Can The Season Get Any Worse For The Maple Leafs? | JD Bunkis Podcast

Can The Season Get Any Worse For The Maple Leafs? | JD Bunkis Podcast

Welcome to the JD Marks podcast. Quick couple notes on lease and Raptors before I talk to Brady Quinn. It’s Monday. There’s lots of football stuff to be thinking about. Got to start quick with the Raptors. I always prioritize the leaves. And the Raptors have over the course of the season earned being the lead. The winning streak’s over. They lost in overtime to the Charlotte Hornets and then yesterday they got drugged by the Knicks. There were a few moments in the game where I was actually feeling pretty proud of the Raptors just because they were getting back into the ball game. They didn’t have Yaka Purle. They were playing a second half of a backto-back after overtime the night before. The Knicks went up 20 and the Raptors, I think, cut it to three. Even might have been five, but could have been three. And then the Knicks just kind of turned it on and pretty much kicked their asses during the third quarter and onwards. Uh, it was Brandon Ingram’s worst game. I thought Quickly was solid, but yeah, they they just looked like a depleted team. Didn’t quite look right. Weren’t able to really hang around with that group. Now, the Knicks have won nine straight games against the Raptors. Nine. Which makes sense because the last couple of years for the Raps have been pretty much throwaways and the Knicks have been uber competitive. But it does raise some questions about some of the things from the schedule. And no, I don’t really want to parse through some of the teams that they beat and go, “Oh, well, this team was bit.” Yeah, you play who’s in front of you and the Raptors beat everybody. They won nine straight games and they won what 11 out of 12. So there’s obviously a lot of nice building blocks. But as I was thinking about how good for the Raptors, they got back into this this basketball game in the second quarter. Good for the Raps hanging with it. Hey, good for Quickly against this old team pulling up and knocking down a bunch of threes and playing aggressive and getting to the basket. Blah blah blah. It dawned on me that they are still in a position where moral victories apply. And I know nobody wants to hear that, but that kind of is the case. They’re they’re in this weird spot where yes, they’re capped out. Yes, their roster is full of talent that should be here for the next little while, and it kind of should work if it’s ever going to work. I remember Graange wrote this awesome column at the beginning of the season about how this is not the normal kind of year for this group of five guys in particular the starters to see if it works. You’re not getting a super long runway if it’s a disaster or if it doesn’t really look like it’s it you got to be pulling levers immediately. You’re not you’re not giving this a two three-year runway. but they are still in a bit of a sweetheart phase where a loss like that to the Knicks doesn’t really feel all that bad. That being said, this next stretch of play is going to be uber important for the Raps because they’ve got six games, their next six games, there’s five really competent teams and the other one is the Charlotte Hornets who have now played the Raptors tough twice. Raps needed a closing possession where they got two block shots to beat the Hornets the first time around and then they lost in overtime last time. And this game against the Knicks December 9th NBA Cup, it’s not supposed to matter. Nobody’s supposed to really care about it. All of a sudden, if you’re a Raptor fan, you kind of care about it. Not in the sense that if you win it, you’re going to be asking them to hang a banner. Although you kind of could because they already hung the John Bon Joy banner there. So like the bar for a banner is nothing. You can just hang anything. But I’ve I’ve said this the last couple of shows. I think that they’ve been leaning on Brandon Ingram a little too much. And it’s worked out fine because he’s been awesome. But I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he had his worst game on the second half of back-to-back against a good team after they were leaning on him over and over and over again in these early parts of the schedule. And to me, the Raptors do still have to find a little bit better of a balance of, hey, who’s taking over the offense and not making it just turn into, hey, we we need Brandon Ingram to get us a bucket basically every single time that we’re in half court sets. It has to be a little bit more of a collective than what it has been so far this season. You’re going to rely on that guy in big spots. He’s going to be needed when things are just not working, when games are getting tight. That’s the way the league operates. You go to your star players, you go to your best scorers in the big time moments of basketball games. But yeah, next six they’ve got mostly competent basketball teams and it’s going to be really important for them not to just kind of shift the narrative very quickly and have it go all right well now we are looking at those games a little differently. the Leafs bipolar weekend. They play horribly against the Washington Capitals on Friday and it sets up for again a second half of a backto-back where you’re looking at it and saying, “Man, changes are on the horizon if you don’t shape up here.” I mentioned it on a Leaf’s talk, but they had a coach get fired based on a performance against the Pittsburgh Penguins team with a third string, maybe he was the fourth string, but a fourth string goalie in net. It really looked lined up. Yeah, that and then you got this Panthers game on Tuesday. It’s getting weighty. It’s getting late early for the Toronto Maple Leafs. We’re past American Thanksgiving now and they’ve been one of the worst teams in hockey flat out. Not just like a bad team. People I get it. This is a weather vein fan base. This is a weather vein city. People probably overreact to regular season losses with the Maple Leafs more than they do with other teams. And certainly they do now with the trauma that’s been built up over Yeah. basically the last decade of hockey with this team. And I’m I I’ll admit it. Good for the Leafs. They forced me to watch one of their games. I was off lease talk on Saturday and I actually had to watch it Sunday morning because they dominated the Penguins to such a degree that you got to flip it on. If it had just been kind of status quo, I would have grabbed the old remote and hit the fast forward button and got that thing done in about 25 to 45 minutes. I would have ripped through it. Instead, I sat with it and I watched the game. So, yes, very nice step. That’s happened a couple of times this year. I do wonder if they just own the Pittsburgh Penguins because they’ve had now their four best periods of the season against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Maybe the Utah mammoth you’re throwing in there. But here’s the problem. This isn’t the normal weather vein positive, negative, positive, negative that we’ve kind of grown accustomed to with the Leafs. Hey, it’s five game sample. It’s f It’s the old five game stretch test. Are you doing How are you looking at these games? Oh, well, you like to do the five game segments. This is now bigger. The Leafs have been so bad that you really can’t take too much from a win like that. You can say, “Hey, this is awesome that Dakota Joshua played better. Hey, this is great that Matthews got on the board finally.” I like how that’s the bar. Three games finally. Hey, everybody got involved. They felt like they kind of needed just a a breather. Obviously, that gave them a bit of breathing room, but the team going into that game. The numbers are the numbers. They’re 29th in goals against, they’re 31st in shots against, they’re 31st in slot chances against, they’re 29th in offensive possession against, and they’re 30th in rush chances against, 32nd in cycle chances against. By the way, I don’t like to normally throw a lot of stats all at once because I think it kind of starts to roll off of people like it just it goes in one ear out the other as soon as you start doing that, but you get it. They are in the bottom of the bottom of the bottom when it comes to defending. And at this point, we’ve seen enough of a sample where they just don’t look like a very good team. And a win or two, even against the Florida Panthers, is not really going to change the narrative too much for me. This is a stretch where the Leafs are going to have to change your mind from now to basically the end of December. And and it might even extend beyond that. But now, now and Christmas is sort of a stretch where you look at it and go, “All right, if there’s anything here, if there’s anything to these little moments, it’s not going to come from games.” Because the goal of this team is not to be, “Hey, could they hang around a playoff spot?” No, they were all in this year. Myrtle and I have talked about this many different times. They pushed this team forward as a Stanley Cup contender. This wasn’t, hey, we’re taking a step back. They didn’t give the messaging that the Raptors gave a year ago. This was, we are 10 toes down, ready to compete for a Stanley Cup. And they don’t look anywhere close to that. And until those numbers drastically change, and until the eye test drastically changes, then I don’t really know what the conversation is like, okay, yeah, it’s early enough where you could be going in for a playoff spot. But the opinion that I have, which is that this team sorely needs a reset where they need to be able to sell off some of the pieces that are not attached to the core, take a step back in order to take a step forward this off season. That’s going to remain for a very long time unless again this team does something quite drastically different. Not just a game or two and tiny little blips and up and downs. It’s not they don’t have the same basically equity that was built up over the fa the past few seasons where you did get to ride the roller coaster a little bit and wonder, hey, some days they look like a contender. Hey, sometimes they look like they’re a fraud. This is completely different. Uh Brady Quinn is our Monday morning insider. He’s a former NFL QB. He works for Fox. What’s up, buddy? How we doing? I’m doing well. How you doing? I mean, obviously the games Sunday weren’t quite what we were hoping for uh them to be, but uh I think Thanksgiving we got treated with a few good ball games. Yeah. You have a good Thanksgiving. Yeah, it was good. It was good. Yes. I know you celebrated yours prior to up north, but still felt like it would be rude uh to not acknowledge or at least offer you a potential happy Thanksgiving. Yeah. Listen, that’s that’s the spirit of Thanksgiving. Can I So, did you think of me once during your Thanksgiving when my Chiefs were beating up on your or my Cowboys were beating up on your Chiefs? Yes. Yes, I did. I thought to myself, uh, is this it? Is this it for the Chiefs? because I don’t think they have any room to lose another game the rest of the season and make it into the playoffs. Uh on top of that, I was questioning whether or not the Dallas Cowboys are for real and if I can now buy into them because of what they did to the Kansas City Chiefs, which I I think I’ve I’ve felt confident about what they are as an offense. It’s more about the defense because it was so bad probably for the first five or six games of the season, but now again, stopping the run. they’re starting to get more pressure to an opposing quarterbacks and it’s starting to show up. Um, and so yeah, I think I’m now a buyer. They call me in the Dallas Buyers Club, if you will, uh, of the Dallas Cowboys and what they’re what they’re capable of being, but they’re still the Cowboys. Sure. So, aren’t you also in buying into this? Yes. Setting yourself up to be completely disappointed by the end of the season? No. Of course, Listen, they’re not going to win. They’re the Cowboys. They’re not going to win. But yesterday was yet another reminder, right, that nobody’s good. Look, you just look across the league and the Rams. Yeah. Yeah. Rams lose to the Panthers and the Eagles on Black Friday do their thing. And listen, man, congrats to the Bears. They deserve a ton of credit. And Ben Johnson has had this unbelievable season with this team. They’re way further down the track than even the most optimistic Bears fan, I think, would have placed them in. But yeah, the Eagles there’s they’re they look dysfunctional. The Eagles do not look like a lock it down. Hey, you’re going to cement this team. They’re going to win a championship this year. Even the Seahawks who played Max Brosmer, it took until a world class mistake, like Dan Orlovski level mistake from a quarterback for them to basically start to run away with that football game, right? Like Minnesota’s in the red zone. They threw that pick on fourth down. Quarterback’s like flailing. Seattle takes it the other way. All of a sudden, it’s 10 nothing and you feel like the game is actually over. I just I look at the Cowboys and say you are definitely a team that no matter who you are in the NFC, if you draw them in a playoff series, you draw them in the first round of the playoffs, you’re not going to be happy about it. Like I would much rather face say like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers than I would face the Dallas Cowboys right now. I think that’s fair. I think in part because some of the pieces that they have, what they’re capable of. I mean Dak at one point too, I think you’d say he was playing at MVP level. Maybe you still throw him in that conversation or feel like he’s got somewhat of a shot being on kind of the outside. And that’s maybe another conversation, too. I’m not sure who your front runner is at this point in time of