Speaker 1: Thea Around the NFL podcast, The inventors of the man Cannon.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Hansas, and I'm joined by a
Speaker 1: room filled with heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris Westling, and Gregg Rosenthal.
Speaker 1: What's up, boys? Hey? Dan? You know that could be
Speaker 1: misinterpreted in the in the wrong hands by a listener
Speaker 1: that's not aware that the man cannon is one of
Speaker 1: West's go to shirts ever since he got into a
Speaker 1: serious romance flationship. Yeah, it's it's more like a shirt
Speaker 1: slash hoodie, isn't it. Yeah, most hoodies are sweatshirts. This
Speaker 1: is just a hooded shirt, basically one of the one
Speaker 1: of the basic tenants of Wes's relationship, or one of
Speaker 1: the requirements for West. His paramore said, out with the plaid,
Speaker 1: in with the stylish, you know, kind of like, Hey,
Speaker 1: let's go over to the gap, let's check out what
Speaker 1: are some other places went to? I don't even know
Speaker 1: what these stores are called anymore. Whatever the stores are,
Speaker 1: the outfit needs to say I'm more manly than you.
Speaker 1: That's what they what they say. I don't know about
Speaker 1: how that's Greg reading into fields. You seem to be
Speaker 1: slightly threatened by Wests. I'm just impressed. The word that
Speaker 1: was used was she told me my wardrobe was two country,
Speaker 1: which I think is code for something reading too that.
Speaker 1: I just like the image of West, you know, going
Speaker 1: up and down the highway, stopping in a nice outlet mall,
Speaker 1: going to l l Bean for a while, having a
Speaker 1: nice tuna fish sandwiches. He restocks his wardrobe. I mean,
Speaker 1: this has been a total revamping, so thousands of dollars,
Speaker 1: I would guess, um, you know, and if you're gonna
Speaker 1: get honest, what are you even talking about. It's for
Speaker 1: your first playoff podcast. Well, don't blame us, blame the
Speaker 1: wild card games, which you know, bad week bad weekend
Speaker 1: of wild card football. Even the the patron saint of
Speaker 1: you know, spinning positive when it comes to bad football
Speaker 1: would not be able to defend what we saw, which
Speaker 1: was and and Mark, as you know, tweeted all over
Speaker 1: the place. The four wild card games had a total
Speaker 1: margin of victory of seventy six points. That nineteen point
Speaker 1: average makes it the most lopsided wild card weekend since
Speaker 1: nine one. Pertel Research and many other places spin Greg spin, no, No,
Speaker 1: spinning bad weekend. Yeah, the Giants and Packers gave us
Speaker 1: an entertaining three quarters. Certainly a compelling game. I mean
Speaker 1: there was fun things happening. But other than that, the
Speaker 1: the other three games, well we're we're a wash. I
Speaker 1: mean the other three games the kickoff announced garbage time,
Speaker 1: Like there was nothing fundamentally interesting about any of them.
Speaker 1: Out of the gate, and make sure you listen to
Speaker 1: today's show, say, which is sponsored of course by Mr
Speaker 1: F's or Mr Flames economics class in the Hague. Positive.
Speaker 1: Here's what here's the spinning Positive. It sets up an
Speaker 1: incredible divisional round where you've got all the division winners
Speaker 1: and you've got three just heavyweight fights next week. So
Speaker 1: when you got the favorites winning, that helps. Not sure
Speaker 1: Mr f got his due there, It just kind of
Speaker 1: got lawnmowered right over. That is if you want to
Speaker 1: be positive, because it was a letdown of a weekend.
Speaker 1: But uh, you got rid of the Lions, you got
Speaker 1: rid of the Dolphins, you got rid of the Raiders
Speaker 1: and and the Giants who could not keep pace. So
Speaker 1: you got those teams out and away we go. We're
Speaker 1: down to what seven games laughed? Now does that make sense.
Speaker 1: What's the math that's correct? Seven games? I mean, unless
Speaker 1: that's that's under the assumption that's super Bowl fifty one occurs. Yes,
Speaker 1: I thought it wasn't gonna be completed. It might not
Speaker 1: happen at all. Don't have a winner. We'll discuss further.
Speaker 1: There is this another apocalypse scenario, millions upon millions of
Speaker 1: dead people. I just don't I think saying there will
Speaker 1: be seven more full games is where is where I'd
Speaker 1: have an issue with what you said. OK, so we're
Speaker 1: gonna get four games. We're gonna go through each one
Speaker 1: really breaking it down, and uh, and that will be
Speaker 1: the focus of today's Sunday show. And then as we
Speaker 1: spin forward into next week, we will talk about the
Speaker 1: divisional playoffs, But for now we will focus on these games.
Speaker 1: And why don't we start with what was kind of
Speaker 1: builds as the main event? And uh, you know, Greg,
Speaker 1: it's funny you said that that was the game to
Speaker 1: kind of hang your hat on. This one ended up
Speaker 1: to be the one that had the biggest margin of
Speaker 1: victory for any of the winning teams. Shotgun snap, Rogers,
Speaker 1: coach back forts. Why not bring cluck by hap? But
Speaker 1: the ten five on the hashmark running into the end zone.
Speaker 1: Touchdown on a pass right down the middle, a thirty
Speaker 1: arms lazer thrown by Aaron Rodgers, and the Pickers have
Speaker 1: extended their lead twenty over the Giants. Late third quarter, Yes,
Speaker 1: Kevin Harland Westwood won sports. It took the Packers offense
Speaker 1: a while to get going, but when they did, it
Speaker 1: was all over for Big Blue. Aaron Rodgers through for
Speaker 1: over three d yards four touchdowns, three of those to
Speaker 1: revi ivitalized Randall Cobb and the Packers continued their late
Speaker 1: season surge with a thirty eight to thirt win over
Speaker 1: the New York Giants. Oh who locked it? Double lock
Speaker 1: it up? A double lock. Beautiful work, gentleman. The Packers
Speaker 1: will head to Dallas to face the Cowboys next Sunday
Speaker 1: and Chris Westling. The Packers started slow here but finished
Speaker 1: with a now familiar onslaught. For anybody who didn't actually
Speaker 1: watch this game, it's gonna be hard to believe how
Speaker 1: dominant the Giants defense was. In the first eight teen
Speaker 1: minutes of this game. Packers had negative eight yards by
Speaker 1: three minutes into the second quarter, five for five on
Speaker 1: punts for Packers. For the Packers, offense, which is something
Speaker 1: that nobody had done in the playoffs since two thousand ten.
Speaker 1: That's how dominant the Giants were. And then quarterback wins happened.
Speaker 1: It's a quarterback win. Aaron Rodgers put that team on
Speaker 1: his back, carried them, manufactured offense out of nothing on
Speaker 1: those two Davante Adams throws, and then the hail married
Speaker 1: a Randall cop to put a team up fourteen to
Speaker 1: six at halftime that had been thoroughly outplayed. And you
Speaker 1: put it well, Wes, because this was a game where
Speaker 1: there was no juke, no pulse for the Packers, and
Speaker 1: they lose Jordy Nelson to what what was a very
Speaker 1: painful looking um body injury. Ribs. Maybe you don't know
Speaker 1: if we're gonna see him again this season, and Roger said,
Speaker 1: don't care. I'll find other guys to get involved. It
Speaker 1: was also just watching him put on a clinic where
Speaker 1: New York kind of reminded me a little bit of
Speaker 1: watching uh people try to chase around and get to
Speaker 1: John Elway back in the day, where he just dances
Speaker 1: and moves and evades would be sackers. It was just
Speaker 1: it was Aaron Rodgers when he got hot, at at
Speaker 1: really a peak performance. But to say QB wins West
Speaker 1: in the end, Aaron Rodgers played fantastic, But if the
Speaker 1: rest of the Giants team played better, I think it
Speaker 1: could be a very different game. If Odell Beckham and
Speaker 1: Sterling Shepherd, you know, catch one of those touchdown passes.
Speaker 1: If Eli Apple and the four or five guys in
Speaker 1: the secondary, you know, it's a great he throws a
Speaker 1: great hail Mary, but that's still a play that the
Speaker 1: defense needs to take care of that, then it's a
Speaker 1: different game. You know. As much as the final score
Speaker 1: was crazy, it was literally a one point game with
Speaker 1: three minutes left in the in the third quarter, and
Speaker 1: the Giants defense held out as long as they could.
Speaker 1: And if the rest of the Giants, I don't think
Speaker 1: it was Eli's best game, but he played a pretty
Speaker 1: a very strong first half which we didn't expect to see.
