Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast. Greg can't wait to rap
Speaker 1: in Atlanta. I'll come back to another edition of the
Speaker 1: Around the NFL Podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and
Speaker 1: I have joined in a room build with heroes Mark Sessler,
Speaker 1: Chris Westling and Greg Rosenthal. What is up? Boys? Hey Dan? Greg?
Speaker 1: You have to be Greg legs rap. We all know
Speaker 1: that that's something that is well known on the show.
Speaker 1: Greg likes rap. You have to be excited that joining
Speaker 1: Maroon five on the halftime stage, the likes of Travis Scott,
Speaker 1: Big Boy, and now we're hearing speculation of more area
Speaker 1: rappers involved, like Erica. Did you see in the news?
Speaker 1: Who is it all? Who else is also rumored? Now
Speaker 1: you don't know you did not read I got you anyway? Greg?
Speaker 1: You like rap, So let's vamp a little bit while
Speaker 1: I find out who else is playing? Well. I think
Speaker 1: the big question is do you get does that mean
Speaker 1: Andre three thousand is not there? Because Big Boy is
Speaker 1: part of what I would argue the greatest rap group
Speaker 1: of all time. But if it's just Big Boy, what's
Speaker 1: he gonna What are they gonna play? Like a verse
Speaker 1: from Rosa Parks? Are they gonna do like the way
Speaker 1: you move, you know, I like the way you move,
Speaker 1: which is kind of a Big Boy solo because because
Speaker 1: the the jams that will get people going, I feel
Speaker 1: like are more the outcast songs. It's it's a big question.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's only coming on for like one minute too.
Speaker 1: They say, I would say he might get one song,
Speaker 1: maybe two. You would think feels muddled. Is he allowed
Speaker 1: to play outcast songs without Andre three thousand? I'm glad
Speaker 1: we're starting with the important topics tops and that enough
Speaker 1: vamping for you. I still Little John, ye, Big Boy
Speaker 1: and Atlanta. I mean Little Little John played like halftime
Speaker 1: at the Timberwolves game on Tuesday night before the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl last year, and I just feel like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: so you know you sound underwhelmed. Yeah, with the Little
Speaker 1: John news, aren't you gonna get Cardi b in there?
Speaker 1: Obviously No, she turned it down reported that's kind of
Speaker 1: a that's kind of a hot mess in the fact
Speaker 1: that Maroon five, I thought the only loan be careful here, Mark,
Speaker 1: you don't want to get in trouble again with the league.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying that would have been like an overt
Speaker 1: easter egg to make sure you had in place before
Speaker 1: you signed up Maroon five for this. I mean it'll
Speaker 1: be tough to top the year that the Black Eyed Peas,
Speaker 1: you know, blew the doors off wherever they were. I
Speaker 1: still think about that performance in North Texas. All Right,
Speaker 1: this is the Championship Sunday preview show. UH so much
Speaker 1: to get to because we have the four best teams
Speaker 1: in football squaring off on Sunday to one v two battles,
Speaker 1: uh in, the Rams and Saints and the Patriots and Chiefs.
Speaker 1: So we're very excited about that. A quick reminder, by
Speaker 1: the way, as we mentioned um on our Wednesday show, Yes,
Speaker 1: we will be live from Atlanta. We we can't confirm
Speaker 1: if we're going to have Andrea three thousand, but we
Speaker 1: won't deny it either. I mean we might have them,
Speaker 1: have them as much as the Super Bowl halftime exactly
Speaker 1: a live show at City City Winery in Atlanta on Thursday,
Speaker 1: January thirty feet The Around the NFL podcast live during
Speaker 1: Super Bowl Week West. You're excited? Can't wait? Ticket information?
Speaker 1: Pin to our Twitter page Around the NFL. I like,
Speaker 1: like Erica before the show, She's like, oh, should I
Speaker 1: play this during that announcer, should I play this? How
Speaker 1: about this background music? And then nothing? Well you didn't
Speaker 1: even like build it up. You're like, I'm gonna do
Speaker 1: a big announcement. You're like, yeah, calm truck out our
Speaker 1: live show. The big announcement. It was yesterday's show. You
Speaker 1: miss that. But like, okay, City Winery in Atlanta, bee there,
Speaker 1: get your tickets if you want to, uh, And they're
Speaker 1: going fast. We're getting a lot of tweets up. People
Speaker 1: are buying tickets, so I can't imagine they're gonna last long.
Speaker 1: So on the top of around the NFL Twitter page
Speaker 1: should be the link there. If not, check our feeds.
Speaker 1: That's the best we can be. Good salesmanship, create some
Speaker 1: sort of pressure that tickets might not last long, and
Speaker 1: they get it back. I got a d M from
Speaker 1: one of our long time listeners, Betsy Clark, who is
Speaker 1: making the trip to Atlanta just for this show. Oh
Speaker 1: my goodness, so we'll have to meet and speak with Betsy.
Speaker 1: I went to Atlanta yesterday to check out the venue,
Speaker 1: telling it is really really cool. It's a cool winery
Speaker 1: where they have all these like you know, they brew
Speaker 1: their own wine. Brew. That's not the word that's beer.
Speaker 1: They find their own wine. You're getting worse. They muld
Speaker 1: their own wine. How do you make But there's a
Speaker 1: lot of they make some mine. Um, it's really cool.
Speaker 1: You guys are gonna love it good. And there's a
Speaker 1: piano there, apparently there is. Does anybody know how to
Speaker 1: play the piano? You do? You're proficient? Yeah, I can
Speaker 1: read music. Wow, you're so amazing. Thank you well. She
Speaker 1: also just said that she knew all the acts in
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl half the show. So I buy this
Speaker 1: more than that passing that you were wrong about. Alright,
Speaker 1: so let's get into it. Two games. Let's start in
Speaker 1: the NFC, where the Los Angeles rams um are um
Speaker 1: feel good about themselves. They went thirteen and three. That
Speaker 1: was good enough for the two seed. Uh. They beat
Speaker 1: up on the Cowboys last Saturday and their building. However,
Speaker 1: they got edged by the Saints during the regular season
Speaker 1: and a great battle between these two teams at the Superdome,
Speaker 1: and that ended up being the difference because the Saints
Speaker 1: finished at thirteen and three but had the head to
Speaker 1: head tiebreaker. Hence, the NFC title game Chris Westling is
Speaker 1: played at the Superdome, And why don't we There's so
Speaker 1: many places, uh, so many ways to dig into this game,
Speaker 1: But why don't we just start there? You're you're feeling
Speaker 1: about how big a difference home field is in this
Speaker 1: game compared to how close these teams are. Could that
Speaker 1: be the difference just where this game is playing it?
Speaker 1: I think it's a huge difference. First of all, no
Speaker 1: road team has made the Super Bowl since two thousand twelve. Um,
Speaker 1: that's a huge factor. Second of all, I believe the
Speaker 1: Saints have the best home field advantage in these playoffs.
Speaker 1: Kansas City's is great too, but playing indoors as loud
Speaker 1: as that stadium was last week, the Saints took a
Speaker 1: few roundhouses from a very high flying Eagles team. To
Speaker 1: start that game, they were jittery themselves, and then for
Speaker 1: the final three quarters I thought just absolutely dominated that
Speaker 1: game in a way that did not show up on
Speaker 1: the scoreboard. I agree their offense got back on track.
Speaker 1: That was their best offensive game probably since they played
Speaker 1: the Rams. It's the most yards they've had in a game.
Speaker 1: Even though they only scored twenty points. They did what
Speaker 1: they needed to do in the final three quarters. But
Speaker 1: to talk about the home field, I would say it's
Speaker 1: a bigger fact. It's in. It's a big factor you
Speaker 1: you would much rather be home. But I would be
Speaker 1: more worried about it if we didn't have an example
Speaker 1: of the crowd noise not bothering the Rams. You know,
Speaker 1: on paper, I mean they put up four D eight
Speaker 1: three yards. They started that game slowly, but that place
Speaker 1: was rocking throughout because the Saints got to such a
Speaker 1: big lead in that game, scored touchdowns in five of
Speaker 1: their first six possessions, that that place was going absolutely nuts.
Speaker 1: And the Rams players talked about it this week. They
Speaker 1: said we were fine, And I would say the Saints
Speaker 1: defense had not reached its peak yet at that game.
