants somehow pull it off, then those two teams are playing to host the NFC Championship. So that will be interesting indeed. We'll we'll, we'll, we'll get to that later in the show. Moving on. S. let's go to Sunday's Slate. Where this is just a, a, a couple of dandy a games we've got on the docket, headlining with the Bengals, visiting the bills, putting the, the, the matchup on paper. As, as tantalizing as it is, and we'll, we'll talk about it. I think this is also gonna be a highly emotional game for these teams, given the last time these, these guys took the field that scary situation with DeMar Hamlin had played out. So, you know, these, these teams have obviously played a couple games since then, so you've kind of got the, the, the jitters probably out after that. But I think, no doubt there's gonna. Some emotions heading into this game until that first ball is. What do you just think of that aspect of the game before we we get into the actual Xs and Os here? I, I, I think it's, it's cool that they're playing so, so close to when their game was canceled and I'm sure that both the Bengals and the, and the bills are gonna do something, maybe have the Hamlin at the game in there to have everybody go, you know, maybe have'em on the field doing the pointhouse, who knows? I dunno if he's healthy enough to do that, but I wouldn't be shocked if they did something very special with DeMar. In the game. So I think the emotional side of it's cool. It's a great story. And, you know, we're gonna finally get to see which one of these guys has, has more reason to whine about the game being canceled. Yeah. Well, I think, look at this point, we're past that, right? If, if I'm Cincinnati, I, I'm not complaining. I'm saying this is, this is what we have to do. We we're confident we can win anywhere. And look, yeah, how we beat Buffalo. Maybe this game would be playing in, in the jungle. but this is the hammer dealt. We've got, we've gotta overcome adversity. And they look, it's not the first time we've, we've we've seen Joe Burrow in a situation with adversity. Right? Right. So let's, let's kind of get into it the last time they faced off, right? I mean, it looked like it was gonna be a classic shootout, didn't it? Each team had a drive, each team scored. It was seven to three, but you know, the way those offenses moved the ball, it felt like we, we had a pretty good back and forth game on our hands. What do you think we can expect in this one, char? Look, I, it, it's, you have two phenomenal young quarterbacks going at it. Two guys that are gonna be in mainstay in in the NFL for many, many years to come. This is gonna be a great rivalry, especially, you know, these, these three of of, you know, including Patrick, we're Holmes in there, these two young running young quarterbacks. It's just gonna be phenomenal. And we're very fortunate. We're very fortunate to be able to to experience this. You know, this is what makes N F L so great. Having said that, I, you know, the, the game is, is I kind of feel the same way. I, I think the over and under the scoring is at 48, 48 and a half. I, I, in this, that, hello, In this case, I think it's, it's too low in this case. I think it's gonna be same thing with, with Kansas City and, and and Jacksonville, I think it's gonna be a 50 point game, but in the case where I thought Kansas City's gonna win around 30 to 20, give or take a few points here and there, i I, I think this game is gonna be more of a 27, 24 game. You know, it's don't, so you don't see Buffalo covering the five and a half, and That's right. No, I don't. I don't. Okay. I I, I think I, I, I think Kansas City's been through too. Look, I mean, Kansas Cincinnati, look, they're fearless. They went through the last year to make it through the Super Bowl. Who they gonna be afraid of? Who gonna be intimidated by? Do, do you put any stock in their somewhat kind of, you know, lackluster perform. The wild card round, you know, Joe Burrow you know, had a, had, didn't have a great completion percentage only through like 2 39 and a touchdown. Joe Mixon didn't really run the ball effectively, or do you chuck that up as, Hey, you know what, it's a divisional opponent, even though Lamar wasn't playing John Har walking coach you, hell, hell of a game. That's an outlier. How do you, how do you view that? I think it's even what, whether you, okay, there's two schools of thought here. One school's gonna say, oh no, you have to pay attention to it. And, and that, that's a good indicator. One school's like, no, forget about it. You put it in the past and these teams have done it either way. If like, let's, let's go with the first one where the school of thought is like, no, you have to pay attention to that. Hey, Buffalo. Buffalo was also