Double back alert, double back alert, double back alert folks.
That's right.
James Conner and Walker Little gets paid.
We got a lot to talk about in a little bit of time.
Matt Ibrafluz gets fired.
The Steelers cook the bangles.
The Eagles continue to win.
The 49ers get cold feet and the Falcons get a charged up L.
Also, we got breaking news as well.
Aziz Alshair has been suspended for three games.
All of this and more of the 52nd episode of the Football Junkies podcast.
I am your host with the most.
I am your chief Bagrodamas.
I am your chief head of the table.
GM who currently is not on a team right now, but don't you worry about it because guess
what?
I am all these things and more.
Most importantly, I am your host, Kale.
You already know what I'm getting right.
So let's not waste any more time.
Because this is also a victory week because the sixth time, you know what?
I'm going to wait for that.
But guess what?
I'm not going to wait for this right here.
One, two, three.
Fuck it.
All right, folks, let's not waste any more time.
Let us get into the meat and potatoes of everything that is going on in the league right now.
Okay, so let's get into the bag alerts.
Then we'll probably get into the breaking news and then we'll get into everything else.
All right, so let's just get into it.
So James Conner, former Pittsburgh Steelers running back, but now currently Arizona Carnals
running back gets paid.
Okay, he gets a two year 19 million dollar extension and he will be making 9.5 million
a year.
Now, we look at his stats from 2023, 208 attempts for 1040 rushing yards, 5 rushing yards per
carry, 7 touchdowns, and 764 rushing yards after contact.
Okay, now when we look at this, you know, James Conner was definitely the 1A or 1B running
back that was going to hit free agency after, you know, once the season was over with.
And so for the Cardinals to do this ahead of time, definitely says that they value James
Conner's role on this offense.
Let's be real here.
He's definitely put himself in a top 10, top 15, you know, running back at this point.
He's been playing phenomenally well since being with the Cardinals and I love it that,
you know, he has a new change of scenery and he's been showing off and he's been doing
his thing because yes, he was, you know, he was productive with the Steelers, but you
know, the Cardinals, I don't know what it is.
It just, it just took him to a whole another level.
So congrats to him on getting another bag.
Now for Walker Little, this was somewhat of a curve ball, honestly.
Left tackle for the Jaguars gets paid.
Okay, three years, 45 million, 26 million guaranteed.
He'll be making 15 million a year.
Now you're probably wondering what are the stats look like?
Well, unfortunately, they really don't have stats for offensive linemen.
Now why?
I don't know, but this is what I will say.
I'm not surprised by the move simply because once they traded away, Cam Robinson, most
likely they were going to either lock up somebody that was already on the team or that was going
to be, you know, their number one, you know, priority when it comes to free agency or the
draft.
I'm not really surprised there all in all good situation.
It's not necessarily, you know, the biggest deal in the world, but it's a really good
deal.
He gets his money.
He stays on the team.
You have your left tackle for the future.
And you know, that's one less position that you have to worry about moving forward.
Okay.
Now, let's get into the breaking news that broke not too long ago, which is the league
has decided to suspend Aziz Asha here, linebacker for the Texans for three games without
pay.
Now, this is a lot to unpack and some people may not like my opinion about it, but I think
this is a conversation that definitely does need to, you know, happen at this point.
And you know, there have been various people that have also said the same thing as well.
So let's just get into the statement that was put out by the NFL vice president of football
operations, John Runyon.
So here it goes.
And this is a pretty lengthy quote.
So excuse me for, you know, for it for it being as long and drawn out as this, but here
we go.
And I quote, during your game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on December 1st with
420 remaining in the second quarter, you were involved in the play that the league considers
unacceptable in a serious violation of the playing rules.
Video shows you striking the head neck area of Jaguar's quarterback, Trevor Lawrence,
after he clearly goes down in a feet first slide.
You led with your forearm and helmet and delivered a forefoot blow to the head neck area of
him in space to avoid such contact.
After the in a brawl, which you escalated when you pull an opponent down by his face
mask, after the referee announced that you were disqualified for the sportsman like acts,
you removed your helmet and reengaged with your opponent while walking down and across
the field, which started another physical confrontation near the end zone.
Your lack of sportsmanship in respect for the game of football and all those who play
coach and enjoy watching it is troubling and does not reflect the core values of the NFL.
Your continued disregard for NFL playing rules puts the health and safety of both you and
your opponents in jeopardy.