Speaker 1: They didn't peek until later in the season. They are
Speaker 1: two totally different teams, I think now than they were then.
Speaker 1: But my main thought is that the offense handled the
Speaker 1: crowd noise great. It was not a problem communicating, and
Speaker 1: they put up some points. I can't get out of
Speaker 1: my head. The way the Rams played against Dallas, a
Speaker 1: lesser team. We all get that, but all five of
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles offensive lineman graded positively by PFF. Andrew
Speaker 1: Whitworth had one of the best games around the way
Speaker 1: they used their wide receivers to block and chip linebackers
Speaker 1: and then get open for Andrew Goff. They are Jared
Speaker 1: Goff that they really That game was utter domination up front.
Speaker 1: I thought for the Rams, this is about Aaron Donald
Speaker 1: trying to get to Drew Brees, one of the least
Speaker 1: pressured quarterbacks in the league. And the big difference here,
Speaker 1: I think because Michael Thomas dominated dominated the Rams last time,
Speaker 1: they have a key to lead back and that changes everything.
Speaker 1: That takes a lot of pressure off of Marcus Peters.
Speaker 1: He can talk and yap all he wants. He's not
Speaker 1: gonna see as much of Michael Thomas, if any in
Speaker 1: this game. It's gonna be a lot more to leave.
Speaker 1: And that means a lot less Sam Shields as well. Yeah.
Speaker 1: You you talked about the offensive that wasn't just like
Speaker 1: a dominant performance. That was, you know what, maybe the
Speaker 1: greatest offensive line game I've ever seen. I mean, they
Speaker 1: had the most rushing yards in their history, and Golf
Speaker 1: was pressured once in twenty eight dropbacks, which was the
Speaker 1: second least amount by any quarterback all year. You could
Speaker 1: not dominate more. And and just the playoff aggressiveness and
Speaker 1: you you hope they can repeat that if you want
Speaker 1: to see a great game in New Orleans. It wasn't
Speaker 1: just the alignment. I mean, they were just kind of
Speaker 1: a nasty team. And you don't think of the Rams
Speaker 1: a nasty team. First play of the game, Robert would
Speaker 1: just knocks Jeff Heath's block off, like, cracks him on
Speaker 1: the ground. Next play, Tyler Higbee cracks the Mark Guess
Speaker 1: Lawrence on the ground. Roger Saffold had when you watched
Speaker 1: that game, one of the most dominant games a guard
Speaker 1: can possibly have, kind of embarrassing Jalen Smith in Layton
Speaker 1: vandersh And part of the reason they were struggling and
Speaker 1: getting pushed around so much, as you could tell they
Speaker 1: were thinking. And they're young players and and they were
Speaker 1: trying to think about all the misdirection and everything that
Speaker 1: was happening. And it was allowing Saffold to just get
Speaker 1: these free shots at the second level. And if you're
Speaker 1: the Saints, you gotta be worried about that. But they
Speaker 1: do have more of a veteran linebacker group, especially Da
Speaker 1: Mario Davis, that you would hope kind of his head
Speaker 1: wouldn't be quite as scrambled as the Cowboys clearly were
Speaker 1: last week with everything McVeigh did before the snap. The
Speaker 1: Rams um six and two on the road this season,
Speaker 1: thirteen and three on the road in the Sean McVeigh era.
Speaker 1: So this is a very good road team. And like
Speaker 1: you said, we already saw it in Week nine, UM
Speaker 1: game that you look at the score if you don't
Speaker 1: remember the game, that game was, as Greg mentioned, the game,
Speaker 1: the Saints got way ahead in and the Rams came
Speaker 1: all the way back and had all the momentum at
Speaker 1: thirty five thirty five, and then the Saints did what
Speaker 1: great teams do, was they pulled it together and then
Speaker 1: finished off their team, finished off their opponent West to
Speaker 1: your point, So you're saying in Week nine you didn't
Speaker 1: think the Saints defense was a finished product or they
Speaker 1: hadn't peaked, And certainly, especially what we just saw last week,
Speaker 1: um that point. So that being an accurate comment. Is
Speaker 1: there a case to be made that it kind of
Speaker 1: averages out a little bit because the Saints offense isn't
Speaker 1: playing at the level it was earlier in the season. Sure,
Speaker 1: And I don't think Drew Brees is playing at the
Speaker 1: level he was earlier in the season. Certainly of the
Speaker 1: offensive line is not playing at that level. Andrew's Pete
Speaker 1: in particular, had four penalties last week, and we find
Speaker 1: out he's playing through a surgically repaired broken hand and
Speaker 1: he's in a lot of pain. Now he lines up
Speaker 1: across from you know, Dominican Sue and Aaron Donald. That
Speaker 1: is a huge problem for the Saints right there that
Speaker 1: matchup Andrews Pete in the center. That their center isn't
Speaker 1: very good either, Max Unger. He's just an average center.
Speaker 1: He can be pushed around. I think that's a big
Speaker 1: problem the rams O when you look at like they
Speaker 1: struggled to stop the run for much of the year,
Speaker 1: but they were great last week. But they when you
Speaker 1: look at him, there's holes in the secondary. I mean
Speaker 1: you would think, I mean, this is Sean Payton, this
Speaker 1: is Drew Brees. You would think that they were gonna
Speaker 1: attack them through the air. And you mentioned to leave,
Speaker 1: I kind of, I don't know where to leave. And
Speaker 1: Marcus Peters are at like Talib has returned, but they haven't.
Speaker 1: You know, they played the Eagles, didn't play great against
Speaker 1: him and now and since then, they've played three offenses
Speaker 1: whose passing games are not that dynamic. And I just
Speaker 1: Peters hasn't had a good year to leave, hasn't really
Speaker 1: been tested that much. And I would say LaMarcus Joiner
Speaker 1: has not had the same kind of year he had
Speaker 1: a year ago. He struggled a little bit. And he's
Speaker 1: the one who's gonna get stuck with Michael Thomas sometimes
Speaker 1: in the slot, you know that, and that's a tough
Speaker 1: matchup just size wise. It feels like there's holes in
Speaker 1: this Rams defense because as good as they played last year,
Speaker 1: last week, overall, like they still haven't found a pass rush.
Speaker 1: It doesn't look like a Wade Phillips defense. Like you
Speaker 1: think Wade Phillips. You think lots of blitzes, guys rushing
Speaker 1: off the edge, you know, counting on the cornerbacks to
Speaker 1: play man coverage and that they don't have to cover much.
Speaker 1: And like that's not this Rams defense. I'm not really
Speaker 1: sure what this Rams defensive. I'd be concerned a little
Speaker 1: bit for the Saints to having Sheldon Rankins out of
Speaker 1: the lineup. That's a big loss against the run. They
Speaker 1: gave up. They they're gonna put a guy who's better
Speaker 1: against the run into David Onya Mata who is really good.
Speaker 1: The Eagles kept trying to still think it's a loss.
Speaker 1: That's that's Rankins is a better pass rusher probably, but
Speaker 1: I think on your Mata is really good against the run.
Speaker 1: That's why the Saints are one of the best run
Speaker 1: defenses in the NFL. I think the Eagles almost got
Speaker 1: caught trying to I don't know if it was because
Speaker 1: Rankins was out, but almost trying to test that, you know,
Speaker 1: point that Olka Rankins is out, and they kept trying
Speaker 1: to run up the middle last week, and they just
Speaker 1: couldn't get anything going. I mean they I don't think
Speaker 1: they had more than a five play drive their last
Speaker 1: six or seven six or seven um drives. It's the
Speaker 1: I think they're similar that you gotta attack, even though
Speaker 1: the secondary is better with to more and Apple and
Speaker 1: von Bell is playing well. Like you would you would
Speaker 1: think that the Rams are gonna need more than attempts
Speaker 1: from Jared Goff this week in the backfield for the Rams,
Speaker 1: what did we see from Todd Gurley? Now that's an
Speaker 1: interesting situation back there because j Anderson comes aboard in
Speaker 1: Week sixteen and hits the ground running and produces at
Speaker 1: an all pro level. Which is becoming one of the
Speaker 1: crazy stories of this NFL season. In the left last month,
Speaker 1: Todd Gurley comes back and and Greg in your opinion,
Speaker 1: did he look like Todd Gurley? Did he look close
Speaker 1: to Todd Gurley. I don't know that's a good question.
