Week 12 preview: Harbowl III is upon us

The college football regular season is winding to a close, which means our discussions around the 2025 NFL Draft are heating up. Dane Brugler joins Robert Mays to check in on where the class stands on this episode of The Athletic Football Show. The guys also discuss the rookie campaigns being put together by Drake Maye, Brock Bowers, Jared Verse and Bo Nix. Before all that, though, The Athletic's Chargers beat reporter Daniel Popper gets on the mic with Robert to recap the Ravens' win over the Chargers on Monday night. Rundown Ravens-Chargers MNF recap Emerging polarization in the 2025 NFL Draft class Dane's initial flag planting The 2025 quarterbacks, headlined by Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward Intriguing pairings in the top 10 Drake Maye is a dude Should the Jets have taken Brock Bowers? Should the Falcons have taken Jared Verse? Why the Bo Nix/Broncos pairing is working Host: Robert Mays With: Daniel Popper and Dane Brugler Executive Producer: Michael Beller Producer: Michael Beller Subscribe to The Athletic Football Show... Apple Spotify YouTube Follow Robert on X: @robertmays Follow Robert on Bluesky: @robertmays.bsky.social Follow Daniel on X: @danielrpopper Follow Dane on X: @dpbrugler 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the 49ers-Packers broadcast in Week 12, Tom Brady said that teams aren't who they really are until Thanksgiving. We might not be at Turkey Day quite yet, but it's a late Thanksgiving this year, so we can make an exception. We saw a whole lot of true colors on the field in Week 12. Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen are here to break it all down on this episode of The Athletic Football Show. Rundown Eagles dominate Rams Packers run game...You Have My Attention! Seahawks defense...You Have My Attention! Titans-Texans...WTF?!? Do the Texans have a Wild Card Round ceiling? Washington Commanders...WTF?!? Bryce Young nearly one-upped the Chiefs Jonnu Smith is the Dolphins' top pass-catcher now? Baker Mayfield has found his place...and we're all better off for it Anthony Richardson has three types of games Caleb Williams' best performance of the season What Did We Learn Today? Host: Robert Mays Co-Host: Derrik Klassen Executive Producer: Michael Beller Producer: Michael Beller Subscribe to The Athletic Football Show... Apple Spotify YouTube Follow Robert on X: @robertmays Follow Derrik on X: @QBKlass 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you're the type of NFL fan who wants to watch every game, you've tuned into at least seven different networks and streamers this season. It isn't likely that sort of market segmentation is going away any time soon. So how will we be watching football in 2030, 2040 and beyond? Robert Mays is joined by Andrew Marchand, The Athletic's senior sports media columnist, to dive deep into the NFL broadcasting future on this episode of The Money Down, a special four-part miniseries on the business of the NFL from The Athletic Football Show. Host: Robert Mays With: Andrew Marchand Executive Producer: Michael Beller Producer: Chris Flannery Subscribe to The Athletic Football Show... Apple Spotify YouTube Follow Robert on X: @robertmays Follow Andrew on X: @AndrewMarchand 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Look, not everyone can be a Super Bowl contender. Plenty of teams aren't even playoff contenders. More than half the league misses the playoffs, and many of those teams are bad. Some are very bad. But that doesn't mean they can't take something from the 2024 season. Robert Mays and Conor Orr from Sports Illustrated and the MMQB find silver linings for those bad teams on this episode of The Athletic Football Show. Rundown Texans-Cowboys MNF recap Jets fire Joe Douglas Silver lining for the 2024 Jets Silver lining for the 2024 Panthers Silver lining for the 2024 Giants Silver lining for the 2024 Patriots Silver lining for the 2024 Raiders Silver lining for the 2024 Browns Silver lining for the 2024 Titans Silver lining for the 2024 Jaguars The Ball Knower...all Lions, all the time Host: Robert Mays With: Conor Orr Executive Producer: Michael Beller Producer: Michael Beller Subscribe to The Athletic Football Show... Apple Spotify YouTube Follow Robert on X: @robertmays Follow Conor on X: @ConorOrr 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Bills-Chiefs rivalry delivered yet again, with the Bills handing the Chiefs their first loss of the season. The Ravens-Steelers rivalry delivered, too, and now the Steelers find themselves in command of the AFC North. Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen dig into those games, plus the Broncos statement win over the Falcons, the befuddling 49ers—as well as the broader picture of the NFC West—Anthony Richardson's triumphant return, and a whole lot more on this episode of The Athletic Football Show. Rundown Bills make a statement with win over Chiefs Bengals and Chargers give us a great one on Sunday night Steelers defense...You Have My Attention! The Denver Broncos...You Have My Attention! WTF is this 49ers season? Settling for a 46-yard field goal, Matt Eberflus? WTF?!? Anthony Richardson's triumphant return Tua's making plays on the move The Jaguars scored first against the Lions...and then the Lions won 52-6 Taysom Hill's monster day What Did We Learn Today? Host: Robert Mays Co-Host: Derrik Klassen Executive Producer: Michael Beller Producer: Michael Beller Subscribe to The Athletic Football Show... Apple Spotify YouTube Follow Robert on X: @robertmays Follow Derrik on X: @QBKlass 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices