Boomer & Gio
Full Show - Championship Sunday Fully Discussed, Harbaugh In Control At Giants
23 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?
It's the Boomer and Geo podcast from WFAN. And we're coming to you live from the Build 4 Tough Studio. Boomer Esaias and Greg Giannotti. It's Boomer and Geo on the fans. Simulcast across the country on CBS Sports Network and wherever you're on the free Odyssey app. Good Friday morning, a feel-good football Friday championship weekend, championship Sunday.
We got the helmets in front of us here on the desk. You can see them on CBS Sports Network. I'm sure Al put it out on social media as well. I got the Rams and the Seahawks in front of me. Boomer's got the Pats and the Broncos in front of him as we've really not talked about these matchups all that much on the show because we've had John Harbaugh and we had New York Mets stuff and
Everything this week, the Knicks that has distracted us from it, so we will get into it heavy today. Some more coaching stuff going on out there. The Baltimore Ravens hired Jesse Minter. That was another one that we actually got right. That was a bunch we got wrong, but so far... We've got that one right, and we got Harbaugh right, and we had Jeff Halfley right going to Miami.
So it's all about these relationships out there in the NFL, and John Harbaugh continues to get his way within the Giants organization, which is what we expected. Exciting stuff for them. Good morning, Boomer. How are you? Yeah, good morning, Jay. We made it.
we did so yeah last night uh at tellers next door it was a great night for our foundation and uh just want to say thank you to greg buttle and for sean o'hara trekking all the way from jersey franklin lakes all the way out to islip new york on a thursday afternoon not easy but uh it certainly was a great night we uh both got in very late last night uh but we wanted to show up for a football friday with these uh these two championship games on sunday the first one being the broncos and
Patriots at three o'clock on CBS and then of course after that on Fox will be the Rams and the Seahawks and to think that these are the four teams uh that were left or are left it was amazing and listening to everybody's different perspective last night at our chalk talk at Tellers when you listen to Sean he has a perspective you listen to Buttle he has a perspective you know most of the people that were sitting at the table that I was at last night
Everybody has a different viewpoint of these two games, and it's really amazing when you think about it because the number one topic I felt like last night that kept coming up was Sam Darnold. Sam Darnold, Sam Darnold, Sam Darnold.
And the fact that he was a Jet, and when he was a Jet, he was 20 years old, and he was in way over his head, and now he's on his fifth team, and now he's leading his team. He's one step away from the Super Bowl, which is really remarkable when you think of his career arc.
Yeah, and that was, I think, the reason why we talk so much about Sam is because Greg Buttle and Sean O'Hara had different opinions on it. Greg Buttle said that Sam Darnold was the most talented quarterback he had seen in a Jets uniform since Joe Namath, and he didn't have the right coaching, and he was so young and all of these things. By the way, you think I should have taken that as an insult?
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Chapter 2: What are the key matchups for Championship Sunday?
Yeah, he was trying to go after you, but no, I mean, I don't think you take that one as an insult. But Sam, of course, ends up going to, you know, after the Carolina disaster, he gets with Kyle Shanahan, then he gets with Kevin O'Connell, and now he's out there with Clint Kubiak and the Seahawks. So Sean O'Hara is basically saying that you blitz Sam Darnold, he turns the ball over.
He had two turnovers in the previous game against the last game against the Rams. Two turnovers last year in the playoffs as a member of the Minnesota Vikings against the Rams. And now he's playing the Rams again. And if you blitz this guy, and Chris Shula should, then there's prone for turnovers for Sam.
And will he, as Sean put it, pee down his leg again in a big situation when he's under pressure? And Greg Buttle's saying, stop it. All of that is over with now. The guy has won so many regular season games. He is now in the championship game. He's like enough of the seeing ghosts thing that has followed him around. So that is a fascinating one.
I mean, even though we don't have the big, huge names, the Patrick Mahomes, the Lamar Jacksons, the Josh Allens, this... championship weekend with a backup making his first start and Jared Stidham in the AFC game. And then Sam Darnold with all the pressure on him going up against the last seasoned MVP caliber quarterback in Matt Stafford is really, really interesting stuff.
And it's going to be hard to predict. It's going to be hard to handicap. I mean, you really have to go in and have a strong opinion on this and hope that it works out because I don't think anybody has any idea how these guys are going to react in this situation. Well, you know,
just given the state of what these two teams, the Rams and the Seahawks have done this year, you got to think it's going to be within a field goal. I mean, they know each other. And if there is anybody that can handle the chaos, that is Seattle's home field, it would be Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford. You know, the key thing there is just, you got to be able to communicate, man.
