Chiefs win AFC West, Ravens Super Bowl Favorites, Were Dolphins exposed? | NFL | FIRST THINGS FIRST

Live from New York, it's a show that is wishing you a very happy 2024 Super Bowl odds. Oddly, still the Niners have the number one spot, then Baltimore Cowboys, Kansas City, the Bills, and the Eagles. Quick recap, Lamar Brew was talking about how he prefers to be the underdog, doesn't want to let the success go to his head or anything. How are you feeling? Do you feel that way too? I'm feeling great. I'm feeling so, you know, the only thing that would cap this off and make me feel better. What's that? It was a sandwich, some chips, and a soda pop. Don't say soda pop. Oh, here we go. This is actually appropriate. Why? Because this is what the Baltimore Ravens did to the Miami Dolphins. They were in their own home. Yes, they were, and they were some rude hosts, all right? They were so rude that not only did they not feed the Dolphins, they made the Dolphins feed them. Go make me a sandwich. Go get me some, go down the street and get me a soda pop. That's what they said, all right? And they had their way with the Miami Dolphins. Thank you for not biting into it. Yeah, I want to, I want to. It looks delicious, but all right, look, to get to your question, this is what I'd say, Nick, it's simple. Who should be, well, you didn't even ask the question. It's should the Ravens be the number one, the Super Bowl favorites? Yes. This is what I would say, Nick, ask the 49ers. I agree with this take. Ask the Dolphins, ask the Jaguars, and ask the Lions, because those are four division leaders who the Ravens beat by an average of 25 points. That's pretty good. I mean, come on. It's good stuff. Now, look, I don't think they're a lock. You know, it's not like, oh, it's over. We can give them the Super Bowl trophy now, but for them not to be number one, how in the world could they not be the favorites? They got the best record. They got the best defense. They got the best running offense. They got the soon to be MVP, and they crushed the team that's number one, the Niners. I agree with this. Is it finally happening? What? Do you, Chris Broussard, finally have a new Super Bowl pick? What? No. What do you mean, no? We'll see. We'll see. I mean, it seems like it. A little bit later. A little bit later. Oh, I'll get to that a little bit later. Okay, all right, because the Eagles, it should be noted for Brew with all the histrionics and the gorgeous robe and sunglasses. This is gorgeous. And once again, forcing our staff to go out and buy him food because it doesn't even make sense with the show because the Ravens were not on the road. The bit is about going into someone else's house. Or making them come to your house. That's even worse. Okay, that's even worse. Come to my house. You're not going to eat, but I'm going to eat and you're going to speak. So I will be very straightforward here. They should be, right now, the massive favorites. For all the reasons Brew said, they have checked all the boxes. They are, aside from Mark Andrews, healthy right now, which has been a huge problem for them in years past. They beat people up. People don't leave games against them healthy. They obviously feel terribly for Bradley Chubb. That was not, it's just bad luck. But they play a style of defense like Patrick Queen and Roquan Smith have talked about that imposes their will on people. And Lamar is playing sensationally. And he's played so well. What has been kind of the MVP of sports talk topics the last two months? Who is the NFL's MVP? We now go into the final week of the season and it's not an interesting topic at all. Because Lamar has ended that discussion. Which is why I find this to be, from a storyline perspective, the best possible outcome for the NFL. If the Ravens get to the Super Bowl, then in the last three years, Mahomes has been to one. Lamar's been to one. Burrow's been to one. And the media likes to pretend Josh has been to a half dozen. So it's like you have four apex predators in one conference. They all will have won the conference a certain time. They all would have different claims of when they didn't get there. Burrow would be like, well, I got hurt. Lamar say, I got hurt. For Mahomes, this year would be well. The team, as you guys are saying, had nobody could catch. That's what you guys are saying. What? And he's also the only one because Burrow didn't win the Super Bowl. Mahomes did. We'll see. And Brew, I know, doesn't think the Ravens are because he's an Eagles guy. That at least they got to the Super Bowl. On the other hand, if he doesn't get, I'm not talking about win the Super Bowl. If after all of this, the Ravens fall flat in their first playoff game, it is also, from a storyline perspective, a wildly fascinating one. Because Lamar, can we show the two-time MVPs? Lamar's about to join this list. I think we all agree. By before