The NFL season is almost over.

We're down to the last three games, and it's AFC and NFC championship weekends.

Ed Cleese joins me just like he has all season long, to make a big, bold prediction for this week's games.

Ed, welcome back to the Pig Pen.

Hello, Darren.

How are you?

I am doing great, Ed.

How about yourself?

I'm doing well.

It is.

It's hard to believe we're.

We're already here.

Yeah.

It has been a crazy week.

You know, a week ago when we talked, you know, Buffalo was a contender and now they have no coach and they're.

They're watching games on TV just like you and I are.

It's really amazing how quickly things change and how the.

We'll talk.

I'm talking about this a little bit, just how incredibly thin the margins are and, you know, what winding up on one side of the margin or the other, what that entails and the consequences of it are very far reaching.

Yeah, most definitely.

So I think would be up to 10 coaching changes now.

It's crazy.

It's really, to me, it's not a good year to need a coach.

You know, it's not the market you want to be in, so.

Yeah, yeah, it's probably not.

If kids are at home telling their parents they want to be an NFL head coach when they grow up, it's.

Mom and dad are probably telling them, hey, that's not a very good decision.

Don't.

Don't do that.

Not stable.

Just rent.

Not buy.

Right?

There you go.

There you go.

All right.

Well, we had some exciting games last week and want to.

Ready to talk about some of those?

Yeah, we'll jump right into them.

We'll kind of go over our picks and.

And there.

There's certainly plenty to talk about in these games.

We'll just kind of go in the order they were played and we'll start with.

Start in Denver.

Wow, that was quite.

That was quite the game.

Quite the emotional ending.

You know, I had.

It kind of had everything.

It sort of had, you know, some great plays, had some negative plays and had controversy.

It had, you know, a lot of emotion.

I think ultimately we can kind of talk.

We'll talk about this when we talk about picking the games next week.

I think it actually was a negative outcome for the league as a whole in a lot of ways.

But as far as our picks went, you know, we both had the Bills, so we're not going to get any points on that.

We were obviously, oh, so close, and then we're going to Each of us split our bold prediction.

I said that Alan would account for three touchdowns and he did.

He accounted for, I believe, exactly three.

So I'm going to get a point there and.

But I did not get my other pick.

And then you had the.

You'll have to correct me on this.

I tried to find it.

You said James cook would have three 20 or plus yard explosive plays.

I think he had two.

From what I could.

He only had two.

Okay.

From what I could find, it was.

Looking good after like the second or third play of the game when he like blew up for a 24 yard run.

I'm like, okay, this will be an.

Easy one, but got it, got it, got it.

And then you had that.

The, the, the, the Broncos would kick three field goals.

They actually kicked four.

But I gave you the point because I mean that, you know, it was three or more.

So.

So you, they did settle for a lot of field goals like you said.

And I also had Knicks having a back breaking play at the end of the game that would cost the Broncos.

And really, quite honestly, he did the opposite.

So he had a, he had a leg breaking or ankle breaking, ankle breaking play.

So yeah, we both wound up with one point from that game.

But you know, in the greater arc for me with this game is this is sort of, in a lot of ways summarizes the Josh Allen narrative for me.

And I'm going to really defend him here because the people that are criticizing him and pointing out that he made a lot of really some game losing plays, they are right.

Josh Allen did make negative plays in that game that really cost the Bills.

Now obviously he made some big ones to keep him in it, but he also, he had some terrible turnovers that were just bad.

And then, you know, he really did miss it.

Was it, was, was it Knox or Kincaid?

I forget which tight end.

Oh, he was open at the end of regulation.

I mean he, if he, if he gets that in there, that's probably game over.

You know, it's touchdown.

It's game over.

And he was open.

And Allen overthrew.

If only he would have retreated about 40 yards and then heaved a lob his tight.

Yeah, we'll get to that craziness in a minute.

But what really stuck.

And so if you want to say that Josh Allen choked or didn't come through when it mattered in that game, I think you're technically correct.

But what is very difficult in the NFL is to always operate with zero margin for error.

And this is where the Bills over the years have really Failed Allen.

If you look at the other three games, the quarterback that advanced, that would be on Saturday night, Darnold advanced.

He really didn't have to do anything.

You know, he didn't play poorly.

He didn't really play well.

He just sort of showed up.

He didn't have to do much of anything in their team won easily.

You had May, who was probably average at very best advancing, and then you had Stafford, who also was probably kind of average at best in their games, advancing.

So what a.

What a treat for those quarterbacks to be able to not play their best and still advance.

It is a luxury that Josh Allen doesn't have, and I think that it's very difficult then if you're just going to always operate with, we need perfection from Allen or else we're going to lose because he's not always going to achieve it.