It will not be tolerated.
Now this is a very lengthy quote, but at the same time, this is a very eye opening quote
because when you look at the replay, you can clearly see that Aziz is trying to harm Trevor
Lawrence.
He uses his elbow.
Now see, here's the difference, right?
And we're really going to have to go a little bit in depth about this.
It's one thing if you couldn't stop your momentum enough and it just accidentally happened.
Okay, cool.
No one's really going to say anything about it, but you have a reputation of doing these
types of things and the NFL is just not going to allow that.
Trevor Lawrence got knocked out.
I'm talking about lights out knocked out and you used your elbow.
So you knew exactly what you were doing.
You can't say, oh, I couldn't stop myself or oh, I couldn't do this or I couldn't do
that.
No, you knew exactly what you were doing.
You used your elbow.
You have purposed it in your heart that you were going to deliver that blow either with
your elbow or with your helmet.
That is unacceptable.
I get it.
You know, his teammates are supposed to back him up and everything, but after the game
is over with, I'm pulling you to the side.
I'm saying, yo, what is wrong with you?
Why in the world would you want to do that?
There's no need for you to use your elbow to deliver a hit on somebody who was already
in the process of sliding.
There's no need.
If you want to try to go for the ball, you should have went for the ball.
But at the same time, we do have to play devil's advocate in this situation with Trevor Lawrence.
Why in the world would you want to slide the way that you did when you slide like that?
You put yourself in harm's way and you increase the likelihood of you having a serious neck
and head injury because you're sliding feet first and you have no protection for your
head.
So you have someone like a Aziz who sort of has a reputation of head hunting.
Who guess what?
He's going to try to take your head off and then you're going to be there.
Lights out.
You're trying to figure out where in the world just, you know, what happened?
You should have tried to run out of bounds or there's so many other things that you
could have done instead of just trying to slide slide like that.
And we've seen multiple times what happens when a player specifically quarterbacks try
to slide like that.
Most likely they get put out out of the game.
There is a level of concern that definitely needs to be brought up on both sides.
I think quarterback sliding like that is very dangerous.
I feel like that, that move should be somewhat outlawed.
And at the same time for someone like Aziz, there has to be separate penalties for it
just so players can understand the importance of not trying to do these type of moves.
Because again, if Aziz elbow connected with Trevor Lawrence in the right direction, Trevor
Lawrence could have seriously injured himself.
We would have been having a different conversation this morning.
So I understand he has the right to, you know, appeal it.
But if I am Aziz, just take it.
Just take it.
Three games.
No pay.
You got to take it, bro.
Because you did this.
You could have easily just allowed him to just make the slide and not really worry about
it.
But instead, you purposed it and you want it to deliver a hit.
And you can't say that you wasn't trying to when it clearly shows you were cranking
up your elbow to deliver a hit to Trevor Lawrence.
You can't say that.
Now moving forward to something that is a little more or less dangerous and whatnot,
Matt Ibrahimlu's former head coach, now we can say it, of the Chicago Bears has been
fired.
Now, I know this isn't a surprise for, you know, a lot of people, but we do have to talk
about it.
So here's the statement that was put out prior to his firing.
So here we go.
And I quote, this morning after meeting with Chairman George McCaskey and president and
CEO Kevin Warren, we informed Matt of our decision to move in a different direction with the
leadership of our football team and the head coaching position.
I thank Matt for his hard work, professionalism and dedication to our organization.
We extend our gratitude for his commitment to the Chicago Bears and wish him and his
family the best moving forward.
Now before we get into all the opinions and whatnot, let's go into his records since being
the head coach for the Bears.
Okay.
In 2022, three and 14 and 2023, seven and 10.
And 2024, four and eight.
This is unacceptable.
When we look at this, there were multiple instances leading up to this point where we could vividly
agree to disagree that Matt Ibra Flues is not head coaching material.
Okay.
From the mishandling of the commander's game to the mishandling of the Thanksgiving game,
you can tell that there's no real sense of urgency coming from him and it shows literally
the straw that broke the camel's back was the mishandling of the Lions game.
They should have called a timeout or something and you can see Caleb Williams on the field
trying to figure out, hey, what do I do?
What do I do?
He's a rookie quarterback.
Now, if he was in year four or year five and he's still doing this, then guess what?
The blame goes on Caleb Williams.
But Matt Ibra Flues is just looking around just like, huh, what's going on?
