NPDS - NFL Week 18 Dream: Steelers vs Ravens! Buccaneers vs Panthers! Charles Barkely is FED UP with the NFL on Christmas! (Episode 1396 Hour 1)

Le Batard & Friends Network

Dan Le Batard

Sports

4.8 • 8.2K Ratings

🗓️ 29 December 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

No show until FRIDAY! Have a happy and safe New Years! Thank you again for the continued support! Today’s word of the day is ‘savior’ as in the NFL gets a dream scenario for Week 18 as in Steelers as in Ravens as in Panthers as in Buccaneers as in Seahawks as in 49ers! Wow. The AFC North is up for grabs. The NFC South is up for grabs. The No. 1 seed and the NFC West is up for grabs. And we cannot forget the losers all playing for the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft! Let’s start with the Steelers and DK Metcalf. (19:20) Saturday is locked up with two great games next weekend. That NFC South clash matters, but the Falcons could have a major say. What about the NFC West? The NFL could have to get through San Francisco to claim a title. (25:15) Are you interested in the No. 1 pick? We’ve got a five team battle! What’s going on with the Raiders and Maxx Crosby? (33:40) Charles Barkley has a big issue with the NFL. He is sick of them playing on Christmas, and he made it known. (40:40) Review: Jay Kelly. (44:20) NPPOD. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The I'm I'm I'm
0:21.6	I'm
0:23.6	The Thank you. I'm going to be. I'm going to Savior. That's the nothing personal word of the day. It is Monday, December 29th,
1:17.9	2025. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, getting ready for the New Year week. A chance to start over?
1:31.0	Teams in the NFL are looking for their chance to start over. God, week 17s can be difficult. Sort of like the middle of September in baseball when you're
1:37.4	out of it and you're just thinking, God, get me to the end. I want to pack my duffel. Get out of this
1:43.7	clubhouse. I don't want to get hit
1:45.4	anymore. There was a chance that the NFL was going to have a historic problem coming up this
1:52.8	week. The NFL does what Major League Baseball does. The final week, week 18, there's no schedule. The teams know which teams they're playing.
2:05.3	They don't know the day and they don't know the time. The NFL flexes the entire week 18 in
2:12.8	order to maximize the games in prime time that means something.
2:18.3	And there was a risk going into week 18
2:21.3	that for the first time and God knows how long,
2:24.3	that not one game would mean one thing.
2:28.3	Or if a game meant a thing, it was something that no one actually
2:33.3	truly cared about, like will you be a five-seat or a six-seat so you sit down
2:39.7	and you watch one of the games that you know the NFL is focused on and that's the game that
2:46.1	i chose to watch yesterday in the one o'clock window because not that I wear a tinfoil hat,
2:51.9	but I understand how leagues operate.
2:55.1	And there is no question that a meaningless week 18 would be out of the question.
3:01.4	I'll talk throughout this hour and next hour about sports business and stories that have
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