Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where we've always got a four
Speaker 1: hundred page organizational bible just nearby in case we ever
Speaker 1: need a new job.
Speaker 2: I'm Greg Rosenthal.
Speaker 1: I'm in the Chris Wesleyan podcast studio with my friends
Speaker 1: Jordan Rodriege of The Athletic and Colleen Wolf.
Speaker 2: She's back, I'm back.
Speaker 3: What's up. Great to see you, guys.
Speaker 2: I was New Orleans jealous. It was great.
Speaker 3: I love New Orleans.
Speaker 4: I had only been there one other time and it
Speaker 4: was for Thursday night football, so it was really quick
Speaker 4: parachuted in and out. So this time I had a
Speaker 4: little bit more of a chance to check it out
Speaker 4: and have some good.
Speaker 5: Dinners and New Drea, where'd you go? Where'd you go?
Speaker 4: I don't remember the name of any of the places,
Speaker 4: but I can get them to you.
Speaker 3: It was just like and it was so festive there.
Speaker 3: They really go.
Speaker 4: All out for Christmas. It was so fun. And then
Speaker 4: immediately very on brand for New Orleans. My first Uber
Speaker 4: driver just immediately started talking about Lil Wayne. So there's
Speaker 4: it's thriving there in New Orleans.
Speaker 5: I love it.
Speaker 3: I cannot wait for the super Bowl there.
Speaker 1: I cannot either. We were talking about it earlier. And yes,
Speaker 1: Colleen Will, we're a long way away from the summer
Speaker 1: of Connie. When you're going around the country and you
Speaker 1: were prepping, you were prepping for the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2: I cannot wait.
Speaker 1: When I started out in this industry, I was at
Speaker 1: roade a World NBC, and NBC sent me to the
Speaker 1: super Bowl for the very first time in two thousand
Speaker 1: and eight for the two thousand and seven season Giants Patriots,
Speaker 1: and I said, my goal, if I make it to
Speaker 1: the super Bowl in two thy and twelve, then I've
Speaker 1: achieved something.
Speaker 2: That's all I want out of this career.
Speaker 1: And when I got there and it ended up being
Speaker 1: for the NFL and doing around the NFL or pre
Speaker 1: around the NFL, I was like, that's it.
Speaker 2: I'm not asking for anything more.
Speaker 3: You can reach the mountain.
Speaker 1: So to be back twelve years later, I can't wait.
Speaker 1: And hopefully we're going to have you here there. I
Speaker 1: don't know if we can announce that yet, but let's go.
Speaker 5: Jordan figures crossed. And Colleen, whenever you say you parachute
Speaker 5: in somewhere, I never actually rule out the potential that
Speaker 5: you literally parachuted.
Speaker 3: And that would be so cool and I actually would
Speaker 3: like I would.
Speaker 2: Not she is a pilot. She is a pilot.
Speaker 4: I don't have my license street air legal, I guess
Speaker 4: you could say, but I did go to ground school
Speaker 4: for my private and yeah, working on some hours.
Speaker 1: Yes, and and uh a stadium at the Super Pig
Speaker 1: before a Super Bowl.
Speaker 3: Got to watch you, Oh yeah in the sixteen. That
Speaker 3: was cool.
Speaker 1: Let's talk a little holiday season. It's time on this show.
Speaker 1: We're gonna send some holiday cards out. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you've started receiving them. I kind of doubt either
Speaker 1: of you guys are organized organized enough to send it.
Speaker 2: Tell me I'm wrong.
Speaker 4: This is a total shot. But you are not wrong, Okay,
Speaker 4: And I'm sad that.
Speaker 3: I haven't gotten any yet. I haven't gotten one holiday.
Speaker 2: It's people that can you please me?
Speaker 5: And Tucky will send you.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna start sending myself guards.
Speaker 1: Well, we'll send the cards from one figure to another,
Speaker 1: whatever you want.
Speaker 5: It was.
Speaker 2: It was really left wide open.
Speaker 1: We're going to do a little TNF preview talk a
Speaker 1: little Rams giants, and we got Stafford and Purty who
Speaker 1: both took revenge on the voters of Quarterback Island. I
Speaker 1: should have said, Rams Niners rather Stafford and Purty. So
Speaker 1: we'll have a little you know, QBA Island aftermath. There
Speaker 1: was some controversy about last time, and so we'll talk
Speaker 1: about that then. But let's start with the cards. And
Speaker 1: this was your idea here, Colleen, And so I'm going
Speaker 1: to a lot of pressure. I'm gonna have you go
Speaker 1: first to really okay, set the tone. But yes, it's
Speaker 1: holiday cards to NFL figures.
Speaker 4: So I really love getting Christmas cards, which makes it
Speaker 4: much sadder that I have not gotten one Christmas card yet.
Speaker 3: But I'm really.
Speaker 4: Festive, I'm in the spirit. So here we go. This
Speaker 4: is my first Christmas card. Dear coach Tomlin, I know
Speaker 4: you've been in the exact same spot for eighteen seasons now,
Speaker 4: but for some reason, I can never find your address.
Speaker 4: As the Coach of the Year award.
Speaker 3: I've been sending myself around for a while now.
Speaker 4: So I wanted to personally greet you this holiday season
Speaker 4: and just get ahead.
Speaker 3: Of things this year.
Speaker 4: Christmas is a time for family, for love, for gratitude,
Speaker 4: and I'm just so thankful to have you in my life,
Speaker 4: despite never telling you before this As the longest tenured
Speaker 4: coach in the NFL. I'm kind of embarrassed that we've
Speaker 4: never spent time together. I love coaches that win, and
Speaker 4: considering you've never had a losing season and you're consistently
Speaker 4: successful with an array of varying roster talent year after year,
Speaker 4: with leadership and adaptability that deserves recognition, this seems long overdue.
Speaker 4: I know you probably don't care about having me in
Speaker 4: your life, but it's Christmas, Mike, and I hope this
Speaker 4: new year brings me my wish of finding my way
Speaker 4: into your heart and your warm embrace.
Speaker 5: Oh a, it's a holiday card day.
Speaker 3: Public.
Speaker 5: This is what you're missing by not sending or receiving cards.
Speaker 3: Come on, you can send them to the network. Someone
Speaker 3: send me your dawn car.
Speaker 1: Please do that and tell them it's care of Colleen
Speaker 1: Wolfe at NFL Daily and put the address there you
Speaker 1: can find it.
Speaker 3: I will read one on the air.
Speaker 5: We would if I get what that would be amazing.
Speaker 1: Actually, I love that. I feel like in part because
Speaker 1: of the New Hard Knocks. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: guys got a chance to watch it, and we're gonna
Speaker 1: get five weeks of it. Just watching five minutes of that,
Speaker 1: you're like, oh, Yeah, that's why Mike Tomlin's never had
Speaker 1: a losing season. It's so it's so obvious that his
Speaker 1: combination of attention to detail on like the small schematic
Speaker 1: like defensive things that he doesn't get enough credit for,
Speaker 1: plus the way he gets everyone all bought in in
Speaker 1: a fresh way.
Speaker 2: It's there's no one like him.
Speaker 5: It has to be either Tomlin or three of the
Speaker 5: qualified in representative coaches from the NFC North opinion, like,
Speaker 5: it's got to be one of one of these guys,
Speaker 5: and Tomlin, I mean it's time, right, it's been time.
Speaker 3: So his whole thing.
Speaker 4: Was because he was asked about this before and he said,
Speaker 4: Coach of the Year award usually goes to a coach
Speaker 4: that is overachieved for a team that the expectations weren't
Speaker 4: that high, and for the Steelers the expectations are always
Speaker 4: pretty up there. So he doesn't really care if he
Speaker 4: doesn't get it, but I think he deserves.
Speaker 5: I love that though, because even in even in deferring
Speaker 5: and like sort of like telling us why he doesn't
Speaker 5: care as much about it he is. That's such a
Speaker 5: flex Yes, Like I know my standard it is just
Speaker 5: higher than everybody else.
Speaker 1: The standard is the standard, and this year's a little
Speaker 1: different though because of the quarterback.
Speaker 2: Situation coming into the year.
Speaker 1: The expectation high over under was about eight and a half,
Speaker 1: which is average, but for a Steelers team, that's about
Speaker 1: as low as it's ever going to be.
Speaker 2: So I think you're onto something.
Speaker 4: Everybody questions justin fields like switching to Russell Wilson, just
Speaker 4: you know.
Speaker 2: He didn't know.
Speaker 1: He always knows, and yet if he doesn't win the award,
Speaker 1: this card's going to almost seem like a little gas lady.