Oh, wow, that's a new, that's a new banner over there.
I didn't see that.
Oh, wow, they got new boots over there.
Oh, wow.
That's crazy.
Wow.
Look, that that concession stand looks really nice.
Oh, I forgot.
I forgot.
I'm a head coach.
No, you cannot do that.
You cannot.
They had enough ample time where you could have called a timeout, figure out exactly
what you wanted to do and then execute the plan.
Because again, the Bears were making a comeback.
They could have easily forced this game into overtime.
But the fact that you didn't want to do it and you just allowed the clock to just keep
on running definitely shows that you are not adequate to being a head coach.
And if we're being real here, this puts more pressure on Ryan Poles to really hit on the
head coaching hire because this happened on your watch.
And so now this falls on your lap and now you have to figure out exactly what you are
going to do to make this right.
Because again, the Bears are falling into the same cycle that they have fallen into in previous
years, which is mess up quarterbacks.
They messed up Mitchell Jbisky and they messed up Justin Fields.
You cannot mess up Caleb Williams.
And you cannot say that the Bears have not positioned themselves for Caleb Williams to
be successful because they have.
They got DJ Moore, Roma Dunze, Cole Comet, a good offensive line, Deandre Swift, and
they have a good defense.
Why in the world could they not put things together because of the head coach coaching?
As I've said before in previous episodes, coaching can destroy a team.
If the coach does not know what he's doing, that coach can literally destroy an entire
locker room to the point where nobody wants to be a part of that team anymore.
And those emotions and feelings that have been building up this entire season, all hell
broke loose after that game.
And you have reports coming out that Jaylen Johnson was very emotional and angry about
it and other players and even staff members was very angry about this.
And I would be too because you're the head coach.
You should have something, something should have clicked in your mind and said, Hey, oh,
I think I need to call in a timeout right now.
Instead of you just allowing the clock to continue to go down.
I'm sorry, folks.
The Bears will be the Bears.
This is why I say I forgot what episode was by no, I think it was, I think it was the
curse of the first.
If I'm not mistaken, correct me if I'm wrong football junkies.
But this is why I say the price of being, you know, one of those players that are drafted
very high is you are going to be put in a crappy situation and it's going to take you
a while to figure out exactly what can you do to get out of it.
The Bears are dysfunctional.
They are still in the mindset that, oh, we need to have a defensive mind, you take coach
and we need to be defense, defense, defense and defense.
No, it's time for you to make a change.
It's time for you to come to the terms of what's going on in the league right now.
Instead of just going with this mind, we can choose this coach.
No, you need to hit on the head coaching hire.
You need an offensive minded head coach.
Not a defensive minded.
You need offensive minded that can help Caleb Williams become a better quarterback, a quarterback
that is able to make the routine throws and be able to win games as well as make the big
play if need be.
Instead of just a quarterback who, oh, I'm just looking to make the highlight that's
going to be on ESPN by the time the game is over and when I get home.
That's all I have to say.
Now, moving forward with these games because you know why we got to talk about the six
time, six time, six time, six time, six time Pittsburgh Steelers.
That's right.
We cooked.
We habacied.
We fried.
We grilled.
We sauteed.
We got the rosemary.
We got the time.
We got the butter.
And we were just sauteing the bangles over and over and over again until everything was
perfectly seasoned and cooked to perfection.
And who was the chef for this entree?
Russ once again, cooking again, folks.
Come on.
Let's get into everything.
So Russell Wilson, 29 for 38, 414 passing yards, three touchdowns, one pick, 10.9 yards
per attempt and a 76.3 completion percentage.
Najee Harris, 16 attempts for 75 rushing yards, 4.7 rushing yards per carry, one touchdown
and two rushes of 10 plus yards or more.
George Pickens, six targets for three receptions, 74 receiving yards, one touchdown and 24.7
receiving yards per reception.
Joe Burrow, 28 for 38, 309 passing yards, three touchdowns, 8.1 yards per attempt and a 73.7
completion percentage.
Chase Brown, 12 attempts for 70 rushing yards, 5.8 rushing yards per carry, one touchdown
and two rushes of 10 plus yards or more.
Jamar Chase, nine targets for six receptions, 86 receiving yards, one touchdown and 14.3
receiving yards per reception.
Now this is what I will say about the game.
Yes, it's a great victory.
However, I think what needs to be emphasized is we need to clean up the self-inflicted wounds.
