Speaker 1: The late fifteen ten touchdowns. What's up, guys, Welcome into
Speaker 1: a brand new episode of Chargers Weekly, as always, joined
Speaker 1: by Matt Muney Smith, and we'll get into offensive coordinator candidates,
Speaker 1: but money. There was some sad news yesterday morning. Jesse Lemagner,
Speaker 1: former Chargers outside linebacker, passed away at the age of
Speaker 1: twenty five. Obviously, our our condolences to his family, teammates,
Speaker 1: especially some of the teammates that he has on this
Speaker 1: current Chargers team. Yeah, you know, and it's well, it's
Speaker 1: incredibly sad when someone passed away to a young child
Speaker 1: on the way, I mean, just the heartbreaking story. And
Speaker 1: I think in Jesse's case, you know, this is one
Speaker 1: of the guys that was, you know, fighting with the
Speaker 1: Braden Fijokos and the you know, these are the practice
Speaker 1: guys that get called up one week and back on
Speaker 1: the practice squad the next and called up the next week.
Speaker 1: And you're trying to make an impact on special teams
Speaker 1: and make some plays out there, and it's not easy,
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's a tough, tough path to making
Speaker 1: it in the NFL. And by all accounts, it seemed
Speaker 1: like even though you know, he was facing that sort
Speaker 1: of adversity, not knowing if you were going to be
Speaker 1: able to have a career in the NFL, and one
Speaker 1: week you think you are in the next week you're not.
Speaker 1: And you know it's a year to year, you know,
Speaker 1: it's even less than a year to year and almost
Speaker 1: a week to week sort of question that you're asking
Speaker 1: yourself of how am I going to make a living?
Speaker 1: You know, it seemed like you just had by all
Speaker 1: accounts of real positive attitude and had a very profound
Speaker 1: impact on that group of guys, specifically when you you
Speaker 1: kind of saw the tributes on social media, the guys
Speaker 1: that he was, you know, fighting with on that practice squad. Yeah,
Speaker 1: incredibly said and puts a lot in perspective. You know,
Speaker 1: we talk about wins and losses and leads and own
Speaker 1: leads and wins and playoff appearances. This is what really matters.
Speaker 1: And you know, I think Brad Fojoko had a nice
Speaker 1: tribute to him on his Instagram, So again, just incredibly
Speaker 1: said our condolences to his family, his loved ones, his teammates.
Speaker 1: And we'll make that transition to what the lead is
Speaker 1: I guess for the Chargers in terms of news and
Speaker 1: that's finding an offensive coordinator. We got some names, money,
Speaker 1: we got some interviews that are already in the can,
Speaker 1: and I figured, let's just go through some of these guys,
Speaker 1: a lot of guys from the Rams, a lot of
Speaker 1: guys that would have first year offensive coordinator experience if
Speaker 1: they came to the Chargers in twenty twenty three. And
Speaker 1: I figured we start with the first name we saw,
Speaker 1: and that's Zach Robinson, who's thirty six years old, a
Speaker 1: former NFL quarterback, was a Pro Football Focus senior analyst
Speaker 1: before Sean McVeigh grabbed him, snatched him up and brought
Speaker 1: him to his staff. So, you know, I saw a
Speaker 1: video of Zach a press conference and he literally echoed
Speaker 1: the same words that Brandon stalely echoed in his press conference,
Speaker 1: the marriage between the run in the past. You know,
Speaker 1: this is the tree that I think Brandon Staley is
Speaker 1: most comfortable with. And Zach Robinson was first up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean before I start with Zach, I think we
Speaker 1: should start with the name I mentioned last week and
Speaker 1: how it's just not obviously and I didn't think it
Speaker 1: was going to happen. I figured Frank was going to
Speaker 1: get a head coaching gig. He's just way too good,
Speaker 1: and I think it it speaks to, you know, just
Speaker 1: not making a rash decision. And that's exactly what it
Speaker 1: was in Indianapolis. And we know that Jimmer says, one
Speaker 1: of the more quirky owners in the league. But you
Speaker 1: kind of I don't know who they're gonna hire. I
Speaker 1: mean word is that he wants to keep Jeff Saturday.
Speaker 1: You tell me that Jeff got a second interview. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you tell me you can either have Jeff Saturday or
Speaker 1: Frank Reich is your head coach. And it's going to
Speaker 1: take me all of one tenth of one second to
Speaker 1: tell you which one of those guys I would want.
Speaker 1: So I knew it was going to be a long shot.
Speaker 1: And because he's just too good. So you know the
Speaker 1: fact that you're not gonna be able to get your
Speaker 1: hands on someone that had called plays previously, that was
Speaker 1: a head coach previously, that did marry the run in
Speaker 1: the past. In both Philadelphia and Indianapolis. You know, you
Speaker 1: now move on. And so some of these candidates that
Speaker 1: don't have a lot of experience, that are younger that
Speaker 1: you're banking on the coaching tree as much as you are,
Speaker 1: and you're banking on the person as opposed to kind
Speaker 1: of the resume. You know, you're just trying to get
Speaker 1: a feel and look calin plays. I think people make
Speaker 1: a big deal out of it. I'm so happy that
Speaker 1: that Brian Dabo didn't call plays in New York. I
Speaker 1: think it just goes to show you that like this
Speaker 1: idea of oh, we got we gotta find the next
Speaker 1: Andy Reid or we've got to find the next Kyle
Speaker 1: Shanahan or Sean mcvady's head coaches that are able to
Speaker 1: call plays, it doesn't It doesn't have to be that way.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's there are a lot of benefits to
Speaker 1: not calling plays as a head coach to be able,
Speaker 1: because I think that's what people don't realize, you know,
Speaker 1: is especially offensively as an offensive coordinator, like you have
Speaker 1: to be thinking five six plays down the drive. You know,
Speaker 1: at the very least you're thinking two plays down the drive.
Speaker 1: So it's very hard to be present in the moment
Speaker 1: and be a head coach when you're thinking, Okay, this
Speaker 1: was my call. If we get six yards, i've got
Speaker 1: to go to this. If we get tan I'm going
Speaker 1: to this, if we get stuffed or take a set
Speaker 1: like that's that's you know kind of why. And I'm
Speaker 1: sorry for that tangent, but I think, like that's what's
Speaker 1: important to remember is you know that the position is tough,
Speaker 1: but it's not rocket science. You know, there are great
Speaker 1: coaches that don't call plays. I think there's a reason
Speaker 1: why Mike Kafka is gonna end up getting a head
Speaker 1: coaching job. Remember he got hired as oc by Brian
Speaker 1: Dable just to kind of keep that thread going. And
Speaker 1: here's Daybell, who's who's called plays for fifteen years, you
Speaker 1: know at Alabama, helped develop Josh Allen and build that
Speaker 1: Bill's offense into a bit of a juggernaut with him.
