Speaker 1: Be around with the NFL Podcast. Is having a Mojoe moment. Oh,
Speaker 1: we're happening a moment all right, Yeah, it's playoff fever
Speaker 1: around the NFL Podcast. Welcome to the show, the flagship program.
Speaker 1: The regular season is in the book Stan Hansas here
Speaker 1: with Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler. Boys. The playoffs are set,
Speaker 1: and we are in the afterglow of one of the
Speaker 1: wildest Sunday night football games I can ever remember, true
Speaker 1: classic that we're gonna get into in just minutes between
Speaker 1: the Chargers and the playoff bound Raiders. Can you believe it?
Speaker 1: How's everybody doing? I don't know. I don't know what
Speaker 1: else to talk about other than that game since it
Speaker 1: just ended. But I did notice how there was some
Speaker 1: like some haters kind of coming out about Week eighteen.
Speaker 1: They're like, oh, Week eighteens come and they've just served us,
Speaker 1: like the Eagles backups here on on Saturday night, as
Speaker 1: if that didn't happen in every week seventeen anyways. But
Speaker 1: this week eighteen Sunday delivered, I mean in a in
Speaker 1: a way that I could not have possibly foreseen. Well,
Speaker 1: there were like a string of epic performances and epic
Speaker 1: games today and um, I mean that Sunday night game,
Speaker 1: which I believe was roughly five and a half hours long,
Speaker 1: that contest um totally delivered. I honestly it made me.
Speaker 1: We'll get into it, but it made me think for
Speaker 1: just a minute of West's incredible speech about the meaningless
Speaker 1: of sports and trying to find meaning in it and
Speaker 1: reconciling that. And it's just something about the way this
Speaker 1: regular season, which has been an up and down affair,
Speaker 1: ended any most improbable insane game. Um, it was like gripping.
Speaker 1: It was gripping. It was football at its best. So
Speaker 1: no cynicism for me on the fact that it also
Speaker 1: was about five and a half hours long. I like
Speaker 1: was walking around my garage. But obviously it was a
Speaker 1: great It was a great game, and there were a
Speaker 1: couple other games will today that we're insane. Also, you
Speaker 1: felt that lock slipping through your fingers. I'm sure you
Speaker 1: were struggling with that a little bit. You did get
Speaker 1: it done, kept your season alive with the Raiders, I'm
Speaker 1: sure as a fifteen point fourth quarter lead disappeared that
Speaker 1: that garage or is some walls that were in danger,
Speaker 1: and some controls and some some texts that we got.
Speaker 1: Seemed like the anger was building, But it looks it
Speaker 1: all worked out well. I mean, you know, counter to that,
Speaker 1: as you could feel the Chargers coming back and inching
Speaker 1: closer to the potential world of a tie that would
Speaker 1: have caused utter chaos in Pittsburgh. So you know, there
Speaker 1: were a lot of little mini victories, um, that were possible. Here,
Speaker 1: a little mini victories on the on the front. All right,
Speaker 1: let's dig into it, um real quick. Saturday, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be Raiders Bengals four thirty Eastern on NBC. Then, oh,
Speaker 1: we knew it was coming. It was inevitable. Patriots Bills
Speaker 1: rematch Saturday night game on CBS. Sunday, Eagles Bucks at
Speaker 1: one pm Eastern, and then Niners Cowboys four thirty Eastern
Speaker 1: on CBS Sunday. The Steelers, who are somehow in the playoffs, Uh,
Speaker 1: they get the Chiefs on Sunday Night Football. And then
Speaker 1: first ever, unless Greg can tell me it happened in
Speaker 1: a Monday Wild Card playoff game Cardinals rams from Sophie,
Speaker 1: WHOA should we go to that game? All right, let's
Speaker 1: let's not get ahead of ourselves about west of this
Speaker 1: um coming back. The first Saturday afternoon game is in Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: But you know what it's not. It's not the Red
Speaker 1: Rocket starting this one. It's Joe Burrow. This is like
Speaker 1: West of Us for adults. Well, we've been getting, yeah,
Speaker 1: we've been getting a lot of West of This type tweets.
Speaker 1: But this is not the West of Us that West
Speaker 1: used to talk about, because West of Us wasn't the
Speaker 1: Bengals just entering the playoffs and getting ready by the game.
Speaker 1: West of Us was a celebration of they're one and
Speaker 1: done that everyone saw coming, and it was always celebrated
Speaker 1: as the early kickoff game on Saturday. Now it is
Speaker 1: still the early kickoff game, but this feels different. Now,
Speaker 1: that's what said the same. Their heavy favorites. Hopefully they
Speaker 1: get it on. I can't believe no Colts, no Chargers.
Speaker 1: We got the Raiders and the Steelers. All right, let's
Speaker 1: dig in, starting with yes, an instant classic from Vegas.
Speaker 1: Two seconds on the clock and Daniel Carlson is on
Speaker 1: to put a little frosting on the cake, a little
Speaker 1: forty seven yard Jeff Pomp puts such a Dadayah Purger
Speaker 1: Brent Musburger with the called Brent Musburger is like a
Speaker 1: hundred and forty years old old. That man was fully alive.
Speaker 1: With that call, Daniel Carlson capped a wonderful night for
Speaker 1: the Kicker. He has got his own booth in the
Speaker 1: Kicker Clubs to night with his fifth field goal the
Speaker 1: difference in the thirty thirty two overtime win for the
Speaker 1: Raiders over the Chargers. Who and I know people are
Speaker 1: gonna say, oh, the Charger's gonna charge her, And they
Speaker 1: did it again. They blew it, And yes, in a
Speaker 1: way they did because I thought they were the better
Speaker 1: team to set up well for them to advance. But
Speaker 1: the fight they showed with those fifteen unanswered points in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, that is something I'll remember, including that
Speaker 1: drive at the end of regulation. Anyway, Raiders events, as
Speaker 1: I said, they move on. But this is a game
Speaker 1: that has so many levels and aspects to it. Greg,
Speaker 1: what what kind of jumped out to you the most
Speaker 1: when you kind of reflect upon it in about forty
Speaker 1: five minutes after the kick went through the uprights, Well,
Speaker 1: I I think let's hit the time out at the
Speaker 1: end of the game first, just because I feel like,
Speaker 1: because it's the last thing that ends up in the conversation. Obviously,
Speaker 1: you mentioned like the Herbert performance in the comeback and
Speaker 1: some of those throws were like that was more exciting
Speaker 1: to me. But the fact that Brandon Staley took a
Speaker 1: time out on third and four with what was it
Speaker 1: thirty eight seconds left, to me was kind of like
Speaker 1: a nothing burger. And I think this is a case
Speaker 1: where like the announcers of the game, Alan Chris, We're
Speaker 1: getting so excited about the tie. Twitter is getting so
Speaker 1: excited about the tie that they like led everyone in
Speaker 1: this weird wrong direction. That was in some way saying
Speaker 1: like the Raiders were laying down at that moment. The
Speaker 1: Raiders ran for seven yards on the previous play, and
Speaker 1: the Raiders at that point, we're not gonna throw the
Speaker 1: ball again. That was that was obvious. They were gonna
Speaker 1: run the ball and if they got close enough, you know,
Speaker 1: they presumably would kick a field goal to try to
Speaker 1: win it. When Staley called that time out, he took
Speaker 1: two lightweight guys off the field that were struggling and
Speaker 1: run defense, and he put his run defense, you know,
Speaker 1: two guys who are better in run defense on the
Speaker 1: field because he just gave up seven yards. This is
Speaker 1: a terrible run defense. It's been the story of this
Speaker 1: Chargers defensive season. Like the fact that they lost in
Speaker 1: the fourth downs and time outs like distract from the
Speaker 1: fact that he is a defensive coach and his defense
Speaker 1: stunk in a big spot like that, when basically I
Speaker 1: think the Raiders would have been okay going to a
Speaker 1: tie because they were they were just gonna run it,
Speaker 1: kind of like um our guy Sean McVeigh did at
Speaker 1: the end of the game, and if it didn't work,
Speaker 1: then they either punt or or they kick along field goal.
Speaker 1: Staley wants to get a better guys out on the field,
Speaker 1: and they still couldn't stop it. They knew the run
Speaker 1: was coming. Josh Jacobs, who was great in this game,
Speaker 1: picks up ten yards and they kicked the game winning
Speaker 1: field goal, and they made this big deal about the
Speaker 1: time out, and that to me was just it was strange.
Speaker 1: It was like acting like the Raiders were not trying
Speaker 1: in that situation. What they were trying to do was
Speaker 1: just run the ball, and they showed him that drive
Speaker 1: like they were gonna be able to do it and
Speaker 1: do it well. And this Chargers defense like let them
Speaker 1: down one final time. Well, Derek Carr said after the
Speaker 1: game that they you know, their intention was to win
Speaker 1: um And you know, I kind of don't really care
Speaker 1: what anyone says, But do you think that there's a
Speaker 1: different level of urgency if a tie would have led
Speaker 1: to both of them making the playoffs? That the Raiders
Speaker 1: aren't pushing that hard to get a field goal. If
Speaker 1: but they're running the ball, what what what changes either
Speaker 1: way they're running the ball. I think you're the game
Speaker 1: was different because of the tie situation in the sense
Speaker 1: that the Raiders didn't have a huge motivation to throw there.
Speaker 1: And let's let's say that what would have changed. Let's
Speaker 1: say that that that Staley does not call the time out,
Speaker 1: the Raiders continue to run the ball, time expires, both
Speaker 1: teams make the playoffs. Do you think that you don't
Speaker 1: think that would have been a possibility there? I do.
Speaker 1: I just think, wait, they would But what I'm saying
Speaker 1: is they would have run the ball and either I
Speaker 1: don't know what would have happened there, But let's say
Speaker 1: they run the same play and it gains ten yards,
Speaker 1: they then they kick a field goal either way. The point,
Speaker 1: and Staley said it after the game, was he was
Speaker 1: just trying to stop the run to make it as
Speaker 1: on a field goal as possible. He called the time
Speaker 1: out not like early, and and the timing of it
Speaker 1: is what gives it away that he obviously was just
Speaker 1: doing that. He didn't call it with forty seconds left
Speaker 1: on the play. He called it with four seconds left.
Speaker 1: You know, he wasn't trying to save time necessarily. He
Speaker 1: was just trying to like stop them from running. And
Speaker 1: he looked and he saw formation that he didn't like,
Speaker 1: and they didn't stop the run. I I agree with you.
Speaker 1: And yet Staley said after the game, Yeah, that was
Speaker 1: there was no there was no other um explanation other
Speaker 1: than what you're saying, Gregg. He just wanted to have
Speaker 1: a better defensive stop you in it on the field
Speaker 1: because he just saw them gave up seven yards like
Speaker 1: on a play where like they should not be giving
Speaker 1: up seven yards. And that's what it comes down to,
Speaker 1: I think, which is this game probably ends in a tie.
Speaker 1: And that poor dude, the Steelers fan at the stadium,
Speaker 1: he is he's like dead in the middle of the
Speaker 1: aisle right now. If all they have to do is
Speaker 1: stop the run there and I think the Raiders are
Speaker 1: gonna play that very conservative and they're gonna make it
Speaker 1: look like they tried, but hey, you know that it
Speaker 1: is what it is. And I think it would have
Speaker 1: been a mess of story if the Raiders just ran
Speaker 1: the clock out without kneeling. And I think it could
Speaker 1: have happened if the Chargers could have just gotten to stop.
Speaker 1: But you know, I think it didn't work out that way,
Speaker 1: and Carlson made the kick, and I think it was
Speaker 1: the best for everyone involved ultimately, not the Chargers obviously,
Speaker 1: but in the best interrance of football. I don't think
Speaker 1: a tie where nobody was really trying at the end
Speaker 1: would have been a great way for the season to end.
Speaker 1: I like the way it ended, and um I thought.
Speaker 1: I thought Derek Carr, who did not have a very
Speaker 1: good game overall, made that huge money throw that set
Speaker 1: up those final runs that led to the game winning
Speaker 1: field goal. So he gets a little measure of revenge
Speaker 1: against Joey Bosa and the Chargers. Bosa who's trashed him
Speaker 1: um in the past for not being a money clutch player,
Speaker 1: and maybe he wasn't this game, but he delivered that
Speaker 1: big throw when necessary, And I I have to say,
Speaker 1: in all my years like watching football. Certainly in my
Speaker 1: years doing this podcast with you guys, I I can't
Speaker 1: remember another drive like the Chargers game time drive in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter. Nineteen plays, nineteen plays, eighty three yards,
Speaker 1: the touchdown at the gun um. It covered about two
Speaker 1: minutes in five seconds, about of game time, but about
Speaker 1: twenty minutes of real time. It featured a conversion of
Speaker 1: fourth and ten, fourth and ten, third and ten, fourth
Speaker 1: and ten, and then the touchdown when they had one
Speaker 1: shot at the end zone or uh and they and
Speaker 1: they stuck it in there, Herbert making big throw after
Speaker 1: big throw after big throw. I'll never forget that drive.
Speaker 1: And that's why I like the Chargers fans that have
Speaker 1: been right or die with that team no matter what
Speaker 1: city they play in, are hurting again tonight. But men,
Speaker 1: they didn't. It looked like about midway through the fourth
Speaker 1: quarter that it was a classic Chargers gonna charge or meltdown.
Speaker 1: But what they showed in this game was how it
Speaker 1: is different and they're not there yet, but with that dude,
Speaker 1: anything is possible. So I think it's a bitter sweet
Speaker 1: um night for Chargers fans who once again you're reminded
Speaker 1: how special that guy is behind center. And a credit
Speaker 1: to the whole team, because I think Collins were nailed it.
Speaker 1: Those guys were gassed, and I think they caught some
Speaker 1: breaks with some time outs and some stoppages that even
Speaker 1: gave him a chance to get into the end zone
Speaker 1: there because they had nothing left and they weren't even
Speaker 1: to midfield yet. Um, but that took some real guts
Speaker 1: that drive that. So I have a lot of respect
Speaker 1: for the Chargers and what they did tonight, and the
Speaker 1: drive before was four team plays, like they were absolutely
Speaker 1: winded by the time that thing ended. And it's I
Speaker 1: think it's just one of those games that the complexion
Speaker 1: of it shifted so many times and you come out
Speaker 1: thinking like you can make a bunch of mistakes and
Speaker 1: errors and get in your own way, but when you
Speaker 1: have Justin Herbert, anything is possible. And the tie felt
Speaker 1: or the the going into overtime felt inevitable once they
Speaker 1: got going that way. But I mean, I do think
Speaker 1: if you're a Chargers fan, you look back on a
Speaker 1: lot of little what if moments like the Andre Roberts
Speaker 1: botched punt return that just basically set the Raiders up
Speaker 1: for a quick score. You know, when they I'm not
Speaker 1: disagreeing with this call. Again, we discussed this issue a
Speaker 1: thousand times, but they are stuffed on fourth and one
Speaker 1: from their own eight teen yards in the third quarter.
Speaker 1: I mean, the thing is, it's just like that's that's
Speaker 1: who they are, that's their philosophy. I mean, justin Herbert
Speaker 1: inside your own in a game that your season is
Speaker 1: on the line, that I'm the last like math nerd personnelity.
Speaker 1: But like it's like there were tweets showing that, like
Speaker 1: over and over. The suggestion was you go for it.
Speaker 1: I think from a just like a human angle, it's
Speaker 1: like that it didn't it did it kind of it
Speaker 1: was a pivotal because it's not showing a lot of
Speaker 1: respect to the Raiders offense. The play call did not
Speaker 1: work out. I mean, it just it's one of those
Speaker 1: things you look back on. But that's who the Chargers are,
Speaker 1: and Brandon Steely said that all season long, like this
Speaker 1: is what we do. But they're not a good interior
Speaker 1: running team and they weren't on that play. And like
Speaker 1: Darius Philon, who got carded for the Raiders, made a
Speaker 1: great play on that play. So you got to think
Speaker 1: about like the strength of your team. I don't mind
Speaker 1: going for it there. They ended up going six or
Speaker 1: seven on fourth downbell lot of those we're in that
Speaker 1: late desperation mode. There was also a right and well
Speaker 1: one of them was fourth and two early that that
Speaker 1: ated seven points to the to the score they would,
Speaker 1: you know they would if they kicked the field goal there.
Speaker 1: That kind of evens out. But it's not just like
Speaker 1: Herbert hitting those throws is like the quality of those
Speaker 1: throws were outrageous. The touchdown to tie it at the
Speaker 1: buzzer at the last game of regulation was one of
Speaker 1: the best throws of justin Herbert's life. He's, you know,
Speaker 1: going to his He's going to his left and he
Speaker 1: throws it down in a way when Mike Williams is
Speaker 1: getting double covered, bracketed and man coverage, like that's impossible,
Speaker 1: Like that was unreal throw. Rickie, can we hear because
Speaker 1: I really, um my buddy, Matt Money Smith, um our
Speaker 1: friend the voice of God for the A T N podcast,
Speaker 1: I have to heal hear his call of the touchdown
Speaker 1: at the end of regulation. It's the only time we're
Speaker 1: gonna hear Money until next September in terms of calls.
Speaker 1: But this one I'm sure it was worth it. Herbert
Speaker 1: and the shotgun. Here is the season they rushed for.
Speaker 1: Here comes Max Crosby, Herbert to the end zone. But
Speaker 1: but st Chargers. Mike Williams, d J. I don't believe
Speaker 1: what we have witnessed. Laugh or cry, Buddy, laugh or cry.
Speaker 1: We are tied at nine. What a treat for NFL
Speaker 1: fans everywhere except for one. Um. Mike Williams, by the way, kudos.
Speaker 1: He's one of those guys that was tough as nails
Speaker 1: and you know, just running those go routes, going up
Speaker 1: and down the field. Uh, he's gonna sleep for three days. Uh.