Speaker 3: You know, it's like, well it turned to sunder. It
Speaker 3: hasn't like actually reached him.
Speaker 1: Well if it gets there before Christmas that he doesn't
Speaker 1: get the award, all right, Jordan, you give us a card.
Speaker 5: Okay, I have a holiday card from a GM desperate
Speaker 5: to keep his job. He'll do anything seriously to the
Speaker 5: team owner. Season's greetings. I hope the holiday season is
Speaker 5: bringing you warm times with family. I would like to
Speaker 5: be able to see my own but you had my
Speaker 5: key card access limited and my car keys are in
Speaker 5: my office. This also could have been an email, but
Speaker 5: for some reason I can't access my work account anymore,
Speaker 5: and it says username not found, although the check's still cash,
Speaker 5: so we're good right right. Holiday season aside, I'm also
Speaker 5: writing to tell you how motivated I am to get
Speaker 5: this coaching hire right this time. I'm leaving no stone unturned,
Speaker 5: no angle unsearched. I'm looking for inspiration in places some
Speaker 5: might call unlikely. Hell, they'll call us innovators when it works.
Speaker 5: That's why I'm writing to you from a post office
Speaker 5: down the street from Hopcat in Detroit, a bar where
Speaker 5: tonight a Dan Campbell lookike contest was held.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 5: I took a plane, a train, and an automobile okay,
Speaker 5: an uber to get a first hand scouting report on
Speaker 5: the qualities of fan base holds dearest in its beloved
Speaker 5: head coach. One hopeful winner even brought a wheelbarrow with
Speaker 5: two footballs in it on stage as a prop. That's
Speaker 5: the kind of confidence we're looking for at our next
Speaker 5: head coach. The actual winner, a man named Jeff Randall,
Speaker 5: brought a play card and a Trent to Starbucks Cup.
Speaker 5: We're looking for that kind of energy. I have to
Speaker 5: tell you I've never been more inspired. After three failed
Speaker 5: attempts over the years, I finally understand Wow. NFL players
Speaker 5: want a coach who gets them, who can navigate situational margins,
Speaker 5: who builds a culture in the team building and in
Speaker 5: the community, who hires a great staff. How crazy is that?
Speaker 5: I promise you, if you activate my key card again,
Speaker 5: I'll go find that coach. Please m.
Speaker 3: A Christmas holiday card that is begging for a job.
Speaker 1: Just a desperate general manager. Seriously, GM out there. I
Speaker 1: was immediately trying to think, like what GM has gotten
Speaker 1: that many swings up the Apple And you know what
Speaker 1: one that came to mind was Nick Asario and Tom Telesco.
Speaker 1: He did kind of get it done right on the
Speaker 1: third try with the Tamiko Ryan, So you can't have
Speaker 1: a happy ending.
Speaker 5: I want to thank Colton Palsy, my colleague at the Athletic,
Speaker 5: because he has this great recap of the Dan Campbell
Speaker 5: look alike contest, including descriptions of the props that people
Speaker 5: brought on stage.
Speaker 2: I love that one.
Speaker 5: It just it seemed like an incredible atmosphere. It's looking
Speaker 5: at all then big Dan energy.
Speaker 1: I love the women that got in the mix here,
Speaker 1: one of them legitimately just is Dan Campbell.
Speaker 2: Is it like a cardboard cutout? Is ai? I don't
Speaker 2: even know, like that that guy right there, I mean,
Speaker 2: that's the one.
Speaker 5: That's the guy who won. That's Jeff Randall. He won.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of people that look like Dan Campbell.
Speaker 1: Here's there are here's the thing there. There's no way
Speaker 1: to recreate Dan Campbell.
Speaker 5: Like.
Speaker 1: It is interesting though that the Mike Tomlin's the Dan
Speaker 1: Campbell's kind of the culture builder.
Speaker 2: Maybe that's going to be a little more in style.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And I think a lot of these Coach of
Speaker 5: the Year candidates that we're talking about have that in spades.
Speaker 5: They are they have that little extra something in terms
Speaker 5: of whether it's you're a quarterback whisperer like Kevin O'Connell
Speaker 5: or Matt Lafleur, or you're a situational master and a
Speaker 5: culture builder. I think Mike Tomlin and Dan Campbell both
Speaker 5: qualify for that, or you're just you have that culture
Speaker 5: and that reputation. This is it's hey, it's back in.
Speaker 4: Yeah, You're not just like some generic coach that people
Speaker 4: don't remember. I mean, these are memorable people.
Speaker 1: And he he's now, you know, kind of go up
Speaker 1: against a guy this week, Sean McDermott, which who in
Speaker 1: another world would be like a candidate for Coach of
Speaker 1: the Year, but no one really ever remembers him. I
Speaker 1: heard the Great Chris Long on the green Light podcast.
Speaker 1: I think they were like referring to him as a
Speaker 1: guy that would show up on like a sketch for uh.
Speaker 2: McDermott, like this is sort of like an average guy.
Speaker 2: It's a composite. He's a composite guy. He's an NPC.
Speaker 1: And that might be part of his problem why he
Speaker 1: doesn't get a lot of love is he just looks.
Speaker 2: Like too much like an average guy. But it was
Speaker 2: really funny and.
Speaker 1: It seems germane Ah, I've got a card that has
Speaker 1: some relation to your first card. But we don't plan
Speaker 1: this ahead of time, and that's what makes it exciting.
Speaker 1: The vibe is very different. This card is actually from
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson.
Speaker 3: Oh, and it's to me.
Speaker 2: Wow, I just got it. I get open it.
Speaker 3: Did Gino Smith's card to you?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can just open it here And that's really
Speaker 1: exciting to me. To Greg, I'm really looking forward to
Speaker 1: this too, Greg, Mary Christmas Man yet he had it
Speaker 1: all right. Merry Christmas Man or whatever you guys celebrate
Speaker 1: And Santa Monica Rosenthal Christmas on December fourteenth, because your.
Speaker 2: Family leaves you for Japan. Weird.
Speaker 3: He knew that.
Speaker 2: It's all beautiful though, it's all family. How do I
Speaker 2: know this? Oh? I've been watching, man, I've been watching endlessly. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I remember the Around the NFL.
Speaker 1: Podcast you did back in twenty twenty one when you
Speaker 1: said you'd rather have Mac Jones long term than me.
Speaker 2: That wasn't even so bad.
Speaker 1: That goofy, strident bastard almost beat Jamar Chase in the
Speaker 1: Rookie of the Year voting that year. Like, I get it,
Speaker 1: he was younger now, I was the smug way. You
Speaker 1: would bring up this bad take over and over again
Speaker 1: when I was struggling in Denver and somehow acted like
Speaker 1: you were onto my downfall.
Speaker 2: Ahead of the pack.
Speaker 1: We got Mac Jones ruining generations of potential NFL fans
Speaker 1: in Germany and getting Bailey zapped. Why I throw for
Speaker 1: twenty six touchdowns and eight interceptions for a coach that
Speaker 1: can't stand me?
Speaker 2: And sure yet you nailed that one, buddy. Wow, it's
Speaker 2: all love.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: I'm in a better place now. Good to see you're
Speaker 1: doing well with the new show. Been digging that. See
Speaker 1: you next. Tuesday crew, even though.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you didn't.
Speaker 1: Think I was the best quarterback on my own team.
Speaker 1: Yeah I heard that one too. I mean, I get it.
Speaker 1: Why would one of the greatest coaches of all time
Speaker 1: Dare change quarterbacks when they were scoring about two offensive
Speaker 1: touchdowns every game. I mean, he must not know what
Speaker 1: he's doing either. But Justin's my friend, for real. I
Speaker 1: love this team around me, for real. Forget getting a
Speaker 1: quarterback Island mentioned. What's the guy to do just to
Speaker 1: get a little respect in the streets. I married Siara
Speaker 1: for God's sakes. Come on now, So when you're watching
Speaker 1: those Christmas games alone on the couch, Greg, I want
Speaker 1: you to look.
Speaker 2: Up in the sky. That's not Santa Claus.
Speaker 1: That's one of those sexy deep balls falling from the
Speaker 1: heavens to blow up one of your naz lazy narratives.
Speaker 2: Win the seventh Russell Wilson, Wow.
Speaker 3: I can't believe he used don't picture that.
Speaker 5: Sheets of paper. Seems like for that cover there.
Speaker 2: Was a lot of a lot of words like over libert.
Speaker 3: Well, sometimes you get those like newsletters from people.
Speaker 2: Is the guy?
Speaker 3: This is what's going on?
Speaker 5: A third day of September.