Speaker 1: And he gets to New York and he's like, no,
Speaker 1: it's my first time as a head coach, I'm not
Speaker 1: calling place, brings him Kafka, Yeah, yeah, who had never
Speaker 1: called place before? And look at that Giant's offense. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was supposed to be one of the worst in
Speaker 1: the league. They had zero, you know, elite talent at
Speaker 1: the wide receiver or tight end position, and they end
Speaker 1: up winning a playoff game and supribeing probably the surprise
Speaker 1: of the season saved the Seahawks. So I just kind
Speaker 1: of illustrate that because Kafka had never called place before,
Speaker 1: but you were banking on the guy. Here's a former quarterback,
Speaker 1: a smart guy from Northwestern, a guy that coached under
Speaker 1: Andy Reid and was able to watch the way that
Speaker 1: he does it for all those years, and it's and
Speaker 1: that's what Dave Ball found. He's like, Okay, this is
Speaker 1: this is the guy. Even though I've got all this
Speaker 1: experience calling Blaze, this is my first head coaching gigg
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna hand this guy the play card and
Speaker 1: he's gonna do it. So I bring that up because
Speaker 1: I think that's kind of what the Chargers are probably
Speaker 1: look at. It's someone that has not called plays before.
Speaker 1: But I would say this too about Kafka. He catered
Speaker 1: to his personnel in New York right like they didn't
Speaker 1: have any didn't have any wide receivers. They said, Daniel
Speaker 1: Jones can be mobile, he can run the football. Saquon
Speaker 1: Barkley's our bell call, and we're gonna cater our offense
Speaker 1: to what we have. They didn't have Josh Allen and
Speaker 1: Stephan Diggs and all the guys that Brian Dable had
Speaker 1: last year, day Ball took that CEO approach and said,
Speaker 1: all right, Kafka, you're gonna run the offense, wink, you're
Speaker 1: gonna run the defense, and I'm gonna give that input
Speaker 1: and run the run the team. Right. So I guess
Speaker 1: in the case of a guy like Zach Robinson, right,
Speaker 1: if you're around Sean McVay for the last three years,
Speaker 1: or a guy like Thomas Brown, who will get to
Speaker 1: if you're around Sean McVeigh for you know, a number
Speaker 1: of years and you see how he runs an offense
Speaker 1: and how he calls plays, you can only hope to
Speaker 1: debt there are some transferable skills over there. And then
Speaker 1: first and foremost I think was Zach Robbinson. He's a
Speaker 1: former NFL quarterback, right, so he knows the position he played,
Speaker 1: the position he was drafted to play that position in
Speaker 1: the NFL. So the importance of that relationship with Justin Herbert,
Speaker 1: I think would have to be priority. Either Yeah, I
Speaker 1: you know, Elbert Brewer, I know reported it, and I
Speaker 1: mean at this point and NU knows, you know, by
Speaker 1: the time we post the pod whether or not it
Speaker 1: will be decided. It seems like he's the guy. You know,
Speaker 1: it certainly feels that way. You know, we talked about
Speaker 1: this last week. You know, he requested Kevin O'Connell when
Speaker 1: he was hired two years ago, denied, requested Mike McDaniel
Speaker 1: two years ago, denied, and that's how Joe Lombardi got here.
Speaker 1: So you know, when you're interviewing four guys from the RAMS,
Speaker 1: two guys from Kevin O'Connell's staff, seems to be a
Speaker 1: parent the direction that he wants to go. And it
Speaker 1: seems like Zach, of all the names we're going to
Speaker 1: go through save gregls and is the most sort of
Speaker 1: experience seems to fit. Like you said, Chris, he's a
Speaker 1: former quarterback. He's you know, I do like the parallels
Speaker 1: between he and in Kafka, you know, just because I
Speaker 1: do think they're similar. You know, it's it's someone that
Speaker 1: that's been in a spot for a minute, that has
Speaker 1: worked with quarterbacks, that is a former quarterback, that's that's
Speaker 1: watched you know, one of the best play callers in
Speaker 1: the league for a few years now, and um, you know,
Speaker 1: it just seems like he's ready to get his shot.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, like I think about when Shane
Speaker 1: took over the offense when Wiz was let go, and
Speaker 1: just how great, how how good it looked. It's like,
Speaker 1: you know, here's former quarterback learning under somebody that was
Speaker 1: pretty darn good at it. You know, don't forget Ken,
Speaker 1: Wizz and Hunt went to a super Bowl. You know,
Speaker 1: Colin plays as a head coach in Arizona. So you know,
Speaker 1: I think you saw how great Shane was the second
Speaker 1: he was given the keys to the car. And obviously
Speaker 1: look at what he's doing in Philadelphia. Now they're going
Speaker 1: to probably end up going to a super Bowl, and
Speaker 1: what he was able to do with Jalen Hurtson. So
Speaker 1: to me, Zach Robinson looks like the guy. I think
Speaker 1: he's gonna probably end up being the one that gets
Speaker 1: a job, and I'm excited about that. You know, I look,
Speaker 1: I love the offense. It's it's hard to argue with
Speaker 1: the results. You know, Minnesota did not lose that game
Speaker 1: to the Giants because of offense. They lost because they
Speaker 1: have no defense, you know, but the offense was moving
Speaker 1: the ball. They won twelve games this year. So you know,
Speaker 1: I got no problem with the style of offense in
Speaker 1: San Francisco and here in La with the Rams and
Speaker 1: up in Minnesota, it certainly seems to produce pretty darn
Speaker 1: good results. Yeah, you know, just going back to Shane,
Speaker 1: also just working on the fly with Justin. Remember that
Speaker 1: Week two game. To have Justin play the way that
Speaker 1: he did that entire rookie season without a preseason People
Speaker 1: forget that that was the COVID year where there were
Speaker 1: no preseason games. So for him to go in cold
Speaker 1: a guy like Shane is a perfect example of that.
Speaker 1: And you go through these offenses, right Gerard Johnson, you know,
Speaker 1: Kevin O'Connell, greg Olson. Greg Olson's kind of the outlier
Speaker 1: here because he's been in the NFL for twenty years
Speaker 1: and he's been an offensive coordin here for six different teams.
Speaker 1: He's been with Cruden and McVeagh the last six years,
Speaker 1: So you know, I think he's kind of that that
Speaker 1: steady veteran presence. You probably know what you're gonna get there.
Speaker 1: But I do think that this team wants to make
Speaker 1: a splash. I think Brandon Staley specifically said that kind
Speaker 1: of pointed to himself, is like, hey, no one knew
Speaker 1: about me three years ago, and it seemed like, you know,
Speaker 1: that's the path that he wants to take a young
Speaker 1: guy who maybe can breathe a little energy into this offense.