going against a crappy back up. And you're, and, and, and not only that, I mean the thing with Buffalo that it's concerning is, They, they had that game in the back. They were up 17, nothing. And they got really careless. I mean, I mean, I, to me, Jo, I love Josh Allen. His game, I, I think he's the even more to, in my opinion, he's more exciting to watch than Mahomes. Cause he's almost like a, like, like a power back with a cannon of an arm. It's almost like a, to me, like you love Cam Newton, he's almost like a version of Cam Newton. Yes. Yeah. Absolutely. With a slightly better arm in my opinion. Right. So I better accuracy Right. Little. Exactly. So I, I, to me that's, that's a little more exciting. Having said that though, he's just been really loosey-goosey with the, with the interceptions. You know, he's, he's taken some sacks and fumbles and. Josh Allen can't lose his game for them. I think if, if Josh Allen has that same level of reckless abandon against Cincinnati, they're not gonna recover cuz you're not. Guess what? They're ain't Skylar Thompson going 18 to 45, right? This is, this is Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals coming to town. Right? You're, you're gonna pay for it if, if you try and, and, and, you know go back to that Well too many times. So Josh, I mean, we talk about Dak Pres. Last week and how he led the league in interceptions. Despite missing five games. Josh Allen was second in interceptions. Right? Right. So he's, he's unfortunately shown a propensity to turn the ball over and I think Michael Lombardi said something interesting. He said, I believe that Josh Allen has, can be the most talented player, and I'm paraphrasing, but he doesn't always play like the most talented player. Because of these turnovers. Right. And so he's got a limit. And, and as, as you know, as much as Patrick Mahomes does have a kind of a bravado in the way he plays the game, he's pretty good about taking care of the football. Right. So I, I really think that this game will come down to, can Josh Allen Protective Football? Because if the, my belief is especially Buffalo being at home, these, with these teams playing head-to-head, all things equal, Buffalo should, should win the game. And I think they're head, head and shoulders a better team than Cincinnati. Another thing, jar, you love talking about O line play three out of five guys for the on the Bengals O line. Our questionable to play, right? I mean, lay Collins has been out for the season. I think Alex Kappa is gonna be out. I think the, their, their, their right guard is missing some time. So yes, I know Buffalo's without Vaughn Miller, but 60% of the online missing not a good time of the year for that to be happening. Yeah. Well you know, going back to what you said about Josh Allen, Josh Allen's going through the phase that Patrick Mahomes went to early last. You know, it said it was the playoffs. Now it's the worst time to go to that phase. Right? But, you know, ha, having, having said that, both teams laid eggs last week and they still won. Both teams played against a division opponent without the starting quarterback, a game that they should have won handily, and they both laid eggs and they still won. So it, it's, it's, it's, to me, it's like, it's, it's a non-factor because either way you look at it, he here, here they are. Now let's talk about the matchups. Let's talk about the matchups. You got, you got, you know Joe Burrow is probably, if in a clean pocket, Joe Burrow is the best quarterback in the nfl. Again, I don't know his numbers. I don't, I don't know. I don't know his I don't know his deficiency. I'm just telling you what my, I see. I'm just telling you what my, I see. Okay. Okay. Okay. He's, he's, he's, he's the best quarterback. He's just more analytic. He can do it, but under pressure. He, he makes bad decisions and, and that's what Baltimore got him into. If you remember, they put him under pressure last week. Yep. And he made, he made some bad throws. Josh Allen, on the other hand, when he gets under pressure, he's just as aptly throwing interception at, at running 80 yards for a touchdown. So it, it's, it, it, it's, it's kind of, it's a kinda like a tale of you know, tale of two cities, kind of, you know, o o opposite things. So if, if that, if that, if that defensive bill's defensive unit can maintain pressure on on Joe Burrow with guys like Jones and Oliver and, and, and Rousseau, and, and look I know Vaughn Miller isn't playing, but the backup Lawson has been doing a really good job if, if they can put pressure on him. You know, they're, they're gonna do well. But my, what I'm really concerned about is with the, the dbs, not, not the safeties, but the DBS for, for Buffalo. I know you have the big name