Speaker 1: Championship weekend has arrived, and we've got an a f
Speaker 1: C and an NFC Championship title preview for you here
Speaker 1: on Te Petz Babo Shusan here with Scott Pioli and
Speaker 1: dan Orlovsky. As we have enjoyed crawling inside the game,
Speaker 1: behind the xs and ohs and trying to give you
Speaker 1: a different view of football that you get on other podcasts.
Speaker 1: We've done it all season long, and guys, we have
Speaker 1: now reached the final four, and we had an epic
Speaker 1: group of games to talk about last week, and you know,
Speaker 1: on paper, at least, I would think these two games
Speaker 1: have a chance to be almost, if not every bit
Speaker 1: as compelling as some of the football we saw this
Speaker 1: past week. We're gonna start with the a f C game,
Speaker 1: and that is Bengals Chiefs. We saw the Josh Allen
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes duel. We talked a lot about Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: last week and how incredible he has been in the
Speaker 1: face of almost constant pressure. Now we get Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: and Patrick Mahomes in this matchup, and I'm wonder ring
Speaker 1: is there's something schematic that jumps out to you, guys,
Speaker 1: outside of just the two big names. Obviously, these two
Speaker 1: guys are gonna go out there and make plays. But
Speaker 1: is there a schematic advantage that one of these teams
Speaker 1: has over the other that people may not be talking about,
Speaker 1: because a lot of times it is in that right.
Speaker 1: The devil can be in the details. In a matchup
Speaker 1: like this, we've got two quarterbacks that are so immensely talented,
Speaker 1: one team might have to beat the other in the
Speaker 1: chess match. Is there a chess match move out there
Speaker 1: that we're not thinking about. Well, I think that for
Speaker 1: Kansas City's offense, you know, playing against Cincinnati's defense, you've
Speaker 1: got opportunities to be very explosive on the perimeter um
Speaker 1: specifically the way that we saw Tyreek play from this
Speaker 1: last weekend. You are going to get a lot of
Speaker 1: single higher coverage. That's who Cincinnati is, and it's gonna
Speaker 1: be very similar on the other side of the football,
Speaker 1: that's who Cincinnati is. So I think, you know, Kansas
Speaker 1: City has the chance to take some shots down field. Now,
Speaker 1: I also think that Cincinnati defensively has some schematic advantages
Speaker 1: with getting angle protections by the tackles of Kansas City's
Speaker 1: offense versus Cincinnati's defensive ends. You know, Hubbard and Hendrickson
Speaker 1: are really good players. Obviously Tree Hendrickson is very very good.
Speaker 1: And the last time these two teams played would happen
Speaker 1: really in the second half, Bob was Cincinnati to actually
Speaker 1: flipped a little bit and decided, Okay, we're playing two
Speaker 1: man and we're just what we're gonna do is pre snap,
Speaker 1: get trade one on one and trade beat the doors
Speaker 1: off of Orlando Brown in protection. He did, he did,
Speaker 1: so they had protection, but you know, simulated pressure and
Speaker 1: got one on one. So I think that's a little
Speaker 1: bit of a schematic vantage for Cincinnati defensively is how
Speaker 1: often they could do that? Um, And that's gonna come
Speaker 1: down to, you know, their their their corners, Eli Apple
Speaker 1: and I don't know, I don't know the correct pronunciation Ousier.
Speaker 1: I believe winning their one on yeah, yeah, winning their
Speaker 1: one on one battle sometimes, I get I was cautious
Speaker 1: with names winning their one on ones on the outside.
Speaker 1: And then I'd say, for for Cincinnati's offense, good luck
Speaker 1: Ken City defensive. I mean just you know, the sim
Speaker 1: the more you could spread him and shred him, I
Speaker 1: think is better for Cincinnati. You know, hey, Jamar is
Speaker 1: gonna be on this side, and you know, um, Tyler
Speaker 1: Boyd's gonna be in the slot opposite him, and then
Speaker 1: Tee on the other side. And you know, I think
Speaker 1: we saw a little bit that you know, Mike Hughes
Speaker 1: the corner first Kansas City is is a good player,
Speaker 1: but you can get after him. You feel like if
Speaker 1: you've got a good guy, and so you know how
Speaker 1: much of those guys schematically gonna match up and say, hey,
Speaker 1: you know Spags. You guys know Steve Pagnell Defense Cornell
Speaker 1: and he's single high, come after you and play single high. Okay, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, like I get it, that's who you are.
