Speaker 1: The Around the NFL podcast Jessica Oh suitably Creepy from
Speaker 1: the Chris Wesley podcast studio. It's Around the NFL. I'm
Speaker 1: Dan Hanzas I got heroes here, Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler.
Speaker 1: It is the day after a t N home coming
Speaker 1: from Hollywood. The live show sold out an incredible evening
Speaker 1: with fans from throughout America. And that was to me
Speaker 1: at the end of it, boys, the biggest takeaway and
Speaker 1: what was kind of the coolest thing about that event
Speaker 1: that blew me away. There we're listeners from Alaska, New York, Chicago,
Speaker 1: Bay Area, Portland's Indiana. Like the l a uh listeners
Speaker 1: almost were sheepish, being like, yeah, I just drove from Pasadena.
Speaker 1: It's like, but don't apologize for that. I was. I
Speaker 1: was amazed by it now. I was just expected it
Speaker 1: to be like a seventy eight percent like l A crowd,
Speaker 1: maybe with maybe a smattering of you know, additional uh
Speaker 1: places of origin. But it was incredible. Was like one
Speaker 1: person after the next, like flew in from all over
Speaker 1: the place and like, I we are like the one
Speaker 1: thing with about this show because we you know, we'd
Speaker 1: like to go out and talk to them for a
Speaker 1: while afterwards that goes on for a while. I wish
Speaker 1: we could just give them more time sometimes because it's
Speaker 1: like there's just not enough, Like they can't. They put
Speaker 1: so much effort in come to the show and it
Speaker 1: was a fever dream and it was maybe a planning
Speaker 1: snap food to have this show occur hours later, but
Speaker 1: that we just keep rolling up. Who did uh? Or
Speaker 1: I should say I old Juser deserves a little tugboat
Speaker 1: credit on this one. I reached out to Drew nine
Speaker 1: ft six to forty al muscles and said, we gotta
Speaker 1: push back this Thursday taping. Yeah, smart, and as you
Speaker 1: could tell from my voice, we needed a couple extra hours.
Speaker 1: The The experience though, of the live show I think
Speaker 1: was highlighted really and uh the money drop alluded to
Speaker 1: it here by the solo dance performance between Jessica and
Speaker 1: Justin Graver on the stage. One of the most awkward
Speaker 1: and painful and delightful moments I can remember, digging awesome
Speaker 1: work out there. How how was that for you? Thanks? No,
Speaker 1: it was. It was awesome to be able to share
Speaker 1: that moment with Jessica, my love. It was the best
Speaker 1: part was that you know, Justin as the producer, will
Speaker 1: do various mechanics in terms of how long things will
Speaker 1: be and m once we cleared the stage for them
Speaker 1: to dance the Careless Whisper the Wham classic classic. Um,
Speaker 1: there was like a two minute thirty second cut that
Speaker 1: Justin had a super cut and two oh three and
Speaker 1: like again, I had to go and hit the space
Speaker 1: bar to pause it just because like I knew like
Speaker 1: it had reached what it needed to be and I
Speaker 1: didn't want to start making everyone uncomfortable. And then yes,
Speaker 1: I was way too late for that. Yeah, Jessica backstage
Speaker 1: after show is like, we had a dip planned. You
Speaker 1: didn't let me do my dip. I mean, they're that's
Speaker 1: Mark imitating. They're a wonderful couple, but there are some
Speaker 1: stagecraft elements involved, and I think pressing the space bar
Speaker 1: might have been at at that point. Yeah, well I
Speaker 1: would have liked to see the tip. I think, well,
Speaker 1: that's fine, we learned our Lesson next live show, I'll
Speaker 1: make a one minute cut of this. Every live show
Speaker 1: will feature a slow dance on the stage for a
Speaker 1: grave Digger and his lovely gf UM. Anyway, thank you
Speaker 1: everybody for coming out like Keishaw was there too, was amazing.
Speaker 1: We brought her up on stage and we talked about
Speaker 1: Chris at the end of the show. So a special night.
Speaker 1: And as I said at the beginning of that show, um,
Speaker 1: you know, it does make you like kind of reflect
Speaker 1: a little bit about um, how we all ended up here,
Speaker 1: and you know the famous kind of Hollywood dream. People
Speaker 1: come from all over the country in the world to
Speaker 1: Hollywood to make it. We didn't come to make it
Speaker 1: as actors. We didn't come to get into entertainment and
Speaker 1: upon stages and doing shows for people where Jason zumwaltz
Speaker 1: up on top up stairs playing god. It just got
Speaker 1: to happen that way. But we all did come here
Speaker 1: to to achieve something and strive to be better in
Speaker 1: terms of building our career, and that was kind of
Speaker 1: a really nice find it out. At one point, I
Speaker 1: was thinking, like our first role for Dan and I,
Speaker 1: at least at the NFL, we're three day a week
Speaker 1: anonymous editors, just you know, cutting up copy. And it's
Speaker 1: like ten years later we're doing like a nineteen mid
Speaker 1: nineteen seventies variety show where it's a lot of song
Speaker 1: and dance, and like I wasn't trained to do this.
Speaker 1: We were just smoking cigarettes and drinking rye the entire
Speaker 1: show totally bizarre. Um, all right, awesome, But we got
Speaker 1: a lot to get to because a lot of people
Speaker 1: we don't care. We don't We're not going to see you, guys.
Speaker 1: We're building up anticipation for the next blue eyeballs. Away
Speaker 1: from naval we shall each other's navels and uh turn
Speaker 1: our attention to the greatest round of football all season,
Speaker 1: Divisional Round Week again. We have an unbelievable slate of games.
Speaker 1: We're gonna get to all four games teams and then
Speaker 1: there's only eight there. I mean, ain't do anybody too
Speaker 1: It's four games to talk about, So let's do it.
Speaker 1: We gotta. We got a friend from overseas actually is
Speaker 1: gonna join us at halftime. We got some league news
Speaker 1: to get to as well as teams, teams that aren't
Speaker 1: quite ready to fire their head coach, but they gotta
Speaker 1: do something. That something means other people lose their jobs
Speaker 1: on the staff. We'll get to that only five head
Speaker 1: coaching changes if if we've reached the end of that.
Speaker 1: But you know, it's funny because it's all obviously connected
Speaker 1: doesn't it feel like we have more turn in the
Speaker 1: coordinator ranks this year and everyone needs an coordinator, right,
Speaker 1: All right, let's get to the games. Let's start with
Speaker 1: let's go and order. So let's start Saturday, Jaguars at
Speaker 1: Chiefs Hamina Hamana Hameda um Greg. Obviously, the Jaguars got
Speaker 1: here um by virtue of one of the great comebacks
Speaker 1: in NFL history, down twenty seven nothing to the Chargers,
Speaker 1: and they deserve all the credit in the world and
Speaker 1: a lot of ways you could look at the Jaguars
Speaker 1: right now is house money. This is a organization in
Speaker 1: total tatters after the clown buffoon show that was Erban
Speaker 1: Meyer in the NFL. And not only did they get
Speaker 1: back off the mat, dust themselves off, become a competitive team,
Speaker 1: steal a division, win a playoff game that will not
Speaker 1: be forgotten. Now they go to the Kansas City and
Speaker 1: even just hang with Casey would feel like it would
Speaker 1: be a victory. But maybe maybe Greggy after UH weekend,
Speaker 1: one of the playoffs that had a lot of chalk,
Speaker 1: things get weird. This could be a weird spot. I agree,
Speaker 1: because the Chiefs have had trouble winning convincingly against most
Speaker 1: everyone and you could even say that was true against
Speaker 1: the Jaguars when they played back in Week thirteen. That
Speaker 1: was the last game where the Chiefs didn't have to
Speaker 1: sweat out a fourth quarter. But it was also a
Speaker 1: game if you if you watched it, that the team
Speaker 1: seemed even and there's a couple of flukey plays at
Speaker 1: the beginning, turnovers and whatnot that that go the Chief's way.
Speaker 1: And I think the Jags have the confidence right now
Speaker 1: that they can hang with anyone, and that if they're
Speaker 1: behind in any situation, they can come back from anyone.
Speaker 1: Like their last five home games, those were double digit
Speaker 1: or nine point comebacks and some of them are seventeen.
Speaker 1: And these are two good team, So I think both
Speaker 1: of these teams will feel like they can come from behind.
Speaker 1: And I look at what they do well, which is
Speaker 1: get the ball to receivers in the middle of the field,
Speaker 1: get the ball out of Trevor Lawrence's hand quickly, and
Speaker 1: I think that matches up pretty well against the Chiefs.
Speaker 1: You think Nick Bolton, who's great, can cover Evan Ingram,
Speaker 1: I don't think so. I think you get it to
Speaker 1: Kristen Kirk who balled out last week, and these guys
Speaker 1: can make plays after the catch, and they're gonna force
Speaker 1: the Chiefs to tackle, And I just don't know if
Speaker 1: the Chiefs are like an amazing tackling sort of sound defense,
Speaker 1: and I think you could see a lot of run
Speaker 1: after the catch, Trevor Lawrence not holding onto the ball
Speaker 1: too long. Yeah, I mean, I think also flip side,
Speaker 1: Jacksonville's defense um which was a set nil here, has
Speaker 1: stepped up over you know, the last half of the season.
Speaker 1: Josh Allen, Trayvon Walker. They've created the second most pressure
Speaker 1: among really any defense in the league, and I think
Speaker 1: that matters against the home Like his drop off rate
Speaker 1: when when pressure is on him is drastic. It's the
Speaker 1: it's like the second or third most among quarterbacks. When
Speaker 1: he's pressured, his performance struggles at some point. So if
Speaker 1: Jacksonville can do that now, it's that's no easy task.
Speaker 1: But I mean, Trayvon Walker, Josh Allen last week, in
Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks have been big impact players.
Speaker 1: And I think if you're Jacksonville, you also have that
Speaker 1: mental aspect that we got down last week. Everyone counted
Speaker 1: us out at halftime. Our quarterback had absolutely apocalyptic first half,
Speaker 1: and yet you never really felt like they were out
Speaker 1: of that game. It seemed like they could climbed back
Speaker 1: in well, but it was it was when it was
Speaker 1: twenty seven and seven a halftime, it was like, I
Speaker 1: wasn't too because I think we've talked, we've seen this
Speaker 1: happen before with teams this year, and I thought it
Speaker 1: showed me that Doug Peterson, who when he ended his
Speaker 1: career with the with the Eagles, it was like, all right,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what to think about this guy. He
Speaker 1: wasn't a coaching advantage that game down the stretch, and
Speaker 1: I think you're going on against you know, Andy Reid,
Speaker 1: who is about to become the essentially third coach in
Speaker 1: league history to have twenty playoff victories if he wins
Speaker 1: this game. So he is is legit as Tom Landry
Speaker 1: and Bill Belichick. But Doug Peterson is someone that helped
Speaker 1: get Trevor Lawrence and the rest of the crew out
Speaker 1: of a jam a week ago. And I like that
Speaker 1: about this team, and I think it's interesting there's the
Speaker 1: Big three in the a f C in Kansas City
Speaker 1: by virtue of the bye that was, let's face it
Speaker 1: aided by what happened in Cincinnati in Week seventeen on
Speaker 1: Monday Night. They end up winning that last game, getting
Speaker 1: the fourteen and three by and then watching the two
Speaker 1: other superpowers kind of struggle and and and have to
Speaker 1: scrape their way to get out of the wild card round.
Speaker 1: Now they have big time rest. They have Andy Reid
Speaker 1: and his coaching staff of the ability to really plan
Speaker 1: um and and study the Jaguars, including what they did
Speaker 1: well and what they failed at against the Chargers. And
Speaker 1: then there's you know, this unfinished business h for Mahomes.
Speaker 1: I think Mahomes is one of the great quarterbacks ever.
Speaker 1: I think he's already that UM. And he said himself
Speaker 1: that he choked in the playoffs last year, Like he
Speaker 1: said he choked against the Bengals in the championship game,
Speaker 1: and he did the whole team did in that second
Speaker 1: half collapse. UM. I think that is major motivation for
Speaker 1: this team. And then you look at what his history
Speaker 1: is in the divisional round. And remember, when you get
Speaker 1: to this round, there's no more. You know, sometimes an
Speaker 1: underdug sneaks through the wild card round and then you
Speaker 1: end up getting kind of a free past the title game.
Speaker 1: But usually these games are big time matchups with superpower
Speaker 1: versus superpower in four games on the divisional stage, nine touchdowns,
Speaker 1: zero picks, a passer rating of almost one fifteen. He's
Speaker 1: one of the great ones. Then the great ones played
Speaker 1: better when the stakes get higher. I do not expect
Speaker 1: him to do anything less than you know, contribute you know,
Speaker 1: thirty to forty points in this game. And then it
Speaker 1: becomes like, can Trevor Lawrence do something that we we
Speaker 1: know is probably inside him? But can he do it
Speaker 1: this spot, this early in his career? Right I'm curious
Speaker 1: how the Jags approach it, because their defense and the
Speaker 1: Chief's defense improved a lot down the stretch since week fifteen.
