Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast takes great care over their
Speaker 1: heiney pillow. Welcome back to another edition of the Around
Speaker 1: the NFL Podcast, presented by Head and Shoulders. My name
Speaker 1: is Dan Hansis and I am joined playing room filled
Speaker 1: with heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris Westling, and Greg Rosenthal. What's
Speaker 1: up boys? Oh yeah? West back in the studio. West
Speaker 1: also done with chemo. Just turned my chemo pump in
Speaker 1: about an hour ago for the last time. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: get that out of my life. The big turnaround is
Speaker 1: coming to and for anybody that's listening a shadowy league figure,
Speaker 1: This is not celebration by cooling the gang. This is
Speaker 1: a song that only sounds like celebration, sounds a little
Speaker 1: bit like it. TV used to cooling the Gang celebration
Speaker 1: so much the only thing was left with the dry
Speaker 1: husk of that song. West done with chemo. It's been
Speaker 1: a long road to feel good. Done done, a pretty
Speaker 1: big feals. So I put the jacket on today. You
Speaker 1: look good by the way. Velvet, Uh would you describe
Speaker 1: this jacket? What is a velvet that's beautiful? Is a
Speaker 1: velvet teddy Bear, It's a blue blue, navy blue velvet
Speaker 1: jacket's like a gentleman's dinner coat. I love it done.
Speaker 1: Done with chemo, I mean, unless the cancer comes back,
Speaker 1: knock on wood not. But this is a big milestone
Speaker 1: for me. Chemo has you know, my doctor told me
Speaker 1: this should be easier than the chemo I had in
Speaker 1: June and July. It was so much harder. And this
Speaker 1: is a big milestone for me getting this out of
Speaker 1: my life and not living hour by hour on how
Speaker 1: my body is gonna feel. So it will take another
Speaker 1: couple of weeks for the poison to totally leave my body.
Speaker 1: But but last week when it got delayed a week,
Speaker 1: I I felt a huge difference to timing on my
Speaker 1: bad days happened to work out poorly for podcast purposes,
Speaker 1: But nine days I had in the last couple of
Speaker 1: weeks I felt much better with that delay. So I
Speaker 1: I think my digestive system will turn around in a hurry.
Speaker 1: I can tell that you're on the mend when you
Speaker 1: start getting into it on Twitter with people. And it's
Speaker 1: happened a little bit yesterday. I don't have it stopped.
Speaker 1: But you got your you got some fighting power in you.
Speaker 1: You want to come at me and have a nuanced
Speaker 1: adult conversation on Twitter. I'm here for that. You want
Speaker 1: to come in immediately with your agenda. I don't deal
Speaker 1: well with people with agendas, especially when they're obvious, Like
Speaker 1: take your agenda to your own Twitter feed where you
Speaker 1: control the conversation. Don't come onto mind with your agenda.
Speaker 1: He's back. He's back. Uh so great news for West
Speaker 1: and and all of us and everyone who listens to
Speaker 1: the show. Um, and unfortunately all the news is good
Speaker 1: as we get into Championship week. UM. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you guys know, today is also West finished Chemo.
Speaker 1: Today was supposed to be Dan's Redkin party in New York. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what a sacrifice you've made for the good of the podcast. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I would say of everyone here, you've sacrificed
Speaker 1: the most. Yeah. I mean I feel like when you
Speaker 1: think about sacrifice and West knows all about it, I
Speaker 1: could be in New York, I could be first class
Speaker 1: right now and think about the Redkin people, the way
Speaker 1: they would have embraced me as a conquering He sought
Speaker 1: you out, put me up in the four seasons. But
Speaker 1: you know what, when it came down to it, Greg,
Speaker 1: it's about a podcast. Well, let's look at this from
Speaker 1: a different angle. Doesn't it give you a tremendous sense
Speaker 1: of satisfaction and content that you've reached the point in
Speaker 1: your life that you can even have a red Kin
Speaker 1: party if you want one. Well, that's true, that is
Speaker 1: the good way to look at it. And uh, and
Speaker 1: don't think I didn't look at the the weather in
Speaker 1: New York because my whole fear was getting caught in
Speaker 1: an ice storm and not being able to make it
Speaker 1: back for Sunday, and also Greg Greg's judging eyes. But
Speaker 1: ultimately I'm just gonna let it go. I'm sure the
Speaker 1: party would have been fun. So not all good news
Speaker 1: today half and a half. Ye, you're going through a
Speaker 1: tough time. I mean what I think the show missed,
Speaker 1: and I've lobbied from the start, was that right about now,
Speaker 1: Greg would probably be hosting, we'd be going through some football,
Speaker 1: but then we would probably call you from the Redkin Party,
Speaker 1: get a live on the scene report. Well the listener
Speaker 1: isn't getting that. No, Well, what could be more engaging
Speaker 1: than a room full of people that concerned about their hair?
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just kind of be great, a good love,
Speaker 1: But you should know that Thank's got some good hair
Speaker 1: going on today. He does, so it's just it's weird
Speaker 1: that maybe we could put together why he's been judging
Speaker 1: me this whole time with this. He didn't get the
Speaker 1: invite and now he's trying to come after me a
Speaker 1: little bit redkin bruise. They're rebranding, don't worry everybody, same
Speaker 1: great product, different about that. So they just got what
Speaker 1: they wanted, uh, for free? Yeah, because I've never done
Speaker 1: this for money. It's always about about the love of
Speaker 1: the product today, that's clear. I am astonished at your integrity.
Speaker 1: Thank you. It's great having uh today's jam being Ship
Speaker 1: preview Thursday. Oh, big show every year. In fact, um, gentlemen,
Speaker 1: and the lady behind the glass, you're looking at me
Speaker 1: with really a really creepy look. I'm kind of nervous.
Speaker 1: It's my resting face. Yeah, I was just being nice,
Speaker 1: just calling you a lady. Okay? Is that cool? Right? Good?
Speaker 1: Just checking in with Lindsay. This is our fifth Championship
Speaker 1: preview episode in the history of the show. Some would
Speaker 1: say too many at a certain point, maybe let's break
Speaker 1: this down one or two too many. Maybe the blow
Speaker 1: up the machine and start all over again. But here
Speaker 1: we went with new people, just the whole thing. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: you know we're still here. As long as the pay
Speaker 1: post red Kin Dan is not going to be content
Speaker 1: with much. As long as the Patriots keep making it
Speaker 1: every year, we'll we'll keep having these shows. We could
Speaker 1: have done the show two years prior to that, in
Speaker 1: these would have made everyone. Uh yeah, because the Patriots
Speaker 1: are involved again. Uh. There are two huge games obviously
Speaker 1: with a right to go to the super Bowl on
Speaker 1: the line. Um, so we're going to talk about, of
Speaker 1: course Jacksonville visiting New England and oh yeah, Minnesota at Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: Two games. Um, and you want to get into it?
Speaker 1: Should we start talking football? Please? Let's do it. Let's
Speaker 1: do it. What aren't we just forgot how to podcast
Speaker 1: all of a sudden and you threw it. One of
Speaker 1: us in the person just utterly frozen out of the room.
Speaker 1: I mean that would be very alarming and definitely some
Speaker 1: catscans would be in order. But yes, here we go.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about it. Will start in the A F
Speaker 1: c UH and west. Since you are here, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: start with you the Jacksonville Jaguars. Um. Obviously obviously the
Speaker 1: win over the Bills not so impressive, survived and ad
Speaker 1: the win over the Steelers really impressive. In fact, even
Speaker 1: though the defense faltered, was the offense what they did
Speaker 1: was almost miraculous when you look back at it, considering
Speaker 1: what we knew about them going into that game. Is
Speaker 1: it gonna take some type of similarly miraculous type effort
Speaker 1: to survive this round. It's a good question, because there's
Speaker 1: no way in hell they can go with that game plan. Again,
Speaker 1: that was a unique set of circumstances born out of
Speaker 1: Blake bortles troubles in weeks seventeen and against the Bills,
Speaker 1: where it looked like his statement that I'm not a
Speaker 1: natural thrower of the football could not have been more
Speaker 1: evident on game tape. So the Steelers came out determined
Speaker 1: that the Jaguars, We're gonna have to put the ball
Speaker 1: in Leonard Fournette's hands and pound the ball because that's
Speaker 1: what the Jaguars do, and Nathaniel Hackett came up with
Speaker 1: a brilliant game plan. I've never seen the likes of
Speaker 1: a quarterback under center for seventeen snaps and not once
Speaker 1: did he get to make his own decision. It was
Speaker 1: fifteen play action, one fumbled exchange, and one screen pass.
