 It's Wednesday. What does that mean? It's not just like a throwaway hour. We're not gonna do anything. No, we have lots to talk about. We are four sleeps away from finding out which two teams do, deemed, or destined to meet each other in Arizona at Super Bowl 57. Which two teams will be interrupting a Rihanna concert out there in AZ? So as we look ahead to Conference Championship Weekend, I want to talk about a few things that I think that we are underreacting to. We always do underreactions every Wednesday and we're gonna hit up a bunch of teams. We will start in the natty because we like to kick that off that way sometimes on this program. And I think, and in fact, I know, I know that we are underreacting to how big the Bengals edition of Hayden Hearst has been. If there was a lot of applause track, I'd hit it right now because he deserves simple love. This off season, listen, fan favorite, veteran in the locker room, dresses up like the Will Ferrell in Elf, CJ Uzamo, who we know, we love. He leaves to sign with the Jets. That was a bit of a hard one for Bengals fans in a post Super Bowl loss era to swallow. He was Cincinnati and replacing him was gonna be a bit of a tough task, especially with the front office planning to invest most of their cap in the offensive line and what they needed to do there. The solution, my friends, was bringing in H squared. Hayden Hearst, who by the way had the misfortune of playing behind Kyle Pitts in Atlanta, right? After beginning his career behind who, but none other than Mark Andrews out in Baltimore. So this is like, I'm always second fiddle. I'm always the guy behind the guy. Hayden's first shot to really shine, take advantage. We don't know much about him really until now because he was always in those positions and finishing fourth among tight ends is insane. Lots of tight end play was incredible week in, week out this year. He hauled in, this is more insane, 76.3% of his targets, okay? But the win over the bills was the icing on the cake, the cherry on top, right? This was a statement, people. Putting up a season high 59 yards. This hurdle was so good. He hurdles his way to first downs, converting four of them on the day. The hurdle kind of is my favorite thing I've ever seen in a long time though. And then this touchdown that you're seeing, right? He scores this on a sweet little double move to put the bangles up 14 nil. First went off, his biggest performance of the year in the biggest game of the year. So far, of course, we'll see what happens this week and potentially two weeks from then. Because not only is he about to play in his very first AAC championship game. Remember, this is a chance to settle a score. Listen, DJ Reader don't want to give me any bulletin board material, but there's a score to be settled with Justin Reed. There just is. And in case you need a refresher, and I'm sure you don't, here's what Justin Reed had to say leading up to the first game between the bangles and chiefs this year, and that was back in week 13. You know, and they have 88 Higbee. No, it's not Higbee, it was with the Rams. Yeah, tell me about Higgins. It is Higgins. It's Higgins, Higgins, Higgins. They're gonna have him back. He's a very talented receiver too. More of a finesse type of guy, not the best blocker. I'm gonna lock him down, you know, straight up. So, you know, we don't have to come out of the game. Like I said, play our best game and go out and do it. And any other week, I would put this to rest and not even talk about it, but because I know that the bangles are feeding off of disrespect and they're looking for things to feed them, I'm gonna feed into this just for that reason. The disrespect, he's talking, he thinks he's talking about Higgins. No, he's talking about Hayden Hearst. That's who he's directing all of that. I don't know, what is he about? The next thing. And here is Hayden, by the way, has a long memory. He did not forget, take listen to this. I laughed a little bit. I don't know. I mean, you could pick anybody in this locker room, but you know, I feel like I'm the last person you probably wanna talk shit about, because I have a long memory. Nah! I'm glad Hayden has that long memory because he wasn't that noticeable in that game because he got hurt. He hurt his calf and nine plays into the game and we didn't get to see this sort of play that we saw last week in Buffalo on the field in that matchup. So I'm super grateful, grateful and gratitude on the Wednesday, putting it out there. If you get one more chance on Sunday to see Hayden just and read all of that, or just Hayden, just Hayden in an AFC title game for the first time that should have