You know, part of me wants to agree with him.

Part of me wants to say, did Alan really have that bad of a game?

I know he's taking the wrap and the turnovers are on him.

Okay?

The.

The two fumbles, basically, he's his blindside blocker, you know, gave up a rush that, you know, he didn't see coming, and they tomahawked his arm, I believe on both plays refumbled, you know, so I don't know that I blame him as much on that.

And the interception at the end, the controversial play that, you know, only the Buffalo Bills can bring up in a playoff game some makes something really memorable.

Was that really his fault?

You know, is that really.

I mean, it was certainly not.

I mean, the Cooks play, obviously, it's actually.

The Cooks plays a beautiful pass.

And that actually goes back to what I was just talking about.

Meaning, you know, what, Cooks catch the ball, you know, Right.

Your quarterback has been making these Superman plays for your team the whole season and really his whole career.

Can you make a Superman play for him?

You know, he dropped into the bucket.

That's kind of a tough catch.

You know, you're getting hit, you're going to the ground.

Hold on to the ball.

You know, that.

That beyond all the controversy of catch whatever, hold on to the ball, make a play in the divisional playoffs to help your team win.

And so that's what I'm kind of talking about with the margin now, the one fumble before the half, he deserves a ton of blame for because that most definitely, that's just.

Yes, he gets hit from behind, but with the clock running out of the half, he has to know that this.

This is a no Win situation, you eat it.

You don't even risk.

You don't carry the ball on the, the ball in one hand like that.

There's no risk reward there, just a dumb play, kind of like a flashing, maybe like his early years in the league, just a really boneheaded mistake by him.

But again, you should be able to, to have a boneheaded mistake every now and then and have it not cost you the game every time.

But okay, that, that one was bad.

I agree with you.

That definitely is on him.

But had his former coach, Sean McDermott say with 22 seconds left, go Victory formation, take a knee, let's go into the half, come out and play second half because we do get the ball.

I believe, I believe they came out in the second half of the ball.

You know, why would you not, why would you do that?

Why get so greedy that you got to try to go for points on that?

You know, especially a tight game like that.

Every, every, every play mattered in that game 100%, Darren.

And that's it again, goes right back to what I was talking about.

Help him out.

You know what?

Don't.

I think there were 16 seconds when they snapped the ball with no timeouts.

Just if you, or if you want to try something, throw a little screen and see if you bust it open, whatever.

Don't drop him back, you know, in the pocket for like a normal, just don't, don't tempt him, don't put him in the position where he feels like he needs to make a play and then he makes a mistake, you know, so it's, it's, I totally agree with.

You on that, especially I was rooting for a drop play to James Cook, let him get an explosive 20 yards.

Yeah, yeah.

So that was a really great game.

And, and I got to say, major hats off to Knicks because he's kind of done this so far in his career where, you know, through the course of the game, sometimes it's like, oh, fine, or gosh, they should have converted that third down.

They didn't.

But he's more, he's more often than not come through in big spots for them and he certainly did on Saturday, you know, getting the ball down, needing a touchdown with a final drive and scoring a touchdown on the final drive.

You know, he made some big game winning type plays that even though the two throws at the end were interference calls, they're still good throws.

They kind of set up the interference.

They put a lot of pressure on the defensive back.

So that was, that was, that was my Favorite game of the weekend to watch.

That's one probably I enjoyed the most and it bothered me the most because I really was rooting for Allen and it was a little frustrating on a lot of levels.

Yeah, it most definitely was.

I was, I too, I was rooting for the Bills.

They're, you know, only a hundred miles away.

A lot of people that I know are Bills fans.

I sort of wanted them to see that with all the, the bad luck that they've had.

You know, my good friend historian Greg Tranter was on a little over a year ago.

He wrote a book on the Buffalo curse and just had, you know, a zillion different plays, including the, the 13 second game against Mahomes and the Jim Kelly years and the ride wide right and all the, all these crazy things that happened to the Bills over the years.

Well, this one.

Music City miracle.

Yeah, Music City miracle.

Yeah, all these things, especially in playoff games in the postseason that happened to this team.

And when it came down to that, that Cooks play and I watched it, you know, live and being a fan, you know, rooting for, you know, Buffalo to win, and I looked at my going, man, is that a terrible play because optically, you know, he's down if it's a high school game, probably even a college game, his rear end hits the ground.

He has the ball.

It looks like a catch, it smells like a catch, it's a catch.

But the NFL has been consistent because then I put my officiating hat on for all those years, I looked at, I said, okay, let's say his rear end hits the ground and that ball pops out and it hits the ground.

In the NFL, what would have been incomplete?

Pass.

He didn't complete the pass.

What happened?

