Welcome back again to the axis of football, sharp Prish alongside sfai. To recap all things that were divisional round N F L playoffs and exciting slate of games this week. Some interesting results. We'll talk through'em, because then there were four. Four remaining teams, char across AFC and nfc, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Kansas City, Cincinnati. So four great teams remaining. But how did we get there? Let's start in the Bay Area where I currently am located because I was at the Niners Cowboys game yesterday. And I think when I think about this game, so our final. San Francisco 19, Dallas 12. And when I think about this game show, I talked about it on on last week's preview episode, it's going to be about Dak Prescott. He's going to control the tide of this game and the way that things swing. And two interceptions from him that led to six points for the nine. Brett Maher missed his first p a t, his only p a t of the day. Actually, well, it was blocked, I think, but it was, it was, he shanked it, it was gonna be shank wide left. So left seven points on the, on the, on, you know, on the field and the cowboys lost by seven there. There's kind of your game in essence. I think if you look at this game, the Cowboys defense did are a really good job. Neutralizing the Niners run game and. For the most part, it's really just the offense could not get it going under D Prescott. I think Char didn't help either, was Tony Pollard had a really, I mean that Tony Pollard sequence was really, really challenging cuz he, he went out and reports are out. Char he suffered a high ankle sprain and he broken fibula. He's gonna require surgery will be okay ultimately, but a three or four month recovery timeline for him that really, I felt like Dallas could. Recover offensively after that powered injury and get credit to the designers. They, they, they got two takeaways. They didn't make mistakes. They didn't play a great game. They just didn't make mistakes. They let Dallas make the mistakes and took advantage and and that, that, that's where we are. I don't know what you saw on this game, but that's kind of my, my high level in terms of what decided the, the outcome. Yeah, absolutely. Look you should be very happy as a Cowboy fan how, how they played. Tell you what, I have, don't, no, don't, don't, don't go there yet. But, but I, I wanna hear it say, but don't tell me I should be happy after we gave him seven points. No, because it, it shows that, I mean, look, here's the thing. You, you lose your best player or not your best player. You lose, you lose one of your most explosive players and, and you come up short and, and you can't tell me. That not having Tony Pollard didn't affect didn't affect the Cowboys. It did. Jack Prescott. Jack Prescott. Man, those interceptions were, were inexcusable to me. You know, they were, they were, but, but keep in mind that, that he's, he's got, he's got pressure on him. He didn't play well there. There's, but on those picks, he, he did have pressure on him. And here's Sharp. The Tony Pollard injury was so devastating for multiple reasons. The obvious one being that he was out for the game. And as soon as I saw the play, I was like, is he okay? And then the guy sat next to me was like, what do you mean he looked fine? And I'm like, no, no, no, no. It looked, it looked weird the way he, he went down and lo and behold, he had to get cart off. But Shar, if you remember that the Cowboys, the game was tied. It was tied six six at the time. Okay. The Cowboys were driving and Dak Prescott, they were gonna hurry up offense. He hit Tony Poll for a quick, I think it was like a five, six yard gain. And the Cowboys were inside the red zone with a minute 40 or something ticking off. So they were in a two minute drill clock was bleeding. They were in a really good position to run some clock and get points and go into the half with the leap. The Niners defense is a little bit kind of gased and they, we had'em on the rope. And tolerance injury. It, it, he's out, it stops the clock. The niners defense can gather themselves again. It just, you know, you know, you're in a flow. That whole sequence totally killed the flow of that drive and who, who knows what happens if Dallas can continue that drive score, whether it's a touchdown or a field goal going into half, and then take that lead in. It could be a different ballgame. And then, but what happens to is the first play after Pollard was carted off the. Dak throws that pick to Fred Warner and the Niners are the ones who go in and milk the clock and go up nine to six at the half. That was a huge, huge sequence for Dallas. That was a six point swing in the game. So, and the pick was just bad. I mean, he, he had he had time, he had protection. He made a poor read and his own coverage and thought sea land was open. It was. And you know, I think both his interceptions were just, the protection was decent. He just made a poor decision. So that to me is, the hard part, is those picks were totally avoidable. And that in particular, that second interception, the timing that it came in as the Cowboys were driving to take a lead going into the first half and then instead it turns into a lead for the Niners going and a half that was, that to me was a really tough sequence in. I actually, I don't know. I forgot the point I was trying to make, but yeah, I mean you, you went off your little, your, your little Dodge I totally forgot what I was, I forgot what point I was trying to make, but yeah. Anyways you were saying the Cowboys are playing Well, I think you were going on the point that they, they, they, they've played well. Yeah, they, they, they were playing well and oh, that's, that's what it was. And, and you know, obviously sequence events, you know, the bald didn't bounced their way on, on couple of things and they, and they lost tough games. So and what I'm, what I'm gonna tell you is, is that couple of things that, that are clear to me, one is that possibly the niners kind of had the reigns on on Brock pretty a little. I don't know if you noticed that or not. They they were, they were kind of holding them back maybe cause they weren't too sure about it, but for some reason they were playing careful. Mm-hmm. And then the, the other one is that I've never been more confident in Mike McCarthy as a head coach than I am, than I am now. Interesting. Okay. So to address those points, I think, I think you're right. I think early on it was clear Dallas was winning the line of scrimmage. John Defense, like they, they could not block. And I think in seeing that probably, I mean the fir the first drive of the game the Cowboys are getting pressure and Sack Brock pur on third down, I, I'm guessing Kyle Hahan quickly realized, okay, this is gonna be a game. I'm gonna have to go a little conservative and let's, let's see if the league leader in interceptions, Zack Prescott will hand me this game if I just don't make mistakes on offense. And this is exactly what happened. So if that's the case, right, you know you know, credits to Shanahan there, why are you confident in Mike McCarthy? He, he, he's done something in three years of coaching that Cowboys hadn't had in what, 30 years? 