wife, but he's been beat, he's been beat plenty. I saw him get beat plenty. And you know, so we we're gonna get, I'm really looking forward to this game. I think this, this should be the best game. I don't think it should be five and a half points. I, I think this is a coin flip. It's, it's a coin flip game. I almost feel like too, we, the more we're talking about it, and you're absolutely right, char, you know, B, both these teams did, you could say, underperform against backup quarterbacks and team, and, and, because if you remember all teams, yeah. If you recall, char Bengals, Ravens, and Bill's, dolphins, those two games have the, by far, the biggest, the biggest spreads, right? Many games. Right. And, and neither, neither of them. Were they almost just over, I don't wanna say you overlook because it's the playoffs. These are, these are great teams and, and Right. And so like, at this point of the year, especially in the post-season, you're not overlooking anybody. I don't know what, what the way it is, but almost like, let's just get this out of the way so we can play each other again. Right. I mean, is, is that, is there anything, anything to say about that you think. No, I think you're on the money. I think, look, again, analytics would disagree with you because analytics thinks that that's a good thing as far as I'm concerned, right? Analytics thinks that, you know, players are robots, androids, and, and they have no emotion and they have no thought process. You know, one of the biggest arguments I have against analytics is that players have memories. You know, it, it, it's, analytics doesn't take into account whether players have memories or not. They purely go off of past results. Players have memories and, and players have pride and players have emotional constructs that they sometimes they need to overcome, you know, their own fears and such. So that's, that's my biggest issue with analytics. I, I honestly, look, I, I'm gonna be rooting for the Bengals, even though I should be rooting for the bills, because if I do that and, and, and Kansas City wins that, I look. Freaking genius about having the bills on the, and the Casey, same thing with you. You picked them both to be in the in the AFC Championship. Oh, no, you didn't. You had Denver, you had Denver in the AFC Champ. I had, unfortunately, I had Denver, I had Denver, Buffalo, and I had Buffalo advancing. So I, right, right. So I, so I, I, I, you know, but having said that, I'm gonna bet Cincinnati, because to me, this is a coin flip game, right? I mean, like, are, are, are, are you so sure that you wanna bet a large sum of. One of these teams winning? No. Yes. Ok. But the Jacksonville game, you would be more comfortable. Right? I, I, this is probably the game I'm least comfortable betting a large amount of money on. If I, if I had to. Right, if you had to, because, cause you don't know who's who. You don't know who's gonna do it. So, having said that, am I gonna bet, am I, am I gonna bet Buffalo winning when I'm gonna have to be laying lemme see what the, what the layouts are where I have to be, be laying money to win. So I have to be paying betting hundred$85 to a hundred dollars or two, I'm sorry, two$45 to hundred bucks or what? I'd rather bid Cincinnati where my hundred dollars is gonna return me two. I'm, I'm gonna, I'm gonna CI Cincinnati. Okay. So, so lemme So, so then, so let's, let's just go from that to who, who, who you got winning. I think you, you got Cincy covering who's, who's, who's gonna win this game? Char No, I don't have Cincy covering. I'm gonna bet Cincy to win, but honestly, if I had to pick, I would say Buffalo's gonna win. I'm purely taking, I'm purely taking the Cincinnati line because. Me saying Buffalo is gonna win. If I was felt that strong about it, I would bet, I would bet Buffalo. I don't, this just shows you my conviction of, of, you know, do I, do I think Buffalo will win? Yeah. I, I think I, I, I think that 60% of the time, Buffalo will win and 40% of the time, Cincinnati will win. But having said that, I'm gonna bet Bengals, because I just wanna get the two to one on my money. I'm gonna bet a hundred bucks to win to win 200. There's more, there's more upside, but yeah. Okay. Absolutely. Let's say you had to be the money, let's say you could only bet the money line. Who, who, who are you taking? I'm betting, I'm betting the money line, Cincinnati. Cause I'm getting, I'm, I'm risking a hundred to get 200 back, but, okay. Let, let, let's take that outta the picture. Let, let's say the upside was equally okay. Okay. So you're, so if you were like, so if you were like in APIC league where you weren't betting money, you just had to pick the ac the winner accurately. You take Buffalo. Oh, absolutely. I just