It didn't hit the ground.

It ended up in the Denver guys hands who rolled around on the ground, you know, and popped up with the ball, you know, that's an interception.

So I think they were consistent.

I think they got the call right.

Despite what Denver fans want, the NFL has been consistent for the last 10, 15 years of them making up this crazy rule of, you know, completing the catch or whatever they call it.

So I, I think it's the outcome is.

Is true.

Yeah.

Despite, despite my rooting interest in the game, I actually argued that.

Your point with a lot of people on X and some other, even some friends on text that I also think the refs got it right based on the rules.

Yeah, I think, I think, you know, they have that kind of ambiguous survive the ground.

He's clearly not established while he's going to the ground.

So now he has to survive the ground.

He didn't.

The ball wound up kind of immediately in the defensive backs hands.

So yeah, I think it's, I think it's an interception.

It's.

It's kind of unfortunate, but I think, I think, I think they got, I think they got it right.

Yeah, most definitely.

Great, great play on the defender.

So.

Yep, yep.

So that heads up a lot less.

To talk about when we get to the Saturday night game.

There's really not much analysis required here.

We both had Seattle, we both get a W with that.

A very easy one.

I had them winning by 10 or more.

You had them leading the entire second half.

Both of those were easy winners.

I am going to pick up a point on you in this game because I had Darnold throwing zero interceptions and he did throw zero.

He didn't really have to barely basically complete a pass almost.

And then you had Purdy with two interceptions and he only threw one.

So I clean sweep for me on that.

I get all three points.

You get two.

There's just not to me a whole lot to talk about.

And this game it'll probably talk more about Seattle when we get to the picking the NFC Championship game.

That to me the only real takeaway I have from it was two things.

Seattle certainly looks ready and talk about being.

They looked fresh and primed and like a team that had the bi week and is the number one seed for sure.

And they caught a Niners team that was completely and totally out of gas.

Completely, totally done.

They were so beat up.

We both talked about it going in that win in Philly.

Kind of felt like maybe a little bit of a last hurrah for the Niners and almost just kind of a failure by the Eagles to, to put them down.

And you know, the, the Niners really grinded out that game against the Eagles and were kind of very tough and physical and just found a way but they just, they just didn't have enough bodies left and you know, obviously you're off to a terrible start.

Thirteen seconds in the game, it's seven nothing.

And I don't know whether to, I don't know how, how impressed to be.

I'm not sure.

We'll again, we'll talk about it when we're analyzing the next game because that, that to me was just two, two teams in different places and one of them was just ready to be put out of their.

Not their misery because they've been playing tough, but they were just not equipped to win that game and they didn't.

Yeah.

It's almost like one team had a week off and was rested and the other team had a grueling game the week just a few days before and couldn't get healthy.

And that's exactly what it was.

And we called it.

You're right.

Yeah.

Big blowout.

Not much to say there.

Yeah.

Losing Warner, losing Bosa for the year.

Losing a bunch of guys throughout the year, playing several games without Purdy.

It just takes a toll.

It takes a toll and it takes nothing away from Seattle.

But we'd also be lying to ourselves if we said that wasn't a big factor in the Niners down the stretch.

They were just really beat up.

But moving on to Sunday, another game that I, you know, really was.

It was sort of maddening to watch.

It was hard not to almost be frustrated, no matter who you're rooting for.

With C.J.

stroud in that game, he was tough to watch.

For the second week in a row, that early game in New England, I'm going to make a point on you in this one as well, because I had the Patriots winning.

You had the Texans.

I had May going for 40 yards or more rushing needed come close to that.

I think they had 10 yards.

And then I had Houston with two or fewer touchdowns, which they accomplished.

So I'm going to pick up two points.

You're going to get just one.

Because you did have the Houston defense forcing three turnovers, which they did.

It wound up not really mattering.

You also had them getting a safety, which they came close at one point, but they didn't.

So I get two on that.

You get one.

And my takeaway from this game is twofold.

I know a lot of people are talking about how lucky the Patriots have been and how easy their schedule was, and it kind of annoys Patriot fans.

And the only thing I can say about that is, you know, two things can be true at once.

Like I, like I say all the time, the Patriots are clearly a good team, maybe even a little bit better than good.

They've done everything they're supposed to do all year, and their schedule has been extremely easy.

Both things are true.

They caught a really beat up Chargers team in the wild card round.

Their offensive line is completely decimated.

May played, I don't know, maybe a C game that night and they won.

And then he played a monster Texans defense on Sunday.

That, that.

That Texas defense looked like the 85 bears out there.

They were awesome.

But on the other side, the Texans were embarrassingly bad on offense, you cannot win a game like that no matter what.

And so May was able to just kind of show up again.