Speaker 1: My dog breathed, Did you know that Russell Wilson has
Speaker 1: a catchphrase in Pittsburgh? No, and it's win the seventh
Speaker 1: And I guess it hasn't really caught on nationally, but
Speaker 1: he does end some of the interviews in press conferences
Speaker 1: with win the seventh huh, win the seventh Super Bowl
Speaker 1: for Steelers.
Speaker 3: I did not know that he was doing catchphrases.
Speaker 5: Again, got another one.
Speaker 2: I didn't. I thought he'd kind of given up.
Speaker 5: But I wanted him to. At least he has d centered.
Speaker 5: There's no lets, there's no first name reference by himself,
Speaker 5: there's no it's it is a collective.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true, and he does deserve respect out here
Speaker 1: in the streets. I mean, he's a guy who you
Speaker 1: would have thought wouldn't have been able to handle a
Speaker 1: situation where he essentially was benched for chunk of this season.
Speaker 5: Noted that you wouldn't have been able.
Speaker 1: Yes, process, But to be fair, I think that section
Speaker 1: of the letter, just reading it closely, he didn't note that.
Speaker 1: Really all of us were kind of against going to
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson at the time when it was justin fields,
Speaker 1: and he is proving correct a lot of people wrong
Speaker 1: and he's been a good teammate and leader for Justin Fields.
Speaker 1: I don't think like it's it's pretend they really all
Speaker 1: get along.
Speaker 5: You know what I really appreciated out of this letter
Speaker 5: from Russell Wilson to you, Yeah, was his graciousness.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like really because I picked up a little different tone.
Speaker 5: It was like a graciousness with two g's m about
Speaker 5: just how just he forgives you and he listens to
Speaker 5: everything you say, specifically Greg and details it thoroughly. Yeah,
Speaker 5: and really just even the receipts provided by Russell to
Speaker 5: you had some sort of a positive Greg spin on it.
Speaker 2: It showed it he's a good list.
Speaker 5: There.
Speaker 2: He just showed he's a strong list.
Speaker 4: I'm a little concerned that he is watching and listening
Speaker 4: to everything you're doing, and he knows when your family
Speaker 4: is not going to be in town, like do you
Speaker 4: have simply safe or ring or anything like that.
Speaker 3: It's just a little worrying.
Speaker 5: Is he Santa?
Speaker 1: Where he's Santa's Russell Wilson real on the next NFL?
Speaker 2: Do all right, Colleen, give give you another card?
Speaker 4: Okay, here we go, where's my Music's great?
Speaker 5: There she is?
Speaker 4: Seasons Greetings to everyone trying to gaslight the Eagles into
Speaker 4: thinking it's twenty twenty three good tidings.
Speaker 3: I bring to you and your kin.
Speaker 4: It's with great pleasure I inform you that everything is
Speaker 4: totally fine in Philadelphia. In fact, things could not be
Speaker 4: better this holiday season. There's absolutely no tension or unresolved
Speaker 4: issues resurfacing, nothing to worry about other than warm wishes.
Speaker 3: And you'll tide during this special time of peace and joy.
Speaker 6: You know, Christmas has all always brought the wolves closer
Speaker 6: together as in my family, including Tim, including Tim, never
Speaker 6: never did dysfunctional family dynamics get in the way of
Speaker 6: what's most important, winning, winning at gift giving, at decorating,
Speaker 6: at cookies, but most importantly winning at games.
Speaker 3: And that last one is true for aj Brown and Jalen.
Speaker 4: Hurts to nine straight wins led them to this special
Speaker 4: time of year. And it would just be so much
Speaker 4: more cheerful if you didn't project your own problems onto
Speaker 4: a team that isn't it all scarred from the results
Speaker 4: of twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four has brought blessings
Speaker 4: that will carry over into the arms of Saquon Barkley
Speaker 4: to twenty twenty five This year is not last year.
Speaker 4: Next year won't be last year either. If you're following
Speaker 4: all of this, may the holiday spirit fill whatever emptiness
Speaker 4: is in your heart, and may any concerns about the
Speaker 4: Eagles team chemistry fade away with the hap half happiest
Speaker 4: Christmas since Bing Crosby danced with Danny.
Speaker 1: Okay, what a nice note depended on And I like that.
Speaker 1: It's everyone trying to gases. It's basically everyone that you
Speaker 1: have in your address book.
Speaker 2: I mean your emails.
Speaker 3: So many cards went out. I'm out of cards.
Speaker 1: Brandon Graham maybe include on that, like is he getting
Speaker 1: the card? I feel I wonder what the call was
Speaker 1: like and who made the first call to Brandon Graham
Speaker 1: and when he realized maybe he stepped into it a little.
Speaker 3: Question, But you know, he seemed he didn't seem that.
Speaker 4: I don't know, perturbed or upset or you know, on
Speaker 4: a like flu mixed bike.
Speaker 2: It.
Speaker 5: It's interesting he said it so confidently in the moment.
Speaker 5: It was almost like, hey, we all know about this,
Speaker 5: right and so what's interesting to me?
Speaker 3: Flustard was the word I was looking for.
Speaker 5: Ye, But what's interesting to me is like veterans, whether
Speaker 5: they're playing for a team or not currently able to
Speaker 5: for the team. They have their methods tried and true.
Speaker 5: They've got their ways of sort of getting everybody in
Speaker 5: back into line, back into step with each other. If
Speaker 5: especially if there are people in the locker room talking
Speaker 5: to the media about what we could work on passing,
Speaker 5: and if there are you know, some sort if there's
Speaker 5: a sort of forced obliviousness from Jalen Hurts. If I'm
Speaker 5: a veteran player, and this is just what I would
Speaker 5: do personally, if I'm a veteran player, I would sort
Speaker 5: of call call them out and signal to get back
Speaker 5: into line without so much overtly doing that, you.
Speaker 2: Know, That's what I would say privately.
Speaker 1: I mean, that was what Brandon Graham said, and his
Speaker 1: sort of retraction is like, yeah, I just didn't want
Speaker 1: people calling out anyone in the media.
Speaker 4: I think I think it was very it was done
Speaker 4: with purpose.
Speaker 1: Perhaps, Yeah, I think so too. And it honestly, I
Speaker 1: like I like the mess. I like the drama. Just
Speaker 1: from the outside. I'm root for the Eagles, yes, two,
Speaker 1: but this is kind of fun and it makes it
Speaker 1: is like it makes a little sense too.
Speaker 5: Isn't it so classic of what we know this regime
Speaker 5: to be at this point where it's like everything is
Speaker 5: going great, guys.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like why vibes are fine?
Speaker 5: Then all the time?
Speaker 3: Two vibes. That's what Sirianni said.
Speaker 5: It's like it's like a red flag team in terms
Speaker 5: of like when you like if you meet someone and
Speaker 5: like everything is so great and it's going so well
Speaker 5: that I've got to throw a bomb into this to
Speaker 5: ruin it right, Like every it's.
Speaker 3: Gonna be fine, guys, Everything's totally fine. There's nothing to
Speaker 3: worry about.
Speaker 1: I just hope Jalen Hurts can meet the moment because
Speaker 1: there's just a lot on him and I and I
Speaker 1: thought about it after he made that thirty yard run
Speaker 1: last week. We know, one of his best plays of
Speaker 1: the game where he finished the inside the ten yard
Speaker 1: line kind of you know, jumped over and right after
Speaker 1: that play, which was an awesome play, the crowd's going crazy.
Speaker 1: It was that an important moment of the game. It
Speaker 1: was a great play by him. He just stood up
Speaker 1: and walked stone face back to the huddle, and I
Speaker 1: was like, man, is this guy having any fun at all?
Speaker 3: He's all business.
Speaker 1: I get it, Like he is a very serious dude,
Speaker 1: but he just seems like he's gripping the ball too tight,
Speaker 1: which is maybe what AJ Brown is getting out a
Speaker 1: little bit.
Speaker 4: It's like he has all been quite a few times
Speaker 4: wide open and AJ did not go to him, or
Speaker 4: Jalen did not go to him, or if he did,
Speaker 4: it was not a great ball.
Speaker 2: All right, let's get your next card, George.
Speaker 5: This SOE's a little bit shorter than Greggs.
Speaker 2: My next one's even longer.
Speaker 5: Oh no, to this is to the rest of the MVP,
Speaker 5: the rest in all caps of the MVP candidates From
Speaker 5: Joe Burrow, Dear Josh, se Quan Lamar, Jared and Pennay
Speaker 5: writing to wish you a very warm Mvpson's greetings. Am
Speaker 5: I right own, Jared, I know you love that one. Listen,
Speaker 5: I still consider myself a part of this group. Have
Speaker 5: you seen my stats? And boys, I know you're pulling
Speaker 5: for me too, even though it's from the warm comforts
Speaker 5: of your respective teams that haven't royally screwed each of
Speaker 5: you over during MVP caliber seasons in literally literally historic fashion. Anyway,
Speaker 5: this isn't about me, even though I fully expect to
Speaker 5: take one of your spots on many five Canada ballots
Speaker 5: when it comes to time co. But it's not about me.