told you, I, I, I think Buffalo's gonna win. Yeah. 60% of the time, Cincinnati's gonna win 40% of. Yeah, I, I, I see Buffalo on this one. Now the only thing, the only thing that I could see going wrong for Buffalo is Casey wins Saturday, and you're so set on again, having to get by that team that you, again, again, not, I not overlook, but let's get CI Seattle away and then you're not as mentally prepared. Right? And again, I don't think that'll be the case, but. You never know. You never know Rush. I, I think that's a, honest to God, I think that's a brilliant point that you're bringing up that I didn't even think about. I didn't, you're, yeah. Cause you're almost, they'll almost be better off if they could play that game first, right? I would think, oh, if, if, if, if, yeah, if if if Buffalo and, and, and since were playing first. Yeah. You know what? Now, now I'm clear, clear head, right? And again, analytics will disagree with me. Cause analytics doesn't take into account that Buffalo's gonna look at that, watch that game. But just gonna think, Androids, having said that, I'm gonna reduce my line to saying Buffalo. I'm gonna give a 3% edge to what you're saying, which is huge. I'll say 57% of the time Buffalo will win 60 43% of the time since he will win. So having said that, I'm, I'm, I'm, look, I'm gonna bet, I'm gonna bet Cincinnati again, alright. I think, you know, Okay. How about this? I'm more, I'm more I have more of a conviction about return on my money that I'm laying hundred to get 200 back versus the conviction of who's gonna win. Okay. That's fair. Look the way, the way that I'll end on this game, I, I, I, I'm gonna say Buffalo wins. I agree since he covers, but I, I do believe Mahomes, excuse me, Allen. Reduces the turnovers. I'm actually gonna say Alan doesn't turn the ball over into this game and despite the turnovers I. These past weeks. Sure. He's made two or three throws in those games. You're just like, it, it's unbelievable the way this guy can manipulate his arm and Archie puts in the ball. I mean, he's got a phenomenal, phenomenal talents. He's, yeah. So, so I, I, I, I just, I'm gonna go with the quarterback. The bills are at home. It's gonna be a highly emotional game. I, I, I like Buffalo here, but since he, since he probably is gonna cover this one. Okay. Yeah. It's five and a half points. Five and half fucking points. Are you kidding? That's a lot. It's a lot. It's a lot. Are you kidding me? I, I agree. I agree. So, and, and here's the thing. If I had to pick'em with the points point spread, I would pick, I would pick Cincinnati plus the points. I think a lot of people would agree with you on that one. Well, 54 50 I think 67% of the tickets are going Cincinnati with, with the points, so, okay. Yeah. And that, well, the, there you go. There you go. Okay, well let's, let's now go to the final game of the weekend. The game that actually on paper. The can, can I cut you? Can I cut you off? Can I cut you off? I'm so sorry. I just wanna tell everybody I've, I've been waiting, I've been waiting for CO's monologue to see how he's gonna hedge his beloved cowboys and how he's gonna talk crap about them, just so he not gonna be disappointed. Listen, listen, listen, listen. I, I, I have, I, I, I actually, I've been, I've been avoiding something that, that's, I've been, I've been unfairly and unjustly avoiding something. Is I'll be the first to say it af after week one I came on and I was done with the Cowboys and I felt very strongly that because of the way they lost of the Buccaneers and Dak Prescott being out for five weeks, I thought the season was over. I really did, and I think that compounded with the lack of belief I had already had in McCarthy going into that season. I was in a, I was in a tough place mentally, right? And you know, 27 plus years of, of short expectations, I guess, did that to me, right? I, I have to say that I was wrong. I have to say that I was wrong. I do, I honestly, I mean, I didn't think they'd make the playoffs, let alone be in a position to, to be in the divisional round. It was, it's a heck of a turnaround. It's a heck of a turnaround. And d do do I still have doubts about McCarthy? Of course I do. I, I, I do. And I think that Buccaneer game was a little bit straightforward. He didn't really have to go through anything challenging, but having said that, he's running the show and they've won 12 games back to back. They won playoff game and they're playing good football. Right? So I, I, I will sit here and say that I, I probably was prema. That assessment, but it was, it was not just because of that one game. I think it was a compounding effect of years and years of underperformance. But be that as it may you know that's something that I guess I'm, you're, you're