You got to be able to snap the ball. You got to make sure that there are no false start penalties, no illegal motion penalties or double motion, whatever they call it. I mean, like there's a million things that can go wrong in the, in the, that is that stadium. And we saw it last week with a undermanned 49er team. They just got completely trucked and run over.
And it all started with a kickoff return. And you talk about making a great trade at the trade deadline that Rashid Shahid from New Orleans to Seattle. has paid major dividends for the Seattle Seahawks. So they are a complete and really, really solid football team. And it's the number one scoring offense versus the number one scoring defense.
And what's interesting about that is that you have Chris Shula, who's most likely going to get one of these head coaching jobs that is left, I believe. And I also think that Clint Kubiak is going to get one of these head coaching jobs that is left. And he's the offensive coordinator, of course, for the Seattle Seahawks.
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Chapter 3: How are Sam Darnold and Jared Stidham performing?
So you're going to see a lot of press coverage, I would think. I think they're going to put the pressure on Jarrett Stidham, the Patriots, well, from a defensive perspective, to make those throws and see if he can. If he hits a couple big ones, then maybe he gets some confidence. And the next thing you know, this is going to be a tight game. I do think both games are going to be tight.
And we'll talk about who we're going to pick a little bit later on. But I don't know. I just hope that we get really two solid games that isn't decided by an officiating gaffe, a replay gaffe, something else that is going to leave a bad taste in our mouth like we had last week when we watched the Bills walk off the field. So we've talked about Jared Stidham making his first star.
We don't know what we're going to get. Drake May has had an amazing season, but still he's a second-year player playing in it. Turnover machine. Yeah, playing in a championship game on the road. This is another prove-it situation, even though Sam has answered all the questions this year in a Seahawks uniform, but still another prove-it situation for Sam against a team that has given him fits.
And there's one guy that is supposed to be here. He's done it before, and that's Matthew Stafford, who's playing his ass off and playing what could be the best football of his entire career. And, you know, sometimes these things are complicated, trying to figure out these games and who's going to do what. And these teams are so good because they're in the championship games.
But sometimes it boils down to the guy at the most important position playing the best with the weapons that he has. And road, home, doesn't matter. This guy has been absolutely spectacular, and he's got a Super Bowl-winning head coach that he's already won one with. So, I mean, that combination is going to be hard to pick against. It really is.
All the respect to what the Seahawks have done, and they are top to bottom a phenomenal team. It's just going to be hard to pick against Matt Stafford and Sean McVay. It's just that Seattle has such momentum at home right now. And we saw it last week. They're totally healthy with the exception of Zach Charbonnet, their other running back, along with Kenneth Walker.
And they've been a two-running back team all year long. Now they're going to lose one of those two runners. So a little bit more, I think, on the shoulders of Sam Darnold. He's going to have to play better than he did last week. Now, I don't know last week. If you remember before the game, all of a sudden on the injured list comes Sam Darnold with an oblique injury.
And I'm like, you know, he only threw the ball 17 times in last week's game. And that's because the defense was smothering the 49ers. And they started the game off with a return kickoff for a touchdown. So, you know, I'm hopefully he's feeling 100 percent and there's nothing going on there.
But he's going to have to he's going to I believe he's going to have to do more, of course, in order to win the football game. So, you know, it is like I can't even begin to tell you, like when you go on the road in these two stadiums, the Broncos and Seahawks, two of the greatest stadiums in the NFL. and two of the hardest stadiums for the opposing quarterback to play in because it is so loud.
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Chapter 4: What insights do the hosts share about coaching changes?
Yeah, but did he have him with the Raiders? He brought him to the Raiders, yes. So he was asked his thoughts of Stidham that they're going to face.
Smart, accurate, great human being, worked hard. Great teammate. You know, just hadn't had an opportunity.
But he's going to get a big one on Sunday. Here's his teammate Patrick Sertan II. What have you seen from him in practice?
You know, I've seen a lot of confidence. He's got a type of mojo with him, a type of confidence with him. that you rarely see. And, you know, I'm excited for him, for this opportunity.
Again, with the opportunity. And so we had that clip yesterday of Sean Payton talking about how he would be one of 32 if he wasn't on the Broncos. He is a starting quarterback. He could have started for the Jets, that's for sure. I would say so. That is probably very true. So that's one of 32. Where else could he have started? Arizona, maybe? Cleveland.