Speaker 1: And if if the rest of the team played as
Speaker 1: well as Eli, you know that they could have won
Speaker 1: this game. You're tiptoeing around, of course, boat gate, which
Speaker 1: will be the rage in New York Monday, but let's
Speaker 1: let's listen to Really the Packers had woken up ready,
Speaker 1: but this was the to me the true uh turning
Speaker 1: point of the game, where a great first half for
Speaker 1: the Giants on defense got wiped away with one play
Speaker 1: shotguns Napa. Rogers now winds up, moves up, unchin spark
Speaker 1: will pass. You didn't end up in the zone. It's
Speaker 1: a jump ball and it's called it's called back to
Speaker 1: the end zone. It's caught Randall cobbing over the shoulder
Speaker 1: catch on a jump ball under the crossbar. The Packers
Speaker 1: have scored forty two yard Harold Mary touchdown pass as
Speaker 1: time expires in the first half, Rogers to Randall Cobb
Speaker 1: and West. That is the third time now and essentially
Speaker 1: thirteen months that Aaron Rodgers has hit a hail Mary
Speaker 1: in a big spot, including twice in the playoffs. Well,
Speaker 1: part of that is because he throws a great hail
Speaker 1: there's skilled to it. There's no question. He dances around
Speaker 1: and the timing is usually working out well for him,
Speaker 1: and you know, probably it is luck. This one also
Speaker 1: was on New York's coverage on that play, letting the
Speaker 1: receiver get behind the last guy in the secondary and
Speaker 1: there's a space for him to make the eli apple
Speaker 1: won't won't sleep and and back to what Greg was saying, Uh,
Speaker 1: Eli Manning had a poor season, but in in a
Speaker 1: game where you expected, uh or I expected him to
Speaker 1: play better, he really did, at least in the first half.
Speaker 1: And to see his receivers let him down. Odell Beckham
Speaker 1: set a career high with three drops in this game. Uh.
Speaker 1: And I was, you know, making light of But here
Speaker 1: here's the problem that he has and and he'll have
Speaker 1: to live with this on his resume, is that I
Speaker 1: don't think anybody that has a sane viewpoint on on
Speaker 1: on young football players living in a life will get
Speaker 1: on him for that. But then when you have your
Speaker 1: worst game, now it becomes part of New York sports law.
Speaker 1: And he has to deal with that and take that
Speaker 1: into next season. It's just a bad situation that he
Speaker 1: has to deal with. And he was again very emotional,
Speaker 1: apparently inconsolable in the locker room afterwards. He had a
Speaker 1: terrible game. And and Eli uh in one possession, hit
Speaker 1: Beckham in the end zone, dropped, hit Sterling Shepherd in
Speaker 1: the end zone, dropped. And when they should have been
Speaker 1: up thirteen nothing in this game, they instead it was
Speaker 1: six nothing, it was yards to seven. That's a that's
Speaker 1: a crazy stat pretty late in the second quarter. I
Speaker 1: mean that is absolute. It's absolute domination by the Giants
Speaker 1: in the first half, and they couldn't capitalize. I thought
Speaker 1: Eli Manning came out of the gate with more zip
Speaker 1: on his throws than we've seen in a while. I
Speaker 1: would not put this on him. You know, Beckham had
Speaker 1: eight drops over a hundred and seven catchable passes this
Speaker 1: season that this has never been an issue for Odell
Speaker 1: Beckham on a week to week basis. I I have
Speaker 1: to wonder if the weather, the temperature at lambeau Field,
Speaker 1: and the environment had much more to do than anything
Speaker 1: that happened in Miami on a boat. I mean, I
Speaker 1: just thought that. And he did a nice job back.
Speaker 1: He did after the game. I don't know what happened
Speaker 1: in the locker room, but he's gonna story in New
Speaker 1: York and in the tabloids. But he could have it
Speaker 1: could have been worse. He said the right things. He said.
Speaker 1: There's no way something that happened seven days ago affected this.
Speaker 1: I did have a single drop in practice all week.
Speaker 1: It just I had a bad day. And I will
Speaker 1: say I was texting with a long time very rational,
Speaker 1: level headed Giants fan has been through good and bad,
Speaker 1: and he was furious with Odell Beckham. And I think
Speaker 1: a lot of Giants fans are not going to let
Speaker 1: him off the hook the way that some people in
Speaker 1: the media might. So what's that He's still the best
Speaker 1: player in the team. What are you gonna do? Say, Oh,
Speaker 1: we gotta trade him. You know, it's deeply frustrating when
Speaker 1: one of the reasons your season ends is when your
Speaker 1: best player. Sure, it reminds me of last year when
Speaker 1: the last time I saw a wide receiver play this
Speaker 1: poorly Larry Fitzgerald. But yeah, that's a fair point. But
Speaker 1: but if you think about what the Giants struggled that
Speaker 1: all year, I mean, it showed up. They had good
Speaker 1: halves of offense Washington last week Detroit, like they would
Speaker 1: look competent for a half and then it would just
Speaker 1: sort of go away where they wouldn't move the ball.
Speaker 1: We thought they were getting a running game going. They
Speaker 1: couldn't run the ball at all today. And the Packers,
Speaker 1: as you know, I'm stealing this point from from Troy Aikman.
Speaker 1: You know, they're back in nickel coverage the whole time,
Speaker 1: too deep. They're daring Giant the Giants to run against
Speaker 1: six guys in the box, and they can't and they
Speaker 1: can't do it so that they're doubling, you know, Backham,
Speaker 1: they're doubling shepherds. Sometimes it's like it's it's what we
Speaker 1: saw a season out of their whole running game when
Speaker 1: it finally came alive in December, was shotgun draws against
Speaker 1: nickel defenses. I mean, it wasn't a real sustaining ground
Speaker 1: attack ever. And yet this was the game that the
Speaker 1: four of us sitting down I thought enjoyably watching it
Speaker 1: together got us up out of our seats. Yeah, had
Speaker 1: certain people, I mean we all were thinking, you know,
Speaker 1: there is no connection to two thousand seven, but it
Speaker 1: had that feel of the two thousand and eleven Giants
Speaker 1: storming into Green Bay and taking care of business before
Speaker 1: it all crumbing. You we're dying for juice after the
Speaker 1: first three, when the Giants cut it to fourteen thirteen
Speaker 1: in the third quarter, you were thinking yourself, all right,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be one of those games. And they
Speaker 1: never scored again. Then Rogers went thirteen yards, twenty yards,
Speaker 1: thirty yards touch down, and it seemed like in two
Speaker 1: seconds that that was the moment of the game. And
Speaker 1: it kind of goes to what we've been talking about
Speaker 1: all season about offense is an offense league, offense greater
Speaker 1: than defense. You know, if they're if they're the best
Speaker 1: defense in the league, you know they don't totally cave
Speaker 1: in at the end. Dominique Rodgers Carmarty injury really hurt them.
Speaker 1: I think it limits what they can do in terms
Speaker 1: of blitzes and everything. But if they're that dominant of defense,
Speaker 1: you have a little bit of a pass rush. I mean,
Speaker 1: they had no pass rush and you and you, you
Speaker 1: hould them into a closer game. The last stand of
Speaker 1: the great defenses of two thousand and sixteen, that was
Speaker 1: the Giants turned to be hoisted up as having this
Speaker 1: great defense. I guess the Texans have the number one defense. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's but the Giants and Giants have a good defense,
Speaker 1: and just they could not just I'd mark it down
Speaker 1: to again, Aaron Rodgers playing at an amazing level and
Speaker 1: once he got going, and the Giants did not take
Speaker 1: advantage of the slow start of the Packers offense, they
Speaker 1: would live to regret it. And they did. I feel
Speaker 1: like if your Dallas, well, you you were whether it
Speaker 1: was Atlanta or Green Bay coming into your build, and
Speaker 1: you've got to be thinking, this is the the reward
Speaker 1: if do we get for having to do what we
Speaker 1: did all season? Get the number one seed and incomes
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers who looks like beyond type of player. At
Speaker 1: this point, you got the home game and West. How
Speaker 1: big is it If Jordy Nelson can't play, if today's
Speaker 1: version of Randall Cops shows up, you're in fine ship.
Speaker 1: I mean, one s and three, that's his best game
Speaker 1: since two thousand fourteen. And I don't think it's closed
Speaker 1: and in Rogers talked him up before the game, he
Speaker 1: talked him up after the game, saying, we're a different
Speaker 1: team when eighteens on the field. Look in Geronto, Geronoo.
Speaker 1: Allison has played well lately too. I don't think you're
Speaker 1: just throwing some nobody in there. No, And then that's
Speaker 1: the thing. The Giants were game for this. I mean
Speaker 1: they avoid he avoided generous Jenkins. Landon Collins had another
Speaker 1: mind game in a in a season of monster games.
Speaker 1: I mean they made it, they made it fun. You
Speaker 1: know what we have next week Christen Michael revenge game
Speaker 1: against him. And then if they win, they could face
Speaker 1: another Christian Michael revenge game against has so many revenge games.
Speaker 1: He was pumped up by the playing made. He was
Speaker 1: like celebrating at one point when they broke a run back.
Speaker 1: I think in the second half you see him kind
Speaker 1: of in the in the foreground shooting his finger in
Speaker 1: the air on a runback of like thirty six yards.
Speaker 1: He was very exces reminded me of les Lee Nielsen
Speaker 1: being the umpire and like it just it was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: that was an average play, but you're going crazy. He
Speaker 1: also outplayed Time Montgomery, who got carried off the field
Speaker 1: with a leg injury and returned for one more carry.
Speaker 1: But you wonder if Time Montgomery that knee injury did
Speaker 1: not look like a minor one woke. I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: talking starring role next week. I mean, this is the guy.