Speaker 5: I just wanted to wish you all a very happy holiday,
Speaker 5: a happy hey, let me try that again. I wanted
Speaker 5: to wish you all a very happy holiday and a
Speaker 5: happy post season. Love you my bros. And you deserve it.
Speaker 5: I mean I deserve it too, so does Jamar. But
Speaker 5: it's not about me. It's not about me. Ps can
Speaker 5: I and Jared can you send me ben Jonson's cell
Speaker 5: phone on?
Speaker 2: There you go.
Speaker 1: I love Joe Burrow getting on our agenda by putting
Speaker 1: Pinay just even.
Speaker 2: On the list.
Speaker 5: I know, right, get it? That wh gets it?
Speaker 2: You never know.
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe if Burrow went absolutely crazy down the stretch
Speaker 1: and finished mentally crazy.
Speaker 5: No, I mean just share with.
Speaker 1: Him just the numbers, maybe they could be so good
Speaker 1: that he does get it.
Speaker 3: They're not mathematically out of well that too.
Speaker 4: According to Cynthia Freeland, I asked her last night, so
Speaker 4: how did the probability move?
Speaker 2: She said, it went.
Speaker 4: From like one point three percent to what looks like
Speaker 4: about five percent chance of making the playoffs now, so hey,
Speaker 4: I mean.
Speaker 2: That's that's real.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that those numbers, are you know,
Speaker 1: accounting for the fact that it took the Cowboys completely
Speaker 1: botching up, you know, fake pudd just to beat Cooper Rush. Like,
Speaker 1: there was about fifty eight minutes of concern that reminded
Speaker 1: you why this Spegels team is where they are and
Speaker 1: that's what makes it so fresh.
Speaker 3: They needed this, they really needed that.
Speaker 5: And to reiterate, Joe Burrow is seventh in EPA per dropback,
Speaker 5: seventh and totally first in completion attempts, completions, completion attempts, yards, touchdowns,
Speaker 5: and fourth in passer rating. Joe would want me to
Speaker 5: tell you that.
Speaker 1: He is outstanding. He's a good looking young man. I
Speaker 1: watched the game yesterday.
Speaker 5: You're getting your stacy with.
Speaker 1: The younger with some younger generation like friends of my
Speaker 1: daughters and my friends, and there was a lot of
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow as hot talk that was between the moms
Speaker 1: and the and the just saying he's connecting on the level.
Speaker 4: Good for him, that's great. He's winning in multiple departments.
Speaker 5: I guess anything from the dads or they.
Speaker 2: I mean, we talked about his outfit quite a bit.
Speaker 4: I don't know if I thought so I was going
Speaker 4: to bring that up because I'm not even sure how
Speaker 4: to describe it, because it was just like it was
Speaker 4: a two piece matching set.
Speaker 2: But they were like he was wearing Christmas lights lines
Speaker 2: all over.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but and it was almost like was it yarn like?
Speaker 4: Kind of looked like yarn. It reminded me of or
Speaker 4: like a house to created for Christmas with lights.
Speaker 5: He was in the spirit, guys. Didn't you hear how
Speaker 5: much in the spirit he was in.
Speaker 1: His According to my sources, he he ate it, you know.
Speaker 1: He he looked great.
Speaker 3: Yeah, might we get you in that outfit?
Speaker 1: My last card is that would be great. I would
Speaker 1: not I would not eat. My last card is from
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick to exactly twenty nine. NFL Team Owners starts
Speaker 1: out very traditionally, when the magic of Christmas fills the air.
Speaker 2: I hope you find it everywhere.
Speaker 1: I have found anything, but over the last few months,
Speaker 1: after watching the human Detrius on the field and the
Speaker 1: hackneyed tragic comedies that qualify for game plans in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four, surely you felt that something integral was missing
Speaker 1: from this twenty twenty four season.
Speaker 2: Namely me.
Speaker 1: Oh, sure you could have found me on McAfee or
Speaker 1: the Underdog show Coach with Michael Lombardi and Matt Patricia
Speaker 1: two point zero, or The Man in CAF on Monday Nights,
Speaker 1: or The Breakdown, a show with Peyton Manning that should
Speaker 1: be football Nirvana and yet no one has told me
Speaker 1: they watched it no One, or inside the NFL on
Speaker 1: the CW, which at one point aired opposite The Breakdown Wow,
Speaker 1: Or in my role with or in my role with
Speaker 1: a thirty third team as a strategic advisor, which means
Speaker 1: I'm potentially advising on the Jets coaching stars. Or Let's
Speaker 1: go a legendary podcast with Jim Gray in which I
Speaker 1: replaced Master orator, How does the Tom Brady? If you
Speaker 1: caught me on any of those mediums, you will recognize
Speaker 1: I have not lost my fastball. I've been keeping up
Speaker 1: with league trends and constructing a plan of attack that
Speaker 1: makes that story about Mike McCarthy buying a PFF subscription
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty look like Harold and the Purple Cram
Speaker 1: No book. I will return better than ever, but with
Speaker 1: many of the favorites you came to love. Patricia two
Speaker 1: point zero, Humble, Josh McDaniels, and Dante Scarnekia. If that
Speaker 1: rascal would just return my calls, think same old greatest
Speaker 1: coach of old time, but with a ib new banner.
Speaker 1: And yet I haven't heard from any of you. No
Speaker 1: one responds to my dms. I am sending this while
Speaker 1: flirting as hard as I possibly can with UNC and
Speaker 1: other college teams, just hoping that being wanted makes me
Speaker 1: look more attractive to the league where my father once
Speaker 1: played for the Detroit Lions. If you have any concerns
Speaker 1: that I spoke negatively about your players or organizations on air,
Speaker 1: fear not. I only dismiss players from the Jets, Patriots,
Speaker 1: and Falcons because they wronged me, and you wouldn't want
Speaker 1: to wrong me too, would you? From my home to yours,
Speaker 1: I hope you have a hot, happy holiday season and
Speaker 1: a prosperous new year, preferably with me running your organization.
Speaker 2: Haha. Wink emoji So a holiday threat?
Speaker 5: Yeah, wink Emoji's new.
Speaker 2: Yeah, just like he tried to end it yeah after Wow.
Speaker 5: Yeah, he's learning. You know he could really I mean
Speaker 5: with language like that, he could really connect with the youths.
Speaker 4: You know, this guy could really use a break Bill Belichick.
Speaker 4: So I hope he does get another job. He doesn't
Speaker 4: have enough.
Speaker 1: Now he doesn't all of those jobs. And the news
Speaker 1: that came out from our friend Ali Connolly and Insider,
Speaker 1: let's talk about it right now. Outside of this card.
Speaker 1: Ollie Connolly, who's been on this show three or four times,
Speaker 1: including co host in London, does an awesome job. One
Speaker 1: of the best exes in OS guy has been reporting
Speaker 1: about Bill Belichick. So let's just go over what he
Speaker 1: reported to He said in his words that Belichick had
Speaker 1: agreed to become the UNC next UNC coach, although the
Speaker 1: UNC side of it was not settled. Belichick had handled
Speaker 1: the school a four hundred page organizational bible with structure,
Speaker 1: payment plans, staffing choices, and decisions on whether to commit
Speaker 1: with UNC, and he's expected to know their decision maybe
Speaker 1: by the time you guys hear this within twenty four hours.
Speaker 1: You know, as of Tuesday morning, he has a college
Speaker 1: and pro version of his updated manual, and he shared
Speaker 1: it with NFL teams and schools, but he made one
Speaker 1: specifically to UNC that touched on every aspect of the program.
Speaker 1: And uh, there's already been some pushback at UNC from
Speaker 1: their group of trustees because Essentially, Belichick is unsure if
Speaker 1: the school will meet his demands, and he is unwilling
Speaker 1: to negotiate at all. He just says, this is what
Speaker 1: we're going to do. He wants, and it'll include a
Speaker 1: GM that does all the signing of the players and
Speaker 1: the probably the recruiting. Yeah, all of that and and
Speaker 1: that's that's his plan.
Speaker 2: Pretty amazing.
Speaker 5: So Belichick would actually have a GM.
Speaker 1: He would have Now that's not fair, that's not fair.