happy to be incorrect about. This is a tough opponent, char. This is a tough opponent. And the Cowboys got the Tom Brady Monkey off their back, right? They were oh seven all time against Tom Brady. They got that monkey off their back and they actually, the funny thing is they actually, it was almost like a, almost like a full circle, right? You lose to the bucks week one, and then you end the bucks season in their stadium. In the post-season. Now it's almost like a revenge tour. Well, the nine ERs ended their season last year and our stadium, now we're in their place. Can we can, can we con continue the revenge tour one more week here in San Francisco? I think Dak Prescott is a story coming into this one. I mean, he, he flipped a switch and I didn't think, I think one thing I said, char in the preview episode was, I don't feel great. Because how often do you see teams that kind of, you know lolly gagging into the playoffs really just step it up all of a sudden? And the Cowboys did it. the Cowboys did it. The question is, was that a fluke? Was it a, a blip on the radar, or can we expect Dak Prescott to continue to play that way against what we know? That's a much more formidable niner defense, but hand deck Prescott, do it. And how much of a chance did you give Dallas in this one? Char? I give Dallas a much better chance that people are giving him. Why? I, I, okay. Well here's the thing. Who's the best player on Dallas on defense? Michael Parsons. And he's, I, I think he's the, he's the best player on the entire. Obviously we never think about it that way in terms of domination. He's, he's the one that's most dominated. He is. And he had, he's coming off a game where he had nine pressures right against TM Brady. Yep. So how, so who, who's the best player on, who's the most dominating player on San Francisco? Now, don't worry, don't worry if I'm gonna disagree with you, but, I mean, you on the offense, it's McCaffrey On the defense. It's gonna be bosa. Well, you're not, you're not thinking I, I'm, I'm thinking, or, or Debo Samuel tackle. I'm, I'm thinking, no, I'm thinking, oh, TR Williams. The problem is they have so many guys, you could say right. Year in, year out, the number one great tackle. In the nfl. It's gonna be a year in, year in, year out, year in, year out, minus the years that we, that, that, that he sat out with an injury. When I went to visit the Redskins about three years ago, when bill Callahan was the line coach, I went and sat down and spoke with him. And this is, that was the year that Trent Williams was, was sitting out. Yep. And I asked them, I said, I said, I said, Cali, how much do you miss Trent Williams? He said, Shar, no offense to you, but he's the best offensive lineman that I've ever. Yeah. And, and, and I laughed. I said, what do you know? Offense to me. I have, I have no delusions of Andrew thinking, you know, you know, but he was just being nice and, and, and, and he said, he, he said, char, he is something else. And, and I started paying attention to when I started watching his games. Dude, the dude is a monster. And this kind of reminds me, and again, I always go back to it. I remember my senior year, last game of the season playing at Nevada Senior Day and we were playing a, a little known team named a team named Texas Southern. And they had a guy named Michael Strahan who was their best player, and, you know, and, and that year I was the MVP of the offense on, no, on at, at Nevada. Even though we had an extremely talented wide receiver court and everybody came to saw me play against Michael Strahan. And this is the same way I'm gonna be watching that. I'm gonna be watching that that matchup. And I have a feeling that Michael Parson may get some plays in early on when his legs are fresh, but when, look, Trent Williams and Michael Parsons again, you, you know how people bought Michael's Parsons? I think he was a steal of draft that year. Yeah, he's 6 3 2 40 45. But sure. How do you know, maybe Dallas will move him around too. Maybe they'll put him on the week on the other side to optimize the, the. Maybe if I was, I mean, look. That, that's what, that's what they thought about at Nevada. But, but guess what Michael strahan a light up early on me often. And then at the end, they started switching him on, on, on the, on the opposite side. And here's the thing too, sure. I mean, the Cowboys, they've got, you know you know Dorrance Armstrong. They've got odi, they've got some other guys that have gotten out for the quarterback this year besides just Micah Parsons. Of course Micah freezes it up for the other guys too. But I mean, yeah, mic Micah Parsons is gonna be, look, the strength of the of the San Francisco offensive line are two tackles. Yep. Creating, you