25 years. I mean, I, I, I, I know, I know you're not happy with them. I know you're not a fan of his, but, but you're talking about the Cowboys are back with the 49ers and the nfc. It feels like the early nineties ago. We, yeah. I mean, look this game as, as much as, as maybe you even think I've unfairly criticized McCarthy. This game is not about being critical of McCarthy. I There's not. No, it was great. How can you be? I, I don't think they made any strategic errors. Right? If I'm being honest, char, here's where I'm at. I think the Cowboys are gonna, are in trouble with D Prescott as their quarterback. And I'll tell you, when I say tr when I say trouble, I think, I don't mean they're gonna be bad, but look, we've now had seven seasons of Dak Prescott, okay? after seven years, I think he's shown us who he is. He's a pretty good quarterback that you'll probably be in contention to be in the playoffs with, but will never actually get you over the hump. That's who Dak Prescott is. And that's okay. There's no shame in that, right? He was, he was a fourth round pick. The problem is when you're trying to run a franchise to get to the Super Bowl and you're paying this guy 40 million to be pretty good, you, you're not gonna get there. It's gonna hold you back. So my, my concern, with Dak Prescott, the Cowboys. We, we've seen the cowboy ceiling, like this is the cowboy ceiling. Win a win, win a wild card game, get to the divisional round, but really not be able to hang with the big boys once, once you play that upper echelon team in the N F C. So I think this is what we're seeing, this, this is just who Dak Prescott is. We've had a seven year sample size of it, and now all of a sudden he's a good quarterback. I mean, he's a good, he's a good quarterback. I mean, look, we laughed about the problem with D the problem with Dak Prescott is that he's a good quarterback that you're, that you're paying to be a great quarterback. That's exactly, and that's why I'm saying, I'm not saying the Cowboys Are are a bad team with Dak Prescott has a quarterback. I'm saying that they're, he's just pretty good. And the problem is when you're just pretty good, but you're taking up elite money that is preventing the team from then signing other pieces. How, how old is he? How old is Dak? About 27, 28 is I believe. No, he came up Russell Westford, didn't he? I'm not Russell Westford, Russ Russell Wilson. Right in that same draft? No, no, no, no, no. Russell Wilson was like four years ahead of Dak Pres. He came out, he came. Oh, he came out that Scott was the Carson one Zero golf draft. Same draft. That's right. That's right. That's right. Okay. So, so look at it this way. They got the best quarterback outta the draft. But now you're pet, but now you're, and, but neither Carson Wentz or Jared Goff are making that. I, I, I understand that though. But, but you can only do with with, with what you got. What's good, what's, look, here's a couple of things that need to happen for it to work for the Cowboys. Either the cab needs to increase in the next two, three years. So this is Micah's what, third year on the team? This is Micah's. Second year. He was rookie. Less second year. Are you sure? So you, so you're good. So by the time that Michael Parson becomes an unrestricted free agent for him to be paid, all right, hopefully couple of things are gonna happen. Either Dak Prescott is gonna turn into the guy that the Cowboys hope he can turn into, or the capital increase to the point where that's contract no longer is a is really a, a big chunk of their salary. Okay, so that's, that's, that's the only concern because remember when they signed Act Prescott three years ago? I, I, I said two things need to happen. I said, am Omar's gone? Remember that? I said, am Omar's gone? And I said, Zeke will either take a pay cut or he's gone in two years. And We'll, now, now, we'll, we'll see what's gonna happen. I, I think Zeke is gone. I mean, I mean, he, he's, he's just a plotter. He, he can't, he can't, I mean, he runs like he's stuck in the mud, but, but he's still a very good football. You said, you said he's gonna be one of those backs that's gonna be in the ravens rotation with like you know? Yeah. I mean, so, no, but, but look, he's, he's, he's a, he's, he's a student of the game. Like, like I noticed that I saw him. I've been watching him play. He just, just look, father time has caught up with a, in terms of being that expl, but, but his mind, his ability to still be a really good football player is still there. He's still very. He's still very valuable. So yes. Look, I think the biggest thing though, I, I just, I don't see a path forward. The cowboys will probably be, I mean, honestly to me, I just gave you a path forward. Whatcha are you talking about? Stop dooming. Whatcha talking about? Cause look, it's the cow. I hate to say it. Char, as much as I've racked the Vikings, the Cowboys are almost like a version of the Vikings, right. Where they'll, they'll be pretty good. Will never do anything significant. Have they improved since Mike McCarthy's come in? Yes. Okay. They went from being, they went from being a Chicago Bears into being the Vikings. That's an improvement, but Sure. But not enough for their team. Oh, stop realistic. This, this, this, this. You know what this, this attitude that you guys have that, oh my God, we're so great. We need to you know, we need to be winning the Super Bowl or contending for it. Every year is ridiculous. Okay. With the level of Stop the Cowboys draft. Well, they have ex they always have talented players. They bring in, right? They draw good coaches. So, yeah, not, not always. No. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Weren't she the one that's been crying for the last three years about the coaching stuff of the Cowboys? I'm talking about position, like, I'm talking about like Dan Quinn. I'm talking about, you know, Dan Quinn was the guy that was fired from his job. Okay. Let's, let's not forget that. Yeah. As the head coach. And, and guess what? He's gonna be gone. He's gonna be gone too. So you're, you're not gonna have Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe Jerry Jones come back up to Bri truck and say, Hey, damn. What? We have a good thing going on here. We'll see about. So look, look, the Cowboys are in a good situation. It's an improvement. Mike McCarthy is there to stay. I got news for you. Mike McCarthy is there to stay and it's a good thing for you. And being the Vikings is not a bad thing. There are 32 teams and to make the playoffs and, and to be playing in the NFC Championship game, that's, that's huge. But you're always gonna be a team that's, You know, in the division divisional round, it gets eliminated. That's just, do you forget that the Cowboys hadn't won a playoff game in like 20 years? How soon do you forget the, the Cowboys haven't been to a, forget a Super Bowl. They haven't been to a conference championship in 28 years now. In that period of time, the Bengals have been to two and been to a super. Like, are you kidding me right now? So now, so now you finally made it. You should be happy and you play. Look, you played, you probably played the 49ers tougher than anybody's played them. Yeah. But. You need, you need to take a chill to all you cowboy fans out there with this grand, you guys have this big ego about who you are. What, but if, if Prescott, the 40 million man plays mediocre in that game. Not great, not elite credit. Of course I get correct to the 49ers, but those turnovers were, were avoidable. You know, he didn't, he all turnovers are avoidable. Come on. It wasn't like, it wasn't like, oh, it was, it was a blindsided spirit bumble. It was just a poor decision. Okay, you made a mistake. It's not that big of a deal. It's not the end of the world. You should be happy with your season, for Christ's sake. I'm happy you made it to the top four. You made it to the top four. It was a good season. But when thinking about the future and realizing this is your ceiling, right, because the hope above your ceiling, I'm sorry, above your ceiling. No, they draft, well, you just said it. They draft. Okay. You don't, you don't think, look, your offensive line was in shambles this year. How many injuries did you have at the beginning the year? Yeah. You forget that. We'll see. We'll, we'll, we'll, well, you know what? This is not a, this is not a psychiatric chair for, for cowboy, you know, they're, but played well. The last thing I'll say, char is the only reason that I could justify. Bringing in Sean Peyton letting go of McCarthy is this time. Oh God. I'll tell you what it is. It's to say Dak Prescott is our$40 million investment. We're not getting, we're getting, like you said, pretty good play, paying elite money. How do we, how do we get'em to make that jump? Sean? Peyton, the quarterback. Oh my God. You are unreal. You are unbelievable. Sure are you, are you kidding me? Are you? No, I'm not. You put the money on the table for Dak, you might as well get the most out of it. Kush, go buy a lottery ticket because the odds of Mike McCarthy getting fired. Is lower than you winning the the, the lottery. What I'm saying is, what I was saying is if you were to do that, I could, I could. I I could see it's not hap it's not happening kuru. If, if I were to become president tomorrow there's a lot of things that I could do too. So let's talk about that It's not happening. Get it outta your mind. Sean. Peyton is gone. That window that that ship is sailed, the windows closed. It, it's, that's, that's it. It's, it's, it's over. Alright, bye. It's not, it's not happening. It's not happen. It's not happening. Well, so one thing that I wanna tell you, one, one thing about the game that, that I, I wanted to mention to you is that at the end of the game when, when the 49ers were running the clock out, alright. Right did you notice when they went brought in Christian Catherine, they went empty set and they threw that short pass, right? Yep. I saw that and I actually, I was, I saw'em go empty and I was like, this is, it's odd they're passing here. It's probably a screen and, and, and it was, Well, here, here's, I don't have a problem with that. Cause the, the, the Cowboys were doing a hell of a job in terms of stuffing the. Stuff's not the line of scrimmage. Yep. But when you take him empty set like that, right. You're hoping to throw that screen because everybody's trying to plug up the hole. Why not do that play with McCaffrey and Mitchell and keeping Mitchell still in the, in, in the backfield? To threaten to threaten. Yeah, I agree. You're right. I agree. I, I, you know that that's, That's fair. I mean, may maybe like, like why, why not? Why not do that? I, I think that's a, that's a situation where, where you're like, okay, put McCaffrey and, and Elijah Mitchell, by the way, who is a freaking scud, who is an ab like, he, he's an absolute stud. He's trying to let people know, Hey, don't forget about me. You know, I, I know cm, I give kudos to Shanahan because McCaffrey wasn't working. I mean, they, they, they bottled him up completely. So I think Shanahan thought. Let's put in Mitchell, may, may maybe. He, he, he just, you know, running back is all about flow and momentum. Right. You get, you get something. Yeah. So why take him out? Why take Mitchell out? I know. And so, and, but I'm saying putting Mitchell in was, was brilliant though, because I think, oh no, abso absolutely, he, he's a big strong, he's a big strong guy. He's young. And, but, but what, what I'm saying is, is why not? Why not have, why not have me careful for in there? Because what it reminded me of when the Saints had when they first got Camara and, and Ingram was still a pretty good running back. That was a, that was, that's the only, that's the only thing I gotta say because as soon as they went into an empty set, then Dallas Defenses knows to back off the line of scrimmage. Yep. Cause he was in shotgun. If you notice it was in shotgun, you're, you're, you're, you're declaring it's a pass. You're right. If you put a, if you put another, In the back with the quarterback or, or put or put the kid under center. So they're still thinking, you know, they're, they're still thinking it's gonna be, but anyways, that, that's the, that's the only issue I had with with play. Last thing I'll say with Zach Prescott too. Not just the interceptions, right? The cowboys had it, their own only turnover was a Ray River McLeod fumble. On a pun return, they got that ball deepened, nine territory only still for three. And then they had a phenomenal return by Pro Bowl returnment Kavante. Turpin Pass midfield could only muster three points. On that drive as well. So it wasn't his, the interceptions, it was, they, they could not capitalize on short fields to get in the end zone and then against the, against the NFL's best defense. Yeah, no, no shame in that. Well, when you're making 40 million, you, I think you should figure it out. Okay. Well, we, we already, we already stated that, that, that he should be probably more of a cousin ish salary, like around 35 million. 