Speaker 1: He never read a defense. All he did was go
Speaker 1: back and play action, go with a low risk, openly
Speaker 1: obvious target, and you'll never see that again. Although he
Speaker 1: made some throws in the fourth quarter, I mean Mark
Speaker 1: eas Lee on third and eight, that's his second read
Speaker 1: on the play. Those were shotgun throws I'm talking about
Speaker 1: when he came out and play action. They ran one
Speaker 1: one run for five yards to form net three play
Speaker 1: action throws in a row that were obvious, open plays,
Speaker 1: and then about five more in the first half play action,
Speaker 1: and that was their offense. You can't do that against
Speaker 1: the Patriot. He barely had to make a throw in
Speaker 1: the first half of the game for a number of reasons,
Speaker 1: but the first one was the great play calling. And
Speaker 1: number two is they physically destroyed the Steelers and I
Speaker 1: don't expect that sort of man handling to happen. For
Speaker 1: the first two quarters of that game. They were dominant
Speaker 1: up front. I mean, the offensive line played unbelievable. That's
Speaker 1: why when t J. Yelden got the ball he could
Speaker 1: run it very well too. It's not just for net.
Speaker 1: This Patriots defense has come together very well over the
Speaker 1: second half of the season, and they're gonna be tough
Speaker 1: to run against right now, the way Malcolm Brown is
Speaker 1: playing Lawrence Guy James Harrison. I don't know if they're
Speaker 1: gonna be able to stop the past, but they are
Speaker 1: gonna be a tough team to run against. And you
Speaker 1: would assume they're gonna load up to stop for net. Well,
Speaker 1: that's the concern because I mean, the vast difference between
Speaker 1: the Jaguars when they get their game going early, they
Speaker 1: get out to a lead and they play physical the
Speaker 1: way they did against Pittsburgh. I mean, how many drives
Speaker 1: this year was the tone for the game set more
Speaker 1: decisively than what Jacksonville did on the first drive against Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't just going forward on fourth down, but
Speaker 1: the way that they barreled down the field. Can you
Speaker 1: ask Leonard Fournette to do that? If you're right, they're
Speaker 1: gonna take away the play action from Bordles. He had
Speaker 1: no game all year. We had more play action snaps
Speaker 1: than last week. And so yeah, if we're all talking
Speaker 1: about this, it's probably not a surprise to the Patriots
Speaker 1: that these are the things we have to erase. Well,
Speaker 1: four Net had six yards per carry and a handful
Speaker 1: of runs over five yards before he injured his ankle
Speaker 1: last week, two arts per carry and only one run
Speaker 1: of five yards after he injured his ankle last week.
Speaker 1: So which for Net are you even getting this week?
Speaker 1: Well that's and that brings me to my point, and
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a recurring segment on today's show. What
Speaker 1: you people don't see? Mm hmmm, a little condescending all
Speaker 1: of you. Always like you people that what you people
Speaker 1: don't see? So this is just the mind of Dan
Speaker 1: hansis only you can see this? Oh well what yeah,
Speaker 1: this is what people you know, especially you people, are
Speaker 1: not really and maybe West because West made a good
Speaker 1: point just now, but to dovetail off that there is
Speaker 1: no chance you people don't see is that if the
Speaker 1: Leonard four Net that came out of the tunnel in
Speaker 1: the second half is the guy that they're getting and
Speaker 1: don't don't look always been limited in practice these last
Speaker 1: two days shows that oh he's gonna be fine and
Speaker 1: all that. No, if he is banged up to the
Speaker 1: point where he's going to be a shell of running back,
Speaker 1: they are hiding that because they know they cannot let
Speaker 1: the enemy know that if he if and we'll find
Speaker 1: out quickly because the way he was hitting the hole
Speaker 1: was totally different uh in the first and second quarter
Speaker 1: and then the third and the fourth. If he cannot
Speaker 1: run the ball the way he did at the beginning
Speaker 1: of the Steeler game, this game is already decided because
Speaker 1: Blake Bortles. Uh. No matter what you think about the guy,
Speaker 1: and even if he didn't have a lot of reads
Speaker 1: and and not a lot of responsibility other than just
Speaker 1: throw the ball Son, there's no way he's gonna be
Speaker 1: able to do anything on his own. They will not
Speaker 1: repeat putting up more than uh forty points, let alone
Speaker 1: more than thirty or twenty. Leonard Fournette has to be healthy,
Speaker 1: That's what you. People don't see the thing that they have.
Speaker 1: They've scored thirty points five out of the last seven weeks.
Speaker 1: They had three of their best offensive performances of the year,
Speaker 1: granted against bad teams without Leonard four Nette. I'm just saying,
Speaker 1: Bordles last week wasn't an anomaly. People are acting like
Speaker 1: I can't believe that happened. And the game plan that
Speaker 1: West talked about was unique, But him having a really
Speaker 1: clean game with a number of good throws and them
Speaker 1: scoring a lot of points partly because of Blake Bortles.
Speaker 1: Is not a new phenomenon. This is a relatively high
Speaker 1: scoring team that has scored well in the second half
Speaker 1: of the season, and they are capable of having those
Speaker 1: types of games. On offense, I think it starts up front.
Speaker 1: I think it starts with getting a lead. But this
Speaker 1: is not a sieve like offense. It's a team that
Speaker 1: can score in any given week. Where's there's two Blake
Speaker 1: to Blake Bortles, and it depends on game momentum, and
Speaker 1: it depends on whether you can concoon him or not
Speaker 1: with with the play action, with the third down man
Speaker 1: demand defense where he is a weapon on it with
Speaker 1: his legs. If you if you get him in a
Speaker 1: tight game like the Titans have gotten him twice, that's
Speaker 1: when the mistakes happen. It's when he plays with a lead.
Speaker 1: They can go play action, they can script the game
Speaker 1: and put him in a cocoon. He's fine, but you
Speaker 1: can't predict that going into the game. They're They're an
Speaker 1: impossible team to predict in general. Now, let's let's mention
Speaker 1: something that needs to be discussed here. The Patriots a
Speaker 1: heavy favorite, obviously. In fact, the website uh what is
Speaker 1: it dot com had a post yesterday the Patriots super
Speaker 1: Bowl path is the easiest and modern NFL history. When
Speaker 1: you crunch all the numbers and all that stuff. Everyone
Speaker 1: expects the Patriots to win, and a lot of that
Speaker 1: is because of Tom Brady. But something interesting happened in
Speaker 1: practice on Wednesday, and we're gonna see if it actually
Speaker 1: is something that impacts this game. A teammate, an unnamed teammate.
Speaker 1: Has it been reported yet? No, he's under the mass Turnpike.
Speaker 1: He's been buried next to the ran into Brady uh
Speaker 1: and Jam. Tom Brady's hand, his throwing hand caused him
Speaker 1: to leave practice limited practice, and the Patriots are so
Speaker 1: noivous that he has not spoken to the media after
Speaker 1: either uh, Wednesday or Thursday practices almost every week all year.
Speaker 1: Jam on Friday, right, miss practice. I'm just saying it.
Speaker 1: Last week, Jam throwing hand, that could be the equal.
Speaker 1: You know, I have something that you people aren't seeing yourself,
Speaker 1: and it's related to that news. Dangin you people don't
Speaker 1: see this. You know this siren. First of all, I
Speaker 1: understand that Nora Princati on Twitter reported that Brady should
Speaker 1: be Okay, that's cool. Nice job, Nora, You're on the
Speaker 1: ground all these reporters. I went behind the scenes with
Speaker 1: a little bit of my TV twelve background. I do
Speaker 1: have contacts inside the building, and he doesn't lock you
Speaker 1: out like Jimmy g I don't even attempt to go
Speaker 1: through the door. I float right through on information lines,
Speaker 1: telephone lines, emails. I want to talk to you about
Speaker 1: some information that I'm bringing this game. I have it
Speaker 1: on record from a young female assistant at the TV
Speaker 1: twelve complex that the Brady hand injury in quotes is
Speaker 1: deeply concerning to the coaching staff. This is not all
Speaker 1: per my source, who I will label with the alias
Speaker 1: Julie Julianne Shelby of Westerbrook, the team is doing all
Speaker 1: day can to bury this as a concern. They are
Speaker 1: doing what they can to put it out there that
Speaker 1: Tom Brady is to bury this. But according to Julianne Shelby,
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick Josh McDaniels were seen freaking out in the
Speaker 1: Patriots cafeteria. Michael David Smith is transcribing that he should
Speaker 1: write it down. Per Julianne in quotes. I've never seen
Speaker 1: anything like it. The panic level is real, Mark. She wrote,
Speaker 1: there's a really screwed up Aura here. Everyone's energy is
Speaker 1: way way off, said Julianne Shelby. This to me just
Speaker 1: feels like the end of something. Evan Silva is listening
Speaker 1: right now, trying, like seriously debating whether to write a word.
