Hello, my football friends. This is Darin Hayes@pigskindispatch.com welcome once again to the Pig Pen, your portal of the Hazel.

Football history and Week 18 in the National Football League is about to commence. And as we've done all season long, we are joined by Ed Cleese for our big bowl predictions. This is the Pigskin Daily History Dispatch.

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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 on to our episode. Ed, welcome back to the Pig Pen.

Hey, Darren, how are you?

I am doing great. Not as good as you are, obviously. You look like you're in a nice warm spot as here in the Great Lakes region.

We are getting hit with a blizzard at the time of this recording.

Yeah, that is not happening where I am. I'm on the other end of the country and it is overcast, yet very nice. Very, very calm and peaceful and very comfortable where I am.

I feel very badly for you.

Yes, you should.

Well, don't get a sunburn.

It did take about almost, let's see, 19 hours of driving to get here with a family of five, so be careful.

Geez, I can almost make it to the west coast in that time.

It, it went well though. We went well. Safe and sound.

Here we are. Good. Well, that's good.

Well, we just had week 17, which had a lot of information, a lot of stuff coming out in the National Football League as things are happening all over the place with the playoff seedings and just some craziness, some injuries. What are your perspectives on week 17 that just got done?

Well, my big picture is, you know, it was a weird year for me just as a fan personally, because we've talked a lot. You know, my team was extremely disappointing, had a terrible season and it was kind of over.

You know, November 1 ish is when it was pretty obvious that they weren't to going to come close to meeting expectations. So that always changes my perspective on the season a little bit.

But trying to be mature and look beyond that and look at the league as a whole, I also think it's been kind of a weird year and I think we go back to, you know, you and I are big history buffs. We're, we're really, we know the league history really well, the different periods and eras.

And I think it boils down to what, you know, what's your preference?

You had the Cowboys too, in there.

Well, I'm talking about the afc.

Oh, the afc.

Okay, okay, the afc. So in the afc you basically had three franchises that were the only teams that could possibly go to the Super Bowl.

You had the Broncos sneak in there the one year and maybe the very beginning of the decade. The Chiefs were good, but that was afl. So, you know, you kind of grew up with that. These dominant, these dominant teams.

On the NFC side, it was kind of similar. You know, there weren't a whole lot of team, it wasn't rotating. It was the Cowboys.

Then, you know, we get into the 80s and it was three or four teams rotating. And then even into the 90s, the Cowboys again, the Bills won four in a row. We've seen it with the Chiefs in recent years.

So pretty much there's been all of these pockets and periods of time in the history of the league where we have dominant teams, teams that are repeating, teams that are there all the, all the time.

And I think people, they, they claim that they get sick of that, that they want more parity, they want more variety, they want to mix it up sort of famously last year, everybody rooting against Eagles, Chiefs to be the super bowl again. And, and it was, and people kind of were disappointed.

But I don't know if that's actually true because we get to a year like this year and something feels off to me about this year. There are, I think, I'm serious. We're going to have what, 14 teams in the playoffs. Right?

Right.

I think 12 could potentially win the Super bowl or 10, you know, like, like pretty much everybody in the AFC except maybe the winner of the North. I can really believe like that team can go to the super bowl and win the Super Bowl.

And on the NFC side, very similar as well than maybe the winner of the south, maybe the packers are to beat up. So there's going to be, you know, double digit teams that I think can win the Super Bowl.

And I think we all say that that's what we want, but I'm not sure that we do because there's something that feels strange about this year. Even though the games have been pretty good down the stretch. I don't know. There's something a little off about it. It reminds me a little bit.

You had Kerry Collins as a Super bowl quarterback, Trent Dilfer, Brad Johnson, Jake Delome, Rich Gannon, you know, so it's like, is this what we really want or do we really actually want Mahomes to be back again, at least in the mix so we have sort of that villain to root for. So that's sort of my overall observation. I was kind of curious to see what you thought of it.

You know, I think it was sometime in the mid-80s is when free agency kicked in. And you know, but you still have dominant teams and dynasties after that. The Chiefs, the Patriots, you know, Dallas in the 90s.