Speaker 1: But you do that. It's night night. So I think
Speaker 1: there's some stuff that they can go after for sure. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna stick with where you're at right now. Dan.
Speaker 1: And to me, the the big concern is we talked
Speaker 1: about it on Tuesday, or I certainly talked about it
Speaker 1: on Tuesday, was protecting Joe Burrow regardless of the scheme.
Speaker 1: The mismatch, I think physically between the players, right, and
Speaker 1: not just the XS and o's, it's the Jimmy's and
Speaker 1: the joe os and Chris Jones Frank Clark, Melvin Ingram
Speaker 1: are lining up and they know that they're gonna go.
Speaker 1: I bet you their goal this week is to get
Speaker 1: more than the nine sacks that the Tennessee Titans had
Speaker 1: last week. They're saying, okay, we're going double digits that
Speaker 1: I can see Spags right now. Steve Spagnell, defensive coordin
Speaker 1: Spags right now is making that a point um and
Speaker 1: they are going to be coming after him. And I'm concerned.
Speaker 1: You know, we talked about this bright future. This is
Speaker 1: where I get concerned about the future of some of
Speaker 1: our NFL superstars. And I worry about Joe Burrow. You know,
Speaker 1: they made the right decision in getting j Barr Chase,
Speaker 1: but they still haven't fixed the protection enough. They've done
Speaker 1: some things to allow him to get the ball off,
Speaker 1: but he's still getting beat up. And you know, I
Speaker 1: think another key player this week. I talked about Jones, Clark,
Speaker 1: and Ingram, but the chief secondary where is Tarron Matthew
Speaker 1: gon be this weekend? You know, coming out of concussion protocol,
Speaker 1: we don't know where he's going to be. So I
Speaker 1: say all that to to say what the Bengals I
Speaker 1: think need to focus on a little bit. Is the
Speaker 1: use again of Joe Mixon getting the ball in his
Speaker 1: hands short sideways, you know, getting him in space. But
Speaker 1: to me, one of the unsung heroes of their team
Speaker 1: this year and that has helped save Joe Burrow is
Speaker 1: c j Uzama, the tight end. And you know, he
Speaker 1: had forty nine catches this year in the regular season,
Speaker 1: and it was more than half of those catches were
Speaker 1: either first down for first downs or touchdowns. He was
Speaker 1: a key player this past weekend. He had some key
Speaker 1: catches they didn't have, you know, the first downs of
Speaker 1: the touchdowns, but he was used. Well. He has become,
Speaker 1: for Joe Burrow, a very very important part. Now, do
Speaker 1: they need to get deep and get down field, Yeah,
Speaker 1: they do, But before they can figure this out, they're
Speaker 1: gonna have to make use of some of the short
Speaker 1: and underneath stuff and the intermediate stuff. In my opinion, Yeah, Well,
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow actually had this to say after the win,
Speaker 1: heading into this past week, heading into this matchup with
Speaker 1: the Chiefs, and he has every confidence in the world
Speaker 1: that his team can go out there and pull this off.
Speaker 1: And we're really really good team. We're here to we're
Speaker 1: here to make noise, and no teams are gonna have
Speaker 1: to pay attention to us. We're, like I said, a
Speaker 1: really good team with really good players and coaches, and
Speaker 1: we're coming forward. All so, he obviously has confidence that
Speaker 1: his team collectively can go out there and get this done.
Speaker 1: But you guys mentioned the pass rush, so you you
Speaker 1: talk about that chess move. If I were to counter,
Speaker 1: is there anything from Zach Taylor standpoint? Do do you
Speaker 1: alter anything? Is there? Does there ever come a time
Speaker 1: in this postseason where you say, we have all these weapons,
Speaker 1: and I want all these weapons on the field because
Speaker 1: that's when we're at our best. Or does there ever
Speaker 1: come a time where you say, you know what, I
Speaker 1: cannot continue to have my quarterback get pounded and hit
Speaker 1: like this and expect to survive all the way through.
Speaker 1: What is the altar the goal of winning the Super Bowl?