Speaker 1: I don't have a hot take. I got outtouched by C. J. Anderson.
Speaker 1: I think he looked like Todd Gurley for the most part.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think C. J. Anderson was just too
Speaker 1: good to take off the field. Gurley did play more
Speaker 1: than Anderson played about think about that comment. Just know
Speaker 1: it's crazy, but that was the game plan. Sean McVeigh
Speaker 1: said that I'm not playing Todd Gurley going into the
Speaker 1: game as many snaps because he doesn't have his wind back.
Speaker 1: He's not in football shape from missing a monk. And
Speaker 1: he played forty four snaps, which is a pretty good amount.
Speaker 1: It was a little more than Anderson, who did get
Speaker 1: the ball. But yeah, Anderson was making guys miss. It
Speaker 1: wasn't just he's like he's just not a bowling ball
Speaker 1: like he They have one of the best rushing games
Speaker 1: possible right now, and they're gonna keep riding. I mean,
Speaker 1: they had two d seventy yards against the Cardinals, who
Speaker 1: are not a terrible running run defense, a good game
Speaker 1: against the Niners, and then what they did against the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: For a guy who was on the street a month ago,
Speaker 1: he has incredible synchronicity with that offensive line right now.
Speaker 1: They gave him a slitter and he's sliver and he's
Speaker 1: sliding right through exactly where the whole Maybe he's like
Speaker 1: the bowling ball, the guys that throw the big meaty
Speaker 1: hooks in the in the p b A. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: like you know, the guys that wear the glove on
Speaker 1: the hand. And are we sure this is CJ. Anderson.
Speaker 1: That's another theory because it's you know how Tom Brady
Speaker 1: what Anderson is sort of like taking or leave him?
Speaker 1: He you know, he was completely starting to fade out
Speaker 1: of the league. And they've made an agreement with C. J. Anderson,
Speaker 1: the real CG. And to say we've built someone else
Speaker 1: sort of off to the side, who we're gonna put
Speaker 1: into your We're gonna acquire you. It looks just like
Speaker 1: in the air in Los Angeles mansion, You're gonna live
Speaker 1: high on the hog, but we're gonna put this other
Speaker 1: creation in your Jersey and suddenly c J. Anderson. Since
Speaker 1: Week sixteen, nobody in the league has more rushing yards
Speaker 1: per game, more first downs on the ground, or rushing
Speaker 1: touchdowns from that time through the playoffs. This is c J. Anderson.
Speaker 1: This is a guy who was a great player for
Speaker 1: the broadcast. Come on, what's up? No? Never mind, go ahead,
Speaker 1: keep going. Good luck. Anderstron means I'm not convinced this
Speaker 1: isn't true. Other thoughts about this game, gentleman, What jumps
Speaker 1: out to you when you were studying ahead of today's podcast,
Speaker 1: which I know you were. I really want to lock
Speaker 1: up the Saints, but I feel super freaked about about it.
Speaker 1: I just I don't know that. I feel like the
Speaker 1: one issue for me is that the best pass thrown
Speaker 1: all last week was by Taysom Hill. I think he's
Speaker 1: a huge factor. I love the way to use him.
Speaker 1: But if I just don't know, I'm not casting doubt
Speaker 1: at all. I think that they were they They really
Speaker 1: impressed me the way that they I was more never
Speaker 1: more nervous about the Saints, the way they were down
Speaker 1: fourteen nothing against a magical Eagles team. Thinking this has
Speaker 1: all the makings of a letdown of a team that
Speaker 1: we're well or the team that rolled in is the
Speaker 1: number one seed and just not getting it done and
Speaker 1: the way they fought out of that hole gives you
Speaker 1: great confidence. But this game is this game is hard
Speaker 1: to I think both these games are impossible to pick.
Speaker 1: I don't know what to do with this one. Well,
Speaker 1: why did you pick it? Breeze hasn't hit it. Gotta
Speaker 1: do it, mark your pro this is what your job is.
Speaker 1: You can wait a little bit. You want like two
Speaker 1: more minutes? Do you need like twenty seconds? My lock
Speaker 1: is going to depend on yours, so I have to wait. Well,
Speaker 1: I'll get it out of the way for now and
Speaker 1: I can switch my We're gonna lock up the Rams
Speaker 1: on the road because I think they're a little bit
Speaker 1: better and I never really locked locked the Patriots, and uh,
Speaker 1: I think Jared Goffian Breezes haven't played their very best
Speaker 1: over the last stretch of the season, and that that
Speaker 1: golf I think did everything that was asked of him
Speaker 1: last week. He made some really nice third down throws
Speaker 1: that they're gonna need a little bit more of weeks
Speaker 1: one through six goff to pull this game off. That
Speaker 1: they're not just going to be able to just run
Speaker 1: steamroll the rams of all the time. But I think
Speaker 1: the Saints kind of need earlier season. Drew Brees too
Speaker 1: that he even last week it was more about everything
Speaker 1: he did before the snap and looking off defender and
Speaker 1: maybe that would be enough. But he hasn't made as
Speaker 1: many like really difficult wow plays over the last five
Speaker 1: or six weeks as he did earlier in the year.
Speaker 1: The last time, No, I was just gonna say that
Speaker 1: last you might have showed your hand a little bit there.
Speaker 1: There's a big time lock strategy here because for those
Speaker 1: that are are tracking this or maybe aren't, West is
Speaker 1: one lock behind Mark with two games to play. Greg
Speaker 1: and I both eliminated. I don't have a hand. You well,
Speaker 1: you put it out there now that you're waiting to
Speaker 1: see Mark, and now Mark picked up on that. Mark said, well,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna wait. I'm going to change as much as
Speaker 1: I want. There's a lot of drama here with the
Speaker 1: distant cousins, and I love it. This isn't a critique
Speaker 1: of Mark, but the rules of the game state that
Speaker 1: we can change it. Apparently up until game time on
Speaker 1: Sunday start, it doesn't matter if he changes I can
Speaker 1: just go right back to eight at a t M
Speaker 1: lock ups or whatever. I get it. You have your
Speaker 1: two picks that you like, but you're not gonna if
Speaker 1: I don't want to get any I don't like West.
Speaker 1: I don't like any of them in West. If I
Speaker 1: pick a certain team and you want to change her
Speaker 1: twenty five times, I don't care. I couldn't care less
Speaker 1: at this said. By the way, the rules you could
Speaker 1: change at any time. That's a new We've done that. No,
Speaker 1: it's not done that. No, No, we were fine with
Speaker 1: you changing it at the l A Live last night,
Speaker 1: I changed I changed two losses. We should just lock
Speaker 1: it up here, and that's what happens in the studio.
Speaker 1: I think number one, because you two are out of it,
Speaker 1: that Wes and I can dictate our own rules. We
Speaker 1: really don't care what anyone else has to say about it. Fine, honestly,
Speaker 1: I'm fascinated by because I know this means a lot
Speaker 1: to you, mark a lot. I'm competitive. I want to win,
Speaker 1: but I but I but I think that West has
Speaker 1: been an excellent competitor too. And if he were to
Speaker 1: you know, if we were to go into Super Bowl Week,
Speaker 1: Tide that would be nice drama. Anything can happen, anything,
Speaker 1: there's I think there's less strategy than there could be,
Speaker 1: particularly because neither of us has a read on these games.
Speaker 1: Interest that's how well it is to two games that
Speaker 1: are three points spread. I mean that could be that
Speaker 1: that is you know, the desert telling you these are
Speaker 1: these are four teams that are pretty even on what
Speaker 1: do they say, Greg that three points to the home team?
Speaker 1: Basically yeah, So basically, yes, that's what's what's going on.
