The Final Point
AFC / NFC Championship Predictions
[Music] Hello and welcome to another episode of the final point podcast. We are your host Luke Wanche, Tyler Smith and we're talking to NFL today. The matchups are set for the AFC and NFC championship games. We got commanders versus Eagles for the NFC championship and Bills versus Chiefs for the AFC championship. But let's start with the NFC championship, commanders versus Eagles. Who's gonna win? I mean this is a tough one. I think that the Eagles will come out in this one in a close game. I wouldn't be surprised if it goes the other way where the commanders come out in a close game. But this won't be a close game. I think Jane Daniels has been playing out of his mind. He's been playing consistent throughout the entire year. He's definitely rookie of the year, in my opinion, and what it would mean for them to go to the Super Bowl. Hey man, it's a rookie quarterback. To take him to the Zuro would just be really impressive. And you know, this Eagles team, which has had more of an up and down kind of route, you know, they play good and then maybe they have a streak of not playing as well. And this is such a talented Philadelphia Eagles team. I think it's just at the end of the day, it might be tough for the commanders with the worse run defense in the NFL to shut down Saquon Barkley, because I thought they struggled to shut down Jameer Gibbs in that game against the lines, but they were able to find other ways to win. So I think the commanders will stay in it by finding other ways to, you know, be successful Jane Daniels, command this offense, Terry McClellan. And they'll, you know, the commanders, if they find a way to win, they'll find a way to win. They are a dangerous team. I think it will so come down to a final possession. I think it will come down to a touchdown or a field goal. But I got the Eagles in a close one at home to. We'll be here. I think we know what teams should win. We know what team is more talented, has more experience and is what we would sit, who would sit, who we would say is better. And that's the Eagles. The Eagles should win this game. The only question is can Jane Daniels do enough to win it for the commanders? And in the end, I don't think that he will be able to. I mean, the commanders, I mean, they're red hot right now coming off of wins versus the Bucks and the Lions. But I think this game against the Eagles is going to be different, mainly because of the Eagles offense, specifically Seguar. And you might think that, you know, the commanders, they beat the Lions and the Lions have a great offense. But I don't, I really don't think that tells the whole story because they forced, the Lions had four or five turnovers that game. And they were all ridiculous turnovers. They're all dumb turnovers. And that Lions team that came to show up against Washington was not the Lions team that earned the number one seed. They played terrible. And I mean, first of all, we knew coming in that their defense was terrible because of all the injuries. And that's why when I look at Jane Daniels performance in that game, it's impressive and not impressive at the same time. Like whoa, Jane Daniels, he just torched the number one seed. He was playing against one of the worst defenses in the league at this point. And looking at the commander's defensively, sure the Lions had five, four or five turnovers, but they still, they still put up 31 points for five turnovers. And you still give up 31 points. And this defense is among the worst rushing defenses. Like you said, Jamir Gibbs still played pretty good against them. And the moral of that story is just that Washington, they're not going to win this game defensively. They're not going to beat Philadelphia defensively. Sake one, he's going to have a big day and Philly is going to put up a lot of points. Looking at the game offensively for the commanders. Like I said, last game against the Lions, they played against a non-existent defense in the game before that against Tampa Bay. They played Tampa Bay was third to the last against the past. And looking at Philadelphia, their second, their second in the league against the past. So overall, I think it's going to be tough for Washington to overcome the talent that they're playing against in this game. And you pair that with the playoff experience that Philly has. And it could still be close. I think it could, I think it'll be high scoring, but it could still be close. Because Jane Daniels is a good player. And he's playing his best football. And good players make good plays against good defenses. But if I'm picking a team to get a stop, it's Philly. I got the Eagles in a game that could be high scoring and maybe, maybe close. All right, now let's move on to the rematch. We in a lot of these AFC Championship games, the Chiefs are going to their seventh straight AFC Championship