Speaker 1: I know you think we talked him up too much, Dan,
Speaker 1: but this is one. This is one of our season
Speaker 1: long teams too. It started in late July. Here we
Speaker 1: are in the middle of January and it's seawoke season.
Speaker 1: Have Seoke the Seahawks leading rusher this year, facing the
Speaker 1: Seahawks in the NFC title game. I like that idea
Speaker 1: before we get out of here. One interesting stat that
Speaker 1: I um that I called before we got up here.
Speaker 1: This was getting out of here. This wild card weekend,
Speaker 1: out of this game into the next one was the
Speaker 1: most lopsided wild card weekends since the nineteen eight one.
Speaker 1: Not sure if you've heard didn't say that. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a great stature. It's actually out there. It's just a
Speaker 1: bit as I mean, I feel like it's been pounded
Speaker 1: into my brain over the last hour and a half.
Speaker 1: Thirty eight yards for the Bengals. Alright, so the Packers advanced.
Speaker 1: That will be fun seeing them in big d uh.
Speaker 1: And now let's move on. Congrats to do take capers,
Speaker 1: by the way, survived another season. Will not get fired
Speaker 1: in almost certainty unless we'll get up five total yards
Speaker 1: of We're not hoping for that. All right, Let's see
Speaker 1: what happens. There's more action to come. A one and
Speaker 1: done would have been damaging. But then again, he's Teflon speaking.
Speaker 1: I might as well throw this in. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: go ahead, buddy. That's four one and dones for Eli
Speaker 1: Manning in his career. I'm just saying, well, Darry Rodgers
Speaker 1: has a few of them. I get it. I'm just saying,
Speaker 1: everyone's like playoff ELI nine, playoff eel. He's been in
Speaker 1: the playoffs six times and they've been one and done
Speaker 1: for bro How about this, he's also got I got it.
Speaker 1: He's got two four and one. I'm just I'm just
Speaker 1: four wins and then he won scored twenty five points
Speaker 1: in a playoff game one time in his career. Alex
Speaker 1: Smith has scored over thirty three times. Alex Smith is
Speaker 1: a great playoff quarterback. People aren't noticing that yet. There
Speaker 1: you go. There. It does will get knock down as
Speaker 1: we go. Nice try. You're never gonna wipe it away.
Speaker 1: It's always gonna be there. But I know you're happy
Speaker 1: about this. You love it. I'm happy they're not. They're
Speaker 1: not advancing. I get it. It's fun. Okay, let's move
Speaker 1: on to the first playoff game of the weekend. It
Speaker 1: occurred at n RG Stadium, home of Super Bowl fifty one.
Speaker 1: Oswaider play action to the right, Osswailer trying to one
Speaker 1: four six. That scens with a touchdown brock Oswiler Tater
Speaker 1: pulling away here in the ford. Yes, brock Oswilder, Yes
Speaker 1: that brock ost Wilder through for one score, ran for another,
Speaker 1: leading Chris Wesling for Houston Texas. I don't even debate
Speaker 1: over the Oakland Raiders on Saturday. The Texans will take
Speaker 1: this bunny and head to Foxborough for a divisional round
Speaker 1: date with the Pats next weekend. Greg Rosenthal, you were
Speaker 1: at this game. I mean, look at you. Oh I
Speaker 1: did lock it up the lock off, but somebody didn't.
Speaker 1: Somebody said I'm gonna take the fourth round pick rookie
Speaker 1: on the road in his first start, and that was Mark. Yeah.
Speaker 1: It's like, here's a game that if I knew could,
Speaker 1: if I could see the future, Connor Cook would throw
Speaker 1: the ball forty five times. That's a good recipe for
Speaker 1: a lock anyway, Gregor asn't thal. You were at this
Speaker 1: game and the Texans were given the rarest of all
Speaker 1: playoff gifts. They got to face a rookie quarterback making
Speaker 1: his first NFL start, and they took advantage of it.
Speaker 1: They did it. I will never understand. I know, this
Speaker 1: seems like a small point why they didn't play Matt mcgloyd,
Speaker 1: and Jack del Rio said he was he wanted to
Speaker 1: go to mcgloyd late in the first half in the
Speaker 1: postgame press conference and his coaches talked to him out
Speaker 1: of it, which is strange, the whole, the whole, you
Speaker 1: never want to hear that. By the story is strange
Speaker 1: because they explained to him that there were other factors
Speaker 1: in terms of why Cook was struggling. I mean, this
Speaker 1: was one of the worst played quarterback games of the
Speaker 1: season by Cook because it wasn't all just about and overs.
Speaker 1: It was a lot of Sometimes he would just step back,
Speaker 1: have all sorts of time, there'd be no one around
Speaker 1: him in the pocket, and then eventually he would just
Speaker 1: kind of throw the ball out of nowhere to no one,
Speaker 1: possibly to the other team. I think that's because of
Speaker 1: Romeo Cornell, who just mixed things up and they have
Speaker 1: a nice deep secondary, and they've got two great players
Speaker 1: up front and Merciless and Clowney, and it's it's not
Speaker 1: a sexy team, but when you're playing the Raiders that
Speaker 1: that was enough. It was fun. We really need to
Speaker 1: redefine the box score for football, because you look at
Speaker 1: this game, jaev says Jaevian Clowney has one tackle that
Speaker 1: was his impact on the game. According to the box
Speaker 1: We need a better way to measure defensive players effectiveness.
Speaker 1: It's crazy because you know he I wrote almost totally
Speaker 1: about him after the game because I thought it was
Speaker 1: such a great moment for him to have that interception.
Speaker 1: You know, three years after he was taking number one overall.
Speaker 1: He's going up against Khalil Mackie. You know, he said
Speaker 1: after the game. When I asked him, he said he
Speaker 1: did it did mean more when you're going up against
Speaker 1: a guy in your own class and he knows how
Speaker 1: good Khalil mack is and he he loved it. I mean,
Speaker 1: he he was beaming, he's joking, He's got his kid
Speaker 1: on his shoulder. It's like this was his moment if nothing,
Speaker 1: if nothing else this season for them, got you thinking.
Speaker 1: I mean A J. Bowie said it after the game.
Speaker 1: It's like, just think of when he's like, all I
Speaker 1: think when I'm watching Clowney doing this is think when
Speaker 1: ninety nine is back, when we got Clowney, Merciless and
Speaker 1: ninety nine together next year. I mean, that could be something.
Speaker 1: It's a great point. And I had the luck of
Speaker 1: watching this game next to Chris Wesleyan down at a
Speaker 1: tavern by the sea, and we were now Clowney got
Speaker 1: the got the pick but at one point he had
Speaker 1: almost had to turn over before that as well, another
Speaker 1: literally dominant out of the gate, and you kind of
Speaker 1: set the tone right away for the Texans. The double
Speaker 1: teams on him allow Whitney Merciless to wreak have it
Speaker 1: and the and Connor hot Horror wrote it up talked
Speaker 1: about the fact that they eventually started to double team
Speaker 1: Merciless and had to go had to do that to
Speaker 1: take care of him and let Clowney room free as
Speaker 1: the game went on. So you're right, there's a way
Speaker 1: to pick your poison. That there's heart. There were hurries,
Speaker 1: there were hits. There's just plays where he throws the
Speaker 1: offensive lineman into the backfield, gets in the way of
Speaker 1: the running back. He was big in the running game.
Speaker 1: I mean the Raiders wanted to establish the run. They
Speaker 1: came out very conservative. They couldn't run the ball. It
Speaker 1: was it was tough to watch. I mean, I'll admit
Speaker 1: for this to be a playoff game as it was
Speaker 1: tough to watch. Is Whitney Merciless one of the more
Speaker 1: underrated UH defensive lineman in the league. Well, he's officially
Speaker 1: an outside linebacker, but as far as pass rushers go,
Speaker 1: I think he only had six sacks this year, so
Speaker 1: nobody's really gonna pay attention to him. But he does
Speaker 1: reek havoc. He's in the backfield quite a bit, he's
Speaker 1: good against the run, and he hurries a lot of
Speaker 1: quarterbacks too. I think he's a guy that pro football
Speaker 1: focus will help you understand how good he is. I
Speaker 1: think also he had to go through the process of
Speaker 1: changing some perceptions about earlier in his career where he
Speaker 1: was not effective to this degree at all. Rick Smith
Speaker 1: signed him to a very low cost deal through I
Speaker 1: think like two thousand nineteen or something. So this this
Speaker 1: group is gonna it's gonna be together for a while
Speaker 1: and they're pretty good in the secondary. Booye is gonna be,
Speaker 1: you know, a free agent. But but then again, like
Speaker 1: anyone could have beaten this this Raider's team just about
Speaker 1: I think that's why that's why I was confused about
Speaker 1: as probably not it's probably not, but he started seven
Speaker 1: or eight games as a rookie and looked okay then,
Speaker 1: and it's just like he's a he's an NFL quarterback
Speaker 1: that's been in this system a couple of years. It
Speaker 1: would have been nice and because this game was not
Speaker 1: totally a blowout. I want being there. What was your
Speaker 1: impression of the of the crowd at n ERG Stadium. Oh,
Speaker 1: it was wild. They're They're a great crowd. I've always
Speaker 1: thought Houston has a really good fan base, especially considering
Speaker 1: their teams have always kind of been right in the middle.