no shortage of drama. All right, that's something that I think we're underreacting to. What a good addition, well outperforming what my expectations were for this Bengal squad and Hayden Hearst individually as a tight end in this offense. All right, sticking with that AFC matchup, I think we're underreacting to something that is weird and will change, likely to change, crazy that it hasn't changed. This is a statistic. I love Chris Jones. Everybody knows it. Chiefs, he's an all pro defensive tackle, 15 and a half sacks. He does not have somehow a sack in 13 career post season games. This is crazy. This is just weird. There's nothing, there's no bias. This is one of the most prolific pass rushers on the interior that this game has ever seen. Just this season, if you take a look, he finished with, like I said, 15 and a half most among defensive tackles fourth in the NFL overall. This made him the first interior delinemen in NFL history to record multiple seasons with 15 plus sacks, okay? And this morning, he was revealed alongside Nick Bosa and Micah Parsons as finalists for the defensive player of the year. Well deserved. He's an absolute monster, should be feared. And I feel like he doesn't get enough credit for how dominant he's been over the course of his seven years in the league purely because a guy named Aaron Donald exists and plays the same position. It's kind of like Hayden Hearst playing behind guys. I think he's a bit in the shadow of Donald and it's not that cool. But Chris really is, if you're looking at his NFL journey, he's probably not worried about this, but I'm intrigued by it. He's carving out a Hall of Fame worthy career of his own, right? And these things matter. And that's what makes this weird post-season 13 game drought super strange. So I'm sure he doesn't like that we're talking about it because he talked about it last week. And I don't anticipate any more questions leading up to Sunday because it's going to be hard to top the answer he gave reporters about this. I thought he was going to ask the question. Unfortunately, I have 10 to 11 playoff games, no sacks. That's not a huge priority, but I'm going to make sure I get what this go around just to set you guys up. Okay, so we're talking about the Bengals side, right? They're motivated, they feel slighted, they feel like underdogs. In this matchup, are the Bengals in that locker room? Do they really feel that way? Are they, are they going to let loose a little bit? Like it's Mahomes, he's not 100%. We've taken care of business against his team. We're okay. Whereas you have a guy like Chris Jones. And I'm talking about Chris Jones as a single game wrecking player on a team that needs somebody to step up because they do have something working against them in this huge game, hosting the AFC championship game. Is this the kind of stuff, not the kind of motivation that's going to make Chris go next level? I think it is. And it's going to be on his mind this week, especially given how close he came in last year's AFC title game. Do you remember this? Are we kidding? Third and seventh, fourth quarter. Jones had burrow. Oh, so close, not once, but twice. And Joe, my gosh, this is insane. Rah, Rah, you got it, you got it! No, I wasn't able to do it, okay? Man, he was able to slither away somehow that sneaky little burrow and pick up a first down in that one. It was one of the most and more memorable moments of the epic comeback for Bengals fans. So I'm sure Jones wants to erase that this Sunday. And honestly, it's kind of hard not to root for him to just get one and end the narrative. But whatever happens, given all that Chris Jones does to better the players around him on this D-Line and everything he's done to contribute to the Chief's success in recent years, I don't want to see anyone trying to use this bizarre statistic to define him in any way. It is truly bizarre. And congrats on being nominated for defensive player of the year, Chris. That is incredible. And I hope you take it home, that's amazing. And we could do yoga in the off season on our show if you ever wanted to. Like we did on the sidelines in the pre-season. Just saying. Lastly, and you guys can tweet up in Adam's show. Lastly, I think we're underreacting to the brilliance and the fortunate decision-making of Howie Roseman. He's a genius, okay? I don't know if it's because he won one and it's like almost I'm a homesy and thing where we're like, oh, that's crazy. He doesn't look past. And it's normalized. Like Howie makes crazy savvy moves and it's just, oh, we don't care about it anymore. It's watered down somehow. We have to take a second here and not allow that to