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00:00Let's take a look at the NFL Monday night football.
00:02Yeah, you heard that right in the playoffs.
00:04That's an eight o'clock start Houston and Pittsburgh,
00:06where now we have the road team Houston.
00:08That look ahead line, Joe was three and a half threes.
00:11Now across in the marketplace still as a favorite towards the Texans,
00:14a total 39 and a half.
00:16Is this a Pittsburgh special or is the right team favored with the Texans
00:20here? What's your spread line for this matchup Monday night?
00:24Houston, very public team right now.
00:26Donnie getting a lot of the tickets, a lot of the money,
00:29but like you said,
00:31there were three and a half's available over the last 48 to 72 hours.
00:35The minute we knew this was the matchup, it was three and a half,
00:38three and a half of four even popped up.
00:41But now Donnie, here we go sitting at three and that's likely where it's
00:45going to remain.
00:47So there is a pros versus Joe's divide in this game.
00:51The pros seem to be taking the points here with Pittsburgh, the public.
00:55They love themselves, this Houston team,
00:57but also don't be surprised if this total starts to creep up here a little bit
01:02as well.
01:03Shocker yesterday came across in the NFL and it wasn't one that you probably
01:07thought was going to happen.
01:08It was John Harbaugh, not getting extension from the Ravens,
01:11letting go from the Ravens here.
01:13Yahoo Sports yesterday with the breaking news,
01:15John Harbaugh and the Ravens are parting ways after days of discussion per Adam
01:18Schefter.
01:19He spent 18 seasons with Baltimore,
01:21captures the team's second Superbowl title in 2012.
01:23Now they are parting ways here,
01:26which means every other coaching job right now is up for grabs because even if
01:31you're entrenched and haven't been fired yet,
01:33your organization is thinking about should we let our current coach go?
01:36We haven't fired yet just to get a chance at John Harbaugh.
01:39He's going to be a hot commodity.
01:40And this one came down yesterday and left a lot of people shocked Joe.
01:43And it should, Donnie.
01:46I mean, because, I mean, let's face it, 18 years ago,
01:49and I give Bishadi a credit because he took a chance on a special teams guy
01:53that was with the Eagles, right?
01:55It wasn't a proven commodity.
01:57I get it.
01:57But the idea that you're going to hit that lottery twice, yeah, no.
02:04Because let's face it, Donnie, the problem with this hiring cycle,
02:08not a lot of proven, there's no hot coordinators.
02:11It's not like you had the Liam Cones or the Ben Johns.
02:14You didn't have the Vrabels.
02:16Like, there wasn't that.
02:18What the Ravens just did at this point is give teams an opportunity
02:22to have instant credibility that you can't pay for a coach like John.
02:27Like, you couldn't find this guy.
02:29This guy should not be available on the market.
02:31The fact that he is, there's a handful of teams.
02:35First of all, there's a handful of teams he will never sign with,
02:37so they shouldn't even bother calling.
02:39But I'm curious, what's the one team with a current head coach
02:43that called and said, we want him?
02:46I'm just, I can't wait.
02:48I hope that comes out, because could that be the Dallas Cowboys,
02:51for instance, Donnie, when it's all said and done?
02:54I'm telling you, there's a lot of people making phone calls,
02:57doing backdoor deals quickly, and also reaching out to his agent going,
03:00we have a head coach now.
03:01You tell me we're in the mix here.
03:03We will fire a head coach.
03:04We'll fire a general manager.
03:05We'll give you exactly what you want to our run organization.
03:08Now, also, sometimes when you're entrenched,
03:10your voice carries a long distance in those front office meetings.
03:14And sometimes when you're just looking to have change and say,
03:16you know what, we want to win a Super Bowl,
03:18maybe our offense just isn't working, Lamar Jackson needs something new.
03:21What do you think about getting rid of the offensive coordinator,
03:23which is Todd Munkin, who's certainly legitimate,
03:25and also one of Harbaugh's guys?
03:27A lot of times those are sticking points here.
03:29Even in Philadelphia when they won the Super Bowl,
03:31you know, they move on from the offensive coordinator with Shane Steichen,
03:33who gets a job with Indianapolis,
03:35but then Press Taylor comes in under Doug Peterson.
03:37At the end of that next season where it didn't work out so well,
03:39like, hey, you know what, Doug?
03:40We want to go in a different direction on offense
03:42because I'm not going to fire Press Taylor.
03:44And then they eventually fired the head coach.
03:46But again, it was Doug Peterson not around for 18 years,
03:48more or less four or five years in Philadelphia.
