The NFL season is winding down as we are in December games, and our big bold predictions is up for another week going into week 15.

And this week I might have taken a little bit of a kick in the chops, if you know what I'm talking about.

And we'll have Ed please on to tell us some more and some great analysis and picks for week 15 and analysis of 14 coming up in just a moment.

This is the Pigskin Daily History Dispatch, a podcast that covers the anniversaries of.

American football events throughout history.

Your host, Darren Hayes is podcasting from America's North Shore to bring you the.

Memories of the gridiron one day at a time.

Before we get into our episode today, let's take the time to drill that football right into the like and subscribe button on your console so you know exactly when the notifications come up of the latest releases of Pigskin Dispatch podcast for some more great football history.

Now onto our episode.

Hello, my football friends.

This is Darren Hayes of pigskindispatch.com welcome once again to the Pig Pen, your portal deposit of football history.

Ed, welcome back to the Pig Pen.

Hi, Darren, how are you?

I am doing great, Ed.

You know, you look like you flipped your lid here.

I'm not used to seeing you without a hat on.

No hat.

No hat.

So I'm doing this in honor of my aunt who was here last week visiting from South Carolina.

And when I picked her up at the airport, I happened to have had to do something at work earlier that day that was no hats allowed.

So I was in a rare position where I was not wearing a hat.

And she thought, I think that was in her honor.

And she was happy to see me and my face because I think she thinks my face is always covered up by my hat.

So she said, oh my gosh, you're not wearing a hat and a hoodie.

And I think it was in her honor.

And then she has become a very loyal listener along with my uncle.

So now I just wanted to let her see the whole me, auntie and uncle welcome.

Thank you in her honor.

So in your honor and everybody's honor, hopefully the glare isn't too, too bright off of the lights here and we'll go back to the hat next week.

Well, that's why I Would say if I took my hat off, we would not be able to see anything except a bright light.

We'll blind everybody.

Yeah, everybody think they're passing into the next world or something because it's bright light, but.

All right, well, let's change things up a little bit.

Our normal, you know, echelon of progression here.

Let's talk about last week.

Even though I don't want to.

I think maybe we just get it out of the system.

I just wanted to get the bad news out of the way.

Let's jump right.

I said let's do this first this week.

And I have a reason for it, Darren.

So we'll get yours out of the way.

We'll start with your picks.

It was rough.

It was rough.

You got off to a bad start on the Thursday game.

You had the Cowboys upsetting the Lions and Dak having a big game.

Dak was okay.

He was fine.

I wouldn't say he had a big game, but he was okay.

But the Lions had control that game.

They won that game.

That was a.

We said last week that we felt that that was a little bit of a de facto playoff game, and the Lions certainly looked better.

And it's a little bit of the same old story for the Cowboys is just that just when you think they're on the up, you know, they remind you kind of who they are.

And I would say at 6, 6 and 1, no team in the NFL reflects their record more so than Dallas.

That is as average as it can be through 13 games.

And that is exactly what they look like.

Yeah, that, that game pulled the wool over my eyes.

Just like the Buffalo Pittsburgh game did the week before.

You go in with all the injuries, you know, Buffalo had all the injuries the week before, and I thought, you know, better against, you know, especially their offensive line.

Same thing.

Detroit, they were missing a bunch of alignment.

I figured, you know, Dallas is going to get after them and Detroit's not going to be able to stop the Dallas offense.

Boy, was I wrong on that.

And yeah, Detroit looked really good.

Yes, they did.

And that's it.

Kind of.

They've been a little bit of a hard to read team this year, the Lions, but in a, in a must win spot or close to must win spot, they were clearly, clearly better than Dallas.

You're going to get a zero.

We probably both deserve this, you know, how long are you going to ride that jets train?

We wrote it a week too long, at least.

So that we had.

We both had them upsetting the Dolphins in New York and The Dolphins to control that game early and it was never really in doubt.

The jets had a little punt return there that kind of got him back in for a short period.

But really, you know, somewhat impressive by Miami to turn.

They've certainly turned things around.

Yeah, they definitely have.

Just when you think, you know, coaches out and he lost the team, they sort of regrouped and really been playing pretty decent ball.

Yeah, they do.

And I would say at this point, you know, they've let the GM go.

So you never know.

The new GM sometimes likes new guys.

But I would say McDaniel is probably saving his job right now, most likely and if not, he's certainly putting out some good stuff for whoever his next team might be.

So it says a lot to me when you're, when you're in a tailspin, a nosedive and you can pull out that, that, that's, that's some good stuff right there.

And they haven't been super impressive doing it, but you know, non impressive wins are still wins and as we see every week in the league, they're really hard to come by.

So credit to the Dolphins for kind of turning it around.