It's so it's interesting that they tried to get rid of the dynasties and yet they still survive with the current form of free agency and you know, the collective bargaining agreements and what have you to. To keep NFL teams together. So that's kind of a crazy thought there did exactly opposite.

But I don't know, I like to have the little bit of spice going on. I like having, you know, confuse the gamblers out in Las Vegas and the odds makers so they have no idea who the heck is going to win this game.

And there's no odds on favorite or maybe they, you know, each one of them has a different odds on favorite to win the Super Bowl.

When you have an open field, it's, it's very reminiscent of sort of what these college football playoffs have been where you have, you know, a four or five team race going to win at all and nobody really knows who it is.

So it makes it more exciting, makes you want to watch each and every game and the NFL is getting exactly what they want because all these, these playoff games are going to matter because nobody really knows who's going to win.

You know, when you have four seeds that are going to be just above.500 most likely in both conferences, playing a team with a much better record on the road, you know, you don't know what's going to happen. And I think that makes it a little bit more interesting. It keeps more fan bases engaged and there's a little bit of changing in the guard.

You know, I think half the field wasn't in the playoffs last year so far, right? So that gives you some fan bases, some hope and some makes it some fun and others don't like it so much.

I think what we want, I think what we want is for our champion, the team that raises the trophy and goes to see Mickey Mouse at the end of the year. I think we want them, I think we want that team to feel like they were great and not random.

I think whenever we get a little bit now that the fan base of the winning team doesn't care, of course, you know, and in some ways, if it's a little bit out of the blue, it might even be more exciting or more satisfying in some ways.

But I think as a, as an NFL fan base at whole, we want that team that to feel like I just watched a championship team complete a championship run and there really aren't. I mean, this year, if, you know, some of these teams that are trying to make runs are so flawed. Like the Eagles. The Eagles.

Last year the Eagles were a great team. They were great all year long. I think they started two and two and then they, they lost one more game.

The rest of the year they were balanced on offense and defense. They blew the commanders out in the NFC championship game, scored 50 plus points, and then completely dominated the Chiefs in the Super Bowl.

And I think even as me, as an Eagles hater, I can at least tip my cap at the end of that super bowl and think, well, I hate them, I don't like them, but that's a great football team that was very well constructed and was great in October, they were great in November, they were dominant in December and they won the super bowl. And that's how it should be. And this year, if the Eagles were to win the super bowl, you'd feel almost cheated.

Like, oh my gosh, this team that can't sometimes can't complete a forward pass might be able to win the Super Bowl. And I think that is kind of what you know.

And then you look on the AFC side, it's like, yeah, the Broncos, you know, could be the one seed, the Patriots could be the one seed. But do they feel like dominant super bowl winning type teams now? I do think it's going to make for the playoff games to be interesting.

And we'll see how it plays out.

But it's weird because I think the best team in the league, the one with my eyeballs that I've seen this year that I think is the best, is going to be like the five seed in the nfc, the Rams. So, you know, it's, we'll see what happens. It's been a bit of weird year and I wouldn't say I'm complaining about it, but I think it's.

I think sometimes we fool ourselves as a whole as to what we really want.

Well, but just think about how interesting it could be.

If you look at the end of the season, we get in the middle of February, we look back and we have a team that's never won the super bowl before, like the Chargers or the Jaguars or maybe a team has only won one super bowl, like the Chicago Bears.

These teams coming from really kind of sad seasons leading up to it, or mediocre seasons coming up to it, all of a sudden they get on a run near the end and like you say, they all have their flaws. Every team in the field has its flaws. It's had its great games.

It's had some games where they just look putrid and that's what kind of makes it spicy.

And you know, then again, if we have somebody like San Francisco or, you know, the Patriots or somebody has won Super Bowls before, it's going to get a little stagnant. Even though it's different names, different faces, it's still the same franchise is winning it. Other than if the Steelers make the playoffs and win.

There you go. I think the, I think the, I think the world is going to be rooting against the Eagles, not just me.

And then because I think people feel they're a little fraudulent this year and boring and they, they want them gone and I don't blame them. And then the other team that I kind of think, I think is going to maybe catch some disdain from the fans is the Patriots.