Speaker 1: I wonder about Justin Herbert, though it's not so much wondering,
Speaker 1: but I do think three offenses in four years, that's
Speaker 1: a lot for anybody. You know. I think Matt Canada
Speaker 1: for the Pittsburgh Steels, the reason they said they brought
Speaker 1: him back was because the lights started to come on
Speaker 1: with that offense latter half of the year and they
Speaker 1: kind of got some momentum. So the only thing, if
Speaker 1: I were to play Devil's advocate with some of these guys,
Speaker 1: is that, hey, it's gonna be a little bit of
Speaker 1: a different offense for Justin Herbert. That probably doesn't matter,
Speaker 1: you know, because we know how smart Justin is, but
Speaker 1: it's something that can maybe consider that, hey, this is
Speaker 1: going to be another news system for Justin to learn
Speaker 1: his third in four seasons. Yeah, and look, there's no
Speaker 1: way around it. I think it was clear that, you know,
Speaker 1: they were a little concerned by the production this past season,
Speaker 1: and I think even at times last season they did
Speaker 1: not run the ball well. And you know, I think
Speaker 1: for coach Staley two, one of the things about that
Speaker 1: is that it's and we brought this up I think already,
Speaker 1: but I'll repeat it. It's very hard. You know. It's
Speaker 1: something DJ said, it's very hard to have a good
Speaker 1: run defense when you don't have a good run offense
Speaker 1: because you're not practicing against a really good run offense
Speaker 1: day in and day out. So you know you can
Speaker 1: tie the two together. You know that the run deef
Speaker 1: either the run defense is prohibiting the run offense from
Speaker 1: being better or the run offense is prohibiting the run
Speaker 1: defense from being better. And somehow they got to get
Speaker 1: those two things to connect. So I don't think there
Speaker 1: was any question that, you know, Joe was probably going
Speaker 1: to be on his way out after another par season,
Speaker 1: you know, from the run offense and also just sort
Speaker 1: of the stagnation it felt like from this offense this season,
Speaker 1: you know, and I think I think you said it,
Speaker 1: you know, Justin's it's plenty smart. You know, you're going
Speaker 1: to have an entire offseason. You're gonna have mini camp
Speaker 1: to do installs, you're gonna have you know, all all
Speaker 1: of those things in June, the two weeks in June,
Speaker 1: and then you're gonna have five weeks to get comfortable.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's like college where you you know,
Speaker 1: you're younger, you're not quite mature. You know, you only
Speaker 1: have X number of hours with these kids every week
Speaker 1: because of those rules. You know, to me, it's it's
Speaker 1: much easier for this to happen in the NFL than
Speaker 1: it is in college. So you know that's to me,
Speaker 1: that's not necessarily something. I'm too concerned about it. And
Speaker 1: I think that's the other thing too. Remember, you know,
Speaker 1: the reason why this job is so attractive is because
Speaker 1: of the pieces that you have in place. You're an
Speaker 1: OC that gets to coach and call plays for Justin
Speaker 1: Herbert and Austin Eckler and Mike Williams. You know, with
Speaker 1: an offensive line that features Rashaan Slater and Zion Johnson
Speaker 1: and Trey Pipkins and Corey Lindsay, you're gonna probably put
Speaker 1: up numbers and people are gonna be looking at you.
Speaker 1: So it could be a one and done like Brandon
Speaker 1: Staley was for Sean McVeigh, you know, coordinating that defense
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden he's gone and you got
Speaker 1: to replace him. So I wouldn't be surprised if you
Speaker 1: know something like that. You know of Zach is super
Speaker 1: impressive or whomever they hire. You know, we'll get to
Speaker 1: the other names in a second here, but I wouldn't
Speaker 1: be surprised if they can get this thing right and
Speaker 1: it's as good as we think it can be with
Speaker 1: the right play caller, if they don't end up as
Speaker 1: a head coach, you know, with just a one and
Speaker 1: done kind of deal, like like Kafka's gonna probably end
Speaker 1: up you know, or at least has a very good
Speaker 1: shot of ending up being a head coach after just
Speaker 1: a single season calling plays. You know, a guy that
Speaker 1: I was impressed with even last year just seeing some
Speaker 1: of his interviews and what Shan McVeagh has said about
Speaker 1: him as Thomas Brown, and Thomas Brown was a running
Speaker 1: back in the NFL. He move from running backs coach
Speaker 1: to tight ends coach, and he's that guy who I
Speaker 1: think and I envisioned as being a head coach in
Speaker 1: this league in the next you know, one to two years.
Speaker 1: He's another interesting name money, especially when we talk about
Speaker 1: the running game and getting the running game going and
Speaker 1: having your leader connect with the team, and he seems
Speaker 1: to have the leadership qualities that I think a lot
Speaker 1: of people want on their staff. So, you know, as
Speaker 1: much as we talked about Zach Robinson and him being
Speaker 1: a former quarterback, I think Thomas Brown is an intriguing
Speaker 1: name and I actually look at him as more of
Speaker 1: a head coach type here in the next couple of years. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that's Look, this is fair enough. I mean,
Speaker 1: you can you can just I'll just call it what
Speaker 1: it is. Like, there aren't a lot of former running
Speaker 1: backs or running back coaches that are calling place. There
Speaker 1: just aren't. They're almost all quarterbacks. Yeah, there's some offensive linemen,
Speaker 1: but for the most part there they tend to be quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: If you just go go right down the list, man,
Speaker 1: and you know, Shanahan McVeigh, you know Canada, all these
Speaker 1: guys are typically former quarter Frank Reich. You know, it's
Speaker 1: just the way it for whatever reason, that seems to connect.
Speaker 1: So that would be my one concern. And look, this
Speaker 1: is I hate saying it, but and I know he's
Speaker 1: up for you know, reportedly you know, Demiko Ryan's if
Speaker 1: he gets the job and Denver wants to take him
Speaker 1: with him. But like I just kind of saw the
Speaker 1: way Anthony called plays when he was here, when he
Speaker 1: kind of took that over for a minute and was
Speaker 1: calling some plays, and the way it went in Detroit
Speaker 1: when he was the OC there, you know, and ended
Speaker 1: up losing the play calling from Dan Campbell Anthony Lynne
Speaker 1: our friend like that, just that would make me a
Speaker 1: little bit nervous. And that's not fair. I know, it's
Speaker 1: totally not fair because look, the Rams run offense and
Speaker 1: Cam Akers was like sent to Football Siberia and they
Speaker 1: were trying to trade him and they couldn't, and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden they give him back the running game
Speaker 1: and Cam is great again. So certainly he has that
Speaker 1: sort of ability to coach it up and he's you know,
Speaker 1: and and look, he could be great for me. Fair
Speaker 1: or not, it would it would just give me a
Speaker 1: little bit. Yeah, I'd be a little bit hesitant, you know,
Speaker 1: if you ask me, Hey, what do you prefer? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess I'm I'm biased. I prefer quarterback
Speaker 1: to be calling plays as an OC. I just feel
Speaker 1: like that's what we tend to, you know, and whatever it's.