Speaker 1: Do you have to take a weapon off the field
Speaker 1: just to have extra protection out there once in a
Speaker 1: while for him thinking you might be able to go
Speaker 1: win a matchup, but I might have to have an
Speaker 1: extra tight end on the field, an extra offensive lineman
Speaker 1: on the field, just to make sure that my quarterback
Speaker 1: doesn't continue to take this pounding Nope, Nope, that's how
Speaker 1: you're built. You got and and you're really ship sailed. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're three weeks away from the end going, you're really
Speaker 1: one week away from a solid break here. You know,
Speaker 1: you get some time. Not like I have any idea
Speaker 1: what two weeks off with the super Bowl is, but
Speaker 1: you know there, time is on your side. I think
Speaker 1: it's more of this, Bob, It's more a conversation you
Speaker 1: have with Joe, you know, if of constantly reiterating to him, Hey, budd, like,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be moments where I need you to be
Speaker 1: smart here. I need you to understand that. You know,
Speaker 1: we talked about him kind of holding onto the football
Speaker 1: because he's not trying to be careless with it. There's
Speaker 1: gonna be some moments where you go, specifically early on
Speaker 1: in the game, don't take that shot. Let's not take
Speaker 1: any unnecessary shots. You know, there's there's moments, you know,
Speaker 1: to see that the saying there's a season for everything,
Speaker 1: there's a moment for everything as well. So I think
Speaker 1: it's more just controlling the conversation with Joe. Listen, there
Speaker 1: are times where you gotta stand in there and you
Speaker 1: gotta make it and you gotta take it. You just
Speaker 1: gotta make that throw, and you're just gonna get beat up.
Speaker 1: And I think there's games that quarterbacks go into knowing
Speaker 1: that that that is a reality. Um, but I don't
Speaker 1: believe that this is a game somewhat like that, Bob.
Speaker 1: And my reason for saying that is this, you know,
Speaker 1: you always are ready for whatever defense is going to
Speaker 1: do to you. But if if you're going into this
Speaker 1: game just as what is transpired, you know, the first
Speaker 1: time these teams played in who they are, you're thinking,
Speaker 1: all right, we're gonna get just a lot of one
Speaker 1: on ones. We're gonna get a lot of single coverage.
Speaker 1: So everybody at listening understands, like when when it's single coverage,
Speaker 1: it becomes I'm ten years old at recess, where's my guy?
Speaker 1: And who you know? Like my guy better than your guy?
Speaker 1: Where's the kid who is better than everybody? I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna throw him the ball and he was grabbing an
Speaker 1: extra lunch at at recess. I mean that's just how
Speaker 1: I rolled. And even Joe has said it right like, hey,
Speaker 1: Jamar is down there, So you know that's not a
Speaker 1: situation where you're thinking, I gotta hold onto the football
Speaker 1: here long and its zone coverage and I figure out
Speaker 1: to move people and um so, but I think it's
Speaker 1: more you've gotta be who you are, and you've got
Speaker 1: to threaten the defense and play on the offensive, and
Speaker 1: it's just controlling that conversation with Joe Burrow. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: and you know to that point or if there's a
Speaker 1: I don't think it's a personnel tweak that you make.
Speaker 1: But maybe, as we talked about on Tuesday, getting him
Speaker 1: outside of that rigid pocket where he doesn't have a
Speaker 1: chance to throw the ball away is maybe get him
Speaker 1: on the edges. I'm not saying sprint or roll or
Speaker 1: boot maybe a little bit of that, but something to
Speaker 1: get him in position where he can throw it away. Dan, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I like that. Well, let's let's spin this around then
Speaker 1: to the Chiefs, because what we have seen, I think
Speaker 1: a couple of questions that we've had during this season
Speaker 1: about their offense have been answered a bit. Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 1: still seems to me like he's running for his life
Speaker 1: lot more than he has certainly in years past, but
Speaker 1: he also seems to now have the supporting cast guys
Speaker 1: outside of Kelsey and Hill playing more of a role
Speaker 1: in being more productive than they were middle of the season, right, mean,
Speaker 1: it wasn't that the big question when that offense was
Speaker 1: sputtering and we were wondering, are the Chiefs that are
Speaker 1: gonna become the Chiefs again? It was Hardman and Pringle
Speaker 1: and Robinson and Edwards Hilaire. Are these guys gonna show
Speaker 1: up or the rest of this year is it just
Speaker 1: gonna be whatever Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelsey can give
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes. Is he getting enough out of the secondary
Speaker 1: skill guys and running for his life enough that this
Speaker 1: can still be the Chiefs offense that we've known, or
Speaker 1: at some point are they potentially going to uh to
Speaker 1: fall short here? You know, because of some of those
Speaker 1: questions we asked during the year. Bob here, here's what
Speaker 1: I'll put It wasn't just the players that he that
Speaker 1: were that were absent or weren't making things happen. I
Speaker 1: just feel at the beginning of the the season he was sloppy.
Speaker 1: We talked about that at the beginning of the year,
Speaker 1: and he was sloppy with his throws. Again, I don't
Speaker 1: want to say he was smelling himself, but it was
Speaker 1: almost like those great plays. Even some of those throws
Speaker 1: he made the last two weeks, um, they were and
Speaker 1: this is not the right way, but they were more
Speaker 1: sound than they were at the beginning of the year.
Speaker 1: They were sloppier at the beginning of the year. They're
Speaker 1: almost um a caricature of when he made those plays.
Speaker 1: He's far less careless with the ball than he was
Speaker 1: at the beginning of the year. You look at those
Speaker 1: first seven games when they started out three and four,
Speaker 1: they had seventeen turnovers. They hadn't had seventeen turnovers in
Speaker 1: full seasons in twenty nineteen. They were turning the ball
Speaker 1: over at historical rate. And that's what the problem was.
Speaker 1: It was it's part it was, yes, Bob, it's it's
Speaker 1: what you were saying. In addition to that, it was
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks carelessness. And part of it I he He
Speaker 1: didn't seem as dialed in early in the season as
Speaker 1: he is now. And this is one of the things
Speaker 1: that the Chiefs have to be careful about moving forward.
Speaker 1: They are so darn good, they're so talented as a team,
Speaker 1: they're so well coached, it gets to some people, it
Speaker 1: gets boring. And that's what it almost looked to me.
Speaker 1: Like they were a team that was a little bored
Speaker 1: because they felt like, Okay, when we kick in an overdrive,
Speaker 1: we can go and they weren't able to do that
Speaker 1: at the beginning of the season. They are on right now.
Speaker 1: And again, Tyreek Hill, for a player who has his explosiveness,
Speaker 1: you know, you don't generally see that improve over the season.
Speaker 1: It's improving Kelsey, he's showing up. So again to me,
Speaker 1: it goes back to one thing, and that was turnovers
Speaker 1: and carelessness at the beginning of the year. That's different. Now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I can't reiterate my agreement with that enough. I think
Speaker 1: that this past weekend was Patrick's best game in the
Speaker 1: pocket when it came to those mechanics, when it came
Speaker 1: to his feet, when it came to the timing of plays,
Speaker 1: and then outside of the part get his decision making.
Speaker 1: That goes back to what we did not see in October,
Speaker 1: which was he was mechanically so spread out and mechanically
Speaker 1: so off balance and mechanically trying to throw everything outrageously
Speaker 1: um off platform when it wasn't needed. And then when
Speaker 1: he was outside the pocket, he was he was making
Speaker 1: poor decisions with the football and you know, he is
Speaker 1: very much so, and I would imagine focused on that
Speaker 1: and clean that up. And you know, Bob, I actually
Speaker 1: think their offensive line has done a pretty nice job.
Speaker 1: I really do. I think their tackles are still you
Speaker 1: can get after him, you know, obviously this weekend I
Speaker 1: just talked about with Hendrickson and and Hubbard, But I
Speaker 1: think their interior three are pretty darn good. And um,
Speaker 1: I look at Patrick. Whenever I watched Patrick play, I
Speaker 1: just watch how deep he gets with his drops, and
Speaker 1: that tells me if he's trusting that group or not.
Speaker 1: And he hasn't been, you know, really getting past that
Speaker 1: ten yard nine and a half ten yard marker, and
Speaker 1: that's telling me that he thinks that those guys are
Speaker 1: doing a good job in protection. And so um, there's
Speaker 1: I think that, Um, you know that's gonna be Another
Speaker 1: huge part for this game is Cincinnati's rush. And I
Speaker 1: said this this past week, and I don't think Buffalo
Speaker 1: did a good job with it. It's not just keeping
Speaker 1: him in the pocket. You can't keep him in the
Speaker 1: pocket and give him somewhere to get to in the pocket.
Speaker 1: And it's not just making him move off a spot.
Speaker 1: It's making him move off the spot and not giving
Speaker 1: him a place to go. And that's the challenge you
Speaker 1: know he had. He had seventy yards rushing against the Bills.