game. Both the Bills beat the Ravens in a close one. And the Chiefs took care of the Texans at a home. This is another Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes matchup in the playoffs with Patrick Mahomes having an edge against Josh Allen. Who do you got when in this game? And what are your thoughts on the game? As much as I would like to see Josh Allen and the Bills win, something just feels wrong going against Mahomes and this chief team in the playoffs. And I think if you compare this year's chief team to last year's chief team, there's better. I mean, they're better. And to me, it doesn't even seem like the Chiefs are playing all that great football this season. But I mean, their record shows it shows that I mean, they're for real. Looking at this game, the Chiefs are still undefeated at home this year. So I got Kansas City. I would give the edge defensively to Kansas City. They're coming off of a pretty good defensive performance against Houston. They had eight sacks on Stroud and they helped Nico Collins in check pretty well. I mean, you got Chris Jones up front. I think he'll have a pretty good impact. McDuffey and Justin Reed hold around the fort in the secondary. So I'll give the edge defensively to Kansas City. But I mean, Buffalo already beat Kansas City this season. So Kansas City is trying to get revenge. But I give Mahomes in the playoffs and the Chiefs and the benefit of the home home field advantage to Kansas City, the edge. But I think this I think it's going to be a great game. But I got the Chiefs. Yeah, I mean, I think it's just hard to go get hard to peek against Patty Mahomes, man. Patrick Mahomes, six and now seven divisional round. He's been to pass seven straight AFC Championship games for three Super Bowl victories to and he's going from back to back to back. Travis Kelsey seems to be starting to kind of hit a stride. They got Isaac Pacheco and Creme Hunt and you said like you said their defense now. I think it'll be a different story for their defense. They're going at CJ Stroud. Good quarterback, but not mobile like Josh Allen doesn't pose the threat that Josh Allen does. The Texas also had a very bad offensive line this year. Yes, you didn't say yes. They did shut down Nico Collins. But this is against Josh Allen and this is obviously Bill's one at home. Now you got to go into arrow ahead, which is not going to be easy and Chiefs want to revenge. So advantage goes to the Chiefs. It's going to be another one of those Patrick Mahomes Josh Allen battles where I got Mahomes coming out on top. But if Josh Allen can play like MVP Josh Allen, like he's been playing the entire season. He's given the bills a shot. He's given the bills a shot. It's just going to be hard against a playoff Patrick Mahomes playoff Chiefs team at Arrowhead. Give me the Chiefs in a close one. So staying on the topic of Josh Allen, he has never beat Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs yet. How much pressure do you think is on Josh Allen to win this game? I don't. This is a tough one because I wouldn't say there's a whole lot of pressure on him. I don't want to veer off but I will say there's he has less pressure than Lamar Jackson. I want I'm bringing Lamar Jackson just real quick because Lamar Jackson has it's kind of right it's behind Josh Allen. When you look at the AFC, the gauntlet in the AFC, you know, who's been the past like five years, who has been at the top of the quarterback's. You have Patrick Mahomes, then Josh Allen, then Lamar Jackson, especially in the playoffs. So I think there's less pressure on Josh Allen. I mean, there's still pressure on Josh Allen to get over the hump that he hasn't gotten over. There is, like I said, there's still pressure on him to get over this hump of beating Patrick Mahomes. But in future, but you know, at some point, yes, we're gonna have to say Josh Allen has to be he's going to have to be Patrick Holmes at some point. So I think there is pressure on him this year. I think he's still second to Patrick Mahomes. Which puts more pressure on someone like Lamar Jackson in the playoffs, but I do think that there is pressure to beat Patrick Mahomes. I mean, really, whenever you face Patrick Mahomes, but especially in someone who's lost Patrick Mahomes, every single time he's played Patrick Mahomes, mainly in the AFC Championship games, there's definitely pressure. What do you think? I don't think that there should be much pressure on Josh Allen to win. I don't think that there should be much pressure. I think the people are putting too much pressure on him than there actually should be. And that's because, yeah, he's never beat Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs. But he was never supposed to beat Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs either. Like when you put pressure on somebody, it's because of expectations that they're