30 million. Do you remember the rumor last year, Shar? Where after the Niners lost in last year's playoffs that Amari Cooper called Dak Prescott, the black Kirk Cousins, I mean, was Hey, was he far off? If it's true, Kirk Cousins is a good quarterback. No. Yeah. Yeah. Good quarterback that you're not gonna win anything meaningful with. Well, he's not, no, he's not gonna show your team. He's not gonna show your team the way somebody like Aaron Rogers back in today could, or, or, you know, Josh Allen or, or Patrick Mahomes and so on and so forth. Yep. And Joe Burrow, which we'll talk about later. Char let's, let's, let's hey, so great room by the nine. They, they basically let, let the cowboys make the mistakes. And they, and I tell you what, man it was 50 57 total yards from McCaffrey. Good job on him. Deebo only had 45 yards in this game. Brandon Ayu only 26 yards. But George Kittle, man, he was the X-factor. George Kittle. Played a huge role. He only had five catches, 95 yards, but they were chunk plays that allowed the miners to keep drives moving and get a couple field goals down the stretch. That helped put that game away. So George Killman the big tight end. Hey, best, best tied in the game. Best tied in the game. No, no question. Best the game. You should seen the way he was blocking too. Couple those catches. He came out. He was actually chip blocking. And helping on those two defensive pass ERs that you have which he was doing a phenomenal job with. Yeah. I mean, but if, but if, if you were like, dude, if you were like, McCaffrey 50 57 total yards deebo, 45 yards defensive. Phenomenal game plan. Phenomenal game plan. Yeah. Yeah. But but look, the big, the biggest stat Dak Prescott two picks. Brock Purdy Zero picks that, and that, that, that's why his team's moving on. Le let's talk about Char, the Niners opponent in the N FFC championship. That's gonna be the Philadelphia Eagles fly. Eagles fly. Man did they crush the giants? And there was a lot of talk about this game when the giants, the way they played against Minnesota coming into this one. And the fact that against the, the, the, the third string and second string, week 18, the Giants only lost by six. Philly put it to bed, Philly put it to bed, and they came out. They jumped all over'em and never looked back. Final score on this one, char 38 to seven, and even more dominant victories than the one they had over the Giants earlier in the season. In the middle ends where they won that game. 48. 22. This was by 31 points, and I mean, the running game was really the story in this one. Jalen Hertz efficient. 154 yards through the air. Two touchdowns. But how about Kenneth Gain? Well, and Miles Sanders combining for 122 yards on the ground. Phenomenal day at the office, and they had just under 200 yards rushing total as a team in this one. It was, it was it was a drubbing and the Giants really, the offense never got going sharp. Daniel Jones, 135 yards, no touchdowns. One interception squon had a couple nice carries, but really the reality of it is, is the running game was deemed irrelevant because of how quickly Philadelphia went up in this one. And it was just this disaster for the Giants in Philadelphia. Man, we forgot about Billy that had that first round by no one's talking about them. Jalen, her shoulder was was in question. No questions here. They they were impressive Weren. Yeah. Look, they, they, they put, they put everything to rest. One thing I gotta say is that, that was the actual Giants playing that game. They didn't show up. They didn't show up. Maybe the moment was too big for them. Yeah. For, for, for whatever, for whatever reason. The giants are not that much worse than, than, than the Eagles. I'm, I'm just, I'm just telling that right now. But I mean, it's one of those things like the Giants have to win in a very particular, and falling behind 21. Nothing is just like, they're not built to come back from that kind of a deficit. Right. And that's why I thought right when they fell, when they fell behind seven nothing at Minnesota, and they came back and immediately answered with the touchdown, okay, we got a game. They, they were not able to match that same energy in Philadelphia. Just, just, you know, I, I, I think the moment was too big for me. I think it was one of those things where they celebrated their victory after after the Minnesota game. And, and they were just saying, okay, as soon as they got hit in the mouth and, and Philadelphia showed up, they just packed it in. It. It is, it's, that's at, that's at least what I, that's at least what I noticed. So one stat that was very telling to me, coming into this. I, I actually didn't realize we're recorded last week. Daniel Jones, Shar, this season has thrown for 230 yards three times. Just three times 2, 3, 3 or more. Two of those three times against Minnesota. Right? So I think we watched that game and we're like, Well, shoot. How bad is Minnesota right? I mean, well, Minnesota's defenses in that green and then, and the giant really matched up well against them. They did. No question about it. Yeah, I mean, Philly. Philly and look Dallas Godard's healthy. We talk about the Niners having weapons. I mean, Philadelphia. How about, how about the targets they put around Ja her. Devonte Smith, Dallas, Scott, AJ Brown. You know, miles Sanders to me is very underrated. He's a solid back. is. And then Kenneth Gain will out of nowhere, you know, 12 carries a buck. 12, nine, not almost nine and a half yards per carry average. I mean, they just ran them out of the building. So this is gonna be an interesting N FFC championship game. Shar what are your early thoughts and indications on that matchup? I, I, Look the way Philly looked yesterday, it's gonna make it a little bit tougher. If Philly hadn't looked that great, I would've given it easily San Francisco. I but, but the way Philly looked without offensive defensive fronts, I think it's the only team that can really match up. San Francisco is offensive defensive fronts. You know, man for man. So it's as an offensive lineman, I'm gonna really look forward to seeing that game. But I, I, I, I don't know man. I don't know, like, like they, they have, they have a lot of they, they have a lot of weapons. You forget Boston Scott, just a big tough balling ball of a running back who's very shifty. Kind of reminds me of a smaller Jerome Bess. When I, when I, when I watch'em run. But San Francisco, I mean, the weapons that they got, but in these tough games, usually you have