Speaker 1: That's a career high and I think if Cincinnati wants
Speaker 1: to win, that's got to be another focus point for them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and watching him even when it appears he doesn't have
Speaker 1: a place to go, all of a sudden, he comes
Speaker 1: up with an arm angle where you're like, wow, like
Speaker 1: you did have a place to go, didn't. It was
Speaker 1: like Ozzie Smith, uh, you know, turning a double play
Speaker 1: yes and and then playing quarterback. It's it's just amazing
Speaker 1: to watch. It's gonna be a fascinating matchup burrowing Mahomes.
Speaker 1: It's another young you know, entering, if not dead, in
Speaker 1: the prime of their career, your marquee, a f C
Speaker 1: quarterback matchup. Can't wait to watch it. Very interesting game.
Speaker 1: The late game as well. We're gonna talk about that
Speaker 1: when we come back. Niners Rams, Jimmy g and the
Speaker 1: Niners against Matthew Stafford and the Rams. Can the Rams
Speaker 1: finally get past that Niners hurdle they have a chance
Speaker 1: to get to the Super Bowl, And we'll talk about
Speaker 1: the NFC Championship game in a moment on taps. We
Speaker 1: are back on tape. It's Bobo shoes it Scott boldly,
Speaker 1: dan Orlovsky, let's move to the NFC Championship game. And
Speaker 1: to me, Scott, the fascinating thing here is the Rams
Speaker 1: have an opportunity to make what they've done payoff. Right.
Speaker 1: It's It's funny because when and I live in this
Speaker 1: Jets world where we always seem to be looking forward
Speaker 1: to the draft. Who's coming next in the draft. We've
Speaker 1: got these great draft choices, and yes, you do have
Speaker 1: to build the core of your team through the draft.
Speaker 1: I get that, but they're always also are these moments
Speaker 1: at times, it seems for championship teams were general managers
Speaker 1: sitting in your chair have to sit there and say,
Speaker 1: all right, have we done everything we can do to
Speaker 1: build this young core? What's missing? Now we've got a
Speaker 1: chance to swing for the fences. Right now we have
Speaker 1: a chance to say, like, what's the goal here? Was
Speaker 1: the goal to just constantly build for the future, constantly
Speaker 1: to look down the road, or is the goal to
Speaker 1: get to the point where, hey, we've got a team
Speaker 1: that actually is good enough to go do this Let's
Speaker 1: throw a bunch of first round draft choices out there
Speaker 1: and get rid of the quarterback we had and Jared
Speaker 1: Goff who got us to a super Bowl but we
Speaker 1: weren't able to win it. Let's go get the guy
Speaker 1: that we think ken win it for us. Let's roll
Speaker 1: the dice and give up a bunch of resources to
Speaker 1: get von Miller. And they've done that right, and now
Speaker 1: the Rams have a chance to make that pay off.
Speaker 1: That that has to be the ultimate you know, as
Speaker 1: a general manager sitting up there in the press box,
Speaker 1: going I've done all I can to put the team together.
Speaker 1: Now we're just gonna go see if they could do it.
Speaker 1: But the Rams have a chance to now have these
Speaker 1: decisions pay off and actually swing for the fences and
Speaker 1: hit a home run. Yeah. This this I would love
Speaker 1: to have a whole half hour show on this because
Speaker 1: I was asked, did they get what they wanted out
Speaker 1: of Matthew Stafford? Was this trade worth it? And to me, yes,
Speaker 1: this weekend was worth it. But what they're looking for
Speaker 1: is not a win. As you mentioned, you know they've
Speaker 1: been to the super Bowl with Jared Goff. What they
Speaker 1: need to do they they need the whole Angelotta for
Speaker 1: all that they've done with this football team and the
Speaker 1: capital that they've given up in terms of cash, cap
Speaker 1: room and draft picks. This isn't about getting to the
Speaker 1: NFC championship game. This isn't about one super you know,
Speaker 1: getting to the Super Bowl. It's about winning the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: Because truly, in my opinion, with all that they've given
Speaker 1: up for the future, they need to win the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: And that's not to put pressure on Matthew or anybody else,
Speaker 1: but again, they've been here before. And it's not just
Speaker 1: the Matthew Stafford trade in a vacuum, right we we
Speaker 1: can't look at it that it was. It's Von Miller,
Speaker 1: it's Jalen Rams, it's all the stuff that they've done.