Speaker 1: These are both top eight defenses according to d v
Speaker 1: O A like six and eight, and they did it
Speaker 1: in similar ways. You mentioned how the Jaguars were pressuring
Speaker 1: better late in the season. The Chiefs have to Carl
Speaker 1: Loftis and um, Chris Jones has just taken it to
Speaker 1: like amazing, to like the best that Chris Jones has
Speaker 1: ever played. And they're getting pressure from different spots and
Speaker 1: they're gonna be trying to force Lawrence into a mistake
Speaker 1: or two. I when you say, like, can Lawrence keep
Speaker 1: up with Mahomes. I do think that that's what it
Speaker 1: will take. Maybe you gotta turn over to from the Chiefs.
Speaker 1: Maybe not, But can Lawrence like make two or three
Speaker 1: plays that are totally off script like Mahomes will when
Speaker 1: the defense actually has the right answers. I'm not quite
Speaker 1: there yet. I still think people are putting the cart
Speaker 1: before the horse in terms of putting Lawrence in that
Speaker 1: class of quarterback like to me, for instance, you know
Speaker 1: we talked about him versus Herbert. He just he hasn't
Speaker 1: showed that level of play to me over a long
Speaker 1: enough period of time, and especially doing all the extra stuff.
Speaker 1: I think these two guys are really good before this snap.
Speaker 1: I think he's extremely smart and accurate for such a
Speaker 1: young quarterback. But I don't know if he does the
Speaker 1: like wow plays. He has wow throws. But I'm talking
Speaker 1: about when the Chiefs come up with some plans here
Speaker 1: with Spagnolo where they get some free rushers or that
Speaker 1: he has to move off the spot. Like how many
Speaker 1: great plays Trevor Lawrence. I think it's fair to wonder
Speaker 1: where we'd be with Trevor Lawrence had someone like Doug
Speaker 1: Peterson been there a year ago because his his rookie
Speaker 1: season was sabotaged. He's made a warp speed jump mid
Speaker 1: season two now. But I'm with you. I think Trevor
Speaker 1: Lawrence wouldn't say he's at Mahomes levels and Josh Allen
Speaker 1: and Joe Burrow levels at this point. I do look
Speaker 1: back on that game in Week ten because the Jaguars
Speaker 1: they had an interception and two fumbles lost. The Chiefs
Speaker 1: had those three turnovers and the Jaguars still scored seventeen points.
Speaker 1: This offense feels different to me now because that this
Speaker 1: is that Trevor Lawrence is a different quarterback now than
Speaker 1: way back then. I really do think he is. Something
Speaker 1: else happened in that game. That was a game where
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes really shredded Jacksonville with his feet, and it
Speaker 1: was almost like what can Patrick Mahomes do beyond when
Speaker 1: everything else does? And it's like he's had games like
Speaker 1: that down the stretch for his the way he's run
Speaker 1: the ball and it's not Lamar Jackson or Daniel Jones,
Speaker 1: but it's been key first downs and a couple of
Speaker 1: big touchdowns and they've been money in the red zone.
Speaker 1: And then also in that game that was the ca
Speaker 1: Darius Tony game where he had a six yard touchdown catch,
Speaker 1: a thirty two yard end around, a twenty three and
Speaker 1: twenty two yard catch, And I think Tony is like me,
Speaker 1: it's we saw against this is your special, this is
Speaker 1: your secret, little woman who's not so secret? But Jacksonville
Speaker 1: was the first team that kind of got flamed by him.
Speaker 1: And Kansas City is healthy for this game relatively, they
Speaker 1: are going to be without Nicole Hardman, which clears out
Speaker 1: potentially a path two more snaps and looks for Candarius
Speaker 1: Tony and Sky Moore as well. Remember that was entering
Speaker 1: the seas like, oh well, sky More step up. Well,
Speaker 1: I think it could be Tony. Ultimately, that is that
Speaker 1: guy that's a difference maker. Remember Jack McKinnon has scored
Speaker 1: in how many weeks in a row? Six or seven
Speaker 1: weeks in a row? Um, And back to the Lauren's
Speaker 1: side of things, Yeah, he's obviously he doesn't have much
Speaker 1: of a track record yet. But sometimes these these jumps
Speaker 1: to become that guy happen on like the stages like
Speaker 1: this and the Last five Possessions, And we talked about
Speaker 1: it on on Sunday night when we're going over that
Speaker 1: crazy game with the Chargers. Like the way the game
Speaker 1: played out, Um, Greg, you made the point like there
Speaker 1: wasn't a lot of room for error for the Jaguars
Speaker 1: in terms of the ability to come back. So what
Speaker 1: did they do their last five possessions going into this game?
Speaker 1: Touchdown at the end of the half, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown,
Speaker 1: march inside the red zone and kick the game when
Speaker 1: he feel goal. This team is gonna go in there
Speaker 1: fearless and confident, and if they get ahead, it doesn't
Speaker 1: mean Kansas City won't come back, because Kansas City has
Speaker 1: come back and playoff games from seventeen down from downs.
Speaker 1: But you know what, would it surprise you if if
Speaker 1: you look up and it's ten nothing midway through the
Speaker 1: first quarter and the Chiefs have to do that again,
Speaker 1: It would not surprise me. I think this is a
Speaker 1: kind of a good spot for the Jacks in terms
Speaker 1: of where they're at. I'm with you. Eight points, eight
Speaker 1: and a half points feels like too much. I took
Speaker 1: the Chiefs to win, I took the Jaguars to cover.
Speaker 1: I do wonder if Travis E. T n is a
Speaker 1: huge factor. He was a problem in that first game.
Speaker 1: He's not great in past protection. Spagnola really tests you there.
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna kind of attack him. The offensive
Speaker 1: line for the Jaguars has been good, uh and Lawrence's
Speaker 1: superpower is definitely getting rid of the ball. But I
Speaker 1: think they'll send pressure and if they're one dimensional, I
Speaker 1: worry about them more. I do like though that Doug Peterson,
Speaker 1: and he showed it last week, is great at adjusting,
Speaker 1: is great at figuring out what the other teams doing
Speaker 1: and coming up with a plant, whereas Andy Reid. I
Speaker 1: feel like it's just a beautiful mind that comes up
Speaker 1: with an incredible plan, and you don't think of them
Speaker 1: necessarily as like em adjustments. You think of like, we're
Speaker 1: gonna do what we're gonna do, and we have fifty
Speaker 1: different things we're gonna do, and we're gonna do it
Speaker 1: all over the game. Like try to stop that, and
Speaker 1: you kind of forget that this is, you know, a
Speaker 1: little pupil versus teacher. I mean, this is where Peterson,
Speaker 1: I think learned all that beautiful scheming. So I'm are
Speaker 1: you still a pupil when you're like sixty and you've
Speaker 1: won a super Bowl and one a ton of games.
Speaker 1: I guess well as a coach in Kansas City and
Speaker 1: in the corners, and I love it because it's offensive
Speaker 1: football and you kind of expect this game to be
Speaker 1: in the thirties. I like the over. That's what I
Speaker 1: meant about Peterson because going hurry up in the second
Speaker 1: half completely changed what the Chargers have been doing in
Speaker 1: the entire first time first half and like it's it
Speaker 1: put Jacksonville in a great place and they played with
Speaker 1: such confidence. And as for Travis c t n, only
Speaker 1: Christian McCaffrey has more scrimmage yards since Week fifteen, Like
Speaker 1: he is a factor. And I think if you can
Speaker 1: it's it sounds cliche to sun degree, but it's like
Speaker 1: if you can like have longer drives where you're take
Speaker 1: keeping the homes off the field, I think that matters
Speaker 1: a lot because the Chiefs like to have these long,
Speaker 1: a long gated drives this year with a billion plays
Speaker 1: and go eighty nine yards. One quick matchup to watch
Speaker 1: is just at cornerback, the slot corner. Trent McDuffie was
Speaker 1: not around for that first game, and he's a rookie
Speaker 1: for the Chiefs who's really played well down the stretch.
Speaker 1: Might be their best cornerback in his in his rookie
Speaker 1: and he's probably getting that Kirk matchup Kirk. We gave
Speaker 1: all this credit to Lawrence, and I think it got
Speaker 1: lost in the shuffle a little bit. Like Kirk had
Speaker 1: to make incredible contested catches, sometimes on the outside, which
Speaker 1: is not what he's known for to win that game,
Speaker 1: and he did it. He was clutch as hell. Can
Speaker 1: we get oh, Justin Peterson is only fifty four years old,
Speaker 1: not six. Oh yes, I don't want to age up.
Speaker 1: That's not fair. But but didn't Andy Reid once coached him? Literally?
Speaker 1: Was he on the Packers staff where Peterson was Barbs backup?
Speaker 1: So I'm just that still counts even if they're only
Speaker 1: eight years apart. There the true pupil then, right, he's
Speaker 1: not Bloomer, He's more the gen x Mark Sessler bracket. No,
Speaker 1: he's not in my bracket. I mean how far does
Speaker 1: that stretch? Like what's kind of like like we think
Speaker 1: of Mark a little bit as a mentor and we're
Speaker 1: his pupil sometimes port with authority that you don't view
Speaker 1: me as a mentor? Can we give some love to
Speaker 1: uh the Jags offensive line? To have we given love
Speaker 1: to the Jack's Office line. You know, since week fourteen
Speaker 1: they haven't lost. Okay, they're averaging about thirty points a game.
Speaker 1: That's that's a whole team, I think. But Trevor Lawrence
Speaker 1: has been sacked one point two times per game since
Speaker 1: this winning streak started. That's that's pretty big time. And
Speaker 1: that's the top five metric in the league. So they're
Speaker 1: giving him time that big. With the game on the line,
Speaker 1: they blocked up that Travis e t n run around
Speaker 1: the end that set up the winner. I just think
Speaker 1: this team is gonna be feeling it. These are two
Speaker 1: very hard quarterbacks to sack, not a lot of negative play.
Speaker 1: And I gotta say Greggy because obviously, um, can we
Speaker 1: bring up the standings for the Locks. We are now
Speaker 1: in in crunch time in the Locks Challenge here and
Speaker 1: Greggy holds a um two game lead over Mark. Um Marv,
Speaker 1: it says Marv Cesler on the ground. We're back to this.
Speaker 1: Is there a Marv in your family? Uncle Marv? So
Speaker 1: Greg at fifteen and four, Dan and Marv at thirteen
Speaker 1: and six. The West Brothers West Brothers have to sweep
Speaker 1: just to get to a tie, and Grave Digger just
Speaker 1: looking for respect at nine and ten. I um, I
Speaker 1: was hoping you were going to lock the chiefs here
Speaker 1: because that was about it. I think, and listen, my
Speaker 1: first I think we're going to be lock bros. On this.
Speaker 1: There's two ways to look at it, Dan and Marv.
Speaker 1: We're gonna need the only way you and I win
Speaker 1: out right. That's what you're looking is it's take that
Speaker 1: getting pup with my strategy. Maybe I'm looking for the tie.
Speaker 1: Who remembers the ties? The trophy? I think the trophy
Speaker 1: that's sitting behind me in my homest udio that doesn't
Speaker 1: come in if we tie, that's just gonna stay there
Speaker 1: for another year. You gotta take it from me. That's
Speaker 1: very true that our nonsense ties down count. Anyone playing
Speaker 1: for a tie is essentially like this one. All right,
Speaker 1: how about this? If you're saying that, do we want
Speaker 1: to have some type of tiebreaker super Bowl Sunday to
Speaker 1: make sure that we don't end on a flat tie.
Speaker 1: I'm willing to and I'm open to that. I don't
Speaker 1: want to do it right now. I mean, I've got
Speaker 1: Marv Cessler right next to me. It's we can bring
Speaker 1: this further involved in the locks but it probably won't
Speaker 1: come to it. Um. But at the same time, if
Speaker 1: you have you and I Mark are two games out,
Speaker 1: we don't have to be on the same path right now.
Speaker 1: But I think you're thinking the same as me. We've
Speaker 1: already already. The producer or Drew said before this that
Speaker 1: you guys are all the same thing. We've done all
Speaker 1: of this too long, like we were all thinking three
Speaker 1: steps ahead, we know what each other's gonna do. I
Speaker 1: was thinking this, Can I see the topic one more time? Yeah?
Speaker 1: It said congratulations Greg? Of it the one arrow that
Speaker 1: pierces Greg's armor and gets him annoyed when people prematurely
Speaker 1: congratulate him. We'd like to see a congratulations comma Greg,
Speaker 1: Just oh, that's a shot at seven ft eight man. No,
Speaker 1: I mean it's I don't know whose team who do
Speaker 1: tremendous work. The rest of it is tremendous. They also
Speaker 1: got they also got my name wrong. So so you
Speaker 1: guys fixed the comma within two seconds. But Marvs stays, yeah,
Speaker 1: so I think it's fair game for me to critique this,
Speaker 1: you know, the overall Alright, anyway, let's take a break
Speaker 1: and then we'll hit the next game on the Saturday schedule.