03:50Sometimes, Joe, these coaches are saying like, look,
03:52it's going to be you're running my way or it's going to be the highway.
03:55And sometimes these organizations like the Ravens
03:57actually chose the highway over this.
04:00Yeah, it's kind of crazy.
04:02And I got to tell you, it wasn't mutual, Donnie.
04:05This was a firing.
04:06This wasn't a they both agreed to part ways.
04:10This he didn't want to leave.
04:11And a lot of people in the Harbaugh circle believe that,
04:15you know, coordinator changes, coaching staff,
04:17some of those things would have happened before we got to this point.
04:22But that's not the way it ended.
04:24But Harbaugh did not want to leave in any way, shape or form.
04:27But it turns out that this might work out much better for Harbaugh
04:32than it does the Ravens moving forward.
04:35Yeah, it'll be interesting because he is going to land somewhere.
04:37And it's also one of those coaches where you know what you're going to get.
04:40He's going to build that foundation.
04:41There's going to be no nonsense there.
04:43You're probably going to get winning sooner than later.
04:45But also one of those moves where it's like we just like for a rock bottom
04:48franchise for this guy to come and have complete control.
04:50That's what you want is stability.
04:52So you take a look at teams like the Cleveland Browns.
04:54Probably going to want to go to Cleveland, right?
04:55Same division at that point, although you might say, okay, Baltimore,
04:58you don't want to do it my way.
04:59I'm going to stay in the division and really mess with you at this point
05:02because he's going to want full control and he will get full control,
05:05which means he's going to pick the front office,
05:07which means head of football operations.
05:09He's going to pick the general manager, which is basically him,
05:11but have that mouthpiece that's going to do what he has says.
05:13And also he's going to have a lot of say in who those draft picks are going to be.
05:17And rightfully so you take a look at him.
05:18And again, going up against the Steelers,
05:20even Mike Tomlin feel like it's just ageless.
05:22And by the way, you think of both of these guys who look like they're 70 years old
05:25with how many times they play,
05:26they both look like they're still in their late forties at this point,
05:29but they faced 44 times head to head, 23 and 17,
05:32the Steelers in the regular season, they split two and two.
05:35It just seems like that rivalry was built upon Harbaugh and also Mike Tomlin.
05:40And now one of those pieces is gone.
05:42And listen, that was, you know,
05:44we're going to miss that because that was always one of the most profitable
05:47rivalries to bet on.
05:50You knew exactly what you were going to get, how you were going to get it.
05:53You knew exactly which way it was going to go.
05:56It was very profitable to bet on those games.
06:00But listen, you know, you want change.
06:03There's a couple of, you know, goal line fumbles, drop passes,
06:06miss kicks that we'd be having a different conversation about Harbaugh right now
06:11that really had nothing to do with his coaching or his leadership.
06:16And by the way, how much input did Lamar Jackson have on this move?
06:19Because Lamar said he wanted Harbaugh there.
06:20Harbaugh wouldn't go anywhere.
06:21Interesting moves in Baltimore.
06:23We'll watch as it falls out.
06:25Wild card weekend.
06:26Usually the first game has something to deal with either the Cincinnati Bengals
06:29and or the Houston Texans or both of those teams.
06:31If they met each other, if they've done multiple times in the playoffs,
06:34but that's not the case anymore.
06:35Houston got bumped to Monday night football to take on the Steelers,
06:38which leaves us with our new start to the NFL playoffs,
06:42which is the Carolina Panthers at home taking on the Los Angeles Rams.
06:45This line currently sitting at most outlets at 10 and a half.
06:48We even start to see some 11s in the marketplace.
06:51Joe, we've talked about this this week.
06:53The one thing that the Rams don't want to see happen is have any rain in the forecast.
06:57Now the forecast starting to say there will be rain in the forecast starting at 4 o'clock.
07:02Chances of precipitation around 40% earlier at 4 or 5 o'clock more than later in the game around 6 or 7 o'clock.
07:09Temperatures are kind though.
07:1071 degrees at kickoff and winds manageable at under 13 miles per hour.
07:15Joe, let's start here.
07:17Double-digit favorite for the Rams against the Panthers,
07:20but maybe some weather concerns here that we saw last time these two teams played.
07:25Yeah, we did, Donnie.
07:27I mean, on the second half, it did look like a monsoon.
07:30But again, that's no excuse for the, you know, the variance there that went Carolina's way.
07:38And when I'm talking about variance, I'm talking about the fumbles, the interceptions, the, you know,
07:43all of that were silly mistakes on the Rams part that allowed the Carolina Panthers to hang and stay in that game.
07:50I don't think rain is going to be the determining factor in thinking that you're going to get that on a regular occurrence every time.
07:58Stafford's been doing this how long now, Donnie?
08:00I think they cleaned that up.
08:02I think the experience from the playoffs a year ago, it's night and day, especially with the head coach there in McVay.
08:10I don't think it matters what the weather is in this game for the Rams.
08:14I think they've got one thing on their mind that they know how to get it done.
08:18And that is not allow Carolina to do what they did in that first game, Donnie,
08:23which was hang around and eventually beat them down the stretch.
08:26I don't think that happens here.
08:28You take a look at the passing props in this game.
08:30And it's not a surprise.
08:31Like Matthew Stafford, 262 and a half.
08:33Even if rain is in the forecast, his touchdown prop is always ridiculous.
08:36It's always listed at two and a half because he usually throws three.
08:39And understand this, the playoffs are a little bit different animal than the regular season
08:42where maybe Sean McVay is like, you know what?
08:44We're in that red zone.
08:45We don't want to hand it off.
08:46We want to get Stafford as many touchdown passes as possible, which did a great job doing that.
08:50But also understand this.
08:51It's interesting that Bryce Young is listed at 190 and a half because theoretically you could say
08:55like a good game plan for Carolina where they cover the spread is Bryce Young probably throws for 150 yards
08:59because they controlled the game on the ground and really made it ugly.
09:02But then again, you're like, well, how can he win the game if they only throw for 185 or so?
09:07And if they're losing, which they're supposed to be based on the odds makers setting this at double digits,
09:11he's got to be throwing the entire second half.
09:13So that's an interesting one at 190 and a half.
09:15The Stafford one makes a lot of sense.
09:17But if you figure also that they're leading and it's a playoff game and maybe some weather concerns,
09:22I might even be leading under on his 262 and a half for Matthew Stafford.
09:26Yeah, I, again, I think the running game will be interesting.
09:31I think that a lot of the play action and opportunities for him to take shots down the field.
09:35I mean, listen, it felt like in the first half of that first game there,
09:39they could have gotten whatever they wanted.
09:41And I think they'll be able to do that in this one.
09:45And I think going back a while now, Donnie,
09:48when we get to teams that are double-digit favorites in the wildcard round
09:54and double-digit dogs, it has not been a profitable proposition
10:01to take the points and back the dog here
10:04because they are a double-digit dog for a reason once you get to the wildcard.
10:10Two cold-weather teams going to tee it up on Saturday night in cold weather.
10:14Yeah, how about that?
10:1533-degree temperatures with wind speeds only around 10 miles an hour in the Windy City,
10:18but no precipitation in the forecast.
10:20That's the Packers and the Bears, who now we see across the board,
10:23the Green Bay Packers are a certified favorite.
10:25Minus ones, the minus one and a half as we look.
10:28So, Joe, I'll start there.
10:29Bears is the two-seed underdogs at home.
10:31That says a lot.
10:34Tells you everything you need to know,
10:35especially against a team that you did just beat, right?
10:38A couple of weeks ago, you split the season series,
10:43but given the fact that the history tells us Bears are now 2-12 straight up
10:48versus Packers in their last 14 meetings and 3-11 against the spread,
10:52it appears that the market is not buying that last victory
10:56and thinks that somehow Chicago has figured out the Packers.
11:00I agree.
11:01Yeah, by the way, that was a crazy finish as well.
11:03And also, Jordan Love got knocked out of that game with a concussion,
11:05still had a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter.
11:07What I have to do is recover an on-site case,
11:08which is so easy to do in today's NFL landscape.
11:11They didn't do that and end up losing that game.
11:13The oddsmakers are holding firm, even though the public,
11:16the tickets are stacking up on the Chicago Bears.
11:18But also keep in mind, the Bears opened as a favorite here at minus one and a half,
11:21and now the underdogs at one and a half,
11:23despite all of those public tickets coming in, as Joe pointed out.
11:26Sometimes you can just read lines and say, forget about the X's and O's.
11:29This doesn't look right for a 2-seed to be an underdog at home in a home playoff game.
11:34We'll see how that plays out.
11:35But those are the two games there on Saturday night to get you ready for it.
11:38We've got hour number two coming up and a lot more great information to go.
11:42Joe and Eerie, Nani Wrightside, the SportsCrit Network, here on the line.
11:45Max made it heavy.
11:46Let's get to the Giants.