He made a great throw for the touchdown to kind of put the game away, but he didn't have to do much.

He did turn the ball over himself.

So my big takeaway from that is just that the Houston offense was just putrid and Stroud was awful.

And, you know, that.

That made for a very ugly day of viewing in.

In Foxborough.

Yeah, C.J.

stroud's performance, we.

We thought it was bad against Pittsburgh where he had, you know, multiple turnovers and missing snap, you know, catching the snaps and just, you know, sort of bonehead and almost like rookie mistakes to then go into this game and be even worse.

But you got to give some credit to the Patriots defense because much like the Steelers defense the week earlier, they did not give CJ Stroud a whole lot of time, and they put the pressure on and they smelled blood in the water on this young quarterback, and he didn't respond well to it.

So, yeah, kind of a disappointing finish for the Houston fans.

But.

And I don't know, maybe they almost have to think, do we have the right quarterback?

You know, I'd be wondering that.

If I was a fan, I wouldn't.

You know, I wouldn't move on from him.

But, you know, because.

Because of this, the.

The landscape of the quarterbacks in the league, you really can't.

You know, the guy in his defense, he's played in the league three years, they've made the playoffs three years, they've advanced three years.

So, you know, in a lot of ways, his trajectory remains pretty strong.

But, boy, he looks so rattled on Sunday, like, almost like he just.

No matter what was going to happen, he just couldn't do it.

You know, it's like he was in his own head and everything was bothering him.

I do not think his play calling was doing him any favors.

They were not playing that game probably nearly as conservatively as they should have.

They kept dropping him back, kept with negative results.

But, yeah, I mean, he enters next season now with a big question mark hanging over his head, because even if he plays pretty well, there's going to be that.

Yeah, well, it's going to happen when he gets to the playoffs.

And that's.

That's a tough thing to shake for a quarterback.

As we've seen over the years, you get.

You got to get labeled as that playoff choker.

Can't get it done.

That's tough to overcome.

Yeah.

And it's.

It's not even like a Josh Allen type of thing, because Josh Allen has performed well.

When he's lost, it's just been one big play or, you know, another.

The other team making something, doing something miraculous like, you know, Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill, you know, doing something crazy.

But C.J.

stroud is just.

He really didn't look good much of any time in the playoffs.

And the two.

The two playoffs games that I really watched him play, and I don't know that, you know, there's a whole lot of hope there.

I sat there.

I sat there and thought about it, okay, my team might not have a quarterback next year.

You know, if C.J.

stroud all of a sudden became available by trade or was cut or whatever, would I be excited if my team picked him up?

The answer is no.

I think I'd almost rather go with some no name at least.

You sort of know what.

You don't know what you got.

C.J.

stroud, I think you know what you got.

You got a young quarterback that under the pressure of a big game, doesn't perform well.

And that's.

That's what I read on the tea leaves of him.

Call it recency bias or whatever.

You know, he played better in the playoffs last year.

But the bottom line is, the last two times everybody in the world saw CJ Stroud play, he was an F, an absolute F in both playoff games.

And so that just is what it is.

So, yeah, he's got.

He's.

He's got a lot to live down now.

And just, you know, he's.

They're not going to move on from him, and I don't think they should.

But I'm kind of with you.

It's like, kind of glad it's not my problem.

So.

Yeah, but that's.

That was bad.

It was really bad.

What wasn't bad was the night game.

That was super fun.

I've got a lot of takes on it.

We'll go through the scores really quick.

You're going to make up a point on me on this one.

We both had the Rams winning for the second week in a row.

We both barely survived that.

I did not get either of my bonus picks right on that.

I had Stafford going for 300, which he only got to 250 with the overtime.

And then I also had the Rams defense sacking Caleb three times.

They got zero, so they never got home to him.

Once you had the Rams winning, you had Kyron Williams eclipsing 125, 100 yards combined, and you Got that.

And then you had.

I can't.

I can't even read my chicken scratch.

But you had something with Puka.

But I had Puka.

The same.

Going over 125 combined.

Okay, got it, got it.

So you only get one of those.

So that's two total for you.

So our scores.

I had seven points for the week, you had six.

So you know what that means.

We are now deadlocked yet again at 96 going into these last three games.

So we'll see how that that pans out.

It's pretty wild that we're where we are, but where we are with that game on Sunday was we'll start from the end, right?

So I may or may not Darren have had a wager on the Rams to cover the three and a half.

And you can imagine, you know, that was a game that it really, in a lot of ways felt like they shouldn't have been winning or covering, but we find ourselves winning by seven.

Fourth down, the game on the line, and the opposing quarterback is literally running straight backwards, which is exactly what you want to end the game and win your bet, right?

