The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL

Eleven years ago, the Patriots and Seahawks met in one of the most iconic Super Bowls of all-time. Those two teams seemed to define the league back then, with Tom Brady and the Patriots dynasty on one side, and the Legion of Boom defense on the other. The league looks quite a bit different now, and not just in the way that things set a decade apart are bound to be different. So how has the league...

The Super Bowl is a story in so many ways. The game is, of course, a story unto itself. It also acts as a capstone for the story of the current NFL season. And within the game, we find all these characters who help define the season. So who are those characters from the Patriots and Seahawks? How do they tell us about the 2025 season, and what do they have at stake on Sunday (beyond the obvious, o...

The last Patriots-Seahawks Super Bowl matchup was anything but a surprise. The Seahawks were reigning Super Bowl Champions, and the Patriots were coming off an AFC title game appearance. This time, however, it's one of the more surprising matchups in Super Bowl history. The Patriots won four games last year, and the Seahawks had to completely remake their offense in the offseason. So how did we ge...

College football's all-star game season has come to an end, with the Senior Bowl now in the rear-view mirror. Who were the big winners from the week? How will their performances affect the 2026 NFL Draft? Dane Brugler and Dave Helman dive in on this episode of The Athletic Football Show's Building the Beast. Host: Dave Helman Co-Host: Dane Brugler Executive Producer: Michael Beller Video Producer:...

There are coaching cycles and then there are COACHING CYCLES. Somehow, Black Monday wasn't even a month ago, but it feels like it was three years ago. Robert Mays, Derrik Klassen and Dave Helman cover the latest in coaching news—Todd Monken to the Browns! Jesse Minter to the Ravens!—on this episode of The Athletic Football Show. Plus, Joe Buscaglia and Zach Berman, who cover the Bills and Eagles,...

The NFL may be a copycat league, but it's not like the 28 teams that fell short of Conference Championship weekend can just look at the Seahawks, Rams, Patriots and Broncos and say, "Oh, let's do that." After all, Mike Macdonald and Matthew Stafford and Drake Maye and the Broncos defense don't grow on trees. Still, there are lessons that we can draw from those four teams and apply to how we think...

We're certainly in the heart of S. Bowl season. For most of us, that refers to the Super Bowl. For Dane Brugler, though? In that case, you're referring to the Shrine Bowl and the Senior Bowl. This week, Dane's travels take him to Mobile for the Senior Bowl. With practices underway, who's already catching the eye of scouts? What more is to come the rest of the week? Dane and Dave Helman get into it...

Dan Campbell said it best after the Lions lost to the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game after the 2023 season. "This may have been our only shot." No matter how bright a future may appear, there's no guarantee that you get back to your conference championship game. After falling one step short of Super Bowl LX, where do the Rams and Broncos go in 2026 and beyond? Dave Helman and Derrik Klassen co...

New England Patriots. Seattle Seahawks. Super Bowl LX. Meet us in San Francisco. But before that, join Robert Mays, Derrik Klassen, and Dave Helman as they recap the the Patriots' AFC Championship Game win over the Denver Broncos, and the Seahawks' NFC Championship Game triumph over the Los Angeles Rams, on this episode of The Athletic Football Show. Rundown (timestamps are approximate) 3:15 Seaha...

Championship Weekend is upon us. On one side, we get a matchup that feels historically familiar, but no one predicted this year when the Patriots and Broncos meet in Denver. On the other, we get the third installment of Rams-Seahawks, making it arguably the best single-season series in NFL history. Robert Mays, Derrik Klassen and Dave Helman dive deep on both games on this episode of The Athletic...

Nearly every coaching hire looks fine on paper. Many of them look good. Great, even! But we know not all of them turn out great or good or even fine. So how could each hire in this year's cycle go right, or go wrong? Robert Mays and Jourdan Rodrigue, Athletic NFL senior writer, go over all of them on this episode of The Athletic Football Show. After that, they play a game of "What this job is, and...

The end of the college football season is something of a starting bell for NFL Draft season, and the annual all-star games get everything going. It begins this week with the Shrine Bowl, a showcase event for draft prospects. Eric Galko, director of football operations and player personnel for the Shrine Bowl, joins Dave Helman and Dane Brugler on this episode of The Athletic Football Show's Buildi...