Yeah, you may have a few coaches in the NFL like that that are on their, their next job interview and not doing a bad job on their, their exit strategy.

Yes, there's several.

You're also going to get a zero.

We're going to talk about Sunday night.

You had the Chiefs winning, taking, taking kind of control of the Texans and winning by seven or more and wow, they were lucky to get within seven of that game.

That you know, they're the sexy team right now.

They are the cute pick right now, but I think it's warranted.

The Texans look awesome.

Their offense looks okay, good enough, steady.

But that defense is awesome.

Like shut you down, win the game.

Takeover awesome.

And that's a.

And you know, Stroud has gotten a little bit better, a little bit more consistent.

You know, after the.

They tied the game, you know, they were able to then take the lead.

So some weird decisions maybe from Andy Reid in that game.

But yeah, the Chiefs are now officially on the brink.

Yeah, the NFL came out with their percentages of to make the playoffs and the.

They're getting close to single digits.

So the Chiefs are, it's, it's down there pretty low.

More on that in a minute.

But.

So those are your three.

You got zero.

You did have two games where I gave you a point on each.

You had the packers beating the Bears and Micah Parsons having three or more sacks.

He didn't have any.

He did get some pressure, and the packers won the game.

So I gave you the one one for that.

It was.

That game didn't go exactly the way I thought it would either.

I thought the Bears actually went up, moving the ball fairly well.

You know, Caleb on the move is really pretty impressive.

And then when they can hem him in between the tackles, seems to be where he struggles a little bit.

And on that final interception, the fourth down call was kind of interesting, but it looked like the receiver broke open early, and Caleb threw it a little late is what it looked like to me.

And that's when.

Didn't get enough air under it to get it over anybody.

I think he held it just a tad too long.

It looked like.

If you look.

It looked like.

I think it was a tight end or whoever it was was coming out of the break, and if he throws it with a little anticipation, I think he gets it over the DB and it's probably a touchdown.

It's like that extra little hesitation just gave the DB a little bit too much chance to get back and get it.

You know, I was thinking when right after that play, Tom Brady was announcing a game earlier in that game, was talking about how he would he keep his hands warm to zip up one side of the pocket, only have his right hand in there so you get the cold air.

And I think he was talking about Caleb when he talked about earlier in the game having both sides open, he goes, oh, you can't ever get your hand warm.

You got to keep that right hand or your throwing hand warm.

And I wonder maybe that was something to do with it.

Maybe Brady was right and got a little chilled hand and, you know, didn't have the touch and the feel on the spin the ball.

You know, normally I'd roll my eyes at that kind of analysis, but who am I to roll my eyes at Tom Brady?

I guess is where we'll all say, so maybe we all should start.

Zip up one side.

Yeah.

And not.

Not four hot packs.

You gotta put five hot packs in.

Five hot packs.

Okay, well, let's listen to Tom.

Five hot packs and, you know, keto or Cato.

What is it called?

Cato.

Keto.

What are the thing.

Paleo.

What does he eat?

Ice cream.

Avocado ice cream.

Yeah.

I don't know.

Keto.

Yeah.

Or whatever he calls it.

All right, so you're gonna get your one there, and then you're also gonna get one.

You had the Bengals upsetting the Bills in a shootout.

You got one of those Two things.

Even in the borderline blizzard there in Buffalo, that game was still very high scoring.

Burrow was great in the game until he wasn't.

And that was a little bit of a surprising ending there for him.

Just to watch him sort of hand the ball away, hand the game away the way they did there.

So I gave you one there that gives you two points for the week and leaves you at 62 for the season.

And going on, to me, two of these games we've already talked about.

I'm also going to get zero for the Jets.

I'm going to get one for the packers game because I had them winning, but by 10 or more, I thought they would win that game fairly easily.

I think they take control and it looked like they wanted to a couple times.

But credit the Bears.

They always hung in that wanted to be in a really good game for the storied rivalry of Bears, packers.

The series has honestly been missing meaningful games for the past, honestly 50 some years, really.

They haven't been good at the same time very often.

And so it was kind of cool to see that late afternoon Lambeau chili game.

That really matters between the two teams.

I enjoyed the aesthetics of that game in addition to being a good game.

Yeah, I agree.

That was.

It was fun to watch those old school teams, the old black and blue division, making each other black and blue on a cold day, you know, in the frozen Midwest.

You know, it's just, just fun football.

It was good stuff.

I enjoyed it.

I'm going to get my.

I'm going to get the full two for the Bills game because I said Bills win and they score 31 or more again.

Probably tip of the cap to Joe Burrow for helping allow them to get over that mark.

Although Josh Allen did look like he was just scorching there in the second half.

And it almost felt like whatever they were going to have to do in that game, he was going to do.

It's just that the defense wound up making it kind of easy for him.