It is over.

The opposing quarterback on fourth down is running straight towards the wrong end zone.

This is perfect.

What a perfect setup.

We win the bet, he's just going to launch it eventually or get sacked or whatever, and oh, my goodness, that dude does it again.

And what's the theme?

Two things can be true at once, right?

It's an amazing throw.

It's incredible that he has that kind of velocity on the throw and it's ridiculously, incredibly lucky.

It just is.

There's no way that anybody in that play, before that play happened had any idea where any of them were going to wind up, right?

And I don't know what the Rams defensive backs are doing.

I don't know why they're bracketing him or why they're both in front of him instead of somebody behind.

I have no clue.

Probably because they watched Caleb running backwards too and figured, oh, this plays over.

So what an amazing stanza.

A killer for Rams betters who obviously wind up winning the game by three.

But losing your three and a half bets there for all of you out there who suffered through that with me, but really, what a.

What a fun scene.

A cool game.

The snow, the cold, the Rams sort of gutting it out.

The Bears.

The Bears to me felt like, I don't want to say the better team, but they felt like the more explosive, faster, more athletic team.

And I don't think Ben Johnson coached the games Very well in the playoffs.

I don't think he obviously deserves a bunch of credit for getting them there, but the game management against both the packers and the Rams I think was lacking and they kind of left a lot out there and they just allowed the Rams to hang around just enough.

Stafford finally made a couple plays, the Rams avoided the big mistake and they escape.

Yeah, I think a big factor that I think we talked a little bit about last week is the weather.

I mean it wasn't the ideal weather for a Southern California team that's got a very explosive offense through the pass with an aged quarterback who, yeah, played a lot of ball in Detroit, but in a dome right, to go in that kind of frigid temperatures.

And he's probably very thankful he played last weekend and not this coming weekend because it's going to be even colder in the Midwest this week.

But you know, that, that definitely played a factor in it.

And you know, I, I think you said, just said a few minutes ago you couldn't read your chicken scratch.

I, I, I take that back.

I didn't have the thing about Puka.

I had Caleb throwing a 14 yard touchdown pass beyond a 40, didn't I?

I think that was.

Yes you did.

Yes.

You said he will run straight back, he will almost hit the 50 yard line, turn around and hit him on a dime for the game winner.

Yeah.

The amazing thing is in the press conference right afterwards, I don't know if you know, he's full of baloney or what, but Caleb Williams said that Kemet was his target all the way when he ran backwards is actually kind of a brilliant play because he knew he couldn't stand tall in the pocket because the pressure was coming.

So he had to give himself some time and he knew he was faster than the defenders so he ran the only way that nobody was going to catch him backwards to throw the ball to the corny end zone.

Knew Comet was going to be.

I don't know how he would know Kemet was going to be there.

You know, I mean, hats off.

Seconds later.

Hey, look, he's done it multiple times this year, right?

So on some level, while there is absolutely a good amount of luck involved in those plays, there's also skill in that it takes some serious skill to extend plays that way.

And you might be launching it with very little low percentage, but the percentage probably goes up when you have an arm that allows you to then throw it on a rope that far.

Whereas another quarterback may have tried the exact same play and just not gotten it there.

With the right velocity or the right arc or whatever.

So he's certainly a physical marvel.

He's incredible throwing on the run and, and you know, throughout this year now he's proven that he's got a flair for the dramatic and that kind of sticks and I think that, I think the team kind of believes in him.

You know, you're never out of a game if it's ever a fourth down next year now they kind of have a belief.

Nobody's give up on a play, you know, so all that has good, that's good vibe stuff for sure.

It matters.

But then he really kind of sometimes struggles in the pocket.

He had a very up and down game.

Right.

He made some brilliant plays and then made, you know, the interception in overtime is terrible because that now I realize that the receiver may have cut the raw.

The route the wrong way, but it's still second and 10.

You're at the 50, you're not in any sort of desperation.

You're going to put that ball there.

I think you got to be sure that that's going to be.

It can't be intercepted.

It just can't be.

Yeah.

Was that Rams defender that made that pick at the end, is he the same one that had the, the worst time jumped ever on the, the bomb that we just talked about?

The.

No, I don't think that was, that was cam curl.

No, I don't think Cam curl at the inception.

I don't think curl was.

Was involved in the commit play.

Yeah, yeah, that was, that was a terribly timed jump by that Rams whoever really was standing at the goal line and you know, you don't have to.

Tell me, Darren, trust me.

I was yelling at him for quite a bit.

You know, I'm celebrating and, and then crying within the span of, you know, five seconds.

But a great, a great year for the Bears, I'm sure.

I can't imagine any, you know, you never know, right?

You never know you're going to get back.