Speaker 1: All right, welcome back, Let's hit the Saturday night game.
Speaker 1: And I love it at old NFC East barn Burner
Speaker 1: between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles, and
Speaker 1: my goodness, And we talked about it with Pat Leonard
Speaker 1: to The Daily News earlier this week. The Giants were
Speaker 1: not happy about how the Eagles went about their business
Speaker 1: when they blew the doors off them about a month ago. Um.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, mark that Giants team that
Speaker 1: told the media afterwards, We're just not at their level
Speaker 1: right now? Are they at the Eagles level now? And
Speaker 1: I know there's a lot of mystery around the Eagles
Speaker 1: after they're bye week because we gotta see what version
Speaker 1: of Jalen Hurts we have. But do you think the
Speaker 1: Giants as they are currently playing matchup well against the
Speaker 1: number one seed in the NFC. I don't think they
Speaker 1: match up well, um, But I think that team back then.
Speaker 1: One distinct difference about this Giants team, and Pat Leonard
Speaker 1: talked about this too, was that there's just way more
Speaker 1: trust than Daniel Jones in the passing game and generally
Speaker 1: talked about the fact that it used to be Sae
Speaker 1: Kwon Barkley with Daniel Jones as his sidecar, and it's
Speaker 1: kind of flipped now, and like, it doesn't mean that
Speaker 1: they both aren't major core contributors here, but Daniel Jones
Speaker 1: coming off the best game of his career in a
Speaker 1: money spot, UM, I have more trust to that for
Speaker 1: them to be able to inflict a little more damage.
Speaker 1: They were wiped out against the Eagles. My concern is
Speaker 1: a couple of things. Number One, like the Giants offensive line,
Speaker 1: which has I think the six worst worst like PFF
Speaker 1: pass blocking grade in the league. You know, some of
Speaker 1: that has from earlier parts of the year when they
Speaker 1: were injured stuff too, But that's against one of the
Speaker 1: better defensive fronts in the league, and you flip it
Speaker 1: in the Eagles offensive line makes it really tough for
Speaker 1: guys like Cavon Thibodeaux and the rest of the crew
Speaker 1: Dexter Lawrence to get to Jalen Hurts if you get
Speaker 1: the version of Jalen Hurts that we got way back then,
Speaker 1: because Jalen Hurts played one of his best games in
Speaker 1: that Week four teen wrecking of New York and it
Speaker 1: was a j Brown Doante Smith. I mean, they absolutely
Speaker 1: had their way against New York's corners, and so has
Speaker 1: that the MP front runner in my opinion at that
Speaker 1: point in the season. I agreed like, I feel like
Speaker 1: we've it seems like we haven't seen the Eagles that
Speaker 1: we knew of when you had the number one in
Speaker 1: the power rankings when Jalen Hurts and my QB index
Speaker 1: was like rioting number two and maybe about to go
Speaker 1: number one if something went sideways with Patrick Mahomes. I
Speaker 1: feel like we haven't seen that team in like three fortnites.
Speaker 1: So at this point it's like, yeah, we just don't
Speaker 1: know what the Eagles are with Hurts, but the Giants
Speaker 1: on defense they've gotten a little better. Nights would be
Speaker 1: six weeks, six weeks. I should be easy, actually easier
Speaker 1: to say six weeks than three fortnits. And I even
Speaker 1: when I said that, I was like, how long or
Speaker 1: three fortnits? I'm not sure. I thought the fortnite was
Speaker 1: ten days and fairness game that you're talking about against
Speaker 1: the Giants, it's more five weeks away. Think it's how
Speaker 1: long you'd stay in the four Mexicon came from like
Speaker 1: maybe when trouble struck in the old like Kingdom, you'd
Speaker 1: stay in the Ford for two weeks revolutionary war terms.
Speaker 1: Still they still use that for like Wimbledon. They'd like
Speaker 1: to say, well, of course that's a that's an organization.
Speaker 1: It isn't Fortnite like a video game that come to you.
Speaker 1: It is on. Yeah, I've got the cold Dances. I
Speaker 1: I think I I think it's a tough matchup for
Speaker 1: the Giants, but I try to think, especially on offense,
Speaker 1: like how can they win this? Cheeks Just I look,
Speaker 1: everyone knows they've become, you know, a huge Giants believer
Speaker 1: in the last couple of weeks. I do mean it
Speaker 1: that I think they belong here. That by the end
Speaker 1: of the season they became one of the eight best
Speaker 1: teams in the league, Like what or whatever the number
Speaker 1: is eight or ten best teams in the leg that
Speaker 1: they're playing their best football right now. I think defensively,
Speaker 1: that's where the biggest improvement came from. Daniel Jones has
Speaker 1: also improved. But I think of like, how can their
Speaker 1: offense match up against the Eagles defense? How can they
Speaker 1: get over the talent mismatch, because I think that's where
Speaker 1: the mismatch really is. Evan Neil has struggled at right tackle,
Speaker 1: including last week. Just personnel wise, other than Andrew Thomas,
Speaker 1: they don't really match up. And I just think of
Speaker 1: Daniel Jones and s Quan running the hell out of
Speaker 1: the ball like that is how they win this game.
Speaker 1: Daniel Jones didn't run much in the Eagles game a
Speaker 1: month ago, and yet the Eagles have really struggled against
Speaker 1: running quarterbacks. Their numbers, uh like their ep A, every
Speaker 1: thing like that against running quarterbacks is actually terrible. So
Speaker 1: I think you got to use what the Eagles do.
Speaker 1: You have two great running quarterbacks and this game you
Speaker 1: have two uh r PO heavy type of offenses. But
Speaker 1: the difference is one as Juan Barkley and the other doesn't.
Speaker 1: And I think how like you know, how running quarterbacks
Speaker 1: make their running game better, like they're running backs better,
Speaker 1: like Lamar's helped all the Ravens running backs, Jalen Hurts
Speaker 1: helps Miles Sanders. I think it's the other way around
Speaker 1: here that se Juan Barkley is so dynamic and their
Speaker 1: coaches so creative and how they use Barkley and where
Speaker 1: they put him on the field, that he makes Daniel
Speaker 1: Jones even better as a runner. And so I think
Speaker 1: you gotta look at those two guys as a tandem,
Speaker 1: and the only way they win this game is with
Speaker 1: great play calling and a hell of a lot of
Speaker 1: running and those two guys going on long drives and
Speaker 1: just being better on the ground. And I think that's
Speaker 1: where Philly is weak. I have the Giants at number
Speaker 1: seven in the power rankings above the that does that
Speaker 1: include like the Lions for instance? The lines are now
Speaker 1: they get moved out once you move to the divisional round.
Speaker 1: It's just four teens. You should keep them like just
Speaker 1: up until like we must. Like I was trying to think,
Speaker 1: who is the best team that missed the plant? Is
Speaker 1: probably them? Like where would they fit in that? Yeah? Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: the thing is and we did in the live show
Speaker 1: last night. I throughout it. What's more likely? What's more
Speaker 1: likely Daniel Jones comes down to Earth and all this
Speaker 1: talk about him getting a one hundred million dollar contract
Speaker 1: doesn't seem so simple a week from now, or the
Speaker 1: Eagles are that classic and one of the great examples
Speaker 1: of a team that peaks too soon and they kind
Speaker 1: of come out flat and the court alright, nice, and
Speaker 1: the quarterback doesn't look right and we'll kind of remember
Speaker 1: the season as you know, man, if it hurts, just
Speaker 1: what have stayed healthy, maybe things would have been different.
Speaker 1: I think that's that's in play here, and we're not
Speaker 1: gonna know for sure until we see how Philadelphia uses
Speaker 1: their dynamic quarterback. I think now that you know we're
Speaker 1: here divisional weekends where the rubber meets the road, they're
Speaker 1: going to I think have their a game plan and
Speaker 1: just hope for the best. That would be unless there's
Speaker 1: something really bad going on with Hurts that we don't
Speaker 1: know about. And I come off the injury report which
Speaker 1: almost felt like a showy yeah, and it's just like,
Speaker 1: can can he withstand the punishment of a Giant's defensive
Speaker 1: line that can go get it? I think, and very
Speaker 1: fairly Dexter Lawrence got a ton of pop um based
Speaker 1: on his performance on Sunday and through the week, and
Speaker 1: it kind of reminds you again the Giants that they're
Speaker 1: just good at building defensive lines, and with Leonard Williams
Speaker 1: there and Cavon, they have just the ability to create
Speaker 1: havoc and make players uncomfortable, like the Kirk Cousins check
Speaker 1: down on fourth down that was because he couldn't hang
Speaker 1: in the pockets and it put him in a situation
Speaker 1: where he's like, do I just throw it up for
Speaker 1: grabs or throw it to that guy open and underneath
Speaker 1: and see if he can make one or two plays. Um,
Speaker 1: can they make Jalen Hurts uncomfortable? Can they put some
Speaker 1: pops on Janaleen? You don't want to see anybody get injured,
Speaker 1: but make this guy pay for it when he tries
Speaker 1: to be physical and running the ball. All the Giants
Speaker 1: have a chance to dictate the flow of the game
Speaker 1: by what they can do upfront. I'd like to think
Speaker 1: they do. I mean I also think as Theesel Glari
Speaker 1: who will be on the injury report. Brian Dable said
Speaker 1: he he had he was out there for a walkthrough.
Speaker 1: We'll see what he can do. What version of me
Speaker 1: you get? Um, Lane Johnson back for the Eagles thing?
Speaker 1: That's huge. I mean, there's they're a different version of
Speaker 1: Lane Johnson, that's the version of him, and Hurts almost
Speaker 1: feels like the biggest X factor. I think that's why
Speaker 1: we don't know, because I will go back to the
Speaker 1: fact that, like for all this stuff, the way that
Speaker 1: the Giants have evolved, how have they evolved to stop
Speaker 1: Davanta Smith and A. J. Brown who wrecked them in
Speaker 1: that game. I just don't see where that's where that's changed.
Speaker 1: And if Hurts can, if Hurts is healthy, like that
Speaker 1: to basically pays though, Dorry Jackson and Xavier McKenney are
Speaker 1: there two best players in the secondary. They were injured
Speaker 1: throughout this season. In their return, like really, I think
Speaker 1: helps out that secondary. I uh, I think about that
Speaker 1: pass rush that you mentioned with the Giants and like,
Speaker 1: this isn't the Vikings they're going against. This is a
Speaker 1: future Hall of Fame er potentially. Wow. They put that
Speaker 1: on way too early for Jason Kelsey, but he'll get considered,
Speaker 1: um not early in his career. Just I haven't thought
Speaker 1: about it. But he has like the numbers in the
Speaker 1: All Pros and all that to do it. He's at
Speaker 1: center a good interior line around him. Um. You know
Speaker 1: a very popular podcast executive produced by our old producer
Speaker 1: T d with Jason Kelsey. And so it's not the
Speaker 1: same matchup Garrett Bradberry and the Vikings offensive line. No
Speaker 1: no pop, no podcast, no Hall of Famers. I just
Speaker 1: I see something happening in this game, and like, I look,
Speaker 1: I picked the Giants to win an overtime, and I
Speaker 1: think they're gonna hang around and make this This is
Speaker 1: gonna be like a point of departure for Brian Dables
Speaker 1: Giants that I think goes win or lose. You go
Speaker 1: into this offseason with more hope around the New York
Speaker 1: Giants than we've seen in a million years since the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. But because they're coming off of Daniel Jones
Speaker 1: day where he shredded in Minnesota Vikings past defense that
Speaker 1: is the worst in league in the league, and you
Speaker 1: pair that with the way that we viewed the Eagles
Speaker 1: for two plus weeks, it's like, oh, maybe they're not
Speaker 1: the same team, Like what's going on with them? Like
Speaker 1: they're not impressing us. I'm not sure any of that
Speaker 1: is actually factually relevant to this game. But you're not
Speaker 1: going to bring up all of this when you retweet
Speaker 1: the Giants social media that's pointing out you're the only
Speaker 1: person that that Yeah, well, of course, of course, But
Speaker 1: but I I said that I picked him, and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna roll with it because it's exciting and fun. But
Speaker 1: I just think the Eagles are getting a little looked
Speaker 1: past right now. I mean, they were dominant for of
Speaker 1: their games. Yes they were. Um, I need to see
Speaker 1: that team again, and we just saw with their division
Speaker 1: made the Cowboys another team that we have far less
Speaker 1: reason to trust based on their recent history. They hit
Speaker 1: the pedal in the medal as soon as the playoffs
Speaker 1: started and looked like a different team a little. I
Speaker 1: just maybe this is just as my New York Jeff
Speaker 1: fan scar tissue here. Um, Like I said, my old
Speaker 1: man dad hates the Giants, but he's still in that
Speaker 1: market with the media and fans all around him. I
Speaker 1: moved to California, big Keith fan, thank you Mark as
Speaker 1: he is of you. Um, I came here and I
Speaker 1: lost all that giant vitriol. But then, like in the text,
Speaker 1: the text threads with my buddies back to East. They're
Speaker 1: getting They're really feeling themselves. Greg would hate it that
Speaker 1: the Giants fans and the way they talked about the
Speaker 1: quarterback is as if they have now found a generational
Speaker 1: talent and Daniel Jones And I'm just gonna a little
Speaker 1: bit of cold water. Okay, when did everyone start talking
Speaker 1: about Daniel Jones making this big leap? It was starting
Speaker 1: with Christmas Eve. It was I know, he kind of
Speaker 1: got better as the season came along. But all this
Speaker 1: talk about like now the offense runs through Daniel Jones.