Now you're probably wondering, what are the self-inflicted wounds?
You're talking about Kale.
I'll explain to you, my fellow football junkie.
Joey Porter Jr. was being targeted a lot for passing interference.
If you know that you are a handsy grabby type of corner and you know that you're going into
a game that most likely the refs are going to be very ticky tacky with the calls, so
you have to make sure that you dot your eyes and cross your T's and make sure that you
do not put the team in harm's way because there was just so many ticky tack calls on
both sides.
It just didn't make any sense, honestly.
Like Joey, you are one of the biggest corners on the field.
You don't need to be super handsy and super grabby.
You need to use your body instead of trying to grab a hold because guess what?
We all know that they're looking for you to do it.
Everybody knows now, guess what?
If you want a free first down, target Joey Porter Jr.
Most likely you're going to get it from him.
Now, when we look at George Pickens, George, you've got to refine yourself and you've got
to calm yourself down.
Yes, I understand you are an emotional player.
Don't really care about that.
Continue to use your emotions, but there is a time and a place for everything because
again, we are entering the part of the season where everything matters.
We already know that a lot of teams are going to be targeting you because they know that
you are a very emotional player and that they're going to try to play mind games with you so
that you can slip up and make the mistake so that they can be put in a better position.
Listen, man, calm down the emotions, focus on the game, make the big plays.
It puts us in a better situation.
That's all I'm saying.
Now, for the Bengals, I'm not really surprised that the game ended the way that it did.
I'm just not simply because, again, Joe Burrow is in this situation where he is.
He has to carry this team for the rest of the season.
He cannot rely on the defense.
He has to rely on himself, Jomar Chase and T Higgins.
Well, no, Mike Kaseke and Chase Brown, but you get what I'm saying.
The fact of the matter is, Joe Burrow tried.
He really did, but again, you cannot try to overcome things when you're going up against
a really good defense and you, your own defense, can't even really do anything for you.
But except cause more penalties and basically just get cooked, sauteed, roasted, fried,
habacid, you name it, any different type of cooking style when you're going up against
the Steelers.
Now, again, we still have to face them again.
So who knows how that game is going to go.
But Steelers fans, we got another tough matchup.
The gauntlet is not done yet.
If I'm not mistaken, I think if the Steelers win on Sunday and I think a few other things
happen, I think we could lock in our playoff spot.
Just saying, if you would have told me that the Steelers will be in the position that they
would have been in after making the moves that they made during the off season, I would
have called you a liar.
I'm just going to be completely honest here.
You know, this is in part to Mike Tomlin making the move that he did.
And granted, when he made the switch of, you know, putting Russ in, he did catch a lot
of heat for it, but so far it's worked.
And now they're in the position where now they can, you know, have a high seed, which
most likely means they're going to be having to go up against somebody like the Chargers
or the Broncos and whatnot, which is a really good matchup.
Not saying it's going to be a pushover, but it's going to be really good matchup.
Now let's get into the 49ers in Bill's game.
So Josh Allen was 13 for 17, 148 passing yards, two touchdowns, 8.7 yards per attempt, and
a 76.5 completion percentage.
James Cook, 14 attempts for 107 rushing yards, 7.7 rushing yards per carry, one touchdown
in three rushes of 10 plus yards and more.
Dawson Knox, two targets for two receptions, 56 receiving yards, and 28 receiving yards
per reception.
Brock Purdy, 11 for 18, 94 passing yards, 5.2 yards per attempt, and a 61.1 completion
percentage.
Jordan Mason, 13 attempts for 78 rushing yards, six rushing yards per carry, and three rushes
of 10 plus yards and more.
Joann Jennings, five targets for three receptions, 56 receiving yards, and 18.7 receiving yards
per reception.
Now, if you guys didn't watch it, it was a really good game, really good snow game.
Snow games are always fun to watch.
They're probably not the best to play in, but they're definitely fun to watch.
Now this is what I will say.
The Bills are getting hot at the right time.
The Bills, in my mind, are the team that everyone's going to have to be concerned about in the
AFC.
It's not necessarily the Chiefs, and I'll explain in a little bit, but it's really the
Bills because now the Bills are really coming together.
That run game is getting more and more consistent, and it's getting better game after game after
game.
And that defense, that defense is making plays.
And so you have those two things coming together at the right time.
And if we're being real here, they are in a position where they could possibly maybe get
the 1C if the Chiefs lose a few games.