Speaker 1: I'd write it up. Evan talking about Mark's sources. Aura
Speaker 1: is this woman someone that you go on like flower
Speaker 1: walks with informational source, of deep background the beginning when
Speaker 1: Dan was buying it. Wait, it's real. Well, I know
Speaker 1: that Mark was way plugged in on the TV twelve
Speaker 1: method for a brief period. In fact, did you ever
Speaker 1: get Please tell because you're two nice sometimes Mark and
Speaker 1: I try to help you with this stuff. Please tell
Speaker 1: me you've got the NFL to pay you back for that.
Speaker 1: I did not because the project didn't go through. Don't
Speaker 1: let's Tom Brady get two hundred of year dollars. Think
Speaker 1: about that, Tom, work on it. I'll still work on it.
Speaker 1: I think the window might have closed. Um, but all right,
Speaker 1: whether that's true or not, I want to believe Mark's reporting.
Speaker 1: But he jammed his hand and that's something to keep
Speaker 1: an eye on. It's probably fine, but come on, throwing hand,
Speaker 1: but it's a throwing hand, it could be a huge factor.
Speaker 1: You're counting on his I mean, there's no way to know.
Speaker 1: There's no way to know if if it was important,
Speaker 1: we would never know, and if it was nothing, we
Speaker 1: would never know. I mean, there's that's just how the
Speaker 1: Patriots operate. So there's no way to find out until Sunday.
Speaker 1: But this is gonna be a game where you would
Speaker 1: expect him to be throwing the ball thirty forty times,
Speaker 1: attacking UH, that secondary and that some of the same
Speaker 1: ways that Pittsburgh UH did last week. Dan, you mentioned
Speaker 1: like last week kind of felt like a game where
Speaker 1: everything had to come together for them, and they were
Speaker 1: ugly the week before. But I think their defense would disagree.
Speaker 1: I think when when you have a good defensive game,
Speaker 1: we call it ugly. When you have a good offensive game,
Speaker 1: you know it was it was a great game. Their
Speaker 1: defense did not play that well on balance last week.
Speaker 1: They did not get pressure very often with their front.
Speaker 1: For Pittsburgh had a great game plan where they exposed
Speaker 1: their safeties quite a bit. Tayshawn Gibson is injured. He's
Speaker 1: been the guy who covers tight ends throughout the season
Speaker 1: and has done a great job. But they had some
Speaker 1: concepts Pittsburgh grand last week and that's why Vance McDonald
Speaker 1: had a monster game, really picking apart the middle of
Speaker 1: the field in a similar way to the forty Niners
Speaker 1: where you you limit the throws on the outside and
Speaker 1: in Neo Brown and Mark Davis Bryant certainly made plays,
Speaker 1: but for the a lot of the moving the ball
Speaker 1: up and down the field five and fifty yards were
Speaker 1: in the middle of the field, and that's where Tom
Speaker 1: Brady lives. I mean, he'd be look at last week's game.
Speaker 1: He couldn't complete a throat to the outside and it
Speaker 1: didn't make any difference. Everything is inside Gronk, the slot receivers,
Speaker 1: the running back side of the back field like I
Speaker 1: don't know, won't change. Yeah that there's no reason for that.
Speaker 1: And I think the Jaguars have shown in in given
Speaker 1: weeks that they as good at defense as they are,
Speaker 1: they can give up yards like that up the seams,
Speaker 1: and I think Pittsburgh did a lot of good things
Speaker 1: that they can take from. Well. I think I was
Speaker 1: ready to come on here and say, look, this defense
Speaker 1: gave up forty points in two of the last four games.
Speaker 1: But I don't think they played as poorly as you're
Speaker 1: saying last week, and so I don't think they played poorly,
Speaker 1: and I don't think it was their best game. It
Speaker 1: took individual brilliance from Antonio Brown and Levi on Bell
Speaker 1: to beat tight coverage on three of those touchdowns, and
Speaker 1: the Vans McDonald's stuff happened in garbage time. Playing catch
Speaker 1: up football, when you do leave the middle of the
Speaker 1: field open a lot quite a bit. So I wouldn't
Speaker 1: expect the Patriots to be able to do that. But
Speaker 1: Warren Sharp of Sharp Football came up with a really
Speaker 1: cool breakdown of the Jags defense this week. They are
Speaker 1: one of the best past defenses we've seen ever. Against
Speaker 1: three wide receiver sets, they lead the league easily. But
Speaker 1: when you get him in base personnel like the Titans
Speaker 1: have done, and two or fewer wide receivers, and I
Speaker 1: expect the Patriots to lean on this a little bit
Speaker 1: and pick on their run defense, which is thoroughly average.
Speaker 1: I don't expect them to throw it fifty times again
Speaker 1: like they did against the Titans, who have a bad
Speaker 1: past defense and a really good run defense. I would say,
Speaker 1: get Dion Lewis and Gronk, who is more important than
Speaker 1: ever to the Patriots this year. Gronk is so important
Speaker 1: to them. You saw what happened in the Dolphins game
Speaker 1: when he didn't play, and they rely on him. He's
Speaker 1: playing as well as ever. I think Gronk and Dion
Speaker 1: Lewis is are your your and who covers Gronk, you know,
Speaker 1: like if he's not, probably double teams, but you would
Speaker 1: Gibson would have. Is the guy that's have on a
Speaker 1: tight end. We don't know if he's gonna miss the game,
Speaker 1: but he's a significant part of that defense. By the
Speaker 1: a the I know you were saying this, and West
Speaker 1: you made a similar point just now. Jacksonville's defense has
Speaker 1: to be way better though. I mean, Pittsburgh punted twice
Speaker 1: the entire game, and if the offense is not going
Speaker 1: to put up the same number of points, the defense
Speaker 1: is gonna have to be that much better. I think
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to really deliver the performance of a season.
Speaker 1: We're talking about them winning this game and going to
Speaker 1: the super Bowl. They have to deliver a monster like
Speaker 1: all time championships Sunday performance in New England does not
Speaker 1: have Antonio Brown. Antonio Brown did that to literally every
Speaker 1: single team he played week after week, and there was
Speaker 1: that game got out of hand. The final score makes
Speaker 1: it look like Pittsburgh was just destroying Jacksonville the entire way.
Speaker 1: It was twenty eight to seven one point. It's because
Speaker 1: you can count on Jacksonville's defense to make one to
Speaker 1: see whether it's going to be a touchdown. They lead
Speaker 1: the league in defensive touchdowns, killer turnovers, And I mean,
Speaker 1: this is the team I trust to have a shot
Speaker 1: to get to Brady. And if you can get to Brady,
Speaker 1: everything changes. And the one thing for all we talked
Speaker 1: about Leonard Fournette, I think Dion Lewis is the best
Speaker 1: running back right now left in the playoffs of any team.
Speaker 1: I I that's where I put him in. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: doubt but healthy for net. I mean, other teams run
Speaker 1: the ball well, but not not that's not the same.
Speaker 1: And I think you also view of Rex Burke head
Speaker 1: is back. I mean they White and Lewis had what
Speaker 1: thirteen catches between them last week. I mean I think
Speaker 1: that's filing up yardage and and that James White is
Speaker 1: a really good book, right, And I think that's how
Speaker 1: you you you try to use some of their aggression
Speaker 1: and the way their defense just flows to the ball,
Speaker 1: and you try to use that against them. If you
Speaker 1: possibly can't tell Vin Smith, the more you watch the Jaguars,
Speaker 1: it almost feels like he's kind of he's the heartbeat
Speaker 1: of the defense. He he is the key. Uh. But
Speaker 1: if you can get him and Jack kind of flowing
Speaker 1: the wrong way, and the Patriots are great at doing that,
Speaker 1: then you can end up with some short passes for
Speaker 1: big place. Do you think the eight sacks by New
Speaker 1: England is it doesn't it was it an aberration because
Speaker 1: I know you've been concerned about the pass rush, but
Speaker 1: they have thirty three sacks over the last seven games,
Speaker 1: which is dynamite. It's incredible. I mean, I think that
Speaker 1: they've shored up a lot of these there are much better.