Speaker 1: Nearly made three one handed catches, including one that preceded
Speaker 1: the game tying field goal in overtime. If he comes
Speaker 1: down with any of these balls, a different game. But
Speaker 1: then you could say, on the other side, between Derek
Speaker 1: carrs um accuracy issues on downfield shots and some drops
Speaker 1: on their side of the ball, it could have been
Speaker 1: a very different game. So man, it was. It was
Speaker 1: just the hell of a game. I'll never forget it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think like Max Crosby won this game as much
Speaker 1: as like a defensive end could because I think just
Speaker 1: how many points the Chargers would have put up if
Speaker 1: Crosby wasn't just destroyed. He by the way he entered
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter. According the next gens, that's like eight
Speaker 1: pressures behind the season lead of pressures. I forget who
Speaker 1: was that was in front of him, and he had
Speaker 1: nine in that quarters. He ended up like winning that.
Speaker 1: It was just like outrageous that the third and one
Speaker 1: last like little point was like and this goes back
Speaker 1: to the Charges run defense, so it's kind of a
Speaker 1: full circle thing. The key playing the game, I thought
Speaker 1: before those last couple of drives and was the third
Speaker 1: and twenty three run that Jalen Richard had at the
Speaker 1: end of the first half. The the Chargers are winning
Speaker 1: by four there, and we're gonna get the ball back
Speaker 1: with over a minute to go and put up more points.
Speaker 1: And that ends up being like at least the seven
Speaker 1: points swing. The Raiders go down and score a touchdown
Speaker 1: because the Chargers can't stop a rushing play on third
Speaker 1: and twenty three. That really changed the game. And uh
Speaker 1: that that was like during a little segment where the
Speaker 1: Chargers had one first down in five drives. So it's
Speaker 1: like every every aspect of both of these teams played
Speaker 1: a part in this game. And and that was the
Speaker 1: longest third down run to get a first down of
Speaker 1: the entire year by any team. And so it came
Speaker 1: at the perfect moment. Have you remember it was the
Speaker 1: game was over a too until they overturned the fourth
Speaker 1: and sixth spot at you know, to give the Chargers
Speaker 1: to play. It was that moment where I thought, oh,
Speaker 1: maybe the Chargers will win this thing. And then and
Speaker 1: let's close this game out by giving credit where credits
Speaker 1: due to Rich Masaccia, to Derek Carr, to Josh Jacobs,
Speaker 1: to Za Jones, that whole team that d fence the
Speaker 1: offensive line. They finished ten and seven this year, and
Speaker 1: when they lost forty eight nine at Kansas City, they
Speaker 1: just seemed like they were done for. And then I
Speaker 1: and I'll own up to it. I I wrote them
Speaker 1: off multiple times, including a couple of days ago. They
Speaker 1: were your rider Die team back in like some Week
Speaker 1: four episode. I don't know if you remember this episode.
Speaker 1: In the end, you were you were right, yeah, and
Speaker 1: Eldad I liked, I like playing it this way, but like, uh,
Speaker 1: they edged by the Browns, they edged by the Broncos,
Speaker 1: they stunned the Colts in Indy and then play great
Speaker 1: football and win this game. So it's it's all house
Speaker 1: money now for the Raiders. And I know they're gonna
Speaker 1: be a heavy underdog um next week, but it doesn't
Speaker 1: matter this considering everything that this team went through this
Speaker 1: year between Gruden and Rugs uh and having an interim
Speaker 1: coaches dropped into out of nowhere to be able to
Speaker 1: go on this run in December. In January, congratulate relations
Speaker 1: to the Raiders and those fans and big year, big
Speaker 1: year uh for Vegas football. Alright, in one little thing,
Speaker 1: like I think, you know, our overall impression of Derek Carr,
Speaker 1: the football community's overall impression has changed as he incrementally
Speaker 1: gets hotter and hotter with each passing week. Why is
Speaker 1: he looking more attractive to me than at any previous
Speaker 1: time in his career. That's that's how we're buttoning up
Speaker 1: that game. I say, maybe not the final note we
Speaker 1: were looking for, but I just think that he's kind
Speaker 1: of feeling, you know, he's in his zone. He's feeling
Speaker 1: the calm. No wonder, Mark's not cynical, he's uh, he's
Speaker 1: gonna be rewatching that Raiders, you know, postgame interview a
Speaker 1: little later and get real comfortable. All right, let us
Speaker 1: now move on through the rest of the FC. So
Speaker 1: we're gonna hit all the A f C games and
Speaker 1: then we're gonna move to the NFC. All right, Let's
Speaker 1: move now to the biggest upset of the day. Oh Man,
Speaker 1: come on, Colts. Fourth and goal for the Colts. Jackson
Speaker 1: Will leads this game twenty three to three. They handed
Speaker 1: to Jonathan Taylor. Jonathan Taylor, you didn't do it. He
Speaker 1: did not get there, but Jackson has stuffed him again
Speaker 1: at the one yard line. The bound goes go to
Speaker 1: the Jaguars, who a little teaser move out of the
Speaker 1: basement of the power rankings. Who j even will take
Speaker 1: their place to end the season. Frank f Angie with
Speaker 1: the call w O k V. Trevor Lawrence captain his
Speaker 1: best games of pro the beautiful recovery and TV pass
Speaker 1: and the Jacksonville defense made that big goal line stop
Speaker 1: to basically lock it up It. Colts gag their way
Speaker 1: to infamy on Sunday, blowing their chance at the playoffs
Speaker 1: and its stunning eleven lost to the Jaguars at the
Speaker 1: Big Chlorine Tank. NFL rushing champion Jonathan Taylor held to
Speaker 1: seventy seven yards. Carson Wentz turned the ball over twice,
Speaker 1: leading to ten points, and in defaulted in all phases
Speaker 1: to the three and fourteen Jags. Greg this was an
Speaker 1: outcome that can change the course of the entire organization
Speaker 1: in Indianapolis. It is just hard to believe because it
Speaker 1: wasn't like one of those games where it's just I
Speaker 1: can't believe he made that play, or I can't believe
Speaker 1: they made that call, or even just I don't even
Speaker 1: think you can just say, or you know, Carson Wentz
Speaker 1: is a bum, like I get it. There was a
Speaker 1: segment when I'm sure red zone was all over this
Speaker 1: game in the third quarter where Carson Wentz um did
Speaker 1: not rise to the moment. But at that point they
Speaker 1: were already down by two touchdowns and Carson Wentz hadn't
Speaker 1: been that involved in that game in a negative way
Speaker 1: that the Jaguars just like looked better. And you mentioned
Speaker 1: Terevor Lawrence playing his best game. He played a perfect
Speaker 1: first half. They kind of took the ball out of
Speaker 1: his hands in the second half, but when they needed
Speaker 1: just one play out of him, he made it that
Speaker 1: that scramble and throwing it up high to Marvin Jones,
Speaker 1: who had an awesome play. Uh, just a reminder of
Speaker 1: like how talented Lawrence is and his teammates let him
Speaker 1: down a few times today. They could have won this
Speaker 1: game by about thirty. I was saying when I was
Speaker 1: watching this game, I was thinking, Oh my god, are
Speaker 1: they gonna blow this because they should be winning by
Speaker 1: about twenty five or thirty, but they didn't. Their defensive line,
Speaker 1: offensive line, everyone just freaking can we can we catch
Speaker 1: the ball? Can we catch? Can we catch the ball? That?
Speaker 1: I'm totally with you, Greg, This was there was nothing
Speaker 1: flukey about the outcome. The Jaguars kicked the Colts butt
Speaker 1: in this game. And that's why Mark Frank right after
Speaker 1: the game, do we have that, Ricky right after the game?
Speaker 1: I never expect to be sitting here, you know, having this,
Speaker 1: having this moment right now, not like this. You know,
Speaker 1: we had a good week of practice, We had good
Speaker 1: preparation all week long. UM felt good energy the whole week,
Speaker 1: every day, every meeting. UM, I felt like we had
Speaker 1: three good plans. I like the players were dialed in
Speaker 1: and and we just didn't get it done today. You know,
Speaker 1: we just didn't get it done coaching or playing. I mean, right, Mark,
Speaker 1: he looks stunned, because there's no way you could have
Speaker 1: predicted an Egg at this magnitude. Yeah, I mean, I
Speaker 1: think it's a top five Cults loss of all time.
Speaker 1: I mean, I really do. And I mean I know
Speaker 1: it wasn't in the playoffs per se, but it was
Speaker 1: a total collapse. And maybe there were hints of it
Speaker 1: when they fell to the Raiders the way they did.
Speaker 1: Although we think a little differently about the Raiders right now,
Speaker 1: but you know, I don't. I didn't put anything into
Speaker 1: the fact that they hadn't won in Jacksonville, but it
Speaker 1: was an utter no show, and I think it raised
Speaker 1: It's like when you think about the Cults in general,
Speaker 1: they had they had dominated in back to back wins
Speaker 1: over the Patriots and Cardinals. They seemed like one of
Speaker 1: the more sure things in the a f C. But
Speaker 1: it did hedge around the fact that you needed Jonathan
Speaker 1: Taylor to be operating at m v P levels, you
Speaker 1: needed Carson Wentz to keep the mistakes down. And today
Speaker 1: you got the worst version of those two scenarios. And
Speaker 1: and I'm just stunned by how dominant Jacksonville wasn't makes
Speaker 1: me think when they beat up the Bills that one week,
Speaker 1: but that just felt like such an adoration because the
Speaker 1: offense in Jacksonville had been so bad. But you got
Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence's best game at the perfect moment for them,
Speaker 1: and they still come out with the number one overall pick. Yes,
Speaker 1: because the Lions lost the lines upset one of the
Speaker 1: packers keeps the Jags at number one, So it's it's
Speaker 1: literally it's a perfect day for the Jaguars in every
Speaker 1: way it is. And it was the offensive line for
Speaker 1: the Colds, I think more than anything that killed them,
Speaker 1: Like they couldn't push them in the running game. There
Speaker 1: was a couple of short yard situations they couldn't get early.
Speaker 1: You heard the fourth down call. Uh. And Eric Fisher
Speaker 1: was just getting destroyed. Some sometimes the games about matchups,
Speaker 1: and Josh Allen terrorized Eric Fisher in this first matchup
Speaker 1: where they could not get anything done throwing the ball either,
Speaker 1: and they're often was pretty bad that day too, and
Speaker 1: Josh Allen just destroyed Eric Fisher, who was coming off
Speaker 1: an injury today. Uh. And it's almost just short circuit
Speaker 1: of the entire offense, like when that happens, and it's
Speaker 1: like a Chargers game in Storm Norton getting dominated, like
Speaker 1: justin Herbert can overcome that somehow, when it's the Colts,
Speaker 1: like Carson Wentz is not overcoming and the Cults committed
Speaker 1: the cardinal sin of any type of team in this
Speaker 1: situation late in the season, when you need it, when
Speaker 1: the other teams ready to go home for the winter,
Speaker 1: you let you get off to a little bit of
Speaker 1: a slow start, and you give the Jags a reason
Speaker 1: to you know, start to rally around each other and
Speaker 1: start to get pumped up and get the crowd involved.
Speaker 1: And by the end of the first quarter, you knew
Speaker 1: this was gonna be a game. It was almost like
Speaker 1: shades of Like I showed um the boys, Um we
Speaker 1: got the Nintendo Classic, as I told you, which is
Speaker 1: just going off in the house right now, and they've
Speaker 1: been playing Mike Tyson's punch Out, Uh, that classic game.
Speaker 1: So I I showed him like a clip of Mike
Speaker 1: Tyson's you know, all of his knockouts and gave him
Speaker 1: on YouTube and gave him the rundown. And then right
Speaker 1: when they thought this was literally the most dangerous baddest
Speaker 1: man alive. No one has been better. It's like, now
Speaker 1: watch this, And I showed him the bust that Buster
Speaker 1: Douglas fight, and they watched it like I felt like
Speaker 1: I was watching the Tokyo Dome event live in my
Speaker 1: uncle Bob's house, like they were stunned. It's kind of
Speaker 1: like that, like where but Mike Tyson let Buster Douglas
Speaker 1: start to believe and then that was it. And I
Speaker 1: think that's what happened with the cults here, and I
Speaker 1: just don't know what because Carson Wentz Obviously, it washes
Speaker 1: away everything this season. It really does. It's that devastating,
Speaker 1: and it really anybody that doubted Carson Wentz now says, see,
Speaker 1: I was right all along, and you kind of were.
Speaker 1: But I think it's very important what you pointed out, Greg,
Speaker 1: which is Carson Wentz didn't step up in this game,
Speaker 1: but neither did anybody else on the team, not the
Speaker 1: offensive line, not the playmakers, not even the defense. With
Speaker 1: Darius Leonard, who had a huge personal foul late in
Speaker 1: the game. It just looks like this weird everyone falls
Speaker 1: off and then it's like, who Who's that? Going back
Speaker 1: to Frank Reich has to take heat to this team
Speaker 1: was not ready and we saw it organizationally, it's it's everyone,
Speaker 1: it's the whole thing. And then ultimately you look back
Speaker 1: on the Carson Wentz trade with the Eagles and someone
Speaker 1: tweeted this out that the Cults get Carson Wentz, the
Speaker 1: Eagles get a top twenty pick, a third round pick,
Speaker 1: a hundred three million in cap relief. The Eagles made
Speaker 1: the playoffs. The Cults are going home, right. I mean,
Speaker 1: Wentz is under contract for a couple of years. I
Speaker 1: just don't think he's going anywhere. And you know, of course,
Speaker 1: I guess it shouldn't need to be said. I don't
Speaker 1: think Frank Reich or Chris Baalory are going anywhere, so
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't think it's like something that changes
Speaker 1: their organization necessarily. It's just like an ultimate like what far?
Speaker 1: How this? How this season ended? And that The thing
Speaker 1: with Wentz is, yeah, he wasn't the reason they fell behind.
Speaker 1: Like Trevor Lawrence was great on third downs in the
Speaker 1: first drive. It really set the tone, like he made
Speaker 1: great plays to keep that drive going and they had
Speaker 1: a long touchdown drive. But when they're trailing by two
Speaker 1: touchdowns in the third quarter, and that was like the
Speaker 1: moment you needed a franchise quarterback. He had one of
Speaker 1: his worst quarters of the year, Like he just started
Speaker 1: short circuiting and had that had that quarter, and it
Speaker 1: was just like and he had the long this is
Speaker 1: like and damn, this is our quarterback here that we
Speaker 1: need right now. And it was just as it's becoming
Speaker 1: the biggest story in the NFL and everyone's eyes are
Speaker 1: on the games and and CBS wisely is cutting repeatedly
Speaker 1: to the sideline and you see Wentz and it's like,
Speaker 1: that does not look like a leader of men that's
Speaker 1: about to save the day. And he wasn't. So it
Speaker 1: wasn't all on him, but he certainly played a big
Speaker 1: role in their collapse, losing back to back games, missing
Speaker 1: the playoffs entirely, and like we talked about at the
Speaker 1: top of the show, um you needed this. This changed everything.
Speaker 1: This pumped life into Week eighteen. We needed either Jacksonville
Speaker 1: or Houston to do something crazy. Jacksonville did it, and
Speaker 1: it opened a door for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Let's take
Speaker 1: a break and then we'll hit that game. All right
Speaker 1: here it is and over time to try to win it.
Speaker 1: A thirty six yard effort for the magic of Boz.
Speaker 1: The ball is down, the kickers on its way, That
Speaker 1: kickers up there, Kickers guard, and the Pittsburgh Steelers have
Speaker 1: defeated the Bollimore Ravens, and the Steelers are headed for
Speaker 1: playoff Land. Wow, Bill Hill Goam spoke too soon. They're
Speaker 1: Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers aren't dead, They're undead. The
Speaker 1: zombie Steelers aren't probably and possibly even alive after a
Speaker 1: win over the Ravens in Baltimore. That win, combined with
Speaker 1: the cults stunning loss to the Jags and the game
Speaker 1: on Sunday Night not ending in a tie, allows the
Speaker 1: Roethlisberger led Steelers to enter the playoffs for the I
Speaker 1: don't need I meant to look this up. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: say in his Hall of Fame career, it's probably closer
Speaker 1: to like what ten twelve. Yes, it's probably closer to
Speaker 1: al right, the stats research department is on it, buddy, Alright, Greg.
Speaker 1: The rest of the a f C had a month
Speaker 1: to deliver the head shot to kill the walking dead
Speaker 1: out of Western Pennsylvania. They could not do it. I
Speaker 1: think this is the fourteen playoff trip might be thirteen
Speaker 1: if I counted digging there. That is just the outrageous.
Speaker 1: I can't believe this team got the nine seven and one.
Speaker 1: They ruined marks eight and one first, No, I guess what,
Speaker 1: it's not going to happen now until so sorry to
Speaker 1: everyone they ruined that they like this was just such
Speaker 1: a one season Steelers game. Then could have thrown four interceptions.
Speaker 1: He was rough was Tyler Tyler huntly made He's the mistake,
Speaker 1: especially in the red zone, you know, late in that
Speaker 1: game when they're up four to throw that interception and
Speaker 1: where he just forced it in in a field goal
Speaker 1: there really felt like it's probably gonna be enough. Um,
Speaker 1: it was brutal and man it was. I just I'm impressed.
Speaker 1: T J. Watt not only sets the SAT SAT record,
Speaker 1: he does it in a huge spot, like in a
Speaker 1: second and goal situation where you end up stopping the
Speaker 1: Ravens from uh scoring a touchdown, Like that's that's the
Speaker 1: way you want to do it. He tied the record
Speaker 1: with Michael Strahan. Now so that is now they're together
Speaker 1: in the record books. Uh. He had a sack immediately
Speaker 1: as the game began, on a strip sack and then
Speaker 1: they changed it and just ruled it a forced fumble.
Speaker 1: Otherwise the record would be his. But I'm glad it
Speaker 1: worked out the way it did, and now we just
Speaker 1: needs somebody else. Maybe it'll be t J Wat him
Speaker 1: self to break it out, right, but now stray hams
Speaker 1: to share the record, and I like it. It's would
Speaker 1: have been nice to him because that was pretty early
Speaker 1: in the game. That was the second quarter. It would
Speaker 1: have been nice for him to set it. But that
Speaker 1: that was the thing about what and why. He'll probably
Speaker 1: win defensive player there. The next play after that, he
Speaker 1: made a great tipped pass to like, you know, break
Speaker 1: up a pass from Huntley too. He was all over
Speaker 1: the place. The rate the offense in this game was
Speaker 1: was pretty rough. I was watching this just thinking, man,
Speaker 1: I don't want to see either one of these teams
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. You know. You know what was not
Speaker 1: told that that initial sack was taken away, he thought.