Speaker 1: Maybe later in his career at the very end when
Speaker 1: he was not runn but think of a lot of
Speaker 1: good personnel people came from that tree.
Speaker 3: But he wants full control over what's happened.
Speaker 1: But yes, Scott Pialde was never totally in charge, if
Speaker 1: that's your point, Nick Casaria.
Speaker 5: No, we feared to another direction. But yeah, so this
Speaker 5: is this is obviously a huge story. This is significant.
Speaker 5: Kudos to Ali. By the way, we're going to start
Speaker 5: referring to him as insider Ali.
Speaker 3: Oh.
Speaker 5: When I opened up the post this morning, I was like,
Speaker 5: what the hell, why is Kirk Cousins breaking news? Yeah,
Speaker 5: all of a sudden, because they look so similar to me,
Speaker 5: We really I have to they really don't. Yeah, this is.
Speaker 5: It's also significant because it's there's more reporting and shining
Speaker 5: a light on some of the dysfunction that's been happening
Speaker 5: and the infighting among the board of trustees group over
Speaker 5: at UNC. It's a thirteen person board of trustees, and
Speaker 5: then the athletic director Bubbuck Cunningham and the chancellor of
Speaker 5: the school, Lee Roberts, they were the ones who ended
Speaker 5: up dismissing mac Brown, who reportedly had the support of
Speaker 5: the trustees. And now there's infighting over financial restructuring and
Speaker 5: financial allocations and personnel decisions such as this one. So
Speaker 5: it doesn't surprise me that Bill Belichick, through his four
Speaker 5: hundred page like manifesto, was like, hey, man, guys, this
Speaker 5: is a mess, Like I want full control over what
Speaker 5: we're doing. And the fact that they have. He has
Speaker 5: salary allocations reportedly included within this and set numbers for everybody,
Speaker 5: set personnel. Steve Belichick wh would have a role of course.
Speaker 2: He would be the next head coach.
Speaker 1: This whole story, to me, the most important thing from
Speaker 1: it was that Belichick had already sent this to NFL
Speaker 1: teams that he is ready to go work for UNC
Speaker 1: because of something I've been saying on this show he
Speaker 1: is not confident whatsoever that he is going to get
Speaker 1: an NFL job, and he loves football and he wants
Speaker 1: to coach. In fact, I would surmise that if he's
Speaker 1: doing all this, he's guessing he won't have a job
Speaker 1: in the NFL. And he's got a plan and he's
Speaker 1: done a lot of studying on how to make it
Speaker 1: work at the college level that he would be excited about,
Speaker 1: and here is his plan. Something tells me he's been
Speaker 1: working like just like a little harder on this plan.
Speaker 1: Then let's say his Let's Go appearance with Jim Gray.
Speaker 2: It supports my theory that.
Speaker 1: He has been phoning in these media appearances, which has
Speaker 1: been really disappointing to me.
Speaker 4: I have listen you personally also really I kind of
Speaker 4: feel like it could be a marketing ploy too, like, Okay,
Speaker 4: look at look at all of the people who want
Speaker 4: me NFL, Like I could be going here. You could
Speaker 4: lose out on me, like people want other people who
Speaker 4: were wanted by other people.
Speaker 1: That was what the card was all about. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: he sort of he sort of got to.
Speaker 3: That, Yeah, what does he have time to write all
Speaker 3: of these bibles?
Speaker 1: Well, that's that's what I was getting at. His full
Speaker 1: time job has been making this bible and trying to
Speaker 1: get jobs while he got all other media jobs here.
Speaker 5: I hope he copyrighted the phrase the Belichick Bible, because
Speaker 5: if none of this works out for him, sell that
Speaker 5: thing man, bind it into an actual book and sell.
Speaker 3: It would be the best seller immediately.
Speaker 1: Yes, the Bill Walsh book Finding the Winning Edge is
Speaker 1: just that, his sort of bible on football and is
Speaker 1: one of the most famous and treasured football books of
Speaker 1: all time. I can guarantee you Bill Belichick has it,
Speaker 1: and it's up on his thing, and it'll cost you
Speaker 1: like one hundred and eighty bucks on eBay to get it.
Speaker 1: It's out of print, but he is the next guy
Speaker 1: to do it. That would be amazing. Give him a job.
Speaker 1: I hope you UNC gives him the job. Someone gives it.
Speaker 5: It would be interesting to watch him navigate again a
Speaker 5: very modern and rapidly changing college football. So do landscape,
Speaker 5: particularly at that school. I cannot state this enough how significant,
Speaker 5: And this is Brendan Markson Ralf Ruso at the Athletic
Speaker 5: reporting on this for several months now. The infighting and
Speaker 5: the interpersonal drama that is happening over it at UNC
Speaker 5: with the board of trustees and between them, the athletic
Speaker 5: director and the chancellor, and to throw a figures such
Speaker 5: as Bill Belichick into the midst of that. And then also,
Speaker 5: by the way, trying to be a football school.
Speaker 1: You know, well they have it in the past. I
Speaker 1: saw a story that said where they ranked in terms
Speaker 1: of nil money and they were behind my two lane
Speaker 1: Green Wave, way low in the ranking. So they are
Speaker 1: not a team, they're not an organization.
Speaker 5: Fascinating structure over there.
Speaker 4: Well, to your point, I found it really interesting that
Speaker 4: he was talking to directly to the chancellor and not
Speaker 4: the athletic director, because that's usually how it goes when
Speaker 4: guys are hired to be a head coach.
Speaker 1: And when you're going for a job like he is,
Speaker 1: he might think this is a long shot actually that
Speaker 1: UNC does all this, but he is absolutely prepared to
Speaker 1: take the job if they are willing.
Speaker 2: To do all that. Succession, Yeah, Steve Belichick.
Speaker 5: Would have to take over baby succession.
Speaker 1: And they would be fine with that. Apparently you're not
Speaker 1: going to be able to pull that off at the NFL.
Speaker 1: So I want Bill Belichick back in our lives and
Speaker 1: I want him happy, and that's coaching football and clearly
Speaker 1: not doing podcasts, even though I think he could have
Speaker 1: had a lot of potential if he actually put the
Speaker 1: energy that he put into coaching into doing that.
Speaker 5: Take someone please think of Bill Belichick and throw him
Speaker 5: a w Oh my god, would someone please about think
Speaker 5: of him.
Speaker 3: It's about On.
Speaker 1: That note, we will take a break and we'll be
Speaker 1: back talking about two teams that badly need a w
Speaker 1: the Rams and.
Speaker 2: The forty nine ers.
Speaker 1: There's in a football so I want.
Speaker 2: Back on NFL daily.
Speaker 1: That Belichick thing happened to It means we can get
Speaker 1: our UNC correspondent, David ee More back in. That would
Speaker 1: be a lot of fun. I just know I just
Speaker 1: made his day, even just saying his name. Like no
Speaker 1: one wants clout more than any of it.
Speaker 5: He has reason for upim as the Panthers too. Yeah,
Speaker 5: like love that for him.
Speaker 1: Panthers have the most feel good three game losing streak
Speaker 1: I've ever seen.
Speaker 2: It's awesome. Everything's all right.
Speaker 1: It's the time of the show for our T and
Speaker 1: F preview presented by Amazon Prime Video. Even going into
Speaker 1: last weekend, we didn't know how important this game would
Speaker 1: be if the Niners and Rams had lost to the
Speaker 1: Bills and Bears, respectively, would feel kind of like a
Speaker 1: dead game. And yet Jordan one of my favorite rivalries
Speaker 1: in the entire NFL, because of all the history between
Speaker 1: the two coaches, which you've lovingly detailed on the athletic
Speaker 1: and of course times hatefully with the play callers, it
Speaker 1: matters that the winner of this game is gonna feel
Speaker 1: a little something inside. The Rams will have every reason
Speaker 1: to believe that they could maybe go make the playoffs
Speaker 1: and at least get to Week eighteen with a chance
Speaker 1: to win the division, and the forty nine Ers would
Speaker 1: have just broken the heart of their rival and maybe
Speaker 1: put themselves back in the mix at seven and seven.
Speaker 1: Maybe both teams also coming off their best game that
Speaker 1: they've played literally all season long. I know, I know
Speaker 1: the difference in quality of competition was different, but for
Speaker 1: forty nine Ers fans, I think it was really exciting
Speaker 1: for them to win a game convincingly. They literally haven't
Speaker 1: done that, like since Week one against the Jets.
Speaker 5: The coaches now are in a place where they have
Speaker 5: like an ominous respect and friendship happening. Right although when
Speaker 5: they play each other not so much. These teams freaking
Speaker 5: hate each other though, Like there are players in both
Speaker 5: locker rooms that they freaking hate each other. And you know,
Speaker 5: Aaron Donald, who is retired, will still go come pop
Speaker 5: up from out of nowhere, out of like this amazing
Speaker 5: post career life that I hope he's taking every victory
Speaker 5: lap he can, and he'll just say I hate that team,
Speaker 5: Like he'll just be a sad bite somewhere, and like
Speaker 5: that's the thing is. Even if the forty nine er,
Speaker 5: i mean the forty nine ers, their window or their
Speaker 5: their chance is slim, right, winning this game would be
Speaker 5: huge form. It would swing things significantly, although they would
Speaker 5: still have a long road ahead. Both teams have a
Speaker 5: long road ahead regardless of the outcome. But they will
Speaker 5: always be up for each other, like up to play
Speaker 5: each other, ready to go. It will always be a
Speaker 5: physical game. It does not matter who is at quarterback,
Speaker 5: who is at running back. The forty nine ers are
Speaker 5: going to be missing, probably Isaac Grendo who's dealing with
Speaker 5: the foot sprain. It does not matter. This will be
Speaker 5: a game that both teams get the heck up for
Speaker 5: because it matters that much to the players in the
Speaker 5: locker room, even regardless of the stake.
Speaker 1: And the first time they play this year, the Rams
Speaker 1: stole one. It's a big reason why they're in position
Speaker 1: to possibly make the playoffs. Was that late comeback in
Speaker 1: a game that San Francisco kind of dominated.
Speaker 4: Early Shanahan had won nine straight games against Sean McVay,
Speaker 4: and now in the regular season, now Sean McVay has
Speaker 4: two in a row, so he can start his own.
Speaker 3: Little streak here.
Speaker 4: But I think one of the most interesting things about
Speaker 4: this game is the fact that Pukanakua and Cooper Cup
Speaker 4: will be playing together for the first time against the
Speaker 4: forty nine ers. It's never happened before, so that I
Speaker 4: think is obviously huge. They're averaging a ridiculous one hundred
Speaker 4: and fifty point five combined receiving yards per game in
Speaker 4: those twenty games that they have played together since Pukonakuah
Speaker 4: was drafted, So now the forty nine ers have to
Speaker 4: deal with both of them at the same time for
Speaker 4: the first time.
Speaker 1: Couple of good last week they used them more vertically.
Speaker 1: Everything they did last week was awesome and got Rams
Speaker 1: fans like my daughter and wife thinking, oh wow, like
Speaker 1: maybe they're gonna do it again because when their offense
Speaker 1: is humming like that, that was as impressive an offensive
Speaker 1: performance as we've seen all season long. If they can
Speaker 1: run the ball on the forty nine ers and then
Speaker 1: be that efficient with the big plays, they don't have
Speaker 1: that long a road. Jordan, really, they we got to
Speaker 1: win this game, but then you had you're at the
Speaker 1: Jets and you finished with two division games at home, Cardinals, Seahaw.
Speaker 5: They control their own destiny, and they really do.
Speaker 1: They could even afford to probably lose that Cardinals game
Speaker 1: because Seattle has such a hard schedule and go in
Speaker 1: with a chance. So I think it is very fair
Speaker 1: because they've done it in the past, and because their
Speaker 1: ceiling games are that high. To think, man, maybe they
Speaker 1: are revnant. Back up again the offensive linet. Tell me
Speaker 1: what you've seen out of them, and tell me why
Speaker 1: you think they went empty so often. So that's what
Speaker 1: they did very often. It means no running backs in
Speaker 1: the backfield with Stafford. They did it to great effect
Speaker 1: when they won the Super Bowl. They weren't doing it
Speaker 1: nearly as much recently, and they did it way more
Speaker 1: in that Bills game and kind of caught them off guard.
Speaker 2: And very successfully. Do you think they keep doing that?
Speaker 5: Yeah, Well, in part it's because they trust their offensive
Speaker 5: line a little bit more. It's just going to be
Speaker 5: the third game this year that that group as intended
Speaker 5: will be together because of the injuries early in the season.
Speaker 5: But they also go empty because Matthew Stafford likes to
Speaker 5: use it to get teams to declare their pressure. So
Speaker 5: all of the different intricacies that a team could send
Speaker 5: against you, whether it's extra pressure, stand under pressure, the
Speaker 5: types of even the types of like body language or
Speaker 5: shifts that you see from a defense. When all of
Speaker 5: a sudden you spread the field out wide into empty,
Speaker 5: it gives Matthew Stafford a ton of information and then
Speaker 5: he can adjust accordingly. And they also are using different
Speaker 5: spacing on the field themselves to maybe get some of
Speaker 5: the voids downfield that they that the Bills weren't quite expecting.
Speaker 5: You saw players schemed open a lot this game, and
Speaker 5: in part.
Speaker 2: That's hasn't been happening quite as much this season end.
Speaker 5: Yeah, because I would say the receivers aren't necessarily it's
Speaker 5: not the fastest group in the league. I mean, even
Speaker 5: Pu Kunaku, who's an absolute superstar, it's not necessarily they're
Speaker 5: not going to like wow you early in the route
Speaker 5: necessarily other than some of these really physical catches. And
Speaker 5: we know Cooper can he's still got some juice left
Speaker 5: in him, and some of that short yardage stuff as well,
Speaker 5: but overall it's not the fastest. So this group declaring
Speaker 5: different voids on the field by spreading the field out wider,
Speaker 5: win and empty, and then also you're disguising some of
Speaker 5: your passing contours in that way, but you're also getting
Speaker 5: the defense to tell you what it wants to do
Speaker 5: you when you go in empty, which is why Matthew
Speaker 5: Stafford really likes to use it. Now, this was a
Speaker 5: Puka Nakua like ascension game in that we've seen.
Speaker 3: That catch on the sideline, Yes, with that body control
Speaker 3: was yeh.
Speaker 5: Walcker is so correct. Pukakua does in fact rule and
Speaker 5: part of it is he has no he has no
Speaker 5: fear or like the biggest thing for him is he
Speaker 5: loves football and he does not want to let anyone
Speaker 5: down in the in particular Matthew Stafford. Matthew Stafford can
Speaker 5: put him put it on him in any particular way
Speaker 5: with with the catch radius that Pooka has, and the
Speaker 5: trust that these two have developed, in part because Cooper
Speaker 5: was injured for so much of last year, has really developed.
Speaker 5: When Pukinakua is healthy and feeling good, he is almost
Speaker 5: unguardable between the trust that Stafford has in him and
Speaker 5: the catch radius that that widens because of that and
Speaker 5: the crazy things he'll do to sell out for the ball.
Speaker 5: But then also because he just he gets open. He's physical,
Speaker 5: even when he is can tested, even when there's a
Speaker 5: contact at the catch point, he just wins. This kid
Speaker 5: is just a winner. He just is.
Speaker 2: I love him like I do.
Speaker 1: Wonder in this game if the forty nine ers defense,
Speaker 1: like I feel like that game like no one rarely
Speaker 1: watched that game live. When I went back to watch it,
Speaker 1: I was like, Wow, this was a great performance by Purty.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: We're going to get to the quarterback Island element to
Speaker 1: this in a second, but let's get through sort of
Speaker 1: what the game talk to. Perty had one of his
Speaker 1: best games of the season after getting kicked off quarterback Island.
Speaker 1: Just like Matthew Stafford. He was pressured on forty eight
Speaker 1: percent of his dropbacks against the Bears, which is a
Speaker 1: really high number. And yet barely had an incompletion. He
Speaker 1: was throwing with anticipation. He was fantastic. Kittle is having
Speaker 1: a great, great season.
Speaker 5: Yes, he's having an all pro level for his position.
Speaker 1: See he's at eight hundred yards. It's him or Bowers
Speaker 1: that those are the top two for me. Debo, let's
Speaker 1: talk about Debo for a second. Debo had a funny
Speaker 1: tweet afterwards. I don't know if you saw this, Colleen,
Speaker 1: what is tweeted out? He's not struggling at all, just
Speaker 1: not getting the ball.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, a receiver that's like upset that he's
Speaker 3: not getting the ball?
Speaker 2: Is that what's happening here?
Speaker 1: We were seeing a screen cap of it with four
Speaker 1: million views, but you can no longer find it because
Speaker 1: he has Does.
Speaker 4: The views match the amount of times he used the
Speaker 4: exclamation point?
Speaker 1: He's deleted it? He is getting the ball. He's so
Speaker 1: much less effective as a runner than he's ever been.