So they're there at the end.

Yeah, that was a bittersweet moment.

I lost my prediction with you, but it was great for my team having the Bengals lose that game.

Yeah, that kind of really sort of.

That was the Bengal shot.

Their door was a little bit open.

We talked about it last week and now I think it's kind of officially.

I realized that they can still run the table in.

With some little bit of luck, they can win that division at 8 and 9.

It's possible.

Yeah.

I'm not.

I'm not holding.

I thought last week was the one they had to have in order to feel like that was a real possibility.

I'm going to also get two points for maybe my call the week the Titans.

We're going to make the Browns sad.

I just had a gut feeling that, you know, this feels like the, the, the, the Monday morning blues for Cleveland.

What could be worse?

And it's funny how it played out in that.

Miles Garrett gets another sack.

Shador Sanders has a great game.

A great game.

And they still lose.

It's the Browns offense finally shows up, right.

Finally does something to.

Finally gets their fans excited, finally moves the ball, finally scores whatever it was.

Four touchdowns in the game and they lose to the Titans at home, who are 1 and 11 in Cleveland.

So that's just all you got to.

Know right there on a cold, windy day in Cleveland.

Yeah.

So it's like Tennessee.

It doesn't matter.

It just doesn't.

It just doesn't matter.

Like it doesn't matter.

It just, it really doesn't.

So I got two there.

I'm also going to get two.

I had the Rams blowing out the Cardinals by 10 or more.

And I said not only would be 10 or more, but that game would be easy.

It was, it was close for the first quarter and then the Rams, you know, totally took control.

That's probably another coach that might be preparing his resume there in Arizona, Jonathan Gannon.

And I, I actually, I don't know how.

How much of the.

I, how much of the fault I lay at his feet.

However, at some point, it's a results business and the results in Arizona have not been good.

Yeah, they haven't.

They were keeping games close to the beginning of the season, but I think the team just sort of.

They cashed it in.

I think they feel that there's no hope and they're just not playing their best effort.

I think.

I know we talked about it before not doing that, but I think they may have done that.

Well, it's.

It's that time of the year now where sometimes we start to see it creep in because of those teams we cut last week.

Darren, my team, the commanders, the Falcons, the Cardinals, there, there were some big blowouts.

Some, some, some real no shows in those games from some of those teams that are out of it.

And it's kind of a little bit.

It's dicey right now because those teams, like I said, I don't think they ever take the field with the intention of not trying to.

But what you don't know is during the week are guys talking to their agents about, you know, hey, what's my next plan here?

You know, is the coach going to be back?

Is everybody locked in on Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and their opponents probably are.

And you know, maybe they show up Sunday and they're not quite as prepared, maybe they're not quite as focused or locked in.

And even though they might give physical effort in the game, they're just not ready.

And you have some really ugly, ugly outcomes.

Yeah, maybe those three teams you just mentioned should take some lessons from the Titans and from New Orleans because, yes, they really played really well.

They did.

But if you go back one week prior, the Titans scored three points and got destroyed by the Jags.

So, you know, it's, it's kind of, we'll see if any of them can do anything consistently the rest of the way.

But that was a big week for me, Darren, because that gives me seven, which gives me 67 for the season.

So now I now have a five point lead.

Two weeks ago I was two points behind and now I'm five ahead with four weeks to go.

So that's two weeks in a row of seven for you, I believe too.

Yes.

Yeah.

And for me now I'm feeling better about our ten thousand dollar bet as well.

You know, I'm starting to feel a little bit better about that.

So I better call Lloyd's of London and get this, get this insured right away.

I do think I need a pigskin dispatch hat if, if we, we might.

Be able to range that.

That might, that might, that might be, that might be on the line.

But then I've got to send you something if you're able to come back and, and take control.

Yeah.

So that's, that's where we stand for the current standings.

Okay, so I am down, what, five now to you?

Down a five?

Yes.

Oh boy.

But that's the biggest lead of anybody's had all season long, I think.

So you may have had a five point lead very early.

I don't think so.

I think it was only like one or two points at the most I've had.

All right.

Yeah, I got to do some catching up here in the last few weeks.

Yes, you do.

All right, well, so that's some good analysis we had from, from last week, you know, this week.

You know, this is, you know, we're mid December now.

This is where the, the metal hits the, the nail and the, you know, the rubber hits the road.

This is a time for teams to, to show up or shut up.

And I think we're starting to see that like we just saw last week.

So, you know, there is an interesting playoff picture out there.

I listening to the radio today and not counting the division winners right now, There are still 10 teams in contention that are not currently leading that can win their division.

So that's 18 teams out of 32 can still win their division with what, four or five weeks left to play.

That's kind of makes it kind of an interesting run here to the end.

It does.