Not that there's anything unlikable about this iteration of the Patriots, but more of the fact that, hold on guys, you can't be back here again. Already you had a 20 year run with the greatest quarterback of all time.

You don't get to take three or four years off and then get right back to the super bowl with a new coach and a new quarterback, you know, So I think the Patriots are. Might garner a little bit of animosity from the fans as well.

Whereas teams maybe like the Chargers, the Bills, I think the Bills have a lot of public Sentiment behind them for sure. I think everybody kind of roots for Buffalo and I do think that Allen is super likable and fun to watch.

I think people enjoy watching him and appreciate him.

So I think maybe if we wound up with like Bills, 49ers, Bill's Rams, something like that, that would probably be an okay outcome and wind up being all right.

But I'll be interested if it's, you know, Patriots, Eagles or, you know, if it's totally random, you know, like Chargers, Seahawks, something like that. Are we going to get people that are a little bit checked out? More so than normal.

But we shall see the NFL ultimately, Darren, we both know it can do no wrong. We could have Trevor Lawrence play Justin Herbert, have them play chess on the 50 yard line on Sunday and people would watch.

So, I mean, it's not about a matter of like tuning out. That's not really what I'm talking about. I'm talking more about the general feeling and how people are kind of like soaking in the games or not.

Yeah, good, good points, good points. But we'll, we'll see.

It's going to be an interesting week, but I guess before we get into Week 18 games, why don't we take a look at what our results from week 17 are in our predictions from last time?

Well, it is now, Darren, as close as it could possibly be through 17 weeks. I guess we would. That would have given us a total of 170 possible points up to this point, plus some bonus from Thanksgiving. So we'll start with you.

We'll start with your good. You really. We're both going to get the Seahawks, Panthers game. I said the Seahawks were going to win by 10 or more.

You said the Seahawks were going to win and hold the Panthers to 20 or less. Both of those things happened. So we both get the two points there. That, that was sort of a microcosm to me of those two teams.

The Panthers were able to hang for a half, be, you know, competitive in that game and look like they could maybe even steal it. And then the second half, Seattle overwhelmed them. And I think that is just one NFC team that's a true contender.

The Seahawks against one that is not, and that's the Panthers. And that was just sort of that game went about how you and I thought of it.

Yeah, that was, that was a very interesting game. And yeah, we both nailed that one right on the head.

Yep. And then you're also going to get two points. Your other fool you're going to get is you had the Eagles Bills game completely pegged.

Now, I can't remember if you said the Bills or the Eagles would win, but actually it doesn't really matter because the main thing you talked about is you talked about how low scoring it would be. And, you know, with it being 13 to nothing with five minutes to go, that's, you know, hitting the nail on the head.

A rainy, ugly day in Buffalo where, you know, that wasn't a particularly fun game to watch until the midway through the fourth quarter when it was like, oh my gosh, is Alan going to be able to pull this out, get a dramatic finish? But I'm going to give you the full two on that for getting that correct.

Just for the record, I did have the Bills winning that, so I thought you deduct then. Didn't deduct.

No, I thought you did.

But.

But you were much more focused on the total in that game and because it was so dramatic, I think that's. I think that's fair. You had the Texans winning by 10 or more over the Chargers. I gave you one there. Yeah.

And really, if, if maybe you shouldn't have gotten the two on the Buffalo one, maybe you should have really gotten the two on the Texans one because they dominated that game. They didn't. They wound up winning by six, I believe. Right. And for. It got a little at the very end there.

It did look like the Chargers had a shot, but the Texans were better. That was a pretty dominant win. I'm going to give you the one, the one there. And then you're going to get another one. On Sunday night.

You said the 49ers would roll and then they would. Their defense would force three turnovers. They rolled on one side of the ball for sure. It wasn't their defense. Their defense got rolled.

But they did win the game. So I'm giving you a point there and you're going to get a zero for the packers, who didn't. Basically was almost a no show on Saturday night at home.

That gives you six points for the week, though. Not bad. And get you up to 78 for the season. So you're in. You've made up some ground again because I.

While I get my two for the Seattle game and I'm also going to get. Let's pat the back right here. The two for the Browns beating the Steelers. We can talk about that one a little bit.

I thought missing DK would hurt Pittsburgh. I think it did. Their offense obviously struggled. Now the Cleveland defense is good. Was on the road. Ugly game. They had it right there.

They had two chances this weekend to clinch. Clinch the North. You know, the, the Ravens didn't allow it on Saturday night, and then the Steelers almost didn't allow it on Sunday.

Yeah, I was very disappointed in that Cleveland Pittsburgh game, you know, for obvious reasons.

But I think when it comes down to the end, first of all, you know, Herbert's dropped interception, which probably would have been a pick six, that was a big moment in the game. I think the touchdown pass by Shooter Sanders, it was another lollipop that he threw that he got picked off twice earlier in the game.

That one probably should have been intercepted. I don't know how you know that the DB didn't see that, that coming in.

I was a little bit disappointed I didn't get knocked down or picked up and that the guy caught it laying on the ground and crawls in the end zone, which happened to be the major difference. I don't know about all the noise that the Steelers were too focused on Miles Garrett.

You know, I think they're, they're focused on Miles Garrett because he's a game record like they would be if it was game one of the season. Anybody would. Because you don't want a guy on your defense killing your, your quarterback, you know, especially a 42 year old.

So I think getting attention to block, I think that would have happened anyway. That's what you need to do to beat Cleveland. Obviously they did that, but didn't do enough offensively to help them out.

But I was extremely pleased with the defense, did other than one or two plays and the offense was just, it was putrid. And I think a lot of that falls on DK not being there.

But Aaron Rodgers, for being the veteran quarterback that he is, he looked lost at times, especially when you throw three first and goal or goal to go plays to win the game or tie the game to the same player that, you know, three weeks ago is sitting on his living room couch. I think that's a little bit disappointing, especially when you have other weapons in there.

I know Darnell Washington, big tight end, he got, he broke an arm earlier in the game.

You don't have dk, but you still have Pat Friermuth, you have Kenny Gainwell, you have, you know, John New Smith, you know, some other wide receivers like Thielen, you know, even though he's not what he used to be.

And there was a couple guys that were probably more open than Scantling was on those plays, especially the last one, which arguably could be called pass interference on the Browns.

But I don't know that they, the Steelers would run even if they would have had, you know, goal to go at the 1 yard line with whatever it was, 10 seconds left or whatever. I still don't know that they would have punched in but you never know. It's possible. But yeah, that was, that was.

They let one go there to a three win team that could have put into playoffs and I think they just decided to make an additional play offer play in game for themselves to get into the playoffs.

Sure. Yeah.

If you, if you believe in the theory of my friend Joe that Rog and his goons will make things happen, then yeah, those two outcomes set us up for the, the game that they're always looking for on, on that final. Was it game 272? Is that what it is? The final game of the year? Is that what we call it? Whatever.

Yeah. That loss by Pittsburgh made NBC a lot of money for this.

Yeah, it's going to, that's going to be a, that's going to be a good way to end it. Maybe not, not the prettiest two teams but that gives. I do get the two for that.

I'm also going to get one for the same reason you got one for the Niners is I thought that they would win the game by seven or more. That was a great game between the 49ers and Bears. I got it right but I didn't really call it right.

So I'm giving myself one there and then I'm going to get a big fat goose egg for my last two picks which were the Rams to roll the Falcons on Monday Night Football. As it turned out, that game didn't wind up mattering for the Rams, but I didn't think that would matter.

I thought they would just kind of take care of business and then maybe take week 18 off. But instead, you know, they really kind of struggled or especially the first half of that game and they lost the game outright. So I got zero there.

And then I said there would be a Christmas sweep with all three of the big favorites beating up on the third string quarterbacks. And to be perfectly honest, well, one of them won outright.

The Vikings and Josh Johnson and the Commanders and you know, Akeem Olajuwon and the Chiefs were very competitive, you know, very competitive both of those games. I wouldn't obviously go down to the wire, but I mean they were close. You know, they were, they were watchable, watchable games.

So I got a big fat goose. I really didn't get any of those right to be honest. And I needed to get all three of them right.

So that gave me five points for the week, which also gives me 78. We are deadlocked through 17 weeks.

Between you and I, you and I.

Are as average and boring as the NFL this year.