I'd say, according to Dan Orlovsky, Houston. Houston? Yeah, but he had to come back and apologize.
Well, he did.
He took the foot off the gas there. Right, so this was Orlovsky Monday on ESPN. If you're Houston, you win that game with 31 other quarterbacks. And then if you're Orlovsky, I don't know if this was Wednesday or yesterday, either way, here he was in ESPN.
I want to go back to Monday morning because on Monday morning after the Patriot-Texans game, I went on and said, Houston wins that game with 31 other quarterbacks. I want to publicly apologize to C.J. Stroud. I crossed the line.
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Chapter 5: What are the implications of John Harbaugh's control with the Giants?
He did. At Tellers. That was very nice of him to do that. Believe you me, asking or asked a million times about Matthew Schaefer. Yeah, and by the way, we also got a text from John Ledecky yesterday. I didn't get one. Yes, you did. You didn't? No. Oh, well, I did. And he wished us luck on the event. Oh, okay. So I guess you weren't on that. You weren't on that. I wasn't.
Chapter 6: How do the hosts analyze the upcoming NFL Championship games?
He was sending it just to you. Yeah, look at that. I'm like persona non grata during the hockey team season. Well, yeah. I mean, of course. They want to stick it to you. Every time I'm at a... Guess what? It's being stuck. Every time I'm there at one of the games, John will say something about you. Hey, what's Boomer think? Hey, tell Boomer. Tell Boomer to suck it. He doesn't say that.
He doesn't go that far.
Yes, he has fun at my expense.
Chapter 7: What are the latest updates on the Dolphins and their coaching changes?
I understand it. Yeah, he was like, man, I just can't wait Christmas dinner. One of the best things that ever happened to that franchise, and I was very close to Charles Wong and loved Charles and his family and everybody else, and really, really nice, but really one of the best things that happened when they finally sold and Scott Malkin took over, John Ledecky became the face of the franchise.
Yeah. And the fans really bought into everything that he was trying to get done. And when you sit and you watch and you see UBS Arena, you see Matthew Schaefer here now, I mean, everything is going the right direction. Absolutely. You know, so good for them. Let's go to Mark and Wayne. What's going on, Mark? Hey, Boomer. Hey, Gio. Love your show. Thanks, Mark.
Chapter 8: What predictions do the hosts make for Championship Sunday?
What's happening? Well, I got a timely joke for you. You ready? Yeah. Why did the snowman pull down his pants? I don't know, Mark. He saw the snowblower coming. Wow. Snowblower. I did not expect that. I thought it would be a snowballs reference. Yeah. But Al said, no, it's better. And he was right. That is a good one. That's a real good one.
If you're taking your kid to school right now, I'm sorry. I have to explain why that's funny. Snowblower. To your children in the car. I didn't know he was going there, but the snowblower. Everybody loves a good snowman snowblower joke.
I mean, that's one we should have seen coming. You know what I mean? It's obvious and still was funny.
It was. It was really, really obvious. Would that be considered like a dad joke? Dad jokes aren't as risque. Okay. Well, some dads probably. Well, yeah, but trust me. Dads are prison. But the dad joke is real cheesy. I mean, that was cheesy, but it was also off color, you know? Yeah. So not full dad joke category. I will take a break. Back to your calls in just a second.
It's Boomer and Geo on a Feel Good Football Friday. Snowblower. It's the Boomer and Geo podcast from WFAN. Boomer and Geo coming to you live from the Bill Ford Tough Studio on the Fan and CBS Sports Network on this Feel Good Football Friday. I don't know if you saw the interview with Fernando Mendoza and Jimmy Fallon.
Did you see this?
Yes, I did, and I saw him throwing the footballs at the albums that Jimmy Fallon was tossing up there, almost like skeet shooting it away. Yes, back in the day we did that with David Letterman throwing footballs into garbage cans. Yeah. But this was a great, I mean, this kid just keeps the next step, the next step, the next step. Everything he does, he's just so likable, man.
I mean, it's incredible. He's very, very bright. He's a damn good athlete, and he's a great reflection of really working hard to achieve your dreams, man. Because he wasn't a highly recruited guy. No, of course not. It just sucks that the Jets can't have him. You know, it just really does.
I mean, it would have been one hell of an offseason thinking about John Harbaugh being the coach of the Giants and Fernando Mendoza having an opportunity to be that franchise quarterback for the Jets. But, you know, maybe they weren't ready for him. You know, coaches and scouts will tell you this, and I think we talked about this. When you watch him play and you watch his teammates react to him,
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