Speaker 1: Daniel Jones is the best player on the offense. Daniel
Speaker 1: Jones is he lit up Minnesota in Minnesota, absolutely walked
Speaker 1: over a colts team that doesn't even deserve to be
Speaker 1: in the league right now, and then did it again
Speaker 1: to Minnesota. Those are that that's bottom of the barrel
Speaker 1: in terms of defenses and schemes right now. And to
Speaker 1: now ask him to go against the Eagles. If this
Speaker 1: guy balls out against the Eagles, I'm gonna shut my
Speaker 1: mouth and be the first one to sing this guy's praises.
Speaker 1: But I'm a little concerned about the Danny Danny Times
Speaker 1: hype against how he's built up that hype in the
Speaker 1: last month. It's totally fair. This is a like a
Speaker 1: raging litmus test um that would change perceptions about him
Speaker 1: forever if he went out and did the same thing. Uh,
Speaker 1: that doesn't feel like people have already made like I've
Speaker 1: been in I feel like I've had some Daniel Jones
Speaker 1: stock from the beginning. I wrote A regrettable long season
Speaker 1: wasn't quite a long off season long form, but it
Speaker 1: was close about how excited I was about him and
Speaker 1: Drew Lock. I think he's been like rock solid all
Speaker 1: along and maybe saying it was regrettable. I've taken fire
Speaker 1: for this article on Twitter quite a few times, and
Speaker 1: and I am stupid. But then the Daniel Jones part
Speaker 1: of it, I think he's always been better than people
Speaker 1: gave him credit for. And I think the surrounding talent
Speaker 1: and certainly the coaching hasten never call you Greg. Also
Speaker 1: absolutely we got into it after a Monday night game
Speaker 1: when you fried I a gent I like Daniel Jones
Speaker 1: is a little spicy, and you were like, he's the
Speaker 1: worst quarter is one of the he's the worst quarterback
Speaker 1: in the league. With your Giants takes right now, you're
Speaker 1: kind of all over your I think you're trying to
Speaker 1: get in on this and you're struggling because it doesn't
Speaker 1: you know, buying this. You had a think piece about
Speaker 1: Drew Lock when he was going against Geno Smith as
Speaker 1: Seattle's quarterback. It was more than two years ago. It
Speaker 1: was the off season piece that I was excited to
Speaker 1: watch them coming out of their history once they're fair
Speaker 1: their rookie season, and and you're right, I have been
Speaker 1: a little all over the place, like with this Giants pick,
Speaker 1: and you mentioned the Cowboys before. With this Giants team,
Speaker 1: you mentioned the Cowboys before, and the Cowboys, I think
Speaker 1: last week it was a good example of a team
Speaker 1: like you were looking at what had happened recently and
Speaker 1: no one was really as focused on like one team's
Speaker 1: twelve and five and one team's eight and nine. For
Speaker 1: a reason, one teams loaded a top five offense defense
Speaker 1: on both sides of the ball, and I think that's
Speaker 1: the case here with this Eagles team. Even though I
Speaker 1: think the Giants are belonging this game and I think
Speaker 1: that they're gonna survive, I don't think they can cover
Speaker 1: Dallas Godder, I don't think they're linebackers can play a lick.
Speaker 1: And I'm turning back around. I'm the heel. Let's go,
Speaker 1: we're locking it off. Greg Is he's growing his craft
Speaker 1: as a showman. I'll give him that, because he just
Speaker 1: went like kind of w WF wrestling. Are you insituating
Speaker 1: that you were the hero before this? But it comes
Speaker 1: to picking the Giants games, it's more fun for the
Speaker 1: lock bros Than to embrace this Giant's team as our
Speaker 1: lock off with Greg. The only thing that does annoy
Speaker 1: me is if we lose this lock, Greg gets the
Speaker 1: saunter through Super Bowl Sunday without a care in the world. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but that's we're at that moment, were at that moment.
Speaker 1: It's a crucible. He's gonna if he's if he wins
Speaker 1: in pick no matter what else, it doesn't matter. So
Speaker 1: we're doing it on three. Yeah, alright, on three on three,
Speaker 1: we're go get up, let's go. Gee, let's go. I mean,
Speaker 1: who's the showman, Now, let's go. I am making this
Speaker 1: a double lock off because I'm going to lock the
Speaker 1: Eagles and that's actually that's gonna like this. So the
Speaker 1: guy with like the winning percent just aligned with Greg. Good.
Speaker 1: But Greg, the thing is, you can't go now change
Speaker 1: to the Chiefs. No. I I thought about how all
Speaker 1: the ways this show could go. Let's go. This felt
Speaker 1: like the most excitingthing, which is I felt like you
Speaker 1: guys would come with me on this. This is fantastic.
Speaker 1: We all could do it in this lock and if
Speaker 1: you guys want to. Um, someone just got in my
Speaker 1: year I believe he's nine feet tall and said, there's
Speaker 1: some interesting stuff in that Drew lock article if we
Speaker 1: want to surface it at any point, maybe that's a
Speaker 1: I don't know, there's some people working against you behind
Speaker 1: the scenes. I mean, if you brought it up, it's
Speaker 1: on NFL dot com. I can't ride from it. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think we all have a few things problematic. I
Speaker 1: want to I think so. Well. Actually, no, they redid
Speaker 1: the content management system and wiped all our body careers
Speaker 1: like two World right up on Kim Kardashi and having
Speaker 1: a crush on Tim Tebow. That's not the way to
Speaker 1: start your career here. Where where's your life's worked in? Oh?
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's lost in the digital abysses. Oh
Speaker 1: they changed cms is so I don't exist anymore. I
Speaker 1: think it's like a Julia Roberts movie in um, all right, dude,
Speaker 1: let's just pick the games before week. We're gonna take
Speaker 1: a halftime break here and visit with a friend. What
Speaker 1: do we have, Jaguars, Chiefs? What do we have for
Speaker 1: scores there? I had the Jaguars covering and losing in
Speaker 1: in the thirties. I think it's gonna be Chiefs seven
Speaker 1: Jaguars one. All right, I'll go Chiefs thirty eight, Jacks
Speaker 1: and Giants Eagles. You know that my whole um Daniel
Speaker 1: Jones thing, I kind of you know, I believe what
Speaker 1: I say typically on the show, and even it's not
Speaker 1: always right a week and extremely um apprehensive about Danny
Speaker 1: Dine here, but it's too late to back out now.
Speaker 1: So yes, the Giants in a classic again. And I've been,
Speaker 1: you know, watching the Giants for thirty years, and these
Speaker 1: Giants playoff runs. They usually don't go one win and out.
Speaker 1: They take on a vibe like midway through that Vikings game,
Speaker 1: you just you knew it. You knew the Giants are
Speaker 1: gonna find a way because sometimes again, same thing with
Speaker 1: the Chargers on the other side, you could change the players,
Speaker 1: the management, the coaches, but some teams they just have
Speaker 1: this thing that sticks to them. And the Giants go
Speaker 1: on these memorable runs. They're gonna win another very close game.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say the Giants locking it up. The eight
Speaker 1: six and ninety teams were dominant um punishing operations under
Speaker 1: Bill Parcels and Bill Belichick, the two Eli manning teams.
Speaker 1: Though you are so right, you get vibes with this team.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that they're the equivalent talent wise, but
Speaker 1: those teams went into the playoffs with shaky records. Um
Speaker 1: just squeaking in and then some magic took over and
Speaker 1: it was like, we don't are you playing. I kind
Speaker 1: of feel they've got that thing. Maybe it's next year
Speaker 1: if it's not this year. But I picked them in
Speaker 1: this fantastic thing that happened in our picks thing online
Speaker 1: on Twitter to twenty in overtime, which means sa Kwan
Speaker 1: Barkley rips off like an eight four yard touchdown run
Speaker 1: after the Eagles goes free and out on their opening
Speaker 1: overtime possession in New York moves on. You know, I
Speaker 1: didn't feel like amazing about either of the Eagles or
Speaker 1: the Chiefs, which are the two obvious ones. I had
Speaker 1: the Giants covering on on the game picko, like a
Speaker 1: Giants win would not shock me. But I think the
Speaker 1: Giants have way more weaknesses. I think it's on defense,
Speaker 1: especially those linebackers. Just picking on those guys with Sanders
Speaker 1: and got Her And you know, while we're on the
Speaker 1: subject of predictions, Mark um Greg brought it up on
Speaker 1: the Live show, and I feel like I should bring
Speaker 1: it up now that you know the Bucks, the NFC
Speaker 1: South winner did not win a playoff game, and yet
Speaker 1: you did not surface that information. You didn't take the
Speaker 1: l on the Monday show and a Tuesday show, and
Speaker 1: I thought, maybe this is something. Well, I didn't lock
Speaker 1: your a dress. I didn't lock it up. Um, you
Speaker 1: spent like fifteen different shows talking. I'll be honest, like
Speaker 1: those Sunday night shows sometimes like I want you to
Speaker 1: believe me, I forgot to. It was it was the
Speaker 1: Tuesday show, all right, especially by Tuesday, I forgot to.
Speaker 1: But you're right, so you're seeing where my mind is. Um,
Speaker 1: I that's I'll take the ELM that I should have
Speaker 1: done that, because if I'm gonna, would you have brought
Speaker 1: it up if the Bucks won? Of course, of course
Speaker 1: it would have been more in my mind. But I
Speaker 1: would say this that, like if I'm gonna walk around
Speaker 1: prance around the studio telling Greg to be more of
Speaker 1: a showman, I've got to take the el's with the W.
Speaker 1: So that's on me and it's a learning point. All
Speaker 1: but I took the air. But you know now you can't.
Speaker 1: You didn't back down on stage in front of the
Speaker 1: sold out crowd. But this is nice you've but you
Speaker 1: just have to keep like you know, you don't take punches,
Speaker 1: you keep throwing them. It was it was it not.
Speaker 1: There were one or two people in there that were
Speaker 1: a little two liquored up. There was one gentleman that
Speaker 1: just kept shouting at one point of miss Lake. There's
Speaker 1: always one way more in England. I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: know if the people of England ever stopped drinking. I
Speaker 1: believe that country is perpetually in a inebriated and I'm
Speaker 1: cool with it. But it's sometimes again, like we tried
Speaker 1: to do two years ago, back to back live shows. Uh,
Speaker 1: it was when Mark wasn't with us. You were ill Mark,
Speaker 1: and it was Greg and I And by the second show,
Speaker 1: the people of England were so drunk. London was so
Speaker 1: underwater with al that we couldn't even hear ourselves in conversation.
Speaker 1: It's a little different in l A. I think we
Speaker 1: could ask our halftime guest about that. Yes, let's take
Speaker 1: a break and talk to one of the very drunk
Speaker 1: men of London. All right, welcome back. I mentioned we
Speaker 1: were going to have a a buzzed Londoner joining us now,
Speaker 1: and here he is. God saved the King, God saved
Speaker 1: Henry Hodgson. Well, come back to around the NFL our
Speaker 1: good friend who we miss dearly in the States. But
Speaker 1: we know you have more important things to handle now,
Speaker 1: Mr Responsibility, Hi, guys, I miss you guys a lot
Speaker 1: as well. How you I don't know about your nickname
Speaker 1: going from Handsome Hank to Mr Responsibility. That seems like
Speaker 1: a bad life. Stick with the prior. Yeah it's still true. Yeah, Um, Hank,
Speaker 1: we are um stopping down our preview for a little
Speaker 1: halftime assignment because we want to share. We have this
Speaker 1: great passionate overseas listenership and rapid rabbit. For America, we're
Speaker 1: having another cultural disconnect. It would be rabbit here, but
Speaker 1: I agree, I kind of agree with you. Well you're
Speaker 1: from sorry, so like the American dictionary not the English dictionary. Um, anyway,
Speaker 1: rabbit is the correct pronunciation. Um, let's get to it.
Speaker 1: Let's share the game. The home the designated home teams
Speaker 1: Hank for the International International Games two thousand twenty three.
Speaker 1: Let's bring that that tune up again, that classic national
Speaker 1: and classic iconic even historic. Did I like God save
Speaker 1: the Queen better? I thought a little bit of a
Speaker 1: little pop to it, a little more a little more
Speaker 1: kind of your own king, save yourself, a little more feminist.
Speaker 1: But right, Hank, the National Football League isn't think if
Speaker 1: we were called this time last year when we talked
Speaker 1: about this, mock predicted that maybe a change in mock.