And so I was looking at that today and I wanted to see which one of the, of the division, of the eight current eight division leaders and the six wild cards, who do I think is going to stay where they are and is anybody going to move out?

And so much of this at this point is predicated on the schedule, the remaining schedule and the current tiebreakers because there's a few teams in here who I think may be lesser than a team that's chasing them, but the math is just very much in their favor.

And so I started real quick.

I'll just tell you a preview and you can see if you can guess.

I have in the afc I have one of the four division winners that I do not think is going to win their division.

The current division leaders, I should say that's not going to ultimately win their division.

And I have one of the three wild cards right now that will not make the playoffs.

And obviously one team that is currently out will be replacing them.

So I'll be interested to see if you can guess.

Well, let's, let's do a rundown in case people are aware.

So if the season ended right now.

Yep.

The Broncos will be the number one seed, win the west, the Patriots would win the east, be the number two seed.

So you would have the first round buys.

Then the, the Jaguars are the third, they'd win the south, the Steelers would win the north, and then the Chargers, Bills and Texans, in that order, would be the wild cards today.

Yes.

I'm going to go way out on a limb and say the team with the worst record in these playoffs, which is my Pittsburgh Steelers, is probably the one you're going to think will not win the division.

And I think you are going to say that the Chargers will not be the wild card.

You are correct on the wild card.

You are incorrect on the division winner.

Well, good.

So happy to hear that.

Yeah.

We'll start with.

Because I just looked first of all, I just don't think Baltimore is very good and I don't think Cincinnati is I realize that they're mathematically alive, but I don't think they're very good.

Baltimore and looking at the schedule and the way it plays out, I looked at it as even if Pittsburgh were to lose two of their next three games, they're still going to be in control of winning the division in that Week 18 game.

And if it comes down to that, I'm not going to pick the Ravens to win in Pittsburgh in a week 18 game unless something weird happens.

So I'm sticking with the Steelers.

I think the Steelers are going to win that division.

I think the Patriots are going to win their division because of the math.

They've got a two game lead on Buffalo and it looks like they're shaping up to win the tiebreaker as well.

So I don't see a total collapse from New England.

Even though I kind of think Buffalo's a little bit better.

I don't think they're going to catch them.

And I do not think that the Broncos are going to collapse either.

And I think they hold on to win the division, but the Jags will not.

The Jags.

The Jags are going to be the team that swaps out.

Houston's going to catch them.

I think Houston might win out.

The Jags have a couple of tough games and I think Houston's going to swap them.

And I think it's possible, possible that the Jags fall all the way out.

Oh, okay.

So all the way up.

So who do you think would replace them?

So teams that are on the eminent bubble, you know, the Colts, but we know that they have some quarterback issues.

Even though Philip Rivers signed to the practice squad today.

The 44 year old Philip Rivers.

He has a daughter that is older than the Colts current starting quarterback, Riley Leonard.

Really?

Yes, yes.

So Philip Rivers daughter is older than the guy he might replace at some point.

I, I think, I think it would be great if Philip river starts because it would make, you know, Aaron Rodgers look like a young buck at 41 or 42, whatever.

Yes, it sure would.

Amazing.

So I have the Chiefs somehow, some way bucking the odds and getting in and bumping out the Jags.

Really?

Okay, well, let's.

Okay, let's look at this a little bit here.

I'm gonna see who the Jags have left here, see if I can pull that up real quick.

Well, they got the Colts this week, so they, they could win that game.

I guess maybe I'm not gonna be able put up as quickly as I thought.

Well, we'll have to.

We'll do A write up on it.

But that'll be interesting because I think the Chiefs is not an easy road.

It's not.

But they, they do have.

The Chiefs do have the Titans and the Raiders.

Okay.

And.

And they play the Broncos and Chargers in Kansas City.

So that's, that's their last four games.

Okay.

So I think the Chiefs are gonna finish 10 and 7.

Okay.

I think the Chiefs are going to finish 10 and 7 and they're gonna bump the Jags or the Chargers.

Now, they are not in great shape with tiebreakers, so that might ultimately doom them.

But that's sort of my cute prediction.

Yeah.

Head to head with the Chargers.

That'll be a really big game.

When those two.

Huge game.

Huge game this week.

Yes, sir.

Yes.

Yeah.

And then if you move on to the nfc, I actually have the exact same scenario.

I have one current division winner that is going to not win their division and then I have one wild card that falls out and gets replaced.

Let's see if you can get those.

Okay, let's go.

Let's do the rundown on the nfc.

So right now we have the Rams in the one seed.

If the season ended today and they lead the West.

The packers are leading the north in a two seed.

The Eagles, who have been three in a row, three losses in a row, they're still holding on to the third seed and still up on everybody in the East.

The Buccaneers are hanging by their fingernails into the playoff race.