to go with the quarterback, right? So it, it, it, I, I, I don't, I don't, I don't know. I don't know what to think. I, I just, I just don't think the way Philly played against the Giants is their true indication of how great they are. Yeah. I, I think the Giants just didn't show. The giant, the giants didn't show up, but Philly did. Right. And so the the victor Yeah. Goes as slow and look like, like I don't think you can sleep on that extra week of rest that Philadelphia got. Just, just to get, get their minds right. Recalibrate, get healthy. Especially for Jalen Hertz. Jalen Hertz was not asked to do a lot, and this one I've got a feeling against that Niners nasty defensive front. He, he's gonna be asked to do more, so that'll be really interesting to see how that plays out. with Philly and San Francisco next week. Sharp. Let's, let's go to, you know, this result in Philadelphia wasn't super surprising. Let's go, I think to one that did surprise a lot of people, and that would be the Cincinnati Bengals advancing, getting past the Buffalo bills, getting through a winter storm in Buffalo. And, you know, as soon as I saw that storm come through and the snow piling out, I said to myself, Power running game is gonna favor in Cincinnati because the bills don't have a power running game. And in that type of weather it's, it's just, it comes in handy. And so the, it's the Bengals 27 to 10. And it's not just the way that they won Char, I mean, it's not the fact that they won, it's the way that they won. I mean, if you said the Bengals would win, I wouldn't be shocked, but by like this, by three scores down in Buffalo. Yeah. I mean that, that, I mean, what an impressive, the only. They only allowed three points in the second half when Buffalo needed to score. I mean, this was not just a, a great win, it was a dominant, dominant win. And I think really if you look at this, that's, that's the truth of it, is the investment in a power running game, right? Joe Mixon 20 carries 105 yards in a touchdown. How about Devin? Single Terry, six caries, 24 yards. James Cook, five carriers, 13 yards, and then Josh. Eight for 26. I mean, they, they, it's shocking to me that buffalo, given where they play and the weather, the way it gets and, and come playoff time, they have not taken seriously investing in, in, in a power run game. And I think, I think they have to do that. I mean, they, they kind of did have a power back that they traded it away, but, You know who, who started having good success. Success, yeah. But they, they, they never just, I think that you need to really address that workhorse back, either, whether in free agency or the draft. They're probably do do it in the draft, but look that was one storyline. Just Joe Burrow, man. I mean, just Joe. Cool man. He is, he's Joe. Cool. Remember a couple years ago, I, I said he's the closest thing to Tom Brady that I've seen. Oh God. And if you look, if you look at his stats, char, it's there, it's solid. It's not gonna blow you away. 242 yards, two tds. But the throws he was making, the, the mobility, the pocket poise. I mean, he was, he was just making, he was. Killing the bills. I mean, Tom Brady stats don't, don't, yeah, don't really blow you out the water, especially his playoff stats. It's just his comedy decision making. It's the moments that he makes plays in and it's the type of throws he makes, man. I mean, he really had the bills defense confused and look Jamar Chase 61 International. I thought, I thought Hayden Hurst really had some big plays that helped. Well, that great play, that fake screen that was. Phenomenal play. Yeah, I, I mean this was a all, all out domination. And look, Cincinnati's defense, we, we don't talk about Cincinnati's defense cuz when we talk about Cinci, we talk about Joe Burrow, Joe Nixon, you know, t Higgins, j Mark, chase, all the weapons they have. How about Cincinnati's defense? I mean, holding a potent offense like Buffalo to 10 points in their house, it's impressive. Now, again, albeit, I, I do think the weather being what it was in Buffalo, not having a really a running. Definitely was was a catalyst to that. But at the same time, I mean, when you hold a jaw Allen and lead offense to 10 points, that's a, that's a hell of an accomplishment. Hell of an accomplishment. By, by, by. Since he's defense? No, their defense showed up. They're defense, a bunch of studs, and and look, they're gritty. They're, they're gritty. And they, they came after it and they made a, they made a freaking state. And tell you what, if they go to Kansas City and beat Kansas City, it's beyond just being a matchup or something like that. You, you got, you got a beginning of a dynasty because there's no sneak at Kansas City anymore. They, they beat'em last year in the playoffs. They beat'em I think during the season as well. They beat'em during the season. This year, if they go to Kansas City and put a whooping on Kansas City, it, it's, it's you, you gotta call'em a dynasty, the beginning of a dynasty. Cause look, it's tough to make it to the super. I think, I think it's not, it's not an easy thing. I think you have to, you're right, you're right. And Char to your point, they beat Kansas City the past three times. They beat'em twice last year, regular season playoffs, and they beat'em again the third time. And this year's redler season, will, will the fourth time be a charm for Kansas City? I don't know, but I don't think, I don't think so. What if it's you, you gotta change your narrative about the Bengals and the AFCs as as a general, you have to change the narrative if that's the case. And, and, and Casey now do, do you see Joe Burrow's quotes about the cuz you know, the, they they, they pre-sold a bunch of those neutral site AFC Championship game tickets because essentially had the bills. The game would've been played in a neutral site, so they pre-sold a bunch of those tickets. It's gonna be played in Atlanta, and Joe Burrow says, you better issue those refunds. Listen, if I was the bells, I would be so pissed that the NFL did that. I would be so upset if the NFL did that. Because you talk about bulletin board material. Oh, this, oh my God, if that happened to me, were the, were the leaguers doing? I don't care what players say because players talk and, and, and say all this shit. But when the league disrespects you the way, the way the league did there, there, I mean No, no. If I was the would be so pissed off about that. But, but look again, going back to Cincinnati, usually Super Bowl runner rubs have, have a off season. And kudo kudos. Toi kudos. There's, there's nothing, you know, there's, there's no greater compliment that I can give them. Kudos to Cincinnati. They showed up