season. I think you’d say Stafford, at least he would have until this past week’s game where he, you know, has three turnovers and it looks pretty bad. Um, and so again, maybe that door opens up a little bit more. Maybe it’s Drake. Maybe he’s going to kind of overtake that spot. But I don’t know. not leaving out Dak if Dallas can do what you’re alluding they’re going to do which is rip off some more games end up making it to the playoffs and be that dangerous team that that people are concerned by. So part of part of me wants this for Jerry Jones only for the reason of the fact that like you know he as much as you sit there and can lambasted him for what he’s done in contracts in the past as a former player he usually has ended up paying the guys or the guys move on and they get paid right like Micah Parsons moves on he gets paid they get back some stuff in return paid Zeke too early still got paid right after a nice Cabo him. He paid Dak even after he had gotten injured after a hot start to that season still gave him a huge contract. You kind of go down the line like he does take care of his guys eventually and if he doesn’t usually they kind of move on. They get paid somewhere else. But there’s a part of me that like given Jerry’s age and given how much content he’s provided us JD. Yeah. I kind of hope it kind of works out for him at some point. I do too. Late in this, you know, stage of life. Here’s the thing, man. Has he made good moves? No. Is it He’s a soft target. Absolutely he is. But one thing I’ll say about Jerry Jones is he cares. And I’m not sure like we’re ever going to see another guy like this. Maybe. But this is like kind of an enjoy it while it’s happening moment where you go an owner who refuses to not be the general manager for decades. Who who gets into it with like did you watch the Cowboys doc on Netflix? I’ve not seen the doc. Okay. It’s it’s hilarious because you and I are of the age maybe it was a little different for you growing up as like a stud football player, but the ‘9s Cowboys were more a thing that were like I was a little kid. I don’t really remember any of that. I I remember people wearing Dallas Cowboys merch and obviously I know those players, but it wasn’t like I was living in it. It it wasn’t like I was watching these games every Sunday with real anticipation. But you’re looking back on the past at some of the things that he did that even worked out for them and those Cowboys teams, you’re like, “This is insane. This is crazy that this actually happened and that it went down this way. And I don’t know. I just I’ve got a rooting for Jerry. I just I don’t hate Jerry Jones. I don’t have ill will towards Jerry Jones. I think that the Cowboys have been run laughably. But yeah, for them to be able to have like a fun team and this is why I believe in them though is the picking CD Lamb thing, the way that they were just carving up the Chiefs. Like that’s Trent McDuffy who’s one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL who we’ve seen play in massive games and shut down big time players. He got eviscerated in that ball game there. He’s just doing the, you know, corners are really screwed when they start to do the like, he’s pushing off. He’s pushing off. It’s like, yeah, man, he’s catching the ball every single time. If I’m doing best units in the NFL, things that actually make a team feel like they’re special, teams that really have an identity, that Cowboys identity of just like any third down and you have to defend those two guys and then also Ferguson and then that one guy Turban. Turban who can catch a pass. Yeah. Yeah. that that can catch a pass and then just like break it. He’s just like super speedy. Their offense does feel like one of the more reliable units in the NFL right now. And that’s in a watered down league. You know, it’s interesting too being around Brian Shanheimer and in that system, you know, Shotti’s always been I mean, his father coached was was a great coach in the NFL. He he’s always been able to find ways of getting the ball to playmakers, too. And I think you mentioned Turpin, you mentioned some of the other pieces. He also understood like how to put those guys in a position to succeed. And I think I’ll just go back to the initial comment like I didn’t have many reservations about what this team would be offensively because Dak is playing at such a high level. There was continuity in the system. You get Pickins, you’ve got that onetwo punch on the outside that’s going to threaten a lot of teams. It was more about and Brian Shottenheimimer’s first year as a head coach. Is he more than just an offensive play caller? you know, can he be more than that to preach to the team and be able to get the guys on defense who he’s barely going to see if he’s calling plays on the offensive side of the ball and guys on special teams and being able to manage the game and everything that comes along with that. And I think he’s done a tremendous job of continuing to motivate this team, you know, in a way that it feels genuine, right? like you see the postgame locker room breaks down breakdowns. It feels like the team’s got this confidence about them that they’re building towards something. You know, we always talk in the NFL like you want to be playing your best football come November, December and into January. And I feel like that’s where this Dallas Cowboys team is. It wasn’t great early. Ibrafluence got a lot of flack for what that defense looked like, but now some of those pieces, the Kenny Clark edition and everything we kind of talked about and even the linebacker edition and Logan Wilson, like we start talking about going, “Oh, they are better against the run.” Like, oh, maybe they are actually okay without Micah Parsons rushing the passer. And that’s not to say that like Parsons hasn’t been a game changer for the Green Bay Packers defense either. Like both things can be true and both things can work for both teams. But I think if you look at this Dallas Cowboys team and what Jerry Jones saw and and maybe looked at it and said, “Yeah, but even if Mike is here, we’re still going to struggle stopping the run.” And we had him last year and it really didn’t make as much of a difference for our for us defensively. So, we need to figure out a way of improving our overall ability to to get off the field on third down and win on first and second down. And I I think he was right. Like I think it’s ear, you know, halfway a little more halfway through the season, but I think you can give him that like, all right, Jerry knows what he was doing here. Um, and so I try to give him a lot of credit in that. And then also Brian Shanheimer, like seeing something in his his offensive coordinator that he felt like he could elevate him and he would become a guy that uh could still get the most out of this offense, but still energize a team like he has. So, the I I’ll wrap up the Thanksgiving stuff and get into what happened yesterday, but the I don’t know, Thanksgiving and Black Friday to me was just so much more compelling. Uh it’s crazy to look at what Ben Johnson has done with the Chicago Bears and then also look at what has happened to the Detroit Lions and not think that this guy is just the new Kyle Shanahan. That’s uh that’s one way of putting it. I think there there I put him Shanahan, McVey, Okonnell. But it’s like remember Atlanta was in a Super Bowl. They had Kyle Shanahan. Things are humming there. They look like a contender. They look like one of the best teams in the NFC. Kyle Shanahan leaves. He goes to San Francisco. Immediately an offense that had been stuck in mud for year after year after year since Harbaugh left immediately gets course corrected and it feels like they have an identity and an attitude and things start to again feel like they’re on a contender track and Atlanta basically falls apart. And yeah, the Lions are still in the mix, but the idea that they’re going to win a Super Bowl this year, I I don’t know. There’s that’s a I I think that’s an insane take. I think that they basically got proven against the Packers. They’re not in that class of teams. They’re in the gets in the playoffs, loses in the first round, maybe gets to the second round. That’s kind of the ceiling of the team. I look at this Bears group and this Packers test this week is going to be fascinating. That’s like the number one game that you have to watch because to me that’s going to very much determine, hey, which of these teams is like a little bit more real in terms of who could challenge in that Ram slot of best teams in the NFC? Like that’s on the table for those two. But I don’t know, man. I just like when I was trying to think about coordinators that left and then just immediately looked like they were worth it, Shanahan was the last example that I could think of where the situations mirrored each other this closely. Yeah. I mean, again, I think you look at like Mike McDaniel when he first got there and you saw the improvement at 2. You might have thought that a little bit, too. I mean, they scored 70 points against the Broncos. Yeah, it’s kind it’s kind of gone by the wayside now, but uh I don’t know, maybe not. They they seem to kind of be eating out some wins. It’s a good copper comparison. I think you know what you’re seeing from Ben Johnson to me at least is offensively speaking he is he is getting Caleb Williams to play you know more of an NFL winning style of football where I think there was some concerns early on with how he was kind of adapting to the system and there are some inconsistencies in regards to just you know once he gets off his first read is he looking to run is he looking to just kind of escape and play backyard football or is he still moving through progressions and playing within the confines of the system I think he’s boughten in now to Ben Johnson. I think the other thing that they’ve done is they’ve really gotten back to just saying, “Look, we’re going to base everything off the run game, like we’re going to run the football.” And in doing so, like that’s going to kind of take away some of those opportunities where Caleb Williams feels like he has to do everything. And yet at times he still has that special ability to make plays that gave him comparisons to Pat Mahomes where he can scramble or create or make something happen, but he doesn’t feel like he has to do it all throughout the course of a game. and and you also don’t give them as many opportunities to do that throughout the course of the game. So to me, it’s been as much the balance as anything else. You know, I think you look at their kind of two back set too and then their backfield, the running backs, it’s almost like they’ve got a version of what they have with David Montgomery and Jamir Gibbs and and they’re kind of building off of that where you you work in some of your young pieces, your young tight, you know, young tight end Lovevel and Cole KD and all the other things they’ve got within this offense. And so I think in a way he, you know, has has been able to get this team to maximize the personnel and put him in positions to win, which you can compare him to Kyle Shanahan if you want. Um because Kyle Shan has been successful doing that with the personnel he’s gotten. He he reminds me of more of a guy who I I got to play for in Josh McDaniels who was very good at doing that too. And I think he’s done that now with the New England Patriots calling plays for them is he seems to find things that he can lean on where he’s not asking guys to do things because it’s part of his system. He’s asking guys to do things that fits within the skill set of what they do well and just asking them to do it consistently well. So the growth of Caleb Williams, the trust I think he has in Ben Johnson in this uh but also how he’s kind of utilized the personnel that he has, I think has been a piece of all this, but I think it’s a fair comparison. You know, it’s early, right? like you’re giving a lot of credit uh to a guy who’s, you know, a first year head coach who hasn’t taken a team to a Super Bowl or won the conference championship and we’ll see how the rest of the season goes. But, you know, I think their defense too and the way they’ve stepped up uh at least this past week like it’s a bit telling, but I also my my bigger takeaway from that game was more of where the Eagles are at. Yeah, that’s where I don’t know if the Eagles will make the playoffs or not, but offensively speaking, like this is probably going to be a one and done year for Pulo. Like I think if you’re if you’re Nick Serriani, you’ve got to move on and find someone who can kind of come in there and give you more offensively because it doesn’t it kind of goes back to that Brian Johnson year too where you’ve just been hit, excuse me, hit or miss on some of these OC’s where the guys either do great and they become a head coach somewhere else like Shane Py or Kell Moore or they just fall flat on their face and that’s what the Eagles are doing right now. So, that is all fair, but my question about the Eagles for you is how can we see Jaylen Herz look so great in some moments where he genuinely looks like he’s touching the top of the quarterback class. We watched him in a Super Bowl where it was just utter dominance. It’s with the legs, it’s with the the passing, all of it. And then see games like this where I don’t like I got no faith in him. All of a sudden, it’s okay. Well, you’re just hoping AJ Brown can catch these slant passes or every once in a while a play breaks down and he kind of throws that lob play to uh Smith and he like does the like basket catch. He’s not even in motion like he’s not even usually in stride. He’s just kind of fielding it like a kick returner. The legs don’t feel the same. The passing looks inaccurate and discombobulated. I just don’t it’s hard for me to understand how a guy