Speaker 1: You know what, I mentioned that even before the show, Like, um,
Speaker 1: it happened very soon after. It was weeks before Henry
Speaker 1: He basically did it himself. Yes, you mark your sentences
Speaker 1: to watch the Crown all the way through this entire weekend.
Speaker 1: I have no predictions about Prince Charles, who was young
Speaker 1: and vibrant as far as I can see Sunday, he's young, vibrant. Uh,
Speaker 1: let's get into it. Yes, um. The NFL announced five
Speaker 1: teams set to play in the three international games. The
Speaker 1: Buffalo Bills, the Tennessee Titans, Hey there, Grave Digger, Jacksonville's
Speaker 1: Jaguars of course, the Kansas City Chiefs and New England
Speaker 1: Patriots will all play home games. Uh. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium,
Speaker 1: the Hot Toddy, the Big Tot will again host two
Speaker 1: of those international games. Uh. The Jags will return to
Speaker 1: their home away from home, Wembley Stadium as a part
Speaker 1: of that multi year packed And how about that finally,
Speaker 1: Henry your people after all these years, um, the Jaguars
Speaker 1: being the designated team and it's like, oh, the a team.
Speaker 1: Now the Jaguars are a team. What a treat for rules? Um?
Speaker 1: Now it actually is cool. So that's great. It's always
Speaker 1: been cool. It's exciting. This is this will be the
Speaker 1: tent year. You know what. I'm UK, We've We've embraced it.
Speaker 1: I actually done. Yeah, it's exciting that they are playing
Speaker 1: um in in in a playoff game this weekend, alongside
Speaker 1: with the Bills as well. So two teams. So the
Speaker 1: two of the two of the eight teams playing this
Speaker 1: weekend all be playing in London next year. Yeah. So
Speaker 1: the chiefs of the Patriots are in Germany, Bills, Titans
Speaker 1: and Jags h in London. I am always impressed and
Speaker 1: surprised that the Jaguars fan base in London in the
Speaker 1: UK is a real thing, and I gotta think this
Speaker 1: this run kind of takes it to another level. Are
Speaker 1: there like a lot of Bills and Titans fans? I
Speaker 1: mean really, are there any Titans fans outside of Tennessee
Speaker 1: in the studio? Ouchez. Wow, that's a tough one. Greg
Speaker 1: took that to an interesting place and lots of people
Speaker 1: excited to see the Titans. I didn't know that was
Speaker 1: a question for me. I don't know. It all felt
Speaker 1: like and then yet I will say this thing like
Speaker 1: the lineup. I mean, we don't we only know how
Speaker 1: to line up. But it's like I can think back
Speaker 1: six seven years ago where it's like you'd send you'd
Speaker 1: struggle to send competitive teams to London. You'd get these
Speaker 1: were not always A matchups, there b matchups. These are
Speaker 1: premier teams that happened this last season too. So I
Speaker 1: would ask you this because we always get asked this
Speaker 1: when we go to London and it's like we don't
Speaker 1: really know. There was like what will what will football
Speaker 1: look like ten years from now? It's like, well, we
Speaker 1: would love to see a team in London, but like
Speaker 1: I'm you, you know better than anyone where is this going?
Speaker 1: Like where will we be? Will it look different than this?
Speaker 1: I mean I think it could do. There's definitely think
Speaker 1: the biggest issue is always like the inventory. How many
Speaker 1: games could we actually take overseas um? But you know
Speaker 1: the goal is to is to put on the best
Speaker 1: postal experiences and and then if a team wanted to
Speaker 1: come and play in London. If they wanted to move
Speaker 1: into the UK and play permanently there, then we'd have
Speaker 1: the fan base that could support it. That's the goal,
Speaker 1: you can from. All we can do. Yeah, all we
Speaker 1: can do though is just is just make sure that
Speaker 1: what we do, the games that we put on, everything
Speaker 1: else that we do in the UK puts us in
Speaker 1: the right position if if a team were to want
Speaker 1: to to take it to the UK. I always thought
Speaker 1: you could have at least like an eight game slate,
Speaker 1: like any any team. Now pretty close, But I will
Speaker 1: say the idea that I personally this is just a
Speaker 1: me thing, a mark thing. Like it's now wake up
Speaker 1: at you know, five thirty in the morning to watch
Speaker 1: this game, and then there's three It's like seventeen hours
Speaker 1: of football and Sunday. I love it. It's fantastic. I'll
Speaker 1: try to learn to speak like you, Henry, which will
Speaker 1: rise me up through the ORC chart. But like, um,
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's a lot. It's fantastic, it's great.
Speaker 1: Pretty like talking trash about these I just do think
Speaker 1: it's like coaches in general. A few times you've asked
Speaker 1: coaches about London. I think they mean. I wonder if
Speaker 1: a culture change happens here where it's like they don't disruption.
Speaker 1: I think it is a bit of a distruction. The
Speaker 1: players seemed to embrace and I love going to England.
Speaker 1: It's like the coaches need to come around and realize, like,
Speaker 1: this is your sport. You got to grow the game.
Speaker 1: I do mean that where it's like it's a good experience,
Speaker 1: but it's like some of them have a weird attitude
Speaker 1: about having to take the week and go there and
Speaker 1: do all that business they do. I mean, there's definitely
Speaker 1: a strong correlation between the coaches who have that feeling
Speaker 1: and the coaches who lose the games there, and then
Speaker 1: the coaches are wins. It was a great experience and
Speaker 1: we love to do it again because I've noticed that
Speaker 1: correlation definitely. I would say, you know that twenty one
Speaker 1: weeks of the year that the fans here in the
Speaker 1: UK and Europe everywhere else in the world up until
Speaker 1: all hours of the morning. During the NFL playoffs, there
Speaker 1: are fans in the UK and Germany, you know, watching
Speaker 1: games until five o'clock in the morning. So if once
Speaker 1: in a while some teams could could come and coaches.
Speaker 1: You know, could be okay, we're getting up early in
Speaker 1: the morning. I think I think it would be okay,
Speaker 1: pretty amazing. Uh, this will be the first Bill's time
Speaker 1: time in London, right have they been there? They played,
Speaker 1: they played before so last year ast you we checked
Speaker 1: all the boxes. The Packers were the last team to
Speaker 1: chalup to London. The Bills I think played in Okay
Speaker 1: doesn't count. Connor and I went to that game actually
Speaker 1: Jaguars Bills. It was a Rex Ryan, very very bizarre
Speaker 1: game where the Jaguars were on fire and the place
Speaker 1: Wembley was on fire. It is nice to have Josh
Speaker 1: Allen going over to London. You got Patrick Mahomes heading
Speaker 1: to Germany. Used to be the VP of all international
Speaker 1: Now you're more focused on the UK. Is they're a
Speaker 1: friendly rivalry here with like who gets the better games
Speaker 1: and there's a there's a friendly rivalry. We want to
Speaker 1: make sure that people in the UK have the best
Speaker 1: possible time in the best game. So yeah, I would
Speaker 1: say friendly rivalry is a nice way of putting it
Speaker 1: that that Zappie game in in uh in Germany is
Speaker 1: going to be a big one. That's your Dolphins fan
Speaker 1: coming out and I love it. Um. Henry Hodson, general
Speaker 1: manager of the NFL UK whoa the job titles, keeps
Speaker 1: his power, oozes power and you know and you know
Speaker 1: I've I've stated this numerou as time is both in
Speaker 1: print and to you personally. Um. When when the NFL
Speaker 1: has a Super Bowl in London, that halftime show must
Speaker 1: be the Oasis reunion. Nolan and I talked about it
Speaker 1: recently when I managed to spend some time with him,
Speaker 1: and he is very excited about that opportunity. Wow, that's
Speaker 1: actually true on shod CON's super yacht with Noel Gallagher
Speaker 1: and they believe that legitimate anyway, Big Cowboys fan, Big
Speaker 1: Cowboys fan, Hank, we love you. Thank you for this information,
Speaker 1: please and we always need your help get us back
Speaker 1: over there, not for the game, just for diner, Yes,
Speaker 1: dinner and a show, and yes we we love you, buddy,
Speaker 1: and thank you for taking some time and get back
Speaker 1: to your ale. Henry Hodson, general manager, trust his celebrity
Speaker 1: anecdotes because one of the first times I met him,
Speaker 1: he told him told a story about how he and
Speaker 1: his friends when they were younger and they were they
Speaker 1: had been out. I think, Um, drinking late and they
Speaker 1: were having had sort of a hangover earlier in the
Speaker 1: day that Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow whin that before
Speaker 1: they had a hag is basically you like the six
Speaker 1: degrees of Kevin Bacon. Yeah, he's that, but London and
Speaker 1: like high London culture. This is before they had the
Speaker 1: mutual parting whatever it's called, like like conscious coupling. Like
Speaker 1: one of the Paltrow scolded Henry and the rest of
Speaker 1: the lads for their their ways. Yeah. Yes, many years ago,
Speaker 1: Henry out upstanding gentleman of the highest esteem. UM let's go,
Speaker 1: let's do a quick spin around the league before we
Speaker 1: get back to the championship games, um as or the
Speaker 1: divisional games. As we said, there's less coaches head coaches
Speaker 1: that are biting and dust, but there's always got to
Speaker 1: be someone that pays the price for teams disappointing. And
Speaker 1: we're continuing to see UM coordinators bite the dust. So
Speaker 1: this is the latest UM. Ravens and offensive coordinator Greg
Speaker 1: Roman part ways after six seasons. There was one year
Speaker 1: left on Romans deal. There's an I think it was
Speaker 1: out there that was a team option. So essentially it
Speaker 1: was Greg take a walk and um, we have I
Speaker 1: think a do we have John Harbaugh because this story,
Speaker 1: Remember we talked that do we need to be talking
Speaker 1: about Lamar Jackson and what the saga is? Yes, when
Speaker 1: there's news and I think today Thursday, Uh, to me
Speaker 1: smells like a reunion will happen with Lamar Jackson and
Speaker 1: the Ravens. Here's what John Harbor had to say. Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson is our quarterback and he's been our quarterback. Everything
Speaker 1: we've done in terms of building our offense and building
Speaker 1: our team, how we think in terms of people and
Speaker 1: put people around him, is based on this incredible young man.
Speaker 1: His talent, his ability, and his competitiveness. You know here
Speaker 1: he and I were talking today too, and and the
Speaker 1: things about Lamar that to me stands out. He's an
Speaker 1: incredible competitor. I mean, Lamar Jackson, all he wants to
Speaker 1: do is win and at everything he does. You know,
Speaker 1: I I thought that was telling your right, Dan, I
Speaker 1: thought that was newsworthy. They said that Lamar would be
Speaker 1: involved in the offensive coordinator decision. It was interesting to
Speaker 1: see Lamar Jackson uh retweet. It was a quote tweet
Speaker 1: something out there that pointed out how he had been
Speaker 1: in a pro style offense in Louisville's a little different
Speaker 1: than kind of what Greg Roman had been running. And uh,
Speaker 1: that to me tells you that, like, he's not going anywhere.
Speaker 1: If they don't want him to go anywhere, he's not
Speaker 1: going anywhere. Because at the very worst for them, they
Speaker 1: could just put a second franchise tag. Then the balls
Speaker 1: in his court a little bit, but he would be
Speaker 1: making I think, overt million dollars. I don't think he
Speaker 1: would mind that. The Ravens are so well run. That's
Speaker 1: the reason why they've they've always been relevant, um in
Speaker 1: part because they handled situations the right way almost always,
Speaker 1: and they're doing this the right way. They're like, all right,
Speaker 1: obviously things are not good with Lamar. How can we
Speaker 1: fix this? All right, Let's get rid of Roman. Let's
Speaker 1: make sure he knows we are open to changing the
Speaker 1: offense how he wants it to be changed, get him involved.
Speaker 1: It's the things that teams that aren't run well, um,
Speaker 1: don't do right. And it seems like easy stuff, but
Speaker 1: it very easily could lead to bitterness. And we'll see,
Speaker 1: maybe this thing still devolves. But it just feels like
Speaker 1: between those comments, what DaCosta said, and then Lamar um
Speaker 1: his quote retweet there was telling to me and Joe. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean doing things well. Also is having the press
Speaker 1: conference where you give concrete news like why that's why
Speaker 1: we're talking about Lamar Jackson at the right time to
Speaker 1: diffuse some of this because they are run really well,
Speaker 1: but like a week ago or coming off of Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson not showing up to their playoff game, I think
Speaker 1: things were getting a little strange, and so you've diffused
Speaker 1: a bunch of that, which is good. I mean we're
Speaker 1: seeing that justin Herbert's gonna get a say in who
Speaker 1: replaces Joe Lombardi. And I think if you're Lamar Jackson,
Speaker 1: the Greg Roman experience probably has run its course. And
Speaker 1: I don't know if they did this just for Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 1: It certainly has a lot to do with him Um,
Speaker 1: but he should have a say in who he wants
Speaker 1: to coach him, because that's part of a long term
Speaker 1: agreement with a star quarterback at this point in the NFL.