Speaker 1: He's not breaking tackles. He's not the same Deebo. Samuel
Speaker 1: I put it like when he had an anticipatory throw
Speaker 1: early in that game that Perdy found him down the field.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh my god, more of that.
Speaker 1: I haven't seen Deebo catch a normal receiver like passed
Speaker 1: on the field and so long, and they do give
Speaker 1: him the ball six seven, eight times a game and
Speaker 1: he's not the same guy as before. So was this uptick, Colleen?
Speaker 1: You think for the forty nine ers, like their defense
Speaker 1: and their offense playing a perfect game just a blip
Speaker 1: or did they go on one of their late season
Speaker 1: runs too, Because I wouldn't put it pass them. I've
Speaker 1: just seen them win too much, especially in this matchup
Speaker 1: that you mentioned. They have totally dominated except for the
Speaker 1: most important game they ever played against each other, which
Speaker 1: was the NFC Championship. But in the regular season they
Speaker 1: they've had their number and it's a big test for me.
Speaker 1: I think for Stafford and some of the older players
Speaker 1: like Cup and some of the offensive line to get
Speaker 1: it going again just on an on three days rest
Speaker 1: and win again.
Speaker 4: I think if one of these two teams is going
Speaker 4: to go on a run based on their game last week,
Speaker 4: it's going to be the Rams.
Speaker 3: This is kind of what the Rams do also.
Speaker 4: I mean, I thought it was interesting last year they
Speaker 4: went seven to one after their bye.
Speaker 3: This year they're six and two.
Speaker 4: They both struggled both years they struggled before the bye,
Speaker 4: so they're kind of following that up. They were so
Speaker 4: good on third down eleven of fifteen. That was an
Speaker 4: area that they completely struggled in. I think they were
Speaker 4: converting thirty three percent of the time. That was third
Speaker 4: worst in the entire league. So now that they're healthy,
Speaker 4: this is the offense that they kind of envisioned and
Speaker 4: that I thought was going to be the case all
Speaker 4: year long. So now that they have all the pieces
Speaker 4: in place, I think it's the perfect time for them
Speaker 4: to go on a run.
Speaker 3: And I think that's what we're going to see.
Speaker 5: Keep slowing me down with them, and they have a
Speaker 5: massive pile of data from last year about getting hot
Speaker 5: this time of year and then just going right. If
Speaker 5: they would have won that wild card game against Detroit,
Speaker 5: no team wanted to face them in the playoffs, and
Speaker 5: you heard that pretty publicly from people after the fact.
Speaker 5: But I also I sat in New Orleans up in
Speaker 5: the rafters of the Superdome and I watched the Sean
Speaker 5: McVay team with a full cast, with healthy receivers, with
Speaker 5: a healthy Stafford, with a healthy Kiren and Puka and
Speaker 5: Cooper get shut out in the first half against the
Speaker 5: New Orleans Saints defense or buy the New New Orleans
Speaker 5: Saints defense, and like to the point where it just
Speaker 5: didn't it didn't just look bad. It looked like they
Speaker 5: were moving backwards comparative to what they were able to
Speaker 5: do against Buffalo. And so that's where I'm like, all right,
Speaker 5: two games in a row. They have not done this
Speaker 5: yet this season. They've beat bad teams and they've lost
Speaker 5: to really good ones. Buffalo might have been their breakthrough,
Speaker 5: and they certainly hope to carry this momentum forward and
Speaker 5: to ride that wave because but they're going to need
Speaker 5: more from their defense because Josh Allen, Wiers.
Speaker 3: Say, is what it starts.
Speaker 5: Yes, but Josh Allen went into like god mode, like
Speaker 5: omniscient ball playing at that point. But you know, and
Speaker 5: you can't do a lot against that if you're a
Speaker 5: defense and you're reeling from explosive after explosive after explosive
Speaker 5: that he's compounding against you. But they need more from
Speaker 5: their defense. They need more from their defense. When a
Speaker 5: quarterback works out of structure, they need more from their defense.
Speaker 5: Tackling after the catch, they need more from their secondary.
Speaker 1: So they need more from their young pass rushers I
Speaker 1: would say they got They got run over in that
Speaker 1: Eagles game, which wasn't really about the pass rushers. It
Speaker 1: was about physicality. And in the last two weeks they
Speaker 1: had a twenty five percent pressure rate and then they
Speaker 1: had a twenty two percent pressure rate against Josh Allen,
Speaker 1: which is really poor. So is this young group hitting
Speaker 1: a bit of a wall.
Speaker 2: We'll see. We don't know.
Speaker 1: If Williams is not practicing on Tuesday, neither's Nick Bosa.
Speaker 1: That's good news for the Rams, but you're right, the
Speaker 1: Rams need to get it going. But ultimately it is
Speaker 1: kind of about Stafford and now we get to the
Speaker 1: QB Island of it all, because this game will be
Speaker 1: really interesting for the QB Island discussion. One of the
Speaker 1: reasons when of the reasons said the same, why Matthew
Speaker 1: sav not about the QB Island seff one of the
Speaker 1: reasons why he's not out there. Like all time great
Speaker 1: players towards the end of their career, sometimes they can
Speaker 1: get it cranked up for that for a brilliant game,
Speaker 1: but they can't maybe do it week after week after week.
Speaker 1: And I think we've seen that out of Stafford this season,
Speaker 1: that he's had some lulls, and now he's got to
Speaker 1: do it on the road on a short rest against
Speaker 1: his rival, and then if he doesn't play well, Jordan,
Speaker 1: you can take back all that guilty feeling that you
Speaker 1: shouldn't have for kicking Stafford off set us up here.
Speaker 1: You've been going through it.
Speaker 5: I've been going through it. I think I've sent you
Speaker 5: like thirty texts about this fret I'm a fretterer. I'm
Speaker 5: a catastrophizer. It's part of what propels me through the
Speaker 5: season to get work done because I can never be
Speaker 5: behind on anything. And in this case, I am fretting
Speaker 5: and catastrophizing because I tried to be a good teammate
Speaker 5: on Quarterback Island after Greg Rosenthal and Colleen you were
Speaker 5: not here and you got to know what happened. I
Speaker 5: can't believe it because Greg autonomously decided to shrink the
Speaker 5: list down to ten, which is fine, that's we've talked
Speaker 5: about doing that, probably late in the season, down to ten.
Speaker 5: If it was still twelve, I had Matthew as my eleven.
Speaker 5: But shrinking down to ten, I wanted to be a
Speaker 5: good teammate and open debate, and because I had so
Speaker 5: vocally backed Matthew Stafford even in lull times. Over the
Speaker 5: course of the year, he's been hard to figure out.
Speaker 3: He's had stood by your man.
Speaker 5: He's had some highs, and he's had some real crash
Speaker 5: outs and some very erratic game And I thought, I'll
Speaker 5: be a good teammate. And because I was the one
Speaker 5: that fought for him so hard, I will say, Okay,
Speaker 5: let's talk about pulling him back and then we can revisit.
Speaker 5: At the end, we voted and all of that, and
Speaker 5: it was a triple no vote. We were all on
Speaker 5: the same accord because again there were ten spots. What
Speaker 5: I did not expect to happen late in the game
Speaker 5: was for Greg to totally just just bastardize the meaning
Speaker 5: of the riptide card in the meat and the worst
Speaker 5: way and just kidding. It was an accident. Greg accidentally
Speaker 5: messed up the definition of the riptide card, which is
Speaker 5: you have to pull somebody off the island, huh, and
Speaker 5: then you can vote over who can Instead, he autonomously
Speaker 5: put Gino on the island with no discussion. He tabled
Speaker 5: him the entire time because Steve brought him up as
Speaker 5: a potential no candidate.
Speaker 2: I think he was I.
Speaker 5: Don't necessarily agree with that, because he's been playing great football.
Speaker 5: But again, we were down to ten spots and it
Speaker 5: was supposed to come down to a tongue of I
Speaker 5: love who's been statistically extraordinary over the last several weeks,
Speaker 5: and it was going to come down to Geno, a
Speaker 5: debate between Geno to a probably Stafford again yes, and
Speaker 5: Sam Darnold. And instead what happened was Greg made us
Speaker 5: table the Geno discussion until the very end, then panicking
Speaker 5: pulled the the fake riptide card that had was not
Speaker 5: actually the definition of the previously introduced riptide card.
Speaker 3: I don't love that he's saying that this is a
Speaker 3: Colleen move.
Speaker 2: Well, what it was.
Speaker 1: What I was was I didn't understand the rules in
Speaker 1: the moment, which.
Speaker 2: Is a problem.
Speaker 5: You're so confident, the host of the show.
