This is an I-Heart podcast.

Guaranteed Human.

The Around the NFL podcast.

The seasons feel longer and longer.

They do.

Because they are.

From the Chris Wesleying podcast studio, it's Around the NFL.

I'm Dan Hansis.

Heroes here. Greg Rosenthal. Mark Sessler.

What is up, men? Yeah, this used to be the last week of the season. Now it's the second to last.

Our calendars are off. But I heard a theory this week that I like that the second to last week of the season is the best week of the season. It's when the most things are decided. I have something from the research notes. Mark Sessler. Let us know. I'll tee you up on this. All right. Despite Bill's Bengals being the only game where both teams are currently in playoff position, 15 of 16 games have direct playoff implications where at least one team can still make the playoffs when a division title earn a higher seat or clinch a playoff by but has not done so yet.

Arizona, Atlanta is the only game that does not qualify.

I think there is a tangible difference from when we started this show.

And I mean, obviously this is what the league wanted.

I'm not sure that this is like the exact thing they wanted where a lot of these

teams are alive because there aren't Titanic kind of dynasties hanging out there at this point.

But in the past, we would have four or five games in a week like this where both sides were

sort of trash bag operations. And that's just not the case with any one of these games, but one. Well said, Mark. And I feel like some of these teams, like, remember when you're a kid? Yeah. And you have, like, someone sleeps over at your house, like a, during a Christmas break or something. And they stay like, yeah, sleep over. They stay like eight hours too long. And you're kind of like, let's get this guy out of here. It's like Denver Broncos, you're still in my living room eating my food.

Yeah, it's like, and then the kid is like, hey, why don't we do another sleepover? They're like, I know, how about you get your mom over here? Friendship's fine, but we just need a little. Let's refresh. Let's breathe a little bit. should we get into the games before talking about

Greg Rosenthal's

Jobsian mock turtleneck?

It's riding a little high. It's just right up there. Is that a mock turtle neck? It couldn't be any different than a mock turtle neck. It's a plain old. It's a little higher on the neck than typical. It is. It's not. Maybe like bunching up or something, yeah. I mean, it's that time of year. I feel like he's going to have really deep incisive, uh, iconoclast takes. Based on the fashion selection. Like a job-seying way. Right. I'm going to have regrets about being a bad dad to like my first child. Damn. Steve Jobs taking fire.

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