Were the LA Rams being petty??

So the Rams claimed Baker Mayfield off waivers, still not sure why, but they did. I'm hoping there's something petty there with regards to their division rival 49ers. I don't know. Maybe John Breach of CBSSports.com, super friend from Pick Six Podcast. He joins us on the Adam Gold Show.

Thank you very much for doing this. Do you think there's anything, any pettiness here, or did the Rams just decide, let's kick the tires on a former first overall pick? Well, you know, maybe there was a small thought of pettiness, but we saw later in the day that there were no other teams that put a claim in for Baker Mayfield.

No one else wanted them, not even the 49ers. So what I think this is, is look, you're Sean McVay. You're thinking, my God, we have nothing going for us right now. John Wolford, my backup quarterback might be injured. I might be down to my third string quarterback. I have nothing to lose by bringing in Baker Mayfield.

I mean, Sean McVay is a guy who took Jared Goff to the Superbowl. And so he's probably thinking, you know what, I'm going to bring in this other guy. Who's the number one overall pick. I'll see if he can run my offense.

And, uh, you know, it will look good for both of us. If he does Baker Mayfield can maybe go find someplace and sign a free agency and get paid. If he looks really good in these final four games and McVay will look like a genius, even though his team is three and nine. Here's the only thing I would say to that is if I'm the 49ers, because my priority was so late that maybe it didn't even make any sense for them to put in a waiver claim. Nobody behind me was going to claim him. So rather than assume the contract, we could just wait. If he clears, then maybe we'll go out and sign him. But I would argue that having watched Baker Mayfield play, there's zero guarantee that he is even as good as Brock Purdy. So maybe, uh, maybe they didn't really have any interest, although maybe as a backup, uh, as opposed to Josh Johnson, John breach, CBS, sports.com, pick six podcast, super friend. All right.

Uh, I'm going to ask you about, I already mentioned it. Is Brock Purdy good enough to get the 49ers where they want to be? Uh, if they want to be holding the Lombardi trophy at the end of the year, then no, I do not think he is good enough to do that. Look, there's a reason we have never seen a rookie quarterback win a Superbowl in NFL history. It doesn't happen. The playoffs are just too high pressure. We see all of them eventually collapsed under the weight of this pressure.

It just, it happens every single one of them. You need a rookie to play three or four straight games of impeccable football, and they just can't do that under those circumstances. And so I do think that Brock Purdy can win the NFC West for them.

I think he can possibly win a playoff game for them, but I just don't think that they're going to win a Superbowl with him as their starting quarterback. So hopefully for them, for their perspective, Jimmy Garoppolo can come back. They kind of, they went, he's out for the season.

He could be back for the playoffs. So Von Miller is out for the season. The bills seem to be taking on water when it comes to injuries. Has this changed your outlook for what the bills can be?

Yeah, absolutely. Look, they brought in Von Miller because they got embarrassed in the final 13 seconds of the divisional round last year. And they're thinking, my God, if we just have one person who can rush the passer in a situation like that and prevent someone like Patrick Mahomes or Joe Burrow or one of these big-time quarterbacks from beating us down the stretch, that's what we need.

They don't have that anymore. And they brought them in because they weren't great at rushing the passer. So this puts the bills in a precarious situation. You know, Josh Allen's still not a hundred percent.

He might be 90, 95% now. So you're talking about, you don't have a fully healthy quarterback. Your pass rush isn't as good as it was. And now you could see Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs. You could see Joe Burrow in the playoffs. Uh, you know, you can even throw two in there just because the dolphins have so many offensive weapons that, yeah, I think Buffalo is in trouble.

And look, they're still a great team. Maybe they end up in the AFC championship game. Uh, but I'm not sure they're the Super Bowl favorite in the AFC anymore. And Von Miller injury is going to be, uh, a big one. I would argue that they didn't need Von Miller.

They just needed better head coaching clock management, uh, from Sean McDermott. And then they probably would have been in the, uh, certainly would have been in the AFC championship game. And it gets me to the Cincinnati Bengals.

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The home Depot, how doers get more done. Are they the best team though? Are they the team to beat now in the AFC?

I mean, it kind of feels that way. Look, everybody thought it was the chief. So the past few weeks we've hearing chiefs, chiefs, chiefs, chiefs, chiefs, especially after Josh Allen's injury, it was up. Well, this opens the door for the chiefs. And this feels exactly like last year where everybody just sleeps on the bangles. They just defending AFC champion.