so recently could look so great and even have quarters like the way that he started against the Cowboys where he went all right this guy’s back like right of course Jaylen Herz and then just immediately go in the tank right after where he can’t get he can’t get a first down. I mean look I I can’t put a finger on what it is. If I could I might be up there coaching at this point and helping them out. But the reality is he kind of reminds me a little bit of when you look at his regular season of postseason performances and just it kind of reminds me of like Eli a little bit of the argument for Eli Manning who was productive during the course of the regular season but he would have these weeks and games where you’re just so inconsistent and up and down and then they get in the playoffs and like they get in the playoffs and they go on a run they win the Super Bowl and and he and he makes some of these big time plays. I just I look at what this offense when it’s most effective. It’s not necessarily I think we keep wanting it to be led by Jaylen Herz, but it’s not. It’s led by Saquon Barkley. It’s led by that rushing attack. Everything compleiments off of that. And you go back and look at this past week’s game. It’s just not a formula for success. If I’m asking Jaylen Herz to throw the football 30 plus times a game that just to me that’s not how they go about winning. Yeah. And and I think you got to involve Herz in some way, maybe more as part of the running game, which he might not want to do too. as you get older in the league, those hits add up, even though he’s very a strong, capable quarterback. You know, they’ve, you know, I don’t think they want to necessarily put him in harm’s way with how much he’s being paid, too. So, there’s all these little elements to like what their offense looks like, but I keep going back to I don’t feel like they have an identity this season. There’s a lack of consistency, which we’ve seen from Herz in prior years anyways, in particular in the passing game. And it’s becoming frustrating for all parties involved. But, I mean, the one thing I would wonder coming out of this game though is like, is AJ Brown happy? you know, he has a big game, you know, he gets a ton of targets, but but so it feels like like is is that is that what’s going to make him happy is just getting enough production targets, feeling like he’s a part of the offense, or is it ultimately about them winning and losing, or does he feel like they need to be able to do both, which isn’t always the easiest thing to do. I’ve actually wondered watching their games and how his target share has gone up the last two weeks since he did the whole video game stream thing about like drop me in fantasy blah blah blah if they actually this is a conspiracy theory I don’t even really think this happened but if there was this small part of them that went all right we need to get him more involved to make him a part of this team down the stretch like we we need to get this guy to buy in so we’re going to up the targets we’re going to up uh especially the red zone plays for this guy and doing so they’ve moved a little bit away from the identity that you’re talking about which is make sure that it’s Saquin and the other stuff kind of just comes and whoever ends up getting their their piece of the pie gets their piece of the pie but we do what the Eagles do and rather kind of transition into the AJ Brown show and now they’ve lost two straight games. So hurts threw the football what 30 what did I just say 30 some times this this past week right I think um 20 of those targets roughly so let’s say about a third you know two/3s or a little bit less or to either AJ Brown or Dvonte Smith if you’re a really good play caller in the NFL you should almost have every single play designed to have AJ Brown or Dvonte Smith as your number one read and if you’re a really good play caller in the NFL you should be able to dictate coverage and do different things to at least help your quarterback know what the coverage is to allow him to then get that football to those guys. You know, some of the best play callers, very rarely does a quarterback have to move off number one, number two. There’s times when they have to, you know, based on getting fooled, bad call, something happens, right? Guy falls down, you know, runs the wrong route, whatever it is. But to me, like I always look at that run pass split and then when I go through the tape, especially when you have a team who’s got, you know, two guys who could be viewed as number one receivers. If Dante Smith wasn’t on the Eagles, he’d be a number one receiver somewhere else. So to me, almost every single pass play would would literally be targeted towards they were designed for them, unless you feel like you need a screen, unless you feel like you need something else to mix in there, maybe even situationally. But like I remember talking to Kyle Shanahan about this back when he was calling plays for Atlanta since you referenced that. And one of the things he said to me was, you know, like we threw the football I think 40ome times in the game and he goes, you know, and Julio Jones was our number one read on 25 of them. He goes, he probably should have been our number one read on 45 of them. And it’s like when you have a guy like that, it makes sense to make sure that he’s always the first targeted guy. He’s always the guy you’re trying to get the ball in his hands to. So when you say something like that, I just think back for if I’m a play caller, like I’m not thinking about the plays. I’m thinking about my playmakers and how I can work those plays against whatever defense we’re facing to get those guys the football. And I keep going back to like Saquon’s a part of that, AJ Brown, Devonte Smith. between those three, you’d have to say that 75% of the plays that are called should somehow someway get the ball in their hands or they they should be targeted and then the rest is sprinkled in and and I just don’t feel like that’s what this offense has been doing this season. Um, at least not consistently. And I think this last game was an example of that. So the Sunday slate was pretty light, right? Like we got the Steelers getting destroyed by the Bills that was supposed to be kind of like a premier game. Uh, so I ended up spending a lot of time thinking about the AFC South because the Colts played the Texans and the Jaguars won again and I’m like, h, you know, this feels like the most relevant year that the AFC South has had in a like since Pton Manning or since Andrew Luck and maybe even beyond that because those were always like good Colts teams and then the rest of the division there was really nothing. This Texans defense is like for real, for real, for real. I felt myself watching Daniel Jones on that final drive going like what a prove it drive for this guy. Like what a hey change the perception if you can go down the field against this Texans offense and score and walk them off in the way that I’m going to be feeling about you. And instead like I came away feeling much better about Houston and thinking like they’re kind of in the mix because again this year in the NFL do you have one elite unit? And for the Texans that’s a yes. And I think that that puts you into title contention. Like truly, you are a title contender if you can just be amazing on one side of the football and competent on the other. And that’s the way that I look at the Texans now where it’s like they are to me a dark horse to actually win this thing. Yeah, I don’t think there’s any doubt about it with CJ Straw back too now. Not that Davis Mills held them back by any means. He played well in his place, but I got to say that’s the one downside is that those two guys feel the exact same. That’s not great. No, it’s not. But but I also would would give Strut a little more credit in saying like let’s just see how the rest of the season continues to pan out as he gets back in there and back more into a rhythm with all of it. And also the Colts defense is is not an easy challenge by any means. Um and so this past week he didn’t have his best game, but it also was good enough to get them the win. To me that this game was more as much as it was about the Texans and how good that defense is, I feel like we’ve kind of known that. Um and they’re definitely a live dog I think within that division and the AFC playoff picture. It’s more about what the where the Colts are at because that game sense to me as big as it is as a divisional game. Also one that like kind of got to win, right? You’re at home. This is a a Texans team that you know they could be lurking if they win this game to keep creeping back up in the division. Now you got to go play the Jaguars in their place and the Jaguars are playing better football. And so when you really start diving, you know, dissecting their schedule, they got the Jags twice still. You got the Texans at the end of the season in their house at Seattle. feel like a if if there’s a Yeah. at Seattle, San Francisco, you got at home, like that’s not a layup. When you really start dicing up the Colts, do they win a game the rest of the season? Like, are they the team that we talked about, Daniel Jones, a MVP candidate after that hot start and everything else they did, do you now look back at the first half the year and go, well, maybe that was more a byproduct of their schedule. Maybe that was more of this team’s more middle of the road than they are an actual legit contender. Like, if I had to put my money on a team falling off, Yeah. it’s probably the Colts. Yeah. It’s probably the coolest with their schedule and how they’re playing losing three of the last four weeks, you know, and even, you know, barely beaten Atlanta team. It’s like this is probably the team that I don’t know if they they get to that. I don’t know. What do you think it is? 10 wins they need to get to in order to assure themselves a playoff spot. I don’t think nine does it. Well, I think it’s between them and the Jags, right? Like those two games against the Jaguars, that’s going to kind of determine who it is. And the Jags have been like I don’t know how many Jaguars games you’ve watched. I’ve I’ve seen quite a few shockingly just because again sports better who likes to watch as many TVs as possible like they they’re like in the category of the Chargers where their record looks good but you’re like gosh this just it’s painful it could be painful to watch like there’s never a consistent four quarters of dominant football on in all three phases every win they get feels like fraudulent. you’re like, “Oh, I guess they got that one.” Like, all right. It’s never You’re right. It is. It has not been a season where if you looked at their record, if we just step back and like we got the men in black a race stick, we didn’t see any of the games and we were just sitting here right now. We’re like, whoa, what are they? Jags have nine wins or eight and four. Okay. So, we’re like, okay, they’re eight and four. You and I would have been like, wow, Trevor Lawrence took the step. He did it. Like, he he took the step. And that that’s not the situation here. This has been totally or or or their defense has been one of the most dominant in the league, right? Or something along those lines and just you never I mean, if you if you had to if you had to compare them to the Colts, though, I feel like they’re also two teams going in different directions. Like, the defense has been better of late. I think Trevor Lawrence is starting to feel more comfortable in Liam Cohen’s system. Early on, you saw some of the frustration with Cohen and Lawrence and how the offense was being run. I don’t see that quite as much anymore and maybe that’s a byproduct of playing the Titans but uh this past week. But but the reality is I still feel like you’ve got two teams going different directions where I kind of look at and say I I I would actually be more betting on on the Texans in the end being more of a factor to the to the AFC South than I would the Colts the rest of the way. Yeah. I there’s a part of me that wishes that the NFL this season was like college football where we could just pick the playoff teams and for me it would be like okay Colts all right Jags you guys are playing in these two games but this is for you get one seed because the Texans are getting in and I’m putting the Chiefs in over the Chargers. Like that’s what I would be doing in my college football rankings saying this this makes the most compelling postseason. Well first off you do not want that JD. Trust me, right now as as a Notre Dame alum and having to deal with that whole headto-head, Miami and everything else. And by the way, both teams could get left out. BYU wins the Big 12 and Bama wins the SEC. Like, but I will ask you this. Where the Steelers then for you? Oh, because that was that was a game last. But but I’ll say this, like there’s moments where I watch them, I go, “No.” Yeah. But if they were in the playoffs though, it feels different. It feels like if they were to win the division and someone’s got to go to Pittsburgh to play, I would give them the benefit of the doubt. But that was rough. That was rough. And And I don’t I I just I’m not questioning Rogers. Everyone knows he’s a first ballot hall of famer, but we’ve talked about this at length, like there’s just not a sense to get the football down the field. Everything feels like it needs to be out of his hand quick. And when he doesn’t, he gets, you know, crushed. Yeah. And he’s what got a broken nose, whatever he Yeah. He’s got the cast in his hand and they’re showing him on the sideline. His whole face is red. He’s freezing cold. His nose is beat up. He just he looks like an old man. And we got tricked with the Tom Brady thing into thinking that every great quarterback was just going to be able to do this. And do I do I