Trey, how are you? Thank you for the time. Chair, a pleasure. Pleasure. What's up, man?
Always a pleasure. Right before you joined us, we were having this chat now that we had the MVP finalists announced. We got guys like Goff, and we know he's not winning it, and Joe Burrow. It's a two-team or two-guy race between Josh Allen, pretty much, and also Lamar.
And then you got Saquon Aneer. Where do you stand on who's likely to win MVP? Listen, this is one of those unique situations where there's no right answer and there's no wrong answer. So what I would love, I would really love to see the awards split.
And people say, well, that's a cop-out. Well, it's happened before. In 2003, the first of Peyton's five MVPs, he shared it with Steve McNair. So if you look at what Lamar has done for the Ravens and what Josh has been to the Bills, I think the most equitable and just thing would be to split it.
I don't know if that's going to happen, but that's what I would like to see. Saquon, if he had gotten the record, then he had a chance to go for the record. Maybe he wins it. You know, and you could also, look, Joe Burrow probably had the best season of any quarterback.
If you just go look at the numbers and look at what he did. But then he goes back to the, what does his value mean? How do you define value in the most valuable player? So I guess for me, I would love to see it split between Josh and Lamar. Okay, well, I think one debate that won't be had is who's going to win Offensive Rookie of the Year. We're going to see him play on Sunday against the Eagles.
And that's Jaden Daniels. What are your thoughts on what he's been able to do? I mean, obviously, now he has a chance to be the first rookie to start in the Super Bowl.
Yeah. And I think the most important thing when you look at what Jaden has done, and I'm not sure he's going to get there because there's a, there's a couple of factors that I think are huge for Philadelphia and we can get to those in a second. But the fact that he's in this position as a rookie and why I think that's significant as opposed to other quarterbacks that have had this opportunity. He's the sixth rookie to have the opportunity to take his team to a Super Bowl. The other five rookie quarterbacks going back from Sean King, Joe Flacco, Mark Sanchez, and all of them, their defense was either first or third.
It was, that was it. They were using the best defense in the NFL for the third best defense scoring defense in the NFL. Jaden Daniels was doing this with the 18th best scoring defense of the NFL. And I think that is a testament to how different this guy is as a player. You know, if you look at the Mark Sanchez era with the jets and all that kind of stuff as a rookie, like he was there, but the defense was the reason that team was where, where they were. And same thing with Sean King in Tampa Bay and, and also with Joe Flacco. For me, the outlier here is that he doesn't have that spectacular, got to have it, shut him down defense.
And he still finds himself in this position. And that speaks volumes to me about what he is in the future he has in the NFL. I mean, everybody's just kind of marvels at what he's been able to do, given his rookie status. We're being joined by Trey Wingo from the DraftKings Network here on the JR Sport Brief Show. You talk about the Philadelphia Eagles, and they're dealing with some injuries on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. Jalen Hurts, obviously, limping around. Quinon Mitchell, we don't necessarily know his status heading into the game. They still got Saquon Barkley. They still got some weapons to work with. And even on one leg, Hurts is going to be out there.
Yeah, he is. And look, if we're honest about it, Jalen Hurts, his most important function in this offense this season has been to hand the ball off to Saquon Barkley. I mean, the passing game has not been there. It hasn't been dynamic, despite all the reading of inner excellence by AJ Brown on the sidelines. So you look at how this team is built.
And here are a couple of things that really jump out to me when you look at the numbers. The Washington defense is 30th in the NFL against the run. That is problematic when you have a 2,000 yard running back and arguably the best offensive line in football.
And yes, Jalen is hurt, to your point. They don't want him to throw the ball. They don't want to throw more than 15 times.
They want to wear you down. And with that offensive line, they have the opportunity to do that against the Washington defense. That is problematic against the run for lack of a better term. Only two teams were worse in giving up yards per game. But the other thing that really stood out to me, and yes, there are a couple of injuries on the defensive side of the ball, but the Eagles through the regular season in the playoffs had the number one scoring and total defense in the NFL over the last 20 seasons. Teams that played on championship Sunday with the number one in overall total defense, number one scoring and overall total defense at home specifically are 4-0. In the Super Bowl era, they're 7-2.
And I just feel like that's a huge obstacle for Jalen and the commanders to overcome. Hey, Trey, when you take a look at things on the AFC side, we get another matchup, at least this time again in the championship game. The Buffalo Bills have an opportunity to go to the Super Bowl. Do you see them getting past the Chiefs? I don't because I just, I'm going to be the last one out on Patrick Holmes and the Chiefs ever. Like it's just, they've sort of become the, they, well, they are, they are the Patriots of the ops and the 2010s.
Right. But just so people understand how rare this is, this is the fourth playoff meeting between these two. There's only one other quarterback duo that's had more playoff run-ins than these guys. And that's Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, who met each other five times in the post season.
And you know, Brady won the first two and Peyton won the last three. Well, Holmes has won every single one of these games. And, and, and just to prove that winning is not a quarterback stat in the four playoff, the four regular season wins that Josh Allen and the bills have over the chiefs, their numbers are worse offensively than in the three playoff losses. They have to Kansas city. They average 26 points a game in the regular season against the chief. They average 28, no postseason. They average 296 yards per game in the regular season. They average 343 in the post season, in the regular season, in those five games, the touchdown to interception ratio with 13 to four in the post season, it's nine to one. So clearly Josh and the offense have elevated themselves in almost every phase in the postseason games, but wins and losses are a team thing. And the deep Buffalo's defense has found a way to let them down time and time again. And I just feel like the chiefs have been on this thing since, since the start of the year, like right after my home scored through the touchdown to Hardman to win the Superbowl last year, one of the first things he said is no one's ever gotten three. And I feel like this entire chief's team has just sort of been playing with their food for lack of a better term to get to this point.
They know what's on the line. They have the possibility to do something that no team has ever done. In fact, no team has ever made it back to the Superbowl with a chance to win three, let alone win the thing.
They would be the first team ever to even make it back to the Superbowl with an opportunity to win three. And I think that's what they're playing for. And I think they up until now, everything has been okay. This is fine. We have to get through this. Can we just get here? And they're here. And I just, I don't see them wasting that opportunity, especially at home.
Trey Wingo is here with us on the JR Sport Reshow, courtesy of the DraftKings Network. There's been a lot of online conjecture, which doesn't always count for a lot unless it translates into a bigger personality saying it, including the Texans, about the Ravens and some, not the Ravens, but the Chiefs and some of the calls that they receive. Do you think there naturally is a bias when you take a look at some of the best athletes, even if it is football, a violent sport? Um, I think that certainly could be a factor, but most of this, I think is a part of what I call a CBS, which is Chief's Derangement Syndrome.
Okay. They're just tired of them winning all the time. Same thing with the Patriots when they were winning all the time. You know, Tom Brady got a phantom call of a blow to the head by Chris Jones in the 2018 championship game that kept the drive alive for them in the fourth quarter. But more importantly, I think the thing that people need to understand is that we see this all the time in the Chiefs game. That's because you see more Chiefs games. They played every day of the week this season, except Tuesday, Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
Okay. They are shoved into almost every prime time and national, uh, afternoon window that you possibly can get. So you see more of their games and people talk about like, Oh, the crazy penalty against the Bengals when it was fourth and 16 in week two, do you know how it got to fourth and 16 on fourth and six, they converted a first down, but it was called back for a holding penalty. So explain to me why, if the reps are pro chiefs and they get all these calls, why would they, uh, why would they negate a fourth and six with a penalty and then allow a fourth and 16? It doesn't make any sense.
That's the point I'm trying to make. NFL reps are just bad. They're bad. They're very bad. And they make bad calls all the time.
