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Boomer & Gio

Wild Card Recap

12 Jan 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What were the highlights of the wildcard weekend games?

0.166 - 23.76 Gio

Good Monday morning after most of the wildcard weekend games. We got the Texans and the Steelers tonight. But four out of the five over the weekend, really fun, really close, entertaining football games coming down to the end. It started with the Panthers and Rams and then sort of ended with the 49ers and Eagles because last night was just a, it was wild.

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23.74 - 45.563 Gio

really boring and ended with a thud but of course if you're a Patriots fan you don't care how you're moving on you are moving on and a couple of teams we said keep an eye on if they lose that could get into the John Harbaugh mix well they lost the Green Bay Packers in embarrassing fashion giving up 25 fourth quarter points to Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears

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Chapter 2: Which teams faced unexpected losses during the playoffs?

45.543 - 57.935 Gio

And the defending Super Bowl champions go down at home to the San Francisco 49ers. Could either Nick Sirianni or Matt LaFleur be out later today? Good morning, Boomer. How are you?

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57.955 - 79.304 Boomer Esiason

Yeah, good morning, G. And, you know, it's amazing because Matt LaFleur has one year left in his contract, so you don't want to have a lame duck head coach. You want to see if you can get a contract done. There were reports that they were working on their contract out in Green Bay. But because there's ties to John Harbaugh and his agent and the former CEO, Bob Harlan of the Green Bay Packers.

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80.847 - 99.402 Boomer Esiason

Robert Harlan, I guess his name, is the son of Bob or the son of Kevin. I don't know. A lot of Harlans out there. A lot of Harlans. But anyway. There are connections there, too. There are connections here with the Giants. There's connections down there in Miami. When we left here on Friday, I said, man, it's got to be Miami. It's got to be Miami. Thought the same way, yeah.

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99.422 - 119.949 Boomer Esiason

And then the more you hear, you hear that he's leaving it up to four different teams or potentially. four different teams for John Harbaugh to decide where he wants to coach. But you said it right, man. This weekend of football was amazing. And last night was a little bit of a dud, but it was a defensive game. You know, both defenses came to play. Both quarterbacks really struggled.

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120.73 - 140.774 Boomer Esiason

Justin Herbert must have got hit about 25 times last night as the Chargers had no answer for the blitz package of the Patriots. But when you think about this weekend, 12 fourth-quarter lead changes, that's most in a single postseason all time already. They had four game-winning touchdowns in the final three minutes. That's most in a single postseason all-time.

141.354 - 164.245 Boomer Esiason

Four comeback wins in the final three minutes of the fourth quarter, most in a single postseason all-time. And then two games with four go-ahead TDs in the fourth quarter, two in the rest of playoff history. So, I mean, that's just unbelievable football. It's exciting. It's riveting. And we're all sitting there waiting for a flag to come out. The whole thing, everybody's doing the same thing.

164.225 - 181.457 Boomer Esiason

But I have to say, you know, when I think about Matthew Stafford playing through, you know, the injuries that he had, I think about Josh Allen doing what he did with the Buffalo Bills. And, yeah, that was such a Josh Allen game. If anybody ever watched him when he was in college, you know, when he was at Wyoming?

Chapter 3: What coaching changes could occur after this weekend's games?

181.555 - 204.258 Boomer Esiason

And I didn't know really anything about him until my son Gunnar said, Dad, you got to see this kid playing in Wyoming. He's crazy. And back in those days, he was diving over people, running over people, taking hits, getting up, getting checked for concussions, bruised ribs, the whole thing. Yeah. And if you remember, Brian Daybold both told us about Josh Allen.

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204.419 - 223.865 Boomer Esiason

When he was the head coach of the Giants, we would meet with him. And I said, you know, is Daniel Jones kind of like Josh Allen? He goes, well, really, you know, nobody's like Josh Allen because Josh Allen wants to get hit in a football game. He's a football player playing quarterback. He just has really good quarterbacking skills, too, and a very high IQ.

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224.586 - 236.54 Boomer Esiason

But the more he got hit, the more he got into the game. And I was like, yeah, I felt bad for him. He's got a knee. He's got a foot. He's got a hand. He's got piss. He's got that. And he just played his ass off.

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236.56 - 251.372 Gio

Yeah, I mean, there were three things that happened in a short amount of time physically to him. He got sat on by a defensive lineman. Then he had to go into the tent. Then he throws the ball, and he hits his own offensive lineman's helmet. We've seen that a lot with quarterbacks. He's shaking that off.

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251.693 - 265.562 Gio

Then down at the goal line, he ends up hurting his knee, and he's grabbing his knee after he gets into the end zone. If he takes his team to the Super Bowl, now the defense of the Bills was pretty good. I mean, for defense in 2026, they were pretty good on the road.

265.542 - 274.43 Gio

But if he takes his team to the Super Bowl, I mean, this might be the most the quarterback means everything to a franchise thing that I've ever seen.

274.73 - 292.787 Gio

And the reason, and I know that there's been plenty of other examples of great quarterbacks taking teams to the Super Bowl, but there's been other things that are there, like the Hall of Fame head coach or the great wide receiver or the Hall of Fame defense or the running back. This team, I mean, James Cook has had a great season. He didn't really do much in this game.

293.087 - 304.643 Gio

Their wide receivers and their weapons, there's nothing They got nothing going on but Josh Allen. They can't even get the ball down the field half the time because his wide receivers can't get open because there's no one with talent on the team but him.

305.004 - 322.971 Boomer Esiason

You know the 11-yard tush push they had? Yeah, which is correct. Well, I think they were trying to let him score. No, no, no. They had the 11-yard tush push. Yeah. They weren't trying to let him score at that point. Okay. But the next play where it's first and goal and it's about a minute five to go in the game, Jacksonville has no timeouts. Right. Buffalo has all three timeouts.