Speaker 1: That was it seven years without a first round pick.
Speaker 1: And I understand you can be wrong with the first
Speaker 1: round pick, but you need picks for opportunity to be right.
Speaker 1: And one thing we've learned in the NFL is you
Speaker 1: can't consistently build a team through free agency exclusively. At
Speaker 1: some point in time, you're going to have to draft
Speaker 1: well and draft good players in order to keep your
Speaker 1: salary cap in bounce because at some point in time,
Speaker 1: you know, the bill comes due, and you know this
Speaker 1: idea and this concept of your one player away, I've
Speaker 1: always struggled with it because very early in my NFL career,
Speaker 1: a quick story here, you know, I was with the
Speaker 1: Cleveland Browns when we um went to the playoffs and
Speaker 1: we lost three times that year the Pittsburgh Steelers. And
Speaker 1: in the playoff game against the Steelers in Pittsburgh, we
Speaker 1: started this game and Vinny Testoverty was our quarterback. He
Speaker 1: was having a good year, and we had two drops
Speaker 1: check three drops on three pass place and it was
Speaker 1: Michael Jackson was one of the receivers, and Derrick Alexander.
Speaker 1: And after, you know, we lost the playoff game. It
Speaker 1: was the week after we had beat the Patriots in
Speaker 1: the wild card round, and the talk was, gosh, we
Speaker 1: need an elite receiver and we're one player away. In
Speaker 1: this belief was that we were one player away. And
Speaker 1: what did we do in the offseason. We went out
Speaker 1: and made Andre rise and the highest paid wide receiver
Speaker 1: in National Football League history. And I think sometimes what
Speaker 1: happens is when you have that mentality of that you
Speaker 1: are one anything away from anything in life and in business,
Speaker 1: you you have to rethink how you've built the whole thing.
Speaker 1: And I you know, to me, this wasn't just about
Speaker 1: Matthew Stafford. It wasn't just about von Miller. It's this
Speaker 1: accumulation things. And again I have to reiterate they have
Speaker 1: given up significant capital to get there, and at some
Speaker 1: point time the bill is gonna come do There's only
Speaker 1: so much that you can kick things down the road
Speaker 1: in terms of cap room, cap space and cash availability
Speaker 1: and or quite honestly, there's this whole other thing of
Speaker 1: managing expectations. You can't keep tricking your fans into believing that, oh,
Speaker 1: this is the one. Oh you know, you go out
Speaker 1: and you sell a bunch of Matthew Stafford jerseys and
Speaker 1: or No, they want wins, and more than wins, they
Speaker 1: want championships. So again, forgive me for being long winded
Speaker 1: on this, but this, this is a conversation we can have.
Speaker 1: You know, maybe we do this in the offseason, guys,
Speaker 1: but it's but it's an important part about what we're
Speaker 1: getting ready to see this weekend. They have to win, guys.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's kind of fascinating to see if it
Speaker 1: pays off. I mean, and you referenced finally, Scott like,
Speaker 1: they gotta beat a team they haven't done in six
Speaker 1: times to kind of have it pay off. I mean
Speaker 1: they have not beat San Francisco in six straight matches.
Speaker 1: I mean Sean McVey, who's one of the best coaches
Speaker 1: in football, hasn't beat San Francisco since two thousand eighteen.
Speaker 1: That's that's insane. You know, this is a team that
Speaker 1: three weeks ago had a seventeen nothing lead at home
Speaker 1: against San Francisco. I promise you, I promise you. They
Speaker 1: didn't want to see San Francisco in the playoffs. They
Speaker 1: don't want them to get in. You know, as much
Speaker 1: as you know you wanted them to get in because
Speaker 1: you felt they were the team to knock off Green
Speaker 1: Bay and then you don't have to go there because
Speaker 1: you're the two seed. You don't want him in because
Speaker 1: you know how good they are. I think the challenge
Speaker 1: for the Rams this weekend is starts there is the
Speaker 1: mental hurdle, is that we can beat them. Hurdle, you know,
Speaker 1: from the head coach down, because this is still a
Speaker 1: little bit like the game for Green Bay last week.