11:47Head coaching search.
11:49And who's going to be their head coach?
11:51Do you know who the favorite of the clubhouse is?
11:52No surprise.
11:5442% chance it's John Harbaugh.
11:56By the way, on Polymarket, $7 have been invested on John Harbaugh right now,
12:00being the head coach of the New York Giants.
12:03How about that? $7.
12:05Who did that?
12:05Who put the $7 in?
12:08Well, that's impressive, Donnie.
12:10I got to tell you, because he's only been there less than 24 hours on that list, right?
12:15He had to be a late in to throw in on that.
12:18And already, the odds are trending in that direction.
12:21So I think they should be the odds-on favorite, because if the Giants are smart,
12:25that should be their number one target.
12:28By the way, a runaway, I should say, with volume on Polymarket on this is Chris Shula at $13,000.
12:37He's like 10 times higher than anybody else, but his percentage is only 3.9.
12:42So investing a $100 wager in there for yes is $304 there.
12:47How about that?
12:49Yeah.
12:49The problem is you might not be able to interview him until after the Rams are done.
12:53So that's another one of those things where he might—there are teams he's one of those hot, young coordinators.
13:00We'll see if they can get an interview somewhere in between now and this run in the postseason.
13:06It's crazy, too, because you figure you need the offensive guy, and then Harbaugh comes in.
13:09He's not even an offensive or defensive guy.
13:11It's like, that guy's going to bring stability here.
13:12And then if you're Joe Shane, it's like, hey, what am I going to do if he comes here?
13:16We'll find out sooner than later.
13:18We'll be right back with more Hot Topics in the NFL.
13:20Take a look here on the early line at some of the fallout here in the NFL.
13:24And understand this.
13:25Change is always going to happen.
13:27In the NFL, quite frankly, all professional sports, whether you're a player, in the front office, or just a head coach or in the coaching staff, you're hired to be fired.
13:34It's random, or should I say extremely random, that you get to hang around in the city for 15-plus years, like you're seeing now with Mike Tomlin, who's still employed.
13:42And now John Harbaugh getting close to 20 years now unemployed with the Baltimore Ravens.
13:46So when you take a look at Washington, this is a team that the expectations were certainly sky high for.
13:51Out of nowhere, they made it to the NFC Championship game last year against the Philadelphia Eagles.
13:55So going into the offseason, load up on a couple veteran guys, bring over Debo.
13:59You ride the Rockets there if you're young.
14:01Obviously, offensive coordinator slash quarterback in Jaden Daniels.
14:05And then you say to yourself, oh, yeah, well, quarterback's going to stay, but the offensive coordinator, Cliff Kingsbury, is going to be on his way out.
14:10Oh, by the way, we're going to fire a defensive coordinator as well.
14:13Boy, there's a lot of turmoil in Washington after what we thought was going to be a lot of promise for 2025, Joe.
14:21Yeah, it is.
14:22And, you know, it looked like you got to give Kingsbury credit here.
14:27Like, I'm kind of shocked that they went that direction given the success that he had with everyone.
14:33With Jaden Daniels, obviously a young quarterback.
14:36He even made Mariota look better than anything that we've seen here.
14:41And for whatever reason, I guess maybe there has – we see this, though, right, Donnie?
14:46I mean, if the hot seat's getting hot, which we believe it is, the first thing that's got to go is the coordinators, right?
14:53It's always their fault.
14:54It wasn't, you know, it wasn't his fault that all the injuries that they had to deal with all year long and the wide receivers and the offensive line,
15:02including Jaden Daniels, but, okay, good luck.
15:06Let's see who they can replace him with.
15:08And, by the way, talking about, you know, Cliff Kingsbury, because usually you're a young franchise quarterback, aging franchise quarterback.
15:15They have a lot of say in how they want that offense to go.
15:17And the worst-case scenario is when you hear it's like, hey, Jaden Daniels needs a fresh start.
15:21It's like, okay, we'll see what happens.
15:22Like, you know, you see, like, some things that come out in Philadelphia with Jalen Hurts.
15:25Maybe he doesn't like so much some of the new capabilities that they're doing this year, non-capabilities, as we like to say, with their offensive staff.
15:31And maybe a breath of fresh air if they get a new coordinator next year.
15:34But the one thing we understand is this.
15:35We're human beings.
15:36Like, once you learn a playbook, it is hard, it is extensive to get the terminology down and understanding of it.
15:41Nobody likes to start with a new offensive playbook, which is what Jaden Daniels is going to get.