know, McClin and, and, and Williams. Williams, the number one rated tackle McClin is like a 30th rated tackle the strength of the Dallas defensive line, Areed Edge guys. Laura being a 30th rank guy, and Parsons being like a top or number, number two rated guy. So it's really a phenomenal matchup that I can in the nch now cheese for Dallas winning the ballgame. You need Zeke to show. You need Zeke to show up because look what about I feel like you need Pollard to show up. No, Pollard's gonna do his thing. Pollard's gonna be Zeke's the one who's gonna need to convert first. Now. And, and look, I became a Zeke believer when there was a game in the middle of the year when when Dallas when Pollard got a big run and when took it to the one yard line against some team. And, you know, cause I had Paula and a lot of fantasy against, I'm like, oh, please don't put, don't put Zeke in here for the thing. Let Paula give her a chance. Paula ran the ball. In a row, and he got stuffed in the back line and I was like, oh my God. And then they put Zeke in and he went in and he just made a quick clap to the backside. I'm like, holy shit. He has a nose for those situations. He has a, he has a vision. He's, he, he's, he might not be as explosive and powerful as, as he was five years ago, but he still sees the field like the greatest Pac. Yeah. In, in the nfl. So Zeke needs to show up and, and the, the weakness, the weakness of the San Francisco defense is their interior. Three. The weakness of the strength of the Dallas offense is their interior three. Zach Martin and those boys. Yeah. Zach Martin Smith. What's Smith's name? The, the guy who's playing guard? The, the, the, the Tyler Tyler Smith Tyler's When they moved in the guard. Yep. They moved him to guard. Check us out. Tyron Smith is. He's at right tackle now. Interesting. And, and they've got Jason Peters at Left Tackle the, the, the long time bed. So the Cowboys have doing a lot of shuffling along the O line. Well, that's funny. Plays over the right tackle. That's why. Primarily plays o over the right tackle. He plays left defense end. Both bolster brothers are, are, you know, play, play over the right side instead of left side because they're also power guys that can, they can stop the run. But I'm telling you, if, if if, if Smith and Martin, the, the Smith Guard Martin. And and Zack Martin handled, you know, chin LA who's been having a hard time this year, and Armstead, who's, who's basically, you can see that he's really declined. He used to be one of the top defensive tackles in the NFL four or five years ago, but he's definitely in decline if Zeke can Can take advantage of it underneath. I, I think the cow, I, I think the Cowboys are gonna, are gonna impress you. And I hope for once you're gonna, you're gonna actually show some more respect to Mike McCarthy. Cause I think he's a hell of a head coach. Well, fair. I, and look and I, if, if, if they somehow pull this off, I, I will be the happiest, wrong person on the universe. Even, even if they don't pull it off. Kuro. This is, this is probably the hottest team right now. Well let, let, let's talk about that for a second. You know, I wanna put some respect on the 49ers, right? This is still the same team that came into Dallas last year and dominated the Cowboys, and now on top of that, add Christian McCaffrey to that team. Okay? Add better quarterback play, right? Brock Purdy. is an upgrade over Jimmy g i I I mean, I I absolutely, he'll absolutely saying it. But how, I mean, how can you argue with that the way he's play, I mean, absolutely. Keeping plays alive, distributing the ball get revitalizing George Kittle season single-handedly. And now, and now Deebo is healthy. I mean, why can't we look at this and say this same niner team slapped Dallas around in the playoffs in Dallas last year. Now they've got more explosive quarterback. They've got more explosive play in the backfield with, with McCaffery, and you've got a much fresher deebo. Deebo got like a, what, four or five games rest than end the season coming into the playoffs. And, and that defensive front is still what it is, right? Absolutely. Why? Why, why do you think. With, with all of that, Dallas still has a better chance that people are given them credit for because they have a much better coach that people are given credit for. And that can go one of two ways. If, when that is on, they're, they're on too many quarterbacks that I would rather have. And I think that's, that's an important point, right? Because if the cal, like the Cowboys winning the game really wasn't a shock necessarily. Right? Like it was, you know, obviously playoff winners are. the bucks are eight, nine. Right. They, you know, they weren't, these weren't the same bucks from the Super