So all in all, Josh Allen is balling out.
I think this is the year that either Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, or Russell Wilson make
it to the Super Bowl.
Just saying.
Who knows?
But I will say this.
I don't think nobody wants to go to Buffalo in the playoffs.
I don't think nobody wants that.
I think Buffalo having a home game in the playoffs is going to be a problem because we all know
that at this point in the season, they're going to be having a lot of snow.
It's going to be super cold.
It's going to be windy.
Not a lot of people are built for that type of weather.
But you know who is built for that weather?
Josh Allen.
Now, for the 49ers, I don't think there really is a whole lot to really say about the 49ers.
That hasn't been said already.
And it really sucks because Christian McCaffrey is now officially out for the season with
a torn PCL, which puts very much damper on this season for the 49ers.
But in all and all, I think this was a failure of a season when it comes to the standards
of the 49ers.
And when you know that they've been dominant for the last three or five years and for them
to just fall the way that they fall in this season has just been a disaster for them.
And you know, if I am the front office, if I'm management, if I'm the owner, I have a
lot of tough decisions.
I'm going to have to make this off season.
But I'm going to save all of those things for the another episode is going to be coming
out because you know why?
Gut check time.
That's right.
We're going to be talking about that this week.
Just gave you to just want to put that out there before we go any further.
But back to the 49ers, you know, honestly, speaking, this offense just doesn't look the
same.
It doesn't look what it is, but they just weren't able to really make any plays.
And granted, you know, a lot of their team is banged up and the people that are in there
now are mainly practice squad guys or guys coming from other situations.
Like it's just, it's a bad situation for the 49ers.
It is.
I think 49ers fans are definitely disappointed this season because, you know, coming into
the season, yes, you have the whole brand new situation and, you know, that back and
forth debacle and whatnot.
Then you had to hold out with Trent Williams.
Then you have those two things get resolved and, you know, you know, everybody's healthy,
you know, relatively speaking or whatnot.
So you're like, okay, cool.
There's hope.
Maybe this is the year where they went at all.
And it's just like, no, it's, it's been a nosedive of a season and it's going to continue
to go further down because they still have to face the Cardinals and they still have
to face a few other super competitive teams.
So I don't know, but I'm going to save all of my opinions for the 49ers when we have
gut check time.
Now there was one game I forgot we had to talk about the Eagles and Ravens.
Yes, we have to talk about them.
Yay.
No, I really cared about them.
Lamar Jackson 2023 436 237 passing yards, two touchdowns, 6.6 yards per attempt in a
53.9 completion percentage.
Derek Henry 19 attempts for 82 rushing yards, 4.3 rushing yards per carry in two rushes
of 10 plus yards or more.
Zay flowers seven targets for three receptions, 74 receiving yards and 24.7 receiving yards
per reception.
Jaylen Hertz 11 for 19, 118 passing yards, one touchdown, 6.2 yards per attempt in a
57.9 completion percentage.
Take one look what Barclay 23 attempts for 107 rushing yards, 4.7 rushing yards, one
touchdown and three rushes of 10 plus yards or more.
AJ Brown 6 targets for five receptions, 66 receiving yards and 13.2 receiving yards per
reception.
Now this is what I will say here.
The Ravens are starting to really struggle at the wrong time and Lamar is just, I don't
know what it is.
I don't know what's wrong with this Ravens team but they're just struggling and you
can't say, oh this is a game that they're going to lose.
No, this is a very winnable game for the Ravens.
It's just, again, they've fallen their own sword every single time, every single year.
This is exactly what I said a few episodes ago.
The two things that we're going to mess up the Ravens were self-inflicted wounds and
injuries.
So far, one of those things happens to be true, which is what, self-inflicted wounds.
You knew that coming into this game most likely that the Eagles defense was going to focus
on putting pressure on Lamar Jackson and trying to eliminate or at least put a cap on the
effectiveness of Derek Henry's run game.
So I don't understand why in the world you guys will continue to try to do it and I don't
see why Lamar is running as much as he used to, but there were a few open lanes where
he could have easily ran and got five or six yards untouched and he just didn't decide
to do it and I don't understand why.
So this puts more pressure on the Ravens to try to win because, again, we are getting
close to the season ending and pretty soon once the seeding starts, you better hope and
pray that you don't have to go up against a super hot team that has some momentum.
You don't want that.
And coming into the season, I would have thought, okay, this is the year for the Ravens.