think that the Steelers have enough playmakers? No, I don’t. Like they just don’t. They’re them losing. Can I give you the difference, though? Yeah. Go ahead. Can I give you the difference? Yeah. Do you ever feel like Tom Brady lost that fire? No. And I like Did you ever feel like that? No. And I feel like Aaron Rogers’s fire is just being pissed off. It’s not like a motivator. It’s not a leader. It’s not exuding, hey, don’t worry. We’re going to get this thing done the way that Tom Brady. And it’s hard to compare anybody to Tom Brady, but we did for this guy’s entire career. And there’s a reason that he still got a starter job despite how things went with the New York Jets. But like things are so bad for the Steelers right now. There’s two things I thought of. One is I looked at the betting lines for them versus the Ravens. The Ravens look terrible. They just got eaten up on Thanksgiving by the Cincinnati Bengals, right? We’re all praising Joe Burrow because he likes to play football. That’s the state of sports now. Is if a guy’s like, “I like playing sports.” We as sports fans are like, “Wow, thank you so much for acknowledging that you actually enjoy what it is that you do.” But the Ravens, I’ve said it to you all season, they look off. They don’t look right. Lamar doesn’t look fully healthy. There’s something that just isn’t right about this team. They stink. They’re nobody. They’re minus 350 favorites against the Steelers the next week. Minus 350. Imagine laying points with the Ravens against anybody. And yet with the Steelers, I go, “Yeah, that kind of makes sense. I just don’t see the Steelers doing it.” So, like, if it was my college football head-to-head analogy, it would be the same thing where like, and it is those two, one of those two teams gets a spot, one of the Jags and the Colts get a spot, I’m making sure the Texans are in, and I’m making sure the Chiefs are going to get in because man, I don’t think the Chiefs are. I think they’re done. But it feels so weird to think about the AFC playoffs this season where none of these teams are gonna actually have to face Kansas City. And when I look at them all on their best day, there’s still a part of me that goes, I think the Chiefs could beat any of these teams in the playoffs. Like I think that they get in and they’re beating the Bills. They’re beating the Ravens. They’re beating the the Denver Broncos. Like I I’ I’ve kind of I’ve kind of got a bigger picture question because when you’re saying this about the Chiefs, you’re saying this about the AFC in particular. I also feel this way about the NFC, right? We just talked about the Eagles. You know, the the 49ers probably should give or the NFL should give Kyle Shanahan the coach of the year award because, you know, playing without Purie, the job they’ve done to still, you know, stay in this thing. But like even the Rams and the way they lost to the Panthers this past week and and look maybe that’s a sign of a young Panthers team that’s coming of age a bit but it was also you know at the risk of a lot of you know turnovers by by Stafford him having a bad day. Yeah. Is parody good for the NFL? No. I hate it. And and the reason and the reason why I asked that is like if you look at any good story Yeah. There’s a hero, there’s a villain, right? And and many times in the NFL that villain ends up being that team that’s just dominant. you know, it was the Patriots for so long, Dodgers. Then it was the Chiefs for so long and it’s like you love them to then the point where you’re like, “Oh, okay. Maybe it’s a little too much, right? Maybe like, oh, we’ve seen enough of Taylor Swift. We’re tired of seeing the Chiefs there.” And they go from the hero to the villain. I I I feel like you’re going to be missing that in this year’s playoffs and maybe it’s just a reset year for the NFL where it’s now the Patriots and Drake May and Mike Vrabel and maybe they become, you know, back back that team that ends up winning and being a perennial playoff team that’s gets their Super Bowl. I’m not sure who it’s going to be, but it feels like where parody is talked about, at least in the college football realm, to go back there since you referenced it is like great. Everyone talks about they love upsets. They love all this craziness that happens. In the NFL, it’s like the exact opposite. It’s like you don’t have, you know, want to have a few dominant teams that everyone’s excited for to see eventually play off in Super Bowl. We don’t have that right now. No, not even close. The difference between the AFC and the NFC though is when I look at the AFC, there really doesn’t feel like a class to me that’s on the top where I go like, “Oh, they’re definitely different.” With the NFC, do I feel like there’s still parody? Yes. But I would say as of today, just my own personal like if I was power ranking it, I think that the Rams, the Seahawks, and the Packers are three teams that are clearly better than everybody else in the NFC. And I would put the next tier down being like the Niners and the Cowboys are right there where I could see them actually beating those teams. Eagles are out of it for me right now. Like they’re just they they look so lost that I need them to prove something. They’re closer to that Tampa tier where it’s yeah, you’re in the playoffs, but nobody’s thinking that you could actually go on a run. The AFC to me is like I have no idea if Denver is actually better than Buffalo or if Buffalo is better than the Ravens or if you know the Texans are better than the Chargers. Is that because of the the close games the Broncos play? Like you just can’t give them the benefit of the doubt because they’re always winning against like I think they play up and down to who they play. Okay. I know. And that’s the best way I can describe them is like and they figured out a way of winning more often than not. Now you really think Bo is going to win a Super Bowl? I don’t know. I’m not betting against them at this point. And and by the way, when you say Bo Knicks, you have to include like Shawn Peyton as part of it. Yeah. Guess what? I did you see the play they drew up on that fourth down or that like that critical third down? They call a timeout. They’re like, “Okay, this is the game. We just need a first down.” And I’m thinking, “This is Shawn Payeyton. He’s the master of a three-yard play. I can’t wait to see what we’re going to get here.” And it’s just like right up the middle. They ran a slight route that doesn’t get executed. It’s a nothing play. And Bonix doesn’t even basically look and he throws it off of a defender. The interception that he threw to Bobby Wagner was as bad as I’ve seen. They have a couple drives every once in a while where Denver looks the part, where you go like, “Oo, I really see it.” But there’s way too many stretches for them where their offense looks like this. Run into the line, check down that misses, then check down for four yards, punt. That’s the Broncos. And their defense is fine. They throw a couple bombs and make some big plays. Their defense is good if they can get you in a must pass situation. They can let the the the pass rushers go. They can cover down that they can be good enough in pass defense if they can get up and force you in that situation. Uh, no. I’m I’m only throwing that out there as the Broncos because look, as a former player, like you respect the record. Sure. You know, to get to 102 regardless of the schedule and all that. I sit there and go, “All right, like I don’t know if they can win a Super Bowl, but I’m not going to bet against them.” Uh, not at least not at this point because Oh, I can’t wait to. So, if I give you all right, I’m going to give you I’m trying to give you all the worst teams in the AFC that actually have good records. So, I’ll give you the Jaguars. Yeah. All right. I’m going to give you the Broncos. I’m going to give you the I’m not going to say the Colts at this point. Um I don’t know how many other teams I can even give you at this point that I feel confident that actually have a decent record. No. God, I I’d have I’d have I’d have to throw in the Colts as well because there’s not again there’s not And I’ll give you I’ll give you the Bills because they’re eight and 42. I think that I mean, are you Bills one of those teams isn’t going to win it this year? Okay. So, I’m thinking this watching this Bills game, and this is a good way for us to get back into it. Like, there has never been more urgency for a team to make it to a Super Bowl than the Bills this season. Like, I don’t know if they’re going to win one, but when I’m talking about special units, what quarterbacks are really just balling out of control? And yesterday, the Bills were scuffling. They’re turning the ball over. Cook has that one fumble that’s awful off of his own knee. And it feels like, oh man, they might choke this game away. And then what did Allen do? He starts putting his head down and he starts running the football and he and he starts to play with fire. He’s getting into it with Cam Hayward screaming in his face, yelling after touchdown passes and I went, that version of Josh Allen is beating anybody in the AFC in the postseason. And if there’s no Chiefs and the Ravens are this lost, then the Bills have no excuse to lose to anybody. I don’t care if they have to go to the road to Denver. I don’t care if they face this upcoming Patriots team that has had kind of their number early on and looks like they’re on the rise and the Bills are on the decline. There has never been more urgency for the Buffalo Bills. Like this entire run just you you said it might be a reset year. I don’t know. Maybe the Ravens are back next year. Maybe it was just a Lamar Health thing. Maybe the Chiefs retool and they go on kind of their second run as a team. If you’re the Buffalo Bills, you have to be looking at this year like, man, we got to get it done today. We got to get it done now because we don’t know how much longer this window is going to extend. We don’t know how much longer. Josh Allen’s already talking about how he’s not just a football player anymore because he got hot wife and so he’s like, I don’t know, maybe I’m not I’m not as committed to taking these hits as I used to be. Bills need to do it. They’re the team that I’m still picking because of the urgency. It’s just hard to trust them given the track record. Yeah. No, I understand that. And I think what I’m saying is I think there’s a good chance we’re going to have someone new this year. Yeah. there’s a good chance that this is going to be that reset year where all of a sudden the Jaguars making the playoffs, Trevor Lawrence goes on a run, has a few big games and we look at him differently or maybe that’s Drake May for the Patriots as you mentioned. You know, I just I feel like we’re getting to that point of the season where it feels like this year may look a little different in the playoffs and maybe even in the Super Bowl as well. Yeah, I I could totally see that. All right, last one. We have to do Shador. Um I’ve waited. I’m trying not to be too hottakey, but I’ll just I’ll just say this. I I don’t get it. Like he doesn’t get rid of the ball under pressure. He takes really bad sacks. The ball doesn’t have a lot of zip on it. A lot of the plays that he’s making are like checkdowns that get turned into something or it’s a wideopen receiver in a broken coverage. And like I’m not writing off his career. I don’t know what he can be. It’s way too early. We don’t do that with other quarterbacks. So he gets he gets this like extreme extreme extreme talk, right? Like Kendrick Perkins is like he’s the most impactful black man since Obama. And then you get other people who are like, “He’s the worst quarterback that’s ever played in the NFL.” And I’m like, “Okay, none of this is true, trying to take out the noise.” What do you just see from his play? Well, I see a lot of the things that I think concern me about his play at the college level. And, you know, a lot of other people took the blame for some of that, right? Like for example, you know, the offensive line, the offensive system, you know, they they moved on from a guy named Sean Lewis who’s now the head coach at San Diego State who’s doing a tremendous job. his names actually serviced on some bigger head coaching jobs because of not necessarily getting along with Shadore and not running the system the way he wanted. So, we’re not protecting him the way they wanted to. So, he took a lot of sacks, held on the football too long then. Um, and so those things are resurfacing. I think with time, you know, he can and experience he can grow out of understanding I got to go to the football. If I can’t, we’re not going to be able to find that hit that receiver, hit that window or I’m just going to be getting hit all the time and I don’t want to do that. But it does make the offensive line look worse than it actually is. You know, some of the big plays downfield, I think that’s one thing he’s done really well in the course of his career is he does keep his eyes down the field. He is always looking at trying to push the ball down the field, but ultimately, you know, is he accurate enough um in some of these tight window throws? Is he going to be able to adapt enough and then be able to grow enough uh with this year to to be the quarterback that he’s capable of? probably not given their circumstances in Cleveland. So, look, I’m not going to rush to make any sort of judgment. I think what you saw of him as a player in college is exactly what he is right now in the NFL. And so, some of those, you know, things you’re talking about are some of the, you know, bad interceptions or, hey, it’s fourth down, 26, whatever it was. Just throw the football downfield. You know, like you’re going to turn the football over regardless. Like running and then getting down, it’s it’s like you’re preserving