Speaker 1: The The eight sacks was a little bit misleading because
Speaker 1: most of those did came come late and some of
Speaker 1: them were from Mariota. But the defense is absolutely different
Speaker 1: and better than it was earlier in the year. And
Speaker 1: you guys have kind of said all year, like, of
Speaker 1: course they're gonna you know, the defense is gonna be finer.
Speaker 1: They're gonna get it together, and you were absolutely and
Speaker 1: you were absolutely right. But I think it's fair as
Speaker 1: a fan or as just anyone who watch this football
Speaker 1: to be still amazed that a defense with Marquis Flowers,
Speaker 1: Eric Lee, Adam Butler, Ricky Jane Francois, James Harrison, and
Speaker 1: Dietrich Wise like playing all massive roles. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: not just like the average football fan doesn't know these guys,
Speaker 1: like Patriots fans don't know these guys. And I still
Speaker 1: think it's a little amazing to watch a team evolve
Speaker 1: every season, season after season, where they start out not
Speaker 1: playing so well and by the end somehow like Marquis
Speaker 1: Flowers is doing Donta Height Towers roll pretty well like
Speaker 1: and that and im and I'm always still surprised as
Speaker 1: a fan. I'm still always surprised when it does come
Speaker 1: together and it is. That was the last minute post
Speaker 1: training camp trade with the Bengals to get a special
Speaker 1: teamer and now he's playing what what which role? Did you?
Speaker 1: I would say he's kind of the Donta Heights Tower.
Speaker 1: He's their middle linebacker. He rushes sometimes he's doing a lot.
Speaker 1: He had a great this Every year they pick up
Speaker 1: a guy like a cheam Airs or whoever and just
Speaker 1: plug him in Kyle van Noy and they becoming important.
Speaker 1: That's why it might it's might seem lazy that Dan
Speaker 1: and I were on you about that all season, but
Speaker 1: in the end we were completely have one question for you, Dan,
Speaker 1: though Doug Maron yesterday they asked him, oh do you
Speaker 1: take not take anything away? But you know you have
Speaker 1: Tom Coffin in the building. He's the guy that neutralized
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick and the Patriots and two super Bowls. You
Speaker 1: know you watch those super Bowls, obviously, you know what's
Speaker 1: the whole thing with you? And I didn't watch either
Speaker 1: of those super Bowls. Doug Maron, a football coach, saying
Speaker 1: he never watched a second of either of those Super Bowls.
Speaker 1: I had to write a postbroute that I was like,
Speaker 1: I don't even know how to say about this, Like,
Speaker 1: did you write that he was lying? I am convinced
Speaker 1: that when we were at the Second Giant Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: and I could be wrong, but I am convinced that
Speaker 1: I saw Doug Morone down in the lobby eating a salad.
Speaker 1: I'm sure he was there, I could be completely wrong.
Speaker 1: How do you how do you not watch a second
Speaker 1: of the Super Bowl? If you're a pro football It's
Speaker 1: it's a weird way, it's an unnecessary way. If you
Speaker 1: remember in Buffalo, we got into some trouble too when
Speaker 1: he was trying to in his way either a vague
Speaker 1: questions or trying to take control of the situation. So
Speaker 1: instead of just giving some nondescript answer, which is what
Speaker 1: he should have done, he says, oh, I didn't see
Speaker 1: the games. It's all you're lying obviously, and now everybody's like, wait,
Speaker 1: what's wrong? And then it became a weird thing where
Speaker 1: it's like your boss, you know, I don't. All right,
Speaker 1: let's pick the game you know what this week? Yeah?
Speaker 1: That Tom Coughlin, who is steeped as an offensive coordinator,
Speaker 1: that's his background, is the only human in history, the
Speaker 1: only football mind whoever realized the key to beating good
Speaker 1: quarterbacks his interior pressure. How is he get all the
Speaker 1: credit for that, for the front for a front four
Speaker 1: getting pressure without any blitzing, which is exactly what Jacksonville's
Speaker 1: hoping to wait West and Gregor in the room together,
Speaker 1: and they're taking credit away from the Giants, Hey, give it,
Speaker 1: give it the just I think Marcel Darius Malik Jackson
Speaker 1: they were a last week. You have Dante Fowler and
Speaker 1: and got Way. Maybe going up against a third string
Speaker 1: right tackle. Never know. Let's pick the game. Here we go,
Speaker 1: starting you to do Mark? All right. Look, I'm not
Speaker 1: just saying this because I really loved the Jaguars. Last
Speaker 1: week was my favorite game of the season. I just
Speaker 1: had this weird feeling that the Jaguars win this game.
Speaker 1: Sticking with it. I really believe it. And you know what,
Speaker 1: I respect Mark. Your magic number is one to win
Speaker 1: the lock offf title and you just want to gainst
Speaker 1: the Patriots in the title game. I respect it. Did
Speaker 1: I lock it up? I don't know if I locked
Speaker 1: it up? Oh? Do didn't lock it up? Predicted it?
Speaker 1: Do you want me to lock it up? No? No, no, no, yeah,
Speaker 1: let's want to lock it up. Let me think about it,
Speaker 1: Let me think about it. Yeah, you just make the
Speaker 1: decision you gotta make. I thought you were locking it
Speaker 1: up by apologize. Don't do it. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: don't think the Marks basically want it though, I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna lose it no matter what. But I don't feel
Speaker 1: that's not that's not what we're I'm thinking necessarily, But
Speaker 1: I do think they're gonna win. Okay, good pick West.
Speaker 1: I think you could argue the Steelers are the most
Speaker 1: talented roster in the NFL. They were done in this
Speaker 1: year by brutal situational football. The Patriots the hallmark of
Speaker 1: the Belichick Brady era, especially the past half decade. They
Speaker 1: are the best situational football team I have ever seen,
Speaker 1: and probably are in the history of the NFL. That's
Speaker 1: the difference in this game. And I'm locking it up
Speaker 1: the Patriots win. Good luck West. Listen, don't think people
Speaker 1: didn't notice that you locked up the Patriots against the
Speaker 1: Titans last week. And I have I mean the Titans
Speaker 1: team that just got done eating the Jaguars and Chiefs. Ok. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I have no problem with that. I look at it.
Speaker 1: You're just fine. I'm not into this lock shaming though. Yeah.
Speaker 1: How would How is it all year? You go buy
Speaker 1: a conscience and then you change it up and just
Speaker 1: take it off the board. That's what the fans told
Speaker 1: me on the mirror is looking fine, mirror is looking
Speaker 1: pretty hot. I have no qualms about that pick. At all.
Speaker 1: It's the divisional if you make it to the divisional
Speaker 1: round of the play down to the matter, there's gravitas there.
Speaker 1: I mean every game is pickable. Yeah, I mean, it's
Speaker 1: just it's hard to pick on. It's a shame someone
Speaker 1: for being too safe in a lot in a segment
Speaker 1: called lock of the week where we have an aggregate
Speaker 1: five hundred record like a coin flip, and we're usually
Speaker 1: taking favorites too. So actually, like we're doing worse than
Speaker 1: you could possibly like a coin, a coin could do
Speaker 1: better for yourself. Then I took some road teams over
Speaker 1: and in a while, come on, Mark camp Mark, Um,
Speaker 1: you've done a great job. I have done a poor job.
Speaker 1: In fact, I have. You've also something done, something almost
Speaker 1: beautiful though from another is there's something beautifully tragic about it. Um.