Speaker 1: This is still a little bit teacher versus mentor so
Speaker 1: to speak, a lot of what Sean McVeigh learned he
Speaker 1: learned under the Shanahan's and Kyle Shanahan, and he's got
Speaker 1: to jump that hurdle. I think the challenge for them
Speaker 1: is they are going like it's it's very simplistic. Defensively
Speaker 1: for the Rams, you are gonna have to stop the
Speaker 1: toss like this is forty years ago. We're going to
Speaker 1: toss the ball to the perimeter and you're gonna have
Speaker 1: to set edges and you're gonna have to run down
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage and your back end is gonna
Speaker 1: have to come put your face mask on people. And
Speaker 1: Kyle is going to make guys do that. And it's
Speaker 1: not gonna be Jalen Ramsey. He's gonna do it away
Speaker 1: from Jalen Ramsey because he knows Jalen's willing. And so
Speaker 1: that's gonna be a just a Okay, here comes four
Speaker 1: quarters of this and we gotta be ready for it.
Speaker 1: They're gonna have to physically match George Kittle and Deebo
Speaker 1: Samuel Defensively. You're gonna have to physically do that, and
Speaker 1: then they're gonna have to give the opportunity because I
Speaker 1: think this. If Trent Williams does not play because of
Speaker 1: that ankle, there is the chance that this game looks
Speaker 1: a lot like it did for the first three quarters
Speaker 1: against Tampa Bay, the way Von Miller's planned and the
Speaker 1: way is playing, and the way Leonard Floyd's planned. If
Speaker 1: this becomes a situation where it is second and eight,
Speaker 1: third and six plus, good night, and I think the
Speaker 1: Rams will have to be very smart with you know,
Speaker 1: I kind of phrase it as you got packed the paint.
Speaker 1: You gotta dare Jimmy Garoppolo for four quarters to throw
Speaker 1: the ball outside the numbers. You have to. And it's
Speaker 1: the way that you like if just speaking from an
Speaker 1: offensive perspective, it's the way that you position yourselves on
Speaker 1: the outside of receivers and muddy the middle of the
Speaker 1: field in regards that, and I think if they do that,
Speaker 1: they got a chance to play well defensively and then offensively.
Speaker 1: For the Rams, their offensive line has to have the
Speaker 1: best game of the season. It just does. San Francisco
Speaker 1: is where they are right now because the way their
Speaker 1: front is playing. Their front is playing so explosive off
Speaker 1: the football, and that is allowing their coverage to just
Speaker 1: be so cloudy and muddy, and I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's if is it cover three, is it cover four?
Speaker 1: Is it three cloud or is it four? Is it six?
Speaker 1: Is it too many? You know, you just constantly cloudy
Speaker 1: for a quarterback. And so this will be a line
Speaker 1: of scrimmage football game. You know, one thought that I've
Speaker 1: had about this game too, is it's not who's gonna
Speaker 1: win this game, but who's not gonna lose this game? Again,
Speaker 1: you go back to the Rams game. They almost gave
Speaker 1: that game away. They almost made so many mistakes. And
Speaker 1: I'm not saying Matthew Stafford. I'm talking about their team
Speaker 1: almost found a way to lose that game and give
Speaker 1: that game away to Tom Brady. Then on a flip side,
Speaker 1: the Niners are a team that generally praise upon um
Speaker 1: mistake football like that, And it's one of the ways
Speaker 1: that I feel that Kyle is so much like Bill
Speaker 1: Belichick that he waits for teams to make mistakes. But
Speaker 1: on the Niner side of the ball, they've got to
Speaker 1: make sure that Jimmy Garoppolo doesn't lose the game. There's
Speaker 1: there's capability on both football teams where they could lose
Speaker 1: the game rather than the other team when it if
Speaker 1: that makes sense. Yeah, the quarterback situation to me is fascinating.
Speaker 1: It always is. But talking about the Rams, how they've
Speaker 1: built their team, they had Jared Goff on the team
Speaker 1: got to a super Bowl and said, you know what,
Speaker 1: we're sending the message loud and clear, Jared, we don't
Speaker 1: believe that you're that guy. We have to go trade
Speaker 1: for that guy, the guy we think is that guy,
Speaker 1: and they bring in Matthew Stafford and they might be right.
Speaker 1: Jimmy Garoppolo got to a super Bowl at one point
Speaker 1: with this team, and this past offseason they sent the
Speaker 1: message loud and clear, Jimmy, we don't think you're that guy.