Bowl. Yeah. But still the way they won. Exactly. And that's what I'm saying is the way that Dak played in that game, you're like, okay, if this version of Dak shows up, the Cowboys can go as far as anyone. Right. So I, I'm interested to see kind of how the match ups play out. I'm still waiting for Brock. To play like a seventh round rookie. It hasn't happened yet. Now, here's something interesting. Char four of the Niners, last six wins have come against teams ranked 25th or lower in total defense. So they have not really played formidable defensive opponents. So you could say, okay, that that's one thing, although Purdy still has played exceptional in those games. And then secondarily, People say, well, look at the nine ERs defense. They actually, you know, jar stood him with the Raiders, carved them up not that long ago, right? Gino Smith in the first half of that wildcard ground was looking pretty good, right? So they've also shown a little bit of vulnerability. Can Dallas somehow take advantage of that? I think the, the challenging part is can they do it in pockets? Can you sustain it over the course of a four quarter football game? I think that's where it gets maybe a little bit challenging and some of the, the run concepts that Shanahan runs. Yes, McCarthy's done a good job coaching this team, but let's, let's not make any bones about it. Shanahan, I think, gives the Niners an advantage on the, on the sideline they have, to me, they have the number one offense. The f l probably that I've seen in a very long time. I liken them. I liken em to win. Kansas City had Tyre retail and Travis Kelsey a couple years, couple years ago when their offense was just ridiculous. Look at the amount weapons that they have. Samuels Brandon Iku, by the way, playing better than Debo Samuels. Okay, Brandon, I. Debo Samuels. You have this the best tight, you have the best tight end in the f l. Best overall tight end. Yeah. Best overall tight end, you know, not best receiving tight end, but the guy still is a phenomenal receiving tight end. It's he's, I think he's number one in yards after catch. Okay. Yep. And he's got a really special connection with with Purdy. And it, it's, look, it's, I think they have the number one offense. And here's the thing, take away the Kansas City game when they, where they got crushed in week seven when it was Christian McCaffrey's first, first week with the game. They have covered every single. Game with the exception of two, one being against San Diego or San Diego, LA Chargers. Yeah, the other one being against, against Raiders. Where they almo, I think they just basically went to sleep in week 17 and Jared was like, look, they didn't have much, they didn't have much confidence in Jared, so their defense really focused on stopping the wrong person. And, and Jerry had had the game of his career a against them. Other than that Krush, they've covered against everybody every. All right. Well, they're favored by four points, which. Being the home team doesn't feel like a lot, right? But, but because Dallas is a phenomenal team, DA Dallas is a team that has a, that has a, arguably a top three receiver in the N F L. Arguably a top five tight end in the game. Arguably the best running back deal in the N F L. You know, well, I, I still give that to, to, to San Francisco with, with their, with their staples. But look, they, Dallas is a phenomenal team, and Dallas's strength is on defense. And you have arguably best pressure in the game. You have arguably one of the biggest balling quarterbacks in the game. So absolutely this, this, this is gonna be a hell of a game. The Niners, even they say they're secondary is kind of their weaker link with some of the injuries they've had. The Cowboys have also had injuries to Anthony Brown and Jordan Lewis. So both secondaries have been little bit banged up throughout the year, but the niners shortly, the league with 20 interceptions. Coming in this one. So there's still, there's still Ball Hawking over there in San Francisco. What are the cowboys keys to victory in this game? What do they need to do? We talked about the, the matchup between Parsons and, and Williams being a, being potentially. What tilts this matchup offensively? What do the Cowboys need to do? They, they need to protect Parsons from Trent Williams. because what I would do is I would run right at Michael Parsons right now and just hammer'em and, and tender. Remember how I say we're gonna tenderize people? Yep. They would tenderize them. So, so in on running Downs, protect, protect Micah from from Trent Williams. You, you, you have, you have to do that. Protect, protect Micah from from Tre Williams. I'm passing down. Let him, let him run loose. So you need to somehow put the pressure on on