This is the year where they win it all and Lamar finally shuts up the naysayers and the
haters and whatnot, but now it's like, I don't know.
They've been struggling lately and they got to get their act together.
Deontay hasn't really played and I wouldn't be surprised if he gets released soon.
Marcus Williams is in the doghouse.
There's a lot of people in the doghouse.
Why?
I don't know, but I will say this.
There is a lot of questions that are going to have to be asked by John Harbaugh and Eric
Dacosta at this juncture because, you know, I don't know what it is about the Ravens,
but every single time the Ravens just do dumb things.
Like, why haven't you guys brought in at least a few kickers just to at least push or put
some competition for Justin Tucker?
You see that Justin Tucker is struggling.
So why in the world wouldn't you want to try to bring in a few free agent kickers?
Now it doesn't necessarily mean that you have to sign them to a lucrative deal or, you know,
they can dethrone Justin Tucker, but you have to do something at this point because Justin
Tucker is in the slump and you need your kicker.
You need him.
And if he continues to do this, it's going to cost you more games.
I'm sorry.
I understand that, you know, he is one of the greatest kickers of all time and he's one
of the most accurate kickers of all time and all those great accolades and more.
I understand that.
But at the end of the day, I have said this in multiple episodes.
This is a performance-based league.
And if you are not performing to the standards that you are supposed to be performing to,
they will replace you.
I don't care if you've been with the team for 16 years and you won a Super Bowl and
you got, you know, you're a veteran in the locker room and all this other stuff.
This is performance-based.
If you are not playing well and if you can't get out of your slump, somebody else is going
to take your spot.
Simple as that.
Now for the Eagles, though, the Eagles have been playing red hot.
If I'm not mistaken, they're on an eight-game win streak.
That says a lot here, folks.
That is a team that is locked in, that is focused, that is trying to get back to the
Super Bowl once again.
And right now, I think they do have a chance to make it.
I think right now the Lions are so banged up on both sides of the ball that, you know,
it's going to take them a while.
Compared to the Eagles, the run game is solid.
The passing game is solid.
The defense is making plays.
And we all know that the Lions are a different team when you stop and when you limit that
two-headed running combo in David Montgomery and Jameer Gibbs.
And we all know the Eagles have the equalizer in that, which is Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis.
And you know, hats off to Vic Vangio doing his thing and actually coaching this defense
the right way.
Because remember, prior to him leaving the Dolphins and whatnot, there was a lot of
criticism that was coming for Vic Vangio just because of, you know, how he handled things
with that Miami defense.
But you know, he silenced all of those critics this year with how the Eagles have been playing.
So all in all, I think this is a really good situation for the Eagles to be in.
I think right now they're putting pressure on the Lions to maintain that number one
seed, but I would not be surprised if the Eagles make it to the Super Bowl.
This is just my prediction right now.
I can be wrong.
Eagles bills Super Bowl or Lions Steelers Super Bowl or Steelers Eagles Super Bowl.
Just saying who knows.
But let's get into the last game that we have to talk about here.
I want to keep this episode fairly light for you guys.
So Falcons and Chargers.
Okay.
So Justin Herbert, 16 for 23, 147 passing yards.
6.4 yards per attempt in a 69.6 completion percentage.
Gus Edwards, 6 attempts for 32 rushing yards, 5.3 rushing yards per carry and one rush of
10 plus yards or more.
Ladd McConkey, 12 targets for nine receptions, 117 receiving yards and 13 receiving yards
per reception.
Kirk Cousins, 24 for 39, 245 passing yards, four interceptions, 6.3 yards per attempt
in a 61.5 completion percentage.
Bijan Robinson, 26 attempts for 102 rushing yards, 3.9 rushing yards per carry, one touchdown
and two rushes of 10 plus yards or more.
Ray Ray McLeod, 6 targets for four receptions, 95 receiving yards and 23.8 receiving yards
per reception.
Now, this is what I will say.
This was a really good back and forth game.
Even though the scores definitely says otherwise, this was a really good game.
And you know, the Chargers are beginning to be a team that people are going to have to
worry about when it comes to the playoffs.
I understand that on paper, they're like, uh, well, they're, they don't have this or
they don't have that.
This team is physical.
They want to run the ball down your throat, control the clock and impose their will at
the line of scrimmage.
That is the recipe for the Chargers and they have been doing it very well this season.