You know.

They did miss an opportunity with the ball at the 50 yard line.

Only needing a field goal to advance the NFC championship game.

But in a lot of ways it felt like the Bears got to where they were supposed to go this year.

You know that they, they had a great year.

The, the Bears fandom is sort of alive.

The fan base and that's great.

And the Rams kind of just limping on and now they're limping on to even tougher, tougher place, I'd say.

Yeah, absolutely.

And I think maybe Caleb Williams will take over the cape that, you know, greats, you know, like Roger Staubach used to wear of the superhero being Captain Comeback, I think Caleb Williams maybe might be the most exciting Captain Comeback of all time.

That's some great plays he's had.

And that.

That just goes on his resume of a bunch of other ones he's had over the last couple years.

For sure.

For sure.

Well, you ready to talk about these title games?

Sure.

And I think it's your turn to start.

Okay, so which, which games?

The first game.

The Broncos game is first.

And this week what we're doing is we'll do.

We'll pick the winner, we'll do two bold predictions, and then we'll.

We'll double the points for this week.

So we'll go.

Each pick is worth.

Each thing is worth two points.

So six points per game or 12 for the week.

Okay.

All right.

This.

This game I was.

I'm torn on.

And I, I mean, I think this really is truly a pick, Em.

And most people are saying, okay, Bo Nix is out.

He's, you know, he really is a gritty player.

He got the team to where he got.

Got where they are right now.

He's a dual threat.

I actually.

And maybe I'm just having a.

A blonde moment or brain fart.

I really don't even know the play where he broke his ankle.

I was kind of surprised, like 20 minutes after the game got over, and I saw that coming over.

You know, everyone was.

I don't even know where he did.

You know, did it, but it was on the.

It was on one of the pass interference plays.

Okay.

But nobody knew.

Nobody knew.

Everybody was surprised.

Nobody.

Nobody had any clue.

Yeah.

So.

So everybody, by all intents and purposes, this should be a route by the Patriots, you know, are coming in fairly healthy.

They looked pretty good in their game.

And you have a guy that not many people know about, you know, State Stidham being the quarterback of the Broncos.

But I do know Stidham.

I think he's a pretty good quarterback.

He had some great games as the Raider last year.

I believe he led the Raiders over Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs a year or two ago in a brilliant game where he came out of nowhere and threw like 300 yards and whatever, you know, on that.

So.

And I think Sean Payton is as a genius when it comes to getting the most out of his offenses, especially his quarterbacks.

And I think he knew what he wanted when he kept Stidham and let Zach Wilson hit the streets.

And, you know, so he did that for a reason and very intentional and.

And it's might be for a moment like this.

This is setting up for, you know, sort of a glass slipper type moment for the Broncos, but I don't think I can pull that trigger.

I think I'm going to go with the Patriots in this one and a close one for the win to advance the Super Bowl.

As much as I brooding, I'd really like to see Stidham play well and do it, but I think he is going to play well.

But I just don't think they have enough of that because I think the path Patriots are just too well coached and variables really got his team on an emotional high and I think they're going to continue that.

But my other two bonus picks are.

I think Stidham's going to go over 225 and I think he's end up throwing a touchdown to Sutton, who's been a very steady receiver for.

For the Broncos.

So.

Okay, my bonus picks will be on the Denver side, but I think the Patriots win the game.

Okay, well, I'm glad you landed where you landed because when you started, I was like, oh no, he's gonna steal my pick because I am picking the Broncos to win this game.

And it's not.

Sometimes, you know, you pick the underdog to be kind of cute or roll the dice and see what happens.

I'm not doing that here.

I actually think they're going to win the game.

This isn't one of those where I'm, you know, they might and I'll be right.

I'll look good if they win it.

I actually think they're going to win the game.

Now sit them is very unknown.

And I think that's why the point spread is where it is.

And I think that's why most people are very wary to take the Patriots.

I'm sorry, take the Broncos.

Because it is possible that Stidham will be terrible like that is on the table.

Whereas obviously with Knicks, you know, that there's really not, you know, the.

The floor is pretty high.

Right.

We've seen him enough now that we, you know, it's unlikely he would just crash out.

Whereas state of might, you know, it could be a.

It could just be not ready.

He could just be not good.

That's possible, but kind of to the point you made.

When you got a coach like Peyton, you have an operation like the Broncos and a really solid team.

I'm just going to make the assumption that they have prepared for this net.

Their backup quarterback is.

Is at the very least competent and able to step in for one game at home and deliver a good performance and maybe with the one game nature of it, maybe even pose some problems because the Patriots don't have as much information about him as they would have had on Knicks because we don't know exactly.

We don't know exactly what his floor is.