they won their second MVP, all of them had been to a conference championship and four of them had been to multiple conference championships. All of them had multiple playoff wins and four of them had eight or more playoff wins or five or more playoff wins. Pardon me. Lamar's sitting there right now with one. So it's a, it's a award that is unprecedented for as, quote, unproven of a playoff performer to get for a second time. And if they play poorly in the postseason or if he loses his first playoff game as the one seed for the second time, and I said it Friday and I don't feel good about it, but it is just true. It will be a very interesting, and if you don't like the James Harden comp, go with the Joel Embiid comp, whatever it is, of where it is a guy is up here in the regular season. And then no matter how well he plays in the regular season, you have a massive yeah, but question about him for the postseason. Can we put, can we put that up again? I know that's a little bit tricky. Is, I understand the concept. Are you penalizing Lamar though, because he's getting his second MVP so literally young in his life. What's Lamar? 26. You know, he'll be the youngest ever second MVP. When Brady didn't get, no, Favre was great. Hold on. Brady didn't. Favre was incredibly young. Steve Young wasn't that young, but he was relatively early into his NFL career. Mahomes was incredibly young. Kurt Warner was by year four. You know what, Kurt Warner won his second MVP, his third year as a starter. Sneaky old. I, but you, you understand what I mean? No, but it's the, and no, what people would be holding against Lamar and Brew, I'm curious where you fall on it because this could be the year of Lamar. He, the whole league passes on him and looks like fools. He gets the contract, not quite he wanted, but a damn good contract done on his own. Wins league MVP, gets the ones, he gets to the Superbowl. It could be the year and dispatches all these demons. But the playoff resume now is the only reason you would pick against the Ravens is that graphic. That is the thing because they beaten everyone, Brew. I, I didn't agree. I agree with you to some degree on Friday. I thought the hard one was off because I think Harden's melted down, like emotionally in these guys. I think Lamar's just had bad or, or, you know, early in his career, he couldn't throw the ball as well. Teams figured him out and all that stuff. But the NBA one makes a little more sense. But now look, I, and I know they had blasted other great teams already, but what they just did to my, I mean, 56 points. Now it's, they look so far in a way, the best teams in at least the AFC and really the whole league right now. Yeah. If they lose the first game. Now, if they were to lose to the chiefs in the, in the championship, then it becomes a story about the chiefs. Totally agree. And my homes is my home. So that wouldn't be bad, but they, if they lose in the first or their first game first game, yeah, it would be bad. So playoffs start. We'll start for Lamar January 20th or 21st. Yep. It's a long time to go without playing football. Are you worried about that? I listen, I, you not as worried as you would be as him getting dinged. So you have to sit him, but it is not ideal. I don't, it is the, the, the, I love freaking the college. No. And, and especially when you're rolling the way they are and OBJ. Now he had played well, a few weeks ago, obviously had a big catch in this game. Like you would like a little more time. I bet it's good for OBJ. It's a little older. Yeah. I agree with that, but it is, there is no, I know you think this like the silliest, but also an interesting conversation, which is the restaurant, both one seeds being locked when they are and both one seeds being able to sit guys, if they want to, there's no right answer, but I, you have to sit Lamar. With McCaffrey. Oh, absolutely. But as far as the quarterbacks for both of them, you have to rest them, but you'd like for Lamar in particular to be able to keep the momentum going. You wouldn't be surprised. Like first quarter, it's 14, three. Yeah. They just came out faster. Because Brew takes his robe off because he forgot. New conversation. Oh, brand new. Okay. Were the dolphins exposed, bro. Exposed. Oh, here we go. Exposed implies. Nobody knew. Nobody knew this was coming, but somebody knew it was coming. Dusty. What's this? The headline. Oh, I said this on Friday. It's the exact same thing. I say it was going to happen on Friday. Pop locked and dropped. Yeah. Ravens break dancing. Yeah. It's all dolphins. All right. Look, the dolphins look like we thought they will. All right. They look like they wanted to break dance when it called for a fight. They wanted to do this. Oh. Brew. Brew, was this your idea? They got dolphins. Yeah, we see it all. Wilds, as the leader of the show, you're accountable for this happening right