Speaker 1: And then he had a later one where he and
Speaker 1: Cam Hayward combined on a half sack and that was
Speaker 1: taken away because Cam Hayward had a hit to the head,
Speaker 1: so you know, Razor's edge, but they but they what
Speaker 1: was not informed? I thought? That was a little bit tough. Um,
Speaker 1: I can't help but leave this season just thinking about
Speaker 1: the Ravens and how well coached they were, how many
Speaker 1: dark corners they got out of to get to this point.
Speaker 1: It's such a season of what ifs, but it makes
Speaker 1: it leaves me with with um more respect for that organization.
Speaker 1: As my voice continues to disappear here. I mean, the
Speaker 1: Ravens they ended this season, went on a six game
Speaker 1: losing streak. They went they were eight and three and
Speaker 1: they finished eight and nine. Of course, a lot of
Speaker 1: that goes back to injuries, and they just five of
Speaker 1: those were on the last play. I mean, they were
Speaker 1: decimated and then lost a lot of close games in
Speaker 1: the second after after winning a lot of close games
Speaker 1: in the first half. But it's, like you know, it
Speaker 1: is it's disappointing because we talked about the Saints in
Speaker 1: the same way a couple of weeks ago, and the
Speaker 1: Saints closed strong and found ways and the and the
Speaker 1: Ravens just could not finish out these games. So just
Speaker 1: a very frustrating loss for them and the and the Steelers. Listen,
Speaker 1: first of all, Steelers fans, Damna Shack and everybody else
Speaker 1: that had to be the most painful, strange Sunday night
Speaker 1: football experience ever. I mean when they cut to that
Speaker 1: fan the NBC cameras, the Steelers fan that's somehow in
Speaker 1: Vegas and he saw what looked like the Raiders running
Speaker 1: out the clock at midfield. Um, can you imagine the
Speaker 1: what all those fans went through and for it to
Speaker 1: end the way it did on a field goal. If
Speaker 1: he misses the field goal, it's a tie and you
Speaker 1: missed the playoffs. That would have been an all timer
Speaker 1: in terms of fan pay. Wasn't that wasn't all time?
Speaker 1: Or just thinking about it that that puts the Steelers
Speaker 1: into I mean, man, so they are gonna enter the
Speaker 1: playoffs as underdogs because they're just there. Let's face it,
Speaker 1: I'm not a very good team. But credit to Mike
Speaker 1: Tomlin and credit to t J watt Uh. I guess
Speaker 1: you give Ben some credit because he did, uh have
Speaker 1: the big fourth down conversion there that's set up the
Speaker 1: field goal that allowed them to advance. He's running on
Speaker 1: empty uh and yet now he's wandering like a walker
Speaker 1: into the playoffs. It's pretty crazy to see that it's
Speaker 1: the Steelers who come out of that division with the
Speaker 1: Bengals because they still clearly felt like the fourth best
Speaker 1: team for much of the year. Yeah, this is I
Speaker 1: don't know if this season, you know, we needed a
Speaker 1: seventh AFC team, But this is how it works works
Speaker 1: out some years. Credit to Marky's Brown too, for dropping
Speaker 1: that touchdown in the end zone, um late in the
Speaker 1: game that was right in his breadbas He probably probably
Speaker 1: would have won the game there talk about it. He's
Speaker 1: almost like the embodiment of the raven season, starting so
Speaker 1: well and promising and cratering in the end. So toughire
Speaker 1: for the Ravens. They'll be back with Lamar Jackson assuming
Speaker 1: his ankles better by week one next September. I don't know.
Speaker 1: That was a weird injury the way it all played out,
Speaker 1: But the Steelers move on. Who do the Steelers have again?
Speaker 1: They got the Chiefs. The Chiefs chief debliterated them a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks. Now, you know, these things have a
Speaker 1: way of surprising you. But just the way it all
Speaker 1: shuck out, I feel like we got the most lopsided
Speaker 1: or less least interesting matchups possible. But but maybe maybe Raiders,
Speaker 1: Bengal Steelers, Chiefs, Eagles, Bucks, Maybe those will surprise me.
Speaker 1: Come on, do I have to watch a game of Nickelodeon,
Speaker 1: the Cowboy game, the nine er Cowboy Game. Just give
Speaker 1: me a heads up. Yes, I don't have to. I'm
Speaker 1: making you, you know, Troy, Troy and Joe will have that.
Speaker 1: All right? Good, so double check. It's great for the kids,
Speaker 1: and Nate does a great job with it and everything,
Speaker 1: but sting to make sure I wasn't getting banged as
Speaker 1: an adult in a big spot there. Um, all right,
Speaker 1: So the Steelers advance one more week of the Ben retirement,
Speaker 1: one more weakest stories about Big Ben. The Zobbie Steelers
Speaker 1: live on. I cannot believe it. What was that? Ben? Wow?
Speaker 1: He even laughs like a zombie. Let's not assume one
Speaker 1: more week. I don't want to jinx that and suddenly
Speaker 1: have two or three or four point alright, So the
Speaker 1: Colts cannot take care of business against an a f
Speaker 1: C South also ran. The Titans also had a chance
Speaker 1: to uh win in a layup or so we thought
Speaker 1: that turned out to be a challenge as well. Tannahill
Speaker 1: looks laughed, comes back to the middle fires, Julio Joe
Speaker 1: tsa Titans five like hoo for six Mike Keith with
Speaker 1: the called w g f X. The Titans clinched the
Speaker 1: top spot in the a f C the for the
Speaker 1: first time in fourteen years, beating the Texans twenty five
Speaker 1: behind Ryan Tannehill's career high tying four touchdown passes. That
Speaker 1: was the twelfth win of the year for the Titans.
Speaker 1: They locked up their second straight ANFC South title last week,
Speaker 1: and they have the number one seed in a f
Speaker 1: C for the third time since leaving Houston in ninety seven,
Speaker 1: first time since two thousand eight. Talked about that on
Speaker 1: Thursday they were one and done, so they're looking to
Speaker 1: change that up this year. They also get the first
Speaker 1: round by of course Mark This one looked like a
Speaker 1: laugher at halftime, but Houston and Davis Mills made Tennessee
Speaker 1: earn it in the end. Yeah, this this crew fishy
Speaker 1: for Tennessee. I mean, they had a twenty one nothing
Speaker 1: lead at half, they had out gained the the Texans
Speaker 1: two hundred and sixty eight yards to sixty seven. It
Speaker 1: looked like Houston was simply not going to be able
Speaker 1: to operate on any level. And then in the second half,
Speaker 1: Davis Mills, who I mean, I think We've seen these
Speaker 1: halves from him where he suddenly gets hot. He's efficient,
Speaker 1: he can throw the ball really well. Like just caught
Speaker 1: total fire, Danny Ammondola caught total fire. I mean, this
Speaker 1: is like a team built of like expatriots and and
Speaker 1: people that he had been essentially been written them off.
Speaker 1: And the Titans like or the Titans in the second
Speaker 1: half open with three straight three and outs and you
Speaker 1: really just starting to wonder if maybe they get caught
Speaker 1: off guard here. And I thought that Tannehill made one
Speaker 1: of the plays of the year and it was essentially
Speaker 1: a third and five where they were just searching for
Speaker 1: life and he got whacked by this guy, Jacob Martin.
Speaker 1: It looked like he was gonna go down. He escapes
Speaker 1: the sack and completed a thirty six yard pass to
Speaker 1: Nick Westbrook Akina, which helps set up the touchdown their
Speaker 1: only score of the second half, and it was just
Speaker 1: enough to escape, so they did what they needed to do.
Speaker 1: It grew a little too close for comfort, but they
Speaker 1: are your number one seed. It's a very tighten win.
Speaker 1: That play was awesome, by the way, I know, I
Speaker 1: thought it was just everything about Tannehill. Tis hunted away
Speaker 1: over Texans have a chance. Yeah. That so that was
Speaker 1: I agree, that was the turning point of that game.
Speaker 1: And it is interesting to me that and this is
Speaker 1: I'm not factoring in any overtime minutes and and would
Speaker 1: love to be a grave digger on right now. Um
Speaker 1: and one thousand, twenty minutes of game time for the
Speaker 1: Titans and the regular season. Uh, it took until the
Speaker 1: one thousand and thirteenth minute for Julio Jones to score
Speaker 1: a touchdown. But he was a difference maker here. I
Speaker 1: think there were a couple of games justin where he
Speaker 1: was a difference maker in my couple, I mean too.
Speaker 1: But now now he gets two weeks. Uh. A J.
Speaker 1: Brown gets two weeks, and most importantly, yeah, boy, Derek
Speaker 1: Henry gets two weeks with Ryan Tannehill going into the
Speaker 1: playoffs with confidence, where's your confidence level at one to
Speaker 1: ten about deep playoff run? Probably like a nine ish.
Speaker 1: I mean, just watching the other a f C teams today,
Speaker 1: it's like the Chiefs are clearly one of the best teams,
Speaker 1: and I think the Titans are the other best team.
Speaker 1: And I think a Titans Chiefs en a f C
Speaker 1: Championship game rematch is somewhat inevitable at this point. Oh,
Speaker 1: I like the confidence. I'm I I that's a great
Speaker 1: point because I thought the same thing kind of looking
Speaker 1: at the a f C, where the Bills have been
Speaker 1: a little wonky here late in the season, and that
Speaker 1: you just wonder about what version of that team shows up.
Speaker 1: The Bengals are obviously the X factor here, but you
Speaker 1: don't look at them as some unstoppable superpower. So the Titans,
Speaker 1: by virtue of having the advantage of a free pass
Speaker 1: to the divisional playoffs and the home home game, Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're set up very well here in the conference that's
Speaker 1: wide open, well in the way that Seeds fell, and
Speaker 1: it's always dangerous to project out because either way they
Speaker 1: play the lowest seed. But I think if I was
Speaker 1: a Titans fan, I would like the idea that you
Speaker 1: could avoid Kansas City and or Buffalo until the conference,
Speaker 1: that that if the Seeds held, you get the Bengals,
Speaker 1: and I think that's probably your best possible matchup. But
Speaker 1: you also just you know, gave up a huge comeback
Speaker 1: by Davis Mills in the second half. I mean, let's
Speaker 1: not let's not beat our chest too much. I don't
Speaker 1: see a free pass barring a massive upset by the
Speaker 1: Raiders or Steelers. I don't see a free pass here
Speaker 1: once you get to that. Finally, no free no free pass.
Speaker 1: It's basically just there was a scenario. You know, it
Speaker 1: could have felt different. I guess if that if you
Speaker 1: somehow get stuck against the Chiefs, But since they one Saturday,
Speaker 1: I guess you weren't worried about it, right if you had. Basically,
Speaker 1: I think, like you know, the Patriots have a pretty
Speaker 1: good shot to upset the Bills with Belichick just being
Speaker 1: such a great defensive mind there that that would be
Speaker 1: a pretty good matchup for the Titans to the Bengals
Speaker 1: have so much trouble on the offensive line. Can they
Speaker 1: stop the run? I feel like once you get into
Speaker 1: the playoffs, the teams that can run and stop the
Speaker 1: run have such an advantage. And the Titans have been
Speaker 1: so good stopping to run lately, and they once they
Speaker 1: get there Henry back. I mean, they've been running the
Speaker 1: ball well without Derrick Henry, so once you get him back,
Speaker 1: they should be able to continue pounding it. I think
Speaker 1: the second half today was I mean, definitely discouraging, but
Speaker 1: it also gives you a lot of good teaching points
Speaker 1: for the next two weeks, so you don't go into
Speaker 1: the playoffs too like overconfident or whatever. Yea, I hear
Speaker 1: you on that. Wait what what's what are you laughing about? Mark?
Speaker 1: I mean, I just you know, I it concerned me
Speaker 1: a little bit what happened in the second half, But
Speaker 1: I'm with Grave Digger that like they are who they are,
Speaker 1: They've been really resilient, and I don't there's no team
Speaker 1: in the league that would be helped more heading in
Speaker 1: the playoffs with a week off to get healthier. And
Speaker 1: I would say, I would guess Grave Digger, and you
Speaker 1: tell me if my hunch is correct. That all, like
Speaker 1: the uh bozos like me and and tens of thousands
Speaker 1: of other quote unquote analysts of the field who were
Speaker 1: in love with the Cults this season, they go down
Speaker 1: in flames while you lock up the number one seeds.
Speaker 1: So this feels like a pretty nice day for Titans Nation.
Speaker 1: It was. I think Titans Twitter was like more excited
Speaker 1: to see the Colts lose than they were to see
Speaker 1: the Titans win, because everyone kind of expected the Titans
Speaker 1: to beat the Texans, but nobody really expected the Jags
Speaker 1: to beat the Colts when it's been it's been months
Speaker 1: of people, you know, telling you Titans man that, like
Speaker 1: the Cults are actually the better team here, and it's
Speaker 1: like there is an aura of disrespect. I think that
Speaker 1: fan base. You've won twelve games, you're the number one
Speaker 1: seeds in the Chiefs. I don't know, it's it's funny
Speaker 1: like this is gonna sound like still trying to fight
Speaker 1: a battle that's already lost now. But like two weeks ago,
Speaker 1: that absolutely made sense and it wasn't. I don't know
Speaker 1: what happened to the Cults, but I will tell you
Speaker 1: one thing. I did what I did do. I dipped
Speaker 1: into the Cults subreddit just to see what was going on. Whoa, whoa.
Speaker 1: Not not pleasant. So I'm sure the Titans, maybe tight
Speaker 1: and Span did the same thing. But you don't. You don't.
Speaker 1: You don't inter you don't interact in that situation. You
Speaker 1: don't dare get into the uh the commentary and rub
Speaker 1: In or anything, but you just if you want to
Speaker 1: check it out. I sometimes like to lurk uh for
Speaker 1: teams that I dislike or teams that are going through
Speaker 1: something very painful, and I thought that was interesting, say
Speaker 1: is definitely in there. Like account. The Coults have seven
Speaker 1: Pro bowlers and didn't make the playoffs. That's crazy, very crazy.
Speaker 1: And the Titans are a team that says, hey, we uh,
Speaker 1: we've been overlooked. Now is our time. So the stage
Speaker 1: is set. Good job for you by you, grave digger.
Speaker 1: I'm sure the metrics are rolling in over on the
Speaker 1: Titans Film Room podcast, nailed it. You got one coming up?
Speaker 1: You got one coming up tonight or what tomorrow? We'll
Speaker 1: record tomorrow. Let's just get it up early. Okay, let's
Speaker 1: take advantage of the fan excitement. You know, you're right,
Speaker 1: You're right, the good stuff all right, there you go,
Speaker 1: the Titans take care of business. Let's now move Uh.
Speaker 1: And by the way, good for Davis Mills. He's fun
Speaker 1: to watch. I don't know what, but nice little ballplayer.
Speaker 1: I noticed um quickly on the Texans that that they're
Speaker 1: considering moving on from David Culley, according to our NFL
Speaker 1: network guys, and they sort of hinted that if they
Speaker 1: were moving on from David Culley, it would indicate that
Speaker 1: they're like confident in getting the specific person that they want,
Speaker 1: and it's Nick Cassario. So you could try to guess.
Speaker 1: Josh McDaniels would be a logical one, have links he
Speaker 1: was like in McDaniels wedding. But I don't know. You
Speaker 1: never you never know. But it sounds like that that
Speaker 1: the bad job is in here, that they have someone
Speaker 1: that they want, which I remember like banging the drum
Speaker 1: about that in August. It always felt like Cully was
Speaker 1: set up to just be the patsy here, but for
Speaker 1: to his credit, he didn't let the Texans become a
Speaker 1: laughing stock. They really did battle once they got their
Speaker 1: feet um on the ground in about October. So all right,
Speaker 1: bad bad juju. If they fire Coulie, he's really done
Speaker 1: a nice job for them. The contract unlike I mean,
Speaker 1: it still would be a bad job and terrible um,
Speaker 1: but unlike the players, the contracts are guaranteed, so that's
Speaker 1: an He got a five year contract, which is now
Speaker 1: I'm confused, so and I know something. It's maybe standard
Speaker 1: for these guys to get five years or something close
Speaker 1: to it. But if you gave him a five year
Speaker 1: deal and then he took that roster of nobody's and
Speaker 1: made them competitive week after week and made them get
Speaker 1: better as the season got along, and then you fire them.
Speaker 1: It's almost like the Texans don't have a clear plan
Speaker 1: what they want to do with their organization. I'm just
Speaker 1: that's just like a theory that I'm percolating in my
Speaker 1: brain that they might not know what the all they're doing.
Speaker 1: I think you're connecting some dots there in a in
Speaker 1: a wise way. All right, let's move to back to Saturday,
Speaker 1: where the Chiefs were looking to give themselves a chance
Speaker 1: to take that number one seat. It didn't work out,
Speaker 1: of course, but they did their part, just barely. Lock
Speaker 1: this up the balls and picked up by the chase,
Speaker 1: take the office all again. Looks at midfield, go it's story.
Speaker 1: It's on, Nickboleton, Nickpole, what's the clinic? Damn side? Touch
Speaker 1: down jans Our City on a defensive score. Melvin Ingram
Speaker 1: knocked up ball out from Melvin Gordon the third and
Speaker 1: it was picked up by Nick Bolton, the rookie linebacker.
Speaker 1: Mitch Holt's with the called w D A F. What
Speaker 1: a dramatic play. And I've been mixing up Melvin Gordon
Speaker 1: and Melvin Ingram on the show for about five years now.
Speaker 1: They finally met up in a dramatic moment. And it
Speaker 1: did not work out well for the running back Melvin
Speaker 1: at all. On a day when the offense was held
Speaker 1: in check. It was once again the Chiefs defense that
Speaker 1: stepped up for the a f C West Chance champs.