Jim Harbaugh, his demeanor everywhere he goes.
Physical team that can run the ball and plays great defense.
That's always, you look anywhere he has coached from Michigan to San Francisco to now, they've
all been physical teams that play really good defense, that impose their will on both sides
of the ball.
And that's exactly what happened.
Now, this is what I will say for the Falcons.
I think it's time for you guys to maybe consider putting in Michael Pennix just to see what
what happened at this point.
Because right now, Kirk Cousins is somewhat of a slump and this game definitely didn't
help as well.
You threw four interceptions.
So you know, you want to give Kurt another chance, but you know, if he throws two interceptions,
the next game, I'm sorry, you have to put Michael Pennix in.
You have to see exactly what you're getting with him.
And you know, if it's something that you can live with or it's something that you can't
live without, that's just what it is.
Erwin James was everywhere on the field and he was making play after play after play.
This charges team came in there to prove a point that listen, we're just not this team
that everyone's just going to look over.
No, we are a serious contender.
We will be a playoff contender and we are going to exceed any and all expectations.
And that's exactly what they've done so far.
Because remember, leading up to the draft, everyone was saying the charges had draft
a receiver and they got Joe all.
And at first me personally, I was somewhat opposed to it, but at the same time, open
to it.
And so far that pick has looked fairly well.
That defense, they were creating pressure on Kirk Cousins everywhere, every time he got
the ball.
And granted, Kirk Cousins was looking like a deer in headlight.
Sometimes he was trying to thread the needle with certain passes.
He just didn't look like himself.
You know, if you're the head coach, you have to try to figure out exactly what is the missing
piece of this team.
Because right now, this team is still fairly good.
It really is.
But at the same time, if you want to at least sneak into the wildcard, you got to do something.
Because right now this season is look a little bit rocky right now.
And it also doesn't help that the defense, if I'm not mistaken, I could definitely be
wrong here.
I think they are dead last when it comes to sacks.
I don't know, I do not know.
But we have a lot to talk about when it comes to gut check time.
But I'm going to end this episode here.
If you guys like what you're listening, please, please, please, please, please like, share,
subscribe, turn the notification bell on, leave a five star review, download the episodes,
do whatever you need to do in order to get your football junkies fixed.
Okay.
Now, for my podcast listeners, for my audio listeners, all right, you guys can listen
to this anywhere that you listen to podcasts, whether it be on Spotify, RSSV, Apple Podcasts
and more.
Okay.
Make sure you guys are downloading this episode so I can know exactly what fix I can give you
guys to make it better.
Now, for my YouTube people, okay, football junkies pod, okay, football junkies pod.
When you go on the YouTube, there are multiple links.
Now, all of those links go directly to those places, or you can click on the link tree and
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Make sure that you guys like, share, subscribe, turn the notification bell on, leave a comment
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Let me know your thoughts about your team and where the team is at right now.
Okay.
Come on.
Let's have a conversation here.
Now, for my Instagram people, football underscore junkies pod, okay, football underscore junkies
pod.
What?
It is together, not spaced.
Okay.
It is together, not space.
Football underscore junkies pod.
Junkies pod is together, not space.
Now, for my TikTok people, football junkies pod, okay, football junkies pod.
I know you guys are looking for more clips and we're going to be working on those clips
and we're going to be trying to pull out those clips fairly soon.
Just stay tuned.
I still got a whole lot of things that I have to work on and whatnot.
So just got to give me some time here.
But as always, I hope I gave you guys the fix that you guys need.
I love you guys.
I appreciate you guys so much.
Happy holidays.
Enjoy the holiday season.
Watch home alone.
Drink some hot cocoa.
Go, you know, holiday shopping.
Do something fun.
Okay.
But as always, I love you guys.
I appreciate you guys so much.
Stay tuned. We still got a second episode that still has to come out because we got
to talk about what gut check time.
But I love you guys.
Once again, you guys don't realize how much I love each and every one of you guys, my
fellow football junkies out there and just know the Pittsburgh Steelers will be going
to the Super Bowl this year and Russell Wilson will be the Super Bowl MVP.
There I said it.
Going to end the episode now.
Bye-bye.
And another thing.
I forgot to put this out there.
Card Knox comes on tonight for the A.F. Greatest Division in all of football.
So make sure you guys watch it because we're going to have a lot to talk about that with
the first episode.
Later.
Bye.
Peace.
Super Bowl Steelers.
Going to make it.