supposed to do something. And to me, all the games that Mahomes and Josh Allen has played in the playoffs, Mahomes and the Chiefs were the ones who were expected to win. So it's not like he played bad all those games. He's played some great games against the Chiefs in the playoffs. He just hasn't been able to pull through. But if the bills were the one seed this year and Kansas City was a lower seed, then, yeah, there'd be some more pressure on Josh Allen to win. There'd be some more expectation because the bills are the better team and people would think that the bills are the better team and they'd expect them to win. So if that were the case or if the bills were just a higher seed than Kansas City, then there would be more pressure on him. But I think he's like the odds are against him right now. The Chiefs are favored and it's been that way every time he's played Mahomes. So I don't think there should be that much pressure on Allen to beat him. I mean, at some point, I mean, at some point there will be, but I think right now if he's not expected to, there's not that much pressure on him. So just a quick question. Just a quick question for you. I don't want to, I don't want to veer off too much, but I want to do you think there's more pressure when it comes to playoff performance in general? You think there's more pressure on Allen or Lamar Jackson when it comes to winning and performing the playoffs? Well, I think that's, I think you can look at it both ways. You can look at it as like Mahomes. I mean, like Josh Allen has probably played more, has played more games that are deeper into the playoffs. And therefore, you know, he has more experience. He should win, he should win more. But then you have Lamar Jackson's side where, you know, he's a two-time MVP. It seems like if you're this good, then it's about time that you go to a Super Bowl or get at least, you know, yeah, get to a Super Bowl. I think I'd probably still say Lamar Jackson. There's, there's probably more, more, just because he's, you know, he's the MVP. He's the best player in the league for multiple times. And I think when that's the case, people are expecting you to be your team to be at the top, near the top at the end of the season, and that hasn't always been the case. So I think that's why there's a little bit more pressure on, uh, on Lamar Jackson. But I think, I think it's a tough question. All right. Our last question here, we're going to be, uh, talking about the, what could be three times in a row, three Pete champs, the Kansas H.E.U.S. with one of the last two years. Luke, what would a three Pete mean for the Kansas H.E.U.S? It would mean that they are arguably the greatest football dynasty of all time. I still wouldn't put them above the Patriots. Um, but if they win, then, then, in my opinion, they are able to enter that conversation. That would be seven straight AFC championships and four Super Bowl wins out of five appearances. That's pretty good. And just when you look at that resume, to me, like that you should be able to enter the conversation. And three of those championships were in a row. That means you, you practically owned the league for three years. That's, that's pretty big. So to me, they enter the greatest, greatest dynasty of all time conversation. Doesn't mean they are, but they, they enter that conversation. What do you think? I definitely agree with you on that. They are definitely entering the greatest dynasty of all time conversation. Uh, Patch Mahomes also inches closer, um, to Tom Brady as the greatest player of all time, in my opinion, in football. You know, when it comes to does it on, on the surface, does it mean anything? Uh, I mean, yes, a Super Bowl is a three P is amazing, but it's like, it's just like those warriors calves match ups where it's like, well, another year, you know, another year of this, or, you know, I mean, where we just kept saying another year of these guys, another day or the, you know, that's kind of what it's getting to what these can't say to chiefs is you're like another year of them in the Super Bowl. Well, another year of them, when the AFC, you know, away in the Super Bowl, right? But yes, they are moving in, as a team, inching, or as a dynasty, inching closer to the Patriots. Um, and then I think Patch Mahomes is inching even closer to Tom Brady in the conversation of who the goat is. So high stakes with a three P, they can definitely do it. Um, but yeah, it's definitely, I definitely agree with you on when we're talking about all time accolades. They got chances to move an inch closer. All right. Thanks for listening to the final podcast. If you have any more sports topics that you would like us to talk about, you can say so in the comments. Tune in next time and enjoy your day. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]
0:00 NFC: Commanders vs Eagles
6:03 AFC: Bills vs Chiefs