Speaker 1: Melvin Ingram forced the Melvin Gordon fumble. Nick Bolton scooped
Speaker 1: it up, took it to the house game swinging playin
Speaker 1: for Kansas City. As I said at the time, it
Speaker 1: moved the Chiefs into the number one spot in the
Speaker 1: a f C. Titans took care of business Sunday took
Speaker 1: it back. So the Chiefs the number two seed and
Speaker 1: they get a nice matchup there, as we've said, against
Speaker 1: the Steelers on Sunday night. Now Mark News out of
Speaker 1: Denver after the game. It was reported the next morning
Speaker 1: that the Um Dick Fongio is out after three years
Speaker 1: without a playoff trip. Uh and the Broncos. It seems
Speaker 1: Mark are trapped in a time loop right now. Uh,
Speaker 1: and they are looking for a coach. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: think it's you know for whoever Um is interested in
Speaker 1: that job, and Um becomes an interview candidate. Like there
Speaker 1: are questions, major questions around the quarterback situation. I mean,
Speaker 1: in another world, maybe Las Vegas opens up to You've
Speaker 1: got a quarterback there, and like Denver has a huge
Speaker 1: problem to solve on that front. I don't know, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean Vic Fongio. It's me. It's just the latest
Speaker 1: example of like I love to have him as a coordinator,
Speaker 1: but these teams that are built around like it's like
Speaker 1: an impenetrable defense and not much else on offense, um
Speaker 1: are just seemed doomed to me. That said, I mean,
Speaker 1: like the Chiefs. They ran for like a hundred yards
Speaker 1: on the Chiefs. That's the second time that's happened in
Speaker 1: Kansas City in a couple of weeks now, and I
Speaker 1: a little concerned about that. I'm little concerned about Tyreek
Speaker 1: hills Hell, I mean his health going into next week.
Speaker 1: But other than that, they're very explosive, and I think
Speaker 1: we're looking at the Chiefs team that's going to be
Speaker 1: very very tough, very tough out. Yeah they are. And
Speaker 1: yet this was a bummer of a week. I think
Speaker 1: they had a really bad week because as Hill got
Speaker 1: her in warm ups, him and Kelsey haven't done anything
Speaker 1: in the last two weeks. Combine kind of had the
Speaker 1: ball force to them. Demon Williams, who's been really good,
Speaker 1: was banged up in this game. Edwards a Laire is
Speaker 1: out right now, and there cornerbacks are just playing like
Speaker 1: this man. I guess they've been playing man coverage and
Speaker 1: being that aggressive all season, but they've gotten roasted in
Speaker 1: the last two games. The only reason it didn't come
Speaker 1: back to haunt him in this one is Drew Lock
Speaker 1: just you know, couldn't connect on on a lot of
Speaker 1: these passes, and the Broncos couldn't quite make them pay.
Speaker 1: But I think that could that could be a problem
Speaker 1: in in some playoff matchups. And offensively, it was like
Speaker 1: it was the story of their season basically wrapped into
Speaker 1: one game. That the Chiefs only had seven drives in
Speaker 1: this game. Essentially they averaged ten plays to drive in those.
Speaker 1: That's that's outrageous. They averaged ten plays to drive um
Speaker 1: and so it's not like the Broncos were stopping them.
Speaker 1: But it was just like endless seven year are throws
Speaker 1: from Mahomes. So he had to throw a lot of
Speaker 1: passes to get to where he was at and they
Speaker 1: ended up needing a defensive score to get it done. Listen,
Speaker 1: the Chiefs win twelve games. They win their division, they
Speaker 1: very nearly get the number one seed. So on some level,
Speaker 1: they did what we expected the Chiefs to do. But
Speaker 1: I've never in the last you know, in the Mahomes era,
Speaker 1: felt that there as vulnerable as they are this year,
Speaker 1: just because you know, Patrick Mahomes averaging six yards per
Speaker 1: attempt is something that's happened too often this season. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I think the injury the Tyreek Hill is as major
Speaker 1: and it really puts a lot of pressure and guys
Speaker 1: like Nicole Hardman and Byron Pringle and Travis Kelsey uh
Speaker 1: to step up and be special. So while I think
Speaker 1: you know, they're set up to you know, get through
Speaker 1: the first round, certainly I think they'll take care of
Speaker 1: business there after that, I see it as being pretty
Speaker 1: much a crap shoot, you know, in the a f C,
Speaker 1: because the Chiefs just they've shown us too much too
Speaker 1: many times this year that they are capable of because
Speaker 1: being very, very human and vulnerable on any given week.
Speaker 1: So if they went on like a three game tear,
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm with you, like they've just not been
Speaker 1: the old Chiefs in various ways all year. But I mean,
Speaker 1: what if suddenly the last two years and won the
Speaker 1: last the first time, so yeah, But at the same time,
Speaker 1: like that would also be maybe a break from who
Speaker 1: they've been for most of the season, right. I thought
Speaker 1: Mohams had played his best three games of the year
Speaker 1: in terms of a stretch and a row leading into
Speaker 1: this game, and he played well. He played fine in
Speaker 1: this game. It wasn't really on him. It was more
Speaker 1: of the offense around him. They did have a great
Speaker 1: Sunday though, getting the Steelers instead of the Chargers. To me,
Speaker 1: if you're if you're a Chiefs fan, that is a
Speaker 1: pretty big difference. I mean, right, Mahomes my Homes said
Speaker 1: after this game, we're still looking for that complete game,
Speaker 1: and I laughed because he was removed from the Steelers
Speaker 1: game a couple of weeks ago with a thirty to
Speaker 1: three lead with thirteen minutes left, or thirty three to
Speaker 1: three lead with thirteen It was like, well that wasn't
Speaker 1: a complete game. Why because Henny didn't you know that.
Speaker 1: It's like, well, we could have played a lot better
Speaker 1: when we were un thirty three to three against the Steelers.
Speaker 1: That's probably what he felt. It's also the middle of January.
Speaker 1: It's like you're still looking for the best version of
Speaker 1: your team. It might not be shown up, it may
Speaker 1: have already happened. I hate the I hate the Andy
Speaker 1: Reid punts in opposing territories. It's two straight weeks where
Speaker 1: it could have hurt them. You know you've got Patrick
Speaker 1: Mahomes as your quarterback, you're punting on fourth and five
Speaker 1: from the forty is like back to back weeks. It's
Speaker 1: dealing me um. And I think with the Broncos as
Speaker 1: they begin their head coaching search, it just feels like
Speaker 1: you could hire whoever. But until they figure out this
Speaker 1: quarterback situation, we'll see what happens to soft. Ownership is
Speaker 1: a problem, like it's it's the biggest um question I
Speaker 1: think for any coach or anything going on. I mean,
Speaker 1: ownership right now is it's a legal fight. It's unclear
Speaker 1: who the owner will be for the next coach, but
Speaker 1: it's it's pretty clear that the current owner will not
Speaker 1: be the owner for very long for this new coach,
Speaker 1: assuming a new coach gets hired. So that that to
Speaker 1: me is very problematic. But you're very hazardous. Like every
Speaker 1: everything you hear about where to go for a job,
Speaker 1: like that's that's all bunch of red flags. Right there right,
Speaker 1: Like if you how how attractive is this Broncos job.
Speaker 1: They don't have a big time quarterback in place, they
Speaker 1: don't have stability and ownership, like they're not gonna be
Speaker 1: able to get a top candidate. It makes it makes
Speaker 1: me wonder if they would have knocked off the chiefs here,
Speaker 1: whether the Broncos would have thought about keeping Vic around
Speaker 1: knowing that as well, because they're not they're not naive
Speaker 1: to the fact that this is going to be present
Speaker 1: a challenge for them. Um, but they didn't get the
Speaker 1: job done. It's the story of the Broncos in the
Speaker 1: fan Gio era, good defense, offense, making big mistakes and
Speaker 1: killing them. And I'll do it the last time, maybe
Speaker 1: on this show. With Vic now out the door no
Speaker 1: longer in a big chair, moment of silence for Vick,
Speaker 1: followed by this, fuh, we'll be right back. Takes the
Speaker 1: snap out of the gun, steps up in the pocket,
Speaker 1: looks into the end zone, trying to fire it, gonna
Speaker 1: keep it himself. Finally throws it. Wait it is caught
Speaker 1: in the end zone. No, it is incomplete. Stefon Diggs,
Speaker 1: I don't think he got his feet down in the
Speaker 1: end zone. Yeah, this is this is essentially a four
Speaker 1: point swings for discussion, it is a touchdown. They don't
Speaker 1: have to challenge. You can talk him into it. Go crazy,
Speaker 1: Orchard Park. Let's go Buffalo over the Jets in a
Speaker 1: game where the offense, once again for Buffalo, I just
Speaker 1: scratching your head a little bit. Never really came together
Speaker 1: against the Jets, who entered the game with the thirty
Speaker 1: second ranked defense in the league. But it didn't really
Speaker 1: matter because the Bill's defense absolutely destroyed the Jets offense,
Speaker 1: holding them to wait for it, fifty five yards total,
Speaker 1: the lowest total in the history of the New York Jets, uh,
Speaker 1: fifty five yards of offense. They've somehow got ten points
Speaker 1: out fifty five yards. There was a fourth and uh
Speaker 1: fourth down completion from Zach Wilson to Keenan Cole that
Speaker 1: went for forty yards for a touchdown, but that was
Speaker 1: about it. The Bills, so not very impressive by a
Speaker 1: long shot on offense, but against a team like the Jets,
Speaker 1: you didn't need to be perfect. But that's too straight, Mark,
Speaker 1: that's two straight games going to the playoffs, where yes,
Speaker 1: you got the ws against the Falcons and the Jets.
Speaker 1: But the Bills attack wasn't in gear. Will they be
Speaker 1: able to flip the switch against better competition? Well, I
Speaker 1: don't seem to have the same faith in buff Low
Speaker 1: that um that you guys do, and so I view
Speaker 1: them as a team that's gonna get picked off in
Speaker 1: the a f C after maybe winning the game. But
Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like every time I looked up,
Speaker 1: uh Zack Wilson was getting absolutely pummeled. He was sacked
Speaker 1: nine times. They were one for fourteen on third downs
Speaker 1: in my one. You know, this isn't a Jets conversation
Speaker 1: so much, but that lack of consistency on what they've
Speaker 1: been on offense is concerning. I mean, Buffalo, I think
Speaker 1: just played a discombobulated attack today. If anything, well, the
Speaker 1: Jets offense has been you know, better in the last
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, certainly last week. So to hold the
Speaker 1: Jets to fifty three yards the lowest in franchise history,
Speaker 1: I mean, they get some credit for that. You know,
Speaker 1: it's like no one, no one else has done done
Speaker 1: that to them. That is outrageous that the New York
Speaker 1: Jets have played a lot of football games to have
Speaker 1: this be the lowest amount in the history. And there
Speaker 1: was a guy the Jets, And it didn't help that
Speaker 1: the Jets of we're missing all their wide receivers mostly
Speaker 1: by the end of the game, there was this guy
Speaker 1: named Terik Black on the field, and man, I'm a
Speaker 1: pretty big Jets fan, like I know this roster, I
Speaker 1: have no idea who that guy is. And he actually
Speaker 1: made a catch and it was his first career catch
Speaker 1: and that was good for him. But you know, they missed.
Speaker 1: They missed between Um between the Elijah Moore, between Jamison Crowder,
Speaker 1: between Keenan cole Um the Tennessee wide receiver. It's late Davis.
Speaker 1: They were they were on the third left tackle and
Speaker 1: they were definitely short. They missed so many they were
Speaker 1: missing so many guys. So none of this was very predictable.
Speaker 1: Zack Wilson did end the year without an interception in
Speaker 1: his last five games. Go build around the kid, uh Now.
Speaker 1: The Bills good news. Also, for the second straight week
Speaker 1: a hundred and seventy yards rushing. Uh So that that
Speaker 1: helps as well. Obviously, Devin Singletary showed some signs of
Speaker 1: life late in the season, so the running game is
Speaker 1: in a good place for them. UM Josh Allen in
Speaker 1: the passing game, very up and down. Uh forty five
Speaker 1: attempts against Jets again, thirty second ranked in the league,
Speaker 1: worst events in the league statistically, and the average touch
Speaker 1: over five yards per tempt. So they got to clean
Speaker 1: it up. It wasn't very good weather. They're very windy,
Speaker 1: uh icy day. Uh so you gotta factor that in
Speaker 1: as well, but take care of business game. But also
Speaker 1: I look at the Bills and I'm like, hmmm, are
Speaker 1: you going into the playoffs in a good in a
Speaker 1: good place? I'm not sure. I'm not sure right, but
Speaker 1: I think and we'll we'll have all week to talk
Speaker 1: about it. I know it's getting late because because Emica
Speaker 1: is coming into the room now, we're taking in the bedrooms.
Speaker 1: I think it's um um. I think they're happy to
Speaker 1: see the Patriots. I really do. Just I think just
Speaker 1: because it's like a familiar opponent that they just played
Speaker 1: their best game of the season against a few weeks ago.
Speaker 1: Not that that guarantees a victory, just that like they
Speaker 1: know this, they know this team there. I don't think
Speaker 1: they're gonna be um intimidated by it at all. It's
Speaker 1: a very familiar opponent's not like, oh, we gotta go
Speaker 1: do a bunch of work to like figure out the Patriots. Well,
Speaker 1: they know, they know they know Buffalo too, right, We'll
Speaker 1: see I think Saturday. My point is they're just like familiar.
Speaker 1: I think both teams will go into Mark before you
Speaker 1: get to anti Bills, because you're known to do this
Speaker 1: on the show. Let's check in with the Patriots did
Speaker 1: in their final game. They throw it out Myers Myers,
Speaker 1: and we're just gonna run around with it. Touchdown, Touchtown,
Speaker 1: miamis gloven intercepted the pitch in the end zone. It's
Speaker 1: a fable recovery, but it's a pitch. It's a touchdown.
Speaker 1: Gimme with the call. The Dolphins, man, they play well
Speaker 1: against the Patriots in their building, especially late in the season.
Speaker 1: It seems they take care of business thirty three to
Speaker 1: twenty four over the Pats. The Pats had to get
Speaker 1: a win and a Bill's loss to take the a
Speaker 1: f C East. Instead, they get spanked here by Miami,
Speaker 1: so they head into the postseason on a down note.
Speaker 1: At tenants seven. I believe they lost three or four
Speaker 1: Mark to end the season, so they end they entered
Speaker 1: the playoffs and a little bit of a funk too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this was an uncharacteristic Patriots game. Sloppy. Uh. They allowed
Speaker 1: the Dolphins right out of the gate to go on
Speaker 1: a thirteen play drive that saw two ago seven for
Speaker 1: seven touchdown drive and then seconds later mac Jones throws
Speaker 1: a pick six to Xavien Howard. There's suddenly down fourteen nothing.
Speaker 1: Mac Jones lost a fumble later in the game. We
Speaker 1: heard that Jacoby Meyers lateral disaster. At the end, they
Speaker 1: kind of sealed it. Uh. Duke Johnson ran all over
Speaker 1: them for a hundred and seven seven seventeen yards. The
Speaker 1: Pats gave up a hundred on the ground. Jalen Waddle
Speaker 1: set the record for the most rookie receptions in NFL history.
Speaker 1: The Patriots were also banged up. Christian Barmore got hurt
Speaker 1: late in the game. Isaiah Win, their left tackle, left
Speaker 1: with an ankle injury. Ramandre Stevenson had a head in injury.
Speaker 1: I mean, it just seemed to me there's their worst
Speaker 1: performance in a while, and Belichick basically said we played poorly.
Speaker 1: Coach poorly, didn't do anything. Mac Jones said it was
Speaker 1: a super He used the words a super embarrassing performance
Speaker 1: on his own. Now, I think he made Mac Jones
Speaker 1: made some pretty fantastic throws down the stretch, but they
Speaker 1: were they puilt, They put to themselves in too much
Speaker 1: of a hole. And like you said, down in Miami,
Speaker 1: the Dolphins have somehow had their number the last week
Speaker 1: of the season, and they did it all over again, right,
Speaker 1: and they did it in New England a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago to to get that one take that one
Speaker 1: seat away with Ryan Fitzpatrick. You know, the injuries to
Speaker 1: be are the biggest story. Like the Patriots haven't looked
Speaker 1: like a world beating team other than against the Jaguars
Speaker 1: for a while. But you know, bar More to me
Speaker 1: is their best defensive lineman right now. Judean has gone
Speaker 1: real quiet and made a lot of mistakes over the
Speaker 1: last month. Uh and Barmore gets carted off. You're starting
Speaker 1: left tackle Stevenson makes them special, I think with the
Speaker 1: one to combo with Harris and so that to me
Speaker 1: is their biggest problem. Not not even just that they're
Speaker 1: playing poorly, because I think they could bounce back, but
Speaker 1: those are three really important players for them. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: set the spread. This feels like a m hmm. They'll
Speaker 1: set it at Buffalo by three laying that wood. That's
Speaker 1: my guess. Uh four and a half, four and a half, okay, alright,
Speaker 1: so they're given the Bills a little more respect, but
Speaker 1: we'll see. Yeah, that's something the track here with the
Speaker 1: Patriots where they're at injury wise, Let's um keep moving
Speaker 1: on here and take care of the a f C
Speaker 1: by taking a trip to about leave Land. Keendom play action,
Speaker 1: fake steps to the pocket. He's got a good pocket.
Speaker 1: He trumps left Land, record it, touchdown problems go ahead
Speaker 1: six yeah, case king him getting it done. Two touchdown
Speaker 1: passes for the backup quarterback in for Baker Mayfield after
Speaker 1: he underwent surgery to fix his body up, and the
Speaker 1: Browns pulled off the Bengals. Seen the Bengals who started
Speaker 1: Brandon Allen rested a bunch of starters. They weren't really
Speaker 1: into playoff positioning. They chose to try to get healthy
Speaker 1: for wild card weekend. So the Browns finished eight and nine,
Speaker 1: Bengals ten and seven. Browns go home, Bengals get the Raiders.