15:45But also, there are word on the street that he's unhappy, along with a lot of people in that building, that, talking about Kingsbury, he was being let go.
15:54Well, and listen, his offense, it was tailor-suited to Jaden Daniels.
15:59I mean, Jaden Daniels is a no-huddle shotgun quarterback.
16:04I think he only has, I don't even think he has 100 under-snap centers here in the last year and a half.
16:11So, you know, he is a guy that runs a shotgun quarterback.
16:14Like, Mariota has come out and said, it's one of the easiest and most quarterback-conducive systems I've ever seen in the NFL.
16:23It makes sense.
16:24It's easy to follow.
16:25You can get out of bad plays.
16:27And they're taking all of that and throwing it out the window to start from scratch.
16:32Yeah.
16:32It's just, it's amazing because turnover now in the offseason, new playbook, the aging roster that you had already in Washington.
16:38We'll see what some of the other turnovers on the players will be.
16:40How about Robert Sala, he's going to coach this weekend against the Philadelphia Eagles and try to stop their offense.
16:45In the meantime, he's getting requests to possibly be a head coach again in the NFL.
16:50The Cardinals have put in a request for him to speak about their open job as well.
16:55Don't do it, man.
16:56And I like Sala.
16:57I like him a lot.
16:58And I know he got the short end of the stick there with the Jets.
17:02Listen, Coach Sala.
17:04All right.
17:05You learn from the Jets, right?
17:07Walking into a dysfunctional system is never a good thing.
17:10You're set up to fail.
17:12Arizona is about as dysfunctional as it comes.
17:15You're being set up to fail.
17:17Do not go to Arizona.
17:19Please hold out.
17:20Do not go to Arizona.
17:22When you are getting your first head coaching job in the NFL, you don't really get to pick all that much.
17:28It's like, hey, this team wants to hire me also.
17:30I'm taking it.
17:30Hey, by the way, it might not be good.
17:31It doesn't matter.
17:32I need to be a head coach.
17:33It's big money.
17:33And I think I can make it work.
17:35Second time around the block.
17:36Trust me.
17:37If it doesn't work out, there will be no third time around the block.
17:40So you must pick judiciously to see what that right opportunity is going to be.
17:44And not a great track record there out in Arizona that you would have.
17:48Tom Pellicero reports also that Davis Webb, the quarterback coach for the Denver Broncos,
17:52is going to interview here with the Raiders.
17:55Do you get like frequent flyer miles?
17:57Like if you just fly these guys in?
17:58Like do you get like breaks on your American Express corporate card for these dinners that they get
18:02for you to get extra points back?
18:04Because sometimes I just see this as why do we love to waste time?
18:08Or as a front office guy, you're so bored.
18:10You're just like, hey, let's hire 30 people and get to talk to –
18:13excuse me, interview 30 people to talk to 30 people.
18:15What a waste of time this is.
18:17Yeah, a real waste of time, especially when you're likely –
18:22it's the Raiders.
18:24You're not going to go with an unproven commodity.
18:26What the Raiders are going to do is they are going to make the biggest push
18:30to go get Cignetti and Mendoza.
18:32That's what they're going to do.
18:33That's what the Raiders – we got your quarterback, number one pick.
18:37Come on, Cignetti.
18:38Come to the NFL.
18:39We'll give you everything you want.
18:42That will be an interesting decision.
18:43But make no mistake, the Raiders will do all of this in the meantime
18:47until the national championship game is over,
18:50and then there'll be a monster push for Cignetti.
18:53Kirk Cousins playing a little bit better.
18:54Why?
18:54Because he was healthy to end the season after the injury to Michael Penix.
18:57And how about this?
18:58Pro Football Talk says Kirk Cousins will wave goodbye to Atlanta
19:01on March 11th and March 12th, setting himself up for another payday on the open market.
19:06Some team looking for a bridge.
19:07Quarterback?
19:07This could be your guy right here.
19:10Second stage, third stage, fourth stage now for Kirk Cousins.
19:13Still cashing in.
19:16Listen, this guy is absolutely – he's a hero, and he should be in a lot of people's books.
19:22How he has navigated his career when nobody thought he was anything coming out of Michigan State,
19:29Donnie, right?
19:30And this guy just gets paycheck.
19:32I mean, not paycheck, contract after contract after contract.
19:36And he's going to get another one, Donnie.
19:38You're absolutely correct.
19:40Kudos to Kirk Cousins.
19:42Unbelievable job.
19:43You know, sometimes they're trying to negotiate that you get paid in Bitcoin now.