Speaker 1: I feel like the same thing to just give Alvin
Speaker 1: Camara the ball thirty five times, don't you Just like
Speaker 1: it's almost like they wait, they don't use them as
Speaker 1: much as they possibly could, and it's like, now is
Speaker 1: the time to just do it. I like the Saints
Speaker 1: in this game. I have to say that I think
Speaker 1: they really did show me a lot coming back down
Speaker 1: from fourteen nothing with all that juice that the Eagles had, Uh,
Speaker 1: they're flying high and the way, like West said, the
Speaker 1: way in New Orleans defense just said, no, that's enough,
Speaker 1: you're done. That's it, You're done. The The Eagles never
Speaker 1: even had a hands on offense except for that last
Speaker 1: drive where the Saint's got a little bit lucky with
Speaker 1: the deflection and then I n T. But that was
Speaker 1: an incredible defensive effort. And I think Drew Brees and
Speaker 1: the offense, which hasn't been as good uh in recent weeks,
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna show up in the NFC title
Speaker 1: game in their building. And that's why I think this
Speaker 1: is like a I think it's a seven to ten
Speaker 1: point win for the Saints. I think this is the game.
Speaker 1: Last time these two teams met, Jared Goff came up
Speaker 1: small at the end of the game. He made bad
Speaker 1: throws and bad decisions, and I don't think he's been
Speaker 1: a good quarterback since then. He when's the last time
Speaker 1: he passed his team to victory like Drew Brees did
Speaker 1: last week in the second half. I just don't think
Speaker 1: golf has played well for about two months. And to me,
Speaker 1: that's why I'm gonna like I mean, the Chiefs game
Speaker 1: was since then, right they scored, Yeah, but that would
Speaker 1: be the yeah. Since they're bye week, which was after
Speaker 1: that Chief's game, he hasn't been the same. And that's
Speaker 1: where I feel like the Saints have a pretty good advantage.
Speaker 1: I trust Drew Brees more than I trust Jared Goff
Speaker 1: right now, we also one of these. This is a
Speaker 1: coach the trust though, I mean the Shan Bowl, I
Speaker 1: don't want. I don't They're so easy pick up between
Speaker 1: the two Shans at all. I don't trust either of
Speaker 1: these defenses. By the way, I don't think the Saints
Speaker 1: defense is really that great. I think that both five
Speaker 1: teams are going over thirty. I think they're fine. Um
Speaker 1: like last week with some unforced errors and some quick
Speaker 1: drives and you know things, things happen, and I think
Speaker 1: they're just I don't think either. I don't think there's
Speaker 1: a top ten defense left in the playoffs, and that's fine.
Speaker 1: I was going through my all pro list and I've
Speaker 1: got Cameron Jordan and Ta Mario Davis on my second team,
Speaker 1: vom Bell on my third team. Some people have Markets
Speaker 1: Latimore on their right now. They have really good players
Speaker 1: on that defense. Eli Apple's helped him a lot, He's
Speaker 1: been good. It's fair. Anybody else have the Saints. I
Speaker 1: have the Saints. I have the Saints winning. Well, you
Speaker 1: don't have him locked, man, I'm gonna lock up the Saints.
Speaker 1: There it is. That's what I'm talking about. That's the
Speaker 1: game play. But I could lock them up to I'm
Speaker 1: not getting backed into this confrontation to begin with. That's
Speaker 1: what happened last year and that's why they're it's like
Speaker 1: a split trophy on it's our desk in mind. Here's
Speaker 1: the thing there or less at this point. You get
Speaker 1: to this point and you're either ahead by enough to
Speaker 1: you but you and then then now you have to
Speaker 1: do you because because you're for not far enough ahead,
Speaker 1: so we could we could tie in the super just
Speaker 1: lock whatever he locks the next two that if you
Speaker 1: want to beat we all sit around praising Belichick for
Speaker 1: putting his his heel on the neck of the snake,
Speaker 1: or you can do this thing. Wherefore the podcast you
Speaker 1: just sit here and roll into a reverse lock, or
Speaker 1: just with a road team who feel the strongest about
Speaker 1: I haven't decided the games next. I have not to
Speaker 1: say it's a very long neck or no neck at all.
Speaker 1: We'll see, all right, there you go, let's uh oh
Speaker 1: quick halftime. I'll throw it to Mark Seiler. We do
Speaker 1: have an update now. Last week, um, Greg, you will
Speaker 1: remember that we had an update from the w t A,
Speaker 1: which is what does that stand for? Again? Women's Tennis
Speaker 1: Association bang and uh it was it was odd. I
Speaker 1: don't know. We have sources all over the place, but
Speaker 1: someone sent me the diary entry of a yet unranked
Speaker 1: female tennis player, Nina Pencova, aged twenty four, and she
Speaker 1: was going through a lot of drama. She um was
Speaker 1: struggling on the court. She was set to face a
Speaker 1: Vana Saddles in the Sydney International, while dealing with a
Speaker 1: jaded ex boyfriend, Philip, whose number she blocked because he
Speaker 1: wouldn't leave her alone over text. We have another diary
Speaker 1: entry or two, just to follow up from a week
Speaker 1: or so later. Let's go, let's hear it. January two
Speaker 1: thousand nineteen. Dear Diary, I haven't written for days. Feelings
Speaker 1: of intense anger flow through me. I lost my match
Speaker 1: to Ivan Ivana Saddles at the Sydney International, a six
Speaker 1: to six one nail biter. It might not seem like
Speaker 1: a close match to you, Diary, but I was up
Speaker 1: one nothing in the second set. But then during a
Speaker 1: thirty minute rain delay, I heard Australian broadcaster Rebecca Mattern
Speaker 1: tell viewers this Nina Pencova, She's just a baseline player,
Speaker 1: nothing else special to her game. Charlie. Only you can
Speaker 1: know this, diary, but it got into my head. My
Speaker 1: coach Boris urged me to brush it off, but I couldn't.
Speaker 1: I melted down. Saddles has a powerful second serve. I'll
Speaker 1: give her that. I totally hate her. I know I'm
Speaker 1: the better player, and that's why I refused to shake
Speaker 1: her hand after the match, which made the news. So what,
Speaker 1: I have no reason to be kind to Avana Saddles.
Speaker 1: She seems like a giant. Diary January twelve, two th nineteen.
Speaker 1: Dear Diary, Philip won't give up. I blocked his number
Speaker 1: days ago, but the hotel concierge brought me a telegram
Speaker 1: with the words you're mean, Nina. I helped fund you
Speaker 1: start to finish at the sense he open. But it's
Speaker 1: not about the money. It's about the talks we had
Speaker 1: riding horseback over the Swedish wilds in October. Now you've
Speaker 1: ghosted me. That's what teenagers do, not a real woman.
Speaker 1: Massively hammered on expensive Vodkas at a subterranean bar in
Speaker 1: western Prague. Hotties everywhere, but I'm dead to all the senses.
Speaker 1: You've broken my heart. January four, two nineteen Dear Diary,
Speaker 1: So Confused. Got a text today from Ivana Saddles. It
Speaker 1: reads as follows, why not shake my hand, Nina? We're
Speaker 1: both just trying to make our way. I have no
Speaker 1: ill feelings for you. I enjoyed the competition. Look, I
Speaker 1: want to talk with you about that kink in your
Speaker 1: backhand which reared its head in the second set. I
Speaker 1: went through the same exact issue. Maybe I can invite
Speaker 1: you over for steaks and some red wine, talk some shop.
Speaker 1: I don't hate you, Nina, don't hate me. When I
Speaker 1: see you on the court, you glow like diamonds. Your friend.
Speaker 1: Maybe Ivana Saddles, M hmm. That's why it's America's fastest
Speaker 1: growing sport. All this intrigue, it is women's status. I mean,
Speaker 1: what metrics are going? I mean I I just made
Speaker 1: that up. But you know, I think I think that's
Speaker 1: trying to help out. I think that's acceptable on this show. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just edged out corn hole. Let's move to the
Speaker 1: American Football Conference the a f C, and let's dig
Speaker 1: in the New England Patriots. By the way, I did
Speaker 1: know you locked against your girls team. That is bold
Speaker 1: move there. Chris Wesley what does that move? Old move?
Speaker 1: What does that matter? Just saying I have no influence
Speaker 1: on whether the Rams win or not. The pet or
Speaker 1: a St. Louis native move to l a the Rams
Speaker 1: follower here, she cheers them with all her hearts. One
Speaker 1: of the biggest fans I know of any team. In fact, yes,
Speaker 1: when we were at the Rams playoff loss last year,
Speaker 1: she had tears in her eyes and uh, Mark and
Speaker 1: I had a drink with her after the Saturday game
Speaker 1: after the win, and I've never seen a happier girl.