Speaker 1: On Saturday in the West of US for adults, game Mark,
Speaker 1: how you doing, buddy? Um, I'm very did you watch
Speaker 1: the game? I don't even know. Do we have this
Speaker 1: on this one? You know how I'd like to have
Speaker 1: like fourteen games up at the same time on my Yeah,
Speaker 1: it got the best to me today. I kept an
Speaker 1: eye on it. Um. It just feels like anything in
Speaker 1: life that needed to end a couple of months ago.
Speaker 1: The watching the Browns on a weekly basis, they've driven
Speaker 1: me nuts. Um. You know, I think one of the
Speaker 1: bigger news items over the weekend were these reports that
Speaker 1: they are bringing Baker Mayfield back, that that at least
Speaker 1: that's where we stand right now. It sounds like that
Speaker 1: that whatever divorce we thought might happen will not be happening. So,
Speaker 1: you know, I think it's just there's a lack of
Speaker 1: other quarterbacks to go look for. But what an uninspiring
Speaker 1: performance by them and the Bengals, who would have thought
Speaker 1: three or four months ago come out is the much
Speaker 1: more electrifying team in Ohio. Um, it's been a depressing
Speaker 1: year for Browns fans in every possible way. And you
Speaker 1: see about that Baker report, I wonder if if it's
Speaker 1: it's a done deal or that's just like the starting
Speaker 1: point in this story. And you think this January thing,
Speaker 1: it's always couched. It says they plan to move forward. Well,
Speaker 1: you gotta put it out there like that right now,
Speaker 1: because they probably do not like the idea of what's
Speaker 1: happened in the last week, which is that like there's
Speaker 1: a good chance that he's gonna be traded that hurts
Speaker 1: their leverage. They have to start it at the point
Speaker 1: where of course we're okay keeping them, or they're already
Speaker 1: like starting any trade talks at a disadvantage, and they
Speaker 1: want him to believe that they're keeping them too, because
Speaker 1: that's obviously a possibility. But they don't have to worry
Speaker 1: about it now. I did see like a headline. I
Speaker 1: didn't read it, but one of the local Brown's papers
Speaker 1: is just like that said, case Keenum gives them solid play,
Speaker 1: solid quarterback play in this game. They could have used
Speaker 1: solid quarterback play over the last six weeks. And I
Speaker 1: do think that's a fair thought that you do wonder
Speaker 1: what this season could have been like with with a
Speaker 1: healthier Baker or just with case Keenum over the last
Speaker 1: six weeks. Because as bad as the season it was,
Speaker 1: it was, you know, there one game out of the playoffs,
Speaker 1: it wasn't that that crazy? Well, I mean Dan has
Speaker 1: been pushing for them to put Keenum in for two months,
Speaker 1: and I think, you know, in the final analysis, there's
Speaker 1: a strong reason to think that things could have been
Speaker 1: a little bit different. All they needed to do was
Speaker 1: score another touchdown in a couple of these games. I mean,
Speaker 1: they were competitive, but quarterback play was a major, major
Speaker 1: issue for them. Um. All right, so there we go.
Speaker 1: We'll we'll be talking about the Browns offseason plans. We'll
Speaker 1: be talking about what happens next with all the teams
Speaker 1: that move on from their head coaches a little later
Speaker 1: in the week. But that wraps up the a f C.
Speaker 1: Let's take a break here and move on to the NFC.
Speaker 1: Welcome back, all right, Now, a f C in the books,
Speaker 1: but there's a whole other conference we're gonna dig into now,
Speaker 1: figure out how the playoffs all shook out. No better
Speaker 1: place to start then right here in Los Angeles, where
Speaker 1: the Rams and Niners did battle. In a classic hit it,
Speaker 1: Ricky Stafford, back on first down, throws a take one
Speaker 1: down the right sideline for Odell Beckham. Jorgia got accepted
Speaker 1: by every Thomas. Every Thomas takes it away. The Rams
Speaker 1: only have one time on remating the forty Niners are
Speaker 1: gonna win the game in l A. And they have
Speaker 1: won the game. They are going to Dallas Starlington, Texas
Speaker 1: next week to end it. Greg Papa with the call.
Speaker 1: kN b r Embry Thomas, the rookie closed it out
Speaker 1: with the interception of Matthew Stafford in overtime. Overtime, allowing
Speaker 1: the San Francisco forty Niners to defeat the Los Angeles
Speaker 1: Rams to four at Sophi Stadium, Sofi Stadium that was
Speaker 1: packed with Niners parents. I mean that was that told
Speaker 1: you something right there in this game, Greg, The Niners
Speaker 1: overcame a seventeen nothing first half deficit. They took the
Speaker 1: game over in the trenches, gave the lead up again,
Speaker 1: but they kept coming back and they closed it out.
Speaker 1: They're going to the playoffs where they'll face the Cowboys
Speaker 1: next week in Dallas. The Rams, even though they lose,
Speaker 1: still win the NFC West becaucause the Cardinals gagged and
Speaker 1: they will host the Cardinals next week. Crazy game. Fund
Speaker 1: game lived up to the hype. Greg, Yeah, I can't
Speaker 1: think of many case is of a team forcing their
Speaker 1: way into the playoffs with a more stirring win than this.
Speaker 1: To be trailing seventeen points in the second half, and
Speaker 1: you know, we we know that the Forts needed this
Speaker 1: win because of what happened in that Saints Falcons game
Speaker 1: to get into the playoffs, to come all the way back,
Speaker 1: to need a touchdown drive that going the length of
Speaker 1: the field to tie it, to force over time with
Speaker 1: no time out to get it. Uh. Is one of
Speaker 1: the moments, obviously of the Kyle Shanahan era, of Jimmy
Speaker 1: Garoppolo's career, and to me, one of the worst moments
Speaker 1: of Sean mcveigh's coaching career, because I put a lot
Speaker 1: of this game on the way he handled the last
Speaker 1: couple of minutes you're referring to. After the touchdown to
Speaker 1: tie it, I assume at twenty four the Rams get
Speaker 1: the ball back with some timeouts in a little bit
Speaker 1: of time. No, I'm I'm talking about when when they
Speaker 1: have the lead and they're near midfield. U Uh. But
Speaker 1: what is right under two minutes to go? You bringing
Speaker 1: Matthew Stafford, you need one first down to end the
Speaker 1: forty niner season, to end this five game streak, and
Speaker 1: what do you do? You call three straight runs, the
Speaker 1: third of them on third and seven, with total give
Speaker 1: up play. You know it's not gonna get it. You
Speaker 1: were choosing at that point on third and seven that
Speaker 1: you would rather take the final time out from the
Speaker 1: forty niners then give yourself a chance to win. It
Speaker 1: was an unbelievable herm Edwards moment topped um a few
Speaker 1: seconds later or a few drive later, when it's twenty
Speaker 1: four all and yeah, they get they get the ball
Speaker 1: to the thirty seven or so. Matthew Stafford is sacked
Speaker 1: with about you know, thirteen seconds left and he let
Speaker 1: the time click off. That wasn't as bad to me
Speaker 1: as the three straight runs, but that was insane too.
Speaker 1: They had time for at least two plays and they
Speaker 1: were only twenty five yards away from field goal position
Speaker 1: with the Pro Bowl kicker. That was a hundred percent
Speaker 1: Sean McVeigh like losing his his nerve or his mind
Speaker 1: a little bit and not thinking clearly, because I bet
Speaker 1: if you could have especially that last sequence over, he
Speaker 1: would absolutely take a time out and not tell his
Speaker 1: offense that we're giving up. We're not gonna give you
Speaker 1: a chance to make him play. It's not real, man,
Speaker 1: I was blown away by can I just mark before
Speaker 1: I throw it to you. I'm gonna play the other
Speaker 1: side of this. I didn't hate the move to run
Speaker 1: the ball three times. There you had um gotten a
Speaker 1: huge interception, then your offense went down the field, go
Speaker 1: ahead touchdown now has come on the field. You get
Speaker 1: a three and out. And McVeigh then had a decision.
Speaker 1: He felt like his defense had settled down, and he said,
Speaker 1: we're gonna play ball control. We're gonna kill the time outs.
Speaker 1: We're gonna take this thing down. Uh two a minute
Speaker 1: and a half to play, and forced San Francisco to
Speaker 1: go ninety yards against my defense that I trust and
Speaker 1: believe in, filled with all these stars, and they totally
Speaker 1: you can you can you can trust it when you
Speaker 1: don't pick up the first down by trying to throw
Speaker 1: the ball. He's just he's just like so unbelievable that
Speaker 1: in the understand that I understand what you're saying wasn't changing.
Speaker 1: All it was was taking a time or out or
Speaker 1: two away block wouldn't change, nothing would change. I know
Speaker 1: it all looks like the timeouts didn't matter because they
Speaker 1: went right down the field. But the fact that they
Speaker 1: really put they had to go eighty eight yards without
Speaker 1: a time out. Now, Mark, they did it, and I
Speaker 1: just I guess what I'm saying is I understand your
Speaker 1: side of that, Greg, But he basically McVeigh said, I
Speaker 1: trust my defense to not give up a touchdown here,
Speaker 1: and I thought they gagged in a big spot. I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear what he has to say about that.
Speaker 1: The sequence that you that you mentioned Greg as well.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is a team that has been totally
Speaker 1: owned in a coaching staff that's been totally owned by
Speaker 1: the Niners, and we you know, we knew that coming in,
Speaker 1: and I thought that this came down to so many
Speaker 1: impressive individual performances on both on from both teams. Honestly,
Speaker 1: it was one of the games where it's like, I know,
Speaker 1: we have like twenty two games of the year. It
Speaker 1: was one of the most enjoyable football contest that we've
Speaker 1: seen this season, and it stood out in a big spot.
Speaker 1: And for me, I mean, Jimmy g for all the
Speaker 1: stuff that Garoppolo has gone through this year, this offseason
Speaker 1: leading up, that was a signature moment and a signature
Speaker 1: drive by him. And it was just guys, like you know,
Speaker 1: all sorts of Niners players stepping up. I love that
Speaker 1: they did not abandon who they were when they were
Speaker 1: down seventeen nothing. They came out with that ten play,
Speaker 1: ten straight runs, then the Debot Samuel touchdown pass. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's like they to me, that would have been a
Speaker 1: big spot for them to get away from their identity,
Speaker 1: lose themselves a bit, and the Rams cap the thing.
Speaker 1: I mean, the Rams looked more like the Niners the
Speaker 1: way they opened it with a third team play field
Speaker 1: goal drive, a twelve play touchdown drive. The Niners were
Speaker 1: in deep space early on in this thing and did
Speaker 1: not flinch. I I the better. I'm so glad that
Speaker 1: they've made it into the postseason because the way they're coached,
Speaker 1: the way they operate, they're imperfect, but they are going
Speaker 1: to give the Cowboys a test. Alive Mark, you know
Speaker 1: we picked the forty Niners to win the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: It's still alive. Well, I'm not surprised that you know
Speaker 1: that that's come to fruition halfway through the San Francisco
Speaker 1: forty nine has made the NFC way more interesting in
Speaker 1: the playoffs here. We'll get to the Saints later. Kudos.
Speaker 1: Now they finished their season. They deserve a lot of
Speaker 1: credit considering everything they were up against. But I think
Speaker 1: the forty niners have a chance to go through that
Speaker 1: conference if if they get hot. And and yes, I
Speaker 1: agree totally about Garoppolo. I think he is a guy
Speaker 1: who's a bit of a punching bag. Um. I certainly
Speaker 1: have not always been very high on him. I thought
Speaker 1: they were cooked when they were down seventeen nothing, and
Speaker 1: he seemed to be not playing at a high level
Speaker 1: with the bed thumb and everything, and he made so
Speaker 1: many big throws down the stretch, and I thought that
Speaker 1: that drive that that we were just talking about when
Speaker 1: McVeigh decided to punt it away and take the time
Speaker 1: outs away and put it in Garoppolo's hands and say,
Speaker 1: this guy's not gonna beat us, and he just he
Speaker 1: carved him up. It wasn't even competitive. It was five plays,
Speaker 1: eighty eight yards and sixty one seconds in a tie game.
Speaker 1: And I mean, so much of that goes back too.
Speaker 1: I think he's not in the Cooper Cup. I think
Speaker 1: is the Offensive Player of the Year. I think Cooper
Speaker 1: Cup is a very good chance of or should have
Speaker 1: a good chance of winning m VP. But if you
Speaker 1: watch Deebo Samuel every Sunday this year. This guy is
Speaker 1: unbelievable what he brings to this team. As long as
Speaker 1: he stays healthy, uh and Brandon Aiyuk stays on the field,
Speaker 1: and George kittles around with that running game, I think
Speaker 1: this team really is dangerous. Samuel was dominant in many
Speaker 1: ways today. I also think that Samuel, like there are
Speaker 1: a lot of divas in this league that would not
Speaker 1: accept the role that he was put into where suddenly
Speaker 1: you were becoming a running back. I mean, and then
Speaker 1: when they scouted him Shanahan, they talked about the game
Speaker 1: that Shanahan saw those qualities in him. But he's an
Speaker 1: unselfish player who is incredibly dynamic and they trust him
Speaker 1: to do so much and he's an absolute raging star
Speaker 1: for this team. Right that. The two big plays on
Speaker 1: that drive is Ayu to start it for twenty one
Speaker 1: yards making a great play after the catch, and Samuel
Speaker 1: making an even better play a perfect throw from Jimmy
Speaker 1: g But then Samuel makes it special going for forty
Speaker 1: three yards after the catch, Like I think a lot
Speaker 1: of quarterbacks could succeed in this situation, and and they
Speaker 1: overcame Jimmy G's two interceptions here. Um, but I guess
Speaker 1: I'm being hard on McVeigh because it's the biggest moment
Speaker 1: of the season, right, and he lost his composure. He
Speaker 1: they took two time outs on defense in the overtime
Speaker 1: we haven't even mentioned overtime, which the forty Niners go
Speaker 1: down get get a field goal. Yeah, the Rams do
Speaker 1: stop him in the red zone and then at that
Speaker 1: point the Rams have to go score a touchdown because
Speaker 1: the tie. You know, what's the point of a tie
Speaker 1: in this situation? Really you want to knock the forty
Speaker 1: Niners out of the playoffs in the in the forty
Speaker 1: Niners would have made the playoffs with the tie. They
Speaker 1: didn't have any time outs left because they had used
Speaker 1: their two time outs, and like totally bizarre situations before
Speaker 1: that on one of them, including right before the kick,
Speaker 1: which it just I guess it was just like a
Speaker 1: straight I don't know if it was a lot re reveal,
Speaker 1: but it was I think one of his worst moments
Speaker 1: in terms of McVeigh at the end, and and a
Speaker 1: lot of people are gonna get on Stafford to you
Speaker 1: have you have the interception while the forty Niners are
Speaker 1: making that come back. It's a little bit of an
Speaker 1: arm punt, but it was a bad throw. Uh. And
Speaker 1: then you finish with with how they finished, which was
Speaker 1: like one of the worst series Odell Beckham could have
Speaker 1: possibly had. Appears that he ran the ron route on
Speaker 1: the first uh snap, got in the way a cup
Speaker 1: and then Stafford has a bad throw to to O
Speaker 1: b J who did stack the cornerback. It was behind him,
Speaker 1: so it's more on Stafford there, but it was just like,
Speaker 1: I know, this isn't a popular take because everyone's always
Speaker 1: defend O Dell to the end, but you can you
Speaker 1: compete for that ball there a little bit more under
Speaker 1: but he he didn't. He didn't. Yeah, well, I think
Speaker 1: one of his issues a lot of times he doesn't
Speaker 1: locate the ball like quick enough. In that situation, he
Speaker 1: just didn't see the ball clearly. I mean, he was
Speaker 1: behind the defender, so it's tough to really put to
Speaker 1: too too much on him. Um when the quarterback under
Speaker 1: throws it, but does he have the play before? I mean,
Speaker 1: that was three straight completions to Alda Beckham to finish
Speaker 1: that game, and this game matter for the Rams. I
Speaker 1: know they won the division anyways, but they're now the
Speaker 1: four seed. I don't think the matchup is particularly harder
Speaker 1: in the first round, you know, you get the Cardinals. Um,
Speaker 1: although who who would have they have had They would
Speaker 1: have had the Saints, so the matchup is much harder.
Speaker 1: They would have had the Saints as a two seed
Speaker 1: and a possible home game in the divisional round, and
Speaker 1: now instead you've got the Cardinals, which is a tougher
Speaker 1: wild card, and you're gonna be if you win, going
Speaker 1: on the road to Lambeau in the second round. That's
Speaker 1: one little thing about the Rams. I thought that they
Speaker 1: in the second half, especially in the first long stretches
Speaker 1: of the third quarter, their offensive line, which has you know,
Speaker 1: I think there were doubts about their old line coming
Speaker 1: into the year, but they've They've done a commendable job overall.
Speaker 1: But I thought they were dominated by the Niners front. Uh.
Speaker 1: They went into overtime with Stafford taking five sacks. At
Speaker 1: one point he looked injured. I just think this team,
Speaker 1: like we've seen their high moments. You kind of could
Speaker 1: project them to go to the super Bowl. But I
Speaker 1: also think that they've got a bit of a tight
Speaker 1: butt situation heading into the playoffs based on this game.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's It seems like every couple of
Speaker 1: weeks there are doubts surrounding the Rams. It was their toughness,
Speaker 1: it's Ken Stafford get out of games without multiple interceptions
Speaker 1: and turnovers. And now you've got this thing with Sean McVeigh,
Speaker 1: and I just they're they've got a lot to answer
Speaker 1: for a week from now, and yet they are the
Speaker 1: NFC West champions and they will be paying at home
Speaker 1: next week against a fading Cardinals team. Fading is the
Speaker 1: way to describe them. Let's talk about the Arizona Cardinals,
Speaker 1: who had a chance to steal the NFC West if
Speaker 1: they could just beat the sixth, the seven, excuse me,
Speaker 1: the six and ten Seahawks in their own building. They
Speaker 1: couldn't do it. Russ takes the snap, hands to Penny.
Speaker 1: He gets a backside cut, he goes across the midfield, California.
Speaker 1: He's got out, run up ten five? Is it touchdown?