yourself. And I get it, the game may be out of hand, but take a shot. do something, right? It’s okay. Yeah. Which is Look, there’s a lot of there’s a lot of quarterbacks who don’t want to throw the football incomplete. Yeah. They’ll they’ll run out of bounds and take a loss, which goes down as a sack instead of throwing the football away because they want a ptr. They want to protect the rating. There are quarterbacks who are taught that now. That’s how bad it is. That’s why you get a lot of people who read box scores, look at analy all the numbers, and they’re like, “Well, look at his completion percent. Jesus, now you’re a quarterback.” It’s like, “No, it’s not.” you know, it’s more of a byproduct of him not throwing the football away when he should instead taking a negative loss. So anyway, he’s going to learn all these things. He’s just, you know, this, you know, he’s just a rookie and and so I’m not going to overreact like everyone else in the world or, you know, pick a side one way or another. It’s it’s it’s ridiculous. Yeah. Uh again, Brady Quinn, our Monday morning insider, Fox Sports, former NFL QB. Thanks for making time, buddy. Yep. Thanks for having me, J. See you next week. Uh yeah. Uh, all I’ll say is Caleb got rid of the like Caleb held on to the football too long the way that Shador does too. The difference is when I watch Caleb make throws every once in a while I was like, whoa, I don’t see that with Shadore. So, maybe he’s fine, maybe he’s good, maybe there’s like an energy or an attitude to him that resonates with his teammates that we’ll see over time. But so far, like I I just don’t know why we’re having such big talks about him given the stuff that’s on tape. Anyway, subscribe to this podcast. Leave five stars. Reach out anytime at JD Bunkas. Quick break and I want to talk about the Jay’s relief market. Who wants to win a bunch of cash while doing the best thing this holiday season? Sportsnet 59 of the fan is all in supporting the 50/50 fortune for sick kids. It’s a 50/50. So the more money we raise, the more kids we can help and the more holiday cash you can win. Current take-home prize almost 200 grand. Buy your tickets at 5050 fortune.ca or text the word money to 595 and we’ll send the link right to your phone. 18 plus. Please play responsibly. Standard message and data rate apply. Lottery license RAF1518410. Um, little quiet news, some moving. Baseball market’s now moving. People are starting to get things done. Ryan Hley signs with the Baltimore Orioles. Pretty, you know, pretty pricey ticket for a guy that wasn’t great last season, but yeah, he and a Glacius now off the market. Diaz and Suarez to me still feel too pricey for the Jays. Maybe Suarez’s market doesn’t materialize the same way because he’s sneaky old. But there’s no question that starting pitching was the priority and that and like me for me personally, Bob Bashette or Kyle Tucker, one of the two is a must for the Blue Jays. But I would think that the way that they’re prioritizing things and the way that people I’ve spoken to are saying that they’re prioritizing things with pitching means that back end of the bullpen is still one of the biggest issues for this team. They need to get somebody who maybe isn’t the closer day one who doesn’t walk in here and immediately bumps Jeff Hoffman off of his position, but that at least competes with him for that role. And you don’t go through a regular season where if Hoffman’s giving up moonball after moonball after moonball at the Roger Center that you’re not squinting to see works better. And the Jays that was one of the problems this year is like they didn’t have a reliever that you felt way more confident in. There were little stretches, little pockets where there was a guy, but nobody for a long period of time that felt like a definitive answer at closer outside of Hoffman. So the Jay stuck with him. So to me that kind of makes it feel as though the Jays are down to two guys, Pete Fairbanks and Devin Williams. So if you see those two sign, that’s when I wonder if it gets into they need to address this via trade and it becomes some hipster reliever that the nerds tell me is great, but I have my doubts about the way that it ended up happening with Eric Swanson, the way that it happened with uh Anthony Bass. Like that’s kind of the move I’m hoping they avoid. I’d like to see them go get one of those VO dudes. Well, Fairbanks a little more question marks given there’s some cold weather stuff with him. Williams obviously is no certainty, but I think he got hit on one of those guys. Quick break, come back, talk about the lease with Matthew Barnaby. Had to do a wellness check with our next guest. longtime NHL forward, but also a longtime New York Jets fan. Jets, unquestionably one of the most tortured fan bases in the NFL. I’ll say it, they don’t have a Super Bowl. The name of one is like a fake one. That’s like a million years ago. There was no teams. Uh they’re down bad. They choked away just a huge must- need tank game against the Atlanta Falcons. and their fans have been cheering for the tank year over year over year over year. So, it’s it’s kind of pathetic, but I I was like, “Okay, they’re pulling in the right direction.” They traded Quinnon Williams for a lot. They got this pick and then they lost to the Falcons. Matthew Barnaby, uh, long time NHL forward, longtime New York Jets fans. You always fake like you’re going to quit them. Is Barney there? Yeah. Oh, yeah. We got you. There we go. Yeah. Sorry, I didn’t see you up on the screen. You always fake like you’re gonna quit the Jets. Like you do this little pump fake hesitation move all the time. Like they’ll go through a down cycle and then you go this is enough. I’m not doing this anymore. I’ll text you. You’re like I’m not I’m gonna be a Bills fan now. I’m a Buffalo guy. I’m allowed to be a Bills fan. And then I know deep down in your heart you can’t quit them. You’re not a quitter. You you dig in when the going gets tough. That’s when Matthew Barabby gets, you know, gets ready to endure more. That Jets loss this weekend like you you I said it. You guys had some momentum this year. like it felt like the rebuild was like finally in a good place. What a horrible win. Yeah, they’re Hey, thanks for having me on. They’re uh they’re like the X that is just great in bed and you just can’t leave them except they’re not great in bed. They’re they’re so they’re just nothing. They’re just they’re just nothing. No, it’s it’s it’s it’s been it’s been torture, man. It’s not like we not like the tank helps anyway. It’s not like we hit on second and third overall picks. you know, Sam Darnold, we got rid of him and yeah, he’s not doing well. Um, yeah, Zack Wilson at number two. That was great. We pass over on Josh Allen. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We’re in another rebuild. And hey, we do have a Super Bowl, though. It It does count. It was a long time ago and wasn’t wasn’t in my lifetime, but it’s the only thing I I cling to as a Jets fan. So, I I don’t want this to be taken the wrong way because I obviously have a lot of respect for the people who laid the foundation for sports as they are today. Like, there’s just no doubt about it, right? And you read some of these stories and it’s incredible what a lot of these guys did in order for these teams to exist the way that they do. But the Jets Super Bowl feels very much like the Leafs where you go like, “Yeah, they got one.” But the Leafs never won a Stanley Cup beyond there being six teams. So, do you discredit the guys that won those cups? Absolutely you don’t. But do the Leafs have a single Stanley Cup when there were not again six teams? No. So, it’s hard when they put up the stats like the New York Jets Super Bowl winner or the Maple Leafs second most Stanley Cups. I always look at those and I’m like, imagine if the Boston Celtics only won championships when they had Bill Russell and Bob Koozie and then they never won again and people were like the famous Boston Celtics. You would go nah. like you got to win them throughout the years in order for you to kind of keep that cache as champions and to I think validate the championships before because like I look at those Bill Russell Bill or uh Bob Koozie championships with like great reverence whereas I don’t do that for like the Joe Amos Super Bowl. I look at that when you’re such a loser like the Jets are or the Leafs are now. I look at those ones being like thank god you got one when there were no teams. It’s it’s it’s the only thing I have over Bills fans. It’s just it’s it’s the only thing I have. It’s Listen, Joe, man. And they’re like, “Oh, yeah. You weren’t even alive.” I’m like, “We got one.” I I always say to them, I said, “If a Lombardi trophy came into Buffalo, you guys would think it’s a spaceship because you’ve never seen one. I’ve seen one. I I’ve seen one in our building.” But yes, uh because they aren’t uh on here today, it really doesn’t count. It’s It’s just been a sad I I’m really appreciative that you had me on and make me feel like crap uh on a Monday morning. This was not that. I’m doing a wellness check. I was trying to let you vent. It’s good to get it out. It’s good to be able to get it out and not just, you know, text it or have to fire off a couple of messages being pissed off at people. Like, it’s good to let it out. Okay. So, I I even lost money. I I I have an emotional hedge. I bet against them every single week. That way, I’m happy every week. Yeah, and they cost me money and they cost us the tank yesterday. That’s the worst. That’s the worst. Like, there’s nothing worse than that. Uh, okay. So, Leafs had a real up and down weekend. They get shelled by Washington and it’s full-blown disaster. Then they have this like really dominant win against the Pittsburgh Penguins who now I would say that they’ve put their best four periods against the Pittsburgh Penguins. So, I kind of wonder if maybe you just own a team. But I’m just going to start with this. Like when your team is up against it that way where things feel like, hey, they’re falling apart, how big is just being able to have a breath and a night like that where everybody gets on the score sheet and everybody has a positive moment and guys who were healthy scratches are actually contributing and like everybody just gets to be like, “Okay, we if we if they lost that game, no doubt about it, everything today is like the coaches fired. It’s over. Hey, which players are they getting rid of? Like, how important is that? Like, how much can you just build off of one game like that as a team? It’s it’s huge. And and when you’re struggling and finding inconsistency, and that’s really been them all all season long, right? Defensively have not been very good. One of the worst teams in hockey. Yeah, the these kind of games are are are massive. I I I just think, you know, you you look for something and and and to galvanize a team. Well, they played really well against Pittsburgh and this could be something that sets them up for the future. They have to take what they did well and and you throw out the other ones, but you you need a streak. This is a team that desperately needs a five, six game winning streak and then they’re then they’re back. But if they lose that game to Pittsburgh and don’t play very well, you’re right, it’s all doom and gloom on Monday and Toronto is the biggest market. It is the epicenter of hockey. So, this would be a much different Monday. those guys get to, you know, take that breath on on this Monday and now start building hopefully, uh, which is some consistency what they just haven’t had. No. So, here’s the other thing, though, and I led the show with this. The win is nice. They get to kind of collect their breath and say, “Okay, feel good about something, right? Not hang in your head, not getting on the plane feeling garbage.” Like, you have something and you can point to something and that’s great. But for me, the Leafs are supposed to be a contender, not a playoff team, right? Like it’s a different story if say, yeah, you’re Detroit or you’re Montreal and you’re looking at this season where there’s a couple steps back and you’ve got inconsistent play and you evaluate it through the lens of let’s just hang around the playoffs. Maybe we get in. That’s a step for our organization. That’s the way people have been talking about the Leafs. And that drives me crazy because I’m looking at it saying, “Whoa, that’s not the goal. The goal isn’t to hang around the playoff picture and win five games in a row and get in the back door as a wild card team. Last year you won the Atlantic and the the bet you made in losing Marner and part of that was not their own decision but was that you were going to be a deeper team, a more complete team. And when I look at what they’ve done so far, I read these stats already, but I’ll read them to you. Man, the the defending is it’s not just bad. It’s it’s again bottom of the league atrocious. They are 32nd against cycle chances, 30th against rush chances, 29th in opponents of uh offensive zone possession, 31st in slot chances against, 31st in shots against, and tied for 29th in goals against. You put together a sample like this that extends now to December 1st. How everyone always says like, hey, defending is a choice, right? Defending is a lot about the decisions that you make. But genuinely, when you see those numbers, how much of that can you actually change in season? You you can you you certainly can. Now, first and foremost, you need to get a save, right? There’s a team in the Western Conference, the Evans Oilers that went to back-to-back Stanley Cups, they’re having these same issues. Yeah. And I did a breakdown. We talked about that last week of just how bad defensively defense defensive minded and and and being committed doesn’t take talent. It takes hard work and like you said, good decisions, but also the will to make these right decision and commit to outworking your opponent. Vegas doesn’t get it wrong very often. And for two years in a row going into the season, Toronto was like plus 700 to win the Stanley Cup. Do you know what they were at the start of this year? Plus, 1700. So Vegas didn’t think they were as good. They didn’t think they were as deep. And anytime you lose a Mitch Martyr, now this isn’t what we’re talking about defensively, but you’re not as good a team losing a guy that had 103 points. Anyone that believed that they were going to be a better team, well certainly didn’t watch the Vegas odds and don’t know how good Mitch Martyr really is for your team, you know, it’s it’s again it it’s it’s it’s like the ex breaks up with you and and you’re like, “Oh, she wasn’t great anyways.” Oh, yeah. No, she was pretty good in this case. So, but Vegas sucks, too. And he’s been not so great. Like, you know, like Vegas hockey Twitter, which I don’t trust. Like, it’s not like, “Wow, the Vegas fans don’t like a guy.” Well, then, you know, he’s not working out. Like, what do they know? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. But, but going back going back to your to to your question, you can change this in season. It just takes commitment and it takes hard work in practice and being diligent. Outwork the guy you’re playing against. That That’s what defensive hockey is. Of course, there’s decisions and there’s there there’s schemes, but most teams play a pretty similar defensive style. Are you willing to outwork the person you’re up against every single night? So far, no. So far, no. That’s that’s that’s plain as simple. So far, no. Yeah. So far, no. And again, they are missing guys on the blue line specifically. Now, the forward group is fully healthy, and that’s fine. The way I look at it though is at some point you are who the stats say you are. And I do start to wonder when you can turn that around. And to your point about like outworking the opponent. I had a good chat with Versteig last week where he mentioned that he didn’t love it personally and that a lot of guys he played with didn’t love it when the coach is just only harping at you to work harder, work harder, work harder. That you need them to be showing you why something isn’t working. And so for a team like this where the coach has been and I’m not like I’m not there in the room with Buru where he’s trying to break it down schematically him and alone and the things the coverages that they’re going over. So I’m sure that they are giving these guys tips but we are seeing post games where he’s talking about the same things you are where it’s like you got to compete you got to be harder working. How easy is it to start to tune that out though when things are going poorly over again a stretch that is this long? It it it certainly is when you hear the same message and that’s why a lot of coaches get fired when they’re in in a place for a long period of time. And not that not everybody’s been here a long time, but it it it’s certainly start to tune out coaches. Now, in no which way are these guys not being pointed out in video what to do and being taught in practice exactly how they want it. And then it comes down to outworking the other guy like I said. So yes, you can tune tune out that message. But I guarantee this coaching staff is teaching them. The guys just aren’t doing it. And then you come down to what what’s he going to say? Like he can break it down, but if the guys aren’t outworking the other guy and making good decisions, it doesn’t matter what system you put in place if they aren’t willing to play. So, they got this Panthers game on Tuesday, and I actually feel like that win against the Penguins has only sort of elevated the import of this game where they scored a ton of points. They beat the brakes off of them. Like I said, they get to feel good. Guys like Dakota Joshua, who I want to talk to you about in a second here, they get to feel involved. Everybody’s happy. Like, I’m sure they’re not satisfied with where they are in the standings, but we’re relieved. Yeah, there’s there’s some measure of relief, but my thought against the Panthers is Tree Living basically tried to design this team around being better against the Panthers, right? Bigger blue line. Yes, they’re missing guys, bigger forwards, heavy team, one of the heaviest teams in hockey, older team, veteran team. They’re designed to play these guys tough. And I’m looking at this and saying, “All right, you better at least have that part of it right.” Like Tuesday, we overdo the measuring stick games in hockey. I think because like how many years did the Leafs play the Bruins and they’d have some game or the Leafs beat them or the Leafs lost and then you get to the playoffs and you went, “Oh yeah, I don’t really I don’t really care about that game.” That turned out to be kind of irrelevant. But given where they are in the standings and given the way that they designed the team like I just outlined, are you putting more stock into that one than you normally would a regular season game? Well, I listen there there’s certain teams you get up for more more than others. That’s like when you have rivalries. When I played in Buffalo, Toronto was huge for us because they were so close in our rivalry. Philadelphia was big. It wasn’t as big to go into New Jersey because we just didn’t have that rivalry. What? So, so there are games that are that are I I I say more important in your mind. This one I I I I think it’s it’s big because if they lose to Florida, well, you don’t really remember the Pittsburgh game and you’re not building on anything. It’s just win one, lose one, win one, lose one. They can’t be in that mindset right now. They got to raffle off four, five, six in a row to get them moving up the standings before it’s too late, right? There’s any time that you lose a game or or only get a point. Well, you’re losing ground on on on the rest of the Eastern Conference. And listen, we’re we’re past American Thanksgiving now. We know we know the the numbers of teams that aren’t in a playoff position come this date. and what likely happens at the end of the year. So, if they don’t beat Florida and Florida beats them somehow some way, listen, everyone deals with injuries. That’s just the way it is. Next man up, come and do your job. But if they don’t beat the Florida Panthers, we’re not going to remember the Pittsburgh Penguin game and it’s going to be back to gloom and doom and gloom. Yeah, I think this one’s going to be worse because again, for me, it’s not about It is obviously it is about making sure that you can get in a playoff position. Yeah, obviously you need to have a shot at the dance, but for me it’s like it’s it’s not about one game, the next game, one game the next game. It’s what you said. You’ve got to put together six, seven, eight games where okay, you can drop a couple in there, but it can’t keep looking this way. Like they beat the Blue Jackets last week and they win it in overtime. They got outplayed. And there’s been too many wins like that for the Leafs where like they they limp into overtime, they get a huge goal that gives them the point, but nobody looks at the process and says, “Well, this team looks like they’re turning a corner.” This was one of the only times in the entire season where the Leafs can actually point to it and say, “Hey, we were actually better and won. Hey, there was actually process here that worked for us.” And that’s what I’m saying about the Panthers game is like even this this sounds harsh but yeah if even if they win but it’s they get outshot two to one by Florida and Florida’s for they just get Joe Wool standing on his head he plays spectacular I don’t know how great guys are going to feel about that like the bar now is becoming your process and whether or not you can actually start to apply some of the things that we’re talking about over a larger sample if you’re getting outplayed outshot and out chanced you know there’s going to be the outlier where the goalie stands on his head or you get lucky and the other goalie doesn’t play well for the other team. That’s just luck. But just by just sheer numbers, if you’re getting outplayed every night and getting out shot, no chance, you’re going to lose more than you win. It’s it’s how you play. Now, they’ll take a win getting outplayed against Florida rather than play great and lose because that’s where they’re at right now. But over the course of the year, if you don’t figure out the things that are costing you, and you read the numbers at the start of the show, you read them. That’s how bad they are, and they are what they are. You You don’t become the 32nd team in the league at defending and it just be by luck. It’s that’s this is a a big enough sample size. This isn’t four or five games in. No. No. It’s not the normal panicky thing with the Leafs. And that’s the thing is, and I feel this this year talking about this team, is like I’ve cried wolf so many times about the Leafs because I watch every single game and I carry the trauma of someone who has like followed this team for a long time. It’s the same way with like I said with you with the Jets where you tend to overreact to these moments because they built up over a long period of time. And now I’ve led a lot of these shows going now this is different like this is worse. This isn’t This isn’t the normal just, hey, you’re being negative about a team that ultimately is going to turn it around and be great. They’ve got to show more. Okay. Uh last one. Dakota Joshua. It’s been bad. And like really bad. Got a healthy scratch. And since the scratch, I think that the two games that he’s put together have been the best two of his season. And it feels weird to look at it this way as someone who never played that a healthy scratch could motivate you some kind of way. I don’t know how sustainable it is. I don’t know how long it lasts, but yeah. Did Did that ever happen to you or do you ever remember a teammate where something like this, like a real sharp kick in the ass, actually turned around their season. I I don’t remember one per se. After I got through my first couple years, I I wasn’t a healthy scratch. So, I never never had that. Uh my first couple years, you’re just trying to find your way, right? You’re you’re just trying to find your way in the lineup. I don’t think it was because I was playing horrible when I got healthy scratched. I was just learning and we had some really good players that that were ahead of me. Um, but it was it was early on in my career. So, I’ve seen Jeff Sanderson get scratched and be pissed off and come back and be on fire. It it certainly does motivate you. I Everyone’s proud and everyone’s playing for the next contract as well. And if you’re getting a healthy scratch, you’re not going to make money. So, I I I just think for for more than anything, it’s a wakeup call. It’s like, okay, like you’re doing video if you’re getting a healthy scratch to see what you’re doing wrong. and and for him it’s an intensity thing I think as well and and making good decisions but they need him to be physical. They need to be in the forche and that’s what this team desperately misses right now. They have some talent. They they still have a lot of talented guys on that team but it’s that snarl that that that Florida Panthers that they’re trying to build. That’s what he has to bring to this lineup. He has to bring some snarl and I I think it can be a wakeup call. Like you said, he’s played well the last last little bit. But again, it’s it’s not one or two games. It has to be consistent. That’s the difference between guys that play a long time and what guys that come in play a year, two years, three years. It it’s learning how to be a pro and learning how to be a consistent hockey player that the coach knows every time that he throws you over the boards. He knows what he’s going to get. Not not great one game, terrible the next. Great one game, terrible the next. And he hasn’t even had the great ones yet. It’s it it’s it’s just been good lately. Well, also my thought is that can only work so many times. Like if then you’re gone. Yeah. But well, I’m just like then you’re gone. Yeah. If you’re getting another healthy scratch for this guy and they’re trying to make, you know, the same motivator, that’s where I would think as a player you start to go, no, I’m not motivated to get back in and prove you wrong. I’m starting to check out and say, I’m thinking about where I’m going to be next. A and listen, there’s there’s guys like that. It would piss me off to to no end because I’m a competitive person. I’m a proud person and I I again you get you get healthy scratch every you’re saying to everyone around Toronto this guy’s not good enough to be in our lineup right now and also you’re going to get talked about of course yeah so especially in a market like Toronto Mhm. I But if it happens multiple times, well, you don’t have it in you to change. You’re you’re probably preparing, like you said, for your next spot because it’s not going to be long. If you start getting healthy scratched twice, three times, four times, you’re probably going bye-bye. All right. Well, I’ll be watching tomorrow. We’ll catch up soon. Thanks, buddy. Cheers, brother. Love you, pal. Yeah. Matthew Barnaby, uh, longtime NHL forward, man. Okay. Again, I’m just going to reset this. You should be happy that the Leafs won if you are a Leafs fan. You should be happy that there was a positive step forward and you got to start somewhere. So, I don’t want to be doom and gloomy after they put together one of their best wins of the season, but this is just it’s not I think Barney actually made a great point where he went it can’t be one game then the next game. And it’s not about playoff standings though for me because people keep bringing that up and I’ve been there too and and that’s something that I’ve fixated on as well is already having standings watch in November. For me this isn’t about standings watch anymore. This is about trying to find out what it is that you actually have in terms of what the next phase is for your hockey team. They don’t have a lot. As we’ve gone over, multitude of shows and as anybody knows, every single person that is even on the periphery when it comes to the Maple Leaf fandom understands that they do not have an asset pile that they’re going to be able to pull from in order to improve this team. Nor does it look like a group that should deserve it. But that’s a separate thing. But if you are going to be trying to make a move, you have to be very concrete in what it is that this team is building and the direction that they are taking because then you’re just doubling down on what has been essentially a disastrous start. And so for me, like I’m I get what he’s saying and I would be wrong to disagree with it by going, well, if they have great process but they lose to the Panthers, how are we going to evaluate this? Any You’re going to you’re going to nitpick at the reasons why they lost the game. Of course that is. But I just I’m not the win loss record. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. But what I’m saying is they need to change a lot of the process in order for what I believe to be smart people to think that this is something that is actually trending in the right direction where it isn’t better for you to take this step back. Because that’s where I’m at right now. And I think it’s going to take quite a bit for me to move off of this opinion that the Leafs are in desperate need of a reset. They need to move off of a few of these guys that are older players, some of these guys that have not worked out, try to accumulate some draft picks, try to accumulate some prospects, not go in the tank next year. I’m not for a tear down. I I’ve had some people mention that to me like, “Isn’t this the offseason where you explore the Matthews trade?” Like, no, I don’t think so. I don’t think it’s that dire. Even if the season ends up being a disaster where essentially you finish the year where you are now, which is one of the worst defending teams in hockey, one of the, you know, teams that’s outside the playoff picture, I still don’t advocate for a tear down. I don’t think that you can. You look at where Tavvar is, you look at so many of these other players that are signed to long-term deals that I don’t think that you’re going to be able to get off of. where you’re at net, where the market is, what ownership is going to want. It’s it it doesn’t make sense to me that there will be a full tear down. But in order to get a better sense that this team is going to be competitive for Cups, the the bet of more depth, better depth, that has to be built internally and that has to be built with be built with better fits. And the only way that that’s going to feel any different for me is if you’re getting again a real full month right now of and it is right now because it it doesn’t matter if you do it once you’re completely out of the postseason picture or if you do fall out of the standings like now is the time. This month in December, early January, this is when the Leafs are going to have their opportunity to basically show that they are more capable of looking like a contender than they have so far this season. Because so far there has not been there has not been a stretch. There’s been periods and there those have been few and far between, but there have not been stretches where this team has looked like a Stanley Cup contender. And even like I’ve seen people make the Edmonton comparison where they go, well, who’s even who’s in the worst spot, Edmonton or Toronto? Because Edmonton looks like they’re tired, too. Yeah, but at least Edmonton has had the proof of concept of making it to Stanley Cups. Did they lose? Sure. But they’ve they’ve done it. They’ve had these bad starts and then turned it around and been hyper competitive come postseason time and beat the brakes off of a bunch of teams. Leafs don’t get that benefit of the doubt. They get some of it in terms of their regular season ability. Hey, they’ve endured some tough stretches where the media and the fan base has been at their throats and they’ve overcome it to in order to position themselves where they’re playing playoff hockey. But if you were going to feel like the DNA was changing, that was supposed to be, hey, they feel like a contender now. They feel deeper. They feel like they’re better positioned for the postseason. And that’s why again, tomorrow is going to be so important. Uh we’ll take a quick break, but before we do that, who wants to win a bunch of cash while doing the best thing this holiday season? Sportsnet 590, the fan, is allin supporting the 50/50 fortune for sick kids. It’s a 50/50. So, the more money we raise, the more kids we can help and the more holiday cash you can win. The current take-home prize is guaranteed to be $194,000. That’ll be two. That’ll be 200 grand by the end of the day. Uh, buy your tickets at 5050forttune.ca or text the word money to 59590 and we’ll send the link right to your phone. 18 plus. Please play responsibly. Standard message and data rates apply. Lottery license RAF1518410. Quick break. We’ll hit what we missed. All right, it’s time for what we missed. Brandon Brown is here. Armen’s going to chime in from the upstairs studio in a minute here, but I I always got to start with Brandon on a Monday after a Bills win because let’s be honest, man. Let’s just tell the truth. We were texting during the game and there were some tough moments for the Bills in that one and when the Steelers punched in that touchdown, it was feeling like, man, you guys are soft. But you got pumped up when Bosa made a play and you’re not a pumped up guy. Like Brandon’s not in in the chat in our group chat, he’s not exactly firing texts all the time. And you were pumped with Bosa. it. Part of me gives the Bills a lot of credit because they obviously ran the ball down Pittsburgh’s throat. They set a record at I’m still calling it Hinesfield. Whatever. What’s it called? Acushure. Acure Stadium. Yeah, Acushure. Sorry, Acushure. It’s Hinesfield. Yeah, that’s a that’s it’s just really tough to overcome that one. And I get it when people go, “Hey, it’s weird when you can’t change the name of a stadium when it was a brand.” But that one was that brand for so long. But um it does I will admit it does take a little bit away from Buffalo knowing they were doing the exact same run play basically 70% of the game and it kept working against the Steelers. It felt like you ever play video games against someone and you do the same move every single time and they go is this even fun for you? You just do the same move every single time. You do the same play every single time. That was the Steelers, but in real life, in professional sports. Yeah. And I mean, like you said, I think it’s so rare that you see that, especially in football, because teams are so quick to adjust. It doesn’t usually work out. But yeah, you like you said, credit to the Bills for being able to just put the early kind of, you know, a feeling of an upset potentially put it away and and yeah, I think the Joey Bosa play to start the the second half was just a complete mindset flip for that team. They gained a little bit of conf confidence and then they were ready to kind of continue to push and and offensively they found their their groove a little bit by just continuing to do what worked. Well, you know what was especially encouraging for me with the Bosa play is how many times this season have the Bills had like a real playmaker moment on defense. R not many. Right. Yeah. That’s the the spooky thing about Buffalo is the receiver thing is beyond obvious. Yeah. Like Brandon Cooks made a catch early on in the game. It was a nice one and I went, “Oh, right.” And even during the game, who was on the call? Was it Romo? No. Who was on the call this weekend? Yeah. No, it was N. It was Nance and Romo, right? Yeah. Romo and Nance are going on about big play Gabe because they have this one play where he’s split outside on a third down and they’re like, “Yeah, they got the one-on-one match up with Gabe Davis.” And I’m thinking, that’s cool, but he wasn’t playing football all year for a reason. Yeah, this guy is no great shakes. I know everybody likes him because he’s friends with Shane Gillis, but outside of that, when it comes to the actual football field application, if you have to do if you have to be doing the big game Gabe Davis thing, how many years ago was it even that Gabe Davis had that game for you guys? Three now. Yeah. Three seasons ago. Yeah. So, let’s pump the brakes on that one. So, that’s obvious to me. The the big thing with them is their defense is not tough and they don’t make plays. There’s way too many times where a team’s throwing down the field on them. the Bills didn’t get any pass rush and then I’m seeing Trey White get overwhelmed by somebody and going, “Yeah, it’s 2025. Trey White shouldn’t be this visible on your football team.” So, I did like that. I liked that they smacked Rogers around. I liked that they actually beat up on the Steelers and that from the second half onward, they felt tough. They felt tougher. But a lot of that starts with the Allen thing that I was talking about earlier, which is when he’s running the ball and he’s doing those designed quarterback runs specifically, like when it’s third and three or third and four. And yeah, it was Romo cuz he’s going the legs, Jim, the legs. You got to watch out for the legs. That’s when I feel good about the Bills. That’s when I feel like they can beat anybody in the NFL. It all it feels like there’s like a trickle down thing. I’ve talked about this with the Leafs with Matthews. when Matthews is scoring a ton of goals and he’s doing the Christ pose or the the gladiator or you not entertain pose. Yeah, whichever one it actually is. I don’t know if anybody’s actually cleared that up. Probably Gladiator, I would think. Probably Gladiator. Either way, um I always feel like the Leafs get a ton of energy off of that that the team kind of changes and starts to morph into the confident version of Matthews. And it’s the same thing with the Bills. When Allen is running the ball, not just making the plays down the field where it’s against a sloppy defense where he can just kind of pick them apart and throw for a million yards. It’s the running the ball where it feels like it’s him and James Cook. And it’s as deadly as you felt the year ago when it was Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson doing that. Yeah. No, 100%. And like you said, when when Allen’s making the right decisions, especially on like those RPO plays where he has to decide on a quick quick slant or if he’s running the ball, when he’s at his best, it is making those right decisions. and he a lot of the time it is him taking it up the middle himself or or finding a a seam to kind of break through and and yeah we saw yesterday how involved he was with the run game and and obviously Cook I think you just got to keep feeding him at this point like really good yeah the offense is going to run through him and I think that’s how they find their success if they are going to have any success in the in the pass game it has to be you know complimenting the run because that’s where they’re going to really make their damage Cook’s really good but then they’ve also got Davis and Johnson who were given Nance fits trying to figure out which one I don’t think Nance got it right on the first try the entire game, but those those two guys like literally run the same way. But it’s a nice little change of pace where the two of them are actually competent, too. It’s not just some slow crappy plotter or a lot of times a team has an undersized guy that’s only supposed to be there for the passing. Like both those guys can competently run between the tackles and and break one for at least 10 12. So yeah, obviously the rushing attack has now become the Bill’s identity, right? is they can’t really throw the ball, but if they can run on you and they can put you down in games where the defense can actually pin their ears back and get after you, I do I feel as good about the Bills as anybody. It’s when they’re in a close game, just like that Steelers game was looking early and the other team feels like you can run on you. I hate like that goal line play. It feels so predictable that a team on short yardage can run down the middle on the Bills and punch it through that D line, punch it through those linebackers. So yeah, a lot to prove, but I’m coming away from that one feeling pretty good about the Bills. And again, like a weekend where everybody was flat and nobody was good. And like I mentioned with Brady, I’m sticking with my take. This one’s staying the whole ways. This is the Bills year. It has to be the Bills year. And if it’s not, disaster because Yeah, it definitely felt like that first half and we talked about like the confidence level was was dropping a ton at after watching that first half. It just felt like if that’s how they’re going to play against good teams, it’s not going to work. Yeah. They got to feel tough somewhere. Yeah. And that’s where they feel tough is Allen running. Anyways, what did we miss? So, sticking on the grid iron, we had an interesting situation playing out with uh Lane Keifin, I guess, former Old Miss head coach now uh moving over to LSU. Um and he it seemed like, you know, he’s moving on in the middle of the season here. He was uh on his way to what looked like Yeah. what looked like a playoff birth with uh with Old Miss. Uh won the Egg Bowl, I think, on