When you're one of the last eight teams playing football in a season, that final loss is hard to swallow. No matter how bright the future appears, there's no guarantee you get another shot quite like the one you just had. And yet, there's plenty of reason for optimism in 2026 and beyond for the Bills, 49ers, Texans and Bears after their respective Divisional Round losses. Robert Mays and Derrik Kl...

The Buffalo Bills were great during Sean McDermott's nine-year run as coach, but not quite great enough. As such, the team relieved him of his duties as head coach two days after its Divisional Round loss to the Denver Broncos. Robert Mays and Dave Helman dive into what's next for the Bills on a special live edition of The Athletic Football Show. Host: Robert Mays Co-Hosts: Derrik Klassen and Dave...

And then there were four. The Conference Championship games are set. Joining the Denver Broncos in the AFC are the New England Patriots after taking care of business against the Houston Texans on Sunday. On the NFC side of things, we get the third installment of Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams, with the latter winning a thriller over the Chicago Bears in overtime on Sunday night. Robert Mays...

Divisional Round weekend never disappoints. The Seattle Seahawks turned in the most dominant performance of the day - maybe of the entire postseason - in a win over the San Francisco 49ers. What does the domination tell us about their path to the Super Bowl? And what's next for Kyle Shanahan and the oft-injured 49ers as they head into an early offseason? The Denver Broncos toppled the Buffalo Bill...

Four games, eight teams, all with legitimate designs on winning the Super Bowl. Friends, the best weekend of the NFL season is here. Robert Mays, Derrik Klassen and Dave Helman break down the Divisional Round games on this episode of The Athletic Football Show. Rundown (timestamps are approximate) 5:34 Bills-Broncos 32:21 49ers-Seahawks 53:30 Texans-Patriots 1:18:57 Rams-Bears Host: Robert Mays Co...

When we last checked in on the coaching carousel on Black Monday, it seemed like it could actually be a relatively quiet year for coaching moves. Since then, John Harbaugh was fired and Mike Tomlin stepped down. Just like that, the two longest tenured NFL coaches were back out on the market, and two potentially premium jobs opened up. Conor Orr from Sports Illustrated and The MMQB joins Robert May...

We're on the doorstep of the NFL Draft declaration deadline, and most of the big dominos have fallen. One big one, Oregon quarterback Dante Moore, remains at time of the recording of this episode of The Athletic Football Show's Building the Beast. That's precisely where Dane Brugler and Dave Helman began their discussion. The guys also hit on the biggest decisions we do already have answers on, be...

After 19 years as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers—a run that included one Super Bowl Championship, two AFC titles, and eight AFC North crowns—Mike Tomlin stepped down on Tuesday. Robert Mays and Dave Helman discuss what's next for Tomlin, and what's next for the Steelers, on this episode of The Athletic Football Show. Host: Robert Mays Co-Hosts: Derrik Klassen and Dave Helman Executive Produ...

Five teams saw their seasons come to an end on Saturday and Sunday of Wild Card weekend. Where do they all stand as they start to turn the page to 2026? Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen dig into the immediate future for the Panthers, Packers, Jaguars, Eagles and Chargers on this episode of The Athletic Football Show. Rundown (timestamps are approximate) 4:24 Carolina Panthers 19:48 Green Bay Packers...

We've been talking about the Super Bowl potential of the Houston Texans defense for months, especially in a wide open AFC. That was on full display in their dismantling of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild Card Round on Monday night. Robert Mays, Derrik Klassen and Dave Helman recap the Texans' 30-6 win on this live episode of The Athletic Football Show. Host: Robert Mays Co-Hosts: Derrik Klasse...

Wild Card Saturday was one of the most exciting days of the season to date, and Wild Card Sunday proved to be a worthy encore. Here's a stat...Hunter Henry's fourth-quarter touchdown in the Patriots win over the Chargers marked the first time all day that any team had a multi-score lead. We went 170+ minutes of football with three games being played in a one-score window. That's a heck of a day. A...

Robert Mays, Derrik Klassen and Dave Helman recap the first games of the 2026 playoffs. Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears take down the Green Bay Packers after yet another improbable comeback. The Carolina Panthers gave the Los Angeles Rams a scare, forcing Matthew Stafford's squad into a close fourth quarter. What's next for the Panthers after being eliminated in Bryce Young's career postseaso...

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 Texa...