That's. And maybe, maybe we are like that NFC north game that's coming up. We didn't have a great season, but we're, we're battling at the end here.

Right. It's, it's watchable. Like a car wreck is watchable.

Right? Right. Yeah. Train going off the tracks. Yes, for sure. All right. Well, we have a big week 18 coming up here.

There's three, maybe three or four games that really are interesting, maybe that matter, but there's many more.

They're going to be maybe the hardest to predict of any week at all in the season because most of the other games you're going to have people that don't play very much in key positions as starters rest or they're injured or, or teams just want to see what they have for possibly the future and what they have to do in the off season. So I believe I have the first pick this week and I'm going to sort of stay with some of the games that matter.

Maybe I throw in one or two that don't matter so much. But I'm going to start off with the Bucks and the Panthers because this is a big game. This is one of those big ones that, that means something.

A Buccaneers win, they're in. Panthers win, you're in. It's a winner to go home.

Not true. No, not true. Because of what happened with the Falcons. Did you see that? So the foul. Okay, this is really confusing, but it's, it's right.

The Panthers win. They're in no doubt. If the Bucks win, they still need the Falcons to lose to the Saints on Sunday.

If the Falcons beat the Saints and the Bucks beat the Panthers, that makes it a three way tie in the NFC South. The Falcons are eliminated already, but by virtue of the three way tie, that would put the Panthers in.

So the only way that we're.

All right, the only way, the only way the Bucks get in now is if they beat the Panthers on Saturday and the Saints beat the Falcons on Sunday to make it a two way tie for the division between the Bucks and the Panthers, which the Bucks win.

Okay.

The Bucks have come very close to Already blowing us.

Yeah.

So if they win on Saturday, they'll need Shuck and the Saints to go into Atlanta and win and Chuck might.

Not even be playing. Who knows? You know?

Right. You know, we don't know. So, I mean, and, and it doesn't mean. Now what's interesting is you say it doesn't mean anything to Atlanta either.

Even if they win, they don't go to the playoffs. They can't do it all they could. All they'd be doing that time.

At that point, all the Falcons would be doing is deciding who wins the division between the Bucks and the Panthers.

And they probably don't care.

Right.

So.

But I think for maybe pride, they may play their hearts out because some of these guys are playing for jobs and maybe, yeah, catch on, stay another year with that team or maybe catch on with another team in the off season. But anyway, I'm going to take. The Buccaneers are going to finally find some offense.

They haven't had offense for, God the last two and a half months, but I think they finally find it. I think they find a little bit of rhythm and they do just enough to win this game and maybe possibly get them in the playoffs.

Sure. So I'm glad you said that because we're opposite.

My gut actually is also temp because I'm thinking maybe along the way, you're thinking a lot of your thinking, like, look, it's been a really bad run, but they are a playoff team from last year and several years they feel like they're probably better than the Panthers. But then I look at it, I'm like, you know what? Carolina has played better football than Tampa bay now for 10 weeks, whatever it is.

They beat him three weeks, two weeks ago. I just don't see anything that leads me to believe that Tampa is going to win a game that matters right now.

So I'm going to pick the underdog to win that game outright and eliminate any Sunday drama. The Panthers will win on Saturday. They'll clinch the division, and I guess that would be the 5 seed in the NFC then begins licking their chops.

I think, you know, now that you've given me this other information, because I saw Atlanta was eliminated, you know, so I figured that game didn't matter. But now the Atlanta game will mean something.

So with your buddy's conspiracy theory, that would make the Buccaneers win the game, to make the Atlanta game a watched game.

There you go. Possibly. Maybe you just increased your odds.

Yeah, maybe. Maybe so. So you. That was your pick on that game.

I do have Panthers Yep.

Okay. All right. The other I'm going to go to another game that means a little something and that's San Francisco and Seattle game.

I mean, this game has been sort of backstage, but you know, it's eminent for probably the last four or five weeks.

You know, it's going to mean something at the end because these teams have been playing tremendous football all season long, especially here with the run, this three headed, you know, monster of the NFC west with those two teams in the Rams. And you don't know who's going to win the, you know, the division. You don't know who's going to be seeded where.