and and, and look, they have a, they have a chance next week to stamp their name as, as the as the new dynasty of the afc. And I think that they felt that in that Buffalo game, the Monday night game that was, that was canceled ultimately, They came out hot. They, they scored in their first drive. They were driving up until that scary incident occurred. They, they probably felt like they matched so well with Buffalo. They're like, you know, we, we, we had'em. Let's go finish. Let's go finish the job. Let's go finish the job. Right? And so, I, I, I, you know, if you're Kansas City, it's almost one of those things, well, the Bengals have had our number, so do we wanna play them? But that's at home. But then again, if it's the bills, it's gonna be a neutral site. So it's almost like, but I'm sure if you're the. Being at home, you don't care. You don't, you're, look, they're, they're both tough opponent us. They're both appoint us that seem to have your number during the regular season. Lemme tell you something, lemme tell you why I like Cincinnati better than, than Buffalo is because they have a grittiness to their defense. If you recall last year, the bills were complaining about, oh my God, the, the whole playoff rules and, you know, all this bullshit. Same thing could have happened in Cincinnati, Kansas City got the ball back again and their defense picked off. Patrick Ma. Yeah. Their, their defense stepped up and, and, and they're gritty, they're tough. They're, you know, instead of saying, oh my God, we're like, you know, they're, look, they're tough minded because they could have literally said, oh, here we go, ca. Kansas City came back, caught us, forced overtime. Now they got the ball back again. Yeah. And said they, they, they strapped, they strapped it up and they punched since in the mouth. I mean, they, they punched the Kansas City in the mouth. Yeah. I mean, look, and these guys. I'm looking right now. They had eight passes defense collectively as a defensive unit, which is extremely solid. You know, they didn't get a ton of sacks. They were just very sound in their, in their coverages and keeping the big plays in front of them. I mean, Josh Allen, like lost out there. And did you see, did you hear what happened with Stefan Diggs after the game? No. So Stefan Diggs, he, I mean, so he finished the game with Forecast 35 yard. He apparently ran into the locker room, got his clothes on, and just left before the coaches could even come into the locker room. Then one of the, one of his teammates was like, Hey, man, no, no, no, don't do that. Got him back into the locker room, and then still a couple minutes later he just bounced. He just left. He was gone. He didn't, he didn't want, he's frustrated. He's frustrated. He's, he's, he's being a receiver. Is that, or, but, but is that being a poor teammate? Absolutely. Absolutely. And, and, and, and I think this is one of the, this is one of his knocks when he was in Minnesota. He complained about, you know, he complained. He complained, he complained and, and they shipped him out and they got Justin Jefferson, and, and, and look it's, it's, I don't like that, but that's, that's, that's a poor typical receiver. Oh man. I didn't get, I didn't, I, I only had four receptions, five receptions, Yeah. I. That. Yeah. You don't like that man? I didn't know that. I did not know that. That's, you know what, that's figures. It's, it figures why Minnesota traded him. It's a frustrating loss, but I feel like you owe it to your teammates to just to win. When you lose, if you're frustrated by the loss, you gonna hang in with your, you're gonna hang in with your teammates. Yeah. In the locker room. You know, he was, he was the same guy. Do you remember? It was a really big deal a couple years back, the first time. That Buffalo got eliminated by kc in the AFC Championship game a couple years ago. He actually, he actually sat out there and watched the, a FFC championship celebration of the chiefs, almost like a, you know, this is what I'm missing, you know? And so that was kind of like, obviously you could see that it, that it, it hurt him. And then the way that the bills lost to Casey last year in the divisional. You know, up with 13 seconds left and then, and now this, I mean, obviously he's, you know, he's an emotional guy. But yeah, I, I, that, that's, that's tough, man. That's tough. It's you know, cuz look, you're not the only one. No excuse, no excuse for e everyone's frustrated, right? Like you're, it's not just you, but but yeah, no, no, no. Excuse. Tough breaker. I think the bill's gotta take a long look in the mirror here because as great as they were to start the year, They really tapered off towards the, the final stretch. Yeah, if you're Buffalo, you gotta take a look in the mirror here because you've, you've not been able to get over the hump. Yes. You were in the conference sandwich a couple years ago. You've now lost in the divisional round, two years in a row. You had a ton of momentum early in the season and it tapered off. I, I think you've gotta think about what is it that's preventing us from really getting past over the hump? And to me, I think a part of that solution is the power running game. They, they have to, In an offense beyond just sling it around, let Alan run it and let's sprinkle in a couple backs here and there for running him. I think they've really gotta take the run game seriously going forward if they're gonna win in, in January. I don't know what you think about the Buffalo going forward. Yeah, that's, I mean, it, it's really a matter of toughness. It's not a matter of talent. No. It's not a matter of, you know, anything else. It is just a matter of attitude. and and fortitude, you know, and, and by fortitude, I, I mean, mental fortitude and, and discipline and, and you know, to it, it's pure. That's all. It's, it's just, it's just being gritty. You just have to be gritty. You just have to be tough. and and that that comes from leadership and that comes from having the right people around you, and that comes from the coaching stuff. So, yeah, you know, I, I'm not in that locker room to know what the issues are, if there are any issues to be had, but but you know, that's, that's where it starts. It is indeed. And speaking of gritty char, Let's talk about Jaguar's Chiefs. The Chiefs obviously advancing in this game, winning by a final score of 27 to 20, but certainly a gritty performance by Trevor Lawrence and the Jags in this one. Char, I thought the turning point in this game, the score is what was the score? It was the chiefs wrote piss, so it was 2027 s. In the fourth quarter, the, the Jaguars are driving, they're moving the ball really well. They're about