Speaker 1: I have lost six straight lockoffs in a row, and um,
Speaker 1: you know I'm a little bit proud of that. I
Speaker 1: picked five favorites in the Browns and uh, and in
Speaker 1: each case those teams lost out right. And you could
Speaker 1: be making serious money by betting against Dan Hansas. So
Speaker 1: now let me say this, Uh, follow the bread crumbs
Speaker 1: here and follow your your your wallets although we don't
Speaker 1: condone that there is no way the Patriots lose. On Sunday,
Speaker 1: Dan Hansas the lockmasta. Oh yeah, he's saying New England, Greggy,
Speaker 1: New England can't lose because Dan's locking the New England
Speaker 1: Patriots up. Welcome to the super Bowl, the big Dads,
Speaker 1: and Dan gives you the seal of approval. The old
Speaker 1: Zeusa says, Pat's win. Lock. I'll see what you're doing here.
Speaker 1: You're t we called it on Sunday's podcast. He's got
Speaker 1: to lock up the let's go Patriots, trying to throw
Speaker 1: your evil reverse modeo onto the Patriot You're putting your
Speaker 1: witchcraft on Fox Burro. I like it. Let's go Pasts,
Speaker 1: let's go Zox. So we go. Let's not associate everything
Speaker 1: to do with the Patriots. I had a good friend, Dave,
Speaker 1: you know, who defended Scott's alex honor. After hearing us,
Speaker 1: what didn't he give up his honor? He said, there
Speaker 1: he's the Patriots, Tommy Heinson. That made me think, okay,
Speaker 1: that's not sweetening the potty's. No. The difference is Heinsen's
Speaker 1: a Hall of Famer. Well yeah, but he's also I
Speaker 1: don't know I'll lock up the Patriots too, by the way,
Speaker 1: and why not, Oh look at the youth three? Well,
Speaker 1: what else am I gonna do? Your team? It's my team.
Speaker 1: I am not like allowed to, uh you know, lock
Speaker 1: them up most of the year because of the you know,
Speaker 1: the lock shaming society going on over there was never
Speaker 1: a shaming society. It's just a mirror. If my prediction
Speaker 1: it's true, and Jacksonville wins and all three of you
Speaker 1: go down in a triple lock failure, you can beautifollow
Speaker 1: us at once right now. Yeah, that sounds like a
Speaker 1: lot of fun, doesn't That would be a first. And
Speaker 1: then Mark, you know, you know you're trying to pull
Speaker 1: me in you to have a chance. I'd be a legend.
Speaker 1: That's all. I'm locking it up. Baarst do it, jackson
Speaker 1: I don't can't even care about winning the same reel
Speaker 1: them in. Here's what I do every week. Like last week,
Speaker 1: I said, I did it for the fun of the
Speaker 1: show and for the high drama. It made Sunday fun.
Speaker 1: Love you, Mark, and that Jacksonville ever won this game,
Speaker 1: three of you will never be celebrating so happy scenario
Speaker 1: where he wins no matter what. Yes, Mark. I'm happy
Speaker 1: to I actually had I had people waiting to me
Speaker 1: I'm crazy either. I like Greg's playing. Why the Pats
Speaker 1: are up again. My vision for the game is it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a great football game, and I think Blake
Speaker 1: Bortles is gonna show up. And I think they really
Speaker 1: struggle with athletic quarterbacks. They are so on athletic getting
Speaker 1: to the edge against them. Bortles did make some throws
Speaker 1: late in that game. I don't think you'll have to
Speaker 1: make that many. But the key play of the game
Speaker 1: was a bomb by Blake Bortles. Another key play was
Speaker 1: to a second or third read. I think he'll be solid,
Speaker 1: he'll move the ball, the defense will play well, and
Speaker 1: I'm expecting one of the best a f C championships.
Speaker 1: It's a nice tighten it up. Well, everything comes to
Speaker 1: an end by the end of the first quarter. The
Speaker 1: coaching staff is checking Blake Bortles. Me under, he'll be
Speaker 1: in one of the tents. We'll see, yeah, have you've
Speaker 1: been nothing. But they're gonna protect them, They're gonna coach,
Speaker 1: they're gonna scale is gonna be at a nine and
Speaker 1: a half by three minutes into the game. Um To ten,
Speaker 1: I am the Patriots. Wow, And I just realized this
Speaker 1: is there's so much drama now Mark, because if you
Speaker 1: don't win, then the super Bowl you just go against
Speaker 1: Mark and we can be talking about a massive three
Speaker 1: way tie, right right. I have no problem. Well I
Speaker 1: think it would here we go to lockoffs, then the
Speaker 1: whole thing is the whole thing is faulty. You miss
Speaker 1: whatever we pick. I my honest thing. But you guys
Speaker 1: like oh Dan's trying to rig it so he wins.
Speaker 1: It should probably should have ended at the regular season,
Speaker 1: and maybe next year it should be that way. It's
Speaker 1: kind of hard to lock in the playoffs, to be honestly.
Speaker 1: It starts to get a little bit track. Then you
Speaker 1: have a trophy commissioned in your honor, in your image,
Speaker 1: just not in my image. And for the podcast, I
Speaker 1: was slandered because you thought you were gonna win it,
Speaker 1: so you had a trophy. There's no way that Well,
Speaker 1: it's true it has been canceled. We're not going to
Speaker 1: produce it anymore, but that that I don't know. I've
Speaker 1: had someone else reach out to me saying that they would.
Speaker 1: Course it is. Of course it's still being produced and
Speaker 1: because of Mark's onions. It's still up for grabs potentially.
Speaker 1: Let's move on now to the NFC. The Minnesota Vikings,
Speaker 1: who are fresh off the greatest moment in franchise history
Speaker 1: case enam to Stephen Diggs sixty one yards win over
Speaker 1: the Saints. Pump it up. They hit the road now
Speaker 1: and they go to Philadelphia to face the Eagles. Mark
Speaker 1: Cesslor the Eagles, who everyone in the world except for
Speaker 1: Mark Sessler picked the Eagles to lose. Good job kissing
Speaker 1: Cousins picked the Eagles to lose against the Falcons, who
Speaker 1: are kind of on the upswing it appeared, but that
Speaker 1: defense stepped up. Nick Foles made enough plays they win.
Speaker 1: They win the game. Fifteen ten. Here we go for
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl, two teams that have never won a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. Mark squaring off with dog masks everywhere. I
Speaker 1: don't know the way I look at this game. I
Speaker 1: think the Vikings have the better quarterback. I think they
Speaker 1: might have the best two receivers left in football right now.
Speaker 1: They've got a super Bowl level defense, fantastic tight end
Speaker 1: and Kyle Rudolph a coaching Mike Zimmer who gets the
Speaker 1: most out of his players. Kai for Bath, who makes
Speaker 1: me extremely nervous every single time I watched him warning
Speaker 1: for a kick. They've got playoff magic on their side.
Speaker 1: They've got Grandma Millie years old, who's gonna go to
Speaker 1: the super Bowl and hopefully watch this thing. I wrote
Speaker 1: all this because this was the team I was gonna
Speaker 1: lock up, and I'm not. But I love him. I
Speaker 1: love I love this Vikings team, and I cannot. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: Connie Fox. I'm not sure John Gonzalz is an Eagles fan.
Speaker 1: If he is, I apologize to him. But all right, well,
Speaker 1: if he is he is, I I cannot imagine the
Speaker 1: Eagles in the super Bowl personally. Vikings have so much
Speaker 1: special energy around them right now, and we're gonna go
Speaker 1: to Minneapolis. It would be the coolest thing ever to
Speaker 1: watch that fan base spend Super Bowl Week with their
Speaker 1: own franchise that they've suffered with for years. I wish
Speaker 1: I locked this team up. I got I should, I
Speaker 1: got bamboos, he gets E'll switch it. You can do
Speaker 1: whatever you want. That's not how the rules work. No,
Speaker 1: I'm sticking with what I did. Um here's the one
Speaker 1: counter to that. Because I feel like a lot of
Speaker 1: people feel the way you feel. Uh, are we worried
Speaker 1: about a potential hangover because that was not just any win.
Speaker 1: That was uh, franchise shifting, region shifting. You're in the
Speaker 1: news and I'm hanging out with us. The only thing
Speaker 1: I was worried about, yeah, finish your Yeah. The the
Speaker 1: idea that another element or angle that was being played up,
Speaker 1: the Vikings curse, whatever that means, is over. And it
Speaker 1: did bring to mind as a Jets fan when we
Speaker 1: beat the Pats in two thousand ten, Jets fans like, oh,
Speaker 1: we finally got over the hump, and then they went
Speaker 1: up to Pittsburgh in the title game and got got romped.