Speaker 1: You know, look, Andy Reid wasn't a quarterback and he's
Speaker 1: one of the best play callers in the history of
Speaker 1: the league. I mean, heck, Mike, you know, Mike Leach,
Speaker 1: who helped advance an offense that is you know everywhere
Speaker 1: in college football now you know, didn't even freaking play
Speaker 1: football for the most part, barely played football. So it
Speaker 1: can happen for me. I just you know, I'm sort
Speaker 1: of a numbers guy, and I look at the percentages.
Speaker 1: It's just like, okay, percentages, say, quarterbacks typically the way
Speaker 1: to go. And but again, I think the one thing
Speaker 1: that Thomas Brown has going for is the run offense
Speaker 1: was stagnant. And when he kind of got moved into
Speaker 1: a different position in that offensive you know, coaching room
Speaker 1: by Sean McVay, it seemed to really take off. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and there's what ten offensive coordinator nine maybe nine offensive
Speaker 1: coordinator positions opened in the NFL right now, Not to
Speaker 1: mention the head coaching vacancies, you know, so you've got
Speaker 1: to remember it's it's not just the OC the ten ocs,
Speaker 1: but you got four head coaching vacancies as well that
Speaker 1: well need OC. So yeah, I only you know, we're
Speaker 1: going off reports and then what the Chargers have said
Speaker 1: in terms of people who have interviewed and completed their interviews,
Speaker 1: But anybody else out there, Like you see a report
Speaker 1: about Joe Brady, you know, you hear about Kellen Moore
Speaker 1: and how his status with the Cowboys is in flux.
Speaker 1: Is there any dark horse candidates you'd be interested in seeing.
Speaker 1: Joe Brady's interesting, you know, because of what he did
Speaker 1: with Joe Burrow at LSU, not what he did in Carolina.
Speaker 1: There were some rumors coming out of Carolina that he
Speaker 1: was slow to adjust that you know, just kind of
Speaker 1: came in with the same game plan. I know that
Speaker 1: was sort of some of the things. You know, when
Speaker 1: he got let go by rule, it was like, wow,
Speaker 1: that was bad. There's a guy that was you know,
Speaker 1: when the conversation as a head coach when they hired
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy, Joe Brady was kind of like the dark
Speaker 1: horse canna to be the head coach in Dallas. Like
Speaker 1: that's how you know how popular he was, how bright
Speaker 1: his star was, and just kind of that quick ascent
Speaker 1: after what he was able to do with LSU, breaking
Speaker 1: every college record you know there was on their march
Speaker 1: to that championship. Obviously you saw the talent he had
Speaker 1: on that offense, specifically Joe Burrow and Mr Chase, but
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden, it just got sideways
Speaker 1: in a hurry. So maybe he was able he had
Speaker 1: the quarterback to push it down the field in Carolina
Speaker 1: either right, Teddy, Teddy isn't that guy. They had some speed,
Speaker 1: but it was almost like the opposite of what he
Speaker 1: had at LSU in terms of Burrow pushing the ball
Speaker 1: down the field. Right, and again, matt rule failed wildly
Speaker 1: in Carolina. No denying that. So it's kind of hard,
Speaker 1: you know. That's that's why if Brady's the guy, I think, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you see what he did at LSU, and a lot
Speaker 1: of that was just you know, five guys out. And
Speaker 1: that's what Cincinnati did last week. You know what their
Speaker 1: offensive line issues. They just did what Joe did at LSU,
Speaker 1: and they're like, yeah, ball's gonna be out man. And
Speaker 1: Joe was so quick. And that's the interesting thing about
Speaker 1: Joe Brady, right is one of the things about Burrow
Speaker 1: is he is such a fast processor. He sees it
Speaker 1: so quickly before you can get a hand out him.
Speaker 1: And Justin's the same way. You know, Justin sees it quick.
Speaker 1: You know, he works those progressions quickly. So that's where
Speaker 1: I think that Joe Brady. You know, sort of idea
Speaker 1: comes in and makes sense because that's what they did
Speaker 1: at LSU and manage did it work? Talk about putting
Speaker 1: up points man on some really good teams, So that
Speaker 1: makes sense, you know, Joe Brady makes sense. I think
Speaker 1: the you know, the Luke Stuck, I will get the Stuckle.
Speaker 1: But you know, there's there's some interesting names. I got
Speaker 1: confused when I saw Luke Steckel. I thought Luke Fickle.
Speaker 1: I was like Luke Fickle from Cincinnati to Wisconsin to
Speaker 1: the Chargers. Now Luke Steckel. Okay, right, exactly exactly, So
Speaker 1: you know, to be honest, Chris like, look, we don't
Speaker 1: we don't know a lot about these guys because they
Speaker 1: haven't called plays. No, you know, save Joe Brady, complete Brady,
Speaker 1: didn't you know? You know, yeah, you know, Bunny. The
Speaker 1: common theme I think for Sunday, you talk about these
Speaker 1: four teams they can all run the football, uh Pacheco
Speaker 1: in Kansas City, mixing the way that they kind of
Speaker 1: milked the clock in Buffalo after getting up um Philly
Speaker 1: obviously with that three hitted attack and Jalen Hurts, and
Speaker 1: then we've talked about San Francisco the last two weeks.
Speaker 1: The theme I think from twenty twenty one to twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two is we still really didn't identify the second
Speaker 1: running back, and we talked a little bit about it
Speaker 1: yes or last week rather, but the Chargers are gonna
Speaker 1: have to find a running game, and I think that
Speaker 1: is gonna be just as important as getting Justin Herbert going.
Speaker 1: Is having battles attack, and certainly that's you know, that's
Speaker 1: gonna be a big part of the oc hire, you know,
Speaker 1: which is where the Thomas Brown thing becomes interesting, right
Speaker 1: is is you know here is someone that and that
Speaker 1: and look the thing about the explosive passes and the
Speaker 1: passing game, and is it all works off the run?
Speaker 1: Everything works off the run. So you know with McVeigh
Speaker 1: and with Shanahan and with Kevin O'Connell, you know, and
Speaker 1: Dalvin Cook, like, none of that works until the running
Speaker 1: game gets going. So that's you know, I guess that's
Speaker 1: where you would kind of say, Okay, well we know
Speaker 1: we can get the passing game going. It's justin Herbert.