Speaker 1: The one thing about Greg Roman, I know his offenses
Speaker 1: in San Francisco. In here they start to stale. I
Speaker 1: mean we all see that, but he coached up Alex
Speaker 1: Smith in San Francisco to incredible levels. He made Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson an m v P. Lamar Jackson did too, But
Speaker 1: that offense they really used, like Greg the better parts
Speaker 1: of what Greg Roman does. Kaepernick stretch to get to
Speaker 1: Greg Roman does. It's not for everyone, but he he
Speaker 1: does have a track record of maximizing quarterbacks in the
Speaker 1: in the right spot, I'd take him with with all
Speaker 1: the great running quarterback talent around the league, he he
Speaker 1: should have a job. They were quick to point out
Speaker 1: in their statements saying by the Roman that he has
Speaker 1: set at least twenty six different records in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and I was like, what, I want to know what
Speaker 1: those records are? And the what the number that's statistic good?
Speaker 1: Records was like an NFL offense unline we've ever totally
Speaker 1: seen in the modern era, and that that's where a
Speaker 1: lot of the records came from. A stats In turn,
Speaker 1: for the Ravens are called into the office like, Hey,
Speaker 1: we're gonna fire Greig, but we need you to pull
Speaker 1: up some really compelling positive data about him because we're
Speaker 1: a classy organ. I had a pizza with Greg Roman
Speaker 1: at the Indianapolis airport at one time. In fact, Henry
Speaker 1: Hodgson came and joined us. Have you reached out to
Speaker 1: him to extend your condolence? That was half a decade ago,
Speaker 1: and I don't think our friendship, um really was cemented
Speaker 1: to beyond that time. That that is the classy way
Speaker 1: to fire someone unlike and I know, um the social
Speaker 1: media accounts are the ones doing the firing, but it's
Speaker 1: really gotten on my radar lately that they put a
Speaker 1: huge sad picture of the person who got fired, in
Speaker 1: this case Byron Leftwich, but I think Roman too, And
Speaker 1: then they just put a huge fired, like in massive
Speaker 1: like we don't we don't need to companies that have
Speaker 1: had layoffs recently. And I'm just thinking, like, you don't
Speaker 1: need to have a huge graphic of like fired with
Speaker 1: the same face. And then all these like like that's
Speaker 1: why we call it new horizons in my mention are like, oh,
Speaker 1: you're getting soft, like so soft, like the media is
Speaker 1: so soft these days. You can't report the facts he
Speaker 1: was fired, But I understand your points, just like fire
Speaker 1: also fired. The Buccaneers have dismissed offensive coordinator Byron Left,
Speaker 1: which not just Byron Left, which again Todd Boll survives,
Speaker 1: but Buck's leadership said, you know, and maybe Todd, I
Speaker 1: don't know, a lot of people gotta go, and it's
Speaker 1: not just ro c. In addition to left which five
Speaker 1: assistants were dismissed, including their running backs coach Todd McNair,
Speaker 1: offense assistant defensive line coach Laurie Locust, and three others
Speaker 1: retired in court, including quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen. Also, the
Speaker 1: Dolphins part ways with Josh Boyer after three seasons as
Speaker 1: their defensive coordinator. Um. That comes along with the departures
Speaker 1: of safeties coach, outside linebackers coach, the assistant linebackers coach Um,
Speaker 1: So big changes there as he went down swing he
Speaker 1: did that was an interesting game plan. Uh. He had
Speaker 1: some of the pretty aggressive play calling there by boy
Speaker 1: Or against the Bills. You know, it kind of worked
Speaker 1: and that it absolutely didn't work at moments. It was
Speaker 1: just very much risk reward. Was one of those that wor.
Speaker 1: He was on the previous staff. He was a Patriots guy,
Speaker 1: and I guess mcdaina can go get his own player.
Speaker 1: It's just interesting. McVeigh also had fired five coaches and
Speaker 1: two others left with the idea that like they probably
Speaker 1: were getting fired before they left. So that's seven new
Speaker 1: coaches on the Rams too, So like a lot of
Speaker 1: these organizations making huge All right, there you go, you're
Speaker 1: caught up. Let's move to the Sunday games and let's
Speaker 1: start with UM, I think the game of the weekend.
Speaker 1: It is UH to me the two best teams in
Speaker 1: the a f C, the Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills,
Speaker 1: two teams with a lot to unfinished business themselves. Of course,
Speaker 1: we know Cincinnati came so close, oh so close to
Speaker 1: winning the Super Bowl last year, UH went down against
Speaker 1: the Rams, and UM, we also had the Bills, who
Speaker 1: of course lost one of the all time playoff shootouts
Speaker 1: against the Chiefs. So it's final what was at twelve
Speaker 1: seconds after the Josh Allen touchdown pass that led to
Speaker 1: a heartbreaking defeat in overtime. So these are two teams
Speaker 1: looking to get over the hump, and of course we
Speaker 1: when this game kicks off, Greg, it will be twenty
Speaker 1: days since the Damar Hamlin incident, when these two teams
Speaker 1: had what seemed to be a huge regular season showdown
Speaker 1: to see who was ahead of the other, and that
Speaker 1: game never was completed for obvious reasons, so now here
Speaker 1: they are again with the stakes at they're very highest.
Speaker 1: It struck me last week just how quickly like the
Speaker 1: NFL moved on and we all moved on. And I
Speaker 1: think that was helped immeasurably by the great outcome into
Speaker 1: Hamlin's life. But I'm thinking on some of these these
Speaker 1: huge hits over last weekend and everything, and it somehow
Speaker 1: it feels I don't know if writes the right word,
Speaker 1: but the fact that these two teams get to play
Speaker 1: here in the divisional round. I know the Bengals maybe
Speaker 1: aren't thrilled that this game is in Buffalo. I think
Speaker 1: that's a silly argument, but it does feel right that
Speaker 1: we get to see which team is better here. And
Speaker 1: I think for Josh Allen to be better this week,
Speaker 1: to be more consistent, I think it's gonna have him
Speaker 1: being more patient. I just think he's gonna have to
Speaker 1: run the ball more. I don't think the Bengals are
Speaker 1: gonna do what the Dolphins did a week ago and
Speaker 1: just go kama kaze. Maybe they'll blitz a little more,
Speaker 1: but that's not really what they do. I think they're
Speaker 1: gonna be asking Josh Allen a two, He's gonna have
Speaker 1: to run the ball a lot, I think to win
Speaker 1: this game and be too like progress the ball slowly
Speaker 1: down the field and see if those secondary receivers like
Speaker 1: Cole Beasley, like John Brown, like Khalil Shakir can step
Speaker 1: up and not really believe that this team can be
Speaker 1: patient enough to do a twelve play drive without making
Speaker 1: big mistakes. I feeling with Josh Allen. We've week after
Speaker 1: weeks seen a flood of turnovers in key spots, and
Speaker 1: yet the good parts of Josh Allen have allowed the
Speaker 1: Bills to work out of it. He had seven big
Speaker 1: time throws last week against the Dolphins, which is the
Speaker 1: most of anyone all season. And I mean there were
Speaker 1: a couple of deep shots that surprise of me, that
Speaker 1: was the most of any quarterback against the well that
Speaker 1: goes back challenging drove him crazy, and they created turnovers.
Speaker 1: But then you had like even fifty yard completions that
Speaker 1: were you know, suddenly not a completion. But it's like
Speaker 1: Josh Allen worked his way out of it. I wonder
Speaker 1: if this is the game though, where like because I
Speaker 1: think we all sort of felt like if if you
Speaker 1: could keep doing that, it's gonna come back to bite
Speaker 1: you and the Bills at some point because you're gonna
Speaker 1: get to playing better and better competition. The Bengals red
Speaker 1: zone defense has been awesome. Over the last five games.
Speaker 1: They have stopped opponents on seven of sixteen red zone drives.
Speaker 1: Four of those and and that's no touchdowns. Four of
Speaker 1: them have come with zero points, whether by turnover or
Speaker 1: on downs. And you look at a Buffalo offense that
Speaker 1: as a league high seven turnovers inside the twenty. No
Speaker 1: other team, no other team at more than five, and
Speaker 1: and a lot of those are on Josh Allen. He
Speaker 1: does all the good stuff, but it's just like the
Speaker 1: Bengals strength right now matches up with the Buffalo weakness
Speaker 1: that I think Buffalo needs to be more patient. Like
Speaker 1: you said, Josh Allen needs to just look at the
Speaker 1: field a little differently. I look at this offense and say,
Speaker 1: you look at we just talked about Daniel Jones and
Speaker 1: the Brian Dable effect on Daniel Jones. He has seven
Speaker 1: fumbles this year total, which is or six Daniel Jones,
Speaker 1: which is way lower than in any other season. He's
Speaker 1: not that turnover machine. He's had way more rushing attempts.
Speaker 1: They've turned him into the maximized version of Daniel Jones. Right.
Speaker 1: Think we're getting to Josh Allen, who somehow seems to
Speaker 1: have gone back a bit back to the season before
Speaker 1: his evolution, not with his big plays, but just that
Speaker 1: he was super clean when he was at his heights
Speaker 1: under Brian Dable too. It's it's gotten to the point
Speaker 1: where of Josh Allen's like keeps telling us this is
Speaker 1: who he is this year, we gotta believe him and
Speaker 1: no longer be surprised when there are multiple turnovers, and
Speaker 1: then it becomes about how does the other team react
Speaker 1: to that? And he had three turnovers against the Dolphins.
Speaker 1: They turned those three turnovers into eighteen points and it's
Speaker 1: the only reason that game was competitive because Miami with
Speaker 1: Skylo Thompson could not move the ball. Um. I believe
Speaker 1: the Bills gave up one touchdown drive on defense legitimately,
Speaker 1: and so that side of the ball I'm not worried about.
Speaker 1: It is the Allen thing. You mentioned seven turnovers inside
Speaker 1: the twenty. He has twenty two turnovers overall this year.
Speaker 1: Josh Allen. He's got six team picks, both of that
Speaker 1: leads the league the twenty two turnovers, and it's just like,
Speaker 1: how does that version of Josh Allen uh? If that
Speaker 1: happens again against a better team, can they get away
Speaker 1: with it? Now? The other side of the ball with
Speaker 1: Cincinnati is I trust Burrow more than I trust Allen
Speaker 1: right now. But at the same time, I trust Allen's
Speaker 1: offensive line more than I trust Burrows. We know the
Speaker 1: injury issues that Cincinnati has, and yet Greggy, this would
Speaker 1: have been the game, This would have been potentially the
Speaker 1: Von Miller game. And and the fact that the Bills
Speaker 1: don't have uh their closer against this um obviously compromise
Speaker 1: Cincinnati offensive line that could be missing three starters. UM.
Speaker 1: I think that is a big factor in this game
Speaker 1: as well. Can the Bills are they built to take
Speaker 1: advantage of the weakness of Cincinnati's office? They should be.
Speaker 1: Greg Russo has still been a good pass rusher. Ed
Speaker 1: Oliver is still there, so you have two really good
Speaker 1: pass rushers, and then you have other guys who have
Speaker 1: rotated in and played well at times. Boogie Basham had
Speaker 1: a good game last week. I think what it does, though,
Speaker 1: is like they don't have to send any extra guys,
Speaker 1: You're right. If they had von Miller there, I would
Speaker 1: feel amazing about the Bills, uh and their defense getting
Speaker 1: all over Burrow without him, then at least Cincinnati feels
Speaker 1: like they have a chance. It's kind of up to
Speaker 1: Burrow of like how much does he want to turn
Speaker 1: back into the quarterback he was a year ago, which
Speaker 1: was holding onto the ball lot longer to try to
Speaker 1: make a big play, and he would take a lot
Speaker 1: of sacks. And he's cut way down that on that
Speaker 1: his time to throw has gone way down this year.
Speaker 1: He makes quick decisions, he gets rid of the ball,
Speaker 1: but I think he's gonna be tempted to hold the
Speaker 1: ball a little longer here, even with that bad offensive line,
Speaker 1: and see if t Higgins in Chase especially can win
Speaker 1: those matchups. I don't think trade Avious Whites all the
Speaker 1: way back to being what he was. Kyer Elam had
Speaker 1: a nice game last week, but he's been very up
Speaker 1: and down this week, and like, I think Burrow is
Speaker 1: gonna have to have his own risk assessment, kind of
Speaker 1: like Josh Allen, where it's like I need to make
Speaker 1: some big plays here. I don't trust us to go
Speaker 1: up and down the field with twelve thirteen play drives either,
Speaker 1: and so he's gonna have to calculate that and and
Speaker 1: I'm with you, I kind of trust him to do
Speaker 1: that even more than Josh Allen. They did to have
Speaker 1: those elongated drives against the Ravens, which was a really
Speaker 1: kind of tough game to watch. Was a four teen
Speaker 1: play field goal drive, a ten play touchdown, another twelve
Speaker 1: play touchdown, and I mean, we saw what the Ravens did.