19:47Kirk Cousins, he's going to get paid in Kohl's Cash at his next outlet, wherever he goes to here.
19:52How about this, Malik Neighbors?
19:53We expect that we have a young quarterback franchise ready to go in New York with, you know, Jackson Dark.
19:59Neighbors is supposed to be your wide receiver, but he's still walking with a cane.
20:03And he said, I had a lot messed up in my knee.
20:05That's not a really good sign for the offseason right now for Malik Neighbors, no?
20:10No, no, no.
20:11That means that, yeah, your effort in rehab may not be going as swimmingly as everybody had hoped.
20:19And that's unfortunate there because, listen, we've seen guys with this going on.
20:24And, you know, their path to, you know, we'd be talking about them being ready second week in training camp, those type things.
20:30And still walking with a cane, Donnie?
20:34That's not a good sign here for the Giants.
20:37Like, man got hurt a couple months ago.
20:39Still has the cane out.
20:39Usually we find stuff like Patrick.
20:41I think Patrick Mahomes has already dropped back passing at this point now from his knee injury at this point.
20:45But here's what it is.
20:46Hopefully he gets healthier sooner than later for the Giants.
20:49Buffalo and Jacksonville.
20:50It's going to be the first game of Wild Card Weekend Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.
20:55This also has the feel, Joe, of taking a look at that Green Bay-Chicago game at 8 o'clock on Saturday night.
21:00Why do I bring that up?
21:02The higher-seeded team getting points at home.
21:06Interesting.
21:07Minus 1.5 is a favor towards Buffalo, even without a lot of ticket count on the Buffalo Bills.
21:12Jacksonville is red hot.
21:13Enter the underdog.
21:14That sticks out like a sore thumb to me.
21:16It does, but you don't have to peel back the layers very far to realize that, yeah, you got one team who's Buffalo, who's been there and done this, and has played a much more difficult schedule than Jacksonville.
21:32And listen, of the four losses Jacksonville had, three of them were to playoff teams, current playoff teams, and one was to Joe Burrow before he got hurt in Cincinnati.
21:41So it's one thing to beat 500 teams.
21:44It's another thing to beat playoff teams.
21:47It's not a shock that Buffalo is the favorite here, even though Jacksonville's at home.
21:51And what exactly kind of home field advantage is that anyway, Donnie?
21:55Who are we kidding?
21:56They're still tarping off the top deck there in Jacksonville for this playoff game.
22:00I mean, come on now.
22:00Buffalo, by the way, Buffalo fans, they're going to be down there in Jacksonville for this game, no doubt about it.
22:05And some of these games aren't like the others, Joe.
22:08Like Monday Night Football, three-point line.
22:10Sunday Night Football, three-and-a-half-point line.
22:12Philadelphia game, four-and-a-half-point line.
22:13Buffalo, Jacksonville, one-and-a-half-point line.
22:15Then there's that ten-and-a-half-point line for the Los Angeles Rams to get us started.
22:20A road team is favored by double digits in the NFL playoffs.
22:25And we're not even talking about, well, yeah, the team lost their quarterback last week.
22:28Of course, it's going to be doubled.
22:29No.
22:29This is the Carolina Panthers team.
22:31You had the entire season, Joe, as a double-digit underdog.
22:34More hot topics on the way.
22:35It's how we get started on a hump day right here on the early line on the Sports Red Network.
22:40Joe Aniri, Donnie Wright's side.
22:42We will be right back.
22:43Let's do a little whip around on some of these weekend's wild-card games in the NFL.
22:47Right here on the early line.
22:48Yes, it's Wednesday, but you can't wait for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
22:52I needed to get here.
22:53But before we get there, too, Joe, Thursday, Friday night football and college football.
22:56Hey, this is football heaven this week.
22:59And in Philadelphia, there's a game at 430.
23:01And there's a lot of fan base upset here in Philadelphia.
23:04Why did we rest our starters?
23:06We could have been the number two seed.
23:07Now we play the 49ers, but this line opened up as a 3.5-point favorite for the Eagles.
23:11It now sits at 4.5 at most spots, even though the Eagles are not generating a lot of ticket count here.
23:16Today is the first day that the Eagles will practice, and they're expecting that Kobe Dean,
23:20one of their linebackers who was injured a few weeks ago with a hamstring injury, to be playing,
23:24which means that defense is going to be full go.
23:26The offense looks good, and Lane Johnson is supposed to hit the practice field today
23:30to stress out that, I think it was a stress fracture slash like a Liz Frank injury on his right foot.