Speaker 1: I mean, they were they were lucky. Were they stunned
Speaker 1: to see Osweiler not completely implode? I think they were
Speaker 1: the opposite. They were ready to turn against Osweiler. They
Speaker 1: even started to after um after the third drive when
Speaker 1: the Raiders, you know, made it ten seven and in
Speaker 1: the Hexans were playing it so conservative, but it was
Speaker 1: ten nothing before before the Raiders had to do anything.
Speaker 1: Their first two drives total twelve yards that scored ten points.
Speaker 1: They scored ten points on twelve yards. It's like it
Speaker 1: was just a recipe for like, don't worry about it, Brocket,
Speaker 1: you don't have to do. But he deserves he does
Speaker 1: deserve credit for not blowing up the game by being terrible,
Speaker 1: which he's been doing all year. I think I can
Speaker 1: count only one like brock pass where it was an
Speaker 1: awful pass that should have been picked. He made some
Speaker 1: He even checked out of a running play on the
Speaker 1: touchdown pass. Uh, next Hopkins, which obviously is not something
Speaker 1: you're supposed to get excited about for a thirty nine
Speaker 1: million dollar quarterback or whatever. But the fact that he
Speaker 1: was able to do it in the playoffs and here
Speaker 1: they are now into the final eight teams. That's an
Speaker 1: achievement for how bad the season had gone for him.
Speaker 1: You know what is grotesque is that this wound up.
Speaker 1: We thought that after this game, well, this was this
Speaker 1: was a dud. It wound up being the closest of
Speaker 1: all the games this weekend. Uh, is there any stats
Speaker 1: out there for what what it was? While you guys
Speaker 1: were disgusting, I did. I did a little compilation, went
Speaker 1: through the numbers Pro Football Reference dot Com and we
Speaker 1: do have. Well it's I'm not gonna go official with this.
Speaker 1: I'm still were going to results tell us that these
Speaker 1: are the most most lopsided wildcard around. You have to
Speaker 1: go all the way back to to find four games
Speaker 1: that were they were they weren't for that's thirty five
Speaker 1: years ago. Yeah, that's crazy. So that's history. That's a
Speaker 1: little bit of history that we've we've made this weekend.
Speaker 1: The years ago Rock played well, Dan, did you know
Speaker 1: that I'm going to have a new column starting this week?
Speaker 1: Get off my yard lawn came up like this title,
Speaker 1: and it's gonna be a lot of why is this
Speaker 1: still a thing type of stuff. Oh, Brox, Brox ready
Speaker 1: for a comeback. Now he's gonna lead the Texans. He's back, baby,
Speaker 1: Well that's probably gonna be. It's gonna get grim next weekend.
Speaker 1: Judging by the sports radio and then some of the
Speaker 1: media people talking they talked to at the game, there
Speaker 1: was a little too much credit going to brock Oswiler
Speaker 1: for this one. It's like they had sixteen drives in
Speaker 1: this game, I believe, which is an exceptionally high amount,
Speaker 1: and they actually had fewer than three hundred yards, so
Speaker 1: they had less than their normal yard is competent and no, no,
Speaker 1: he was solid. And the drive right before halftime where
Speaker 1: Bill O'Brien did an unbelievable job using his time outs.
Speaker 1: We killed coaches for not using their time outs well
Speaker 1: getting the ball back. And then as Wilder goes down
Speaker 1: the field in about four plays, two of them which
Speaker 1: were beautiful throws to DeAndre Hopkins, he deserves credit. He
Speaker 1: had no turnovers. You're right. He just kind of stayed
Speaker 1: out of the way the rest of the time. They
Speaker 1: didn't do that much other than competence is cool. Yeah,
Speaker 1: when you were in San Diego last week, I think
Speaker 1: you got down and spoke with some of the family.
Speaker 1: Margaret Sue was her name in the articles something like that,
Speaker 1: did you did you get down with the unwashed masses
Speaker 1: this time and talk with him? Sally? Uh, Sally Sue
Speaker 1: Sally Suite. That was That was for an article. You
Speaker 1: know this time have to sure, well, that's kind of
Speaker 1: you know, who had a big on the way into
Speaker 1: the game. If I don't have to speaking with football,
Speaker 1: it was a joke. I actually did talk to a
Speaker 1: couple of Raiders fans because I was curious about their field,
Speaker 1: and there really was kind of a feeling of like, hey,
Speaker 1: what are you gonna do? We're here with Connor Cook
Speaker 1: that hopes is pretty low. It's sad, and you know,
Speaker 1: speaking of the Raiders, h uh, you know, got I
Speaker 1: gotta admission to make here. And it was something that
Speaker 1: really stunned me when I stumbled across it. I got
Speaker 1: some more breaking news what bild Zeus sitting on his
Speaker 1: couch with his wife watching a screener of La La
Speaker 1: Land just you know, kick him back. Good film deserves
Speaker 1: the theater treatment. But I get it, you guys, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go see a musical in the theater. Let's come down.
Speaker 1: I am. I'm gonna go see you. Whatever I cook
Speaker 1: into Derek Carr's Twitter profile, this is where we're going.
Speaker 1: Got blocked me. What Derek Carr, the star quarterback of
Speaker 1: the Raiders, The Raiders who from August on I pounded
Speaker 1: the backing. This guy from day one has a fun
Speaker 1: team that I love and uh, you know my picks,
Speaker 1: the team of at L never had a bad word
Speaker 1: to say about Derek. He blocked me. He has a
Speaker 1: wonderful brother who works here. He's a coworker of years.
Speaker 1: I don't understand, never spoken before. Maybe things got misconstrued
Speaker 1: about something he wrote along the way. Who knows, I
Speaker 1: mean that could be my only guess unless you know Mary.
Speaker 1: Maybe Dave Carr uh saw me and he saw me
Speaker 1: as a threat as the most handsome man on campus
Speaker 1: here and said, hey Derek, well now we're going somewhere
Speaker 1: complete theories. I'm just saying theories and said, hey, hey, hey, Derek,
Speaker 1: a little bro this guy is a threat ostracizing. This
Speaker 1: is this is what happens in their quarterback room. Matt McGloin,
Speaker 1: who did not hide his distaste for being benched by
Speaker 1: the end of that game, just sitting there with his
Speaker 1: hat on, hands on it. He's so annoyed. He he
Speaker 1: has blocked almost the entire Bay Area media and most
Speaker 1: of their big time fans has been blocked by Matt
Speaker 1: mcloin over. Maybe he's maybe he's rubbing off on the kid, Derek,
Speaker 1: and I don't know. I'm gonna I'm gonna continue to
Speaker 1: look into and try to figure out what went wrong. Uh.
Speaker 1: Maybe I'll introduce himself to to David and we could
Speaker 1: maybe he could be the guy, the go between two,
Speaker 1: broker some type of peace. Can we expect a long
Speaker 1: form on this? You might need one. I got a
Speaker 1: lot of digging to do first before I put pen
Speaker 1: to paper. I gotta do some work, some journal work
Speaker 1: to figure out why Derek Carr blocked not the first person.
Speaker 1: Uh you know of note that's blocked you in the past,
Speaker 1: So you there may be some elements to your reporting
Speaker 1: or your character that are rubbing some the wrong way.
Speaker 1: I don't find that right. You can't. You can't, and
Speaker 1: this is not a shot at you. Mark, you can't
Speaker 1: sit on the fence. You gotta be who you are.
Speaker 1: And if people don't like you, then't like you. But
Speaker 1: in Derek's case, I I never we never had an issue.
Speaker 1: You're saying it's not a shot at him made it
Speaker 1: feel more. I would never have taken it that way
Speaker 1: until the way you phrased that. And now I'm going
Speaker 1: to block you and it's gonna be done for you
Speaker 1: and me. So we'll get to the bottom of that.
Speaker 1: And finally a big, big game for J. J. Watt
Speaker 1: of all people over all, right, actually closest without going
Speaker 1: over because I had the video team actually cut this
Speaker 1: and you could read about it on the end around
Speaker 1: how many sideline cutaway shots that J. J. Watt during
Speaker 1: Saturday's telecast without going over, Mark, I'm gonna go sevens
Speaker 1: I was also gonna say seven, I'll go six uh
Speaker 1: t cast, I'll go fourteen, said I was gonna say sixteen.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, last new money I was made in
Speaker 1: on the J. J. Watt Camps sixteen. You love J
Speaker 1: J Watt, right, listen, I did love J. J. Watt
Speaker 1: And then he got annoying about I don't know if
Speaker 1: JJ came about ten four percord. That's ridiculous, and I
Speaker 1: think ten were probably in the first half alone. I
Speaker 1: felt for him a little bit. You saw him in
Speaker 1: I saw him in the locker room. You know, he
Speaker 1: was changing and he must have worked out or something,
Speaker 1: and he's there. You're just kind of off to the side.