Speaker 1: They basically we're just gonna put too safety is back
Speaker 1: there and try to take away the big play. The
Speaker 1: Bills don't have Micae Hyde. I think that matters a lot,
Speaker 1: Like I'm not sure they can run that same system,
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think von Miller was the guy that
Speaker 1: was basically brought here to do what for the Rams
Speaker 1: and to do what the Bills did against the Rams
Speaker 1: in Week one, going back to what their DNA was,
Speaker 1: and like they're missing that piece. Um, it would have
Speaker 1: been so valuable against this Bengals offensive line. And I
Speaker 1: guess Joe Burrow, I mean I feel a little bit
Speaker 1: the same way I do about Buffalo. It's like the
Speaker 1: Bengals offense has been hot and cold. We see them
Speaker 1: go to sleep for halves at a time, like the Belt,
Speaker 1: Like Buffalo, they've worked away out of those jams. But
Speaker 1: this is a for me, it's the toughest game to
Speaker 1: pick because I don't really trust either one of these
Speaker 1: offenses compared to where I did earlier in the year.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, like, I was curious where you
Speaker 1: come down on this last few mark Um, and then
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you too, Greg, both of you.
Speaker 1: Actually I'm excited kind of questions Who's wild card performance
Speaker 1: um concerned you more? Because neither team covered themselves with
Speaker 1: glory on wild Card weekend, And you could say the
Speaker 1: Ravens out played Cincinnati and there was one massive play
Speaker 1: that's fourteen points swing, and then the Bills, we know
Speaker 1: the mistakes they made and barely getting by Miami. I
Speaker 1: think Buffalo's defense was it kind of got lost in
Speaker 1: the shofle Is having a dominant game against a team
Speaker 1: with a third string quarterback. But I would say Buffalo's
Speaker 1: overall performance concerned me more just because I feel like
Speaker 1: that version of the offense, if you're gonna have the
Speaker 1: turnover worthy plays, the turnovers, it's like I said, it's
Speaker 1: gonna come back and sting you at some point. The
Speaker 1: Ravens in the Bengals, that's a division game. The Ravens
Speaker 1: have matched up well with with the Bengals all season,
Speaker 1: and I just take less from it because they know
Speaker 1: each other so well. And I think the Ravens defense,
Speaker 1: uh was a sneaky, you know, higher level defense, and
Speaker 1: people would notice because their offense is so unfriend to watch.
Speaker 1: I have the same answer because of the opposition. But
Speaker 1: the difference is only one of them lost their left
Speaker 1: left tackle in the game, like the Buffalo got out
Speaker 1: of it clean and I and I think to your
Speaker 1: point about the Bill's defense, they have Edmonds and Milan
Speaker 1: on the field at the same time, and they have
Speaker 1: for a lot of this year, but they both were
Speaker 1: off the field at different points and man Edmonds was
Speaker 1: maybe their best defensive player last week. We know Milano's good,
Speaker 1: he's an All Pro. Like that, those are two great
Speaker 1: linebackers who can help just make this Bill's defense a
Speaker 1: lot more versatile in terms of stopping the run and
Speaker 1: the short passes that that Burrow likes to have. But
Speaker 1: the Bengals have their guy to your boy, Jem Brien
Speaker 1: Pratt and Logan Wilson. They're the ones who really set
Speaker 1: up that long play and they've been great. It's at
Speaker 1: such an even matchup. I'm gonna turn and Travis White
Speaker 1: obviously coming back from the knee injury. But a lot
Speaker 1: of tape dogs out there. I took note of it,
Speaker 1: checked out some of the video, and the cut ups
Speaker 1: said that maybe that was his best game lass week
Speaker 1: and maybe he's starting now to round into form and
Speaker 1: being that guy he's a big time uh defensive back
Speaker 1: for the Bills went healthy. We have another um lock
Speaker 1: to discuss. By the way, well, I feel like I
Speaker 1: know where this head to the Midwest. Good afternoon, gentlemen.
Speaker 1: January and I'm an Uncle Rick's House and a T shirt.
Speaker 1: I know what you're thinking, you're crazy, Himan being there's
Speaker 1: no way at seventy degrees in January in Cincinnati, but
Speaker 1: it is. I'm pretty sure it's a sign from the heavens.
Speaker 1: I've done two other recordings and Uncle Rick's House mo
Speaker 1: for two both times, both times I took the Bills.
Speaker 1: I don't think I'm gonna make that mistake again. We're
Speaker 1: gonna ride the horse that got us here last year.
Speaker 1: The Bengals got us with him one going into the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl before we fell to the Mighty Dan hands us.
Speaker 1: This year, it's going to be a little different than different.
Speaker 1: It's not fair. The Bangles take care of business. Lock
Speaker 1: that up there. It is also keep in mind that
Speaker 1: he just datelined that one day in advance of right now,
Speaker 1: So maybe he knows things that we can't even he's
Speaker 1: he's he's been. I'm so savvy that I'm going to
Speaker 1: be concerned when he's elevated beyond our status to host
Speaker 1: like Game Day morning next season in the Eagle, just
Speaker 1: shoots through the heavens and yeah, Uncle Rick, where he
Speaker 1: taped that, That's where where Chris's ashes are, Chris's favorite
Speaker 1: placed on on Earth. I think that's despite the O
Speaker 1: and two record, he was taking the bills when he
Speaker 1: was there. I think that's a great sign for the Yeah,
Speaker 1: let's pick the game. Um, this is a total coin flip.
Speaker 1: This is as hard as it gets to pick a game. Um,
Speaker 1: and I'm just gonna go with the shoot. I'll go
Speaker 1: bills and it's I don't feel strongly about it, but
Speaker 1: I just think thirty one thirty something like that a
Speaker 1: classic game that we will remember and talk about for
Speaker 1: a long time. I was shocked this line went up
Speaker 1: to five and a half during the weekend. I think
Speaker 1: that's the offensive line and the concerns and the way
Speaker 1: they looked as a compromised unit as a result. Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: I think there's something in this Cincinnati team's DNA that
Speaker 1: is special and that they can overcome that. I'm going
Speaker 1: to have them winning. I think they can attack a
Speaker 1: couple of weaknesses with the Bills in terms of the
Speaker 1: receiver depth, cornerback depth. I'm not locking them up, but
Speaker 1: I am picking up to win. Let's go Bengals. I Uh,
Speaker 1: it's just a tough one because I kind of think
Speaker 1: Buffalo's journey they'll just so built to like not look perfect,
Speaker 1: but get out of these situations over and over and over,
Speaker 1: and it's like it would be sad to see them go.
Speaker 1: But I just see something like Cincinnati thirty seven Buffalo
Speaker 1: thirty four and like an absolute blazing showdown, which means
Speaker 1: it will be tend we see this game to be
Speaker 1: a classic. I want it. I would be obviously okay
Speaker 1: with Cincinnati winning. Would be happy for Nick and all
Speaker 1: the family and everybody out there in Cincinnati at the Zoo.
Speaker 1: But I just think it's the Bills year and the
Speaker 1: Bill's time. I've kind of wavered on that, and I've
Speaker 1: said the same thing about Cincinnati too, but again, this
Speaker 1: is a tough one to pick. Let's take a break
Speaker 1: and we'll hit the last game. All right, Welcome back,
Speaker 1: and it's time now for the Sunday Drive presented by
Speaker 1: Toyo uh and we're going to talk about the Cowboys
Speaker 1: and forty Niners. It is the Sunday six thirty pm
Speaker 1: Eastern kickoff game at Burkhart. Here are the announcers, Burkhardt Olsen, Cowboys, Niners, Nance, Romo, Bengals, Bills,
Speaker 1: Davis Moose, Giants, Eagles, Tariko Collinsworth, Jack's Chiefs. So you
Speaker 1: got big time announcers to see. That's this, This is
Speaker 1: what this weekends about. The best at the juncture in
Speaker 1: the season, the best of the best, separate Mark Sanchez. Well,
Speaker 1: I think Mark Sanchez will be there next year. We
Speaker 1: keep saying that. I believe it. And you know what, Al,
Speaker 1: if you give al Mark Sanchez, how about that Alan
Speaker 1: Mark Sanchez, that would yeah, that would be an interesting
Speaker 1: and I love who's Mark does it with excellent Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm taking Googler right now. Need some Mark Sanchez, you know,
Speaker 1: dungeeyeh Dungeon, Tony Dungeon. Sometimes things change. We got you
Speaker 1: know there's no Tom Brady this weekend. You know there's
Speaker 1: there is a Dak Prescott. All right, let's get to
Speaker 1: it is das back in this. Let's talk about Dad
Speaker 1: because he is the the the shining hope for the
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys against the Niners, the Niners, who, by the way,
Speaker 1: uh to your point about Bengals Bills, Like the Bills
Speaker 1: are a bigger favorite than the Niners right now. I
Speaker 1: guess that's that's Vegas and the Cowboys and all that
Speaker 1: juice that they get. But like that's surprising to me
Speaker 1: because I would think the Niners, winners of eleven straight,
Speaker 1: they should be the team that everyone is locked in
Speaker 1: on right now as the best team in football. That's
Speaker 1: how I feel. And as good as the Cowboys played
Speaker 1: greggy last week against the Tama Bay Bucks, this ain't
Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay Bucks. And Dak Prescott to give this
Speaker 1: team a chance to win almost needs to bring back
Speaker 1: that level of performance. Can he do it against San Francisco?
Speaker 1: It's a big difference it is. I think he can
Speaker 1: because he's that good of a quarterback. Of yourself, some Dack,
Speaker 1: you're a deck a holic. Bra It's like Drew Lock
Speaker 1: number one Stack. I'm definitely not a fan. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think Dack's high level is just higher then then
Speaker 1: he's given credit for that. His high level is right
Speaker 1: there with the top quarterbacks in the league. Like a
Speaker 1: graphic went around on Thursday on Twitter of our network
Speaker 1: Total Access where they're like breaking it down prettier Dak
Speaker 1: who's got the better you know, different attributes and Purty
Speaker 1: wins at three out of five that he's got better poise,
Speaker 1: give me a break like Dak Prescott poise who they
Speaker 1: gave it to Purdy. They gave it the accuracy to Deck.
Speaker 1: Have you watched Dak Prescott played football. You can come
Speaker 1: up with some things he's not great at, but if
Speaker 1: you give him time, he's the most accurate guy. And
Speaker 1: they gave decision making to Pretty. It's just like, come
Speaker 1: on in those type of conversations. But I love that program.
Speaker 1: I love NFL network, I love too. I just just
Speaker 1: agree with this. I also love it particular analysis. I
Speaker 1: think he's good enough to be a great defense. We've
Speaker 1: seen the forty Niners give up points in bunches occasionally.
Speaker 1: They did it to the Chiefs that first half to
Speaker 1: the Seahawks, they went up and down the field, like
Speaker 1: I think it can happen. Greg, I feel like you're
Speaker 1: a little you've been a little down on the Niners, uh,
Speaker 1: compared to where I am. He's note, I've picked them
Speaker 1: every week as they win in their huge favorites, and
Speaker 1: I picked him this week. You are picking them all right.
Speaker 1: I'm just waiting to see someone slow down San Francisco
Speaker 1: for more than like a half, Like nice job, Seattle,
Speaker 1: but then the doors fall off because you can't hang
Speaker 1: with this team. And it's like Dallas to Meds before
Speaker 1: they took off against Seattle. I know, it's like it's
Speaker 1: even there, even there half where they struggle, they're still
Speaker 1: doing what they do. And I think it's a huge
Speaker 1: game for like the Trevon digs and like Laden vander
Speaker 1: Esh's of the world, where like Digs mrs tackles and
Speaker 1: it's like you now have Deebo Samuel and you've got
Speaker 1: Christian McCaffrey who can flip flop in the slot, flip
Speaker 1: flop in the backfield. Both do the same things. Uh,
Speaker 1: they are yard after the catch monsters, and I mean
Speaker 1: there are wide open holes created for both of them
Speaker 1: where you've got wide receivers blocking down field. Last week,
Speaker 1: Purty through for a hundred and seventy nine passing yards
Speaker 1: to wide open receivers, which is the third most by
Speaker 1: any quarterback in the playoffs in the next gen stats era.
Speaker 1: I think about Purty is like, I don't know if
Speaker 1: he has how all those traits better than the next quarterback.
Speaker 1: I don't really care. It's just he's in this perfect
Speaker 1: position where he's delivering absolute gems inside of a system
Speaker 1: that just creates these opportunities, and they're Kyle Shanna has
Speaker 1: never had this offense, not this way, not with this
Speaker 1: many star players, and it's on Dallas to go. Essentially,
Speaker 1: everyone's talking about Dak Prescott. It's all eOne can focus on.