Friday afternoon. And then after that, news started to come out that he was going to be heading to to LSU and the Old Miss is not going to allow him to finish off the the season there. So, I wanted to get your thoughts first on that decision and whether or not uh he should have been looking to to stick it out with this squad before moving on to a to obviously a great program. So, college football, I’m more of a casual fan, right? I watched the big games. I I like I watched Michigan Ohio State this weekend, right? I want to see that and that was great. I love a good rivalry. I love the end of the game trying to see if, you know, Ohio State was going to go plant the flag and seeing all the Michigan fans like Dave Fortno cry. Yeah, I enjoy that. Uh, college football has a sport. Professional sports to me are losing rivalries. Like if you ask fans, who’s your rival? Who’s your rival? There’s not too many teams where it feels like, oh man, you really got to watch these two teams play. Ravens Steelers next weekend is one of them for sure. I think Bears Packers is now kind of becoming more of one of them now that the Bears are on the rise. For me, it’s in my lifetime, it’s been Seahawks, Niners. It’s felt like there’s been some real juice there. And yet this year, it doesn’t feel quite the same. Maybe it’s just because where the Rams are positioned, but you look at hockey, for example, how many teams in a sport like that, a physical sport, do you feel like you have to watch these two teams play because there is a blood feud between the two of them? Not many. Yeah. NBA, how many rivalries are there? Like genuine true blue rivalries. Right now, I would say that Bucks Pacers is weirdly near the top for me where it’s two teams that hate each other, but the Pacers are beat up. College football still has it. But outside of it, a lot of what is what needed to change, which was the money, isn’t working. And when and when you see something like this, my first thought goes to they clearly need to change the rules around player portals and not have it turn into just the wild west, which it seems to be over the last couple of years with the NIL money. But how are you supposed to communicate some kind of a message where you’re looking for fairness from players when a head coach of a team that has a shot to win a national championship this year can just bail on you in late November and go to a rival where he’s getting more money and more opportunity. And it just doesn’t sit well with me. I get it. Everybody’s got to do what’s best for them in their careers. And I guess Lane Keifin prayed on it. So, I’m sure Old Miss fans read that tweet and went, you know, he prayed on it, guys. He really took some time. Like, come on, man. Uh, it’s an ugly situation. It’s an embarrassing situation for college football. It does create animosity between those two teams. That is kind of fun that now again, because for me personally, if you would have said Miss and LSU were on TV this weekend, I would have gone that’s nice. If it’s on during one of the flips, then I’ll catch a piece of it. But, it wasn’t going to be must see for me. And I think uh a lot of Canadian there’s diehard college football fans. College football in a lot of ways is awesome. But I don’t think the vast sporting populace here is getting ready for Saturday and treats it the way that they do in the states. Of course not. But now all of a sudden that game matters. But yeah, Lane Keifin sucks. Like that’s such a loser crap move. It’s so ugly. And then for him to tweet it like I tried to stay to coach the rest of the season. Of course you were going to be gone. And I think that Miss treated it the best way possible, which was the tweet where they put his clothes out in the in the on the parking lot where the fans drive to the airport and they’re giving him the bird and screaming at him the entire way out. That made me feel good about the state of college football. But yeah, Lane Kein to do that for a team that is right there for a program that’s dying for a win that is going to be in the national championship conversation, it’s ugly. And I I just don’t my my issue is I don’t know what the solution is. I I don’t know where the college college sports are supposed to go with the added complications of the way coaches can leave. The way that recruiting has become recruiting was always important, but the way that recruiting has changed year-over-year and the transfer portal, the amount of good coaches we’ve seen leave college sports because they’re just tired of it. The turnover with some of these great coaches. Yeah, I’m I don’t think those rivalries will ever go away because it’s so important to those communities, right? Ultimately, the fans will care so much, but in terms of its place in sports, it’s starting to feel way too professionalized than I think college athletics should, and I don’t know where they look to find the balance. Yeah. I mean, like you said, I think when you’re a player and you’re potentially looking to to go join the LSU team, obviously maybe not the next couple years, but you can’t do it in season. Yeah. And and if the coach can leave at any time, what gives you the confidence that he’s going to stick around or that, you know, if you’re move to any program, you kind of want to have that security of knowing all those all those players on that team. Yeah. Why would any of them want to stick it out with that program when their head coaches bailed and now they’ve got a new coach and you’re like, “Oh, okay.” Same thing happened to Washington after they made it to the national championship game. Kaylin Dbor immediately left for the Alabama job and you go, “You’re gonna bolt immediately.” And but the way that it’s looked at it by most people is like well you can’t turn down Bama and I get it. Yeah. But it’s just and then again a bunch of the players left Washington. All of a sudden there’s a mass exodus of players and you feel like your program has been set back a decade that it’s going to be a long time before you ever see something like that that’s competent. Also that it it feels like um remember when what was the soccer team that won uh in the Premier League? Lchester City. Le Lester. Yeah. Lester City wins. That college sports is feeling so much like that where you’re not really building a program year over year over year to have great success. You’re having a program try to get their one little shot before the coach and all the players enter a transfer portal and end up going somewhere better. They get their transfer fees because the team is actually good. And that kind of sucks. I don’t I don’t really like that. Anyways, what’s next? Well, we had uh we had a situation last week where a Sacramento Kings fan called out Zack Lavine and some of the other Kings players during a a timeout against in their game uh last week. I’m trying to remember exactly who it was against, but it was last Wednesday. Doesn’t matter. Sacramento Kings. Yeah. And the fan actually put together a video after the fact and kind of explained his situation and you know, he got very honest about it. I think uh he was saying that the the timeout was called, they players came over and he was saying I want to get exactly what he said. He said he said, “Yo, we don’t want you to not play defense.” So, I mean, I it’s I think it’s a pretty fair criticism of the fan to to ask uh professional players to maybe play some defense. And yeah, just wanted to get your thoughts on the situation. So, I do think that this particular situation ends up being escalated because Russell Westbrook is on the King’s bench and he starts jawing with the fan who is yelling something that in my opinion is beyond fair criticism, but he is got to be number one maybe Luca Donuch. those two guys at the very top of a fan is yelling something and they’re on their bench getting the play drawn up and they’re actually gonna turn and start yapping back at the guy and yeah, have it turn into something bigger. So, I’ll I can’t really take the fan fully at his word that these are the only things he said. Maybe he threw some exploives in there. Maybe like whatever, right? They can it’s it’s one of those give me a reason to throw you out things. And once he starts going with Westbrook and he’s a New York guy, by the way, this Kings fan is from New York originally. I think he’s from Brooklyn and he’s got the accent and he cares about hoops, but he’s a Kings fan now. And my prevailing takeaway from it is two things. One, we need more fans like that. We need more fans. And I’m not saying we need more fans who scream at players and try to make things personal. Like, obviously, there’s a line. And it used to be a certain way that was, I think, kind of horrible. And it’s evolved to a place where I think fans are afraid to scream things at the players at games. That’s part of buying a ticket to me is that you get to voice your displeasures when you have them. And if you pay tens of thousands of dollars, which is what it costs to sit in those kind of seats, and you want to yell play defense, you shouldn’t feel like a criminal for doing that. So good for this guy for yelling that because Zack Lavine takes plays off. That’s what he’s known for. And there was one little blip with Chicago where he started to play D and then he was in Team USA conversations and people went look Zack Lavine he’s so athletic. He like you can’t be that athletic and that piss poor a defense. It’s obviously an effort thing. So for this guy who’s paying tens of thousands of dollars to go to Sacramento Kings games who’s paying for the nice jacket. He’s pissed and he’s yelling something. I don’t have any issue with that whatsoever. But what I have an issue with is the NBA culture in particular because this is way worse in the NBA than other leagues, right? Like you can bang on the glass, you can yell stuff, and granted like you’re closer to the players. So it’s it’s different than the NFL, which is in a loud ass stadium. And you see it sometimes with players on their benches interacting with fans and they go back and forth, but when do you ever see those fans get kicked out? You got to say something horrific. And in the NBA, I feel like the line for a player or sorry, for a fan to get kicked out of the stadium when they’ve paid good money for seats is low, man. And once again, I don’t even know who I’m speaking to with this because you got to be completely brain dead to turn this into like, well, what if they say something that’s rude or inappropriate or racist? It’s like, yeah, obviously. Obviously there’s a line. Yeah. You can’t personalize it anymore where you’re you’re just name calling and you’re insulting. It can’t get to a point. Yeah. Where the players are the sole deciders of who gets picked up. That’s what I mean. It’s like Josh Giddy something some guy yells at him. That one was a little different though cuz the fan did say something that was like a line crossing. I didn’t see what he said at all. I just I just mean like at this point it’s come to like a player just pointing a guy and like he’s out. It’s like okay. Did he just say something you didn’t like? Cuz like this world this game isn’t built for just you. Totally man. That’s what I mean is like these players are making tens of or hundreds of millions of dollars to play basketball and they go to these games and now it’s like this is a I swear to God, man, this feels like more of an NBA culture and it’s sports culture in general, but like these guys are doing it kind of the worst where they want everything, man. They want the money. They want to be able to chill on defense. They don’t really want to be criticized. They want to have media members that are only from the team that are coming down to the locker room. Like, did you see James Harden interact with the media this week? He throws eye roll. Yeah. The heavy eye roll when he’s being asked like a legitimate question. And I, dude, no one’s doubting that. It’s frustrating when media is coming into your place of business and asking you questions when things are going poorly. But so many times these questions are beyond fair. And you can hear it in the reporter’s voice where they’re like, “Uh, um, James.” And even this reporter was like, “James, you’re one of the great floor raisers.” Like, he’s complimenting him in the question, full coward mode. and James Harden still is not even giving him a piece. And I I just I feel for that Kings fan. And that’s how you ruin sports is that you start to turn on the fans. You make the fans the enemy. You make the fans the villain when all they’re doing is saying, “Hey man, play defense. Hey, we paid a lot of money to see you play defense.” And for some of these players, that’s becoming like a taboo that Oh, no. What we want you to do is we want you to fork out the hundreds of dollars, the thousands of dollars for tickets, and we want you to clap when things are going good, and we want you to root us on, and if we lose and it’s quiet in there, it’s your fault because we didn’t you didn’t get up on your feet. You weren’t celebrating the team enough. Like, it’s becoming joke level stuff. Anyways, subscribe to the pod. We’ll see you tomorrow.

JD Bunkis has former NFL QB and Fox NFL analyst Brady Quinn talk about the biggest storylines after Thanksgiving Football and Sunday’s NFL action. Former NHL forward and hockey analyst Matthew Barnaby joins the show to talk about the Toronto Maple Leafs and how the Leafs can improve.

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0:00 – Raptors Lose Two In A Row
10:17 – Brady Quinn and NFL Sunday
49:49 – Blue Jays Relief Market
52:40 – Matthew Barnaby and the Leafs’ Struggles
1:26:05 – Lane Kiffin News
1:32:29 – Russell Westbrook News

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JD Bunkis Podcast – Dec 1, 2025

#NHL #Hockey #MapleLeafs #Podcast