Speaker 1: We just don't think you're that good. We're gonna go
Speaker 1: draft your replacement. And Jimmy Garoppolo is still here. This
Speaker 1: is like having Jared guff still on the team with
Speaker 1: Matthew Stafford and still being the quarterback. Right It's amazing
Speaker 1: because I mean, you like, you're well, but your your
Speaker 1: replacements right over waiting to take your job, and yet
Speaker 1: you've got your team one step away from the super Bowl.
Speaker 1: It's amazing. You know. It's crazy about that situation though,
Speaker 1: because your point is accurate, and I have two thoughts
Speaker 1: on it. Jimmy obviously has have had to handle the
Speaker 1: situation phenomenally well, just from a a mindset, a leadership,
Speaker 1: a lack of ego, just uh a wee before me.
Speaker 1: He's got to behind closed doors to have handled it
Speaker 1: incredibly well. Because one of the things that I took
Speaker 1: out of the ram Bucks game how you always want
Speaker 1: to see how a team is getting after Tom Brady,
Speaker 1: how much they are rushing him, how many people they're bringing.
Speaker 1: And it always seems like teams that were able to
Speaker 1: beat Tom Brady could get home with four. They never
Speaker 1: brought more than five, But they also never brought three, right,
Speaker 1: So what did they do with this offensive line and
Speaker 1: Jimmy Garoppolo this week? Is this a game where they
Speaker 1: blitz him at times? This is a game where you
Speaker 1: just trust that the four sometimes five, can get home
Speaker 1: on their own. I mean, you mentioned the personnel they've
Speaker 1: got up front, the Rams. They were able to do
Speaker 1: that to Tom Brady this past week. Is that where
Speaker 1: this game is won and lost? Yeah, they're not gonna
Speaker 1: come after Jimmy g It's just not who they are,
Speaker 1: you know. I think that you may not need to. Yeah, right,
Speaker 1: that's exactly. Ralliames is a huge piece to this. Again,
Speaker 1: this game feels very narrative, like leading up to it,
Speaker 1: the way I felt about Tampa Bay last week. I
Speaker 1: felt and I told everyone like, yo, if Trent Works
Speaker 1: doesn't play or Tristan Worse doesn't play, this game's a blowout.
Speaker 1: And it was for those three quarters until the Rams started,
Speaker 1: you know, drive me nuts. And I because Compton, the
Speaker 1: right tackle for San Francisco, got beat up this past
Speaker 1: weekend and buy Green Bays defense. And I think if
Speaker 1: you're going into this game with those two tackles, you're saying, oh,
Speaker 1: I do not think that they're gonna pressure this team. Listen,
Speaker 1: um less need the general manager for for the Los
Speaker 1: Angeles Rams did not go get Vaughan so he could
Speaker 1: pressure more. He got Vaughan so he could pressure less. Now,
Speaker 1: the thing that they have done a little bit, Bob,
Speaker 1: that I think is to your point a little bits.
Speaker 1: Troy Reader, number fifty one, their linebacker. They really pressured
Speaker 1: him in some of their zone blitzes last week a lot. Now,
Speaker 1: I don't know what the almost sack in the wild
Speaker 1: card game, right, So the past couple of weeks they
Speaker 1: started to do it a little bit more Scott, and
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's now it's there's a difference
Speaker 1: between a dog and a blitz. A dog is when
Speaker 1: you bring bring five guys. A blitz is when you
Speaker 1: bring six in pressure. So they've started to dog him
Speaker 1: a little bit more where they pressure him or blitz
Speaker 1: him as he used him as the blitzer, and then
Speaker 1: they dropped people from the line of scrimmage. And I
Speaker 1: don't know if that's something that they've wanted to get
Speaker 1: more of or they're saying, we don't love this guy
Speaker 1: in in past coverage. Let's use him to try to
Speaker 1: get him in a one on one pass rush situation,
Speaker 1: help the rush a little bit for those other guys,
Speaker 1: while also not kind of exposing the numbers of our
Speaker 1: coverage on the back end. Be fascinating to watch. Can't
Speaker 1: wait because the next time we are talking here on tapeds,
Speaker 1: we're going to have a Super Bowl matchup to talk about.
Speaker 1: We are back next week. We'll be looking at these
Speaker 1: games and we'll be looking forward to the Big One.
Speaker 1: Please download and subscribe, hit us up on social media,
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Speaker 1: drop our next episode of Tapeds