Things could be topsy turvy in that division in the NFC as well, because these are three really good teams. But I'm going to take the San Francisco 49ers over Seattle in this game to capture not only the division, but be the number one seed in the.

NFC head to head twice in a row now, because just like the Panthers game, I am picking the road team to win. Now, it's technically not an upset. The Seahawks, I believe, are favored by one and a half. So I'm adding a little element to it.

I'm going to say that they are going to beat the Niners and they're going to be the first defense to slow the Niners offense down and they're going to hold San Francisco to 23 or fewer points. But, you know, it's very. This is a redemption moment for Darnold. They were in the exact, literal, exact same spot last year with Minnesota.

They played at Detroit. That was for the number one seed and the division and he laid a massive egg in that game. Terrible. He was awful. He gets a chance to redeem himself.

It's the same exact situation on the road in the division for the number one seed and their division title. It's kind of crazy how it worked out that way. So I think they.

You bringing up that point makes me even more comfortable about my pick.

There you go. So I'm, I'm going Seahawks, I think, on the strength of their defense. It's a great matchup between the Seahawks defense and.

And the 49ers offense, who have both been lights out for. For weeks now. On the other, maybe the game's decided the other way. The Seahawks offense versus the 49ers defense, both of which have been.

Well, the 49ers defense has been bad and the Seahawks offense has been stagnant for several weeks now. But I'm going to say that Seahawks pull it off and they are sort of this kind of strange random number one seed as we enter the NFC playoffs.

Interesting. Two head to heads and we both pick opposites.

So those will be some, might be some game changers to our, at least the milestone mark of the end of the season as we take this, this little competition into the playoffs in the postseason. Okay, for my third pick, I taking a deep breath.

Two teams that have no chance of going into playoffs, they're just playing for pride and playing to end their season. But there is something on the line and that is the Cincinnati, Cleveland game. You know, there's two storylines, one for each team going here.

Miles Garrett, you know, is seeking that elusive last sack to take the lead and have be the all time sack leader for a single season over T.J. watt and Michael Strahan, who are tied on that. And so the Browns are sort of playing for that. I think they're probably gunning for that.

They, they sort of think that maybe Sanders is their quarterback for next year. I don't. So I don't think there's anybody else that's going to be starting. They want to get him some more reps and everything.

But the Bengals might not know who their quarterback is next year because their storyline is maybe all indications from a lot of media sources is Joe Burrow is not satisfied being the Bengals. He may want out of Cincinnati and he has been so a little bit on fire.

Last week he was, you know, throwing some darts and playing some good ball and he's going to be trying to avoid having Miles Garrett get, grab his paws on him and throw him to the ground. So I think this shakes out to be a good game.

I have the Bengals winning this game, but I have Myles Garrett getting his sack and getting the record since he.

Wins and Garrett record. Yeah, I think this is one of those games where, you know, you know, some teams are halfway in Cancun already.

I think the Browns and Bengals appear to be two teams that are ending the season somewhat strong. So I would imagine that both will play it out and might wind up being a decent game. I don't have a real take.

I would think that, yeah, you're probably right.

Garrett probably gets the record, but Joe Burrow can want in one hand and he can, you know, what, in the other and see which gets filled up first because he's not going anywhere. The Bengals, he's under contract.

Everybody knows that once you get one of these quarterbacks in your building that it's almost impossible to replace them, which is why we don't see elite level quarterbacks ever getting traded.

And so I, you know, he can now, I guess if he decided to make things untenable or extremely uncomfortable, he could and try to force their hand as much as he could. But ultimately I think he's been a little more passive aggressive about it and it probably stays that way.

And I think week one next year Joe Burrow is probably still the quarterback of the Bengals, whether he would like to be or not.

That very well could be.

But it's interesting maybe the Bengals perception of Joe Burrow because he, you know, whether you want to admit it or not, he may be an injury plagued player because he's had at least two or three seasons where he's missed a dramatic part of the season where very important games where it either eliminated his team from contention or they got so far behind like this year they couldn't possibly catch up to get back into it.

And maybe the Bengals are tired of that and don't want a disgruntled player and if they get, you know, two or three first round picks out of it, start rebuilding, it is the Bengals.