on, on that offensive line early with some run blitzes. And on the offensive side for the Cowboys, Zeke needs to have like 80, 90 yards efficient, 80, 90 yards, you know, four yards to carry, four and a half yards to carry and get and, and get a lot of first downs, get a lot of first sales. Cause look, San Francisco can score and they can score quick. So the best way you can defend that is, is keeping'em off the field. Alright man. Give, give, give me then what that. Your prediction for this game? Who's, who's, who's covering, who's winning? Oh, I got, I got San Francisco winning and covering. There's only one team that, after all that after all that. Yeah, after all. Okay. All right. Fair enough. Well, no, I got San Francisco winning and covering. I, I, I think to give, to give you my numbers, I think this is scenario where San Francisco wins seven outta 10. That's, I mean, that's totally fair. That's totally fair. And, and maybe even more, maybe even eight outta 10. So it, it's, well, for and for the cowboys, God forbid this game comes down to a kick. Right? Cuz we saw Brett Maher Miss four extra points. Yeah. Yeah. We forgot about that. McCarthy. This is gonna come down into McCarthy. McCarthy was adamant and sticking with him. Right. So you have to, you have to, you can't, you can't, you can't do that to the guy. You have to, I mean, How would you feel Ashhar as an offensive player, having your kicker miss four extra points and the coach still going with the same guy? Would you I would, I would turn to him and say, you're our boy. You've saved us out, you outta some nasty spots in the past. We believe in you, and all I want you to do is believe in yourself. Okay. I mean, yeah, that, that Prescott said, look, I played like crap. It gets Washington. You know, like we still believe in him. I mean, the team seems to be supporting the. But yeah, I, Cowboy fans are open. It doesn't come down to a field goal. So we, you know, we'll, we'll see about that. I, I agree with you. I, I struggle here. Because if you could guarantee me Doc Prescott's gonna show up the way he did against Tampa, oh, it's gonna be a great game. Yeah. Then, then I would say they're definitely gonna, they're definitely gonna. Maybe even when, right. But this niner defense, this causes so many problems that I don't, I don't, I don't know how you could assume that. But he seems locked in. He seems dialed in. And I, I'm gonna say the Niners get the win. I, I am, but I think it's gonna come down to potentially Dallas buckling under pressure, maybe having the lead late in the game. But ultimately the home field advantage takes over from the Niners and they're able to pull something out in the fourth quarter. That's, that's, I can see it going that way. And if any team's gonna dominate the game, it's gonna be the Niners, right? Oh, it's, and here's the thing, what's the best scenario for Michael Parsons is to force San Francisco and have him throw the ball and him pinning his ears back and just having a good time. Now, we talked about this. What, what's the game script Alice can. Go up early. Go up early, absolutely. Get to Brock Purdy, make him feel like a seventh round rookie. Get some turnover, get some sacks. Introduce him. Introduce him to Mr. Michael Parsons. Never he, he's never had to play from really behind for throughout the course of the game. They've been behind early in the game, but he's never really had the pressure later in the game being behind a couple scores. Right, right. So that's where I think Dallas could have an advantage in putting that rookie in a scenario he hasn't been in before. And he's very doable to rush. Very do. It's very doable what you're saying. It's, it's, it's potentially doable if the Cowboys can somehow slow the, their offense down and keep McCaffrey and Kittle and Samuels and, and, and iuk at bay somehow. Right. We, we, we, we shall see. I actually, I actually might. Going up for that one. I, I might make a quick, quick truck visit to California and swoop into the bay for two days and, and catch the game and, and run back to Dallas, here to my family. You know, the, the, the lifestyle of the rich and famous man, I tell you, I'm jealous. Get outta here. Jealous says the former n l player starting left tackle. Outta here, man. Life is tough for you, man. I feel bad for you dude. Well look, someone's still working at nine to five and someone's not between the two of us, so let's, let's just leave it at that Well, no, we know who's, anyway. Forward to buddy. Looking forward to you, man. It should be good. And yeah, man, we'll, we'll we'll get back after it next week and recap what was man. But always fun doing this with you buddy. Enjoy the, Absolutely. Great weekend to come indeed. Take care. Bye-bye bye.