We also don't know exactly what his ceiling might be.

And I also mentioned this.

The Patriots have gotten by, you know, all year with some pretty easy scheduling, and they kind of got by with maybe two solid but not super impressive wins.

May has looked kind of shaky to me, sort of just fine in the playoff games.

He's probably going to be more than that on Sunday, unless Stidham is terrible again.

And I think that the Broncos defense shows up, gives May problems, and that their offense does just enough and they hold on and they pull off and upset.

I also think it's.

I don't know exactly what the spread would have been had Knicks been healthy, but I'm thinking that probably would have been Denver by two, three.

Maybe the fact that it's New England by four and a half or five, that to me is just too big of a.

Of a shift.

You're just, you're just assuming too much on the quarterback there.

So my bold predictions are going to be that Stidham combines.

We'll do this kind of a two part.

He's going to account for two touchdowns and one or fewer turnovers.

So one of my picks is on Stidham, and then the other one's going to be on the Denver defense to combine for five or more sacks and turnovers combined.

Oh, okay.

All right.

That, that's.

That Stidham's gonna need some help.

He's not going to be able to win this game.

If May is gunslinging and lighting up the Broncos defense.

If that happens, this game is over.

The Patriots will win.

They'll win easily.

I do not think that Stidham can win a shootout here.

So it's going to have to be on the back of the Broncos defense, and I think they're going to get it done.

I mean, it's interesting, but one of the things that sort of tips the balance is, is Drake May, because I think Drake May is a dual threat.

You know, he is a threat.

You have to worry about him running for a first down or, you know, running a quarterback draw or whatever.

Stidham, he's only had four starts in his career.

He's only has like six yards rushing in those four starts, but he's got an arm and can find receivers.

That's, that's where his threat is.

But I think Mike Rabel and company are smart enough to know that, that they've got a pocket passer that's not much of a threat and probably can go with like four rushers almost every pass play and drop an extra guy back.

That might just give a young quarterback with a lot, not a lot of experience some trouble.

So we'll see what, how that develops.

But that's sort of where I'm leaning towards.

And I'm ultimately, I'm disappointed because I don't find this to be.

Even if Knicks was playing, I don't find it to be a super compelling AFC Championship game.

It's not a game.

I mean, I'm going to watch it, of course, but I don't.

I'm not really pumped about it.

I'm not really looking forward to it all that much.

I don't like the matchup that much.

Whereas, man, if this was Allen against May in New England in the elements again, this would have been, it would have been a really cool story.

It would have been like, oh, Allen's now one game away again from the super bowl.

And Sean McDerna probably agrees with me that that would be a better outcome as well.

But.

So, yeah, I'm, I'll be watching, but I'm kind of not super jazzed about this one, but I'm pretty excited about the NFC game.

So what do you got there?

Well, in that game, I, I think, you know, these two teams have met twice already.

They're divisional rivals.

They split the games and I think, you know, I believe they both won at home, if I'm not mistaken.

No, they.

Yes.

I'm sorry.

Yes, they both went home both on the last play of the game.

You last play the game.

You know, one score games type of things.

You know, the point differential between the two of them and those two games is maybe like one point, I think.

And, but there are some compelling things that are, have been the same in both of those games.

And that's Puka Nakua is, is definitely when he, I think he's accounted for like three touchdowns and like over 250 yards.

I think in the two games.

He's had two really monster games that really might have put his team over in the, in one game, definitely that the Rams won.

So I'm going to go with the Rams in this game because I think they are the more explosive offense now.

There should be in a little bit Better setting weather wise, I believe.

Not sure exactly what the weather will be like in Seattle.

Supposed to be mid-40s and sunny.

So chilly but.

But manageable.

Yeah, much better than 20 some degrees, game time and wind swirling that they had in Chicago last week.

So I think that is going to play a big factor in this game.

But Seattle's a juggernaut and I wouldn't be shocked if they won the game because these two teams are split, they're dead even, and they both are built to beat each other.

And that's what makes it really compelling.

My two bonus picks for this is I'm going to have.

Darnold is going to have two costly turnovers.

That's going to be the difference in this game.

I'm not sure if they're going to be fumbles, interceptions or one of each, but it's going to be something that we're going to look back and say, ah, they, you know, if only he wouldn't have done that.

You know, the Rams capitalize on that and Stafford is going to account for two touchdown passes in this game.

Is my other pick.

Okay, well, this is almost freaky.

I had a feeling just based on the fact, the way you and I have spoken all year, that I.

That I had a feeling you'd be picking the Rams.

And I'm also picking the Rams, but I'm wary of it because I'm going against something that I try not to go against.

And the, the bottom line is this.

Over the last three to four weeks, these teams do not look even anymore.