Speaker 1: No one pointed out to me at the time. We
Speaker 1: heard from a lot of listeners and what I said
Speaker 1: to Jordan on.
Speaker 5: Multiples and I've been in not.
Speaker 1: At as the executive producer of this segment, as the originator.
Speaker 1: It's just, you know, a little controversy, isn't the worst thing.
Speaker 1: People are responding that they're very upset.
Speaker 5: That I can say that because your guy played great
Speaker 5: last week and the guy that I introduced to vote
Speaker 5: off played amazing.
Speaker 2: Here's where I could get you're conflating things. Vote.
Speaker 1: In the end, Stafford was not getting on that island
Speaker 1: me using the ripcord or not riptide or not he was.
Speaker 2: He was not getting on it. I was.
Speaker 1: I actually went into the Stafford discussion with the open mind.
Speaker 1: I had a list of about four or five guys, and
Speaker 1: I thought, maybe he's on, maybe he's not. He was
Speaker 1: kind of on my borderline, so I was surprised when
Speaker 1: you brought him up. But once we went through the conversation,
Speaker 1: it was clear both Steve and I would have had
Speaker 1: to a tongue of iloa over Stafford. We did have
Speaker 1: Sam Darnold over Stafford, and we put him on, and
Speaker 1: from the.
Speaker 2: Sound of it, we probably both had you. So in
Speaker 2: the end, like the same thing happened. You made the
Speaker 2: right decision in the moment.
Speaker 5: And you this is gaslighting. This is what dictators should
Speaker 5: know when they don't give you a vote. You should
Speaker 5: have We should have had the opportunity to discuss and vote,
Speaker 5: because if we're really going to talk, there was really
Speaker 5: and all of the deleted footage because I was not
Speaker 5: in this show. If people could just hear all the
Speaker 5: footage that didn't make it in the show about how
Speaker 5: you thought there was less spots than.
Speaker 2: For actually, well that was just losing track of.
Speaker 5: We would have had you would have had you know,
Speaker 5: we would have had of a Colleen movie. You would
Speaker 5: have had one spot to bait between. And I'm serious.
Speaker 5: I went back because I'm I've been a knots over this.
Speaker 5: So I went back and I looked and I listened,
Speaker 5: and I went back and I did the scouting report
Speaker 5: and all of that, and I took notes because I'm
Speaker 5: a psychopath and you're giving that literally, I know, like
Speaker 5: literally giving.
Speaker 4: I was gonna ask you if you have any Here's
Speaker 4: the thing, though, here's the thing, this is my hobby.
Speaker 2: Here's the thing. The QB island.
Speaker 1: The projection, the QB Island placement is not a projection.
Speaker 1: It's not a look ahead to see what you're going
Speaker 1: to do. We could have done that.
Speaker 3: Oh, you could make it whatever you wanted. That's what
Speaker 3: I heard the last time.
Speaker 2: Apparently you could.
Speaker 5: But it's about you can make it when it's greg
Speaker 5: the rules.
Speaker 1: Are you It's about what you've done and party got
Speaker 1: booted off. Perty I thought had maybe his best game
Speaker 1: of the season last week, and because it wasn't against
Speaker 1: the Bills in the national window, it didn't get any
Speaker 1: attention to So he responded to the challenge that we
Speaker 1: gave him. Stafford did as well, and it was the
Speaker 1: right decision at the time, and we could have done
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to ease your guilty conscience because I
Speaker 1: know there's a lot of Rams fans that are like,
Speaker 1: you kick Stafford off and now look what he's done.
Speaker 1: We could have done that. We could have done that
Speaker 1: version of that show ten different ways. And Stafford ultimately
Speaker 1: was never getting on because I think we were all
Speaker 1: in agreement that he was probably about twelfth two. It
Speaker 1: was ahead of him, Donald was at him. Gino probably
Speaker 1: would have been ahead him. It didn't matter.
Speaker 2: He was not getting on, no matter what, no matter
Speaker 2: when you brought him up. So don't put it all
Speaker 2: on Jordan, is what I'm saying. It wouldn't have happened, Thank.
Speaker 5: You, Greg, And now i'm phil Calmer, but I will
Speaker 5: say the thing that should have happened is we should
Speaker 5: have been allowed to debate over the final opening between
Speaker 5: Gino and Stafford, although he was getting on Gino to
Speaker 5: Sam Donald and Matthew Stack.
Speaker 1: You no reality television, A little controversy is good. Finger out.
Speaker 5: You know what's great is the motivational tool that this
Speaker 5: clearly clearly provided truly to people who do not listen
Speaker 5: to the show in that Rockberty and Matthew Safford, to
Speaker 5: your point, Greg had incredible.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't. I wouldn't incredible.
Speaker 1: I assume that Kelly Stafford's she's got ears everywhere who knows?
Speaker 3: Yeah, she does.
Speaker 2: I don't know. Guys, how about that.
Speaker 1: Sleep number ad too? I like that that's.
Speaker 4: Trying to get a sleep number in general, but I
Speaker 4: mean in terms of this whole discussion that you guys
Speaker 4: are having. Can't go back, only can go forward. So
Speaker 4: hopefully there's debate in the next one.
Speaker 2: Thank you Colleen for wrapping no problem.
Speaker 5: So that's what happened last week.
Speaker 3: Wow, I've been losing sleep as well. Jordan.
Speaker 1: Oh, yes, I guess I'm going to pick the rams,
Speaker 1: but I don't believe it. I'm just gonna I I
Speaker 1: my head actually says forty nine ers. But because I
Speaker 1: want to be on the side of my family, you know,
Speaker 1: I want them to be happy. Ultimately, I'm going to
Speaker 1: just pick them because I don't actually know what's going
Speaker 1: to happen. Little no in fact, so it doesn't matter
Speaker 1: who I pick, as we'll pick what I'm rooting for.
Speaker 3: I mean, who do you actually think is gonna win?
Speaker 1: Something in my head just says, actually the way seasons go,
Speaker 1: like the forty nine Ers are gonna are going to
Speaker 1: ruin this like idea of a late season run by
Speaker 1: the Rams. Something says that, I think, and then neither
Speaker 1: one of them, you know, ends up making the playoffs,
Speaker 1: and it's just annoying. I just don't want that to happen.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna I think the Rams are gonna win.
Speaker 5: Okay, good, it is going to be raining, looks like
Speaker 5: looks like it'll be raining. Obviously outdoor stadium. The Rams
Speaker 5: don't have a ton of experience playing outside in elements
Speaker 5: being a California slash covered team. Although that sideways lightning
Speaker 5: for that Chargers game was a bit crazy, that one,
Speaker 5: oh that isle years ago. If the Rams can be
Speaker 5: this team that they showed against the Bills, like they
Speaker 5: they really they let it all hang out, right, And
Speaker 5: so if they do that again, I think I don't
Speaker 5: think anybody will have an easy time beating them. I'm
Speaker 5: gonna pick theirs to settle my mentions down and my
Speaker 5: dms and my tags on social media sites that I
Speaker 5: don't even use anymore, like check.
Speaker 2: Us out on Blue Sky, gonna calm.
Speaker 4: I thought it was for a while like a Bruski Yes,
Speaker 4: I then realized it's Blue Sky.
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely not Buski out. The forty nine Ers are
Speaker 1: favored by two and a half.
Speaker 5: I feel some game in the elements.
Speaker 1: I get that I feel better about just taking the
Speaker 1: points with the Rams than I would about picking either team,
Speaker 1: because it is truly a coin flip to me. That
Speaker 1: was this week's TNF preview, presented by Prime Video. Be
Speaker 1: sure to watch the Los Angeles Rams take on the
Speaker 1: San Francisco forty nine Ers this Thursday on Prime Video.
Speaker 2: That is it for this show. I'm looking forward to.
Speaker 1: We got a special extra show dropping into the feed
Speaker 1: later this week.
Speaker 2: Oh shoot, Colleen Wolf is going to be a part
Speaker 2: of it.
Speaker 1: My friend Anthony Jesselnick, with whom I do the Jesselnick
Speaker 1: and Rosenthal Vanity Project Jarvy and also as a new
Speaker 1: Netflix special out. We're gonna sit down with him and
Speaker 1: just have a little extra show and that'll drop in
Speaker 1: to your fees later in the week.
Speaker 2: Keep it, keep an eye on that.
Speaker 1: The next time you'll hear us, though, we'll be our
Speaker 1: previews show that's gonna be with my good friend Patrick
Speaker 1: Claybahn and special in studio guest Campbell. Love that look
Speaker 1: when a fictional Russ Wilson or is he fictional is
Speaker 1: writing a card to me.
Speaker 2: You know football is back.