And much like the Steelers are over in the AFC and they are leading the south, then in the five holes, the Seahawks, the Niners and the six and the Bears and the seven seed.

So I'm gonna, I'm not gonna make it so obvious here, but I think you're going to predict.

Well, yeah, I am going to make it obvious.

I think you're gonna predict the Buccaneers are going to get knocked off and get caught by the Panthers.

And I think you are going to say that the Seahawks will catch the Rams and the Rams will fall back to the wild card.

Seahawks will be the division winner.

That is correct.

I have the Seahawks passing the Rams.

And the reason I say that they have the same record, they're shaping up in very similar resumes.

In two weeks, they play each other in Seattle on Thursday night.

That's a week from Thursday night.

That what a huge, huge game that's going to be.

And sort of short days rest and the home team has an advantage.

Yes.

And so I'm just airing.

I'm sort of, I guess you could say, assuming that the Rams or the Seahawks win that game.

The rest of their schedule isn't terribly difficult.

We don't.

They play the Niners in the last week of the season.

We don't know.

Maybe the, maybe by then San Francisco will be locked into a wild card.

It's hard to know exactly what that game might mean, but I think the Seahawks pass the Rams as the division winner and I actually think Tampa is going to stay where they are, Darren, because they play the Panthers twice and I think the way it looks at it and the other two games, the Panthers other two games are harder than the Bucks other two games.

So if they were to split their two games, I think it's more likely that the Bucks just kind of hold on.

One of those other games is the Panthers play New Orleans this weekend.

So that's, that's, that's a winnable game for them.

It's a winnable game.

They also play Seattle.

That's, that's, that's the other tough one where I think the Bucks.

I know they play the Dolphins and I forget.

I, I should have it in front of me.

I forget who their other game is, but it's not terribly difficult.

The, the other Bucks games.

Oh, they play the Falcons this week.

Ah, okay.

They play the Falcons.

So yeah, that should be a winnable game.

Right, Right.

So I think the Bucks are going to hold on, but the wild card team that I have falling out is Chicago.

I have them falling from the division leaders to out.

And the main reason I say that is because in week 18, they play the Lions and the Lions already beat them in Detroit.

So that means that if the Lions were to beat them again, they would have the tiebreaker, of course.

Which means all they have to do right now the Lions is stay one game behind the Bears.

They don't even need to make up a game to pass them ultimately.

They just need to have the standings stay the way they are right now.

And if they do, then they're going to have a chance in week 18.

And I tell you right now, if it comes down to week 18, Lions, Bears, I'll be picking the Lions.

Yeah, that's, that's be a close one.

You know, I, I was going to go out on a limb and say that you thought maybe the Cowboys would catch the Eagles with those.

Poorly.

I just, you know, the Eagles play.

The, they're only, there's only one game, you know, six, six and one are the Cowboys.

Eight, five, eight and five are the Eagles.

So it's really only a game and a half.

Difference rate at the moment and they play each other, I think, one more time.

Let me say these three words for you, Darren.

Raiders Commanders.

Commanders.

That's three of the Eagles final four games.

Oh, okay.

All right.

You know, so.

But you never know.

The Washington in the Eagles games.

That's, you know, it's a divisional game, it's a rivalry game.

You never know what's going to happen in those.

So I wouldn't be so sure that they would win both of those.

Yeah, they may not.

And we don't.

Again, we don't know what the last game of the year is going to wind up meaning, but no, I just don't see it.

I thought Dallas had their window.

They really needed.

They really needed that game in Detroit.

Had they won that game, I probably would predict them to win the East.

And it's not over, but I don't think it's looking great.

And I think this is one of those.

I think the Eagles are going to back in.

I think they're gonna, you know, slide in, which means they'll have a home playoff game again.

And here, here we are again.

Somebody's gonna have to beat him for real, you know, to knock them off.

But yeah, I think the Eagles hold on.

Okay, that's some interesting analysis to, to the current standings of the playoff picture in the bubble team.

So we'll keep an eye on that and talk about that the next few weeks here as we go get closer to that playoff push.

So I guess that takes us to the segment of our show where we make our picks for this week.

15 is coming up and I believe I have the first pick this week and I got to get, get back on, on track here.

Just like some of my picks I think are going to get back on track and I have the first game I'm going to take is the Ravens and the Bengals.

I think this is rebound week for the, the Ravens.

I think they, you know, we saw Lamar having a little bit of life to him in his legs.

He was running against the Steelers.

You know, there's.

People have been crying all year long, Raven supporters, to give the ball to, to King Henry at least, you know, 25 times in a game.

They did last week.

He did have a decent game.

I think he ran for 94 yards.

But the Bengals defense is suspect to the run, even though they didn't show it the last couple weeks.

But, but they, you know, except the end of the Buffalo game.