Speaker 1: You know, we got to figure out how to get
Speaker 1: designed runs to be more successful. And that's the same
Speaker 1: thing in Philadelphia. You know, even though they got twenty
Speaker 1: seven hundred yards between A J. Brown and DeVante Smith,
Speaker 1: you know, the quiet is twenty seven hundred. The only
Speaker 1: thing quiet more quiet than that was Miles Sanders thirteen
Speaker 1: hundred rushing yards you know. So yeah, I mean, and
Speaker 1: the reason those were so quiet. I think he had
Speaker 1: eleven touchdowns. You know, it's just because Jalen Hurts ran
Speaker 1: for eight hundred and thirteen touchdowns, you know. So I
Speaker 1: don't think it's necessarily you know, as we discussed last week,
Speaker 1: it's not the names. To me, it's the place. You know,
Speaker 1: you've got the names, You've got it. You know, Austin's
Speaker 1: you can lean on Austin he can. He can be
Speaker 1: every bit as productive as I believe as any of
Speaker 1: those guys, as Miles Sanders, as Dalvin Cook. I think
Speaker 1: he has the skill set, the strength, you know. I
Speaker 1: think the one difference is is he's smaller, so you
Speaker 1: just don't want him to take too much abuse, which
Speaker 1: is why it's important to have that second player. But
Speaker 1: you know, look, Austin's been I think you could probably
Speaker 1: circle Dalvin Cook and say he's probably been out more
Speaker 1: than than Austin has you know, and taking a beating.
Speaker 1: So the one great thing about Austin is, you know,
Speaker 1: he tends to stay out there. You know, you might
Speaker 1: have a game or two here or there, like every
Speaker 1: running back. And it happened the end, that's happening to
Speaker 1: Miles Sanders, happened to look, Christian McCaffrey's dealing with something
Speaker 1: right now going into championship game. So to me, it's
Speaker 1: less about finding another back and more about and look,
Speaker 1: the OC will tell you that. And that's the thing.
Speaker 1: The offensive coordinator is going to be able to come
Speaker 1: in with a new set of eyes and say, hey, yeah,
Speaker 1: I know you really like them, but no not. Let's
Speaker 1: you know, and and there's guys out there, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: hack if you hire Robinson or Brown or Olsen. You
Speaker 1: know they let go of Anderson. You know, they were
Speaker 1: trying to try cam Acres. I mean, they brought Malcolm
Speaker 1: brownback this year. It's like, it's funny the way it's
Speaker 1: you know that they guys like guys like their guys.
Speaker 1: It's one of the it's one of the old adages
Speaker 1: in the NFL. As you could coach, you could have
Speaker 1: someone on your roster that was totally unproductive for two years.
Speaker 1: But somebody goes down with an injury, and who pops
Speaker 1: up on the practice squad that guy, just because you're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: we know this guy and we're comfortable with him, and
Speaker 1: we know if we tell him to do this, that
Speaker 1: he's gonna do it, even if he doesn't do it
Speaker 1: that well. So that's that's one of the more I
Speaker 1: think the state of the running game for the Rams
Speaker 1: could end up producing one of those players as well.
Speaker 1: You know, it was very interesting that they gave up
Speaker 1: on Acres so soon and then obviously you saw him
Speaker 1: come back with a fury, you know, once he was
Speaker 1: given another shot. Same thing, like interesting they let go
Speaker 1: of their leading rusher and Henderson, you know, like he's
Speaker 1: on the street. It's just kind of odd. These are
Speaker 1: two guys that were mid round, you know, high mid
Speaker 1: round picks and now perhaps looking for work. One of
Speaker 1: the things I appreciated most about the Eagles season was
Speaker 1: that week to week they conformed to what whatever the
Speaker 1: defense like. So when when the Titans played the Eagles
Speaker 1: and everybody thought that they were just gonna try to
Speaker 1: run the football because they they're the one of the
Speaker 1: best rushing offenses in the NFL, they threw it over
Speaker 1: their heads to A J. Brown and Davante Smith. Each week.
Speaker 1: They had a game plan that was designed to maximize
Speaker 1: their strengths and put a spotlight on the weakness of
Speaker 1: the defense. And I don't think the Chargers had that
Speaker 1: last year. It was really just the armadjustin Herbert. You know,
Speaker 1: you didn't go into a game and say, you know what,
Speaker 1: We're gonna run the football thirty times because this is
Speaker 1: the worst rushing defense in the NFL. So I just
Speaker 1: I appreciated the way that stike In and Sirianni put
Speaker 1: that offense together. You had it was it was a
Speaker 1: Miles Sanders, Bosses Scott Gainwell week one week, and then
Speaker 1: it was an AJ Brown, DeVante Smith, Dallas Goddard week
Speaker 1: the next. You really didn't know, and it was kind
Speaker 1: of you cater it to who your opponent is. And
Speaker 1: I think that's what the offensive coord is gonna have
Speaker 1: to do too. It's way too much talent, as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: on this Chargers team to just know that, all right,
Speaker 1: these are the plays that we're gonna call each and
Speaker 1: every week. You gotta cater it to your opponent. One
Speaker 1: of the things also about Philadelphia that that cannot be
Speaker 1: overlooked is just the front. You know, on both sides.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's the best defensive line in the league
Speaker 1: bar nine. I mean you've got I think three or
Speaker 1: maybe even four guys in double digit sacks. They nearly
Speaker 1: broke the record this year for most sacks in a
Speaker 1: single season. I think the record was like seventy nine
Speaker 1: and I think they ended up with like seventy three
Speaker 1: or four something, just some up third number. So you
Speaker 1: have that, you know where you're putting pressure and you're
Speaker 1: creating turnovers, and you're getting more opportunities, you know, for
Speaker 1: your team to go up double digits. You know, a
Speaker 1: couple scores and now you can lean on the run.
Speaker 1: You know, now they have to play catch up, and
Speaker 1: you know that sort of things. But the other thing
Speaker 1: about Philadelphia is the offensive front. They have invested heavily
Speaker 1: on the offensive line, heavily, multiple first rounders, big pay
Speaker 1: days for free agents. You know, they have one of
Speaker 1: the best tackles in the game in Lane Johnson. They
Speaker 1: have the best center in the game in Jason Kelsey,
Speaker 1: like and that's and that's one thing that I feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, when healthy, what we saw from trade this year,
Speaker 1: if he's brought back what we saw from Jamari Sawyer,
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody would be disappointed with Zion's you know,
Speaker 1: rookie campaign, even though there were some ups and downs.
Speaker 1: Like that's the one thing the Chargers have going for him.