to potentially make it 24. Excuse me. Yeah. 24 7. What's the score? Yeah, 24, 27. And just a really, really bad fumble. It was, I think it was, it was Agnew. The kick returner was in at running back, and Trevor Lawrence throws a dump, kind of a dump off pass to him. He's got some room to run. And he just fumbles it. No one touches him. He just fumbles it on his own. Kansas City recovers it, it stifles that drive. And really at that point Casey's able to get the ball run, run enough clock to where really there's is isn't time for Jacksonville to score twice. And and that really was the game that that was the game as far as I'm concerned. And yes, the Jaguars do drive late kick and field goal to make it 27 20. And then the on side kick the try and, you know, get a miracle at the end with 30 seconds. Was not to be chiefs. Hang on. Or win 27 20. Char, what did you see in this one outta Casey and outta Jacksonville? It's, I mean, look Casey took care of business. Casey took care of business af after having her by week. So they, they took care of what they needed to take care of and Jacksonville. Is who we thought they're, they, they can't match up. And in fact, they should probably look at it and, and say, we're just a couple mistakes away from being able to have an opportunity to win the game. But in reality, they had no shot at winning the game. And that's what we said. That's, that's not true. I mean, they, I mean, look, sure they had a shot. Kansas said Kansas City would've came back and, and just Kansas City was basically, Kansas City was in control of that game, the entire one. I mean, there was seven minutes. Kansas City didn't matter what the score was. And look, we caught that. Well, you're telling me if Jacksonville made it 27, 24 with sub minutes left, that that, that wouldn't have put a little pressure on kc. Yeah, because Kansas City would've came back and scored. They might have said, would I have no doubt. I have no doubt that Kansas City would've came back and scored. It's, look, to me, Patrick Mahomes is a Magic Johnson of, of the nfl. The way Magic Johnson, for those younger people that don't remember the way he used to just control everything and, and, and, and, and he just basically everybody around him rose up. It, it's, I have no doubt that Kansas City would came back and, and and I'm not, I'm finished it off. I'm not gonna argue that because the Chiefs are great and Mahomes is, is is Stella. If I'm a Jags fan, I at least wish we could have seen if that would've happened though, right. Like, I like at least forced their hand to have to do that. As opposed to just fumbling at a thin air. And look credit the Jags, I mean, after, after that they forced a three and out, right? And they got it back. And then Trevor Lawrence on the ensuing drive through, through the interception. So that, that really put the nail in the. For Jacksonville, by the way, are, aren't, aren't you gonna, aren't you gonna gimme a little pat on the bat? Back and, and, and it doesn't matter how it happened. What did I say? What did I say? What was gonna happen? I said Kansas City Defense. The backdoor cover. Oh, the turnover. I, I, yeah, I, I, I, I said more likely I'm gonna cover, I mean, but the fumble, the fumble was just the guy fumbling. My, doesn't, doesn't, doesn't matter. Doesn't matter for what, for whatever reason it was. And who, who, what else did I tell you? I said the game is gonna be under 54 points. I said I'm taking the under I, I I, I said I can, I can easily see, I can easily see Jacksonville coming back in at the end of the game and making it relevant, but I'm betting on Kansas City's defense coming up with a couple of time turnovers. Did I not say that? Come on now. You did. You did. Did I not call the Bengals? Basically saying I'm betting on the Bengals to win the game. No noonish, no Sudan is back in the building. Ladies, a gentlemen, he's back. I, I, I called all, I, I bet all four games and called all four games. The only mistake I made is I parlay everything, which was really stupid moves to make, but regardless, regardless. Hey, hey, go bigger. Go home. Right? Right. Exactly. But, but, but the, the, the big story come out of this one, char. Patrick Mahomes suffered a high ankle spike first quarter of this game, and you thought, okay, Jacksonville really has a shot here. But credit man, Chad Henny. Chad Henny, if you remember him, he came off the bench against the Browns a couple years ago when the Browns seemingly had Casey on their heels. And he closed the game out. He was the closer for the chiefs. He comes, yeah, he converted on the fourth and shorts One drive. Yeah, exactly. Against, against the browns. And this one, one drive. Five outta 7 23 yards and a touchdown. I mean, he did, he did the job right? I mean, like, he did exactly what you need your backup quarterback to do. And he was sensational. Tony Romo in the broadcast, very adamant. There's a high chance Mahomes doesn't play next week. He said high ankle sprains are no joke. And even with the quarterback who you're not necessarily cutting as much, but what makes Mahome Mahomes game special? You saw him after that injury. He was trying to run around. He didn't have the same level of burst and cutting that makes his kind of on the fly type plays. So incredible for Kansas City's offense. I don't know what kind of condition he's gonna be in. I you gotta. Given the Bengals have already had their number, and now we're getting kind of a shell of Mahomes, Cincinnati's gonna be feeling really good. Oh, they, they, they, they, they have to, but I will guarantee you, you cannot keep Patrick Mahomes outta that game. I, I promise you, especially for position like quarterback, where it's, it's not, it's not his plan foot, it's his back. So, but the, but the playbook changes, right? It's not, you know, it it, well necessarily not the playbook changes. What, what changes is the improvisations and those timely scrambles and, and those timely. I mean, before that I kept, I think I jinxed him cause I was watching the game with my boys and I was saying, oh wow, look at this jump pass that he made. Oh my god. Incredible, incredible, incredible, incredible and, and, and I think I, Jesus, the poor guy. But he's, he's just, to me, he's pH phenomenal. He's just, he, he is absolutely incredible. And look, I, I played, I, I went through a season playing with a high ankle sprain and, and I kept trying to play and eventually my ha, high ankle sprains on I had high ankle sprains on both, on both legs. And they turned into stress fractures cause I kept trying to play with it. And I, I don't, I, I don't, I don't recommend for offensive linemen to do. but for quarterback, I, I can, I I