So you never know. You know, they have, they have, they have traditionally been a franchise that's very hesitant to make any moves.

You know, they didn't trade Hendrickson this year when they could have and now they're probably going to lose it for nothing. They could have traded Higgins, Chase, they didn't. They wound up signing both of those guys.

So it's not a very aggressive organization, so I'd be surprised. But also not a very good organization. So maybe I shouldn't be surprised.

I sort of equate it not that these players are equal, but the Carson Palmer fiasco with the Bengals, I think they sort of let him go.

He was, you know, he was a number one pick or a top pick and played very well to him, but had a lot of injuries and the Bengals eventually let him go and sort of struggled till they found Burrow. And maybe that's sort of a parallel universe of these two players.

Gotcha. Well, I, I wanted to stick with kind of like you did.

I prefer to stick with games that mattered, but I did go to one that doesn't have a ton of meaning that I have a pretty strong feeling on. And I think the Texans are going to end their very strong run here the regular season with a bang.

They are going to go against, I believe, Riley Leonard and the Colts now and the Texans defense is going to flex one last time. They're going to blow the Colts out in that game.

They're going to hold Indianapolis to 13 fewer points and they're going to put an exclamation point on what has been a very strong season for them.

Now, if they win, they can still win the division, but it requires the Titans winning in Jacksonville, which I think obviously seems like a major long shot. So I don't think it's likely to change the outcome of where the Texans land, but I do think that they flex and win an easy one on Sunday.

Yeah, that.

That both of those games that you mentioned are kind of interesting because are Houston and the Jaguars going to the coast a little bit because they both know they're in maybe, you know, ramp up. It does mean a home game.

Whoever wins that division and the loser of the division has to go on the road in wild card weekend, but you never know how much they're going to play and how much that means to. To them to do that. And even the players themselves are maybe just letting their foot off the gas a little bit. But I agree with you.

I think Houston's going to win that game pretty handily anyway.

Gotcha. All right.

Well, I went to another game that really doesn't mean a whole hill of beans for playoffs. One team's in already, the other team has no shot.

But this is a rivalry, and this means something to Detroit as they play their arch rival, the Chicago Bears. And I think that they are going to take a little bit of revenge, take out some of their frustrations to another team.

You know, the Bears are sort of maybe letting their foot off the gas a little bit, even though it means a little bit maybe for some positioning in the nfc. I'm not. I'm not sure about that.

But I don't think that they're going to be playing all out like they did last week, where they knew they had to win to, you know, because to be Green Bay, I think Detroit is going to be vengeful. They're going to win this game and put a loss in the column of the Bears. Week 18.

Really funny, Darin. It's my exact pick. Lions went. But I have a little. No real twist on the prediction except to say this.

I think the game will matter to the Bears because here's what the Bears are playing for on Sunday is that if they win, they're essentially going to guarantee themselves the two seed, which then sets up Green Bay coming to Chicago. If they lose, they're almost certainly going to play the Rams. And the teams will never admit, yes, we'd much rather play this team than that team.

And you could say, oh, do we really want to play Green Bay three times in a short span? Yes, you do. The Bears would rather play the packers than the Rams. If you hook them up to truth serum, the Rams are a better team than the Packers.

Right. So I think the Bears are going to take the field on Sunday.

I think they're going to try to win that game, secure the two seed, avoid the Rams in the playoffs. And the other thing it does do is it does give you one more seed in home field.

So if the NFC Championship game did turn out to be the two seed against the three seed, well, now you're the home team. You. So I think Chicago plays this game totally straight and I think they're going to lose anyway.

And I'll keep, I'll keep my Bears hate going all the way into the playoffs here. I guess I finally got one right last week, barely. But yeah, I think the Lions, I think the Lions win as well. So that's my fourth pick.

All right.

And I think we both know where we're going with the fifth pick now, so it'll be. Let's see where we land.

Yeah, this could be interesting, but just the comment on your think, but possibly Chicago might be thinking they may want the Rams because I don't know if you've noticed, but January in Chicago is not warm and balmy that the LA Rams are used to for their home home venue.

So going and playing on an icy field with a, you know, you have a quarterback that used to play in the, the North Division, but he played in a dome when he was with Detroit too.