Speaker 1: You're usually the leader of the team. Everyone's kind of
Speaker 1: all happy, you're kind of quiet, and that part, that's
Speaker 1: a tough decision. Derek Carr, who uh as everyone knows,
Speaker 1: blocked me and I don't know why. He was in
Speaker 1: California watching a game with his family. J J wants
Speaker 1: to be on the sideline with his teammates, but it
Speaker 1: does you're not part of the battle. Interesting, wasn't there
Speaker 1: a report that he could have played if they hadn't
Speaker 1: put him on ir They, yeah, it was. The sideline
Speaker 1: reporter said that he's coming along because he also not
Speaker 1: only we get sixteen shots, we got a look Friday
Speaker 1: or workout on the field and some shuttle runs, so
Speaker 1: he even got some JJ works harder than everybody footage
Speaker 1: and they said he was kind of coming along nicely. Physically,
Speaker 1: but since he was moved to I R, he cannot
Speaker 1: come back. I mean, in an alternate universe, J J.
Speaker 1: Watt would have sacked Matt mcgloyd at some point this game.
Speaker 1: Before we move on, I'm gonna give you a couple
Speaker 1: of quick hot takes. I know we gotta move on.
Speaker 1: It's about this game. It's about this game because I'm
Speaker 1: not happy. But you know, Beckham's gonna get a lot
Speaker 1: of grief. Uh, let's come back to us. Michael Crabtree
Speaker 1: and Amari Cooper terrible game, especially Crabs happened a couple
Speaker 1: of times. Big time drops. Help out your quarterback. David
Speaker 1: Amerson also a little rough game. DeAndre Hopkins give him
Speaker 1: a little love. Bad season, but had a great game.
Speaker 1: Nice separation. And then Khalil Mack. What a guy to
Speaker 1: watch in person. He was as great as clown he was.
Speaker 1: He was the best football player in that game, and
Speaker 1: I don't think it was that close. He was incredible.
Speaker 1: Mark is a team that has bad quarterbacks all the time,
Speaker 1: like I do. It's nothing more frustrating than a bad
Speaker 1: quarterback making an actual good throw and then his receiver
Speaker 1: drops it. And that's what was happening in that game
Speaker 1: for Oakland. Well, I think you and I are no
Speaker 1: strangers to that dynamic. All right, let's move on and
Speaker 1: checking on the other. A f C playoff game that
Speaker 1: was played at hines Field Dolphins showing blitz to your
Speaker 1: age second at seven, Roethlisberger sees the blitz and he
Speaker 1: throws the Brown. Defender tumbles at the fifty head. Brown
Speaker 1: explodes up to the thirty thirty twenty. He waves his
Speaker 1: right hand at the trailing defender and he soars into
Speaker 1: the end zone for a touchdown, posing with a hand
Speaker 1: on his hip, his second score of the day from
Speaker 1: fifty to now sixty two yards and with six fifty
Speaker 1: remaining of the first quarter, the Steelers have a two
Speaker 1: touchdown advantage nothing. John Sadak Westwood won Sports. The Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: Steelers entered wild card weekend is the biggest favorite of
Speaker 1: the weekend. Then they went on the field and showed why,
Speaker 1: overwhelming the Dolphins with touchdown drives in their first three
Speaker 1: possessions in route to a thirty to twelve win at
Speaker 1: hines Field. The Steelers will travel to Arrowhead next weekend
Speaker 1: UH in the divisional playoffs and Mark Cesler we finally
Speaker 1: got to see Big Ben, Antonio Brown and Leve Bell
Speaker 1: on the field in a playoff game, and they did
Speaker 1: not disappoint. Yeah, I mean two of those players broke records.
Speaker 1: What were they? Well, Antonio Brown's one hundred and nineteen
Speaker 1: yards in the first quarter alone were the most by
Speaker 1: any player in the NFL since Minnesota's Gene Washington had
Speaker 1: twenty yards against Cleveland in what year? Try someone, try guessing,
Speaker 1: don't ask, don't get mad, no trivia? Al right, well,
Speaker 1: a very special year, nineteen sixty. So that and then
Speaker 1: you know, Levan Bell broke the team single single game
Speaker 1: playoff record for rushing. My favorite part of this game.
Speaker 1: And it felt over right away. I mean, and and
Speaker 1: at some point you gotta give up trying to root
Speaker 1: for these close games. Just enjoy the wreckage. And it
Speaker 1: was an absolute destruction in Miami. Early on that one point,
Speaker 1: they ran the ball on a drive with Levon Bell
Speaker 1: ten times in a row, I believe it was, and
Speaker 1: he went eighty three yards, went in for the touchdown.
Speaker 1: They had to call it back. He got in on
Speaker 1: the two plays later. Just utter dominance. For I thought
Speaker 1: that Pittsburgh was just basically saying, we're like someone playing
Speaker 1: a newborn toddler and Madden. We're just gonna run the
Speaker 1: same play over and over and we're gonna run right
Speaker 1: through you. In Miami could not stop it at all.
Speaker 1: It was it was for me a portrait of how
Speaker 1: powerful Pittsburgh could be if they can keep these guys healthy.
Speaker 1: And there are some concerns with Big Ben coming out
Speaker 1: of that game. But if they if he's fine and
Speaker 1: they play at this level, I think they are really
Speaker 1: tough out. Ten straight runs for leve Bell was quite
Speaker 1: a statement. Yes it was. It was zero respect for
Speaker 1: that fans. Joseph led you think they would have more
Speaker 1: respect for the first ever human h newborn toddler. Okay,
Speaker 1: baby expert, how many times did you say mark game
Speaker 1: over every time Pittsburgh touched the ball in the first half.
Speaker 1: But it's the only skill that I seem to have
Speaker 1: covering football, because I do feel like the minute it happened,
Speaker 1: I knew this game is over and you can try
Speaker 1: to talk Miami. Let's in Miami was not a complete disaster.
Speaker 1: They did a couple of things well, but Pittsburgh took
Speaker 1: their foot off the gas at some point this game
Speaker 1: to it was it was like a bear toying with
Speaker 1: a baby rabbit, just you know, or a toddler rapping. Uh.
Speaker 1: And if they needed to turn it on, if if
Speaker 1: the Dolphins actually did scool, because they this game. And
Speaker 1: we talked to Handsome Hank at some point today when
Speaker 1: he came by to our area. You know, they had
Speaker 1: a chance to pull within uh one touchdown late in
Speaker 1: the first half, uh strip sack fumble. They had another
Speaker 1: chance in Steelers territory in the third quarter, uh, and
Speaker 1: that led to a turnover as well. And Henry put it, well,
Speaker 1: you know, I was saying, you know, they could have
Speaker 1: made this a game they executed better. They killed themselves
Speaker 1: with mistakes, and he was like, yeah, but it always
Speaker 1: felt like even if that would have happened, then the
Speaker 1: steel was just what it hit the accelerator a little harder.
Speaker 1: This just set it seemed like two mismatched teams and
Speaker 1: it played out. Credit to James Harrison, who really was
Speaker 1: the best defensive player in this game on either side.
Speaker 1: Is he working out with Tom Brady, I don't know,
Speaker 1: but he had more pressures than the entire Dolphins defense,
Speaker 1: and he had more run stops than the entire Dolphins defense. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: in the preview of the game, I talked about well
Speaker 1: too in wake Er just gonna have to be crazy
Speaker 1: for them to have a chance. But Pittsburgh had by
Speaker 1: far the better pass rush. I mean, Dupree had a
Speaker 1: big game, Harrison had a big game. Uh Timmins had
Speaker 1: a couple of tackles, Mike Mitchell had a couple of quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: It's like they do have it going. The Dolphins offensive
Speaker 1: line is not great, so we'll see against in the City.
Speaker 1: Dealers lead the NFL and Sex since Week eleven. They
Speaker 1: have thirty since then, They're best. Is scary, you know,
Speaker 1: it's crazy. It's big Ben. It's not really playing that well.
Speaker 1: He's been okay, started this game twelve. But yeah, he's
Speaker 1: making some But he didn't have to do that much.
Speaker 1: I hear you didn't get hit till the third quarter.
Speaker 1: I mean a couple of interceptions. He had a couple
Speaker 1: of near interceptions even down the stretch. I'm not saying
Speaker 1: he's playing for a counterpoint. From the end of the
Speaker 1: Ravens game to the start of this game, he went
Speaker 1: six straight drives with a touchdown. Sure, but you're picking
Speaker 1: you're picking drives. I'm saying he was good enough to
Speaker 1: beat the Ravens in that game, but he was coming
Speaker 1: back because he threw two interceptions, and he threw two
Speaker 1: interceptions in this game and had another that could have
Speaker 1: been picked up. All I'm saying is I don't think
Speaker 1: he's been at his very best this season. I think
Speaker 1: this has probably been his worst season. And it's all relative.
Speaker 1: He's a top ten quarterback in the last three or
Speaker 1: four years. Away, Mike Tomlin, we could leave the lab here.
Speaker 1: Mike Tomlin, you know, come back to us, buddy, you
Speaker 1: can come in the lab. I'm not comfortable. I like
Speaker 1: it up here in the kitchen area. We kind of
Speaker 1: sit around the kitchen island and Mark and I we
Speaker 1: we drink Greyhounds and and eat pretzels. It's fun. But
Speaker 1: Mike Tomlin, come back to us. What has Big Ben
Speaker 1: in this game? Late in the game, put Landry Jones
Speaker 1: in and you kind of spitting the sky, and what happens.