now. Brew, they are deep in your analysis. Brew, we get it. They look like the dolphins, I'm telling you. Splashy, cute, doing their thing. Can I ask you a question? But I bet you if somebody tackled one of them, it'd be a different story. Somebody tackled one of them, blocked them or something. They not moving like that. But they did. They wanted to break dance and they got hammered. Look, quickly, you mentioned they're one in four against teams with winning records. Yes. This high scoring offense, it averages what, 30? Yes. Averages 15 against those teams. Yeah. All right. Yeah. Good. Is it 18 against those teams? So 18 points a game against those winning teams. So here, listen, I guess two points. One is, I tried to warn America last week that the, oh my God, since Jalen Ramsey came back, do the dolphins have the best defense in the NFL? That that was a mirage. That that was never true. They had played better and the numbers were good, but it was aside from Dak against a who's nobody of quarterbacks. And I thought the defense was a tad overrated. But here is where I think Brew is going a bit too hard, too far on Miami. Right now, you have a clear tier one in the NFL. It is San Francisco and Baltimore. And for some, and I don't want to argue about it right now. Kansas city is Godfathered into it. Just when the playoff starts, they're just Godfathered. That way it's Reid Mahomes. They're Godfathered into tier one as long as they're in. Yep. After that, you cannot tell me Miami is not right there in the next year with Dallas, who they beat with Detroit, with Buffalo, who they're going to play on Sunday. And I think they're going to beat, but we'll see. But Buffalo is not exactly bathed itself in glory. The last few weeks with I would put the Rams actually in tier two. I know other people might not, but regardless. So I, I think there is a lot of NFL discussion right now that is almost based on a premise of there's two good teams, San Francisco and Baltimore. And those two, those are the two teams that have played the best. And if we are simply saying that Miami does not currently measure up to either of those teams, that is obviously true, but the conversation surrounding them, I think today and every time they get blown out or they play poorly, sounds like we're talking about a team that we'd be shocked if they want to play off game rather than a team that might be the third or fourth best team in the entire NFL. And so I do think brew their team that oddly eat because they're so explosive. You wouldn't expect it. Can't play from behind that. Well, you would think they should be able to because they can be explosive, but if you can get them off schedule, if you can mess up to his timing, they are a totally different team. And Nick, like I said, obviously, and it's one game of 17 at this one, 16, the 70 points skewed things early in the year. But if you look at their games against the good teams, except for they don't score a lot. And even Dallas, they didn't score right. That was a 2220. They scored 22 points. So when they play great defenses, they don't put up a lot of points. All right. And that's what I mean by finesse. They got a great run game, but it's a finesse run game. And then they got the speed at the receiver, but they just, like I said, they, they're a different caliber. So no moisture in this game. Yeah. Uh, no jail, no waddle. Yep. So that kind of like, you could just watch Tyreek saving. Howard got carded off. Bradley Chubb brutal is out for the year. So it's kind of like a combo there. Most are, couldn't be, it should be back against the bills game. Bradley Chubb is gone. I mean, their defense is cooked. Now. I think they will beat Buffalo because nothing is more Buffalo bills than go into a game where if you win, you're the two seed, you're out of the down. No, well, yeah, but the teams on a up, the teams won four in a row. So I think Miami is going to end up the two seed and be fine ish. Like they should win their first playoff game and lose their second playoff game. And nobody then is going to act like they were frauds. But I do think that there is an element of that. They are not the caliber of the apex teams in the league. And I know, I, people will maybe roll their eyes at me on this because they just beat them. I don't think they're as good as Dallas. I think Dallas is better right now. This moment. I do wonder if they played Cleveland and that that would be a hard match to find because they're the five seed like that. The Cleveland, they would have problems. I think they would have problems with Cleveland, especially given the injuries. If Flacco continues to play well, not, not what he's doing now. We don't expect that, but if he plays solid with that defense, that's just not as good as they beat Miami. Cleveland's like the Ravens, dude. Nick, you must be thrilled with this W. I am. Obviously. It's