Speaker 1: They're going to have one of the best offensive fronts
Speaker 1: in the league. You know, if everybody's healthy and you
Speaker 1: go Slater and either Filer or Sawyer, you know, Lindsley
Speaker 1: Johnson and Pipkins, that's gonna be one of the best
Speaker 1: groups out there. So or a Filer stays now, to
Speaker 1: have Jamari as a swing or a sixth offensive like,
Speaker 1: you're going to be able to do a lot and
Speaker 1: I would assume that's going to be very exciting. And
Speaker 1: we saw what it looked like last year we brought
Speaker 1: this up. You know, when they ran left, they averaged
Speaker 1: like five yards per carry. When they were in right
Speaker 1: they average like negative one, you know, last year, so
Speaker 1: to be able to balance and this year the right
Speaker 1: side was better, you know, running the football with Trey
Speaker 1: and Zion, So that's I think that's something to keep
Speaker 1: in mind too. When you know this offensive line is
Speaker 1: healthy and that you know, fair and not for Joe
Speaker 1: the left side is where he did most of his
Speaker 1: run in last year behind Slater and Filer and Lindsley.
Speaker 1: Then that was gone, So you know, it'll be it'll
Speaker 1: be interesting to see, you know, how much better that
Speaker 1: is just by default up the front and the talent
Speaker 1: on the front, and how much better they ought to be. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you wonder how the personnel may change based on
Speaker 1: how they plan to run the football, who they have
Speaker 1: on the roster now, what changes could be made in
Speaker 1: free agency, who they target in the draft. So those
Speaker 1: are all unknowns that will obviously know a little bit
Speaker 1: more about the next couple of months. Anything else with
Speaker 1: this OC search, like you said, Zach Robinson seems to
Speaker 1: be a guy that is getting some buzz out there
Speaker 1: in the public. Um anybody else or anything else you
Speaker 1: want to mentioned with, I mean, yeah, the one thing
Speaker 1: I will say is, look, I know they want to
Speaker 1: be deliberate and take their time, but you said it,
Speaker 1: there's ten openings, you know, and and I would and look,
Speaker 1: maybe I'm wrong or maybe I don't know. I just
Speaker 1: thought once Frank got hired, I think that I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe they're gonna be patient because they want to see
Speaker 1: all these other vacancies get filled. If Frank's still out there,
Speaker 1: you know, to to nab him once he got hired,
Speaker 1: I was like, hey, man, let's go. Let's let's get
Speaker 1: your guy before you know, one of the other nine
Speaker 1: openings gets filled. Are you surprises taking this long money?
Speaker 1: It's January twenty seventh, we still have four open head
Speaker 1: coaching vacancies. I don't know. Maybe it's just like you said,
Speaker 1: guys like Kafka who just finished their season. Maybe there's
Speaker 1: some guys who are actually coaching right now that may
Speaker 1: get jobs. I think that's the look. I know a
Speaker 1: lot of people have said this, it's so stupid that
Speaker 1: they don't put a hiring freeze until after the playoffs. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I think that you know the fact that
Speaker 1: Damiko Ryan's or Shane steike In, you know, we've seen
Speaker 1: it with the Enemy, you know, like that those guys
Speaker 1: aren't going to get jobs, you know, or Lou and Rumo,
Speaker 1: like those guys aren't going to get jobs because their
Speaker 1: teams are still in it. Like that's just it's absurd,
Speaker 1: It's stupid. Why why would you not like after watching
Speaker 1: what Sirianni and Shane have done with this offense two
Speaker 1: years in a row. Now, you know, after watching what
Speaker 1: the Bengals defense has looked like two years in a row, now,
Speaker 1: you know, like it just it seems weird that you
Speaker 1: wouldn't wait, And so maybe teams have finally, you know,
Speaker 1: have finally kind of managed to get smart and say, Okay,
Speaker 1: why do I need to to hire someone right now
Speaker 1: unless you fall in love with the candidate, you know,
Speaker 1: if you are, hey, that's our guy, and hire them,
Speaker 1: you know, then you know, and I think that's probably
Speaker 1: what happened with Carolina, is there, like like we were
Speaker 1: not interested in the first time head coach here. You know,
Speaker 1: we did that with rule with the college jump did
Speaker 1: not work. We want someone with experience, and Frank's probably
Speaker 1: going to get an offer if we don't bring them
Speaker 1: in immediately. And I think that's why that hire happened.
Speaker 1: And I also, you know, my understanding is they were
Speaker 1: trying to sell Wilkes on the idea of becoming a real,
Speaker 1: you know, a very highly paid assistant to continue to
Speaker 1: coordinate the defense, that it was going to go one
Speaker 1: way or the other. That if they could convince Frank
Speaker 1: to be the OC and Wilkes to be the head
Speaker 1: coach and just pay them both almost you know, just
Speaker 1: giant salaries like what Jerry's doing with dan Quinn in Dallas.
Speaker 1: That that was going to be their approach. And if
Speaker 1: Frank was probably like, now I'm good, there's I'm gonna
Speaker 1: get a head coaching gig, you know, between one of
Speaker 1: these four openings, I'm gonna get one of them. So
Speaker 1: that's why they went that route. So that may be
Speaker 1: why they did it, but anyway, I'm rambling now, I'd
Speaker 1: like to see them do that. I'd like to see
Speaker 1: them hire their OC. I'd like to see them figure
Speaker 1: it out before the guy that they really want is gone,
Speaker 1: because there are so many openings and I assume that
Speaker 1: Tom and Brandon are you know, and John are really
Speaker 1: good at at identifying and hiring and once they've got
Speaker 1: this thing figured out and plus the other thing, Chris
Speaker 1: is like, to me, the longer it takes, just not
Speaker 1: crazy about the look. It suggests that yeah, you weren't
Speaker 1: really blown away, you weren't really wild, and now you're
Speaker 1: just kind of settling like if you are wild, Like, look,
Speaker 1: that's what happened with Staley, you know, he just blew
Speaker 1: them away, and they were like, hey, we're not letting
Speaker 1: this guy get on a plane and going to Florida
Speaker 1: and interviewing for Philadelphia. We're just gonna hire him right now.
Speaker 1: And that's what happened, because he was scheduled to hop
Speaker 1: a plane fly to Florida meet with Lurie and they
Speaker 1: were so impressed that they did not want him to
Speaker 1: get on that plane and they made him the offer immediately.
Speaker 1: So that's the other thing too, is like it suggests
Speaker 1: to me that, you know, maybe none of these candidates
Speaker 1: is really wowed them, you know, and they're they're waiting
Speaker 1: to get that feeling that oh yeah, this is here
Speaker 1: we go. Steckles the guy, Joe Brady's the guy, Like
Speaker 1: I feel it, you know, the second they walked out
Speaker 1: of the room, Hey, don't let them leave the buildings.
Speaker 1: Let's figure out what the number is and let's get
Speaker 1: it put to bed. Yeah, that's the only thing I'm
Speaker 1: a little concerned about. Yeah, the longer it goes, You're right,
Speaker 1: it's like, okay, well, who else is going to come
Speaker 1: through the door at that point in February? You know,
Speaker 1: the guys who are on staff for these championship teams.