23:35We'll see if he's able to go with the Eagles, our favorites in a total, dropping, Joe, 46.5s down to 44.5s.
23:42What do you think about that?
23:44Yeah, that doesn't surprise me.
23:46I mean, A, we've seen the Eagles offensively struggle a lot, Donnie.
23:52We've seen the Eagles defense shut out a lot of pretty good offenses and capable offenses.
23:59And we did just see, of course, the 49ers be limited against a very good defense, elite defense in Seattle.
24:07And I would put Seattle and Philadelphia's defense close to on par with one another.
24:14So unless they can figure out something, now then we'll get Kittle back and those types of things there.
24:19But, you know, I like Shanahan, but I think points are hard to come by here.
24:23We talked about it.
24:24Our first initial response on Monday was, how in the heck are we getting 47 points in this game?
24:30Well, it looks like the market is following that advice.
24:34Not going to be bad weather, but not great weather.
24:36Like around 45 degrees a kick, probably about 40 degrees by the time the game ends.
24:40Wind conditions show right around 10 miles per hour for Philadelphia.
24:42That's not bad at this time of year.
24:44And no real precipitation in the market right now, which is good.
24:47So we'll see how that plays out, but that's the 4.30 start on Saturday.
24:50The night cap here, that's going to be Sunday night football.
24:53The Los Angeles Chargers taking on New England.
24:55Another one of those games, Joe, we talk about Philadelphia.
24:57Rest of the starters, San Francisco played their starters in a meaningful game the week previous.
25:01Now go on the road and travel.
25:03The Chargers took the week off last week and said, you know what?
25:06We're not going to play in Denver.
25:07The majority of our starters here, let's sit back.
25:09They were a little bit competitive against the Broncos, but lost that game.
25:12New England played all their starters, if you want to call it a game that they had last week against the Dolphins
25:16because they laid waste to them.
25:18It's only a three and a half point number, Joe, and a 46 and a half rested versus team that played last week.
25:24Interesting matchup between the Patriots and the Chargers.
25:27Yeah.
25:27And this is styles make fights here.
25:30And what would the Chargers have been had they not lost both starting tackles and they're running back here for a significant portion of the season?
25:39It would be interesting.
25:41But the one thing that the Patriots defense doesn't do well, and we just watched this against the Miami and Quinn yours is they're not exactly going to get in the quarterback's face a lot.
25:52They don't rush the passer all that well.
25:56That could be a problem here with Justin Herbert, who, if you give him enough time with those wide receivers, he will pick them apart.
26:05So this, if the weather cooperates, this could, A, be a very high-scoring game, but I think it's also a very dangerous game for the favorite here who's laying more than a field goal right now.
26:16Yeah, it's one that you see in the ticket count, too, about 65% I'm showing here on the New England Patriots, 34 in the Chargers.
26:23I do think the Chargers have a legitimate chance for an upset, but I don't want to undersell the Patriots.
26:27I guess they had an easier schedule, but this is a really good football team and they're at home.
26:31And the key indicator is always winning in the trenches.
26:34New England doesn't have a great defensive line, but also at the same time, maybe the worst offensive line left in the playoffs.
26:40I don't even know if you can argue.
26:41It's definitely going to be the Chargers at this point as it sits.
26:44And, yes, we've seen Herbert under duress make great plays all season long.
26:48We'll see if he can do it one more time in the playoffs.
26:50Again, a dome team going outdoors in the playoffs, 3,000 miles away from home.
26:54We'll see how that one factors out.
26:56How about Sunday night football?
26:57Weird spot here for Houston.
26:58They're usually used to being home at 430 on the Saturday wild card game.
27:02They're going to have to wait until Monday night and play in the elements here.
27:05The one thing I do think is interesting is Houston came into this game as a favorite at 3.5.
27:09It now sits at 3.
27:11Ticket count, Joe, 50-50 on both sides at multiple outlets I'm seeing now and a total of 39.5.
27:17You got a little lucky for Pittsburgh with a missed field goal last week, but now you get back DK Metcalf to help that offense.
27:23But Houston's defense is really good.
27:25Three-point line, Joe, road favorite for the Texans.
27:29Well, listen, if this game was at NRG Stadium, this line would likely be over a touchdown favorite for Houston.
27:37But don't get it wrong.
27:39This being on the road is uncharted territory here for Stroud and Houston.
27:45They have won a couple of wild card games in the postseason, Donnie, over the last couple of years.
27:50But you know what those had in common?
27:51They were home.
27:53They were in a dome.