But I think the Ravens are going to run all over the Bengals and do what they want It'll be a high scoring game, but the Ravens are going to come out the winners in this game.

Ravens beat the Bengals.

All right.

Yeah, I, you know what, Darren?

I just don't.

I just, I don't think they're very good.

I just, you know, the more and more I watched Baltimore, I think it's, it's.

If there was.

We always talk about the switch, right?

They're going to flip the switch.

They're going to flip the switch.

If there was a flip, a switch to flip, they would have flipped it weeks ago.

Now when they got healthier, they started to play better.

You know, they were.

They obviously rebounded from the 1 and 5 start.

But even in some of these wins, they've not looked very raven like to me.

They look like an average football team is what I'm seeing.

And maybe, you know, maybe, maybe Lamar wakes up, you know, maybe whatever's been ailing him is working its way out and they're good.

But yeah, I just.

So I don't really like that game either way.

It's not on my list.

It's kind of a stay away.

But I'm no longer sort of expecting much from the Ravens.

I, I think the other factor is, is they're pissed and I think rightfully so because I, I didn't want that to be a touchdown at the end, but I think it was a touchdown.

I think the NFL screwed up on that.

It looked like a touchdown.

Yeah, I think it was a touchdown.

If it looks like a touchdown, smells like a touchdown, it's probably a touchdown.

Just like many, many other things you look at.

But I don't think that that would have put the Ravens over.

Even though the Steelers only had eight yards of total offense in the fourth quarter, they had two minutes and like 35 seconds left on the clock to be down three to.

I think the Steelers could have come back in that game.

So I don't know that that would have been the be all end all for the Steelers in that game, but I think it was a bad call.

Likely is allergic to actually scoring touchdowns.

I think that's the third one that I can think of in the last.

At the end of the game too.

Again, third one at the end of the game that really mattered on the goal line or in the end zone.

Was it a catch?

Was the inbounds the out of bounds?

That's crazy.

That three that me as a non Ravens fan can think of three instances where he had huge near touchdowns that were wound up not touchdowns.

Well, he took over for McAndrew at the end of the playoff game last year.

Yes, so.

Yes, so.

But yeah, so I'm my first pick.

I'll stick with a theme that I kind of hinted at last week.

You know, it was funny last week I said, darren, beware of just assuming the Chiefs bounce back.

Right.

Well, this week I think they bounced back.

I think this is a, a really tough spot for the Chargers.

That was a very physical game on Monday night.

Very physical.

Herbert got beat up.

The Phillies.

Phillies defense is very tough.

That game was, it went to overtime.

It was long game.

Really took a lot for the Chargers to win that game.

Short week on the road to Arrowhead.

It's not a dire game for the Chargers.

You know, they're not in really great shape to win the division.

They are in good shape to hold on to a wild card even if they lose, whereas it's obviously a complete and total must win for the Chiefs.

So I think the Chiefs win this one.

I think they win by seven or more.

You know, I, I picked on that game too.

I mean, I liked the way the Chargers played on Monday night.

I think their defense is like very pesky and annoying.

They just have this, this aura about them.

I think every player to a man is in somebody's back pocket and just, just, you know, if you're an offense, it's just got to be annoying to.

Just for them to be all over you like that.

I think they play very good defense.

I think Omari and Hampton coming back looked tremendous, you know, after, you know, the injury.

Being a rookie, really, I think he, he's got some potential.

But I agree with you.

I think that SoCal is a little too far away to go to Kansas City and go to the cold weather that they'll probably have in the Midwest has been going through the mid part of the country here.

And I think Kansas City is going to use that weather.

Use the factors that you talked about of the Chargers being beat up a little bit from the Philly game and you know, their backs are against the wall and I, I'm going to go, I'm going to ride that, that horse again and say Kansas City is going to win this game.

He's one.

You got it.

Okay.

So you can't make up any ground on me on that one.

We'll see if you can make up a ground on this one.

I have the Bills exacting some revenge from their earlier loss this year against the Patriots going into New England, ending the Patriots winning streak and winning that game by four or more.

Well, I, I don't think I'll be catching you on this one either because I also picked that game and I also said that the Bills are going to make this race very interesting in the AFC East.

This is a rivalry game.

It's like we talked about earlier.

You never know what to expect.

I think Josh Allen is putting that team.

Something in his head, went off, you know, the last couple weeks and said, hey, if I got to carry this team, I'm going to carry this team.

And I think Cook is looking great.

I think the defense is, you know, they're sort of hit or miss, but it's the cold weather.

They're.

They're geared for that cold weather and you saw them with their snow tires on against Cincinnati last week.

And I think this might be another case where that cold weather is going to play into their hands and they're going to beat their rivals, the Patriots, and really make that AFC East a 1:1 game lead for the past.