Speaker 1: Seahawks were shot. Penny was going so fast he was
Speaker 1: crossing yard lines and I didn't even see sixty yards
Speaker 1: ran away from the defense. Ros shot Penny. What a day.
Speaker 1: Steve ribal K I r O with a call man
Speaker 1: Rashot Penny, former first round pick all but forgotten his
Speaker 1: injuries derailed his career. He was a monster down the
Speaker 1: stretch for the Seahawks. He ran for a hundred and
Speaker 1: ninety yards and that score. Russell Wilson threw three more
Speaker 1: touchdown passes, averaged over nine yards per attempt, and the
Speaker 1: Seahawks knockoff the Cardinals thirty eight to thirty. As I said,
Speaker 1: Arizona still goes to the postseason, but they limp in
Speaker 1: as the number five seed for their matchup with the Rams.
Speaker 1: The Seahawks go home, but they at least resembled themselves
Speaker 1: down the stretch. Greg, how did this game play out?
Speaker 1: It played out like the Seahawks for the playoff team,
Speaker 1: and they just looked like a better team. The Cardinals,
Speaker 1: to me, were lucky to be in this game. Towards
Speaker 1: the end of halftime, it was yards for the Seahawks,
Speaker 1: eighties six for the Cardinals. It took a Gerald Everett
Speaker 1: drop in the end zone wide open play which is
Speaker 1: kind of been unfortunately his specialty this year. Uh and
Speaker 1: a Chandler Jones forced fumble that turned into a touchdown
Speaker 1: by the Cardinals. Defense on like the second play from
Speaker 1: scrimmage to keep this thing close. But then the card
Speaker 1: the Cardinals come all the way back in it, and
Speaker 1: you think that they've righted the ship. Um. But Seattle's
Speaker 1: offensive line was like great down the stretch. I mean
Speaker 1: they were like opening up holes for shot penny h.
Speaker 1: Wilson was about his explosives of I've seen him uh
Speaker 1: this season in terms of like evading defenders. It was
Speaker 1: a lot of just Russell Wilson improvising as he runs
Speaker 1: around and he um. I don't know, like you you
Speaker 1: looked at these two teams. I think they caught the
Speaker 1: Seahawks at the wrong time. But I went into this
Speaker 1: game thing and the Seahawks are just a better team
Speaker 1: right now that they've played their best lately. It's mostly
Speaker 1: because of their offense. And the Cardinals are are a
Speaker 1: bit of a mess. I mean, James Conner hurt right
Speaker 1: at the end of this game too. I don't know
Speaker 1: if it was serious, but he converted a third and
Speaker 1: eight teen run uh and then left the game after that,
Speaker 1: and that that got me worried because he he made
Speaker 1: a big difference just by being out there today. I
Speaker 1: worry about this team, This Cardinals team, they just it's
Speaker 1: just been a month straight of confused offense. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: they're banged up. Uh. Their their defense, which used to
Speaker 1: be such a difference making unit. Um. You know, they
Speaker 1: had a big play that what was at a near
Speaker 1: pick six today that put them in deep in car
Speaker 1: in Seahawks territory. But I mean, Rachelle Penny is kind
Speaker 1: of made it impossible to deal with the Seahawks too.
Speaker 1: I mean, they caught him at the wrong time. They
Speaker 1: just caught him at the wrong time. And I don't
Speaker 1: I just like, look at the Cardinals and they don't
Speaker 1: seem like the team they were two months ago. And
Speaker 1: Kyla Murray's so visibly frustrated today. He just seems something's
Speaker 1: not right. He slammed his helmet on the ground, sitting
Speaker 1: right next to the coach. I was wondering if that
Speaker 1: was because they didn't go for it on fourth and short,
Speaker 1: or whether he just was frustrated they didn't pick up
Speaker 1: the third down because they they did go for it
Speaker 1: earlier in the game in a similar situation. Because we
Speaker 1: can say that they caught the Seahawks at the wrong time.
Speaker 1: But it's like, man, you if you're if you're any good,
Speaker 1: you're the Cardinals in that spot in week eight team
Speaker 1: and you see the scoreboard, what's going on, and in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, you should be able to take care of business.
Speaker 1: So I think when you look at the arc of
Speaker 1: their season, as disappointed as the ramsar tonight, even as
Speaker 1: division champions, you love that you have the Cardinals coming
Speaker 1: into your building. Um, you probably would have liked it
Speaker 1: better if it was maybe the Eagles are the Saints.
Speaker 1: But yeah, you're you're feeling pretty good because you're like, okay,
Speaker 1: we can kind of reset things. We get a team
Speaker 1: that seems to be free falling out of the mix. Now,
Speaker 1: of course, this is the NFL and nothing really makes sense.
Speaker 1: And if Kyler Murray goes off for four or five
Speaker 1: total touchdowns next weekend, that wouldn't be stunning either. But
Speaker 1: I think at this point we've seen enough from this
Speaker 1: offense really since Kyler came back, UM to say that
Speaker 1: is this gonna be ever an explosive unit again for
Speaker 1: the rest the year. Right then had a nineteen play,
Speaker 1: ten minute, forty one second drive that didn't even reach
Speaker 1: the Seahawks red zone, which which is like an anomaly,
Speaker 1: but it also to me spells out how unexplosive this
Speaker 1: offense is. Like each one of their receivers Kirk Green
Speaker 1: and Wesley like made backbreaking mental errors in this game,
Speaker 1: and they're not. It's not like they're making up for
Speaker 1: it with with great explosive plays. No, they had six
Speaker 1: drives go for seventeen or fewer yards. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: just completely counter opposite to the first encounter with the
Speaker 1: Rams where they want it was thirty seven to twenty
Speaker 1: and put up nearly five yards of offense. This is
Speaker 1: a different team right now. Well, they have two big
Speaker 1: weaknesses right now. Their offensive line cannot protect Kyler. He
Speaker 1: was a disaster today. And again I really think the
Speaker 1: Seats are playing well like that. They it took too long,
Speaker 1: but they've looked quite good over the last month or so.
Speaker 1: Um and they're cornerbacks are really injured where they're playing
Speaker 1: to practice squad guys, and if they if they could
Speaker 1: get healthier for next week, that would help. But if not,
Speaker 1: the Ram as you said, Dan have to have to
Speaker 1: love that match. But I do wonder if this It
Speaker 1: shouldn't matter in theory, but I do wonder if this
Speaker 1: last couple of games helps Pete Carroll keep his job.
Speaker 1: You would think it would, I just I mean, and
Speaker 1: as much as from the outside we all think, oh man,
Speaker 1: this Carol thing has kind of run its course in Seattle. Well,
Speaker 1: they have a long track record of success there, even
Speaker 1: if there's only one ring, and the fact that they
Speaker 1: end strong. If him and Russell Wilson are in good terms,
Speaker 1: I would think it's more likely it comes Mike comes back,
Speaker 1: both of them, I should say, Mike. Garretfolo reported early
Speaker 1: this morning that the Seahawks have no plans to trade
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson um this offseason. So I guess now becomes
Speaker 1: if if that report checks out is true, do they
Speaker 1: bring back Pete Carroll? I think they will, but right
Speaker 1: because who are the Seahawks that are not planning, you
Speaker 1: would assume that's John Schneider and Pete Carroll, And I
Speaker 1: think that's the bigger first question is if whether those
Speaker 1: two guys returned or not. Well, and we thought we
Speaker 1: get all these anonymous reports by now, and there has
Speaker 1: just been not much heat around Carol being just like
Speaker 1: even when the seasons a rap and they're aut of contention,
Speaker 1: just like lighting up a couple opponents at the end
Speaker 1: of the season. I think that matters in terms of
Speaker 1: calming things down a little bit. Right, if you look
Speaker 1: at their statistical profile, like in terms of points scored
Speaker 1: and the analytics and stuff, it's like they almost have
Speaker 1: the exact same team in the yards per play stuff
Speaker 1: like that, yards for play allout as they did a
Speaker 1: year ago. It was just like they won a lot
Speaker 1: of close games last year and they lost them this year. Um.
Speaker 1: One one quick note though on not a lot of reports,
Speaker 1: is there was one report that was essentially there's no
Speaker 1: which was essentially absolutely no one has any idea what
Speaker 1: Jody Allen is thinking. It's not like Jody Allen, who's
Speaker 1: you know, the sister Paul Allen Microsoft Air is talking
Speaker 1: to literally anyone and is too involved. So I think
Speaker 1: everyone from Pete Carroll, the Russell Wilson, which was the report,
Speaker 1: is in the dark and just is wondering what she's gone.
Speaker 1: I mean, could you pick Jody Allen out of the lineup?
Speaker 1: I couldn't. I did not only do I not, which
Speaker 1: he looks like I don't google there recently, just because
Speaker 1: I was curious about this very it was like who
Speaker 1: what is? Because I didn't know if Jody Allen was
Speaker 1: a man or a woman, that was the problem. Um,
Speaker 1: and it is a woman. Remember the movie Days, We've
Speaker 1: got We've got that confirmed mark. Remember the movie Day
Speaker 1: where the fake President comes to the White House and
Speaker 1: he needs to learn about like everybody in the cabinet
Speaker 1: and all these things, and they actually have the cardboard
Speaker 1: cutouts so he could, you know, pass as the president.
Speaker 1: I do the same thing with all not only ownership
Speaker 1: in the NFL, but also high ranking executives and potential airs,
Speaker 1: just so I'm the best version of myself when I
Speaker 1: do this show. Well, you're very diligent. You're very diligent,
Speaker 1: and I and I know I could have I could
Speaker 1: follow your path and that, and yet I refused to.
Speaker 1: I mean, can you imagine because it's not expensible, dude,
Speaker 1: those cardboard cutouts that I get made for all these people,
Speaker 1: the Jody Allen cut out that cost me two hundred dollars, Like,
Speaker 1: you need to find a place for this, you know,
Speaker 1: it's like this is taking up a lot of your
Speaker 1: lot of space, you know, your your homeownership that you
Speaker 1: have exactly, but it's all worth it to do this
Speaker 1: job the right way. Let's now move to Greg's Darling's
Speaker 1: the Saints who are not playing next week, but they
Speaker 1: did their very best to get there. How do the
Speaker 1: I formation face the handoff play action? Taste them looking
Speaker 1: to the far side to play the troutman. Troutman makes
Speaker 1: a completion and it's a touchdown. Adam Trampling on the
Speaker 1: far side, pot on the doctor three and then headed
Speaker 1: light for the pylon touchdown. New Orleans tasting Hill. He
Speaker 1: was looking good on Sunday Atlanta, throwing a touchdown pass,
Speaker 1: driving the ball with accuracy. He has to leave the
Speaker 1: game of the foot injury. Trevor Simeon comes in. He
Speaker 1: throws a couple of touchdown passes. The Saints cruise thirty
Speaker 1: to twenty over the Falcons. We now welcome in the pipe,
Speaker 1: Nick Shook and SHOOKI the Saints needed help here. They
Speaker 1: needed to win, get to nine and eight. They took
Speaker 1: care of their business. Then they needed the Rams to
Speaker 1: take care of the now owners. Unfortunately, that's seventeen. Nothing
Speaker 1: lead in Los Angeles didn't hold up, so the Saints
Speaker 1: go home. But really an impressive close to their season.
Speaker 1: It was impressive and I think it was appropriate in
Speaker 1: the fashion that they did it because they lost Taysom
Speaker 1: Hill to injury and had to turn to Trevor Simeon
Speaker 1: to finish this one out and finally got Alvin Kamara
Speaker 1: going for the first time in about a month. And
Speaker 1: yet after putting together, you know, one of their more
Speaker 1: complete performances, especially in the second half of the season,
Speaker 1: they end up setting at home because, like you said,
Speaker 1: the Fortins were able to beat the Rams and knock
Speaker 1: the Saints out of the playoffs and and it and
Speaker 1: it really speaks to you know, for them from a
Speaker 1: season long perspective, a team that was hand that was
Speaker 1: dealt a tough hand, managed to fight through a lot
Speaker 1: of it. But ultimately that is what sank them, the
Speaker 1: fact that they couldn't win games, They couldn't win a
Speaker 1: game last week that they desperately needed to win, that
Speaker 1: type of situation, uh, you know, undercutting them and keeping
Speaker 1: them home for the first time, you know, in five years.
Speaker 1: And and you know, the first year of the post
Speaker 1: Drew Brees era ending in disappointment for them, even though
Speaker 1: they played well counting on the Rams. You know, it's
Speaker 1: like the Rams have broken the Saints hearts a few times. Uh,
Speaker 1: the last few years. I mean, they had the score
Speaker 1: bug of the Rams game in the corner of Saints
Speaker 1: Falcon's this whole time, so you know, you're seeing it's
Speaker 1: seventeen nothing, and then you're seeing it's seventeen with under
Speaker 1: two minutes to go. It looked like the Saints are
Speaker 1: in the playoffs and Trevor Simeon is probably starting that
Speaker 1: game because Laura Open on the Sideline reported it was
Speaker 1: a Liz Frank injury for Hill, Taysom Hill, which was
Speaker 1: so disappointed. He was playing really well in this game,
Speaker 1: throwing it well as you mentioned, Dan and running it
Speaker 1: and I and I know, the better, more compelling team
Speaker 1: made the playoffs. I think that ultimately it's better for
Speaker 1: the overall product. But actually think the Saints would have
Speaker 1: been a problem for the Rams if they had a
Speaker 1: healthy Taysom Hill, especially uh. This team was just like
Speaker 1: one of the only defenses that mattered, and they finally
Speaker 1: were getting some playmakers to make some plays in this
Speaker 1: game and in the last couple of weeks. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean it was like I said, they got they got
Speaker 1: Camara going. Their defense has played well for a long time.
Speaker 1: The Falcons were playing just letting it fly because they
Speaker 1: had nothing to lose, and and it made for an
Speaker 1: interesting game, in an entertaining game. But yeah, like you said,
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's it's it's disappointing because they would
Speaker 1: be kind of a tough out just because of the
Speaker 1: defense that they've had for the majority of the season,
Speaker 1: would make even the highest powered offense still kind of
Speaker 1: struggle at times in a playoffs setting. But you know, hey,
Speaker 1: this is this is the value of a quarterback like
Speaker 1: Drew Brees. I hate to say it, but like you know,
Speaker 1: the first year you go into a season without him,
Speaker 1: you end up starting four different guys. You know, Jamis
Speaker 1: gets hurt and gets knocked out of throws your entire
Speaker 1: plan off kilter and you're forced to kind of roll
Speaker 1: with the punches. And I give them credit. I mean,
Speaker 1: even today, they fought through and played a good football game.
Speaker 1: It's just that all those issues compounded and ultimately they
Speaker 1: lose by you know, they lose out in the playoffs
Speaker 1: by the skin of their teeth, and they're I think
Speaker 1: they're back to the drawing board because you know, if
Speaker 1: you look at them long term, which we have months
Speaker 1: to discuss this, but is Jamis Winston the guy. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, they were all right with him. They were
Speaker 1: probably in a better situation than they were with any
Speaker 1: of the guys after him, Um Tayson Hill. You can
Speaker 1: make an argument in the opposite direction, but this is
Speaker 1: this is how important a quarterback is. Well, and they were.
Speaker 1: You know, they basically go into the off season with
Speaker 1: similar questions they had last offseason, and it's one of
Speaker 1: the bigger off seasons in the NFC. And I don't
Speaker 1: think that the wise maneuver would be to settle with
Speaker 1: this same group of quarterbacks. I mean, I don't you know,
Speaker 1: it's not gonna be easy to find someone else at
Speaker 1: this point, as the Russell Wilson's don't get traded in X,
Speaker 1: Y and Z. But I mean, from a Saints angle,
Speaker 1: you'd have to say, Sean Payton did an awesome job
Speaker 1: this year. They they other coaching and other coaching staffs
Speaker 1: would have crumbled with what was what they faced, but
Speaker 1: they but they cannot go do all of this again
Speaker 1: next year with with completely depleted cast of characters on
Speaker 1: offense and a clown car of quarterbacks who are not
Speaker 1: ultimately the right guy. I agree with you, clown Car.
Speaker 1: I guess it is a little strong because Winston was okay.
Speaker 1: He wasn't terrible before he got hurt. He had moments,
Speaker 1: for sure, But I I tend to agree with you
Speaker 1: that I think they're going to Peyton is gonna certainly,
Speaker 1: I think kick the tires and see if he can
Speaker 1: upgrade the position, because to work this hard to get
Speaker 1: to nine and eight, I don't know. There's that kind
Speaker 1: of a standard that they've set in New Orleans that
Speaker 1: they viewed themselves as a team that should be in
Speaker 1: contention for the Super Bowl every year, and they and
Speaker 1: they weren't. Camara by the way, thirty carries for a
Speaker 1: D and forty six are that that is not very
Speaker 1: That's not the typical Camara workload that he's had in
Speaker 1: the past. I wonder what his workload will look like
Speaker 1: going forward if they see him as that type of
Speaker 1: let's use them as a bell cow or did they
Speaker 1: want to get the offense moving in a different direction
Speaker 1: where they could use them the way they did with
Speaker 1: Drew brees More. That will be interesting to see anything
Speaker 1: on the Falcons before we kind of closed the book
Speaker 1: on their season. Chook. We give credit to Russell Gauge
Speaker 1: for having a nice game today, put together highlight play,
Speaker 1: a little hurdle over a defender to pick up some
Speaker 1: extra yards. He looked good in the box score. I
Speaker 1: think season long the guy that stood out to any
Speaker 1: more than anything. And you can talk about Kyle Pitts
Speaker 1: than he was, you know, the top five pick. That's
Speaker 1: what you're expecting from somebody like him. I thought A. J.