Speaker 1: It's like that can be pretty great and they can
Speaker 1: score a ton of points, but you've got to stop
Speaker 1: San Francisco from dropping thirty eight on you. I just
Speaker 1: I don't love it. I think the Dallas is a
Speaker 1: really spicy challenge for the Niners, the most in a
Speaker 1: long long time. But like until some one slows both
Speaker 1: sides of this ball down. This is the best team
Speaker 1: in the NFL in my book. Yeah, they have not
Speaker 1: lost since October and they've scored in the last four
Speaker 1: weeks San Francisco thirty seven, thirty seven, thirty forty one.
Speaker 1: Now we know the Dallas defense what it's capable of.
Speaker 1: Said this last week about um Michael Parsons, and you know,
Speaker 1: go kick Tom Brady's ass and win that game single handedly.
Speaker 1: Once again, You're gonna need your best players to kind
Speaker 1: of really make big plays. Parsons got to stack up,
Speaker 1: step up. Maybe Treyvon Diggs has a huge interception or
Speaker 1: a pick six, something like that. I think the Cowboys
Speaker 1: are gonna have to steal a possession or two. I
Speaker 1: think a special team score. I think it's that type
Speaker 1: of matchup. And I have respect for Dallas, but I
Speaker 1: just that's the way I'm at. I'm at too. If
Speaker 1: I didn't put it this way, if the lock competition
Speaker 1: wasn't about making up ground at this point, San Francisco
Speaker 1: would have been my lock of the week because I
Speaker 1: think they will handle their business here and do it
Speaker 1: in fashion that double digit points fashion. That's shocking. To me,
Speaker 1: and you know, I could see it. None of these games,
Speaker 1: like almost any result isn't gonna totally surprise me. But
Speaker 1: I look at this Cowboys team, and I look at
Speaker 1: let's say e p a per play for the season.
Speaker 1: These are the best two defenses in the league over
Speaker 1: the course of the season. The Dallas has been up
Speaker 1: and down, but we've seen what they can do. They
Speaker 1: have a coach in Dan Quinn who knows Kyle shaneing well.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's good, bad, or indifferent, but
Speaker 1: they obviously know each other very well from from their
Speaker 1: time together in Atlanta. And he's very creative coming up
Speaker 1: with game plan specific uh ways to highlight his great
Speaker 1: players and Micah Parsons, and they have great players, DeMarcus
Speaker 1: Lawrence certainly, and they have a lot of safeties that
Speaker 1: can be versatile. I just feel like there could be
Speaker 1: a bad, pretty game in here. I don't expect it, uh,
Speaker 1: And I do worry for the Cowboys that they've worked
Speaker 1: a lot harder to get here. Last week, for instance,
Speaker 1: Parsons San Francisco might disagree with that, but go ahead.
Speaker 1: I just mean that they're not play much lately in
Speaker 1: the last two weeks. For instance, both has played forty
Speaker 1: five snaps I think or sixty total snaps combined. They
Speaker 1: got to sit there, guys, and they were like rotating.
Speaker 1: In week eighteen, the Cowboys are on short rest. Parsons
Speaker 1: played more on Monday Night, like twenty more snaps than
Speaker 1: any of the defensive linemen have played in the last
Speaker 1: two games combined, which is just I think that is
Speaker 1: a factor here, that the forty Niners are arrested and ready,
Speaker 1: I keep reading that and like, yet, it certainly seems
Speaker 1: like a logical factor. These are human bodies we're talking about,
Speaker 1: but I don't think we really know. Um, the effect
Speaker 1: on MIKEA. Micah Parsons is a superstar, Like I don't
Speaker 1: imagine because he had twenty more snaps than the Niners
Speaker 1: defensive lineman that we're gonna get a worn out, broken
Speaker 1: down at the end of this is this isn't the
Speaker 1: Cowboys defense that gave up under twenty uh to start
Speaker 1: the season five weeks in a row. I mean, they
Speaker 1: gave up forty to the Jaguars. They were last for
Speaker 1: thirty four against the Gardner Minshew led Eagles. Um, they
Speaker 1: flatlined against the Commanders. This is all in the last month,
Speaker 1: they played a broken down Titans team and look good,
Speaker 1: and then they played a broken down Bucks team in
Speaker 1: the defense show. It's like, I I just it's the
Speaker 1: same thing I feel about the Eagles and reverse for
Speaker 1: the Cowboys, that that Bucks team that was ready to
Speaker 1: be shipped out to see was dominated by the best
Speaker 1: game the Cowboys have played on offense and defense in
Speaker 1: a while. So they look good, but it's like, is
Speaker 1: this really do we trust Dallas doing this two or
Speaker 1: three weeks in a row. I'm the strange things that
Speaker 1: happened in the playoffs. It happens all the time. It
Speaker 1: feels like it actually happens almost every year. A team
Speaker 1: that you don't think much of wild Card Weekend all
Speaker 1: of a sudden is playing in February, like it certainly
Speaker 1: could happen, and I don't want to rule it out.
Speaker 1: It just more respect that I for San Francisco. I
Speaker 1: want to talk about a major subplot of this game. Um,
Speaker 1: it gets overlooked all the time. We talked about it
Speaker 1: a little bit on Tuesday, the Cowboys kicking situation. So
Speaker 1: um throughout the idea of why don't teams have backup
Speaker 1: kickers for how important the position is. Carry two kickers,
Speaker 1: have them both on the active roster, give yourself some
Speaker 1: wiggle room. They're not in that, but they did. They
Speaker 1: did kind of have a half measure. The Cowboys signed
Speaker 1: kicker Tristan vis Gayano to the practice squad um this week,
Speaker 1: and then they had both guys kick and practice and
Speaker 1: Brett Maher, who of course set the NFL record by
Speaker 1: missing four extra points in their wild card win on Monday.
Speaker 1: He's kicked very well in practice. Apparently this Guyano was
Speaker 1: mah Um, so it certainly seems like they're rolling forward
Speaker 1: with Maher. It's just and I saw something on Twitter,
Speaker 1: a nice little sideline back and forth with Ceedee Lamb
Speaker 1: pumping up Maha telling him not to hang his head uh.
Speaker 1: From the Monday night game. That one of the most
Speaker 1: kind of um nerve racking subplots for me as a
Speaker 1: football fan. We'll be watching that first kick by Maher
Speaker 1: because it could dictate the flow of the game and
Speaker 1: a lot of different directions, not just his mix misses
Speaker 1: and makes, but how Mike McCarthy has to roll out
Speaker 1: his offense. Yeah, I mean watching a kicker in this
Speaker 1: situation where you have no idea, what the results canna be? UM.
Speaker 1: It very much feels the same way the audience feels
Speaker 1: anxiety watching like a public speaker crumble at the podium. UM.
Speaker 1: That happened to us a couple of years ago on
Speaker 1: some sort of event we went to. It's just like
Speaker 1: you're all rooting for this person to get out of
Speaker 1: this situation. Is this well it was well, I don't
Speaker 1: know where. It was, some some corporate thing we went
Speaker 1: to where like the speaker just like I remember being
Speaker 1: like a sixteen year old where that happened to me
Speaker 1: one time, and some stupid speech I had to give
Speaker 1: him was like you just flatline and behip. Absolutely. It
Speaker 1: was like I didn't think that degree existed back then,
Speaker 1: but now it's like you're I feel away with Mara I. I.
Speaker 1: I always think about like Bill Parcels saying, you treat
Speaker 1: certain players one way others another. You can go at
Speaker 1: someone and it motivates them. If you go at the
Speaker 1: next guy, you break them and like ismah or the
Speaker 1: guy that like UM thrives because you brought in someone
Speaker 1: to kick against him in practice and everyone's watching, Like
Speaker 1: what if someone said, hey, Mark, we're gonna bring in
Speaker 1: another guy to do the show for you today while
Speaker 1: you stand out behind the glass. Alright, just so you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, It's like that would not motivate me,
Speaker 1: Like I look like that sounds great Marv Sessler. Let's
Speaker 1: hear from McCarthy a practice on Thursday about, um, the
Speaker 1: idea of bringing in another kicker this week. It doesn't
Speaker 1: take anything away from you know, our trust and bread.
Speaker 1: I just think, you know, it's part of the responsibility,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, player acquisitions a sixty five day,
Speaker 1: this is nothing out of the norm for us. But
Speaker 1: you know, I think the fact that you know, I
Speaker 1: have a chance to watch Tristan you know, I'm I'm,
Speaker 1: I'm you know, looking forward to seeing him work today. UM.
Speaker 1: I think he's a talented, talented young kicker. So um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I just think when we just wanted to
Speaker 1: make sure that we're you know, in position to you know,
Speaker 1: just always adding depth to a football team, how would
Speaker 1: you know from a couple of practice things, you're so
Speaker 1: extra right, myer is probably fine in practice they could
Speaker 1: keep them both active. That would be unconventional. You'd lose
Speaker 1: a special team spot. I think in this case, they
Speaker 1: could vinced themselves. Maybe that was worth it on Sunday. Otherwise,
Speaker 1: you just got him in here just to see him
Speaker 1: in practice, and you know, hope that Maher survives. And
Speaker 1: I think with this game though, and it's the game
Speaker 1: previous is That's why I love Divisional Round weekend. I
Speaker 1: think we all do. Both of these teams can win
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl, and so I'm just trying to give
Speaker 1: the Cowboys that credit. I think they're sick. I would
Speaker 1: be surprised personally if the Jaguars or the Giants won
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. But I feel like every other team
Speaker 1: that's playing this weekend can win the super Bowl, and
Speaker 1: and the Cowboys is highest level. It's pretty high. Like
Speaker 1: we talked about all these forty niners guys, but it's like,
Speaker 1: I know, the offensive line for the Cowboys is all
Speaker 1: shuffled around. It's a little worrisome. Tyler smiths now at
Speaker 1: left tackle, but he had played there before. McGovern has
Speaker 1: moved all around. He was left guard and he's fullback
Speaker 1: center and now he's back at left guard. But they
Speaker 1: still have like a Hall of Fame right guard. That
Speaker 1: that's a talented player, Tyryne Smith. Talented player. I don't
Speaker 1: know if the forty Niners of guys like that. Up front.
Speaker 1: They have Tony Pollard, who's not Christian McCaffrey, but he's
Speaker 1: pretty damn close person nap. He's one of the best
Speaker 1: running backs in the NFL. Ceedee Lamb I would take
Speaker 1: over every forty Niners receiver. They don't have the depth, certainly,
Speaker 1: but they have a great tight end and Dalton shot, yes,
Speaker 1: they would right now. I think Ceedie Lamb is at
Speaker 1: that level. I love Ceedee Lamb. Actually Pollard about equal
Speaker 1: to see him. They didn't say about equal. I'm saying
Speaker 1: three top four. He's like in terms of what he
Speaker 1: does per snap, like he has been getting it done.
Speaker 1: He is. He has a reasonable to like lower the
Speaker 1: workload for Zeke because that's been We've been talking about
Speaker 1: it for weeks. It's like a little last week. But no,
Speaker 1: not for the Cowboys on it's gonna be their rookie
Speaker 1: Tyler Smith, who's played well at left tackle at for
Speaker 1: most of this season. He's moved around. Um, They've got concerns, certainly,
Speaker 1: but I just think they have a chance. They have
Speaker 1: a chance here, and they have a chance of all right,
Speaker 1: let's pick the game. I have already said what I think.
Speaker 1: So thirty niners to the NFC title game, I've got niners, uh,
Speaker 1: thirty five to I have it seven twenty three forty nine,
Speaker 1: which is actually over the line. Now the line has
Speaker 1: moved down to three and a half. People are betting
Speaker 1: on the couch and well, yeah, I mean, what are
Speaker 1: we e been doing here? What matters? Well, if you're
Speaker 1: gonna pump them up for fifteen straight, they consistent on
Speaker 1: all our platforms, you know, and I already we got
Speaker 1: our picks in on that's inconsistent. Maybe I could flip
Speaker 1: it is what you're saying. I don't know. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: won't hold it against you if you're going to win
Speaker 1: your picks competition on the other show. You know where
Speaker 1: it is. Just you know, it's fine game debut, check
Speaker 1: it out. And that that's my with the great Rachel Bonetta.
Speaker 1: She was at our show, Patrick Cleb's show, you know
Speaker 1: who I missed though, at our show, and I wish
Speaker 1: was there because she she's so great behind the glass
Speaker 1: every show is Parker. I wish she had I wish
Speaker 1: she had made it to show. I assumed she was there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I had a seat saved for her. It was just
Speaker 1: sitting there. That was that lonely little It's like you
Speaker 1: know the old the show, like the TV show where
Speaker 1: the kids in his big their concert and looks over
Speaker 1: and then Dad's seats empty. Yeah, I cannot. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'd really assume that Parker was very busy doing something
Speaker 1: else not at the show. Well, we can't get everything
Speaker 1: we want in life, but we will get great football
Speaker 1: this weekend, and it's going to be the best football
Speaker 1: of the season. And that was Sunday Jive presented by Toyota.
Speaker 1: Get ready for some great football, everybody. As we say goodbye,
Speaker 1: thank you to everybody, uh for listening, watching, coming to
Speaker 1: Our Lives show. We're very lucky. Thanks for keeping us
Speaker 1: around until Sunday night. He the call s