Seattle looks way better than the Rams.

The Rams have survived these two playoff games against flawed teams, barely.

And they've been on the road for both of these games and they might be a little beat up and they're certainly at least emotionally worn down from the two games.

Right.

And now they're going on the road again.

So the setup for this game very much favors the Seahawks and it very much favors the team that's fresh and at home and looks to be ascending, whereas the Rams appear to be hanging on for dear life.

So I am very wary of making this pick, but I am going to stick with the upset, the underdog Rams, and I'm just going to fall back on what we talked about a lot this year.

I'm going to go, and I think at this point we can say this is what he is.

I'm going to go with the hall of Fame coach and the hall of Fame quarterback.

And you know, Puka is certainly a Hall of Fame talent.

You know, that, that, that's for sure.

And devonte Adams is probably going to the hall of Fame too.

So you know, we've got some elite people on the Rams side.

The elements will be better and I think they're just going to find a way and I might regret that at halftime because I might be watching and go, well, you know what?

All this, hey, they got a Hall of Fame.

One team is just bigger, better, badder, faster.

And I'm afraid that, that, that could happen.

But I my bold prediction, I actually have Darnold with two or more turnovers.

So that's weird.

That might be one of the first times all year we had the same bonus, exact same bonus pick.

And then my third one is going to be, or my second one for the game is going to be sort of arbitrary.

You'll have to kind of roll with me on this.

But I'm going to say that Puka in the fourth quarter specifically makes one or multiple game winning plays that are, you know, it's, you're going to watch the game and you're going to say, man, Nakua is the reason they got it done at the.

Obviously that's going to require Stafford to do it too, but it's going to be Nakua specifically.

Maybe it might be volume, it might be he caught six passes in the fourth quarter or it could be an amazing fourth down catch or something, something big is going to happen for Puka in the fourth quarter to help them either win the game or seal it.

And that's what I've got.

Yeah, I have a feeling that definitely could happen.

But I have a feeling that, you know the coach at Seattle Was it McDonald McDonald, he is pretty much a brilliant defensive mind and he pretty good strategist and is coordinator on defense.

They know that Puka's killed them in the first two games this year and I have a feeling there's going to be like a bracket coverage or something.

They're going to do a little special on Akua, but that means that maybe Adams or somebody can, can do that.

And I almost did.

I was going to come with those two touchdown passes I said by Stafford, which, okay, doesn't sound like much for Stafford, but against the Seattle defense, anybody throwing two touchdowns in a game against them is monumental.

You know, it's almost like doing something against the Houston Texans defense because I think Seattle's that good.

Actually I think they ranked higher than the Houston defense this year.

They were number one in the league.

So that would be an accomplishment.

But I have a feeling it's maybe not Nukua, but Adams will be the open guy because of the coverage leaning towards Nakua.

My advice to Stafford would be don't overthink it, fella.

To Puka.

Yeah, that's true.

That's true.

That would be that.

But yes, McDonald's awesome.

Their defense is awesome.

That really is another reason that I'm like, man, I'm picking against my eyeballs and I'm picking kind of against the analytics here.

So it's a shit.

This is a shaky pick for me.

I'm, I'm actually more confident in my Broncos pick.

I think it has more logic behind it than my Rams pick, which is more of a little more whimsy behind it.

But you have the most explosive offense in the league against the best defense in the league and something's got to give and man, it's going to be fun.

That's looking forward to that one.

Yep.

It should be, should be a good time.

Everybody across the country that snowed in ice den will have something to watch.

Yeah, absolutely.

I'm one of those.

And you know we had a day in the 30s here midweek in by the Great Lakes only to look at the single digits here for the rest of the week.

We've got, we've got a zero on our forecast for the weekend.

Zero degrees and we're like one of the zeros.

I think 190.

No, no, it's just a one digit.

So yes, we're looking at zero.

Negative wind chills, snow.

So yeah, we're, we're buckled up and people around here kind of freak out.

So.

Yeah, yeah, I think you guys are getting the, the moisture, big moisture storm down that way.

Yeah, I think it stays south of us.

Fingers crossed.

We are right now we're out of the ice region and just the snow portion and hopefully it stays that way because ice is way worse.

Yeah, I'll bet.

Yeah.

Okay.

Well, I think that's a great breakdown of last week's game.

Some great picks for these two big games coming up this Sunday to see who goes on to Super Bowl 60.

It's hard to believe we're there already this year.

It's been a whirlwind time.

But we've got some great events coming up for next week's show as we talk about these two AFC Championship games and an NFC Championship game and talk about the super bowl matchup next week and more coming up.

So Ed, we appreciate you being here today and we'll talk to you again next week.

Thanks Darren.

See you next week.

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