Speaker 1: Terrell took a ton of big steps in his second season. Um,
Speaker 1: the next gen stats love him. I mean, he's he's
Speaker 1: a stud in that department and I think he's on
Speaker 1: the course to to be a name that you're gonna
Speaker 1: pay attention to in years to come, as long as
Speaker 1: they can figure out some other things, because he's developed
Speaker 1: into a pretty solid corner only a second year. So
Speaker 1: there's some positives. And I love the way they played
Speaker 1: for Arthur Smith this year. It's just that they didn't
Speaker 1: quite have the talent to be able to get over
Speaker 1: the humping into the playoffs. If they spend an off
Speaker 1: season adding some talent, and this might be a team
Speaker 1: to watch out for, And of course you have to
Speaker 1: answer quarterback long term, but we'll across that bridge more
Speaker 1: on ESPN reported they want Matt Ryan back and that
Speaker 1: they're planning to bring him back. I tend to, you know,
Speaker 1: write these reports on you know, January ninth and pencil.
Speaker 1: It's almost like sending a message of like, what, okay,
Speaker 1: we're here, We're behind you, Matt Ryan Um. But that
Speaker 1: it kind of makes sense to me because just because
Speaker 1: it's a pain that they could add a rookie with him,
Speaker 1: and it'd be a pain to get rid of him,
Speaker 1: and I think he played pretty well this year. Well,
Speaker 1: the financials make it tougher than some have expected to
Speaker 1: just move on from him. And it should also be
Speaker 1: added here and maybe we'll get him on the show
Speaker 1: sooner rather than later. But Steve Weisch had speculated this
Speaker 1: past week that Calvin Ridley might be looking for a
Speaker 1: fresh start after this year where he missed most of
Speaker 1: the season with what was termed his mental health issues.
Speaker 1: So a lot of stuff to figure out with the Falcons.
Speaker 1: The Saints, yes, they have a lot to figure out too,
Speaker 1: but they you know, they go out with their heads
Speaker 1: held high. Let's take a break and then hit one
Speaker 1: more game with Shookie shotgun snap locked down a left sideline.
Speaker 1: Evan just there, he's got it. Let's touchdown. Number two.
Speaker 1: That's touchdown? Are my goodness, that doesn't sound like Jeane
Speaker 1: decker Hoff, does it anybody? I I did not think
Speaker 1: it sounded like I'm saying what definitely wasn't him. But
Speaker 1: maybe something popped up for old Jean today. You know
Speaker 1: a lot of COVID sub doubts lately, w f U s.
Speaker 1: The call came from whoever it was. Tom Brady put
Speaker 1: the finishing touches on another fantastically successful season, both individually
Speaker 1: and for his team, throwing three touchdown passes in a
Speaker 1: seventeen win over the Panthers, who started three and oh
Speaker 1: finished five and twelve. But Matt Rules coming back. That's
Speaker 1: what we're here in Chookie. You're not gonna find. You
Speaker 1: can turn me a hater, you can tell me or whatever.
Speaker 1: I am not a fan of Matt Rule. And I
Speaker 1: think that the potential that was within this team, which
Speaker 1: really began the off season with the same Donald experience
Speaker 1: experiment which became an experience, uh, and choosing to go
Speaker 1: that route over you know, I don't know, spending your
Speaker 1: first round pick on a guy like Justin Fields then
Speaker 1: into this season and all the dysfunction they had offensively
Speaker 1: and how Donald clearly wasn't the guy um and wasting
Speaker 1: a defense that played really well at times. It just
Speaker 1: the combined pro ducked was not up to standard and
Speaker 1: not it didn't fit for a guy in his second
Speaker 1: year who came in pretty highly touted and spoke, you know,
Speaker 1: all the platitudes about building the program and we're gonna
Speaker 1: do it the right way and everything else. It hasn't,
Speaker 1: you know, show to the field. And having said all
Speaker 1: of that, they had a seven nothing lead after the
Speaker 1: first quarter in this game. They were playing pretty hard.
Speaker 1: It's not like they quit on the guy. It's just
Speaker 1: that the product over the entire season is just not
Speaker 1: enough for me. I think he should be gone. But
Speaker 1: if he's coming back, he's coming back. And enjoy that.
Speaker 1: Panthers fans and whoever you have at quarterbacks, let's spend
Speaker 1: to the Bucks here. Because they finished thirteen and four,
Speaker 1: they won the South. They will host the Eagles. Uh
Speaker 1: next week. I think that is the plumb game that
Speaker 1: any high seed wanted. You wanted to get the Eagles,
Speaker 1: who I think are going to be out of their depth.
Speaker 1: Uh next weekend. Uh, and Uh, this is a team
Speaker 1: that you have to give him credit. Mark because last
Speaker 1: month when they lose nine zip to the Saints and
Speaker 1: they lose half their offense to injury over the course
Speaker 1: of three hours. No, were they dominant over the next
Speaker 1: three weeks. Did they almost get beat by the Jets? Sure?
Speaker 1: Did they lose Antonio Brown and that turned into a circus. Sure,
Speaker 1: but they closed and they stuck the landing by winning
Speaker 1: three straight to put themselves in good position here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's the Tom Brady experience too. I you know, rewatching
Speaker 1: that Jets game, just what he did at the end
Speaker 1: of that in that march and the way that they
Speaker 1: won that affair. It just reminds you that the ecosystem
Speaker 1: is going to be different with Tom Brady running the show. Uh,
Speaker 1: they're a low drama operation. They overcome this kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I see them quite as starry
Speaker 1: um a prospect in the playoffs as I did a
Speaker 1: couple and even injuries aside. Just something about them feels
Speaker 1: a little bit often times, but um, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, they find a way like what you're getting
Speaker 1: Rob Gronkowski putting up a hundred and thirty yards I
Speaker 1: I to me, it's like anything could happen in these
Speaker 1: playoffs because there is no true dominant team. Um, I
Speaker 1: don't love the idea of them having to go into
Speaker 1: Green Bay, for instance, But outside of that, you know,
Speaker 1: I think that this is a team that's going to
Speaker 1: hit the NFC title game well ground. I mean, having
Speaker 1: that big of a game, what was it, one thirty seven,
Speaker 1: so that puts him at about eight hundred yards for
Speaker 1: the season over. I mean, that is outrageous at his
Speaker 1: age at this point, and the fact that in this
Speaker 1: game they were down seven to three. I checked late
Speaker 1: in the second quarter. There was about a minute to
Speaker 1: go in the first half. At that point in the game,
Speaker 1: the Panthers had twelve first downs and the Bucks had
Speaker 1: to The Panthers were putting it on him. It was
Speaker 1: like a hundred and ninety yards to forty and I'm thinking, like,
Speaker 1: what a terrible way to go into the playoffs. And
Speaker 1: then I look up at the end and it's forty
Speaker 1: one to seventeen. And that's been kind of the story
Speaker 1: of these Tom Brady Buccaneers in general since he's gotten there. Like,
Speaker 1: you'll have halfs like that and then the avalanche will
Speaker 1: come hit you and it doesn't matter. That's Ciol Grayson,
Speaker 1: who's been really good for them, gets knocked out with
Speaker 1: a hamstring injury, and you without JPP, and you're without
Speaker 1: Jack Barrett, and you're without Lavonte David and those guys
Speaker 1: will matter in the playoffs. But like at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, they put up forty one, it's like
Speaker 1: it's outrageous. That's the thing is they they tend to
Speaker 1: sleepwalk at times and then when they wake up, your toast.
Speaker 1: No matter. You know, unless you've got a four touchdown lead,
Speaker 1: you're pretty much toast. I mean, he's completing passes to
Speaker 1: Brashad Perriman and Ty Johnson and Cameron Brandon, Cashawn Vaughn,
Speaker 1: Scotty Miller on a touchdown run. And that's the thing
Speaker 1: you talk about all these injuries and how it might
Speaker 1: diminish their standing going into the playoffs. So I don't
Speaker 1: know if they can do it. They're missing a lot
Speaker 1: of guys. It doesn't matter with Tom Brady at the controls.
Speaker 1: All you have to do is do your individual job.
Speaker 1: To borrow the phrase from the Patriots, do your job.
Speaker 1: He's gonna find you, and more likely than not, you're
Speaker 1: gonna score touchdowns. And they're still gonna be a really
Speaker 1: tough out, so you know going into the postseason, now, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is how you want to go in, of course,
Speaker 1: with a win like this. But this, more than anything,
Speaker 1: demonstrates to me that I don't care who they have
Speaker 1: out there. As long as twelves back there, they got
Speaker 1: a really good shot. This cannot be hit hard enough.
Speaker 1: And I know we're we're kind of hitting on it
Speaker 1: a little bit here, but I'm not gonna hit on
Speaker 1: it directly. Tom Brady is five and a half years
Speaker 1: away from turning fifty, and he just completed a season
Speaker 1: where he set a career or high in his twenty
Speaker 1: second season twenty first season by throwing for fifty yards.
Speaker 1: He threw forty three touchdown passes. He is, depending who
Speaker 1: you talk to, the favorite or one of the favorites
Speaker 1: for sure to win the m v P. He is
Speaker 1: forty four years old, and I just again, for me personally,
Speaker 1: my fandom like him getting away from the Patriots has
Speaker 1: allowed me to like not just wallow in the misery
Speaker 1: of him refusing to get old, and now I just
Speaker 1: get to enjoy it more because it's like, man, he
Speaker 1: just he's doing it again. And that's why like Shook, say,
Speaker 1: and even with all these injuries, if you have him
Speaker 1: back there and no one knows how to play in
Speaker 1: the playoffs more than Tom Brady and you just do
Speaker 1: your job, Yes, I absolutely could see them being a
Speaker 1: Final four team in a few weeks. Hashtag gradual decline
Speaker 1: in the in the OL. The offensive line, which is
Speaker 1: among you not the best in the league, is healthy,
Speaker 1: and so that's really important. One very quick point, just
Speaker 1: because there's so much news out there today with all
Speaker 1: these reports, I do wonder if Matt rules percent back.
Speaker 1: J Glazer reported that he'll be back if he hires
Speaker 1: a rock star offensive coordinator. Are our guys said that
Speaker 1: the search essentially for a rock star offensive coordinator is coming,
Speaker 1: like he's gonna hire maybe a former head coach like
Speaker 1: Bill O'Brien was one name thrown out there. I don't
Speaker 1: think he would be a rock star. Um, he does
Speaker 1: have a great relationship with the Shawn Watson, a quarterback
Speaker 1: that they're going to pursue. You wonder if that's a factor.
Speaker 1: But the way Glazer said it, like if if his
Speaker 1: status is dependent on like what happens with this coordinator higher,
Speaker 1: I I don't think his status is a percent guaranteed here.
Speaker 1: I gotta give David elei ahead to noted Panthers fan
Speaker 1: because the Bill O'Brien thing. He said, well, if they
Speaker 1: hire Bill O'Brien, they're essentially just hiring their interim head
Speaker 1: coach rights a state of things. That's that's what you're
Speaker 1: setting yourself up for. How many star offensive coordinators are there?
Speaker 1: And I think they thought they had that with Joe Brady. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they just fired one right and I And for people
Speaker 1: who have lost the track of the Bill O'Brien uh carousel. Uh.
Speaker 1: He is the offensive coordinator of Alabama, which is a
Speaker 1: celebrated and highly successful college football program, has a big game. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And Anna's interviewing for the Jaguars head coaching job as well.
Speaker 1: So he's the latest product of the Nick Saban coaching
Speaker 1: rehabilitation program. There you go, Shuock. We have reached the
Speaker 1: end of our time in the regular season with you.
Speaker 1: We will absolutely love to have you on the show
Speaker 1: uh down the stretch and throughout the off season. But
Speaker 1: we want to thank you again for the vital work
Speaker 1: you do for our program on these sundays, like filling
Speaker 1: in the gaps and not only just filling in the gaps,
Speaker 1: making the show better with your great analysis and uh
Speaker 1: genial attitude toward life. Genial. I like that. Thanks, guys,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you. It's been fun being on you know.
Speaker 1: I appreciate thanks for having me this whole season, filling
Speaker 1: that gap. I mean, he he overfills it. Got the pipe.
Speaker 1: Now he's got to get back to the gym because
Speaker 1: the pipe never rests there. He goes the pipe out
Speaker 1: the door. We continue on now. So we're going through things,
Speaker 1: we're checking boxes, we're talking playoff teams. How about two more?
Speaker 1: This game played on Saturday, Cowboys Eagles Dak Prescott next
Speaker 1: touchdown passed would be the single season records. And he's
Speaker 1: looking forward here throwing out to the left. It's caught
Speaker 1: into the insol touchdown. There it is. He finds Corey
Speaker 1: Clever at eight yard touchdown pass for Dak Prescott, his
Speaker 1: thirty seventh of the season. Do Dallas Cowboys single season
Speaker 1: record Westwood one with a call? There, Dak Prescott through
Speaker 1: a career high five touchdown passes and broke Romo's record there.
Speaker 1: He did it against Eagles backups. I should say, but
Speaker 1: it is what it is. Cedric Wilson and Dalton Dalton
Speaker 1: Schultz each had two touchdown catches, and the Cowboys closed
Speaker 1: out their regular season with their second fifty burger in
Speaker 1: three weeks against an overmatched Division foe. Final score fifty
Speaker 1: one against the Eagles. That a team that prioritize their
Speaker 1: health in the wild card round over a possible better
Speaker 1: playoffs seed. Now all that set that was a nice
Speaker 1: wind mark. I think you and I were on the
Speaker 1: same page on the Thursday preview show that even if
Speaker 1: the Cowboys didn't make a big change where they ended
Speaker 1: up and they are the number three seed, they will
Speaker 1: face the forty niners and what will be a very
Speaker 1: tough game for them. Uh to go into the playoffs
Speaker 1: on a high note. Uh, it helps even if it does.
Speaker 1: Like in the back of my head, for instance, keep
Speaker 1: me wondering, is this team like are they bullies? Can
Speaker 1: they just they phile on and beat up against these
Speaker 1: teams that are overmatched and then kind of cower a
Speaker 1: little bit against real competition, real competitions coming. We're gonna
Speaker 1: find out next week where the Cowboys really stand. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that'll be the asset test. But we basically ordered them,
Speaker 1: requested them to have an explosive finale, and they went
Speaker 1: and did exactly that. Now, I mean, look at the game.
Speaker 1: Some of these games where you've got people sitting, I
Speaker 1: get that that you know, this is not where we're
Speaker 1: gonna be a week from now. But it showed Dallas
Speaker 1: flexing their muscles, and to me, it does it does
Speaker 1: bring more faith until into their ceiling and what they
Speaker 1: can be. Um. I think there it's their defense too.
Speaker 1: They're just they're a balanced team. And we've talked about
Speaker 1: how we feel about the Rams going in the way
Speaker 1: they have, UM, the Cardinals fading fast like any one
Speaker 1: of these NFC teams that can go in and light up,
Speaker 1: light a team up. I don't care how it happened,
Speaker 1: the way that Dallas did it. It adds faith and
Speaker 1: I think that they're a dangerous opponent. I think they
Speaker 1: needed it for themselves because they said as much. Did.
Speaker 1: They just seem like a an a team that has
Speaker 1: some confidence issues. They're like too high or too low.
Speaker 1: You know, they say, well, don't get too high, too low.
Speaker 1: I mean that that's not that what the Cowboys are.
Speaker 1: Jerry Jones likes to get too high and they like
Speaker 1: to get too low. And you know, Dak Prescott did
Speaker 1: not want to say that he was having a slump
Speaker 1: or that he wasn't playing with confidence, but you could
Speaker 1: just see it on the field. And so I think
Speaker 1: they came out and did this because they felt it
Speaker 1: was necessary. You know, they played into the fourth quarter. Now,
Speaker 1: this game was tied seventeen ah late to that the
Speaker 1: Cowboys offense was incredible the whole game. That had nothing
Speaker 1: to do with the offense. They just had only had
Speaker 1: the ball three possessions at that point, and they didn't
Speaker 1: have Tyrann Smith and Tony Pollard and they didn't have
Speaker 1: Michael Parsons either, so they were a little shorthanded. But
Speaker 1: the Cowboys starting defense gave up seventeen pretty quick points
Speaker 1: and it looked like a game for a minute and
Speaker 1: until until they took over. Gardner Minshew started for Jalen Hurtz,
Speaker 1: and yes he did uh leave the team to some
Speaker 1: scoring drives Early kept him in the mix. I did
Speaker 1: like that story about me and show. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you guys saw this that after the game against
Speaker 1: the Jets, he went into the coach's office. It was like, Coach,
Speaker 1: I deserve the ball. I should be the starter of
Speaker 1: this team. I thought that was adorable. I love this guy.
Speaker 1: Look at he is a dangerous quarterback. I know that. Like, well,
Speaker 1: I don't know, if you're being serious, then it's an
Speaker 1: amazing move because like it's one thing to be the
Speaker 1: backup quarterback and do your job. But like Jalen Hurts
Speaker 1: probably saw that story and he was like, what what,
Speaker 1: it's a strange that's a strange one. But he's got
Speaker 1: he's got too much charisma. He can't be held down.
Speaker 1: That's Gardner Minshew. I kind of like their backups. They
Speaker 1: had some fights. Backups. Huntley jacent. Huntley was fun. Tyree Jackson,
Speaker 1: who was when he used to be a quarterback, was
Speaker 1: kind of fun. Quaz Quiz Watkins is fun. And they actually,
Speaker 1: I think got some use out of this looking at
Speaker 1: all of these guys. They also had twelve players on
Speaker 1: the COVID list. I think they strategically told a lot
Speaker 1: of guys to take that test last Monday so that
Speaker 1: they could get their COVID list designation out of the way,
Speaker 1: which is just a bizarre thing that you have to strategize. Coach,
Speaker 1: these fellows believe in me, and now I ask you
Speaker 1: to believe in me. Put me in coach, I will
Speaker 1: lead you to the promise. Well, it didn't work. It
Speaker 1: depends how he put it, because yeah, I think I
Speaker 1: think that could be kind of annoying. I've always held
Speaker 1: it against Drew Bledsoe a little bit um the report
Speaker 1: of how how hard he kind of uh went went
Speaker 1: into the coach's room and tried to get Tom Brady
Speaker 1: out of there, you know, and skip, I reckon Jalen
Speaker 1: might feel a little bit sore about this, but I
Speaker 1: gotta stick to my guns and tell you how I feel.