don't, I don't mind it for quarterback. I don't, don't, don't mind. As Oh, lineman, you're constantly having to shuffle and cut and, and have to bear the weight. Not a 300 pound man. Quarterbacks. I didn't drive him off the ball. And, and in fact, my other high ankle sprain came when I was playing with one high ankle sprain and I was favoring that leg. And then I, I twisted that leg and, and I'm telling you, there was a there was a week of practice where my only practice was trying to. and I remember trainers had me, had, I had my hands on their shoulders and just trying to walk down the hallway. In the hotel room. And that was, that was me the day before the game. I, I, I, I even needed, I even needed the the, the help of the trainer just to be able to walk in. They put me in, in casts. I basically was wearing casts, flexible casts that you put on, on ankle brakes. That's gonna, it's gonna be the same thing with Patrick Mahomes. He's gonna gut it out. I promise you, I guarantee you, there is zero chance in help that Patrick Mahomes doesn't. Okay, so we're, we're, we're, we're not gonna get a any given Sunday next week. No. And lemme tell you something, Chad Henny cost me probably about two,$3,000. Cause remember how I told you I, I I parlayed all that stuff. Yeah. Everything that I had guessed, I parlay, I parlayed Cincinnati winning. I parlayed. The the under of the Kansas City game are parlayed, Kansas City winning. I parlayed Patrick Mahomes having two touch. Yeah, and that just broke my heart. Cause I'm like, oh no. Part of me wanted that, that fumble not to happen by by Agnew because I knew that Patrick Holmes would've gone down and scored a touchdown. And you know, it, it would increase my odds of winning, but it just, it just crushed me. Absolutely. That, but beyond that, look, it was it was a hell of a g a hell of a week of football for us. Well, listen, man, I I just looked it up. Shar Chad Henny is making 2 million this year. To hold a clipboard. I'm, I'm, I'm guessing they'll spot you that, that three grand if, if you really need it. Well, here's the thing. If, if, if I really needed that three grand, I wouldn't, I wouldn't be, you would be betting it in the first place. Right? Right. so, of course not. Well, some people are de degenerates. But no, no, no. I, I, I wasn't risking 3000. I, I was risking, I, I risk, I was risking like$600 to Right, to get those pars. So It's a cruel mistress, but yeah, and, and look, I think Jacksonville and the Giants are very similar in that. There, there is no shame in going out where they went out. Now obviously the giants got completely thumped and that's doesn't add the cowboy stu add the cowboys to that. But I understand what you're saying. I refuse to do so, but that's fine if you want to But, but they, they, I mean they, from where they were, the bo really a bottom of the barrel. Of, of their division, of, of the N f nfl, if I'm being honest, to go from that to winning a playoff game, getting through the divisional around that's, that's, no, it's, it's amazing. You honest, you honestly have to, if, if there was ever time to give co head coaches of the year two, this would, yeah. They Peterson, right. Yeah, they both took their teams, I mean, absolute messes. He had two new coaches on teams that were bottom the barrel, that were both picked to finish somewhere near the end of their divisions to both making the you know, one game away from the championship game. So yeah, unreal Kudo, kudos, kudos to both of'em on great seasons, and, and I'm sure they're gonna, they're gonna come back and. Let's talk about, I mean, how about the slate of quarterbacks in the AFC now? We've, we've had Mahomes and Alan and Burrow, I think Trevor Lawrence, you know, he, he, he could elevate to that echelon. They put the right pieces around him and the momentum, him continues. Lawrence could be finding himself in those conversations as well. Right. Oh, absolutely. He's got, he's got, he's got the weapons and, and okay. And, and, and I know it's gonna sound stupid if you, when you hear me say this, also Deshaun Watson, let's, let's not, I mean, let's not, let's not pretend that Deshaun Watson all of a sudden forgot how to play football. Yeah. And may maybe coming in mid-season off of hiatus. You know, it's tough. And, and you know, you, I mean, honestly, think Deshaun Watson forgot how to play football. He, he, he didn't look good at it. Really? He didn't. He looked horrible. Yeah, absolutely. But he didn't forget how to play football. The other thing is, let's, let's, let's who, who's gonna be new? Addition to the AFC as a quarterback? We got possibly Tom Brady. I'm, I've been saying it all. Oh yeah, I've been screaming it for how long now have I been telling you for the last what, weeks and months that Tom Brady's gonna go be in Las Vegas next year? I'm sure. I'm sure there's gonna be a lot of talk about that in the off season, but yeah, that, that would be interesting, wouldn't it? Reunite with Josh McDaniels and, and see what they can do over there. If, if that, if that goes down and you give'em a Devonte Adams and Darren Waller, I, you know what, what? I would also watch out for sure. Where Sean Peyton lands, because remember, Brady and Peyton had this kind of, this package deal where they were gonna go to Miami together, and that would've been interesting, right? May, hey, sure. Maybe, maybe my blissful scenario, maybe the Cowboys will bring in both Sean Peyton and Tom Brady. Could you, could you imagine that, that that wouldn't be a good thing for, I would rather have Dak Prescott than Tom Brady. What's the matter? But it would be hell, it doesn't matter. It would be hell of a storyline, wouldn't it? Yeah. It would be a hell of a storyline. It would be, it. It'll never happen. It's like saying, dragon, you know, this dragon came out and, and and I slew the dragon. No, it's, it's not happening. I can see easily Sean Peyton going to a place like Denver, which I think would be phenomenal. Which would be needed for him to go to a place like Denver. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. We'll, we'll see how that plays out. Yeah, that, that'll be interesting too. But the AFC quarterback picture is shaping up. Sure. That's our Division I round coverage. We've got the conference championship. We can come in. The Final four will will be back to recap. No, excuse me, to preview those games and what we think are gonna be the keys to victory between the Eagles and the Niners, the Bengals and the Chiefs. The final four, man. Here we go. You ready? Absolutely. It's it's looking great, buddy. All right, man. Until next time, we'll talk later. Sounds good. Take care. All right, buddy. I gotta run.