Speaker 1: She was extremely she's she's a happy person. If nothing else,
Speaker 1: you know that she's gonna you know, she's gonna rub
Speaker 1: it in your eye when they go down to the
Speaker 1: Superdome and make all my I'm rooting for the Rams unhappy.
Speaker 1: I'm rooting for them, but I got a competition to
Speaker 1: win with Mark. So you get you're out for blood
Speaker 1: and I like it. I'm not out for blood. If
Speaker 1: you play the game all year, you don't like it
Speaker 1: in the second last week, say oh, because my fiance
Speaker 1: roots for this team, but I'm gonna put it. You're
Speaker 1: playing smart. You should. I mean, if you're gonna be
Speaker 1: in a competition, try to win the competition. They could
Speaker 1: be teammates and both lock up the state. Yeah you should,
Speaker 1: you know, you should just pick up because they're gonna
Speaker 1: drop a bomb on the Saints, But I don't believe
Speaker 1: that you do. The Patriots travel to Arrowhead to meet
Speaker 1: the Kansas City Chiefs. Bold teams very impressive last week
Speaker 1: in the divisional playoffs. The Pats whooped up on the Chargers,
Speaker 1: but we all know it wasn't even that close. The
Speaker 1: Chiefs uh dismantled the Colts, who are flying high look
Speaker 1: like the hottest team in the league, and then they
Speaker 1: looked like the one in five Colts. Let's face it
Speaker 1: in a loss. So these two teams move on. It's
Speaker 1: one of the better AFC title games I can remember
Speaker 1: on paper. Greg, and um, let's start here as a
Speaker 1: Patriots fan. And I know you're always saying house money,
Speaker 1: house money, house money, nothing matters. It's not nothing matters.
Speaker 1: That's appreciating what you have, because if not, it's like
Speaker 1: what are we doing here? Okay? That said, is there
Speaker 1: an a f C championship opponent that scares you as
Speaker 1: much as this Chief's team in previous years or potential?
Speaker 1: In the last post, Broncos certainly, Yes, that was a
Speaker 1: very good team that that one. They and even and
Speaker 1: because the Patriots team was worse, I would say Broncos
Speaker 1: as well. Uh, you know that's the thing about you know,
Speaker 1: the talk about the dynasty ending and all that with
Speaker 1: with Brady's age, I get it, But this team fits
Speaker 1: right in with many of Patriots teams throughout this decade
Speaker 1: that probably aren't the best three teams in the league,
Speaker 1: but are comfortably in the top five or six and
Speaker 1: make it to this weekend with with some defined weaknesses
Speaker 1: like that's that's where they fit. This is this is
Speaker 1: as good as it gets. Yeah, the Chiefs. This is
Speaker 1: the greatest age and career statistical disparity between quarterbacks ever
Speaker 1: in a playoff game. It's also the most combined wins
Speaker 1: by opposing head coaches in a playoff game. Well, that's
Speaker 1: like they between these two matchups, it's almost too easy
Speaker 1: to kind of go this is like old versus New.
Speaker 1: I mean, we can either get Breeze and Brady and
Speaker 1: going against each other in the super Bowl, two of
Speaker 1: the greatest ever who have been around and kind of
Speaker 1: dominating link for a while. Not the Breeze has gotten
Speaker 1: this deep in the playoffs very often, or we can
Speaker 1: have something totally fresh. Is this we talked about in
Speaker 1: the Endfsey, it felt like a draw with the head coaches?
Speaker 1: Are these the four best head coaches in football playing
Speaker 1: in this these last two games, I think you'd throw
Speaker 1: in Doug Peterson and Pete Carroll would be there. But
Speaker 1: if you had to make a one time problem with
Speaker 1: this right now, with these four being put up as
Speaker 1: the best for that's pretty cool. You know, there's these
Speaker 1: teams are all going to be super prepared, ready to
Speaker 1: play this game, and there's talent on both sides of
Speaker 1: the ball. And I think with the on the Patriots
Speaker 1: side of it, Mark and I think anybody that's ready
Speaker 1: for the Patriots to go away and you're you're in
Speaker 1: the club of course as well. Is that was disheartening
Speaker 1: what happened against the Chargers because they went from a
Speaker 1: team like you could maybe make a case for, uh,
Speaker 1: they aren't as strong as past years. Well what they
Speaker 1: did to the Chargers, UH makes you think they could
Speaker 1: beat anybody in the league at this point. They broke
Speaker 1: them in ten minutes. I mean the game was over.
Speaker 1: You know, the Chargers came back and there was the
Speaker 1: deep shot to Keenan Allen. They tied the game up.
Speaker 1: But when the nick when New England came right out
Speaker 1: on the second drive and did it again, I thought
Speaker 1: that Los Angeles was totally broken. And I'm not sure
Speaker 1: that that happens again. I mean the weather in this.
Speaker 1: You know, the Patriots are not a team. This isn't
Speaker 1: You're not sending the nineteen eighties Seahawks out of a
Speaker 1: dome into snow here. This is not some team that
Speaker 1: is a warm weather team. They practice in snow. They
Speaker 1: showed them doing that. This week they relish this. I
Speaker 1: don't think they're intimidated by the weather at all. But
Speaker 1: there is an interesting stat out there that the Patriots
Speaker 1: with Brady are thirty and six in games at or
Speaker 1: below thirty degrees, which sounds remarkable, but thirty of those
Speaker 1: games were either at home or against the Bills or Jets.
Speaker 1: I that to me also, you can just throw all
Speaker 1: that out if you want. I mean, they've got to
Speaker 1: find a way to stop this offense. And I think
Speaker 1: this is the kind of week that Bill Belichick relishes,
Speaker 1: because you have to find a way to do what
Speaker 1: literally essentially almost no one else has been able to
Speaker 1: do consistently on any level, which is to slow down
Speaker 1: not just one, but all of these weapons. And I
Speaker 1: can't wait to see how he deploys defenders to knock
Speaker 1: Travis Kelsey off his feet a bit before he runs
Speaker 1: his route, or Tyreek Hill, who has dominated them, and
Speaker 1: Tyreek Hill has owned the Patriots in these matchups. But
Speaker 1: this is a bit of a different Patriots defense right now.
Speaker 1: But I'm gonna lock up the Chiefs because I simply
Speaker 1: think they're the better team right now. I they This
Speaker 1: scares me a lot because I probably spent more of
Speaker 1: the week just wanting to lock up the Patriots. This
Speaker 1: is about as dodgy as a scenario. Both of these
Speaker 1: games freaked me out, so it's like it just roll
Speaker 1: with it. I think the Chiefs have the disadvantage of coaching.
Speaker 1: I think Bill Belichick is a slight favorite over Andy Reid,
Speaker 1: but I love the home field advantage. I hate the defense,
Speaker 1: and they can't get to Brady. If they can get
Speaker 1: to Brady and they can make that Braun Codes game
Speaker 1: that you mentioned where they lost in Denver was all
Speaker 1: about did they hit Brady like twice two times in
Speaker 1: that game? I'm not convinced this defense can do that
Speaker 1: at all, even with Chris Jones and Justin Houston and
Speaker 1: d Ford. But I have a better shot than they
Speaker 1: did last week with the Chargers, which I thought on
Speaker 1: paper they could too. So who knows, We don't know anything.
Speaker 1: Erase everything I just said. Asis That's how I feel
Speaker 1: about it. Every time I feel crazy about both these games.
Speaker 1: I just feel crazy about both of these games. So
Speaker 1: I'm worried about you. Every time I found a Patriots advantage,
Speaker 1: I felt like I found a chief's answer. And Brady
Speaker 1: has a ton of experience and bone chilling cold Mahomes
Speaker 1: basically has none. And yet there's a long held NFL
Speaker 1: axiom that older players don't do well in the cold.
Speaker 1: And if you look at like racing, this isn't even
Speaker 1: that recent anymore. But Eli Manning out playing Brett Farve
Speaker 1: after Brett Farve had a much better year that year.