Speaker 1: And I'm the best man for this job. Give me
Speaker 1: the ball I want to. I would like to um
Speaker 1: see actual footage of how this went, because it's turning
Speaker 1: into a folly very quickly. That's I'm reading a transcript
Speaker 1: from I in the sky within Nick Sirianni's office. All right,
Speaker 1: and it's back by the way. That's a nice little
Speaker 1: tight end duo you got with Salts playing so well
Speaker 1: and your guy Cedric Wilson Dan had a monster game
Speaker 1: offense on paper, They're amazing. Do I have a Cedric
Speaker 1: Wilson connection with the UNWA? I don't know. One show
Speaker 1: you were just like this guy, I look, I'm fascinated.
Speaker 1: I'm always fascinated by the Cowboys. I like following America's
Speaker 1: team through uh the good times and bad. They're just compelling.
Speaker 1: They have such a wide variance in terms of how
Speaker 1: this is gonna play out. They could meekly go out
Speaker 1: next week and so the worst draw wasn't it. This
Speaker 1: was the hardest man, I think you possibly had. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think so. I think they could lose thirty one
Speaker 1: to seventeen next week. I think they could drop a
Speaker 1: forty burger that wouldn't send me either in advance, but
Speaker 1: and and make a deep, deep playoff run. I think
Speaker 1: could go either way for America's team. I will tell
Speaker 1: you this, It's gonna do a big number that game.
Speaker 1: A lot of people are gonna want to watch the
Speaker 1: forty Niners and Cowboys. All right, let's uh move on now.
Speaker 1: Uh so, yes, Cowboys, and I should Yes the Eagles not.
Speaker 1: You don't only kill the Eagles obviously because they rested
Speaker 1: a bunch of people. Not a great way to go
Speaker 1: into the playoffs. Never be the team with the winning record,
Speaker 1: uh the whole season, at least the season ending with
Speaker 1: the team having a winning record. They now go to
Speaker 1: Tampa and we'll see how that goes. But I'm feeling
Speaker 1: pretty good about who I might pick is my lock
Speaker 1: next week. I'll just leave it as that, all right.
Speaker 1: Let's now move to Detroit where the green Bay Packers
Speaker 1: were looking to win their four teen the game. But
Speaker 1: the Lions, they don't play man, they don't play love.
Speaker 1: Boards out of the gun, there's the snap Love bat
Speaker 1: love sex and throws over the middle. It is intercepted
Speaker 1: by the Lions, intercepted down at the forty three yard line.
Speaker 1: Lions come up with a pick, and that's gonna do it.
Speaker 1: Tracy Walker with that football. Dan Miller with a call
Speaker 1: w x y T. Aaron Rodgers threw two touchdown passes
Speaker 1: in the first half, set out the second half with
Speaker 1: nothing at stake. The Lions getting that interception at the
Speaker 1: end of the game, beat the top seeded Packers thirty
Speaker 1: seven to thirty. That was Jordan's Love who threw the pick.
Speaker 1: He threw two interceptions late in the game, but Green
Speaker 1: Bay's play oppositioning doesn't change. Unfortunately, Mark the Lions, you know,
Speaker 1: one of those type of games, great way to end
Speaker 1: your season. But if they just would have done what
Speaker 1: they were supposed to do and get beat by the Packers.
Speaker 1: Whoever the Packers are playing, they would have the number
Speaker 1: one overall pick because of what the Jaguars did. Instead,
Speaker 1: they stay it to k s Sara, Sara, you know what.
Speaker 1: I love it for him though, because they are playing
Speaker 1: so hard for Dan Campbell and they just put everything
Speaker 1: out there today. I mean, they emptied the trick play compendium.
Speaker 1: They used all sorts of trickery on gone green Bay
Speaker 1: and they they have gone for it on fourth down
Speaker 1: forty times this season, which is the fourth most in
Speaker 1: the league. Excuse me, they just like the market is
Speaker 1: choked up talking about the No, I just have this hit,
Speaker 1: uh they I mean it's another game like before where
Speaker 1: you know, Aaron Rodgers is out at halftime and Jordan's
Speaker 1: love looks, you know, like a non starter to me,
Speaker 1: he just just not have it. At this point, I
Speaker 1: thought it was important for Green Bay to get David
Speaker 1: Box tr some snaps um he left and went into
Speaker 1: the tent, but seemed fine. But I mean, just a
Speaker 1: little bit of playing time, he'll be huge for them
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. And did they have any Yeah. He
Speaker 1: did his press availability afterwards and downplayed it, but yeah,
Speaker 1: it was an injury. Yeah, but he seemed he seemed
Speaker 1: like unaffected by it. Later on Alman Ross st Brown.
Speaker 1: For the Lions, they have a star and I just
Speaker 1: I know that they lose out on the first overall pick,
Speaker 1: but you can see little pieces here and again I
Speaker 1: think that they have found the right coach. I mean,
Speaker 1: so it's I know the record is what it is,
Speaker 1: but they go into the off season with some optimism.
Speaker 1: Record for fourth down conversions NFL record Old Dan Campbell
Speaker 1: throwing caution to the wind. The Jaguars, unless they trade
Speaker 1: out of the pick, they won't be taking a quarterback obviously,
Speaker 1: so um if the Lions, if things hold, the Lions
Speaker 1: could have the pick of any quarterback. We'll get into
Speaker 1: all that as as things play out. This isn't supposed
Speaker 1: to be a great quarterback class, but nobody knows anything,
Speaker 1: especially this time of year. It's not till the draft
Speaker 1: process plays out that you really get a better idea
Speaker 1: of where the quarterback market's going to be. But it
Speaker 1: could be one of those and this effects like if
Speaker 1: you're Jets van to for instance, with two first round
Speaker 1: picks in the top fifteen, I hope this isn't one
Speaker 1: of those Eric Fisher Luke Jocal drafts. Nobody wants that now.
Speaker 1: People people like the talent. I think at the top
Speaker 1: of this draft a lot of defensive Maybe it's not
Speaker 1: a good quarterback classes as much, but anyway, so the
Speaker 1: Packers I don't and doesn't change. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you guys have any takes about the Packers to me.
Speaker 1: For instance, they're gonna still be number one of the
Speaker 1: power rankings. This doesn't change anything for me. And the
Speaker 1: fact that back dr got back on the field and
Speaker 1: got some reps as long as the knees holding up,
Speaker 1: that's all great too. Well. Josh Meyers to their starting center,
Speaker 1: so that's massive, and I think that's why Rodgers, you know,
Speaker 1: said he wanted to play. It is worth noting the
Speaker 1: Lions had the lead, you know, when Rogers sat, so
Speaker 1: they had a halftime lead. It doesn't shock me the
Speaker 1: way the Lions have been playing lately that they would
Speaker 1: be competitive. Uh. I don't. Yeah, I don't take too
Speaker 1: many two big takeaways, but I haven't been overly impressed
Speaker 1: with the Packers defense in the back half of the season.
Speaker 1: I actually think teams kind of built like the Lions,
Speaker 1: with a good offensive line, a good running game like
Speaker 1: they struggled to get off the field a little bit
Speaker 1: this Packers. Yeah, they scored three on three on their
Speaker 1: first four drives the Lions, and they were legit drives.
Speaker 1: I mean, they just they looked much much better than
Speaker 1: they had earlier stretches of the season. Is this the
Speaker 1: most successful three and year ever? I think so because
Speaker 1: they're so fun to watch. Two and again, it's they
Speaker 1: they kind of play with this um daring do where
Speaker 1: again it's the fourth down attempts, it's the go to
Speaker 1: check out some of the trick plays they pulled off today.
Speaker 1: And I mean I think that they they're a team
Speaker 1: that if you look at what they've done over the
Speaker 1: last month plus, I think they're on the run heading
Speaker 1: in the right direction. They have changed to. They're getting
Speaker 1: rid of Anthony Lynn, their their offensive coordinator, who lost
Speaker 1: play calling duties about midway through the season. And for
Speaker 1: what it's worth, Dan Campbell took it over as the
Speaker 1: head coach and and they their offense was a lot
Speaker 1: better after Dan Campbell took over. Greggy, you smell that?
Speaker 1: What's that? That's? Uh? Mark Sessler predicting the lines to
Speaker 1: make the playoffs next year, and us hearing about it
Speaker 1: for two and a half months next summer. I think
Speaker 1: he'll actually predict them. Yeah, he'll predict it, and May
Speaker 1: will go back on it in August, and then he'll
Speaker 1: he'll claim it throughout the course of the season, but
Speaker 1: then go quiet once again. We can't we can't cover.
Speaker 1: Mark just got up and walked away right as I
Speaker 1: started to bring him up. So if I didn't tell
Speaker 1: the audience that Mark left, it would just make it
Speaker 1: look like he didn't say anything. Here he comes, he's
Speaker 1: right it back and he is back. Mark's back. Yeah, Mark,
Speaker 1: I was just saying, for two and a half months
Speaker 1: next summer, you're gonna be talking about Lines going to
Speaker 1: the playoffs. That was my prediction. I'm not quite there yet,
Speaker 1: um I know, but in the summer you will be.
Speaker 1: You will. By the way you sprinted out of there
Speaker 1: while you were coffee, that was a coffin sprint. I
Speaker 1: haven't seen that the old coffing's sprint better than a
Speaker 1: coffin sprint, right, man, This corona got me. But I'm
Speaker 1: you know, I was feeling good today until show started
Speaker 1: hanging there buddy, let's take a break. Welcome back, Let's
Speaker 1: keep moving through the NFC. It is third in two
Speaker 1: Cousins from undersetter, he's looking deep now he avoids a Bear,
Speaker 1: fires to Jefferson touchdown j j J with a forty
Speaker 1: five yard touchdown reception, and it's seventeen sixteen Bears. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we predicted this one. Paul Allen of The Call KFE
Speaker 1: and uh nice stat stat padding Week eighteen finale for
Speaker 1: the Vikings. Kark Cousins passed for one seventy two and
Speaker 1: three touchdowns in the second half, leading the Vikings to
Speaker 1: a comeback over the Bears thirty one seventeen two teams
Speaker 1: with a head coach in danger of being canned, we'll see.
Speaker 1: We will have a podcast that will follow this one
Speaker 1: in short order, either Monday or Tuesday, addressing everything on
Speaker 1: Black Monday related. But as of this taping, both men
Speaker 1: are still employed anyway. Jeffer justin Jefferson tied the score there.
Speaker 1: kJ Osborne caught the go ahead touchdown for the Vikings,
Speaker 1: who outscored Chicago three in the second Have greg who
Speaker 1: has the brighter future the Bears of the Vikings. Oh
Speaker 1: that's a good one. You lean feel, you know the
Speaker 1: team that has justin fields. But I I just I
Speaker 1: do like Vikings roster a lot better and just their
Speaker 1: general makeup, even like the way they've brought in talent
Speaker 1: their organizations. I guess I'll go Vikings. That's tough. Yeah, this,
Speaker 1: I'd go Vikings too. I mean, I think also, you've
Speaker 1: you've got a lot to attract a new head coach
Speaker 1: if they do move on from Zimmer, we'll have a
Speaker 1: lot to talk about. There's some ominous reports about Zimmer.
Speaker 1: There's no need to get too deep into it now
Speaker 1: because we'll find out. But it sure looks like both
Speaker 1: these teams will probably be well. Did you hear a
Speaker 1: Zimmer snap at a reporter who asked him about his
Speaker 1: job security? Let's listen in. Yeah, have you heard anything
Speaker 1: about your job status? And what are your thoughts? Just
Speaker 1: go on the rumors now, I haven't heard anything about
Speaker 1: my job status. I haven't heard anything about yours either.
Speaker 1: Do you think there was a chance this could have
Speaker 1: been your last game? My choice on my decision? Yeah, so,
Speaker 1: because he seems like Zimmer is just over it. Last
Speaker 1: week when they were asked if Kellen Mond was going
Speaker 1: to get to start, if he needed to see him.
Speaker 1: He's like, no, very flatly, one of my favorite like
Speaker 1: coach responses. He's very much like a Parcels type guy.
Speaker 1: I like Zimmer, and I think, uh, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a bummer if if he doesn't stick around. But at
Speaker 1: the same time, you know, results matter. This was, by
Speaker 1: the way, truly the d G A F Bowl. You
Speaker 1: have Zimmer who is like, you know, he doesn't care anymore,
Speaker 1: and barras coach Mattnege elected to go for it on
Speaker 1: fourth down six times, failing on all but one of
Speaker 1: those attempts. Great Dalton got sacked three times on fourth down,
Speaker 1: which you would have to check, but that had to
Speaker 1: have set an NFL record. I don't know if anyone's
Speaker 1: ever taken three fourth down sacks in the same game. Yiks,
Speaker 1: all right, let's um. Let's quickly wrap up the NFC
Speaker 1: with the NFC Least Bowl. Here's from the snap off
Speaker 1: Bobby McCain five pit six touchdown touchdown Washington Bram Weinstein
Speaker 1: w T E M. Bobby McCain returned the first of
Speaker 1: his two interceptions thirty yards to the house. Antonio Gibson
Speaker 1: ran for a career high Buck forty six, scored a touch,
Speaker 1: captains first one thousand yard rushing season, led Washington to
Speaker 1: a seven victory over the moribund New York Giants, washing
Speaker 1: and finishes at seven and ten, Big Blue Up, mortifying
Speaker 1: four and thirteen. Dave Gettleman's Giants career almost certainly ends
Speaker 1: with this loss. The general manager and will see what
Speaker 1: other changes we see with these two NFC East also
Speaker 1: rans Jack del Rio says he's back the defensive coordinator.
Speaker 1: I didn't know that was up to him decide, but
Speaker 1: I guess he knows, so Ron Rivera. It's a reminder.
Speaker 1: It's like, hey, Washington, you could be worse. You could
Speaker 1: be the Giants. You could be the clown show. To
Speaker 1: use Joe Judges words from a week ago, that that
Speaker 1: are the New York Giants right now running a quarterback
Speaker 1: sneak power uh from their own four yard line on
Speaker 1: third and nine, just to like give their their uh punt.
Speaker 1: There a little extra. That's sad. That's a sad moment
Speaker 1: there is. It is a sad moment. And you know
Speaker 1: that fan base that's had a lot of highs over
Speaker 1: the last thirty years or so um to hear the
Speaker 1: reaction in the crowd when they see a quarterbacks called
Speaker 1: twice in a row at the goal line. The last one, yeah, third,
Speaker 1: third and nine, not even like a third and twenty
Speaker 1: eight or whatever. It's like you can go get that
Speaker 1: again against like a nine man box too, Like every
Speaker 1: like both teams had everyone just condensed next to the ball.
Speaker 1: It just it looked like they were on the goal line,
Speaker 1: but it's like now you were on the four. Neither
Speaker 1: team had over a hundred yards passing in this game.
Speaker 1: That is not a frequent occurrence. Yeah, my guy Terry
Speaker 1: McLaurin gote somehow on his own going over a thousand.
Speaker 1: You know, my I'm losing a lot of sandwiches on Terry.
Speaker 1: It was a tough situation. It wasn't his fault. We
Speaker 1: will know. We're gonna revisit our sandwich props on our
Speaker 1: next show. Um, but I do remember you had something
Speaker 1: very lofty. Don't don't even let me know. I'd rather
Speaker 1: like be surprised when we take a look at it again.
Speaker 1: But you were all in on scary Terry. Um. But
Speaker 1: he got bogged down by an offense that was just
Speaker 1: you know, from the Ryan Fitzpatrick injury on just they
Speaker 1: were not able to overcome the setbacks and and it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a huge offseason for the Giants. I still,
Speaker 1: to me feels like they could clean house. We're gonna
Speaker 1: find out what happens over the next few days and weeks,
Speaker 1: but for the time being, Uh, there's no denying that
Speaker 1: the end of the Giants ended. Um the season is
Speaker 1: probably the worst team in football. Yeah, I don't I
Speaker 1: don't understand how there's there's floating reports that Joe Judge
Speaker 1: will be retained. It's like it's a combination of bizarre
Speaker 1: press conferences and a team that is completely totally regressed
Speaker 1: and has zero identity. Daniel Jones looked better I think
Speaker 1: after watching what was going on. I mean, just just
Speaker 1: just in comparison. I do want to get though, Mark, Um,
Speaker 1: because I know you're gonna be watching this on game
Speaker 1: pass later, just like your detailed notes of all of
Speaker 1: your thoughts, Um and takeaways for how this game changes
Speaker 1: your off season. Just look at at the Giants defensive
Speaker 1: line and linebacker positions. I'll be sure to send you
Speaker 1: my notes post taste. Yeah, we do count on you,
Speaker 1: Mark to handle this film study. Believe that you. Listen,
Speaker 1: you showed me how professional you are with the cardboard cutouts.
Speaker 1: Do you think has a future? You know you had
Speaker 1: five tackles in this game. Does you have a future
Speaker 1: with the Giants? There's only one way to check, that's
Speaker 1: the tape. Check with me on Tuesday, and I'll let
Speaker 1: you know everything that I've downloaded mentally about this. We're
Speaker 1: going to carve out a section of our next show
Speaker 1: just to break down this game, the tape study, and
Speaker 1: and we turned. We count on you because we know
Speaker 1: you're the man for the job. What a terrible task.
Speaker 1: What was that? Mark? Thank you for There you go.
Speaker 1: All right, that's the NFC. The table is set for
Speaker 1: another year of postseason football. We will have you covered,
Speaker 1: of course, with three shows every week, maybe more, whatever
Speaker 1: it's called upon and including Black Monday or as we
Speaker 1: call it, New Horizons Monday. That's that's something that's a
Speaker 1: branding that we came up with that skirted some NFL
Speaker 1: restrictions about using the term Black Monday. New Horizons Monday
Speaker 1: is upon us. Uh So we will have a show
Speaker 1: for you either Monday or Tuesday breaking all that down.
Speaker 1: So keep an eye out for that until then, try
Speaker 1: to get some sleep. Thank you everybody for listening. Uh
Speaker 1: does anybody else have anything else to add? No, my
Speaker 1: voice is about to die, so um, let's wrap it.
Speaker 1: It is. Yes, it's almost two am on the East
Speaker 1: coast right now, so that means we need to end
Speaker 1: this um until Tuesday. Heed the ball speA