Speaker 1: Big Ben hurts his foot on the second to last
Speaker 1: play of the game, shows up at the press conference
Speaker 1: in a damn boot and West we know the Golden
Speaker 1: Globes are tonight, and if Big was nominated, he would
Speaker 1: surely win the award. He said, I'll be out there
Speaker 1: in Kansas City. But still if he jacked up his
Speaker 1: foot in any tangible way, bad job by the coaching
Speaker 1: staff leaving him out there. He just wants you to
Speaker 1: know what he's gonna have to go through in order
Speaker 1: to become the hero next week. Dance points right, though,
Speaker 1: why aren't they not just running? Was not a passing
Speaker 1: Dangela Williams is one of the best backup running backs
Speaker 1: in the game. Put him in there, Give him the ball.
Speaker 1: He's got fresh leg that they're missing. The second half
Speaker 1: of the season, le Bel had twenty nine carries. It's
Speaker 1: a lot of carries, I agree. I mean tenor a row,
Speaker 1: isn't it. It's a crazy workload in two thousand seventeen.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it's good or bad, but it just
Speaker 1: opened your eyes. When he's getting the ball late in
Speaker 1: the second half, I'm thinking to myself, like, what are
Speaker 1: you asking for here? What's to be achieved here? Landry Jones,
Speaker 1: who is not big Ben, but he just showed when
Speaker 1: he beat the Browns he could at least take snaps
Speaker 1: and hand it off. Let's be smarter here they escaped, probably,
Speaker 1: but still it's the kind of thing that that kind
Speaker 1: of a coaching decision will get more heat from people
Speaker 1: than almost anything else. If you if you don't pull
Speaker 1: Ben early and he gets hurt. I want to talk
Speaker 1: one quickly about Matt More though, because he is Matt Moore,
Speaker 1: we're not going to advertise him as something else. But
Speaker 1: he took a tremendous shot in this game, helmet to
Speaker 1: the jaw, a bunch, but one that looked like you
Speaker 1: saw him just lying on the ground. I thought, he's
Speaker 1: not coming back, and we're gonna get We got t J.
Speaker 1: Yates for the eighteenth year in a row in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: But one play later, More comes back on, leads a
Speaker 1: team to a field goal, and his final line is
Speaker 1: he was twenty nine of thirty six for nearly three
Speaker 1: hundred yards. He Matt Moore was not. I don't know
Speaker 1: if Ryan Tanney in the first I mean the turnovers
Speaker 1: with two of them, you know, blindside strip sacks that
Speaker 1: that happens. He threw a bad pick, but Matt Moore
Speaker 1: was not necessarily much worse than I think Ryan Tannehill
Speaker 1: would have been in this game. Yeah, I don't think. Uh,
Speaker 1: and Greg, you were making that point during the preview
Speaker 1: that it's a setback to have Tennant out of the lineup,
Speaker 1: but that really the story was not about Matt More.
Speaker 1: It was just the Dolphins defense, which just did not
Speaker 1: show up in the first quarter of this game, and
Speaker 1: the and whether maybe there's no team out there that
Speaker 1: could slow down the Steelers when they're revving like that,
Speaker 1: but certainly the Dolphins and the defense right and then
Speaker 1: game script completely pulls JGI out of the exture and
Speaker 1: he couldn't run well anyway today, but he had I
Speaker 1: think it was one point twelve yards going into deep
Speaker 1: into the second quarter. All the Matt More love, you
Speaker 1: can concentrate on stopping j j I. When Matt Moore
Speaker 1: is the quarterback, you can sell out. But I think
Speaker 1: you can do that with with Tannehill. It's picking knits
Speaker 1: because this team was too flawed. They were missing their
Speaker 1: three best players in the secondary. Uh, they don't have
Speaker 1: a very good offensive line. I think a guy is
Speaker 1: a really good runner, one of the top ten runners
Speaker 1: in the league. He had I think the third highest
Speaker 1: average yards after contact of any running back in the
Speaker 1: last ten years. He runs hard, so I think it's
Speaker 1: the line when when they're not producing. I mean they
Speaker 1: got no linebacker this team. The team had some issues. More.
Speaker 1: I love I love me a little mat More. I
Speaker 1: love the back with the Panthers back. And I think
Speaker 1: it's a little Matt More. We don't a little. He's
Speaker 1: a lot like Tony Romo. To me, he did a nice,
Speaker 1: very nice job filling in for Tannehill. And I think
Speaker 1: all those years on the bench, all that health accrued
Speaker 1: by not taking those hits, probably all got wiped away.
Speaker 1: I don't know how long you want to be in
Speaker 1: the NFL when you take the hit that he took today.
Speaker 1: But Greg, I do have to ask you before we
Speaker 1: move on to the next game. Um, I gotta ask
Speaker 1: you about your pants, and specifically you take down the
Speaker 1: button in the fly and then you know, weigle down
Speaker 1: them pants and then we check out under pants. Uh
Speaker 1: how dry are they or how wet are they? Just
Speaker 1: hideous image? Uh one totally dry. No, it's moving his
Speaker 1: hands around, no issue. Two bed roun On on on periscope today.
Speaker 1: No issue with moisture or any type of accident situation.
Speaker 1: Ten your pants are soaked? Oh my goodness, how embarrassing
Speaker 1: straight through the underpants of soaked. The pants is soaked.
Speaker 1: It's a total mass situation. You gotta get in your
Speaker 1: car and get home. Because the Steelers are a throat.
Speaker 1: That Steelers are a threat of the throne of these
Speaker 1: waiting for a little song. They got a second bye
Speaker 1: week coming up. The scale is three, but it was
Speaker 1: three going into today. The Steelers don't I'm not convinced
Speaker 1: the Steelers will win in Kansas City, so so I
Speaker 1: don't I fully expect the Steelers to win this game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this was a great performance. The Steelers would scare me
Speaker 1: more if they win in Kansas City, but I am
Speaker 1: not assuming that at all. In fact, I kind of
Speaker 1: think that the Chiefs are the favorite in that game.
Speaker 1: So today today didn't change my mind. The Patriots in
Speaker 1: about as good a chance as they've been going into
Speaker 1: the point. If you're to three, though, I just gotta
Speaker 1: let you know, because you said you're the three. A
Speaker 1: little bit of dribble, yeah, a little bit of little
Speaker 1: moisture from my brother. My brother and my father are
Speaker 1: a factor into this, not because of dribbling, genetics or anything.
Speaker 1: They're they're going to the they're going to the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl this year, and you know that to me puts
Speaker 1: a little more Tucson. They're coming out like that. I
Speaker 1: like when Greg, you know, reaches out and families all
Speaker 1: to I can't wait to see all the rods and
Speaker 1: falls together. It's gonna be great. One last thing on
Speaker 1: the Dolphins, Greg, you called them a flawed team. I
Speaker 1: expected them to be a team full of mercenaries and
Speaker 1: quit halfway through the year. They showed a mental toughness
Speaker 1: this year and got more than their talent would suggest.
Speaker 1: Adam Gaze had a great first season as coach. I
Speaker 1: think you can pat yourself on the back if you're
Speaker 1: the doult Well. We saw handsome hand after the game
Speaker 1: and he was he was in fine mood for what happened.
Speaker 1: And I know my brother Eric is a Dolphins fan
Speaker 1: forever and that team Eric with the Sea. Those guys
Speaker 1: have been through utter hell as a fan base. If
Speaker 1: you're under the age of sixty, you really have I
Speaker 1: think you have problems on the roster, but you have
Speaker 1: a great receiver group. You found a really good running back.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be Those players love your coach, They love
Speaker 1: look strong. There's things to build up. You're gonna get healthy.
Speaker 1: I mean, Rashad Jones is an All Pro Byron Maxwell
Speaker 1: was it was a really good cornerback for them. You know,
Speaker 1: Abduel caduce, They're gonna get players back. There's some things
Speaker 1: I think if you're a bad team, and you they
Speaker 1: had a much better year than we would have ever
Speaker 1: expected when they started one and four. But when you
Speaker 1: make that transition, you come out of year one winner,
Speaker 1: losing the playoffs, and you found a coach that the
Speaker 1: whole organization buys into and believes in, everything can begin
Speaker 1: to change at that point, right, And it's a good
Speaker 1: start from We'll see how plays up. Certainly, it's hard
Speaker 1: to back it up though, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Haley Brad Children's your boy. It's hard to I was
Speaker 1: kind of hitting. I don't want to be negative about
Speaker 1: the Dolphins because the fans are very sensitive, and I do.
Speaker 1: I do respect what they were able to do this season. Uh,
Speaker 1: And they are a distant number three in the dumpster
Speaker 1: fire rankings of the a f C East Nonpatriots. Um,
Speaker 1: but we'll see what think in the next year. We'll see,
Speaker 1: By the way, before we go into the next game,
Speaker 1: a little did you know somebody loves a dude, drop
Speaker 1: it on. Except for West. The four wild card games
Speaker 1: had a total margin of victory of seventies six points.