Speaker 1: Um and Brady, I mean, let's be honest, has a
Speaker 1: much weaker arm than Patrick Mahomes at this stage. That's
Speaker 1: a fact during really cold weather weather, right, but if
Speaker 1: if it's so cold that the vertical passing game is
Speaker 1: really affected, that ultimately hurts the Chiefs, I think more
Speaker 1: just because their offense is based more around the vertical
Speaker 1: passing game. But we did. We just don't know how
Speaker 1: it's you don't know you would think. I do think
Speaker 1: you can say that Patrick Mahomes had one of his
Speaker 1: least accurate games last week in the cold that, especially
Speaker 1: on throws over about fifteen yards, he misfired. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was not one of his stronger games down how
Speaker 1: many like side armed and made great great he played.
Speaker 1: He played more than well enough to win. But they
Speaker 1: also had five straight possessions, you know, without without a score,
Speaker 1: which is rare to see. And he just missed more
Speaker 1: throws that they were open guys that they could have
Speaker 1: had even more points and you're just not used to
Speaker 1: see that quite as much. So what they did on
Speaker 1: defense against a Cults team that a week ago, for
Speaker 1: good reasons and for well researched reasons, we loved. Can
Speaker 1: that Can that happen in aainst New England? That's that
Speaker 1: I don't know if there's any carry over, but but
Speaker 1: I'm more hopeful than I would have been a week ago.
Speaker 1: I think there's there can be more carryover from the
Speaker 1: Chiefs defense than anything from that Patriots game. I don't
Speaker 1: take anything from that Patriots game other than Brady's healthier,
Speaker 1: He's moving a little better. Edelman's definitely looking better than
Speaker 1: he did early in the season. And I think, you know,
Speaker 1: they're feeling good about themselves. But that was such a
Speaker 1: coaching like, guys were so open in that game, and
Speaker 1: they won that game. You're right, they won the game
Speaker 1: in the first time. They won that game. Before they
Speaker 1: snapped the ball. He Brady barely even dropped back in
Speaker 1: that game. It was. It was a play calling masterpiece
Speaker 1: with screens, swing passes, shovels, play action, quick slants, motion,
Speaker 1: anything so he would not drop back and get hit.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if you can do that two
Speaker 1: weeks in a row. I certainly don't think you can
Speaker 1: do the same thing on the road that you did
Speaker 1: at home. No, I agree, But you did do it
Speaker 1: pretty well against the Chiefs last time. And that's not
Speaker 1: a game where you know, he moved pretty well, evading
Speaker 1: pressure a couple of times in that game, but for
Speaker 1: the most part, that was a pretty easy game for
Speaker 1: the Patriots offense. That was the game that kind of
Speaker 1: got everyone thin. You know, I guess. I guess these
Speaker 1: are that because at that point they were three and
Speaker 1: two and didn't look that great. And that was the
Speaker 1: first game where you thought, Okay, on their best day,
Speaker 1: they can look like the Patriots. They were up nine
Speaker 1: and a half in that game. Uh, you brought up
Speaker 1: the weather, so we should mention that a day ago,
Speaker 1: as recently as twenty four hours ago, the belief was
Speaker 1: that it was gonna be around zero, a true Arctic
Speaker 1: blast scenario. Now there there's been a shift in that,
Speaker 1: so it's gonna be in the twenties. And then with
Speaker 1: the big difference. Yeah, that's a huge difference. The real feel,
Speaker 1: which is a thing in there. Now. I'm not a meteorologist,
Speaker 1: but that's things I think that's been around us. It's
Speaker 1: kind of what the windshill used to things. Don't put
Speaker 1: yourself down. You are a real medi relic. Thanks bro Um.
Speaker 1: It will feel like zero, but it was supposed to
Speaker 1: be like historic. Larry King's gotta be a hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty years old at this point, and I hope the
Speaker 1: man lives forever. You never want anybody to die, so
Speaker 1: I'm glad that Larry's still with us. In fact, I
Speaker 1: saw him at a bagel shop near where I live
Speaker 1: about six months ago, just chilling with some other old
Speaker 1: people having some coffee. It's a place called Brooklyn Bagels,
Speaker 1: and Larry was just like, Hey, I'm an old man
Speaker 1: from New York. I'm gonna go to Brooklyn Bagels and
Speaker 1: just hang out and be an old man. What Larry
Speaker 1: had to say was on Twitter or somebody tweeted for Larry, Hey,
Speaker 1: let's cancel this game. Let's postpone it. It's too miserable.
Speaker 1: And when if it was gonna be negative five, negative ten,
Speaker 1: maybe old Larry had a case. But in the twenties,
Speaker 1: this is not This is not gonna be near anything historic.
Speaker 1: It's just gonna be cold as balls. The end of
Speaker 1: that weather report from me met Danzas. I think it's
Speaker 1: clear that none of us have any tangible football experience,
Speaker 1: and none that would translate on any level to anything
Speaker 1: above a grade school level. But I do remember, you
Speaker 1: know what. I take issue with that because if you
Speaker 1: ever covered high school sports in the Northeast, specifically baseball, uh,
Speaker 1: it is miserable sitting and watching teenagers play baseball for
Speaker 1: three hours. I know what it's like to be truly
Speaker 1: cold watching sports. Well, I was just gonna say it
Speaker 1: to eat like we've all been out there playing snow football,
Speaker 1: right or or like awful wins. And I always thought
Speaker 1: for me and that when you're on offense and you're
Speaker 1: the wide receiver, something that favored you against the little
Speaker 1: defensive back who's frozen five feet away from you and
Speaker 1: you burn around him. I don't know if that has
Speaker 1: any maybe just all maybe cold weather just favors defenses.
Speaker 1: But I would rather be Tyreek Hill knowing where I'm
Speaker 1: going in one degree weather than trying to figure out
Speaker 1: where Tyreek Hill is going. Fair point, I agree, And
Speaker 1: I do think though the running game shouldn't, you know,
Speaker 1: that shouldn't be too effective. And that was the one take.
Speaker 1: You know. That's the thing I've been banging the drumall
Speaker 1: year for the Patriots is I think they're a good
Speaker 1: running team at their best. Jack Mason, David Andrews, Joe
Speaker 1: Tuney inside have done a really good job opening up
Speaker 1: holes for Sony Michelle. And that was one thing that
Speaker 1: they were really good against the Chiefs the first time.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's kind of why they won that game offensively,
Speaker 1: is they had their way with the Chiefs running the ball,
Speaker 1: and as a Pats fan, that's kind of my hope
Speaker 1: in this game is that you're gonna get Sony Michelle,
Speaker 1: You're gonna get James White here and there. Certainly in
Speaker 1: the passing game, going up against their linebackers who aren't
Speaker 1: great Hitchens and Ragling, I think that's a good matchup
Speaker 1: and that they just control the game. That that's kind
Speaker 1: of who they are as a team, and you're gonna
Speaker 1: get a few nice throws by Brady and then you're
Speaker 1: on to Atlanta. Well, they're not predictable usually, like usually
Speaker 1: we have their game plans figured out. But to me,
Speaker 1: that makes the most sense. Play bullyball, shove the Chiefs
Speaker 1: defense around, keep the ball out of Mahome's hands, and
Speaker 1: try to win that way. They ran right at Chris
Speaker 1: Jones too, who's a great player, but did you know
Speaker 1: and rush the pastor had a force fumble in that game,
Speaker 1: but they kind of ran right at him because he
Speaker 1: gets up up the field. The Beltick is good at
Speaker 1: attacking weaknesses, and to me, it's that secondary has been okay, actually,
Speaker 1: but it's the linebackers and maybe it's up the middle
Speaker 1: of running again. They have not been on the road
Speaker 1: New England since they scored ten points against the Steelers
Speaker 1: on December sixteen. They're not a good round team. Football
Speaker 1: Outsiders has them as the thirty first defense on the
Speaker 1: road and the second best defense at home. That's outrageous.
Speaker 1: One other part of their offense, which is now it's
Speaker 1: gotten to the point where we don't even really talk
Speaker 1: about it anymore. And I was joking about down in
Speaker 1: the newsroom during that wretched game last week. H but
Speaker 1: Gronk had was getting called out for a great blocking
Speaker 1: all game, and he is. He's always been a great blocker.
Speaker 1: But he was targeted once in that game. It's gotten
Speaker 1: to the point now where he's just not an active
Speaker 1: part of the offense. I'd just be careful on that.