With the, with the Chiefs on the precipice of being eliminated, I think the time is now for Josh Allen and the Bills, even though they probably will not have home field this year.

I feel like this is shaping up as the win.

The time, their time.

They are, they're my pick right now to win the afc.

Yeah, the Bills and Josh Allen's era, their bugaboo has been Lamar and Mahomes, and they're both might be knocked out here soon.

You don't know.

It might not be in the playoffs.

I think it's shaping up.

Shaping up well.

But the Patriots might have something to say about that.

My, My third pick.

I've got a very, you know, very fun game, possible super bowl preview out in Denver.

I have the packers going into Denver and winning a lower scoring game like most Broncos games are.

Their packers are going to win in Denver and they're going to hold the Broncos to 19 or fewer points.

Okay, well, that's interesting.

I, I am picking on this game, but maybe I can pick some points up because.

Okay, I am almost exactly opposite of you in this.

All right.

Because I think the packers are going to hold or the Broncos are going to hold the packers to 20 or less and the Broncos are going to find a way to win at the end and, you know, it's going to be like a 23, 20 game.

Grind it out.

I think good defense and it's better.

A better defense in Denver is going to beat a Packers team that's very well put together.

But home field advantage is home field advantage and I Think that the Broncos will take this one.

Nice, Nice.

That's, that's direct, head to head.

I like it.

That should be a good one.

I am staying out in that direction and I think another great game is the Lions Rams game.

And my main prediction on this Lions Rams game is that it goes down to the final 30 seconds and or overtime.

That is my number one prediction.

I need to be a little more bold.

So I'm going to go ahead and say that the Lions upset the Rams and win the game.

I'm not super confident in that piece of it, but I do think that that game goes down to the wire and opens the door a little bit more for perhaps the Seahawks to take over in the NFC West.

I did not pick on this game, but I think, I don't know that I agree with you because I looked at this game real hard and I, I don't know.

I think the Detroit might be in trouble on this one.

The Rams are even.

You know, when they lost recently they still looked good in a loss.

They are still very productive.

Their defense is a turnover making machine.

They have so many weapons on offense.

You know, Stafford is playing probably the best football of his career or if not the last five years at least.

I, I think they're in trouble and I would, I would have to take the Rams if I was picking on that game.

Got it.

All right.

For my final game I'm going to take one that we talked about earlier and I'm going to go to Carolina and the Saints.

I think Carolina is seen enough tape on the young rookie quarterback of the Saints no matter which one you throw out there.

And I think it's probably going to be shuck again who had a great game.

I think Carolina's defense is stingy enough that they're going to give him all sorts of trouble, give him some looks he's never seen, you know, study his tape a little bit now that he's got some film out there and the Panthers are going to win this game by 10 or more.

I looked at this and I'm.

It's not, it's not my last pick, but I'd probably be opposite because there's some metrics out there that really point to the Saints defense over the last five or six weeks as being one of the stingiest and the most improved in the league.

And I don't think I would necessarily pick the, the Saints to win again this week.

But that's a tough spot for the Panthers, I believe.

Because I think, you know, we talk about these Bad teams, right.

Who's motivated, who's not.

I think the Saints are one of those teams that are fully motivated right now.

First year coach, rookie quarterback, they've been getting better.

So I think these last four games they're excited, they're.

They're locked in.

I think they.

This is like their playoffs.

So I think the Saints are one of those teams down the stretch to maybe avoid betting against, whereas other teams might be ones that you want to, you know, fade them a little bit because they're under different circumstances.

But my last pick, I'm going to hopefully not for your sake, hopefully not jinx you.

I was very impressed with Pittsburgh in Baltimore the other day.

We talked about Pittsburgh getting booed off the field the previous week against Buffalo and all the turmoil.

And you had said that, you know, you kind of like the Tomlins response to that during the week and that played out because they were really tough on Sunday.

Rodgers was really good and that was just a really gutsy win.

And I do not see them giving that away on Monday night at home against the Dolphins, who, as we've said, have been playing better and have been, you know, really kind of sucked it up a little bit.

But I think the Pittsburgh is going to prove to be a little too much for him.

The Steelers are going to win that game.

I'm going to say the Steelers kind of dominate the game and win it by 10 or more and just kind of take.

They're going to carry the momentum a lot of teams have had a hard time doing this year, including the Steelers.

They've been up and down, but I think they're going to carry the momentum that they, that they developed in Baltimore and they're going to kind of steamroll the Dolphins and kind of roll to an easy win on Monday night.

I hope you're right.

I mean, that one it concerns me a little bit because it's almost like, you know, it's an emotional high to beat the Ravens.

You know, that's the Steelers main rival.

They were the Browns before that was their main rival.

Now they're the Ravens.