Speaker 1: That nineteen point average makes it the most lopsided wild
Speaker 1: Card weekends. It's the year nineteen our lord, you have
Speaker 1: to go back three and a half decades to find,
Speaker 1: you know, a week like this? Can Carter ushered out
Speaker 1: Reagan ushered Dan was one years old. Back then, it
Speaker 1: was just a toddler. I think maybe that is three
Speaker 1: and a half decades a little did you know thirty
Speaker 1: five years? That's why people listen to this show. Let's
Speaker 1: move on to the Saturday evening affair. At the clink,
Speaker 1: fourth down and goal, the turn, the play, face, the look,
Speaker 1: the dump over the top, reaching back because he makes
Speaker 1: a catch. Flag is down, but Paul Richardson makes a
Speaker 1: catch for a touchdown. Seahawks. Holy mackro here a man
Speaker 1: in his face want a catch, one hand reaching around
Speaker 1: the defender Wilson and Paul Richardson interfered with and makes
Speaker 1: the catch with one hand and the Seahawks go on
Speaker 1: top six nothing. Steve ribal k i r oh Paul
Speaker 1: Richardson's one ended catch one in a day of circus
Speaker 1: receptions for the wide out put the Seahawks ahead and
Speaker 1: lead they would never relinquish in a twenty six win
Speaker 1: six win over the Lions, who in their season with
Speaker 1: four consecutive losses after nine in four start uh my
Speaker 1: own uh. The Seahawks advanced to face the Falcons at
Speaker 1: the Georgia Dome next week. Chris Westling Uh. The Seahawks
Speaker 1: entered this game with big question marks, but this game
Speaker 1: featured some familiar hallmarks of past Seahawks playoff runs. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm not ready to say the Seahawks are back just
Speaker 1: because they beat a fundamentally mediocre Lions team and pretty
Speaker 1: convincingly Thomas Rawls. I had I suspected that they would
Speaker 1: get in the running game back on track because the
Speaker 1: town is there when their offensive line is not playing
Speaker 1: against the front that had just out talented them like
Speaker 1: the Cardinals do and the Rams do. But this is
Speaker 1: a matchup big based Seahawks team. To me, when their
Speaker 1: offensive line is credible against the defense, they can move
Speaker 1: the ball. When they get overwhelmed it down the entire offense. Well,
Speaker 1: doesn't that bode well if you were a Seahawks optimist,
Speaker 1: Because they're not exactly playing you know, the two thousand
Speaker 1: Ravens degree in Atlanta or frankly, when they play either
Speaker 1: of the two teams, especially Dallas, I guess not even
Speaker 1: you know. This isn't a great NFC of defense. Is
Speaker 1: their pass rushes. It absolutely bodes well for Seahawks offense.
Speaker 1: But can their defense stop Matt Ryan when they've been
Speaker 1: leaving the middle of the field open for a while,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I think that's a much different test
Speaker 1: than the Lions offense of the past month. Well, and
Speaker 1: we also, the three of us, excluding Greg who was
Speaker 1: on the road, watched this uh together after West and
Speaker 1: I watched the early game, so some beers have been had.
Speaker 1: I mean we we mostly watched it, but I reviewed
Speaker 1: it again this morning, and in the professional well, I
Speaker 1: was gonna say, yeah, at some point of the hazy
Speaker 1: was some of it hazy? Yeah? Some of it looked up.
Speaker 1: Paul Richardson was making a diving right. I don't know
Speaker 1: what was going on, right, but it was much closer
Speaker 1: I thought going And the score looks like to be honest,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that Detroit's, you know, on any level
Speaker 1: with Seattle, but this was Matthew Stafford had multiple chances
Speaker 1: had he gone down the field and scored a touchdown
Speaker 1: with the Lions to tie the game at various points.
Speaker 1: I think it hurts Lions fans because their mistakes. They
Speaker 1: lost it for the first three quarters. As much as
Speaker 1: the Seahawks won it, as great as Thomas Rawls was,
Speaker 1: It's like they had three or four drives where literally
Speaker 1: it was a third down drop where the guy was
Speaker 1: behind the sticks. I mean it was that's a drive killer.
Speaker 1: There was five or six drops total in the game.
Speaker 1: There was some crazy penalties and Kuan Bold And loses
Speaker 1: his head and kills him with a couple of penalties. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean there was. There was a pass where Stafford
Speaker 1: through a bullet to two basically two Lions wide outs
Speaker 1: and no one caught the ball. I can't think of
Speaker 1: a Lions game this season where Stafford was out of
Speaker 1: sync to this degree with his receivers. There was a
Speaker 1: personal foul on Helodi Nada that it was gonna be
Speaker 1: third and eight for the Seahawks ten to six in
Speaker 1: the fourth cour Entery in the fourth quarter is not
Speaker 1: early in the game, and he gets that personal foul
Speaker 1: and they wind up scoring the touchdown. This is why
Speaker 1: it sucks to be Alliance fan. And this is why
Speaker 1: they had a very high ranking and our pain rankings
Speaker 1: and all that, because you know, they bear. They rarely
Speaker 1: get into the playoffs, and they got robbed in the
Speaker 1: in the Dallas Cowboys game a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: and that's one way to get your heart ripped out. Um,
Speaker 1: and you finally get that back to the playoffs this
Speaker 1: year and your team basically doesn't show up. And I
Speaker 1: think they you know, they made some stops on defense,
Speaker 1: but like as you were saying, Greg, so many drops.
Speaker 1: I mean, just to play small and to play one
Speaker 1: of your sloppiest games, that's just that. That's a level
Speaker 1: of frustration as a fan where you just you just
Speaker 1: start to question, why don't you even invest myself when
Speaker 1: these guys are gonna come up this small, when the
Speaker 1: stage is this big, or when your offense is centered
Speaker 1: around Zack center and I Dack centers centered right. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean in the game yesterday, it was seemed like
Speaker 1: they all they could do was lean on him. There
Speaker 1: was just no players were not getting it done any level.
Speaker 1: Zenter as funny Patra, you know, and I wish we
Speaker 1: would have reached out to Kevin about this game, but um,
Speaker 1: in fact, maybe we could try. Wow, we can try.
Speaker 1: Maybe we could shoot a text and see if he's
Speaker 1: available to talk. But Zack Uh Patra predicted that Zenter
Speaker 1: would run for thirty eight yards Uh in this game
Speaker 1: he finished a thirty four. I mean, because that's as
Speaker 1: west we were talking about at the at the watering Hole.
Speaker 1: It's kind of whose accenter is. So anybody that was
Speaker 1: starting to talk themselves into Center as being like this
Speaker 1: game changer, he is who he is and they needed
Speaker 1: the offense to come from other places. Well, I think
Speaker 1: when you when you take a look at this Lions
Speaker 1: team and how do you fixed him? Next year, you're
Speaker 1: gonna get a mirror Abdula and theoretic back. And I
Speaker 1: think that's the most important way to fix their offense
Speaker 1: is by being healthy in that backfield. Get someone else
Speaker 1: though that's between the tackles too. I think I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: you need a power back. Doesn't have to be an
Speaker 1: every down guy, but a power back to throw in there.
Speaker 1: And then defensively, you just need playmakers. I don't think
Speaker 1: they have enough talent on defense. I I I feel
Speaker 1: bad for Lions fans, because it was like a season
Speaker 1: where they kept waiting for it to cave in on them,
Speaker 1: and then it did. I mean they and then the
Speaker 1: at the very moment where everyone in this room started
Speaker 1: to be like, oh wow, I guess the Lions really
Speaker 1: do have something. That's the moment when they beat the Saints, right,
Speaker 1: and that's the moment where it did caven and you
Speaker 1: leave the season kind of feeling like, well, what was
Speaker 1: the point of all that? We just got waxed three
Speaker 1: straight weeks, I think by a total of about sixty points.
Speaker 1: So in the end, they didn't feel like they were
Speaker 1: a competitive team at all. Well, and you're keeping your
Speaker 1: your coaching staff around, and I would imagine plenty of
Speaker 1: Lions fans are, you know, split on how they feel
Speaker 1: about Jim Caldwell and the staff in general. You know,
Speaker 1: they gotta go out and get it bad, but you know,
Speaker 1: the couter shine is off. I'll tell you that I
Speaker 1: think he did. I wasn't this Matthew Stafford's best season? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think he did a good I'm just saying if
Speaker 1: you look at what happened and during this this meltdown
Speaker 1: down the stretch, the offense became a major problem area
Speaker 1: man rejects Cooter. Wow, yeah, in a big spot. I uh,
Speaker 1: you gotta give this. He's gonna block you next on Twitter.
Speaker 1: But you gotta give the Seahawks defense some credit. I mean,
Speaker 1: the guys that you kind of wanted to show up
Speaker 1: in this game showed up. I mean it's the same
Speaker 1: same guys. It's a Avril, it's Clark, it's Bennett, it's Wagner.
Speaker 1: It's right. I mean they all had big games, they
Speaker 1: all played well. They all made you think like, okay,
Speaker 1: maybe we can do this again. Yes, Stafford avoided Richard
Speaker 1: Sherman as teams were, you know, a couple of years back.
