Speaker 1: We bring in now guy who knows a little bit
Speaker 1: about defense. He's Shawn Merriman. He is a longtime NFL
Speaker 1: star now has his own podcast, The Lights Out Podcast
Speaker 1: with My Heart and Sean. Appreciate you joining us here
Speaker 1: this morning to break down what happened in the the
Speaker 1: NFL over the weekend. I'm gonna get into a lot
Speaker 1: of different games, but I want to start with you here.
Speaker 1: Are we seeing Russell Wilson pressing too much in terms
Speaker 1: of what he's trying to do in the games. And
Speaker 1: I don't know if you were watching or you saw
Speaker 1: the highlights, but one play in particular stood out to
Speaker 1: me in the game against the Rams, Russell Wilson, it
Speaker 1: looked like might have been able to run the football
Speaker 1: in Uh, he certainly would have been able to get
Speaker 1: a first down, and he's rolling out of pocket. He
Speaker 1: turns throws across his body into the end zone, ball
Speaker 1: gets picked off by the Rams, and uh, it felt
Speaker 1: like that was probably the best chance that the that
Speaker 1: the Seahawks had to really kind of get even in
Speaker 1: that game. And he continues to turn the ball over
Speaker 1: a little bit. He was the presumptive MVP candidate. He
Speaker 1: couldn't have been playing any better early in the year.
Speaker 1: What's happening? Is he trying to do too much? Now?
Speaker 1: You know it was uncharacteristic for him. Um. One thing
Speaker 1: that makes Russell Wilson great is his decisions, his decision
Speaker 1: making ability. You know, he's always makes the right decision.
Speaker 1: Those want to throw the ball away, knows want to
Speaker 1: get down little uh, you know, get out of bound.
Speaker 1: He makes great decisions. So to see this as of late,
Speaker 1: you gotta start thinking that, uh, maybe he's trying to
Speaker 1: go out and do too much and do more than
Speaker 1: with acts. And you know, he have a great cast
Speaker 1: around him. They got, you know, great team, so he
Speaker 1: didn't have to go out and do the things he
Speaker 1: did in the past. So he had to scramble and
Speaker 1: work his magic and make big things happen. You know,
Speaker 1: just take what's given to you. And we're going to
Speaker 1: the next We're talking to Sean Merriman. All right, I
Speaker 1: got a hypothetical for you, but I want to start
Speaker 1: with the DeAndre Hopkins play. I mean, there were so
Speaker 1: many different incredible uh down the stretch moves and what
Speaker 1: I thought was the best game of the weekend by far.
Speaker 1: First of all. The throw that Josh Allen made the
Speaker 1: Stefon Diggs to give the Bills you thought to win
Speaker 1: on the road against Arizona was a pretty fabulous throw
Speaker 1: and play, particularly because Josh Allen had made a couple
Speaker 1: of turnovers prior to that. The Bills hadn't been able
Speaker 1: to get their offense going for a while. But then
Speaker 1: the throw that Kyler Murray made going out of bounds
Speaker 1: basically off his back foot, and then the catch that
Speaker 1: DeAndre Hopkins made in the middle of three different Bill defenders.
Speaker 1: That's one of the most remarkable hell Mary catches I
Speaker 1: have seen in the NFL. Before. You're an old defensive
Speaker 1: guy in the NFL, what would it feel like walking
Speaker 1: into the locker room if you've been a member of
Speaker 1: the Bills. Oh, you'll be crushed because you know, in
Speaker 1: those types of situations, Uh, it's fundamental. Get guys back,
Speaker 1: you know, put your heels on the end zone and
Speaker 1: you know, keep everything in front of you. And if
Speaker 1: you look at that that play, Uh, you had guys
Speaker 1: they were biting up to shortyard this route there were
Speaker 1: twenty yards away from the end zone, Like what do
Speaker 1: you you know they had to go and score a
Speaker 1: field goal wasn't gonna win it for him, So why
Speaker 1: play up? Why take the chief? You know? Why why
Speaker 1: are you going pay attention to things that, uh, that
Speaker 1: doesn't really matter. Everyone knows in the NFL, when those
Speaker 1: big plays happen, you get back in the end zone,
Speaker 1: you keep everything in front of you. I mean, don't
Speaker 1: get wrong, it was a great throw by Kyler Murray.