Speaker 1: And I know these are totally different teams, but you
Speaker 1: cannot get over compet in the spot or have some
Speaker 1: type of hangover because the other team is too hungry
Speaker 1: and loll get you. That's my biggest concern. It's it's
Speaker 1: a hard thing to ever know. But I did cross
Speaker 1: my mind when I saw Stefan jigs Is tweet around
Speaker 1: Wednesday that said something to the effect of, like you
Speaker 1: know that that that was fun. Now, like time to
Speaker 1: get back to work, And it was like Wednesday, and
Speaker 1: it's like they and they have and I know I'm I,
Speaker 1: of course know that they've been preparing and doing all
Speaker 1: sorts of things before that, but it just naturally is
Speaker 1: an emotional, uh game that they experienced the Eagles. It's
Speaker 1: the smallest thing. But the Eagles have an extra day
Speaker 1: and they're the home team, and they're a tough, minded,
Speaker 1: talented team. You still have case Keenum and an offensive
Speaker 1: line that's been good all season but didn't play great
Speaker 1: last week, and an okay running game going up against
Speaker 1: one of the two or three best defenses in the
Speaker 1: league and you're doing that and you're outdoors, like that
Speaker 1: game is not gonna be an easy game no matter what.
Speaker 1: Like crazy, I like these teams are a lot of like.
Speaker 1: They both are top three defenses, uh, they both play
Speaker 1: well on third downs on defense, are both strong in
Speaker 1: the trenches. At various times in this year, I was
Speaker 1: convinced the Vikings front four was the best front forem football.
Speaker 1: At various times I was convinced the Eagles front four
Speaker 1: was the best front book form football. There nothing sticks
Speaker 1: in my crawl this week like attempting to put case
Speaker 1: Keenum in the same lower tier bin with Nick Fools
Speaker 1: and Blake Bugles. There is a Golf of difference. One
Speaker 1: of these quarterbacks is creative and makes plays, is asset
Speaker 1: to his offense. The other quarterback limits the offense they
Speaker 1: had to coach around him. And the Eagles, if you
Speaker 1: take their points, their yards per games since Fools took over,
Speaker 1: they would be number thirty two in the NFL. They
Speaker 1: have no offense, they have no big play offense whatsoever.
Speaker 1: And the difference between Keenum and Fools could not be wider.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, Fulls is a twenty three pointing rating
Speaker 1: under pressure. That's gonna there. They're going to He's gonna
Speaker 1: have to deal with pressure this week. And I look
Speaker 1: at a team that scored fit. It was an incredible
Speaker 1: win over the Falcons, and it was something that those
Speaker 1: Eagles fans deserved. You scored fifth team points, you had
Speaker 1: two turnovers, you're and and which Vikings team? Is it all?
Speaker 1: I know what happened in the second half, but go
Speaker 1: back and watch what they did in the first half
Speaker 1: against the Saints, a much more dynamic, explosive offense. That
Speaker 1: was an incredible half of defensive football. I just don't
Speaker 1: see Philly finding a way to outscore Minnesota. Here's where
Speaker 1: I would disagree with you, West is that they don't
Speaker 1: have an offense because I'm only I'm really only counting
Speaker 1: the playoff game, which maybe I shouldn't. Maybe you should
Speaker 1: count the Raiders. But if you, why would you not
Speaker 1: take all the data into consideration. Why I used recently, Well,
Speaker 1: because they had they had, they had time to prepare
Speaker 1: for that game. There was nothing about the playoff game
Speaker 1: that was impressive to me. From next there was. There
Speaker 1: was three games basically that Falls has played. They scored
Speaker 1: in the thirties and one of them they were terrible.
Speaker 1: In the other you had the couple series against the Eagles,
Speaker 1: and you won this game against Falcons. First of all,
Speaker 1: they won all those games, and I know that doesn't
Speaker 1: sound like, Okay, they're playing these bad teams like they
Speaker 1: don't get any credit. He came into the game against
Speaker 1: the Rams and they were trailing. They won. They were
Speaker 1: trailing what seventeen points against the Giants. They won. The
Speaker 1: Raiders game is the ugliest thing ever. They found a
Speaker 1: way to win at the end. This Falcons game, it
Speaker 1: was a different sort of game. They're a tough minded team.
Speaker 1: I think that goes to the coaches. And I looked
Speaker 1: at their offense last week, and I don't think it
Speaker 1: was I don't think it was ineffective. They only had
Speaker 1: eight drives. You know, they had the volve four or
Speaker 1: five times in the first half. They scored two of them.
Speaker 1: They only had the ball four times in the second half.
Speaker 1: One of them they ran out the game. The other
Speaker 1: two were really long drives. They actually had a lot
Speaker 1: of yards per drive. It's not an explosive offense, but
Speaker 1: it's the type of offense that I think is playing
Speaker 1: to a really good defense and can be just effective
Speaker 1: enough to win games like this in the playoffs when
Speaker 1: you have that good of a defense. Their offense did
Speaker 1: a lot of the work last week by possessing the
Speaker 1: ball in the second half and by making that I
Speaker 1: love the way that Doug Peterson coach that second half
Speaker 1: and that I think had a huge factor there. And
Speaker 1: they ran You look at the box score, it looks
Speaker 1: like they ran the ball not well, but they actually
Speaker 1: really did for during those two drives. But this is
Speaker 1: Atlanta's defense, not a bad defense at all, a good defense,
Speaker 1: but this is the Vikings team and they don't allow
Speaker 1: big plays, And how are the Eagles going to produce
Speaker 1: big plays? How are you going to score twenty one
Speaker 1: seven points you're gonna need to put up to beat
Speaker 1: the Vikings. Case Keenum not a perfect gameless, but that
Speaker 1: dude is a tough quarterback. You're keeping the score lower
Speaker 1: and making it like last week. I think that's the
Speaker 1: rest of nothing. Fools did last week and pressed me
Speaker 1: at all, and I'd like to see those RPOs try
Speaker 1: to work against the Vikings. This isn't the Falcons defense.
Speaker 1: I thought Folds was terrible last week. I don't get
Speaker 1: this where everyone's like, oh, he had one if ever,
Speaker 1: I thought about throwing out quarterback rating altogether. That's the
Speaker 1: game that's gonna make me do it because he was
Speaker 1: terrible and had a one quarterback round. I mean, he
Speaker 1: didn't turn the ball over. That's why go through his
Speaker 1: hands and bounce off. That's that's a play he got
Speaker 1: hit quickly on. I don't really kill Folds for that one.
Speaker 1: He You're right that he has to do more for
Speaker 1: them to win. He did climb the pocket a couple
Speaker 1: of times on a few third downs, and the granted
Speaker 1: it's a low bar, but at third and five and
Speaker 1: a third and eight where he evades a little bit
Speaker 1: of pressure, stepping up and he complete what he's liked
Speaker 1: what Claibn said on Twitter, everybody actually, just because Nick
Speaker 1: Foles isn't out there picking his nose, he's going to
Speaker 1: find job. Nick Foles was not. But it's a reminder though.
Speaker 1: We love this Falcons team, and I think over they
Speaker 1: did a lot of good this week. You guys spent
Speaker 1: the whole season tearing the Falcons apart. You loved I
Speaker 1: loved him going into this game. I loved what I
Speaker 1: saw the Laska weeks. You love and the Eagles beat him,
Speaker 1: So it gets the Falcon's not It's not all about
Speaker 1: the quarterback, right, Oh, I don't think it's all about
Speaker 1: the quarterbacking it. I think that the Eagles and Vikings
Speaker 1: are a lot alike, except they're even almost everywhere except
Speaker 1: the quarterback. That's a massive advantage in the Vikings favorite.
Speaker 1: I just love that everyone just saying r p O. Now,
Speaker 1: I've never heard it more, and I don't think I've
Speaker 1: ever really heard it in casual conversation and football before,
Speaker 1: and now everyone is saying r p oh whenever the
Speaker 1: analysts talks about something. It's like everyone's talking about Fletcher
Speaker 1: Cox this week, because Collins were talked about and he
Speaker 1: did have a great game, and it's good. Fletcher Cox
Speaker 1: deserves the love, but it's because Collins were talking about
Speaker 1: this is the thing, this is where you should be.