Speaker 1: Here's the thing that well, I'm just from what we
Speaker 1: saw not well. I don't think because of the game
Speaker 1: planning is the Chargers involved him. Run blocking means that
Speaker 1: you won't see him as a receiver in this Do
Speaker 1: you think it's you think it's not at all noteworthy,
Speaker 1: had one target and a player. I think it's absolutely
Speaker 1: not noteworthy. I don't think you can project that and
Speaker 1: say he's not going to be a factor in the
Speaker 1: passing game this week. I think it's a different matchup
Speaker 1: and I heard Romo talk about it, say, you know,
Speaker 1: don't count him out next week from having a big
Speaker 1: game well as a total homer. He looked better on
Speaker 1: that one catch just twenty five yards then I've seen
Speaker 1: him looking. While he did draw a pretty important pass
Speaker 1: interference in that game. You don't get a target for that, right,
Speaker 1: you don't get a target. I'm just saying, I mean
Speaker 1: that that counted. It seems silly that you don't. And
Speaker 1: then and then if you watched like watching that like
Speaker 1: he was open in decent amount, but it's like everyone
Speaker 1: was open Brady had Brady had his choice. It was
Speaker 1: interesting enough that I went back and watched like the
Speaker 1: the week six game and now Michael's like, this is
Speaker 1: the matchup of the two best tight ends in the league,
Speaker 1: and no one would say that anymore about Gronk things.
Speaker 1: That was on Sunday. We we talked about that, and
Speaker 1: I think um Brady played very well in that game.
Speaker 1: But that was the point that I was making on
Speaker 1: Sunday that he did. It wasn't even like a challenge
Speaker 1: for Brady was like I I think Gino Smith could
Speaker 1: have tore up the Chargers the way the way, the
Speaker 1: way he was protected, the way guys are running all
Speaker 1: over the field wide open. I'm just saying Brady executed
Speaker 1: the game plan well, but that was just like a
Speaker 1: that just it was fishing a barrel. He knew where
Speaker 1: the answers. He knew where the answers were. Who do
Speaker 1: you trust more Bob Sutton to get to Brady or
Speaker 1: Belichick and Flores and his entire staff to make if
Speaker 1: him comfortable for a second year quarterback. That's why I've
Speaker 1: probably about an hour from now, I'm gonna switch to
Speaker 1: the Patriots. I what if we phrase it this way,
Speaker 1: who do you trust more d Ford, Justin Houston and
Speaker 1: Chris Jones to get to Brady or Trey Flowers in
Speaker 1: a bunch of um jabronies to get to Patrick Homes.
Speaker 1: That's fair. I think that. I mean high Tower and
Speaker 1: Flowers played a nice game last week, but the Chiefs
Speaker 1: have been doing that week after week. They Flores has
Speaker 1: done a good job, and he did it against the
Speaker 1: Chiefs the first time they got free rushers on Ma
Speaker 1: Homes there. They've been so creative it's gonna really test
Speaker 1: the Chiefs in terms of their communication. I I trust
Speaker 1: the Patriots defense to get more pressure because Brady will
Speaker 1: check check out of it, or just get the get
Speaker 1: rid of the ball quickly. But d Ford is the
Speaker 1: one guy that worries me the most in Kansas City.
Speaker 1: D for it against Cannon and or Trent Brown is
Speaker 1: a big time mismatch. And justin Houston played really well
Speaker 1: down the stretch they have. They are the only team
Speaker 1: with two edge rushers in the top ten and pressure percent.
Speaker 1: It's a problem like when Andy Andy Reid is so
Speaker 1: good at those first fifteen plays and the Patriots are
Speaker 1: one of the only teams that kind of shut that down.
Speaker 1: They outscored opponents by almost a hundred points in the
Speaker 1: first quarter, so they are a front running team that
Speaker 1: is just used to getting out ahead. That's outrageous to
Speaker 1: outscore pointings a hundred points in the first quarter alone,
Speaker 1: and then they did it again last week. Did you
Speaker 1: catch that happens? I'm done? Did you catch yourself there
Speaker 1: calling Andy Reid Andy? For a second? It's like Andy's
Speaker 1: so good at that, you know, he's just well, I
Speaker 1: think I said, and he, uh, guys, something click click
Speaker 1: clicked for me. With these Patriots, they're absolutely right. They're
Speaker 1: the underdog here, they're the underdog there. They're not wrong.
Speaker 1: Started off with that quote from Tom Brady, everybody thinks
Speaker 1: we suck. Julian Edelman the spot on those T shirts.
Speaker 1: He's talking for thirty dollars bet against us, he asks, Fine,
Speaker 1: let's not hide behind obvious truth. The Patriots outscored twenty
Speaker 1: one six in the second half of last week's game.
Speaker 1: Look it up, number two seed yikes. Eleven and five
Speaker 1: this year their worst record in nine years. Let's not
Speaker 1: ignore that there have been four Super Bowl in the
Speaker 1: past four years with the Patriots animal only three. The coach,
Speaker 1: he's like seventy the quarterback thirty touchdowns, yards and a
Speaker 1: hundred passer rating this year through seven team games. Gross. Gross,
Speaker 1: it's all. It's unbelievable, and you know it's a miracle
Speaker 1: the NFL is even letting them play this game. America
Speaker 1: loves an underdog. Let's get behind this one bet against
Speaker 1: us and count me as part of the team. I'm
Speaker 1: looking up to. Patriots. Let's go. No, we go ahead.
Speaker 1: The best satire I've seen all year. No, I think
Speaker 1: it's good it's kind of like, um, it's Dan's he's
Speaker 1: taking like a seventy two hour anti depressant pill because
Speaker 1: I don't like I would would be worried about that.
Speaker 1: We wouldn't be able to do the show if he
Speaker 1: was moping around like he was last week. But now
Speaker 1: that he locked it up, he'll be like, well, at
Speaker 1: least I locked it up. If they win, there's no
Speaker 1: lose this game. They're the true underdogs and underdogs like
Speaker 1: they were in two thousand one champions that year and
Speaker 1: once more, let's go Pats. You're convincing me to join you,
Speaker 1: and there's just there's no way they lose this game.
Speaker 1: It's a it's a slam dug. Everything is lined up perfectly.
Speaker 1: With Tom Brady, he said, they all think we suck.
Speaker 1: So the thing with that is they, first of all,
Speaker 1: most of the year has been spent around like why
Speaker 1: aren't they the same Patriots? And so that's what they're
Speaker 1: pushing back. But I think it's more that just people
Speaker 1: don't like them, not they're right about. It's not so
Speaker 1: much that they don't sack, they're just sick of them.
Speaker 1: Tom Brady said it himself. I saw this poll of like,
Speaker 1: what teams fail? What Super Bowl matchup fans want to see?
Speaker 1: Most had like chiefs Rams, forty three had chief Saints,
Speaker 1: and then like the rest of the twelve percent included
Speaker 1: a Patriots matchup. All of America basically does not want
Speaker 1: the want against US, US against US. No one believes
Speaker 1: that any of that because we've talked We've talked to
Speaker 1: you all week, and I've never heard you as confident
Speaker 1: in the Patriots losing. Um, Well, that's before he realized
Speaker 1: they were one of them more convincing underdogs in history.
Speaker 1: What atory for this team that nobody believes in them?
Speaker 1: And basically the whole dynasty, like, you can forget about it,
Speaker 1: it doesn't even matter. I've already bought three of those
Speaker 1: Julian Edelman thirty dollar T shirt that goes straight to
Speaker 1: I'm sure he's going to give all the money to charity.
Speaker 1: He hasn't made any mention of where the money goes yet,
Speaker 1: but the shirts that he's talking bet against us, I'm
Speaker 1: sure that will go to a good cause and not
Speaker 1: just to line his pockets with it probably will fund
Speaker 1: his next like pro vacation with Danny Amendola. Hey, Ricky,
Speaker 1: you gotta lock me. You want to join me, he
Speaker 1: needs next join us. I am no. I can't even
Speaker 1: look at this game. I can't even open my eyes.