Speaker 1: It was a great catch by DeAndre Hawkins Hopkins. I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to take anything away from it, because that
Speaker 1: was truly remarkable. But everyone knows that you get back there,
Speaker 1: you keep everything in front of you. So when you
Speaker 1: go back and watch the film you're the Bills, that
Speaker 1: one's gonna be a huge gut punch. Alright, tough question
Speaker 1: for you here. You can only have one for the
Speaker 1: next five years, Kyler Murray or Lamar Jackson. Who's your guy?
Speaker 1: I'm taking Kyler, uh, you know, because is that a
Speaker 1: difficult choice at all for you? I mean we are
Speaker 1: just coming off of an m v P season for
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson. But to you, you just see Kyler Murray
Speaker 1: being able to do more and take his game to
Speaker 1: a different level. Absolutely, I think that the window, uh
Speaker 1: is much more clear for Kyler. I mean he can
Speaker 1: do everything that Lamar Jackson and Jackson can do, but better.
Speaker 1: H he has an arm, he's more accurate. Uh you know,
Speaker 1: he knows when he uses the legs. I mean they're
Speaker 1: both fast, but at the same time, you know, he's
Speaker 1: a quarterback who can run, right, he's not looking to run.
Speaker 1: I mean Lamar Jackson is a run You know you
Speaker 1: watching him, you still sit back and watch the game. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, they got a bunch of misdirection plays and
Speaker 1: things going on. They need a uh put in the
Speaker 1: offense for Lamar Jackson because he's not an accurate passer.
Speaker 1: Kylin mary Man and he we're just seeing the tip
Speaker 1: of the iceberg what he's capable of doing. And that
Speaker 1: was just one big play of many that he's gonna
Speaker 1: happen his career. Who's the best team in the NFC West.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm still gonna go with U with Seattle, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I I really do feel like they're the
Speaker 1: best teams team even though they just uh they dropped
Speaker 1: one and Russell Wilson made some mistakes, but I still
Speaker 1: feel like they're the best team. We're talking with Shawn
Speaker 1: Merriman Lights Out podcast on I Heart encourage you to
Speaker 1: check it out. Uh, the Eagles, I mean, the entire
Speaker 1: NFC West is I mean, it's sorry, NFC East is
Speaker 1: just a dumpster fire. Do you think the Eagles managed
Speaker 1: to win this division or do you think somebody else
Speaker 1: can catch them? Can Can the Giants? I mean, who
Speaker 1: seemed to be playing pretty well, arguably should have maybe
Speaker 1: beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, just recently got to win
Speaker 1: over the Washington team, and now they beat Philly. I mean,
Speaker 1: can the Giants catch them? You know, you hit it
Speaker 1: right on the head. I mean it is truly, Uh,
Speaker 1: this frace was going on over the NFC. So it's
Speaker 1: almost who can lose the most and still win? Right
Speaker 1: at me? Because you can look as bad as you
Speaker 1: want and you still have an opportunity to get into
Speaker 1: the playoffs, which I said from the start, and I've
Speaker 1: been tenting for a long time. I just simply believe
Speaker 1: that that's not fair. Um, but you've got these teams
Speaker 1: that they can have these losing records and still possibly
Speaker 1: find a way to get in the playoffs. But absolutely,
Speaker 1: I do think that the Eagles probably gonna come out
Speaker 1: on top of that division. Um, you know they are.
Speaker 1: They are playing better as it's late, but at the
Speaker 1: same time, you know who they're playing, you know who
Speaker 1: who Really is a competition the goal is to get
Speaker 1: in the playoffs and when you plan a division like that, Uh,
Speaker 1: they're so bad all you needed to get your foot
Speaker 1: in the door. And they look like the team is
Speaker 1: going to do that. Packers got to seven and two.
Speaker 1: They didn't look impressive doing it. Uh, this comes on
Speaker 1: the heels of them not playing well against the Vikings either.