Speaker 1: I I completely agree. I think the Atlanta Seattle matchup
Speaker 1: will be fascinating. But I think the question with anyone
Speaker 1: dealing with Atlanta is how do you keep up if
Speaker 1: they're playing the way if if they get off to
Speaker 1: the kind of start the typically well, you'd love to
Speaker 1: run the ball like they did. They had the ball
Speaker 1: for thirties six thirty seven. They had some holes. I mean,
Speaker 1: it wasn't just rawls running that like easy. They go ahead. Well,
Speaker 1: if you want to check in with Kevin Patrick, I
Speaker 1: can hold this thought. No, okay, share the thought. Let's
Speaker 1: take the Raiders out of the picture because they were
Speaker 1: missing their MVP candidate a quarterback. Out of the three
Speaker 1: other teams that lost, the Giants, Dolphins, and Lions, who
Speaker 1: do you like best going into two thousand seventeen. Who
Speaker 1: has a better chance of going further in the playoffs
Speaker 1: next year? I'd give the Giants a chance because I
Speaker 1: because of the defense. Even though ELI is up there,
Speaker 1: it's ultimately a team that had a lot of players
Speaker 1: in their prime, and I think they got more players
Speaker 1: than the Lions do. I think the Giants do have
Speaker 1: a championship level defense, and and they got out of
Speaker 1: Beckham and Sterling Shepherd. What if what if eli second
Speaker 1: half wasn't like the beginning of the end? What if
Speaker 1: it was just a tired arm and what what if
Speaker 1: they actually find somebody in the backfield that can run
Speaker 1: the ball. And I'm not talking about Paul Perkins and
Speaker 1: Rashad Jennings. It was frustrated that was not we didn't
Speaker 1: get to that, but they did not run the ball
Speaker 1: at all. I would say the Giants as well the
Speaker 1: Dolph and their team that had a nice season, but
Speaker 1: they're just like the Jets and Bills were all waiting
Speaker 1: out Tom Brady. So they're in a tough spot to
Speaker 1: be a real contender still. And yeah, the lines, I
Speaker 1: don't know, man. I think there's they are. Their record
Speaker 1: is not. I think there's hope in Miami. And if
Speaker 1: you're in if you're Detroit, you're also in a great
Speaker 1: you know division as well. So let's try this. Let's
Speaker 1: try this. Patrick didn't get back to me on text.
Speaker 1: I just texted him in real time cold call the game.
Speaker 1: But why don't we cold call? Yeah, and if he
Speaker 1: picks up, uh and he talks to us, we talked
Speaker 1: to him. If we get the voicemail, maybe we could leave,
Speaker 1: you know, condolence message to him like that. But another
Speaker 1: last season, I think Patrick's approaching thirty now, Uh, he's starting,
Speaker 1: he's in that range at and he's engaged now I
Speaker 1: believe or is he just in love? I think it's
Speaker 1: veering towards that way. I think he's probably the latter,
Speaker 1: is true. Wait, why am I even attempting to comment?
Speaker 1: I have no idea. Okay, you can put on we
Speaker 1: could listen in on this if yeah, right, I mean
Speaker 1: he could get angry to This guy is known to
Speaker 1: get a little tired up. Mark, if we get the
Speaker 1: voice you started up, Let's just be respectful. He likes
Speaker 1: you the most. Yeah, a kinship that unconfirmed. What are
Speaker 1: what he's doing? What is it in Chicago? He's working out,
Speaker 1: He's definitely lifting his body is awesome. A lot of
Speaker 1: rings here. You reached the voicemail of Kevin Patra. Please
Speaker 1: leave a message. I'll get back to as soon as
Speaker 1: I can. Thank you very much. At the tone, please
Speaker 1: record your voice. When you are finished recording, you may
Speaker 1: hang or press pound for more options. Hey Kevin, Mark
Speaker 1: Sessler here from well from work. Um, I just wanted
Speaker 1: to say that, uh, you know, tough, tough loss. And
Speaker 1: I don't like people that, you know, right after a
Speaker 1: game they say, hey that that sucked for you. I mean,
Speaker 1: I kind of let it marinate for a day, but
Speaker 1: uh feel for you as a team. As a guy
Speaker 1: who follows a really crappy team. UM, I know that
Speaker 1: it's not easy being Alliance fan either. We've got a
Speaker 1: few other people here that want to wish you well. Yeah, Hey, keV,
Speaker 1: this is uh Dan the old Juicer. Hey, hanging there, man.
Speaker 1: You know I know what it's like two as a
Speaker 1: Jets fan, and you deserve better than this. But you're
Speaker 1: gonna bounce back from this, and you could use this
Speaker 1: as hate fuel to continue to build that incredible, amazing body. Uh.
Speaker 1: And it's summer season. Now you're gonna start cutting cutting
Speaker 1: weight and starting to get that that that slender uh
Speaker 1: muscular build. Time to get ripped. I'm very excited about that.
Speaker 1: So things are looking up in regardless of the lines,
Speaker 1: and that body's helping you. You know, you got a
Speaker 1: lady in your life. Things are turning up. This thing
Speaker 1: might cut us off. How long did voicemail? Hey Kevin,
Speaker 1: this is Chris Wesley and I know you're in the
Speaker 1: gym right now because someone somewhere out there is gaining
Speaker 1: on you. Said, do you have anything to say? Uh? Sorry? Sorry? Sorry? Alright,
Speaker 1: see you later, Kevin, Love you buddy. That U. I
Speaker 1: don't think I can't remember the last time I've actually
Speaker 1: left a message on someone's voicemail, right, but it gave
Speaker 1: me the kind of anxiety slash amazing feeling that when
Speaker 1: you're like when you're young and you're calling a girl
Speaker 1: and then you have to leave a message. I thought,
Speaker 1: God I cannot f this up. Well, you always had
Speaker 1: the option of hitting three, which is a race and
Speaker 1: re record. I don't think I had that verse universal
Speaker 1: that worked. I didn't even know that that option existed.
Speaker 1: You one was send. I think two might have been
Speaker 1: it's been so long, race and rerecord. I wouldn't trust it.
Speaker 1: I'd be like, she's hearing me give seven or eight
Speaker 1: versions of a message and it's over. I'll never say
Speaker 1: because that can backfire, and you know, it's just it's
Speaker 1: a sign of a lack of confidence. I would love
Speaker 1: to say that I would send every voicemail to a
Speaker 1: woman and be like, yeah, nail that she's gonna like
Speaker 1: this dude. But sometimes I did the race and rerecord confessions,
Speaker 1: breaking news. Sometimes it did the erase him the record.
Speaker 1: I'm not perfect, perfect, I'm not right. But is that
Speaker 1: your problem, Derek Carr, I'm not perfect. I'm taking this Well,
Speaker 1: that's really stuck in your craw. He's one of the
Speaker 1: most famous players as it seems to be a really like,
Speaker 1: kind hearted guy. I I don't the block thing for
Speaker 1: him is kind of throws me off. Well, that that
Speaker 1: might be why it's hitting Dan so hard, because he's
Speaker 1: clearly such a nice, good guy that it's making Dan
Speaker 1: question himself if Derek Carcy is something wrong in me?
Speaker 1: What have I done? But also here's the thing supported
Speaker 1: him his team of Two weeks ago, I wrote a
Speaker 1: column about blasting the football gods are taking him out
Speaker 1: of the picture. Maybe that did it. Maybe I just
Speaker 1: maybe something got on his radar. And this is where
Speaker 1: maybe I gotta get David involved. We gotta get you
Speaker 1: guys together for a little com fab. Okay, anything else, guys,
Speaker 1: that's that way to go. Paul Richardson, Yeah, way to go.
Speaker 1: The only person ever to have three. Like when I
Speaker 1: when I heard the Twitter, I saw Twitter, and then
Speaker 1: I looked at the box score. I was expecting him
Speaker 1: to have this monster game. Three three catches for whatever
Speaker 1: it was forty seven yards and all three were absolutely ridiculous,
Speaker 1: visually stunning. Tyler Lockett. Yeah, Paul Richardson, that's good drafting.
Speaker 1: The first one shouldn't count. He had a face mask,
Speaker 1: and the referee is actually told H told who they
Speaker 1: play again? The Lions. The Lions, thank you. I told
Speaker 1: Jim Caldwell that it should not have counted because of
Speaker 1: a face mask. Whatever you can take a catch like that,
Speaker 1: you can put. It's football, all right, that's it. Um.
Speaker 1: We will be back on Tuesday with another episode of
Speaker 1: the Round the NFL podcast as we spin forward seven
Speaker 1: games remaining in the season. This will all all leading
Speaker 1: to Houston less than a month from now or is
Speaker 1: it exactly a month now? It's so yes, We'll be
Speaker 1: back Tuesday, so make sure you check out that show
Speaker 1: until then. This is Dan Hanss signing off four Quiet Storm.
Speaker 1: Good tidbit by the way mark about the point deferential
Speaker 1: in these games. Yeah, biggest since one and now man
Speaker 1: years ago, the Boss and new body behind the glass
Speaker 1: Till Tuesday.