27:54This is not a dome.
27:56And this is going to be one heck of an environment there in Pittsburgh.
28:00And you're going up.
28:01Listen, that pass rush of Houston is great.
28:03You want to know the one thing that Aaron Rodgers did better than anybody else this year is get the ball out of his hand the fastest here.
28:11They could dink and dunk their way and take their shots down the field.
28:15I don't trust Houston's offensive line or that offense to go on the road and win by margin.
28:22It doesn't shock me the money is coming towards Pittsburgh.
28:25Like Aaron Rodgers is old.
28:27And, yes, that defense is really good for Houston.
28:29But every time we see an environment, Joe, it's like, oh, man, ultimate equalizers of the weather.
28:35There is no better cold-weather quarterback, I don't care what age, than you have.
28:38Like, you know Aaron Rodgers.
28:39Oh, man, it's going to be so cold.
28:40How's Aaron Rodgers perform?
28:42He's built for 20-degree temperatures and below repeatedly here.
28:45And it showed you how good he can be.
28:47C.J. Stroud, dome quarterback.
28:49We don't know.
28:50Yes, he's younger.
28:50He's faster.
28:51He's got a better arm at this point in his career.
28:53But that doesn't make up for all those games where Aaron Rodgers is like, dude, man, I played in games that would break your fingers just by trying to catch a football cold.
29:00This is going to be fun.
29:01Fun game to watch on Monday Night Football.
29:03Some hypotheticals, Joe, that are out now, at least at FanDuel.
29:06Talking about the Philadelphia Eagles perspective also.
29:08If they win this week and the Chicago Bears beat the Green Bay Packers, the Eagles will go on the road to take on the Chicago Bears.
29:14The Eagles listed right now a minus two-and-a-half-point favorite.
29:18Conversely, if you've seen this week that the Green Bay Packers beat the Chicago Bears, and, of course, the Eagles win their game, and also the Rams win their game, that means at home the Philadelphia Eagles underdogs against the Los Angeles Rams, Joe.
29:32How about that?
29:34Again, that offense, Donnie, is – we need to see a little something against this 49ers for us to maybe change that market perception.
29:44By the way, it is market perception, Joe, and that's what the numbers are.
29:47But understand this.
29:48If the Eagles win 27-10 over the 49ers, the Eagles are not going to be an underdog.
29:52I don't care what the Rams did against the Panthers.
29:5514-13 win, yeah, the Rams are going to be favored at that point.
29:59You know, Mondays are tough when you go back to work, but you're still feeling the high off of the weekend.
30:02You get through it.
30:03Next thing you know, it's Tuesday, and then Wednesday, it's like, oh, man, is the weekend ever going to get here?
30:08Well, that's the job of the Sports Grid Network, to get you through on a Wednesday hump day to make sure you're prepared for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday,
30:15and Monday of next week, a football extravaganza, which we take pride in doing.
30:20But Joe and I talked just about this entire show because nobody else is in here.
30:24We had some guests to have some fun with, but it's primarily us.
30:27But now we like to reach out to the public, Joe, and ask them some questions that we need answers to.
30:31Here's our favorite public poll.
31:02Jaguars or 49ers, all with the point spread.
31:05The overwhelming favorite right now?
31:08Joe, it's the Jaguars.
31:10I'm thinking about fading the public right now.
31:11What are you doing?
31:13Wow.
31:14Yeah, listen, I get it.
31:16I kind of like where they're going, but the reality is, to me, the record top.
31:23Five and 13 since 2011 against the spread are double-digit dogs in the wild card round,
31:28which tells me they're double-digit dogs for a reason, Donnie.
31:32I got no problem looking at the Panthers to be that team that is going to lose in a big,
31:40big way here this weekend.
31:42Wow.
31:42The 10-and-a-half spot up top there.
31:44You got the Chargers, 3-and-a-half.
31:45The Jags, 1-and-a-half.
31:46The 49ers, 4-and-a-half.
31:48And we'll see where some of these lines move throughout.
31:50But it will be fun to watch it play out this weekend.
31:51But, again, the one anomaly is a road team.
31:54Not a home.
31:54A home team is not favored by 10-and-a-half.
31:56A road team is favored by 10-and-a-half.
31:58Keep an eye on those weather conditions because it looks like the Rams are supposed to get
32:01an easy victory in Carolina last time they showed up.
32:04Then the monsoon happened.
32:05Things didn't work out in the right direction there for the Los Angeles Rams.
32:08We'll see if lightning can strike twice this weekend.
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