Speaker 1: They're either gonna get head coaching jobs or they're going
Speaker 1: back to their team. So all the guys that you
Speaker 1: need to interview or essentially out there to interview, so
Speaker 1: you know, they say, don't flitch on the field, don't flinch,
Speaker 1: get your guy in here and uh and get get
Speaker 1: to work. So I'm very intrigued to see who of
Speaker 1: the coordinators that are still playing get jobs, because you know,
Speaker 1: we talked about Tamiko Ryan's He's talking about job, Jonathan Gannon.
Speaker 1: Who who It sounds like maybe the Texans um which
Speaker 1: was interesting because I heard Gannon was like on the
Speaker 1: chopping block. You know earlier this season, you know that
Speaker 1: they brought Fangio in to be a consultant because they
Speaker 1: weren't happy with what Gannon was doing, and then Sirianni
Speaker 1: went on a rant defending him last week. Yeah, because
Speaker 1: that because that was out there. Yeah, I was like,
Speaker 1: you know, well, I was like, well, I know where
Speaker 1: he's gonna show up if if he gets let go,
Speaker 1: he's gonna be on the plane with us, because I
Speaker 1: can promise you it's like Brandon's best friend. You know,
Speaker 1: there was no no denying that. Um. But then obviously
Speaker 1: you know, turning around and like I said, like seventy
Speaker 1: three sacks in a season, seems like he's doing a
Speaker 1: pretty darn good job. But um, I had heard Shane
Speaker 1: connected to Carolina, So now that Frank got hired there,
Speaker 1: I don't know if Shane's gonna be able to And
Speaker 1: again I think I just I feel like the Eagles
Speaker 1: are gonna win that game. Um. I just think with
Speaker 1: that defensive front and the ability to match the physicality
Speaker 1: you know of of San Francisco, and the ability because
Speaker 1: of all that size they have on the interior of
Speaker 1: that line, you know that that I just feel like
Speaker 1: they probably haven't and that could work in against Shane
Speaker 1: and Gannon for that matter. Um but I'd be really
Speaker 1: surprised if if Demiko didn't get one of these gigs.
Speaker 1: He's so good, you know, and by all accounts you
Speaker 1: hear the way players rave about his relationships is attend
Speaker 1: his attention to detail. UM just kind of has that
Speaker 1: head coaching, has that head coach feel about him, So
Speaker 1: that would not surprise me at all. Like from the Eagles,
Speaker 1: I think I think Stikeen I would put ahead a
Speaker 1: little bit of gannon. I think I feel like, you know,
Speaker 1: in terms of getting a gig, um, I don't know
Speaker 1: if anyone on the chief staff is going to get it. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, I think the enemy. Like the whole thing
Speaker 1: with with eb is why doesn't he have a job
Speaker 1: by now? You know, there's got there's something there, There's
Speaker 1: got to be something there, and that the interview processors.
Speaker 1: It just it seems weird to me, like why would
Speaker 1: someone have not hired him by now? Um? You know,
Speaker 1: Naggi got hired, Peterson got hired. I think kaf Go
Speaker 1: is gonna end up getting hired. And you know, maybe
Speaker 1: maybe this is just a here's people that reportedly want
Speaker 1: to interview him to be an OC and maybe Andy
Speaker 1: would just let him go and say, yeah, let's get
Speaker 1: you out of here. Go somewhere where you can call plays,
Speaker 1: do it for a year, you know, kill it, and
Speaker 1: then you'll get your head coaching gig. Too many people
Speaker 1: are scared that you're just working under me and not
Speaker 1: you know, calling plays or something. But um, and then
Speaker 1: for the Bengals, like I said, Lou would be the
Speaker 1: one um that that seemingly you know, would be the
Speaker 1: guy that that people are going after before we get
Speaker 1: out of here, your thoughts on Engles, Chiefs, Charges and
Speaker 1: no of these teams very well. The Bengals have all
Speaker 1: just I think even over the last few weeks have
Speaker 1: turned into this like last year, kind of like an
Speaker 1: underdog story to like, Yeah, they're almost like the villain now,
Speaker 1: like they're calling they're calling Arrowhead Burrowhead. I mean, they
Speaker 1: got a lot of a lot of confidence on the
Speaker 1: personality of their quarterback. Yeah, you know, that's Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1: You know, it's what he does. He's you know, what's
Speaker 1: your window my career? You know that's I love him.
Speaker 1: You know, I loved him in college. I love I
Speaker 1: know it's you know, it's an AFC team and he's
Speaker 1: connected to Herbert and all that whatever. I love the guy.
Speaker 1: I freaking love him. He's he is fun to watch.
Speaker 1: He's a great quarterback. Um, and I said it. I
Speaker 1: think I think we might have talked about it. Look,
Speaker 1: I was very confident that Bengals team was going to
Speaker 1: beat the Bills, very confident. Um. I was confident the
Speaker 1: forty nine ers, Uh, we're gonna win their game. The Eagles,
Speaker 1: I wasn't so sure about it. And of course they
Speaker 1: had the most dominant win of the weekend. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: um yeah, I think they match up really well. They
Speaker 1: match up really well with the Chiefs, and there's a
Speaker 1: reason why he's undefeated against him. The Chiefs secondary has
Speaker 1: been an issue all season. Their front is really good.
Speaker 1: Karloftis has come on, Frank Clark. We know Chris Jones is.
Speaker 1: You know, because of the injury to Aaron Donald, Chris
Speaker 1: Jones has been the best interior lineman in the league.
Speaker 1: So it's a it's an early front that can get
Speaker 1: you in a hurry, especially right up the gut with
Speaker 1: with Jones there. So it's not gonna be easy. But
Speaker 1: I just look at I look at Tyler Boyd, T Higgins,
Speaker 1: Jamar Chase, Joe Mixon, and then I look at Marquez Veldez, Scantling,
Speaker 1: Juju Smith, Schuster, Isaiah Pacheco. I granted, Travis Kelsey is
Speaker 1: the best weapon of them all, but you know, if
Speaker 1: you look at the history of these teams when they meet,
Speaker 1: you know they've been able to keep Kelsey in check.
Speaker 1: You know, they're drawn up pretty good plans to say, Okay,
Speaker 1: he's not like it's just it's inexplicable that the Jags
Speaker 1: allowed that guy to catch fourteen balls. It's just it's
Speaker 1: how does that happen? It's the one thing you can't allow.