You just happen to see more of them in the Chiefs games because the chiefs are on your television more. Hey Trey talking about being bad. The Jacksonville Jaguars are bad in a bad situation. I mean, I guess finally now they can get their hands on a head coach now that their general manager is, is out the way. What are your, what are your thoughts on what's going on with the Jags and in the current coaching cycle? The Cowboys might be close to hiring somebody.
It's just all over the place. Well, let's talk about the Jags first. I mean, everybody knew in the league that Trent bulky, the GM was going to be a problem. And his last, the last team that he was a GM with that had double digit wins was 2013.
Okay. So when they got rid of Doug Peterson, the fact that they decided initially to keep, uh, Trent bulky was a huge problem. And now it looks like that one's bulky is gone. They may be landing Liam Cohen, who was their number one choice overall from the Tampa Bay bucks. So, you know, at least I'll give the Jags credit for realizing this wasn't going to work.
And they decided we need to fix this. Some of the other things like the Cowboys, I have no idea what the hell you're not going to coach them. Trey, you're not going to go coach the Cowboys. Well, I'm one of the seven people that wasn't interviewed for the jet-cut coaching job.
I can promise you that. Um, but like, you know, if they go with Brian Schottenheimer, nothing's going to change. Cause that's a guy Jerry can control Jerry's not only the owner, he's the GM. He's empowered two coaches in his entire tenure as a Cowboys owner, Jimmy Johnson.
And they won, uh, two Superbowls back to back under Jimmy and then Bill Parcells and they didn't win a Superbowl under Bill Parcells, but he allowed Bill Parcells to coach that team. It's one thing to hire a coach. It's another thing to empower a coach. And Jerry has empowered only two coaches. And if it is Brian Schottenheimer, that coach will not be empowered any more than Dave Campo or Chan Gailey was. Trey, you talk about the, the New York Jets and, and we know the Patriots added a coach, the Bears added a coach, Raiders still need a coach.
What team do you think actually made the best decision in moving forward? Uh, the Patriots with Mike Rabel. I mean, they should have hired him a year ago. Um, you know, Braves is just, he's perfect for that job.
He's perfect for that team. Uh, he, you know, uh, out coached Belichick in the 2019 AFC wildcard game, which was the last game of Belichick and Brady together in the postseason. Um, I, I really liked that move. Ben Johnson is the hot name, but we've, we've heard hot names before, and it's one thing to be a hot shot offensive coordinator or defense coordinator.
It's another thing to sort of, you know, figure out how to run the whole show meal. And so, uh, I would say that Mike Rabel was after, I have no idea if they're going to be much better last year because they have a lot of issues, especially on the offensive side, but I think that was the best head coaching hire, uh, by far out of all of these. But Trey, I appreciate the time. I do want to ask you this with the NFL draft coming up, we have heard from the Titans and it could be a lot of bluster and bluff about what they're going to do with the number one selection. What would you do if you were the Titans?
You got a Travis Hunter, you have a Cam Ward there. If you're the Titans, how do you move forward? This, this is a quarterback driven league more than ever. Jr. You have to have a guy that can, and clearly with Mason Rudolph and Mr. Mayonnaise will love us.
They don't have one in Tennessee. So I would imagine that the most important thing is either to get a veteran quarterback, maybe like a Sam Darnold, uh, or, or find one in the draft. If you don't have a quarterback, you cannot win in the NFL.
And I think they have to be quarterback centric either with that first pick in the draft or making a move for a veteran that they can put in there for three or four years. And Trey, I certainly appreciate the time. Where can people follow you and all the work and pregame work on DraftKings Network? Tell us. Uh, thanks Jr. On my Twitter, is that Wingo, W-I-N-G-O-Z, trade out Wingo on Instagram. Uh, pregame power-ups going to be on this Sunday at 11 o'clock Eastern on the DraftKings Network and we'll be doing shows all week in New Orleans, Tuesday through Sunday.
We can't wait. And be paying attention. All the best and safe travels around, Trey. Okay? Appreciate it. All right. Anytime, Jr. Thank you.