Speaker 1: Are you nervous at all about the Packers? No, but
Speaker 1: because they got Aaron Rodgers. But you know, you go
Speaker 1: back to the draft and look at some of the
Speaker 1: moves they made in the offseason, and you know they're
Speaker 1: not drafting a guy that's gonna help out. Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: gonna bite them later on because right now he's struggling
Speaker 1: and and and even though they got a win over
Speaker 1: to Jacksonville wasn't pretty. They'll take to win, but that's
Speaker 1: not you know, a great team that you're looking at
Speaker 1: right now. You're looking at their scraping by against teams
Speaker 1: that they probably should be boring out. We're talking to
Speaker 1: show on Merriman Lights Out Podcast as we roll through
Speaker 1: all the activity that took place on Sunday. UH one
Speaker 1: of the teams that obviously has been fascinating at the
Speaker 1: very top of the list that people want to talk
Speaker 1: about Tampa Bay Buccanty years. I'm curious what you thought
Speaker 1: about their performance against the Saints and then the bounce
Speaker 1: back where it seemed like everything went right for them
Speaker 1: offensively against the Panthers. How much faith do you have
Speaker 1: in the Bucks, who have been a little bit of
Speaker 1: a roller coaster here of late. Well, you don't have
Speaker 1: a lot of faith in them, and and and partly
Speaker 1: because that defense. I mean they the defense continuously put
Speaker 1: them in great positions. They're getting turn over the JPP.
Speaker 1: That interception he had when he dropped in the coverage,
Speaker 1: I mean that was just outstanding. They just given the
Speaker 1: offense another opportunity to put points on the board. So,
Speaker 1: you know, nothing against Tom Brady. Tom Brady playing, you know,
Speaker 1: been playing good this year this year, Mike Evans been
Speaker 1: playing well. But the defense to me, is was going
Speaker 1: to take this team. Bar got a wide open play
Speaker 1: offer race going on right now. Um, we're not even
Speaker 1: sure exactly how many teams are going to be in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. But you start to look at at the
Speaker 1: way the playoff races could go and basically everybody, it
Speaker 1: feels like in in the a f C almost is
Speaker 1: in the mix. You've got nine teams that are six
Speaker 1: and three or better, which is which is pretty impressive, um,
Speaker 1: meaning you know, only seven of those teams would theoretically
Speaker 1: make it. Who do you is it? Is it the
Speaker 1: Chiefs that are still even though the Steelers are nine
Speaker 1: and oh are the Chiefs still the best team in
Speaker 1: the a f C. Well, well, they're definitely the most dangerous, right,
Speaker 1: That's the team you don't want to play because the
Speaker 1: Patrick the homes and what he's capable of doing because
Speaker 1: you can never count him out no matter what the
Speaker 1: score is. Well, what's going on the longest patching the
Speaker 1: homes is taking a field. They got a shot. Now
Speaker 1: when you go to get the team like Pittsburgh, Uh,
Speaker 1: they're so balanced and and and this is this is
Speaker 1: scary about them because they don't do one thing great.
Speaker 1: They just played great football across the board, all three
Speaker 1: phases off the defense and special teams. Uh, you know
Speaker 1: they've coached very well and they're still able to make
Speaker 1: big plays. I mean the Robinsberger man, I mean, he's
Speaker 1: playing like he did five or six years ago. You know,
Speaker 1: he has that found in the youth right now, he's
Speaker 1: looking good. Why have the Steelers done such a good
Speaker 1: job at wide receiver drafting because you know, you look
Speaker 1: back and you say a lot of people said, oh
Speaker 1: my god, the Steelers are gonna be in trouble. Levian
Speaker 1: Bell has gone, Antonio Brown is gone, and it's like
Speaker 1: they haven't even missed a step. I know they had
Speaker 1: last year Ben Roethlisberger injured, but they were still capable
Speaker 1: of being a playoff contending team. What is it about
Speaker 1: their culture that works so well that even when they
Speaker 1: lose two guys who a lot of people would believe
Speaker 1: are two of the most skilled offensive playmakers in the league,
Speaker 1: they don't even blink. Well, if you look at how
Speaker 1: they draft over the last ten years and they take
Speaker 1: it back to uh, you know, guys like Plastical Barris, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know they've drafted these type of wide receivers. Uh. Look,
Speaker 1: could feel they have a great system set up where
Speaker 1: they're plug and play. You know, they get these guys
Speaker 1: who are ranging who can make the big play, and
Speaker 1: you get somebody like Juju who can you know, command
Speaker 1: a double team and what make they plays themselves. Then
Speaker 1: that other guy gets to be a star because you
Speaker 1: know Juju is gonna get a double team or one
Speaker 1: of these other guys gonna get double teams. So they
Speaker 1: have a great system and how they go out and draft.
Speaker 1: They've done a remarkable job over that, over the last
Speaker 1: you know, ten of fifteen years. Good stuff as always,
Speaker 1: Sean Merriman. We will talk to you next week. Keep
Speaker 1: up the good work on the Lights Out podcast and
Speaker 1: thanks for getting up early with us, you Gutta, thanks
Speaker 1: for having