Speaker 1: I'm really really enjoyed against them, excited. I'm excited the
Speaker 1: week than once, and I believe that we will do
Speaker 1: it again. I am nervous, but I am excited, and
Speaker 1: I think the Rams are gonna do it. Oh I'm
Speaker 1: not going to touch it because I don't even want
Speaker 1: to be bet against us. You just did. I'm not
Speaker 1: locking up the Pats you bet against. I don't want
Speaker 1: to jinx us. I just am nervous, and I just
Speaker 1: want to shame you. Shame on you don't do you
Speaker 1: know who who's under pressure in this game? Who? Billy
Speaker 1: Boy Belichick? Why is that the old man? He's got
Speaker 1: a couple of games, You've got a couple of game
Speaker 1: plans in the Hall of Fame taking out Marshall Falk
Speaker 1: and Thurman Thomas. Can he do the same thing with
Speaker 1: Tyreek Hill, who has bedeviled the Patriots the last two matchup.
Speaker 1: He really hasn't had the answer for the Chiefs. No,
Speaker 1: he hasn't, not not defensively, I mean he's overmatched. It
Speaker 1: almost gives me a little consolation that the Chiefs are
Speaker 1: just a more talented team that it's gonna take. It's
Speaker 1: gonna take a lot from Belichick to overcome that. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know if he's recovered yet from blowing last
Speaker 1: year Super Bowl. M I don't want to lock off
Speaker 1: with you, Mark, and I know where you want to come.
Speaker 1: You want to join me. This is where the true
Speaker 1: glory is, the underdog glory. Keep an eye on Twitter.
Speaker 1: I mean, I could, I could get into a certain
Speaker 1: state of mind and switch. I will not. I think
Speaker 1: I will say this out of a deadline, out of sportsmanship.
Speaker 1: So this, no matter what, we'll go to the end
Speaker 1: of barring a total meltdown, I will not switch to
Speaker 1: the Saints. That is not doesn't do it that way,
Speaker 1: because that that that does not help the game anymore
Speaker 1: less that hurts. I'm not I'm not gonna lock in
Speaker 1: the scenes, but I'm saying he shouldn't not lock them
Speaker 1: just to keep the game alive. No, he's saying he's
Speaker 1: not gonna do like a last minute change. He's gonna
Speaker 1: go with the team he's picking as long as it's
Speaker 1: from the heart, right, That's what the game's about it's
Speaker 1: always been about the mirror. Well, I mean, there's another
Speaker 1: week to this, no matter what probably likely next. That's right,
Speaker 1: But then that will happen outside of any sort of bizarreness.
Speaker 1: We should just have a preview show about the whole lot.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, I can imagine the greatest coaches ever,
Speaker 1: like the m v P against like the greatest player
Speaker 1: of all time. Nonsense, let's talk about that. There's no
Speaker 1: doubt there is a massive chunk of anyone listening to
Speaker 1: this that could care less about this contest, and it's
Speaker 1: getting probably eighteen minutes too much content around it. Um,
Speaker 1: all right, that's it. Are we gonna pick these games?
Speaker 1: I believe I made my pick? Did did you pick?
Speaker 1: I know you're carrying the water with me. Come on,
Speaker 1: we're going up and down that hill together. I really
Speaker 1: want to see Brady in another super Bowl because of
Speaker 1: his excellence. I don't really want to see Belichick in
Speaker 1: another super Bowl after this stunt he pulled last year. Um, Butler,
Speaker 1: give me a break, give me the Super Bowl to
Speaker 1: make a point. Oh my god, he just blew the
Speaker 1: game was like Eric getting destroyed in coverage. Give me
Speaker 1: a break, Bella Chick. I would love to see Brady
Speaker 1: in there, but I think the Chiefs are too talented
Speaker 1: and and they have a huge home field advantage, and
Speaker 1: the Patriots just aren't a good road team this year.
Speaker 1: So I'm picking the more talented team in my eyes,
Speaker 1: the Chiefs to the course against US thirty dollars sell
Speaker 1: those teachers. I don't feel well enough to bet to
Speaker 1: bet on it, even if I was allowed. You're not.
Speaker 1: And I really do want to see Brady in another
Speaker 1: super just because I admire and respect him that much.
Speaker 1: All right, enjoy it? You know. For Patriots fans out there,
Speaker 1: you know, turned down your piece scale. This is great stuff.
Speaker 1: Having a it's to go to Kansas City to be
Speaker 1: part of these games. You can't. You can't. But because
Speaker 1: the chunks of Patriots fans totally disagree with your mental
Speaker 1: wrapping around the Patriots experience, they're gonna live or die
Speaker 1: with what I I'm gonna be very disappointed. My point
Speaker 1: is the excitement building up to this game, thinking about
Speaker 1: the matchup of just like it's not gonna last forever,
Speaker 1: it's ending soon. The fact that they're even back in
Speaker 1: this game for years. It's true, I mean matter is
Speaker 1: that you are as a Patriots fan, and I know
Speaker 1: Bostonians don't, but it's like like being a Yankee fan.
Speaker 1: What happens is when a dynasty rolls on, the winning
Speaker 1: doesn't feel as good as losing hurts. It's an old
Speaker 1: parcels is um. That's why he got out of the game.
Speaker 1: He got to the point where the losing stuck with
Speaker 1: him longer than the winds did. When you're in a
Speaker 1: dynasty that you're just like it. No longer do you
Speaker 1: get that same thrill when you win, but the losses
Speaker 1: kill you. So it doesn't matter where I feel like
Speaker 1: your head is at. It's gonna be a stinging pain
Speaker 1: if you go down. But were the super Bowl because
Speaker 1: that's just the way. But honestly, being on the road
Speaker 1: against the best team in the league, and this team
Speaker 1: specifically makes it feel different because there's like no shame
Speaker 1: in that. And that then what they did last week
Speaker 1: was was pretty exciting and nobody believes in and I do.
Speaker 1: I do mean it though, Like they the first time
Speaker 1: they wrote off the page like is the Patriots dynasty
Speaker 1: over was oh nine. Since then, they've been to more
Speaker 1: conference championships than twenty four franchises have combined and having
Speaker 1: their entire history, like in the second half of Brady's career.
Speaker 1: So if you can't like enjoy, like, hey, this is
Speaker 1: a big game, Like this is what being a fans about.
Speaker 1: Give me a break. You're approaching forty. Go tell a
Speaker 1: fifteen year old Patriots fan and just has grown up
Speaker 1: in this and thinks this is how life is. Suddenly
Speaker 1: would be like it would be a psychic break to
Speaker 1: suddenly not be the greatest thing in football. Psychic break. Well, no,
Speaker 1: they definitely do. And they're not gonna sit here and
Speaker 1: be like, oh, I have the I have the perspective
Speaker 1: to where potential nice to go play, go play a
Speaker 1: nice game outdoors. It's potential for of the you know,
Speaker 1: signature Brady wins. Of course, who are you picking? Greg?
Speaker 1: You know, for the how many weeks have we done
Speaker 1: this podcast? But for that many straight weeks, I'm picking
Speaker 1: the Patriots. Didn't you want not pick the pad against us?
Speaker 1: I've never I've never picked against them on this podcast. Ricky,
Speaker 1: you're sure you don't want to get on I I
Speaker 1: don't want to put a bet of a lock or anything,
Speaker 1: but the paths are gonna take it. I think Ricky
Speaker 1: refusing to lock up the patches one of the reasons
Speaker 1: I feel better about the cosmic bad sign. Will talk
Speaker 1: about that Sunday Night, because Dan believes it's not. It's
Speaker 1: not have called off that bit if he believed any
Speaker 1: of that. He is so excited about this team going
Speaker 1: down on everybody thinks we suck bet against us. Dan
Speaker 1: believes alright, he's an acolyte. Next time you hear from us,
Speaker 1: will know the results of these games. And how exciting
Speaker 1: is that. Ricky's so noivous. Ricky Hollywood is going to
Speaker 1: be in the Garage throwback podcast appearance. We won't say
Speaker 1: what we're taping. We want to keep that a secret,
Speaker 1: but one of your favorite artists of all time. Gotta
Speaker 1: ja the goat. You said the goat. We're talking about
Speaker 1: the goat in the garage. I'll be fun, all right. Chumbawamba.
Speaker 1: Do you know who Chumba Womba is? No? Okay, this
Speaker 1: is Dan hands A signing off for Quiet Store, the
Speaker 1: mail Man, the Old Zeus Sir, the old Boss. Oh,
Speaker 1: and Rickie holl is behind the glass. Tell us Sunday Night,