happen. And it is time to point out what Howie has done with this football team once again. And we want to start with selecting Jalen Hertz. I don't want to take too much time in the history books here, but 2020 second round, we all remember the controversy well, well documented. You have Carson Wentz, what is this? He's never going to be a starting NFL quarterback. What's the point of taking him and putting that pressure on Carson? Don't do this. Well, we know how that has played out with the Eagles trading once away and Hertz turning into an MVP caliber quarterback. So that move in and of itself brilliant. Beyond the genius of picking Hertz, his selection then opens a door for a masterclass of wheeling and dealing that has built the foundation of Eagles championship roster situations. And let me explain. The Eagles, they dish Wentz to Indy for a first and a third, right? And I'm not going to get into the minutia of everything about the deal, but Howie made a flurry of deals after that involving those two draft picks and flipped them into this. Yeah, it deserves some jazzy music. AJ Brown, Devonte Smith, who's been crushing at this post season. Are they here without his play? I don't know. The 10th overall pick in this upcoming draft, okay? Courtesy of the Saints and a 2024 second rounder. Okay, let that sink in for a second. What you just saw there and what I just said, that is a direct result. Ipso facto, what so have you of the Carson Wentz deal? That's brilliant. And if it wasn't enough, he went out this off season and he stole Hassan Redick on a three year deal, okay? Hassan finished second in the league with 16 sacks this year and absolutely wrecked shopping that went on Saturday night over the Giants. They're not here without him. He stole him. Also scooped up James Bradbury, the Giants cap casualty who played his way into an all pro nod this season and picked off Daniel Jones in the divisional round win. And he's now the mayor of Shutdown City according to our very own Darius Butler. How crazy is this? And Howie lands the best nickel DB in the game, CJ Gardner Johnson in another deal with New Orleans Saints fans. Cover your ears, ear muffs, Nola. I don't wanna gloss over the hire of Nick Siriani either. Like, no, who thought that was a great move at the beginning? What? I talked to Boston Scott yesterday. Well, we talked about Nick Siriani. I'll show you that a little bit later this week. But it's been, remember that opening press conference? The flowers and that stuff that came after that, okay? He's been a home run hire for this organization. One game from playing in the Super Bowl, coaching a Super Bowl. So Eagles fans, all NFL fans appreciate Howie Roseman. You are allowed, in my opinion, you guys can tell me how you feel. You're allowed a Jalen Rager, no offense to Jalen Rager. You're allowed a Jalen Rager every now and then when you're able to consistently get on base, score runs and hit on talent the way that he has. If the Eagles go win another Super Bowl under this regime with a totally different quarterback and core group of players, okay? We need to start talking about Howie Roseman who's one of the greatest personnel guys in the history of this game. It is bonkers what he's been able to do. And with all the talent, how he's gotten comes pressure to cash in this season. I just want to note this, because we're thinking about what's on, look, what is up for grabs is this. Is Mahomes the dynasty? Is Borough gonna be putting to the same world as the Mahomes is of the world? When you consider how much pressure is on Roseman, these players, Jalen Hertz, all of the Sirianni, the birds have nine starters set to hit free agency. I came across this when I was talking to TJ Edwards because I was like, oh man, you're a free agent. I thought to myself, well shoot, Fletcher Cox, James Bradbury, who I just talked about, Miles Sanders. Man, there are some, this is a long list people. There's tough decisions for Howie to make. Let's trust that he makes them well. By the way, is he gonna have to give Jalen Hertz an extension as well? Probably. I trust Howie to figure this out, and that just shows you the window that this team is in and the pressure amount. Are you gonna have Jason Kelsey? Is he gonna play again? Probably not. You're gonna have to do with that next year as well. So there's a lot to get to as we, whether or not you're cheering on the Eagles or whoever this weekend. Who do you think Gronk is cheering for? I feel like Gronk and Sirianni would vibe together. Gronk and Nick Sirianni. Oh, don't look so bummed, Rob. Oh no. We'll turn that frown upside down, wearing your dolphin's collars. We love it.