Wild Card Sunday and Monday Preview
The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL
The Athletic
4.6 • 3.3K Ratings
🗓️ 9 January 2026
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The AFC has long been the quarterback conference, and that hasn't necessarily changed just because Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow aren't in the playoffs this year. Just look at the quarterbacks in Sunday's AFC Wild Card games. Trevor Lawrence and Josh Allen in one, Drake Maye and Justin Herbert in the other. Throw in a classic styles-make-fights matchup between the Steelers and Texans on Monday night, and we've got an awesome trio of AFC games coming our way. The NFC side of the bracket, meanwhile, wraps up with 49ers-Eagles in a game between two teams that are predictably in this spot, but arrived here in perhaps unpredictable ways. Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen dig into all four games on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.
Rundown (timestamps are approximate)
2:25 Bills-Jaguars preview
24:16 49ers-Eagles preview
35:53 Chargers-Patriots preview
53:07 Texans-Steelers preview
Host: Robert Mays
Co-Hosts: Derrik Klassen and Dave Helman
Executive Producer: Michael Beller
Video Producer: Katy Duffy
Audio Producer: Michael Beller
Social Producer: Scott Krinch
Follow Robert on Bluesky: @robertmays.bsky.social
Follow Derrik on Bluesky: @qbklass.bsky.social
Follow Dave on Bluesky: @davehelman.bsky.social
Follow Robert on X: @robertmays
Follow Derrik on X: @QBKlass
Follow Dave on X: @davehelman_
Theme song: Haunted
Written by Dylan Slocum, Trevor Dietrich, Ruben Duarte, Kyle McAulay, and Meredith VanWoert / Performed by Spanish Love Songs
Courtesy of Pure Noise / By arrangement with Bank Robber Music, LLC
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Athletic Football Show. |
| 0:05.5 | I'm Robert Mays. |
| 0:06.4 | It's part two of our wild card preview with me and Derek Klesson. |
| 0:11.8 | No Dave today. |
| 0:12.8 | He is taking care of a family matter, but he will be back with us to recap the games on |
| 0:17.7 | Saturday and Sunday night. |
| 0:19.4 | We hit the Saturday games on part one of our |
| 0:22.9 | preview hitting the Panthers and Rams and Bears and Packers. Today it is the Sunday games and the |
| 0:28.2 | Monday game. So we chatted a little Bill's Jags, Niners Eagles, Chargers, Patriots, and Texans |
| 0:37.4 | Steelers. |
| 0:38.8 | Really enjoyed digging into all of this with Eric. |
| 0:41.0 | Let's get to it right now. |
| 0:47.1 | Part two of our wild card preview here on the Athletic Football Show. |
| 0:52.7 | Got four games with this one, |
| 0:55.0 | obviously the three Sunday games plus the Monday game. |
| 0:58.2 | We're going to be hitting these in chronological order. |
| 1:00.4 | Let's start with the Bills at the Jags. |
| 1:03.2 | These games presented by bad MGM. |
| 1:05.7 | The Bills are one and a half point favorites in this game. |
| 1:08.5 | Let's start there. |
| 1:09.9 | What do you make of that? I don't think they're the better football team in this game. Let's start there. What do you make of that? |
| 1:12.1 | I don't think they're the better football team at this juncture, but also at the same time... |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Athletic, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Athletic and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.