a good win. I mean, they're playing a desperate, prideful team. That playoff life was on the line. I know. And the Chiefs did exactly what they needed to do, given who they are this year. The Chiefs, listen, this idea that great defense don't make mistakes, which has been their bugaboo. True. Take the points. Can't win you a Super Bowl. It's 130 of them. And then you add to it that the Chiefs path must be lean on the defense, cut out the mind numbing mistakes. Which they didn't. And they were able to come through it. And Mahomes fumbled. They lost the turnover battle. And trust that Mahomes three times a game can make a special play. You can get to the Super Bowl that way. And everybody thinks in the Super Bowl, they're going to be playing the Niners. Sign me up. You can get to a Super Bowl that way. They had to win this game. They now get a buy. They don't, they don't, they don't deserve a buy, but they get a buy. They get it within the red and they're locked into the three seed. No matter what, they can't get to the two. They can't drop to the four. And you also saw to me, like the Chiefs this year, Wilds is big thing. As many of you scored 21, you beat them. The flip side is the Chiefs are undefeated when they score 21. They're also undefeated when they don't lose the turnover battle or give up a defensive score. So it's very simple. It's not going to be flashy. And it's at this point, I've given up the ghost that they're going to drop 40 on a good team. I don't think that's going to happen, but I don't think they have to. And I think the Bengals, when Browning doesn't turn the ball over, the Bengals have been good since he took over. Like just flatly, they've been good. They beat two, Jacksonville and Indy, two teams that are in the playoffs. And then was it Minnesota? They got rolled in the game. He played very poorly against whoever it was a week ago and they beat Minnesota. Yeah. Obviously the Chiefs aren't terrific, at least offensively this year. And I didn't expect this type of battle. You know, it got to a point where I thought Cincinnati was going to win. They're down 10. Because I don't, I don't believe the Chiefs are automatically going to come back like I used to know in the past, but I'm with Nick. I think they showed the heart of a champion. I mean, look, I get it because the Bengals, I get it that Jake Browning was a quarterback, but like I said, they beaten some good teams with Browning. And that was almost like a playoff atmosphere because they hate each other so much. We saw the skirmishes. The Bengals were like, really wanted that game, needed that game. And when it came down to it, they scored the last 18 points and they got what? Five sacks in like the last six minutes. Yes. It, it reminded me, and you guys are too young probably to remember this. Oh, here we go. Of a, one of Muhammad Ali's late victories, like maybe an Ernie Shavers or a Ron Lyle, when he wasn't the same fighter, didn't have the speed, didn't have the talent that he used to have, but his will and his smarts, he just found a way to win. And that's what the Chiefs did. And they're going to be a tough out. What about the final Patriots, Superbowl wilds? That was one 13 to three. That was with a great quarterback and a great aging tight end and a great coach. And so can I, can I make, before we move on, there's just a few point receiver points on you make, first of all, do you guys, I know they're a different network. Do you guys like CBS the way they broadcast the games? Correct. I like it. You trust like their NFL coverage. Think there's smart, good people over there. Of course. What seat, what CBS tweet this weekend? Oh my God. Oh, it's catching on. Did you see him? Their Twitter feed is actually excellent. I know it is. That's from CBS, who you guys love. And then lastly is Jamar chase, which we just need to bring out the bulletin board because Jamar chase Oh wow. Befooled himself. And here's the deal guys. We now have for the first time all year, we have bulletin board eliminations. Oh yikes. Orlando Brown, who gave up those sacks at the end of the game, Orlando, you were a great chief. You also said you liked blocking for the bangles more than the chiefs. Your season's over. You have been eliminated. Jamar chase who had stuff to say all year long. And then for the second time in 2023, two times, one calendar year, your season ended in Arrowhead stadium. Guess what, buddy? You have been eliminated. And sadly, last but not least, the chiefs also eliminated the Broncos this week. And you know what that means? Greg Jennings, you have been eliminated. The bulletin board is, by the way, a lot of Eagles on there. The bulletin board's coming for them, but three of them have been smited by the power of the bulletin board wilds. Thanks for watching. Subscribe here to get more from the show and to check out clips from other shows on FS1.