And that was a big emotional win, especially when everybody, including, you know, the most of the fan base, counted them out for the season.

Wanted Tomlin fired a week ago.

Now, now there's less of that going on in Western Pennsylvania.

But things that scare me a little bit is the Steelers are going to be probably putting their third string left tackle out there against a decent pass rush for Miami.

I.

The other thing that scares me there's the Steelers aren't really showing a good running game last week against the Ravens and they should have been able to run on them.

And their running defense was a little bit better than it was against the Bills, but still, Lamar and Henry both ran for some, some decent numbers and you have a pretty good back in a chain.

I think you, you say his name down there.

He, he's pretty solid back and you know, you can't count two out for maybe scooting across the line of scrimmage too.

So those are some things I fear, but maybe there's some help on the way.

Number one pick Derek Carmen may be back this week.

He's supposed to be practicing, so we'll keep an eye out on that.

Darnell Washington had a concussion.

You know, I think they had three concussions in the, the Ravens game, you know, so who knows what the protocol is going to allow them to do.

But it's a Monday game so they have an extra day to recover.

So there's possibilities that they should, they may get some, some needed help back in the defense and offensive line by getting, getting their big tight end and getting some defenders, especially their linebackers that can, you know, Harrison can really.

He's our thumper and when he went out that was really good news for Derek Henry and Lamar and the rest of the backs.

And you know, the kid that came in out of nowhere and had the 57 yard run against the Steelers.

So I hope you're right in that, but I'm a little bit nervous.

The Dolphins have been getting by lately running the ball, but they haven't asked Tua to do much.

He hasn't really had to do much in this little win streak they've had.

It's been more defense, run the ball and some breaks going their way.

And I don't think Pittsburgh is going to allow that on Monday.

I think they're going to make Tua beat them and I don't think he can.

So that's what that I'm landing on a, a game that Pittsburgh controls and that you will not be sweating it out too much in your Steelers snuggie on Monday night.

Yeah, I, I hope not because they have some, they have, you know, the Steelers remaining schedule.

Just so you know in Miami Monday night at home.

Then they have two road games.

They are at Detroit, at Cleveland, which you know, they don't do fare very well in Cleveland.

Remember the Thursday night game last year?

Right.

And then they have the Ravens at home to finish the season.

So it's.

They basically have to win out to.

See, I think, I think, I think really all they need to do is win one of the next three.

Because, because, because that, because they're, because they have.

All they need to do is be tied with Baltimore going into the final week.

They have a one game lead.

So even if the Baltimore were able to make up a game, the Steelers are still in control of their own destiny.

So the Raven schedule is kind of tough too.

I believe they have Chicago, Green Bay, the Bengals and the Steelers, so there's no gimmies for them either.

I think it's entirely possible the Steelers clinch the division before week 18.

So I don't think it may not come down to that.

So yeah, I know you're gonna be, you'll be a big Bengals fan again this week to, to kind of knock them off.

But, but yeah, I don't think, I don't think, I don't think you need to sweat them too much.

I think the Steelers did what they had to do last Sunday and win one of the next three and they're probably going to win the division is the way I look at it.

Yeah, I, I hope you're right.

Just don't collapse.

That's the only goal the rest of the year.

Yeah, famous last words.

Yeah, that, well, they got their first win in December in three years.

Oh wow, that's, yeah, that's pretty good.

The Russell Wilson era didn't end very well in December.

All right, well that is, we got some, some great analysis, some great picks coming up for this week.

It'll be interesting.

You got a big five point lead.

I wish you luck here that you can hold on to it.

And I, I, he didn't give me much room to gain ground on because I think you're looking at my picks and some similar games were on again.

So I'm, I'm eyeing that, I'm eyeing that hat.

I'm, I've got my eyes on.

I'm gonna have to start chipping away here maybe a point a week or something to catch up the tie, but.

I gotta, I will be wearing, I will be wearing the sacred hat by the end of the season.

Okay.

All right, Ed.

Well, we, we thank you for coming on here and you know, using your knowledge and your expertise to help us, you know, enjoy this football season and we'll love to talk to you again next week.

Thanks Darren.

Have a great week.

That's all the football history we have today, folks.

Join us back tomorrow for more of your football history.

We invite you to check out our website pigskindispatch.com not only to see the daily football history, but to experience positive football with our many articles on the good people of the game as well as our own football comic strip cleet marks comics, pigskindispatch.com is also on social media outlets, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and don't forget the Big Skin Dispatch YouTube channel to get all of your positive football news and history.

Special thanks to the talents of Mike and Gene Monroe, as well as Jason Neff for letting us use their music during our podcast.

This podcast is part of the Sports.

History Network, your headquarters for the yesteryear of your favorite sport.

You can learn more@sportshistorynetwork.com.