Speaker 1: I thought, if you were Eagles fan, you're super nervous
Speaker 1: last week, and there was. That was one of the
Speaker 1: reasons they won. There was this amazing nervous energy and
Speaker 1: excitement in that crowd, which I think is gonna be
Speaker 1: there again. They might even have a little more juice
Speaker 1: confidence why this this week? Last week, I think that
Speaker 1: nervous energy about like are we really is? This? Is
Speaker 1: this a game that we're gonna win? And now I
Speaker 1: think they're feeling himself. We'll see if the if the
Speaker 1: crowd manifests itself differently at all. But the one thing
Speaker 1: with the with the r p O and with the
Speaker 1: and get the ball out of his hand quickly, don't
Speaker 1: make him think too much. That's what Minnesota has been like.
Speaker 1: Oh so, the way the way that guy was able
Speaker 1: to be competent, and I don't think he was great West,
Speaker 1: but competent to the point where he didn't kill them, uh,
Speaker 1: is by doing that. Let's take that away. Let's find
Speaker 1: a way good coaching steps do that. Then what happens
Speaker 1: in Nick Foles if he's not if he doesn't have
Speaker 1: that that safety net, which is what they were able
Speaker 1: to cook in. It was offensive scheming that Doug Peterson
Speaker 1: and company really deserve credit for something. Now what happens
Speaker 1: you do something different, that's how, that's how the Patriots
Speaker 1: some quarterbacks. You don't have a lot of different options
Speaker 1: you could succeed, right, you have to come I have
Speaker 1: a great offensive coaching stand you have to come up
Speaker 1: with another game plan. And one of the things Tony
Speaker 1: Romo said, which is it was smart but and maybe obvious,
Speaker 1: But like I think, I never really I never think
Speaker 1: about and the average fan doesn't, is that the Patriots,
Speaker 1: for instance, last week went back to a lot of
Speaker 1: old concepts that they used earlier in the season. That basically,
Speaker 1: you go back and throw the last four games out
Speaker 1: because that's what the team that's facing you is studying,
Speaker 1: and you go back to some things that worked earlier
Speaker 1: in the year, and you just have a couple of
Speaker 1: little wrinkles. And the Eagles, I think I trust their
Speaker 1: staff enough that in a given week they can come
Speaker 1: up with some stuff that that can move the ball.
Speaker 1: But then a question if we if we all understand
Speaker 1: that a team can go back pre four weeks to
Speaker 1: cook up a game plan that, oh, you want to
Speaker 1: say that you're getting out of everyone in season, you're
Speaker 1: so and you're using stuff you haven't shown in I
Speaker 1: wouldn't expect any of these teams to come out rolling
Speaker 1: through with the exact same game plan they did last week.
Speaker 1: I mean, you want you're gonna have to be especially
Speaker 1: we're talking on the Jaguars and stuff in the Eagles
Speaker 1: to they the one thing with me when fulls nce
Speaker 1: Fols have been on the field, every one of their weapons, Nelson, Agalore, Jeffrey,
Speaker 1: all these guys that were they were surging towards Pro
Speaker 1: Bowl seasons have all disappeared and flat lined with folds
Speaker 1: at quarterback. That is an indictment. They made some plays
Speaker 1: in then that Giants game and since then an absent
Speaker 1: The Eagles defensive lines is gonna have to kind of
Speaker 1: win the game, and the and the Vikings did not
Speaker 1: did not play well late in the game, but their capable.
Speaker 1: The defensive line is capable winning the game. One of
Speaker 1: the things that's different about their line is Brandon Cox.
Speaker 1: I mean, Brandon Graham and Fletcher Cox. They barely played
Speaker 1: compared to other players at that level throughout the course
Speaker 1: of the season, only about six fifty snaps, only thirty
Speaker 1: forty snaps a week. In the playoffs, they're on the
Speaker 1: field almost every down, and Cox was dominant. West. You
Speaker 1: talk about like, what's the final level of NFL superstars
Speaker 1: that you beat double teams, and Fletcher Cox is that
Speaker 1: kind of final level where he's beating double teams, and
Speaker 1: that sets up Graham to make a lot of noise.
Speaker 1: And now they're on the field every down and you're
Speaker 1: rotating and Journe again, and Long is playing well, and
Speaker 1: Derek Barnett a first round pick, and Vinny Curry had
Speaker 1: a big week last week, and the suddenly that's six
Speaker 1: or seven guys and maybe that's enough to just and
Speaker 1: Keenan was under Keenum took some heat last week too.
Speaker 1: I mean, I I thought he came out as one
Speaker 1: of the toughest quarterback performance as I've seen because he
Speaker 1: had a mixed rows with dudes all over him. And
Speaker 1: case Keenum, I couldn't agree more with you West that
Speaker 1: like clumping him in with the other two outside of Brady.
Speaker 1: It's just like people were looking at case keenum the
Speaker 1: name and you're not watching him play. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: been a really fun quarterback to watch and the dude
Speaker 1: to man, it's crazy because the the the thing that
Speaker 1: makes him great is like what I'm tired of, Like
Speaker 1: he's keen. I never heard you use that. Man. He's
Speaker 1: so mentally tough though, because think about how that game
Speaker 1: ended up. He took a sack that took him out
Speaker 1: of field goal range. He threw one of the worst
Speaker 1: interceptions you ever see, and he'll throw some of those
Speaker 1: up every once in a while, and Marcus Williams made
Speaker 1: the great interception on him, uh to really kick start
Speaker 1: that that uh come back and then what do you
Speaker 1: do after that? He threw three of the toughest like
Speaker 1: one thrown against his body, another over the shoulder to feel,
Speaker 1: and another over the like. He threw three of the
Speaker 1: toughest like ball zest throw after that sequence, and he
Speaker 1: hit him all like it's I don't know, it's about
Speaker 1: decisively winning his matchup with Marcus Lattimore, and a couple
Speaker 1: of more penalties should have been called on Lattimore in
Speaker 1: that game against Healing. He had. Somebody on Twitter says,
Speaker 1: a lot, he's the first person all year that really
Speaker 1: beat Marshall Ladder and mostly was just kind of getting
Speaker 1: the ball in tight coverage. Someone on Twitter said Keenum
Speaker 1: didn't deserve any credit for that last play of the
Speaker 1: game either. It's like, shut up. Well, it's like, usually
Speaker 1: I don't even respond, But in that case, I pointed out, oh,
Speaker 1: only that he spotted the receiver, put the ball exactly
Speaker 1: where it needed to be, which, by the way, it
Speaker 1: was like forty yards on the line and led to
Speaker 1: the game winning touch. And the guy is having one
Speaker 1: of those special season and he had three. Maybe he's
Speaker 1: that and the windows long since closed where you could
Speaker 1: question is who but his case Keenum that we remember. No,
Speaker 1: this is different, he's not. It's not like Folds and
Speaker 1: Bordles and then Brady and Keenam. It's not like that
Speaker 1: type of setup. But like Keenum is squarely in his
Speaker 1: own territory between those two places. So you got to
Speaker 1: look at him that way. Let it fly. Let your
Speaker 1: case keenan flag fly high. This week. That flag went
Speaker 1: up the flag pole. It's come down a couple of times.
Speaker 1: That's right. It's way back early this season. I gave
Speaker 1: you the chance to think the flag back and you didn't. West, Baby,
Speaker 1: all right, it's back. West was an early Keenum Truther
Speaker 1: in his Texans days. It's Keenum's like, it's someone that
Speaker 1: everyone is talking about this week. But one thing you
Speaker 1: people haven't even code. No one's talking about because you people,
Speaker 1: you don't even go back and watch the coaches film.
Speaker 1: And that's where the real football junkies are real. This
Speaker 1: actually feels like in your this is not fictional. That's
Speaker 1: where this is how Greg actually feels about At least
Speaker 1: he was just saying that the one thing all these
Speaker 1: teams have in common, and but I'll point it out
Speaker 1: for the Eagles especially is they're great open field tacklers.
Speaker 1: And it sounds so simple, but especially in the secondary.
Speaker 1: This safety crew of Malcolm, Jenkins and McLeod for the Eagles,
Speaker 1: they stopped a lot of those Philly drives where I
Speaker 1: mean Atlanta drives where it's just one on one in
Speaker 1: space and they make the tackle. And what a great
Speaker 1: matchup for tackle, I mean safety is this week you know,
Speaker 1: between Smith and Sendejo and Jenkins and McLeod and the
Speaker 1: Eagles are have been really good all these four teams
Speaker 1: are really good at that, especially in the secondary. You
Speaker 1: throw the ball out in the edge, it's really hard
Speaker 1: to make them miss. They get you on the ground. Well, Greg,
Speaker 1: as someone who played football at the youth level and
Speaker 1: also in high school, I can confirm that it is
Speaker 1: the open field. People is tough. It's played offensive line right. No.