So he, he also played one of the best playoffs games I've ever seen last year in the snow.

That's true. But you have, you have 53 players that are going to be suiting up for LA. Maybe the Chicago Bears are thinking about that as well.

Maybe they do want the Rams over Green Bay.

Possibly. I don't think so.

Maybe not. Maybe not. All right, so our final pick. So I'm taking it that you are going to be picking the same game. I am.

Like you're suggesting I had to save it for we'll make the last game of the season our last pick of the regular season.

Yeah, I, and I think we're right on board here.

All right, well, I'm going to go, I'm going to be a homer and I think that again, I'm going to go with your conspiracy theory of your buddy because I think the NFL wanted the Steelers to lose to the Browns to set up this matchup. I also think they, they want the Steelers in the playoffs. Not that I'm a conspiracy theory, but I think everything is against the Steelers.

They do not have DK Metcalf. They have an offensive line that maybe has two starters out. Definitely one. They played putrid football on offense last week.

But I think NFL fans want to see, you know, a quarterback that has had one of the greatest legacies in the National Football League in Aaron Rodgers go to the dance one more time. You go in that playoffs and see what he can do. I think they, they want that. I think, I don't think Lamar is going to be playing.

I mean, I, at least, you know, who knows it's they. Harbaugh, I think said it's a 50, 50 shot at this point, but he has a serious injury. He went over with his back.

I don't know that he's going to do it, but you know, Snoop Huntley has beat the Steelers before in a big game a couple years ago, if many fans remember. The Steelers obviously can lose to anybody. They're not that good, especially without DK Metcalf and Darnell Washington.

But they have some reinforcements possibly coming back. They will have a couple defensive backs coming in, Eccles and Pierre coming back. TJ Watt might be coming back.

There's a possibility there, but that would be a big boost for them.

It is a home game for the Steelers, whose defense against Cleveland, even though as a rookie quarterback did look pretty good except for one or two plays and they shut running teams down the last four weeks.

The Ravens had a tremendous running game last week with Derek Henry and the Steelers have the memory of last year in the playoffs getting run over by Derrick Henry and the Ravens in the playoff game.

I think the Steelers hold for it here, win this game, propel themselves into the playoffs for, for another home game the following week in wild card weekend.

Well, we got off to a fun start with our picks head to head and now we're ending boring and average because I have the same exact pick again. I also am on the Steelers and you know, it's not. I haven't been a Steelers homer this year. I've picked against them quite a bit, rightfully so.

I'm not, I'm not conspiratorial about this one so much though, because I think this boils down to similar.

What I talked about with the Bucks and the Panthers is that, you know what, I just watched these two teams over the course of a season and I just, I'm not impressed with Baltimore. They did have an impressive showing on Saturday in Green Bay, but I also think Green Bay super beat up, banged up.

I don't think the Steelers are going to allow Henry to go off on them the way he did the other night, which is might be the only real path the Ravens have to sustained offense is if he's just churning it out. I think the Steelers, I'll give their coaching staff some credit and their defense some credit.

They may not shut Henry down, but I don't think they're going to get bulldozed and they're probably going to force the Ravens to throw the ball in key spots.

And I've just not seen anything this year that indicates to me that the Ravens are a team that's going to go on the road in a big spot and get a big win. I definitely think this game is close. I definitely think this game is ugly.

I don't think it's going to be pretty football, but I think that ultimately your boys win and you're going to celebrate being back in the playoffs.

That could be. And you just reminded me I forgot the other part of my caveat here. In this game, the Steelers are going to hold Henry to 80 yards or less.

That's the other part of my prediction.

There you go. There you go. So we'll see what happens. We'll be back next week to talk playoffs.

Yeah. And we have some interesting things for you viewers to, to and listeners that we're going to be doing in the playoffs here with our competition.

And you know, we're neck and neck right now going into week 18. We'll see what this week holds and where we at. We are at next week. Go over the results and make the predictions for wild card weekend.

So Ed, thanks for joining us and we'll talk to you again next week.

Enjoy shoveling your driveway, Darren.

All right. Thank you. With your palm tree in the background.

That's right.