Speaker 1: And I know Andy Reid is so good, it's scheming
Speaker 1: it up and finding ways to get him open. But
Speaker 1: holy Kyle, you know that's just that's just crazy. Fourteen
Speaker 1: catches for the one guy that you know they want
Speaker 1: to go after repeatedly. So, you know, I look at
Speaker 1: it as I think Burrow is playing as good as
Speaker 1: any quarterback in the league right now. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: they're on they're on a run. They just went into
Speaker 1: Buffalo and made it look easy. So I feel like
Speaker 1: I feel like they're saying, and I like their defense better,
Speaker 1: you know, I just I like their defense a lot,
Speaker 1: especially agains of Patrick Mahomes. He's not gonna be one
Speaker 1: hundred percent. You know, you could you could analyze his
Speaker 1: limp on Wednesday, didn't have one. He's not gonna be
Speaker 1: one hundred percent. Yeah, you know exactly. So I I
Speaker 1: like the Bengals and the Eagles, um as much as
Speaker 1: I you know, love Christian McCaffrey, having called a bunch
Speaker 1: of his games in college, and I pull for him.
Speaker 1: I think he's just so underrated, even though a lot
Speaker 1: of people say he's the best running back in the league.
Speaker 1: He's just he is such a weapon. Love watching Thiebo
Speaker 1: and IUK and how physical they are. How can you
Speaker 1: not love George Kittle, you know, and not to mention
Speaker 1: that defense is every level has incredible playmakers. I think
Speaker 1: it's what nine I think it's nine interceptions for their safeties,
Speaker 1: Gibson and Newfunga. You know, we know it's the best
Speaker 1: linebacking duo. You know in green Law and Warner. It's
Speaker 1: not close in the league. And then you got Boston
Speaker 1: Armstead up front. So I think I think they're gonna
Speaker 1: be good games. I really do. I think they're gonna
Speaker 1: be good games. But I just feel like the ability
Speaker 1: for Jalen Hurts to run compared to you know, Brock
Speaker 1: Purdy in the stress that puts on a defense, that's
Speaker 1: really good because you've just got to play a little
Speaker 1: bit more on your heels, knowing that could be coming
Speaker 1: right at you if you if you allow them to
Speaker 1: break contain and it can go for a long way
Speaker 1: and touchdowns. I feel like Eagles get the advantage there.
Speaker 1: And I just feel like with all the skill on offense,
Speaker 1: the you know, it's crazy it is to bet against
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes who's been in five straight championship games, which
Speaker 1: is just nuts. That's you know, that's what I got.
Speaker 1: What you got, I got. I got Eagles Bengals too.
Speaker 1: I think I think Cincinnati's just too talented. They're playing
Speaker 1: too locked in right now, and I think the injury
Speaker 1: to Mahomes and I could be proven completely wrong. And
Speaker 1: you know it's stupid on Monday when the Chiefs are
Speaker 1: going to the Super Bowl. Man, when it's Chiefs forty
Speaker 1: nine ers on Monday, exactly, it could be a rematch
Speaker 1: from a few years ago. But I think the Eagles, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, we talked about the way they can form
Speaker 1: each and every week and that San Francisco defense will
Speaker 1: be the best they play. But they have the weapons
Speaker 1: to combat anything you throw at them. You know, the
Speaker 1: receivers are elite, the running games elite. Jalen Hurts has
Speaker 1: played at an MVP level. You mentioned the defense, the
Speaker 1: way the defense has played, and I just feel like
Speaker 1: for as good as Brock Purdy has been, man, you know,
Speaker 1: you just wonder can he go to Philadelphia on the
Speaker 1: road and in the NFC Championship. It's just another Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's different, you know, Like I give him all
Speaker 1: the credit in the world. I look at the games.
Speaker 1: They won twelve straight games. I think money um and
Speaker 1: in parties won like seven or eight of them. Um
Speaker 1: Or he is eight and zero's he's eight and zero
Speaker 1: right now. Yeah, he would be ten and zero if
Speaker 1: he won the if he won the Super Bowl. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that's more of a like I think Brian
Speaker 1: Dable's gonna win Coach of the Year, but I think
Speaker 1: Kyle Shanahan, if you want it. I would not be
Speaker 1: upset in the least for what he was. There's a
Speaker 1: million ways you could go. You could go, you know,
Speaker 1: starting zero in two and ended up where they are,
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor, Pete Carroll with the Seahawks, Brian Dave. You know,
Speaker 1: that's why there was It's so funny people get so
Speaker 1: upset when they see the finalist of like where's Pete Carroll,
Speaker 1: Where's Ken where Serrianti exactly exactly. It's like, yeah, there's
Speaker 1: there's a lot of people that are seven. I just
Speaker 1: want to make sure I got to write seventy sacks
Speaker 1: seventy for the Eagles. Brandon ram had eleven, Josh Sweat
Speaker 1: had eleven, Hassan Reddick had sixteen, and Hargrave had eleven. Like,
Speaker 1: to me, that's just that's a lot for brock party
Speaker 1: to overcome. Kaizer h and Lindvall playing in that game too, too,
Speaker 1: charger starters from last year. Huh exactly, yeah, exactly, you know,
Speaker 1: and that look you credit credit Howie. They needed help
Speaker 1: on the interior. He went out and got Lindvall, Joseph
Speaker 1: and Dominican Sue like, oh, that's all just gonna go
Speaker 1: grab these two guys that make sure we get a
Speaker 1: little depth there, and they just bring him in waves,
Speaker 1: They just roll him through, you know. And that's and that,
Speaker 1: by the way, is without um uh Jordan Davis who
Speaker 1: got hurt, you know, and how big of an impact
Speaker 1: he was having early in the season and they're still
Speaker 1: this good. How he has been you know, the saf
Speaker 1: for like the Jalen Reagor selection, how he has been
Speaker 1: on fire in the draft and the way he's constructed
Speaker 1: this team, trading Carson Wentz when he had to drafting
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts and everyone thought he was crazy in the
Speaker 1: second round. I mean he's he's done a number of
Speaker 1: things that have like elevated this team in all three phases.
Speaker 1: Um Nick Sirianni. I don't think a lot of people
Speaker 1: had him on the head coaching radar. He interviews, he
Speaker 1: gets it, bringing in Shane steike In, a guy who
Speaker 1: we know really well. Um, they've just they've hit all
Speaker 1: the right notes and this could be their chance to
Speaker 1: get back to the super Bowl. So we'll see. Both
Speaker 1: games should be fun. We'll start to pick this thing up.
Speaker 1: Hopefully we have an offensive coordinator to announce next Thursday. Money,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't have any question. We will Maybe
Speaker 1: we can get him on. Yeah, hopefully we get him on. Um,
Speaker 1: we'll get some guests on now Chargers Weekly. I didn't
Speaker 1: go away, guys. We still do this every week every Thursday.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter if it's January, June, or September. So
Speaker 1: we will see you guys there Thursday. Money. I appreciate
Speaker 1: a man enjoy the games.