I don't know how they're not higher in this conversation. This team right now is better than what they were last year. We just saw them manhandle the chiefs. Look, I know why people thought the chiefs were better because the last two times the bangles and chiefs played, it felt like the chiefs blew it. Whether it was that regular season game last January, whether it was the AFC championship game, both of those games felt like the chiefs blew it this time. It felt like the bangles dominated that game from start to finish, felt like the bangles were the better team on the field. So yeah, I would say the bangles feel like the favorite in the AFC, even though, you know, the odds makers in Vegas apparently don't feel the same way.

They, well, they're, they're kind of playing on the emotions of everybody. Plus the preconceived notions of the chiefs. I actually thought the chiefs were in control of that game until the Travis Kelce fumble.

And that, that to me felt like that was the change in the game that the bangles needed. Joe burrow, I, like, I'm not going to call him the best quarterback in the NFL, but he's on the short list. He really, I mean, he, he adds the element of, you know, being able to do it with his legs if he has to, but he probably reminds me more of Joe Montana than any quarterback in the NFL. He is the coolest customer in the league.

Yeah. And you know, the thing I love about Joe burrow is that look, it was, he had Jamar chase there and well, look at all these receiving weapons. The bangles played multiple weeks without both Jamar chase and Joe mix. And people were thinking, ah, he doesn't have his number one receiver.

He might take a step back. And then the bangles fell flat on their face on Halloween night. And that Monday night game against the Browns and everybody wrote them off. And then Joe burrow came out and he has been playing unbelievable football since then with Jamar chase, without Jamar chase.

It doesn't matter. He's a point guard out there. That is what he does. He finds his guys. He gets everyone involved and you don't know who to stop with the bangles offense.

Now, uh, if he falls flat on his face against the brands again, maybe that's an issue, but you know what? I don't think the browns are going to make the playoffs. So the bangles won't have to worry about seeing Cleveland there. And I think they can beat anyone else. They're going to win that division, right? I mean, especially with the injury to Lamar Jackson in Baltimore, which is going to set them back for who knows how many weeks. I mean, this division should belong to the bangles.

No. Uh, I mean, I, I feel like it should, but the Ravens, I think have the second or third easiest remaining schedule. The bangles have the fifth most different, you know, they still have to face the Ravens. They still have to face the bills. They still have to go down to Tampa Bay and face Brady.

And I know the Buccaneers aren't that good right now, but it's still Tom Brady. Uh, so they do have some difficult games left, but yeah, I, I would like to think they're going to win that division, but I think it will, it will, it will be close just because, uh, you know, they're one in three, their division record. So, you know, the tiebreakers don't really work in their favor. They're not going to be able to tie Baltimore in the standings. They have to finish a full game ahead of them.

Uh, and so I think that is the little wrench that's thrown into it for the bangles. But yeah, I would say like I'm 52, 48, that the bangles are going to win the division, but a hundred percent that they're going to make the playoffs. 52, 48, that they're going to, they're, they're basically tied with the Ravens and the Ravens are going to be rolling out, uh, Johnny and Nitus, uh, for the next few weeks.

All right. Cause you mentioned the schedules and we're talking with John breach, pick six podcast at John breach on Twitter. Um, here's the thing about looking at the schedules that are, that every team has left. And we're basically in the last five weeks of the season for everybody.

Now that's an easy way. I mean, I'm not saying that's wrong who you play matters. Uh, so there are teams with easy schedules and teams with hard schedules and theoretically the teams with hard schedules should have a more difficult time. But, but I, I tend to fall on like, are you good or not? If you're good, I think this, your wins will take care of themselves.

So I I'll just use this example. I didn't think the giants were great back when they were five and one or whatever their record was, but you looked at their schedule and you saw, how are they not going to win 12 games? And I said that like they can't, they'll win 12 games by accident. I'm not sure they're going to get to 10 with, and, and that schedule doesn't quite look as easy the rest of the way as it does. Um, so to the giants who I think are fifth or S or maybe sixth in the NFC playoff race right now, what do you make of where they are, who they've got left and are they going to make the playoffs? Yeah, the giants are in a tough spot. They have to play. I think the Eagles twice and still have that game against the commanders. I don't think they're going to make the playoffs.

I think that is, that is a hard ask. Uh, you know, but if they can go three and two in these final five games, then they feel like a lock for the playoffs. So the question is, can they get those three wins? But it feels like the Eagles are a much better team.

I think the Eagles are the most well-rounded team in the NFL. Obviously that's not really going out in a limb. They're 11 one. Uh, but the fact that they have to play them twice, man, I just can't see the giants winning either one of those games. And then now you're looking at, you have to go three and one on your other four games.