Speaker 1: I played running back in Pop Warner and then they
Speaker 1: moved me to cornerback because it was like where do
Speaker 1: you think reason, which was always would anyone on the interior?
Speaker 1: Maybe it was like a land of tiny people. I
Speaker 1: mean it's it was small people, but I was even
Speaker 1: smaller corner and a running back running back successfully cornerback
Speaker 1: buried on a roster, put into a late game on
Speaker 1: homecoming and immediately gave up a touchdown. It was pulled
Speaker 1: right out. That's not right. I mean we were winning
Speaker 1: by time. There was another there was another play. When
Speaker 1: you're bad. When you get pulled back out when you're
Speaker 1: winning by twenty eight points, well it was like, wait
Speaker 1: a minute, there's still like eight minutes left in this thing.
Speaker 1: This guy's dangeum, all right. As much as save it
Speaker 1: for the Marks Football Career podcast, which I would absolutely
Speaker 1: listen to short, let's pick the game. Vikings not as
Speaker 1: close as the score looks. I think it's a very
Speaker 1: even matchup all around. I have a ton of respect
Speaker 1: for the Eagles. They're coaching staff, their defense, they're running game.
Speaker 1: Uh what you people in this room don't realize, and
Speaker 1: what I know, I've missed a lot of these episodes,
Speaker 1: which means that I could pull off a double and
Speaker 1: I'm locking up the Viking. All right, listen if that's
Speaker 1: very fat cancer and you go through two rounds of chemo, yes,
Speaker 1: my volume stats are like marks when he we first
Speaker 1: started playing Go get my lunch, and he just abstained
Speaker 1: from a bunch of My volume stats are way down.
Speaker 1: I gotta build it up the Vikings. And it's not
Speaker 1: even so much that I think the Keenom's gonna have
Speaker 1: a big game. I just think so little of Nick
Speaker 1: Foles that I'm long get that we have. That message
Speaker 1: has become clear. Wait, I can't wait, but you're saying
Speaker 1: you but if you thought he played well last week though, right, Look,
Speaker 1: I am done with mechanical, stiff white guy statue quarterbacks
Speaker 1: in the NFL, in this era where defensive lines just
Speaker 1: pummel bad offensive lines. I'm not doing it anymore. Um,
Speaker 1: the steps are. But if you let me double lock
Speaker 1: it up, and if I ever lost, there you go
Speaker 1: quadruple lock off. Yeah, well double four times. You're putting
Speaker 1: the Vikings on the lock. That's what I always wanted
Speaker 1: to do. I sure do it. Doing double long locking too.
Speaker 1: We're not gonna doesn't make any sense. But none of
Speaker 1: this makes sense we're talking about. I like that. Let's
Speaker 1: double lock it up. It's the biggest day of the season.
Speaker 1: I'm locking up the Eagles. Wow, it's nice. It's nice
Speaker 1: that you guys are doing. That's not the rules. There
Speaker 1: are no it's enjoyable, made up nonsense. That's this Barney
Speaker 1: Fife routine town sheriff, not the rules. Um, I believe
Speaker 1: this will be a low scoring affair fifteen ten, just
Speaker 1: like the last week game involving the Eagles. Sounds right,
Speaker 1: So let me just do that. But flip it and
Speaker 1: the Vikings win fifteen ten and my boy kais Kai
Speaker 1: has another big game and the Vikings move on to
Speaker 1: the first Super Bowl since the nineteen seventy six season.
Speaker 1: One lock except for West because he had cancer. That
Speaker 1: was fun. Dan hated nothing more all football season and
Speaker 1: double lock. I don't care if Dan recognize it. I right,
Speaker 1: we're recognizing it. It's happening out. It doesn't matter. Sorry,
Speaker 1: this isn't a lot. It's not a logical pick for
Speaker 1: the Eagles. It's just a feeling that maybe a little
Speaker 1: bit of the emotional fall off, but more that it's
Speaker 1: at two teams that are pretty evenly matched. There the
Speaker 1: home team and sometimes just you don't get what you
Speaker 1: want as a football fan. Is that it's anti climent.
Speaker 1: It would be so anti climactic of the Vikings. I'm
Speaker 1: kind of rooting for the Vikings, but I just have
Speaker 1: a feeling that this is a tough minded Eagles team
Speaker 1: where things can happen right for them. And it's just
Speaker 1: in this weird season that's been defined by like players
Speaker 1: who are missing and us kind of being annoyed by
Speaker 1: that Nick Foles leading the Eagles to the super Bowl
Speaker 1: instead of Carson Wentz. It somehow feels right, Greg, cynicism
Speaker 1: is poison. Choose. That's not cynicism. I just said that
Speaker 1: we can't get what we want as fans, and your
Speaker 1: cynicism is poison. Will choose joy that it pots well,
Speaker 1: it gives us two weeks of hyper tedious Eagles Patriot reach.
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm hoping for the vikings for our city
Speaker 1: as I cannot hear two more weeks of r p O.
Speaker 1: I think you're gonna hear it anyway. All right, there
Speaker 1: you go. We will be back on Sunday, Sunday night,
Speaker 1: right after the games. Gregg, you will be heading to
Speaker 1: Philadelphia to write for NFL dot com. West Mark and
Speaker 1: myself will be in the studio hopefully. It was sounds
Speaker 1: like you will be got a good feeling I got
Speaker 1: assessily you'll be here all right, but well, I guess
Speaker 1: we gotta just hold their breath. I'll be here Sunday
Speaker 1: after the games. I don't know if I'll be here
Speaker 1: before the games. We'll tell anything I get you in
Speaker 1: the studio for the podcast. Yeah, I'll be great. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna give it. Oh that's a good percent. So there
Speaker 1: you go. That that will be um the NFC and
Speaker 1: a f C Championship game recap show, a big one,
Speaker 1: a big flat ship show. So make sure you come
Speaker 1: back for that. Uh and also check out NFL Pick
Speaker 1: Them and NFL Network. We got Mark in an interrogation room.
Speaker 1: I've watched this Pickum segment. Erica Tamposey previewed it. It
Speaker 1: is the best one that that largely to do with
Speaker 1: her technical prowess, but also our acting ability. That the
Speaker 1: three of us killed really really all came together. Best
Speaker 1: episode yet for really there You are you ever gonna
Speaker 1: watch NFL pick Him? And? I believe it's on four
Speaker 1: times time again, lindsay, do you have any of the
Speaker 1: times for us? Yeah? Um, Actually, the network decided that
Speaker 1: it was a good idea to replay last week's games
Speaker 1: before Sunday's games, So we got cut down to one
Speaker 1: no Eastern time. This vehicle is so eight am Eastern time,
Speaker 1: five Pacific, five and Pacific check out NFL pick them,
Speaker 1: set your DVRs. All right, they just came up with
Speaker 1: that idea. Now they already knew those games we're gonna happen.
Speaker 1: That's a very very odd decision. Maybe they didn't feel
Speaker 1: the way we did about our segment. We're being phased out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, who who do want to rewatch those games
Speaker 1: when you've got us in our acting chaps Mark in
Speaker 1: a literal interrogation room, that's what you're you have to
Speaker 1: look forward to once, not four times before al we
Speaker 1: signed of If I wanted to thank Charlie Barker and
Speaker 1: his family from England, they sent me this really nice
Speaker 1: no marchemo card from their trip when they had the
Speaker 1: Mailman his back poster all over awesome. Look at the
Speaker 1: look at the production cause yeah that's pretty nice and
Speaker 1: nice little note on the inside. They sent me a record,
Speaker 1: So what's the record? It is right? Track by Billy Butler?
Speaker 1: All right, the former Royals. Royals loved him, had him
Speaker 1: on my fantasy team every year. Well it couldn't field
Speaker 1: really but but yes you could vegas cutting records LPs.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get out of here. Dan hads a
Speaker 1: signing off for a Quiet Storm, The Mailman, the Boss
Speaker 1: or the Old Boss and Lindsey Fulton behind the glass
Speaker 1: tell Chappyship Sunday m