Chapter 4: How did Josh Allen's performance impact the Bills' playoff chances?

415.81 - 430.353 Gio

But of course, ultimately didn't mean a thing because... You know, one play in, you get the tip ball and a Trevor Lawrence interception after the tip ball, and that was the end of it. So just a really good season for the Jaguars, and I really thought that they were going to win that football game.

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430.373 - 432.356 Boomer Esiason

They got a lot of good young players on that team, man.

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432.376 - 447.9 Gio

And they should be back, and the coach looks like he knows what he's doing, and the defensive coordinator looks like he knows what he's doing. They should be back and in the mix, but Josh Allen was just a little too much for them. But, man, that entire franchise is that guy. I mean, it really is.

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447.92 - 449.643 Boomer Esiason

That's why they got a new stadium being built.

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449.984 - 450.505 Gio

Well, yeah.

450.605 - 453.831 Boomer Esiason

And don't think for a minute that he doesn't have anything to do with that. He does.

453.991 - 456.376 Gio

Well, yeah, him and the governor is making us pay for it anyway.

456.556 - 467.116 Boomer Esiason

Well, whatever. But because of their success with him as their quarterback and because of the excitement that he generates in western New York, that's why you get a stadium.

467.497 - 470.846 Gio

I was rooting against them yesterday. I didn't want him to advance.

Chapter 5: What role did quarterback injuries play in the playoff outcomes?

561.296 - 562.399 Gio

Lose Kittle during the game.

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562.419 - 576.257 Boomer Esiason

I mean, they've lost everybody. The big one that they got back was Trent Williams. Of course, their left tackle. When he's out there, he is a huge difference maker. I think that was one of the reasons they won yesterday. But, man, I'll tell you what. Between A.J.

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576.277 - 594.071 Boomer Esiason

Brown, Nick Sirianni, Jalen Hurts, the drama surrounding those three guys, the ridiculous way that they play football, and the way that they have played offense this year. I mean, they have to. Either they move on from the coach or they've got to get rid of A.J. Brown. You know who loves A.J. Brown?

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594.492 - 595.814 Gio

Well, everybody loves A.J.

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596.075 - 597.758 Boomer Esiason

Brown. Mike Vrabel really loves A.J. Brown.

597.778 - 620.993 Gio

Well, that's right, because he said, as long as I'm here, A.J. Brown's going to be here. And then all of a sudden, that's not the case. That would be an amazing acquisition for the New England Patriots if that happens. It's just I don't understand how that whole thing fell apart. This is a Super Bowl winning team. This is a talented team. A.J. Brown is one of the best wide receivers in football.

621.154 - 640.954 Gio

For whatever reason, the coach, the quarterback, and A.J. Brown have just not been on the same page at all this year. And they never figured it out. And it came to a head on the sidelines. And then, of course, in the biggest moment, one of the biggest moments in the game on a third down as CBS Sports Network is playing it here. Not the most perfect pass, but if you're A.J.

640.974 - 641.875 Gio

Brown, you've got to catch that.

641.855 - 642.457 Boomer Esiason

Oh, come on.

Chapter 6: How did the Panthers and Jaguars perform in their playoff games?

908.255 - 928.966 Boomer Esiason

Oh, sure, yeah. And, again, like if you were the Giant head coach or Kevin Stepanski were the Giant head coach, if John Harbaugh doesn't take it, I'd be happy with any one of those three guys, any one of those three guys. And so I hope that Green Bay doesn't make that mistake. I really do. I mean, because I think that they got a good thing going on out there. Micah Parsons stays healthy.

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929.006 - 939.718 Boomer Esiason

That's a completely different team. The thing that's probably sour in the mouths of the fans out there is the fact that they blew leads at the end of games when they had the lead.

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939.698 - 957.792 Boomer Esiason

Where they would dominate the team they were playing for three quarters, and then all of a sudden, things would go haywire, momentum would change, and the team would actually kind of fold, both more defensively than offensively. I mean, but then again, on the other side, what do you...

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958.126 - 980.337 Boomer Esiason

What can you say about what Ben Johnson has done and Cale Williams and how they've won so many games in the last, like, three or four minutes of these games and the ability to come back and all of a sudden make plays? You know, it's interesting. Watching these games, and you hear a lot of the announcers talk about momentum shifts in games. And I always...

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980.992 - 993.753 Boomer Esiason

When I was announcing, I felt that way, too, because you feel it as a player, too, when you're on the field. And when you feel that shift all of a sudden, how do you stop that tidal wave of momentum? And I thought Green Bay did that when they scored their touchdown.

993.773 - 995.316 Gio

Yeah, right. Right, exactly. I know.

995.336 - 1015.791 Boomer Esiason

But then all of a sudden, you're missing field goals. You're missing extra points. Wow. And all of that stuff adds momentum to the other team. And then all you need is one or two big plays of blown coverage. Next thing you know, DJ Moore's in the end zone for a touchdown. And Caleb Williams just fires it to him. I don't think there's a guy that has improved more this season than Caleb Williams.

1015.771 - 1035.719 Gio

Yeah, I mean, and that has a lot to do with the head coach, if not all to do with the head coach and Ben Johnson. And that play that he made where he rolls out, jumps up in the air, and then basically just uses his arm strength to get the ball down the field is one of the more physically impressive things I've seen a quarterback do in a number of years.

1035.739 - 1053.3 Boomer Esiason

A couple of things about young quarterbacks. He and Drake made both. They both had turnovers. Yeah. And they both overcame the turnovers. You know, Drake may have had a bad fumble and had a bad interception. Well, it was more of a tip pass than anything else. But Caleb threw a couple of interceptions, but they overcame those things. That's when you know you got the right guy.

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