And so it's just, it is a big ask. And I think if you look at the top seven seeds of the NFC and you had asked me if, if that's going to end up being your playoff field, I would think the giants are probably the most likely team out of that bunch to end up missing the postseason. So we'll both New York teams miss the playoffs.

The Jeffs, the jets have like a mixed bag of who they have left. You know, they have Detroit and Jacksonville at home, by the way, Detroit doesn't look so easy. Uh, the way they are playing right now and the, and the lions beat the giants out of nowhere, uh, a few weeks back. Um, the jets also have this week's trip to Buffalo. They play Miami in Miami, uh, to, uh, to close out the season or the, I think they're, uh, the wildcard for them is, can they win at Seattle? Assuming they beat when the two home games against the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Detroit lions are the jets going to make the playoffs.

Ah, man. I feel sorry for the big apple. Just, you know, these, these, these fans, everyone, they're jets, fans, giants fans.

They've been waiting so long. They, the jets have the longest postseason drought in the NFL. They haven't been there since 2010.

Uh, but I do think that drought is going to go one more year. I mean, you just mentioned the schedule, the bills game's going to be tough. I know they beat the bills earlier in the season.

Uh, but you know, Buffalo is not going to underestimate this jet scene, especially coming off that loss at 2017 loss earlier. Like you said, the lions are the hottest team. One of the hottest teams, the NFL right now they've won for their past five games.

They've been scoring a lot of points. Uh, they still play the dolphins. The dolphins are going to be desperate in week 18, probably looking to improve their seating, maybe try to win the division. Uh, yes, I feel like the jets are probably going to be odd man out. And plus you look at the teams right behind them, the Patriots, the chargers, maybe even the Raiders, Adam, the Raiders could make the playoffs. Uh, so yeah, I am going to say right now that I would not be comfortable if I was a jets fan looking for my team to get to the playoffs. 100% agree with you, especially they had an opportunity to beat the Vikings last week and kicked 70 field goals and had a hard time punching it into the end zone.

They eat, they were on the doorstep. They got to the one yard line with a chance to win that game and could not convert it Raiders. Well, obviously they have to beat the Rams tonight in order to have a chance at that. Uh, other than the Raiders, is there a team at five and seven that you think still has a chance to sneak in? Ah, I mean, when you look at, let's see, you have the Browns.

I don't think the Browns, you know, Deshaun Watson just looks so bad and that was against a very bad and if they had been playing anyone besides the Texans, they probably lose that game. I don't think the Steelers are going to sneak in. So you have the Raiders obviously, and I'm not sure they're five and seven teams that the lions, the lions are five and seven. I think the lions could sneak in, but they're probably going to have to, uh, you know, go four and one in these final five games, which isn't going to be easy.

So I'll say the lions and the NFC and the, and you said, I couldn't say the Raiders, but I'm saying the Raiders because the only five and 17 that I think has a chance of getting the playoffs in the AFC. Are the Eagles the best team in the NFC flat out? No doubt. Yeah.

And you know what? The win on Sunday against the Titans is what finally convinced me of that. It was just, it's one of the, I live in Nashville. I watch the Titans all the time. We saw the Titans almost beat the Kansas city chiefs with a rookie backup quarterback starting for them. We saw the Titans almost beat the Cincinnati Bengals. That's a three point loss of the chiefs, four point loss to the, to the Bengals. And then the Eagles go out and just beat them down. I mean, that was a total beat down. It wasn't close. The Eagles were the better team by far.

Uh, and so that was kind of the wind that put me over the hump. And I think the Eagles are there's tier one in the NFC. That's the Eagles. And then everyone else, there's a small cliff. And then you have your next year. Where are the Buccaneers on that tier?

And we'll close on this. They're off on their own little island, the Tom Brady Island where they're not good, but I would not want to face them in the playoffs. Look, if you're the Cowboys, do you really want to, you lost to the Buccaneers 19 to three in week one. Yes, you're a much better team now, but I would be a little worried if I'm Dallas, I'm Mike McCarthy and I'm forced to go into Tampa Bay for that wildcard game. Uh, and I have to face Tom Brady, you know, the guy was more playoff experience than anyone alive.

So yeah, you know, Tampa Bay, it doesn't matter which chair they're in because once they get to the playoffs, they're in the Tom Brady tier and that's always a tier to be afraid of John breach, pick six podcasts, super friend, CBS sports.com at John breach on Twitter. Thank you very much. Appreciate you doing this. Yep. Thanks for having me. Gold. You got it. With the new Chevy Silverado, you might be driving in this, but with the Silverado's redesigned interior and large infotainment screens, it'll feel more like this. Introducing the new 2022 Chevy Silverado find new upgrades, find new roads, Chevrolet.